For any critic of Urban Meyer the way he handled the Ohio State quarterback derby early in the 2015 season, George Whitfield said all you must do is look in one specific place to determine if the head coach knew what he was doing.
"Undefeated, in position to repeat the run," Whitfield said Friday. "I think in a lot of ways, it's probably refined them as an offense and as a team. They probably learned an awful lot in both situations."
The former college and Arena League player, current analyst and quarterback trainer is in Columbus and set to be a part of College GameDay Saturday, broadcasting from The Oval in the heart of Ohio State's campus.
It's the first time since the vacated 2010 season the popular Saturday morning program has returned to Ohio. Hours before No. 3 Ohio State's monster matchup with No. 9 Michigan State, Whitfield doesn't believe Meyer starting the season with Cardale Jones as his quarterback hurt the Buckeyes.
"If you showed Ohio State's win-loss record to somebody in China that hadn't been in the United States in a year, the results say no," Whitfield said. "They've done a masterful job again, with Coach Meyer, getting what he needs from a guy when he needs it."
The Buckeyes are 10-0 and readying to take on Mark Dantonio's 9-1 Spartans, a game with massive Big Ten East implications. So much is riding on this game not only from a conference perspective, but also nationally.
And, so much is riding on the play of quarterbacks J.T. Barrett and Connor Cook. The latter hurt his shoulder in his team's 24-7 victory against Maryland last week and Barrett returned to the lineup in a 28-3 win at Illinois following a one-game suspension for an OVI citation.
The Buckeye offense is looking to get back to the high level it's played at during some parts of the season and in the 2014 post-season.
"We called their Rutgers game three weeks ago. And we thought, 'OK, they finally righted the ship and everything seems to be OK,'" ESPN College Football analyst and GameDay anchor Kirk Herbstreit said of Ohio State's 49-7 win in Piscataway. "Then the mishap and what he got involved in, they just kind of slowed down, they got out of rhythm a little bit."
Herbstreit sees potential in Barrett and Ohio State's offense to return to that form, however, but things are obviously different offensively than they were last year for the defending national champions of the sport.
"You look at them on paper and you think, 'This team's going to score 45 every single game they play.' But they're just not clicking," Herbstreit said. "They're not getting the ball thrown vertically downfield the way they did with Devin Smith. I think it's a combination of not having that guy yet, not having a proven, true, deep threat and the offensive line sometimes struggling in pass protection."
“Both quarterbacks, it's which one can get their feet up underneath them, who can get settled. J.T., he got play last week, but the week before he was out. So he's trying to get some quarters and a rhythm going himself. Connor's trying to bounce back. He was in an out of last week's game, but he's been battling.”– George Whitfield
Cook is 32-4 as a starter at Michigan State, with a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl win on his résumé. Whitfield called both he and Barrett two of the best quarterbacks college football has to offer this season, but the edge Saturday depends on who can get into the flow of the game first.
"Both quarterbacks, it's which one can get their feet up underneath them, who can get settled. J.T., he got play last week, but the week before he was out," Whitfield said. "So he's trying to get some quarters and a rhythm going himself. Connor's trying to bounce back. He was in an out of last week's game, but he's been battling."
Whitfield added he "was very shocked" to learn the Spartans are double digit underdogs in Saturday's 3:30 p.m. kickoff — latest lines sit at Ohio State -13 — but the game should be special.
Herbstreit, who played quarterback in Columbus from 1989-92, hopes Cook stays healthy enough to play all 60 minutes against the Buckeyes.
Whitfield, who's spent time with former Ohio State quarterback turned H-back wide receiver Braxton Miller, remains confident he could get the job done if asked to play the position again for the Buckeyes.
"If they threw him the keys, he could drive this thing home to a national championship. That's just my personal opinion," Whitfield said. "He'd go right to Phoenix. He's one of college football's last superheroes."
Whether or not Miller even throws the ball again in his career after two surgeries to his throwing shoulder is up for debate. Above all, however, you can't argue with the success of either program, both Whitfield and Herbstreit said. And it starts with the running game for each team, as both are set to face off against stout defensive fronts.
"When you don't throw the ball downfield, it allows a defense to kind of squeeze the line of scrimmage and makes it tough to run (Ezekiel Elliott) and tougher to run J.T. Barrett," Herbstreit said. "That'll be a big challenge for them in this game against probably the best defense that they've faced to this point."
Added Whitfield: "I think both kids are going to see different scenarios, and really both need their running games. Because neither one of them is going to be able to just go out and mono-versus 11.
"It's going to be a treat."
Author's note: Check out the other video of Herbstreit to hear his thoughts on returning to Columbus and what Jim Harbaugh will bring to the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
