By Will Vandervort.

In his first career start, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, he amazed.

The true freshman set an all-time record for touchdown passes with six and he would have set the all-time passing record for a single-game had head coach Dabo Swinney not put Cole Stoudt in the game with 5:03 to play in the game.

Watson finished the game with 436 yards on 27 of 36 passing – 21 yards shy of breaking Tajh Boyd’s single-game record for passing yards.

Regardless, Clemson won the game and Watson was the reason why. With the running game doing nothing, Watson threw two touchdown passes to Mike Williams, two to Germone Hopper, one to Artavis Scott and one to Jordan Leggett as the Tigers beat North Carolina 50-35 in Death Valley.

From the start, Watson was magnificent. On the second offensive play of the game for Clemson, he hit Hopper for a 74-yard touchdown pass. After an Ammon Lakip field goal put the Tigers up 10-0, Watson dropped a pass right into Hopper’s bread basket for a 50-yard touchdown.

The freshman did not stop there. In the third quarter he found Williams in the end zone for 24-yard score and later teamed up with the sophomore again, this time for 33 yards over the middle.

In the fourth quarter, Watson found Scott over the middle, who barreled his way into the end zone to to give the Tigers for a 43-21 lead with 14:44 to go.

With 5:56 to go, he set the single-game touchdown pass record with a five-yard scoring pass to Leggett. That made the score 50-28 at the time. Clemson finished the game with 530 total yards.

Clemson led 22-7 at halftime thanks to 192 yards passing from Deshaun Watson and a defense that held North Carolina to 136 total yards.

After the defense forced a three-and-out on UNC’s opening possession, Watson hit Germone Hopper in stride on the second offensive play of the game for the Tigers’ and the sophomore took it 74 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 12:34 to play in the first quarter.

Ammon Lakip made his first of two field goals, a 27-yard field goal, with 0:42 to play in the quarter for a 10-0 advantage.

Watson made it 17-0 in the second quarter when he delivered a perfect pass to Hopper, while taking a smack from a blitzing safety. The pass fell perfectly in the arms of Hopper for a 50-yard score. Hopper ended the first half with two catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.

Lakip made a 45-yard field on Clemson’s next possession to give the Tigers a 20-0 lead with 9:47 to play in the opening half.

The Tar Heels finally got on the board with 6:45 to go in the half when Mack Hollins caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Marquise Williams. That touchdown covered 75 yards, UNC had 61 yards on the rest of its possessions.

The Clemson defense scored for the second time at Death Valley in two games when Shaq Lawson pressured Williams in the end zone forcing him to initially ground the ball. The safety made the score 22-7 at the time.