TAMPA, Fla. — One year later, Deshaun Watson had his Vince Young moment. Only better. More dramatic. Perhaps more memorable.
With one second to spare, the two-time Heisman Trophy finalist stuck a knife through the heart of the Alabama dynasty, connecting with Hunter Renfrow on a 2-yard touchdown pass that will live forever in Clemson lore, and later confirming his plans to enter the NFL draft.
“The thing running through my mind was Vince Young,” Watson, who grew up a fan of Young’s, said after Clemson’s heart-pounding 35-31 victory over Alabama. “I wanted to be legendary [like him].
“I’ve enjoyed the three years [here], and I just wanted to sign my name and end it with an exclamation point, and I think I did that. Moments like this I’ll never forget.”
Watson called his shot nearly a year ago to the day, telling reporters Clemson would be back in the national championship game. This time, he finished the job, snapping favored and previously undefeated Alabama’s 26-game winning streak, and leading the Tigers to the school’s second national title, and first in 35 years.
Rallying from a shaky start, Watson threw three touchdown passes, ran for another and accounted for 461 yards of total offense as Clemson rebounded from an early 14-point deficit for the dramatic victory in front of 74,512 at Raymond James Stadium.
“That has to be one of the greatest games of all time,” Tigers coach Dabo Swinney said. “It’s just meant to be. What a way to win a national championship.”
Alabama had its streak snapped of 97 wins without a loss under coach Nick Saban when leading by 10 points entering the fourth quarter, and Saban lost in a championship game for the first time, falling to 5-1. Swinney, a former Alabama assistant coach and player who won a national title there, built Clemson from the ground up, inheriting the program in 2008. He turned the Tigers into a perennial contender in recent years, guiding them to six straight seasons of 10 wins or better.
“Eight years ago, [former Clemson athletic director] Terry Don Phillips gave me a chance to lead this program. We set out to put Clemson back on top,” Swinney said. “We came up a little short last year, but tonight, at the top of the mountain, that Clemson flag is flying.”
Clemson (14-1) had talked about getting revenge for an entire year, and professed to want the Crimson Tide (14-1) following its Fiesta Bowl rout of Ohio State. And the Tigers never stopped, refusing to stop fighting until the clock hit triple zeroes.
The final minutes were frantic, the teams trading haymakers like they were heavyweights in the middle of the ring. Clemson took its first lead with 4:38 on Wayne Gallman’s 1-yard touchdown run, following a 15-yard Watson scramble. Not to be outdone, Alabama responded like a champion, going 68 yards in six plays. The Crimson Tide went ahead, 31-28, on freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts’ 30-yard touchdown run with 2:07 to go after a fourth-down conversion and a 24-yard wide-receiver option pass, ArDarius Stewart connecting with O.J. Howard.
But Watson and Clemson had the final answer, a perfectly executed nine-play, 68-yard drive that took two minutes off the clock. Watson actually smiled to himself before taking the field. Alabama had left him too much time.
Watson produced all 68 of them, connecting with Mike Williams for 24 yards, finding Renfrow for 6 yards on a third down and picking up 17 yards to Jordan Leggett to the Alabama 6-yard-line. After an Alabama pass interference set up Clemson at the Alabama 2 with six seconds left, Watson rolled to the right, and found Renfrow, a former walk-on, for the game-winner, setting off a celebration over three decades in the making.
“He’s the best player in the country. If anyone doubts that, it’s ridiculous,” Swinney said. “He didn’t lose out on the Heisman. The Heisman lost out on him. They lost an opportunity to be attached to this guy forever.
“This was his Heisman tonight. This is what he wanted. This is what he came to Clemson to do.”
When Watson walked in the huddle, he told his teammates, “Let’s be legendary, let’s go be great.” His teammates saw a steely focus, calmness in the face of pressure. Sixty-eight yards later, Watson had his Vince Young moment. Gallman, the Clemson running back, however, saw it differently.
“It was,” Gallman said, “a Deshaun Watson moment.”