Buckeyes’ Barrett eclipses Purdue’s Brees for TD title

COLUMBUS — The Big Ten’s two best touchdown makers have a few things in common.

Both J.T. Barrett, the conference’s new TD king, and Drew Brees, whose record was surpassed Saturday, are both diminutive Texas high schoolers who blazed their path to the Midwest.

The 6-foot Brees was responsible for 106 touchdowns in 45 games at Purdue. The 6-foot-1 Barrett eclipsed him Saturday with three scores in a 38-7 beating of Army to reach 107 TDs in 39 games. Brees led Purdue to a Big Ten championship and a 2001 Rose Bowl bid.

Barrett led the Buckeyes to the Big Ten championship game, sustaining a broken ankle against Michigan during Ohio State’s run to the 2014 national championship. He also suffered an MCL sprain, but played through, it in a double-overtime win at Penn State that season. He’s the first three-time captain in school history, too.

Those are things coach Urban Meyer can’t forget, and wanted to emphasize when Barrett shattered the record Saturday.

“The heart of a lion,” Meyer said of Barrett. “He’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever been around, so that’s pretty good characteristics to have for the guy touching the ball every snap.”

But the similarities with Brees end there.

Brees was celebrated, even beloved throughout his collegiate career. He is considered perhaps the greatest in Purdue’s elite quarterback cupboard, along with Bob Griese, Len Dawson, Mike Phipps and Mark Hermann.

Meanwhile, a vocal subset of Buckeye Nation would gladly bench Barrett today.

Keep in mind, Barrett has twice been selected the Big Ten’s first-team all-conference quarterback. Last year he led the youngest team in college football to wins over four Top-10 teams and a spot in the playoffs. The Wichita Falls product was selected the conference’s MVP in 2016.

This year, in Week One, he was the Big Ten’s Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 307 yards and three TDs at Indiana.

So, where’s the beef?

A putrid performance against Clemson in a 31-0 semifinal loss lingered in the memory banks for a full off-season. A 31-16 defeat to Oklahoma last week, a squad he tossed four TD passes against in a blowout win at Norman last season, prolonged the hangover.

Barrett has never been known as a downfield passer. In 2014 he fired 34 TD passes while throwing to future pros Devin Smith and Michael Thomas. But after those two left the program, no one near that level has emerged among his receiving targets.

Barrett is a dual-threat QB who is counted on to make plays with his legs. He has a whopping 529 rushing attempts for 2,624 yards and 34 TDs in his career. That’s 5.0 yards per carry, and it moves the chains. Yet it’s not sexy, and Ohio State fans, spoiled by Meyer’s stunning 63-7 record, have seen it for four years. No doubt there is Barrett fatigue, despite his 28-5 record in Columbus.

One wave of criticism is that OSU can’t reach the playoffs with Barrett, although he’s had a significant hand in doing exactly that in two of the past three seasons. Or that he can’t beat elite teams, although based on one ranking or another he’s beaten seven top-10 teams in his career, most of any Ohio State quarterback.

It’s those last two outings though, against Clemson and Oklahoma, that have added decibels to the disgruntlement.

Still, there is really no quarterback controversy, despite redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins completing the first four passes of his career Saturday in garbage time against Army’s backups.

Meyer all but laughs at the internet chatter insisting someone else should be given a chance in place of the Big Ten’s TD king. Indeed, on a day when Barrett completed 76 percent of his throws (25 of 33 for 270 yards), a reporter questioned Meyer about a couple of Barrett overthrows.

“He misfires,” Meyer said. “He was 25 of 33. I was hoping he would be 33 for 33, I guess. But sometimes you misfire a little bit. I saw what you saw. He had a couple of misfires early.”

Clearly, the Buckeyes will sink or swim with their record-setting QB, who already owns 24 school marks, many of which will never be touched.

But beloved like Brees?

Short of a national championship this season it’s hard to imagine that scenario in Barrett’s future. Sadly, that reflects more on the fans than Ohio State’s quarterback.