Even in a game where the conditions were messy and the supporting cast wasn’t complete, Julian Sayin still put up the kind of numbers that define his season.
The Ohio State quarterback went 13-of-21 for 242 yards, four touchdowns and an interception in the Buckeyes’ 45-16 win over Maryland on Saturday. Those 13 completions matched the fewest he has had in any of his 20 starts, and his 61.9% completion rate was the second-lowest of that stretch. Still, the four touchdown passes tied his career high.
Sayin came out firing. He connected on seven of his first nine throws for 194 yards and three touchdowns in less than 23 minutes. Then the rhythm disappeared for a stretch: he completed only three of his next nine passes for 21 yards, with that sequence including a score, a pick-six and a near interception, before finishing by hitting his final three attempts.
He also did some damage with his legs, though not a huge amount. Sayin ran for 19 yards on seven carries, not counting sacks, and both times he was sacked he lost the ball. Maryland recovered one of those fumbles.
Afterward, Sayin was blunt about the ball security issues.
"Disappointed in myself," Sayin said. "The ball security, obviously, is not what we want to do, and really could have been three turnovers, with the one that we ended up recovering. ... I gotta be better in that area and try to improve and get better, and it has to get fixed going into next week's game."
The matchup also revealed the split in how he handled pressure. Against Maryland’s pressure looks, Sayin was sharp, finishing 7-of-11 for 105 yards and two touchdowns when the rush got to him.
For the season, he has 395 yards and four touchdowns while under pressure, and his 11.0 yards per attempt in those situations ranks among the nation’s best. But when Maryland blitzed, it was a rougher story.
He went just 1-of-5 for one yard and an interception, and Ohio State’s reshuffled offensive line - with Austin Siereveld unavailable - likely played a role.
Play action was a steady part of the day as well. Sayin threw 10 play-action passes and 11 non-play-action passes, producing nearly even results in both categories against Maryland. This season, his 10 play-action touchdowns are tied for third-most in the FBS, and he has used play action on 51.9% of his dropbacks, the seventh-highest rate in the country.
Ohio State has leaned on that side of his game all year, and the numbers keep pointing in the same direction. Sayin has been especially effective on shorter throws, too.
Against Maryland, he completed 5-of-6 passes thrown 0-9 yards downfield for 60 yards and two touchdowns. That gave him two touchdowns in the short area for a second straight week, after he had done that only twice in the first four games combined.
He was also precise between the hashes. Sayin completed both of his throws in that area for 76 yards and a touchdown against the Terrapins, and over the last three games he has gone 9-of-11 for 210 yards and a touchdown there.
Not every snap went cleanly, though. One notable miss came on third-and-5, when he failed to hit a wide-open Nate Roberts on what should have been a first down. There were also two solid decisions with his feet: a three-yard scramble on third-and-4 that set up a quarterback sneak for a first down, and an eight-yard run on second-and-7 when the pocket broke down.
All of it fits the broader picture of Sayin’s season. He is sitting among the national leaders in completion percentage, yards per attempt, passing yards per game, passing touchdowns, passer rating and QBR, and Saturday was another reminder of how often he can still tilt a game even when his cleanest day never fully materializes.
In Other News...
Marvin Harrison Jr And C.J. Stroud Just Revived A Buckeye Storyline
Marvin Harrison Jr. is heading from Arizona to Houston, and the move puts him back alongside the quarterback who helped make him one of the most electric receivers in college football. For Ohio State fans, it is a reminder of how quickly Harrisons Buckeye rsum came together, from big nights in the 2022 Rose Bowl and the 2023 Sugar Bowl to the kind of complete performance he delivered against Penn State in 2022.
The trade also gives Harrison a fresh chance after a difficult NFL start, and it arrives with a familiar face at quarterback in C.J. Stroud. For a former Buckeye star trying to reset his momentum, the reunion brings back the kind of setting where his talent looked at its most natural, and it leaves one obvious question hanging over the next chapter of his career. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Still Has One Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Ohio States special teams issues have become hard to brush aside, especially when games tighten and every point starts to matter more. The Buckeyes have already lived through missed opportunities in key moments, including a costly field goal miss in the previous Big Ten Championship, and the unit has remained a lingering concern even with Robby Discher brought in to coordinate the operation.
Connor Hawkins entered the season with a track record that suggested steadier days ahead, but his 2026 form has not matched expectations. For a program that usually expects clean execution in the kicking game, the continued uncertainty around field goals keeps showing up in the places Ohio State can least afford it, and until that changes, fans are going to keep watching this part of the team with unease. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Day Faces One Big Lineup Question Before Ohio State's Indiana Test
Ryan Day sounded encouraged this week about Ohio States health heading into Indiana, saying most of the six starters who missed the Maryland game are expected back. That group included Brandon Inniss, Devin McCuin, Austin Siereveld, Phillip Daniels, Christian Alliegro and Jay Timmons, with some of those absences tied to non-football-related issues. Getting that much experience back would matter for a Buckeyes team trying to keep its rhythm intact as the season tightens.
Indiana, though, gives Ohio State little margin for error. Day pointed to the Hoosiers recent success and made clear they are not the kind of opponent to take lightly, especially with lineup questions still hanging over his own side. The Buckeyes should be closer to full strength, but this matchup still comes with one obvious layer of uncertainty: exactly how quickly those returning starters can settle back in and how much of the rotation changes with them. [Read more 🡒]