CLEMSON -- On second-and-goal from the 8, the game clock slipped under 4:20 and the play clock ticked to one second before Dabo Swinney called a timeout.

Two plays earlier, Clemson converted a third-and-2 when DJ Uiagalelei plunged up the middle on a quarterback power for 3 yards.

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Now Swinney was telling his triggerman -- wounded knee and all -- that he was going to have to rely on him once again to run it because of a hunch that Louisville's defensive backs would be focused excessively on the pass.

Sure enough, two alley defenders immediately turned their backs to the ball after it was snapped, their eyes on receivers outside.

Five defensive backs covering three receivers outside means numbers inside the hashes that favor the run. Thus there were three defenders to take on three blockers in front of Uiagalelei as he ran another power play off the left side and got to the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown.

"I told him after the timeout: 'Hey man, we need to really try one run here,'" Swinney said. "He was like, 'Let's do it.' It was just kind of a gut thing. I felt like they would play coverage there and they did. We were able to really hat it up clean, and I think we kind of caught them off guard just a little bit there."