Two weeks to rest. Two weeks to be healthy. We have two weeks to prepare for the home game to stay undefeated in the ACC.

Probably Clemson Tigers Should you have kept playing instead?

The No. 11 Tigers, who have one of the best offenses in the country, took the No. 1 seed after a two-week break. louisville33-21, at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Clemson (6-2, 5-1 in ACC) no longer controls its own destiny in reaching the ACC Championship game. Both Miami and SMU won Saturday to remain undefeated in ACC play. If the Hurricanes and Mustangs remain undefeated, they will face off in Charlotte in December.

The Tigers will need help because they couldn’t hold their own against the Cardinals (6-3, 4-2), who played an outstanding game to beat Clemson for the first time in program history.

A Clemson offense averaging 42 points and 490 yards per game and 7.1 yards per play could not gain much traction against the Cardinals’ defense. While the Tigers finished with 450 total yards, they were well below their season scoring average, gaining only 4.5 yards per play.

While Clemson running back Phil Mafah finished with 171 yards and two touchdowns, Louisville’s defense was clearly geared towards letting Mafah gobble up the yards he wanted.

Quarterback Cade Klubnik had his worst performance since the season-opening loss to Georgia. He threw for 228 yards with one touchdown.

The Tigers were ahead 26-7 in the last 15 minutes and could not recover. The quarter began with Louisville blocking Clemson kicker Nolan Hauser’s second field goal attempt with 12:46 left in the game.

Clemson was unable to play off-tempo as the Tigers were not allowed to work the middle of the field in the passing game and did not show much sense of urgency. The Louisville defense had two sacks and broke up five passes.

Clemson settled for short passes and Mafah runs and cashed in with a 3-yard touchdown run with six minutes left in the game. But it took five minutes to get there.

After the touchdown, Tigers coach Dabo Swinney opted to kick the extra point to cut the lead to 12. A successful two-point conversion would have cut the lead to 11, and a Clemson field goal would have tied the score with a two-point conversion and field goal. game.

The Tigers kicked the onside kick and nearly recovered, but possession was awarded to Louisville, resulting in the crowd throwing debris onto the grass. On the first play, Cardinals running back Isaac Brown ran 45 yards and a touchdown to ice the game.

Brown rushed for 151 yards while Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough threw for 156 yards. Shough also ran for a touchdown. Clemson’s defense gave up 366 yards, but Louisville racked up 210 yards on the ground to control the game.

Clemson trailed at halftime for the first time since its season-opening loss to Georgia, and Louisville took a 17-7 lead.

Trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, the Cardinals took a 10-7 lead with 5:42 left on a 92-yard field goal, capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Shough.

Then, Louisville blocked a Hauser field goal to set up a drive that led to running back Keyjuan Brown on a 1-yard touchdown run with 43 seconds left.

The Tigers’ only score in the first half was a 12-yard touchdown pass. Klubnik to Antonio WilliamsThis gave Clemson a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter.