LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In his first big stage performance as Clemson’s top dog at defensive end, Shaq Lawson didn’t disappoint.

Lawson finished with five tackles and 1.5 sacks in the 20-17 win over Louisville.

“I feel like they had a lot of eyes on me. They wanted to see me play. I feel like I just took my preparation, came into the game and was ready to play,” he said.

Among the contingent of NFL front-office personnel was 49ers GM Trent Baalke. Representatives from the Colts, Chargers, Titans, Jets and Cowboys were also there.

Lawson wasn’t the only veteran defensive lineman from the Tigers that made their mark on the stat sheet. Kevin Dodd had 1.5 sacks and Carlos Watkins was credited with one.

Louisville was held to 19 rushing yards on 28 attempts by Brent Venables’ bunch, which also forced two turnovers and held the Cardinals to 2-for-14 on third-down attempts.

The third-down success rate proved to be one of the differences down the stretch.

“To be able to have enough juice in the tank there at the end, it says a lot about our guys,” Venables said. “They do a great job, our strength and conditioning…and coach (Dabo) Swinney did an awesome job of not banging our guys. We had one full-padded practice. I’m like. ‘Oh my gosh, how do you get ready for a game?’

“But it is what it is. You have one less day, so you had to be fresh in getting your guys feeling good and getting them to the game. I think it was important. All the training staff, strength staff, coach Swinney did a great job of having our guys come in here with a good mindset.”

Moving forward, they won’t get caught up with what some of the prognosticators are saying about their 3-0 start. Boulware believes Thursday night’s showing is “proof there’s no drop-off” from the 2014 Clemson defense, so he’s confident with the direction of the 2015 unit.

“ESPN said we played two cupcakes in App State and Wofford. Really, they’re two good teams, we just prepared so well against them. That’s why we beat them so bad. Louisville is a great 0-3 team now,” he said. “Basically, we’re just proving everybody wrong. We’re stepping up. We lost all those guys, but there’s no drop-off. That’s, really, all it comes down to.”

The group wants to re-claim its spot as the best defense in the country.

“That should be our goal every year. That’s our goal right now,” Boulware said.

Entering Friday night’s slate of games, Clemson was 22nd in the country in total defense (260.7 yards/game).