Louisville (7-2, 4-2) enters Friday's game on his employer's network (7:30 p.m./ESPN) trending down out of a home overtime loss to Cal, 29-26, while Clemson hopes to be on the upswing after a 24-10 home victory over Florida State.
McElroy sees the trends continuing.
"I'm buying that the swagger that Clemson carried with them last week -- I think it carries over. I think Clemson might have turned the corner. I'm going to take the Tigers on the road. I think they will get a hard-fought and resilient victory against the Louisville Cardinals," McElroy said on his podcast this week.
McElroy pointed to the possible return of linebacker Stanquan Clark (ankle) as a boost to the Cardinals. Clark was listed as probable (likely to play) on Wednesday's initial ACC availability report. Clark hasn't played since suffering the ankle injury against James Madison on Sept. 5, but he ranked second on the team in TFLs (7.5) and tackles (82) last season.
McElroy had two keys to the game found with QB and O-line play.
"The strength of Clemson's team is on the defensive line," McElroy said. "Still a pretty nasty front-seven, including two of the best D-linemen in college football with T.J. Parker on the edge and Peter Woods on the interior. This front generated six sacks in their most recent performance against Florida State, and they're going against an offensive line that has had some challenges this year. I think Louisville's offensive line actually played decent against Cal, so maybe progress is being made upfront offensively, but I think they're going to have their hands full for sure."
As for the QBs:
"Which quarterback do you give the advantage to?...(Klubnik) has really battled throughout this season," McElroy said. "He was very efficient in the Florida State game...This resurgence will probably face its toughest test yet. Louisville is a Top 30 pass defense that has been pretty good when it comes to affecting the opposing quarterback, so a very tough matchup for Cade Klubnik, especially knowing he might be without some weaponry in the wide receiver room.
"Miller Moss on the other side has had a pretty decent season, but things are maybe heading back down a little bit after the embarrassing loss to Cal where he threw 38 passes for just 203 yards. Did have an interception and took a really bad sack at the end of regulation, but here's the good news, he's going against a pretty vulnerable pass defense, which is currently in the 100s in yards per game given up through the air."
Louisville is currently a 2.5-point favorite for the matchup.
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