It might sound like a broken record, but the default position for TCI’s Player of the Game is to go with Deshaun Watson. After all, the quarterback makes the Tigers’ offense go. His contributions are vital.
However, his performance actually carried more value in Saturday’s 23-13 win over 16th-ranked Florida State—in large part, at least—because of what he failed to do early in the game.
Whether Watson came out too amped up or too flat is debatable, but there is not debate about how he played before halftime. The sophomore Heisman candidate was clearly not himself.
He was out of sync with his receivers. He overthrew some targets, and he underthrew others. He made curious reads in the running game that left ball carriers looking around helplessly for a seam.
In perhaps the most mind-boggling decision of his career, Watson spiked the ball on third-and-three from the Florida State 7 with less than a minute to play before the half and his team trailing by a touchdown. Despondent, Watson jogged off the field as the field goal unit came on to add three points and keep Clemson out of the end zone for an entire half of football.
In that half, Watson completed 12 of 21 pass attempts for 124 yards. He added nine carries for 46 yards on the ground.
It was a different Watson that came out of the locker room, especially in the fourth quarter. He completed 16 of 21 passes after the break for 173 yards and ran for 61 yards on seven carries.
Those numbers are not outrageously more impressive, but the way in which he compiled them led Clemson to a victory. That wasn’t the case in the first half.
On Clemson’s only scoring drive of the third quarter, Watson converted a third down by scrambling for 15 yards. Later in the drive, on another third down, he faced an overload blitz that had given him problems in the first half. Instead of finding an open palm, his screen pass found Deon Cain, who raced 38 yards to the end zone for a touchdown that gave the Tigers the lead.
When the Tigers needed to score in the fourth quarter to unknot a tie game, Clemson’s quarterback had a hand in four consecutive first down plays—one on a run, then three through the air. One of those plays required Watson to make multiple reads, faking a handoff and a pass and a keeper before hopping to dump the ball off to previously covered Artavis Scott.
Perhaps the most critical non-scoring play of the game for Clemson’s offense came with a three-point lead and some clock to kill. On third down, Watson felt another overload blitz coming from his backside. Instead of releasing the ball into the awaiting pack of defenders, he pump-faked. That fake froze the blitz, and it allowed Charone Peake to clear those defenders. The resulting play went for 21 yards and a first down, and that drive ended with a Wayne Gallman insurance touchdown.
In the biggest game of his life, Deshaun Watson had to shake off some nerves in order to play the way his team needed to play in order to win. He did that, and because he was able to correct his own mistakes, he earned his fair share of accolades in the first home win for a top-ranked Clemson team in history.