ATLANTA — The last time Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson played a game in his home state of Georgia, it was anything but the perfect homecoming.
As a freshman in November of 2014, Watson had just returned from missing three games with a broken hand and was reinserted as the starter against Georgia Tech. The former Gainesville High standout would not make it out of the first quarter suffering a knee injury that ended his freshman campaign.
When Watson, now a junior, brought his Tigers back to Bobby Dodd Stadium Thursday night, he said he wasn’t thinking about the last time he stepped on Grant Field. But he hinted that he also never forgot.
“It was nice to be able to play in front my family and friends -- and finish the game,” Watson said in his post-game interview after leading the Tigers to a dominating 26-7 win. “It’’s always good to come back to my home state and play. The last time I was here I didn’t even play a whole quarter and the injury made it tough for my family.
“I know this is where (the injury) happened and you never forget something like that. But other than that I never gave (what happened two years ago) too much thought. I just was ready to come out and play.”
And play he did. He picked apart the Georgia Tech defense, especially in the first half, like a fisherman deboning his daily catch: carefully and methodically.
He finished the game 32-of-48 for 304 yards passing with two touchdowns and one interception. But in the first half he blistered the Tech defense on 24-of-35 passing for 262 yards and guided the offense to 347 total yards of offense. Coupled with the Tigers defense holding the Yellow Jackets to just 22 total yards before intermission, it made for the kind of domination many expected from the national championship runners-up to begin the season.
Watson’s performance got the notice of Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, but not just for the numbers themselves.
“The first half was just dominating on both sides of the ball but we ran 56 plays on offense. It was just a thing of beauty to watch,” Swinney said. “That first drive of the game [9-plays, 75 yards, 3:35] really set the tone for the whole game I thought. Deshaun made some tremendous throws and other than two drops he was nearly perfect.”
Watson was 5-for-5 for 46 yards on the Tigers opening drive, including a perfectly thrown 4-yard fade route pass into the corner of the end zone to Mike Williams. Of his 11 incompletions in the first half, two were drops, four times he threw the ball away on scrambles, and three others were near catches, including one in the end zone on another fade route to Williams where Williams’s toe was on the line or it would have been a touchdown. On his one interception, Williams ran the wrong route.
Just one bad throw in 35 attempts.
“The first half was fun,” Watson said. “I thought we did a great job overall. That was more like what I think we’re capable of doing every game.”
Now the attention for all of the fifth-ranked Tigers will turn to No. 3 Louisville, which comes calling to Death Valley next Saturday (Oct. 1) in a prime time 8 p.m. kickoff on ABC.
“We’ll celebrate this one for a day then we’ll start getting ready for that one,” Watson said. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s always fun to play against the best teams. Hopefully we can play like we did in the first half.”
