Reviewing An Ohio State University Football Team

The Buckeyes offense seems to be back on track, and the defense is good enough to challenge for the Big Ten title.

From the frying pan and into the fire; as if last week’s game against Wisconsin wasn’t tough enough, the Huskers now face the Buckeyes from An Ohio State University. The Buckeyes have blown out most of their competition this season, except for one: Oklahoma. The Buckeyes were tied or ahead most of the game until the Sooners scored three touchdowns in an eight minute span at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters. Just like that, the Buckeyes were down and on their way to a 31-16 loss at home, capitalized by Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield symbolically planting an OU flag on the 50 yard line of the Horseshoe.

A lot of the blame for that loss fell on senior quarterback J.T. Barrett, who also struggled in the final three games of 2016 (including that 31-0 rout by Clemson on New Years Eve). Since the Oklahoma game, Barrett has completed over 69% of his passes with 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. In those four games, Barrett has also run the ball less, with less than ten carries in each game; his lowest number of carries in four starts in his career. Were these stats a result of Barrett’s improvement or relative weak opponents? That’s the question still to be answered.

True freshman J.K. Robbins (5’10” 208 lbs.) supplanted Mike Weber as the Buckeye’s tailback; Robbins has rushed for 669 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 7.6 yards a carry. A hamstring injury limited Weber the first month of the season, though he’s split carries with Robbins the last two weeks. He’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry, but does have four touchdowns in those games.