INDIANAPOLIS -- If you don't know much about new Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones or how he'll operate the Buckeyes offense in Saturday night's Big Ten Championship Game vs. No. 13 Wisconsin, you're not alone.
Neither head coach really knows, either.
No. 5 Ohio State lost J.T. Barrett to a broken ankle in last week's fourth quarter. Barrett, a freshman who had taken over in August following a season-ending injury suffered by senior two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Braxton Miller, set a Big Ten record with 45 touchdowns this season.
The Buckeyes offense has been humming. Now, with a conference championship and potential trip to the first College Football Playoff on the line, comes Jones, who played with the outcome in doubt for the first time in his college career in that fourth quarter vs. Michigan.
"You go back and find every snap he played, evaluate the situation and dissect it," Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen said Friday. "The Michigan game didn't provide much help."
That makes two head coaches who lost sleep this week thinking about how ready Jones is for this.
Ohio State's Urban Meyer knows Jones well and has displayed confidence in a sophomore who left Cleveland's Glenville High School so long ago that the old Ohio State staff actually recruited Jones. Jones went to military school for a year, then redshirted in Meyer's first year in 2011, and is now a sophomore who's thrown 19 passes in 10 previous appearances.
After the Michigan game, Meyer joked that Jones has been at Ohio State "for about 120 years." His first year with Meyer didn't go so well as Jones was suspended for tweeting that "classes are pointless" and that he didn't come to Ohio State "to play school."
He came to play in big games, apparently.
"I noticed last year a complete transformation from this very immature person to a much more mature person who started handling his business," Meyer said of Jones. "He has matured tremendously in the last two years."
Still, he's never had a week like this.
"He's been taught to be prepared for these opportunities," said Ted Ginn Sr., Jones's coach at Glenville High School "He's been sitting there patiently, doing what he's asked to do, and he'll be ready.
"He's been there. He's been running the scout teams. He's been second in line, and I'm quite sure he knows how to run the offense. He's not totally green. One thing I know, he's not scared. And he's going to be prepared. He's an intelligent guy. I don't know what will happen, but I know he'll be prepared."
Ginn Sr. will be at Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night. He said he's talked to Jones this week "every day, twice a day. It's his duty, it's his job, to be prepared to do what's necessary for Ohio State.
"He went there expecting to be in this type of position."
Jones is big -- 6-foot-5, 250 pounds -- and can run; he's averaging 7.8 yards per on 43 career runs. Barrett ran for 938 yards on the season, and though a mobile quarterback is a staple of the up-tempo Ohio State offense, Meyer isn't asking Jones to be Barrett.
He's asking him to be smart, efficient and to be like Barrett in getting the ball to the array of playmakers Meyer has assembled at Ohio State's skill positions.
"I've said it at least a couple hundred times since the beginning of the week that the quarterback is a product of those around him," Meyer said. "He still obviously has to execute and do his things. The guys had a very good week of practice around him as well, starting with the offensive line.
"I'm very confident in Cardale."
The pipeline from inner-city Glenville to Ohio State has produced NFL first-round draft picks like Ted Ginn Jr. and Donte Whitner and 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith. Five Glenville alums are on this year's Ohio State team.
Smith waited his turn at Ohio State, too, playing behind Justin Zwick before finally getting his shot and running with it. Saturday night, Jones takes the stage with plenty at stake.
"Coming from where he's come from and Glenville, he's been against the ropes before," said Whitner, now a safety with the Cleveland Browns. "He has that belief in himself. He's a battler. Confidence won't be an issue for Cardale."
Wisconsin's defense ranks second nationally in total yardage and figures to both stack the box and try to confuse Jones with different looks. If the Buckeyes have to throw to win, Meyer believes Jones can do it.
"He's a very good passer," Meyer said. "A lot of quarterback play is so much more the intangible, the leadership, getting you in the right play, understanding where the weakness of a defense is, rotation of coverages. That's where he was a little bit behind J.T.
"The good thing is I don't want to put him on the same level yet, we'll have to see tomorrow. But I feel he's much more prepared in that area.
"He's prepared really well. I saw the improvement we needed to see (in practice) on Wednesday."
Come Saturday, all eyes will be on Jones. His big chance comes in the biggest game of the Meyer Era.
