Kyle McCord had quite a bounce-back game this past weekend.
One week after having arguably the worst game of his career, McCord put that behind him and had the most efficient game of his career at Rutgers on Saturday afternoon. He completed 73.1% of his passes during the Buckeyes' 35-16 win in Piscataway while throwing for a career-low 189 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.
McCord began the game by completing his first 11 pass attempts (for 64 yards). Those, paired with him completing all seven of his passes in the second half of Ohio State's win at Wisconsin last week, gave him an Ohio State record 18 consecutive completions.
After throwing 11 straight completions to begin the game, McCord only completed one of his next five throws, a span that included an interception. He worked through those struggles, though, and completed seven of his final 10 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
Those seven incompletions included a few drops, which Ryan Day commented on but isn't too worried about ... yet. It is something that he knows must be addressed, though.
"We're not used to seeing that the last couple of years ... but we always say, 'Throw it better, catch it better,'" Day said after the game.
While McCord seemed to use his checkdown option more often than usual Saturday afternoon at Rutgers, it was part of the game plan, or at least the adjustment that Ohio State made. It was due to the fact the Scarlet Knights lined up with two safeties about 20-25 yards downfield the majority of the game, taking away the deep ball and keeping everything in front of them.
“At halftime, we realized we've got to be patient enough to run the ball all the way down the field. ... Then we also have to check the ball down and take the underneath stuff,” Day said. “I thought Kyle did a good job of that in the second half.”
There's a reason TreVeyon Henderson dominated as much as he did for the second straight game, both as a runner and as a pass-catcher. Rutgers clearly wanted to keep Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and the rest of Ohio State's receivers in check while forcing the Buckeyes to have methodical drives rather than big plays.
To dive into how McCord performed in the 19-point win at Rutgers, we charted all 26 of his official passing attempts in the game. (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 79.8 QBR in Piscataway was the third-best in the Big Ten (No. 27 in the country) this past weekend, behind only Penn State's Drew Allar (96.9) and Maryland's Taulia Tagovailoa (80.3). Nine games into the season, McCord's 82.8 QBR is the second-best in the Big Ten, behind only Michigan's J.J. McCarthy (92.3) and the ninth-best mark in the country.
Much like the game at Wisconsin the week prior, when McCord threw just four of his 26 passes beyond 20 yards, that trend continued against Rutgers, as he threw only one of his 26 passes beyond 20 yards against the Scarlet Knights, by far his fewest of the season. Three-fourths of the way through the regular season, McCord has now completed 18-of-42 passes (42.9%) thrown 20-plus yards for 700 yards and six touchdowns.
While McCord only completed three of six passes for 52 yards and a touchdown in the intermediate part of the field against Rutgers, the area where he has needed to improve throughout much of the season, he has continued to make improvements throwing the ball between 10-19 yards. Through nine games, he has completed 26-of-58 passes (44.8%) of his intermediate passes for 476 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions.
While this is true for many quarterbacks throughout the country, McCord has thrived within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. After he completed 15-of-18 throws (83.3%) between 0-9 yards for 134 yards and two touchdowns against Rutgers, McCord has completed 92-of-119 passes (77.3%) for 955 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions in that area of the field this season. As that proves, the quarterback just has to get the ball to Ohio State's loaded group of skill players and allow them to make plays with the ball in their hands, no matter where it is on the field.
Good throw: McCord connects with Marvin for a 4-yard TD
When it comes to connecting with the best receiver in college football, just throw it up to him and he'll do the rest of the work. That's exactly what Harrison did for his first touchdown of the game on Saturday.
Magnificent! Magnificent! pic.twitter.com/uubdk2jwvl
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 4, 2023
Good throw: McCord finds Harrison for a 2-yard TD
There's just something about a well-throw back-shoulder pass that is so great to watch.
Make it 2 for Marvin Harrison Jr. pic.twitter.com/w6Ftgf9kwR
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 4, 2023
Bad read: McCord misses a wide-open Harrison
This is just looking at things very closely and there's certainly nothing wrong with throwing it to Henderson here. That said, a completion to Harrison would've gained more yards and was in the same field of vision.
Bad throw: McCord throws an easy interception
Throws like this just can't happen. McCord was able to work through it, but this type of turnover is just way too easy for the defense, as McCord failed to see Rutgers linebacker Mohamed Toure drop into coverage and threw the ball right to him.
McCord still has some obvious improvements to make with just three regular-season games remaining in order for the offense to reach its full potential by season's end, but the first-year starter has shown glimpses of great quarterback play. He must continue to improve on his downfield accuracy and pocket presence, but McCord has completed 167-of-257 passes for 2,352 yards, 17 touchdowns and four interceptions through nine games this season, proving to be a competent quarterback as he continues to gain more experience.
