Coming into Friday Night, the Louisville Cardinals' College Football Playoff hopes were hanging on by a thread as they hosted Clemson. While Louisville is ranked 20th in the Country and Clemson has been a disaster, it was a scary game for the Cardinals as their star running back, Isaac Brown, was out, while Clemson has the elite talent to win any game.
The offense showed its flaws early as the Cardinals struggled to sustain drives, but the Cardinals finally found the endzone in the second quarter, thanks in part to a Clemson shanked punt, which set Louisville up with great field position. After Miller Moss capitalized on the short field with a 1-yard rushing touchdown, kicker Cooper Ranvier missed the extra point, which turned out to be the pivotal point in the game.
In the 4th quarter, after struggling on back-to-back redzone drives, picking up just 3 points, the Clemson Tigers found the redzone once again. It took the Tigers 4 downs to reach the endzone, but Adam Randall was able to finally punch the ball into the endzone, allowing Clemson to take a 20-19 lead.
As Louisville was trailing, it changed the ensuing drive as they needed to push for points by playing aggressively. On 3rd and 9, Miller Moss did the one thing he couldn't do, getting sacked by Sammy Brown, putting a ton of pressure on Ranvier, who pushed his 50-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Like they have the entire game, the Cardinals' defense came up big before the special teams delivered a massive play as a bad snap on the Tigers' punt set Louisville's offense up with great field position.
Here’s a replay of Clemson’s punt snafu vs Louisville … Looks like a low snap from LS Philip Florenzo: pic.twitter.com/EVeLHzRgDl
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) November 15, 2025
Instead, the offense chose to make things impossible once again, picking up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct foul, which made the ensuing field goal a 46-yard attempt. As Ranvier was struggling, Jeff Brohm went with kicker Nick Keller, who missed the kick, giving Clemson a chance to ice the game.
The Cardinals forced the 3-and-out, but the offense turned the ball over on downs to seal their fate. The loss will not only knock Louisville out of it's 20th ranking, but their hopes of winning the ACC Championship or competing for the College Football Playoff are over.
The last two weeks have been crushing for Louisville as they've lost two games by 2 points, going from a Playoff contender to being eliminated. The injury to Isaac Brown sealed this team's fate, as they never were able to fully recover. Missing out on the Playoff will be a disappointment, but given how everything unfolded, this team should be a threat in the ACC for a long time with Jeff Brohm's extension coming up.