By Will Vandervort.
ATLANTA — In one afternoon Clemson’s 2014 football season went sour.
True freshman Deshaun Watson, who had fans and media alike, feeling he was going to carry the Tigers to South Beach for the holidays, tore is ACL in his left knee near the end of the first quarter and is out for the remainder of the season.
To make matters worse, quarterback Cole Stoudt looked dazed and confused all afternoon against a Georgia Tech defense that came in giving up more than 400 yards and ranked 13th in the ACC. And to top that off, the Jackets returned two interceptions for touchdowns in a stunning 28-6 loss at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The defeat also eliminated the Tigers (7-3, 6-2 ACC) from Orange Bowl consideration and with Watson now done it leaves some to wonder what’s left out there to accomplish?
“This is very bad. To lose like we lost today – you know you can’t control some of the things that go on at the other end. You can’t put the blame on one thing. On defense we could have done a whole lot better, but it hurts,” defensive tackle DeShawn Williams said. “We were fighting for a BCS Bowl and now we have to fight for whatever the other outcome is.”
The other outcome will be to get the best postseason game possible. Of course before that there is the annual rivalry game with South Carolina. The Gamecocks have beaten Clemson five straight years.
“There is something out there to get,” defensive tackle Graddy Jarrett said. “You cannot let this game beat you twice. We are moving onto the next (game) and then on to the next one after that.
“We will stress throughout the week and will keep guys focused and we will keep them strong. People are going to remember how we finish and how we bounce back. We can’t do anything about this game. We still have a lot in front of us. As a team, we will be ready for Georgia State and then get ready for South Carolina and try to finish this thing up strong.”
But on Saturday the Tigers weren’t strong and they could not get over the loss of Watson or the 85-yard interception return by Tech’s Jamal Golden a few plays later that changed the course of the game.
“That’s adversity in a game and it is something we have to battle back through,” Stoudt said. “There was a lot of game left to play and we needed to go in there and battle and keep playing.”
But that’s not what happened. Clemson seemed lost, especially Stoudt who threw two more interceptions in the third quarter, including a 62-yard interception return by cornerback Chris Milton. That pick-six gave the Yellow Jackets a 25-6 with 1:23 to play in the third quarter.
“It was a tough day,” Stoudt said. “I made some mistakes here and there and I just could not get it done.”
Stoudt finished the day 3-for-11 for 19 yards against a Georgia Tech secondary that came into Saturday allowing 239.7 yards a game. His other interception, which came on Clemson’s first offensive possession of the second half, resulted in points too as Tech converted that into a 32-yard Harrison Butker field goal.
“Things just didn’t really go right this day,” Stoudt said. “It happened. I just have to move on from it and try to correct my mistakes, I guess.”
Clemson finished the game with only 190 total yards and just 65 passing yards – the lowest total by a Clemson team in more than two decades. So it’s easy to see why the season went sour really fast.