Ohio State left Bloomington with a 19-15 win over Indiana, but the bigger story came from what the Buckeyes lost in the fourth quarter.
Julian Sayin went down midway through the final period while trying to throw, was hit hard enough to lose the ball, and Philip Daniels came up with the fumble. The tackle forced Sayin’s arm into an awkward position, and he got to his feet visibly hurting, with his arm hanging at his side.
He was taken to the locker room, then came back shortly after wearing a sling. Ryan Day said after the game that the Buckeyes don’t have every detail yet, but they do know Sayin will be out for, “several weeks.”
That puts Ohio State in a spot it did not want to be in. The Buckeyes have been leaning on one of the nation’s top passing attacks, and the ripple effect could reach Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman candidacy, since even the best player in the sport still needs somebody to get him the ball.
Sayin’s own night had already gone sideways before the injury. He was barely above 50% passing, threw two rough interceptions, missed open targets, and never looked settled. Even with that kind of performance, though, it still felt like the better option to have him out there than to suddenly turn to the unknown.
Now the question is which freshman takes over, whether for a short stretch or something longer. The two names are Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair.
Fahey was the first replacement against Indiana, and the moment was anything but ideal. He did manage one 8-yard scramble that also drew a 15-yard late hit penalty on Indiana, but otherwise his outing was rocky: two incompletions and an intentional grounding call. That was his first real action in a tense situation, and it showed.
The California native entered Ohio State as a three-star recruit in the 2026 class. Per the 247Sports Composite, he was ranked No. 35 among quarterbacks and No. 586 overall.
He’s listed at 5-foot-11, but he put up huge numbers in high school, throwing for more than 7,000 yards with 68 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. At Mission Viejo, he had already shown what he can do in blowouts this season, getting work against Ball State and Kent State.
Across those two games, Fahey completed 9 of 11 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns in garbage time, but he also threw two picks.
Even so, it has surprised plenty of people that Fahey is the one who appears to have won the backup job. That was supposed to be St. Clair’s lane.
St. Clair arrived in Columbus with a much bigger recruiting profile and the kind of résumé that made him look like the Buckeyes’ future.
He was the No. 1 player in Ohio and the No. 3 quarterback in the 2025 class, checking in as the No. 7 overall prospect. At 6-foot-4, he also came in with hardware and production: he won the Elite 11’s accuracy competition, was a finalist for 2024 Ohio Mr.
Football, threw for more than 10,000 yards and more than 100 touchdowns at Bellefontaine, and earned three Central Buckeye Conference Offensive Player of the Year awards.
Like Fahey, St. Clair has already seen the field this year.
In the opener against Ball State, he completed five of six passes for 52 yards and a touchdown. Against Kent State, his only throw was intercepted.
Because of the different expectations attached to each quarterback, it would not be a shock if the bye week becomes a fresh evaluation. Fahey may have been the staff’s choice for mop-up duty, but that’s a lot different from making a start against USC in two weeks.
That is why the Buckeyes need to treat the coming practice window like an open competition. Give Fahey and St.
Clair the snaps with the first unit, see who looks more comfortable, and settle on the best option before the weekend. Then use the following week to actually build the offense around that quarterback before heading out west.
What Ohio State cannot do is tear up the offense and start from scratch just because Sayin is sidelined. The passing game has been the stronger part of this team, and with Jeremiah Smith and the rest of that receiver group still in place, there’s no reason to shelve it. The staff has to trust whichever freshman earns the job to keep the attack moving in the same direction.
There won’t be much margin for error. USC and Oregon are coming, and if Ohio State doesn’t get the quarterback decision right, a strong position in the back half of the schedule can change fast.
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