Isaac Brown rushed for 151 yards, including a game-sealing 45-yard touchdown burst with 5:50 to play, as Louisville went to Clemson and stunned the No. 11 Tigers 33-21 in the Atlantic Coast Conference matchup on Saturday night.
Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) scored on seven of its 11 possessions while Clemson (6-2, 5-1) mostly struggled to sustain drives.
Louisville posted touchdowns on its last two possessions of the first half, then got field goals of 42, 40 and 49 yards by Brock Travelstead in the third quarter.
Clemson pulled within 26-14 on Phil Mafah’s 3-yard run with six minutes left in the game, but Louisville recovered the onside kick and set up Brown’s late heroics. Mafah added a 1-yard scoring rush with just over two minutes remaining.
While the Cardinals were building their lead, the Tigers began the second half with a three-and-out, failed to convert a fourth-and-1 on their own 34, and had Nolan Hauser’s 24-yard field-goal attempt blocked by D’Angelo Hutchinson. It was the second kick Louisville blocked.
Tyler Shough threw for 156 yards for the Cardinals. Shough and Keyjuan Brown had touchdown runs in the first half.
Mafah rushed 30 times for 171 yards for Clemson, which outgained the visitors 450-366 in total yards and dominated in time of possession 37:52 to 22:08.
Clemson’s Cade Klubnik completed 33 of 56 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. His 12-yard scoring pass to Antonio Williams late in the first quarter gave the Tigers their only lead at 7-3.
Louisville then took over with back-to-back touchdowns.
The Cardinals started on their 8-yard line but immediately got a 23-yard run by Isaac Brown. With Louisville soon facing third-and-7 on its 49, the Tigers were flagged for pass interference. Duke Watson later took Shough’s short pass and went 31 yards to the 5, and Shough soon rushed 4 yards for a 10-7 lead.
Clemson then marched 50 yards on 10 plays, with 24 yards coming on rush by Mafah, only to see T.J. Quinn block Hauser’s 49-yard field goal attempt with 1:43 left in the half.
Taking over at the Clemson 47, the Cardinals scored quickly. Isaac Brown combined for 35 rushing yards on the first two plays, and Keyjuan Brown scored from 1-yard out for a 17-7 lead with 43 seconds remaining before halftime.
Louisville defeated Clemson for the first time in nine meetings since the Cardinals joined the ACC nine years ago.
Louisville linebacker Benjamin Perry, who left the game late in the first quarter with an apparent neck injury, was helped off the field and later put on a stretcher and taken to a hospital in Greenville, S.C., according to the Louisville Sports Network.
