Here are my thoughts on the Griffin contenders, ranked in reverse order:
7. Mark Ingram (Alabama) - Ingram put up some solid numbers this year (1,542 yards rushing, 6.19 yards per carry, 322 yards receiving, 18 total touchdowns), but let's face it, if he played for some middle-of-the-road SEC team like Auburn, or Arkansas, or South Carolina, then his name wouldn't even be in the discussion right now. The "best player on the best team" argument is BS ... and Ingram isn't even the best player for the Crimson Tide ... Rolando McClain is. And Alabama is probably still 13-0 right now with Boom Herron as their starting tailback.
6. Tim Tebow (Florida) - Tebow's name is on the list because he's a former Heisman winner, but his stats this year don't really come close to those from his Heisman campaign (2007)[sup]1[/sup]. While his rushing stats for the two seasons are almost identical (838 yards, 4.3 ypc in 2007; 859 yards, 4.2 ypc in 2009), his passing stats are way down (3,132 yards, .685 pct, 177.85 efficiency in 2007; 2,413 yards, .652 pct, 155.59 efficiency in 2009), as are his total touchdowns (51 TD's in 2007; 31 TD's in 2009). Tebow is still a great player and a great leader on a great team, but he really needed to post some eye-popping numbers in order to become the second two-time Heisman winner, and he simply did not do so.
5. Toby Gerhart (Stanford) - Granted, Gerhart led the nation in rushing yardage (1,736 yards) and scoring (26 touchdowns, 160 points), but he did so against Pac 10 competition that is not exactly known for its strong defenses. In addition to beating up on conference cupcakes like UCLA (#60 rushing defense), Washington (#67 rushing defense), and Washington State (#117 rushing defense), Gerhart's non-conference foes consisted of Wake Forest (#82 rushing defense), Notre Dame (#90 rushing defense), and San Jose State (#119 rushing defense). With such porous defenses on his slate, it's surprising that Gerhart didn't go for upwards of 2,000 yards this season.
4. Colt McCoy (Texas) - At the beginning of this season, I thought that McCoy would win the Heisman, at least as a sort of lifetime achievement award. However, like Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy took a step backward this year. After finishing as the Heisman runner-up in 2008, McCoy's numbers declined across the board in 2009[sup]1[/sup]: rushing yards down from 576 to 348; yards per carry down from 4.5 to 2.7; rushing touchdowns down from 10 to 3; passing touchdowns down from 32 to 27; interceptions up from 7 to 12; completion percentage down from .776 to .705; yards per completion down from 11.84 to 10.64; and quarterback efficiency down from 179.19 to 147.46; only McCoy's passing yardage went up (from 3,445 to 3,512), and that slight increase was entirely due to the fact that he threw 93 more passes this year over last year. A miserable performance against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game (20 completions in 36 attempts, 184 yards, no touchdowns, 3 interceptions, 9 sacks), together with a bonehead play as time (almost) expired, sealed his fate.
3. Golden Tate (Notre Dame) - Even though he played on a team with no running game (85th rushing offense), an erratic offensive line, and a decided schematic disadvantage, Tate was able to post some truly impressive numbers this season: 93 receptions (#7 in nation), 1,496 receiving yards (#4 in nation), 15 receiving touchdowns (#2 in nation), 1,915 all-purpose yards (#14 in nation), and 18 total touchdowns (#9 in nation). However, Tate also had the benefit of playing with the nation's best quarterback (Jimmy Clausen, 3,722 yards, 28 touchdowns, 4 interceptions, #2 in pass efficiency) and best tight end (Kyle Rudolph, 33 receptions, 364 yards, 3 touchdowns), as well as a solid #2 receiver (Michael Floyd, 44 receptions, 795 yards, 9 touchdowns). In other words, Tate had someone who could get him the ball, and two other quality receivers to draw coverage away from him. Even though he is part of a prolific passing offense, it is easy to see that Tate is a special player who can score any time that he touches the ball, and he was #1 on my Griffin list until the conference championship games.
2. Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska) - Suh is probably the most dominant player in college football (82 tackles, 19.5 TFL's, 12 sacks, 10 deflected passes, 3 blocked kicks), but then again, the entire Nebraska defense ain't too shabby (#9 total defense, #2 scoring defense, 42 sacks, 27 turnovers). Suh was my top defensive player all year, but he made his way on to the Griffin list (and moved Colt McCoy off) in the final week of the season after logging 12 tackles and 4.5 sacks against Texas in the Big 12 championship game. Despite Suh's obvious greatness, the Black Shirts would have still be a pretty good defense without him, which is why he came up a tad short on my Griffin ballot.
1. C.J. Spiller (Clemson) - Spiller had a monster year for a team with a mediocre offense. Clemson was #69 in total offense (365.54 yards per game, less than a yard better than #71 Ohio State), which was far worse than the other candidates? teams: Notre Dame was #9 (451.75 ypg), Florida was #12 (442.38 ypg), Stanford was #13 (441.42 ypg), Texas was #20 (432.38), and even defensive-minded Alabama checked in at #35 (413.77 ypg). On the season, Spiller had 1,590 yards from scrimmage, which represented just over one-third (33.4%) of Clemson?s total offense; Spiller's offensive output compares favorably to both Ingram's (34.7% of Alabama's total) and Gerhart's (35.6% of Stanford's total), and exceeds Tate's (31.0% of Notre Dame's total). However, Spiller added another 918 yards in the return game, which means that on the season he accounted for 40.6% of Clemson?s all-purpose yards. Spiller led the nation in that category, and far out-distanced the other Griffin contenders such as Tate (1,915 all-purpose yards for 28.4% of Notre Dame?s total), Ingram (1,864 all-purpose yards for 27.7% of Alabama?s total), and Gerhart (1,885 all-purpose yards for 26.9% of Stanford?s total). Overall, Spiller had 2,508 all-purpose yards (#2 in nation) and was responsible for 21 touchdowns (11 rushing, 4 receiving, 4 kick returns, 1 punt return, 1 passing). Of the non-quarterback offensive players, Spiller clearly had the best season in 2009.
Spiller really made his case as the best player in the country in the ACC championship game, where he rushed 20 times for 233 yards (11.65 average) and 4 touchdowns, and accounted for 57.5% of his team's yards from scrimmage, and 57.9% of their all-purpose yards.
Although it is difficult to compare running backs with quarterbacks, the production of both Tebow and McCoy dropped during their senior seasons, while Spiller's went up dramatically: his all-purpose yards increased by 41.7% over his junior year (from 1,770 to 2,508), and his touchdowns increased by 75% (from 12 to 21).
It is even more difficult to compare offensive players and defensive players, but Suh anchored the #9 defense in the country, while Spiller was mired on the #69 offense. Nebraska's defense would have been respectable without Suh, but Clemson's offense would have been non-existent without Spiller.
If the Griffin should go to "the best player on the best team" ... or if it should be a "lifetime achievement award" ... then C.J. Spiller is not the best candidate. But if the Griffin should go to the player who was the most productive and the most valuable to his team during that one season, then Spiller definitely deserves the award, because without him Clemson's 8-5 record would probably have been reversed.
________________________________
[sup]1[/sup] Tebow's stats for 2007 and McCoy's stats for 2008 were for their regular seasons, as the Heisman voting occurs prior to the bowl games.
