Ryan Day is sticking with Luke Fahey, and that means Ohio State’s Week 10 showdown with Oregon is set to feature a backup quarterback matchup in Columbus.
With Julian Sayin out indefinitely because of an injury to his throwing shoulder, the Buckeyes will ride with the freshman after he made his first career start in last week’s loss to USC. The other path would have been sophomore Tavien St. Clair, who had been in the mix for the backup job during the season and again worked with the first team during the bye week.
Fahey’s debut came in a rough environment, and the numbers reflected it. He completed 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown in Ohio State’s 30-18 loss to the unranked Trojans. The Buckeyes managed only 18 points, spent the first 57 minutes without reaching the end zone and finished 7-of-16 on third down, 0-of-1 on fourth down and with 11 penalties for negative 75 yards.
“There’s things to build on there for sure,” Day said of Fahey, via Jake Trotter of ESPN. “But we’ve got to do a better job around him, helping him out as a young player.”
Day also pointed to the freshman’s poise after the game.
“I thought he had the right approach,” Day said of the freshman. “It was not all perfect.
There were certainly things that happened operationally that for a young quarterback it was a lot on him, and he was working through it. There were some misthrows, but we expected all that to happen.
He also made a lot of plays. He also had command of the huddle.
He also showed some grit out there and toughness.”
Ohio State enters the Oregon game at 6-2 after the USC loss, and another defeat could put the Buckeyes in serious danger of slipping out of the College Football Playoff picture. That only raises the pressure on every call Day makes, including the decision to stay with Fahey.
Oregon is dealing with its own quarterback change. Former Nebraska five-star prospect Dylan Raiola is now running the Ducks’ offense after Dante Moore suffered a serious concussion that ended his season. So when the teams meet, it will be backup against backup in a game with plenty of weight on both sides.
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