Clemson Intimidated Louisville Like Champions are Supposed to

Tigers came out swinging and never stopped

Kevin Vandervort / All Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. — While everyone was crying, moaning, and complaining following Clemson’s loss at Notre Dame, the Tigers were working.

They were working to get back to a style and physicality we have learned to expect from a Dabo Swinney coached football team. Tenth-ranked Clemson is not used to being intimidated. It does the intimidating.

That’s why it was so stunning to see Notre Dame push around the Tigers the way it did last week in South Bend. That’s why it led writers like me to suddenly question this Clemson team and wonder if they could get off the mat and respond like so many of their Clemson brothers have done in the past.

They did.

Though their 31-16 victory over Louisville was not perfect by any stretch on Saturday, the Tigers did display an element that has been missing from this team for a few weeks now. They can be intimidating when they want to.

There was no question that Clemson intimidated the Cardinals at Memorial Stadium. From the jump, it was obvious how Saturday’s game was going to go.

On the game’s opening possession, Clemson drove the ball 75 yards in 12 plays, capped off with DJ Uiagalelei’s 11-yard touchdown. The defense then followed with a quick three-and-out, and just like that the theme of the afternoon was set.

“I love how they responded. They responded like champions,” Swinney said after the game. “You go back to work. You let everyone else pout, cry, moan and groan and you get yourself up and go back to work. And that is what they did. I am just proud of the team.”

Swinney should be proud. For a whole week, all his players heard from writers, such as myself, others in the media and the fans was how bad Clemson played at Notre Dame and how they do no deserve to be in the top 10.

Some, like me, questioned the Tigers’ toughness and wondered if they could actually come back to Death Valley and beat a Louisville squad that had won four straight games. This was a Cardinals team that won each of their last four games by 20.5 points. Its defense led the nation in sacks and in forced turnovers.

With the way Clemson was playing as of late, it did not seem like a good mix.

We all should have known better. No one comes into Death Valley and pushes Clemson around, especially a team that has yet to beat the Tigers on the gridiron.

No team has protected their house better than Clemson in the College Football Playoff era. The Tigers are 58-1 at Memorial Stadium since the start of the 2014 season. They currently own the nation’s longest home-winning win streak with 39 victories in a row.

And Saturday, they made Louisville understand why that was the case. Clemson ran for 248 yards on offense, while the defense harassed quarterbacks Malik Cunningham and Brock Domann the entire game.

The Tigers record nine tackles for loss, four of which were sacks. They held the Cardinals to 3-of-14 on third down, forced two turnovers and had seven quarterback pressures.

Yes, Clemson’s offense turned the ball over three times. Yes, the defense gave up 400 yards. But once the Tigers went up 10-0 in the first quarter, did we ever feel like they were going to lose.

I did not. Why?

Because Clemson got off the mat and responded like a champion does when they get knocked down. They got up and started swinging.

They intimidated Louisville from the jump, like champions are supposed to do.

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