Let's say you have your choice of who to post a picture of, representing Ohio State in a #10 jersey....you have a tough choice to make.
Do you choose......
Art Schlichter, a four-year starter (under Woody, who HATED starting freshmen), and finished in the Top 10 of Heisman voting in three of those years?When the guy left college, he was Ohio State's career leader in total offense. Pretty impressive....
Do you choose......
Rex Kern, Mr. All-American, who won two National Championships and led his teams to a 27-2 mark over a three-year span?
The guy was the leader of the Super Sophs, and you cannot deny his historical place at The Ohio State University.
Well, if you're me, you can't deny either player their rightful spot to #10. But I'm going with the guy that most of you would select.....
Troy Smith. Who else?
Let's look over the brilliant history, shall we?
- Heisman trophy winner, 2006
- As a starter, he was 25-3 overall
- Won his last 15 Big Ten games
- 58 career TDs, only 13 INTs
- Went 3-0 against Michigan
- Gained 1,051 total yards in three games against Michigan by himself. The Wolverines total yards as a team in those same games? 1,051 total yards.
Fact is, the guy had a wheelbarrow full of amazing plays and highlights. You can't find one play that sums up Smith, you need a dozen or so.
My favorite, though is the play against UM with Gonzalez shown in yesterday's post, tied with a similar play against Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl (shown at the 2:04 mark of my Troy Smith highlight video here;
That Notre Dame play was on third-and-long, and broke the backs of the Irish.
Tell me, what was your favorite all-time play by Troy Smith? Put it in the comments, I'd love to hear about it!
My friend Troy Smith....enjoy your day!
4 comments:
It's gotta be the Penn State play, at 0:51.
I was there, and remember thinking: "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, TOUCHDOWN!"
Gotta love that TD pass against Indiana, where he seems to dodge the entire defensive front 7 just to throw an off-balance shot to the endzone, which was perfectly thrown for the touchdown.
I was in Block O, right in front of the play. All I could see at first was a blown up play, and I was chanting, "throwitaway throwitaway throwitaway" like everyone else. Little did I know that Troy would pull a Lebron James and fire off a fadeaway with deadeye accuracy. The sheer unexpectedness of the play left the entire stadium at a loss for aplit second, followed by wild cheers, and then the obvious chants of "Heisman! Heisman!" that seemed to echo against those walls on a weekly basis that year.
The Penn State play when he runs right, reverses field to the left and then hits Robo for a TD is my favorite. At the time, I remember yelling to my buddy sitting next to me in the stadium that he just won the heisman with that play. And the look over to the sideline with his hands in the air reminds me of the famous shot of Michael Jordan shrugging because he was so amazed himself at how hot he was.
The best Troy memory.
Part of what makes me such a Troy fan is the story of redemption that his career represents. He was an afterthought in recruiting. He had some behavior issues early in his career. yet he never quit.
The Penn State play was amazing, and I remember it was raining hard that day. That was the Heisman play.
But I think that the pass to Gonzalez in the 05 Michigan game in the closing minutes, after dodging a linebacker and being on the run is the best play. That set up the TD and the win against Michigan. Can never get that out of my system - ever!
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