Kyle McCord should make Ohio State fans question QB musical chairs

Look at what the Syracuse Orange are doing! Despite a ton of changes during the offseason, they were able to beat MAC contender Ohio in Week 1. Now they are giving the ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets a run for their money early in conference play. We still have no idea of Fran Brown will prove to be a great head coach, but the Orange appear to have something regarding Kyle McCord.

The former Ohio State starter transferred to Syracuse after his lone year leading the Buckeyes' offensive attack. It may have been a sensational year for his best friend and former high school teammate Marvin Harrison Jr., now on the Arizona Cardinals. Unfortunately for McCord, he failed to live up to the hype of his five-star rating. He paled in comparison to his predecessor C.J. Stroud.

Flash forward to this season, and McCord is making the most out of playing for Brown at Harrison's namesake father's alma mater of Syracuse. At halftime vs. the Ramblin' Wreck, McCord completed 19-of-26 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns. If he plays like this for the rest of the season, I don't think anybody is going to want to play Syracuse in conference play. Ohio State may miss him.

Here is what McCord's first touchdown pass of the afternoon looked like to Trebor Pena for six points.

Ohio State went into the transfer portal to land former Kansas State starter Will Howard this winter.

As Kyle McCord flourishes, will Ohio State regret losing him to Syracuse?

In truth, I think Howard is going to be more than fine running Chip Kelly's ground-centric attack for Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. Howard's mobility was a huge part of his success during his time playing for Chris Klieman over at K-State. My biggest concern is that the level of comp in the Big 12 is not the same as the Big Ten. Conversely, McCord may be taking advantage of the ACC being down.

On paper, Ohio State might be the most talented team in the country. Other national title contenders like Georgia, Oregon and Texas are in that same upper echelon, but I wonder if coaching will be what holds this team back. Kelly may be Day's mentor from their days as offensive coordinator and quarterback at New Hampshire in the very early 2000s. This may work out, or it may be a grease fire.

For now, McCord is making Syracuse worthy of watching. Ohio State is always worth watching, given the amount of talent that is on the field. However, the margin for error in Columbus is far less than what we are seeing in upstate New York. The amount of pressure at Ohio State may have gotten to McCord, but he seems to be in his bag while playing for the Orange. There is nothing wrong with that.

McCord may not have been built to star at Ohio State, but it remains to be seen regarding Howard.