Heisman Trophy: Ranking the last 15 Heisman winners
By Gabe Encinas
2006 Heisman Stats: 203/311, 2,542 yards, 30 touchdowns, 6 interceptions
Ohio State was ranked No. 1 in the nation since week one, and never slipped up, taking down four ranked opponents, two of which were ranked No. 2 at the time. In his senior season, Troy Smith led his team to a 12-0 record, and fell short to the Florida Gators in the title game, lead by Chris Leak.
The defense was great for the Buckeyes that season, and in turn that took a lot of pressure off of Troy Smith. Only giving up 10 points a game, Ohio State was outscoring their opponents by about 26 points a game. That season, the Buckeyes scored 34-plus points nine times. Now, Ohio State might have pushed leads so high that the running game just took over, and Smith’s stats weren’t near what they could have been.
That Ohio State team had a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, with Antonio Pittman and Chris “Beanie” Wells toting the rock, to go along with Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Brian Robiskie, and even Brian Hartline.
He wasn’t that much of a scrambler in the year he won the Heisman, only taking off 72 times for 204 yards and a touchdown, pretty standard for a quarterback now.
While he was the clear runaway winner in 2006, earning almost triple the amount of votes as Darren McFadden of Arkansas, and Brady Quinn of Notre Dame. But compared to others on this list, his stats don’t jump out at you, and his season was faltered by a big-time loss in the national championship game.
Next: 14. Jason White