Cardale Jones' performance at the Scarlett & Gray game was a reminder of why he should be the Buckeyes' starting QB
Apr 18, 2015 -- 5:00pm
By Bruce Hooley | ESPNCleveland.com
Photo/AP
The choice Urban Meyer says he will delay until the middle of August should have been made for him Saturday in the middle of the first quarter of the Scarlet & Gray game.
Here are the three things you need to know about all Meyer needs to know to solve his much-anticipated quarterback battle.
No. 1: Cardale Jones...
No. 2: off one foot...
No. 3: threw the ball 60 yards on the money.
Thank you for coming. See you this fall.
Sure, the pass fell incomplete, and Jones likely would have been sacked on the play if Meyer had allowed defensive end Joey Bosa to do more than slap at the jersey of OSU's reigning national championship quarterback.
But no matter how you classify what happened on that one snap before 99,391 in Ohio Stadium, there is no dismissing that Jones again showed something neither of the other two competitors for the QB job can do.
And that is why Meyer is just wasting time -- his and ours -- by delaying the decision to name Jones as the Buckeyes' starter for 2015.
The hesitation is understandable, because Meyer wants to be sensitive to the feelings of sophomore J.T. Barrett and senior Braxton Miller.
You could tell that much afterward when Meyer said, "This (selection process) will be terrible. It's all good, but the terrible thing is, I admire all three of those guys. It's not just a one-game wonder. Cardale did it for three games. J.T. did it for a whole season. Braxton has had two good years. It's going to be a tough deal."
Of course, it won't be easy to tell Barrett, after finishing fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting, that it's time to take a seat behind Jones.
And it will be harder to tell Miller, who's won two Big Ten MVP trophies and who's remained at Ohio State post-graduation when he could have transferred anywhere in the country and played immediately, that his services are no longer needed.
The loyalty Meyer is showing two quarterbacks who've played exemplary football is admirable and seldom seen at cut-throat, big-boy football programs.
But Meyer's job is not to be loyal to any player, it's to put the best team on the field every fall Saturday.
And for Ohio State, that is unquestionably with Jones at the controls.
You could see it Saturday on more than Jones' 60-yard, off-balance, flick-of-the-wrist throw.
You could see it on several of the long, downfield darts Jones completed to Corey Smith, with whom he collaborated on 58- and 37-yard touchdown touchdown passes.
And you could see it at halftime when Jones uncorked a 74-yard pass to win a long-distance throwing competition with Barrett and former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith.
You could clearly see it, even on a day when Meyer said Jones, who completed 19 of 42 attempts for 304 yards, two inteceptions and two TDs, "was not as sharp as he has been all spring."
Scary, simply scary, just like the artistry in Jones' 60-yard downfield bomb that echoed all the way back to OSU's wins over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon en route to the first College Football Playoff title.
The cliche for what Jones did with that off-one-foot, step-up-in-the-pocket, drop-it-down-the-elevator-shaft strike and for what he did in vanquishing three playoff opponents, is that he, "took the top off the defense."
That's a little bit like saying a volcanic hiccup took the top off Mt. St. Helens.
Jones doesn't just threaten a defense deep, he terrorizes it.
Barrett and Miller can't do what Jones can in that regard, and the Barrett and Miller family trees need not take offense at that assessment.
No one in college can laser it long like Jones.
You think it's a coincidence that Ezekiel Elliott rushed for 220, 230 and 246 yards in consecutive post-season games?
It wasn't.
Elliott doesn't find that room to get rolling if Jones doesn't threaten safeties with completions into the adjoining zip code.
Do you like Ohio State's chances of coming back from a 21-9 second-quarter deficit against Alabama with Barrett or Miller at the controls?
Sure, Elliott clinched that win with an 85-yard touchdown run, but he was going no where until Jones zipped the Buckeyes down the field and into the end zone for 28 unanswered points after falling into that early hole.
Meyer's internal conflict is this:
Barrett and Miller both have the talent to start and lead OSU to an unbeaten regular season. Barrett earned that off his performance last season. Miller earned it off his performance in 2012 and 2013, and for sentimental reasons given his return.
But here's the nagging voice in Meyer's head that he shouldn't ignore:
Jones throws it better than anyone, and the alternatives are not close. How good might Jones be if he received starter's reptitions in practice all the time?
As an added bonus, Jones can bull rush for the tough yard OSU might need to sustain a game-winning drive with a force neither Barrett nor Miller can muster.
"We're going to take it day-by-day," Meyer said of the quarterback decision. "This will be one of the unique stories in college football. How do you handle three quarterbacks? It's going to be day-by-day."
It shouldn't be.
Saturday was enough.
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