INDIANAPOLIS -- Urban Meyer and Tom Herman can coach quarterbacks.
In Saturday night's Big Ten Championship Game, Ohio State's head coach and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach coached Cardale Jones like he'd been directing Ohio State's offense for a long time.
Big numbers -- on the stat sheet and the scoreboard -- followed. Ohio State overwhelmed Wisconsin, 59-0.
"I figured there would be first-game jitters," Meyer said of Jones. "There was none of that."
Seven days after J.T. Barrett fractured his ankle, Jones made his first start and came out throwing. Three touchdown passes to Devin Smith and 257 yards later, Jones was wearing a rose behind his ear in a wild postgame celebration signifying that the Buckeyes might be going to the Rose Bowl and the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes are 12-1 and haven't lost since September.
Barrett took over in August after two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Braxton Miller was lost for the season to a shoulder injury just over two weeks before the season opener. Ohio State's offense did little right in a Sept. 6 loss to Virginia Tech, but Barrett went on to set the Big Ten's single-season touchdown record with 43 before the injury.
Jones, a redshirt sophomore, had previously only played in mop-up duty. In his first start, he came out gunning.
"I thought our guys played the game of a lifetime," Jones said. "We trusted each other."
Herman called a pass on the game's first play -- it was complete -- and Jones finished the drive with a high-arching, 39-yard touchdown pass to Smith. The Buckeyes got points on five of their first six drives while Wisconsin went nowhere. It was over early, but Ohio State stayed on the gas.
"We see a side of Cardale in practice other people don't see," said Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Ohio State defensive tackle Joey Bosa. "Right after that first drive is when everybody else caught on, too."
Jones did a year of military school after graduating from Cleveland's Glenville High School, then redshirted in Meyer's first year at Ohio State. He's backed up Miller, Barrett and Kenny Guiton, usually as the third-team quarterback.
Asked after the game if he was driven by the talk about Meyer having to play his third-team quarterback, Jones said it was less "a chip on my shoulder...more just confidence."
Meyer called Jones "one of the most improved players I've ever been around," and he and Herman coached Saturday like they knew they had something good from the very start. Smith can run past defenders, Jones can rip the ball down the field and the game plan Saturday allowed him to do so.
"We have a lot of guys on this team who can plays," Smith said. "Cardale went out and showed everybody he can play."
