Leave last year behind
Last year’s loss to Clemson was about as demoralizing of an experience that a team or fan base can experience. Going into the game Louisville was a 44 point underdog and the over/under was set at 70. Clemson covered the spread and went over by themselves, winning by a total of 77-16.
Clemson's 77-16 win over Louisville is the 2nd-largest in a conference game in ACC history.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 3, 2018
The Tigers have as many 60-point wins this season as there had been in the first 65 seasons since the ACC was founded. pic.twitter.com/VPw2Mr4Enp
It felt like every time Clemson ran the ball they were going to score a touchdown.
But this Louisville team is completely different than the one we watched last year. The effort is never lacking, the enthusiasm is always there and there’s no reason to think that this year will be anything like the last, even if the game gets out of hand for Louisville.
An experience like that has to be hard for players to forget. All of these guys have been the best players on their high school teams and came to Louisville to continue to have success. They got blown out a lot last season, but never like that.
But this is a Clemson team who’s been as good as any college football team we’ve seen in our lives. Hanging in there Saturday would speak even more highly of the work that coach Scott Satterfield and his staff have done so far this season.
The culture in comparison to last year is different within Louisville football this year…. I believe the Louisville-Clemson matchup will be as well.