In the weeks leading up to the season, star quarterback Braxton Miller suffered an injury on the practice field and was ruled out for the entire year. Enter second-string quarterback J.T. Barrett who, like the rest of his team, struggled in a mid-September loss to a not-that-great Virginia Tech team at home.
That was the low-point of the season. Something clicked after that. Barrett became a superstar, making spectacular plays both on the ground and through the air as the wins continued to pile up. Coming also, a slow and steady rise in the national rankings, the Buckeyes moving inside the top ten as more-favoured teams fell around them.
On the last weekend of the regular season, the Buckeyes welcomed the University of Michigan Wolverines into Columbus Stadium and there, late in the game, as the Buckeyes were dousing out a Michigan comeback, J.T. Barrett went down with a season-ending injury.
There goes Ohio State’s chances, we all said. Not even head coach Urban Meyer could muster a miracle from here. Third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, a relative nobody, was thrust into the starter’s gig for the following week’s Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin. Not many outside of the Ohio State locker room gave the Buckeyes much of a hope.
Someone forgot to tell Cardale Jones. With support from running back Ezekiel Elliott, the Buckeyes thumped Wisconsin 59-0 and controversially snuck into the four-team college football playoff. Their semi-final opponent? None other than the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl.
That’s it, we all said. Lightning doesn’t strike twice. No way does a third-string quarterback starting his second college game. Not against a Nick Saban defense, with a good three weeks to prepare. It never happens. Alabama are too good – they’re the best team in the country for a reason, and their SEC speed is going to eat Cardale alive. Right?
Whoops! Wrong we were – yet again. Shockingly, the Buckeyes beat Saban’s Tide 42-35, with Elliott rushing for a Sugar Bowl record 230 yards (including an 85-yard touchdown to seal it), and Jones throwing deep balls like Joe Montana, to Devin Smith…who looked like Jerry Rice. Even the Buckeye defense came to the party, intercepting quarterback Blake Sims for a pick-six, and there was pandemonium in the Superdome.
Surely lightning wouldn’t strike a third time! Oregon had dispatched defending champions Florida State with authority in the Rose Bowl, and when Urban Meyer heard the final score of that game – 59-20 Oregon – during his press conference, he joked that he needed to end his chat with reporters and get to work. No kidding. It looked, finally, like Ohio State’s ascent to the summit of college football would be stopped mere inches below the top – a case of so close, yet so far.
Except that Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott and that Buckeye defense threw conventional wisdom out the window, and set about dismantling Oregon. The Ducks scored early and looked dangerous early. It was 7-0 in the blink of an eye. Then, that powerful Ducks offense, statistical leaders in so many important categories during the regular season, produced just a touchdown and three field goals after that first drive.
I watched the remarkable performance unfold, almost not believing what it was my eyes were seeing – and I’m certain I wasn't alone in that. Oregon went for it on fourth down at one stage, and were stoned by the Buckeye defense, led by All American Joey Bosa. Four Ohio State turnovers didn’t matter. Imagine if the Buckeyes had scored at least a field goal on those possessions where they gave the football away? Another 12 points, at least, on top of the 42 they did score. And the way they were driving when basic football skill errors resulted in them handing the football back to Oregon.
When the Buckeyes held onto the ball, they made yards, and, more often than not, scored points. Australia’s Cameron Johnston was called on to punt for Ohio State just a handful of times. Smith only caught one ball, but it was for 45 yards, and it set the Buckeyes up with 1st and goal.
No, this was the Cardale and Ezekiel Show. When Jones wasn't barrelling over nose tackles to get the first down, Zeke was ripping through the suddenly-porous Oregon defense. They couldn’t stop him all night. Where was the Duck defense we saw in the Rose Bowl?
The end result was a 42-20 win. Perhaps Ohio State should feel aggrieved, because their domination probably deserved an even more comprehensive win. Yet, that will matter little to the team, their coach, the friends, family, the legion of Ohio State fans and the title-starved state of Ohio.
Nor will it matter now to Coach Meyer. We can say it with certainty – he is every bit as good as Nick Saban, and perhaps the two men, already equal, to my mind, in terms of ability, will soon be equal in terms of National Championships won. Remember, Saban never had to deal with twice losing the heartbeat of his team, only to start an untested third-stringer to win it all.
Without a doubt, this is Urban Meyer’s finest moment. Prior to the season, it was thought that the Buckeyes were a year away from challenging college football’s elite. Perhaps they are now a year away still…from another National Championship! With the core on both offense and defense returning, it’s not an unlikely prospect.
On a grander scale, the Big Ten should thank Meyer’s team for they have, in the space of just three games – the grand total of Cardale Jones’ college experience, and what a three-game resume it is to behold – managed to entirely change the perception of an entire conference. Everyone thought the conference was old, slow, and irrelevant nationally. Now, they boast the National Champions.
Furthermore, the Buckeyes win is a vindication for the college football playoff system, and they bare fitting winners. Under the old BCS format, the Buckeyes would never have gotten a shot at the National Championship. It would’ve been Alabama and Florida State squaring off, and college football fans would be much worse off as a result.
Congratulations, Ohio State. One for the ages!
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