J.T. Barrett epitomizes and elevates Ohio State's season
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When time allowed and circumstance played in his favor, Urban Meyer sneaked his headset back off his ears to experience 107,895 fans at full throat.
Loud? Yeah, loud. "It can't get louder," Meyer said after Ohio State's double-overtime win on Penn State's home field, that inhospitable, shaking-from-the-foundation stadium that, when the Nittany Lions are rolling, can be as unkind to visitors as any venue in college football.
And the Nittany Lions were rolling, disintegrating Ohio State's 17-point halftime lead with one interception, then another, and then a late-game 77-yard scoring drive to force overtime — bringing an all-white chorus to maximum decibel and, for the Buckeyes, placing a season already on the brink teetering on the edge.
Then J.T. Barrett scored once, tying the score at 24-24 after the first overtime; then he scored again, a second time on the ground, giving the Buckeyes a 31-24 victory and maintaining Ohio State's still-alive — if beep-beeping on life support — College Football Playoff hopes.
"I never feel like we're going to lose," Barrett said. "I always feel like we're going to win."
What happened in overtime helps to tell the story of the Buckeyes' season: At Ohio State's lowest points, and there have been three nadirs just through seven games, the redshirt freshman has displayed maturity and leadership beyond his years — and he's saved his team's title hopes.
"He's a tough guy," Meyer said. "He just does things right. And usually people who do things right get rewarded. I just have so much admiration for people like that."
It began in August, when projected Heisman Trophy contender Braxton Miller's season-ending injury cast doubts on the wherewithal of an offense often wholly reliant on his game-breaking athletic ability — a moment that, at the time, "kind of took everyone's breath away," running back Ezekiel Elliott said.
Yet the staff and roster had faith in Barrett, who took starter's snaps during spring ball and again for much of fall camp while Miller recuperated from offseason shoulder surgery. This faith was tested during a 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech on Sept. 6, when Barrett — who completed just 9-of-29 attempts with three interceptions in the defeat — was harassed by the Hokies' aggressive defense.
The response: Barrett entered this weekend with 17 touchdowns and just one interceptions in his previous four games, picking apart a trio of major-conference defenses with numbers unmatched in the history of Ohio State football.
At each step, Barrett has seemed up for the challenge — first as the thrown-to-the-wolves replacement for a Heisman contender, most recently amid Penn State's raucous environment, always as the linchpin of Ohio State's hopes of fulfilling its preseason expectations.
"We knew J.T. would be ready," Elliott said. "He's a pro. He handles his business, and as you can see he's getting better every week."
Perhaps the greatest evidence of his growth — seen not just in numbers but in his handling of adversity — can be found in a road matchup easily split into three units: a solid first half, a rocky second half and a near-perfect overtime.
Before putting Penn State away, Barrett allowed the Nittany Lions to creep back into contention. His first interception, tossed on Ohio State's first drive of the second half, was returned 40 yards by defensive lineman Anthony Zettel for the Nittany Lions' first score. Later, an ill-timed pass over the middle gave Penn State a short field; it would reply with a 24-yard touchdown pass to draw within a field goal with 11 minutes left.
"There were a lot of moments out there where he played like a redshirt freshman playing in the seventh ballgame in his life," offensive coordinator Tom Herman told Paste BN Sports. "We did see plenty of moments tonight where he looked like a 19-year-old redshirt freshman playing in front of 110,000 angry people.
"But then there were times, especially in the overtime, where he made it clear that he wanted to put the team on his back and make sure we come out of here with a win."
After the game, Barrett would diagnose his two turnovers. On the first, Penn State did a good job disguising its blitz package; Barrett read his reads — to throw quickly to beat the pressure — and fell victim to a "good scheme," he said. He called the second a "dumb mistake," a forced throw in an effort to beat a middle linebacker running stride for stride with the intended receiver.
"There are going to be highs and lows in the game," he said. "But when the lows come you've got to know how to react to that and respond. That's what we do as a football team. That's what we're trained to do. Bad things happen in games. You just have to respond.
"Those games you learn from. That right there was just a learning experience, that Virginia Tech loss. With that being said, the same situation right here. We found a way to make the plays we needed to win."
The question: Is it enough? Is it enough when Michigan State looms, when a season remains in the balance, when the Buckeyes are pushed to the limit — and saved, again, by a redshirt freshman — by a Penn State team still finding its way under first-year coach James Franklin?
"We certainly have tons of areas to improve on, but to be able to teach with a firm hand because we did win is a lot easier than having to massage some hurt feelings had we not won." Herman said. "When you win and don't play as well as you hoped, it's good to go out and really put your thumb on those things."
If not perfect, the Buckeyes remain on schedule — deviating from their original course, perhaps, but on schedule nonetheless. Ohio State is still in position, with a win against Michigan State, to secure a Big Ten East division title, play for the conference championship and, again with some help, reach the four-team Playoff.
"Anything you've got to do to win the game," Barrett said. "There's nothing else to do. We can't take a field goal, we were going to try and go score and put it in the end zone. Whatever it takes, we've got to do it."
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