Spurrier tries to redirect a tired line of questioning

COLUMBIA -- After weeks of repeated dissection, Steve Spurrier finally had enough of talking about South Carolina's offensive play-calling system.

He wanted to talk about someone else's.

"By the way," Spurrier said Tuesday, during his news conference, "how does Clemson do their play-calling, since that seems to be a big thing around here?"

Specifically, Spurrier wanted to know how the plays get from the sideline to the field. Is it a product of head coach Dabo Swinney, or offensive coordinator Billy Napier?

He was never given a definitive answer, leaving him to guess.

"Now, see, Dabo signals in a bunch of stuff," Spurrier said. "I thought maybe he was calling a bunch of 'em."

Clemson isn't all that different than a lot of schools. Napier calls the plays and Swinney holds veto power.

At South Carolina, Spurrier reassumed duties as the principal play-caller a couple of weeks back after some unrest about Steve Spurrier Jr.'s level of involvement.

"We'll finish the year with pretty much the play-calling that we've been doing throughout the year, with me calling almost all of them," Spurrier said. "If I get hung up every now and then, I'll say (to Spurrier Jr.), 'give me something up there (in the press box).'"

Spurrier said quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus and offensive line coach Eric Wolford also have input.

"Which I imagine occurs on most staffs," Spurrier said.

But Spurrier wanted to talk more about Clemson than his staff.

"I haven't seen a lot written about how they call their plays," Spurrier said. "You know what ... I forgot ... they're winning. They've won their last six. That's why they don't dissect it."

No holding back

Spurrier nodded his head as a reporter asked him about running the Wildcat formation at Clemson, as Virginia successfully did last week against the Tigers.

Is it time to finally get Kenny Miles, or even Stephon Gilmore, in as the single back?

"Oh, let's hope so," Spurrier said. "We say that every week, don't we?"

Miles has seen one play in the formation all year, and it lost a yard or 2. Gilmore, meanwhile, has been busy playing a lot of snaps at cornerback and returning punts.

"There's a lot of offense that we've practiced most of the year that somehow or another we just haven't gotten to," Spurrier said. "But, yeah, we don't need to hold anything back. That's for sure. Whether or not we get to it, shoot, we'll just have to wait and see."

Heisman talk

Spurrier was one of a few Heisman voters in the Williams-Brice meeting room for Tuesday's press conference.

The 1966 winner wasn't tipping his hand, though. He learned his lesson about keeping votes private back in the summer, you see.

"I've gotten in enough trouble talking about who I vote for," Spurrier joked. "So I'm not doing that anymore."

Spurrier infamously voted Jevan Snead ahead of Tim Tebow on the first-team All-SEC preseason ballot. Interestingly, a quarterback other than Tebow (Arkansas' Ryan Mallett) would seem to have the inside track on the postseason honor.

Spurrier said Clemson's C.J. Spiller could be in contention for the Heisman, along with Alabama's Mark Ingram, Texas' Colt McCoy and Florida's Tebow. He said much of it would depend on how they fare in their conference title games.