LOUISVILLE, Ky. — His numbers are not bad … 21 of 30 for 199 yards and two touchdowns and 12 carries for 54 yards. Those are numbers that will win ninth-ranked Clemson a lot of football games. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story when looking at Deshaun Watson’s night in Thursday’s 20-17 victory over Louisville.

Of the nine passes he missed, two were interceptions. The first time in his career he threw two interceptions in one game. Two others would have gone for big gains or maybe six points, while one bad decision kept his team from keeping the ball and potentially putting the game away at the end.

“I was not at my sharpest,” Watson said afterwards.

And he wasn’t. But Watson was still Watson when it mattered most. Like when he extended a third down-play in the second quarter with his legs and then threw a bullet to wide receiver Charone Peake for a 12-yard gain to keep the drive alive.

On the very next play, while knowing he was about to take a hit, he stood tall in the pocket, checked off the safety and then hit Hunter Renfrow down the middle for a 32-yard touchdown pass.

“I just saw Cover 2 and Hunter ran a great route to be there and I threw it in,” Watson said.

“My eyes were downfield and I kind of felt the pressure, but I got rid of it in time and he made a great catch,” Watson continued.

“He ain’t perfect. He is going to make some mistakes,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “What a leader. What toughness he showed out there tonight. He did a great job getting us into the right place. He made a couple of checks that led to big plays for us so I thought he managed the game well and he’s going to be sick with a couple of plays, but others are going to be sick, too.”

Watson will be sick over the interception he threw on Clemson’s first drive of the game, as he tried to throw the ball to Leggett into double coverage. The ball hung up on him just a bit, and Louisville linebacker James Burgess made a spectacular one-handed catch to bring the ball in.

The next bad pass came later in the first quarter when the Tigers (3-0, 1-0 ACC) faced a third down-and-five from the Cardinals’ 37-yard line. Leggett made a move up and then out towards the sideline and was wide open around the Louisville 20, with more room to run. But Watson did not step into the ball and overthrew his 6-foot-5 tight end.

The sophomore admitted after the game he was a little more hyped up for this game because it was in this game a year ago he injured his index finger and missed three straight games because of the injury.

“I guess you can say that,” he said.

Watson made another bad play on the second play of the third quarter when he threw a bomb to Artavis Scott, but hung the ball up too high, allowing cornerback Shaq Wiggins to come over and take the ball after Scott lost his balance and fell to the ground.

But, like always, Watson recovered and later threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Leggett, which gave Clemson a 17-10 lead with 2:37 to play in the third quarter.

“He played pretty good,” Swinney said. “He had two big touchdown strikes. Big ones … he ran the ball well, made some big plays.”

The one Watson wishes he could have gotten back came in the fourth quarter with Clemson clinging to its three-point lead. On third-and-11 from the Clemson 43, he saw Leggett come wide open on a play, but he got his foot caught in the grass and rushed his throw.

The ball short hopped to Leggett and the Tigers were forced to punt.

“That’s one of those throws that are simple for me, and I just kind of rushed it and did follow through. My feet got stuck in the turf, but it is one of those things that I can learn from. It was my mistake.”

And it was not the kind of night Deshaun Watson is used to having.