Former Ohio State quarterback proves Buckeyes made the right decision this offseason

For Penn State to win the Big Ten, the No. 3 Nittany Lions will almost certainly need to knock off the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes. In his previous 10 seasons at Penn State, James Franklin has beaten the Buckeyes just once, in his team’s 2016 Big Ten championship season. A year ago, Ohio State leaned on its defense to knock off the Nittany Lions in Columbus 20-12, but after a third-straight year with a loss to Michigan, head coach Ryan Day resorted to drastic measures, shipping out former five-star quarterback Kyle McCord and replacing him with Kansas State QB and Pennsylvania native Will Howard. 

McCord landed at Syracuse and through the first eight weeks of the season he was top 10 in the country in passing yards while Howard’s most memorable moment was a late slide as time expired in Ohio State’s 32-31 loss to Oregon in Eugene. Still, the Buckeyes have been dominant on offense, and if Day and his coaching staff needed any more confirmation that made the right decision to move on from last year’s starter, they got it on Thursday night in Pittsburgh. 

Penn State’s oldest and most hated rival gave McCord fits in a 41-13 win at Acrisure Stadium. Pitt is now 7-0, largely behind a resurgent offense led by Alabama transfer quarterback Eli Holstein and first-year offensive coordinator Cade Bell. However, on Thursday, it was head coach Pat Narduzzi’s defense that ran up the score. Pitt intercepted five times with three in the first quarter and three of McCord’s four first-half interceptions were returned for touchdowns. 

One of the biggest reasons that Ohio State moved on from McCord was his struggles against pressure and Pitt was living in the backfield the entire night. McCord attempted 64 passes and was pressured on 25 of his 70 dropbacks. He averaged 3.4 yards per attempt against pressure with two of his five interceptions. The Panthers blitzed 27 times, but they really caused problems when they didn’t. 

Narduzzi’s defense constantly gave McCord pressure looks, and loaded the line of scrimmage, but routinely dropped out of it to play coverage and rush just four. None of McCord’s five turnovers came against the blitz, but their pre-snap disguise sped up his process and forced him into mistakes. Penn State, with Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton on the edges, could thrive with another crack at McCord who went 22-35 for 286 yards and a touchdown in their meeting last year, though Marvin Harrison Jr. was responsible for quite a lot of that with 11 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown. Instead, they’ll face Howard in two weeks, Day’s handpicked replacement. 

It was the right call to move on from McCord and Howard has been an upgrade, but, he has his own issues. This season when pressured, Howard ranks 111th in the country in yards per attempt at 4.5 and is completing under 40% of his passes, placing him outside the top 100. His mobility as a runner, something McCord never had, has offset some of his deficiencies as a thrower, but that theory will be put to the test with starting left tackle Josh Simmons out for the season after suffering a knee injury against Oregon.

First, the Nittany Lions need to beat Wisconsin in Week 9, but Penn State has its best chance to beat Ohio State since its one-point loss in 2018. Still, the Nittany Lions would have even better odds of pulling off a home upset if McCord was still the Buckeye's QB.