In a defensive battle, Kyle McCord fought through some highs and plenty of lows against Penn State on Saturday.
That said, McCord did enough to help Ohio State secure its second top-10 win of the season after beating the Nittany Lions, 20-12, in Columbus.
In a matchup between two first-year starting quarterbacks, the showdown was expected to be a defensive battle, as Penn State and the Buckeyes had two of the best defenses in the country entering the weekend.
That it was, and McCord outplayed Nittany Lions sophomore quarterback Drew Allar. With the help of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Cade Stover, who combined for 15 catches, 232 yards and a touchdown, the Ohio State quarterback completed 22-of-35 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown. McCord's 22 completions in his seventh start of the season (eighth of his career) were a career-high.
After completing each of his first five passes to start the game, three of which were to Harrison, McCord suddenly lost his rhythm and threw six consecutive incompletions following the perfect start. He then completed six of his next eight attempts. To end the game, the junior quarterback completed 10 of his final 12 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, connecting on an 18-yard touchdown to Harrison on his final pass attempt of the game to give Ohio State a 14-point lead with just over four minutes remaining in the game.
McCord completed just four of eight passes for 55 yards in the second quarter but found his groove coming out of the halftime locker room. He completed 6-of-7 passes for 69 yards in the third quarter and followed that up by completing 5-of-7 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Much like McCord has throughout much of the season, he saved his best for the second half of the game. While he struggled at times with accuracy, locating the open receiver and pocket presence throughout the game (especially in the first half), McCord worked through that adversity in order to help the Buckeyes remain undefeated.
"I felt like early on, on that first drive, we did a pretty good job of moving the ball and made some plays," McCord said after the game. "For me at least, I just needed to ease into the pocket a little bit more. You know, obviously, they're a really good (defensive line) but I thought our (offensive line) did a really good job. ... I need to do a better job I think, early on, of just – I wouldn't say relaxing – but just staying calm in the pocket.
"The biggest thing was the confidence factor of it. Just the comfort level, too," McCord added. "I feel like our offense, we've definitely grown. I feel like we did a good job of moving the ball. ... For the most part, especially in the second half there, I feel like we were really moving the ball how we wanted to."
We charted all 35 passes to dive into how McCord performed in the big-time win over Penn State. (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 87.2 QBR against Penn State was the third-best in the Big Ten this past weekend, behind only Michigan's J.J. McCarthy (97.7) and Illinois' Luke Altmyer (88.7). It was also the 12th-best in the country. McCord's overall 87.1 QBR for the season is the fifth-best in the FBS through seven games.
While McCord only completed two of five passes (for 65 yards) thrown at least 20 yards through the air against Penn State, his deep passing is trending in a positive direction. The junior completed just 6-of-20 passes in that area for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the first four games of the season. Since that start, McCord has now completed 10-of-17 passes thrown 20-plus yards for 370 yards and two touchdowns in the last three weeks.
After struggling in the intermediate area of the field in the win over Purdue, completing just 2-of-6 throws between 10-19 yards down the field for 29 yards and a touchdown, McCord slightly improved in that area this past weekend, completing 4-of-8 passes for 69 yards in that area of the field. Through seven games, he has now completed 17 of 42 passes thrown in that area of the field. If Ohio State wants its passing attack to reach its full potential this season, McCord must continue to be more efficient in that area of the field.
For the first time in the last three games, though, he had more throws behind the line of scrimmage (six) than he did beyond 20 yards in the air (five). Part of that was due to Penn State's dominant defense and Ohio State's game plan, but McCord wasn’t as sharp overall against the Nittany Lions as he would have liked to have been.
"The sky's the limit for this offense and for this team,” McCord said after the game. “So I know, going back and watching the film, there's gonna be plays, obviously, I want back. I think there's good but then there are some things we got to clean up and I can only imagine how good this team is going to be once we really reach that peak potential.”
The good news is that Ohio State found a way to beat Penn State and remain undefeated. McCord had more noticeably bad throws than he had great throws Saturday afternoon in Columbus, but he still completed 62.9% of his passes against arguably the best defense in the country.
"There were some really good things. He kept battling in there and did enough for us to win. But I know we're gonna watch this film and there are still gonna be things we need to grow on and then things that we did well that we gotta enhance," Ryan Day said of McCord's performance. "I know we left a lot of plays on the field today on offense and we didn't execute well enough in certain areas."
Good Throw: 15-yard completion to Carnell Tate
Tate certainly made one heckuva diving catch, but McCord threw it to a spot where only his wide receiver could (and would) catch the ball.
Good Throw: 30-yard completion to Cade Stover
You. Got. Mossed.
Stover had an incredible catch, no doubt, but don't discount McCord's throw. With the safety lurking, he threw it in a spot where only his tight end could catch it.
ON YA HEAD. AIN'T THAT WHAT THEY DO? pic.twitter.com/h6JI3nNWVL
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 21, 2023
Bad Throw: Kyle McCord doesn’t see a wide-open Marvin Harrison Jr.
Harrison was wide open on a flat route and McCord completely missed him. The quarterback should have had two touchdowns on the day and Harrison should've had another 15 yards and an additional touchdown as well, but instead, McCord forced a throw to a covered Carnell Tate in the end zone.
Marvin Harrison Jr. running across the middle of the field wide open shouldve had 15 more yards and one more touchdown against Penn State.
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) October 23, 2023
Ohio State made a field goal two plays later to take a 3-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/NF3g2EbC3h
Bad Throw: Misses an open Marvin Harrison Jr. on a short out route
On what could have been an easy pitch-and-catch, McCord leads Harrison too far (and low) and the pass falls incomplete near the sideline.
Bad Throw: Misses too high and in front of Marvin Harrison Jr.
On what could have been yet another easy 10-or-so-yard gain, McCord misses an open Harrison on a short post route.
Bad Throw: Kyle McCord overthrows and misses high to Carnell Tate
Never miss high in the middle of the field. It's as simple as that. Hindsight is 20-20, but Julian Fleming was open on the far sideline, too, right next to Tate. While the pocket was collapsing, McCord must continue to make sure that he doesn't miss high on the seam route,
Bad Throw: Kyle McCord throws too high to Gee Scott Jr., almost intercepted
McCord needs to learn to throw this ball to where either Harrison catches it or the ball falls incomplete. Either way, the quarterback can't miss high in the middle
Seven games into his first year leading Ohio State's offense, McCord is still a work in progress but has completed nearly 64 percent of his passing attempts for nearly 2,000 yards. He’s had his share of what-if throws fall incomplete and even completions that were misthrown, but the junior quarterback has thrown only one interception so far this season, which came in the season opener at Indiana.
McCord's passing chart for the season through seven games:
