Three best individual seasons in Ohio State football history
By Ryan Stano
Troy Smith had a lot of hype heading into the 2006 season. He had a very strong finish to the 2005 campaign and was touted as a Heisman favorite coming into 2006. His strong play was part of the reason that Ohio State was the number 1 team in the country to start out the year.
Smith’s play did not disappoint. He ended up playing a season for the ages and beat two number two teams in the regular season, beating Texas and TTUN. In that season, he completed 63% of his passes and threw for 2,542 yards, adding 30 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions.
While his legs were a big weapon in 2005, they weren’t quite as much in 2006. After rushing for 11 touchdowns and over 600 yards in ’05, he only ran for 1 touchdown and 204 yards in ’06. But his threat to run is what made this offense so effective in that season.
Smith’s numbers weren’t super gaudy, but he played his best in big games. At number 2 Texas, he threw for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns with 0 interceptions. Against number 2 Michigan, he threw for 316 yards and a whopping 4 touchdowns. He was truly a winner.
He led the Buckeyes to an undefeated regular season and a trip to the National Championship. While they ended up losing that game, his season was still good enough for him to win the Heisman trophy by the widest margin of victory ever, garnering 91.63% of first-place votes.
The second-best individual season of all-time was even more recent than Smith’s and featured the best player I’ve ever personally seen play for the Buckeyes.