The pressure isn’t just felt by Ohio State coaches. “The quarterback at Ohio State will have the most pressure of any position, any athlete in the country,” said former Buckeyes tight end Cade Stover, a teammate of C.J. Stroud, above.
THE PRESSURE THAT Day has endured has spilled over to his players.
Before the season, senior wide receiver Emeka Egbuka bluntly described the legacies attached to him and other veterans, and their mission to change how they will be remembered.
“Nobody on this team has won a big game in their career at Ohio State,” he said. “We just haven’t done it. It sucks to say, but that’s the reality. We don’t really have anything that counts, anything that matters. … We’re really locked in on getting to our goals this year.”
After the Michigan loss in 2022, Stroud stood before reporters and admitted that he would be remembered as a player who never beat Michigan or won the Big Ten. “I just have to eat it, man,” he said then.
“Playing there isn’t easy,” Stroud, now a star for the Houston Texans, said this week. “It’s a lot of pressure, having a really big fan base — and the best fan base in the land. But it’s not easy. Honestly, it prepared me for this position.”
Tight end Cade Stover, Stroud’s teammate with the Texans and at Ohio State, added: “The quarterback at Ohio State will have the most pressure of any position, any athlete in the country. No question. … I don’t think it’s even close.”
Former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord was the No. 31 overall recruit in the country three years ago and finally got his chance to start last season after Stroud was selected with the second pick in the draft. But after winning his first 11 games, which included engineering a late game-winning drive at Notre Dame, McCord struggled in a loss to the Wolverines.
Michigan went on to the Big Ten title game — and the national championship — and McCord told ESPN’s Andrea Adelson that he was informed Ohio State would go in a different direction at quarterback. Nine days after the Michigan game, McCord entered the portal and ended up transferring to Syracuse.
“In a perfect world, we win, go undefeated, win the national championship and I’m probably not in this position, probably not here,” McCord told ESPN. “But everything happens for a reason.”
This year, McCord led the FBS with 4,326 passing yards and helped the Orange to just their second nine-win season since 2001. In the regular-season finale, McCord propelled Syracuse to its largest comeback in program history, as the Orange rallied from 21 down to stun sixth-ranked Miami. Afterward, McCord was asked about outdueling Heisman finalist Cam Ward on the same day Ohio State scored just 10 points in its loss to Michigan.
“Everything comes full circle,” McCord answered with a smirk. Coach Fran Brown repeatedly said he would send Day champagne for letting the quarterback go.
A month after McCord entered the transfer portal, the Buckeyes landed Will Howard, a coveted quarterback transfer who had helped Kansas State to the 2022 Big 12 championship. Howard ranked in the top five in QBR all year and brought an edge to the Buckeyes. After an emphatic rout of fifth-ranked Indiana the game before Michigan, Howard simulated stomping out a cigarette, trolling Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti.
Yet against Michigan, Howard struggled. He tossed two interceptions, as the Buckeyes failed to score in the second half for the first time in 13 years. Afterward, all Howard could do was apologize for losing The Game.
“It was hard. I’m not going to lie. … It sucked,” Howard said this week. “It was terrible for all of us. Terrible loss. But man, we can’t let it beat us twice. We can’t.”
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