When Your Number is Called

I run a fun little college football spreads league with my buddies, where we choose 5 games every weekend against the spread.  The league extends to the first week in December when most of the college football conference championships take place. This fifteenth and final week ultimately decides the winners of the league for the season.  It also gives the sharks at Vegas plenty of time to dissect teams to fully understand personnel, match-ups and stakes heading into the respective contests.

On December 4, here is what I typed to my pals for the Big 10 Championship:

FAVORITE      Line       Underdog

#13 Wisconsin    4     #5 Ohio State   8:17pm - Big 10 Title Game in Indianapolis

The confluence of that line came courtesy of the Buckeyes being left to their third string quarterback, a guy named Cardale Jones and facing a Wisconsin team that had just won their last seven games.  OSU's starting quarterback going into the season was Braxton Miller, a Heisman Trophy hopeful and crusader towards the Scarlet and Gray's chance at national glory.  His season-ending injury before the Buckeyes even took one meaningful snap left the signal-calling duties to J.T. Barrett.  Barrett's weekly performances were Heisman worthy and he steadied the Buckeyes through a lukewarm, pedestrian yet undefeated Big 10 schedule.  Then, on the first play of the fourth quarter of OSU’s regular season finale against Michigan, Barrett went down with a very significant injury to his lower right leg.  Barrett was bent over backwards by a Wolverine defender, his leg became pinned and millions of Buckeyes fans thought their carpet-ride of a season had been grounded.

A four-point underdog, their chances of making the inaugural playoff rested with an unproven third string sophomore quarterback.  

Final score ... Ohio State 59, Wisconsin 0. Cardale Jones, in his first college start, threw for 237 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

The manhandling of the Badgers earned the Buckeyes the right to vault into #4 in the country and a ticket to face #1 Alabama in the inaugural semifinal.  Again, I ran a fun little Bowl Spreads League with my buddies, where we choose a bunch of games during bowl season against the spread.  (No, I don't have a gambling problem.  It's just a nice way to place meaning on watching the Alamo Bowl since, you know, it doesn't really matter who ultimately wins 92% of the bowl games.) One caveat to our rules, though, is everyone in the league is required to choose the New Year's Six bowl games.  

On December 22, here's what I typed to the league:

FAVORITE      Line       Underdog

#1 Alabama    9.5     #4 Ohio State - 8:30pm - BCS Semis - Sugar Bowl - New Orleans, LA

And with big, bad Alabama running to a two touchdown halftime lead, it was the calm, steady hand of Jones that raced passed the Crimson Tide for their 42-35 victory and a trip to the national championship.  If you conjured reasons why Ohio State beat inferior Wisconsin and if you thought Alabama would punish Jones and his young teammates into submission, you were now taking notice.  How has this kid whose only collegiate starts have, progressively, been in the biggest games of his life?  

And then to the National Championship.  The Oregon Ducks had just embarrassed the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles.  They looked as fast as we thought, but their added defensive dimension was scary-good.  Like most, I thought Oregon would be too much to handle.  

To close our Bowl League season, here's what was sent to the league on January 6:

FAVORITE   Line    Underdog

#2 Oregon       6     #4 Ohio State - Monday, January 12, 8:30pm - Arlington, TX

Frankly, I didn't have much desire to watch the game.  I thought I would tune in and out to catch a score before falling asleep and reading about it in the morning.  The first play I caught was in the first quarter, the 1-yard touchdown that saw the Buckeyes take a 14-7 lead.  I ended up watching the remaining three quarters.  

Sophomore Ezekiel Elliott was the best player on the field.  He ran for a career-high 246 yards and 4 touchdowns.  All season he was overshadowed by other backs in the Big 10, but he was, in fact, there all season.  The game was close because of turnovers, but the Buckeyes were the better team and by the end, Oregon was too bruised physically and mentally to recover.  When OSU needed Elliott to carry the day, he did so and then some.  He deserves a lot of credit. 

But not as much as Jones.  It should not be understated in any regard how difficult it is for an athlete to know that he is not the top dog.  You participate in athletics and yearn for competition because you believe you are talented and worthy of opportunities.  How often does an athlete get knocked-down to the second team or the third string and either quit, transfer, complain or all three?  We certainly don't know how many conversations coach Urban Meyer had with Jones during his time in Columbus.  But it takes someone very special to recognize that, when your number is called, you better be ready.  

And ready he was.  I had never heard of Cardale Jones before December 4.  I don't live and die by college football as much as others.  I guarantee many of you hadn't heard of Cardale Jones either.  I know bits and pieces of his harsh life story, growing up in Cleveland and having a new baby girl.  And, yes, being from Western Pennsylvania, it is very difficult to cheer for anything associated with the state of Ohio.  You and I, though, should walk away from the game with a greater value of what it means to be poised, prepared and patient.  Jones didn't light-up AT&T Stadium, or the Superdome or Lucas Oil Stadium like Elliott or the Buckeye defense.  He illuminated it.

Jones was the reason I watched tonight.  Jones was the reason Ohio State handled the favored Ducks.  He could have easily folded when he fumbled TWICE and threw an interception that hit his receiver in the hands and fell into the lap of the Ducks.  Throughout the game, he keep his composure, delivered darts across the field and guided HIS team to convincing victory.  He threw for 246 yards, threw for one touchdown and ran for another.  Not bad for a first-string quarterback, let alone a third.  Ryan Lindley was thrown into the limelight for the Arizona Cardinals during their biggest games of the season.  Where might they be if their third-string signal-caller could move the team to prominence rather than a record-low in playoff yardage?

As polished as any four-year starter, listen to some of his comments after the game:

* When asked about how he feels: "It's even better.  This is still an unreal feeling.  I'm glad we could do it for the seniors.  These guys have never won a bowl game.  Never won a championship in the four years they've been here.  This game was definitely for the seniors."

* When asked about being the starter in just three games, "I mean, just having faith in my teammates. I knew I didn't have to do too much going into this game.  Even though I had a couple of stupid turnovers.  Keeping faith in my teammates. Keeping faith in my defense.  And we got it done."

* (Of course we need to throw-in LeBron.) When asked about what LeBron said to him on the sideline, "Way to do it for the hometown.  This is something Cleveland can hang their hats on for another year and we need to get right back at it."

I'm not sure where life will take Cardale Jones.  I'm not sure if his head will get too big for his helmet or if he'll flutter away from our memory like Maurice Clarett and Terrelle Pryor.  I'm not sure he'll make it in the NFL should he decide that's his next opportunity, or even in Columbus past this season.  I just know that's as impressive of a run as we've witnessed in a long time from someone that we had never heard of one month earlier.  I know that beating a Badger team with a Heisman finalist on their roster followed by beating a Crimson Tide team with a Heisman finalist on their roster and finishing it off beating a Ducks team with the Heisman champion on their roster takes a team effort.  It's not done by accident or by luck.  Jones captained and steadied the Buckeyes and his astonishing string of performances is historical.  I wish him great success and health moving forward.  If these last six weeks are an indication, I think he'll be just fine.