This Saturday, the first week of the 2025 campaign, the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes host the No. 1 Texas Longhorns in Columbus at Ohio Stadium for a rematch of last year’s semifinal kicking off at 11 a.m. Central on FOX.
“As far as the ball game goes, pretty epic matchup,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said on Monday. “When you think about one versus two in at least one of the two major polls for the first game of the season is great for college football. As much as you know I’m going to talk about the rankings
don’t matter — which I believe that — I do think for college football, the fanfare, the excitement around this game, I think is great for our sport.”
Despite each team featuring new faces across the board on both the player and coaching side, this battle is slated to be one of the marquee matchups for the entire college football season.
“Beyond the rankings, these are two really good teams. Ton of respect for Ohio State, ton of respect for Ryan Day, the job he’s done,” Sarkisian said.
Ohio State and head coach Ryan Day reached the pinnacle of success in college football last season, securing a national championship behind a plethora of weapons on offense and an elite defense. Their path to the summit included handing a season-ending loss to Texas in a Cotton Bowl matchup that featured an abundance of NFL talent.
For both Day and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian, the expectation of competing for a national championship this year remained the same regardless of the talent lost to the NFL Draft and graduation. The Buckeyes had a record-breaking 14 players drafted in April while Texas saw 12 players get the nod, finishing first and third for most players taken.
“The fact that both teams are coming back one and two in the country, I think speaks volumes to the quality of programs that both of us have, quite frankly,” Sarkisian said.
In his seventh year at the helm, Day has largely excelled at navigating the expectations of a perennial power and consistently reloading talent across the board. In his previous six years, Day has led Ohio State to 10-plus wins in every season (excluding COVID) and top-five finishes in four of his six seasons. Last season culminated in a national championship, a silencing blow to his loudest critics frustrated by his 1-4 record against arch-rival Michigan.
With a preseason ranking of No.3, the expectations in Columbus are once again sky high.
While Day may be used this pressure, the task of replacing last year’s team and coaching staff is daunting. Just a few weeks after winning the national championship, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles announced he would be accepting the same position at rival Penn State. Knowles’ 2024 defense ranked first in yards allowed, firsst in scoring defense, and first in red-zone defense in all of college football.
Day filled the position with long-time NFL guru Matt Patricia who brings coordinator and head coaching experience from the NFL level after rising as a New England Patriots assistant under Bill Belichick before spending three years as the head coach of the Detroit Lions.
In addition, Day lost offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to the Las Vegas Raiders. For that position, Day didn’t need to hire an outsider. Instead, Brian Hartline was re-promoted to offensive coordinator after spending seven total years at Ohio State, including serving as offensive coordinator for the 2023 season.
During his time at Ohio State, Hartline has primarily worked with wide receivers and was responsible for the recruitment and development of numerous NFL draft picks — Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave, Marvin Harrison Jr, and Emeka Egbuka.
While two new coordinators are no small feat to overcome, the transition for Ohio State at quarterback will possibly be the greatest challenge. The Buckeyes named redshirt freshman Julian Sayin as the starter last week after a fall camp battle with junior Lincoln Kienholz.
Sayin brings arm talent and athleticism to the offense, although he is inexperienced. Highly recruited in high school with a consensus five-star rating as the No. 6 overall player in the nation, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Sayin signed with Nick Saban and Alabama before transferring to Ohio State after Saban retired.
Sarkisian made a run at Sayin during his recruitment and as a result is quite familiar with his game.
“He’s a better athlete than you think. He can run, so we definitely need to be alert to that and ready for that,” Sarkisian said on Monday.
Sayin preferred to stay in the pocket and use his arm to dissect defenses in high school, but didn’t hesitate to use his legs when the pocket broke down. His arm talent is superb and gives him the ability to make a wide variety of throws at each level.
A heavy dose of disguised coverage and pressure up front will serve the Longhorns well in their pursuit of disrupting Sayin in his first career start.
Day expressed confidence in Sayin on Monday while also trying to set realistic expectations for the inexperienced signal caller.
“What you can’t do in Week One is have these crazy expectations other than win the game. Take care of the ball. Win the game. If you need to throw it away, throw it away. Don’t worry about anything else other than win the game. So that’s the most important thing, and that’s the job of the quarterback. When it’s time to let it rip, you’ve got to let this thing rip. It’s the first game, and we’re excited for him,” Day said.
Helping out Sayin is future first round draft pick wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who was held in check against Texas last season, but possesses more than enough explosiveness, speed, and shiftiness to be a threat on every down. His 76 receptions, 1,315 yards, and 15 touchdowns all set Ohio State freshman records.
Smith has also taken this game personally after being held to one catch for three yards last year.
“I’m definitely hyped about this one, especially with how things went last year, people saying things about me, about that game I had last year,” Smith said. “I’m definitely hungry for this one, for sure.”
Texas cornerback Manny Muhhammed echoed a similar sentiment.
“He has all the hype right now. He’s the guy everyone is looking at in college football. I’m sure he’s overly motivated, especially coming out of that game last year,” Muhammad said.
Beyond Smith, Ohio State boasts junior Carnell Tate and junior Brandon Inniss in a wide receiver room that has big shoes to fill after the departure of Egbuka. While Tate reeled in seven catches for 87 yards against the Longhorns last season, Inniss will be hoping to make a much bigger contribution this time around.
In the backfield, Quinshon Judkins and Treveyon Henderson are both in the NFL, replaced by San Antonio product James Peoples and West Virginia transfer CJ Donaldson and supplemented by freshman Bo Jackson. At 6’2, 232 pounds, Donaldson may physically remind some Ohio State fans of Buckeye legend Eddie Georgia until they see his unique combination of size and speed.
“Protection, as you know, is important,” Day said. “Ball security is of utmost importance in this game, and we’ll find out coming out of the game, but we’ve seen a lot of progress in those areas.”
The tight end position has also lost its top two contributors, forcing Day to turn to the NCAA transfer portal to land former Purdue standout Max Klare, who opted to return to the Buckeye State despite taking a visit to Texas. Klare recorded 51 catches for 685 yards and four touchdowns last season.
Up front, the Buckeyes are still sorting out their front five after losing 56.6 percent of snaps from last season. In a surprising move, Austin Seireveld was recently named the starter at left tackle. Seirevald has experience in the interior, but hasn’t played tackle since high school. On the right side, Minnesota transfer Phillip Daniels is in an ongoing competition with Rice transfer Ethan Onianwa that could result in some rotation at the position on Saturday. Daniels struggled in his three starts for the Golden Gophers last season.
The pass rush for Texas will feature an explosive core than should challenge any front five, especially one that has so much production to replace. Look for the battle at each of the tackle positions to control the outcome of the game with Longhorn sophomore edge Colin Simmons and senior Jack end Ethan Burke providing a major challenge for the new Buckeye tackles.
On the defensive side of the line, the Buckeyes have even more questions to answer. After finishing top five in pass rushes last season, Ohio State returns just 28.3 percent of its sack production. Four defensive linemen were taken in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Don’t expect a huge drop off in talent.
Kayden McDonald will lead the charge up front this year after spending most of last season as a backup. While the Buckeyes have a deep and talent interior defensive line group, the experience is a weak spot. Expect a wide range of players inside.
“We’re going to roll those guys pretty good. We’ve developed some depth there, and I feel like we’re going to feel good about putting different guys in the game. You’re going to see guys kind of mix in and out of there. They’ve got to go play, and we’ve got to go put it on the field against a really good front,” Day said.
On the outside, Kenyatta Jackson Jr is a star waiting to shine. The senior defensive end has waited his turn behind Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau. With both of their departures, the experienced rusher will be a key component of the Buckeye pass rush.
On the other side, new faces Caden Curry and Beau Atkinson will look to establish themselves as forces on the outside. Atkinson, a transfer from North Carolina, had 7.5 sacks last season for the Tar Heels, demonstrating an ability to get after the quarterbacks in the ACC and there’s no reason to doubt that won’t translate to the game against Texas even though he currently project as Curry’s backup.
Despite the lack of returning production, the talent and physicality up front will pose a threat to the Texas offensive line.
Moving into the linebackers and secondary, keep an eye out for safety turned linebacker Sonny Styles and safety Caleb Downs, two of the best in the business. Styles is listed at 6’4 and 243 pounds, but possesses great speed. He recorded 100 tackles, six sacks, and five pass defended last year.
Downs, an Alabama transfer in his second season at Ohio State, returns as one of the best all-around defensive players in college football. He was third on the team in tackles last season with 82 and added eight passes defended and two interceptions. The Georgia product also returns punts and has the explosiveness to take one the distance.
In two years, he’s been awarded the Shaun Alexander national freshman of the year, first-team All-American, SEC Freshman of the Year, All-SEC, unanimous first-team All-American, Big Ten Co Defensive Back of the Year, and all-Big Ten.
Downs lost the Thorpe Award to Longhorn Jahdae Barron last season.
With Downs and Styles, the Buckeye defense returns experience and talent at two key positions.
With this being game one of the season and so many new faces for both teams, expect a handful of miscues, especially in the early going as each quarterback looks to settle in. While production was widely lost from last season, the talent and speed of each team has not regressed.
Day addressed the unique nature of facing such a talented roster in Week One.
“It’s rare that you would play someone like this towards the start [of] the regular season. But, here we are and and I think it’s going to give us a great barometer coming out of the first game,” Day said.
Texas is currently a 2.5-point underdog against Ohio State, according to FanDuel.
