Clemson Tigers Stars Predicted to Have Explosive Performances Against Louisville

The Clemson Tigers face what may be their biggest challenge since week one on Saturday, but could still receive explosive performances from two of their biggest stars.

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers may not have faced the toughest schedule to this point in the season, outside of their week one loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, but they do have one of their toughest matchups coming up this weekend.

While the Tigers have been a dominant force on both sides of the ball, it has been quite some time since they have faced a team as good as the Louisville Cardinals, who do have three losses, but they have all come by seven points against ranked opponents.

While that is not the most promising of trends for Clemson as they come off their bye week, there could be some factors of this game that play highly in their favor.

Even with the 5-3 record, the Cardinals' defense has not been as good of a unit as it was just last season.

"Louisville’s defense isn’t nearly as good as it was last year," writes Manny Navarro of The Athletic, "ranking 82nd nationally in yards per passing attempt allowed (7.4) and 58th in stopping the run (136.3 yards per game)."

It is a trend that bodes well for two of the Tigers' offensive superstars, junior quarterback Cade Klubnick and senior running back Phil Mafah.

"Cade Klubnik (250-plus passing yards, two TDs) and Phil Mafah (100-plus rushing yards, two TDs)," predicts Navarro, "do enough for the Tigers to cover the spread in a nine-point Clemson win."

It would be yet another in a long line of dominant offensive showings for Clemson, something that has become their calling card under head coach Dabo Swinney.

For Klubnik, it would mark the fifth time this season that the superstar threw for 250 or more yards in a single game, and the seventh time that he tallied two or more touchdown passes.

In fact, Klubnik has tallied less than two touchdown passes in a game this year only once, in week one against the Bulldogs when the entire team failed to score a single touchdown.

For Mafah, it would mark the fifth time this season that the star ran for 100 or more yards in a single game and the third time that he tallied two or more touchdowns.

It has been something of a streak of late for the running back, as Mafah has tallied exactly two touchdowns on the ground in each of the Tigers' last two games.

It will take another strong offensive showing from Clemson this week to keep them on the winning streak that they have made over the last two months, and Louisville may be just the team to let it happen.