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Zwick vs. Smith (official thread)

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BuckWrestler141 said:
Perhaps an inappropriate time to be posting such an article and placement, but didn't think it was worthy of its own thread as my ohio friends tell me the writer isn't all that good of one(?)

Zwick continues with look that locks in receivers' fears


Sunday, July 17, 2005Roger Brown
Plain Dealer Columnist
While it appears Justin Zwick will begin the season as Ohio State's starting quarterback, there are simmering concerns in some Buckeye quarters that he still displays more flaws than you'd expect from a college QB entering his second full season.

The No. 1 concern regarding Zwick is his disturbing tendency, still, to lock in one receiver during pass plays.

That habit got more than one OSU receiver nearly decapitated last season by opposing defenders, who could immediately detect where Zwick was throwing and build up enough steam to inflict screaming hits on pass catchers.
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In Texas this is known as "Pulling a Simms"
 
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Somebody should do a study: What percentage of "Buckeye fans" who are throwing Smith under the bus right now are the same people who anointed him the best thing since Joe Germaine after exactly one (1) good game? :roll2:
 
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dilemma

i'm very curious to find out who the starting qb for the texas game will be. say zwick plays great vs. miami and leads the buckeyes to a convincing win. but then again smith will be in great shape and ready for action. imo having smith's first game of the season against texas may not be a good thing. it's too bad he wont have the chance to get a win under his belt before the showdown. both have proven they can win and smith is definetly more talented overall but then again, if zwick proves himself like he did in the alamo bowl whose to say he doesn't deserve a shot at texas? it's a tough decision if you ask me. thoughts?

GO BUCKEYES!
 
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still have yet to hear any change in the "the team plays differently with Smith during practice" rumblings. That, combined with the fact that Smith just played one of the greatest performances in quite a while by an OSU qb.

Zwick had an admirable performance due to his injury, but it was against an average team. His first game will be against another average team. Those two are not going to trump his leadership, ability and last performance.
 
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Go back to Zwick and change Smith to RB or WR.

Troy Smith-
Troy Smith has not proved himself at quarterback in the starts that he has had this season. It is easy to tell if he is going to run the ball as soon as it is snapped, he holds it higher than if he is going to pass the ball. He also doesn't seem to have the arm strength to throw the ball far enough down field to open up the running game and get some of the defenders out of the box. With the amount of speed that the bucks have at receiver they should be able to open up the field with a few down field passes. As for switching Smith to RB he has better size than Pittman and all he does well is run the ball. So we may as well play to his strengths. The only reason I would even suggest WR is if he isn't durable enough to handle running the ball.

Zwick is a thrower who can get the ball to the receivers down field. I think the offensive line will offer better protection if they only have one offense to learn instead of two and they know where the quarterback is and that he is going to be throwing the ball instead of running it constantly.

Running Back-
Pittman has shown some abilities to run the ball but I would like to see him bulk up a little more. He is listed at 195lbs which is a little light for a running back. I believe in the school of power running backs and he just isn't big enough to pound the ball. Smith is listed at 215lbs which gives him a little more momentum when going up against line backers. The only thing I am not sure he has is the strenth to hold onto the ball consistantly, or to run over defensive backs. If he has an off-season to work on strenth for running the ball instead of throwing the ball he could turn into a good running back.

Game Plan-
The Bucks need to establish either the pass or the run instead of doing both without doing either well. I would like to see the I formation a little more early in the game to wear the defense down before they open the offense up into the three or four wide receiver sets. The defensive lines are too fresh late in the game allowing them to get a good pass rush on the QB.
:osu:
 
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Troy overshot deep targets a few times in the last game. He clearly has the arm strength. Anybody can see that he has a cannon for an arm, his problem is touch and accuracy. Zwick may have made better reads, but he hasn't thrown deep balls successfully either. His only decent "deep pass" was a somewhat wounded duck to Holmes. It wasn't a bad pass, but wasn't super deep. Smith is durable enough to handle a ton of runs and knockdowns every game, I think he's durable enough for RB. There was no such thing as a pocket for a pocket passer, which is what Zwick is.
tedginn05 said:
no i don't want smith at RB, i like ginn at RB and smith at QB, maybe put him at some WR but not at RB
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Hmm? Pittman gets dinged up at 195, Ginn would get destroyed if he started at RB (versus occasional sweep plays to him). Smith is not a WR, plus we have a slew of talented WRs, and not very many great runners.
 
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Zwick is a thrower who can get the ball to the receivers down field
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The numbers don't support that at all. Sure, he spreads the ball around, but his yards per attempt aren't much better than Smith's, and certainly not enough to overcome his lack of running ability. Neither guy has been able to take care of the ball very well. If we make a change, I would prefer to turn to Boeckman. Zwick has been found wanting.
 
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jwinslow said:
Troy overshot deep targets a few times in the last game. He clearly has the arm strength. Anybody can see that he has a cannon for an arm, his problem is touch and accuracy. Zwick may have made better reads, but he hasn't thrown deep balls successfully either. His only decent "deep pass" was a somewhat wounded duck to Holmes. It wasn't a bad pass, but wasn't super deep. Smith is durable enough to handle a ton of runs and knockdowns every game, I think he's durable enough for RB. There was no such thing as a pocket for a pocket passer, which is what Zwick is.Hmm? Pittman gets dinged up at 195, Ginn would get destroyed if he started at RB (versus occasional sweep plays to him). Smith is not a WR, plus we have a slew of talented WRs, and not very many great runners.
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i'm not saying make him a rb, just put give him like 8 touches at it, you saw what he did on that sweep last night, he gained about 7-8 yards i believe
 
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