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QB Troy Smith (2006 Heisman Trophy Winner)

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OK, something is off here.

I have been keeping track of Troy's passing play-by-play all season long. Last week, my numbers for Troy's total yardage matched the OSU official site and the NCAA official site (2004 yards). This week, Troy had 185 yards according to my calculations AND according to the official site. My math adds that up to 2189 yards, but the official OSU site and the official NCAA site both show 2191 yards. Something is off somewhere. Maybe I was in a hurry last week and didn't double check my numbers, but I really think I have double checked every week.

As I don't know which down should be allotted the extra two yards, I will simply not account for them. These are the numbers as I have calculated them through the Northwestern game:

Down....Comp....Att.....Yds....TD....int....RATING
1st......63.....95......885.....7.....2.....164.67
2nd......60.....86......704.....7.....1.....163.07
3rd......46.....74......589....12.....1.....179.83
4th.......1......1.......11.....0.....0.....192.40
overall.170....256.....2189....26.....4.....168.62

The two yards that I'm missing cost Troy 7/100 of a point in overall efficiency.

What is extra sick about the massive increase in Troy's 3rd down performance was that he completed three passes for first downs on 3rd and 17 or more against Northwestern.

EDIT: OK, I've double checked my work and as near as I can tell, my numbers are right.
 
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Blade

SHOWDOWN IN COLUMBUS
Heisman-hopeful Smith finds himself running with legends

By RON MUSSELMAN
BLADE SPORTS COLUMNIST

COLUMBUS ? Troy Smith isn?t a history buff.

But the Heisman front-runner will become part of an AFLAC trivia question if he can lead top-ranked Ohio State past No. 2 Michigan Saturday in the showdown at the Shoe.

Smith would become the first Buckeyes quarterback in 70 years to engineer three consecutive wins over the hated Wolverines.

The last guy to accomplish the rare feat was Tippy Dye, who did it from 1934-36, when Ohio State outscored Michigan 93-0 during a three-game stretch.

Smith has been the difference-maker in a pair of monumental comeback wins.

?It is not just me who is 2-0 versus Michigan,? Smith said. ?It is everyone who was on the field. I give all the credit to my offensive line. Without them, no big plays could be made. And without them, I would not be 2-0.?

Smith?s numbers against the Wolverines are numbing.

He has completed 40 of 60 passes for 541 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. And he has run for 182 yards and two scores.

Granted, several Buckeyes have turned in notable performances against the Wolverines ? Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, Paul Warfield, Jim Otis, Pete Johnson, Archie Griffin, Keith Byars, and Chris Spielman ? but few can match Smith?s superb showing.

His record against Michigan was first born here in 2004, when he led the unranked Buckeyes to a 37-21 victory.

Smith?s 145 yards rushing were the second-highest total for an Ohio State quarterback. He also ran for a touchdown and completed 13 of 23 passes for 241 yards and two more scores.

A year ago, Smith added to his impressive statistics, leading a stirring fourth-quarter comeback at the Big House as the Buckeyes rallied from a nine-point deficit for a dramatic 25-21 win.

Smith completed 9 of 12 passes for 130 yards on the final two drives on the way to a 300-yard day.

His 26-yard touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes pulled Ohio State to within two points with 6:40 left.

And then he made a series of spectacular plays on the Buckeyes? game-winning 88-yard drive, hitting 7 of 8 passes for 77 yards, and ran twice for six more yards.

Smith?s 26-yard pass to Anthony Gonzalez, who made a leaping, twisting catch, set up the game-winning score, a three-yard run by Antonio Pittman with 24 seconds to play.

?What Troy has done against Michigan has been phenomenal,? said Griffin, a two-time Heisman Trophy winner who rushed for 395 yards and one touchdown while going 3-0-1 against the Wolverines. ?He?s the best I?ve ever seen at having that type of success in this series, especially at quarterback.

?He?s got a chance to do something very special, get three wins against Michigan. He also can wrap up the Heisman with another big performance. It?s an awesome scenario for Troy and for Ohio State.?

Smith, who has been nursing a sore thumb on his throwing hand, enters Saturday?s No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup with a leg up on Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn in the Heisman race.

Ironically, Quinn played his worst game of the year against the Wolverines back in September.

Smith is 24-2 as the Buckeyes? quarterback, including 9-1 against ranked teams. He has led his team to 18 consecutive wins, the longest streak in the nation.

A victory Saturday in the battle of unbeaten teams would cement Smith?s stellar status against Michigan, give Ohio State its first outright Big Ten title since 1984, and clinch a spot for the Buckeyes in the national championship game in Glendale, Ariz.

Smith also could lock up the Heisman.

How significant would that be?

The only Big Ten quarterback to ever win the coveted award was Ohio State?s Les Horvath.

And that was 62 years ago.

Smith has come a long way in a much shorter period of time.

?I remember when he made his first start against us down there as a sophomore in 2004,? former Michigan tailback Jamie Morris said. ?People in Columbus were dogging him and wondering if he would be their quarterback. Well, he had his coming-out party against us in that game.

?And then last year, we were about eight minutes from a victory and he wakes up and decides to become the super quarterback that he is. He had an incredible finish and that propelled him to MVP of the Fiesta Bowl and then into this season.

?Troy Smith has had a bull?s-eye on his back all season, yet he has been tremendous. He hasn?t slipped up. If he has another game like he did two years ago or last year against us, it will solidify the Heisman Trophy for him.?

Smith has a golden arm.

He has thrown 26 touchdown passes this season against only four interceptions.

His career interception ratio ? 11 picks in 615 attempts ? is the lowest among Division I quarterbacks.

Smith hasn?t run nearly as much as he did in previous seasons ? he has just 221 yards rushing and one touchdown ? but he?s still a dangerous threat.

?He wants to have the ball in his hands,? Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. ?He wants to make a difference.?

Michigan quarterback Chad Henne, 0-2 against Smith and the Buckeyes, admires the way his counterpart plays the game.

?Troy is just a great player, with big-play capability,? Henne said. ?He has a lot of speed with his feet and can avoid pressure. This year, he?s making a lot of great plays because he?s just a smart quarterback and understands what he?s getting into. And he knows how to get out of bad plays.?

The Buckeyes have won four of the last five games in the storied series.

But Smith realizes this is a much bigger game because both heavyweight programs are 11-0. And for the first time in three seasons, the Wolverines? highly-touted defense actually might be able to slow him down.

?It is going to be complete pandemonium around the stadium with two teams of this caliber and tradition,? Smith said. ?There is going to be mile-high excitement all around.?

Smith is confident, but cautious.

He hasn?t booked his flight to New York for the Heisman ceremony just yet.

Given a choice, he?d trade in his first-class airline ticket for a third consecutive victory over Michigan.

?I really don?t think about it,? Smith said of the Heisman. ?That?s probably the last thing in the world right now. Everything else is so much more important than that.?

Either way, Smith makes history.
 
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Blade

RELATIVE RIVALRY BEYOND THE GRIDIRON
Why don?t Wolverine fans just loosen up and enjoy the game?

By ROD LOCKWOOD
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Only a Michigan guy would want to talk trash about the research taking place at both schools.

Research? The biggest football game in the entire country, No. 1 (that would be Ohio State) vs. No. 2, and you want to talk about who looks better in a lab coat?

Perhaps we should purchase a finely aged cabernet, a couple of good cigars, and sit down next to a roaring fire and engage in a passionate argument over 20th-century poets and who?s better ? Yeats or Kipling? ? before getting around to discussing the game.

Oh, wait, I get it. We can?t talk about the recent football past because the Buckeyes under Jim Tressel have owned the Wolverines. For the record, it?s Tressel 4, Michigan?s Lloyd Carr 1.

So that?s out.

And no Michigan fan could hope to argue over the quality of the stadiums or the game-day experiences. The Big House ? yes, I?ve been to an

OSU/Michigan game there ? is more like the Big Cereal Bowl in its complete lack of architectural charm, history, or ambience. Ohio Stadium, with its grand arch entryway, statue of Jesse Owens outside, and buzz of energy, makes seeing a game there a special event. Michigan?s stadium is a dull, utilitarian receptacle for polite, bored, maize-and-blue butts.

The notion that somehow Michigan fans are superior to OSU?s because they lack passion and replace it with ?perspective? has never impressed me. Of course it?s just football ? we know that ? but it?s also fun, something Wolverine fans seem to forget as they engage in rhetorical gymnastics to try and pretend that it?s more important for their team to beat Michigan State or Notre Dame than the Buckeyes.

We never believe you when you say that stuff, but if you want to pretend, that?s OK. We understand your need to intellectualize rather than unleash your inner child and loosen up a little.

But I know, this column is supposed to be about research, not football or stadiums or any of those things where UM can?t muster a legitimate argument.

So here we go, here are three examples of the fine work on which UM is wasting some of its nearly $800 million in research money, according to the university?s own Web site.

Mars surface probably can?t support life.

Whoa! Really? You mean there?s no life on Mars, a planet with no breathable atmosphere, an average temperature of minus-81 degrees Fahrenheit, no water, and violent planetwide dust storms? Say it ain?t so.

A UM researcher looked at oxidants on the planet and drew these dramatic conclusions, confirming what scientists have only known for centuries. Still, you have to wonder if little maize-and-blue men aren?t on the planet somewhere, plotting to beam down to Earth sometime and steal all the planet?s brie to take home for a big wine and cheese party.

UM analysis indicates more television dramas redefine women?s roles.

This is important stuff. So important, in fact, that a UM professor spent a lot of time watching TV so she could determine that the roles of women are changing on television.

She focused on shows from the mid-1990s to the 2000s and concluded that, yep, today?s TV tramps on Desperate Housewives sure are different from the sitcom homemakers back in the Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It To Beaver days. Brilliant, ground-breaking stuff.

Anti-bacterial soaps no better at cleaning your hands.

Finally! It?s about time someone cleared up the long-running debate over whether anti-bacterial soap works better than just plain old soap.

It?s not hard picturing the perpetually neat and proper kids at UM engaging in a spirited argument on Saturday morning before the big game: Anti-bacterial Safeguard vs. old-fashioned Irish Spring? You make the call!

The press release announcing this development actually includes this line: ?Soap helps to loosen dirt, so that water can rinse it down the drain.? It?s about time someone cleared up that mystery.

To be fair, the overall research centered on whether an obsession with anit-bacterial soap is creating ?superbugs? that could wreak havoc on our immune systems. But it?s easy to draw a simpler conclusion about UM football fans and their obsession with pretending like it?s ?just a game?:

They?re afraid to get their hands dirty.
 
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Blade

RELATIVE RIVALRY BEYOND THE GRIDIRON
Buckeye boosters need a clue to what really matters in life

By MIKE WILKINSON
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Every year, the folks who bleed scarlet and gray get all worked up about the ?arrogant a----? up in Ann Arbor not respectin? them. They make jokes about the brie-and-chardonnay crowd politely clapping their leather-gloved hands at the Big House.

Yada, yada, yada.

They don?t like it that Michigan fans don?t consider a loss to Ohio State worse than boiling their firstborn in a vat of acid.

It?s called perspective.

Win or lose the game, we realize it?s just a game. It doesn?t define the next week or define the school. I mean, it?s clear that Michigan is the better university. And the better state.

Did Michigan officials hire a college dropout to invest in rare coins? Didn?t think so.

When you?re losing the game of life, you?ve got to focus on The Big Game. On touchdowns and scores. You wouldn?t dare compare paychecks.

Of course a Buckeye fan would focus on the last five years and act as if the Tressel regime had last-ed a millennium (dictionary moment here: that?s 1,000 years). If we go back to, say oh, The Beginning, the ?score? (we know that?s so important) is 59-32-6 ? in Michigan?s favor. And let?s not play It?s a Wonderful Life and go on as if John (2-10-1) Cooper was never born.

So get excited about the boys running around in Spandex and gladiator outfits and realize that 3? hours a week is as good as it?s gonna get. Lose, and you can dissolve into that 12-month malaise that casts a pall over the state.

I tooled around the Internet looking at research projects at The Ohio State University (Do you really need the definitive article? Shouldn?t it be TOSU then?) and came across some wonderful, ?first-class? work by university researchers.

If this is what?s driving the state, no wonder Ohio?s economy ranks with that of Belize.

And trust me, these research projects are ?ripped from the headlines? of the school itself.

Ohio State moves up in rankings of top public research universities.
OK, that?s a nice jump, from No. 15 to No. 9, and clearly an indication that some people are doing their jobs. In fiscal year 2004, TOSU spent $518 million on academic expenditures on research and development.

Uh, but who?s at No. 7? Penn State. No. 3? Wisconsin.

And No. 2? Like their football rating, Michigan has bagged that spot, spending $769 million in the same area. Time for a math lesson, Buckeye fans: That?s nearly 50 percent more than TOSU spent.

I guess some of TOSU?s research went for the following ground-breaking work.

Moderate drinking may boost memory, study suggests.

OK, we?ve heard about the health benefits of a glass or two of wine. Improves the health of the heart. Makes the ticker last longer, and all that.

?In the long run, a drink or two a day may be good for the brain,? reads the breathless ? hiccup ? TOSU press release. ?Researchers found that moderate amounts of alcohol ? amounts equivalent to a couple of drinks a day for a human ? improved the memories of laboratory rats.?

Well, if this is true, they ought to be handing out Mensa applications Saturday on Lane Avenue.

Oh, wait. That?s right ? it said moderate drinking. Never mind.

Media rarely note when alcohol plays role in violent crimes and accidents.

This is one of my favorites. Apparently, ?the news media? don?t tell folks often enough when alcohol is a factor in violent crimes, injuries, and traffic accidents, according to a national study done by TOSU ?researchers.?

I guess they?re not reading the local paper.

Or, is couch burning a violent crime only to upholsterers?

Phys ed class more effective when there?s more talking.

So this is what TOSU student athletes do when they?re in ?class?? Say no more.

Fall ideal time to sample for slugs.

I will acknowledge that TOSU is an ag school and that slugs are really, really bad for farmers. But the tip sheet offered here suggests how to set up traps to catch slugs. Question: Are they too fast for TOSU scientists?

But, as would be expected, they impart the obvious, Farmers? Almanac wisdom. If you want to catch a slug, give it some beer.

Sounds like a good plan for catching Buckeye fans on Saturday.
 
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Link

Henne, Hart have the numbers, but no wins against OSU

By KYLE NAGEL
Cox News Service
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 ANN ARBOR, Mich. ? Although Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr had kept secret his starting quarterback all week, Chad Henne ran onto the field on Sept. 3, 2004, against Miami University. As just the second true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback for Michigan, the 6-foot-2, 223-pounder from Wyomissing, Pa., led the Wolverines to a 43-10 victory.
During that game, another freshman, tailback Mike Hart, rushed three times for 20 yards, which hardly foreshadowed the Big Ten freshman record 1,455 yards he would gain that season.
In the three seasons since, Henne and Hart ? coincidentally listed next to each other on the roster ? have become the focal point for Michigan football in guiding the Wolverines to a combined 27-8 record.
"For the fan base," Henne said, "they would say, 'Yeah, how many times did you beat Ohio State?' "
The answer? Zero.
Henne and Hart, who have become two of the most decorated and statistically capable players at their positions in school history, enter Saturday's game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan with two losses to the Buckeyes (and two bowl losses) on their resumes.
That's a tough distinction to shake, even when they have thrown and run for a combined 10,691 yards and 90 touchdowns. But teammates say both have improved throughout their careers and have matured for their third seasons.
"I believe it's confidence through experience," center Mark Bihl said. "Chad's a leader. He and Mike are both incredible leaders, and the team has evolved around them also."
That includes a shared Big Ten title in 2004 with a 9-3 record (plus a 37-21 upset loss to Ohio State and 38-37 loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl) when they were freshmen. Last season, the Wolverines went 7-5, lost 25-21 to the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor and dropped a wild Alamo Bowl to Nebraska, 32-28.
Carr remains staunchly supportive of both players.
"I think Chad Henne is a great quarterback," Carr said. "For me it's not about stats, but how he manages the game, how he executes at his position. What Chad Henne did here as a freshman, in my judgment, is as impressive as anything anybody's done here since I've been here."
As for Hart, the 5-9, 198-pounder from Syracuse, N.Y., Carr said, "He always seems to bleed the defense for an extra few yards."
 
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Dispatch

NOTHING UP HIS SLEEVE
Secret to magical season is in Troy Smith?s wristband
Thursday, November 16, 2006

By Joe Blundo THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

All over Columbus, people want to know: What is written on Troy Smith?s wristband? The Buckeyes quarterback regularly consults his wrist while on the field during Ohio State games. Now, thanks to technology, The Flip Side is able to pretend it knows what?s on the wristband and disseminate that information to dozens ? maybe even hundreds ? of readers. Here?s a close-up look at Troy?s notes to self. [email protected]

20061116-Pc-B7-1700.jpg
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Smith's game not alone in growing by leaps and bounds
Nov. 16, 2006
By Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Dennis your opinion!

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- This is what we want out of our stars: deference, humility, subtle charm. Good looks don't hurt.

Troy Smith has all those things. If Saturday is his biggest stage, Ohio State's quarterback is playing it like a high school musical.

"Thinking about football here really blows you away," Smith said.

You can almost see the stars in his eyes.

But where is the angry young man? The rebel who elbowed a kid playing basketball and was kicked out of his first high school? The petulant youngster who complained about playing time at Ohio State?

Read between the canned answers and the best damn quarterback in the land has gone corporate, and not just because it's Michigan week. He does/says all the right things: endlessly praises his offensive line, curses (mildly) interceptions, kisses babies and sometime soon will be handing out turkeys to the homeless.

Even his game has become, well, almost boring. His wild, scrambling exploits of yesteryear have now been replaced by cool efficiency. He has reduced the Heisman race to an America's Cup race.

Ever see a sailboat come from behind? That's Smith and the Heisman this year. Wire to wire. He and the Buckeyes could lose Saturday and Smith could still win the hardware.

Which is a rich subtext to Saturday. No Big Ten quarterback has ever won the Heisman. At least not in the past 62 years since Ohio State's Les Horvath won the award playing quarterback and halfback in 1944.

Which is the one reason Horvath shouldn't count. The other is his birthplace: South Bend.

"I have not seen any Les Horvath film," receiver Anthony Gonzalez said, smiling. "To me, Troy is the best quarterback (in school history). Nothing will change that."

Let's go a step further: If Smith beats Michigan on Saturday and follows through with the Heisman, he will the best quarterback in Big Ten history.

Maybe if he only does one of those things, or neither.

"He almost single-handedly has beaten Michigan the last two games. I don't give a damn about the Heisman. What is important is he had some tremendous individual performances."

That comes from Bo Schembechler, Michigan's Bo Schembechler, who stands in awe like the rest of us.

But we'd like to know more about Smith's football coaches than his media coach. Offensive coordinator Jim Bollman underwent a triple bypass in the offseason. Quarterbacks coach Joe Daniels has been fighting kidney cancer this year. Smith showed up on each man's doorstep, as soon as they were up to it, eager to watch film.

Smith knows this game is all about him. If he clocks in with his typical efficiency, Ohio State wins easily. A turnover here or there and Michigan has a chance.

Highest Heisman Finishes
by Big Ten Quarterback
Yr Player, School Fin.
'02 Brad Banks, Iowa 2nd
'00 Drew Brees, Purdue 3rd
'86 Jim Harbaugh, Michigan 3rd
'85 Chuck Long, Iowa 2nd
'78 Rick Leach, Michigan 3rd
'69 Mike Phipps, Purdue 2nd
Rex Kern, Ohio St. 3rd
'66 Bob Griese, Purdue 2nd
'58 Randy Duncan, Iowa 2nd
'44 *Les Horvath, Ohio St. 1st
'43 Otto Graham, N'west. 3rd
* - Horvath played halfback and quarterback

Then everything that has built up to Saturday is ruined. Smith is 24-2 as a starter with a Michigan hat trick looming. No Ohio State quarterback has beaten Michigan three times as a starter in at least 70 years.

Included in Smith's dossier is an all-time performance against Notre Dame in January's Fiesta Bowl and an ongoing 18-game winning streak.

"I hope they can count on me in every game," Smith said, addressing his big-game tendencies.

Ohio State's last national championship quarterback was a molecular biology major who spouted the same tired bromides.

Craig Krenzel managed games. Smith changes them. Jim Tressel deserves credit for adding athleticism to the position. A team of handlers smoothed out the edges.

That's the problem. Before Smith takes his game elsewhere, we'd like to have one last peek behind the curtain. The curtain that wasn't there in high school, when Smith elbowed that player (Smith says the player uttered a racial epithet). That stunt caused him to transfer to inner-city Cleveland Glenville High School, where he became a prodigy under coach/mentor Ted Ginn Sr.

Can we see just a bit of the attitude that caused Smith to complain about playing time? In the past 18 months he has had both the bad judgment to take $500 from a booster, and the good judgment to throw only four interceptions this season.

Something changed in his life. Radically. For the better, we guess. If you're T.O. all the time, you're a jerk. But you're if not T.O. at all, you're plastic.

"Any time you're at a university for five years, you better grow up," Smith said.

Maybe it is as simple as that. Maturity found. We'd just like to see the veneer scraped off, see the kid take credit for transforming the program, the league, the country.

In a way we've all been hosed down, veneered. Why wasn't there more uproar over Smith's sore thumb? Last week it was breaking news when Smith said there was "a growing pain" in the thumb on his throwing hand.

You can bet that the button-downed Tressel just about had kittens when his quarterback mentioned the thumb on a conference call. Michigan now has a road map to knocking out the game's best player. All it takes is one for the thumb.

Since then, the Ohio State camp had resembled a Bush news conference: Deny, deny, deny.

"He gets it wrapped, it's obvious," Tressel said. "But I think there will be so much adrenaline and so much flowing through his thumb down to his big toe that he's not going to feel anything."

That makes sense only if you're able to decipher Yogi Berra.

Smith was asked directly about the "injury" this week. He stiffened ever so slightly. Hey, maybe we had something here, maybe we struck a nerve, mined a small truth.

"It's still on my hand," he said. "I'm good."

Almost too good.
Click to expand...

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/9807873
 
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:scum4:

ABJ

IN SMITH'S HANDS

Buckeyes build winning streak on standout QB

By Marla Ridenour

Beacon Journal sportswriter

COLUMBUS - On game days in Columbus, the signs and T-shirts usually read: ``In Tress We Trust.''
But today an equally appropriate message for the Buckeyes might be ``In Troy We Trust.''
OSU senior quarterback Troy Smith will be one of the keys as No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan square off at 3:30 p.m. at Ohio Stadium in the first 1 vs. 2 clash in 103 meetings of the archrivals. The winner earns a trip to the national championship Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz., and an outright Big Ten title, which OSU hasn't claimed since 1984.
The showdown of 11-0 teams will be seen in more than 60 international territories, including live in the United Kingdom and Russia, and by U.S. troops in 177 countries.
The game also comes a day after legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler died at age 77.
In his two previous starts against Michigan, Smith has been masterful against the Wolverines. The Heisman Trophy front-runner is undefeated against Michigan and 4-0 in big games, including victories over Texas and Notre Dame. Smith's record is 24-2 as a starter, and under him Ohio State has the nation's longest winning streak, 18 games.
Last year in a 25-21 triumph at Michigan, Smith racked up 337 yards, 300 passing, completing 27-of-37 with a touchdown and no interceptions. He rushed 11 times for 37 yards and a score.
With the Buckeyes down by nine with 7:49 to play, Smith engineered touchdown drives of 69 and 88 yards. He hit on 7-of-8 in the game-winning drive and eluded pressure to find a leaping Anthony Gonzalez for a 26-yard strike to the Michigan 4 that set up Antonio Pittman's 3-yard TD run with 24 seconds left.
In a 37-21 victory in 2004, Smith beat Michigan with his legs. He rushed 18 times for 145 yards and a touchdown and compiled 386 yards of total offense. His two TD passes included a 68-yarder to Gonzalez that marked the receiver's first trip to the end zone. Smith's signature moment was a spinning 46-yard run, still the longest of his career.
His two-game totals bear witness to his dominance: 40-of-60 passing for 541 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions; and 29 rushes for 182 yards (6.3 average) and two touchdowns.
``It seems like he's never not shown up in a big game or when something's on the line or we need to score a touchdown,'' said redshirt freshman receiver Brian Hartline of GlenOak. ``That's a trait you can't teach, the will to win. Even the players feel it. Sometimes we feel with Troy we can't lose.''
Senior center Doug Datish said the Buckeyes have an almost invincible air with Smith in control, even last year during the final drive against the Wolverines.
``I never once thought we were going to lose that game,'' Datish said. ``Troy exudes that calmness and that confidence, and we were just trying to make a play for him.
``He doesn't disappoint ever. We're lucky to be able to get on the field with him and help him make the plays he does. There's no way you can measure it, there's no possible thing to examine or pinpoint in any way. It's just some people have that X factor and Troy is one of those guys.''
Smith appreciates his teammates' faith in him, but insists he's not the only reason the Buckeyes have won two in a row in the series.
``I hope they can count on me in every game. I think every game is a big game,'' Smith said.
``My success is credited to everybody else around me. It's not just that I'm 2-0 against Michigan. Everybody who has played against them is 2-0. I try to give everything to my offensive line. Without them, there are no great plays that can be made. They do everything up front for me.''
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel knows Smith is one of the reasons he's 4-1 against Michigan. He praises Smith for his leadership, competitiveness and hunger for knowledge. On the sideline in the fourth quarter against the Wolverines, Tressel has seen an antsy Smith.
``He's kind of like, `Hey, get a play called so I can go out there,' '' Tressel said. ``He wants to have the ball in his hands. He wants to make a difference. He cares so deeply for his teammates and wants something good to happen for them. I guess that's the leadership part, but he wants the ball in his hands and wants to get going.''
Smith will need his entire arsenal against a Michigan defense that ranks third in the nation in yards allowed (231.5) and fifth in scoring (12.1). The Wolverines are giving up 29.9 yards rushing per game, best in the country, and have forced 22 turnovers, tied for third in the Big Ten (OSU leads with 27).
Datish knows what the competitive Smith will be like today.
``He wants to make that perfect throw every time, he wants to make that run, he wants to make that play and he wants to be the guy to do it,'' Datish said. ``If he doesn't make that perfect pass and it's still a catch, you can tell he's (ticked) at himself. God forbid we mess up, because you can see that competitive streak in there. It's, `Come on, guys, just a little more time. I need a little more time.'
``You can tell (when Troy is ticked). You can see it in his eyes. He has very expressive eyes.''
While Smith tried to stay humble this week, he admitted, ``Big players rise up in big games.''
Senior right guard T.J. Downing of GlenOak said the Buckeyes' fortunes may ride on Smith.
``He's a big key,'' Downing said. ``He's not the only one, but he's a big one. If he makes the plays he made the last two years, it's going to be hard for them to win. But if they're able to stop him and take away one of our big factors, then it's going to be tough for us.''
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