Barrett, offense need to be retooled

The seasonal appearance of “the big question” is as predictable as Halloween merchandise showing up in stores in early September. What about J.T. Barrett? Over lunch. In church. And especially after Ohio State loses, like Saturday night against Oklahoma, fans wonder if Barrett is the answer. And by answer they mean will the Ohio State quarterback take the Buckeyes to the promised land. And by the promised land they don’t mean a win over Michigan or Big Ten championship. We’re talking national championship.

That looks like a pipe dream at the moment.

It is one thing to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns against unranked teams. Barrett does that. It is not always a work of art, but different brushstrokes for different folks. Depending on whose eyes are doing the viewing, any win is a thing of beauty, right? The Ohio State alumnus — technically, he is listed as a fifth-year senior but Barrett graduated in December — is 27-5 as a starter. Troy Smith finished his OSU career 25-3.

But what about the better defenses Barrett faces? What of Clemson? What of Oklahoma?

Glad you asked.

Let’s focus on Oklahoma, since the Sooners showed up in Ohio Stadium Saturday with an offense and defense that play big-boy football and a quarterback in Baker Mayfield who is the real deal.

Final: Sooners 31, Buckeyes 16. Boomer Sooner, indeed. So what about Barrett? Urban Meyer defended his quarterback with comments like, “I’m not going to finger-point at the quarterback,” and “We’ve seen him play exceptional and he will be exceptional next week (against Army).”

Barrett sounded like a quarterback who knows he is not a fan favorite at the moment, but that the criticism comes with the territory.

“That’s how quarterback works. Win and you get too much credit …,” he said.

Lose and it gets ugly in a hurry. Now for a few observations:

■ Ohio State’s receivers have straight-ahead speed but struggle with their routes, which hinders their ability to separate and get open. Could it be that the Buckeyes have been recruiting speed over skill? Give me guys who can catch anything thrown their way. Give me a Devin Smith and Michael Thomas, who made Barrett look good in 2014. Certainly, Barrett is culpable, but he’s not getting help from his receivers. In last season’s win at Oklahoma, Barrett tossed four TDs — all to Noah Brown, who had the game of his career.

■ Run the option. Barrett is a tough runner. His tailbacks — J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber — are legitimate threats, but the pair combined for only six carries in the first half against the Sooners.

Run the option and expand from there. I know, for nearly a decade we’ve made fun of OSU’s propensity to lean on quarterback runs when nothing else works. But it’s time to establish your strength, then work upward and outward. Then maybe offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson will begin to resemble the creative play-caller who coached at Indiana.

■ It may not be that simple, because Barrett is not proving himself enough of a passer to make the Buckeyes more than one-dimensional. The last eight starting quarterbacks to win national championships were Deshaun Watson, Jake Coker, Cardale Jones, Jameis Winston, AJ McCarron (twice), Cam Newton, Greg McElroy and Tim Tebow. All but Coker and Jones started at least one game in the NFL and several (Newton, Winston) are big-time stars.

Barrett is not in the same class with the majority of those quarterbacks. And after watching Mayfield morph into Tom Brady against the Buckeyes, it’s clear Barrett is not in the Oklahoma QB’s class, either. But is he good enough to help Ohio State run the regular-season table, which it likely will need to do to make the playoff? Maybe, if his receivers can get it together and the play-calling stops trying to complicate the simple.

Is Barrett good enough? Is the coaching? This much I know: Ed Warinner is feeling vindicated right about now.