On his weekly teleconference Sunday night, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney revealed that Deshaun Watson would once again be the Tigers’ starting quarterback when they take the field on Saturday.
Watson had missed the past three games with a hand injury. Senior Cole Stoudt, anointed the starter at the beginning of the season, manned the ship in Watson’s abscence, completing 100-of-155 passes for 938 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions in wins over Louisville, Boston College, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
Watson was injured early in Clemson’s 23-17 defeat of Louisville back on Oct. 11.
The freshman was one of the nation’s most efficient passers before his absence. For the year, Watson has connected on 75-of-112 passes for 1,176 yards with 12 touchdowns against just a pair of interceptions. His 186.9 quarterback rating would lead the nation if he had enough attempts to qualify. (Marcus Mariota leads the nation at 184.56.)
For the year, Stoudt actually leads Clemson in passing, but he’s needed twice the attempts (224 to 112) to throw for only 249 more yards.
Winners of six straight since losing in overtime at Florida State in September, No. 18 Clemson will meet No. 24 Georgia Tech Saturday at noon ET on ESPN.
