That chance doesn’t come again until Oct. 28 when Penn State visits Ohio Stadium. Even that game might not be enough for some who remember how much Barrett struggled against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl and against Oklahoma in the second game this season.
“I’m really just shocked why we keep on talking about it,” Barrett said. “How many did we complete the other day? Three or four?”
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Barrett completed 14 of 22 passes for 275 yards in the 56-0 victory against Rutgers on Saturday. He has thrown 10 touchdown passes in the last three games.
It’s not what he has seen in those games that tells him the passing game is ready for its next big challenge. It’s what he has seen in practice. He’s now hitting the deep balls in practice, and that’s why he expects to hit them in the game.
“In the past, we didn’t complete it in practice,” Barrett said. “In practice, it was awful, so in the game, we didn’t call it because it was awful in practice. We don’t do things that don’t work in practice in the game. That doesn’t make any sense. We’ve gotten a lot better. The success is happening in practice against our DBs, which I think are the top DBs in the country. Now we’re calling it in the game. We’re not going to complete every one. In practice, we don’t complete every one.”
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The goal, quarterbacks coach Ryan Day said, is to complete 50 percent of the deep passes.
“Realistically, it’s probably closer to 40 percent,” Day said. “If we’re hitting on 50 percent, that’s a heck of a day, but that’s our goal.”
Barrett threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Dixon against Rutgers. Barrett also threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Dixon. That play was called back because of a penalty.
Despite a 31-16 loss to Oklahoma, in which he was outplayed by Baker Mayfield, Barrett ranks sixth in the nation in touchdown passes (13), 13th in pass efficiency (165.6), 22nd in total offense (330.8) and 22nd in yards per pass (8.74).
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Day said the offense has a long way to go but is making progress.
“It’s not something that just happens overnight,” Day said. “It takes time. One of our major emphasis this offseason and then this preseason and then during the first half of the year was to stretch the field horizontally and then vertically. We’ve been working on it a long time. We meet on it. When things don’t go well, everyone wants to know from J.T. why it didn’t go well and from coach, and it’s everybody involved. When it does go well, everybody gets the credit.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Maryland at Ohio State, 4 p.m., FOX, 1410
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