Day: McCord had “poise” in win over Penguins
COVER PHOTO: OSU wide receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. (left) fives quarterback Kyle McCord (right) after the two hooked up for a 71-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter against Youngstown State. The Buckeyes won 35-7. Photo by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
It appeared that the FCS Youngstown State Penguins were just what the fifth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes needed to jump start their offense after a somewhat seemingly stagnant start against Indiana last weekend. Final score: Buckeyes - 35, Penguins - 7.
Granted, the Buckeyes didn’t cover the 40-point spread but still showed some more spark than what they had in last week’s 20-point season-opening win against the Hoosiers in Bloomington.
Quarterback Kyle McCord got the start again and led the Buckeyes through the air on 14-of-20 passing for 258 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
After going 20-of-33 with no touchdowns and one pick against the Hoosiers, head coach Ryan Day said McCord looked more comfortable today.
“Kyle had poise coming into the second game, you could just feel a little bit of that part of it. I thought Kyle came out pretty efficiently overall,” said Day after the game.
The junior, making the second start of the season and third of his career, said using the experience of starting the season against a conference opponent on the road helped his confidence today.
“I think any time you can get that start under your belt and especially get a win against a good Big Ten team like Indiana, it’s good for sure,” McCord said. “And the goal is to use what I learned this week and carry it on the next week and just keep that train rolling.”
McCord’s favorite target of the day turned out to be none other than former St. Joseph’s Prep High School teammate Marvin Harrison, Jr., who led all receivers with seven catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns, both of which came from McCord.
Harrison said he could see the difference in his former high school teammate from just a week ago and getting game reps was a big reason.
“You cannot simulate game reps in practice. As much as you try to … you can’t do it unless you’re in the game, in front of 110,000 people in the ‘Shoe. So I think he was definitely more comfortable and will continue to get more comfortable throughout the year.”
After rummaging together only 23 points and two touchdowns last weekend, the Scarlet and Gray came out of the gate swinging, landing a solid first round uppercut to the Guins’ jaw when McCord found Harrison wide open up the left sideline for a 71-yard touchdown on their first possession of the game less than two minutes in.
“It was supposed to be (cloud coverage) on the boundary and the safety never really got over the top so I just kind of ran free down the sideline and I’m thankful that Kyle found me,” Harrison said. “Usually you make that read on that kind of play when there’s busted coverage and you’re going deep, so it just kind of worked out like that.”
McCord said it was cool seeing as how it was the first hookup of their college careers.
“That was cool to finally see it come all the way from when we first started playing with each other sophomore year of high school. It’s been a long time coming.”
It was the longest TD catch of Harrison’s OSU career.
But there was no quit in the Penguins as they stood their ground and delivered several jabs and body blows on their first possession.
After eating up nearly six minutes of clock, they capped off an 11-play, 75-yard drive with quarterback Mitch Davidson’s one-yard TD run after pulling back the ball on a read-option keeper, faking out OSU’s defense and diving across the goal line untouched for their lone score of the game.
The two teams would trade punts on their next possessions but the McCord-Harrison connection would thrive again.
The duo hooked up for a second score when McCord lobbed a 39-yard rainbow to Harrison after he split two defenders and was open in the back of the end zone.
The Buckeyes gobbled up 93 yards on only 4 plays and held a 14-7 lead with 1:20 left in the first quarter.
The Penguins would once again punt and the Buckeyes would once again score, this time on a 13-yard run from TreVeyon Henderson, as he found the end zone for his first TD of the season.
But it wasn’t without some hijinks.
Backup QB Devin Brown came into the game for the first time and led them down to the YSU 17.
On 2nd-and-10, Henderson took a handoff, found some room off the left side, turned on the jets and then juked one last defender before cleanly crossing into the end zone.
It was called back, though, when left tackle Josh Simmons was nailed for his second penalty of the game, this one being a 15-yard personal foul for hands to the face.
After getting backed up to the YSU 32, Brown threw an incomplete pass on 2nd-and-25 and was only able to manage six yards on the next down to bring up 4th-and-19.
However, the Guins were flagged for a late hit out of bounds when linebacker Greg Benton, Jr. got to Brown a little too late. That gave the Buckeyes a fresh set of downs at the 13.
The zaniness wouldn’t end there. On the very next play, Henderson would once again find the end zone only to have it negated… again.
After hitting a gap off the left side and racing towards the goal line, defensive back Tyjon Jones and linebacker Alex Howard closed in on Henderson at the last second.
Henderson put his head down, stretched out his arm as he got to the goal line only to have the ball popped loose by Jones as Howard swallowed it in the end zone for a touchback.
But as most turnovers and close touchdowns are done nowadays, the play was reviewed.
After review, it was evident that Henderson maintained possession and it wasn’t Jones that caused the fumble but the turf.
Henderson now officially had his first score of the season and the Buckeyes held a 21-7 lead.
OSU’s defense would force YSU into their third straight punt and their first three-and-out.
With three minutes to go in the half, the Buckeyes extended their lead to 28-7 when McCord hit receiver Emeka Egbuka on a swing pass to the flat that Egbuka caught in stride, followed his blocking, dodged a defender a few yards out from the goal line and calmly crossed for a 28-yard TD.
It was Egbuka’s first score of the year and OSU would take a 28-7 lead into the locker room.
The Penguins started the second half with the ball and chewed up more than half of the third quarter, getting all the way down to the OSU 32 only to commit their first turnover of the season.
Backup QB Beau Brungard lobbed a deep pass to receiver Bryce Oliver to the near, right corner of the end zone but Oliver was deftly covered by OSU cornerback Denzel Burke who timed his jump to bring in the pick for a touchback.
It was also the OSU defense’s first caused turnover of the year and the first INT by a Buckeye CB since 2021.
Both teams would trade punts but the Buckeyes fireworks weren’t over yet as they plunked one more TD on the scoreboard with 1:40 to go in the third quarter.
Brown came out for his second drive of the game starting at their own 39 and got them to the YSU in four plays.
On play no. 5, Henderson lined up to Brown’s left and after the snap, moved across Brown to the right, took the handoff, found some blocks and straight-line sped towards the end zone, brushing off a YSU defender at the 5 yard line for his second TD of the game.
The Penguins would have only two more drives after that: a six-play, 28-yarder that ended in a punt and a 10-play, 39-yarder that ended on 4th-and-5 at their 49 when Brungard’s pass for Oliver was broken up by true freshmen CB Jermaine Matthews, Jr. with 25 seconds left.
Linebacker Tommy Eichenberg led OSU with six tackles including a seven-yard strip sack early in the third quarter that was recovered by the Penguins.
Egbuka caught five passes for 94 yards and one TD.
Henderson led the Buckeyes on the ground with 56 yards and two touchdowns on five carries.
Brown finished 7-of-13 passing for 101 yards and carried the ball six times for nine yards.
Mitch Davidson went 12-of-18 through the air for 98 yards and ended up with -2 yards on six carries. Beau Brungard was 5-of-8 for 37 yards and the one INT.
YSU RB Tyshon King led all rushers with 12 carries for 66 yards.
Ohio State’s next game is at home against Western Kentucky (1-0) in a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff.