Clemson tops Louisville, clinches ACC Atlantic outright

Clemson didn’t want to just tie for the ACC Atlantic, the Tigers wanted to clinch the division outright and leave no doubt who the best team in the Atlantic is.

Clemson did that Saturday evening, beating Louisville 31-16 at Death Valley behind a strong defensive performance from Wes Goodwin’s group.

With the win, Clemson improves to 9-1 (7-0). The Tigers will host Miami (4-5) on Saturday.

“This was a tough, tough matchup. This was a hot team that’s won four in a row. We did everything we didn’t do last week,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “They went and won the division championship. … This is the last one and it’s really fitting that it’s here at Clemson.”

Here are some quick takeaways from Clemson’s win Saturday night as the Tigers bounced back from a disappointing performance at Notre Dame:

Clemson defense plays much better

After getting pushed around up front at times against Notre Dame, Clemson played much better against Louisville. The front seven was relentless, as the Tigers were consistently in the backfield and finished with nine tackles for loss.

Linebackers Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in particular had great games.

They stepped up with junior linebacker Trenton Simpson unable to go. Freshman Wade Woodaz also made several plays at linebacker for the Tigers.

Offense improved but inconsistent

The Clemson offense got off to a hot start, but the Tigers passed for only 36 yards in the second half and hurt themselves with turnovers.

Will Shipley, Antonio Williams and DJ Uiagalelei all lost fumbles for Clemson. Shipley fumbled another time but was able to get it back.

The offense played much better than it did at Notre Dame, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Louisville missed Malik Cunningham

Louisville starting quarterback Malik Cunningham was limited from the start and didn’t play in the second half.

Cunningham had a banged up left hand entering the game and didn’t run hardly at all in the first two quarters.

He did run on the final play of the first half and took a hard hit. Cunningham didn’t return for the second half.

Clemson had a big advantage not having to worry about the threat of Cunningham running the ball.

“I hate Malik went out. I got a chance to see him after the game. He’s special,” Swinney said.