Monday, October 19, 2015 | Section B | cleveland.com/sports
College football: Michigan State still soaking in the stunning victory it pulled away from its rival. PAGE B3 Baseball: Trailing 2-0 in the ALCS, Blue Jays hope playing at home will help. PAGE B4 Browns: Wasted opportunities, Josh McCown’s miscues prove costly in OT loss to Broncos. SECTION C Ohio State football
J.T. Barrett of last season rejoins Buckeyes’ offense
Bill Landis blandis@cleveland.com
Co lu m b u s — Remember the guy who was the decisive, confident runner who helped set up some prolific passing numbers and a fifth-place Heisman Trophy finish in 2014? He was back in Ohio Stadium in Saturday night’s win over Penn State. Somewhere along the way of breaking his ankle against Michigan, missing spring practice, losing the starting job to Cardale Jones this summer, and then being used in an unfamiliar relief role, J.T. Barrett lost that version of himself. He started to get it back last week
against Maryland. He might have found the whole thing against Penn State. “I think it was really my mindset,” Barrett said early Sunday morning after running for 102 yards and two touchdowns, and completing 4-of-4 passes for 30 yards and another two touchdowns. “The first few weeks I was trying to come out, trying to make plays and forcing it. That’s asking for bad things to happen, when you try to force things instead of letting them come to you.” He did some of that Saturday not in tandem with Jones, like it worked last week, but in relief of him after Jones got pulled in the third quarter.
MARVIN FONG / THE PLAIN DEALER
Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett, left, celebrates a TD pass in the fourth quarter with Braxton Miller (1) on Saturday.
With chances to win the job from Jones in relief roles earlier this year, Barrett sputtered, trying to force things as he said, and always giving Urban Meyer a reason to stick with Jones. Now? “Let me evaluate it, I’ll let you guys know on Monday, and we’ll go from there,” Meyer said. So this, right now, on Sunday, is not about which guy Meyer will choose as Ohio State’s starting quarterback for next week. It’s about what Barrett has done to once again make it a legitimate question worth asking. It starts with how Barrett was handling the quarterback situa-
tion in the beginning of the season. With all of the talk about how poised Barrett is, and how important his leadership is, his new role as the backup quarterback to Jones got to him, and he wasn’t sure how to react once he got on the field. That’s why you saw the interceptions against Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Barrett knew that if he played well, maybe he could win that starting job, or that when he came in, it was because Meyer was looking for something to spark a stagnant offense.
see BARRETT | B3
Up next for OSU: Vs. Rutgers | 8 p.m. Saturday | Piscataway, N.J. | TV: WEWS Ch. 5 | Polls: OSU still a comfortably No. 1, Michigan doesn’t fall very far. J3
Raptors 87, Cavaliers 81
Auto racing
Love’s long-awaited return fails to lift Cavs
Logano wins after spinning Kenseth
Chris Haynes chaynes@cleveland.com Toronto — Kevin Love finally made his long-awaited return to the court, but his presence wasn’t enough to get the Cavaliers their first victory of the preseason. Toronto defeated the Cavaliers 87-81 on Sunday at Air Canada Centre, dropping them to 0-6. Love, playing for the first time since he separated his left shoulder April 26 against Boston, had six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes. On Sunday, he displayed a new look with a curly hairdo and a black headband. But he also showed flashes of his old self to give fans hope that it might not take him long to find his stride. “Kev has been down and out since Game 4 of the playoffs last year, and he’s worked very, very hard to come back,” Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. “He’s in good shape, he’s in good basketball shape, too, and now it’s time for him to get his rhythm and his game experience back.” The power forward nailed his first two field goals. Both of them were step-back jumpers over Luis Scola in low-post isolation sets. However, the rust showed as he missed his next five shots. He did not play in the second half. Blatt said Love would play limited minutes. On the glass, Love demonstrated early on why he’s so dangerous. His first defensive rebound led to one of his patented outlet passes to Matthew Dellavedova at halfcourt, and the guard in turn lobbed the ball up court to Timofey Mozgov for an alley-oop dunk.
Dave Skretta Associated Press
K a n s a s C i t y, K a n. — Joey Logano kept peeking around Matt Kenseth as the laps ticked away at Kansas Speedway, the two of them in entirely different situations in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Logano had nothing to lose. Kenseth had just about everything. So when Logano got under Kenseth entering Turn 1 with Logano about five laps remaining and sent him spinning across the track, it left many eyebrows raised long after the Penske Racing driver pulled away on the final restart to win his second straight Chase race. “That’s good, hard racing,” Logano said. “We were racing each other really hard. I felt like I got fenced twice. He raced me hard, so I raced him back.” Logano was already guaranteed his spot in the next round of the Chase after his victory at Charlotte, though. After a disastrous race a week ago, Kenseth’s team arrived at Kansas knowing a victory this weekend or next weekend at unpredictable Talladega might be the only way he could make it to the final eight in the “eliminator” round of the playoffs. That’s why Kenseth was doing everything possible to block Logano.
see CAVALIERS | B6
Today CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP
The Cavaliers’ Anderson Varejao is propped up by, from left to right, Raptors Anthony Bennett, Bismark Biyombo and Cory Joseph after being fouled in the first half Sunday in Toronto.
see NASCAR | B8
What: Cavaliers vs. Dallas. When: 7 p.m. Where: The Q. TV: Fox Sports Ohio.
NLCS | Mets 4, Cubs 1
Red-hot Murphy goes deep, denting Cubs ace Arrieta Ronald Blum Associated Press New York — Daniel Murphy homered off yet another ace. Noah Syndergaard turned in one more outstanding outing from the Mets’ collection of studly young starters. Power, pitching, plus some dazzling defense are falling into place for New York. The Mets breezed past the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Sunday night for a 2-0 lead in a surprisingly one-sided NL Championship Series. Jake Arrieta, baseball’s most dominant pitcher since the All-
Star break, had not even settled in when Murphy homered for the fourth straight game, a two-run drive just inside the right-field pole in a three-run first inning. Given the quick lead on a chilly night, Syndergaard kept the bats of Chicago’s young sluggers on ice with shutout ball into the sixth inning. Curtis Granderson robbed Chris Coghlan of a likely home run with a leaping grab at the center-field wall, swiped a pair of bases and scored two runs for the Mets. After beating Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jon Lester and Ar-
rieta, the Mets are two wins from reaching their first World Series since 2000. New York starts NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom when the series resumes Tuesday night at Wrigley Field. Chicago goes with Kyle Hendricks, part of the less-than-imposing back end of its rotation. If the long-downtrodden Cubs are to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945, they must first force the best-of-seven NLCS back to Citi Field next weekend. After homering off Kershaw, Greinke and Lester, Murphy added his fifth home run of the
postseason, giving him eight RBI in seven games. Long, blond locks flowing out the back of his cap, Syndergaard seems to be taking on a bit of the cockiness of Game 1 winner Matt Harvey. He gained the nickname Thor — the Norse god known for his fierce storms — after he tweeted a photo of himself in costume doing squats on Halloween two years ago. After the Mets beat the Dodgers in the Division Series, the rookie tweeted, “Our enemy has DAVID J. PHILLIP | ASSOCIATED PRESS been vanquished.......Odin is The Mets’ Daniel Murphy is congratulated by teammate Lucas pleased” — a reference to Thor’s Duda after hitting a two-run home run in the first inning of father. Game 2 of the NLCS against the Cubs on Sunday in New York.