Wiedmer: Too bad Jets don't have Buckeyes' quarterbacks

Ohio State's Cardale Jones warms up before the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Oregon on Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.
Ohio State's Cardale Jones warms up before the NCAA college football playoff championship game against Oregon on Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, in Arlington, Texas.

If only the New York Jets had the Ohio State Buckeyes' stable of quarterbacks.

In case you missed this from Tuesday's sports news, Jets quarterback Geno Smith is out of action for six to 10 weeks after a teammate broke his jaw in two places over $600. Reserve linebacker IK Enemkpali believed Smith owed him that money for a plane ticket that Enemkpali purchased for Smith to work a youth football camp in Texas, but Smith attended the funeral of a friend in Florida instead of the camp.

Never mind that the Jets almost immediately released the linebacker, who was a sixth-round draft pick in 2014 out of Louisiana Tech.

Or that Jets coach Todd Bowles rightly labeled the action "very childish nothing to do with football you don't walk up to a man and punch him in the face."

All that may well be true, as is the belief from some corners that journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick actually might improve the Jets' offense, if only for all that nifty play-calling floating around in his Harvard-educated brain.

photo FILE - in this Nov. 16, 2013, file photo, Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller (5) runs against Illinois during an NCAA college football game in Champaign, Ill. Miller is shifting from quarterback to receiver, whittling Ohio State's QB competition to two star passers. Miller told SI.com on Thursday night, July 23, that he plans to start the season in the H-back position and also hopes to return punts. He had surgery to repair of torn labrum in his throwing shoulder before the start of last season. (AP Photo/Jeff Haynes, File)
photo Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett throws a pass against Michigan during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

But the bigger point is, the defending national champion Buckeyes actually may have so many quarterbacks on their roster potentially better than Smith that one of them - 2014 preseason Heisman Trophy favorite Braxton Miller - has moved to wide receiver for OSU's upcoming season.

In his place, supposedly running neck-and-neck for No. 1, are Cardale Jones - who broke Alabama's heart in last year's national semifinal game - and J.T. Barrett, who was the QB most responsible for getting the Buckeyes to that title game after Miller went down at the start of the season before Barrett himself was injured.

In fact, the OSU quarterback race between Barrett and Jones is so tight that Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer flipped a coin to see which QB would run with the starters early in training camp (Jones won) and figures to remain so close that the coach said earlier this week, "We won't announce anything until the first guy takes the field against Virginia Tech (in the season opener)."

But given all the other weapons that Ohio State returns - projected All-Americans at running back (Ezekiel Elliott) and defensive end (Joey Bosa) - top-flight linebackers and defensive backs (including Ridgeland High graduate Vonn Bell, who made a key interception against Bama) and Meyer to sort it all out, it's difficult to see the Buckeyes doing anything but returning to college football's Final Four on New Year's Eve.

That said, they are not a lock, not with under-appreciated Michigan State coming to Columbus on Nov. 21, followed by a visit to Jim Harbaugh's menacing Michigan Wolverines the following week, with an expected trip to the Big Ten title game the week after that. With a schedule like that to close the year, you'd think these guys were playing in the Southeastern Conference or something.

And speaking of the SEC, can anyone, Alabama included, possibly foil the Buckeyes' goal to repeat? Is everyone else playing for second? Is Meyer about to top the Crimson Tide's Nick Saban as college football's perceived clipboard king?

Sad to say for Bama Nation, if anyone figures to have both the offense and defense needed to dethrone OSU, it would seem to be Auburn with its offensive genius of a head coach in Gus Malzahn and its defensive guru in Will Muschamp.

The Tigers nearly denied Florida State a national title two years ago with a serviceable defense. With Muschamp running that side of the ball, Auburn just might be stingy enough to cause Meyer a bit of heartburn.

As there always are this time of year, there are rumors that the Pac-12 might have a title contender in Southern Cal. Either Florida State or Georgia Tech might advance to the football's final four out of the ACC. Baylor, Oklahoma and TCU may all make a case for the fortunate four, at least until they beat each other head to head.

So who gets there? If the four teams had to be picked today, a quartet of Ohio State, Auburn, TCU and Southern Cal sounds about right. Then an Auburn-OSU national championship game. At that point, great as the SEC is, it's tough to go against the Urban Legend and his brutish Buckeyes repeating as champs.

After all, no other football team, college or pro, could lose its starting quarterback for six to 10 weeks to a broken jaw and replace him with not one but two potential Heisman candidates with the flip of a coin.

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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