CLEMSON, S.C. — Deshaun Watson hurried to the Florida State 7-yard line with 30 seconds left in the first half. It was third down and everyone expected him to make a play to take the lead, as he so often does. He spiked the ball instead.
It was a “freshman mistake” by a sophomore who’s grasp of the game, in the eyes of his teammates and coaches, is at a fifth-year senior level, and a mistake they don’t expect to see again — next week against Syracuse, in the ACC Championship Game, and if all goes right, in the College Football Playoff.
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“You don’t win if your best players don’t play well,” coach Dabo Swinney said.
“This is not a game of plays. It’s a game of players.”
Clemson’s got a great one in Watson, who finished Saturday’s 23-13 win over the Seminoles 28 of 42 for 297 yards and one score, despite the error. He ran for 107 yards on 16 carries and showed that when there’s a play to be made, it needs to go through him.
In the second half, the ball, Clemson’s unbeaten season and its top ranking lied with No. 4, who missed much of last year with a series of injuries. He was quick to deflect any praise to the guys around him for leading the comeback — "having that confidence and trust can take us a long way, and that can get us where we want to be," he says, citing a team effort.
But here’s what he does with the game tied 13-13.
—Leads an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ends in a field goal. He completed 6-of-6 passes for 54 yards and ran for 11 more yards on two carries in that series.
—Clemson gets the ball back leading 16-13 with 6:17 to play. Watson throws a 21-yard screen pass to Charone Peake on third down; it was a play Florida State appeared to blow up, but Watson hung in the pocket. Then he hits Peake on a similar play on third-and-7 before Wayne Gallman’s 25-yard touchdown run puts the game away.
—Up 23-13 facing third down with under two minutes left, Watson rolls out after a play-fake, picking up nine yards and a first down. He took a knee, and the Tigers stayed unbeaten.
“What he can do takes a lot off our OC’s shoulder and really puts the ball in his hands,” said freshman receiver Deon Cain, who took a 38-yard screen for a touchdown early in the second half. “He controls the game and I respect that about him.”
Things weren’t as rosy in the first half as they were the two weeks prior, when Clemson hung a combined 114 points on Miami and NC State. Watson has thrown for 2,246 yards, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, adding 21 touchdowns and seven picks through nine games. He didn't look like a quarterback with those numbers early.
“I think he got a little frustrated, because we were kind of beating ourselves,” tight end Jordan Leggett said.
Watson was 12 of 21 for 124 yards in the first two quarters. He had no touch on his throws, and in the first quarter sailed one over a wide-open Leggett on a seam play that would have gone for at least 30 yards. He missed Gallman on a third-down check down by several feet in the second quarter.
“He missed some lay-ups,” Swinney said. “I mean lay-ups.”
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But Watson, the No. 41 player in the class of 2014 according to 247Sports, settled down at the half and in a game where he was far from his best, racked up 404 total yards. The praise from his teammates and coaches was in unison.
Trusted. Confident. In control. And with the game on the line, the best quarterback in the country.
“I’ve never played with a quarterback like him in my life,” Leggett said. “He’s just so confident in himself, and like I said, he could’ve rolled up after the first half, but he came out fighting. And it’s really motivational for the guys, the young guys on the team, who are gonna go back out there with him.”
Everyone says they trust their quarterback. But few organizations — from coaches to players to fans — actually has unwavering faith that their signal caller will make every play needed to win a game like that. It's not an easy position to play.
Clemson wants No. 4 to have the ball, for better or worse, in situations like that. The Tigers will live and die over the next two months with him, and they're just fine with it.
In that spot, Cain said, "I'd take Deshaun Watson as my quarterback" over anyone in the country.