Ohio State Football: Who Is the Real J.T. Barrett?

COLUMBUS, Ohio — To paraphrase Eminem, will the real J.T. Barrett please stand up?

Of course, with a sprained MCL, that may be easier said than done for the Ohio State quarterback.

Nevertheless, that's become the most popular question in Columbus over the past three days following Barrett's struggles in the Buckeyes' 31-24 double-overtime win over Penn State in Happy Valley on Saturday.

After entering the Heisman Trophy discussion following video-game-like performances against Kent State, Cincinnati, Maryland and Rutgers, the redshirt freshman posted just 74 passing yards against the Nittany Lions, also tossing two interceptions and one touchdown.

Those numbers are a far cry from the 292.5 passing yards and 4.25 touchdowns per game that he averaged in his previous four outings, although he did do enough on the ground (75 yards, two overtime touchdowns) to escape State College with a win.

It is also worth noting that he sprained his MCL at some point in the first half, an injury that has previously cost Braxton Miller and Carlos Hyde significant playing time for the Buckeyes.

"It was a tough, gritty performance," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said of Barrett's most recent showing.

Regardless of whatever handicap you place on Barrett's uneven outing against Penn State, the fact remains that his two worst games have come against the two best defenses that the Buckeyes have faced this season.

While the Nittany Lions rank seventh in the nation in total defense, Virginia Tech currently measures in at No. 27 in the same category, having held Barrett to a 9-of-29, 219-yard, one-touchdown, three-interception stat line on Sept. 6.

But in between Ohio State's defeat at the hands of the Hokies and the close call in Happy Valley, Barrett managed to make the most of the Buckeyes' inferior opponents.

With the Golden Flashes (No. 81), Bearcats (No. 115), Terrapins (No. 103) and Scarlet Knights (No. 82) currently combining for a 95.25 average national ranking in total defense, Barrett moved the ball at will, never throwing for fewer than 261 yards and three touchdowns in a single game.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

So who's the real J.T. Barrett: The player who has committed five turnovers against the two defenses he's faced that rank higher than 75th in the nation or the one who posted Heisman-caliber numbers against lesser competition?

The answer likely lies somewhere in between.

Starting with the positive for Barrett, he remains just past the midway point of his freshman season and showed steady improvement up until last Saturday's game.

It also didn't help that Ohio State's offensive line struggled against the Nittany Lions' front seven and conservative play-calling was evidenced in the Buckeyes' 57 runs compared to 19 pass attempts—12 of which Barrett completed.

Barrett has performed better than anybody could have predicted he would when he unexpectedly took over for an injured Miller two weeks prior to the start of the season, and Meyer has routinely praised the Wichita Falls, Texas, native's leadership in recent weeks.

That even rang true after the Penn State game, where Barrett may not have looked great but still walked away a winner.

“His progression and growth as a leader and a man has been exponential." Meyer said of Barrett. "That was a tough, tough performance."

But regardless of the end result, Meyer admitted that Saturday's effort wasn't Barrett's best. "It wasn't a great performance as far as making the right reads and doing the things a quarterback needs to do," he said.

Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

While his current injury may compound matters, that's something that Barrett will need to clean up—especially with next Saturday's showdown with Michigan State looming.

As he did in his previous four starts before facing the Nittany Lions, Barrett should be able to get by on talent alone this weekend against Illinois but will need to play a more refined game against the Spartans' sixth-ranked defense for the Buckeyes to have any chance of escaping East Lansing with a win.

If there's anything we've learned in Ohio State's first seven games of the season, it's that the Buckeyes seem to go as Barrett does. This is why—while the rest of us try to figure out which Barrett will be on the field on Nov. 8—his shaky, yet successful performance at Penn State told Meyer everything he needed to know about his quarterback.

"To say that I knew you a year-and-a-half ago, I did not," Meyer recalled of his postgame speech to Barrett in front of the rest of his team. "Now I do."

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.com and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.