He had just been sacked for a 10-yard loss. Clemson was up by 17 points midway through the fourth quarter. There was really no need to put himself in harm’s way with another deep throw. But Deshaun Watson isn’t like any other quarterback.

So when Boston College called timeout with 8:23 to play in Saturday’s 34-17 victory, Clemson offensive coordinators Jeff Scott and Tony Elliott started a conversation that maybe they should just run the draw or something like that considering they were facing third-down-and-17 from their own 32-yard line.

“Deshaun actually came over and said he wanted to run this play, the empty play where we were going to have the deep pass concept. We had an answer if it was a two (safety) high, but Deshaun looked over to me and gave me the signal for the check, and that check we don’t typically do out of empty,” Scott said. “It is more of a two-by-two check. So I really did not respond. Then he did the check to me one more time, and I said. ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ He got Deon’s (Cain) attention he did it and I just watched it happened.”

What happened was a 67-yard pass play which Cain took to the Boston College one, setting up Watson’s six-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jordan Leggett three plays later.

“We have not done that in practice before, but that just shows Deshaun’s second-year in the offense’s understanding, and then also Deon,” Scott said. “I think that is the first time Deon has run a seven-cut, which he ran right there because he is in the boundary. He is not typically a slot receiver.

“Whenever he gave Deon the signal, that was a big moment for me because we are going to find out if this guy is ready or not, and not only did he run the route, he got great depth, executed it very well. I just wish he could have got in down there.”

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