Watson falls short in Heisman bid

Photo by Brad Penner / USATODAY

by TigerNet Staff - Sat Dec 12 21:24:20 GMT-04:00 2015

NEW YORK, NY – Deshaun Watson fell just short of winning the 2015 Heisman Trophy Saturday, but can kick-start his 2016 campaign against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl later this month.

Derrick Henry won the trophy with 1832 points, while Christian McCaffrey finished second with 1539 and Watson finished third with 1165. Watson's 1,165 points are the third most for a third-place finisher in history.

Watson had 148 first place votes, 240 second place votes, and 241 third votes. Henry had 378 first place votes while McCaffrey had 290.

Watson and the Tigers will play Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff Semifinal in Miami on New Year’s Eve. The winner of that game will play for the National Championship and would be a good opening stanza for Watson’s 2016 campaign.

The presentation was made by New York’s Downtown Athletic Club at the Marriott Marquis on Broadway.

Watson was Clemson’s first Heisman Finalist. Steve Fuller finished sixth in the 1978 voting and C.J. Spiller was sixth in the 2009 voting, but neither received an invitation to New York. Those are the only Clemson players to finish in the top 10 of the Heisman voting since the award began in 1935.

Watson has quarterbacked Clemson to a perfect 13-0 record and No. 1 national ranking in the College Football Playoff poll, the AP Poll and the USA Today rankings. Clemson was ranked No. 1 in all six of the College Football Playoff polls. Clemson has three wins over teams in the top 10 of the College Football Playoff rankings (Notre Dame, Florida State and North Carolina), the only team in the country that can make that statement.

The native of Gainesville, Ga. has completed 287 of 413 passes for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns. Additionally he has 887 yards rushing in 163 attempts and has 11 rushing touchdowns. He is the only player in the nation with at least 800 yards rushing and 3,500 yards passing. In fact he is the first player to do it since 2012 (Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M).

Watson has accounted for 41 touchdowns rushing and passing, fifth best in the nation and he ranks ninth in total offense per game and 11thin passing efficiency. He has gained at least 380 yards in each of his last six games and has guided the Clemson offense to a record nine straight games with at least 500 yards total offense.

Watson is a big reason Clemson has won 16 consecutive games, a school record, and has already established a season mark for victories (13), and ACC wins (nine). Clemson won the ACC Championship last Saturday with a 45-37 win over No. 8 North Carolina. Watson threw for 279 yards and rushed for a career high 131 in the victory.

Final Results

1. Derrick Henry Alabama RB JR 378 277 144 1,832

2. Christian McCaffrey Stanford RB SO 290 246 177 1,539

3. Deshaun Watson Clemson QB SO 148 240 241 1,165

4. Baker Mayfield Oklahoma QB JR 34 55 122 334

5. Keenan Reynolds Navy RB SR 20 17 86 180

6. Leonard Fournette LSU RB SO 10 25 30 110

7. Dalvin Cook FSU QB SO 7 18 22 79

8. Ezekiel Elliot Ohio St. RB JR 5 7 28 57

9. Connor Cook Michigan St. QB SR 2 3 1 13

9 Trevone Boykin TCU WR SR 1 3 4 13