The Kevin Smith Rant (No, Not That One)
I have hinted for years that, when the time was right, I had a vitriolic rant to share with the masses regarding Kevin Smith. With this month’s release of Clerks 3 to complete1 a trilogy no one wanted, the time is now right.
My dear readers, I present you with my definitive rant on the time Heisman Trophy voters snubbed UCF running back Kevin Smith.
Thirty-two players in college football history have combined for 35 2,000-plus-yard rushing seasons (Troy Davis, Ron Dayne and Jonathan Taylor reached that milestone twice). Only eight running backs have hit 2,000 in NFL history.
Of those two groups and just 38 players — Barry Sanders and Derrick Henry are in both clubs — three played in the same college league in the same season.
2007 may be the most fondly remembered college campaign of modern history. It’s certainly the most wild of the 21st Century as reflected in the assortment of non-traditional programs that reached No. 2 in the AP Poll (Boston College, Kansas and USF chief among them); the variety of upsets, including regular-season bookending shake-ups of historic proportions with Appalachian State over Michigan and Pitt keeping West Virginia out of the BCS Championship Game, as well as Stanford scoring the biggest upset in the sport’s history2 that October at USC; and LSU becoming the only two-loss national champion of the BCS era.
So much insanity went down that season that Conference USA’s remarkable trio of 2,000-yard backs feels forgotten 15 years later. Not that they got their props at the time: UCF’s Kevin Smith and Tulane’s Matt Forte are members both of the 2,000-Yard Club and the considerably more exclusive 2,000 Yards But No Heisman Invite Club.
Forte’s exclusion from New York City was at least somewhat justifiable from the perspective that Tulane finished 2007 at 4-8 with wins over only three FBS opponents. Troy Davis was a finalist for a sub-.500 Iowa State team a little more than a decade prior, but also had an established reputation, shared a conference with the most dominant program of the era, and hit 2,000 yards in one less game.
Still, it’s a bit perplexing that with 2,127 yards — at the time, one of the 10-most productive seasons in history — and 23 rushing touchdowns, which ranked in the top 20 all-time in 2007, Forte didn’t even finish in the Top 10 of Heisman balloting.
If it’s any consolation to Tulane faithful, he was one of two backs that season to both hit 2,000 yards and reach the sport’s top 20 all-time in single-season rushing touchdowns and not garner enough votes to be in the Heisman’s Top 10. Ray Rice joined Forte and Smith in the 2,000-Yard Club that season with 2,012 and scored 24 touchdowns, played in a BCS conference and spearheaded the nation’s underdog darlings of a season prior. So there’s that, I guess.
But of 2007’s 2,000-yard backs, no Heisman snub was more egregious than that of Smith. Revisiting his season reignites the fire and annoyance like I’m back in December 2007.
As Smith sealed UCF’s first-ever conference championship in a C-USA title-game romp over Tulsa with an incredible 284 yards rushing and four touchdowns, I assumed he was a shoo-in for the Heisman ceremony.
By that point it was clear Tim Tebow was winning, but just the inclusion of a non-BCS player in the presentation felt like a milestone.
Colt Brennan’s historic passing campaign for undefeated Hawaii — yet another contributing factor to the 2007 season’s madness — stole the outsider spotlight. And in the BCS-to-Playoff eras, we’re constantly reminded that there’s room for one outsider at most any given season.
Still, Smith was in pursuit of mythical marks set by two of the greatest backs in football history, and two Heisman winners, Barry Sanders and Marcus Allen.
Smith fell short of Sanders’ 2,628 yards gained in 1988, a record that may never be broken. But considering only Troy Davis had come within 300 yards of Allen’s 2,427 accrued in 1981 before Smith, Marcus Allen’s place in history seemed just as unattainable.
Smith finished the 2007 season with 2,567 yards, second-most in college football history until Melvin Gordon surpassed him by all of two movements of the chains during the 2014 campaign.
The UCF back also scored 29 rushing touchdowns in ‘07, good enough for tie yet another Heisman winner in Mike Rozier for second-most in a single season to that point.
Never mind the Heisman, though: Smith didn’t even finish as a Doak Walker Award finalist.
Whereas the older works of the filmmaker who shares a name have aged poorly, Kevin Smith’s 2007 season remains one of the most incredible of my lifetime.
Now that The Press Break has given Smith and Forte their flowers, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Conference USA produced a third 2,000-yard back from its 2007 class.
Chris Johnson was among the nation’s most productive backs that season, combining his 1,423 rushing yards (at a 6 YPC clip) and 17 touchdowns with another 528 receiving and six scores for East Carolina.
Johnson fell just shy of 2,000 yards from scrimmage — not quite the same achievement as rushing for 2,000 yards, but still impressive — but made up for it just two years later in the NFL.
He became CJ2K in 2009 with the Tennessee Titans, going for 2,006. Only five others had reached 2,000 yards in a season before him.
For one conference in one season to account for eight percent of all the 2,000-yard ball-carriers in top-tier and pro football history ranks among the more astounding facts in the sport.
No one should believe filmmaker Kevin Smith when he says he’s wrapping up a series or following through on a project. It’s been 21 years since Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was “the end” of the View Askew Universe; that lasted five years. Smith has also spent at least a decade promising an homage to pre-1979 expansion hockey — but given Smith once announced that hacky stand-up comedian Jim Norton was tabbed for a leading role, it’s probably for the best that project’s been shelved.
Stanford’s 24-23 win in Jim Harbaugh’s first season on The Farm held that distinction, as determined by Las Vegas sportsbook, for a decade. Howard’s win at UNLV to open the 2017 season surpassed Stanford — Howard was a 45-point underdog, while Stanford was *just* 41 — but one could fairly contend the Cardinal still hold the record. Finding sportsbooks in Vegas that take bets on FCS games can be a challenge; for decades, books couldn’t take bets on UNLV; and an FBS vs. FCS matchup with a 45-point spread all combined to make finding a casino with the game on its board about as much of a challenge as getting a bottle of water for less than $5 on The Strip.