ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Several Ohio State Buckeyes were smiling and sweating in a cramped interview room, sporting Big Ten championship hats and T-shirts.
They can thank Troy Smith.
Smith threw for a career-high 300 yards and a touchdown and scored once on the ground, leading No. 9 Ohio State to a 25-21 win over No. 17 Michigan on Saturday and a share of the conference title.
Antonio Pittman's 3-yard run with 24 seconds left capped an 88-yard drive that included a series of spectacular plays by Smith.
Smith spun to avoid a sack and made an 11-yard pass early in the drive and eluded another loss with quick feet, buying enough time to complete a 26-yard pass to set up Pittman's winning run.
"There will be a lot of No. 10 jerseys and a lot of kids on Thanksgiving weekend trying to make those moves in a pile of leaves," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
Smith completed 27 of 37 passes and ran for 37 yards, getting sacked only once, a year after his spectacular performance led the Buckeyes to a win over Michigan.
Smith ran for 145 yards and a touchdown and threw for 241 yards and two more scores in last year's 37-21 win over the Wolverines.
"Troy is probably the best we've seen," Wolverines defensive tackle Pat Massey said. "Troy was a difference maker out there."
Ohio State (9-2, 7-1 Big Ten) overcame a slew of mistakes just in time to earn a piece of the Big Ten title for the first time since winning the 2002 national championship.
Ohio State shares the Big Ten title with Penn State, which beat Michigan State on Saturday, but the Nittany Lions earn the automatic Bowl Championship Series bid because they beat the Buckeyes.
Ohio State will still have a strong possibility at getting an at-large bid in the BCS. The Buckeyes rallied for their sixth consecutive victory despite two turnovers and a shanked punt that led to a score, a missed extra point and field goal, mishandled punt returns and two pass interference penalties in the end zone.
Michigan (7-4, 5-3) was essentially playing mistake-free football when it led 21-12 midway through the fourth quarter before Smith stunned a crowd of 111,591 at Michigan Stadium. On the last two drives, Smith was 9 of 12 for 130 yards and a score.
"I just think we wanted it more than those guys," said Santonio Holmes, whose 26-yard touchdown reception pulled Ohio State to 21-19 with 6:40 to go.
Smith started the winning drive at the Buckeyes 12 with 4:18 left.
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