Ryan Day Identifies When Ohio State Buckeyes QB Kyle McCord Is At His Best

Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day revealed what Kyle McCord needs to be at his best in the offense.

The Ohio State Buckeyes offense struggled in the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights last week, before exploding for 28 points in the final two quarters.

And while quarterback Kyle McCord has been consistent for the Buckeyes over the last few weeks, he has had one glaring issue in his last two games - turnovers. 

McCord has totaled three interceptions in the last two games after starting the season with only one through the first seven games. 

That said, head coach Ryan Day believes that when McCord is in the right rhythm, he's going to be at his best and take care of the football.

"The only thing I can recognize is when his feet are right and his eyes are right, that's when he's at his best," Day said at his weekly press conference Tuesday.

Day added that he tries to put McCord in the best situations to succeed, but there are occasions where McCord is forced to improvise, which has been a challenge.

"You try to find things that he's comfortable with but sometimes you can't always predict it the right way," Day said.

The Buckeyes' coach went on to talk about what it means to have two solid, healthy running backs in junior TreVeyon Henderson and senior Chip Trayanum, and how that can help both McCord and the passing game. 

"It gives you two ball carriers. And when that happens, they have to at least to defend you a little bit differently," Day said.

Henderson has created a problem for defenses, especially in the last two games against Wisconsin and Rutgers where the passing game was off. Henderson has a combined 415 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in that stretch.

Day said the schemes the Buckeyes throw at other teams confuse them because they can't hone in on "one personnel group or one scheme."

"The spacings are different, the schemes are different, the angles are different," Day said. "And sometimes when you can change that up, it opens up things in other areas."

Day, Henderson and the Buckeyes return home to Columbus Saturday to play Michigan State at 7:30 p.m., streaming on NBC Sports.