Kyle McCord got the last laugh on Saturday.
Hours after Ohio State suffered a stunning upset loss to Michigan, Kyle McCord led Syracuse to a 42-38 upset win over No. 6 Miami (Florida) to finish the regular season 9-3 under first-year head coach Fran Brown. McCord completed 26-of-36 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns in the win over the Hurricanes.
After the game, the former Buckeye starting quarterback was asked about the timing of him leading Syracuse to its biggest regular-season win of the season relative to Ohio State's fourth straight loss to the Wolverines.
His answer was short and sweet.
Hey Ohio State!! You forgot your quarterback!!
— Cuse Sports Talk (@CuseSportsTalk_) December 1, 2024
Kyle McCord sums up today perfectly for him. pic.twitter.com/8cmDBFOTFy
"Everything comes full circle," McCord said with a smile, leading to plenty of laughs from his teammates at the podium and media members.
Thank you God
— Kyle McCord (@kylemccord16) December 1, 2024
While Syracuse won't make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, the Orange leaned on their quarterback's arm throughout the regular season, as McCord led the FBS in plenty of statistical categories.
- Passing yards: 4,326 (1st)
- Completions: 367 (1st)
- Attempts: 558 (1st)
- Completion percentage: 65.8% (28th)
- Passing touchdowns: 29 (T-4th)
- Interceptions: 12 (T-4th)
After McCord completed 18-of-30 passes for 271 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions in Ohio State's third-straight loss to Michigan in 2023, he entered the transfer portal, which was a "business decision" for him.
In September, McCord said that he had "nothing but love for the Buckeyes" after transferring from Ohio State last offseason, admitting that he has kept in touch with many of his former OSU teammates and coaches.
“I appreciate all of them,” McCord said when asked what his message to Ohio State fans would be. “I still root for Ohio State. I got a lot of friends who are still on the team. I still talk to a few of the coaches. I still root for them and I’m cheering those guys on. I appreciate the fans because I met a lot of great people in the community who still have been reaching out and supporting me so that’s been awesome. On my end, there’s nothing but love for the Buckeyes.”
Ohio State ultimately replaced McCord with Will Howard, who played his worst game of the season in the loss to Michigan, completing just 19-of-33 passes for 175 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in OSU's fourth straight loss to its rival. Despite that, Howard still has the third-best quarterback rating in the FBS this year (172.1) – while McCord’s ranks 37th (143.8) – as he has completed 72.3% of his passing attempts for 2,860 yards with 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions to go along with seven rushing touchdowns.
