Wizblog

Zwick Roasted Already

It's amazing. The Monday morning quarterbacking started in the Sunday paper for Buckeye quarterback Justin Zwick. Zwick had just led the Buckeyes to a 27-6 win over Cincinnati in his first-ever start at Ohio State. He was 14 of 26 passing for 213 yds and a touchdown. He threw two interceptions and fumbled three times, losing one. And already the doubters are out. Posters to the bucknuts.com boards are criticizing his mechanics, moaning about his fumbles, and crying that a couple of his spirals weren't quite tight enough to suit them.

As another example, Bud Shaw doesn't even try to conceal his favoritism toward Zwick's longtime rival for the starting quarterback job, Glenville High School's Troy Smith, in his PD column today. Whatever the reason for this bias, (rooting for the hometown Cleveland kid over the Massillon wonder boy, or whatever?) he's certainly entitled to it, as I am to mine, but this piece comes off as nasty. If the sophomore did anything right at all, one would never deduce it from reading Shaw's take. He documents Zwick's every misstep, failing to include details like Zwick's one stumble being caused by getting stepped on by an offensive lineman, or the fumble he lost being caused by a sack caused by a missed block. And here's Shaw minimizing one of Zwick's many first game successes:

Zwick's lone touchdown was a 17-yard can't-miss lob to tight end Ryan Hamby against a Cincinnati blitz that abdicated the middle of the field. Tea-leaf readers should hear Tressel complimenting Zwick for finding Hamby - his mouthpiece would have had to fly out and blind him not to find Hamby - and know Tressel is leaning Tower of Pisalike toward keeping Zwick No. 1.

No, I'd say he's leaning Saddam's-Statue-in-Baghdad-like toward keeping Zwick No. 1. But the evident folly of Tressel's decision is clear to Shaw, if nobody else. All he had was one "can't-miss" touchdown pass (that presumably Shaw could have "lobbed" himself) which I guess happened while the Cincinnati defense was taking a water break. I guess for Shaw, it's not about winning for the Buckeyes. He thinks that Smith should be the starter, whatever his reason for that view. As the theme of his petty, putdown piece, Shaw plays up Zwick's explanation that an ill-fitting mouthpiece caused some trouble calling signals at the line, as excuse-making by the quarterback. That's what I mean by nasty.

Zwick is a kid who has known, or at least dreamed for probably ten years or more that he would one day take the field as a Buckeye in Ohio Stadium. He won the state championship as a freshman QB at Orrville, before moving on to high school football's Mecca, Massillon, Ohio. The buildup has been over-the-top. The expectations are at best unreasonable. The pressure on the kid has been immense.

Do you think he might have been nervous?

I do think that Shaw and I watched two different games. Yes, Zwick was rushed, harassed, and rattled by Dantonio's defensive scheme at times, and he made several mistakes of inexperience. But he demonstrated control of the offense and good field vision. He demonstrated an ability to pass the ball down the field that we have not seen in a Buckeye quarterback in some time, and I might add, an ability that I have not yet seen demonstrated by Troy Smith in my admittedly limited exposure to him.

Zwick made throws yesterday that Craig Krenzel never made, and couldn't have made in two years as the Buckeye starter. He threw for over 200 yards in his debut, and had a 47 yard touchdown called back on a penalty away from the ball. The "out" patterns to Roy Hall and Ted Ginn were impressive for any college QB. The bomb to Bam Childress was a pass that any of the last three Buckeye quarterbacks would have underthrown with regularity. He showed the ability to roll out and had patience in the pocket.

The Buckeyes won handily, instead of squeaking another one out, largely because they were able to pass the ball successfully and gain yardage in large chunks. Smith, who played quite a bit less than Zwick, had really only one pass completion of consequence, a beautiful 23 yard fade for a touchdown to Santonio Holmes. Smith has great ability, as a passer as well as a runner, and may yet prove to be the better quarterback. But the coaches have worked with both guys for two full years, and have decided that Justin Zwick is their man. Until yesterday, I had seen the two young men compete only in two Spring Games, but I am inclined to agree with the coaches, and I was pretty impressed with what I saw of Justin Zwick yesterday.

Shaw apparently feels that Tressel must have chosen Zwick to start only because he "doesn't believe in a quarterback carousel", not because Tressel believes Zwick is just better for the job right now, and doesn't want to say anything negative about his backup QB. Shaw reminds us that Zwick was almost picked off two more times....

And so long as Zwick proves prone to mistakes - he could have been intercepted twice more - the reason for choosing him over Smith fades.

Yes, and he could have thrown two more touchdown passes, if we want to get into things that didn't happen. Shaw apparently wanted Zwick to have exactly one game before "the reason for choosing him over Smith" is determined to be somehow "fading". Shaw's position is reflected in the words he chooses; Smith is being "a good soldier", and Zwick is "slurring" his words. Smith is "no ordinary backup", while Zwick is out "collecting turnovers". I guess Shaw's agenda could be more transparent. I just don't know how.

Tressel has gone to great pains to avoid a QB controversy and the attitudes of both kids for the entire two year evaluation period have been exemplary. That's a credit to them and to Tressel. Maybe Bud Shaw wants to keep that pot stirred up. Maybe he expects perfection from a first-game sophomore. Maybe he's just not a Justin Zwick fan. That's cool. After yesterday, I am.

Good luck to Troy Smith and to Justin Zwick. And Go Bucks!

Posted by dan at September 5, 2004 06:56 PM