COLUMBUS – Ohio State’s offense with Cardale Jones at the controls is a bit like the big quarterback himself: Slow to start but difficult to stop.
“I’m not as quick as J.T. [Barrett] but I’m hard to tackle. It takes about 10-12 yards for my speed to kick in,” he said after OSU’s 28-14 win over Big Ten rival Minnesota Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, eliciting a laugh from reporters.
The Buckeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) struggled with Jones back at quarterback in place of the suspended Barrett, but got a solid performance by their defense and just enough from everyone else to win their 22nd in a row.
Ezekiel Elliott ran 15 yards for a touchdown on Ohio State’s only lengthy drive, and the top-ranked Buckeyes weathered Minnesota’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
“We expect to play better. I hate to say that because that sometimes sounds like we’re taking away from our opponent, because they’re a pretty rugged group,” said head coach Urban Meyer. “But just expect much more efficiency out of our offense.”
Up next for the Buckeyes: A game at Illinois (Sat., Nov. 14/Noon/ABC) followed by the two teams from the state up north — No. 6 Michigan State and No. 16 Michigan.
Minnesota (4-5, 1-4) managed only 110 yards through three quarters before getting Mitch Leidner’s two touchdown passes, the last with 2:10 to go. The onside kick went out of bounds, and Jones ran 38 yards untouched for a touchdown off a fake handoff to clinch the victory in front of 108,075 fans, the fourth-largest in Ohio Stadium history.
Notes: No FBS team has won more games in a coach’s first 50 games at a school than Ohio State and Meyer (47-3)…Elliot is now fourth in school history with 3,384 career rushing yards, passing “Beanie” Wells.