INDIANAPOLIS — Ohio State co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tom Herman stood on the field at Lucas Oil Stadium, confetti falling from the rafters, wrapped his arms around his starting quarterback Cardale Jones and whispered something in his ear.
The embrace wasn't overly long — five or 10 seconds. But it was a special moment. It was a quarterback and his coach.
“We were proud of him. We knew he had it in him and we didn’t doubt him for a second," Herman said of the exchange. "We’ve been through a lot in my time here and his time here and so to see him go out and do what he did was a lot of joy on our part, a lot of pride on our part and I’m just happy for him.”
It all happened after the Buckeyes had just routed Wisconsin, 59-0, to win the Big Ten championship.
Jones had been named the game's MVP as he threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns while completing 12 of his 17 pass attempts as he carved up the Badgers secondary with scoring throws of 39, 44 and 42 yards.
"It was very fun going out there showing everybody what we can do when we all come together as one," Jones said. "This is the first time I think we played as a nine-unit strong all the way across, from the kicking game to offense to defense. It was a great game plan executed by the players."
Jones wasn't supposed to be here, though.
Twelve days before Ohio State's season began, he was third on the team's depth chart. Then, starting quarterback Braxton Miller suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. As a result, Jones moved into the backup role.
He spent most of his year there, too, backing up J.T. Barrett as he broke just about every Ohio State single-season record in the book in a Heisman-worthy campaign. But on the very first play of the fourth quarter in last week's win over Michigan, Barrett too was lost for the season due to injury.
That's where Jones came in. He finished out the win against the Wolverines and then Saturday night, with the whole country watching, Jones shined brightest as the MVP of the Big Ten championship game.
"He's one of the most improved players I've ever been around," head coach Urban Meyer said of Jones. "You have to give credit to Cardale's support group at home. Obviously he played for one of the best high school coaches in the history of the high school game in coach (Ted) Ginn."
It remains to be seen if Jones' performance will be enough for Ohio State to make the first-ever College Football Playoff. But one thing is for certain — he was the MVP of the 2014 Big Ten championship game and nobody can ever take that away from him.
"I played with confidence because of the confidence my teammates had in me, the confidence my coaches had in me, my family, close friends and Buckeye Nation," Jones said. "Without a chip on my shoulder, not as much as the confidence that my teammates and my coaches had in myself."
“He delivered just like I thought he would," Herman added. "We worked all week to make sure that his confidence level was up, that he prepared like a pro, which he did. He did all those things and when you do all those things it fills you with confidence."
