Kyle McCord's Syracuse breakout puts even more pressure on Ryan Day and Ohio State

He always had it in him. For whatever reason, Kyle McCord did not flourish as expected during his lone year as the Ohio State starting quarterback last season. The blue-chip prospect out of Philadelphia came to Columbus with his best friend and high school teammate Marvin Harrison Jr. While Harrison won the Biletnikoff, it was McCord seeking to reinvent himself in the college game.

Fate would have it, McCord transferred to his best friend's father's alma mater of Syracuse. McCord has known new Orange head coach Fran Brown for a while now. They crossed paths when Brown was working at Temple across town. When it became apparent that Brown was going to replace an increasingly ineffective Dino Babers at Syracuse, the perfect landing spot for McCord came into light.

What I have liked about McCord on his new college football team is he is playing unencumbered. It may be against perceived lesser competition in the ACC, but this is still a Power Four league, folks. More importantly, we are seeing more and more of what made McCord such a special prospect coming out of high school. It didn't work out for him at Ohio State, but he is making the best of it.

Just look at this stat line from McCord after Syracuse went on the road upset a ranked UNLV team.

Ohio State may have a great team without him, but McCord's success puts pressure on Ryan Day.

Kyle McCord could have made Ohio State almost unstoppable offensively

Look. McCord decided to transfer from Ohio State. It wasn't the other way around. He may have been pushed out, metaphorically speaking, but he did start multiple games for the Buckeyes last year, and won nearly all of them. While his successor Will Howard played well previously at Kansas State, the Buckeyes operate a very much run-heavy offense with Day's mentor Chip Kelly calling all the plays.

To be quite frank, McCord doesn't look like a walking stiff anymore, and he is no longer playing for a walking trash can. Those are descriptors put forth by Buckeye Nation, and not me, but I am thankful y'all did the hard work for me. Although Ohio State will not be tested in most of its games it plays this year, you have to wonder if McCord playing like this could have been a difference-maker for them.

Ultimately, this is a pressure-packed season for Day and Ohio State. The Buckeyes need to make the playoff and win multiple playoff games. This team should be good enough to win a national title. As for Syracuse, the Orange are having fun under their new regime, thanks in large part to their starting quarterback we shamelessly slept on. As Ohio State tightens up, Syracuse is hanging loose of late.

Expectations are different everywhere, but Syracuse looks to be well on its way of surpassing theirs.