Five Things: Carnell Tate, Julian Sayin and the Silver Bullets Help Ohio State Destroy Minnesota

By Chris Lauderback on October 5, 2025 at 10:10 am
Carnell Tate
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Ohio State improved to 5-0 on the season including 2-0 in Big Ten play with a 42-3 thumping of Minnesota last night in Ohio Stadium. 

The Gophers opened the game with a field goal drive but it was all Ohio State from there as the Buckeyes found the end zone on 6-of-9 possessions including a pair of touchdown grabs from Jeremiah Smith. 

In fact the entirety of the passing game was on fire as Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz combined to complete 24-of-28 passes for 341 yards and three scores. Meanwhile, RB1 Bo Jackson delivered 63 yards and a touchdown while James Peoples had his most explosive outing to date with a 33-yard run pushing his game totals to seven rushes for 59 yards. 

Tight end Max Klare had his best game as a Buckeye with five grabs for 63 yards. 

The 39-point victory improved Ryan Day’s career record to 75-10 as a head coach. His .882 winning percentage is now the highest in college football, surpassing Knute Rocke. Seems good. 

Ohio State's second roadie of the year awaits next weekend as the Buckeyes travel to Champaign for a Big Nooner against Illinois. For now though, let's look at Five Things from last night's dub. 

TATE IS GREAT

Imagine how hard it must be to exist outside Jeremiah Smith's shadow. Sure there are benefits to playing alongside the best receiver in college football but it must also be tough to not get the national limelight you deserve sometimes. 

Lucky for Ohio State, Carnell Tate doesn't care about that stuff. He cares about his craft, his teammates, the program and winning. 

Through five games, it's easy to see Tate's evolution from a guy that was very good last year as the third option for Will Howard to being the clear 1A target behind (or maybe alongside) Smith this season. 

Tate cooked Minnesota last night for nine catches on 10 targets for 183 yards and a 44-yard touchdown that saw him roast his defender for an easy six. 

Here's the close up of his route which gained just a tiny bit of separation lol: 

The 44-yarder was actually only his third-longest play of the night as he also hauled in 48 and 49-yard completions. He also made it at least two straight games with nifty sideline toe-tap grabs, giving him even more film for scouts to drool over. 

Last night's big effort boosted his season totals to 24 catches for 435 yards and four scores. His 87 receiving yards per game ranks No. 17 in the land. 

JUST SAYIN 

As great as Smith and Tate have been for Ohio State, that doesn't happen without solid quarterback play and Julian Sayin just keeps getting better and better as the Ryan Day / Brian Hartline game plans continue giving him more and more rope. 

Against what was supposedly the nation's 26th-best pass defense, Sayin completed 23-of-27 throws for 326 yards and three touchdowns. His 85.2% completion rate was only his second-most accurate game of the season, if that tells you anything. Already the nation's most accurate passer coming into last night's game, Sayin's season completion rate is now up to 80.2%. Making that stat more impressive, Sayin is No. 3 in the country in yards per attempt at 10.4. 

Last week against Washington, Sayin wasn't as explosive as he prioritized taking care of the football on the road and maybe even missed a chance at a few downfield shots as he completed just three passes over 15 yards and none over 20. That said, he was throwing downfield dots at will versus the Gophers. And while he completed four passes over 30 yards last night, my favorite throw was this 29-yarder over the middle to Max Klare. 

Sayin knew he was going to take a pop but calmly stood tall in the pocket, planted his back foot, unleashed a missile and took the hit. Big time play. And it still feels like he's just getting warmed up. 

Sayin's seven completions of at least 15 yards were a season high as were his 233 yards on those chunk plays. This was especially nice to see after just three such completions for 55 yards last weekend in Seattle. 

I said after the Ohio game I wouldn't be surprised if Sayin finished top-10 in Heisman voting this year. I'm now leaning toward I'll be very surprised if he doesn't finish in the top 10. 

DEFENSIVE DOMINATION 

As exciting as it is to think about what Ohio State's offense can become, it's even more exciting to know what Ohio State's defense already is - a straight up machine overwhelming opponents with talent and scheme. 

Last night was more of the same.

Minnesota took the opening drive 66 yards on 13 plays, or 5.08 yards per play, and recorded a field goal to wrap up its scoring for the night. 

After that scoring march, the Gophers ran 38 plays for 96 yards the rest of the night, or just 2.67 yards per play. Minnesota converted 1-of-11 third downs and while Drake Lindsey completed 4-of-7 third down throws, those only went for a combined 12 yards with one chain mover. Minnesota went 3-and-out five times and recorded less than 20 yards on 8-of-10 possessions. 

The Buckeyes tallied seven tackles for loss and one sack. Ohio State owned the line of scrimmage while schematically confusing Lindsey and the Gophers braintrust with head coach P.J. Fleck effusive in his praise of Matt Patricia's scheme. 

“That's one of the best defenses I've ever seen in 13 years," Fleck said. It's not just the players and the depth – that's exceptional, that's off the charts. It's some of the best I've seen, but it's the schematic pieces that make it so complex, where every single play is a different front structure, blitz structure, coverage structure.”

The Buckeyes have allowed only two touchdowns across 281 total plays through five games. Ohio State leads the nation in points allowed, giving up just 25 so far this season. For context, Jim Knowles' Penn State defense gave up 42 points.. yesterday.. to a UCLA team that had scored 57 points across its first four games. 

Also of note, it took at least a year for Ohio State's roster to fully absorb the Knowles scheme yet this year's Buckeyes have absorbed Patricia's far more complex scheme in a much shorter timeframe. Makes you think.  

ELEVEN DUBGATE 13 - ANOTHER RESOUNDING SUCCESS

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday for our 13th annual charity tailgate party - Eleven Dubgate 13. 

The place was packed. We're so grateful for your support of the site but we're even more grateful for your support of Special Olympics Olentangy. Some of the kids who benefit directly from your generosity were on hand having a blast alongside us and it was truly a great time. 

It was wonderful to meet so many of you and chat about the site, the Buckeyes etc. We appreciate your support and your compliments. We take our role as providers of coverage very seriously and it's great to hear folks enjoy the outcomes of the hard work the team at 11W puts in. 

Shout out to Ramzy as the lead on the 11W side of things to make the tailgate happen and of course a shout out to all our partners who make it go - folks like Steve Shoemaker, City Barbecue, Land-Grant Brewing and so many others. 

Eleven Dubgate 13

HOT GARBAGE NO MORE! 

It's usually a given Ohio State's special teams, particularly punt return, will struggle to be average on any random Saturday but man last night the Buckeyes shocked the world. 

Leading 21-3 midway through the third quarter, the Silver Bullets forced a punt from the Minnesota 6-yard line which Brandon Inniss fielded at the OSU 44. Inniss briefly started upfield but then lateraled across the field to Lorenzo Styles Jr. who then raced 36 yards to the Minnesota 20. 

Behold: 

Ohio State would score three plays later to make it 28-3. 

It's wild how stunned most of us are when OSU does something elite on punt return so props to the staff for trying something different and the players for executing. 

While we're talking about Lorenzo, I'll take a second to say that although his play against Ohio University certainly wasn't great a few weeks ago, I think he's better than he gets credit for. He came up and made some really solid run stops and/or filled his lanes at Washington and tonight he recorded a PBU and a piece of a TFL. 

Anyhoo, knowing I'm often critical of OSU special teams play, it was worth a Thing to give credit where due for getting in the lab and mixing it up. 

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