Fans of the Ohio State football team have witnessed a string of quarterback play since Ryan Day arrived in Columbus that they have never witnessed before. Beginning with Dwayne Haskins in 2018 and continuing onto Justin Fields and then C.J. Stroud, the quarterback play in the Day offense has been outstanding. In fact, four of the top five single-season Ohio State passing records have been set during the Day offensive era.
Maybe that is one of the reasons why it seems like Ohio State fans have become impatient with Kyle McCord. It’s not like McCord’s numbers are terrible. In fact, if you remove the seasons produced by Haskins, Fields, and Stroud, McCord is on pace to finish the season with a total passing yardage that would compete with Joe Germaine’s 1998 and Bobby Joying’s 1995 seasons, which were the greatest passing Ohio State season’s off all time before Day arrived and changed the position at Ohio State forever.
You would think that Ohio State football fans wouldn’t have such short memories, or maybe the fanbase is just younger and wasn’t around for the years of three yards and a cloud of dust offensive philosophy. Either way, it has become apparent that fans are unhappy with the current offensive play at the quarterback position.
On The OHIO Podcast this past weekend, we addressed this topic.
Over the weekend, I held a fan poll on X in which I tried to explore this topic by forming the question in a way that allowed people to express how they truly view McCord’s performance thus far. The question stated: Ohio State is winning… 1. because of Kyle McCord, 2. with Kyle McCord, or 3. despite Kyle McCord.
As you can see by the results, only a couple of people think McCord is the reason the Buckeyes are winning. Overwhelmingly the fanbase feels like Ohio State is 9-0 with McCord or despite the quarterback play.
I predicted earlier in the off-season that the 2023 version of the Ohio State football team may resemble the 2002 National Championship team more than the 2014 Buckeyes simply because I believed the defense would be the reason why this team would win.
So far, I have been correct in my early predictions, and while the defense definitely has been the main reason why the Buckeyes are undefeated and currently ranked first in the College Football Playoff rankings, McCord has reminded some of the gutsy play Craig Krenzel had in that 2002 season.
While McCord’s game hasn’t been that of his predecessor, his numbers are actually comparable to Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, which was pointed out in a recent tweet by THE Bunch of Nut Podcast.
Whether you believe McCord is serviceable or not, at this point, Day is going to ride or die with him under center for the remainder of the season. Next season McCord may develop into the next first draft pick, or he may not. But as for this season, he is all we have, so we might as well cheer him on.
