Getty Image / Aaron J. Thornton
Many around the college football world were stunned when Ohio State starting quarterback Kyle McCord entered the transfer portal on December 4th. After nearly two weeks, it’s the Syracuse Orange who will be the beneficiary of his talents.
The rising senior officially announced his decision on Sunday morning.
After sitting behind CJ Stroud for two seasons in Columbus, the former top-100 recruit beat out sophomore Devin Brown and freshman Lincoln Keinholz for the starting job at Ohio State.
McCord won his first eleven starts of the year as the Buckeyes were ranked as high as number one in the College Football Playoff rankings at points during the season. High points of that 11-0 start included a clutch game-winning drive where the Buckeyes scored with one second remaining to win, and a 288-yard performance against the nation’s top-ranked defense in Penn State.
But, after two straight losses to Michigan with CJ Stroud under center, Ohio State simply had to beat Michigan this year to prevent an outright fan revolt. They didn’t, falling 30-24, as McCord through two interceptions. One of those was a desperation heave as seconds ticked down, but the damage was done with the Buckeye fan base and with coach Ryan Day.
On the season, Kyle McCord threw for 3,170 yards and threw 24 touchdown passes against 6 interceptions.
It seemed likely that he would end up at Nebraska, but that fell apart this week amid rumors that one of the nation’s top high school quarterbacks, Dylan Raiola, was going to flip his commitment from Georgia to Nebraska.
Kyle McCord and his family were in Syracuse over the weekend on an official visit, and must have liked what they saw from new Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. The former ace Georgia recruiter has added considerable talent to the roster in just a few weeks on the job.
The Orange have won of the easiest schedules of any power conference team next year, as they avoid Florida State, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Clemson. Given the talent influx and solid quarterback play it’s not hard to see them winning nine or ten games next year. They won six this year with a much worse roster than they will have next year.