Penn State at Ohio State: 4 things to watch for on Saturday
By Joe Russo
Will it be the start of the J.T. Barrett Heisman campaign?
Don’t laugh. Seriously. The top of most Heisman ballots right now include Barkley and Stanford running back Bryce Love. Maybe Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma, Mason Rudolph of Oklahoma State, and Lamar Jackson of Louisville are the quarterbacks you’d name ahead of Barrett. Believe it or not, the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook has Barrett fourth in the odds right now.
Why not Barrett? He has right now the highest completion percentage of his career. He has his highest quarterback rating of his career. He has 21 touchdowns against only one single interception. He’s only gotten better as the season has gone one, with Kevin Wilson and Ryan Day really figuring out the passing attack, helping Barrett be the fourth highest rated passer in the country.
Remember, one of the signature moments of Barrett’s career came in the overtime win came three years ago this week against this very same Penn State team when he scored twice in the extra periods to walk away a winner, all on a badly sprained knee.
Barrett’s only turnovers in his career against Penn State came in that game, which is heavily outweighed by his 8 total touchdowns (4 rushing, 4 passing).
Ohio State has learned their lessons from last year, where they relied too heavily on predictable quarterback runs. This game could and should be Barrett’s path back into the Heisman conversation.