Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly calls Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson a “Game Wrecker.”
“He can take a game and wreck it for you,” Kelly said on Wednesday during the ACC Coaches’ Teleconference with the media. “He is athletic. He keeps you in a position where you have to defend him as a runner and a thrower.”
Watson has taken some heat from the so-called experts in the national media this week because he has not put up the big-time numbers they were expecting from him this early in the season. A lot of that is due to the fact Watson has basically played just eight quarters thanks to blowout wins over Wofford and App State.
Through three games, the 11th-ranked Tigers’ starting quarterback has thrown for 641 yards, while completing 74.4 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns against three interceptions. Not too bad. He has also gained 118 yards on the ground, which ranks second on the team.
“He just needs to continue what he has been doing,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “Overall this season after three games, he has done exactly what we have asked him to do. He has taken what has been there and he has made some big throws when we needed them. He has extended plays, ran the ball effectively, he made some right checks. He has gotten us into the right protections.
“He has not made a whole lot of mistakes.”
Though it appeared from the viewers’ eyes on television he had a bad game at Louisville on Sept. 17, actually that was not the case. Swinney said Watson graded higher than he did in any of the previous three games—96 percent—crediting his sophomore quarterback with doing a good job of checking the offense out of bad plays and into good ones, while also doing an efficient job of running the zone-read.
Watson carried the ball 11 times for 62 true rushing yards, which played a big role in why running back Wayne Gallman was able to rush for 139 yards in the victory. From a passing standpoint, he still completed 21 of 30 passes (70 percent) for 199 yards and two touchdowns. He did throw two interceptions, but Swinney said only one was charged to him.
“He completed seventy percent of his passes. He averaged four and a half yards per carry. He played a great game. He played a great game,” Swinney said.
Swinney laughs when he hears some of the negative talk being said about his young quarterback, and how he somehow had an off night.
“I’m not quite sure what an on night is if that was on off night,” he said. “I’ll take that every night.”
Kelly would prefer the off night instead when the sixth-ranked Irish come to Death Valley on Saturday, but when watching Watson play he isn’t counting on that to happen.
“He is efficient in throwing the football,” Kelly said. “He has arm talent as a runner. You need that skill set. Some are very good runners and are average throwers. If Coach (Swinney) wanted him to be a pocket passer, he could be a pocket passer. That’s how good he can throw it.”