Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) defeated No. 8 Tigers (6-2, 5-1 ACC) on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, winning 33-21. As of Saturday, the Tigers had won 22 straight home games since 2013, the second-longest active streak in the country. Despite having an open schedule, Clemson was out of sync on offense, defense and special teams, and the Cardinals walked into Memorial Stadium and took over.

“There are no excuses. None,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “That has nothing to do with it. I got my ass tricked with all my might today.”

Clemson was virtually a fixture in the CFP projections to end its three-year absence and win its remaining games. According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Tigers entered with an 18.1 percent chance of winning the ACC, third-highest, and a 30.8 percent chance of reaching the 12-team CFP, second-highest in the conference the Louisville game.

However, Saturday’s home loss to an unranked opponent will drastically reduce those percentages. For Clemson to potentially receive one of the seven overall offers, it had to keep winning. A main reason for this is how the schedule compares to the other top teams in FBS. Clemson’s strength of schedule ranked it 75th out of 134 schools that participated in the Louisville game. Now you have to hope that the top teams lose.