No. 1 Ohio State’s matchup against Washington didn’t exactly go how I anticipated… until it did. The first half saw the Buckeyes — especially on offense — look frustrated, clunky, and a bit bumbling. But then, it looked like someone took the cartridge out of the machine and blew on it at halftime, because once the OSU offense got the ball to open the second half, it was off to the races, and the Buckeyes turned a 7-3 halftime lead into a 24-6 victory in Seattle.
Coming into today, Julian Sayin had
only started three games in his collegiate career. As a true sophomore, I can understand why Ryan Day and Brian Hartline wanted to take things slow with him in the season opener against Texas. However, in that game and the two that followed, I thought that the OSU quarterback had done more than enough to prove to the Buckeye powers that be that he was ready to handle anything and everything that they could ask of him.
So, I was more than a little disappointed when it became clear that the coaches didn’t seem to have any plans to ask all that much of him in the first half against UW. Perhaps it had to do with the cacophonous crowd noise that Husky Stadium is known for, or maybe they truly thought that the still-underwhelming running game would be the thing to lead the Buckeyes to victory.
But in the first two quarters of the game — thanks to another failed red zone fourth-down attempt and an inexcusable fumbled punt return — that philosophy just wasn’t cutting it. So in the second half, things looked markedly different from the jump. Sayin took to the air on 10 of the 15 snaps in the half’s opening drive. While none of the passes were shots deep downfield, that possession had to prove to the coaches that the young QB was not only capable of managing the offense in a hostile environment, but that he was also able to be as close to perfect as you could reasonably hope for.
On the afternoon, Sayin was 22-of-28 for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Certainly not mind-blowing numbers, but his 79% completion percentage upped his nation’s best total by a smidge. But more importantly, he was decisive, accurate, and judicious with his decisions; he looked every bit the leader of a team capable of winning a national title.
While I think there were still a few opportunities that he missed to push the ball downfield, in my opinion, Sayin has done more than enough to earn the trust of the coaching staff. Football folks often say that as the season starts, the defense will be ready before the offense. Because of the intricacy and coordination required, it will take offenses longer to gel and reach their final form. So, in my mind, the fact that Sayin has looked so unbothered by everything that the then-No. 1 team in the country and arguably the most intimidating environment in the country could throw at him bodes extremely well for what this offense can accomplish as the season goes on.
But let’s be honest, since there is still substantial ground for the offense to cover before it reaches its peak, they can afford to take their time to figure things out, because the Ohio State defense is formidable… no, that’s not a good enough word. The Ohio State defense is elite… no, still not good enough. Ohio State’s defense is the best fucking defense in the country. (I apologize for the profanity, but sometimes a four-letter word is exactly what the situation calls for.)
In four games, the Buckeyes have allowed 22 points… no, not an average of 22 points per game, a total of 22 points. That’s 5.5 points per game, an unfathomable number considering that their strength of schedule was No. 39 nationally coming into Saturday, and only got better.
When Jim Knowles got his feelings hurt and tried to ruin Ohio State’s national championship celebration to take a step backwards and become Penn State’s defensive coordinator, I didn’t think that it would be possible for the defense to actually get better in 2025, but bah gawd, it did.
The creativity and flexibility on display at every level of OSU’s offense are honestly astounding. We knew coming into the Washington game that the linebackers — Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese — are amongst the best units in the country, and that Caleb Downs leads arguably the best secondary in the country, but it was the defensive line that stole the show on Saturday.
Not only did they aid in the Silver Bullets’ continued red zone domination, but new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia finally allowed them to get some pressure, and it paid off. Coming into the weekend, a lot of national analysts assumed that UW’s dynamic QB Demond Williams Jr. was going to tax Ohio State because he was just as adept at picking up yards on the ground as he was through the air, and OSU (like every team in college football) has a history of struggling against dual-threat quarterbacks.
However, that never came to pass. On the afternoon, Williams was an impressive 18-of-22, but only threw for 173 yards and finished the game with -28 yards rushing on 13 attempts; thanks to being sacked six times. Early in the game, the OSU front four often would only rush three guys, keeping someone back to help account for the possibility of Williams running. Despite their best efforts, rushing three (or even four) against six rarely ever works.
However, as the Buckeye offense started having more success, and Washington needed to put the ball in the air with more regularity, the guys up front were able to pin their ears back and create some chaos.
Defensive end Caden Curry had himself what will almost certainly earn him a weekly honor or two, accounting for 11 tackles (9 of them solo), 5 tackles for loss, including 3 sacks. When paired with tackle Kayden McDonald’s 7 tackles, 3 TFLs, and 2 sacks, the defensive line was creating havoc everywhere Williams looked.
One truism in football is that defense travels, and when your defense is this good at every level as Ohio State’s, not only can you count on it when visiting hostile environments, but perhaps more importantly, it allows its offense enough time to find its footing. I don’t think that the Buckeye offense is anywhere near a finished product, but I think it was clear that Day, Hartline, et. al are figuring it out.
Not only did they seemingly put the game in Sayin’s hands in the second half, but in an increasing number of high-leverage situations, it was true freshman Bo Jackson in the backfield. Again, he wasn’t perfect, but his vision and toughness clearly make him the best back on the roster. He has a really cool habit of turning two-yard runs into eight-yard runs, and eight-yard runs into 20-yard runs. As he becomes more comfortable playing at this level, I am exceedingly confident that his presence will open up every other aspect of the offense.
If opposing defensive coordinators have to contend with a legitimate threat out of the backfield, eventually that will loosen things up for OSU’s insane stable of receivers. We all saw how different the Buckeyes’ attack looked when they finally made a concerted effort to get the ball to Jeremiah Smith. Now, imagine what that could look like for him, Carnell Tate, and the rest of the pass-catchers if they had even a little more room to operate.
The Ohio State defense is going to keep this team in every single game they play this season, and very well might be enough to win a second-straight national title, even if the offense was completely mediocre. But, good news, it’s not, and I think the lessons learned this afternoon against Washington are only going to make this version of the Buckeyes even more dangerous as the season progresses.
