Ohio State got the kind of road win that keeps a season on track, but it came with a hit that could reshape the next stretch of the Buckeyes’ year. Julian Sayin, the starting quarterback and 2025 Heisman Trophy finalist, is expected to miss “several weeks” after suffering a right shoulder injury in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win at Indiana, Ryan Day said after the game.
The injury happened with 8:05 left in the fourth quarter on a first down snap, when Indiana’s Mario Landino sacked Sayin and pinned the quarterback’s right arm awkwardly upward against his body. Sayin left the game and never returned. By the closing moments of Ohio State’s victory, he was on the sideline with his right arm in a sling.
That leaves the Buckeyes with a major decision under center, and the answer appears to be freshman Luke Fahey.
Tavien St. Clair entered the season as the name many expected to be next in line, but that wasn’t how Ohio State handled the situation against Indiana. Fahey was the quarterback who stepped in, and with the Buckeyes heading into a bye week before an Oct. 31 matchup with USC, the signs point toward him getting the next shot as well.
Fahey didn’t have much time to settle in against the Hoosiers. He threw only two passes, and both were incomplete. Ohio State’s offense bogged down with him in the game late, though the larger truth is that the Buckeyes and Indiana spent much of the afternoon with less-than-stellar quarterback play all around.
A two-week break now gives Ohio State time to get Fahey ready for what comes next. The Buckeyes already seemed willing to trust him in a high-pressure Big Ten game, and that alone says plenty about where things stand in the room.
Fahey arrived in Columbus in July of 2025 as a former three-star recruit. The early hint that he had moved ahead of St. Clair came in the season-opening win over Ball State, when he was the first quarterback to enter after Sayin had already put the game away.
At 5'11" and 206 pounds, Fahey is a little undersized, but he drew attention in the 2026 recruiting class for his accuracy and his ability to make something happen with his legs when needed.
So far in 2026, he has completed nine of 11 passes for 203 yards, with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. Most of that came in relief against Ball State and Kent State.
Day didn’t give away much about the long-term outlook for the quarterback room, but he did sound encouraged by what he saw from Fahey, even if the moment sped up on him at first.
“It’s not the same when you come in as a young freshman like that in that spot,” Day said. “But one thing about Luke, and you could see on that scramble he made, I mean, he stepped right up.
He’s got confidence. He’s got athletic ability.
He’s a competitive kid, so I don’t think the moment was too big for him. It was just moving fast for him, and if he had a few more drives, he would’ve found the speed of the game.”
The schedule doesn’t exactly offer Ohio State a breather, even if the toughest part is behind it. USC and Northwestern are both ranked, and Oregon and Nebraska are still on the slate as unranked but worthy Big Ten opponents. Then comes Michigan at season’s end.
For Ohio State, the escape against Indiana matters because it preserved the one-loss record and gave both the team and Fahey a little more room to breathe. And with Jeremiah Smith in the lineup, that helps. Still, the freshman quarterback is about to be dropped straight into the Big Ten fire as the Buckeyes push toward the College Football Playoff.
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