Ryan Day presided over a prolonged quarterback battle at Ohio State heading into the 2023 season. Kyle McCord eventually won the battle as QB1 for the Buckeyes.

During the season, Ohio State did finish 11-1 behind McCord, but the first-year starter did struggle at key moments. He had 2 interceptions in the loss to Michigan, including one in the last minute of The Game with a shot at a game-winning drive.

At a Sunday afternoon press conference, Day was asked about preparation for the Cotton Bowl and a matchup against Missouri. Asked if McCord will be the starting QB for that game and beyond, Day declined to get into the specifics.

“I just think that that’s kind of a long way away right now. We’re going to get back to work here, we had a practice last week, we’ll have a practice coming up this weekend,” said Day. “Guys will get out there and compete and grind and we’ll take it from there.”

Day said players will get a chance to compete and “get after it” during the bowl prep and the team will figure out who deserves the reps and go from there:

“I can’t sit here and tell you I know for sure on any of those things right now, but everyone’s going to have an opportunity to compete and get after it in bowl practice,” Day explained. “And when it’s time to go play in the game, we’ll figure out who should get the reps and go from there. I don’t really have a great answer for that just yet.”

In his first year as a starter, McCord completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns to go with 6 interceptions. When healthy, Devin Brown was McCord’s primary backup but also spent time on the sideline with an injury.