Greatest Buckeye Quarterback

[DaddyBigBucks]

The 25 year old in me says go with overall athletic ability in Pryor, but the football player in me says go with team results and championships in Kern.

Voted Kern.

The 48 year old in me says go with Kern and the NC. But then I thought about the supporting cast and the Heisman.

Voted Smith

 

[Apache]

I must cast my vote for Frank Kremblas. He was the qb on the 1957 national championship team. He played both ways defensive back and qb and also handled some of the punting duties from time to time.

Plus he was a personal friend and a totally quality man. Touch as nails, smart as can be, lawyer, family man and helped me when I became a hs head football coach. Two sons who were great athletes and great kids too.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

The 48 year old in me says go with Kern and the NC. But then I thought about the supporting cast and the Heisman.

Voted Smith

Troy Smith is and probably will always be my favorite Ohio State QB of all time, but I can't put him as "the best" just because of his supporting cast. His collection of WR's and RB's was downright illegal. And a defense that was tied for 3rd in interceptions in the nation. He had it made. But the plays he made were amazing in their own right though.

I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, just giving my reasons as to why I didn't vote for my favorite OSU QB.

 

[BB73]

There was no NC in 1970. We lost to Stanford in the Rose Bowl.

That link says that there was one for tOSU:

1970: 9-1-0
Coach:
Wayne "Woody" Hayes




National Champions

Big Ten Conference Champions

By 1970, the AP had started voting for MNCs after the bowl games, but the Coaches poll and other organizations still had their last vote before the bowl games. The National Football Foundation awarded tOSU the title in 1970.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Troy Smith is and probably will always be my favorite Ohio State QB of all time, but I can't put him as "the best" just because of his supporting cast. His collection of WR's and RB's was downright illegal. And a defense that was tied for 3rd in interceptions in the nation. He had it made. But the plays he made were amazing in their own right though.

I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion, just giving my reasons as to why I didn't vote for my favorite OSU QB.

My point about supporting cast was that the 1968 team won the NC as a team and the 2006 team lost the NC as a team. Kern had the better supporting cast IMHO, so judging the two on only their own merits, I went with Smith.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

My point about supporting cast was that the 1968 team won the NC as a team and the 2006 team lost the NC as a team. Kern had the better supporting cast IMHO, so judging the two on only their own merits, I went with Smith.

You're probably right, as I only really know of the stars of teams those years. Not much about the role players who play a huge part of a team's success.

 

[robbothehut]

There is probably a difference between greatest quarterback and best quarterback. The latter relating to skills and the former relating to achievement. Plus we had runners, throwers and dual threats in the list. Kind of a apples and oranges thing ... or at least McIntosh, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious thing.

As far as total body of work you have to look hard at Kern who led a great team for 3 years. True he didn't have to have much development time as our offense may have been even simpler than the current one. He also had the best supporting cast.

Where is Krenzel? He won a NC too.

As far as talent goes it is Schlichter. While I don't admire him as a human being, he is a Buckeye with a sickness that I don't understand and I suggest a lot of people don't understand. I like to gamble and may lose my mind for a night, but it must be worse than crack for Art to be as self destructive as he is. Believe me I'm no soft on crime guy, but this is an illness that will eventually kill him, so I'm prepared to throw a little compassion to a Buckeye...who may be a scumbag.

 

[buchtelgrad04]

There is probably a difference between greatest quarterback and best quarterback. The latter relating to skills and the former relating to achievement. Plus we had runners, throwers and dual threats in the list. Kind of a apples and oranges thing ... or at least McIntosh, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious thing.

As far as total body of work you have to look hard at Kern who led a great team for 3 years. True he didn't have to have much development time as our offense may have been even simpler than the current one. He also had the best supporting cast.

Where is Krenzel? He won a NC too.

As far as talent goes it is Schlichter. While I don't admire him as a human being, he is a Buckeye with a sickness that I don't understand and I suggest a lot of people don't understand. I like to gamble and may lose my mind for a night, but it must be worse than crack for Art to be as self destructive as he is. Believe me I'm no soft on crime guy, but this is an illness that will eventually kill him, so I'm prepared to throw a little compassion to a Buckeye...who may be a scumbag.

With a 12td-7int ratio, IIRC.

 

[BrutusBobcat]

Troy Smith, Wolverine Slayer and Heisman winner.

 

[Bleed S & G]

Troy. Too young to remember Kern, although I've heard him and "Flamboyant" Cornelius Greene were pretty special.

Born in '87, ones I've seen:

1. Troy
2. Joe
3. TP

 

[Joe6809]

That whole video is just amazing. Especially at the 1:15 mark. Wow. I honestly wish I would have appreciated Troy Smith more in the moment. When I watched him, I was like, "Wow this is a great team, Troy Smith is the [Mark May]." Years later and it really sinks in, what a season that guys had. Amazing. Amazing.

Agree completely, I thought the same thing while watching it. Troy really was incredible.

And to tie in what some others have alluded to (if TP had stuck around), compare it to Troy's development. He was pretty shaky up until his Junior year, when he really established himself, and by his senior year, he was a superstar. Think what TP could've been this year, if that same progression proved true... We can always hope Braxton makes this whole debate moot.

 

[MaxBuck]

As far as talent goes it is Schlichter. ... I'm prepared to throw a little compassion to a Buckeye...who may be a scumbag.

"Scumbag" is an unwarranted compliment for Art Schlichter.

 

[ScriptOhio]

LES HORVATH (1940-42, 44)
Horvath’s passing statistics certainly don’t stand out – between the 1942 and 1944 seasons, Horvath completed just 25-of-50 passing attempts for 509 yards with three touchdowns and five interceptions – but his accomplishments undeniably do. As both a quarterback and halfback for the Buckeyes, Horvath helped lead Ohio State to its first national championship in 1942, then returned from a year away from the gridiron to become Ohio State’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1944.

In a very different era of football, where passing was much more scarce and offensive numbers were much lower, Horvath did most of his damage on the ground – his 924 rushing yards in 1944 were a school record – and became one of the Buckeyes’ first superstars. And he’s still the only Ohio State quarterback with both a Heisman and a national title to his name.

REX KERN (1968-70)
Among quarterbacks who have started at least 15 quarterbacks, no Ohio State quarterback has ever had a better winning percentage than Kern, who went 25-2 as a three-year starter for the Buckeyes.

The leader of the “Super Sophomores” class that led Ohio State to the 1968 national title, Kern went on to be a first-team All-American in 1969. A dual-threat who made plays as both a passer and a runner, Kern’s 4,158 career yards of total offense were a school record when he completed his Ohio State career and still rank 17th in school history, even as offensive numbers have ballooned in the past 50 years.

TROY SMITH (2003-06)
With nearly 22 percent (out of a possible 25 percent) of total votes cast, Smith was the leading vote-getter in our balloting, as just about everyone agreed that the 2006 Heisman winner and unanimous All-American ranks as one of Ohio State’s four best quarterbacks ever.

Smith started more than two full seasons for the Buckeyes, compiling a 25-3 record as a starting quarterback that included three wins and zero losses against Michigan, but he’s one of the Four Kings because of his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2006, when he led Ohio State to a 12-0 regular season and a berth in the national championship game, earned unanimous All-American honors and set the record for receiving the highest percentage of Heisman ballot points ever (91.6 percent), which stood until Joe Burrow surpassed it last year.

J.T. BARRETT (2014-17)
The Big Ten’s all-time leader in total offense (12,697 yards), total touchdowns (147) and touchdown passes (104), Barrett set school career records in just about every category possible during his four years starting games at Ohio State. Barrett’s 38 wins as a starting quarterback are the most in Ohio State history, he’s the only Ohio State quarterback to ever start in four wins over Michigan and he was the first three-time captain in school history.

Barrett wasn’t on the field for the final three games of Ohio State’s 2014 national championship run due to a broken ankle, but he played a crucial role in getting the Buckeyes to that point. He was a three-time Big Ten Quarterback of the Year, helped Ohio State win two Big Ten titles and lost just six games in 44 starts.

Even though Barrett had his share of detractors during his Ohio State career, his longevity as a successful Buckeye quarterback was second to none, and he received the second-most votes in our balloting, making it clear that the majority of Buckeye fans do regard him as one of Ohio State’s all-time greats.

 

[Jaxbuck]

So the guy who broke all of Drew Breese single season B1G passing records doesn't make the list?

Get the fuck out of here with this list

3 of these guys were running backs

 

[Jaxbuck]

BTW, I rewatched the 1985 Citrus Bowl snoozer vs BYU and I can tell you who is most definitely not one of the 4 best QB's ever at Ohio State and that is Karsatos.

Woof