COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Urban Meyer is on record as saying his quarterback should be a Heisman Trophy candidate, his key players must be able to perform at an NFL-level and expectations don't change regardless the season or personnel at his disposal. It is the best way his Ohio State program can continue rolling at the rate it has been in now his fifth season.
But when asked Saturday evening following his team's 62-3 dismantling of Maryland whether quarterback J.T. Barrett or H-back Curtis Samuel is the top contender on his team for college football's most prestigious individual award, Ohio State's football boss reverted to the mindset he exhibited with the media earlier in the week.
“Beat Michigan State.”
Meyer answered a handful of questions last Monday with “Beat Maryland” and a few more two days later after practice in the same fashion. Already with a loss and sitting at No. 5 in the country, the Buckeyes cannot afford to falter again if they hope to win the Big Ten East and make it to Indianapolis and the conference championship game. Ohio State rolled over the Terrapins on Saturday, a minor speed bump before the rematch with the Spartans next weekend.
Mark Dantonio's group thwarted Ohio State's chance at a repeat national championship in last year, beating Meyer's team in Columbus 17-14 on a last-second field goal. Michigan State is 3-7 in 2016 and beat Rutgers on Saturday 49-0 for its first conference win of the season. The animosity and revenge factor will likely be there for Ohio State when it visits East Lansing but the Buckeyes predictably spoke about taking care of business against Maryland first before and of that could come to fruition.
“We've been taking this one game at a time. So with that we really weren't looking forward to any game really,” Barrett said. “Understand that's a good football game over there despite what the record says, I really don't care. They're going to give us their best shot.”
“We're focused on us. We don't want to put our fate in anybody else's hands,” Billy Price said. “We need to go out there and execute. This is a big week for us.”
With the loss to Penn State on their résumé and the Nittany Lions facing favorable matchups the rest of the regular season, the Buckeyes needed Michigan to win out before the two teams meet in Columbus the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That fell by the wayside late Saturday when Iowa upended the Wolverines 14-13 on a last-second field goal.
Still, the Buckeyes did their part against Maryland, racking up more than 518 total yards, turning the Terrapins over twice and mostly doing anything they wanted at any time.
“I was just going out there and trying to execute our plays as best that we can. The main thing was the O-line did great, receivers did a good job getting open,” Barrett said. “Was one of those things that overall I think we just executed the game plan as an offense.”
“Yeah I feel like the offense is flowing well,” Samuel added. “First half, everything was really going our way, execution was high. Everything was great.”
“Offensive football is dictated by the offensive line,” Meyer said. “When they're playing the way they're playing right now, that's pretty good.”
Greg Studrawa's group took heat for allowing six sacks in the loss at Penn State, leaving Barrett under siege in State College. But since the start of November, the Buckeyes are rolling in all phases, scoring at least 60 points in back-to-back outings for the first time since 1996. Samuel is the only player in the country with at least 500 yards rushing and receiving and has 13 total touchdowns this season. Barrett has more than 2,200 yards passing and 31 total touchdowns against just four interceptions.
Ed Warinner is dialing up creative play calls whether it be with putting Samuel in space off the jet sweep or running triple option with him, Barrett and running back Mike Weber. Things are coming together for Ohio State's offense with Barrett as the conductor, Samuel the main piece of the engine and what was inexperience at other key positions feeling more comfortable.
“We have extreme confidence in him,” Warinner said of Samuel. “He can run short routes very well, he's shown that he's now getting very adept at the short routes and doing those. Kind of mix those up, short, deep, perimeter. And we ran him a few times. Had a nice touchdown run there.”
“There's not too many guys like that who can do it all,” Meyer said. “We've had tight ends before that were dual purpose guys but he's a tough one to defend.”
Eight Ohio State players recorded gains of 20 yards or more from scrimmage on Saturday, including wide receiver Binjimen Victor. The freshman caught his first career touchdown pass in the fourth quarter on a pass from Joe Burrow. Demario McCall, another true freshman, found the end zone too and finished with 101 total yards. Ten different players caught a pass and Ohio State averaged 7.4 yards per play. Barrett tallied 300 total yards and two scores on the ground to go with two more through the air.
“He's one of the very best. He's proven that time and time again. He did it again today,” Durkin said of Barrett. “They had a well-balanced attack. They ran the ball effectively. He's hard to rattle. He's played in a lot of football games.”
“He's a very good quarterback,” Maryland safety Darnell Savage Jr. added. ”He's very smart and he saw some things.”
It didn't really matter what players orchestrated Ohio State's offense, be it Barrett or Burrow handing to Weber, Samuel, McCall or anyone else. Yards came by the boatload, which made Meyer pleased despite there being areas that need to be cleaned up like six penalties for 55 yards and multiple drives that ended in field goals instead of touchdowns.
Still, this performance is the second in as many weeks where Ohio State operated at death machine and peak levels. It didn't matter who it played or where the game took place.
“Think the main thing is we got out in practice, trying to play our best ball in November knowing that's where in the season you hang your hat on,” Barrett said. “Try to do our best in those games.”
“Like I’ve been saying for weeks, we’ve been calling the right plays but it’s just been about execution,” Samuel said. “We felt like we weren’t executing at the highest level possible to be able to make those plays, and now we’re just executing. That’s why everything looks so smooth.”
“If you get a little sloppy in the third or fourth quarter when you need to put a team away, things like that happen,” right guard Billy Price said. “That's when you don't step on a team's throat and don't put them away. That's what we did today. Came out in the second half, first drive we got a field goal and second half ended up getting a touchdown. Put the game away.”
An argument could be made that the game was already out of Maryland's reach by the time the two teams went to the locker room and the Buckeyes led 45-3 after 30 minutes of play. But Price's point still stands—a killer instinct is something all top teams need and Ohio State did not have it earlier in the season.
But on a night where freshmen played big minutes and points flew to the scoreboard yet again as Ohio State shoved away Maryland like many anticipated, the Buckeyes scaled another rung on the championship ladder. Next up is a team and coach that owns two wins over them in previous three seasons.
“It starts [Sunday], and definitely throughout the week,” Samuel said. “We know we have practice tomorrow and we gotta go out there, we gotta learn from film and get better. We know it was a big victory, but we still had some things we could have done better out there. We just have to take it a day at a time.”
“Not being fake-it's what we did last week and if we didn't do it again this week it was just a fluke,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said. “If we do it again then we're real and we're following through with what we wanted to do and what we were doing.”
“November's here and we have a big one coming one week from [Saturday].”
