No. 3 Ohio State’s 19-15 road win over defending national champion Indiana did more than hand the Buckeyes control of the Big Ten race. It also left them staring at a far messier path to the College Football Playoff.
The victory ended Indiana’s 22-game winning streak, but it came with a brutal cost: starting quarterback Julian Sayin is out indefinitely with an elbow injury. That could leave Ohio State to close the season with three-star true freshman Luke Fahey under center.
Sayin’s injury dropped into the middle of an offense already trying to find itself in conference play. The Buckeyes have been inconsistent on the ground, and while Jeremiah Smith has been electric through seven games, the gap behind him is massive - he has 33 more catches, 716 more receiving yards and 10 more touchdowns than the next most productive wide receiver on the roster.
That was enough for college football media personality Josh Pate to sound the alarm Friday on ESPN’s "Bussin' & Pate."
"Man, I'm on the bus with it," Pate said. "If they were churning out yards in the run game, and frankly this is a problem for a lot of teams with high-profile quarterbacks with high expectations and highly paid rosters, if Bo Jackson or Legend Bey was the equivalent of Zeke back in the day, I'd be okay. They haven't been that yet."
Pate also pointed to what could be waiting for Fahey and Ohio State down the stretch. The Buckeyes still have five games left, and every one of those opponents owns at least a 4-2 record. Two of them are sitting just outside the top 25.
"Here's the problem: at USC, Oregon (maybe with Dante Moore back), Northwestern, at Nebraska, Michigan," Pate said "There's no stretch of three games there where you look and say 'that's where they'll get right.'"
The playoff committee has already shown it can weigh quarterback injuries heavily. In the 2024 College Football Playoff, Alabama earned the No. 4 seed at 12-1 over undefeated Florida State after Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury.
Travis had started 11 games before getting hurt against North Alabama. Florida State still beat No.
5 LSU and No. 16 Duke with him at quarterback, then won at unranked Florida and against No.
14 Louisville in the ACC Championship after he was lost.
Ohio State’s situation is different, but the fear is real: a powerhouse with a thin margin for error, a backup quarterback, and a finish line lined with difficult games.
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, UCLA suddenly owns the clearest route to an unbeaten regular season among league teams, even after losing its starting quarterback. USC, currently No. 16, may be the Bruins’ only ranked opponent left in the regular season.
Indiana and Iowa, despite both falling to Ohio State, also appear to have a cleaner road to the playoff than the Buckeyes. Indiana’s Nov. 14 meeting with USC may be the last ranked team on its schedule, while Iowa’s trip to Northwestern on Nov. 7 should be its final matchup against a ranked opponent.
Oregon could also work its way back into the conversation if Dante Moore returns. But the Ducks likely need perfection the rest of the way, which means beating a surging Northwestern team and then winning at Ohio State.
In Other News...
Florida State Gets Its First Real Roster Test Against LSU
Florida State is about to get its first meaningful look at where the roster stands when it hosts LSU in an exhibition game at the Donald L. Tucker Center. For Luke Loucks, this is exactly the kind of test he wanted, a chance to see how his group handles a veteran opponent before the games start counting for real. The Seminoles will be leaning on freshman center Marcis Ponder, junior guard Kam Taylor and sophomore forward Shon Abaev as they try to find their footing against a team built to challenge them.
LSU comes in with its own questions, but also with plenty of experience under Will Wade, who has put together a roster that looks tested even after some early uncertainty. Fifth-year guard Donovan Dent gives the Tigers a seasoned backcourt presence, and Skyy Clark could add another layer if he is available after recently becoming eligible. For Florida State, the value here goes beyond the final score. It is a first real measuring stick, and the kind of night that can reveal a lot about where this team still needs work. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Gets One Last Read On A Roster Still In Flux
Florida State gets one more chance to sort through its preseason pieces before the games start to count, with LSU coming to the Donald L. Tucker Center for the Seminoles final exhibition matchup. The recent win over Auburn offered an encouraging early look, and it also gave the staff another live evaluation of a roster that is still being shaped by availability and fit.
One more layer was added with forward Alex Steen now eligible to compete after a temporary injunction, giving Florida State another option as it tries to settle into a rotation. LSU, meanwhile, arrives having won both of its exhibition games and with additional players set to be eligible for the regular season, so this one should provide a useful test for a Seminoles team still trying to answer a few lingering questions before the real schedule begins. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Keeps Running Well Despite One Alarming Problem
Florida State has found one of the few steady answers on offense in a season that has been defined more by frustration than by momentum. The running game has carried a lot of the load, with quarterback Ashton Daniels and running back Ousmane Kromah giving the Seminoles a reliable way to move the ball even as the bigger goals of the year have slipped out of reach.
The problem, of course, is that the ground game alone cannot cover for a defense that has struggled to hold up. Florida State is giving up 27.9 points and 256.3 passing yards per game, with the secondary and second-half performance emerging as the biggest concerns, and those issues have kept a team projected to finish 6-6 from looking like a true conference contender. [Read more 🡒]