College Football

Kyle McCord passed his first test, giving Ohio State hope for bigger things to come

Published Sep. 26, 2023 4:08 p.m. ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In his short time so far as Ohio State's starting quarterback, Kyle McCord has been calm, composed and overall pretty chill. That's how his coaches and teammates have described him, and that's the way he's looked in games.

But late on Saturday night, after he led a remarkable 65-yard game-winning drive in 66 seconds, McCord lost it. As soon as Buckeyes running back Chip Trayanum crossed the goal line to clinch a 17-14 comeback win at Notre Dame, McCord sprinted to the sideline, ripped off his helmet, and celebrated loudly in front of the Fighting Irish fans who had just had what would have been a monumental victory snatched away.

He allowed himself the brief burst of emotion (as seen in the above video posted on Twitter by his father), but quickly regained his normally subdued demeanor. A few minutes later, McCord snuck in behind coach Ryan Day during his fiery press conference, sitting on a folding chair in the corner of the room while his coach spoke, and scrolling through his phone until it was his turn to address the media. When McCord eventually stepped up to the podium, he answered questions confidently and directly, more like a veteran than a first-year starter.

One of the storylines leading into this top-10 matchup was about experience level at quarterback. McCord was making his fifth start ever, while Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman was a sixth-year transfer who had been in big games like this before. Ryan Day called that comparison "significant" and wasn't naive that it could be a factor in the result.

Except that as it turns out, McCord was ready for his close-up and pulled off a critically clutch performance.

"You judge a quarterback on third down, the red zone and two-minute," Day said after the game. "To win the game in a two-minute drill, that's what great quarterbacks do. And for his first top-10 road game to be put in a situation and come through says a lot about his future. I mean, there were some big-time throws in there, he hung in there, he's poised, and what a great win for our program.

"For Kyle to come into that spot, that's big."

McCord went 21-of-37 for 240 yards with no turnovers. He didn’t get rattled in the most important situations. On the final drive, McCord converted a huge fourth-down pass for a 7-yard gain to keep the Buckeyes’ hopes alive. He was also 9-of-12 passing on third down in the game, as Ohio State converted 10 of its 17 opportunities.

"He played his best ball on third down today," Day said.

McCord is accurate, can throw balls into tight spaces, and has a strong arm. This was evident several times, like when he put some zip on a nice pass to Emeka Egbuka in the second quarter that would have been a touchdown had the receiver not dropped it in the end zone.

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His shining moment, of course, was the final dramatic drive. Down 14-10 with 1:26 to play, McCord completed passes to Egbuka for 23 yards on third-and-10, to Julian Fleming for 7 yards on fourth-and-7, and again to Egbuka for 21 yards on third-and-19 that brought the Buckeyes to the 1-yard line and set up the winning play.

"We're never out of it until there's no time left on the clock," McCord said before praising his offensive line and running backs for pass protection, and the receivers for getting open. "As long as we've got the ball, and we've got some time left, the sky's the limit for this offense.

"It was almost backyard football-esque there at the end just trying to find the open guy, and we did that," he continued. "The rest is history."

Day had only officially named McCord his starting quarterback for the season two weeks prior. He'd battled Devin Brown — who ran up to him on the sideline and chest-bumped him after Trayanum's touchdown — through the offseason.

Now his first major test is behind him, but there are more to come. Ohio State gets Penn State at home next month before traveling to Wisconsin at the end of October and later, of course, to Michigan. Could he be the quarterback who leads the Buckeyes to their first win over the Wolverines in two seasons? Whether that ends up happening or not, he proved himself against a tough opponent in a hostile environment. The hope now in Columbus is that things only improve from here.

"Bottom line is he competed and won a game like this," Day said. "And that's the start."

Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her on Twitter @LakenLitman.