INDIANAPOLIS — A series of bad breaks, tough luck, injuries, coaching drama and wildly erratic play has characterized the Ohio State football program in the last three years.
Urban Meyer’s team has compiled a 34-4 mark in that time frame, beaten eight top-10 teams, reached the college football playoff at least once (with Sunday’s decision determining another visit) and ranked among the nation’s very best squads each season. But it took a 27-21 victory in Indianapolis on Saturday night for the Buckeyes to finally claim a championship — the first after the 2014 national title.
It was a sloppy performance and left a college football playoff appointment hanging in limbo (to be determined at noon on Sunday).
Both Alabama and Ohio State’s head coaches began posturing for their teams on Saturday night. Even the networks have staked out their respective territories, with Fox (pumping the Big Ten) and ESPN (supporting the SEC) in full-scale propaganda mode to get their contracted league’s team into the Final Four.
“We deserve a shot,” Meyer said at the podium after receiving the Big Ten Championship trophy. “We beat two top-four teams.”
The Buckeyes also lost by 31 points at Iowa, a game that could very well keep them out of the playoff. Still, they did collect hardware, something Alabama did not, and that should be remembered amid the hubub of the postseason drama.
While Ohio State’s performance was uneven, the result was strong. Wisconsin boasted the No. 1 defense in the nation and was undefeated for the first time in more than a century. The Badgers were challenged only once all season. Yet the Buckeyes shredded them with a 449-298 yardage advantage. It took three costly OSU turnovers to keep coach Paul Chryst’s team in the game at all.
Six days out of surgery, three-time All-Big Ten quarterback J.T. Barrett showed exactly why he’s exasperated Buckeye fans for four years.
He was at times brilliant, 211 yards passing and two touchdowns. At other times he was disastrous, two interceptions which led directly to a pair of Wisconsin sores. He was heroic, 60 yards rushing and a TD, and maddening, missing two wide-open receivers for easy touchdowns that would’ve put the game away early.
“I think you could tell today there was a lot of things that were off as far as timing in the throw game just because I just didn’t get those reps in practice,” Barrett said. “But I think we need to make plays. We were able to make them down the stretch, and at the end of the day that’s what helped us win this game.”
What many discount entirely is that Barrett was clearly rusty. His knee surgery on Sunday kept him from practicing until Thursday, and he showed the effects. He was nowhere near as explosive running the ball, but still converted repeatedly on third downs to keep drives alive. His timing was off passing, too, and he acknowledged as much after the game.
“I wasn’t able to get the reps in practice because I was trying not to get swelling in my knee, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to manage the swelling like we did,” Barrett said.
Wisconsin had even bigger problems. The Badgers were unable to run the ball. Ace tailback Jonathan Taylor managed just 41 yards on 15 carries and the Badgers had just 60 yards on the ground as a team. Even worse, Wisconsin called 40 pass plays for shaky quarterback Alex Hornibrook, who threw two killer interceptions.
“I would have liked to have seen…we knew it was a good defense,” Chryst said. “We would have liked to be more efficient, more productive.”
BARRETT BANTER: Barrett is now the winningest QB in Buckeye history, recording the 37th victory of his career to pull ahead of Art Schlichter. Nine of those wins have come against top-10 teams, nearly 25 percent of the total and by far the most in school history.
This one showed the full spectrum of his career, toughness, ability and inconsistency all in one package.
“I’ve had (Tim) Tebow and this kid is a lot like him,” Meyer said. “How you keep him out of the game, I just don’t know how it happens. I’ve had one other player come back in a week from a scope.”
Barrett also broke his own school record by tossing his 35th TD pass of the season to top the 34 he had in 2014. He’s also run for 10 touchdowns, leading to a whopping 45 scores for the year.
“They made some plays, and certainly some big ones,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. “We certainly felt like they were a good offense and they were going to make some plays, and you just had to keep playing.
“He’s a heckuva quarterback.”
No matter what happens, Barrett and the Buckeyes will have to be sharper to win their next game, regardless of the foe or the venue.
“We left a lot of yardage on the field,” Meyer said. “We had some misfires in the throw game where guys were wide open.
“But I thought we adjusted fairly good gainst one of the top defenses in the country, still had 450 yards of offense, but there was a lot of offense left on the field.”
