Ohio State Buckeyes' QB Julian Sayin started slow but immediately turned it on to lead the Buckeyes to a big win.
Week one jitters are a real thing, even for the No. 1 team in the country, the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Ohio State entered Saturday's game against the Ball State Cardinals as 50.5-point favorites as they began their journey back to the top of college football. It didn't look that way for the first three minutes of the game.
Freshman Legend Bey took a kick out from deep in the end zone, against the advice of Brandon Inniss, who pinned the Buckeyes deep. Then, it was a short run followed by two of the worst incompletions that Sayin has ever thrown.
The Buckeyes punted the ball away, and with that punt went all of the first-game jitters and nervousness. Once Ohio State got the ball back, the route was on.
Sayin connected on his next nine pass attempts, and by the time a pass didn't find his target, the Buckeyes had a 21-point lead.
Sayin finished the day going 21-for-25 for 320 yards, three touchdowns through the air, and one touchdown on the ground en route to the 56-3 win. He showed that he has every throw in his bag after he connected on a deep shot to Jeremiah Smith, and he was efficient and accurate in the short-to-intermediate game while protecting the football.
His responsibility this year has increased, and it is incredibly evident. With Arthur Smith taking over as the Buckeyes' offensive coordinator, the Ohio State offense looks and acts like an NFL offense.
What that means for the quarterback is long play calls, autonomy at the line of scrimmage, and responsibility at the line of scrimmage. He has both the freedom and expectation to change plays at the line of scrimmage and always get the Buckeyes into the right play.
He had no issues with that during Saturday's contest with Ball State while making his first submission for the 2026 Heisman Trophy.
Sayin had a full offseason with a major chip on his shoulder. Many people, including myself, doubted what his ability actually is. He struggled against the best competition last year, and it left the Buckeyes with two straight losses, ending their season last year.
His big test comes next week against the Texas Longhorns. Saturday against Ball State was just a prerequisite before the big one next week. He passed the initial test, and now it is on for next week's primetime showdown in Austin, Texas, against the Longhorns.
