A lot of people, me included, thought that’s why Barrett would be the choice at the start, and now Meyer has come around to what most fans wanted, and he did it without really losing anything while taking the shot with Jones.
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Urban Meyer may have officially made a quarterback switch, but he is not going to say that there are problems within his program. As for the reason for the decision, Meyer cited Barrett’s third-down and red-zone efficiency, along with “sheer production”.
The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Jones has one of the strongest arms in college football, but the Buckeyes have not been able to use it to exploit defenses down the field.
The zone-read option with Barrett and Elliot totally overwhelmed the Penn State defense, and Barrett finished the game with 102 yards rushing and two touchdowns along with another two touchdowns through the air.
“We have a big belief that scheme isn’t what wins games”, Meyer said. We had a night game, obviously.
Barrett’s 83.3 red zone completion percentage is more than 50 percentage points higher than Jones’, according to ESPN’s Stats & Information.
Jones, who started the final three games of last season including the team’s win in the national championship game, has combined for 1,372 total yards with eight total touchdowns.
“There is disappointment”, Meyer said of the quarterbacks’ reaction to the decision, “but they’re grown men, both of them are”.
Jones’ new role has yet to be determined.
“J.T. has earned the right to start Saturday at Rutgers”, Meyer told reporters during the Big Ten coaches’ teleconference on Tuesday afternoon.
The rest of the team appears to be finding its groove.
Ohio State’s offense has been struggling this season. Ohio State’s offensive line, good as they may be, is facing stacked boxes with little chance of prolonged success. Last Saturday night in a 38-10 win over Penn State, he played nearly all of the second half in addition to his red zone appearances. What I do know, or at least believe, Ohio State would have been more impressive bringing back Cornielius Greene 40 years after he last played for the Buckeyes than with Jones. When he’s leading the Ohio State offense it’s almost as effective as it was previous year for Barrett through 7 games. Halfway into this season Jones has been inconsistent, raising concern from head coach Urban Meyer even though the Buckeyes are unbeaten.
Maybe Ohio State’s players were ahead of their coach.
There has been zero continuity in Ohio State’s offense because Meyer doesn’t want to stick with one quarterback, and his offense has suffered because of it.
-DE Joey Bosa is starting to show why he was considered the top National Football League prospect in the 2016 draft coming into this season. He has 20 tackles, four tackles for losses and 1.5 sacks.
But the Buckeyes are seven games in, and one thing is clear – their quarterback situation is an absolute mess. The East division, Big Ten.
SERIES HISTORY: Ohio State won its first meeting with Rutgers 56-17 last year in Columbus, Ohio, in the Scarlet Knights’ first year as a member of the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are making their first visit to Piscataway, N.J.
Q: What impact do you think the QB change will have on the team?
The offense should have longer drives that end with touchdowns and more balance and perhaps we see a few more consistent production from the wide receivers. Unfortunately, those are two areas where Ohio State has struggled this year.
The Buckeyes have also gone two games without a committing a turnover after doing so 13 times through five games.
-WR Leonte Carroo caught three more touchdown passes in last week’s wild win at Indiana, but left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. In the receiving end, Michael Thomas had 34 yards and one touchdown while Braxton Miller added 33 yards and one touchdown.
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Against Penn State, junior running back Ezekiel Elliott eclipsed the 3,000-yard rushing mark with his 153 yards. The Buckeyes gave up 195 yards on the ground.
