Clemson’s rollercoaster season on the ground went back on the upswing Saturday.
After its best rushing performance of the season just a few weeks ago against Syracuse, the Tigers dipped to their worst showing on the ground a week ago against Notre Dame. Clemson mustered 90 yards in that 35-14 loss on just 25 attempts, getting away from the running game even when the game was still in reach.
On Saturday, the Tigers went to the ground early and often, finding their collective footing again with 248 rushing yards.
“I felt like we needed to (recommit to the running game) after last week,” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “We know we can run the football. We keep feeding those backs, and they’re going to find way sot make big plays.”
Phil Mafah led the way with a season-high 106 yards on just 10 carries while Will Shipley averaged 5.1 yards on his 19 carries. The former five-star recruit produced the biggest highlight with a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter in which he hurled a Louisville defender on his way to the end zone.
After pounding on Louisville defense time and time again with 45 rush attempts, Mafah finally broke the Cardinals when he busted free for a 39-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter that gave Clemson its largest lead at 31-10.
And D.J. Uiagalelei was a part of the mix again. Uiagalelei, who was averaging more than 44 yards a game on the ground coming in, had just 23 rushing yards against Notre Dame, most of that a result of four sacks that counted against his rushing total. But Clemson also didn’t call his number nearly as often on designed runs. His first against Notre Dame didn’t come until the third quarter.
But the Tigers started Saturday’s game with a pair of called runs for their 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback that resulted in a first down, and Clemson continued to use his legs afterward to lean on the Cardinals’ defense. While his rushing total (32 yards) was again affected by a pair of sacks, Uiagalelei finished with 15 carries – six more than he had the previous week.
“I felt like D.J. has run the ball really, really well when we’ve given him an opportunity to do so,” Streeter said. “That’s a big deal for an offense when you’ve got multiple ways to run the football. It makes it really, really hard on that defense, especially when they’re a defense that’s bringing a lot of pressure.”
The Tigers came into the game with the nation’s 49th-ranked rushing offense, a respectable spot that put Clemson among the top third among FBS teams. But Clemson was averaging just 142 rushing yards against teams not named Syracuse and Louisiana Tech, which statistically owns the worst run defense in the country.
Against Louisville, though, the ground game came through against a Cardinals’ unit that began the day yielding the 25th-fewest rush yards in the country on a per-game basis. Louisville also came into the game 11th nationally in tackles for loss, using plenty of different looks and pressures to wreak havoc up front and force an FBS-leading 24 turnovers coming into the day.
The Cardinals forced Clemson into three more, two of those coming on fumbles by Uiagalelei and Shipley. But the Tigers also ripped off their share of chunks on the ground, finishing the day at 5.5 yards per tote.
“I really think our guys did a great job all week long of fitting up some of the runs we had game-planned against this defense,” Streeter said. “And they just worked their tails off all week. A lot of studying and a lot of working together.
“We talked about communication all week long too, so that was a big thing for us up front is making sure they were communicating. That way, they’re making the right calls. And that way, we can pick up all the different stuff they were bringing. The communication was probably the biggest piece to the puzzle.”
The Tigers did it without starting right guard Walker Parks, who missed his first game of the season with an injury. Mitchell Mayes filled in there and helped pave the way for the Tigers’ third-best rushing performance of the season.
“Our scout teams did a great job of giving us great looks because they’re all over the place,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said of Louisville’s defense. “There’s a lot of pressure, but just good communication and IDing things.
“We can finish it a little bit better, but it was, all in all, a really good day running the football.”
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