Now it’s Ohio State’s turn to lobby for a berth in the college football playoff — a thought that seemed pretty far-fetched when the Buckeyes lost their quarterback and struggled through the first couple weeks of the season.
With J.T. Barrett performing brilliantly in place of an injured Braxton Miller, there’s no longer any doubt who the Big Ten’s top contender is in the national title race.
Barrett threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more in a sensational performance, and No. 14 Ohio State scored almost at will against Michigan State’s vaunted defense, beating the eighth-ranked Spartans 49-37 on Saturday night.
With one overwhelming offensive display, the Buckeyes re-established themselves as the Big Ten’s dominant team under coach Urban Meyer, avenged their loss to Michigan State in last year’s conference title game, and boosted their case for a berth in the sport’s new four-team playoff.
“This is one for the ages,” said Meyer, in his third year as Ohio State’s coach. “That’s how much respect we had for our opponent going into it. We saw what they did. They had one loss and they were actually winning that one game until it kind of got away from them somehow at Oregon. We played a top-10 team and really played our best on the road.”
Ohio State (8-1, 5-0) came into the game ranked No. 14 by the playoff committee. The Spartans (7-2, 4-1) were No. 8 and looked like the conference’s best hope to reach the playoff, but now they’ll almost surely drop out of consideration.
“The bottom line is we didn’t stop `em,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “Disappointing. We had big hopes. At the end of the day, we didn’t get what we wanted. That’s the way life is. We’ll regroup and move on.”
Barrett became the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes before the season because Miller needed shoulder surgery, and Ohio State lost at home to Virginia Tech in early September. The Buckeyes have won seven straight since, and Meyer was asked after Saturday’s victory if he believes Ohio State is a playoff team.
“I think it is, because I love my team and I don’t know enough,” Meyer said. “I haven’t studied the other teams really. If I have to go fight for this team, what they’ve done — very impressive. That darn loss the second game, if that hurts us, I’ll take the hit for that.”
Barrett went 16-of-26 for 300 yards against the Spartans. Ohio State’s first drive of the game ended in a missed field goal, and another early possession fell apart because of penalties. Aside from that, the Buckeyes scored a touchdown every time they had the ball until they punted in the final minute of the game.
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