College Football Playoff: Projected Top 4 after Week 3

The Ohio State Buckeyes would be the No. 1 team in college football if it weren’t for the complete dominance of Alabama right now. The Buckeyes went on the road in Week 3 to take down No. 14 Oklahoma and that’s quite the impressive feat for Urban Meyer and Co. given the amount of young players on the first string.

Luckily, Meyer has junior quarterback J.T. Barrett to rely on. The third-year player and second-year full-time starter has been in big-game situations before and has taken down the likes of Michigan State, Michigan, Notre Dame and now Oklahoma in his time as the starter, even leading the Buckeyes to an 11-1 regular season in 2014 before Cardale Jones finished the job.

Barrett has been a saving grace for Meyer multiple times in the past and he’s proving himself as the best quarterback in the Big Ten and potentially the No. 1 gunslinger in the country.

Marching the Buckeyes into Norman, the junior finished with an impressive line of 152 passing yards and four touchdowns on 14-of-20 completions. He added another 74 rushing yards on 17 carries, but Curtis Samuel and redshirt freshman Mike Weber have been dominant on the ground for Ohio State.

Samuel finished with 98 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries and Weber had his second 100-yard game of the year, accounting for 123 yards on 18 touches.

Ohio State’s young defense stifled a prominent passing attack led by Baker Mayfield and slowed down Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine on the ground.