The clock had barely started counting down from 15 minutes in the fourth quarter on Saturday when J.T. Barrett was tackled awkwardly trying to evade a couple Michigan defenders. When the play was over and Barrett remained on the ground, Buckeye fans began to grow worried. That worry turned to downright horror when the Ohio State training staff began calling for a cart. What was broadly feared after it initially happened became public knowledge a few hours after the 42-28 win over their bitter rivals from Ann Arbor when it was confirmed Barrett would require season-ending surgery (which took place Sunday) on a fractured ankle.
The news of Barrett’s predicament had to have come as a body blow of sorts to Buckeye nation given what the redshirt freshman has done so far this year in relief of Braxton Miller who himself suffered a season-ending injury in preseason camp. His numbers over the course of the season were right on par with other elite signal callers nationwide including Oregon’s Marcus Mariota who many have penned as this year’s Heisman Trophy winner. As long as the Buckeyes took care of business against Michigan (which they inevitably did in Barrett’s absence) and their Big Ten championship game opponent Wisconsin, a berth in the College Football Playoff was possible if they got a bit of help from teams ranked in front of them.
Everything is up in the air now as a result of this unfortunate setback. The CFP selection committee has made it apparent that major injuries to key players will be a component they take into account when formulating the four-team field, which will be announced this coming Sunday afternoon. It certainly doesn’t get more “key player” than Barrett, whose accomplishments this year include breaking Drew Brees’ Big Ten record for total touchdowns (43), setting an Ohio State record for total yards with 3,683, and having the nation’s third highest passing efficiency rating and Total QBR, among countless other statistical exploits.
What’s Next for the Buckeyes in the Wake of J.T. Barrett’s Injury?
With Barrett finished, the Buckeyes will turn to sophomore Cardale Jones from Cleveland, OH. Jones has a massive 6’5″ 250 pound frame and much like Barrett and Miller isn’t afraid to take the ball himself and run with it if he has to. In fact, despite his limited playing time this season in mostly mop up duty during a few of Ohio State’s blowout wins, he’s fourth on the team in rushing yards and leads in yards per carry. The most significant amount of action he saw this year was during the Buckeyes 55-14 pasting of Illinois when he played the entire second half in order for Barrett to rest a knee injury sustained the week before in Happy Valley against Penn State.
Still, not much will be able to prepare Jones for what he’s about to experience on the biggest stage of his career to this point in Indianapolis over the weekend. Much has been made of Wisconsin’s scintillating running game with Melvin Gordon. Make no mistake about it, though, this team can play defense and part of the reason they’ve made it this far is their ability to shut opposing quarterbacks down. Through their 12-game regular season, the Badgers are giving up a minute 156.6 passing yards per game, good for second in the nation. Even Barrett was likely going to have his hands full with this unit.
The Wisconsin defense isn’t necessarily going to wow you with their ability to force turnovers as they rank 86th in takeaways. What they excel at, however, is their ability to get at the quarterback with sacks and forcing punts or field goals. Jones will have to watch out for linebackers Derek Landisch and Vince Biegel who between them have 15.5 sacks and 30 tackles for loss. The battle on third down will have a “something’s gotta give” feel to it as the Buckeyes offense ranks fourth in the nation converting 52.9% of third down plays, while opposing offenses have a paltry 28.2% success rate against the Badgers defense which is good for third nationally.
The city of Indianapolis was mighty unkind to the Buckeyes last season, as national championship hopes were dashed at the hands of Michigan State. After enacting revenge against Sparty on his home turf a few weeks ago, they now find themselves in an unenviable situation much like Neo had in the movie “The Matrix” when the black cat kept walking by him. If the loss of their Heisman hopeful hero is too much to overcome, this team might be the victim of a deja vu moment that certainly might feel like the agents just put a brick wall where there was once a hallway no less than a second ago.
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