Watson says SC not ND is his biggest game so far

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Mon Sep 28 13:04:26 GMT-04:00 2015

Clemson sophomore quarterback Deshaun Watson Deshaun Watson
So. Quarterback
#4 6-2, 207
Gainesville, GA
View Full Profile talked to the media on Monday afternoon and discussed the primetime matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday night.

Watson was asked if this was the biggest game he has played while at Clemson.

"I wouldn't say the biggest, but probably one of the biggest that I have played in," Watson said. "South Carolina last year was probably the biggest, last year with the hype and having the pressure ending the 0-5 streak. For me it's just another game. Just embrace it and have fun. This is what I came to Clemson for is to play in games like this."

Watson has admiration for Notre Dame's program, but he said he is concentrating on Clemson not the Irish.

"I have much respect for Notre Dame and their program and their history and what they have been doing so far, but a name doesn't really bother me or this Clemson team," Watson said. "It doesn't matter who we play. It's how we play. That's the mentality around here. We play to our standard we should be just fine."

Watson was asked if he thought that Clemson would get respect from the national media if they defeat Notre Dame on Saturday.

"I've been around Clemson since probably my freshmen year and from what I have been seeing we kind of never had that respect," Watson said. "For some reason haven't got over that hump. But I don't really care about the polls. We going to do what we got to do. Those rankings don't mean anything. Like a couple of years ago, Auburn was not ranked and ended up in the national championship . I really don't pay attention to that. If they think we struggled against Louisville which it's hard to go to on the road and beat a team like Louisville that's very competitive especially on the Thursday night it is what it is. We are going to do what we have to do to get the W and move forward."

Watson has completed 58 out of 78 passes for 641 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions for a QB rating of 165.3 this season.

In his rookie campaign, Watson completed 67.9% of his passes for 1,466 yards (10.7 per attempt) with 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions for a tremendous quarterback rating of 188.57. He also had five scores rushing. Another superlative is that he had a nation's best 10.7 yards per pass attempt.

Deshaun Watson