NFL postseason QB comparison: Michigan vs. OSU
Someone on another thread mentioned that Tom Brady has 6 more Super Bowl rings than every OSU quarterback combined. That go me thinking about how we have had several decent QBs in the NFL, while OSU has had much less success. I decided to compile our respective postseason records. Specifically, I looked at playoff games started and playoff games won. I thought this might cheer me up a bit. It did.
I couldn't find a good comprehensive list of Michigan QBs who played in the NFL, so I didn't count anyone before Harbaugh, but I did find a complete OSU list (in an article about how little success they have had). Corrections are welcome.
MICHIGAN:
Harbaugh: started 5, won 2
Grbac: started 3, won 1
Collins: started 1
Griese: started 3, won 2
Henne: started 5, won 3
GOAT: started 41, won 30
Total without Brady: started 17, won 8
Total with Brady: started 58, won 38
OSU:
Tomczak: started 2, won 1.
That's it--that's also their total. In other words, looking at post-season accomplishments, OSU's best QB would rank #6 on our list, ahead of only Todd Collins.
January 6th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
However, Henne is the only one who played for Michigan since OSU hired Tressel. Yes, Tom Terrific makes us feel good, but our 21st Century QBs haven't done much more in the League than they did against OSU.
Fun facts: since Henne, the only Michigan QB to beat OSU (Denard Robinson) was drafted as a RB. The other two QBs who came the closest to beating OSU (Gardner and Speight) were undrafted.
Thanks for trying to cheer us up. It was a novel approach, and I commend the effort.
January 6th, 2020 at 5:37 PM ^
I am sure my 1 Ohio State friend will feel so inferior after I reveal these stats to her.
January 6th, 2020 at 5:44 PM ^
Yeah but, but, but Harbaugh is better than Lloyd!
January 6th, 2020 at 5:50 PM ^
I think this is a product of styles. For many years, our style matched the prototypical NFL QB: pocket passer, tall, generally immobile.
However, even the NFL game is changing (look at the Ravens). As it changes, OSU "spread" QBs will find NFL success, whether we like it or not.
January 6th, 2020 at 6:27 PM ^
On a pseudo-related note, with Ryan Finley starting for the Bengals this year, the most bizarre QB factory in football has to be NC State
For a program that basaically epitomizes P5 mediocrity, they've somehow spat out Phillip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Jacoby Brissett, Mike Glennon, and now Ryan Finley. It's baffling
January 6th, 2020 at 6:31 PM ^
So what I’m hearing you say OP, and please correct me if I’m wrong, we should stop playing actual games against OSU and instead do fantasy football vs OSU
Michigan football since the turn of the millennium is finding new and exciting ways to beat the buckeyes.
January 6th, 2020 at 6:40 PM ^
Meyer and Saban have 9 national titles in the past 13 years and not a single QB from any of those teams is even close to being an NFL starter. OSU fans aren’t trying to feel good in January by noting historically their QBs have a great NFL playoff record.
Joe Willie Namath is the last legit NFL Star QB either school produced. In that time we’ve won 1/2 of a national title and Bama has won 10+
This is why people give us grief about our relentless pursuit of “moral victories”
January 6th, 2020 at 6:43 PM ^
This!
When I watch the success Lamar Jackson is having, the FIRST thing that comes to mind for me is he went to Louisville just like Johnny Unitas!
January 6th, 2020 at 6:48 PM ^
The most recent starting QB for Michigan who started in the NFL is Chad Henne. He was drafted 12 years ago. Since then we’ve had:
Nick Sheridan
Steven Threet
Tate Forcier
Denard Robinson
Devin Gardner
Jake Rudock (actually drafted at least)
Wilton Speight
John O’Korn
Brandon Peters
Shea Patterson
I don’t see anyone who will start a game, and sadly the one who maybe has a shot is Peters. 10 QBs, 7 who are not on rosters, 1 who is a practice squad player, and a guy who plays for another college and a guy who will most likely be drafted behind where Rudock was selected. Safe to say our QB play has been average and that’s being extremely generous.
January 6th, 2020 at 9:28 PM ^
Ah, the original Tate. qbforce.com
January 6th, 2020 at 7:07 PM ^
Wolverine Devotee might have to confirm this:
In the past six seasons, Chad Henne has played in seven NFL games and in the past five seasons, he has completed two of the five passes he has thrown.
If both Tom Brady and Chad Henne were to retire after this season and neither Shea Patterson nor Brandon Peters were to make an NFL roster next season, then 2020 would be the first season since Jim Harbaugh’s first NFL season in 1987 when there would be no quarterback who'd played for Michigan playing in the NFL.
January 6th, 2020 at 7:10 PM ^
January 6th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
Let's hang a banner
January 6th, 2020 at 9:00 PM ^
If only we knew a QB whisperer...
January 6th, 2020 at 11:27 PM ^
While I appreciate the attempt to make us all feel better about current circumstances, I have unfortunately been alive the last fifteen years. I am fortunate, however, to be currently watching Monty Python's "Holy Grail"! So there is that...
January 6th, 2020 at 11:52 PM ^
Life of Brian is underrated.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:59 PM ^
Brave Sir Robin just ran away.
January 7th, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
I really don't put any stock in this. Yeah OSU has no superstar NFL QBs now. Not sure it ever has. But that doesn't matter.
At the end of the day, guys like Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer had zero obligation to run NFL schemes that would prepare these kids for the league. ZERO obligation. They were supposed to run the schemes that put their players in the best positions to win. And they did. Meyer ran an offense that, by all reports I've ever seen, was very easy to pick up and command. And he won national championships with it because he didn't make it more complicated than it needed to be. Tressel ran an offense best suited for the 1960s, sure, but he won a national title and plenty of Big Ten titles with it because he had unstoppable defenses paired with it every year.
Same concept could be applied anywhere else. You as a head coach have no obligation to your players to run an NFL scheme that will make for an easier transition into the league (assuming your players can even get to the league). You have an obligation to run the scheme that puts you in the best position to win. If that is the triple option or the wishbone, then that's what you run.
OSU may not prepare its QBs very well for the league, but that's not their job. Their job is to win football games for OSU, however that needs to happen.