Three yards and a cloud of dust. That was the old adage at Ohio State. Key word “was.”
College football used to be a grown man’s game where a ball-carrier gets behind some pretty tough guys who were focused on roughing up the guy in front of him. You’d get up, and do it all again. But then the forward pass became a thing, and offenses have continued to evolve to take advantage of space and athletes that can make things happen on the edge and in matchups.
With that, quarterbacks have gone from being game managers and precision passers, to oftentimes the most athletic player on the field. There are still some drop-back passers that dissect opposing defenses, but there’s no arguing the fact that the quarterback has become by far the most important player on a football field.
It’s been that way for a while, but we really started to see this thing begin to swing around under center at the turn of the century — or millennium — however you want to look at it.
On that note, ESPN took a look at the best quarterbacks since the year 2000 and ranked them (subscription required) up to No. 60. Ohio State used to be a program that relied on running the ball with a traditional running back, but it too has become a destination place for playmakers and gunslingers calling the shots.
All in all, three guys that once wore the scarlet and gray have been recognized by the worldwide leader in sports programming, and we’re sure you wonder who they are and where they were ranked.
NEXT … A Heisman winner in Columbus
No. 31 out of 60 – Troy Smith (2003-2006)
What ESPN says
“Ohio State went wire-to-wire in the 2006 regular season, and while Smith wasn’t asked to do much in blowouts, he came through big-time when required and won the Heisman by more than 1,600 points.”
“Of course, this would have all mattered more had Smith and the Buckeyes not gotten absolutely humiliated by Florida in the national title game. That’ll knock down your ranking a bit.”
Career Stats
5,720 passing yards, 63% completion rate, 54 TD, 13 INT, 1,168 rushing yards, 14 rushing TD
NEXT … A Recent Heisman finalist
No. 27 out of 60 – Justin Fields (Georgia 2018, Ohio State 2019-2020)
What ESPN says
“Thanks to the abbreviated 2020 season, Fields was a collegiate starter for basically 1.5 years. But in that time he proved startlingly accurate and dynamic, leading Ohio State to two CFP bids, one national title game and only two losses.”
Career Stats
5,701 passing yards, 68% completion rate, 67 TD, 9 INT, 1,133 rushing yards, 19 TD
NEXT … An old friend
No. 5 out of 60 – Joe Burrow (Ohio State 2016-2017, LSU 2018-2019)
What ESPN says
“After a decent first season as LSU’s starter, Burrow simply unleashed the best passing season we’ve ever seen in college football. He threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns, produced almost as many rushing touchdowns (five) as interceptions (six) and led the Tigers — who had gone eight years without a top-five finish — to a 15-0 record and national title. His 2019 was good enough to stand up next to Cam Newton’s 2010. There is no greater compliment than that.”
Career Stats
8,852 passing yards, 69% completion rate, 78 TD, 11 INT, 13 rushing TD
NEXT … What we say
Where are a couple of other Buckeye QBs?
What ESPN says
We can definitely get on board with these three being in the top sixty, but where is J.T. Barrett? What about Braxton Miller? All Barrett did was reset almost all of the Big Ten passing records. He did it by passing a pretty good guy. You may have heard of him. His name is Drew Brees. Yeah, a lot of it has to do with him being there four years, but there’s a lot of guys that were under center for four years.
And Braxton. If we’re truly going by just stats, I get it. But there aren’t too many guys in the 2000s that had more playmaking and electric ability than B-Miller. I know you can’t put everyone in this list, but to me, there’s a bit of a snub in leaving both of these guys out of the mix.
Ohio State football very early projected offensive depth chart for 2021
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