Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino Previews Saturday’s Game Against the Clemson Tigers
The big matchup between No. 3 Clemson and No. 14 Louisville is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, and ESPN’s College Gameday will be at Papa John’s Stadium in Louisville, KY.
On Monday, Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino previewed the matchup. Petrino seemed to be in a good mood by evidence of a few smiles and a sense of excitement, when talking about the prime time ACC showdown.
“Obviously, looking forward to Saturday. Should be fun, exciting time for us to have Gameday coming back again.” He said, “Last year, I know was a real special time for our players and coaches, families, and fans. So hopefully, it will be the same type of experience this year.”
One player who will miss the game is running back Jeremy Smith. He won’t play because of a broken foot and is done for the season. Smith had 51 yards on 8 carries and a 34 yard gain in the Clemson 42-36 victory last season. Another player who could miss the game is preseason All-American and Jim Thorpe award candidate, cornerback Jaire Alexander. In the 2016 thriller, Alexander kept the Cardinals in the game with his two interceptions and forced fumble. Petrino on the status of Alexander.
“Jaire(Alexander) has made a lot of improvement. He’s still day-to-day. I’m not sure exactly on him.”
If Alexander doesn’t play, senior Ronald Walker and true freshman Russ Yeast will continue to get more snaps.
Smith is a big running back at 6 foot 2 and 224 pounds. And without him, sophomore Malik Williams and freshman Colin Wilson are expected to help starter Reggie Bonnafon carry the rushing load. Petrino is comfortable with using either of them and with each one of them being similar in size to Smith. He feels that they are also physical enough to help in pass protection.
Williams had 149 yards on 13 carries and a 75 yard run against North Carolina on Saturday.
Last year against the Cardinals, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson hit on 20-31 pass attempts, had 305 yards passing yards with 5 touchdowns. He also had 91 rushing yards. On Saturday, Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant was the Clemson offense in the 14-6 win over Auburn. Bryant accounted for 240 of the Tigers’ 285 yards. Even without Watson, Petrino thinks Clemson football is in good hands with Bryant at the helm.
"It doesn’t seem like they’re changing a whole lot. He’s a really good player. He had a great game the other night. Auburn’s a very good defense. But he kept his poise and came back from coming out of the game from when he got hit. Showed a lot of maturity and toughness. I think one of the things that we know is that he’s a very good runner, physical runner…….I was impressed by his deep ball too."
According to Petrino, having to face quarterback Lamar Jackson during camp will help his defense be prepared for Bryant. Petrino said that he will also use athletic freshman quarterback Malik Cunningham to play the role of Bryant in practice.
He wants to stop Bryant and feels it will be very important for them to stop the run in general. After two games, his team has only allowed 68 rushing yards on 44 carries.
Petrino is definitely impressed by Bryant but couldn’t hold back a smile, when he was asked about his own quarterback.
“He’s a great player.” You watch him the other day. You go like wow, this guy is pretty good.”
Petrino is particularly happy about Jackson’s maturity, progression and work ethic. All of which are showing up on the field and makes him tougher to defend.
Like everyone else around college football, he heard about the 11 sacks by the Clemson defense. So what does he think about the defense?
“Well, they’re very good up front. They got two big, physical fast defensive tackles. Two really good guys on the edge…..” He later talked about protecting against sacks, “You have to be balanced…..those guys can really rush the passer, and they have good schemes to do it besides just the four man rush.”
Death Valley was rocking last year and the Louisville fans and players have been waiting for their turn to host the rematch. Petrino said that the crowd will be a factor and can ultimately affect the Clemson offensive line.
"It can make all the difference in the world. I’m telling you one thing about our crowd and this goes way back to the Elvis days. Is there’s a reason why we have a lot of sacks at home on third down. Our ability to be loud and our ability to get off on the rush, on the snap of the quarterback and the tackles. It’s hard on tackles, when you’re on third down and it’s really loud. There’s no question that our crowd has done that for us before, but we just have to take it up another notch this week."
Clemson right tackles Sean Pollard and Tremayne Anchrum really struggled in the Auburn game, so both better be able to block out the crowd noise or it could be a long night for Bryant.
With Louisville being at home, the Clemson Tigers will have to be poised despite facing a hungry Louisville team and a raucous crowd.
At the ACC Kickoff Media Day, Jaire Alexander on what Papa John’s Stadium would be like for this game.
“Papa John’s will be rocking live in effect.”