Real men of 'genius' stumbling into a better quarterback

History will show Jim Tressel was the savant who looked at the raw material that was once Troy Smith and spotted the Heisman Trophy winner buried within.

Revisionist history, that is.

Justin Zwick, not Jim Tressel, is the real reason Troy Smith brought home the Heisman Trophy. (AP)

Truth is, Tressel was the knucklehead who insisted for more than a year that Justin Zwick -- not Troy Smith -- was the Buckeyes' best quarterback. If it weren't for the separated shoulder Zwick suffered in the sixth game of 2004, Smith wouldn't be the 2006 Heisman winner and Ohio State wouldn't be days away from spanking Florida in the BCS national title game.

Just two seasons ago, Tressel treated the immobile Zwick and the immortal Smith as equals, letting them compete for the quarterback job. Which is like letting LeBron James and Eldridge Recasner compete for a job in the NBA. Zwick couldn't run and could only marginally throw. Smith, then as now, was superior at both.

And this isn't hindsight. Until he got hurt, Zwick was ick. He completed just 52.4 percent of his passes, averaged 0.7 yards per rush and had OSU fans begging for Tressel to switch to Smith. Zwick's injury on Oct. 16, 2004 -- during the Buckeyes' third straight loss with him as starter -- gave Tressel no choice. One month later Smith threw for 241 yards and ran for 145 in a blowout of Michigan, running his record to 4-1.

Tressel's a genius!

Not quite. As late as the second game of 2005, with Smith back from a suspension, Tressel was still treating them as equals. It was Zwick who started the Buckeyes' season-defining loss to Texas in the second game of 2005. Only after that defeat did Tressel finally make Smith his lead quarterback.

Fun as it would be to pick on Tressel for the remainder of this column, he's not the only coach who has been obtuse at analyzing the quarterbacks on his own roster.

At Texas, Mack Brown didn't settle on Colt McCoy until five days before the 2006 opener.

McCoy went on to throw for 2,262 yards, 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions, and is fifth in the country in pass efficiency. Which leads to one of two conclusions: Either the guy who nearly beat out McCoy, Jevan Snead, will be a star when he becomes eligible at Ole Miss in 2008. Or Mack Brown is dumber than a daisy.

There ought to be a self-help group for coaches who just don't get it, with a reserved seat for Georgia Tech's Chan Gailey, who allowed Reggie Ball to become the worst four-year starter in NCAA history. Ball's completion percentage was an awful 51.7 percent as a freshman ... and got worse every year. This season he completed 44.4 percent of his passes.

You probably would have been a better choice to play QB. And you suck.

You weren't available, but as it turns out Gailey did have another option. His name is Taylor Bennett, and with Ball being academically ineligible for the Gator Bowl -- bad quarterback, bad student, bad legacy -- Bennett threw for 326 yards and three TDs. Georgia Tech still lost 38-35 to West Virginia, probably because Gailey doesn't realize his best linebackers are on the sideline with their, er, helmet in their hand.