Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson has had an historic year in leading Clemson to the nation’s No. 1 ranking in College Football. Watson and the Tigers will take on Oklahoma in the College Football National Semifinals in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31 in Miami.
Watson himself is up for several national awards, including the Heisman Trophy. The first-team All-American quarterback is the first Clemson player to be named a finalist for college football’s most prestigious award. He is also a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best athlete and for the Maxwell Award, the nation’s best player.
He will find out if he won the O’Brien and Maxwell Awards on Thursday night as part of the ESPN College Football Awards Show in Atlanta, while the Heisman Trophy Presentation will be held in New York this Saturday. It will also be televised by ESPN.
Here are some numbers to think about in regards to the type of season Watson has had, and why there is a strong argument that he should win the Heisman Trophy.
1 – Watson is the only quarterback in college football to throw for more than 3,000 yards and run for over 800. He has 887 rushing yards and 3,512 passing yards.
2 – The number of touchdowns Watson needs to tie Woodrow Dantzler’s record of 13 rushing touchdowns in a season by a quarterback.
3 – Watson ranks third nationally with a 69.5 percent completion percentage. Former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston completed 68.8 percent of his passes when he won the Heisman Trophy in 2013.
4 – Watson ranks fourth in college football this year with 4,399 yards, despite having three games where he did not play past the first possession of the third quarter because the game was all but over.
6 – The number of consecutive games with at least 380 yards of total offense, a first in Clemson history.
9 – Watson ranks ninth nationally in touchdown passes with 30.
11 – Watson ranks 11th nationally in passing efficiency with a 159.6 rating.
12 – The number of total yards Watson needs to break Tajh Boyd’s record for total yards in a season, which he set in 2012. Watson currently has 4,399 total yards.
16 – Watson’s 3,512 passing yards ranks 16th nationally. He is averaging 270.2 yards per game.
17-1 – That’s Watson’s record as a starting quarterback at Clemson. The one loss came at Georgia Tech in 2014 when he tore his ACL and had to leave the game. The Tigers were ahead 3-0 and were at the Tech 15 when the injury occurred.
41 – The number of touchdown responsibilities by Watson this year. He has 30 touchdowns passes and 11 rushing.
113 – The number of rushing yards Watson needs to become just the second quarterback in Clemson history to go over 1,000 yards in a season. Woodrow Dantzler did it twice in 2000 and in 2001.
338.4 – That is the number of total yards per game by Watson. Former Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston averaged 302.0 yards per game in 2013 when he won the Heisman Trophy.
415.4 – The average number of total offensive yards per game by Watson in the last five games. It breaks down to 100.2 yards rushing and 315.2 yards passing per game. He is also averaging 3.2 touchdown responsibilities per game during that same span.
501 – That’s the number of rushing yards by Watson in the last five games. He also has six rushing touchdowns during that span and has gone over 100 yards on the ground in four of the five games.
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