INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Even before J.T. Barrett went down with a season-ending broken ankle in last weekend's win over Michigan, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer seemed to have found a new favorite phrase this season.
"A quarterback is a product of those around him," Meyer would repeat, seemingly ad nauseam.
And as it turns out, the Buckeyes have some pretty good players surrounding their signal-caller.
Down to its third option at quarterback, the Ohio State offense put on a clinic on Saturday, totaling 558 yards in the Buckeyes' 59-0 walloping of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. You would have never known that Cardale Jones was at one point listed behind Barrett and Braxton Miller on the Ohio State quarterback depth chart, as the redshirt sophomore accounted for 257 yards and three touchdowns in the Buckeyes' Big Ten title blowout.
Like his predecessors, Jones brought his own flare to the OSU offense, his canon-like arm taking the place of Barrett's prominent precision and Miller's signature stutter step before that. He put it on display just two minutes into the game, Jones connected with wide receiver Devin Smith for a 39-yard touchdown bomb, later finding the senior speedster for scores of 44 and 42 yards.
"He went out there and showed everybody that he could play," Smith said of Jones.
The first start of Jones' college career spoke volumes to his own ability, it also boded well for a Buckeyes team battling for one of the final spots in the College Football Playoff. The selection committee stated that it would wait to evaluate the Barrett-less Buckeyes until after Jones' debut. Lucky for the Ohio State he turned in one heck of a one-game resume.
"Whoever lines up at quarterback, to me, it really doesn't matter," said Smith. "We've got a whole bunch of people who can make plays for this football team and that's one thing that we really want everyone in the world to know."
Make no mistake, the Buckeyes are very much a quarterback-driven team, as evidenced by Miller's record-setting numbers and Barrett's breakout rookie season. But just like Meyer likes to say, a quarterback is a product of those around him, and that includes his head coach.
After all, Meyer has been synonymus with star quarterbacks for the better part of the past 14 years, dating back to the start of his head coaching career at Bowling Green. It was there that he transformed running back Josh Harris into an unlikely Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, who would go on to be drafted to play the position by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
From there Meyer went to Utah, turning Alex Smith from backup quarterback to Heisman finalist and the 2005 NFL draft's No. 1 overall draft pick. At Florida, he revitalized the career of Chris Leak en route to winning the 2006 national championship, before Tim Tebow turned in one of the most storied careers in the history of college football.
Meyer's only down year when it came to the quarterback position came in 2010, when John Brantley, Trey Burton and Jordan Reed each took turns at spearheading the Gators' 8-5 campaign. But after enjoying a one-year retirement, it didn't take long for Meyer to again showcase his skills as a quarterback whisperer.
Talent at the Buckeyes' skill positions was admittedly lacking when Meyer came to Columbus, but his spread system still managed to turn Miller into a two-time Big Ten MVP and a preseason favorite to win the 2014 Heisman Trophy before a torn labrum ended his senior season before it even started. Miller's apparent importance to Ohio State was one of the main reasons why the Buckeyes were written off when he went down last August, the loss of a player of his caliber seemingly unfathomable to replace.
But Barrett stepped right in—and then some—breaking the Buckeyes' single-season records for total yardage and total touchdowns before suffering a season-ending injury his own. Facing the nation's second-ranked defense with its third-string quarterback, the odds were stacked against Ohio State, but that didn't seem to matter from the moment the ball was kicked off in its battle with the Badgers.
"We came out here and executed on all cylinders, offensively and defensively and we won in a fashion like this," Smith said. "You can't win a game with just one person."
What that will mean when the playoff committee announces its top four on Sunday remains to be seen, but if Jones' MVP performance showed anything, it's that the loss of Barrett shouldn't hinder Buckeyes' chances of landing in the final four. With Meyer at the helm, Ohio State's offense is simply too talented for just one player to receive credit, as Saturday's statement win showed.
"We showed that we're not a one-man team," OSU wide receiver Evan Spencer said. "We showed that we're a high-caliber, high impact team that knows how to win, knows how to play for one another and at the end of the day, knows how to win championships."
All that said, Cardale Jones sure had a lot to do with it.
Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
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