Louisville has potential, they've carved out a strong niche in Kentucky, Southern Ohio.
Cinncy will always be what it is, a school that has a "home game" with Ohio State, in its own town, and 80% of the seats are filled with Ohio State fans. There's a reason why Ohio Stadium seats 110,000, and the rest of the D1 stadiums in Ohio seat 30K. In college athletics you can draw a direct correlation between butts in the seats and total fanbase/interested fans (T-Shirt fans).
Clemson has presence in 2 of the largest Metro Areas in the U.S. Resides in one of the fastest growing areas in the United States and controls a substantial portion of the college sports fans in a college sports hotbed and has no direct major league sports competition.
The needle moves for college athletics in the Southeastern U.S. like no other region in the country.