Six games. Let it be known that six games is exactly how long it took for Johnny R. Ginter to anoint J.T. Barrett the official New Hot Thing and go completely off the rails in effusive praise for a redshirt freshman who looked bad in the one game that he played a decent(ish) defense.
But man, Virginia Tech was soooo last month! In the ensuing four games since VT, Barrett has racked up total offense numbers of 318, 409, 338, and 368. The team as a whole has had margins of victory of 66, 22, 28, and 39, while averaging 56 points per game. No, the defense hasn't been perfect, but they've been better, and when you are racking up enough points to fill up a Scrooge McDuck-sized vault, your defense really doesn't have to be that good.
"But Johnny, that's what got Ohio State in trouble last year! Fast starts against bad teams are cool, but how will the team handle adversity? Michigan State is coming up, and hell, even Indiana or Minnesota might be able to hang a little! Haven't you learned anything?!?"
No, voice in my head that sounds like Droopy Dog, I have not. I have not learned one damn thing, and like any good sports fan, I will refuse to learn anything until it's right in my face and exceedingly obvious.
Until then, I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this run the Buckeyes are on and write silly articles about what people said on Twitter during the game.
Rutgers has no chance in their base 40 under.
— Ross Fulton (@RossRFulton) October 18, 2014
I'm not totally sure what this means, but Ross was right. Ross is always right. But, being the inquisitive person that I am, I did some research. And if I'm not crazy, and this PDF is correct, basically it just meant that Rutgers wasn't going to get any kind of pressure on the weak side, and that Heuerman and Vannett would eat them alive if they let them.
It was only three catches for 54 yards, but the Buckeye tight ends had a quick and possibly deciding impact on the rest of the game by hauling in two touchdowns early. Teams already have to worry about the threat of Ohio State running backs catching the ball out of the backfield, but if tight ends can provide an intermediate range threat, defensive coordinators might as well throw their playbook in the trash.
Also, you should be doing this in your home 24/7 no matter what.
If you pan-fry some pepperoni with garlic and parsley at 11 am, your house will smell amazing at 4 pm. FYI.
— Denny (@dennymayo) October 18, 2014
Rutgers made things very briefly interesting late in the first quarter by pulling within a touchdown, but J.T. Barrett's continued ridiculous play put a quick end to that.
If JT Barrett connects on his next pass, he will tie the Ohio State record for consecutive completions with 12. (That goes back to MD game.)
— Lori Schmidt (@LoriSchmidt) October 18, 2014
Oh hey neat, that'd be a cool record for him to...
J.T. Barrett tied the school record for consecutive completions (over two games) with 12. He is 9 of 11 for 117 yards and two touchdowns.
— Jerry Emig (@BuckeyeNotes) October 18, 2014
DANG IT LORI! That is a classic jinx! You owe us all a Diet Cherry Coke!
After that, the game was all Buckeyes. Some people might wring their hands a bit about giving up 17 points to what was very clearly Bad Gary Nova, but I've lumped these tweets together for a reason:
This is the same Rutgers team that put up 476 yards to beat m*ch*gan last week...?
— Reid Fragel (@Fragel79) October 18, 2014
Just thinking about all the TVs in the New York market tuned to this.
— Doug Lesmerises (@DougLesmerises) October 18, 2014
First of all, Rutgers isn't a bad team. They aren't a very good team either, but you don't put up that many yards by accident, no matter who you're playing. Offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen called a pretty excellent game, but the most that the Fridge was able to coax out of the Scarlet Knights were a few decent drives before the game was completely out of hand. Gary Nova was sacked four times, twice by Joey "¯\_(ツ)_/¯" Bosa (who I feel the need to remind the football universe that he's still a sophomore), and the Rutgers running game, while decent, never was able to sustain a drive.
Secondly, Doug's sarcastic and completely correct tweet is kind of Rutgers in a nutshell. It actually doesn't matter how good or bad they actually are, because aside from a brief period when freaking Ray Rice made them relevant, beating them doesn't earn you brownie points either way. So you might as well just enjoy the game on the basis that it was a thorough butt-whupping on a very stereotypically Midwestern afternoon.
You should also enjoy halftime shows with iconography from a band that started playing music like 50 years ago.
Enjoying the Osu marching band at halftime pic.twitter.com/jYLaAD2UYP
— Chris Spielman (@chris_spielman) October 18, 2014
You should also also enjoy ridiculous hyperbole that might not be so ridiculous after November 8th.
CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?? JT=NY
— Kirk Barton (@Kirk_Barton) October 18, 2014
You should also also also enjoy Aussie bros having a good ol' fashioned boot-off (remember, disparaging the boot is a bootable offense) during the game.
Went from punting together in Australia with @ProkickAus to playing against each other in front of 106,000 today! pic.twitter.com/mUJRT2m8Pj
— Cameron Johnston (@Cam_Johnston) October 19, 2014
But honestly, when it comes down to it, it's fall in Ohio. I'm really high on this team right now, not in spite of the fairly obvious holes that they still show on offense and defense, but because of the rate at which they're getting plugged up. Tom Herman remembered that tight ends are eligible receivers. J.T. Barrett ran for 100 yards and gave defenses another headache to worry about. The defensive line is starting to generate consistent pressure on opposing QBs. And I'm glad that in the midst of a winning streak that we really needed, we still have the ability to enjoy Ohio State football in the weirdly delicious lumpy state that it's in right now.
So right now that means inhaling baked goods until we can't move.
How does mike Bennett celebrate wins on Saturday? I sit on my couch drinking water and eating donut holes/cookies. #livelifetothefullest
— Mike (@mike63bennett) October 19, 2014
See? I knew that guy was smart.
