Early this season I recall hearing Troy Smith dubbed “The Next Vince Young.” Now, I am always dubious of anybody being “The Next” anything, as there is rarely an exact duplicate of a given player. Further, those in the sports press are often lazy thinkers, and so rely on the “he’s The Next X”

(Some examples of refs to King and Young can be found here, and especially here: “Troy Smith is this year’s version of Vince Young”).

Mainly one thing is for sure: in comparing performances in the National Championship game, Troy Smith was no Vince Young. Last year Young took over and eventually won the Rose Bowl. Last night Smith seemed to shrink in stature and skill in the face of Florida’s defensive onslaught.

Here are Vince’s numbers against USC last year:

Rushing: Young, Vince 19-200, 3 TDs

Passing: Young, Vince 30/40 for 267 no TDs, no INTs

And Smith’s from last night:

Passing: 4/14 for 35 and 1 INT, no TDs

So, certainly, in the title game, Smith was hardly the “Next Vince Young” and really, as impressive a season as he had (he did, after all, win the Heisman and Vince came in second last year), I don’t think his college career matches up to Vince’s.

Now, I will confess, the only entire games I have watched with Smith are last year’s Texas-OSU game, this year’s and the title game against Florida, in which Smith was 1-2, so my opinion may be skewed. However, I have watched plenty of College Gameday, SportsCenter and the like to have seen the highlights.

Smith may go on to have a successful pro career, but at the moment, I don’t think anyone can say he is the next Vince Young–especially after the remarkable rookie season that VY has had.

3 Comments

1. […] PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog » Not the Next Vince Young Troy Smith Edition […]

   Pingback by PoliBlog’s Deportes: A PoliBlog Sideblog » Not the Next Vince Young Troy Smith Edition » OTB Sports — 01/9/07 @ 12:19 pm

2. […] At least not night last and maybe not in the pros. […]

   Pingback by Troy Smith wasn’t the “Next Vince Young” » OTB Sports — 01/9/07 @ 12:20 pm

3. […] Update: While we are on the topic of college football, I also have some thoughts on Troy Smith/Vince Young comparisons. Filed under: Sports, College Football | |Send TrackBack […]

   Pingback by PoliBlog ™: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » Saban — 01/9/07 @ 12:33 pm

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