Ohio State Football: Three things C.J. Stroud must fix before Oregon

Stroud was nervous in this season-opener. I’m not even knocking him for this. It was expected. Hell, I’d be nervous for my first ever start if I was good enough to play any college sports. It’s something that you think you can handle right up until the first snap happens.

After the game, Stroud said he was nervous. He said that he wasn’t himself in the first half because he was so nervous. Day was able to pull him aside and calm him down a little bit. That happened in the second half, and that’s when the Buckeyes started to pull away.

Stroud shouldn’t be as nervous for the game next week. Even though it will be the home-opener, he’ll have the full force of a friendly crowd behind him. If anything, he might be a little bit too amped up for the game. He won’t have as many nerves.

Ohio State will put Stroud in the best position they can to put him in a situation where he can succeed and play better than he did against the Golden Gophers. Stroud only threw three or four passes deep down the field and was only able to complete one of them. That needs to change too.

No matter what, I think Stroud will be better against Oregon. I think we all need to calm down, myself included, and realize that Stroud will have some growing pains. He has a talented offense around him that should help him win games.

Now we just have to wait and see if Stroud can fix these things before next Saturday rolls around.