Troy Smith’s perfect season was in jeopardy Saturday.
Ohio State’s dynamic quarterback already had thrown an interception, foolishly firing into Michigan’s double coverage. Then he fumbled a shotgun snap when he dashed to his left before securing the ball.
Smith’s confidence started to shake.
“No one on the sideline was going to let me get down for a second,” he said. “I was constantly reminded by my teammates: `We follow you. We react to the way you react.'”
Receiver Anthony Gonzalez pulled him aside and told him: “You’re the engine. We go as you go.”
Where they are going now is Glendale, Ariz., for the BCS national championship game. And if the Buckeyes have to walk on their hands and knees to Arizona, the journey won’t be any more difficult than what they faced Saturday when Michigan played them to the wire in a 42-39 thriller before a record Ohio Stadium crowd of 105,708.
Although top-ranked Ohio State led for most of three quarters, the game was in doubt until Ted Ginn Jr. recovered Michigan’s onside kick with a little more than two minutes to play.
The Buckeyes then ran out the clock, initiating a wild celebration on the field. Students held up a special edition of the Columbus Dispatch that ran the headline: ONE TO GO!
“Words can’t express how I feel right now,” said Smith, who appeared to lock up the Heisman Trophy after throwing for 316 yards and four touchdowns on 29 of 41 passing. “I’ll probably be wearing this smile for the rest of the week.”
The Buckeyes, who won their first outright Big Ten title since 1984, now have the luxury of sitting back and watching a bevy of teams vie to become their opponent on Jan. 8.
“I can’t wait,” right tackle Kirk Barton said. “We didn’t have an off week this year so I get to sit down and watch college football and enjoy myself like all the great fans get to.”
The second-ranked Wolverines have to hope their body of work–an 11-1 season with a three-point loss to the nation’s best team–will convince the pollsters and BCS computers to give them a rematch.
Wolverines tailback Mike Hart, who rushed for a game-high 142 yards on 23 carries, would relish the opportunity.
“I guarantee if we play them it would be a whole different game,” he said.
Hart didn’t guarantee the Wolverines would win a rematch, but he’s certain the Michigan defense–which entered the game ranked third in yards allowed, with 231.5 per game–would respond in force.
“They usually don’t give up big plays,” he said.
The pace of the game and high score stunned everyone. The Buckeyes allowed an average of 7.8 points in their first 11 games.
“If you had asked me, I would have said 24 points would be the most scored by either team,” Ohio State safety Brandon Mitchell said. “But the offenses came out and controlled the game.”
Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel, who improved to 5-1 against Michigan, called it “a fast-break game.”
Ohio State had too many big plays to list, but two stood out in the first half: Fumble-prone freshman Chris Wells’ 52-yard touchdown run and Smith’s 39-yard scoring strike to Ginn.
On that play, on second-and-inches, Ohio State lined up with a goal-line set and Smith faked a handoff to Wells. Then he fired over the middle to a leaping Ginn, who beat Michigan cornerback Leon Hall.
“Troy kept his head down [to sell the fake],” Tressel said. “And Teddy’s fast.”
After taking a two-touchdown lead into the intermission, Ohio State led 35-31 with seven minutes to play. Then came the game’s only questionable call.
Facing a third-and-15 at the Michigan 38-yard line, Smith rolled right toward the sideline before firing an incompletion toward Brian Robiskie.
Michigan linebacker Shawn Crable drilled Smith moments after he released the ball. Officials apparently deemed the hit a helmet-to-helmet blow because they flagged Crable for roughing the passer, giving the Buckeyes 15 yards and a first down. Three plays later, Smith hit Robiskie for a 13-yard touchdown pass.
“I think it was an out-of-bounds hit,” Tressel said. “In fact [receivers] coach [Darrell] Hazell got decked on that hit.”
Smith wouldn’t say whether he agreed with the call.
“I just wanted to see Robo make that catch,” he said.
Whatever the details, the most eagerly awaited regular-season game in decades lived up to the hype. And the Buckeyes were up to the challenge.
“The whole year we’ve been saying: Just one agenda,” defensive tackle David Patterson said. “No egos, we all love each other. This is the happiest moment of my life.”
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tgreenstein@tribune.com
