At the beginning of the 2009 college football season, we openly mocked Clemson University’s efforts to promote running back C.J. Spiller as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
“Clempsun University running back CJ Spiller is nowhere to be found in the Top 10 (or even Top 20) of most 2009 preseason Heisman Trophy watchlists,” we wrote back in July. “He’s certainly nowhere to be found on our list.”
Then there was the whole convenience store theme of the campaign (4,000 life-sized Spiller cutouts were placed in local supermarkets), which offended our Publix sensibilities.
Anyway, it doesn’t happen often, but we were wrong about Spiller.
And as bad as the ACC is this year, we think Spiller should have been among the five finalists for the 2009 Heisman Trophy, which goes each year to college football’s most valuable player.
Who did get invited to the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City for the big presentation ceremony?
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, Alabama running back Mark Ingram (our pick), Nebraska defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, Stanford running back Toby Gerhart and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.
Tebow, who won the award in 2007, is the first player to make the final cut three years in a row.
Ingram clearly deserves the award as far as we’re concerned, but for some reason Heisman voters love Big XII quarterbacks – even though they play against the equivalent of high school junior varsity defenses.
Spiller – the ACC player of the year – rushed for 1,145 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.
That trails the other two running backs who were invited to New York, but Spiller’s all-purpose capability is what distinguishes him.
He added 445 receiving yards and 918 return yards this year (and another nine touchdowns) – placing him second in Division I-A with 2,508 all-purpose yards.
Then there was Spiller’s career performance in the ACC championship game against Georgia Tech …
“I certainly wanted to make it to New York for the Heisman presentation,” Spiller said in a prepared statement. “It would have been great for this football program and Clemson University in general. But, I have done the best I could in every game. I have no regrets.”
As much as we can’t stand Clem(p)son, Spiller deserved a ticket to New York …
By Liberty For Me December 8, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Spiller is a good player..Now if they could clone him 11 times on each side of the ball they would have something going.
By Toyota Kawaski December 8, 2009 at 1:54 pm
What a joke. Dont care for the University of Clemson but the guy should be in NYC.
By Clemson09 December 8, 2009 at 2:05 pm
CJ should have been invited to NYC. I’m tired of Clemson getting shafted for no reason. And why can’t you stand Clemson??? That makes no sense, what-so-ever.
By Leigh December 8, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for your props and recognizing that he really did get snubbed. I’ve heard several times since the announcement that if Clemson had won…he probably would have been picked…well, Florida lost and what really did Tebow do this year….Florida had too many close games and I know that all that really matters is the W but seriously…what a crock. I was not a fan of the “campaign” but hey, I supported his efforts and cheered him on every home game!
By OhNoNotAgain December 8, 2009 at 3:03 pm
ALso can’t stand Clemson. Much as I’d like to leave it at that, Spiller deserved a ticket to N.Y.
He set an NCAA record for all-purpose yards lifetime this year, did he not? That means he’s the best ever.
But it leaves USC with one bragging point over Clemson. They can claim their tainted national title. We had the legit best player in football, Reorge “Heisman” Rogers.
By Liberty For Me December 8, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I cant believe (Leigh) said “what did Tebow do this year?”…Are you kidding me??? …Maybe.. break the all time TD record..??…or was it spiller that did that?? What a moronic statement……Would you really want to see Florida play Clemson??…We dont have enough mops in this state for that much blood
By countryboy December 8, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Naw, you were right at the beginning of the season.
By K Trane December 8, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Suh made it???? What a joke.
By CNSYD December 8, 2009 at 3:23 pm
who shows the heisman show? ESPN. who does the SEC have their contract with? ESPN. Is it any wonder that the SEC has two players in the top 5? McClain is the best player for Alabama and he doesn’t make it. It is all about offense and the team you play for, not who is the best player in the country.
By Not Sayin', Just Sayin' December 8, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I hate Clemson’s football team, but I think Spiller should have at least been a finalist even if the Gamecocks basically built a brick wall around his ass after the first sixteen seconds of the game.
Were it not for Spiller, Clemson would’ve lost alot more than four games and would’ve only made one trip to Atlanta this year. They’re in damn deep trouble without him next year.
All of that, I’m getting a little tired about hearing what a “great guy” he is. If he was such a great guy, he would’ve stayed closer to help rear his daughter in Florida. In his “classy” remarks following his Heisman dissing, he didn’t even thank his family for helping with her during his four-year absence.
By Spiller DOESNT Belong December 8, 2009 at 4:06 pm
If Spiller belonged in NY he would’ve been invited. He wasn’t. Get over it.
By Billy Bob December 8, 2009 at 5:13 pm
As good as Spiller is, Johnathan Dwyer is a better back and so is Ryan Williams – and he is only a freshman. So, Spiller isn’t even the best back in the ACC, let alone the country. And of course, Dwyer’s team won the showdown for all the marbles. I doubt an 8-5 team has ever had a Heisman winner. Nor should it. A BIG part of the award is for helping the team to glory, not for individual play.
By David J December 8, 2009 at 5:40 pm
“Billy Bob”, being a running back is more than just purely running with the football. I’m also guessing you didn’t watch how Dwyer was completely shut down in the ACC championship. Even in games where Spiller wasn’t that successful on the ground he got it done in other ways aka VERSATILITY. Thats the big difference. Dwyer is in a run first system at GT, and Ryan Williams is good, but he is also in a run heavy offense. Being the best running back isn’t purely on yds and tds, otherwise Kevin Smith, Garrett Wolfe, and Ian Johnson( btw his team was undefeated and a top 5 team in a championship game). The great Paul Hornung won the heisman despite his team finishing the season 2-8.
By CNSYD December 8, 2009 at 6:03 pm
BillyBob, the only point that David J didn’t straighten you out on is that the Heisman is an INDIVIDUAL award.
By #1CLEMSONFAN December 8, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Just ONE thing for Not Sayin’, Just Sayin, YOU MUST BE A SORRY ASS COOT FAN! I can’t believe you are still hanging onto George Rogers. Yeah! He was so good. He didn’t even score a touchdown against Clemson in his intire 4 years for “SHAME COCKS”. The decisions CJ has made regarding his career and his family is not for you to judge. This is young man that not only played his heart out every game but also held himself and Clemson University in the highest regard. CJ is a class act like it or not. With or without a Heisman Trophy!
By JR December 8, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I heard that the reason that they didn’t invite CJ was that at some point they have to make a cut off in vote totals. I mean why would they invite someone who got an embarrassingly low vote total?
By Steve V December 8, 2009 at 8:26 pm
take the orange glasses off people. Here are the stats from the season…
http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics
#28 in rushing
#29 in punt returns
not in top 30 for kickoff returns.
Numbers don’t lie….
quit bitching and whining and put on some big boy pants…..
34-17
By Steve V December 8, 2009 at 8:29 pm
CNSYD….. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were two people from Southern Cal that espn has a crush on. They were both invited from the same team. Contract with SEC didn’t start until this year…
By #1CLEMSONFAN December 8, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Well, apparently votes don’t count! They have allowed a defensive lineman “Donkykong” Suh to get invited to NYC.
‘
By #1CLEMSONFAN December 8, 2009 at 9:08 pm
EASY STEVE V! SINCE YOU LIKE STATS SO GOOD AND NUMBERS “CLEARLY” DON’T LIE, GET SOME!http://www.thetigernet.com/view/story.do?id=8268
By David J December 8, 2009 at 10:22 pm
“1CLEMSONFAN” don’t rag SUH, he’s the equivalent of Spiller on defense (maybe you should’ve watched the Big 12 championship). This award is incredibly biased towards qbs and rbs from the best teams in the country. Probably because the voting is by past winners, who for the most part all qbs and rbs from the best teams in the country at the time they played football. They think players at the big name schools are more talented than those from less prestiguos schools. This made since back in the day when all the great players had to attend a prestigous schools. I believe that coaches and or/writers should be the sole contributers since there is a lot of positional and alma mater bias from past winners.
By CNSYD December 8, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Steve V, this year is what I am talking about irt ESPN.
By Steve V December 8, 2009 at 10:56 pm
#1Clemson fan…your fan page for Spiller lost all credibility with the following quote from that page: “Has achieved his all-purpose running stats against a tough schedule.” I nearly pissed my pants from laughing so hard. The combined record of Clemson’s ACC opponents this year was 49-48. Thank God for your non conference schedule.
By CNSYD December 8, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Steve V, Clemson is not responsible for the strength or weakness of any opponent. Neither is USC for theirs. Clemson only gets to schedule its non conference opponents as does USC. Their respective conferences schedule the conference opponents.
By jdk3 December 9, 2009 at 12:08 am
Travis Bell is the shiznitt!! Though I don’t share his enthusiasm for our states star athlete!
By Bobby December 9, 2009 at 2:37 am
The Heisman Trophy goes to the best player in college football. CJ Spiller is nowhere close to being in the top five. Tebow, McCoy, Ingram, Gerhart, Suh, and – honestly – even guys like Eric Norwood and Rolando McClain – are in a different league than CJ Spiller. This isn’t bias, just look at his numbers:
-He was 28th in rushing yard
-He was in an eight-way tie for 41st in rushing touchdowns
-He was 7th in total points, behind two kickers
This is the part where people say, “no no no, look at his all-purpose stats”. Fine, let’s look at those:
-He was in a three-way tie for 5th in total touchdowns
-He was 52nd in kickoff return yardage
-He was 29th in punt return yardage
-One punt return for a td, puts him in a 31-way tie for 10th there
-He ranked 1st in kickoff return touchdowns
So congratulations, CJ Spiller ranked first in one category, and in the top five in two categories…but only if you don’t count the two other guys that are in fifth place for total touchdowns.
Not to mention, his team plays in a conference that is notorious for it’s weakness on defense. He’s a good player, but he never was a Heisman contender.
By Steve V December 9, 2009 at 8:27 am
CNSYD…. I know how college football works. My point was you can not claim that Clemson had a tough schedule. Same reason Boise State gets screwed every year. They have to play conference games against nobodies, and no one worthy out of conference wants to play them.
By Tom December 9, 2009 at 8:31 am
Fact is that the ACC is considered the weakest of the BCS conferences. That and Clemson’s poor start, failure to win the ACC crown, as well as Spiller’s poor performance against USC all contributed to his failure to be a Heisman finalist.
By CNSYD December 9, 2009 at 9:01 am
Bobby, your feathers are showing. Interesting how when darts are thrown at USC you chickens say history (stats) don’t count but when you want to run down Clemson use want to use stats. BTW until the last few years you classify the FSU defense as weak?
By Jeffy December 9, 2009 at 9:19 am
Had he played in the SEC and had the same season he would have been the only one invited to NY. Instead he ran up big numbers in a crap conference.
By David J December 9, 2009 at 9:23 am
The problem with the stats argument is that Tebow, McCoy, and Ingram aren’t stat monsters. Also Suh only had 7 sacks before the Big 12 championship game. Why Spiller gets a lot of credit is that he scored in every single game this year. The reason why his stats are ridiculous are because he didn’t play much in the cupcake games against Coastal Carolina and MTSU. By the way Clemson played 3 top 15 teams including TCU, GT twice, Miami (at the time. not to mention Miami beat the Sooners) so I don’t want to here about weak schedule . Also let me clarify some things about the South Carolina game this year. Unlike most years that game carried little to no weight. Clemson was geared up for GT and resting bodies. So Spiller who only took the opening kick to the house didn’t see the field much, he was also plagued by turf toe all season and a stomach bug. And what did that rest do, allow him to complete scorch GT, and keep Clemson in the ACC Championship.
By countryboy December 9, 2009 at 9:55 am
17 X 2 = 34
By David J December 9, 2009 at 10:09 am
This is what outstanding actually looks like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcecMcS6bA&feature=player_embedded
By Halftime December 9, 2009 at 10:28 am
Everyone seems to be overlooking another item related to Spiller. He did it all with turf toe. Having been in a position of playing football with turf toe I can empathize. All you can do to heal it is stay off of it. I noticed on at least half-a-dozen runs he made late in the season of 40 or more yards that he would “hit a wall” at about the 40-yard mark. His legs would leave him. This, in my opinion, was caused from the limited work he was able to do during the week in practice. I would expect most of his cardio work was done on a bike during the season to help him rest his foot for the weekends. You could probably add at least another 5 or 6 to his season touchdown tally had he not been struggling with his toe. My hat’s off to the guy. Now I know there are many who think SEC football is at such a level that C.J. couldn’t even make a roster, but I have a lot of respect for the guy for playing hurt all season long like he did.
By Leigh December 9, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Liberty For Me….ok, having gone back and read that statement…it does sound moronic and I know that Tebow is great at what he does but how I see it is that there were just too many close games for them and Alabama completly shut him down on Saturday…..and no way would I EVER want to see a Clemson Florida game….you’re right…I wouldn’t even wish that on my enemies..well, only the Gamechickens.
By CL December 9, 2009 at 12:40 pm
If Clemson had not gotten into the ACC title game, Spiller would have gone 4 years without ever rushing for 1,000 yds in a season. He cannot even crack the all conference team at RB. He may be an electrifying player, but it would be ridiculous to give the Heisman to a glorified return specialist.
And thanks to David J for clarifying about the USC game. Which players did CU sit for USC that could have played? I must have missed the press release where Dabo said they weren’t going to play hard to get ready for Tech (how did that work out for you, by the way?).
By CNSYD December 9, 2009 at 1:09 pm
OK all you chickens, I heard Heisman winner George Rogers on the radio today. On his ballot he had Spiller as number 1. Tebow was not on his ballot. But I guess now you chickens will disown him and say he knows nothing about football.
By Bobby December 9, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Bringing up this crap about turf toe is ridiculous. If Sam Bradford hadn’t hurt his shoulder, he probably would have had better numbers. Let’s invite him to New York too.
Tebow, Ingram and McCoy’s stats were great, and in addition to that they led their teams to a combined one loss. Or let’s take the “he didn’t play in the cupcake games” argument and spot every player who got rest time in cupcake games some extra touchdowns and yards. And while we’re at it, let’s pretend that Clemson didn’t care about the USC game (an argument that is pure nonsense). In that case, we’ll spot every player whose team didn’t care about a game the stats from that game.
Football isn’t about what you’re capable of or what you might have done if things had gone differently; it’s about what you do on the field. CJ Spiller is not one of the five best players in the country, period.
Two more things. First, he only had 100 yards rushing or more in four games the whole year. Ingram did that eight times, LaMichael James did it nine times, and Toby Gerhart did it ten times (in fact, Gerhart had three games with over 200 yards rushing). Even Kenny Miles had two 100 yard rushing games, and he didn’t even play in two games.
Clemson did play a weak schedule. You can give the b.s. about the three top 15 teams all you want, but you’re conveniently ignoring something when you do. Miami is ranked 25th in the nation in total defense. Georgia Tech is ranked 54th. Now, hats off to Spiller for the game against TCU; they are first in the nation in total defense. But that is the best team he played.
Let’s compare Toby Gerhart to CJ Spiller and see if Spiller deserved an invite:
-Toby Gerhart (Stanford #21 BCS) – played #7 Oregon (W), #18 Oregon State (L), #20 Arizona (W), and #24 USC, with a combined 10 rushing touchdowns.
-CJ Spiller (Clemson, unranked BCS) – Played #4 TCU (L), #9 Georgia Tech (L, L), and #15 Miami (W), with a combined 4 rushing touchdowns.
George Rogers is entitled to his opinion, but so are the other former Heisman winners. They voted, and they didn’t vote to invite CJ Spiller, probably because his statistics aren’t good enough and he got the statistics he got playing against only two defenses ranked in the Top 25 nationally (and was a combined – not average – 189 rushing yards with one rushing TD in those two games).
By CNSYD December 9, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Bobby, you just don’t get it. What Spiller did or did not do has nothing to do with his not being invited. The days of a player from a non “traditional” school (e.g. George Rogers) winning are over. It is like the preseason polls. I bet I can come pretty close to telling you what schools will be in the first top 25 poll without knowing who their players are or what their schedule is. It will be Ala, FL, USC (the real one), Ohio St, Texas, OK, etc. Why? Because the media assumes they will be great and they are too lazy to research it. Then when one of their chosen ones stumbles they don’t slide very far as that would expose the media for the dumb asses they are. Now if SC and/or Clemson claw their way into the poll, they will be dropped at the first loss because the media again does not want to be shown for the idiots they are. BTW the Stanford RB is in the top five only because he is a token white RB.
By Bobby December 9, 2009 at 6:09 pm
“Too lazy to research it”? Actually, it appears that you are too lazy to research anything because you didn’t know that Toby Gerhart has the best numbers among running backs, and you didn’t know that the preseason poll has nothing to do with the BCS poll.
The “token white RB” Toby Gerhart leads all of college football in rushing yards. I don’t think he got to 1,736 rushing yards (591 more than Spiller) because someone wanted him to be a token white RB. He has 26 rushing touchdowns (FIFTEEN more than Spiller), which also leads college football.
The BCS poll is comprised of the USA Today Coaches Poll, the Harris Interactive Poll (former players, former coaches, athletic directors, etc), and Computer Rankings that include strength of schedule, strength of conference, and win-loss records. In other words, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Ohio State, and the others typically get ranked higher because they are better. Georgia Tech isn’t going to get a lot of respect winning the ACC with multiple losses, especially when one of them comes against a Georgia team tied for 5th in the SEC. It doesn’t matter whether a team is traditional or non-traditional, it matters whether or not they are good.
The system isn’t perfect. Just ask TCU, Cincinnati, and Boise State. But at least those three teams have legitimate complaints. CJ Spiller has no legitimate complaint. If he had the numbers Gerhart or Ingram have, he’d be in contention for the Heisman.
By CNSYD December 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Bobby, you are continuing to smoke dope. You tout the USA Coaches Poll. Who votes in it? If it is SOS he hands it off. To show his further disrespect for it he starts off every year voting for Duke. You think coaches actually sit down and watch games that have no effect on their season to determine who to vote for? The Harris poll is a poll of FORMER people involved with football. I am SURE their is no bias there. Also look at some of the “voters”. Bill Battle. How many decades has it been since he coached. I am SURE he is on top of today’s game. All these polls have an inherent bias. Voters want to advance their personal schools. In particular the coaches who may get bonuses based on being in the BCS, etc. IRT Gerhart. You can find plenty of PLAYERS with high stats. You see, you fall into the trap that the only players are on offense and it is only the ones who have the ball. Stanford was beaten by Wake Forest from that WEAK conference.
By Bobby December 9, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Then why is it at that the AP Poll rarely differs from the Coaches or Harris polls? The AP Poll is sports writers; they do this stuff for a living.
I’m not saying that the only players are on offense and the only ones who matter are the ones with the ball. I was pointing out to you why CJ Spiller doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with the words “Heisman trophy”.
I never said Stanford deserved to be in the national championship game. I merely pointed out that Spiller is not as good as Toby Gerhart; that’s clear to any unbiased observer. If Spiller were better than Gerhart, I’d have no problem saying it. In fact, I think the case could be made that Spiller deserves to be there more than Suh. The problem is that three of four other QBs and RBs deserve to be there more than Spiller or Suh, so unless we’re going to invite LaMichael James, Kellen Moore, Case Keenum, Dan LeFevour, and Jacquizz Rodgers, this argument is really flawed.
It’s just funny to me because you clearly aren’t knowledgeable about football; you just go along with talking points even when someone presents you numbers proving that Spiller doesn’t compare very well to the other elite players in the country.
You said that Toby Gerhart was a “token white” player, and now you say that high stats don’t matter. You say that the polls are wrong, but Alabama and Texas are undefeated and ranked #1 and #2, not because the coaches or Harris poll voters got it wrong, but because they proved it on the football field.
CJ Spiller and Toby Gerhart play the same position. Gerhart beat him in every rushing category, and beat him handily at that. Ingram beat him as well. LaMichael James from Oregon and Jacquizz Rodgers from Oregon State beat him, too. In fact, most every decent player either beat him or matched him. Even if you want to talk about Spiller’s “strength” (returns), he isn’t head and shoulders above everyone. He doesn’t rank in the Top 5 in return yards. His return average isn’t in the Top 5. He is tied for first in return touchdowns. So, I’ll give Spiller credit: he is definitely in a tie for the best return man of the year award. But only kickoff returns because his punt return numbers aren’t comparable to the leaders in that category, either.
You can try to change the subject to Wake Forest and Bill Battle and a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter all you want, but the point at the end of the day is that CJ Spiller didn’t deserve a ticket to New York, the former Heisman winners agreed, and he’s not going.
If anyone has a right to complain about the way things have turned out over the last week, it’s Boise State, TCU, Cincinnati, and the players I named who weren’t invited to the Heisman presentation (particularly Winslow, Keenum, and James, whose numbers were outstanding and who played on pretty good teams). Clemson certainly has no room to complain; they should be happy they play in a weak conference, because if they didn’t they would never have gotten to play that extra game after USC dominated them 34-17.
By David J December 9, 2009 at 11:23 pm
The Heisman isn’t about stats. Yes they are a nice talking point, but they never mean much unless the stats are record breaking and that schemes are in place to bolster certain stats. Houston/Texas Tech/Hawaii passing game, GT/VT/Bama run first offense. None of the stats of any of this years finalist are historical or will be remembered. Unfortunately it goes to the most publicized player from a big time program who gets lots of media attention.
PS. Gerhart is good but nothing special. Check out the highlight reel, it will help you go to sleep
By Bobby December 10, 2009 at 1:12 am
I wasn’t saying Gerhart was the greatest player to ever live. You missed my point entirely; I was just pointing out that CJ Spiller isn’t on his level. Gerhart isn’t head-and-shoulders above everyone else, and CJ Spiller isn’t even as good as he is. It just furthers the point that Spiller doesn’t deserve to be there.
I disagree that the award automatically goes to the most publicized player by default. I think one of the things the voters look at is whether or not the player was able to add – in addition to great statistics – a sense of leadership and inevitability. They want someone who wins. If that means that it is a player from one of the prestigious programs, so be it. But winning matters, because if you are doing a great deal statistically but you aren’t carrying your team, it doesn’t mean as much. It is similar to the MVP from baseball, where they typically try to give preference to a guy who was most valuable on the best team.
That said, Gerhart’s highlight reel is impressive. His 26 rushing touchdowns ranks third on the single-season record list, behind Barry Sanders with 37 and Mike Rozier from Nebraska. I’m just pointing out that CJ Spiller isn’t even the best in this year’s class, much less in a historical conversation.
By Halftime December 10, 2009 at 10:45 am
Bobby, you have obviously read more into my post than I intended. I never meant to imply that BECAUSE C.J. played with turf-toe he should be a Heisman finalist. As someone who has battled to stay on the field with the same malady for 2 games, my hat’s off to him. He played the entire season with a nagging injury and I believe he should get some props for it. I do believe he is the best kick/punt returner in the nation and could make an argument that he is the best all-around offensive player in the nation. Whether or not that qualifies him as a Heisman contender is left up for debate.
By CNSYD December 10, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Bobby, as you are flashing your chicken feathers (which by the way guide your comments) explain to me how you determined that the AP poll has no bias. You live in a state that has Ron Morris and Bart Wright and you see no bias? Does some sportswriter in no where Wyoming follow football in SC and consider them equally against teams from the West? If you believe that you are out of it. As I told you (and you refuse to listen) Ingram is not the best football player on Alabama’s team. It is McClain. So why isn’t McClain going to NYC? Because he is on defense. Suh is the token defensive player who if his name had been Smith in lieu of Suh wouldn’t be there either.