Ryan Day’s starting quarterbacks at Ohio State weren’t built in one game.
Kyle McCord's season-opening performance in his second career start certainly didn't end with any eye-popping numbers. But at the end of the day, the junior did enough to win his first game after being named Ohio State's starting quarterback to open the season.
McCord's stats in the season opener – 20-of-33, 239 yards and an interception with no touchdowns – left plenty of room for improvement and also left the door open for the quarterback competition with Devin Brown to continue for another week. But it appears as though Ryan Day and company are going to be patient, or at least patient enough as of right now until the Buckeyes travel to South Bend to take on Notre Dame in a little over two weeks. Named the starter once again for Ohio State's home opener against Youngstown State this Saturday, McCord will have another opportunity to prove that he is, in fact, QB1 for this season.
“I think we both felt the same way. There were some good moments, some good throws. Some other things that you wish you had back,” Day said Tuesday of McCord’s performance against Indiana. “When you look at first-time starters here in the past, that was probably similar.
"There were a lot of things to learn from and some good throws as well. It was good enough to win in this game, which was the most important thing ... it won’t be good enough moving forward to reach our goals.”
McCord's performance in the first game of the season featured some good, some bad and some ugly, but it was the good plays that gave Day hope going forward that the mistakes can be fixed. While McCord only completed two of 10 passing attempts over 10 yards through the air, he was also an efficient 8-of-11 for 138 yards on play-action passes.
With that, we decided to take a look back at how Dwyane Haskins, Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud performed in their first season openers after being named the starting quarterback and how those performances compared to McCord’s start on Saturday. (Note: The passing charts are categorized by how many yards the quarterback threw the ball in the air past the line of scrimmage on each attempt and whether the ball reached its target inside or outside the hashes, though the stats listed include yards gained after the catch on each completion.)
C.J. Stroud
Stroud appeared in just one game and didn't attempt a pass during his first season in Columbus. Then, in 2021, he won the starting job over McCord and Jack Miller. Stroud completed 13 of 22 passes for 294 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in the season opener at Minnesota that season. Like McCord, Stroud had much more success in that game on throws within nine yards of the line of scrimmage (10-of-12) than on throws of 10 or more yards through the air (3-of-10).
Given Stroud's inconsistencies in the first three games of that season – 63 of 101 passes for 963 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions – there were people clamoring for McCord to take the starting job after the latter filled in for an injured Stroud against Akron and completed 13 of 18 passes for 319 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Day stuck with Stroud, though, and the rest is history, as the quarterback threw for 4,435 yards, 44 touchdowns and six interceptions and finished fourth in Heisman voting following his first season as Ohio State's starter. He went on to become the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft after his second year as the starter.
Justin Fields
After transferring to Ohio State from Georgia following his freshman season, Fields won the starting job in his first year as a Buckeye. In an impressive Ohio State debut against Florida Atlantic, Fields completed 18 of 25 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns, showing plenty of ability to make plays as a downfield passer by completing seven of his 11 passing attempts of 10+ yards for 129 yards and four touchdowns.
Fields went on to throw for 3,273 yards, 41 touchdowns and three interceptions and also ran for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns during his first season leading Ohio State's offense. He led the Buckeyes to a 13-1 record and finished third in Heisman voting that season before eventually being selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Dwayne Haskins
While backing up J.T. Barrett, Haskins appeared in eight games in 2018, completing 40 of 57 passes for 565 yards, four touchdowns and one interception, including an efficient 6-of-7 for 94 yards against Michigan while filling in for an injured Barrett.
He was given the keys to Ohio State's offense in 2018, leading the Buckeyes to a 13-1 record that included a win over Washington in the Rose Bowl. In his first start in OSU's season-opening win over Oregon State, Haskins completed 22 of 30 passes for five touchdowns and one interception. While Haskins would become known for his deep passing ability, his first game as a starter featured far more completions within nine yards of the line of scrimmage than deep balls, as 18 of his 22 completions were thrown nine yards or fewer past the line of scrimmage.
Haskins broke the school records for single-season passing yards and touchdowns with 4,831 and 50, marks that still stand as Big Ten records, in his lone season as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. The late, great quarterback finished third in Heisman voting and was selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Day has coached a Heisman finalist at quarterback in four of the past five seasons, and each of Ohio State's last three quarterbacks have been top-15 picks in the NFL draft, so there’s reason for optimism that the Buckeyes’ quarterback play over the rest of the season will be far better than it was in Week 1. While McCord's performance in the season opener left plenty to be desired, he still has a chance to have a very good first season leading the Buckeye offense, just like the three previous OSU quarterbacks did.
