Mock drafters have already started circling Arch Manning again, and the award lists are acting like his name never left the envelope. That’s the rhythm of early September: hype can outrun proof, and Texas quarterback is once again the hottest ticket in the country.
But when Ohio State walks into Austin on Saturday, the Buckeyes won’t be showing up just to admire the name on the jersey.
If the conversation is really about which quarterback has earned the bigger spotlight, Julian Sayin has a case that’s hard to ignore. Manning’s fame is louder, sure.
His ceiling is still the thing people sell. But the numbers from 2025 tell a different story: Sayin completed 77% of his passes, threw for 3,610 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions, and finished with a 89.6 QBR, second nationally.
Manning, by comparison, completed 61.4% of his throws, posted 3,163 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 10 rushing touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 70.4 QBR, which ranked 30th nationally.
Sayin also won two more games, including one against Manning’s Longhorns, and he returns in 2026 as the only incumbent Heisman finalist.
That doesn’t mean the hype machine is suddenly going to stop humming for Texas. It just means Ohio State has a quarterback of its own who already has the receipts.
“It’s Texas,” Ohio State running back Ja’Kobi Jackson said after Saturday’s 56-3 win over Ball State. “Everybody’s going to have hype around them.
(They are) just being positive around their organization. They can do what they need to do.”
Manning does have momentum from the back end of last season. Over his final six games, he put up 1,714 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions, a stretch that gave his year a much better finish than its beginning. Still, Sayin has the stronger starting point entering Year 2, and the way Ohio State handled him last season suggests there’s more room for growth.
During last year’s opener, a 14-7 win over Texas, Ryan Day kept the offense tight and controlled. Ohio State called just 20 pass plays, and Sayin threw only two passes that traveled 10 or more air yards. The Buckeyes were clearly easing him in.
This year feels different. Against Ball State, Sayin completed 21 of 25 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns.
He also ran a career-high 2.4 plays per minute with the starters, a sign that his command of the offense is growing and that the coaching staff trusts him more. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who most recently called plays for Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, has only had one offseason with Sayin, but he’s already impressed.
“He doesn’t feel like a young player to me, because he sees the game so well and he understands football,” Smith said during fall camp. “He’s so smart, sometimes I have to pull him back, ‘Let everybody else catch up to you.’ You talk about one thing, and he’s ready to go.
“But that’s a great problem to have; I’m super impressed with him. I mean, he understands how to play quarterback and understands the game.”
Sayin doesn’t have Manning’s size, and he doesn’t move like the Texas quarterback does outside the pocket. But he can still win the matchup by processing faster, throwing on time and letting the rest of the offense do its work.
And that’s where the “surrounding talent” argument gets slippery. Manning has a loaded cast too: five-star receivers Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo, running backs Hollywood Smothers and Raleek Brown, both of whom topped 900 rushing yards last year, and an offensive line that Athlon Sports ranked fifth in the country in its preseason view. None of that is held against him, and it shouldn’t be.
The same goes for Sayin, who plays alongside Jeremiah Smith and plenty of other help. Every would-be king in college football gets an army. The difference is that Manning’s fame travels farther than his teammates’ names, while Sayin has to share the glow.
In the end, the two quarterbacks have more in common than the debate around them suggests. They both play for blueblood programs.
They both work under accomplished coaches. They both have star teammates around them.
What separates them right now is production, star power and how much people choose to value each one.
“I think they’re just - it’s a notorious program,” Ohio State receiver Devin McCuin said of Texas. “A lot of hype around them. Obviously, they’re a good team, great program, but we’ve got guys too.”
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