Louisville at Clemson: 5 Things to Watch For

Make no mistake, this one is big.

While No. 10 Clemson's playoff hopes all but died in South Bend and the Tigers have already punched their ticket to Charlotte, that doesn't mean nothing will be on the line when Louisville comes to town this weekend. If nothing else, pride is at stake.

The Cardinals come in red hot, having won four straight and five of the past six, and if Dabo Swinney's team plans on extending its 38-game home winning streak, it will have to play much better than it did against the Fighting Irish.

5 Things to Watch

1. Gut Check Time: Forget about the College Football Playoff. Forget about the ACC Championship Game next month too. Now is the time. How this Clemson team responds to the embarrassing performance against Notre Dame will speak volumes about where this program stands currently. The Tigers were flat-out whipped on both lines of scrimmage, something that hasn't been seen very often during the playoff era. Especially on the defensive side of the ball. Was it a one-off type of outing or are there legitimate concerns concerning the mental makeup of this team? There are a lot of questions surrounding the state of Swinney's program and how this team bounces back from such a demoralizing defeat will tell us a lot.

2. Turnovers, Turnovers, and More Turnovers: Six turnovers in the past two games. Two of those returned for touchdowns. Plus a blocked punt that was also returned for a touchdown. That isn't the recipe for success for any team, especially a team that is slumping offensively. If the Tigers are going to beat this Louisville team, they must get back to protecting the football. This team also hasn't been forcing many of late either, registering just one over the past two games, an interception on Syracuse's final offensive play. Losing the turnover margin in this game, against an aggressive Cardinals defense, will likely prove costly.

3. Where's the Run Defense?: This is a defense that no one was supposed to be able to run on but things just haven't played out that way. Notre Dame ran it at will. The Tigers knew it was coming and still couldn't stop it. Syracuse had some first-half success with the QB run and Florida State also ran wild on the Tigers. With the dynamic Malik Cunningham coming to town, if some of those issues aren't cleaned up, it could make for a very long day. Cunningham is as athletic as any QB the Tigers have faced this season and Louisville goes as he goes. Keeping him contained inside the pocket is a must. Can Clemson do that?

4. Establish the Run: The ground game is also another key for Clemson in this game. Louisville has been much better at defending the run of late, though. With the Tigers struggling to get much consistency in the passing game, getting Will Shipley and Phil Mafah the ball early and often is a must, and then they must stick with it. Controlling the clock means the always-dangerous Cunningham will be doing a lot of watching from the sidelines.

5. Which DJ Uiagalelei Shows Up?: Last but certainly not least, Clemson needs more from Uiagalelei than it's gotten the past two games. After starting out the season looking much-improved over last year, the junior QB has taken a giant step backward over the past two games. The Tigers need the Uiagalelei that showed up in a double OT win over Wake Forest in Winston Salem. They need the Uiagalelei that led the team to a big 30-20 win over NC State. Not just as a passer but they also need his legs. It can't be well into the second half before Uiagalelei actually runs the ball this week. They don't need a 75-100-yard effort out of him, obviously, but they have to make the Cardinals at least respect that aspect of the offense. The biggest thing the Tigers need from him, though, is sound decision-making. Only two other teams in the country have intercepted more passes than this Louisville defense, who come in with 14 on the season.

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