Why Ohio State’s QB Competition Won’t Die

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The final question of Urban Meyer’s Monday press conference seemed innocuous enough, a suggestion more likely to gain traction on an Ohio State message board than inside the mind of a three-time national champion head coach.

But when Meyer didn’t immediately shut down the idea of using backup quarterback J.T. Barrett as a situational signal-caller in relief of starter Cardale Jones, it raised more than just a few eyebrows in the room.

“That’s a good point,” Meyer said of the suggestion that Barrett’s dual-threat ability could cure the Buckeyes’ recent red-zone woes. “We’ve thought about it. We’ve had that conversation. At this time we haven’t made any decisions on that right now.”

And with that, another day of quarterback controversy in Columbus was born.

Not that it wasn’t already going to exist anyway, with Jones’ performance in the 2015 season thus far having been inconsistent at best. In five games, the redshirt junior has completed 63 of his 106 pass attempts for 867 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions, and has twice been benched mid-game for Barrett as No. 1 Ohio State has accumulated a 5-0 record.

But while Jones’ encore to his national championship run from a season ago has been far from perfect, the 6’5″, 250-pounder has shown improvement in the past two weeks, having completed a combined 62.2 percent of his passes for 535 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in wins of Western Michigan and Indiana.

That’s what…

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