Former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones, now with the Buffalo Bills, entered the 2014 Big Ten championship as a relatively unknown commodity outside of "Notorious tweeter with a cannon for an arm."
Thrust into mop-up duty against Michigan when breakout redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett broke his ankle late in the fourth quarter, Jones entered the title fight having completed 10 of 17 throws for two touchdowns on the year.
In a way, it gave Ohio State the benefit of the unknown. Jim Tressel recruited Jones, who used a year at Fork Union Military (his roommate: New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas) to mature and put a year of separation between the jewel quarterback of the 2011 class, Huber Heights' five-star Braxton Miller.
According to Redditor LoadedPotatoSkins_, an r/CFB verified former Wisconsin player who played in the 2012 Rose Bowl loss to Oregon and the 2014 B1G championship, the Badgers relied on Jones' high school tape to prepare for the Buckeye gunslinger (trigger warning: football language ahead).
Cardale had literally a single throw on film before this game. We watched his high school shit to try and get ready.
Here is some of what they saw:
That obviously did not prepare Bucky for Jones' hellfire. In a previous post, Skins_ described the experience as a "night terror," delivering this fair analysis of the carnage:
Pretty simple. Zeke was being Zeke, and Devin Smith can fly.
He detailed the beating in another post:
In a more descriptive sense, we had no idea who the fuck Cardale Jones was. There was literally 1 snap of him throwing the ball at Ohio State. We watched film of him in high school so the DBs could get used to his throwing motion.
Once the game started, and we realized just how fucking far he could throw, and that Smith was faster than our entire secondary, I knew we were fucked. He could take the top off, force our safeties back and open up lanes the size of a dump truck for Zeke to run through.
Again, it's tough but biting analysis. As for the identity of LoadedPotatoSkins_, he lists his weight and height with an anecdote becoming of a Badger lineman [sic]:
Well I never played a regular season game in the NFL but I did play in college at Wisconsin, and at 6'8 315ish I could do a fifth of jager over a night and still be standing.
LoadedPotatoSkins_' mom is from Milwaukee, he is a New York Jets and New Jersey Devils fan, and his high school offense ran the Wing-T.
Have fun, sleuths.
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H/T: 11W member Aeronaut.
