After throwing the first interception of his college career, J.T. Barrett decided to have a conversation with himself.
'I was like, 'J.T., you knew you shouldn't have thrown it. But you still threw it,'' the Ohio State quarterback recalled. ''Now you gotta make up for it.''
And while Barrett did just that in the first start of his college career, throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns-and yes, one interception-in Ohio State's 34-17 victory over Navy on Saturday, a self-induced pep talk won't be enough to save the Buckeyes in Week 2.
Because while the Midshipmen made for more of a headache than anything else in a game that was closer than the final score indicated, Virginia Tech won't be as forgiving to an inexperienced offense when the come to Columbus next week.
A young quarterback thrust into the spotlight and an offensive line still searching for its starters both contributed to a Buckeyes offense that Urban Meyer admitted was still without an identity in Ohio State's season opener. Whether the Buckeyes will be able to find one by next Saturday remains to be seen, but Meyer at least now knows what he's working with in what unexpectedly has become one of the biggest challenges of his coaching career.
Breaking Down BarrettIt was tough to grade Barrett after the first start of the redshirt freshman's college career, considering that as expected he wasn't asked to do anything too demanding. But nevertheless, Meyer attempted to, giving 's replacement a passing, albeit unspectacular, mark.
'J.T., I thought, did OK. I'd grade him a B,' Meyer said after the game. 'Every new player's going to have a certain amount of mistakes.'
That sounds about right, considering that the majority of Barrett's pass attempts were of the shorter, safer variety. He did hit an 80-yard touchdown to a wide-open Devin Smith toward the end of the third quarter giving Ohio State the final lead of the game, but his one big play on the day was essentially negated by his one big mistake-the aforementioned interception that gave Navy the ball back as the Buckeyes were threatening from the Midshipmen 8-yard line in the second quarter.
Starting the first game of his college career on less than two weeks notice, you couldn't have asked for much more from Barrett than the 12-for-15, 226-yard, two-touchdown, one-interception stat line that he posted to go along with his team-high 50 rushing yards. But what the box score didn't show-and what everybody inside of M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore saw on Saturday-was the reality of the Buckeyes' quarterback situation for the now ongoing season.
Unlike in his first two seasons in Columbus, when all Meyer needed was a quick quarterback counter play to escape most jams, Ohio State no longer has that luxury as Barrett is admittedly not the freak athlete who made Miller the two-time reigning Big Ten MVP. Nor does he have the body of a Tim Tebow or experience of Chris Leak or Alex Smith, putting Meyer in a nearly unprecedented situation for his 13-year head coaching career.
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That doesn't mean much for Barrett, who obviously has more ability as a passer than both Reed and Burton, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still just one week into the official start of his college career. Nor does it change that while he may be effective with his intermediate throws, Barrett is not the dynamic runner Miller was, nor will he be able to bail the Buckeyes out with the cannon-of-an-arm possessed by his predecessor.
So without the physical tools or experience of Miller, how can Barrett make the most of his opportunity? The answer likely lies in building up enough trust with his short throws that his coaching staff will be comfortable calling for more long ones, hoping that they result in plays like the touchdown to Smith and not the one big blemish on Barrett's college debut.
Lingering Line QuestionsThat's not all that surprising, considering that of the four players called upon to replace Jack , Corey , Andrew and Marcus Hall on the Buckeyes' front five, only sophomore right guard Pat has seen significant snaps in his college career. Center Jacoby and Darryl Baldwin have both only been backups up until this season, while left guard Billy Price is a redshirt freshman who was still a defensive lineman this time a year ago.
Even more so than Barrett, the Ohio State offensive line's inexperience was apparent on Saturday, as it left little time for the freshman quarterback to search down the field for open targets. Barrett's lone interception came on play when he was forced to quickly avoid an oncoming defender, before he floated a bad pass into the hands of Midshipmen safety Parrish Gaines.
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For the better part of the first 45 minutes of the game, there wasn't a lot of cohesion to be found, and Ohio State opted to spend the second quarter rotating Price with converted defensive lineman Joel Hale. Unsurprisingly, the Buckeyes offensive line did appear to click right around the time that Barrett found Smith with 4:10 left on the clock in the third quarter, which was a big reason why Ohio State scored 28 of its 34 points in the second half.
Where To Now?Although Navy gave the Buckeyes a solid scare, the talent mismatch between the two teams ultimately proved to be too much for the Midshipmen to handle. That won't be something that Ohio State can fall back on next week, however, as Virginia Tech is as good as anybody on the Buckeyes' schedule, outside of defending Big Ten champion Michigan State.
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'You come in after , people expect you to do some crazy stuff,' Barrett said. 'I'm not . I'm J.T. I just need to go out there and play my game.'
'We wanted to open it up a little bit more in the first half, and we didn't. It wasn't because of [Barrett], it was because with our offensive line, we had a couple of mistakes in there, some penalties, a sack. We just can't do that,' Meyer said. 'Obviously with the team we have playing next, we have a lot of work to do.'
Ben is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter . Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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