Ten years ago, before Lamar Jackson was a Heisman Trophy winner and before Deshaun Watson was a national champion, the two quarterbacks faced off in what was one of the greatest games of that season — and one of the defining QB showdowns of the decade.
On Oct. 1, 2016, fifth-ranked Clemson beat No. 3 Louisville in Death Valley in a game that brought the two stars into focus: Watson, a junior trying to finish what he started a year earlier; and Jackson, a sophomore rapidly becoming the most spectacular player in college football.
The box score tells you how extraordinary it was. Watson threw for 306 yards and five touchdowns and added 91 yards rushing. Jackson accounted for 457 yards, throwing for 295 and a touchdown and rushing for 162 and two TDs.
Louisville erased a 28-10 halftime deficit and scored 26 unanswered points to take a 36-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter before Watson engineered two touchdown drives in the final eight minutes, the decisive score coming on a 31-yard pass to Jordan Leggett with 3:14 to go.
Final score: Clemson 42, Louisville 36.
Two quarterbacks, one unforgettable night
The game was memorable on its own, but it also captured where the two quarterbacks were at that point in their careers.
Watson had been in the spotlight for a while, leading the Tigers to the national championship game the year before, where they lost 45-40 to Alabama to end a 14-1 season.
Clemson’s game plan was clear: Put the ball in Watson’s hands and let him make plays.
Jackson was only a sophomore, but by the time Louisville arrived in Death Valley, he had become impossible to ignore.
Through four games, he had thrown for 1,330 yards and 13 touchdowns while adding 526 yards and 10 scores on the ground as Louisville quickly became must-watch television.
And that night, both quarterbacks delivered.
“Our defense played a great game, but he was just doing Deshaun Watson things — scoring touchdowns, making incredible throws,” Jackson said.
Watson made the plays Clemson needed late in the game when the Tigers needed them.
Jackson spent most of the night making plays that didn’t seem like they should be made.
“You’ve got to give props to Lamar. He’s a great player, a hard worker; he didn’t quit to the very end,” Watson said.
Watson finished the season by leading one-loss Clemson past Alabama 35-31, throwing the winning touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with just one second on the clock, for its first national championship in 35 years.
Jackson went on to win the Heisman Trophy that year, collecting 526 first-place votes and 2,144 points after registering 3,390 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, 1,538 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns during a 9-4 season.
Watson (269 first-place votes, 1,524 points) was the Heisman runner-up.
It was an early snapshot of two players heading toward different futures.
Then came the NFL
From there, their careers took different turns.
Selected 12th overall by the Houston Texans in the 2017 NFL Draft, Watson’s career has been a mix of historic, elite-level production early in his career, followed by major injuries, significant legal and off-the-field controversies, and a trade to the Cleveland Browns.
Taken 32nd overall by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2018 NFL Draft, Jackson’s career has been defined by historic production, two NFL MVP awards and a playing style that has made him one of the league’s most distinctive quarterbacks.
That’s part of what makes revisiting that historic night in Clemson so interesting.
Neither knew then just how different the next decade would look.
Now, 10 years later, we know how the story unfolded.
But for one night, they were simply two of the best quarterbacks in college football, putting on a show that still resonates to this day.
As ESPN’s Chris Fowler said toward the end of the broadcast: “A quarterback duel in Death Valley that lived up to the hype — and then some.”
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.