Steve19 said:
I think if anyone goes back on my previous posts, then we all will know that I am anything but an apologist for anyone that takes money, including Smith.
I must apologize for not being clear guys. And I agree with what your saying martinss01, except that I have some difficulty accepting that Zwick has shown he can win the big ones. Those snaps to Ginn were not sandlot plays, they were rehearsed because we needed some plays with mobility at quarterback that Zwick hasn't yet shown. I hope that he does.
one thing i have noticed from many tOSU fans since krenzel is this unfounded, and rather amusing, belief that you can't win without a mobil qb. you might want to run that little theory past a couple guys named joe montana, dan marino, tom brady, and payton manning.
ill tell you flat out right now i would trade craig krenzel and troy smith 100% of the time for a joe germaine. ginn taking snaps at qb likely had nothing to do with zwick not being mobile. imo, it had everything to do with ginn being a serious threat to defenses and using him in an unexpected fashion to cause confusion. ginn would likely have taken snaps even if smith were starting and zwick was still the #2 guy. everything we saw in the alamo bowl was to setup this year. this year i think we will see ginn take a much greater role as a challenging the defense type player. you use a guy like him to create mismatches and cause chaos.
Also, and it is a big IF, if he is the best quarterback, then he should start.
you keep forgetting the fact that practice rythm and game rythm are completely different animals. that is why you play a miami (oh) in game 1. that is why you see so many upsets early in the season. smith flat out will not play game 1. game 2 is a season maker. if zwick performs adequately he starts game 2. sometimes the "better" guy isn't the best guy simply because the not so better guy has the reps in a game. thats not a dis on smith, its a reality of his situation.
My earlier response betrayed my lack of faith in Justin Zwick. Perhaps I will be wrong, but he has not shown the speed of Smith or the ability to inspire confidence of this team. I cannot believe that we will not see Smith against Texas, if we fall behind and if Zwick is not performing well.
santonio holmes, the backs, and the te's would likely disagree with you. zwick was much better at finding secondary receivers than smith. primarily because smith would tuck and run where zwick tried to find playmakers. *shrug* thats neither here nor there though. secondly, smith isn't that fast. thirdly, smith is flat out the lowest on the list of offensive threats when you factor out the tb. if im an opposing dc, i call it a win everytime smith tucks and runs. thats a down ginn, holmes, and gonzo didn't get the ball. smith's ability to run is a benefit, NOT a requirement. smiths REQUIREMENT as a qb is to prove he has the ability to get the ball to his playmakers. not to be a playmaker himself. imo, this is the only reason zwick started over smith at the beginning of the year.
if zwick does not play well in game 2 i agree with you 100% that he should be benched for the next guy on the list, be it boeckman or smith.
However, in my mind, I don't know if Smith is all that or if he just had the game of his life against TSUN? I also haven't got a clue about Boeckman. And what if Zwick was nursing a hammy the entire year? I'll leave it up to Coach Tressel to pick the right horse, knowing that he will not want to spoil that national championship. He'll go with what works.
the scum game is an anamoly by design. games as big as that can't be a basis for an opinion of a player. simply because that game is so much more than a sum of its parts. now, that doesn't mean smith isn't capable of doing what he did against scum every game. what it means is that he has to repeat that performance before it can be allowed to stand on its own as a measure of his ability. if zwick is nursing injuries the starting position goes to boeckman for game 1. game 2 becomes a much more intriguing question. will boeckman's performance in game 1 outweigh his lack of experience? will smiths expierience be enough to outweight the game time rust he will have? i put zwick above smith because he has just as much game experience, has won a big game (albeit not as big as scum, but bowl games are always big games), and his ultimate edge is the lack of game time rust. i personally think that is of an increadible amount of importance. a few delay of game penalties, a few poor decisions, a fumbled snap... those are things you flat out can not afford against a good football team like texas. talent and leadership wise, i think they are pretty close. i wouldn't argue either way you rated them 1 and 2.
Hey, all three of these guys are Buckeyes and I wish them well. But, for my money, I would be very surprised if Smith isn't starting soon after his suspension ends.
i wouldn't be surprised to see smith start this year. i would be shocked if zwick is healthy and smith starts game 2 without a poor performance by zwick. im not anti smith in anyway, i just think the game 2 scenario coupled with his game 1 suspension removes any chance of him starting game 2. if we played texas game 3 this once again becomes a radically different conversation and my opinions would be very very different.
