This Friday night, Clemson will be on the road to take on Louisville. It will be the Tigers’ last ACC matchup of the season. A win would have them finish with a .500 record in the conference.
Last season, the Cardinals got the win in Memorial Stadium. That loss almost knocked Clemson out of the ACC Championship game. The biggest reason for the upset was the performance of Cards running back Isaac Brown.
What makes Isaac Brown so Dangerous?
Brown was just a freshman when he put up 151 rushing yards and a touchdown on the Tigers’ defense. Brown went on to finish the season with 1,173 yards, and 11 touchdowns in his first season at the collegiate level. This won him the ACC offensive and overall Rookie of the Year in 2024.
In his first eight appearances of his sophomore season, Brown rushed for 782 yards and five touchdowns. He did this with less than 100 carries on the year so far. Brown also rushed for over 100 yards in three straight games against Miami, Boston College, and Virginia Tech. He is the first to achieve this feat in a Louisville uniform, since Lamar Jackson.
In his last outing though, against Virginia Tech, Brown suffered a leg injury that looks to keep him out of this week’s game. Of course, injuries are never something to be happy about. But, the Tigers defense might be breathing a sigh of relief now that they don’t have to worry about seeing Brown.
Louisville 2025 Offensive Talent
That does not mean the Louisville offense does not still have weapons
The unit is led by USC transfer quarterback, Miller Moss. The redshirt senior has a 63.8% completion percentage on the year along with 2,132 passing yards, and 11 touchdowns, but also seven interceptions. The pass catchers around him aren’t slouches either.
Moss has a couple of talented, veteran receivers in Chris Bell and Caullin Lacey. The leading receiver is Bell with 62 catches for 792 yards and six touchdowns. Lacey spent much of last season on the sideline injured, but has been impressive since his return. This season he’s got 48 receptions for 482 yards and two touchdowns thus far.
So, with all that talent still remaining on the offense, how can Clemson take advantage of Brown’s absence?
How the defense makes its mark
It still all starts with stopping the running game from Louisville. That won’t be an easy task, because back up running back Keyjuan Brown is almost just as talented a runner as his counterpart. K. Brown proved this last week by rushing for 136 yards on just 14 carries against California. He averaged 9.7 yards per carry to do so.
To give the Tigers a chance, the defense can’t allow K. Brown to do the same against them. Clemson has to force the game to be in Moss’ hands. Moss is at his best when everybody around him is executing, especially the run game. When things start to break down though, Moss hasn’t proved to be the type of quarterback that’s able to put the team on his back to get them out of a funk.
The more trouble the Tigers defense can give the Cardinals in the run game, the more they will be able to get Moss off his rhythm. He will start to force the ball down field, even when the opportunities aren’t there. Those are the moments the Clemson defense needs to take advantage of, in order to get some takeaways.
Clemson has a chance to give the same feeling back to Louisville it received a year ago. They could put the Cardinals out of the ACC Championship race by beating them in their home stadium. Winning this last conference game of the year would also serve as a great morale booster, as the Tigers begin the build for next season.