3 reasons Clemson, not Alabama should be No. 1 in the polls

2. Clemson just shut down Lamar Jackson

Shutting down Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson is no easy task. He was the 2016 Heisman winner for a reason, with over 5,000 total yards, four games of over 300 passing yards and eight of at least 175 yards passing and 100 rushing.

In 2016, Jackson lit up Clemson for over 450 total yards, 162 of which came on the ground, and for three touchdowns. In 2017, that was hardly the case.

Jackson finished with over 300 yards passing, but a handful of them came in garbage time. The same goes for the three touchdown passes, which pads his stats but isn’t evidence of how he looked for most of the game. This included a final completion percentage of 50 percent on 42 passes.

The junior signal-caller had trouble gaining momentum throughout the night. He airmailed passes over the heads of his receivers, had trouble finding home run plays and didn’t have a good game with his legs. He had 64 yards, but on just 3.8 yards per carry.

Dabo Swinney’s defense lowered the bar for Jackson and potentially hurt his Heisman candidacy for later in the season. It was a terrific effort that deserved to be rewarded accordingly. Teams don’t just shut down players as dynamic as Jackson, which was the case on Saturday evening.