JT Barrett is NOT a better quarterback than Braxton Miller.
Over the last several weeks it became all too easy for people to think the other way. Barrett was racking up stats, winning by impressive margins and etching his name in the record books. He had gone from a deer in the headlights against Virginia Tech to putting himself on the fringes of the Heisman discussion. A lot of people were excited and daydreaming about not just to this year's postseason, but the possibilities next season.
On the other side of things, people had already written an epitaph for Braxton Miller's Buckeye career. The Buckeyes wouldn't need him anymore with Barrett playing the way he was. He was a great athlete but not a great quarterback. He was fragile and he should go an get a little bit of NFL money before he completely breaks down.
With a healthy Braxton Miller in the backfield though, this team could have very well been undefeated at this point in the season. The reason for that claim are the qualities that Miller has displayed throughout his collegiate career that Barrett had yet to show. Braxton Miller had won on the road in the B1G. He had won against name-brand teams in massive stadiums where all but a small pocket of fans wanted his head on a platter. He had won games where he wasn't able to play his best. He won games where he wasn't the best quarterback on the field. He won games as an underdog. He won games as the only legitimate offensive threat on the field. He did it with his legs, and sometimes with his arm. That's not to say that Miller is or was a perfect player - not even close. When you look at his record though there was a certain quality that clearly separated him from JT Barrett - that is an ability to perform well or at least carry the team to a win when the chips are down, when the lights are brightest, or when the environment is hostile.
JT Barrett had a chance to display that quality several weeks ago against Virginia Tech. He did not. He looked very much like an inexperienced freshman quarterback in that game. That's not to blame him for that loss - there were plenty of things that went wrong in that game. That was the type of situation however where Miller had the ability to make plays that masked everybody else's problems to carry them to a win.
Barrett's performance against Penn State looked all too similar to the way he looked against Virginia Tech. At first he just looked a little "off". A couple strange decisions, a few inaccurate throws. Then it fell apart in the second half. In the face of tremendous pressure - in part due to what Penn State was doing and in part due to what Ohio State wasn't doing, he wilted. He looked lost. He made costly turnovers that brought Penn State back into the game. He seemed to have nothing else to give - no extra gear and no sublime moment of genius like we had become so used to seeing from Braxton Miller.
As the game went to overtime, very few seemed to think Barrett's offense had a chance to score, let alone win. That's where things changed. The passing game wasn't working. The run game was able to get small chunks of yardage but couldn't get to the second level and had trouble moving the chains when the chips were down. JT Barrett - on a sprained knee and by guile and sheer force of will - took the team on his back and carried them to victory. It wasn't as sexy as a 7 TD performance against a tomato can of an opponent, but Barrett may have grown up more in those two overtimes than he did in any of the preceding weeks since becoming this team's starting quarterback.
JT Barrett is still not a better quarterback than Braxton Miller. In finding a way to win this game though, he took the first step toward legitimizing the question of who is best once the offseason comes around. Miller has been there and done that over and over, and now JT Barrett done it once himself. He'll have more opportunities too. A B1G game in East Lansing looms in two weeks - can he put this team on his shoulders more than once? Time will tell.
