Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord is off to a fast start in his 2024 campaign, following one career day with another as the Orange improved to 2-0 with a 31-28 win against No. 23 Georgia Tech. With 735 yards passing and eight touchdowns in two games, McCord's late-career emergence has become one of the big storylines from this past transfer portal cycle and a big reason why first-time coach Fran Brown has the Orange ready to exceed expectations in Year 1.
All of the attention on McCord's fast start comes in the wake of his departure from Ohio State, where he spent the first three years of his career and started the entirety of the 2023 regular season. On the surface, it was a season that many would view as a success. McCord led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record as a starter and totaled 24 touchdowns, which ranked third in the Big Ten and tied for No. 24 nationally. But in a year when offensive inconsistency was viewed as a limiting factor for the Buckeyes, McCord became a target. He entered the transfer portal on the first day of the winter window in early December 2023 and committed to Syracuse less than two weeks later.
McCord could have gone to other power-conference programs, and according to Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack, the former Buckeye could have made significantly more money in NIL if he pursued that path. But what McCord saw in Syracuse was an opportunity to find comfort with familiarity. In that zone, he has started to thrive.
Regional ties that bind
Hiring Brown was not just a matter of Syracuse picking from Kirby Smart's coaching staff at Georgia, but rather identifying a rising star with Northeast ties. Brown is from Camden, New Jersey, and he quickly assembled a staff of talented coaches, many of whom also share that regional background. He attacked the portal aggressively, landing commitments from players coming out of big-time programs like Georgia, Texas A&M and Ohio State. In many of those situations, including McCord, Brown leaned on relationships that had been established long before his hire with the Orange.
McCord has known Brown and Orange quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile since he his days as a middle school quarterback in the Philadelphia and south New Jersey area. He's also known offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon since he was "five or six years old," having played youth football with Nixon's son. After things didn't work out at Ohio State on such a big stage, McCord welcomed a fresh start without having to reintroduce himself. The Syracuse coaching staff has long believed that McCord can be one of the top quarterback talents around, and now they're working to bring it to life at Syracuse.
Strong start comes with favorable path moving forward
While many would caution an overreaction from these two performances, it's important to note that Syracuse was always in a position to take advantage of a favorable schedule in 2024. The Orange have one of more manageable strength of schedule ratings in the ACC, avoiding Clemson, Florida State and Louisville while getting Miami at home in the final week of the season. With a key win against Georgia Tech in the books, Syracuse has already come up on the right side of one of the many coin-flip games in conference play.
McCord threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns on 32 of 46 passing in the win against the Yellow Jackets, setting new single-game career highs for passing yards, completions and touchdowns one week after setting new marks in those categories in the season-opening win against Ohio. But this not a performance without some flaws, and there is certainly room for McCord, and the Syracuse offense as a whole, to improve moving forward. Allowing Georgia Tech to storm back from a 17-point deficit and cut the lead to just three points in the final minutes nearly brought a disappointing end to McCord's career day. But in holding on for the first top-25 win of the Brown era, McCord was able to point the credit back to the coaches and his teammates for his big day.
"The people around me, the coaches believe in me, my teammates believe in me," McCord told the ACC Network on the field after the game. "It means a lot. All offseason, we've been hearing we weren't ready for games like this."
He further called Brown's ability to put everyone in a place to be successful "special." From the coaches to the players, be it portal additions or mainstays from the previous team, all of the pieces seem to fit together right now for Syracuse.
Brown joked after the Week 1 win over Ohio that he should send a bottle of wine to Ohio State coach Ryan Day for allowing McCord to become available and eventually make his way to Syracuse. After yet another career day from McCord, Brown may want to send a whole case.
