For Clemson, Louisville win a relief ... and a reminder of what still needs fixing
Winning covers up a lot.
For Clemson on Friday night, that included:
Getting outgained by 77 yards (385-308).
Allowing a season-worst 5.7 yards per rush.
Going a season-worst 1 for 13 on third downs.
And, most notably, fumbling the ball on back-to-back plays on the 1-yard line while trailing by six points in the fourth quarter: Once on a cutesy run to a defensive tackle out of a jumbo package that appears to have run its course, and once when the senior quarterback simply … handed the ball off to the wrong guy.
Over time, those will become nothing but footnotes to Clemson’s 20-19 upset win over No. 20 Louisville on Friday night at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. The Tigers found a way to gut out a conference win and put themselves in great position to make a bowl after a 3-5 start.
But those errors are also a reminder that coach Dabo Swinney’s team still has a lot of work to do as it wraps up 2025 – and, as Swinney said postgame, builds toward its “next championship,” which they’re hoping comes as early as 2026.
“We put some bad stuff on tape that we’ll have to clean up,” Swinney said.
Lingering concerns after Louisville win
Expectations have been adjusted for this year’s Clemson team, and rightfully so. The Tigers aren’t the preseason machine everyone thought they would be, primed to cruise through the ACC and into the College Football Playoff as a contender.
They’re a 5-5 football team that has stuck together amid a disappointing season and deserves credit for finding a way to best Louisville, even if it was in “drunk ACC game” fashion and mostly because their opponent couldn’t make a kick.
The concerns still stand, though:
Shouldn’t a defensive line with four starters who could all be playing in the NFL next season be able to stop basic stretch run plays out of I-formation? Shouldn’t a third-year offensive coordinator with good weapons at his disposal dial up more than screens on third down? Shouldn’t a third-year starting QB know which player he’s handing the ball off to on a gotta-have-it fourth and goal from the 1-yard line?
The same issues that plagued Clemson in its five losses popped up again vs. Louisville – not to as extreme of a level, but there for anyone watching to see.
UL clearly saw something on film in the way Clemson was defending the run and came out of halftime ready to exploit it. The Cardinals ran for 100 of their 177 non-sack rushing yards in the third quarter alone, and stud running back Keyjaun Brown had runs of 21, 11, 24 and 25 yards in that period.
And with dozens of scouts in the building, Clemson’s defense – loaded with big names like potential first-rounders Peter Woods and T.J. Parker, and other solid players like Will Heldt and Sammy Brown – couldn’t find a way to stop it.
“It was painful to watch,” Swinney said of the team’s rushing defense. “Really was. But, hey, we hung in there. We overcame it, and it’ll make us better.”
One week after Cal picked apart Louisville’s secondary for nine separate passing plays of 15 or more yards, Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley’s group mustered just three passes of 15-plus – and they were constantly throwing short of the sticks on third downs, leading to a 7% conversion rate.
“We had some miscues,” Swinney said. “You look at one of 13, it probably should’ve been, at a minimum, four of 13. Still ain’t good. But at least it feels a little better.”
And no quarterback is perfect, but you’d expect Klubnik to have the playcall down and know which person in the backfield is supposed to touch the ball in the fourth quarter of his 37th career start and 47th overall appearance with the Tigers.
But instead of handing off to Randall (who should’ve gotten the ball on the previous down anyway), Klubnik stuck it into the belly of Woods, the fullback, who wasn’t expecting the ball and had fumbled on his last touch. That gaffe turns disastrous if Clemson doesn’t follow it up with a tidy defensive stop and score.
“Just a miscommunication,” Klubnik said postgame
“That was just unbelievable,” Swinney said (he didn’t use the word positively).
Little mistakes add up over time
In the short term, deficiencies like that could spell doom against rival South Carolina, which has won two of the last three meetings with Clemson and hosts the Tigers in Columbia two weeks from now, and Clemson’s TBD bowl opponent.
In the long term, they raise questions about who Swinney needs on staff and who Clemson needs to recruit to shake loose the problems that’ve followed them for years now: Critical turnovers, questionable playcalling in big moments, inconsistency on defense, what feels like a lack of true “dudes” across the board.
Swinney and athletic director Graham Neff have dropped hints that this will be an offseason of change for Clemson football that’ll truly get that process in motion. In the meantime, Clemson is now in position to go from a 3-5 start to an 8-5 finish, if they win out their remaining regular-season schedule and bowl.
As Saturday’s Louisville game showed, though, finding a way to win is one thing. Doing the things required to win – and keep winning – is harder.
Even as this season wraps up, Clemson (and its fans) should keep that in mind.
“We were bad,” Swinney said. “We just didn’t do some basic stuff. But the game is to have one more point than the opponent. Never more true than tonight.”
Next Clemson game
- Who: Clemson (5-5) vs. Furman (6-5)
- When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22
- Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson
- Watch: The CW
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM.
