On a Saturday in college football filled with shenanigans and upsets, Ohio State left no doubt as to where they stand as the No. 1 team in the country with a dominant 42-3 victory over Minnesota.
A win
over the Golden Gophers isn’t all too impressive of a feat in and of itself, but the way the Buckeyes handled what should be a upper-middle tier Big Ten program from start to finish was a sight to behold. On offense, we saw the explosiveness that some in the national media felt had been lacking for Ohio State this year, and the defense was suffocating as usual, allowing zero touchdowns for the third time in five games.
With an intriguing two-game road trip coming up against Illinois and Wisconsin, it was great to see the Buckeyes get to flex their muscle a bit in a rare in-conference home game at night.
Here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the Buckeyes’ latest victory…
The Good
Super Sayin
There had been some chatter from the talking heads this week about whether or not Ohio State trusts Julian Sayin to let it rip, and if the young quarterback has the confidence to attack using the deep ball.
Those conversations were silly, and Sayin showed why against Minnesota.
It was another incredibly efficient day for the Buckeyes’ QB, finishing the game completing 23 of his 27 pass attempts (85%) for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Looking specifically at the deep ball, Sayin was 3-of-5 on throws of at least 20 yards, with those three completions good for 121 yards and a TD.
Through five games, Sayin is now 12-of-14 on throws of 20-plus yards, netting 515 yards and seven touchdowns on those plays. Ohio State’s offense doesn’t need to be chucking it downfield on every single snap, but when his number is called Sayin has been more than willing to let it fly, and has been on the money almost every single time.
Sayin’s deep passer rating of 98.0 (!!) is the best of any quarterback in the country, per PFF, and his 85.7% completion rate on deep passes is also the best of any QB with at least three attempts. His overall passer rating of 90.5 is the second-best of any QB with at least 100 drop backs, behind on Duke’s Darian Mensah.
Sayin’s poise and accuracy have been insanely impressive for a first-year starter. You can probably count on one had the amount of throws that have missed the intended target, and he has put the ball in harms way on very few occasions.
Being a five-star quarterback comes with sky-high expectations, and so far Sayin has more than exceeded everything Ryan Day could possibly ask for.
The Law Office of Smith and Tate™️
While Sayin has been great, the guys he has been throwing too are pretty damn good as well.
It was largely the Carnell Tate show on Saturday, as the junior wide receiver hauled in nine catches (on 10 targets) for a whopping 183 yards and a touchdown, including a long 49-yard score. Tate actually out-gained the entirety of Minnesota’s offense by 21 yards!
On the other side, Jeremiah Smith had a standard Jeremiah Smith game: seven receptions for 67 yards and two touchdowns. Smith also played a big part in that long Tate touchdown, as nearly the entire Gophers secondary followed the star wideout’s motion to the left side of the field, leaving Tate in single coverage for the easy touchdown on the other side.
Smith is obviously the No. 1 receiver and No. 1 player in college football overall, but there is an argument to be made that Tate is the No. 2 receiver in the country as well. The Chicago native has been spectacular for Ohio State for really the last year and a half, catching virtually every ball thrown his way and making a ton of huge plays in the process.
The Buckeyes may very well have the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft and the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2027 NFL Draft both on the current roster. Embarrassment of riches doesn’t even come close to describing the Smith/Tate tandem.
Thank you, Brian Hartline!
The entire defense
On the same day where Ohio State’s former defensive coordinator allowed 42 points to an 0-4 football team, the Buckeyes kept their opponent entirely out of the end zone for the third time through the first five games.
Matt Patricia has been nothing short of sensational through his first five games as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator. Ohio State ranks No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, allowing just FIVE points per game, and has given up only two touchdowns TOTAL in five games. Nobody has even managed double-digit points against the Buckeyes thus far, with Ohio’s nine points being a season-high for any opponent.
Patricia deserves a ton of credit, but so too does this excellent group of players.
When the entire unit is playing as well as it has, it’s hard to single out individual efforts, but the usual stars of the show were pretty much in charge. Sonny Styles led the way with a team-high eight tackles, Arvell Reese recorded Ohio State’s lone sack, Caden Curry was disruptive up front and Caleb Downs was everywhere as always.
However, the one player I really want to highlight is Lorenzo Styles Jr.
The elder Styles has been picked on a bit at times, and received his fair share of criticism this season — from myself included. Against Minnesota, however, Styles Jr. finished as the highest-graded player on the Buckeyes’ defense with a 84.5 grade, per PFF.
Styles played a noticeably great game, finishing with three tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. He looked particularly good in coverage, where he was credited with allowing three catches for a grand total of -3 yards. It was a great showing for a guy who is only in his second full season as a defensive back after switching over from wide receiver.
Ohio State’s defense is a juggernaut right now, and the contributions are coming from virtually every spot on the roster.
The Bad
The long field goal
In a game that goes as well as Saturday’s, you have to nitpick a bit to find the bad. That being said, Ohio State’s decision to attempt a 53-yard field goal on its first possession of the game was not exactly great.
After Minnesota notched a 27-yard field goal on its opening possession, the only points of the game for the Gophers, the Buckeyes’ drive got off to a good start. A short catch by Tate and a 10-yard run by Bo Jackson moved the chains, and another solid run by Jackson followed by a 13-yard gain by Smith put Ohio State in Minnesota territory quickly.
However, a 1-yard run, an incomplete pass and a play where Tate got tripped up after a short gain put the Buckeyes in a 4th-and-6 scenario at the Minnesota 35-yard line. With the way Ohio State was moving the ball, it seemed to make sense to go for it in that spot on the field, but instead they elected to try a 53-yard field goal.
The kick was no good, and the Gophers took over with decent field position. That didn’t wind up mattering, as the Ohio State defense forced a quick three-and-out, but with the way the Buckeyes’ offense was looking and the disaster that special teams has been this season, it was an odd choice to attempt what would’ve been a career-long field goal for Jayden Fielding.
It wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of the game, but if Ohio State has a choice between its offense and its special teams unit, I think we know which one they should choose 99% of the time.
The Ugly
That one awful sequence
Late in the second quarter, Ohio State had a pretty ugly series of events.
Facing a 3rd-and-2 near midfield, the Buckeyes appeared to moved the chains easily with a QB sneak by Sayin, but Ohio State had called a timeout before the snap, so the play didn’t count.
Coming out of the timeout, they instead elected to go with the Lincoln Kienholz package. Kienholz tried to bounce the play outside, and wound up losing a yard, forcing Ohio State to punt. To add insult to injury, the Buckeyes were then called for a false start on the ensuing punt attempt.
Joe McGuire’s punt wound up pinning Minnesota at the 10-yard line, and to his credit Kienholz did score on a run play late in the fourth quarter once the second team offense took the field, but it was a frustrating sequence to have seemingly easily picked up a first down on a QB sneak, only to run a worse play with your backup quarterback that went backwards instead.
Ohio State elected to let Sayin sneak it on 3rd-and-1 later in the third quarter and successfully picked up the first down. Just do more of that!
Kenyatta Jackson’s injury
The only real negative of the day for Ohio State was on the injury front, as defensive end Kenyatta Jackson left the game in the first quarter after a big hit on Minnesota quarterback Drake Linsey.
The NBC broadcast reported that Jackson suffered a stinger and was a “coin flip” to return to the game, but he ultimately did not return and was in street clothes coming out of halftime. UNC transfer Beau Atkinson took his place for the majority of the night.
With the Buckeyes up big and the defense playing well without Jackson, it could have been a precautionary move to hold him out after being shaken up. After the game, Ryan Day said they would take a further look and provide an update once they know more.
Jackson was moving around well on the sideline and cheering on his teammates for the rest of the night, so it didn’t look like anything that was super serious, but we obviously will not have a great idea of the extent of his injury until we hear from Day later this week.
Hopefully Jackson will be back out on the field next weekend when Ohio State hits the road to take on Illinois.
