When asked about the prospect of protecting the football above all else and not being a gunslinger, J.T. Barrett wanted to make sure he had the correct definition of that word.
“Is a gunslinger just loose with the football?” Barrett asked a reporter on Thursday at Ohio State's Fiesta Bowl Media Day. “That’s my thing—I think I’m really good at making good decisions, make sure that we’re not hurting the team as field position and things like that, and that’s me protecting the football and not turning it over.”
Barrett is among the nation's best at not giving the ball to the other team. It is the main reason why Urban Meyer trusts him so much when games get tight, sticking the ball in the quarterback's gut, shortening the playbook, hoping to run out the clock and doing just enough to win. This angers an Ohio State fanbase who want the Buckeyes to open things up and try more passes down the field, something that took off with Cardale Jones in the 2014 postseason. But it is not who they are in 2016.
Ohio State's deep passing game has been anything but impressive this season, though Barrett's five interceptions are among the fewest for quarterbacks who started the entire season. Barrett's 346 passing attempts are tied for 49th-most in the country and eons behind those in the top five, among them his counterpart in the Fiesta Bowl, Deshaun Watson. Clemson's signal caller is fifth in the country with 487 pass attempts and trails California's Davis Webb (620), Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes (591), Washington State's Luke Falk (582) and Purdue's David Blough (512). Watson is the only player in the top five to play in 13 games so far this season but all of them have at least 10 interceptions.
Each has more touchdown passes than Barrett's 24. Webb has 37, Mahomes 41, Falk 37, Blough 25 and Watson 37. Obviously, throwing more means more passing touchdowns. It also means more interceptions.
The Buckeyes always will be a running team first under Meyer but Barrett is also not a risk taker. He holds onto the ball too long sometimes while in the pocket. That either results in a sack or him scrambling to pick up yards.
“I think that's a blessing and a curse that you are sometimes a little late with a throw,” Meyer said on Thursday. “The one thing you'll never hear about our quarterbacks is that they are gunslingers, kind of risk takers. We just don't do that.”
Some programs use Air Raid philosophies to win games, like Texas Tech, Cal and Washington State. Webb threw it more than 50 times in seven games this season, with a high of 72 attempts in a loss at San Diego State. Mahomes reached the 50-pass barrier five times in 2016, including a stupid 88 tries in his team's 66-59 loss to Oklahoma. Falk threw the ball at least 50 times in six of 12 games. They get the ball out of their hands fast and throw it all over the field.
The most pass attempts in Barrett's Ohio State career? The 43 against Penn State in October, his team's lone loss of 2016. If the Buckeyes have to chuck the ball around a ton, something is wrong.
It leads to Meyer's offense being too conservative at times but also allows the Buckeyes to—more often than not—avoid silly mistakes and stay in games. Barrett is an excellent running quarterback and adds another element to the offense that defenses have to account for at all times. So while holds onto the ball too long on some passing plays, he is great at protecting it.
“He does [hold it too long], but that also makes him one of the most efficient passers in college football. His touchdown to interception ratio will go down in history as one of the great ones,” Meyer said of Barrett. “Does that mean every once in a while he'll be a little late with the ball? I see it as well, and all you do is try to coach through that."
In his career, Barrett has thrown 69 touchdowns and 19 interceptions, a better than 3.5 touchdown to interception ratio. So he throws at least three scores for every pick. Barrett is perfectly fine with that statistic and the fact he pushed his record as a starting quarterback to 26-3 this season without being much of a risk taker.
“There is a fine balance with that, but I think it depends on the situation,” Barrett said. “It might be third down and tight coverage and you got to give a guy a chance to get the ball, and I think that’s just trusting our receivers, which I do have.
“Then there’s also times where there might be a spy on me, just with my eyes underneath, or a receiver may have broke open late and I wasn’t able to get to him. So there’s certainly a balance between the two.”
Fortunately for Ohio State fans, their team is hardly ever in a position where it needs to take considerable risks in the passing game to win. Barrett had to throw it more than usual against the Nittany Lions, especially late after Ohio State blew a 14-point fourth quarter lead. You know how that ended.
So there is a reason Barrett had to clarify the definition of a gunslinger. That is not part of his game and Ohio State doesn't ask it to be. The number of pass attempts he finishes a game with (and lack of shots downfield) won't ever really classify him in said category. But his head coach doesn't care as long as Ohio State ends up on the right side of the scoreboard.
“That's not the plan to win and that's not how we operate,” Meyer said.
