JACKSON TO TEST CLEMSON DEFENSE
Tigers’ advantage might be dominant defensive line
Lamar Jackson is, as Clemson’s Dabo Swinney put it, “as good a player as there is on the planet.”
What does that make the Clemson defensive line? Last Saturday, the No. 2 Tigers’ front chewed up No. 17 Auburn and its quarterback, Jarrett Stidham, to the tune of 11 sacks and 14 tackles for losses. To see one ranked team do that to another is rare, to put it lightly. Consider that Auburn hadn’t allowed more than 19 sacks in any individual season since Gus Malzahn’s arrival in 2013.
Saturday’s prime-time affair at No. 14 Louisville will match Lamar Jackson against the world — or against Clemson’s ferocious defensive front, at least. This isn’t new in the general sense: Jackson has put the Cardinals on his back since ascending to the starting role, notably in a transcendent sophomore campaign that culminated with the Heisman Trophy.
Boiled down, this key matchup within the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division will come down to only a handful of factors. Can Jackson get loose? Can Louisville’s maligned offensive front — which has struggled along the interior in particular — handle Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Clelin Ferrell and the rest? And can the Tigers run the football effectively after misfiring in the win against Auburn?
There’s no corralling Jackson, as Clemson has learned the hard way. In last year’s 42-36 Clemson win, Jackson threw for 295 yards and added 162 on the ground with three total scores; even in defeat, he cemented his place as the Heisman front-runner.
Swinney called this season’s meeting “Part 2,” praising Jackson’s clear development since the meeting last October.
“He’s just a more mature player, bigger, stronger,” Swinney said. “He just has a great feel for the game. And he’s still a guy you can be in great position with but you’ve still got to get your hands on him and get him down, which is easier said than done. He’s a dangerous football player, no different than last year.”
Jackson alone gives Louisville more than a puncher’s chance on any given Saturday, as we’ve seen since the start of last season. But to beat Clemson — winners of seven in a row dating to last season — will demand substantial improvement along the offensive front, which has been hampered by penalties through two weeks; the Cardinals committed 10 falsestart penalties in the win against Purdue alone, for example.
The line is under the microscope against a defense that might be defined by the nation’s top front four but has no weak links from front to back, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said.
“They’re big, fast and physical. Obviously, they’re a great defensive front. Linebackers that can really run. They do a good job in the secondary. They’re very solid across the board.”
Though not a question mark leading into the season — nor a real concern overall after two games — Clemson’s own offensive line misfired badly in the running game against Auburn, leading to team totals of 96 yards rushing on 36 carries.
It’s reasonable to say that the game within the game will come entirely in the trenches. Louisville needs to protect Jackson. Clemson needs to fend off the Cardinals’ underrated front seven to develop an offensive tempo predicated on success on the ground.
And a fourth question might be: Can Louisville find a way to convert late? The last three meetings in this series, all Clemson wins, have been decided by a combined
15 points. A year ago, the Cardinals’ final play ended at the Tigers’ 3-yard line. In a 23-17 loss in
2014, Louisville’s last play came at Clemson’s 2.
“They made the plays when the pressure was on, and we weren’t able to convert when the pressure was on,” Petrino said.
Pressure? Just wait for kickoff in prime time on Saturday. A short list of what’s at stake includes the driver’s seat in the Atlantic Division, the edge in the clubhouse for the ACC at large and, without too much exaggeration, a leg up in the race for the College Football Playoff.
That’s new ground for Louisville. Not so for Clemson.
“This is just a part of the journey,” Swinney said. “We can’t win the division; we can’t lose it. But we certainly have an opportunity to really create good momentum toward our next goal, which is to win this division and this conference.”
OLD DOMINION’S SECOND SHOT AT UNC
Asked in the offseason if he remembers Old Dominion’s previous matchup with North Carolina, Bobby Wilder offered up a wry smile and little more. But the insinuation was clear: Of course Wilder and ODU remember the last time — and only time — they kicked off against the Tar Heels.
How could the Monarchs forget? It was ODU’s finale of 2013, with the program still in the process of transitioning to full-fledged FBS status, while a win for UNC would secure bowl eligibility in Larry Fedora’s second season. The matchup marked ODU’s fourth game against a member of the FBS, on the heels of September losses to East Carolina and Maryland and a win just two weeks prior at Idaho.
And it was 14-13 at the end of the first quarter — not too bad, right? Then 49-13 at halftime. Then 56-13 one drive into the second half. Then 80-20 at the end of the third quarter. Cue the shortened clock: ODU and UNC agreed to trim the final quarter to 10 minutes, not 15, keeping the final score at that 60-point margin.
Even for a young program, birthed just four seasons prior in 2009, it was a brutal Saturday. Another four years later, the Monarchs get another shot: UNC comes to Norfolk, Va., this weekend, reeling after two losses to open the season, and ODU takes aim at the first victory in program history against a member of the Power Five.
“If you look at it, we’ve had so many firsts. There have been so many firsts in the history of this program, going up to the big one last year, which was the bowl game,” Wilder said this week. “I don’t look at it like there’s a timetable on it. I don’t look at it like this has to happen, I look at it more as we’ve just got to continue to develop as a program. It’s going to happen eventually.”
GAMES YOU SHOULDN’T MISS
It’s impossible to watch every game. (I know. I’ve tried.) Until the invention of picture-in-picture-in-picture television technology, I’m here to help. In each time window, here are this Saturday’s games you can’t afford to miss (times Eastern):
Noon: UCLA at Memphis (ABC). An early start on the East Coast against a very good Memphis team should have the Bruins on upset alert.
3:30 p.m.: No. 23 Tennessee at No. 25 Florida (CBS). It’s a certainty that one of the two fan bases will be in utter revolt by the time this one ends.
Prime time: No. 2 Clemson at No. 14 Louisville (8 p.m., ABC). Seeing Lamar Jackson go up against this defense is worth more than the price of admission.
After dark: No. 19 Stanford at San Diego State (10:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network). Let’s see if the Cardinal can bounce back against what again could be the best team from the Mountain West Conference.