Buyer’s Remorse? Will Howard isn’t doing much to win over Ohio State fans
Expectations for the Ohio State Buckeyes have been clear for months now: It's national championship or bust for Ryan Day's team and for good reason. They hit the transfer portal aggressively and expensively this offseason to improve the roster, including replacing last year's starting quarterback, Kyle McCord, with longtime Kansas State starter Will Howard.
By a stroke of good fortune too, Howard was set up for a soft landing in Columbus to start the 2024 season with the Buckeyes hosting one of the worst FBS teams in college football, the Arkon Zips. Should be a great day to start gelling and pad the stats, right?
Well, not with how things started for Howard and the Ohio State offense.
Despite being nearly 50-point favorites, Akron actually took a 3-0 lead on the Buckeyes to start the game before OSU pulled back in front. But the offense as a whole looked quite questionable, particularly when Howard was asked to do what we've seen basically one Ohio State QB after another do to tremendous success: drop back and pass.
Will Howard gives Ohio State fans cause for concern in first Buckeyes start
Against one of the worst defenses (and, again, teams) at this level of the sport, Howard's first four drives of his Buckeyes career saw him go 6-of-16 for for 76 yards. Those drives also saw Ohio State walk away with just 10 points.
Howard did find all-world 5-star freshman Jeremiah Smith for his first touchdown throw as a Buckeye on a nice throw to the sideline of the end zone. But one good flash doesn't erase a lot of the worries this had to create for fans in Columbus in this situation.
It should be said that Howard's next drive saw him complete every throw, including another touchdown strike to Smith, and reel off a nice 19-yard run. But I'm again going to remind everyone this is against Akron. The Buckeyes were near-50-point favorites coming into this matchup, a certified and unquestionable buy game. This is the type of matchup when a player with the experience of Howard should be dicing up the opposing defense and padding his stats.
So to see him come out and struggle is something that should absolutely worry Day and Ohio State fans alike. Maybe he puts it together as this is an offense with a lot of new pieces beyond Howard in key roles along with a new coordinator in Chip Kelly. If the problems persist later against the Zips and especially in the coming weeks, though, the deep OSU depth chart featuring Devin Brown, Julian Sayin and Air Noland might become harder to ignore.
And to make it even a bit harder to swallow, McCord, who transferred to Syracuse this offseason, made his first start for the Orange on Saturday and went 18-of-24 for 211 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio in his first half of action. To be sure, I was as hard on McCord as anyone last year -- but that was because of the standards at Ohio State for QB play. Howard, largely, didn't live up to those either in his first two quarters as the starter.
It's a long season in college football with plenty of room for change. An early performance against a team like Akron that is primed to be taken advantage of, however, is not going to earn Howard a lot of believers in Columbus to start the season.