It’s another sign of the bustle of life that suddenly, at only the very beginning of October, No. 5 Clemson will play a home game as the lower-ranked team with the less-noisy quarterback. How in the world?  Just last January, the Tigers finished a night in Arizona as a national runner-up that left a great Alabama defense heaving with 550 total yards, with 405 in passing and 73 in rushing from quarterback Deshaun Watson, who promisingly would return for this fall after famously making Alabama Coach Nick Saban chuck his headset.  [From the archives: Clemson lost the national championship, but won the buzz]  In its last 11 games of a 14-1 season, Clemson had gained 512 or more yards 11 times and changed its identity from big winner (five straight 10-win seasons) to big national contender (No. 2 preseason come August).  Now on Saturday night it welcomes a whooshing No. 3 in Louisville, whose quarterback, Lamar Jackson, has thrown for 1,330 yards and 13 touchdowns, and rushed for 526 yards and a bewildering 12 touchdowns, in four games. This game comes with Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney describing Jackson as “capable of impacting the game on any snap” and “one of those guys, as I say, one of them ‘hold-your-breath guys’ when he touches it.”  [Week 5 Kickoff: If Clemson can’t contain Jackson, who can?]  What happened to Watson and Clemson?  They strained through a demanding opener at Auburn, 19-13, whereupon Watson apologized to fans for “negative energy,” then strained through a home match with a good Troy team, 30-24, whereupon the voters docked them three places. Most recently, they won at Georgia Tech, 26-7, with Watson completing 32 of 48 passes for 304 yards. Watson, the No. 13-rated passer in 2015, stands at No. 80 in 2016, so in the run-up Clemson news conference for this colossus, he said things such as, “It’s just timing and things like that,” and, “It’s nothing major I can’t fix,” and, “It’s still early on in the season.” Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said, in the Charleston Post and Courier, “We’re not making any huge deal about it.”  They do have some evidence to back their contentions, and the evidence is 2015. At this point last year, Clemson was still budding, having wriggled through Louisville (by 20-17 on the road) and Notre Dame (by 24-22 at home), the latter with only 296 total yards in the rain. Through four games last year, Clemson averaged 405.5 total yards, and now it averages 452.5. Watson had completed 68 of 99 for 725 yards and nine touchdowns; now he has completed 90 of 150 for 996 yards and nine touchdowns, more yards with less accuracy. He had rushed 39 times for 186; now he has rushed 35 times for 120.  The vague sense that something is off surely owes something to the sense with which Watson and Clemson left everyone in January. That run into January, however, also left Clemson with something else, which its ninth-season head coach pinpointed during preseason in the scalding days of August.  “I think we’ve been confident for a while. We’ve had five 10-plus-win seasons around here,” Swinney said. “We’ve been in big games. We’ve won big games. So these guys are confident. Again, there’s nobody on this team that’s ever won less than 10 games, so there’s a confidence that comes with that. They’re confident, not just in that we’re good enough, but they’re very confident in the way we do things. I think that’s a huge part of it, the buy-in of how you practice. They know that, ‘If we do this, this, this, this, we’re gonna be ready.’  “I think the one thing from last year that maybe is a little different with this team is this team has an experience to draw on that no other team has had. They’ve made a national championship run. They’ve been in a playoff. They have a visual of that, whereas no other team I’ve had is coming off a national championship game, and so I think that has maybe validated a little bit more into their minds, maybe cemented that confidence, or validated just what we do around here. And as I’ve said many times around here, it’s one thing to think you’re good enough; it’s another thing to know you are. It’s one thing to dream about something; it’s another thing to experience it. And they can really draw on that experience. And then the pain from that moment [the 45-40 loss to Alabama] is healthy. It’s a good thing. Ain’t a bad thing.”  By this week, he said, “You know, we’re where we hoped to be at this point.” It is some juncture. They’re about to play a home game as an underdog, with their No. 3-ranked total defense, at 218.5 yards per game, and No. 2 in yards per play (3.41), up against the No. 1 offense in total yards per game (682) and yards per play (a frightening 9.03). It will be loud in Death Valley, and not just the audience.  Viewing guide: Louisville-Clemson caps a strong weekend  Dexter Lawrence will be key for Clemson in stopping Lamar Jackson  Spiraling expectations for Stanford’s McCaffrey  After three trying years, Cardinal’s Burns took over in two minutes  Washington needs strong protection for Browning in battle vs. Stanford  Wisconsin’s Hornibrook hasn’t seen anything like Michigan’s defense  ‘Winning is fun,’ and at 3-0, Maryland is finally having some  Virginia looks to follow one breakthrough win with another at Duke  For Navy, Air Force and Army, 9-1 is a great place to start
After making its way to the base of the summit, and finding what its coach calls a helpful "visual" there, somehow Clemson finds itself a slight underdog.