Ohio State felt like it played a million different guys in its opener against Ball State, and that was really the point of an expectedly lopsided Week 1 contest.
The Buckeyes fed their stars on offense, with Jeremiah Smith going off, Julian Sayin lighting it up and Bo Jackson ripping off a long touchdown, while also seeing players like Devin McCuin, Legend Bey and Ja’Kobi Jackson make early impacts in their first games with the program.
It was a group effort on defense, holding Ball State to just a long
field goal. A ton of guys saw the field for Matt Patricia on Saturday, with freshmen like Jay Timmons and Khary Wilder showing why they’ve earned the early playing time and second-year linebackers TJ Alford and Riley Pettijohn making a case to rise up the depth chart.
It was a largely positive afternoon on both sides of the football, and while it didn’t exactly provide a test for this Ohio State team, it did give us a glimpse at just how talented this team can be when it reaches its full potential.
Here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Ohio State’s victory over Ball State.
The Great
Jeremiah Smith
The best player in college football looked every bit the part in the season opener, hauling in eight passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns while only really playing in the first half. Smith was so good that I had to add an extra section to this column, because classifying him as ‘good’ felt like a massive undersell.
Smith’s first catch of the season was a 48-yard touchdown grab, pinning the ball against his helmet before securing the catch in one hand on his way into the end zone — a fitting start to the season for the future top NFL Draft pick. His second touchdown, a modest 3-yard score, featured a two-foot toe tap in the back of the end zone before striking the Heisman pose.
The 6-foot-4 junior had his whole skillset on display on Saturday, and sent an early message to the rest of the country as the first bullet point in what should be a 2026 campaign filled with accolades for the star receiver.
The Good
Julian Sayin
Sayin’s first two passes of the day fell incomplete, but that was about the only negative to the second-year starter’s day. From there, Sayin completed 21 of his final 23 pass attempts for 320 yards and three touchdowns.
On top of his work with his arm, Sayin also ran in a 3-yard touchdown on a 4th-and-goal — his first career rushing touchdown, much to the delight of Ohio State fans everywhere.
Sayin’s decision making was excellent, making quick and correct reads on a variety of RPO opportunities, and his accuracy and zip was just as good. Ryan Day had praised the junior quarterback’s growth this offseason, and we got a decent glimpse of that in Week 1.
Devin McCuin
In a wide receiver room filled with talent, there was maybe no player coming into the season with more hype from camp than Devin McCuin. The UTSA transfer was specifically called out by Day for being, “as good as we’ve had here,” and we got to see that in action against Ball State.
In his Ohio State debut, McCuin finished as the Buckeyes’ second-leading receiver behind Smith with six catches for 97 yards and a touchdown. His 17-yard TD, an impressive catch-and-run on a curl route, showed off his elusiveness with the ball in his hands, and senior pass-catcher did a phenomenal job of getting open throughout the game.
While many had thought Chris Henry Jr. or Brandon Inniss would be WR2 behind Smith this season, McCuin made a statement in the opener.
Young Defenders
Even before the game got out of hand, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was getting a ton of guys reps on defense. It felt like nearly every player on Ohio State’s roster saw the field on defense at some point or another during the 56-3 victory, but a handful of young guys made a name for themselves way before garbage time.
A few guys in particular showed out, including a pair of freshmen in Jay Timmons and Khary Wilder.
Timmons, a rare freshman starter at corner for the Buckeyes, was impressive in his debut, officially finishing with a pair of pass breakups. The five-star was all over the field on Saturday, and his abilities as a cover corner were on full display. Timmons had a certain swagger about him as a first-year player that creates excitement for what the rest of his career could look like.
Wilder didn’t necessarily start the game, but he was featured heavily on Ohio State’s third down pass rush package. A five-star prospect as well, the defensive end lined up at defensive tackle on obvious passing downs and was a disruptive force up the middle. He didn’t officially record a sack, but was credited with a QB hurry and certainly made an impact right away.
TJ Alford had the biggest play of any Buckeye underclassman, recording the team’s lone interception in the game. In fact, it felt like both Alford and fellow sophomore Riley Pettijohn out-played starters Payton Pierce and Christian Alliegro at linebacker.
That isn’t to say Pierce or Alliegro played poorly, but there is a chance the Alford-Pettijohn combo may provide greater upside moving forward.
The Bad
The Run Game (in the first half)
Ohio State did a great job of quieting what would have become the overarching narrative of the game after a less-than-impressive showing on the ground in the first half. The Buckeyes managed just 2.1 yards per cary as a team running the football through the first two quarters, and run blocking by the offensive line was the primary cause.
After only 35 yards rushing through the game’s first 30 minutes, Bo Jackson broke away with a 65-yard touchdown run, which was followed shortly thereafter by a 49-yard touchdown run for Ja’Kobi Jackson. Those two explosive plays were a breath of fresh air for Ohio State fans, as a lack of explosiveness on the ground was a common theme throughout 2025.
All told, the Buckeyes finished with 237 yards rushing on 35 attempts — good for 6.8 yards per carry. That said, without the two long touchdowns, that number was 123 yards on 33 attempts, a 3.7 yard-per-carry mark.
The explosiveness was definitely nice to see, but the overall performance on the ground was uninspiring. The offensive line was lackluster at times, and all too often guys missed assignments when run blocking, leaving the running back on an island.
Things looked better for the most part in the second half, so it was reassuring to see that some adjustments were made at the break, but it will surely be an area Ohio State will look to further improve in practice this week.
Missing Tackles
It was always going to be tough for the Buckeyes to replicate their defensive success from a year ago after losing so many key guys to the NFL Draft. It would be nearly impossible to replace guys like Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese.
Matt Patricia did a fantastic job of getting his new-look defense ready to go on Saturday, holding Ball State to just three points (on a 54-yard field goal, no less) and only 165 yards total, but the amount of missed tackles were definitely noticeable throughout the contest.
Ohio State had a ton of chances to create negative plays early on, but the inability to bring guys to the ground negated those opportunities. It felt like the Buckeyes were on the cusp of a sack at least once per drive, but Ball State largely lived to see another day on too many of those plays.
Nothing is going to be perfect after Week 1, and it gives what should be another supremely talented Ohio State defense something to work on heading into a big test in Week 2.
The Ugly
Special Teams
I’ve been doing this column for two years now, and on nearly every single one of them the special teams unit has been listed in ‘The Ugly.’ I don’t know what it is going to take for the Ohio State coaching staff to take the third phase of the game seriously, but we are clearly not there yet.
The obvious special teams blunder on Saturday was Legend Bey’s kick returns. Despite Brandon Inniss practically begging the freshman to stay in the end zone on both opportunities the Buckeyes got to return a kick, Bey instead elected to try and return them, pinning Ohio State at its own 16 and 10-yard lines, respectively.
Bey made up for it with an incredible touchdown on offense later in the game, but it was clear he got a bit overzealous in his first game action.
That said, the most disappointing part of the special teams unit BY FAR for me was the punter.
Joe McGuire ranked 109th in FBS last season at 42.4 yards per punt, and was somehow even worse in this year’s opener. McGuire’s three punts in against Ball State averaged 41 yards, with a long of 42. That mark would have tied for 113th nationally in 2025, and even the longest would’ve only tied for the 93rd best average punt distance a year ago.
It may sound like a small nitpick, but the inability for Ohio State to flip the field is going to become a huge deal when the competition gets tougher — like it does next week. You can’t afford to go three-and-out at your own 25-yard line and practically hand Texas the ball near midfield.
It is inexcusable for the Buckeyes to have not addressed the punting situation during the offseason. It should not be this hard for a program like Ohio State to find themself a capable punter.
