COMMENTARY
Smith is many things, but subtle isn?t one of them
Sunday, October 15, 2006
BOB HUNTER
The dangers posed by Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith force opponents to resort to extreme measures to try to slow him down.
EAST LANSING, Mich. ? During the last week of October or the first week of November, Ohio State plans to mail out a Heisman Trophycolored card with the names of the school?s six Heisman winners in silver, surrounding an embossed image of the trophy itself.
Quarterback Troy Smith?s name is not on the card.
"We want it to be kind of subtle," athletic department representative Steve Snapp said. "We think this will get the message across."
It?s a clever way to drum up support ? sort of immortality by association ? but it somehow doesn?t seem right. Smith?s play isn?t subtle and never has been.
Smith had another one of those distinctively unsubtle moments yesterday in Ohio State?s 38-7 win over Michigan State. Green jerseys were buzzing around him like fireflies around a bright streetlight, and in a span of about two seconds, he seemed ready to go down twice. Somehow, he escaped ? all that was missing was magician?s assistant to do a little "ta-da" with outstretched arms and upturned hands ? and he fired a perfect 7-yard touchdown strike to Brian Robiskie.
Subtle?
Yeah, right.
"I saw him wrapped up," Robiskie said. "And I thought if he was gonna break that tackle, I saw a guy right behind him that I thought was going to tackle him. But he broke that tackle as well. I just tried to keep going and find a hole for him."
A receiver would be shirking his duty not to "keep going" as long as Smith is running around back there. No matter how desperate a situation looks, it pays to remember that the senior quarterback is a human highlight reel waiting to happen.
This is one of Troy Smith?s magic tricks: Watch him turn a sack into a touchdown.
"I see a lot of it in practice," Robiskie said. "Our (receivers) coach, Darrell Hazell, he tells us all the time that Troy?s a guy who?s not gonna quit. He tells receivers every day, we?ve got to keep fighting for him, keep trying to make plays to help him. It pays off."
Smith has a way of getting six instead of three when his team reaches the red zone. His other touchdown pass yesterday was a 12-yard strike to Anthony Gonzalez on third-and-10.
"In the red zone, the whole deal is that it?s got a little more pressure to it," coach Jim Tressel said. "The DBs don?t have to back up, everyone?s closer to you. There?s usually more blitzing going on. He?s just got poise in the red zone. It doesn?t bother him."
Smith seems to have at least one Heisman moment in every game he plays, which is one reason his status as the award?s midseason front-runner seems so secure. Ten or 15 years ago, a lot of voters relied on statistics and newspaper accounts to decide the order of the three names on their ballots. Today, nearly every game is televised and the highlights are replayed over and over all week, particularly of a quarterback on the nation?s No. 1-ranked team.
That means between now and Saturday, people all over the world will see Smith do his Houdini act at the MSU 7 more times than a beer commercial. And it happens almost every week. Last week, against Bowling Green it was a 34-yard scramble on third-and-26.
"He does some unbelievable things," Gonzalez said. "Just thinking back, I?ve been with him for going on four years now; it?s just one of those things that we kind of expect that level of play out of Troy because he?s so talented."
Gonzalez had another one of those days that proved that. He caught seven passes for 118 yards, and his 12-yard touchdown catch might also make the highlight reel. Smith lofted the ball over the defender for a precise, picture-perfect pass.
"I think the big thing with that is that it was such a great throw," Gonzalez said. "It was one of those things where it was in a spot that only I could get it. That?s what rewarding about playing with the best player in the country." Subtlety isn?t part of the deal. Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch.
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