Buckeyes HC Ryan Day 'Shared the Story' of Cardale Jones To This Year's Team

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was in the midst of the toughest coaching job he has had to execute to date. This year, his team was clearly and obviously not as good as they have been in years past, but his schedule was the hardest it has ever been.

Week by week, he had the Buckeyes methodically working their way through the year, going one week at a time. They slipped up against Texas but looked great against Illinois, looked sharp against Iowa, and didn't look good against Indiana, but they got the job done.

His job got much harder when his quarterback, Julian Sayin, took a big hit on his right elbow and is likely going to miss the rest of the season due to his injury. 

That obviously changes the math on the year. Day's challenge for this year went from hard to nearly impossible as now he is tasked with having to take this team through the Playoffs to a National Championship.

To do that, he is going to have to go on the back of one of his young players, either Luke Fahey or Tavien St. Clair. The true freshman Fahey beat out St. Clair during the season so far, but the Buckeyes are now set to reevaluate the entire situation.

Whoever comes out of the bye week on top is going to be the guy for the Buckeyes for the rest of the year and will have the responsibility of leading the Buckeyes to a playoff run and a National Championship.

To get that job done, the Ohio State head coach shared with the team the story of Cardale Jones and the 2014 Buckeyes. Jones was the backup quarterback who was thrust into action when JT Barrett broke his ankle against the Michigan Wolverines. 

The Buckeyes never broke stride, and Jones, on the power of his rocket arm, went on to win the National Championship.

It is hard to believe that season was 12 years ago, and a lot of these kids were between the ages of 6 and 10. I'm sure a lot of them have little to no memory of the playoff run, but they do now. 

Now, they are all living in it and Day isn't going to let them forget it. 

The scenario is similar, but the circumstances are totally different. Jones was a veteran player at that point who, in today's day and age, would have long since transferred away. Regardless, Ohio State has its back against the wall and will lean back on the past to try and get it done.