Breaking Down Julian Sayin’s Superb Performance Managing Ohio State's Offense to A Win Over Texas in His First Start

In fact, he was never asked to. In his first career start, the second-year quarterback didn't turn the ball over or make any crucial mistakes in Ohio State's 14-7 win over Texas on Saturday.

The top-three matchup featured Arch Manning, a third-year quarterback many believe could be the top pick in the 2026 NFL draft, against Sayin, the former top-rated quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, who was making his first career start.

For three quarters, Sayin not only played better but was more composed and looked like the more experienced quarterback even though he wasn’t. The lights looked too bright for Manning, while Sayin seized the moment and the opportunity.

In the win, Sayin completed 13-of-20 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown. That said, his accuracy was better than the 65% completion rate he ultimately achieved. Of his seven incompletions, two of them were throwaways and the other five were as follows:

• Dropped by Max Klare
• Dropped by Jeremiah Smith
• Dropped by Jeremiah Smith
• Questionable non-pass interference call that could have been flagged
• Non-pass interference call that should have been flagged

"I said in the locker room, I thought he handled himself well," Ryan Day said after the game. "I thought he took care of the ball. Made some throws when he needed to. A couple times when it wasn't there, he did not force it. Could we have opened it up more in the second half? Yeah. But I thought Brian (Hartline) called an unselfish game. I thought the defense was playing well." 

RELATED New Ohio State Quarterback Julian Sayin Impresses With Poise, Decision-Making and Accuracy Against No. 1 Texas

The yards and the touchdowns will increase as Sayin gains more experience, but early on, Sayin knows that his head coach, Brian Hartline and Billy Fessler will put him in the best position to be successful, no matter the situation or opponent.

"I feel like I was really well-prepared by my coaches," Sayin said following the season-opening win. "Coach Fessler and Coach Day, they do a really good job of implementing the game plan and then sitting and watching tape with us. So I think I was really well-prepared and being able to see the looks that we watched on tape."

To take a closer look at how Sayin performed in Ohio State's win over Texas, we charted all 20 of his passing attempts in the game. (Note: The passing chart is categorized by how many yards the quarterback threw the ball in the air past the line of scrimmage on each attempt and whether the ball reached its target inside or outside the hashes, though the stats listed include yards gained after the catch on each completion.)

Sayin attempted only one pass between the hashes: A 16-yard completion to a wide open Jeremiah Smith. Besides that, all of his other 19 throws were outside the hashes.

While 17 of his passes were either within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage or behind the LOS, Sayin completed his lone throw over 20-plus yards through the air: A 40-yard touchdown to Carnell Tate. That was the only pass Sayin completed longer than 10 yards against Texas, and the deep ball to Tate was underthrown, so making more plays as a downfield passer will likely be a point of emphasis as Ohio State’s non-conference slate continues with Grambling and Ohio.

After Will Howard was elite as a passer following play action, Sayin was not on Saturday. Part of that might be because Ohio State's newest starting quarterback isn't necessarily a run threat. It's also worth noting that it's just one game, one that was against one of the best defenses in the country in Sayin's first start.

The quarterback's longest completion of the day – a 40-yard touchdown to Carnell Tate – came on play action, allowing the wideout to get past the opposing cornerback.

Sayin was only pressured on five dropbacks. Pressure on only 25% of dropbacks against Texas' stout defensive front shows you how impressive Ohio State's offensive line was Saturday afternoon, especially in pass protection.

"I was just going out there and focusing on my job," Sayin said. "I think the defense played really well, obviously, and then the offensive line and the receivers and the running backs ran hard. So it kind of made my job easy just trying to distribute the ball."

While facing pressure, the 6-foot-1, 208-pound quarterback completed 2-of-5 passes for 14 yards. Comparatively, when he was kept clean, Sayin completed 11-of-15 passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.

Below, we take a look at three of Sayin's best throws, a misread and his worst throw in the season-opening win over Texas.

Missed Read: Dropped Would-Be First Down to Max Klare

While this throw should have resulted in a first-down completion to Max Klare and was dropped by the tight end, Sayin missed an opportunity to throw a deep ball to Jeremiah Smith, who was in one-on-one coverage and had the opposing defensive back beat.

Day was clearly upset with his quarterback when Sayin came off the field and so was Smith. It's most certainly a play that Sayin will watch back in film multiple times and learn from going forward.

On Ohio State’s first drive of the game, Julian Sayin missed an open Jeremiah Smith in one-on-one coverage on the 4th-and-1 pass to Max Klare, which he dropped.

Ryan Day wasn’t happy with Sayin. Jeremiah Smith clearly wasn’t happy either. pic.twitter.com/laOjBkgGLh

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) August 30, 2025

Good Throw: 11-Yard Completion to Max Klare

Sayin found Klare between three Texas defenders for a first down on 3rd-and-3, his first big throw of the game in a crucial spot.

Good Throw: Brandon Inniss Drop (Play Didn't Count Due to Facemask Penalty)

It didn't count as a pass attempt because of a facemask penalty on Texas, but one of Sayin's best throws of the day was an over-the-shoulder dime to Brandon Inniss.

The pass was dropped by the wideout due to some great defensive play by Longhorn cornerback Graceson Littleton, but Sayin dropped it right into the bucket while facing pressure from his right side.

Good Throw: First-Down Completion to Carnell Tate

Sayin faces pressure, scrambles a bit into the end zone and somehow finds Tate for a first down on a pass that at first seemed like the quarterback was throwing the ball away.

Worst Throw: 40-yard Touchdown to Carnell Tate

What if I told you that one of Sayin's best throws of the day was an incompletion (that didn't count) and his worst throw of the day was a 40-yard touchdown?

Thanks to Tate's athleticism, it was Sayin's lone touchdown of the game, but the wideout should have had a much easier time catching the ball deep in the end zone if it hadn't been underthrown. Nevertheless, the result was the game-deciding touchdown, making Sayin the first quarterback to beat a No. 1-ranked team in his first collegiate start since Jim Harbaugh in 1984.

CARNELL TATE 40 YARD TD

The @OhioStateFB Buckeyes make it a two-score game pic.twitter.com/QwOtTZExl6

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 30, 2025

Let’s take another look at Carnell Tate 40 YARD TD #FOXFieldPass pic.twitter.com/0eZRHNrKr8

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) August 30, 2025