Urban Meyer held nothing back with a bold statement on Cardale Jones stepping up for Ohio State football and helping them win the 2014 national title
Cardale Jones stepping up for JT Barrett in Urban Meyer’s national championship run with the Ohio State Buckeyes was special. The former Buckeyes’ head coach got really blunt about how he felt going into the change.
Ohio State football’s last two national title wins came when the College Football Playoff was in its first years of two different expansions. The 2024 run was special for the Buckeyes, as was the run during the 2014 campaign.
Winning it all in 2024 didn’t look possible at one point. Ohio State lost former QB Braxton Miller before the season and J.T. Barrett went down in the game against Michigan. The run that Cardale Jones was able to go on in the final three games will always be in good graces in Columbus.
However, there wasn’t a ton of belief in Jones when he took over.
Urban Meyer gets blunt about Ohio State’s 2014 title run
“I want to say it politically correct, but no way in hell could we do that,” Meyer said of Jones taking them to a title game, via Cardale and Beanie Wells’ podcast. “But I’ve also credited Cardale to this day. There should be some kind of plaque statue or something for what he did. It was unprecedented, and I know the Buckeyes went on a great run a couple of years ago, but that was in my mind one of the greatest runs in college football history.
Jones is the last quarterback from Ohio to start games for the Buckeyes during the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Cleveland native had just three passing attempts against Michigan, but helped Ohio State obliterate Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game to get them to the College Football Playoff. Jones was a cool 12-of-17 passing for 257 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 59-0 win over the Badgers.
From there, No. 12 went on to beat the Alabama Crimson Tide and Oregon Ducks in the CFP. Jones and the Buckeyes had to grind it out against Alabama, 42-35, and then blew out Oregon by 22 points for a title.
Jones returned to Ohio State and was a part-time starter in 2015 until Barrett took over full-time. The former Buckeye was able to be a fourth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills in the 2016 NFL Draft due to his big arm, and ability to step up in big games.
It’s notable to know that Meyer felt like the rest of us when Barrett went down. Jones ended up proving him wrong and they both have championship rings to show for it.