Cooper Ranvier and Nick Keller missed several kick in a crucial game

PublishedNovember 15, 2025 9:50 AM EST•UpdatedNovember 15, 2025 8:55 AM EST

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney might have saved his job, but it wasn’t because of anything spectacular his team did.

On Friday night, the Tigers beat the Louisville Cardinals 20-19 in a game that effectively dashed any hope Louisville had of making a run at the College Football Playoff.

Despite being outgained on offense by almost 80 yards and botching a punt deep in their own territory in the final minutes, Clemson climbed to 5-5 (yeesh). Not great for a proud program like the Tigers, but based on how this season has gone, they should be happy.

But again, how in the world did Clemson pull this off? Sure, you can say the defense played well enough, but they let up 385 yards of offense to the Cardinals.

Quite simply, Swinney and Clemson largely won because of an age-old enemy of any college football team: the kicker.

Or in this case, kickers. 

Coming into the game, Cooper Ranvier had been 15-17 on field goals and perfect on extra points. But he missed an extra point and a 50-yarder, an uncharacteristic night for one of the best kickers in the country. 

It was so uncharacteristic that head coach Jeff Brohm replaced Ranvier with backup Nick Keller to try and win the game with a 46-yarder. 

But that didn’t work at all. 

This is…less than ideal. 

Remember, college football fans would hold their breath if their team had to kick a 42-yard field goal to win a game not that long ago. Now, it seems like every kicker can boot it the same length that NFL kickers do these days. 

Everyone, except the Louisville kickers evidently. Seems like on the worst night of the year, they reverted to the old ways. 

And Swinney might be the one who benefits from that the most.