Chasing History: Barrett Gains Ground in Record Books After Stellar Performance Versus Oklahoma

By Chris Lauderback on September 22, 2016 at 11:30 am
Barrett's four passing touchdowns moved him to just three from breaking Ohio State's all-time mark.
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As part of our season preview series we chronicled the list of career Ohio State records potentially primed to fall over the course of year. As you'd expect, J.T. Barrett highlighted the list as he's a real threat to break, or keep a hold of, no less than 10 school marks. 

After posting huge numbers versus Bowling Green to start the season followed by a so-so (for him) effort in the win over Tulsa, Barrett was a touchdown machine in last Saturday's dumping of Oklahoma throwing for four scores while accumulating 226 total yards of offense. 

With the bye week upon us, we take stock of Barrett's production through the first three games and where he now stands in his continued assault on Ohio State's record book. 


CAREER PASSING YARDS

With a fairly pedestrian 152 passing yards versus Oklahoma giving him 650 on the young season coupled with the 3,826 passing yards he amassed in his first two years, Barrett how has 4,476 career passing yards. 

Barrett is now just 18 yards away from passing Craig Krenzel for 10th place on Ohio State's all-time list but Art Schlichter's school record of 7,547 yards feels pretty safe at the moment. 

Needing 3,072 passing yards to overtake Schlichter this year, Barrett would need to average 256 yards per game if Ohio State were to make it all the way to the national championship game or 307 yards per game if Ohio State played the realistic minimum of 10 games (fail to make B1G championship game but play in a bowl). 

Barring an unforeseen aerial assault Schlichter's record is safe for 2016 but a healthy Barrett would smash it if he were to return next season. 

CAREER PASSING YARDS PER GAME

The great Joe Germaine entered the season as Ohio State's all-time leader in passing yards per game with a 172.2 average as he tallied 6,370 yards in 37 games. Not to get off track here but just imagine what his average would've been had John Cooper not been too afraid to bench Stanley Jackson in favor of the better quarterback. 

Barrett eclipsed Germaine's record after throwing for 349 yards against Bowling Green bringing his career average to 173.9 but his outings against Tulsa (149 yards) and Oklahoma (152) were far less prolific so Barrett now currently finds himself tied with Germaine for the school-record at the 172.2 passing yards per game mark. 

We'll keep an eye on this one as the year progresses but knowing Barrett's own yards per game total was hampered by sharing time with Cardale Jones last year, my money is on on Barrett owning the record once the dust settles on the 2016 campaign. 

CAREER 300-YARD PASSING GAMES

You guessed it, Germaine holds the school record with eight 300-yard passing games. 

Barrett's scorching of Bowling Green served as his fifth such outing putting him three away from tying Germaine for top honors. 

Barrett burned Oklahoma with four touchdown tosses.
CAREER 200-YARD TOTAL OFFENSE GAMES

The great Braxton Miller currently holds Ohio State's school record with 22 games of at least 200 yards of total offense. 

Barrett started the season in sixth place in school history with 15 such outings and has gone for over 200 yards of total offense in each of Ohio State's games bringing his career total to 18, good for third place all-time, and just one away from tying Troy Smith for second place. 

Considering Barrett has accumulated at least 200 yards of total offense in 69% of his games (18/26) and has a minimum of 10 games left on the schedule this year, it's a foregone conclusion a healthy Barrett owns the school record by the time the curtain drops on the 2016 season. 

CAREER COMPLETIONS

A name we haven't brought up yet, Bobby Hoying, leads all Buckeyes with 498 career completions. 

Barrett entered the 2016 slate with 296 completions and added another 49 through the first three games bringing his career total to 345. 

Needing 154 to break the record, Barrett will need to average 15.4 completions if Ohio State plays just 10 more games but he'll need just 12.8 completions per game if the Buckeyes reach the national championship. 

For a benchmark, Barrett is averaging 16.3 completions per game so far in 2016 and stands at 13.3 completions per game over the course of his 26-game career. 

CAREER TOUCHDOWN PASSES

Here's one to keep an eye on the next time the Buckeyes take the field. 

Hoying holds the school's all-time record with 57 touchdown tosses and after entering the season with 45 of his own, Barrett added 10 across his first three outings bringing his career tally to 55. 

With Barrett standing just three touchdown passes shy of breaking Hoying's record fans should be on notice when Ohio State hosts Rutgers a week from Saturday. 

CAREER TOUCHDOWNS RESPONSIBLE FOR

Miller holds the school mark with 88 career touchdowns responsible for while Barrett entered the season in fourth place all-time with 67. 

After a ridiculous seven against Bowling Green, two against Tulsa and four more in the win over Oklahoma Barrett's career mark now stands at 80. 

With just nine more needed to break Miller's record this is another record where it's a question of when, not if, Barrett takes over the top spot. 

In addition to these categories where Barrett could ultimately emerge as the school's all-time leader he's already Ohio State's career record holder in completion percentage (64.6%), career average total offense per game (240.6), most games with six touchdown passes (2) and career 300-yard total offense games (12).

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