Ohio State walked out of its 19-15 win over defending national champion Indiana with a major concern that could shape the next stretch of its season: Julian Sayin’s injured throwing arm.
Sayin took a clean hit inside the pocket in the fourth quarter and suffered an upper-body injury to his throwing arm. He left for the locker room and later reappeared with his right arm in a sling. Backup Luke Fahey, who was 0-of-2 passing, finished the game.
"I don't have a ton of details," head coach Ryan Day said afterward of his quarterback's status. "But he'll probably be out for several weeks. So, you know, we'll have to come up with a plan there."
The injury put a damper on a road win that otherwise mattered plenty for the Buckeyes. AP No. 4 Ohio State improved to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, but the bigger story may now be what comes next under center.
Sayin, a 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist, put together a mixed outing against Indiana. He completed 15 of 29 passes for 235 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The redshirt sophomore has clearly been Ohio State’s best answer at quarterback, even if the plan of leaning on Jeremiah Smith has its limits. Both of Sayin’s interceptions came while targeting Smith.
That quarterback uncertainty lands at a rough time because Ohio State’s run game is still not giving the offense much help. For the fourth time this season, the Buckeyes were held under four yards per carry.
They ran the ball 37 times for 78 yards, averaging just 2.1 yards per attempt. They were also stopped twice in four short-yardage situations and stuffed on seven runs overall, leaving them needing 7.1 yards on third down, according to StatBroadcast.
Now the Buckeyes head into their bye week with real decisions to make before a difficult part of the schedule arrives. On Halloween, they play at No.
19 USC, then face Oregon in between and get No. 25 Northwestern in Columbus two weeks later.
Fahey, redshirt freshman Tavien St. Clair and senior transfer Justyn Martin are the other quarterback options, but none is a sure thing.
Fahey had seen time in blowouts before Saturday and came into the game 9-of-11 for 203 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. St.
Clair has nine career pass attempts and went 5-of-7 for 52 yards, one touchdown and one interception a season ago. Martin is already on his third Big Ten program and has not thrown a pass since a start against Penn State while with UCLA on Oct.
5, 2024.
What looked like a huge road victory over Indiana now comes with a far bigger question hanging over Ohio State: who takes the next snaps, and how quickly can he be ready?
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