COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two days apart, Dwayne Haskins and Baker Mayfield spun Ohio football into the passing age, throwing in rhythm, throwing with confidence and offering two aerial shows that have been unfortunately rare in this state.

Having witnessed these combined 505 yards of passing in two halves of football on Thursday night in Cleveland and Saturday night in Columbus, the primal reaction to such quarterbacking is .... that's not normal, right?

Is that what happens everywhere else?

Mayfield carved up the New York Jets after entering late in the second quarter on Thursday, revitalized a moribund franchise and invigorated a city, and it was the second-best in-state throwing performance of the week.

Admittedly, the Jets are better than Tulane, though both wear green and white and lose football games.

What Haskins did Saturday for Ohio State was more of the same in his first four games as a starter, though every time he establishes this as normal, his ability becomes more extraordinary. Playing only the first half, Haskins completed 21 of 24 passes for 304 yards and five touchdowns, then watched from the bench during the second half as the backups finished off a 49-6 win over Tulane.

He has three 300-yard passing games in four career starts. That's third in Ohio State history. In four starts.

There were times in the last several seasons when I thought I'd seen the Ohio State passing game on the rise, J.T. Barrett gaining steam and the receivers getting on track. But almost everything the Buckeyes did in the air then is black-and-white compared to the colors Haskins paints with from his palette.

Could this be any more hyperbolic? Sorry. But seriously, the Browns and the Buckeyes haven't thrown it like so many other teams.

Barrett set nearly every school passing record in his career, but that's because the passing bar for the Buckeyes was historically about ankle high.

Barrett set the program's record for touchdown passes with 35 last season. That's tied for 92nd in NCAA history. Haskins, with 16 in four games while playing a full game only against TCU, is on pace for 56 in a 14-game season.

That would rank second in NCAA history behind Colt Brennan's 58 in 2006. Of course, the competition will improve, and the numbers will go down, but would anyone guess under 40 on Haskins TD throws? It seems like 45 would be a good bet, and that would tie for 17th all-time and set the Big Ten mark.

Joe Germaine remains Ohio State's leader in single-season passing yards with 3,330 in 1998. Look at the best passing seasons in NCAA history, and 100th place on that list is 4,037 yards. OSU is more than 700 yards out of 100th place.

Barrett's best season was 3,053 yards last year. Haskins, with 1,194 yards in four games, is staring down the barrel of a 4,200-yard season. That would get him to 74th on the NCAA single-season list.

The numbers are silly, but that's the point. Passing is silly, but Ohio State hasn't laughed as much as a lot of schools. But how could anyone watch that Saturday and not smile? Every time he plays another game like this, Haskins increases the chances he'll be one-and-done as a starter with the Buckeyes, with the NFL noticing every perfectly placed rocket between defenders, every deep ball fluttered onto a receiver's hands as if delivered by a butterfly.

See, hyperbole again.

Seriously, Haskins can sling it.

Mayfield, meanwhile, played barely a half and completed 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards. It was electric, especially by Cleveland standards.

Setting 1990 as the beginning of the modern passing game in the NFL, the best passing season by a Browns quarterback since then is 3,787 yards by Derek Anderson in 2007.

That ranks as the ... 208th best passing season since 1990. That's right, in the last 28 years (25 seasons for the Browns) no Cleveland quarterback has managed a top-200 season throwing the ball.

The Browns' all-time single season passing leader is Brian Sipe, who threw for 4,132 yards in 1980. That season ranks 123rd in NFL history. Having your single-season passing mark held by a quarterback from 1980, the way the NFL has evolved, is like trying to win the Indy 500 riding a horse.

Enter the modern world, man.

This week, in the birthplace of football, that happened.

Mayfield threw it. Haskins threw it. Ohio football fans felt the wind of the passing game in their hair, as so many fans already have.