Buckeyes feel like ’14:
Both QBs have big-play ability
Despite some chaos, Ohio State is rounding into form behind more than one quarterback. Sound familiar?
Coaching carousel, Page 35
“Laser focus” has been Ohio State’s mantra during an impressive three-week run to the Big Ten championship game Dec. 2 against Wisconsin.
It’s fair to wonder, though, if it will burn holes in Wisconsin’s bid to remain perfect and reach the College Football Playoff for the first time. Or if that pinpoint attention to detail will be compromised by all the distractions swirling around the Buckeyes.
There’s been a lot of buzz from an Ohio State perspective since the biggest comeback ever against its archrival, rallying from 14 points down for a 31-20 victory at Michigan last weekend. But little of the conversation has had to do with the title game itself.
There’s the uncertain status of starting quarterback J.T. Barrett. Most of his teammates seemed to find out at the same time as the news media that it was apparently freak contact with a sideline photographer that aggravated an old injury to Barrett’s right knee and eventually forced him out of the Michigan game in the third quarter.
Barrett is “probable” for the Big Ten title game. But if he plays, how will it impact the dual-threat quarterback’s mobility? And should he play? Dwayne Haskins took over with the Buckeyes trailing 20-14 and looked poised in directing OSU to 17 unanswered points?
There are the strange circumstances surrounding defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, who signed to be Tennessee’s next coach before the school backed out amid a social media uproar. The purported reason behind Tennessee fans’ anger has to do with Schiano’s time as a 25-year old assistant just starting his career at Penn State and a third-hand link to the Jer- ry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal.
How will the sequence of events affect his ability to devise and carry out a game plan to stop the Badgers and their freshman Heisman Trophy candidate in running back Jonathan Taylor?
And then there’s all the talk about Ohio State’s chances, however remote, of claiming one of the four Playoff spots as Big Ten champion.
Unlike Alabama coach Nick Saban, lobbying for a place at the Playoff table as a one-loss team, Meyer has stayed away from discussion of the playoffs following that 55-24 loss at 20point underdog Iowa that, at the time, seemed to destroy any hope of the two-loss Buckeyes rebounding into the Final Four.
Since that debacle, Ohio State has beaten Michigan State, Illinois and Michigan by the collective margin of 131-37. Laser focus, indeed.
What might have OSU fans worried is that the Buckeyes flat-lined at Iowa coming off an emotional comeback victory over Penn State. Why should they think this week will be any different, especially if they’re without Barrett? Even if you take his four interceptions against the Hawkeyes into account, he has an outstanding TD-to-interception ratio of 33-7.
“(We’re) energized because of where we’re at,” Meyer said about a quick turnaround from a rivalry game. “This has been a stretch. That’s one of the great things when I was at Florida. We always played Florida State before the SEC championship game. I guess it was good for fans and everybody but it was tough on players. We play our rival; you can’t say we saved a little bit of energy for this next one. But also our guys are energized, ready to go for this one.”
Everybody wants to paint this championship game in the same light as the 2014 encounter between the same two teams. Barrett got hurt against Michigan and Cardale Jones, who began the season as a third-stringer, came to the res- cue, directing the Buckeyes to a 59-0 rout of the Badgers and then wins over Alabama and Oregon to make Ohio State the first national champion of the CFP era.
Haskins entered not even knowing the Buckeyes were trailing Michigan and completed a third-and-13 strike between two defenders for 27 yards to Austin Mack right after the Buckeyes had committed back-to-back false starts.
The connection with Mack instantly had a calming effect on the team. Two plays later, Haskins kept the ball for 22 yards down to the 1 and the Buckeyes soon took the lead for good.
“It’s a similar feel ... coming off a tight game against the team up north, the whole situation with the quarterback getting hurt the week before and some uncertainty about who will be the quarterback,” linebacker Chris Worley said. “One thing will stay the same. No matter who plays, everybody will be prepared.”