Clemson comes one step closer to bowl eligibility with 20-19 win over No. 20 Louisville
Clemson walked out of L&N Stadium on Friday night with a win, and it probably owes at least a thank-you note to Louisville’s kicking operation.
Two missed field goals, a missed extra point, and a late 50-yard attempt that never had a chance gave the Tigers the margin they never created for themselves. In a season spent living on the edge, this one was decided by which team blinked more — and No. 20-ranked Louisville (7-3, 4-3) blinked just enough for Clemson (5-5, 4-4) to sneak out of the stadium with a 20–19 win.
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The Tigers’ offense looked like what it has been all year: cautious, controlled, and entirely dependent on whatever Adam Randall can create.
Cade Klubnik finished 22-of-34 for 187 yards, efficient on paper but without a single throw that tilted the field. Clemson’s longest completion went just 22 yards.
Most of the night was spent working within five yards of the line of scrimmage, hoping something eventually broke open. Not much did.
What did work was Randall, and it’s becoming a pattern the staff doesn’t bother hiding.
The sophomore carried Clemson again, rushing for 105 yards on 15 carries with both touchdowns.
His 46-yard burst was Clemson’s only true explosive play, and without him the Tigers’ ground game was stale.
The box score makes the point better than anything else: remove Randall, and Clemson averaged one yard per rush. With him, the offense had a pulse.
The defense had to do the rest, and for the most part it did.
Louisville ran the ball well — Keyjuan Brown gashed Clemson repeatedly and finished with 135 yards on 15 carries — but the Cardinals rarely turned those big runs into finishing blows.
Miller Moss threw for 212 yards without being intercepted and found chunk gains down the sideline, including a 48-yard strike to Caullin Lacy.
Louisville moved the ball. What it couldn’t do was turn movement into points.
That’s where Clemson’s defense showed up.
Sammy Brown played like the guy Clemson has been building around, piling up double-digit tackles and slipping into the backfield just enough to disrupt timing.
Corian Gipson and Avieon Terrell spent most of the night cleaning up open-field tackles, and Terrell delivered the turning point when he ripped the ball out of Duke Watson’s hands and fell on it himself.
Clemson didn’t pressure Moss consistently with just one sack all night, but it tightened in the spots where Louisville needed it least.
And then Louisville kept helping them.
Drives that looked promising stalled at the edge of field-goal range.
A makeable kick sailed wide. An extra point hooked. A fourth-quarter opportunity drifted right from the moment it left the ground.
Louisville got inside Clemson’s 35 five times and walked away with nineteen points. Even average kicking wins the game.
Clemson contributed its own chaos, of course.
A fumble, nearly two, in critical spots, including a reverse to Peter Woods that lost double-digit yardage. A shanked punt. A botched option pitch. It was a familiar mixture of self-inflicted mistakes and narrow escapes, the type Clemson has been stuck in for two seasons now.
But when the game tightened late, Clemson finally finished a drive. Randall powered in from the 1 with just over seven minutes left, and Louisville never answered. The Cardinals’ final two possessions gained 23 total yards. Their last real chance was a 50-yard field goal attempt that fluttered harmlessly, another gift in a night full of them.
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It wasn’t dominant. It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t anything Clemson can point to as proof of a corner turned. But it was enough. Enough defense to bend without breaking. Enough Randall to overcome a stagnant passing game. Enough composure in the final moments to walk out with the win Louisville kept offering.
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At 5–5 Clemson doesn’t have the luxury of style points, but now the Tigers just have to beat Furman for a bowl berth. Surviving nights like this might be the only path forward and on Friday night, Louisville made sure survival was still on the table.
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