Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Clemson

Here are the more significant storylines to follow ahead of Louisville football's matchup vs. Clemson:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a dominant second half effort against James Madison handed them their fourth win in a row, the Louisville football program is heading back on the road and resuming ACC play, traveling down to Death Valley for a showdown with No. 12 Clemson.

Here are some of the more notable storylines heading into Saturday's game:

Injury Report

As you can imagine with it being this late into the season, both Louisville and Clemson are dealing with injuries to key players.

For the Cardinals, despite their figurehead on offense being dinged up, he plans to play through it. Starting quarterback Malik Cunningham suffered an injury to his non-throwing hand in Louisville's win over James Madison, but head coach Scott Satterfield said that Cunningham is "fine," while offensive coordinator Lance Taylor added that he's "not concerned at all" that Cunningham could miss the Clemson game.

Louisville also could be in line to get a valuable depth piece on their offensive line back. After having to miss the last two games due to an ankle sprain suffered against Pitt, offensive guard Luke Kandra is back at practice and is "day-to-day."

As for Clemson, they will be short two impact playmakers against Louisville. Wide receiver Beaux Collins, who is the Tigers' leader in touchdown receptions at five with 308 receiving yards to boot, suffered a separated shoulder against Notre Dame and is out this weekend.

Defensive end Xavier Thomas, who was one of Clemson's linemen last season and has been limited by injuries this year, re-injured his foot ahead of their matchup with Notre Dame and is now out for the season.

Louisville Using Last Year's Clemson Loss as Fuel for Motivation and Confidence

Louisville might be 0-7 against Clemson in the all-time series, but four of those matchups have been decided by just one score, and last year's showdown at Cardinal Stadium was the best shot that the Cardinals have had to date at taking down the Tigers.

Facing 1st and goal on the two-yard line in the final minute and trailing by just six points, Louisville was unable to punch it in, resulting in 30-24 loss. It was also a game where Louisville led 24-17 entering the fourth quarter, and it's a game that has haunted the Cardinals, specifically Cunningham, ever since.

"I still got a bad taste in my mouth," he said following their win over JMU when asked about Clemson. "We got six days to prepare for them. We just got to take the mental aspect to another level, and just dial in on those guys. They're a very good football team, they're well coached. They're not going to give us anything, we got to go in there and take it."

But in the same breath, being able to compete with one of the premier powers in college football does give Louisville some confidence that they can eventually pull off a win. Not many programs have put Clemson on the ropes like Louisville has on a handful of occasions, they just have to finally land the knockout punch.

"They’re obviously a top team last year as well," Satterfield said. "To be able to go toe-to-toe and hang in there and to play and to have a chance at the very end. I thought our guys fought great in that game. We just got to hopefully build off that. ... I really believe our guys will be unfazed by all of that and just go out there and play their game, go out there and continue to do what they’ve been doing the last four games to have success that we’ve been able to have.”

Clemson Still Highly Motivated Despite Notre Dame Loss

On both sides of the ball, Clemson hasn't come close to resembling the team that won the 2016 and 2018 national championship, and finally caught up to them at Notre Dame. The Tigers dug themselves into a 28-0 hole, eventually losing 35-14 to severely impact their chances at making the College Football Playoff.

Still, even though the potential of going undefeated is no longer on the table, that hasn't dampened their overall motivation to finish the season strong.

"There's not anything that we strive for every single year that's not attainable to this team," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "We've won the opener, we can win the division, we can still win the state championship, we can still win this league, and we can still win the closer. So there's not anything... there's only one thing that's off the table for us and that's going undefeated. That ain't gonna happen."

Despite taking a tumble in the CFP rankings, and the outside noise and negativity starting to grow regarding their perceived championship window, the Tigers are remaining locked in and focused on the task at hand.

"I think we just come together, look at the mistakes we made, and find a way to fix those mistakes, tight end Davis Allen said. "To get our eyes ahead to Louisville, get the best game plan we can to beat those guys. We know who we are. This program is built on tough times. And you know, I have no doubt that we'll be just fine and we'll come back strong."

Cardinals Preparing for Both Tigers Quarterbacks

It's no secret that Clemson is in the middle of a quarterback controversy, whether Dabo Swinney wants to call it that or not. D.J. Uiagalelei has been up and down since taking over the starting job in 2021, and his last two games in particular have not been great. Against Syracuse and Notre Dame, he has combined to throw for 329 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

On top of that, Swinney has shown that he is not afraid to insert freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik when he has to, and the former five-star was instrumental in pulling out a win against the Orange two weeks ago. Ahead of their matchup with Clemson, Satterfield said that Louisville is preparing to face both signal callers, but that his guys have to be ready no matter who is in the game.

"Depending on who's in the game, you can maybe tweak how your calls are gonna be, but you're still gonna prepare for that offense the same way, and you just got to be fundamentally sound," he said.

Louisville Staff, In First Matchup at Death Valley, Still Very Familiar With Clemson

Satterfield is preparing to take on Clemson for the third time as the head coach at Louisville, but this will be his first time going to Death Valley since taking over the program. Due to COVID-19 altering the 2020 schedule, both of his prior matchups with the Tigers as the Cardinals' head coach have come at home. 

However, this won't be first time making the journey to Clemson. While still the head coach at Appalachian State, Satterfield's Mountaineers traveled to Death Valley in 2015, and were dealt a 41-10 loss in the process. Now at Louisville, he already knows first-hand how raucous it gets at Clemson.

"It's loud, it's packed, and there's not going to be an empty seat in that place," he said. "You're going to be on the hill. They turned the speakers up wide open. They also scream loud, so yeah, it's a hostile environment for sure and then they have a lot of talented players on the field, they are used to winning. All those things combined are the reason they’ve won 38 in a row there."

As familiar as Satterfield is with Clemson, offensive coordinator Lance Taylor actually has ties to Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney on top of program familiarity. As a wide receiver at Alabama from 1999-2003, Swinney was Taylor's position coach, not to mention that as a position coach at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish faced the Tigers twice in 2020.

"I know those guys well, but this is a different game, we're a different team, completely different on both sides of the ball," Taylor said. "To me, it's a different test. They're playing really well right now. They play great at home, which we know about their home game win streak. Their defense is one of the top in the country, which they always are. They've done a great job. They run the football, they create havoc plays, so it's gonna be a great challenge for us in a great rowdy environment."

Rushing Attack to be Likely Focal Point

While Louisville has struggled to get the passing game going at times, they have countered that with a prolific rushing attack, and it has started to really get going over the last two games.

The Cardinals rushed for 211 yards against Wake Forest and 223 yards against James Madison, and the common thread here has been Tiyon Evans. After going in and out of the lineup over the first half of the year due to various injuries, he has finally found some consistency, rushing for 106 and 126 yards in consecutive games.

"He’s got the juice in the legs when he gets to the second level, he can take it the distance," Satterfield said of Evans. "But also, the power in the box, we saw that last week as well. He’s breaking tackles, he’s spinning, he’s getting up there and getting extra yards. He’s becoming the back that we thought he could be over the last two weeks. For him, he’s going back home to South Carolina, so it’ll be big for him this week to be able to go back home and play Clemson."

Conversely, the Tigers' front seven has been gashed as of late. After allowing just 62.2 rushing yards per game over their first six games of the year, that mark has been 197.7 yards over their last three games, including 263 rushing yards surrendered against Notre Dame last weekend.

"They have a lot of athletes on the team," Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter said. "They have a good O-line, good backs. Obviously, Malik Cunningham's a very dynamic, athletic quarterback. Probably one of the most, if not the most, athletic that we're going to see. We have to be disciplined in our run fits, in our gaps, don't try to do too much."

(Photo of Malik Cunningham: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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