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Elliott ended up with 316 touches from scrimmage while Braxton Miller, Mike Thomas, Jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel split another 301.
The raw numbers were still impressive for the offense, but it suffered from periodic breakdowns before grinding to a near complete halt in a 17-14 loss to Michigan State. That game ultimately sent the Spartans to the Big Ten championship game and left the Buckeyes at home to wonder what might have been.
Play calling often left many observers – not to mention Elliott himself after the MSU debacle – scratching their heads, and Barrett hinted at why.
"I think sometimes we tried to formulate certain plays against defenses in the week (of practice) in order for a certain person to get the ball instead of just running our offense and letting the ball go where it may," said Barrett, who like head coach Urban Meyer expressed no doubts the Buckeyes have more than enough talent to contend for another national championship this fall despite needing to rebuild almost the entire lineup on offense and defense.
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“We still got ballers everywhere, but… I think that whatever the play is designed to do, that’s the person who is going to get the ball,” Barrett said.
As preseason spin goes, this is about as optimistic as it gets.
Samuel is the only one of the aforementioned playmakers back this fall, so Barrett will definitely get the chance to feature some new people.
That’s the beauty of late summer football chat, of course, but eventually the rubber must meet the road.
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