LEARNING CURVE
QB Stroud shows his mettle after early wobbles
At halftime Thursday, a fair share of Ohio State fans thought quarterback C.J. Stroud should be starting for Bishop Sycamore instead of for the Buckeyes.
By the end of the game, after OSU held off Minnesota 45-31 in the rain, the majority of those same doubters wanted the first-year starter to take a bow.
You know by now how some citizens of Buckeye Nation behave when the quarterback misses an open receiver or, heaven forbid, throws two consecutive incompletions. Grrrr. And if he tosses an interception? Off with his head. Or at least his helmet. Bench him!
Maybe you heard these words early in Thursday’s Ohio State game. Maybe you even spoke them.
Give one of the other quarterbacks a chance.
And …
Put Kyle Mccord in to start the second half.
And …
Stroud sure isn’t Justin Fields.
Of course, in a way, the critics were right. Stroud wasn’t Fields. He was better. At least in a couple of statistical categories.
After a shaky first half, in which he completed 8 of 14 passes (.571) for 58 yards, without a touchdown but with an interception on a poorly-thrown ball to Chris Olave, Stroud rebounded to go 5 of 8 (.625) for 236 yards and four TDS in the second half. Without a pick. Yes, four of his five completions went for scores.
Tallying the two halves, the redshirt freshman who had never attempted a pass in a game until Thursday finished 13 of 22 (.591) for 294 yards, four touchdowns, the longest of which was 70 yards, and the one interception. And no sacks.
Compare those numbers with Fields’ first start in 2019 against an opponent (Florida Atlantic) that measured up to this Minnesota team in the same way a certain Columbus-based online “school” competed against IMG Academy.
Fields, the most talented if not accomplished quarterback in Ohio State history, opened his career against FAU by completing 18 of 25 passes (.720) for 234 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He also rushed for 61 yards (Stroud ran for 13) and a 51yard touchdown. But he also took two sacks, which was pretty much the only weakness over two seasons.
Why even compare Stroud to
Fields? That’s just how it works. Quarterbacks, more than any position, are measured against their predecessors. It just so happens that over the past decade or so each successive Ohio State quarterback matched or topped the previous version. Fields outplayed Dwayne Haskins, who was a better passer than J.T. Barrett, who won more games than Braxton Miller, who was a better runner than Terrelle Pryor, which is saying something.
Will Stroud ultimately outshine Fields? Unlikely, but playing the Stroud vs. Fields comparison game misses the point, at least as it applied to the season opener.
Stroud didn’t need to be Fields for the Buckeyes to win. He just couldn’t be Art Schlichter. Remember him? Before spending nearly 20 years in prison for a variety of con jobs, Schlichter spent his first game as an Ohio State quarterback throwing interceptions. Five of them.
Why even compare Stroud to Schlichter? Because until Stroud attempted his first pass Thursday — a seven-yard completion to Garrett Wilson — Schlichter was the last quarterback for the Buckeyes to make his first start without ever having thrown a pass in a college game.
It didn’t go well. Those five picks were part of a 19-0 loss to Penn State in the 1978 season opener.
As long as Stroud didn’t do that — or really anything close to it — the Buckeyes probably would be OK against the experienced but lesser-talented Golden Gophers.
Probably. If the Ohio State defense came to play. Which of course it would, right? Because the Silver Bullets — ahem — wouldn’t want to put on another horror show resembling the runningin-quicksand performance turned in against Alabama in January’s CFP national championship game. Would they?
They kinda would. Put it this way, after the negative attention shifted off Stroud after halftime, it latched onto defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs, who as one Twitter comedian cracked, “might want to enter the transfer portal.”
Minnesota’s 31 points tied the most points allowed by Ohio State in an opener since 1950. Turns out initial fear over whether Stroud could handle the offense was the least of this team’s problems.
In fact, Stroud doesn’t look to be a problem at all. Did he struggle for 30 minutes? Yes, but the high and wide throws were understandable, given his lack of experience.
“Not one pass (last season),” Day said, shaking his head at Stroud’s statistical resume. “This is a very unique situation for someone who really has zero experience, to go into a conference game on the road like this against a good team. I was very impressed with the way he kept swinging.”
So was Stroud. The 19-year-old owned up to his first-half gaffes, but was pleased with the way he bounced back.
“The first half my mind wasn’t right,” he said. “My mind was all over the place a lot of the time. I didn’t do terrible, but not the best I could.”
The second half showed some of the best he could. Of course, he more than got by with a little help from his friends. Olave was sensational, scoring on catch-and-runs of 38 and 61 yards, while Garrett Wilson scored on a 56-yarder and tailback Treveyon Henderson took a swing pass and showed his 2.6second speed in the 40 (OK, so it only seemed that fast, but goodness can this guy fly) by sprinting 70 yards for the score.
“I have great teammates, but I think I’m a great player, too,” Stroud said. Or at least he’s on his way. roller@dispatch.com @rollercd