COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer proclaimed Saturday’s 66-0 win over Kent State “what the doctor ordered.”
The Buckeyes needed an emphatic victory and they got one.
The offense racked up 628 yards, almost half of them from the arm of quarterback J.T.Barrett. Sacked seven times by Virginia Tech’s defense in the previous week’s loss, Barrett threw for 312 yards, 297 of them by halftime. He handed over the ball to Cardale Jones in the third quarter with the Buckeyes leading 45-0.
Barret’s six touchdown passes tied Kenny Guiton’s record set against Florida A&M last season and his 312 yards passing was the first 300-plus yard performance by an Ohio State quarterback since Troy Smith threw for 316 against Michigan in 2006.
Eleven different receivers caught his 23 passes and the scprinf tossesm were distributed among five different players.
“Early in the first half I wanted to throw a lot. I wanted to force [Barrett] to make plays and receivers — it’s not just him, it’s the whole combination of quarterback-receivers,” Meyer said.
The Buckeye offensive line, blitzed so effectively by the Hokies, did not allow a sack and only two tackles for loss.
“I wanted to see an offense that was angry about what happened [last week],” offensive coordinator Tom Herman said.
Herman and Meyer both wanted to strike early and the Buckeye offense did, scoring touchdowns on three of their first four possessions and getting at least a field goal from seven of their first eight.
“Virginia Tech pushed us to throw the ball down field and came in with things we haven’t seen before. We didn’t adjust very well. This week, we stuck with our game plan and it worked out for us,” Barrett said.
Michael Thomas, the sophomore who is Barrett’s favorite target, caught four passes for 77 yards and two TD’s, one of 14 yards and one of 63.
“J.T. is a real mature guy,” he said. “We hold each other accountable and trust each other. I trust him and tell him I always got his back out there.”
The offense also reversed another disappointing performance from the week before, converting on eight of 12 third ddowns, compared to four of 16 against Virginia Tech.
The defense, criticized for underachieving in the Buckeyes’ first two games, held the Flashes (0-3) to 126 total yards and sacked quarterbacks Colin Reardon and Nathan Strock four times.
Two of the sacks came from leading tackler Raekwon McMillan, the freshman linebacker, who led the Ohio State defense with seven tackles.
The Buckeyes also picked Reardon off three times, helping offset three OSU turnovers.
Ohio State (2-1) has a week off before hosting Cincinnati on Sept. 27 (6:00 p.m./FOX).