By Ed McGranahan.

Something seems odd about the decision to hold Deshaun Watson out of the bowl game, and it makes me wonder.

The perception in listening to Dabo Swinney was that the necessity to prepare Watson to beat South Carolina dwarfed Clemson’s urgency for Oklahoma. Watson underwent surgery Friday to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left leg which ended all hope he’d play Dec. 29 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.  That makes Cole Stoudt the starter — again .

Two weeks after injuring the knee at Georgia Tech, Watson passed for two touchdowns and ran for two while wearing a brace in Clemson’s 35-17 victory over South Carolina. Looking through the prism of the moment Swinney said he was assured Watson’s knee in a brace was not susceptible to further damage. Now, though not anticipating a lengthy recovery, Swinney said there’s a bigger picture to consider.

“It’s not something we’ve got to rush,” he said Friday. “It will be nearly 8½ months by the time we play a ball game.”

Swinney said it was more critical “long term” to have Watson healthy for a leadership role next season rather than waste the time preparing him to beat Oklahoma.

“I just think it’s important that we go ahead and get this surgery done because it’s going to be big in the summer,” he said. “I understand how critical summertime is and you need that leader. You need somebody out there that’s leading the charge. For him to be out there in the summer and do that is critical.

“There’s really nothing else to it.”

Really? Summer practice?

If he said there was in fact the potential for additional injury and it didn’t make sense to expose him before surgery, that would make more sense though and call into question the decision to play him two weeks ago.

If Watson and his mother decided to push for the surgery, that would make more sense.

Preparing Stoudt to beat Oklahoma isn’t an enviable situation, but that’s what faces No. 17 Clemson. There’s no need to recount Stoudt’s forgettable senior season capped by a miserable final appearance in Death Valley. Clemson’s offense was visibly “different” with Watson at quarterback, and as Stoudt’s confidence diminished so did the team’s confidence in him.

If there had been an option, you can be sure Swinney and Chad Morris turned over every rock to find it. Running back Adam Choice, a high school option quarterback seemed like a viable alternative but he was injured the first time in the wildcat. When Watson was injured at Georgia Tech, they tried four different players out of the wildcat the next week. They were virtually unnecessary against South Carolina.

Now it’s in the hands of the Committee of Four – Swinney, Tony Elliott, Jeff Scott and Brandon Streeter.

Meanwhile, Swinney’s words rattle the mind.

“If we’d had (a) game the next week he’d have probably gone ahead and finished out the season,” he said, “Just the timing of it as we looked at the bowl situation and the rehab process.”

Swinney dismissed questions about the wisdom of playing Watson in the South Carolina game, just as he dismissed questions about the wisdom of starting the season with Stoudt when it quickly was obvious he wasn’t the better player.

Now, unless they can find a wildcat, there aren’t any options.

“We’re going to do everything we can to win the football game,” Swinney said. “We’re going to do everything we can to get our team ready to win the game.

“There (are) a lot of people that impact winning a game. I know quarterback gets a lot of the credit and the blame, but this football team will pull together and we’ll come up with a great plan and we’ll put our best foot forward and try to win the game.”

When Watson returns he’ll be required to wear a knee brace, at least through the first season. Mean time he could be pressed into duty working with two new scholarship quarterbacks enrolling in January.

“We’ve got eight months,” he said. “My big thing is let’s have him ready to go for the summer. He certainly will be ready.

“That’s great recovery time for him.”

Will it be sufficient for Clemson fans?