Ohio State's C.J. Stroud Cements Status As Heisman Trophy Favorite Against Michigan State
If Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud wasn’t already the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy heading into Saturday's game against Michigan State, he is now.
In fact, the redshirt freshman from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., completed 32-of-35 passes for 432 yards and a school-record-tying six touchdowns in a little more than a half of work. That includes 17 straight completions – another school record – as the Buckeyes dominated seventh-ranked Spartans, 56-7.
“We had a great week of practice. A great week of preparation,” Stroud said after the game. “They do some good things on defense, so we knew we had to be prepared for it. Really, everything that we thought we were going to get, we kind of got. It was just good to come out there and execute at a high level.
“A lot of the things, I could kind of see before it happened thanks to preparations and things of that sort.”
Had he played more than one drive after halftime, when the Buckeyes led 49-0 after scoring on their first seven possessions of the game, there’s no telling how many school or even national records Stroud could have broken on Saturday afternoon.
That’s why head coach Ryan Day used his postgame press conference as an opportunity to campaign for Stroud to win college football’s most prestigious award, even though he wants his quarterback to remain focused on the task at hand - which is beating Michigan in a winner-take-all game that will decide who represents the Big Ten East Division in the conference championship on Dec. 4.
“His preparation has allowed him the opportunity to be in these situations,” Day said. “When you’re looking at the way he’s playing – not that that this really matters to our team or not – but when you only played really one half of football and you throw for six touchdowns, I just think that that matters when you’re looking at statistics.
“The level of play that he’s playing at right now is very high, and I think that needs to be taken into consideration. But our focus is on The Team Up North right now and getting ready for those guys.”
Two months ago, some – including this reporter – were questioning whether Day made this right decision by naming Stroud his starter. Unbeknownst to anyone outside the program, though, he separated the AC joint in his throwing shoulder in the season opener at Minnesota and simply needed some rest.
In the weeks since he sat out the win over Akron, Stroud has looked like a completely different quarterback. He’s confident and in command of the offense, and that shows as he’s thrown for 3,468 yards and 36 touchdowns on the season.
That’s the second-most passing yards and third-most passing touchdowns in a single season in school history, and to think the Buckeyes still have anywhere from two to four games remaining this year.
“I’ve told him all along that praise and criticism are the same. You have to treat them the same way,” Day said. “The same people that thought maybe he shouldn’t have been playing are the same people that are telling him maybe he should be the Heisman Trophy winner. You can’t listen to either of those people.
“(He) has to stay focused on just having a great night tonight, getting home, getting rest, waking up in the morning and getting started on (Michigan). Learn from what happened in this game and stay focused, and I hope he can do that because, so far, he’s done that. He’s been really steady, even though there’s been a lot of ups and downs – and right now, we’re on an upswing.
“Being able to handle that is critically important, almost more important when things go bad, but I think it’s just putting one week in front of the other, preparation-wise, and learning from it, staying strong and not riding that rollercoaster, which has allowed him to be in this situation.”
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