Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin burst onto the scene as the next guy in Columbus as he led the Buckeyes to a hard-fought 14-7 victory over the No. 1 Texas Longhorns on Saturday afternoon. As the dust has settled from Saturday’s win, it is very clear that Sayin was ready for the moment.

Sayin’s performance is not one that is going to jump off the page when looking at the box score. He finished 13-for-20, good for 126 yards and one touchdown. However, within that stat line was at least four drops that not only would have adjusted his completion percentage, but also the yards to go along with it. 

The best way to describe Sayin’s performance was steady. He was everything that the Buckeyes needed him to be. The ball was never in danger, he had a couple of big third-down conversions, and the exclamation point was a 40-yard touchdown to Carnell Tate in the fourth quarter.

For his play on Saturday, Sayin graded out as a “Champion” by the coaching staff..

To be graded out as a “Champion,” the Buckeyes need to win the game, the player needs to play at least 15 snaps, and have over an 80 percent grade. How the coaches grade each play is not documented, but it is likely a pass or fail system. Either you executed your responsibility or you didn’t, it’s that simple.

This is a rare accomplishment for any Buckeye. It is not meant to be an easily achievable standard, and it is an award that holds everyone accountable to the Ohio State standard.

To be graded as a Champion in your first start is a tough bar to clear, but the tape matched the grade. Sayin wasn’t special, but he didn’t need to be on Saturday and doesn’t need to be moving forward.

This Ohio State offensive roster has so much elite talent on it, and all Sayin has to do is his job, nothing more and nothing less. 

Now, the challenge for Sayin is to stack on top of his great Week 1 performance. His head coach, Ryan Day, made it very clear that he was proud of the young quarterback but expects more out of him going forward:

“We felt like he took care of the ball, made some good throws. I’d like to think that if we had made a few plays for him earlier in the game, maybe it would have gone a different direction. But I don’t think he ever flinched. Good start. A lot of football to go, though.”

The next challenge for Sayin is to repeat his performance against Grambling State this weekend. The requirement is different coming into Week 2 as the Buckeyes are heavy favorites against this FCS opponent. 

For him, it's building off of what he did well against Texas and improving in the areas that he needs to.