Yesterday was a big day in college football in general, but for the Ohio State Buckeyes, it was a special day. I don’t think I need to sit here and sell anyone who’s truly into college football the magnitude of the game between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines of Michigan.
The game between Michigan and Ohio State has been considered a rivalry game since the days of Woody Hayes and Archie Griffin and probably before. For the head coaches of both teams, wins and loses against one another has definitely become a statistic. At the end of Ryan Day’s career, people will want to know two things, what was your record and what was your record versus Michigan? That’s how important this game is.
So, yesterday it was the 11-0 Ohio State Buckeyes against the 11-0 Michigan Wolverines, and Michigan did end up winning this year. I’ve been a Buckeye fan since 1995, but I must admit the truth. It was a big win for Michigan. The Wolverines deserve all the credit and all the respect that’s coming their way. They played well. Both teams played well.
Before I get into Kyle McCord, I want to say that football is team sport. You win as a team, and you take your loses as a team. Coaches who truly care about the game of football know how to shelter their teams from outside distractions, and believe me, some coaches are under a lot of pressure. There’s a purity about football, and for me as a player in high school and in college, football was a world within a world. It was a safe zone, and once I was inside, nothing else mattered. That must always be protected because there’s a cancer constantly lurking outside the world of football.
At the beginning of this season, Kyle McCord was in the outhouse. I’m not even going to say doghouse, I’m going to say outhouse because that’s how much and how bad he was being talked about. People hated, and I mean hated the fact that Kyle McCord was now the face of the Buckeyes. They hated that Kyle McCord was now the answer for Justin Fields and CJ Stroud. The hatred for McCord was so bad, people were starting to say racism. Anyone with a head on their shoulders knows that wasn’t the case.
The season began, and Ohio State Coach, Ryan Day started McCord. The Buckeyes began their season 3-0, and people still talked poorly about McCord. Then, the Notre Dame game came up. Kyle McCord was brilliant in the fourth quarter of that game, and we all know about the drive he put together at the end of the game to lead his team to victory. Not only did he lead the Buckeyes to victory, but he did it on the road in South Bend against a Fighting Irish team that was ranked in the AP Top 10.
That win and that performance silenced a lot of people, and those people remained silent as Ohio State continued to roll-on to eleven wins, however, another story unfolded during the Notre Dame game.
It was the Marvin Harrison Jr. story. If you watched the Notre Dame game then you know how close that game was. You know that it was a chess match, you know there was absolutely no room for errors, penalties, or turnovers, and you know that Notre Dame did a hell of a job covering Marvin Harrison.
At halftime, Ohio State was winning 3-0, and Harrison was shut out. Late in the second quarter and into the third, the pressure dial was starting to get turned up slowly. The pressure was on the Buckeyes, coach Ryan Day and his staff, and Kyle McCord not to win the game, but to get Harrison the ball.
The pressure dial was turned up even more as the game went into the third quarter, and this is when I finally saw the situation for what it truly was. In a “Prime Time” game against a ranked opponent, individual statistics, when it comes to certain people, are more important than a team win.
As luck would have it, the pressure dial got turned off because Harrison sprained his ankle in the third quarter. The Buckeyes went on to win the game, and Kyle McCord played the quarter of his life. Remember how everyone in the media was starting to go after Ryan Day for the comments he made about Lou Holtz in his post-game interview? Lou Holtz was the sacrifice, the real reason the heat was being turned up on Day was because Harrison finished the Big Game with 3 catches for 32 yards and zero touchdowns.
Now, after Ohio State’s loss to Michigan yesterday, the group that has been silenced since the Notre Dame game, was given new life. They put the entire loss on Kyle McCord, and someone hiding behind a Twitter account called something like Mr. Ohio said, number 6 should be shown the door because he’s not Ohio State material.
Well, what about Marvin Harrison Jr.? At the end of the game when McCord threw that interception, it shows clear as day on instant replay, Harrison pulling up and basically quitting the route. If he ran to the ball maybe he would’ve caught it/ maybe he wouldn’t have it, but at the very least, he could’ve prevented the interception and gave his team another shot.
And then it all made sense. Kyle McCord, in the eyes of this group, would never be a Justin Fields or a CJ Stroud. So, if Day was going to keep him and start him, he would be the sacrifice for Marvin Harrison Jr. Like Lou Holtz, Kyle McCord was the sacrifice. He was the White Jesus, and this season was really about Marvin Harrison Jr., his stats, and his position in the NFL Draft-not the Buckeyes.
They just wanted McCord to throw to Harrison, and if Harrison caught the ball, it was because he was great, but if he didn’t, then it was because McCord sucked. It was a lose lose and a catch 22 for McCord. They would rather him squeeze a ball in and risk interception throwing to Harrison than to dump it off to a back.
I don’t hide behind a social media account that gets millions of views, I’m Francis Joseph LaManna from Nooz Buffet, and I tell it like it is. Truth.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P54sqRvqDOA?feature=share
The link above is to a video I posted on Twitter. The same thing that’s going on in Ohio with Harrison, is the same thing that’s going on in Colorado.
I give Ryan Day a lot of credit for not giving in to this pressure, and I give him even more credit for going toe to toe with this cancer. Against Notre Dame, he stuck to his game plan. He didn’t deviate just to get Harrison the ball.
The good thing about the cancer is that it doesn’t last forever. It ends up in the NFL. What’s really important is that schools like Ohio State stay strong and maintain their traditions.
Nooz Buffet 