COLUMBUS — A two-quarterback system with a setup man and a closer. 

All-black uniforms. 

What’s next at Ohio State? A game on Mars?

With the top-ranked Buckeyes dressed head to toe in black, their strange but riveting season will continue Saturday night at Ohio Stadium with two lead characters at quarterback. 

After a successful trial run in top-ranked Buckeyes’ 49-28 win against Maryland last weekend, coach Urban Meyer said he is sticking with Cardale Jones as the starter and the more mobile J.T. Barrett as the red-zone specialist against Penn State (5-1, 2-0 Big Ten) — and maybe for much longer. 

Is the dual arrangement permanent?

“I think so,” Meyer said on Monday. “But I’m not writing it in Sharpie yet. We’ll see how it goes.”

The Buckeyes’ two-headed creation will now be put to a bigger test on Saturday.

It is one thing to breeze past a team that could not stop a Maryland roster of scarecrows and another to knife through a Penn State defense ranked 10th nationally, allowing 275.7 yards per game.

Ohio State needed two overtimes to beat the Nittany Lions 31-24 in Happy Valley last year. 

But Meyer thinks the Buckeyes (6-0, 2-0) are on to something, exploiting Jones’ potent, field-stretching arm to set the table for the dual-threat Barrett, whose more precise passing and ability in the option run game come in handy when space is tighter. 

Meyer made them co-players of the game against Maryland.

Jones completed 21 of 28 passes for a career-high 291 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers while Barrett ran for three scores, proving — for one day — a cure-all for the Buckeyes’ demons in the red zone.

After scoring touchdowns on only 6 of 16 trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line in the first five weeks, they punched in all six of their forays against the Terrapins.

Barrett was on the field for five of them. 

“To see [Barrett] and his energy — and he’s a good player — he gives us that extra threat,” Meyer said. “Cardale can certainly run, but when you have that threat, you saw it Saturday. You have to defend that now.”

Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tim Beck said Barrett’s legs are invaluable near the goal line.

Last year, with Barrett as their record-setting starter for most of the season, the Buckeyes reached the end zone on 72 percent of their red-zone trips. 

“In the red zone, the windows are smaller and things happen faster,” Beck said. “You’ve got to anticipate those, you’ve got to put the [ball] in areas where our guys can get them and nobody else. There’s less space and less room for a receiver to work.

“I feel like what happens is when you establish a dual-threat presence, sometimes it changes the coverages, which now allows some single, one-on-one type things as opposed to trying to fit it in tight zone windows.”

It is natural to wonder if installing Barrett as the red-zone quarterback is a way to ease him into the full-time starting job.

The age-old adage tells coaches if they have two quarterbacks, they have none. But Meyer insisted that is not the case, saying, “For J.T. to be the quarterback, he’s got to beat Cardale out.”

Just like Meyer deployed Tim Tebow as a goal-line bruiser on Florida’s national championship team in 2006, he believes a two-quarterback system with clearly defined roles could be a similar hit.

Jones, who in the preseason spoke out against a possible platoon, said he agreed with the new setup. 

“Obviously it’s not easy,” Beck said.

“But [Jones and Barrett] are both great players, great friends, great competitors, and they each bring something to the table.”

UM WATCH: Guess who is glad to see Michigan nationally relevant again. 

Its biggest rival. 

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith called the Wolverines’ rapid rise under new coach Jim Harbaugh a “good thing for college football.” The Buckeyes have won 13 of their last 15 games against Michigan (5-1, 2-0). 

“To think that they wouldn’t be successful with the right type of leader would be naive on our part,” Smith said. “So I’ve always thought one day they’d be back in the game. It’s good for the rivalry, good for the league. Any time any of our competitors are excelling and we ultimately beat them, that’s a good thing.”

Contact David Briggs at: dbriggs@theblade.com, 419-724-6084 or on Twitter @DBriggsBlade.

First Published October 13, 2015, 4:00 a.m.