The Clemson Insider recently caught up with Alexis Cubit to get some insight on Louisville ahead of Clemson’s game against the Cardinals. Cubit covers Louisville football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Cubit hit on a number of topics during the following question-and-answer session, including Louisville’s turnaround after a 2-3 start, the dynamics of the Cardinals’ offense, an active Louisville defense and more heading into Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity
Louisville comes into this weekend’s game on a four-game winning streak. Can you put your finger on what’s triggered the turnaround?
It’s kind of interesting because this team is so unpredictable. You don’t really know what you’re going to get. A lot of (the players) talk about this, but they had a player-only meeting after the Boston College loss. And they just basically talked about how it’s not on the coaches, it’s on us. Basically we just need to get our act tother. So what do we need to do? And they figured it out. I think another thing is the Boston College game was a little bit of, I don’t want to say a shot to the ego, but Boston College is not very good this year. So when you lose by one point, it’s not great. And then they also had a reputation of losing close games and not being able to finish. So it was kind of all of those things in one where it was just like, “OK we’ve got to get this together.”
Another thing Tiyon Evans, the running back, said was they didn’t have anything else to lose, so that was pressure was kind of off of them. They just played a little more relaxed. Just getting back to having fun. You expected them to beat Virginia (on Oct. 8), but it was pretty dominant after a certain point. It was weird because that was the game (quarterback) Malik (Cunningham) didn’t play because he had a concussion, so you had the backup in there. They were missing several starters. At least three. So where you would expect them to maybe falter a little bit because they don’t have their big guys, they thrived. And then the Wake Forest game, you had six turnovers (forced) in the third quarter, and it’s like this is getting out of hand. But I think they needed that to feel like they can play with anybody. Of course they say that, but then when it actually happens, the manifestation of it, I think it really kind of just enforces that. And I think they needed that enforcement.
Louisville’s defense is tied for the FBS lead in sacks per game and is top 15 nationally in tackles for loss. What makes this group so disruptive?
They have an interesting defense to where Yasir Abdullah is suddenly a linebacker, but he kind of comes off the edge pretty hard. (Sack leader) YaYa (Diaby) is a big dude (along the defensive line). I haven’t been able to really ask about it, but he definitely changed his body structure. (Defensive coordinator) Bryan Brown talked about him really getting in the weight room and different things, so he’s able to move a little quicker. I think one of the underrated players that’s not getting talked about as much is (defensive lineman) Ashton Gillotte. I think he’s kind of one of those difference-makers where things don’t show up in the stats, but I think he definitely makes a difference.
And some of the blitzes they’re able to do. (Cornerback) Kei’Trel Clark had a sack against Wake Forest, so they don’t mind using their athletes in any way that’s basically playing to their strengths. It doesn’t really matter what position they play. It’s a matter of how can they utilize them the most effective (ways) to be that playmaker, and I think that’s where they’ve found a lot of success.
Most ACC football fans are aware by now of Malik Cunningham and how dangerous he is as a runner at quarterback. But if Clemson is able to contain that part of his game and force him to make throws, has he shown the ability to do that?
That’s the real, for lack of a better term, lowpoint for the offense is just trying to get that passing game involved. It’s taken a while to do that, but they do have playmakers. (Central Arkansas transfer receiver) Tyler Hudson has been huge. He’s their leading receiver, but he just had his first touchdown catch at the FBS level this past week against James Madison. So it’s taken them a little bit of a while to get that going and figure it out. The defense has been able to get its playmakers involved, but (the offense) is still trying to I think figure out ways to get their pass-catchers just playing to their strengths.
Obviously they want to be balanced, but I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if just the chemistry was off and they’re still trying to figure that out. Because (Cunningham) has had pretty decent protection up front for the most part. Obviously no o-line is perfect, but he’s had time to throw. It just looks like sometimes he’s looked a little panicked and that runner’s mentality kind of takes over. But I think now it’s starting to kick in a little differently where it’s like, “OK, guys are going to get open.”
The other thing, too, is their receivers don’t have a lot of size. I think that’s been a big part of it. They have Dee Wiggins, whose 6-foot-3 and their tallest receiver. But he ended up getting hurt pretty early in the season. The next (tallest) one would be Tyler Hudson. Chris Bell is a freshman and actually got his first start last week. He also is one of those over 6-footers, but after that, Ahmari (Huggins-Bruce) and Braden (Smith) they’re like 5-10. I don’t think (tight end) Marshon (Ford) is very tall either. So I think that kind of plays a part in it, but again you kind of have to still work with what you have basically. So I think they’re figuring it out. It’s a process. But I would say right now that’s probably the weakness of the offense.
Are there other viable threats to Louisville’s run game beyond Cunningham that Clemson shouldn’t be sleeping on?
Absolutely. Tiyon is interesting because he’s such a strong runner. You look at the James Madison game, and he had so many yards after the initial hit. He was literally taking people with him. And one of the most impressive things that maybe we hadn’t seen fully yet on that 71-plus yard touchdown was his speed. He really went next level with that. That was really, really interesting to see. I guess that’s kind of where Clemson and Louisville are kind of similar. I was listening Bryan Brown talk about (Clemson running backs) Will Shipley and Phil Mafah, and I’m like, “Well y’all do have running backs too.” So I feel like they’re kind of similar in the offenses in that way. The passing stuff might be a little bit of a struggle for both teams, but we might see a short game because they like to run the ball.
Is there a particular matchup or two in this game that concerns you if you’re Louisville?
I’m still really high on Clemson’s d-line. I know it sucks that XT (Xavier Thomas) is out. I hate that for him because he had NFL talent, and we knew he was going to go at some point. For him to have the injury that he did, obviously that’s a big hit for them. But I still think that matchup is going to be really interesting with Louisville’s o-line and Clemson’s d-line. And I’m really curious to see how Louisville counters (Clemson tight end) Davis Allen because it seems like he’s still a really big part of the passing game. I know (Clemson coach) Dabo (Swinney) talked about him last year, so I’ll be interested to see how they kind of defend him.
And then for Clemson, I think it’s going to be again countering Louisville’s d-line and seeing what Clemson’s o-line can do to protect (quarterback) D.J. (Uiagalelei) and/or Cade (Klubnik) because they’re going to send the house.
Would do you think could end up being an X-factor for Louisville that nobody’s really talking heading into this matchup?
Let’s go with the tight end. I’ll say just the position in general whether it be Marshon Ford, Francis Sherman or Isaac Martin. Isaac, he’s been here for five or six years, and he had his first touchdown catch this past week. It seems like they really want to utilize that tight-end position more, and they do have different sets of packages where they do use two tight ends. So I think that’s going to be an interesting thing to watch to see how much can they get Marson the ball?
Are they going to get some of the other guys playing time and how much are they going to get? But the funny thing is Marshon was their leading receiver last year, so I’m not really sure what happened. He just didn’t seem like early on he was getting very many looks. And then against Boston College when Malik was out, he got a lot more targets. And you’re seeing that uptick where he’s starting to get a few more looks.
Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.
Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!
