The Ohio State football team had an interesting year at the quarterback position. The Buckeyes have been loaded at the position throughout the past decade, and that has been a strength of the team. This season, however, Kyle McCord didn't quite reach the level of recent Ohio State QBs, but he was still a very good QB and he was able to lead the Buckeyes to an 11-0 start. Then their game against Michigan happened.

In the final regular season game of the year, Kyle McCord threw two interceptions against rival Michigan, including one the final drive when Ohio State football had a chance to drive down and get the win. The loss ended the Buckeyes hopes of going to the Big Ten title game and the College Football Playoff.

Shortly after that loss, the transfer portal opened up in college football, and McCord quickly entered his name and ended up committing to Syracuse football. The whole situation was surprising to see as McCord had a pretty good year as a first-year starter and would have likely had the job locked up for next season at Ohio State unless a transfer was brought in. So, everyone was asking why, and the rumors started to swirl.

Many people thought that the Ohio State fan base drove McCord away. There were certainly some Buckeyes fans that were critics, especially after the Michigan game, and some people thought that McCord had had enough. McCord recently appeared on The QB Room podcast to discuss his decision, and he wasn't too happy about the narratives and reporting regarding his transfer decision.

“I didn’t really say too much,” McCord said on the podcast. “After I left, I kind of put out my statement and kept the reasons close, kind of in my inner circle. And I’ve had news outlets hit me up. I got one – a news outlet from Columbus – that hit me up to do a story and I didn’t answer it. Hit my family up to do a story, they didn’t answer. Hit people up in my circle to do a story, nobody answered. And then the next day, you go online, and they have an article published of the five reasons I left. And you read them and it’s just a bunch of BS. They’re just kind of pulling at strings at that point. The narrative, people read that and they think that’s true and so they start believing in it and posting it and it just kind of snowballs. And when you don’t really speak up about it, it is what it is.”

At the end of the day, college football is a business now. McCord went on to discuss the decision, and he noted that it seemed like the best thing for him, and the best thing for Ohio State.

“You guys know it just as well as I do, at the end of the day, the top level of college football and then especially onto the pros, it’s a business,” McCord continued. “At the end of the day, Ohio State had to make a business decision that they felt was best for them, and I had to do the same thing. And unfortunately it just wasn’t meant to be for next year. But at the end of the day, I felt like I put together some solid games, had some good tape, so I was confident when I went in the portal, I would find a good home.”

The biggest surprise to most people when Kyle McCord left Ohio State was that he committed to Syracuse. No offense to the Orange, but they don't exactly have a great football program. McCord might not have been as good as CJ Stroud when he was with the Buckeyes, but he was still one of the best QBs in the Big Ten. It was a surprise decision, but best of luck to the young man going forward. It was certainly a good pickup for Syracuse.