Clemson shows heart of champion in surviving Louisville challenge
— -- CLEMSON, S.C. --? Ben Boulware wept when it ended. His bushy beard technically contains no gray, but he's one of Clemson's true graybeards, a player who has seen a lot and felt a lot.
The senior linebacker is no stranger to big stages and worthy opponents.
But the stress of 99 plays landed on him. The stress of Lamar Jackson, a human pinball, hit him like an emotional haymaker. Imagine going from logging 52 plays against Georgia Tech to nearly twice as many against Louisville.
"I'm stressed, but I'm stressed in a good way because I'm so prepared mentally," Boulware said. "I'm stressed because I know how big of a game it is, but I'm comfortable in my game. So I'm stressed but comfortable, if that even makes sense."
It does. The ability to endure one but maintain the other separates champions from also-rans. Who flinches under the brightest of lights? It used to be the guys in orange. They did it so often that they popularized a putdown in college football's lexicon, a word never to be mentioned in Death Valley again.
Fifth-ranked Clemson wins games like Saturday's because it has won them before. Third-ranked Louisville fell short in part because it flinched one too many times, committing 11 penalties, opening the game with two false starts and drawing another at the worst possible time, on a fourth-and-7 from the Clemson 9-yard line with 40 seconds left.
Amid a sea of orange revelers on the field following the 42-36 triumph over Louisville, Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott immediately brought up last year's win against Notre Dame.
The two contests seemingly couldn't be more different. One took place in a deluge; the other in perfect conditions. Clemson and Notre Dame combined for 46 points; Clemson and Louisville surpassed that total midway through the third quarter Saturday. Clemson never trailed Notre Dame; it twice erased deficits to Louisville, including one in the closing minutes.
But the dramatic arc, and the outcome, felt familiar to the Tigers.
"Eerily similar," co-offensive coordinator Tony Elliott said.
