COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 15th-ranked Ohio State football team marks its second off-Saturday of the season nose-riding an offensive tsunami while wipeouts by higher-ranked teams clear the way for a climb up in the polls.
Despite the loss of seven key players from 2013’s team, including Big Ten Player of the Year Braxton Miller, the Buckeye offense under Urban Meyer has ground out impressive numbers.
The Buckeyes prepared for the 2014 season with a spot in college football’s first four-team playoff well within their grasp, but Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Miller went down for the season with shoulder injury in training camp, leaving the offense in the hands of untried redshirt sophomore J.T Barrett.
A 14-point loss at home to Virginia Tech in their second game exposed offensive shortcomings and defensive weaknesses and the Buckeyes (4-1, 1-0) were all but eliminated from the national title picture.
But not for long.
Three consecutive wins, combined with a day of carnage atop the national polls, have renewed Ohio State’s hopes of elbowing its way back into the front of the pack.
The victories were not just victories. They were scorefests that bordered on the laughable: 66-0 over Kent State, 50-38 over Cincinnati and 52-24 at Maryland in the Big Ten opener.
During the three games, Barrett and the offense racked up 500 or more yards of total offense and have scored 168 points heading into the Oct. 18 homecoming game against Rutgers (3:30 p.m./ABC, ESPN or BTN).
The school record for consecutive 500-yard games is four, set during the 1998 season. The 1,871 yards of offense over the last three games is second only to last season’s 1,917 yards put up in consecutive games against Penn State, Purdue and Illinois.
One more 50-point game would be a first for Ohio State and also for Meyer.
Barrett found his groove so quickly that there have even been heretical questions about the likelihood that he could take the starting job from Miller next season. Meyer has said not.
However, Barrett currently leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth nationally in passing efficiency (186.3) and is 13th in the nation in total offense with 326 yards per game. He is third in the Big Ten with 270.8 passing yards per game.
His 14 touchdown passes the last three games – including the record-tying six against Kent State — are the most over a three-game stretch in school history.
The offense is being led by young players — sophomore running back Ezekiel Elliott, and receivers Michael Thomas and Dontre Wilson and is averaging a near-school record 523.6 yards per game.