Ohio State football QBs McCord, Brown will play against Indiana

Ryan Day is not the only one struggling to make up his mind.

For months, the Ohio State football coach could not decide which quarterback – Kyle McCord or Devin Brown – would be The Man this season, mostly because neither player won the job from spring practice through the middle of fall camp.

Finally, Day announced Tuesday that McCord would start Saturday’s season opener at Indiana, but emphasized that Brown would see meaningful playing time when the game is still in doubt. (Note to Day: don’t wait too long, because the game may stop being competitive sometime late in the first quarter).

I understand Day’s lack of clarity on the quarterback decision, because Myself is not exactly sure what I think. Me neither. To sort it out, let’s once again turn things over to that trio of old friends to sort the situation:

Me: Anyone can see what happened. Entering spring practice, the job as season-long starter was well within McCord’s grasp. He didn’t even need to win it; just don’t lose it. He was the only one with actual game experience. He had spent more time in Day’s system than Brown. Not only did the junior want to win the job, the coaching staff wanted him to win, because that would mean he had taken the big step from being C.J. Stroud’s backup to being in charge of the offense.

Brown was always going to be the trusty backup, ready in case of injury or, if things spiraled downward offensively, to stem the bleeding.

McCord waded into the shallow end of the indoor pool over the winter with only one warning: Don’t slip. Brown, meanwhile, got tossed in the deep end, where he made a few smooth strokes but mostly treaded water. Still, that was good enough, because McCord failed to wow.

Myself: Dude, why do you always see rain clouds instead of sunshine? Don’t you think it is possible, even probable, that both quarterbacks are really, really good? But nooooo, you choose to view the situation as neither QB being all that great.

Instead of seeing the past four months as a true quarterback competition that still remains too close to call, you assume the worst. Myself chooses to believe both QBs are much better than simply serviceable.

I: You’re both wrong. McCord was never “in the lead” as much as Me thinks. Have you been listening to Day? Paying attention to his body language when discussing McCord? He has seldom used his favorite descriptor – Player X “flashed” – when describing McCord’s practice performance. What we know for certain is neither QB separated himself until the past two weeks, when McCord showed “consistency,” according to Day.

What does that mean? Don’t get too excited.

“He’s been accurate in the passing game,” Day said. “Did a good job with his reads. Taking care of the football, and that’s important with the surrounding cast we have on offense, to make the routine plays routinely, take care of the football and ultimately lead the team down the field and score touchdowns.”

Me: In other words, just don’t screw up a good thing. I was talking to Myself the other day and we agreed that if Day were blown away by either of his two QBs he would have named a starter for the season a week ago. Like most coaches, he would prefer the competition had determined a clear winner. It is always better to have one QB than two. What’s the old saying with tailbacks? You want a pair and a spare? Well, it doesn’t work that way with quarterbacks. Two is not better than one. Remember the Stanley Jackson-Joe Germaine platoon system of 1997? Or the debacle of 2015, when Urban Meyer waffled between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett. The two quarterbacks felt it would have been better for Meyer to rip off the Band-Aid than to prolong the pain by turning the season into an “As the QB Turns” soap opera.

Myself: Comparing McCord-Brown to the Jackson-Germaine situation is ridiculous, because in that case the two quarterbacks had different skill sets – Jackson was the much better runner, Germaine the superior passer – that necessitated John Cooper playing both to make the offense as dangerous as possible. McCord and Brown share similar talents. Brown may be a better runner, but it’s not like McCord is a statue.

The Jones-Barrett back-and-forth was one of Meyer’s biggest blunders, but the Buckeyes still finished 12-1. So to describe that QB conundrum as a catastrophe is to ignore the final outcome. Bottom line: Day feels comfortable with both quarterbacks. So why don’t Me and I?

I: I see the glass both half empty and half full. On the pessimistic side, the reality is that neither quarterback is in the same elite category as Stroud, Justin Fields or Dwayne Haskins, an unbroken line of exceptionalism that was going to be hard to keep going simply based on the odds. I know Day is the Quarterback Whisperer, which might make it foolish to doubt his ability to turn good quarterbacks into great ones, but you would have thought it would have happened by now with these two, if it is going to happen.

On the positive side, OSU should be thankful it gets three games before Notre Dame. Me, Myself and I could start at quarterback against Indiana, Youngstown State and Western Kentucky and get the Dub.

Me: I can find the bright side of things, too. Example: it’s a good thing the quarterback quandary did not happen last season, when the Buckeyes opened at home against Notre Dame. At least now Day has another three weeks to learn which quarterback can take his game from the practice range to the course.

Myself: That’s big of you, Me, even if your positivity feels like a 5-year-old licking a lollipop after dropping it on a freshly-mowed lawn. But you’re right about McCord and Brown dueling it out for the next three weeks. (Or maybe more like two; heading to South Bend with an in-game platoon system doesn’t seem like a good idea.)

Despite McCord getting the starting nod against the Hoosiers, Day made it clear the QB competition will continue well into September, at least if neither player “flashes” this week or next.

Of course, I fully expect McCord to play well enough to keep the starting job. And even if he stumbles, Day stressed that a bad play here or there will not lead to either QB getting benched.

“It’s not about one play or one drive,” Day said. “It’s about an entire season.”

I: In that way, the QB competition is just getting started, which makes it impossible to know what to think. Luckily, Me, Myself and I don’t have to. Day does. Good luck sleeping this week, coach.

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