Ryan Day has Ohio State sitting at 6-1 and still very much in the thick of things, but this has been a season with an edge to it - one that can’t be judged cleanly at the bye week. The Buckeyes opened the year No. 1 in the AP Poll and have slipped to third, though they remain the highest-ranked team in college football with a loss. That résumé includes two top 15 road wins and a one-point defeat at ranked Texas, the kind of loss that has only gotten messier as the Longhorns have stumbled.
That September 12 trip to Austin still hangs over the season. Ohio State led 20-3 going into the fourth quarter, then watched the game unravel.
The offense shut down, the defense couldn’t slow Texas, and the final stretch turned into a collapse that ended with Texas scoring to go ahead 24-23 after Ohio State’s late-game clock management fell apart. The Buckeyes never got the ball back in time.
Since then, Texas has lost twice to unranked opponents, and Arch Manning is one bad week away from being benched. What looked ugly in the moment is now threatening to look ugly in the playoff committee’s eyes, too.
The Buckeyes did answer in their next two major road tests. On October 3, they went to Iowa and mostly controlled a good Hawkeyes team, finishing the job in a way they couldn’t against Texas.
Then came Bloomington, where Ohio State won one of its biggest non-Michigan regular-season games in recent memory. It was not a clean performance.
It may not even have been their best team that day. But this time, they were the ones who found a way to survive, while the other side missed field goals and made mistakes.
That win in Bloomington was Ohio State’s biggest regular-season victory since at least 2024 Penn State, but it came with a heavy price. Julian Sayin came down with what appeared to be a shoulder injury, and while Day did not come right out and say it, he appears to be done for the season. That changes everything heading into the bye and beyond.
After the break, Ohio State heads to Los Angeles, and that will be just the second time an Ohio State quarterback has missed a game because of injury. The other came in 2021, when the Buckeyes decided to let C.J. Stroud rest his sore shoulder against Akron.
Now the pressure shifts to Luke Fahey. Day has the quarterback background, and Arthur Smith gives him a highly qualified and experienced offensive coordinator to lean on.
Still, getting Fahey ready for USC and the stretch that follows will be a real test. Day has been through something like this before, though.
In 2024, plenty of people thought Ohio State’s title chase was finished when Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin were hurt, and after the offensive line struggled badly in the loss to Michigan, Day and his staff found a way to rebuild things enough for a team that went on to win the national championship.
So where does that leave the first half of 2026? A B- feels like the right call.
It would be hard to go much lower with a 6-1 record and a 4-0 start in Big Ten play, but the Texas loss still lingers. The final grade will depend on what Ohio State looks like with Luke Fahey and whether the Buckeyes hit their three program goals.
In Other News...
Ohio States Bye Week Boost Comes With A Serious New Concern
BYUs double-overtime loss to UCF shook up the AP Top 25 and opened the door for some movement near the top, but Ohio States bigger concern has little to do with the rankings. The Buckeyes are coming out of the bye week with questions attached to two key pieces of the offense, as injuries to quarterback Julian Sayin and running back JaKobi Jackson threaten to affect how much the team can lean on its usual rhythm.
Miami stayed at No. 1 after handling Pitt, while Ohio State is left sorting through the more immediate reality of how it will look in the games ahead. The Buckeyes have had enough stability to stay in the national conversation, but the timing of these injuries adds a real layer of uncertainty at a point in the season when every week starts to feel more consequential. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Faces A Complicated Ranking Drop After Costly Upset
Miami held onto the No. 1 spot in the AP college football rankings after a convincing win over Pittsburgh, with quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Malachi Toney leading the way. The bigger shift, at least for the teams chasing the top, came from BYUs upset loss to unranked UCF in double overtime, a result that is expected to send the Cougars sliding after they had been sitting at No. 2.
For Ohio State, the ripple effect could be significant. The Buckeyes are projected to move up to No. 2 as pollsters reshuffle the upper tier after a chaotic weekend, with several top teams now under closer scrutiny depending on how they handled their latest tests. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Suddenly Faces A Season-Defining Test After Julian Sayin Injury
Julian Sayins injury has forced Ohio State into a different kind of stretch run, one that now hinges on how the Buckeyes handle a sudden change at quarterback. Luke Fahey is stepping in, and with the bye week arriving at a key moment, the staff has a little time to stabilize the offense and keep the season on track while the rest of the roster tries to carry the load.
There is still a path here for Ohio State to finish strong, make the College Football Playoff and stay in the national title conversation, but the margin for error is tighter now. The bigger picture also leaves room for long-term optimism, from Jeremiah Smiths Heisman-level ceiling to the idea that Sayin could eventually reclaim the job down the road, even if this season has already taken a sharp turn. [Read more 🡒]