Even the rain, dropped passes and constant pressure couldn't get to Kyle McCord Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette.
McCord's sixth start of the season (and seventh of his career) in West Lafayette was likely his best, at least in terms of an entire four quarters of work.
Even with five dropped passes mixed in, including a few by Marvin Harrison Jr. which likely will never happen again, McCord still completed 16-of-28 passes for 276 yards and a career-high-tying three touchdowns in the 41-7 win over Purdue. He connected with six different receivers in a game Ohio State was without its second-best wide receiver, as Emeka Egbuka didn't make the trip to Purdue following an injury in the prior game against Maryland.
After throwing two straight incompletions to start the game, McCord completed eight of his next 12 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown. Finding Harrison was clearly a priority Saturday afternoon as six of McCord's first seven passes were targeted at the best receiver in college football. McCord then completed seven of his final 10 passes of the game for 151 yards and a touchdown to secure the blowout win.
While McCord seemed to throw off his back foot far too often, part of that was due to the fact that Purdue blitzed on 80% of his dropbacks, per PFF. McCord completed 11-of-23 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz. Four of the 12 incompletions were drops, too. It's something that he must improve on moving forward, but dealing with that constant pressure and adjusting to it throughout the game was vital to McCord's success throughout the game at Purdue.
We charted all 28 passes to dive into how McCord performed in the win over the Boilermakers. (Note: The passing chart is 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.)
McCord's 88.4 QBR against Purdue was the best in the Big Ten this past week. His 87.2 QBR through six games this season is the second-best in the conference, behind only Michigan's J.J. McCarthy (92.6), and is sixth in the country.
McCord continued to do well throwing the ball 20 yards or more downfield, building off his momentum from the Maryland game the previous week. Against the Boilermakers, he completed three of his six passes thrown at least 20 yards in the air for 112 total yards. After completing just 6-of-20 passes in that area for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the first four games of the season, McCord has now completed 8-of-12 deep passes for 305 yards and two touchdowns over the last two weeks.
The win over Purdue was the second consecutive game McCord had more throws beyond 20 yards in the air (six) than he did behind the line of scrimmage (three), proving yet again that he isn't checking down as often as he did earlier in the season. For comparison's sake, 20 of his first 113 passes through the first four games of the season were thrown behind the line of scrimmage.
While being more aggressive in throwing the ball downfield, McCord continued to struggle in the intermediate area of the field. He completed just 2-of-6 passes for 29 yards and a touchdown on passes between 10-19 yards downfield against the Boilermakers. Through six games this season, McCord has now completed just 13-of-34 passes between 10-19 yards in the air. If Ohio State wants its passing attack to reach its full potential this season, McCord needs to become more efficient in that area of the field.
Good Throw: 34-yard completion to Marvin Harrison Jr. between two defenders
While Harrison certainly made a superb catch in order to bring this in, don't discount McCord's throw, either. He threw it exactly where it needed to be and got Harrison going early.
yeah, ok, sure.pic.twitter.com/DyScXldy3M
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 14, 2023
Good Throw: An absolute dart to Cade Stover for a 4-yard touchdown
Talk about throwing one heckuva throw with both speed and accuracy. Stover made it look easier, for sure, but this was a great touchdown connection.
Good Throw: 55-yard completion to Carnell Tate deep down the field
McCord’s timing on this throw was perfect as he threw the ball right on time as Tate broke open over the middle of the field. A touchdown would have been nice, but the fact that McCord's throw hit Tate in stride is great.
Bad Throw: Too high for an open Marvin Harrison Jr.
Harrison’s drops didn‘t help McCord’s stat line on Saturday, but the quarterback didn't do his receiver any favors here, either. McCord was running away from pressure, which made the throw more off-balance than usual, but this should have been a 20-yard completion.
Bad Throw: Tries to throw between three defenders to Xavier Johnson
Not really sure what McCord saw here. He's just lucky it didn't get intercepted.
Bad Throw: Overthrows Marvin Harrison Jr. near the sideline
This would have been a wonderful time for a back-shoulder throw, especially with the safety helping over top, but McCord threw it in a place where none of the defenders could reach it, which is a positive aspect to take away from this.
Bad Throw: Overthrows Julian Fleming on a would-be touchdown
The pressure directly in front of McCord certainly played a role in this incompletion, but he missed a would-be 36-yard touchdown pass here. I'm sure McCord would love to have this one back.
Six games into his first year leading Ohio State's offense, McCord certainly hasn't been perfect but has continued to show improvement. He’s had his share of what-if throws fall incomplete, but in a big positive, the junior quarterback has thrown only one interception through the first half of the regular season.
McCord's passing chart for the season through six games:
