Clemson got back in the win column on Saturday, bouncing back from an upset loss at Notre Dame a week earlier.
On ACC Network’s ACC Huddle show, analysts Eric Mac Lain, EJ Manuel, Mark Richt and Eddie Royal gave their takeaways from the 10th-ranked Tigers’ 31-16 victory over Louisville at Death Valley, where Will Shipley highlighted the win with a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that saw him hurdle a defender at the 10-yard line and then split two other defenders en route to the end zone.
The epic play put Clemson up 24-7 less than five minutes into the second half and sent the Tigers on the way to their 39th consecutive home win, tying the 2005-11 Oklahoma Sooners for the ninth-longest home winning streak in FBS history.
“Man, he’s just a special talent,” Mac Lain, the former Clemson All-ACC offensive lineman, said of Shipley. “Bursting through the hole and jumping over a guy, and then showing some power, staying in the end zone. That’s a bad dude right there.”
Shipley finished with 97 yards and the touchdown on 19 carries, fellow sophomore running back Phil Mafah picked up 106 yards and a touchdown on 10 totes and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei ran for 32 yards and another score as the Tigers racked up 248 rushing yards on the day.
Meanwhile, Antonio Williams recorded 83 yards on a Clemson-freshman-record-tying 10 receptions and caught his third touchdown of the season on a 4-yard slant from Uiagalelei in the second quarter.
“I loved what I saw from the running game … which was huge for DJ,” said Royal, the former Virginia Tech standout and longtime NFL wide receiver. “Take a little bit of pressure off of him, and then Antonio Williams stepping up and really becoming that number one receiver that they need today.”
Uiagalelei completed 19 of his 27 passes against the Cardinals for 185 yards, accounted for two touchdowns and totaled 223 yards overall including a 6-yard catch from Williams in the third quarter.
Clemson (9-1, 7-0 ACC) opened the game with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive, which Uiagalelei started with two runs for 11 yards. The junior signal-caller later finished the drive with an 11-yard rushing touchdown, his career-high fifth of the season.
“DJ for whatever reason – I think it’s probably true with a lot of quarterbacks – everybody has a little bit of butterflies,” said Richt, the former Miami and Georgia head coach. “Sometimes you got a lot of butterflies, and just to take a shot or deliver a blow as a runner, sometimes it relieves that pressure and all the sudden, things start going well for you.
“But he made a lot of great throws today, a lot of great decisions, and he had a good bit of time in the pocket. But I think he played one of his cleanest games of the year.”
Meanwhile, Clemson’s defense registered two takeaways, four sacks and nine tackles for a loss against Louisville (6-4, 3-4), in addition to forcing five three-and-outs.
Linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. led Clemson in total tackles with 12, while linebacker Barrett Carter posted eight tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception. Defensive end KJ Henry chipped in six tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries, and defensive tackle Bryan Bresee notched a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup.
“I felt like the Clemson defense really stepped up in this game because everybody watching the Notre Dame game, giving up over 200 yards rushing – extremely uncharacteristic for this Tiger defense,” said Manuel, the former Florida State and NFL quarterback. “But really just seeing KJ Henry get active, Bryan Bresee get active, and if they weren’t able to get home for sacks, knocking the ball down was huge, especially against (Louisville quarterback) Malik Cunningham.”
“Going back to the defense just for a moment, the good news was when they did get hit in the mouth, when they did get embarrassed, they turned it on and kicked some tail today, which was great to see,” Richt added.
Mac Lain added that Clemson’s defensive showing was the most important piece of Saturday’s game in his eyes.
“That was the aspect that we thought was going to be very dominant, elite, one-of-a-kind type stuff that quite frankly we have not seen this year yet,” he said. “They’re getting better, they’re figuring out, they’re putting stuff together. But why does it take a loss, why does it take an embarrassing loss to step up and show great effort and to show that you want to be there and dominate, but that’s what they did.”
Clemson clinched the ACC Atlantic Division outright with the victory, and while the Tigers are currently on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff, another playoff appearance this season isn’t out of the question for Dabo Swinney’s team just yet.
After concluding the regular season with back-to-back home games against Miami and South Carolina over the next two weekends – beginning with Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. contest against the Hurricanes on ESPN – the Tigers will take on North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 3 (8 p.m., ABC).
“At the end of the day, a lot of goals still out there for Clemson,” Mac Lain said. “Chaos can happen, and who knows what you get. But I thought it was also great to see the confidence from DJ, to run him early, which really affected him in a positive way.”
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