Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett carried the ball 26 times for 137 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's 38-17 victory over Indiana.
Many believed that was far too many against the Hoosiers. Count Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer as one of those people.
"J.T. had too many carries," Meyer said following the win. "We have to fix it."
Barrett said Monday he felt fine after carrying the ball 26 times against Indiana. No harm was done. But Meyer and Ohio State certainly don't want to fall into the habit of having the quarterback run the ball as much as Barrett did Saturday.
Why does Meyer fall into that habit, though? In his mind, it's simple: The Buckeyes' primary objective is to win games and Barrett is one of Ohio State's best players. When the game gets tight, he wants the ball in Barrett's hands.
"It's part of playing quarterback in this offense," Meyer said. "You're one of the best players in the country so we're going to play you and use you and do what you do well."
"We're aware of it and have to be somewhat intelligent about how we do it, but go win the game."
Meyer used the phrase 'security blanket' following Saturday's game when asked about his tendency to rely a little too much sometimes on his quarterback. Barrett said he's simply doing things the only way he knows how.
"I do what it takes to win," Barrett said. "If that means I run the ball 26 times in order for us to win by 21 points, by golly you best believe I'm going to do that. I don't mind that [Meyer] says that, but he knows I'm doing whatever it takes to win a game."
Meyer's point is valid. When games are close, put the ball in the hands one of your best players and trust he'll make the right decisions to lead the team to a win.
That theory is certainly something other coaches have noticed, however, and Meyer admitted there is some concern moving forward about being too reliant on the Heisman Trophy candidate.
"Sure, but that's why you have to put people around them," Meyer said. "The Curtis Samuels of the world, Mike Webers. That's the one thing about that position, the quarterback position, it's the equalizer in spread offenses because they can load up to stop the run."
"It's hard to stop him because he's an extra single wing a little bit, but just can't lean on him too much."
But make no mistake about it: Despite some legitimate concerns, Ohio State is going to ride its star signal-caller as much as it can.
Barrett is one of the best players in all of college football, it'd be somewhat foolish to do much else.
