With Jim Tressel watching from the Horseshoe on a day when he was also inducted into Ohio Stadium’s Ring of Honor, Ohio State wasted no time showing the home crowd what the opener was going to look like. The Buckeyes shook off an opening three-and-out and rolled to a 56-3 win over Ball State in Columbus, starting the season with the kind of stress-free performance Ryan Day has to love.
Jeremiah Smith got the first burst of life into the offense, hauling in an acrobatic 48-yard touchdown from Julian Sayin to finish a seven-play, 99-yard march midway through the first quarter. That early strike put Ohio State ahead 7-0, and the game never really left its control after that.
Sayin kept stacking completions from there. After opening 0-for-2, the junior quarterback found his rhythm in a hurry, and his eighth straight completion went to UTSA transfer Devin McCuin for a 17-yard touchdown late in the first quarter. That drive covered 75 yards in nine plays and pushed the lead to 14-0.
Ohio State’s defense added to the pressure in the second quarter when linebacker T.J. Alford picked off Ball State transfer quarterback and first-time starter Keldric Luster. The takeaway set up a 3-yard Sayin touchdown run just six plays later, making it 21-0.
Ball State finally got on the board just before halftime, with Brady Boehm drilling a 54-yard field goal to finish an 11-play drive. It was the Cardinals’ only scoring sequence of the afternoon.
The Buckeyes answered almost immediately. In a 65-second drive before the break, Smith came down with another touchdown grab, this one a tiptoe catch that also brought out the Heisman celebration. Ohio State went into halftime up 28-3 and fully in command.
The second half looked a lot like the first. Ohio State kept squeezing the life out of Ball State’s offense and controlled the game on the ground before eventually pulling its starters.
Bo Jackson broke things open with a 65-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter, finishing a four-play drive that took only 1:57. Ja’Kobi Jackson added another long scoring burst from 49 yards out to make it 42-3 midway through the quarter.
Later, freshman running back Legend Bey helped set up another highlight when Luke Fahey hit him for a 25-yard touchdown pass with 14:16 left. Then Tavien St. Clair entered and found Chris Henry Jr. for a score, just missing what would have been a 60-point outing.
The numbers told the story of the afternoon. Ohio State won the total yardage battle 671-165, Sayin went 21-for-25 for 320 yards and four touchdowns, and Smith finished with eight catches for 151 yards. Day picked up the 83rd win of his career, and the Buckeyes extended their season-opening streak to 27 straight victories and their run of winning 39 of the last 40 games.
Next up is a much bigger stage. Ohio State heads to Austin next Saturday night for a rematch with No.
5 Texas. The Buckeyes beat the Longhorns 14-7 in Columbus last season and have won the last two meetings, including a College Football Playoff win over Notre Dame during their run to the 2024-25 national title.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
In Other News...
Ohio States Next Running Back Move Could Define This Recruiting Push
Ohio States 2027 recruiting push picked up another name this week with a scholarship offer to Jordan Hall, the Princeton running back from Cincinnati who recently backed off his Miami commitment. Hall has already started weighing other options, including a possible visit to Indiana, but the Buckeyes are now firmly in the mix as they continue to build what is already a 19-player class.
Running back remains one of the spots Ohio State is still expected to target as the cycle develops, and Hall fits the kind of local, high-upside addition the staff can keep circling back to. The Buckeyes are not done adding pieces in 2027, either at running back or elsewhere, so every new offer carries a little extra weight as the class takes shape. [Read more 🡒]
Michigans Wild Finish Has Ohio State Fans Fuming All Over Again
A messy finish in Ann Arbor has Ohio State fans grumbling all over again, and it was not hard to see why. The game between Western Michigan and Michigan tilted on a sequence of controversial officiating moments, with a disputed Hail Mary adding to the unease around a night that already had people talking about the standard of Big Ten calls.
Earlier in the game, there were already missed penalties that drew attention, including a facemask and a running-into-the-punter call that went unflagged. By the end, the frustration had only grown louder, and the way the final sequence unfolded left plenty of room for debate among fans and commentators who are still looking for answers. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Next QB Battle May Already Be Taking Shape
After Ohio State had the game in hand against Ball State, the quarterback picture shifted for a stretch that could matter well beyond one September afternoon. Julian Sayin was done for the day late, and the snaps behind him went to Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair, giving the Buckeyes a first look at the next layer of their depth chart while the game moved into its final phase.
Ryan Day has already made clear this isnt just about filling garbage-time reps. Both backups are being viewed as potential successors, which means the evaluation is still very much open and the pecking order could keep changing as the season goes on. For a program that always has one eye on what comes next at quarterback, the real intrigue is less about who played in that moment and more about how long this competition will stay unsettled. [Read more 🡒]