Ohio State quarterback’s CFP entry confounds Urban Meyer.

College football has been going through dramatic changes that even the most connected insiders are having a hard time understanding.

One of those insiders includes former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, who has questioned why Buckeyes’ quarterback Kyle McCord has placed his name in the transfer portal.

McCord earned the Ohio State QB1 position in the preseason and he led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record.

The only game the Buckeyes lost was the regular-season finale at Michigan.

It marked the 3rd straight year that Ohio State had lost to Michigan after years of dominating the series.

While the 2023 game is the only one that McCord was involved in, there is a belief that the outcome of the 30-24 defeat had soured current head coach Ryan Day on the quarterback.

Published reports indicated that Day would not guarantee McCord he would be the starting Ohio State quarterback next year.

“Ryan Day was pretty clear in his comments yesterday that they were going to evaluate everything at Ohio State,”

said ESPN insider Pete Thamel on On3.

“He and his camp felt like they didn’t have a guarantee to start, so Kyle McCord goes on the open market, and he becomes one of the top players in the NCAA Transfer Portal.”

Meyer was the coach of the Buckeyes prior to Day. I tried to take a position of Kyle or even Ohio State, and it just doesn’t compute.

Look at Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord’s raw numbers in 2023, and you’re likely to see a successful profile: 3,170 passing yards and 24 touchdowns against six interceptions for a team that went 11–1 and reached the Cotton Bowl.

However, Buckeyes fans couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was something missing in his game this season—even as he ranked statistically among the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten.

McCord entered the transfer portal Wednesday morning. The move surprised many, including a man rarely surprised by Ohio State-related news: former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer.

I tried to take a position of Kyle or even Ohio State, and it just doesn’t compute,” Meyer said on Urban’s Take, his show on On3 with longtime Buckeyes beat writer Tim May.

Meyer pointed to McCord’s heroism during Ohio State’s last-second win at Notre Dame in Sept. However, Ohio State coach Ryan Day declined to commit to McCord as his starter going forward as the Buckeyes gear up for the Cotton Bowl against Missouri on Dec. 29.

“There’s no place better for Kyle than Ohio State. That place does not exist, unless he’s being guaranteed a starting spot,”

Meyer said.

Consider Urban Meyer among those surprised that Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord elected to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

In fact, the former Ohio State, Florida and Utah head coach turned Fox Sports analyst is struggling to make sense of the entire ordeal.

Before Michigan State hired Jonathan Smith as its next head coach, Meyer’s name was floated as a potential candidate, but he quickly shot it down.

Perhaps Meyer’s comments about McCord’s decision to enter the transfer portal show why he’s comfortable with his current gig at Fox.

Surely, he’s one of the greatest — and most controversial — head coaches of the modern college football landscape, but that doesn’t mean he has to agree with the transformation of the sport wholeheartedly.

Meyer recently spoke with On3’s Tim May. He shared an interesting reaction to McCord’s decision to leave the program, considering his place as a media personality and being the former head coach at the school in question.

“That made no sense,” Meyer said of McCord’s entrance into the transfer portal via On3. I tried to take a position of Kyle or even Ohio State, and it just doesn’t compute.”

Maybe it doesn’t for Meyer, but that’s just the nature of the beast that is the transfer portal.

With McCord under center, Ohio State lost its third straight matchup to Michigan, which has placed the team and head coach Ryan Day — Meyer’s successor — under further scrutiny.

McCord completed 66 percent of his passes and threw for 3,170 yards with 24 touchdowns against six interceptions. “He had a good year,” Meyer said.

“Marvin’s (Harrison Jr.) got to finish the route. And then, on the other one, he got hit. He got to his third read on the play, so it took him all the way back to the backside route. I’m talking about the final play against the Wolverines.”

While Meyer tries to make sense of the situation, he firmly believes that each side would have continued benefitting from the other.

“I’m trying to make it compute because I want to be empathetic, and I want to say, ‘OK, I understand.”

“There’s no place better for Kyle than Ohio State. That place does not exist unless he’s being guaranteed a starting spot,”

Meyer said.

“But once again, I don’t agree with that’s the best place.”

“I’m not ripping Kyle at all because I don’t know him.”

“But yeah, I didn’t dig in too hard because I don’t want to. I guess I love Ohio State, and I think competition brings out the best in you.”

“If he goes to a better place than Ohio State, I’ll be the first one to say he went to a better place. I don’t know.”

Meyer seems to struggle to comprehend McCord’s decision to leave Ohio State. Meyer is left trying to make sense of it all.