Spiller fine with taking a breather

By JOHN BRASIER
Special to The Item

CLEMSON – By not stopping the Clemson offense, the Coastal Carolina defense stopped C.J. Spiller’s Heisman Trophy momentum.

With the Tigers cruising to a 49-3 victory Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, Tiger coach Dabo Swinney, offensive coordinator Billy Napier and running backs coach Andre Powell elected to take out Spiller, who has battled a sprained toe throughout the season, in the first half.

Spiller finished with only 27 total yards – all on five rushing attempts. Coastal opted for a “pooch” kick on the opening kickoff and directed all its punts out of bounds.

“I don’t worry about that,” Spiller said after the game about his limited playing time. “We’re 5-3. That’s all that’s important …

“It’s always good to let some of the backup guys play.”

Earlier in the week, the Clemson athletic department launched a website promoting Spiller for the Heisman. Spiller had averaged 208 yards total offense in the Tigers’ first seven games with at least one play of 60 or more yards in each game.

But Swinney said giving Spiller a chance to pad his stats was never a consideration. Spiller did have a 6-yard touchdown run before leaving the game for good late in the second quarter.

“We didn’t have a real need to put him back in the game,” Swinney said. “We’re about the team. We could have given him the ball a bunch and no telling what kind of stats he would have had. That wouldn’t have been very smart.”

Tiger offensive coordinator Billy Napier agreed that keeping Spiller in the game on a wet field wasn’t worth the risk. Defensive end Da’Quan Bowers had to be helped off the field in the second quarter with a leg injury, though Swinney said Bowers would be OK for next week’s game against Florida State.

Spiller didn’t seem upset after the game. Instead, he complimented the performances of Andre Ellington and Jamie Harper, who combined to 164 yards on 19 carries.

Spiller’s first three carries came on the Tigers’ opening possession. His longest gain was 10 yards on the play before his touchdown.

For the season, Spiller has 574 yards rushing, 267 yards in receptions and 642 yards in kick returns for 1,482 total yards.