When he walked over to the sidelines following his 15-yard interception return for a touchdown, Carlos Watkins was greeted by Deshaun Watson.
“He said, ‘I appreciate that.’ I said, ‘Yeah! We are going to get the ball back, ya’ll just put points on the board,’” Watkins said.
But it was Watkins’ six points that got 12th-ranked Clemson going in its 41-10 victory over App. State on Saturday in Death Valley.
With Clemson holding onto to a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter, Watkins’ dropped back into coverage and quickly found the football in his gut. Appalachian State quarterback Taylor Lamb never saw the Tigers’ 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive tackle fake like he was rushing and quickly jump back into coverage.
“He did a great job executing it perfectly, drawing a block against a zone blitz. He knew the ball was going to come out fast,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “We thought they would throw the slants off of it, and they did. He got squared. I have seen a number of guys drop that ball on that same zone blitz the last fifteen years, and Carlos ate it up, man. That was awesome!”
It was awesome because it gave Clemson a 10-0 lead with 11:42 to play, as well as some much needed momentum.
“That was a big play in the game and that really allowed us to start to pull away a little bit,” Venables said.
Watkins’ touchdown was the first of four for the Tigers’ in the second quarter as the lead grew from three points to 31 by the time halftime came about.
“Once Carlos made that play that kind of gave us the momentum we needed and we really got it going in that second quarter,” Watson said.
Linebacker Ben Boulware intercepted Lamb on App’s next possession, which Watson took advantage of with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Charone Peake. Running back Wayne Gallman scored on a 23-yard run after that and then Watson found Peake again for a 59-yard touchdown reception.
But it all started with Watkins’ interception return for a touchdown.
“It was a momentum changer,” Venables said. “We picked one off after that I think, and then our offense really kind of fed off of each other and it can be demoralizing for a team and deflating.”
It did not deflate Watkins. He was just glad he had enough in him to make it to the end zone.
“Honestly, it hit my hand and I looked at. ‘It’s time to run now,’” Watkins said. “I saw how close the end zone was so I said I have to get to it.
“I didn’t see anyone in sight, honestly. B.J. Goodson said someone was coming from the backside, but I did not see anybody so I said, ‘I have to get to the end zone.’”