Ohio State head coach Ryan Day might have goofed. First-year Syracuse head coach Fran Brown called out Day in jest for his decision to let Kyle McCord leave the Buckeyes in the transfer portal after last season.
McCord was grilled by Buckeyes fans last season for the offense’s sluggish performances against Notre Dame and Michigan. In McCord’s defense, he was asked to replace a program that had Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud under center in the previous three seasons.
Kyle McCord had a nice debut with Syracuse
On Saturday, McCord had a solid debut with his new team. He threw went 27/39 passing for 354 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception to help Syracuse best Ohio 38-22.
McCord’s first drive wasn’t pretty. Syracuse went three and out on their first series. Ohio took a 6-0 lead before McCord would lead Syracuse on a touchdown drive on their second possession of the game.
Per Cody Nagel with 24/7 Sports, Brown said he joked with McCord after the first series of the game.
“No, I’m just messing with him, like, ‘Aha, y’all went three-and-out,’ just messing around with him, because you know what he can do,” Brown said. “He’s a good football player and he’s got that kind of relationship. Like, ‘You’ll be alright. Get ’em next time.’
“You never worry. I think we needed that we’ve never dealt with adversity. We got to be down 6-0. There was a lot of things we were able to deal with throughout the game that helped us and showed we’ll continue to play, we’ll continue to count on each other and things of that nature. So, I mean, we’re not getting down.”
Following the punt on the opening drive, McCord would lead Syracuse to scoring possessions on his next three offensive drives.
Syracuse HC Fran Brown trolled Ohio State HC Ryan Day
Brown was impressed with McCord’s performance on Saturday. He quipped that he wanted to thank Day for letting McCord leave in the transfer portal.
“I mean, Kyle’s a good football player, you seen it right there,” Brown said. “I should send Ryan Day a bottle of champagne for allowing us to get him. Pretty cool.”
One has to wonder if Day is getting the best out of his quarterbacks. Stroud led the Houston Texans to the playoffs as a rookie last year. But Stroud’s offense could only muster two touchdowns and three field goals in a 45-23 loss to Michigan in 2022.
New Ohio State starting quarterback Will Howard did well on Saturday in the Buckeyes’ 52-6 win over Akron. He went 17/28 for 228 yards and three touchdowns.
It’s too early to tell if Day prematurely pulled the plug on McCord. Howard will need to put up the same types of numbers he did on Saturday when the Buckeyes are done eating the cupcakes on their schedule.
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