COLUMBUS – Ohio State remained No. 1 in both major college football polls after pulling away for a 38-10 win over Penn State Saturday night, though it appears that head coach Urban Meyer and his staff are headed back to the dry-erase board to answer the nagging quarterback question.
Meyer promised to announced Monday who would start Saturday’s game at Rutgers (8:00 p.m./ABC).
After starter Cardale Jones failed to find traction, red zone specialist J.T. Barrett took over, rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns and threw for two others to make his case for the starting job.
“I thought J.T. came in played great,“ Meyer said. “Ran for 100 yards, and he obviously gives you that dual threat, which is when you’re bogged down a little bit, he did a great job.”
Barrett ran for 102 yards to tally his third-career 100-yard game.
The Buckeyes are 12-for-12 in red zone trips in the last two games with 11 touchdowns and one field goal.
Ezekiel Elliott extended his streak to 12-consecutive 100-yard rushing games, finishing with 153 yards and one touchdown, giving him 11 rushing touchdowns on the year. The performance also pushed “Zeke” over the 3,000-yard rushing mark in his career. He now has 3,028 for his career, the ninth Buckeye to top the 3,000-yard mark.
Notes: With his five-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter, Braxton Miller extended his Ohio State record to 88 touchdowns responsible for.
The kickoff time for the home game against Minnesota on Nov. 7 will be 8:00 p.m., OSU officials announced Sunday.