Throw-by-Throw Breakdown of Kyle McCord’s Performance in Ohio State’s Win Over Youngstown State

In McCord's most efficient game of his Ohio State career thus far, the junior likely secured the starting job going forward with his performance in the home opener, completing 14 of 20 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns in the Buckeyes' 35-7 win over Youngstown State.

One week after McCord didn't throw a touchdown in the season opener, Saturday featured his most pass completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns in any game through 14 appearances (three starts) of his career to date. In fact, his three touchdowns were as many as he had in his previous 13 games combined.

“Any time you can get that start under your belt, and especially get a win against a good Big Ten team like Indiana, it’s good for sure," McCord said after the win. “And then you use that confidence and that experience you got from that first week and carry it on to the second week. Now the goal is to use what I learned this week and carry it onto next week and keep that train rolling.

“First start of a new year, a season opener on the road, Big Ten team – there's a lot that goes into it. And I wouldn't necessarily call them distractions, but there's just a lot of things that go into that game, and once you get that game over with, got the win and then got into the flow of a normal week with a practice schedule and then know our routine and just kind of eased into it a little bit more ... I think definitely the emotions were just more calm more than anything, I feel like, so I think that definitely helps in the long run.”

Whether it was learning from the first game of the season, being more comfortable or just the fact that the Buckeyes were back home in Ohio Stadium, McCord had a calmer demeanor in Week 2. While he wasn’t perfect, none of his throws led to a turnover and he had much more good than bad Saturday afternoon against the Penguins.

Part of the reason for that was the opponent, but it was also due to the fact that McCord got into a rhythm with his top playmakers. After Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka combined for just five catches for 34 yards in the season opener, the two got back to their usual ways against Youngstown State as Harrison finished with seven receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns and Egbuka had five catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. In all, eight players caught at least one pass against Youngstown State.

Here’s a passing chart that breaks down McCord’s production when throwing the ball to each area of the field. Plays are categorized by how many yards McCord threw the ball in the air past the line of scrimmage 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.

The throw-by-throw breakdown of what happened on each of his 20 passes, in chronological order, with some GIFs and additional commentary mixed within:

• Throw 1, 6-yard completion: McCord finds Xavier Johnson in the backfield for an easy six-yard gain on the first pass of the game.
• Throw 2, 71-yard touchdown: Harrison gets behind the defense and McCord finds him for an easy touchdown toss.

We understand they may have done this a time or two in high school. @kylemccord16 @MarvHarrisonJr = @OhioStateFB TD

: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/dLv92VTOz6

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 9, 2023

• Throw 3, 4-yard completion: Play action, Harrison crosses the field for an easy four-yard catch from McCord on first down.
• Throw 4, 5-yard completion: Another easy completion for McCord behind the line of scrimmage, this one being a five-yard pass to Henderson.
• Throw 5, Incomplete: The Youngstown State defender makes a good play to get in front of Emeka Egbuka for the pass breakup.
• Throw 6, 8-yard completion: McCord connects with Harrison once again for eight yards.
• Throw 7, 24-yard completion: Play action, McCord throws to Egbuka on a stop route and Egbuka makes a great one-on-one move to gain more yardage.
• Throw 8, 39-yard touchdown: Play action, McCord moves to the right, lobs one to the end zone and Harrison readjusts and catches the touchdown pass.

Again

Kyle McCord finds Marvin Harrison Jr. for their second TD connection of the first quarter.

: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/pwmpJrhcZF

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 9, 2023

• Throw 9, Incomplete: McCord throws the ball into double coverage and it gets broken up.
• Throw 10, 21-yard completion: McCord finds Harrison in the middle of the field for 21 yards on 3rd-and-9 deep in Ohio State territory.
• Throw 11, 9-yard completion: McCord completes a tough throw from the near hash to the far sideline to Harrison on a comeback route.

• Throw 12, Incomplete: Egbuka is open in the middle of the field but McCord's pass gets knocked down at the line of scrimmage.
• Throw 13, 17-yard completion: McCord finds Egbuka open in the flat and the receiver runs for a first down
• Throw 14, 8-yard completion: Harrison gets open near the sideline for an easy eight-yard reception.
• Throw 15, 28-yard touchdown: Egbuka is wide open in the flat on fourth-and-2, makes one move, and runs for a touchdown thanks to some tremendous blocking by other receivers.

Both of @OhioStateFB standout WRs have visited the end zone now. @emeka_egbuka takes the short 4th-and-1 pass in for 6.

: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/0lHvaKaO81

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 9, 2023

• Throw 16, 13-yard completion: McCord throws to Henderson on a screen pass and the running back runs for a first down.
• Throw 17, Incomplete: McCord finds Harrison nearly 20 yards down the field but leads him a bit too far and the receiver can't get a foot down before going out of bounds.
• Throw 18, Incomplete: Harrison drops a would-be first down catch in the middle of the field after being hit as soon as the pass hits his hands.
• Throw 19, 5-yard completion: Play action, McCord and Fleming connect for an easy five-yard reception.
• Throw 20, Incomplete: McCord throws behind Harrison on a 20-yard throw to the right sideline, resulting in a pass breakup.

Following his impressive performance against Youngstown State, McCord has now completed 34 of 53 passes for 497 yards, three touchdowns and an interception through two games this season, good for a 157.8 passer rating. Against Indiana, he struggled to get anything going more than 20 yards downfield; against the Penguins, he was much more successful as a deep passer but did not complete any intermediate passes of 10-19 yards downfield, where he is now just 1-of-10 this season.

McCord has been at his best on play-action passes, completing 12-of-13 passes for 210 yards, one touchdown and one interception off of play action, including a perfect 4-for-4 for 72 yards and a touchdown against Youngstown State.

Devin Brown also saw his first extended playing time as an Ohio State quarterback against Youngstown State but was less successful than McCord, completing only seven of his 13 passing attempts for 103 yards. While he had some impressive throws and made some plays with his legs, Brown also had some bad misses on both short and intermediate passes.

With a ranked matchup against Notre Dame in South Bend looming in less than two weeks, Ohio State needs to decide on a full-time starting quarterback sooner than later, and McCord performed well enough on Saturday to give Ryan Day serious reason to consider naming him the starter this week before Ohio State’s third game of the season against Western Kentucky.

“It’s not up to me. That’s a question for Coach Day,” McCord said when asked if he thought he had done enough to wrap up the starting job. “The only thing I'm worried about is whenever I'm on the field, just making the most out of my opportunities. And if that's every single drive, then that's great. If it's every other drive, it’s great. If it's one drive, it's great. Whatever opportunities I get, I'm gonna try and make the most out of them.”