Troy Smith - College Career

College Career

Smith attended Ohio State University, where he played for coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 2003 to 2006. As a redshirted freshman for the Buckeyes, Smith played sparingly at running back and kick returner in 2003. Smith played the season opener against Washington as a scatback and returner, and he compiled fourteen yards rushing and 83 return yards. After the game, he came on the NFL scouting radar as an "athlete."

He entered his sophomore season as the backup quarterback to Justin Zwick, but took over as the starter when Zwick was injured halfway through the 2004 season against Iowa. Smith won four of the five games he started in 2004, including a victory over the archrival Michigan Wolverines. Smith was suspended for breaking an undisclosed team rule before the Alamo Bowl, with the NCAA extending the suspension to include the first game of the 2005 season after it was revealed that Smith had accepted $500 from a booster.

With Smith at quarterback, Ohio State lost only two games in the 2005 regular season, and in only one of those, was Smith the starter. The first was to the eventual BCS National Champion Texas Longhorns (which he did not start) and the other was to the Penn State Nittany Lions, co-Big Ten champions. Smith's 2005 stats included 2,282 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. This led to a passer rating of 162.66, the fourth-highest of the season. He rushed for 611 yards and 11 touchdowns on 136 carries. In January 2006, he was named the Offensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl, after leading the Buckeyes to a 34-20 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

In the second week of the 2006 season, Smith and the Buckeyes took revenge for their 2005 loss to Texas. The top ranked Buckeyes won their rematch with the (again) second-ranked Longhorns, 24-7. Smith went 17-27 with 269 yards passing, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. For many fans and analysts, Smith's performance against the Longhorns gave credibility to the preseason Heisman Trophy hype he'd received. His passing statistics improved during the 2006 season, completing 67% of his passes for 2,507 yards, with 30 touchdowns and five interceptions. This led to a quarterback rating of 167.87, again fourth in the country.

Smith was one of five finalists for the 2006 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the top senior college quarterback.

Teammates voted Smith the 2006 most valuable player. On 2006-12-07 the Davey O'Brien Foundation awarded Smith the Davey O'Brien Award for best college quarterback. He was also a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American.

In three games against Michigan, Smith has a total of 1,151 yards of total offense, two rushing touchdowns, and seven passing touchdowns. The Buckeyes won all three games, making Smith the first Ohio State quarterback since Tippy Dye (1934–1936) to quarterback in three victories over Michigan, and the first to win three straight games against Michigan as a starter.

Smith's college football career came to an end on January 8, 2007, when he and the Ohio State Buckeyes were beaten by the Florida Gators in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, 41-14. Smith completed just four of 14 passes for 35 yards along with an interception, a fumble, and was sacked five times.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications.

In 2010, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN listed Smith as the "Big Ten player of the decade."