Ohio State’s bye week suddenly looks a lot more important after Julian Sayin went down against Indiana.
The Buckeyes beat the Hoosiers 19-15 on Saturday in Bloomington, but the win came with a major price. Midway through the fourth quarter, Sayin was hit as he tried to throw, lost the ball, and Philip Daniels came away with the recovery. The hit left Sayin’s arm in an awkward position, and he got up visibly hurt with that arm hanging at his side.
He went to the locker room and came back not long after with his arm in a sling. After the game, Ryan Day said the staff did not yet have every detail on the injury, but that Sayin will be out for “several weeks.”
That puts Ohio State in a tough spot. The Buckeyes’ passing game has been among the best in the country, and the ripple effect could even touch Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman candidacy, since even a star like Smith still needs somebody to get him the ball.
Sayin’s night was already going badly before the injury. He was barely above 50% passing, threw two ugly interceptions, missed some wide-open targets and never looked settled. Even with that rough performance in a big game, though, he still looks like the safer option compared with the unknown Ohio State now faces at quarterback.
For now, the next man up appears to come from a pair of freshmen: Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair.
Fahey entered first against Indiana, and the moment was clearly a difficult one. He did manage one bright spot with an 8-yard scramble that drew a 15-yard late-hit penalty on Indiana, but otherwise the outing was rough. He threw two incomplete passes and was also charged with intentional grounding.
Fahey arrived in Columbus as a three-star recruit in the 2026 class. The California native was ranked No. 35 among quarterbacks nationally and No. 586 overall in the 247Sports Composite. He is listed at 5-foot-11, but he put up big numbers in high school, passing for more than 7,000 yards with 68 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.
The Mission Viejo product had already seen some work in blowouts earlier this season. Against Ball State and Kent State, he got a few chances to throw, and in those garbage-time snaps he went 9-of-11 for 204 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions in those games.
What has surprised people is that Fahey appears to have beaten out St. Clair for the backup job.
St. Clair came to Ohio State with much more hype and was widely viewed as the quarterback of the future.
At 6-foot-4, St. Clair was ranked the No. 1 player in Ohio, the No. 3 quarterback in the 2025 class and the No. 7 overall prospect.
He won the Elite 11 accuracy competition and was a finalist for 2024 Ohio Mr. Football.
At Bellefontaine, he threw for more than 10,000 yards and more than 100 touchdowns, and he was a three-time Central Buckeye Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
St. Clair also logged snaps in the Ball State and Kent State games. He went 5-for-6 for 52 yards and a touchdown in the opener, then threw an interception on his lone attempt against the Golden Flashes.
That’s why Fahey winning the backup job was such a shock. Now the question is whether this injury forces the Buckeyes to rethink everything.
Fahey and St. Clair came into college with very different résumés, but the staff clearly saw more in Fahey during camp.
Still, there’s a big difference between being the guy for mop-up duty and being the guy who has to start against USC in two weeks.
Ohio State should use the first week of practice during the bye as an open competition. Give both quarterbacks as many reps with the first unit as possible and see who gives the team the best chance to win.
Then, once that decision is made, the Buckeyes can spend the following week actually building the offense around the new starter before heading west.
What they can’t do is tear everything up just because Sayin isn’t available. The passing game has been the stronger side of the offense this season, and with Jeremiah Smith and other talented receivers still in place, Ohio State can’t simply walk away from it.
The staff has to trust whoever wins the job to keep the offense moving the same way it has been. There won’t be much room for adjustment with USC and Oregon looming, so this is a decision they need to get right.
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For Ohio State, any injury ripple across the national picture is worth watching, especially with Julian Sayin already expected to miss several weeks with a right arm injury. The Buckeyes are navigating their own quarterback uncertainty, and when another top program is left waiting on clarity at a key offensive spot, it adds another layer to the broader race among contenders trying to stay intact long enough to make a push. [Read more 🡒]