QB Troy Smith (2006 Heisman Trophy Winner)

[DaddyBigBucks]

Let's face it; Troy looked tight out there on Saturday. He wasn't quite himself.


Let's put this in perspective:

His efficiency rating on this "off day" was 148.84.​

His rating for the masterful performance in Ann Arbor last year: 150.00.​

The first thing this points out is the limitations of the quarterback efficiency rating in evaluating a quarterback's performance. But it also illustrates that, even on a bad day, Troy is still awfully good. In fact, he had a better day than any other quarterback that is in the Heisman Race; even if you include those that are only "in the race" according to their own SID.

Bear in mind also that Troy's efficiency was hurt by being saddled with 3rd and a $50-cab-ride by penalties all day.



FWIW: Troy threw 10 times on first down in the first half against Texas. He has thrown 10 times on first down in the 6 quarters since.


For the year, the following is how Troy's passing breaks out by down:


...................comp....att....yards....TD....INT.....RATING
1st DOWN.......22.......32.....350.......2......0........181.25
2nd DOWN......20.......27.....288.......3......0........200.34
3rd DOWN.......14.......22.....131.......2......0........143.65
OVERALL.........56.......81.....769.......7......0........177.40

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Troy is #3 in the country in passing efficiency with a rating of 177.4, a scant .01 behind the two QBs who are tied for #1 (Leak of Florida and Willis of SMU). Also, of all the qualifying QBs who have not yet thrown an interception, Troy has the most TD passes (7), one ahead of Booty of USC.

 

[buckeyeboy]

Troy is #3 in the country in passing efficiency with a rating of 177.4, a scant .01 behind the two QBs who are tied for #1 (Leak of Florida and Willis of SMU).

I was looking at that earlier today, and two things I noticed were that (1) TS has a higher completion percentage than Leak and (2) while Leak has 3 more TDs than TS, he also has three more INTs. It seems a bit odd that TS's efficiency isn't higher, considering the fact that Leak's completion percentage and TD to INT ratio are both lower than TS's.

 

[ant80]

I was looking at that earlier today, and two things I noticed were that (1) TS has a higher completion percentage than Leak and (2) while Leak has 3 more TDs than TS, he also has three more INTs. It seems a bit odd that TS's efficiency isn't higher, considering the fact that Leak's completion percentage and TD to INT ratio are both lower than TS's.

The NCAA formula is:
[ { (8.4 * yards) + (330 * touchdowns) - (200 * interceptions) + (100 * completions) } / attempts ].

Whether the formula is valid or not is debatable, but that is the formula used currently.

 

[ScriptOhio]

ESPN has a good poll question today:

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]Last Interception Pool[/FONT]
The Dash has revived an old favorite, asking readers to select which quarterback among the top 100 listed in the NCAA pass efficiency leaders will be the last to throw a pick in 2006 and how many passes he will get off before finally tossing one to the wrong team. Your choices:

Drew Willy (29), Buffalo. No interceptions in 97 attempts.
Troy Smith (30), Ohio State. No interceptions in 81 attempts.
John David Booty (31), USC. No interceptions in 71 attempts.
Stephen McGee (32), Texas A&M. No interceptions in 62 attempts.
Thaddeus Lewis (33), Duke. No interceptions in 62 attempts (the first 62 attempts of the freshman's career).
Jared Zabransky (34), Boise State. No interceptions in 53 attempts.
Riley Skinner (35), Wake Forest. No interceptions in 46 attempts (also a freshman). Quarterbacks must throw a minimum of 15 passes per game to remain in the rankings. Any fewer than that and they're out of the pool. Pick your favorite pick-free QB today.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2594247

 

[osugrad21]

CPD

Steady Smith's savvy keeps Bucks rolling



Thursday, September 21, 2006 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus- Here's a word you don't often hear when describing Ohio State senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Troy Smith.
Cautious.
In light of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn's disastrous three-interception game in last week's loss to Michigan, Smith's current stretch of 151 passes without an interception appears even more impressive. That's five full games, his last pick coming against Northwestern last season, and it leaves Smith as one of only seven players among the NCAA's top 100-rated passers not yet picked off this year.

His judiciousness is a skill, just as much as arm strength or running ability.
"One of the things that is not talked about a lot is Troy is very, very careful with the ball," Ohio State QB coach Joe Daniels said. "He will not throw the ball if there is, in his mind, a chance that somebody might be covered. He's excep tional that way."
It's a quality you might not expect, given Smith's reputa tion as a playmaker. But even Craig Krenzel, Ohio State's by-the-book QB in 2002 and 2003, never went more than four games without throwing a pick.
"As a younger quarterback, you're either too timid or too aggressive," Smith said. "It's hard to find that happy medium. As you get older you learn from your mistakes."
But Daniels said Smith has always been this way. For his career, Smith has thrown just seven interceptions against 31 touchdown passes.
"I'm not saying he won't take a chance or he doesn't anticipate," Daniels said. "He does all those things. But it's very calculated."

 

[LoKyBuckeye]

LINK

Penn State next up to try to stop Buckeyes' Smith

Posted: September 20, 2006

Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Texas couldn't stop him. Northern Illinois and Cincinnati were mere speed bumps.

Now Penn State gets a crack at trying to contain Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith on Saturday, a tough task that the top-ranked Buckeyes' first three opponents couldn't handle.


"People say you have to put pressure on him and you have to do this and that," Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. "Yeah, sure, try to catch him."

Smith has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns, completing 69 percent of his passes for No. 1 Ohio State (3-0). The senior has yet to throw an interception.

It helps Smith to have a lot of talented options, like speedy wideout and fellow Heisman hopeful Ted Ginn Jr., receiver Anthony Gonzalez and running back Antonio Pittman.

That puts the 24th-ranked Nittany Lions (2-1) in a quandary familiar to the Buckeyes' other foes this season.

"You put pressure on him and you are running around trying to make sure Ginn, Gonzalez and the other kid aren't running wild on you," Paterno said. "You plug away and plug away. I think our defensive line is working at it. We are going to have to play a lot of people because they are going to get tired."

If there's any solace for Paterno, Penn State has had some success in bottling up Smith. Nearly a year ago at a rocking Beaver Stadium, Smith was 13-of-25 for 139 yards and an interception, and ran for 15 yards on 19 carries in Penn State's nail-biting 17-10 win over Ohio State that eliminated any national title hopes for the Buckeyes.

Smith did run for Ohio State's only score then, and was involved in two other big plays. Unfortunately for him, he was on the wrong end each time -- sacked by Tamba Hali with about a minute and a half left and chased down by Paul Posluszny for a 10-yard loss with about five minutes to go.

Things have changed. Penn State lost seven starters from that impressive defense. Ohio State hasn't lost a game since then.

Smith said he has watched last year's Penn State game a couple times.

"I don't want to say that Penn State was a turning point," Smith said. "I would like to say that we gradually increased and got better as a team. That was just a step along the way."

He's more sure of himself now, and hits the film room to try to fix any potential problems.

"It's a totally different comfort level than last year," Smith said.

He's running less, with just 12 attempts for minus-14 yards in his first three games. By comparison, he ran 11 times for 66 yards in the Fiesta Bowl last season against Notre Dame.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said Smith hasn't run as much this season in part because the offense has been effective without his scrambling abilities and in part to better protect the quarterback.

"What do you do to stop us. I guess first of all you've got to stop Troy Smith," said guard T.J. Downing. "But to stop Troy, you've got to get through the offensive line. ... It's a big question mark for the defensive coordinator for Penn State and for the rest of their team."

Penn State linebacker Dan Connor said the key to stopping Smith last season was keeping him in the pocket, but he has noticed a difference this year.

"He definitely looks real good in the passing game, looking people off, defensive backs and linebackers," said Connor, who has a team-high 30 tackles. "He definitely looks more polished as a passer."

Still, the Lions are aware of Smith's ability to break a defense down on the run. They know firsthand how disruptive an athletic quarterback can be since they had to practice against one every week last season when Michael Robinson guided Penn State.

Texas can relate. The Longhorn defense also had the experience of practicing against an athletic quarterback last season, Vince Young. Smith torched them anyway two weeks ago for 269 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-7 win.

Which would make stopping Smith even more impressive for a Nittany Lion defense still jelling after incorporating the fresh faces into the starting lineup, including three sophomores in the secondary. Penn State has been taut against the run, giving up just 63 yards a game, but more porous against the pass (205 yards per game).

The Lions have had some success getting to the quarterback, with 12 sacks in their first three games.

"Anytime you have a mobile quarterback like that who can run the option and also throws the ball downfield really well, it's always very tough to prepare for them," Posluszny said.

 

[osugrad21]

Link

Smith's so much more than runner


Thursday, September 21, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State quarter back Troy Smith is a pro prospect. This being his senior year, he wants to be seen as such.
He keeps doing what he's doing and everyone will start seeing it that way.
"It's just been a gradual, continuous process," Smith said yesterday of his development in the last two-plus seasons. "I owe a lot to my teammates for that as well.
"Football is a team game and you have to realize that."
In college, it's also a weekly individual audition for a professional career and a seven-figure salary. Smith's auditions have been going flawlessly in 2006, topped by a commanding performance in the Buckeyes' dominant 24-7 win at Texas 12 days ago.
These days, the requisite specs on the NFL QB design board have been rewritten. Which is all good for Smith.
They no longer mandate a 6-4 height, though that's always handy. (Smith is listed at 6-1 but I've looked him straight in the eye during interviews and I'm 6-0.)
And they no longer require a mobile QB to rein himself in and stand around in the pocket waiting to be smacked by freakish humanoids the size of the Jacksonville Jaguars DTs.
Fifteen years ago, coaches ordered lithe, coltish quarterbacks such as Smith to "stay in the pocket and stay safe." Now, the mandate to stay safe is to stay out of traffic. If you need to throw, get to a passing lane. If you need to run, fine.
It's taken decades of lineage from Fran Tarkenton to Warren Moon to Randall Cunningham and Steve Young to now Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick to render that stodgy pocket logic obsolete. And that's why Smith is a pro prospect.
The funny thing about Smith this year is he really hasn't run much at all. He's hitting almost 70 percent of his passes with his surprisingly powerful arm and almost bending over backwards not to bust scrimmage. He's run 12 times for a net of -14 yards.
Whether he's trying to prove his passing credentials to pro scouts or OSU coach Jim Tressel is simply encouraging the use of maturing junior wideouts Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez as a logical progression of the offense, it's a departure from last season.
But there's more going on here. Two seminal moments for Smith came during the 25-21 win at Michigan when he was twice flushed from the pocket during the game-winning late drive. Rather than run, as he almost surely would have as a sophomore, Smith pulled up and fired downfield to Gonzalez for big completions, the latter one carrying to the Michigan 2.
Something else is apparent, too. Smith has become a very shrewd and accurate passer. He's completing 69.1 percent of his passes this season, has not thrown an interception in five games dating to last year and is rated third in Division I-A in passing efficiency.
Troy Smith once was a "running quarterback." Now he's a quarterback who can run.
But yesterday, when I asked the Cleveland native and huge Browns fan if he noticed or cared about the NFL's new attitude toward mobile QBs, mentioning Young as a possible turning point, Smith stunned me by responding with a history lesson:
"No, I don't really care. Because, if you look back through time, one of the first scrambling quarterbacks was a guy named Fran Tarkenton. Fran did a great job for Minnesota, which paved the way for guys like Steve Young, Mike Vick, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair, Randall Cunningham. The list goes on and on.
"You can't just pinpoint one guy. Professional football has always had good running quarterbacks."
Impressive enough. Then again, the 22-year-old is too young to remember the baggage that Tarkenton and his like used to haul around -- that a "running quarterback" would never win you a championship. Young buried that notion, even though Tarkenton came close way back in 1973 and 1974.
In 2005, Smith's running was a major factor for OSU. Shifty and quick-footed, he rushed more than 10 times in every game but two. He netted 611 yards (after -111 in sack losses) and ran for 11 touchdowns. He has averaged 4.4 yards every time he has run the ball during his Ohio State career. That's a weapon.
Last year against Penn State was a stark aberration in a 17-10 loss. Smith averaged .8 per carry even though he kept trying to scramble upfield. He netted 15 yards rushing (a season low) on 19 carries (a season high). And he was sacked five times.
What's the difference between last year's Smith and this year's?
"We've got new jerseys," he cracked.
Smith probably actually does see it that way. The kid exudes an air of street smarts and confidence, as if he knew he'd be this complete a quarterback all along.
Chances are, Penn State will see it by Saturday night.

 

[SanAntonioBuck]

Troy's stats for 9/23/06. 18-23 for 275, 3 TDs! Rushing: 4 for 30yds, 1 TD. Just my little prediction...

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

TimesLeader

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

OSU?s Smith mixes well with Ginn

Quarterback and receiver on No. 1-ranked Buckeyes were friends as kids and have a great relationship on the field too.

By JERRY KELLAR [email protected]

Ted Ginn Jr. and Troy Smith have come a long way from the days when they hung out as kids and played high school football together for Ginn?s dad, Ted Sr., at Glenville High School in Ohio.
Ginn laughingly recalled this week how he and Smith once got in trouble for leaving church early to go to McDonald?s.
?My mother wasn?t too happy,? he said.
All grown up now, it has been nothing but good times for the pair at Ohio State, the nation?s top-ranked team. Coming into tomorrow?s game against Penn State, Ginn and Smith are catalysts of a Buckeye offense that is averaging 32 points and 426 yards in its first three games.
?It?s been straight,? Ginn said of their friendship. ?It?s not about who (does more). We?re both trying to go out and play the game. We?re having fun.?
The two buddies, with teammates Anthony Gonzalez and Antonio Pittman, are known as the Fun Bunch on the squad. Smith has completed 69 percent of his passes for 769 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions. He has thrown for 200 or more yards in each of the Buckeyes? first three games and has topped that mark in nine of his last 10 starts.
Ginn has a team-high five touchdowns grabs on 14 receptions, and he averages 18.1 yards per catch. He is also one of the country?s top kick returners. Gonzalez paces the squad in receptions with 17 and averages 16.5 yards per catch. Pittman, meanwhile, is OSU?s leading ground gainer with 340 yards on 51 carries, with three touchdowns.
?Throwing the ball to Ted and Gonzo is like cheating,? Smith said this week. ?It?s like stealing.?
Will he stay ?
Ginn was noncommittal when asked if he would leave Ohio State for the NFL after his junior season.
?Right now, that?s not on my mind. I just want to play the game, play for my team and the seniors, and whatever happens happens.?
No big deal
Ohio State?s offensive players don?t seem at all concerned about Penn State?s new 3-4 defensive alignment.
To take advantage of their depth at linebacker, the Lions are using four ?backers instead of the usual three, with D-end/LB Tim Shaw lining up in an upright stance on the line of scrimmage.
?It?s not necessarily different than last year. It?s just a 4-3 with a guy standing up,? said senior center Doug Datish.
?It?s essentially the same thing.?
Adam returns to ?shoe?
Former Lion Adam Taliaferro will be in Columbus for tomorrow?s game. Six years ago, the corner back from Voorhees, N.J., suffered a severe neck injury while making a tackle in the fourth quarter of the game in Ohio Stadium.
Taliaferro fractured the fifth cervical vertebra near the base of his neck when tackling Buckeye running back Jerry Westbrooks with 1:39 to play. He lay on the field motionless for several minutes. The initial prognosis of his spinal injury was that he had little chance of walking again.
But through tireless rehabilitation and a desire to return to a normal life, Taliaferro was walking on his own five months after his injury. He is scheduled to meet Ohio State player Tyson Gentry, who suffered a serious neck injury last spring, during his visit. They will take part in a presentation at the game for the Ohio State University Medical Center?s Dodd Hall Rehabilitation Program.
Taliaferro and Gentry also will be profiled tomorrow on ESPN?s College Gameday program, which airs from 10 a.m. to noon.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

The weekly teleconferences that Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith is doing with the national media might be doing some good for his Heisman Trophy chances.
This week, one person noted that since Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young proved that running ability can be a good thing for an NFL quarterback, the attitude toward scrambling had become more forgiving. He asked Smith whether he had noticed a change in attitude toward running quarterbacks.
After saying he didn?t care, the answer you might expect from a quarterback who wants to be known as a passer and a runner, Smith surprised the person with his NFL knowledge.
"You think back through time," Smith said. "One of first scrambling quarterbacks was Fran Tarkenton. He paved the way for guys like Young. ? You can?t just pinpoint one guy. There have always been good running quarterbacks."
The person was impressed and so are we. It?s hard to find players today who are aware that there was a game before they were born, let alone a player whose career ended in 1978.
More Troy : After coach Jim Tressel?s weekly luncheon, a reporter asked Smith whether he played the NCAA ?07 video game, and if he did, whether he took Ohio State as his team and played as himself.
"I didn?t used to," he said, "because they hadn?t caught up with what we?re doing yet. They?d have the old pro set (formation for offense). I?d have to borrow another team?s playbook and play with that." See? Things are changing at Ohio State.

 

[bkochmc]

Troy's stats for 9/23/06. 18-23 for 275, 3 TDs! Rushing: 4 for 30yds, 1 TD. Just my little prediction...

If Troy is throwing for 275 yards and 3 TD's he won't have to run as the running backs will most likely have open field to contend with (I think Pittman will go for 125 yards and a TD). With that said, add in a few more completions and attempts and I agree with your stats

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

COMMENTARY
Smith?s TD could be defining moment

Sunday, September 24, 2006

BOB HUNTER

</IMG>


When Kirk Barton was asked what he thought when he saw Troy Smith survive a game of high-speed chicken with a couple of Penn State defenders and somehow find Brian Robiskie for a critical fourth-quarter touchdown pass, the huge offensive tackle practically morphed into a facepainted, funny-hatwearing, Hang-On-Sloopy-singing Ohio State fanatic.
"I was thinking that in December when he?s in New York, they?re probably going to replay that a few times," Barton said. "That?s what I was thinking."
Really? New York in December, uh, that would be the Heisman Trophy presentation ?"How many guys are gonna make that play?" Barton said. "It?s tight, 7-3, the game can go either way, and then he makes a play like that? Everything breaks down and he finds Robo wide open. You?ve got to give Robo credit for making that catch, too. ? It?s not always easy to catch that long ball in front of all those people, with the rain ? "
There are moments in every great season when something happens to keep it going. Sometimes they aren?t quite so dramatic ? it can be as a mundane as a bad call by an official ? but sometimes they force a "wow" from your mouth before you realize it?s gone.
This was one of those times. To that point in Ohio State?s 28-6 win, a star-studded offense was still a couple of touchdown passes from mediocre; because of two interceptions and a stout Penn State defense, it didn?t even score in the first half.
The Buckeyes had a nice nine-play, 75-yard drive in the third quarter to take a 7-3 lead. But in a sport where one loss can cost you a shot at the national championship, a No. 1 team clinging to a four-point lead early in the fourth quarter can?t help but make you feel a little squeamish.
OSU had second-and-9 at the Nittany Lions 37 when Smith appeared to be in trouble, reversed field, stopped and fired a breathtaking strike to Robiskie in the end zone.
Just like that, the tension broke.
"From the start, the first route, the first read wasn?t there," Smith said. "I tried to come back and look to the other side of the field, but it was kind of clogged up and crowded and I just tried to improvise and keep things going. ? We practice scrambling drills like that all the time."
But this was no drill. This was a Penn State team that handed Ohio State its only loss a year ago, one that had taken away the assurance that no matter what the inexperienced OSU defense does, the offense will always be able to score enough to account for it.
Running back Antonio Pittman was again solid, but the passing game was off. Anthony Gonzalez and Ted Ginn Jr., the team?s two big-play receivers, each had two catches for 16 and 15 yards, respectively, and some of Smith?s passes were deflected before they made it out of the backfield.
This was the kind of day when a No. 1 team could have kissed that ranking goodbye for good. Until the pass.
"You need moments like that when you?re down and out and things aren?t going the way you want them to go," Smith said. "You?ve just got to keep going."
It is what Smith probably does as well as any quarterback in college football. There may be better passing quarterbacks or better running quarterbacks, but none can "keep going" as well as Smith. And as yesterday proved, that is no small thing.
Depending on the path the season takes, that Smith-to-Robiskie toss could be one that is remembered for a long time.
"I don?t know about this being a defining moment of the season, but it was probably the defining moment of the game," Barton said. "We have a long ways to go before we can define the season, especially with that 800-pound gorilla waiting for us in Kinnick (Stadium)." Barton is right; it?s way too early to call this the defining moment of the season or even one of them. It?s never too early to be amazed. Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for the Dispatch. [email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

TelegraphForum

Heisman Trophy hopeful discounts early offensive struggles of rainy afternoon
By Gary Ogle
NNCO



COLUMBUS -- Numbers don't tell the entire story, but sometimes they make one wonder. Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli threw more touchdown passes to the guys in red than Ohio State quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Troy Smith.

"Offensively, you know, things aren't going to go the way you want them to all the time," Smith said after he was 12-of-22 passing for 115 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown. "I think the mark of a championship-caliber team is to keep going, keep going, keep going." Smith's first-quarter interception on his second throw of the game ended a streak of 152 pass attempts without a pick dating to the second quarter against Northwestern last season. His second interception came on the opening drive of the second half, making Saturday his first game with multiple interceptions since a loss at Purdue in 2004.

But it's not only Smith who seems to struggle against the Nittany Lions. In Penn State's last three trips to Ohio Stadium, the Buckeyes' defense has scored four touchdowns, including two Saturday, while the special teams has one and the offense three.
Smith missed open receivers, and Rory Nicol and Anthony Gonzalez each dropped a pass on the Buckeyes' best drive of the half.
"Offensively, we didn't get things going, dropped a couple of balls and didn't play with the consistency we would like to," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "I'm sure we'll have a lot to learn from the film."
As dominant as OSU's defense was, the Nittany Lions almost matched the Buckeyes in yardage and would have surpassed them were it not for two sacks on Penn State's final possession.
The Buckeyes were scoreless for a full half for the first time this season. Although Smith's five-game streak of throwing for 200 yards was snapped, his touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie in the third quarter displayed his talents both throwing and running the ball.
Scrambling deep in his own backfield to avoid the Penn State rush, Smith found Robiskie for a 37-yard score on a throw that traveled closer to 50 in the air.
"The line gave me enough time to reverse field and put the ball in the air, and Robo just went up and made a great catch," Smith said.
To which Tressel replied, "Most scrambles don't last that long."
The Ohio State coach said later, "If he wants to reverse field, it better be a touchdown."


Originally published September 24, 2006

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Yesterday was Troy's first multi-interception game since November 13th, 2004 (@ Purdue).

I maintain numerous spreadsheets to keep track of such things. I have no way of knowing how to track the number of youtube videos that his pass to Robo will end up on. That is a "statistic" that tells more about Troy than any of my numbers ever will.