Ohio State's Offense Won't Have to Change Much if They Go With Luke Fahey

The Ohio State Buckeyes have yet to publicly make their decision on the quarterback position for this upcoming week. It is likely that news will come out on Tuesday, and if it doesn't, the Buckeyes will likely hold the news close to the chest until the team takes the field on Saturday night.

The most likely replacement for Julian Sayin is the true freshman backup, Luke Fahey. Fahey has been the first one off the bench in each game this season, and when Sayin went down for good last Saturday, it was Fahey who came in.

Buckeyes' head coach Ryan Day decided to hold a quarterback competition last week to determine if Fahey or redshirt freshman Tavien St. Clair would get the nod against the Trojans.

We don't know how that competition went, but what we do know is that if it is Fahey, the offense isn't going to have to change literally at all.

Under Julian Sayin, the Buckeyes have been able to run a fairly conservative attack. His job all year has really been fairly simple: protect the football, throw it to Jeremiah Smith, make good decisions, throw it to Jeremiah Smith, keep the offense out of danger, and throw it to Jeremiah Smith.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

When Fahey has come into games, there is a very easy correlation to be made as to why he was the backup to Sayin. 

Those two are nearly carbon copies of each other. They are very similar in stature and incredibly similar in play style. Fahey gets back on his drops with great fundamentals and gets to his first two reads very quickly. 

It is clear that he has great knowledge of the offense and where he is supposed to be going with the football. 

It is also clear that he lacks some of the elite traits that are required. 

His accuracy hasn't been tested in big moments yet, so that is yet to come. His arm strength has been put on display a couple of times, and there is reason to believe that it is average to below average. He underthrew an interception against Kent State from just the 50-yard line.

If they were to change Fahey's number to 10 on Saturday and run him out there, there is nothing to say that the Buckeyes weren't playing Julian Sayin. They are going to look very similar to the attack that they had and that is certainly a positive for the Buckeyes. 

Now, he has to execute in the big moments that come his way on Saturday, but I'd be willing to bet that Ryan Day will protect him as best that he can. As long as he can operate, he will do just fine for the Buckeyes' offense.