Kyle McCord's Huge First Half Paces Buckeyes To 28-7 Lead

The Ohio State Buckeyes greeted their fans nicely in the first half of the season-opener at Ohio Stadium, as they lead the Youngstown State Penguins.

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord's three first-half touchdowns helped them lead to a 28-7 lead against the Youngstown State Penguins Saturday.

Ohio State's home opener at Ohio Stadium started out with a bang on the first drive with a 71-yard pitch-and-catch between high school teammates McCord and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., but the pair wasn't done.

Later in the first quarter, McCord and Harrison connected on a 39-yard lofting pass to the end zone, which gave the Buckeyes a 14-7 lead.

Through the first half, McCord was 13-for-18 for 253 yards and three touchdowns, while Harrison had seven receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

Harrison wasn't the only Buckeye wide receiver to get a piece of the wealth, though, as his counterpart, Emeka Egbuka, hauled in three passes for 69 yards and a touchdown — including the Buckeyes' final one before halftime.

Head coach Ryan Day turned to quarterback Devin Brown for the next offensive possession, and the offense was a little clunkier than the first three. As opposed to the seven plays, 169 yards and two scores on two of the first three drives, Ohio State's fourth drive took 13 plays and 60 yards to punch it in.

Running back TreVeyon Henderson rushed to the end zone for 17 yards and what looked to be a score, but an illegal-hands-to-the-face penalty nullified his first touchdown of the season. It didn't matter, though.

After a late hit out of bounds on Brown, Henderson put his foot in the ground with one cut and streaked to the end zone. The Hopewell, Virginia, native landed on a Penguins defender, extending the ball over the goal line before fumbling to give Ohio State a 21-7 lead.

On Youngstown State's first offensive possession, a 36-yard completion to wide receiver Max Tomczak on third-and-3 led to a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Mitch Davidson, who did a penguin waddle celebration after the score.