The No. 5 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes continued its march to a national championship with a 35-7 victory over FCS Youngstown State.
OSU quarterback Kyle McCord threw for 258 yards with three TD passes to lead the Buckeyes to its second consecutive victory. The win improves Ohio State to 2-0. The Buckeyes host Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at 4:00 pm EST in the Big House.
Harrison Has Bounceback Game vs. Penguins
All-American wide receiver Marvin Harrison hauled in seven passes for 160 yards and a pair of McCord scoring strikes in Saturday’s lopsided victory. Harrison has now caught nine passes for 190 yards and two TDs on the season and is +2800 at DraftKings Ohio to win the Heisman. Harrison told reporters:
“It’s [his performance Saturday] solid. There’s a lot to work on and a lot to improve, but it’s a long season, and I want to continue to get better each week and prepare for bigger games coming up.”
McCord Has a Better Outing Against Youngstown State
McCord looked more comfortable running the offense on Saturday. Buckeyes Head Coach Ryan Day was happier with McCord’s play this past week, telling reporters:
“I thought Kyle had poise coming into his second game and that Devin [Brown] came out a little anxious. But then I think for him (Brown), once he gets hit and gets a little tired, he calms down a little bit. Kyle came out pretty efficiently overall, and I thought that we made some plays.”
McCord has been in a battle for the starting job with reserve Devin Brown. Brown completed 52.8% of his passes Saturday for 99 yards but was sacked twice by the Penguins. Still, Day hasn’t settled on a starting QB but did share his thoughts about the competition between McCord and Brown.
“We’re building this thing for the long run. We have high expectations, want to be perfect, and know what we need to be, so we’re not accepting anything other than excellence. We know what that looks like. It isn’t just built in one week.”
Defense Stout Against Youngstown State
The defense has been a sore spot for the Buckeyes during Day’s five-year tenure as head coach, but Ohio State has allowed just 10 points through their first two games, and Day seemed to be happy with the results thus far and said so after Saturday’s game:
“It’s the defense’s job to hold the other team to not scoring very many points, and they’ve done that. Three and seven – you can’t ask for much more.”
Is Ohio State a Good Bet to win the 2023 NCAAF FBS National Championship?
The Buckeyes are the third favorite to win the national championship. FanDuel Ohio has the best odds (+1000), but those betting odds aren’t high enough for me to place a future bet on Ohio State winning it all, at least not yet anyway.
Ohio State hasn’t been tested yet, but they’ll get their first real test of the season when they travel to South Bend for an away matchup on September 23 with No. 10 ranked Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are off to a 3-0 start, and the Buckeyes defense will have their hands full. Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman is tied for second in TD passes (10) and will provide a strong test for the Buckeyes’ secondary.
The Buckeyes’ quarterback situation is less than ideal, and Day will need to settle on one of them and sooner rather than later. McCord looked better this past Saturday than he did in the season opener, but he and Brown have some work to do.
The Buckeyes have a difficult schedule. Aside from Notre Dame, Ohio State also has away games vs. No. 19 Wisconsin, faces a stout Rutgers defense, and their season finale with the Michigan Wolverines. They also host No. 7 Penn State, and that might be too difficult a task for Ohio State to overcome.
You likely won’t get a better price than +1000 at FanDuel. Day and the Buckeyes could run the table and win it all if the offense can produce. They have the weapons to do so, but the QB situation doesn’t make me want to wait three months to find out. It’s a good price for what could happen, but I’d wait and see what happens against Notre Dame before making this wager.
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