Ohio State Re-Establishing Itself as Big Ten's Best Team

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Urban Meyer wasn't ready to make a statement. At least not yet.

Asked if his team had made a statement with its fourth consecutive blowout victory in which it had scored at least 50 points, the Ohio State head coach declined to accept the premise. But that didn't prevent him from stating his belief that the Buckeyes are a Top 10 team or from setting the table for next week's prime-time showdown with Penn State.

"I think we are," Meyer answered when asked if Ohio State is a team deserving of a top 10 ranking following its 56-17 win over Rutgers on Saturday. "Next week we all know what's coming down the barrel, prime-time game, in a stadium with 110,000 people. That's going to be a great evaluator."

And while Meyer's right in believing that the Buckeyes have more credibility to gain by heading to Happy Valley and walking away with a win, what Ohio State has done in the six weeks since its Sept. 6 loss to Virginia Tech hasn't gone unnoticed.

With an offense that ranks as one of the best in the country and a defense that's vastly improved, the Buckeyes are firmly entrenched in the hunt for the first-ever College Football Playoff and appear to be the Big Ten's best heading into the second half of the season.

"Someone will blog it out and say, 'Here's Coach Meyer ranting and raving again.' I'm not. I don't really watch the other teams," Meyer said. "But I think we're playing at a pretty high level right now."

The numbers certainly back up the sentiment, with Ohio State averaging 56 points and 614 yards per game in its four contests since its defeat at the hands of the Hokies. Even if you throw out their 66-0 thrashing of Kent State on Sept. 13, the Buckeyes have still averaged 52.6 points 609.3 yards in their last three games, dominating outings that were each decided by the start of their respective fourth quarters.

Of course, a big part of Ohio State's resurgence has been the emergence of quarterback J.T. Barrett, an unlikely Heisman Trophy candidate who was thrust into the starting lineup two weeks prior to the start of the season. But in filling in for two-time Big Ten MVP Braxton Miller, Barrett has blossomed, totaling 1,998 yards of total offense and 24 touchdowns through the first six games of his redshirt freshman campaign.

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Even with Miller wearing a sling on the sideline, the Buckeyes have managed to possess the Big Ten's top quarterback, with Barrett leading the league in total offense and passing touchdowns despite Ohio State having already endured two bye weeks. His 9-of-29 outing against Virginia Tech remains a blemish on his debut season, but it can't be understated how vital Barrett's play has been in the Buckeyes bouncing back

"Back then, Week 2, it was just not being as prepared as I should have been," Barrett said "Now I'm just learning from that and just trying to get better."

Barrett has clearly done that, as evidenced by his 368-yard, five-touchdown performance against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday. Heisman hype once thought to be a fantasy is now turning into a reality, but the Wichita, Texas, native isn't letting his individual success get to his head.

"I don't talk about it," Barrett said. "Is it cool? Yeah. But I've got other things to focus on and that's this team and getting our offense ready to go each and every week so that we really play well against every team we play. Individual goals, I've never thought about that as far as Heisman or anything like that.

"My head coach back in high school was definitely big on that. He was like, 'If you take care of what the team does, your success individually will come along.' That's great, but my focus is definitely on the team and team wins."

With nine receivers catching balls from Barrett against Rutgers, the OSU offense managed to maintain its momentum through the Buckeyes' second bye in the past four weeks, as did a defense that's still finding its footing under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash.

Limiting quarterback Gary Nova to 192 passing yards and the Scarlet Knights to 345 total yards, the unit formerly known as the "Silver Bullets" continued on its upward trend, earning praise from Meyer in the process.

"You can take the first half and that's a credit to our defense," Meyer said. "They took a team that threw 400-plus yards against our rivals and really played well, creating turnovers once again and getting the ball to the offense rather quickly."

That's a pattern that the Buckeyes will need to continue to develop, especially as they appear to be on a collision course for a Nov. 8 matchup with Michigan State that should decide the Big Ten's East Division champion. And if Ohio State can win that, en route to securing the conference crown, a playoff spot could very well be waiting for a team that looks to be light years ahead of where it was six weeks ago.

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"We kind of figured ourselves out," running back Ezekiel Elliott said. "We kind of have an identity now. The line play's gotten a lot better and everybody's clicking."

But while eyeballs in Columbus find themselves wandering toward a potential playoff appearance, Meyer maintains that his team is focused on the task at hand. Whether that's the truth or simply coach speak remains to be seen, but Ohio State's best football could still be ahead of the Buckeyes—which could make for bad news for the rest of the Big Ten.

"When you watch the film, we could actually have played a lot better in certain situations," Meyer said. "The good thing is that I don't feel like there's a complacent attitude. Complacency is awful in this business."

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.