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He’s called Big Game Brohm for a reason.
And Louisville’s Jeff Brohm showed why.
Brohm’s Cardinals enhanced their coach’s reputation for knocking off nationally ranked opponents on Saturday while throwing Clemson’s ACC championship and College Football Playoff hopes into serious doubt by marching into Death Valley and upsetting No. 11 Clemson.
The 33-21 victory is Louisville’s second against a highly-ranked team in Brohm’s 2 seasons at his alma mater. The Cardinals also took down No. 10 Notre Dame last season. Prior to coming to Louisville, Brohm’s teams at Purdue scored 3 wins against top 5 opponents and 4 others ranked in the top 25.
This victory wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates. The Cardinals opened up a lead by scoring on 5 straight possessions between the second and third quarters, and used an aggressive defense to keep the Tigers’ usually high-powered offense out of rhythm to keep Clemson from generating a serious comeback effort.
Here are 3 takeaways from Louisville’s first win in 9 tries against the Tigers since joining the ACC:
Cardinals kept it on the ground
Louisville came into the game with a banged-up offensive line, with starting left tackle Monroe Mills among the missing in action. But you never would have known it the way the Cardinals’ offense functioned at Death Valley on Saturday.
The makeshift line kept quarterback Tyler Shough clean all night by not allowing a sack. It was even more effective in the running game in clearing the way for 210 rushing yards and an impressive 7.8 yards per carry.
Freshman Isaac Brown led the way with 151 yards on 20 carries, a career-best performance punctuated by a game-clinching 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Brown’s previous high was 146 yards in a win against Virginia. Wide receiver Chris Bell also pitched in with a 47-yard gain on a reverse while Shough scored a rushing touchdown with a 4-yard hurdle just before halftime.
Louisville’s block party
Special teams have been big for the Cardinals all season. But they were especially special on Saturday with a pair of blocked field goals.
The first came just before halftime as Clemson lined up for a 49-yard field goal that would have tied the game at 10. Instead, linebacker TJ Quinn came flying in unblocked from the right edge to get his hand on the kick. That allowed Shough and the offense to drive 47 yards on 6 plays in the opposite direction for a touchdown that sent Louisville into halftime with a 17-7 advantage.
The Cardinals carried the momentum into the second half by adding field goals of their own on their first 3 possessions. Then, with the Tigers looking to cut into Louisville’s 26-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, D’Angelo Hutchinson blocked Hauser’s 24-yard attempt.
It marks the second time this season that the Cardinals have blocked 2 kicks in a game. They blocked a pair of punts in their season-opening win against Austin Peay. They also blocked a field goal against Georgia Tech that was returned for a game-clinching 55-yard touchdown by TJ Quinn.
The 5 blocked kicks would tie the Cardinals for the FBS lead. ACC rivals Florida State and Georgia Tech began the week at No. 1 with 5 each.
Clemson’s lack of urgency
Dabo Swinney will never be confused for Mario Cristobal when it comes to questionable clock management. And yet, some of his decisions in the fourth quarter as his team tried to rally from a 3-score deficit seemed to come right out of the Miami coach’s playbook.
The Tigers didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry in the second half, continuing to huddle and running the play clock down even as their deficit continued to grow. Then there was the play calling.
Even as the clock began to work against it, Clemson continued to run the ball. Some of that had to do with the success of Phil Mafah – who picked up his 5th 100-yard game of the season by rushing for 171 yards on 30 carries – combined with the lack of success by quarterback Cade Klubnik.
But the most head-scratching instance came after Mafah scored on a 3-yard run with 6 minutes remaining. Instead of going for 2 in an attempt to cut the deficit to 11, Swinney opted to kick the extra point – meaning that his team would need 2 touchdowns to win, rather than just a touchdown (plus the 2-point conversion) and field goal to tie.
Either way, it ended up becoming a moot point when Louisville recovered the onside kick, then got a late touchdown to put the game away.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
