CLEMSON, S.C. -- Deshaun Watson's John Candy moment came on the night of Oct. 29 in Tallahassee, Florida.
What's a John Candy moment? The way the story goes, the San Francisco 49ers, trailing Cincinnati 16-13 in the waning minutes of Super Bowl XXIII after a thrilling Bengals kickoff return for a touchdown and a field goal with 3 minutes, 44 seconds left in regulation, were in the huddle and openly distraught. Then their quarterback, Joe Montana, addressed the offense and, at what should have been the most stressful moment of his life, smiled, pointed toward the stands and said, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?" The newly relaxed Niners then proceeded to march down the field and win the championship.
Clemson trailed Florida State 34-29 with 3:23 remaining at Doak Campbell Stadium. Nothing less than a top-three ranking and a shot at an ACC championship - and thusly a College Football Playoff berth - was on the line. The 78,025 fans, well-lubricated via both damp conditions and amber liquids, soaked the Tigers with a flood of deafening screams. The offense huddled at the 20-yard line - the same offense that had stumbled through the third quarter - led there by Watson, who had thrown a pair of interceptions.
"You can't help but be a little nervous right there. You know what the situation is and what has to be done," recalled Clemson wide receiver Artavis Scott. "We were all hyped up, and Deshaun walks in, looks around at us and says, 'What's up?' You would have thought we were at practice. Like a Friday walkthrough or something, not the biggest drive of the season. He was like, 'Here's the plays, we know how to run 'em, so let's do it and get out of here.' All of a sudden, no one's nervous anymore, because he's not."
A little over one minute later, after four dart passes -- including a 34-yard touchdown toss and a two-point conversion throw -- Watson's jogged back to his sideline, the Tigers up 37-34 and on their way to a 13-1 season that now has Clemson back in the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T (Monday, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN) for the second consecutive season.
"I've got a lot of those stories," Scott said. "He's like that all the time."
"If you put an EKG monitor on him, I bet it'd barely move very far from wherever it started, whether he's playing against Ohio State in the playoff semifinals or whether he's sitting in class," said co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott, a former Tigers letterman now in his ninth year on the coaching staff. "His ability to maintain that kind of calm, it helps us all to do the same, and I'm talking about on the field and in the coaching booth. That's leadership right there."
When it comes to Watson, such praise has become a familiar and unapologetic refrain. It comes from his teammates, especially those of the very proud recruiting Class of 2013 - the most successful group in Clemson history. It comes from Scott's coaching co-workers, especially his boss, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney, who spent a large chunk of his Wednesday news conference trying to frame Watson's legacy.
He could have spoken about Watson's consecutive top-three Heisman Trophy finish, or how the 21-year-old's 4,173 yards of offense accounts for 91 percent of the team's total yardage, or how he ranks second on the team in rushing, or how Alabama head coach Nick Saban described Watson as "the most significantly dominant player that we've played against since Cam Newton."
But Swinney said none of those things. Instead he talked about the kid who graduated two weeks ago (a year early) with a grade-point average of "upward of 3.3." And while going to great lengths to make sure he only talked about his quarterback within the context of his entire group of upperclassmen, Swinney, like everyone else in Death Valley, couldn't help himself.
"No matter what happens on Monday night, I think his legacy is set," Swinney said repeatedly during his media Q&A, as well as during a packed day of radio and TV live hits. "His record here is 31-3, and one of those losses [is] in the national championship game. But the record isn't the legacy. The legacy is that he's leaving this place and this program in better shape than it was when he got here. They've been playing football at Clemson for 120 years. There aren't a lot of guys who have [had]more impact on this place than he has. That's a pretty good legacy."
To feel the true result of that impact, one must look past the people who wear the orange uniforms and cast an eye toward the others in orange. The residents of upstate South Carolina who make their daily commutes along roads adorned with painted tiger paws are a proud but long-suffering group.
For decades they have seen potentially great Clemson Tiger teams led by decidedly good but not great players under center. To hear them - and during Swinney's meeting with the media there were a few older gentlemen donned in orange whose harrumphs could definitely be heard - Watson's value to the program is more than leadership. It's transcendence.
Should the Tigers win their first national title in 35 years, transcendence won't be strong enough of a word.
"Over the last few years they've done a really great job over there of honoring the players of the past," said Danny Ford, who served as Clemson's head coach from 1978-89 and is still the only man to lead the team to a national championship. "You walk around that building, and you see all the old trophies from our bowl wins that they went back and dug up. And you see big banners of the greatest players, defensive linemen and running backs and even kickers. But you don't see a ton of quarterbacks up there, do you?"
No, you don't. There's a banner of Steve Fuller, the All-American quarterback who was so good he had his No. 4 retired. That's why Watson wears a Fuller patch on his jersey now, to honor the number that was unretired with Fuller's blessing so he could wear it.
That's it. There's no statue of Rodney Williams or building named for Tajh Boyd or bronze busts of Charlie Whitehurst or Woody Dantzler. All were very good, but none were truly great - certainly not great enough to push a proud program over its historic hump.
"Yeah, when Deshaun Watson is done, that will change," Ford added with a chuckle. "You're going to see his face and number and accomplishments all over that building. And you should."
"That would be great," Watson said quietly of the idea of banner or a retired number, though only after acknowledging that he only knows John Candy from his cameo in "Home Alone." "But my goal is to add to that line of trophies."