CLEMSON – Clemson football's fourth-quarter rally attempt on Saturday was marred by two critical errors.

Louisville (6-3, 4-2 ACC) outplayed the No. 17 Tigers (6-2, 5-1) on the road at Memorial Stadium, winning 33-21 to upset them. Clemson had chances to mount an epic comeback, but it lacked urgency and made questionable coaching decisions in the fourth quarter.

"Yeah, we could have been a little faster. There were a couple of moments that we needed to be a little quicker," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "... That was something else, too, that we needed to be a little better with getting the ball snapped a couple of times quicker than what we did."

In their first fourth-quarter drive, the Tigers huddled while down by 19 points. They swapped in different personnel during the possession, which drained the clock and drew ire from Clemson fans who grew restless with the slow offense. Clemson even had to burn a timeout with 7:56 left in the game because of personnel confusion.

Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik had moments too where he changed plays or identified potential rushers at the line of scrimmage that wasted critical time. Clemson's first touchdown in the fourth quarter took 16 plays and 5:01, and its second went for 12 plays for 3:43.

The Tigers' lack of urgency on offense was shocking as they played with fast pace throughout this season. Klubnik agreed with Swinney the offense could have been quicker in the fourth quarter.

"I felt like we're moving pretty fast, maybe could have gone a couple faster on plays," Klubnik said. "There were also just a couple injuries that they had, and some weird stuff that happened."

Another issue arose when Swinney elected not to go for a 2-point attempt after running back Phil Mafah punched in a 3-yard touchdown to cut the team's deficit to 13 with six minutes in the game. Swinney chose to kick a point-after attempt instead to make it a 12-point game. He doubled down on his decision when Mafah scored again with 2:07 left and chose to kick a point-after attempt.

SHOCKING LOSS: Clemson football's Saturday nightmare vs Louisville may lead to darker news Tuesday

If the Tigers went for a 2-point attempt instead and converted it, they would have been down by 11 points. They would have only needed a touchdown, another 2-point conversion and a field goal to tie. Instead, Clemson chose to be down 1, needing two touchdowns to win.

Even if its 2-point try was unsuccessful, Clemson would have been down 13 and needed two touchdowns, the same predicament as losing by 12. Swinney said he and his staff didn't consider going for two in both situations.

"We talked about it, and all of our charts said 'Go for one right there,' and that's what we did," Swinney said. "We certainly checked and triple checked and talked it out (with) all of our people on both sides."

Clemson going for two and getting it may not have changed the game's outcome, but it was a dubious coaching choice not to make. It nearly recovered two onside kicks in the fourth quarter, and making it an 11-point game would have put them in an advantageous position than being down 12.

The Tigers' shocking home loss has had ramifications on his College Football Playoff chances with ESPN's FPI giving them a 7% chance to make it. They entered Saturday with a 30.8% chance to make the expanded CFP.

Clemson looks to rebound against Virginia Tech (5-4, 3-2) on Nov. 9 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Lane Stadium.

Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: Dabo Swinney on Tigers' urgency vs Louisville