Gamecocks must figure out how to contain Watson, Clemson's offense
In order to have any hope of containing Clemson quarterback DeShaun Watson Saturday night in the Upstate, the South Carolina defense must aggressively attack the offensive backfield and cut off his escape routes at the same time.
Will Muschamp even spills a special football phrase to describe the Gamecocks’ most important job on defense against the hated Tigers.
“When you play a quarterback like DeShaun Watson, you’ve got to have pass rush integrity,” Muschamp said Thursday night. “Anytime a pass rusher rushes past the quarterback, we’re playing with 10 (players). So, we don’t do that. We teach them not to do that. Of course, they don’t always do exactly what we tell them. We never want to rush past the quarterback. But you have to be able push the pocket on a guy like him.”
Besides throwing for 3,279 yards and 28 touchdowns, Watson is Clemson leading rusher behind Wayne Gallman with 422 yards on 108 carries. So, he is quite capable of escaping the pocket or gaining chunks of yardage on designed quarterback runs.
“He is most dangerous in situations where he creates off-rhythm plays,” Muschamp said. “He is a very hard guy to sack in the pocket because of his size and he’s a great athlete and he has a great pocket presence and a really good feel. He’s a bigger target who is a hard guy to get down.
“So, you have to keep pushing the pocket. You can never stop on him. You have to keep relative contain off the backside. But he will reverse you to keep plays alive. He’s going to create some plays with his legs. That’s going to happen in the game. You’ve got to limit those as much as you can.”
Few opposing defenses have been able to shut down Watson completely from either throwing or running during his career. Muschamp, a realist, understands that probably won’t happen Saturday night either considering the issues the USC defense has dealt with throughout the season, tackling and overall lack of speed being at the forefront.
Instead, he wants his defense to keep Watson’s production under control. Last year, Watson threw for 279 yards on 20-of-27 passing and ran for 114 yards, accounting for 393 of Clemson’s 515 total yards.
In two games against Watson as Clemson’s starting quarterback, the Gamecocks have allowed a staggering 1,006 yards of total offense.
“I don’t know if you’re going to stop a guy like him,” Muschamp said of Watson. “You have to limit him, and that’s exactly the word we’ve used. All of the things you want in your quarterback, he possesses. Number one is his leadership ability and his ability to positively affect the guys around him.”
The Gamecock secondary faces what of its stiffest tests of the season considering the depth of Clemson’s receiving corps. The Tigers have six receivers with 26 or more receptions led by Mike Williams with 71 and Artavis Scott with 55. Ray-Ray McCloud has 41 catches. Tight end Jordan Leggett, Clemson’s version of Hayden Hurst, adds another dimension with 31 catches from the tight end spot.
“Jordan is a matchup issue you’ve always got to account for,” Muschamp said. “(Clemson’s receivers) are really talented guys that are very explosive offensively. Just execute the defense. We don’t need to do anything superhuman. We just need to play. You get into a game like this and guys sometimes try to do too much. We understand they’ve got some good players and they’re going to make some plays. We need to make ours.”
Clemson is averaging 333.1 passing yards per game as Watson is completing 66.4 percent of his passes (279-420). The Tigers are averaging about 44 passes per game, and they’re not afraid to take shots deep downfield.
“We have to do a great job covering down the field against some very good, elite skill position guys,” Muschamp said. “Our guys have to be up to the challenge in order to cover. There are a lot of things to work in as far as coverage and rush. They work hand-in-hand.”
Gallman has burned the Gamecocks for 293 rushing yards on 46 carries in the last two Palmetto Bowls, including 191 yards two years ago in the last meeting in the Upstate.
“Wayne Gallman is the guy I really like as far as being a tough, hard-nosed runner,” Muschamp said. “(He’s) a tough, one-cut runner who gets the ball north and south. He runs behind his pads and runs through contact and competes.”
SEC WEEK 13 SCHEDULE (Nov. 24-26)
Thur., Nov. 24
LSU at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Fri., Nov. 25
Arkansas at Missouri, 2:30 p.m. (CBS)
Sat. Nov. 26
Georgia Tech at Georgia, noon (SEC Network)
Kentucky at Louisville, noon (ESPN)
Mississippi State at Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
Auburn at Alabama, 3:30 p.m. (CBS)
Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
South Carolina at Clemson, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Florida at Florida State, 8 p.m. (ABC)
(All Times Eastern)
