BUCKEYES HAVE IT
OHIO STATE WINS BIG TEN TITLE, PUTTING ITSELF IN PLAYOFF MIX
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State quarterback J. T. Barrett looked just fine Saturday. Now it’s up to the College Football Playoff selection committee to decide whether the No. 8 Buckeyes have done enough to earn a spot in the playoff.
Six days after having surgery on his right knee, Barrett threw two touchdown passes, ran for another touchdown and had a crucial fourth- down conversion late in the game to lead Ohio State to a 27- 21 victory against No. 4 Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game.
The Buckeyes ( 11- 2) claimed their first conference crown since their national- championship season in 2014. The Badgers’ loss, meanwhile, ended the longest active winning streak in the country at 13 and probably doomed their playoff hopes.
‘‘ We have two wins over two top- four teams and another one over a team ranked 12th or 13th,’’ said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who included a victory against Penn State in his rundown. ‘‘ We’re a conference champion, and we deserve a shot.’’
The reason for the lobbying? Barrett’s speedy recovery.
While most athletes need two or three weeks to recover from minor knee surgery, Barrett told doctors and coaches he would be OK. Meyer gave him the starting nod after watching him in pregame warmups with a protective brace around his injured knee, and Barrett rewarded him by playing like the three- time Big Ten quarterback of the year.
After running nine yards to convert a third down on the Buckeyes’ second possession, he found a wide- open Terry McLaurin for an 84- yard touchdown pass to give Ohio State a 7- 0 lead.
Two possessions later, Barrett threw a short pass to Parris Campbell, who turned a missed tackle into a 57- yard mistake for another touchdown. Then after a 77- yard run by J. K. Dobbins, Barrett powered in from the 1 to give the Buckeyes a 21- 7 lead.
‘‘ I didn’t have any pain in my knee,’’ he said.
Sure, Barrett made some mistakes and missed some receivers. But the only time he really paid for it came on an ill- advised pass from near his goal line in the first quarter. Barrett was picked off by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, who returned it nine yards for a Wisconsin touchdown.
Otherwise, Ohio State was pretty much in control.
‘‘ We expected to see the best, and he was,’’ Badgers coach Paul Chryst said of Barrett. ‘‘ He’s a heck of a quarterback.’’
Wisconsin ( 12- 1) pulled to 21- 10 at the half and to 21- 13 early in the third quarter.
The Badgers’ offense finally broke through early in the fourth by capping a 52- yard drive with a one- yard touchdown run by Chris James and a two- point conversion pass from Alex Hornibrook to Troy Fumagalli after a delay to repair the field. That cut the deficit to 24- 21 with 12: 39 left.
But Barrett’s conversion on fourth- and- one on the Buckeyes’ next series set up a short field goal, and Wisconsin couldn’t rally on its final two possessions to save its perfect season.
Record- breaker
The last time Dobbins played a game in Indiana, he rushed for 181 yards in Ohio State’s rout of the Hoosiers. This time, Dobbins broke Maurice Clarett’s freshman rushing record at the school. And all he needed was one run.
Dobbins finished with 17 carries for 174 yards and surpassed Clarett’s total of 1,237 yards on his 77- yard run. He ended the game with 1,364 yards on the season.