FILM STUDY: WHAT THE TWO-QUARTERBACK SYSTEM MEANS FOR OHIO STATE'S OFFENSE
Although he was consistently benched whenever his team reached the red zone, Cardale Jones played his best game yet in an Ohio State uniform Saturday.
Meanwhile, J.T. Barrett finally looked like the player that set 19 school records and won so many awards in 2014. Though history has taught us to believe that a two-quarterback system shouldn't be successful, the Buckeye offense finally looked like the unit that fans have been waiting for in Saturday's victory over Maryland, beating up opponents with an inside running game before attacking downfield in the passing game.
While neither player had seemed totally comfortable when under center this fall, it was plain to see that the system as a whole lacked a cohesion and understanding of who they were and what they did best until now. With Tom Herman's departure, many wondered (aloud) if the Buckeyes could still find a winning recipe, discounting the fact that Urban Meyer has always been heavily involved in the decision-making processes of his offense.
As one of the leading innovators of the 'spread-option' offenses that have taken over the game in the past 15 years, Meyer has long been known for his ability to use the quarterback in the running game to gain a numeric advantage over the defense. At the same time though, he has also preached a philosophy of spreading the ball around to his play-makers, ensuring they have the ability to leave their mark on a game.
Yet this fall, those two ideas have seemingly been at odds. Thanks to the sheer amount of talent at their disposal, the Buckeye offense always seemed to be forcing the ball into the hands of players like Braxton Miller or Curtis Samuel, making an effort to get them involved while simultaneously removing both rhythm and identity from the unit as a whole. Add in the countless differentdefensive looks being thrown their way every week and it's not a surprise that there wasn't a single core concept or play upon which the Buckeyes could depend to pick up yards when they absolutely needed it.
After spending a month trying to find out what pieces fit in where, Saturday's game plan to play Jones at quarterback outside the red zone and Barrett inside of it seemed like a last-ditch effort to find a solution for a stagnating offense. When looking just beyond the surface however, we can see that Meyer is simply doubling down on his two core beliefs.
In his limited playing time thus far, Jones has operated best when asked to make one, easy read in the passing game. In the previous week's win over Indiana, he hit a number of long throws simply by running two deep routes at the free safety and throwing to whichever player was left uncovered. That same idea allowed the OSU running game to get going against Maryland.
By now we've likely all heard about and seen packaged run-pass-options, in which the offensive line and running back execute a running play while the receivers run a short pass route. The concept has become so popular among 'spread' offenses that it's become a core part of some of the NFL's best units, and the 2014 OSU defense's ability to stop them was a big reason for their success.
The Buckeyes have run them for a few years now, but rarely with the same frequency we saw Saturday against Maryland. Jones has looked very uncomfortable running the traditional zone-read in which he's asked to run the football, but is quite the opposite when asked to use the option to open up a throwing lane.
With Jones at the helm though, these plays become much more difficult to stop, given his ability to fire the ball out all the way across the field, which gives the receiver more open space in which to operate. With the outside linebacker diving inside to play the handoff to Ezekiel Elliott, there is only one defender within 20 yards to beat the blocker and take down the receiver on a quick screen.
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