J.T. Barrett was his efficient self in the final home game of his Ohio State career

J.T. Barrett had a prototypical J.T. Barrett game in his curtain call at the Horseshoe. The three-time captain was highly efficient in both the run game and the pass game, and orchestrated a beat down on the Illini in a little over a quarter and a half of action before handing the game over to the future of the program.

Barrett was poised throughout the matchup, taking what the defense gave him on the ground and through the air. He was masterful in the zone read and was able to go through his progressions when he dropped back to throw the ball. Even though Illinois is the worst team they’ve played this season, we are going to miss these types of games from the quarterback, where he had total control of the offense and made the players around him better.

• Barrett’s numbers don’t jump off the chart, but just like the Michigan State game, he wasn’t asked to be the sole playmaker. Instead, he was asked to make the smart decision and exploit the Illini defense. Out of his eight incompletions, four of those were throw-aways and one was dropped.
• I really enjoyed this wrinkle that Kevin Wilson called three times — all resulting in positive yardage. Parris Campbell came across the line of scrimmage in jet motion, forcing the man-corner to get stuck in the rubbish in the middle of the field, before Barrett hit Campbell on a bubble screen. The outside slot receiver ran a slant/pick pattern to disrupt the trailing defender, leaving Campbell open to make a play after the catch. This works well against man coverage, but expect Michigan to switch on the motion if they run this play next week.

• After limited handoffs to the running backs in their upset loss against Iowa, Wilson has gotten the ball to Weber or Dobbins 50 times in less than eight full quarters of action. Dobbins has been his usual self, but Weber has been terrific — especially at the second level. Last season, Weber was known to be one shoestring tackle away from hitting the homerun, but in the last two games, Weber has been able to break that final tackle and take it to the house for six. Weber has racked up 270 yards on 20 carries in his prior two games. If I were a Vegas bookmaker, I would set pretty hefty odds that this was his final game in The ‘Shoe.

• This has only been written 1,000 times, but Barrett is just so damn good at the zone read and that will be the most noticeable downgrade after his departure. It looks like he’s reading the end in slow-motion, before making his decision whether to keep the ball, or hand it off. Below is just another example of him putting on a clinic.

• It probably wouldn’t have made a difference since the defense gave up 55 points, but not having Parris Campbell really hurt the offense in that loss against Iowa. He reminded fans throughout the afternoon that he’s the second most talented player on the offense and has the potential to make an electric play whenever the ball is in his hands. K.J. Hill, Johnnie Dixon and Austin Mack might be better pure receivers, but Campbell is excellent after the catch on the quick hitters — which really open up the run game and the intermediate/deep routes.
• Barrett was taken out of the game late in the second quarter, but Urban Meyer put him back into the game after Dwayne Haskins led two negative drives -- the latter resulting in a fumble returned for a touchdown. It looked careless at the time, but sometimes you just have to chalk it up to a good play by the defender. Haskins held the ball properly, but the defender got his helmet on the ball, resulting in the forced fumble.

• When Barrett came back in, he quickly got the Buckeyes into the end zone after an Illinois muffed punt. Wilson dialed up this creative throwback to the tight end, which started with Marcus Baugh delaying his route, then scooting to the other side of the wide open field. It was a great play design that took advantage of an over-aggressive defense.