Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Ohio State Buckeyes bench QB Cardale Jones for J.T. Barrett

By Patrick Schmidt

facebooktwitterreddit

Cardale Jones got off to another slow start for the Ohio State Buckeyes and it may have cost him his starting job

Urban Meyer made the somewhat surprising decision to start Cardale Jones over record-breaking quarterback J.T. Barrett to for Ohio State’s opener against Virginia Tech but after two slow starts the next two weeks, his starting job may be lost.

More from Big Ten

After throwing his second interception in the first half against Northern Illinois on Saturday, Meyer sat Jones in favor of Barrett who set a Big Ten record for combined touchdowns last year with 45 despite his season ending prematurely in the regular season finale. Had Barrett been healthy, he likely tops 50 touchdowns and still leads the Buckeyes to the national championship.

Barrett came in for an ineffective Jones and promptly led the Buckeyes to a three-and-out. However, on the next possession he threw a 25-yard touchdown to Michael Thomas to tie the game at 10.

I thought Barrett should have been the starter from Week 1 and after giving Jones a long leash to prove he was the guy and Meyer made the right decision, it looks like Barrett will be the guy moving forward for the Buckeyes, and it’s the right move.

Barrett doesn’t have the cannon that Jones has but he is still an outstanding passer, has a better grasp of the offense and is a better runner. Jones really looks like he misses former offensive coordinator Tom Herman who left to take the head coach job at Houston.

You can watch Barrett and the Buckeyes try to avoid the upset vs. NIU on ABC.

Next: 30 Best College Football Quarterbacks of All-Time

More from Saturday Blitz

Home/Big Ten