Editor’s note: Each week, the Clemson Insider honors Clemson’s 2016 National Championship Team by reliving that week’s game on the schedule. Follow all season long as we talk to players and coaches who lived through the ups and downs of a dramatic season that brought Clemson its first national championship in 35 years.
No. 5 Clemson 42, No. 3 Louisville 36
CLEMSON – Sometimes, a moment is so gigantic that you can feel electricity pulse from within.
The crowd’s cheer feels just a little louder. Your heart beats a little faster. The stakes feel a little higher.
For Deshaun Watson, though, the biggest regular-season moment of his college football life–taking on No. 3 Louisville at Memorial Stadium in a battle of undefeated ACC powers–was structured by the same basic pillar that structured his Pop-Warner career years before.
For Clemson’s Heisman Trophy hopeful, playing superstar Lamar Jackson at Memorial Stadium in 2016 was, at its core, was just another chance to compete.
“It’s competition,” Watson said. “If you play this game, and all the great ones love the great competition, going against the best regardless.”
The competition, maybe even unbeknownst to Watson and Jackson–two favorites to win the Heisman Trophy in 2016– started brewing one season earlier.
In the Cardinals’ 2015 regular-season finale, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino unleashed the true freshman on a Kentucky team that was not ready for his devastating dual-threat abilities.
After a decisive victory against the Wildcats, in the Cardinals’ bowl game against Texas A&M, the Pompano Beach, Fla., native finished with 453 total yards in a one-score victory, including an ACC bowl record 226 rushing yards in the win.
The Jackson hype started to build.
In the meantime, Watson was leading the Tigers on a magical run through the ACC, dashing all the way to a national championship game appearance against Alabama. Watson, fittingly won ACC Player of the Year honors, as well as a ton of other hardware as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks.
Around three months before Watson and Jackson’s 2016 clash and around six months after the Tigers’ first College Football Playoff appearance, the two quarterbacks sat in different rooms at the ACC’s Annual Kickoff Event.
Watson, in one hotel ballroom, was the media darling, receiving pats on the back and questions about his outstanding 2015 campaign. Jackson, in another room, spent his day answering basic queries about his 18-year-old self.
‘Who is Lamar Jackson?,’ reporters wanted to know.
His teammate Keith Kelsey supplied all the necessary answers.
“He is the best player in the country,” Kelsey, a linebacker, said of Jackson. “He just does stuff that I have not ever seen before. I’m glad we only have to face him in practice. He is going to surprise a lot of people this year, though it will not surprise any of us.”
Could this young quarterback possibly challenge the big, bad Tigers down in South Carolina?
As it turned out on Oct. 1, 2016, in a contest that would mimic a PlayStation matchup between two pimply middle schoolers, the answer was yes. Jackson could challenge Watson, and No. 3 Louisville could threaten the reigning ACC Champions in No. 5 Clemson.
After maybe the most cheered sprint run down the hill in Clemson history, the running completely ceased for a quarter.
At least if you do not include punt returns.
Riddled with expectations, Clemson and Louisville each punted three times to open the game, averaging just over four plays per drive, contrary to having the two most high-powered offenses in the ACC.
Louisville snapped out of it first, as Jackson led the Cardinals on an 82-yard touchdown drive to strike first on Death Valley soil. Watson responded by throwing his first of three interceptions on the night, much to the chagrin of over 82,000 Clemson fans watching.
The Tigers’ defense then quickly scooped up a fumble, their first of three recoveries that evening, and one play later, Watson found wide receiver Deon Cain for a touchdown pass. With 7:48 left to play in the half, it was all knotted up at seven.
In the final minutes of the half, the Tigers stunned the Cardinals, as Watson threw two more touchdown passes and running back Wayne Gallman raced in for a 24-yard scoring run. It should have been all but over with a 28-10 lead at the half, but during the break, Jackson found a glass of magic in Clemson’s visitors’ locker room.
The young signal-caller led Louisville on five scoring drives across the next quarter and a half, while the Tigers turned the ball over four times and punted once. With a few flaps of their wings, the Cardinals had taken a 36-28 lead with just under eight minutes to play.
Then, despite playing two rocky quarters, Watson had his Heisman moment – or a collection of them.
The junior led the Tigers on two long drives, finding wide receiver Mike Williams and Jordan Leggett for 20- and 31-yard touchdown passes, respectively. Just like that, the Tigers had regained a 42-36 lead.
Though earlier in the game, Watson threw an interception on the same play call as the touchdown pass to Williams, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott let his quarterback right his wrong.
“I had the confidence to come back with it and say, ‘Deshaun, yeah, you threw the ball inside, but we are going to go at it again because structurally it should work and I have the confidence you can make it.’ The guys went out and they executed it,” Elliott said.
However, all of Clemson’s sideline then held its breath as Jackson had another chance to march his team down the field with 3:14 to play and a six-point lead. The Cardinals encroached on Tiger territory, making it all the way inside Clemson’s 10-yard line with 40 seconds to play.
On fourth down, they needed 12 yards to get a first down to keep hope alive.
Jackson completed a pass to James Quick. The Cardinal receiver caught the ball, charged, leaned and was ultimately shoved out of bounds one yard short of the sticks by Clemson corner Marcus Edmond.
Just like that, Clemson had a 42-36 victory. The 82,000 in Death Valley went nuts.
“He played well, he played hard until the very end,” Watson said of Jackson’s performance. “He did what he had to do for his team.”
Clemson finished that season ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense, total defense and pass efficiency defense. Those numbers would have been in the top five had it not been for Jackson’s 458 total yards of offense and three total touchdowns.
Still, Clemson’s defense managed to turn the Cardinals over three times and stopped them on third and fourth down a combined 10 times. Linebacker Ben Boulware finished with a career-high 18 tackles, including three tackles for loss.
“Everyone loves to talk about Lamar, and Deshaun has kind of been in the background,” Boulware said. “We have a pretty good quarterback here, too.”
When you look at Watson’s comeback heroics, five touchdown passes and 91 rushing yards in the victory, it makes Boulware’s assertion the understatement of the century.
The moment was not too big for Deshaun Watson, and it was not too big for the undefeated Tigers.
Reliving 2016 and Clemson’s first National Championship since 1981:
Week 1: Clemson’s Defense Wills a Win at Auburn
Week 2: Clemson Survives Trojan War
Week 3: Clemson Plays ‘Clean and Complete Game’