The offensive issues that have plagued Louisville football for the entire 2015 season continued, this time with Kyle Bolin at quarterback, as the Cardinals fells to Clemson on Thursday night.
Louisville's defense did enough for the Cardinals to have a chance to win tonight's game against Clemson, but, the same offensive issues that have hurt Louisville all season kept them on the losing end of things against Clemson again. Clemson scored just enough to escape 20-17 before the third largest home crowd in Louisville history.
The offensive line struggled to run the ball and convert third downs (2 of 14 on 3rd down). In all, Louisville finished with 19 rushing yards (though that total reflect Bolin having been sacked multiple times). Bolin had little time to throw and not much run production, but did make some very nice throws and finished the game 19 of 34 for 238 yards. The combination of young linemen and lots of young receivers has made for three straight weeks of frustrating offensive fits and starts.
Special teams was also a mixed bag. While Louisville again missed a game tying field goal but did get a nice punt return from Jaire Alexander and a 100 yard kickoff return for a touchdown from freshman Traveon Samuel.
The frustration is going to mount after a game like this and Petrino's first ever 0-3 start. Three losses, all three of which were the same kind of loss, don't help. But being 0-3 by a combined 13 points, possibly all three to teams that'll play in New Year's Day bowl games isn't the end of the world.
