Clemson vs. Louisville prediction: Tigers aim to keep unbeaten streak against Cards alive

Clemson takes on Louisville at 7:30 pm Saturday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Fri Nov 05 15:12:03 GMT-04:00 2021

Louisville entered the ACC back in 2013 and early on had their sights set on the league’s best program, Clemson. There have been blowouts and there have been thrillers, but the Cardinals have yet to knock off the Tigers. Can they end that streak Saturday at home?

Clemson’s offense has struggled this season but the Tigers still have an outside shot at the ACC Atlantic Division title. Louisville stands at 4-4 and looks to get over the hump with a win against the team everyone wants to beat.

Following a chilly night, one of those teams will be happy.

NR/RV CLEMSON (5-3, 4-2 ACC) at LOUISVILLE (4-4, 2-3 ACC)

WHEN: SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 7:30 P.M. ET
CARDINAL STADIUM, LOUISVILLE, KY (60,800)
TELEVISION: ACC Network (Dave O'Brien, Tim Hasselbeck, Kelsey Riggs)
RADIO: Clemson Athletic Network (Don Munson, Tim Bourret, Reggie Merriweather)
RADIO: Westwood One (Tom McCarthy, Ross Tucker)
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius 137, XM 382, Internet 972

CLEMSON/LOUISVILLE SERIES HISTORY

OVERALL: Clemson leads series, 6-0
HOME: Clemson leads series, 3-0
ROAD: Clemson leads series, 3-0
LAST MEETING: Nov. 19, 2019 (45-10, W)
STREAK: Clemson, Won 6

NOTABLE

*Clemson enters Saturday night's contest with a sterling 6-0 all-time record against Louisville dating to the teams' first meeting in 2014. After the first three games in the series were decided by a combined 15 points total, the Tigers won the three most recent meetings from 2017-19 by an average margin of 40.7 points per game.

*Clemson is attempting to score at least 40 points in five straight games in a series with a single opponent for only the third time in school history. Clemson scored 42, 47, 77 and 45 points in its last four meetings with Louisville. Clemson scored at least 40 in six straight games against Presbyterian from 1947-52, in five straight games against SC State from 2008-21, and in four straight games against The Citadel from 2008-20. Louisville was the first current FBS program against which Clemson scored 40 points in four consecutive games in a series. Clemson enters the game averaging 42.3 points per game against Louisville in six all-time meetings, Clemson’s highest all-time scoring average against an opponent presently in a Power Five conference.

*Clemson is attempting to improve to 29-4 in true road games since 2015. It would give Clemson victories in 45 of its last 54 games away from home overall.

*Clemson is also attempting to defeat an ACC Atlantic Division opponent for the 41st time in its last 43 opportunities. Those figures include games against traditional Atlantic opponents in a divisionless season in 2020.

*Clemson is attempting to improve to 114-13 against AP-unranked teams under Dabo Swinney. A win would make Clemson 91-3 against unranked teams since the start of the 2012 season.

*Clemson is attempting to improve to 39-7 in night games since 2015 and 20-4 in those contests since the start of the 2018 season.

*Clemson is attempting to stay undefeated on ACC Network broadcasts since appearing in the channel's first live game broadcast in the 2019 season opener. Clemson went 4-0 on ACCN in 2019, 3-0 on ACCN in 2020 and is 2-0 on the network this season.

*The Cardinals have 115 players on the 2021 roster. Of that number, the roster is comprised of 12 seniors, 20 juniors, 13 sophomores, and 70 freshmen.

*Under head coach Scott Satterfield, Louisville is 13-1 (.928) when leading at the half. Louisville held a 21-7 lead over Boston College last Saturday and held on to win 28-14 at Cardinal Stadium. Louisville’s only loss under Satterfield came on Oct. 2, 2020 when they held a 21-14 advantage over Georgia Tech before falling 46-27.

WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN FOR A CLEMSON WIN

*Stop Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham. Cunningham accounted for 295 yards of total offense — 76 on the ground and 219 through the air — in Louisville’s 28-13 loss at NC State. He moved into fifth place in school history in total offense with 9,202 yards. Louisville out-gained NC State 434-361 — the seventh loss in 13 games where they lost when out-gaining the opposition. The Cardinals held a 215 to 44-yard advantage on the ground — the fourth-straight game of rushing over 200 yards, and Cunningham is a big part of that. Cunningham is fifth in the ACC in total offense, averaging over 300 yards per game.

*Stop the Cardinals on third down. When the Tigers have struggled on defense, it’s been when mobile quarterbacks keep the play alive and make a big play down the field. The Tigers have to be able to get pressure on Cunningham early in the play and then stop him from moving out of the pocket and either throwing on the run or picking up a big play with his feet. Clemson is in the middle of the pack in opponent third down conversions this season – seventh at 37.01 percent – and have to get the Louisville offense off the field.

*Score points. Finish drives. It sounds simple, but it has been anything but simple for the Clemson offense this season. The Tigers have put drives together but have missed field goals (three last week), turned the ball over, or have had drives stall because of penalties. The offense scored 23 points last week and looked a lot better, but it was far from good. The Cardinals are 10th in the league in total defense, but are fourth against the run. However, they are next to last against the pass and have allowed a whopping 2,251 pass yards this season (better only than Duke).

*Do the little things right. Penalties. Turnovers. Missed blocks. Out of positions. Dropped passes. All of those issues have plagued the Tigers this season and head coach Dabo Swinney has said this team has play undisciplined at the most inopportune times. With the Cardinals smelling blood in the water, the Tigers have to protect the ball and do the little things the right way.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN

We know the Louisville offense can score points, but every Clemson game has been the same this season – a slog, a grind-it-out affair that is never pretty unless you love defense. This will be more of the same. However, I think the offense that has been close to breaking out does break out – not for 600 yards or 40 points – but it takes another step in the right direction and breaks the 400-yard barrier and scores more than 24 points.

FINAL SCORE: CLEMSON 27, LOUISVILLE 20

More TigerNet picks

Mickey Plyler - The Roar 105.5 morning show host - 23-16 Clemson
Nikki Hood - Staff writer - 23-20 Clemson
Brandon Rink - Associate editor - 21-16 Clemson
Tony Crumpton - Associate editor - 24-17 Clemson
Zachary Wagner - Intern - 27-10 Clemson
Jake Pierce - Recruiting reporter - Clemson 23-17
Pigskin Prophet - 27-16 Clemson
Ryan Kantor - Contributing Writer - Clemson 24-21

PREDICTION TRACKER

Game	Actual	David Hood	Plyler	Nikki Hood	Rink	Crumpton	Wagner	Pierce	Prophet	Kantor
Georgia	10-3 UGA	27-20 CU	27-23 CU	24-17 CU	27-23 CU	28-24 CU	28-17 CU	31-20 CU	23-17 CU	-
SC State	49-3 CU	55-3 CU	54-0 CU	56-7 CU	61-7 CU	49-7 CU	55-10 CU	45-0 CU	45-0 CU	-
GT	14-8 CU	41-13 CU	51-10 CU	45-10 CU	45-13 CU	38-7 CU	45-7 CU	38-13 CU	48-10 CU	31-3 CU
NCST	27-21 2OT NCST	23-20 CU	27-13 CU	17-7 CU	24-17 CU	24-9 CU	24-3 CU	28-17 CU	24-16 CU	24-6 CU
BC	19-13 CU	24-20 CU	24-13 CU	24-13 CU	27-17 CU	24-9 CU	24-21 CU	24-20 CU	23-16 CU	23-21 BC
Syracuse	17-14 CU	31-20 CU	31-17 CU	38-14 CU	26-16 CU	27-13 CU	24-13 CU	27-13 CU	30-17 CU	23-13 CU
Pittsburgh	27-17 Pitt	27-23 Pitt	23-21 CU	24-17 Pitt	24-23 Pitt	21-20 Pitt	24-21 CU	31-27 CU	24-23 CU	21-19 Pitt
FSU	30-20 CU	20-13 CU	27-14 CU	28-10 CU	24-17 CU	28-13 CU	27-10 CU	23-14 CU	27-16 CU	24-14 CU
Points	-	6	7	10	6	8	5	5	7	8

* Points: 3 pts for best correct prediction of the week (tiebreaker is Clemson score), 2 pts for picking score exactly, 1 pt for picking the correct winner