EYE OF THE TIGER The crowd was roaring Alabama fans were hoping their defense could make a stop Clemson fans were pushing their team to make a comeback Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson didn’t hear any of it He was focused on driving his team to victory Watson and the Tigers had just fallen behind Alabama 31 28 late in the College Football Playoff National Championship game in January 2017 The Tigers had the ball on their own 32-yard line Just over Deshaun Watson took advantage of his last chance to drive Clemson down the field 5 1
two minutes remained in the game Watson wanted to take the lead back for good He started with a 5-yard completion Then Watson threw a 24-yard strike to advance the ball into Alabama territory He completed three more passes as Clemson reached the Alabama 9-yard line The Tigers took a timeout with 14 seconds left Watson tried a pass into the end zone but he overthrew the receiver Nine seconds were left Watson then lobbed another pass into the end zone but it fell incomplete But a penalty on Alabama gave Clemson the ball at the 2-yard line Only six seconds remained NFL STARS Six Clemson players from the national title game were taken in the 2017 National Football League NFL Draft Watson was chosen by the Houston Texans He was one of two Clemson players taken in the first round 6
Watson 4 had already begun to celebrate as Hunter Renfrow 13 caught the touchdown pass Watson had one last chance He rolled to his right Wide receiver Hunter Renfrow was open in the front of the end zone Watson hit him with a short pass Touchdown Clemson won 35 31 The Tigers were national champions Watson finished the day with an amazing 420 passing yards and three touchdown passes But Clemson fans were used to seeing him perform under pressure 7
