Tigers know Georgia Tech will be hungry to win
By: will-vandervort October 5, 2015

Though he is playing the school near his hometown of Gainesville, Ga., Deshaun Watson has the same approach he always has … the next game is the biggest game of the year.

With Notre Dame now in the review mirror, the sixth-ranked Tigers’ quarterback can focus on Georgia Tech, who will visit Death Valley on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. kick.

“It’s the same mentality,” Watson said on Monday. “Of course it is a big game because it is the next game, and of course they are from my home state, so I always want to get the victory over that. It is the same mentality and the same focus as it was last week.”

The difference this week is Clemson (4-0, 1-0 ACC) is playing a Yellow Jackets team that has lost three straight games and is off to a 0-2 start to the ACC season. Georgia Tech was the preseason favorite by the media to win the ACC Coastal Division, but a loss this week to the Tigers and the Yellow Jackets will be eliminated from the race in October.

“I would put them in the category with Louisville,” safety Jayron Kearse said. “Things are not going their way. Playing against Clemson can be a big turning point for a team in the season so if they go out there and beat us that gets everybody motivated for the rest of the season.

“I would definitely put them in the category with Louisville and know we have to come out there and give it our all in order to leave with a W.”

Knowing Georgia Tech (2-3, 0-2 ACC) likes to put pressure on the quarterback and force turnovers, Watson knows he has to protect the football and manage the game in the same way he did against Notre Dame in a driving rain storm on Saturday.

That means he also has to keep his emotions in check. Like Louisville, Georgia Tech was the game in which he got hurt. Watson admitted after the Tigers’ win at Louisville last month that he was a little too amped up at the start of the game and it contributed to his early struggles.

“I just have to stay focused day by day,” he said. “I have to do my part and do my job, and that is what I have been doing so far. I just do what the coaches have been asking me to do. I try to not to do too much. I try to play my game and have fun with it.”