COLUMBUS — Kyle McCord and the Buckeyes bounced back from a shaky opener last week, as Ohio State posted a 35-7 win over the Youngstown State Penguins on Saturday.
McCord threw two touchdown passes to Marvin Harrison Jr. and another to Emeka Egbuka in the first half. He finished the game 14 for 20 for 258 yards
“He got into a rhythm and showed he could make some of those throws,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “He looked comfortable for sure in this game.”
TreVeyon Henderson added a pair of rushing scores, but the Ohio State ground game again was underwhelming. Overall, Ohio State's backs gained just 123 yards after piecing together just 143 last week.
Harrison also bounced back with a big day after only having two catches for 18 yards and zero touchdowns in Week 1. He finished the afternoon with seven catches for 160 yards — all in the first half.
Devin Brown also got the first significant playing time of his career, completing 7 of 13 passes for 101 yards. McCord beat out Brown during fall preseason practices to earn the job.
With the Buckeyes leading 28-7 at the half, Youngstown State took their opening possession and ate up half the third quarter with an 11-play drive. But the drive would be wasted when Ohio State’s Denzel Burke intercepted backup quarterback Beau Brungard’s pass in the end zone.
“We needed to go down and score, needed to chip away, needed to get it to 28 to 14 and give ourselves a chance,” Youngstown State coach Doug Phillips said. “And yeah, we had a few drives that stalled.”
Starter Mitch Davidson and Brungard combined for 135 passing yards. Tyshon King managed 66 yards on the ground for the Penguins.
The Buckeyes only scored once out of their three second-half possessions when Henderson had 30-yard burst for a score in the late stages the third quarter.
The Penguins answered Ohio State’s opening touchdown with an impressive 75-yard scoring drive of their own to tie the game. The key play of the drive was a 36-yard pass from Davidson to Max Tomczak — nephew of former Buckeyes quarterback Mike Tomczak — on third-and-3 at the YSU 44.
Mike Tomczak is on Phillips’ staff as an advisor.
Ohio State faces Western Kentucky at home next Saturday, which will be their final tune up game before a critical matchup at No. 10 Notre Dame on Sept. 23.
Youngstown St. 7 0 0 0 — 7
Ohio St. 14 14 7 0 — 35
First Quarter
OSU–Harrison 71 pass from McCord (Fielding kick), 13:34.
YSU–Davidson 1 run (Lastovka kick), 7:42.
OSU–Harrison 39 pass from McCord (Fielding kick), 1:20.
Second Quarter
OSU–Henderson 13 run (Fielding kick), 9:07.
OSU–Egbuka 28 pass from McCord (Fielding kick), 3:06.
Third Quarter
OSU–Henderson 30 run (Fielding kick), 1:40.
A–102,897.
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YSU OSU
First downs 12 23
Total Net Yards 234 482
Rushes-yards 33-99 27-123
Passing 135 359
Punt Returns 2–9 2-3
Kickoff Returns 3-41 2-40
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-0
Comp-Att-Int 17-26-1 21-33-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-17 2-7
Punts 6-45.0 3-45.333
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties-Yards 9-76 6-65
Time of Possession 34:00 26:00
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING–Youngstown St., King 12-66, Rushton 9-22, Whatley 3-7, Harris 1-3, Brungard 2-3, Davidson 6-(minus 2). Ohio St., Henderson 5-56, M.Williams 6-25, Trayanum 6-20, X.Johnson 3-12, D.Brown 6-9, McCord 1-1.
PASSING–Youngstown St., Davidson 12-18-0-98, Brungard 5-8-1-37. Ohio St., McCord 14-20-0-258, D.Brown 7-13-0-101.
RECEIVING–Youngstown St., Oliver 6-37, Tomczak 3-53, Fordham 3-23, Bowling 1-18, Charleston 1-7, Whatley 1-2, Benio 1-0, Rushton 1-(minus 5). Ohio St., Harrison 7-160, Egbuka 5-94, Fleming 3-25, Henderson 2-18, M.Williams 1-27, Tate 1-20, Scott 1-9, X.Johnson 1-6.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.
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