J.T. Barrett Is Not Without Detractors Despite Largely Showing Up in Big Games

Through three quarters against No. 3 Michigan last weekend Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett was frankly stinking up the joint.

The redshirt junior out of Wichita Falls, Texas had completed only 9 of 23 passes for 57 yards and an interception with another 52 yards on the ground via 12 carries as the Buckeyes trailed the Wolverines 17-14 in the Shoe. 

But as he's often done during his tenure in Columbus, Barrett got back on track when the Buckeyes needed him most. After that sluggish start, Barrett completed 6 of 9 passes in the 4th quarter and overtimes for 67 yards with another 73 yards on the ground including a 7-yard touchdown run putting Ohio State in front 24-17 in the first overtime session. 

In addition to the overtime touchdown jaunt, Barrett was a beast on the last drive in regulation hitting on 4 of 5 passes for 52 yards featuring a clutch 13-yard connection over the middle to Marcus Baugh setting up Tyler Durbin's 23-yard field goal sending the game to overtime. 

When the dust settled on Ohio State's dramatic 30-27 double overtime win over the Wolverines, Barrett's statline featured 249 total yards and a touchdown. 

Despite rallying and leading his team to another win a growing number of fans seem disenchanted with Barrett, alleging a regression in his performance ranging from poor reads in the run game, inaccuracy as a passer – especially down the field – and a penchant for holding on to the ball too long among other shortcomings. 

Saturday's win over the maize and blue however improved Barrett to 7-1 over ranked opponents since he was rushed onto the scene following Braxton Miller's shoulder injury just 10 days before the Buckeyes kicked off the 2014 season. 

Barrett hasn't always been stellar against ranked foes but the numbers indicate he's been far better than some fans want to give him credit for which is natural in an era when the majority of us, myself included, have a tendency to focus on what players aren't instead of being grateful for what they are. 

The lone blemish on Barrett's record against ranked opponents came in a collectively dismal effort by Ohio State's offense last year in adverse conditions in the shoe. Nothing went right for Barrett or the rest of the good guys that day. 

Even with the dud against Sparty however, Barrett amassed at least 200 yards of total offense in the seven wins and averaged 269.7 yards of total offense over the eight games compared to a career-to-date average of 249.2.  

As such, both his passing yards per game (182.8 to 178.7) and rushing yards per game (86.9 to 70.5) have proved better against ranked foes than his career averages. 

Barrett's touchdown to interception ratio has also proved solid against the toughest opponents with his 15:3 ratio against ranked teams stacking up favorably to his career ratio of 69:19. 

Of course the main stats most of us want to know about our quarterbacks are touchdowns and wins. 

Against ranked teams Barrett has racked up 23 touchdowns in those eight games, good for 2.9 touchdowns per game. In 35 career games Barrett has 100 touchdowns, also good for 2.9 per game. 

As far as wins, Barrett's 7-1 record against ranked squads is good for a winning percentage of 87.5% while his career mark of 26-3 equates to a slightly better result of 89.7%. 

I get that numbers don't tell the whole story as both positive and negative variables such as receiving corps and offensive line effectiveness can inflate or deflate statistics but maybe they can at least provide a bit of perspective. 

Barrett may not be the second coming of Cam Newton but Ohio State could do a lot worse than J.T. Barrett in big games or otherwise.