Clemson cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. gets long bus ride home from Louisville

The Clemson football team may be on the ROY bus, but cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. found himself on a different bus Saturday night.

Booth was ejected from Saturday’s game at Louisville after punching a Louisville player and drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 8:11 left in the game.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Sunday night that Booth’s punishment kicked in immediately after the game, which the Tigers won, 45-10.

“The team flew back and he rode the bus back (to Clemson) on our manager bus,” Swinney said. “That is where it started. The rest of it we will handle in-house here.”

Booth, a highly regarded freshman from Dacula, Georgia, has played in all seven games this season and contributed three tackles.

He was penalized for holding during a Louisville punt and became engaged in a scuffle with Louisville safety Trenell Troutman on the play. They wound up on the ground and Booth took a swing at Troutman.

After the two were broken up, Swinney began yelling at Booth and sent him to the locker room, even before the officials announced his ejection.

Due to the ejection, Booth will miss the first half of Saturday’s game against Boston College, Swinney said.

In the meantime, Swinney said he has been encouraged by Booth’s actions since.

“He has been great,” Swinney said. “He has been incredibly responsive and remorseful. He has responded the way you would hope a good young person would respond.

“He is very disappointed in himself, embarrassed. That is way out of character for who he is. He has apologized to our team, our AD. He has to own it and learn from it and I have been pleased with how he has taken ownership and been accountable. But he had a long bus ride home last night.”