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There are a lot of changes Ryan Day could make following Ohio State’s loss to Oregon on Saturday, but a new starting quarterback won’t be one of them.
CJ Stroud got his share of Ohio State fan attention for his game in the Buckeyes’ first two games of the season. The freshman starter struggled with high passes and overturning receivers, and one of his two interceptions ended the game’s potential tie in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 35-28 loss to the Ducks, when Ohio State had over 600 attacking yards still scored on just four of its 13 possessions.
Considering he succeeds one of Ohio State’s top quarterbacks at Justin Fields, and he’s in a room that also includes two five-star rookies in Kyle McCord and Quinn Ewers, Stroud was going to have to be pretty much perfect for closing questions about whether the Buckeyes are playing the right QB. His first two games as an Ohio State starting quarterback were flawed.
No one should have expected perfection, however, from a red-shirted freshman quarterback who had never even thrown a collegiate pass before this season. And good outweighed bad in his first two games, as evidenced by Stroud who took home the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors after the two. On Saturday, he completed 35 of 54 passing attempts for 484 yards, all second by an individual player in a single game in Ohio State history; he threw more yards in the first two games of the season than any other Ohio State quarterback with a margin of nearly 200 yards.
|
Year |
Player |
yards |
|---|---|---|
|
2021 |
CJ STROUD |
778 |
|
2020 |
JUSTIN CHAMPS |
594 |
|
2006 |
TROY SMITH |
566 |
|
2018 |
DWAYNE HASKINS |
546 |
|
2004 |
JUSTIN ZWICK |
537 |
So, when Day was asked on Tuesday if he was considering playing another quarterback in Stroud’s place, Day made it clear that he had no plans to do so.
“Not after the way he played on Saturday,” Day said. “We have to help him more. We have to manage football better, we have to play better in defense. It is essential.
Asked about Stroud’s overturning of receivers, Day did not appear concerned. On the contrary, Day was impressed with the way Stroud threw the ball on his second start against Oregon.
“I thought he was really accurate on Saturday,” Day said. “I thought he had throws that I hadn’t seen a young child make in a long time. So it was not our problem.
While Stroud has demonstrated his ability to throw the ball down the field, an area where he hasn’t looked as dynamic as Fields is in the running game, as he only has 10 net rushing yards for the season. He did, however, have a 15-yard run for a first down against Oregon, and would have had another 11-yard run for a first down later in the game had it not been for a questionable detention penalty. against Thayer Munford; he only finished the game with negative rushing yards because of two late sacks.
Even though Stroud only passed the ball past the line of scrimmage four times on Saturday, Day was happy with Stroud’s decision on when to throw the ball.
“I don’t think he was that hesitant. I thought he was pretty aggressive, ”Day said. “I thought the third down that we had the hold call on Thayer, he did an amazing job. It was 3rd and 10th, he folded it back, he got the first one down, he took a good hit in there, he dropped his shoulder and took a hit there.
“I think as a quarterback you have to be smart as well. You have to be smart when you run on the sidelines. He had a really good run for a first down along the straight sideline early on, got a late hit on the sideline, picked up 15 yards there. So I think he got away with it.
“So I think he’s got a pretty good pocket feel and he’s a threat with his feet, he’s a threat with his legs. We saw last year the (48) yard touchdown he had (against Michigan State), so he had some good scrums. And we will continue to develop this over time. But at the end of the day, our running backs have to run. Our O line must block. And there will be times when we want to read someone with him, and he will do a good job.
“I thought he had throws that I hadn’t seen a young child do in a long time.”– Ryan Day on CJ Stroud’s game against Oregon
Another question surrounding Stroud at the moment is whether he is in full health, as Stroud revealed after Saturday’s game that he had ‘been through a lot’ last week after taking a few hard hits in the first one. game of the season in Minnesota. However, he was still healthy enough to throw nearly 500 yards, and Day expects Stroud to become more comfortable playing despite minor injuries as he gains more experience.
“It’s part of being a quarterback,” Day said. “In the spring or you are in the preseason, you wear a black jersey, you are never touched. And you go over there and you go to a conference or this game last weekend, you’re going to get screwed a little bit. Justin went through that, all of these guys, JT (Barrett) went through that a ton, and that’s part of being a big-level quarterback. So this is something he will have to get used to and work on. ”
Stroud knows he still needs to improve, and his teammates see him striving to do so. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson said Wednesday he believes the Buckeyes are focused on “improving one percent every day,” and said Stroud “for sure” embodies that mentality. Fellow wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has said Stroud ‘has a big heart and is a competitor’ so he expects his quarterback to lead the way as the Buckeyes look to bounce back from their loss against Oregon.
That said, Day thinks it’s equally important for the Buckeyes to do more to help Stroud on both sides of the ball. Offensively, it starts with efficient ball stroke and better balance so Stroud doesn’t have to throw the ball as often as he did against Oregon; defensively, of course, that means holding opponents down to less than the five scores they’ve allowed in each of their first two games.
“At the end of the day, we probably put too much on CJ’s shoulders,” Day said of Ohio State’s loss to Oregon, “and we’ve got to do a better job of stopping them, stopping the run and then kick the football in attack. ”
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