Team Analysis: #22 Ohio State Buckeyes
I'm going to start off with a statement that is the truth, but most people don't want to believe it. Ohio State is not overrated, in fact, with all of those overrated statements coming out they are now underrated. Here is a quick review so far of their season:
The Buckeyes won their season opener by surviving a scare against Navy, 34-17. But lost their next game to Virginia Tech 35-21. It was an upset. The 8th ranked Buckeyes fell all the way to 22nd in the polls, which is absurd. They lost one game, by one possession to a Top 35 team, that's in a major conference, You may say that it was two possessions, but in reality had the Hokies' pick-six with a minute to hadn't been returned to the house, but say the 35-yard line, Virginia Tech would still have won the game.
One thing people are saying is that without Braxton Miller the rest of the team won't be good. Only one team in history can claim that to be true and that would be the Indianapolis Colts, the year they didn't have Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning. But say J.T. Barrett turns into 75% of the quarterback Miller was than Ohio State will still be better than half the teams in the top 25.
Braxton Miller is an elite quarterback, but J.T. Barrett was a 4-star for a reason. He has skills. Don't forget that J.T. Barrett is a freshman playing football at Ohio State. Pressure is going to be on him. Let's compare Braxton Miller's first two starts, compared to J.T. Barrett's.
Braxton Miller J.T. Barrett
Wins 1* 1*
Losses 1* 1*
Completions-Attempts 10-26 21-44
Yards 139 445
Touchdowns 2 3
Interceptions 1 4
Rushing yards 57 120
Rushing touchdowns 0 1
Better Statistics Worse Statistics
* = against non-ranked team
What Does That Mean?
Let's look at the comparison. Barrett has five better statistics, compared to Miller's just one. And it's not like Braxton Miller played against Auburn's in those games. His first start, where he had both his touchdowns, the Buckeyes were playing Colorado, the team that went 3-10 in 2011. Also consider that the next game was against Michigan State, a team that was unranked at the time.
J.T. Barrett possess the skills to be a prototype of Braxton Miller, he just needs both time and experience. He's a freshman and was thrown into this situation just a mere two weeks before the season began. He had literally only a couple of weeks to practice with the first-team. It's not like they lost to McNeese State, here. They lost to Virginia Tech, who has a history of success.
Compare Virginia Tech to Auburn last year. Both talented teams, and both began the season off the radar. Except Virginia Tech was in the top 35, the week before they upset the Buckeyes. There is no way to consider a game a bad loss, until the season is at least half over. Virginia Tech could make the college football playoff, and being in the ACC Coastal, they only need to upset Florida State, that have shown signs of vulnerability. Thus being said, Ohio State is not an overrated team, but a force to be beckoned with.
