JT Barrett Makes Case to Start over Braxton Miller in 2015 in Michigan State Win

Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett played as well as one could have possibly, quixotically expected at Michigan State on Saturday, passing for 300 yards, rushing for 86 more and combining to score five touchdowns in a 49-37 win that wasn't even as close as the 12-point final margin indicates.

It was the type of performance only a select few college football players are capable of submitting. The number of qualified parties can be counted on one hand, maybe two.

When you find a quarterback good enough to (a) lead six consecutive touchdown drives (b) against a top-15 defense (c) on the road (d) as a redshirt freshman, you hand him the keys to the offense and adjust your program's future plans accordingly. You just do. You don't consider sending him back to the bench the following season.

You start him even though you have Braxton Miller.

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Miller, of course, is the two-time reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. He was favored to cap the three-peat in 2014, but he injured his shoulder in fall camp. Barrett passed Cardale Jones on the depth chart during spring practice and inherited the starting role.

The Buckeyes struggled to block for Barrett in his first career start against Navy, and Barrett himself imploded in the Week 2 loss against Virginia Tech. But ever since losing that game, Barrett has played like one of the four or five best quarterbacks in the country.

"Braxton is our quarterback (when he returns)," maintained Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer after Barrett started playing well in late September, per Ben Axelrod of Bleacher Report. "To be fair to Braxton, [he’s the] Big Ten Player of the Year.

"It’s good to know we’ve got both of them."

But after Saturday, Axelrod expects that Meyer will back off:

"You hate to see a kid leave his school," said Bleacher Report Lead NFL Draft Analyst Matt Miller of Braxton's future, via Axelrod. "But for [Miller's] career, I think the best thing would be going to somewhere that’s going to run a little bit more of a pro-style offense and where he would get on the field right away."

The idea that Miller would be better served in a different system falls in relative lockstep with what Michigan State linebacker Taiwan Jones said earlier this week, via Axelrod: specifically, that "Barrett works better in [Ohio State's] offense" and "has a better arm."

Miller was is by no means a bad fit for Meyer's offense, a fact made plain by his Big Ten POY awards and the 24-game win streak he orchestrated in 2012-2013. His ability to run is significantly—although not, as it were, importantly—better than that of Barrett.

But Barrett gives Meyer's offense a pinpoint-accurate passer that has jibed with its run-first preference and created an unflinching machine. There is no good way to stop OSU's running game without committing ancillary bodies to the box. There is no good way to stop OSU's passing game when you've committed ancillary bodies to the box.

There is no good way to stop OSU…period.

Ohio State entered the weekend ranked No. 14 in the College Football Playoff standings. One could argue it was the most impressive team to play Saturday, a day in which the No. 3 (Auburn), No. 7 (Kansas State), No. 8 (Michigan State) and No. 10 (Notre Dame) teams in the country went down, and the No. 4 team (Alabama) needed overtime to beat LSU.

It stands to reason that the Buckeyes—at the very least—will jump into the Top 8 of the playoff picture now that they have earned a quality road win. My personal guess is that they rank at No. 7 behind Mississippi State, Florida State, Alabama, Oregon, TCU and Baylor.

Either way, Ohio State is sniffing around the playoff discussion. It is hurt by how bad Virginia Tech has been and would likely need some help to get into the final four, but it's a player. One slip-up from Florida State (most likely at Miami), TCU (most likely at Texas), Arizona State (most likely at Arizona) and/or Oregon (most likely in the Pac-12 title game) would give the Buckeyes control over their fate.

Barrett is the quarterback who's gotten them here; and if they finish the season 12-1, he'll be the quarterback who got them there, too. Just like you don't bench a redshirt freshman who led six straight touchdown drives against Michigan State, you severely don't bench a redshirt freshman who led his team to the playoff.

You just don't.

Follow Brian Leigh on Twitter: @BLeighDAT