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COLUMBIA It is the million-dollar question surrounding Clemson football these days: Why do teams continue to kick and punt the ball to C.J. Spiller?
Spiller has three kickoff returns for touchdowns of 90 or more yards and one punt return that went 72 yards for a score. With six touchdowns, he is one kickoff return from an NCAA career record. Every time he touches the ball on a return, he is a threat to finish in the end zone.
"He's an unbelievable return guy because he's zero to 60 in a flash," coach Dabo Swinney says. "He's so explosive."
The alternative to kicking to Spiller seems pretty simple ... and smart. Punt and kick the ball out of bounds. You might surrender some field position on punts. On kickoffs, you will pay dearly by giving Clemson the ball at the 40.
But based on Spiller's returns this season, kicking out of bounds is a small price to pay.
"I don't know why they keep kicking it to him," Swinney says, "but I root for it every week. I wouldn't kick it to him. ... Somebody else would have to beat me."
Amazingly enough, Clemson's average starting position following a kickoff is the 41. So, it stands to reason that teams would be better off kicking it out of bounds. Spiller ranks second nationally with 38 yards per kickoff return.
Included among his 12 kickoff returns were the season opener for 96 yards against Middle Tennessee, a 92-yarder against Maryland and a 90-yarder against Miami. Of his five punt returns, one was for 50 yards against Middle Tennessee and one was for 72 yards and a touchdown against Boston College.
If Florida State kicks or punts it to Spiller on Saturday, there is a chance he will have the NCAA career record for touchdown returns, one more than the six apiece by Anthony Davis of Southern California (1972-74) and Ashlan Davis of Tulsa (2004-05).
Six Clemson opponents have kicked or punted the ball Spiller's way. Georgia Tech probably did the best job containing him since he returned kicks for 35, 22 and 21 yards.
That kind of coverage likely makes other teams believe they can contain him.
"Sometimes, you just challenge your guys," Swinney says of a team's coverage. "You say, 'We've got to do our jobs and go cover, and let's keep this guy from the 30-yard line in because we can't afford to let them start drives on the 40-, 45-yard lines.'
"It's an interesting cat-and-mouse game."
It's a game in which Spiller usually plays the cat.
When asked if he was surprised that teams continue to kick the ball to him, Spiller at first laughed.
"Not really. That's what they're coached to do," Spiller says.
Confidence is one thing. Stupidity quite another.
You have to believe Florida State will kick and punt to a place on the field where Spiller can't be found.
Spiller, who chose Clemson over Florida State and Florida, said he has not talked to Seminoles special teams coach Jody Allen this week, but he might corner him on the field Saturday and urge him to kick the ball deep.
Allen is not revealing Florida State's strategy. But he said Spiller is a weapon in part because Clemson puts speedsters Jacoby Ford and Andre Ellington on kickoff returns as well.
"You know how dangerous (Spiller) is," Allen says. "But the short guys are dangerous, too. You've got Jacoby Ford and (Ellington). You kick it to them and they get their hands on it quicker and farther up the field, and they are dangerous."
No doubt, Clemson puts opponents in a compromising position with Spiller returning kickoffs and punts. Pooch kicks. Dribblers. Out-of-bounds boots. Onside kicks. They all seem like better options than letting Spiller get his hands on the ball.
