Two weeks of rest. Two weeks to get healthy. Two weeks to prepare for a home stretch to remain undefeated in the ACC.

Maybe Clemson Tigers should he have played instead?

The No. 11 Tigers, who had one of the best offenses in the country, were short-circuited after a two-week layoff and fell to Louisville33-21, at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

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

The Tigers will need help because they couldn’t hold on 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 that averaged 42 points and 490 yards per game along with 7.1 yards per game couldn’t get much traction against the Cardinals defense. While the Tigers finished with 450 total yards, they were well below their season scoring average and gained just 4.5 yards per game.

While Clemson running back Phil Mafah finished with 171 yards and two touchdowns, Louisville’s defense was clearly geared toward allowing Mafah to gobble up whatever yards he wanted.

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

The Tigers were down 26-7 going into the final 15 minutes and couldn’t make it back. The quarter started with Louisville blocking the second of Clemson’s Nolan Hauser field goal attempts with 12:46 left in the game.

Clemson was unable to play with the pace of the game as the Tigers were not allowed to work the middle of the field in the passing game and did not show a 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 elected to kick the extra point to cut the lead to 12. A successful two-point conversion would have cut the lead to 11 and allowed for a Clemson touchdown, two-point conversion and field goal of land to equalize. game.

The Tigers attempted a punt and nearly recovered, but the possession was awarded to Louisville, prompting members of the crowd to throw debris onto the turf. On the Cardinals’ first play, quarterback Isaac Brown sprinted 45 yards for a touchdown to ice the game.

Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough threw for 156 yards, while Brown rushed for 151 yards. He should also run for a touchdown. Clemson’s defense gave up 366 yards, but Louisville piled 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 as Louisville took a 17-7 lead.

The Cardinals, down 7-3 in the second quarter, put together a 92-yard drive to take a 10-7 lead with 5:42 left, capped by Shough’s 4-yard touchdown run.

Louisville then blocked a Hauser field goal to set up a drive that led to running back Keyjuan Brown’s 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 Williamswhich gave Clemson a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.