Ohio State doesn’t look like the same kind of team it was the past two seasons, and that may be the point.
Four games into the 2026 season, the Buckeyes are still good enough to keep winning, but the path is changing fast. The old blueprint was simple: lean on an elite defense, load the offense with NFL talent, and let one side eventually break the game open.
That version of Ohio State is gone. What’s left is a team that may need Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith to carry more of the load than anybody expected.
That duo has separated itself from everything else on the roster. Through four games, nothing Ohio State is doing - on either side of the ball - has matched the level Sayin and Smith are playing at. That does not wipe out the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff chances, but it does mean everyone around them has to adjust what winning looks like this season.
Saturday’s 42-19 win over Illinois made that clear. Ohio State was good enough in most areas, but the game again showed that the Buckeyes are not built to overwhelm opponents the way they did in recent seasons. They are built to let their quarterback and receiver make the difference.
The defense, in particular, has taken a step back from the absurd standard it set in the previous two years. In 2024, Ohio State allowed 12.9 points and 254.6 yards per game.
Last year, those numbers dropped to 9.3 points and 219.1 yards. Through four games this season, the Buckeyes are allowing 274.3 yards and 12.3 points per game.
Those are still strong numbers. They just are not the kind that made Ohio State look historically suffocating.
And against Illinois, the defense showed how much work is still ahead. The Illini piled up 462 yards, including 199 on the ground, and averaged 6.0 yards per carry.
Aidan Laughery had 113 yards on only 11 carries. No one with double-digit carries and no 75-plus-yard run should be averaging 10.3 yards per carry against Ohio State.
There are reasons for the dip. The Buckeyes lost a huge amount of NFL talent over the last two offseasons, and the defense is still searching for answers.
The line is trying to settle into the right mix, and the linebackers have been part of the problem against the run. Riley Pettijohn and T.J.
Alford have both flashed this season, but Illinois also exposed assignment issues, including missed run fits, poor edge-setting and overpursuit.
The secondary has been the most steady part of the unit, but even there, busted coverages and penalties keep showing up. So this does not look like a defense that will squeeze every opponent for 60 minutes. It looks more like one that has to do enough to keep games in range for Sayin and Smith.
Offensively, the Buckeyes’ best answer is even more obvious. The line held up well enough against Illinois, and Sayin was not sacked.
When the pocket did break down, he showed the mobility that has been waiting to appear more consistently since his first start. He still has room to grow as both a runner and a passer, but his connection with Smith is already operating at a level no one else on the team can touch.
Smith delivered a monster day: 12 catches, 217 yards and four touchdowns, all career highs. Sayin threw for 367 yards and four scores without an interception.
Illinois kept putting Smith in single coverage, and Ohio State made them pay for it. He was targeted on nearly half of Sayin’s 36 pass attempts.
That should become the rule, not the exception. If Smith is one-on-one, he needs to be the first look.
Maybe the second and third, too. Force defenses to react to him.
Make them shade safeties his way. Make linebackers worry about the space behind them.
Make coordinators spend too much of the week building a plan around one receiver.
Ohio State’s running game was fine against Illinois, not special. The Buckeyes ran for 151 yards on 32 carries, a 4.7-yard average.
Bo Jackson or Ja’Kobi Jackson touched the ball on the first six plays, seven of the first eight, and seven of nine on the opening drive. That worked against Illinois, but there is still no guarantee the ground game can become the kind of weapon that controls tougher opponents.
The more realistic answer is the one Ohio State already has in front of it: establish the pass to set up the run. Ryan Day and Arthur Smith may prefer the old script about running first and throwing second, but this roster points in the opposite direction.
The Buckeyes do not need their defense to be historically great again. They do not need the run game to become dominant.
They do not need every position group to hit elite status. They just need enough of the roster to be solid and dependable so that Sayin and Smith can do the heavy lifting.
If Ohio State gets that, it can still win plenty of games.
In Other News...
Ohio State Freshman Legend Bey May Have A Bigger Problem Than Playing Time
Legend Beys first season at Ohio State has already been shaped by interruption, and not just because of the usual freshman learning curve. After an earlier suspension and an ankle injury, the running back has been working from behind for playing time, and his role has stayed limited as the Buckeyes have moved through the season. Even in areas where young players can sometimes find a foothold, his path has been narrow.
The latest sign came against Illinois, when Bey did not play and another player handled his kick-return work instead. For a freshman trying to earn more than a spot in the rotation, that kind of move can say plenty about where he stands with the staff. If the concerns run deeper than health or depth-chart traffic, it could become a bigger issue for Bey as he looks to settle his future in Columbus. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Future Talent Pipeline Is Starting To Look Different
Ohio States recruiting machine is still humming, but the shape of the pipeline is starting to change. The Buckeyes already hold 19 verbal commitments in the 2027 class, a group that includes six national top 100 players and the countrys No. 1 overall prospect, DJ Jacobs, giving the staff another chance to load up early with high-end talent.
The next wave looks just as promising, if a little different in how it is forming. Ohio State has five commitments in the 2028 class, four of them top 100 prospects, led by quarterback Christopher Vargas at No. 4 nationally, and even the 2029 class already has a foothold with wide receiver Austin Miller, ranked No. 50. For a program that has long built its roster on blue-chip talent, the real question is how this early momentum will translate when the class rankings and the pressure both start to rise. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Has A Growing Running Back Problem Behind Ja'Kobi Jackson
Ohio State got the win over Illinois in Week 4, but the running back room left Ryan Day with a lot to sort through. The group finished with 122 rushing yards, and Ja'Kobi Jackson accounted for the best of it with 56 yards and a touchdown, giving the Buckeyes a steadier presence than they got from the rest of the rotation.
What followed was more revealing than the box score. Day publicly singled out sophomores Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, questioning their effort when compared with Ja'Kobi Jackson, and the backdrop here is not just one uneven afternoon but a position group dealing with injuries and inconsistent play. For Ohio State, the bigger concern is whether there is a reliable answer behind Ja'Kobi Jackson, because right now the depth chart looks far less settled than a contender would prefer. [Read more 🡒]