Ohio State Football: Does Braxton Miller's Comeback Win Raise Expectations?

In Ohio State football history, there are great teams and players, but not often iconic plays.

What Braxton Miller did in the final 30 seconds against Wisconsin Saturday was an iconic play.

He launched a ball that seemed to reach the heavens, falingl into the lap of freshman Devin Smith who had gotten behind a Wisconsin secondary that lost the week before to Michigan State on a Hail Mary.

Now, despite whatever you want to call it, we've seen so many times how just one moment can create a legacy.

John Elway can attest to that when he had a first down at his own 2-yard line in the 1986 AFC Championship Game in a snowy Cleveland, OH, eventually leading his team to the first of five Super Bowls in his tenure.

Admittedly, it's unfair to judge Miller's legacy in just his fifth start of his freshman season, but after that type of play—and the situation it came in—we now know what he is capable of, at least at this stage of his career.

He no longer looks like a chicken with his head cut off; Miller looked much more like a player who belonged on that stage.

With success of that sort comes higher expectations by default. Will Miller be as good as Troy Smith, or even Terrelle Pryor? Fans certainly hope he can be, if not better.

In just one night, Miller proved that he is just as capable of the big play as his two dual-threat predecessors.

The fact that Miller currently has less around him, as well as relatively poorer coaching, means he could very well be further along than Smith or Pryor had been.

Already, we've seem him be able to make timely plays like Smith, and torch opponents on the ground like Pryor.

With two games coming up against inferior competition in Indiana and Purdue, this will give Miller more opportunities to improve his passing game before the final few games of the season against Penn State and Michigan.

Hopefully for Miller, the Buckeyes can avoid the dreaded postseason ban and make it to the conference championship, continuing his rapid development.

If the difference between the last two games showed what an extra week of practice can do, imagine what will happen with an extra month of bowl practices.

That's a scary thought.

Still, before running any thoughts about Miller's possibility of being on the best Buckeye QBs ever, let's give him the rest of the year before we evaluate where his potential truly lies.

He has already made a play that Buckeye fans will talk about for decades, but he needs to prove that the play wasn't a fluke, and that greatness is truly in his future.

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