Kyle McCord’s first start of the 2023 season was full of ups and downs, but the third-year Buckeye still had a number of good throws in Bloomington Saturday afternoon.
Ohio State pulled away in the second half of its 23-3 win at Indiana Saturday afternoon in a game that the Buckeye offense struggled to find any rhythm in the passing game.
In Kyle McCord's second career start and first since being named the starting quarterback to begin the season, the junior completed 20 of 33 passes for 239 yards and an interception. In a passing game that featured more receiving yards by the tight ends (108) than wide receivers (107), McCord had some good throws, bad throws and certainly some throws that he would like to have back, especially in the red zone. Ohio State’s offense stalled inside the 10-yard line two separate times, leading to two field goals.
“There were definitely some good plays, some things I want to clean up,” McCord said after the game. “We definitely left some points on the board. We moved the ball pretty well, just a few times in the red zone you want to get touchdowns rather than field goals.”
The Buckeyes made it look easy on their first drive of the game, which featured McCord completing three of his four passes for 28 yards and ended with a touchdown. The problem was that the offense then didn't score another touchdown until there were just under two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Cade Stover (five catches, 98 yards) and Julian Fleming (six receptions, 58 yards) led the way as pass-catchers in the win. Ohio State's top two receivers – Marvin Harrison Jr. (two catches, 18 yards) and Emeka Egbuka (three receptions, 15 yards) combined for just five catches for 33 yards, which was certainly unexpected.
The Buckeyes’ offense didn’t have a smooth ride Saturday afternoon, but a new quarterback paired with it being the season opener most likely played a part in that.
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 33 throws, in chronological order, with some GIFs and additional commentary mixed within:
- Throw 1, 9-yard completion: McCord connects with his former high school teammate Harrison for an easy nine-yard throw.
- Throw 2, 9-yard completion: Another easy pitch-and-catch, this time to Stover.
- Throw 3, Incomplete: Play action – McCord moves up in the pocket and uses a sidearm throw to TreVeyon Henderson in the flat but is off target.
- Throw 4, 10-yard completion: Play action – On fourth-and-2, McCord throws to a wide-open Gee Scott Jr. in the flat and the tight end runs for an easy first down (and more).
- Throw 5, Incomplete: Play action – McCord overthrows Fleming down the field, missing a wide-open Harrison on the near sideline about 20 yards down the field. That said, if McCord misses Fleming to the outside, closer to the sideline – where a quarterback is taught to throw the ball in that situation – or leads the receiver more, it's likely a long reception or touchdown.
- Throw 6, 2-yard completion: Egbuka catches a short 2-yard throw and gets tackled immediately.
- Throw 7, 9-yard completion: McCord finds Harrison right on the hashmark for an easy connection,
- Throw 8, 9-yard completion: Play action – Egbuka cuts across the middle and takes the short pass for nearly a first down.
- Throw 9, 7-yard completion: Play action – McCord finds an open Fleming on a comeback route.
- Throw 10, 10-yard completion: Fleming gets open on a post route.
- Throw 11, 5-yard completion: Play action – McCord moves away from pressure and completes a pass to Egbuka.
- Throw 12, Interception: Play action – On fourth-and-2, Chip Trayanum gets chop blocked coming out of the backfield (and he would've been wide open in the flat). McCord forces a throw back across his body, leading to an interception.
- Throw 13, Incompletion: McCord takes a big hit as he throws the ball and overthrows Harrison near the sideline.
- Throw 14, 24-yard completion: Stover gets open on a post route and runs for 14 more yards following the catch.
- Throw 15, Incompletion: McCord finds an open Carnell Tate but the freshman can't secure the catch after taking a big hit.
- Throw 16, Incompletion: McCord nearly gets strip-sacked but it's called an incompletion.
- Throw 17, Incompletion: McCord tries to find Tate in a tight window near the goal line but it's broken up on a nice play.
- Throw 18, Incompletion: An underthrow to Egbuka on a post route.
- Throw 19, 5-yard completion: An easy pitch-and-catch to Fleming.
- Throw 20, 7-yard completion: Play action – Stover is open just in front of McCord for an easy catch-and-run.
- Throw 21, 4-yard completion: The quarterback finds Fleming cutting across the field.
- Throw 22, 27-yard completion: Play action – Fleming catches the ball on a post route, breaks a tackle and runs for nearly 15 more yards.
- Throw 23, 9-yard completion: Play action – Stover gets open in the flat and runs for a first down.
- Throw 24, Incompletion: McCord throws it behind Harrison on a would-be touchdown.
- Throw 25, 49-yard completion: Play action – Stover gets behind the defense on a seam route and runs for nearly 30 more yards after the catch.
- Throw 26, Incompletion: McCord misses a wide-open Harrison on a curl route.
- Throw 27, 12-yard completion: McCord escapes pressure and passes it to Trayanum for a first down.
- Throw 28, 15-yard completion: Play action – Tate gets open on a stop route and runs for an easy first down.
- Throw 29, 5-yard completion: McCord finds Fleming on the sideline for an easy pitch-and-catch.
- Throw 30, Incompletion: Play action – McCord overthrows Stover in the end zone on what would have been a tough pass to complete between two Indiana defenders.
- Throw 31, 12-yard completion: Miyan Williams gets open on a wheel route for an easy completion before going out of bounds.
- Throw 32, Incompletion: McCord can't complete a pass to Harrison in the corner of the end zone.
- Throw 33, Incompletion: The pass is high to Fleming and the defender hits it out of the receiver's hands in the end zone.
McCord was most successful on play-action passes, on which he completed 8-of-11 passes for 138 yards and an interception. He could have had a couple of would-be touchdowns if he was more accurate, but in a game that the Buckeyes won by 20, it's something that McCord and the rest of the offense can improve on going forward. That will (hopefully) come with more experience over the next two games prior to Ohio State's trip to South Bend to take on Notre Dame.
“Our goal coming in here was to be 1-0, and we are 1-0. But I think there are exciting pieces, we have so much to build and grow on,” McCord said. “We won by 20 points but, offensively speaking, we have a lot more we can improve on. We feel like we left some points on the field and I know I can be better.”
