Cardale Jones' Performance vs. Wisconsin Will Decide Ohio State's Playoff Hopes

Ohio State's playoff hopes were broken as soon as J.T. Barrett's ankle was. 

At least that's the common perception. 

The selection committee's job is to determine the best teams moving forward. Sure, the Buckeyes have won 10 in a row and scored 40 points in eight of those games, including a 49-37 thrashing of No. 8 Michigan State. But losing one of the most dynamic players in America at the most important position on the field changes things significantly. 

OSU is an unknown entity without Barrett, and with several teams deserving of the top four spots, the selection committee will find it difficult to advocate rolling the dice on the Buckeyes, who feature such a glaring variable. 

Fortunately for Urban Meyer, whose playoff hopes were already falsely terminated twice this season (once after Braxton Miller's injury, another after Barrett looked terrible in a loss against Virginia Tech), he still has a week to convince the committee of his team's merits for the top four.

Or perhaps more accurately, Cardale Jones has a week to do the convincing. 

The odds are stacked against him. He's a sophomore with 19 career pass attempts and very little game experience. Even Barrett, who we now know is as talented as anyone in the country, struggled to quickly acclimate when he was thrown into the fire. 

But Jones is no slouch. He's 6'5" and 250 pounds with athleticism and a rocket arm. While he isn't as quick, elusive or as accurate as Barrett, he is a physical, dynamic threat who can thrive in Meyer's offense. 

GAIL BURTON/Associated Press

"Cardale is a great player," Barrett said, via ESPN.com's Austin Ward. "I honestly feel like if I wasn't starting this year, Cardale would have done the same things I did this year. Cardale is that talented. He definitely can do it."

While that's pretty basic teammate-speak, Jones has the perfect stage to put his talent on display. 

No. 12 Wisconsin, one of the hottest teams in the country, has won seven in a row and allowed just 17.6 points per game over that span. The game is also on a neutral field, and it's an opponent Ohio State has yet to play this season. 

The Buckeyes were already expected to leap-frog into the top four with a Big Ten championship win, which would vault them to 12-1. If Jones lights up the Badgers and leads his team to a statement win in arguably its second-most difficult game of the season, that's enough proof to suggest a major drop-off just isn't coming. 

Whether or not that happens is a different question entirely. But let's not erase Ohio State's playoff hopes quite yet.