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After throwing for more than 200 yards and five touchdowns on just 12 completions, you’d think some of the talk about benching J.T. Barrett would simmer down a little bit. But then Dwayne Haskins entered the game in the second quarter and resurrected the conversation.
Shortly after relieving Barrett from his duties in a 37-0 game against UNLV, Haskins wowed the crowd at Ohio Stadium with a 28-yard bullet pass to C.J. Saunders in the end zone to put the Buckeyes ahead 44-7 going into the half. The ball had serious zip and found its way through a tight window.
Not many redshirt freshmen can make that kind of throw.
Nice throw here by Dwayne Haskins for the touchdown to C.J. Saunders. pic.twitter.com/1xKEsGIDt6
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) September 23, 2017
Haskins was crisp and effective when he entered Saturday’s game. He finished the afternoon completing 15-of-23 passes for 228 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The freshman looked like he’s mature enough to play at the B1G level
That was against UNLV, though. Should Urban Meyer really ditch his longtime starter and an offensive leader after a solid outing against a struggling Mountain West foe? Let’s derail that train of thought.
While Haskins certainly flashed some brilliance on Saturday, he also had a few of those freshman lapses, most notably on a pick-six play that came way too easily for Rebels defender Javin White. It wasn’t a costly mistake in a blowout effort, but those miscues are magnified against teams like Penn State, Michigan and other B1G opponents.
Even Meyer said it was the type of decision he’d like to eliminate from Haskins’ thought process during his Monday press conference.
“He’s a little bit — I don’t want to say reckless with the ball — he’s still very aggressive,” Meyer said when asked about Haskins’ performance. “We don’t want to take that away from him but you got to play within the confines of the plan to win, and he did not on that one play.”
Barrett may have some glitches with his accuracy at times, but he’s been fairly sensible with the ball during his four-year career in Columbus. Not only has he accounted for more touchdowns than any quarterback in B1G history, he’s thrown just 22 interceptions in 40 game appearances while maintaining a 63 percent completion rate.
Those are pretty favorable numbers.
As Ohio State now enters the meat of the B1G schedule, it’s doubtful he’ll trust a redshirt freshman with the offense against teams like Penn State, Iowa and Michigan when Barrett — a proven winner — is still on the roster.
Haskins played extremely well on Saturday and is probably further along in his development than most would’ve anticipated. He proved that against UNLV.
The future at quarterback looks bright for Ohio State and there’s good reason to be excited about Haskins’ abilities and what he can do for the Buckeyes’ offense after this season. He’s already demonstrated some of his greatness.
It’s just not his time quite yet.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB