Entering this season, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer named Cardale Jones his starting quarterback over J.T. Barrett on the reasoning that Jones closed the 2014 season (and, boy, how did he close that season) the starter and it was Barrett’s job to beat him out, which he never did. Not the logic I would use, but win three national championships and you can win however you want.
Except the Buckeyes’ attack never quite clicked with Jones at the helm. Instead of a historic juggernaut, Ohio State at times played like a band with three lead guitarists and no bass player or drummer. The Buckeyes entered Saturday rated 19th nationally in yards per play; not quite a crisis, but far below their talent level and 13 spots below where Ohio State ranked in 2014 with Barrett primarily running point.
Ohio State’s relative struggles came to a head Saturday night against Penn State. From John Taylor’s write up:
For the first quarter of OSU’s “Black Out” game against Penn State, the light failed to come on for Cardale Jones and the offense as the dark-clad Buckeyes mustered less than 60 yards of offense and no points in the opening 15 minutes. With the Buckeyes at the Nittany Lion 31-yard line at the start of the second quarter, Meyer — and his ever-expanding red zone — replaced Jones with Barrett on a second-and-13 and, four plays later, the “backup” scored on a five-yard touchdown run to put OSU up 7-3.
Coincidentally or not, that spark provided by Barrett continued throughout the remainder of the quarter as the Buckeyes scored on their next two drives as well to take a 21-3 lead into halftime. The second of those scores was another Barrett touchdown, giving the redshirt sophomore two scoring runs on three touches in the half.
Ohio State would go on to win 38-10, and afterward Meyer hinted that, yes, it may finally be time to change quarterbacks for good. “Just let me evaluate it. I’ll let you guys know on Monday, and we’ll go from there,” Meyer said.
Barrett completed all four of his throws for 30 yards and two touchdowns on the night while rushing 11 times for 102 yards and two more scores. Jones hit on 9-of-15 throws for 84 yards and lost 16 yards on the ground.
For the season, Jones has completed 93-of-149 passes for 1,242 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions (141.23 rating) while rushing 50 times for 130 yards and a touchdown. Barrett, meanwhile, has connected on 27-of-44 throws for 249 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions (129.81 rating) to go with 29 carries for 228 yards and five scores.