OU Football: A Closer Look At Ohio State's Offensive Playmakers

This Saturday presents a huge opportunity for the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners.

After a tough start to the season that brought out numerous doubters, OU will have a chance to make a huge statement when they host No. 3 Ohio State this Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Related: Backup QB Kendall Says OU Will 'Light Up' Ohio State Defense

A win for OU would put the Sooners back in the college football playoff conversation, while a loss would drop the Sooners to 0-2 this season against ranked teams.

“When you play these games and win them it gives you a boost,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “They’re exciting for everybody, they’re challenging in the great competition you’re going against but they can give you a lift when you win and they force you to really have a good week of practice and have improvement, especially early in the year here.”

It will be no easy test for the Sooners on Saturday, seeing they’ll have to slow down an Ohio State offense that ranks fifth nationally with 596.5 yards per game and has outscored its two opponents— Bowling Green and Tulsa-- 135-13.

The Buckeyes’ offense is loaded with athletic playmakers, but here are the top three players the Sooners’ defense will have to worry most about.

J.T. Barrett, Quarterback

It’s no secret that Barrett is one of the best playmakers in the entire country, and the mobile quarterback will be the biggest threat to OU’s defense this Saturday.

“Offensively everything goes through J.T. Barrett, an exceptional athlete at quarterback, throwing the football really well,” Coach Stoops said.

Barrett has passed for 498 yards and six touchdowns this season, while adding 85 yards and three more scores on the ground. The redshirt junior first saw action back in 2014 when Braxton Miller re-injured his shoulder, so the Wichita Falls, TX product has plenty of experience quarterbacking the Buckeyes.

OU safety Steven Parker says he’s excited to play against a playmaker like Barrett.

“Just the caliber of player he is, he has a lot of character, I know he was the leader last year as a younger guy and he knows how to take control of his offense so it’s going to be a challenge,” Parker said.

It will no doubt test the Sooners to face a dual threat guy like Barrett, but Oklahoma had the chance to face a similar styled quarterback when they played Houston earlier in the year. Both Cougars’ quarterback Greg Ward Jr. and Barrett are dynamic runners that learned from Houston head coach and former Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman.

“There’s some advantage there that we’ve dealt with a guy who’s similar, and you can try and tweak and adjust some things that maybe you thought you could’ve done better,” Coach Stoops said. “The other side of that is they got to see how you want to play it, so they get to make their adjustments as well.”

OU held Ward Jr. to only one yard rushing on 18 carries but allowed him to throw for 321 yards and two touchdowns.

Curtis Samuel, H-back

As maybe the most athletic player on the field, Samuel is a jack of all trades for the Buckeyes offense from the H-back position. He’s a speedy runner who can make the big play at any moment, and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer likes to find a way to get the ball into the junior’s hands.

“Curtis Samuel, number four, is a guy that first comes to mind,” Coach Stoops said. “So many different ways they can get him the football, electrifying guy in the way he can run.”

Playing a mixture of both running back and slot receiver, Samuel has rushed 21 times for 162 yards while catching all 14 of his targets through the air for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

“They play him everywhere, exceptional speed and quickness, definitely a guy you have to know where he is all the time,” Coach Stoops said.

Mike Weber, Running back

Following up current Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is no easy task, but redshirt freshman Mike Weber is doing a solid job doing just that.

Through the first two games as Ohio State’s feature back, Weber has rushed for 228 yards on 36 carries while finding the end zone one time against Tulsa. He would have a few more touchdowns to his name, but three shoestring tackles in the Bowling Green game kept Weber from scoring long runs.

While Samuel is lightning in a bottle for the Buckeyes offense, Weber is more of a thundering runner at 5-foot-10 212 pounds.

We all saw what Houston’s bruising running back Duke Catalon was able to do to the OU defense to open the season, so Oklahoma must find a way to tackle better if they want to slow down the Buckeyes’ offensive attack.