Special teams often fly under the radar during a football game—until a missed kick potentially costs a team a chance to get back into the conference championship race.
Louisville was already up against the wall for the ACC championship entering Friday’s game against struggling Clemson, having suffered an upset loss to Cal a week ago. The Cardinals defense came to play, holding the Tigers to just 305 total yards, quarterback Miller Moss largely outplayed Cade Klubnik and Louisville’s ground game was effective, with Keyjuan Brown averaging nine yards per carry and rushing for 135 yards on the day.
There are three phases of football, however, and the Cardinals kickers likely woke up hoping to burn Friday’s game film.
Louisville went up 9–3 in the middle of the second quarter on a Miller Moss touchdown run, but Cooper Ranvier missed the extra point. He would convert his next extra point in the third quarter and hit a 39-yard field goal to push his team’s lead to 19–13 late in the quarter, but that missed XP continued to loom large, as an Adam Randall touchdown run for Clemson put the Tigers up 20–19 midway through the fourth.
The Cardinals responded by driving to the Clemson 32-yard line, but Ranvier failed to convert a 50-yard go-ahead field goal with 4:06 left in the game.
Louisville would get another chance, thanks to Clemson’s own special teams snafu. After a three-and-out, Tigers punter Jack Smith struggled to corral a bad snap and was dropped for a 13-yard loss, giving the Cardinals the ball all the way at the Clemson 23. Penalties and lost yardage derailed the drive, but Louisville still had a shot at a makeable 46-yard field goal to go ahead. Rather than send Ranvier back out, coach Jeff Brohm tabbed Nick Keller to take the attempt.
It did not go well.
NOT EVEN CLOSE pic.twitter.com/WImcINph1E
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) November 15, 2025
Louisville’s defense forced another three-and-out but with no timeouts and the ball deep in their own territory and 27 seconds remaining, Moss couldn’t engineer a miracle.
A few weeks ago after the Cardinals’ upset of Miami, Louisville found itself in solid position to reach the ACC championship and potentially snag a bid to the College Football Playoff. After back-to-back losses, Cardinals fans now find themselves second guessing Brohm’s decision to bench Ranvier, who is 17-for-20 on the year and converted 6-of-7 kicks inside the 50.
At 7–3, Louisville can still make a nice bowl game and the chance to pick up a season-ending win over Kentucky will always mean something to the program. This one will likely sting for a long time, though.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Louisville Kickers Had an Absolute Nightmare Game in One-Point Loss to Clemson.
