Breaking Down Julian Sayin’s Splendid Performance Against Minnesota

In a dominant performance by Ohio State's entire team throughout the Buckeyes' 42-3 win over Minnesota, some of OSU's biggest stars shined brightest under the lights in The Shoe Saturday night. One of those players was Julian Sayin, who was superb in the win over the Golden Gophers.

The redshirt freshman completed 23 of 27 passes for 326 yards and three touchdowns, showcasing his accuracy in every area of the field throughout the game. His impressive performance earned Sayin his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors this season.

After completing eight of his first 11 passes, Sayin finished the game by completing 15 of his final 16 throws, showcasing his efficiency and accuracy while using plenty of his playmakers on the outside. And after not doing so against Washington, he demonstrated his deep-throwing ability against the Golden Gophers while remaining the most accurate passer in the country.

"I think you're seeing his confidence improve every week. And how we do it is everything's thought out," Ryan Day said after the game. "Not everything always goes to plan. But we're very deliberate about how we try to bring along our quarterbacks. Sometimes we have to maybe put them in situations that they're maybe not ready for. 

"But when you have a defense like we do right now that's playing the way we do, you can bring them along in a certain way," he continued. "And you're seeing every week Julian play with more and more confidence. And we wanted to put more on his plate this week."

To take a closer look at Sayin's superb performance against Minnesota, we charted all 27 of his pass 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.)

After not throwing a single pass over 20 yards downfield against Washington, Sayin certainly made up for it against Minnesota. The quarterback completed three of four deep throws for 121 yards and a touchdown on Saturday night, though he did have his first incompletion in that area of the field.

The 44-yard touchdown to Carnell Tate and the 29-yard completion to Max Klare were two of Sayin's best throws of the season. It's clear that the more experience he gains and passes he attempts, the more locked in and comfortable the redshirt freshman is becoming.

“I thought some of the throws downfield were very, very accurate, made good decisions. Again, saw it well. But when you can be accurate underneath and get the ball out quickly, but then also down the field, that's when our offense can really be clicking on all cylinders,” Day said.

Sayin's 90.9% completion rate on throws 20-plus yards downfield is the best in the country, while his 43 yards per attempt on those passes is by far the best mark in the FBS, 12 yards more than the second-best average.

While Sayin had his least accurate game on play-action passes dating back to the season opener against Texas, his 186 yards on those passes were also a season-high. He completed all 12 of his passes without play action for 140 yards.

His 15 play-action passes were also a season-high, as it seems Day, Brian Hartline and company are opening the playbook more and more and using Sayin to open the run game and vice versa.

With such a dominant offensive line in front of him, Sayin was only pressured on four dropbacks against Minnesota, as he completed 3-of-4 passes for 30 yards under pressure. That came a week after he was pressured on eight throws in Seattle.

While Sayin has only been under pressure on 19.4% of dropbacks, which is the best mark in the FBS, he has been one of the best quarterbacks under pressure all season, as the quarterback has completed 69.6% of his passes under pressure, the second-best mark in the FBS.

When Minnesota brought extra pressure, Sayin shined even more, as he completed 7-of-8 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns when the Golden Gophers blitzed. Sayin completed 20-of-23 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns when he was kept clean.

Sayin's 78.6% completion rate when opponents blitz is fifth-best in the country, while his eight touchdowns against the blitz are the third-most in the FBS.

Below, we take a look at four of Sayin's best throws of the night and one that he almost regretted but was not intercepted in the end.

Good Throw: 48-yard Completion to Carnell Tate

Sayin drops it right into the bucket and Tate catches it in stride late in the first quarter.

Julian Sayin deep ball pic.twitter.com/MOns5O1oIh

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 5, 2025

Bad Throw: Near-Interception by Koi Perich

Sayin has done a great job of not turning the ball over much so far this season, especially in the red zone. He almost regretted this pass that was nearly picked off by Koi Perich, but Ohio State lived to see another down.

Good Throw: 44-yard Touchdown to Carnell Tate

Tate had plenty of room due to a beautiful double move and the fact that Jeremiah Smith took five Minnesota defenders with him on the play-action fake in the backfield, but Sayin still hit him in stride on a throw that went around 52 yards through the air.

The Carnell Tate Game pic.twitter.com/5FcabpzjjS

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 5, 2025

Good Throw and Movement: 16-yard Completion to Carnell Tate

Tate made an outstanding catch, much like he did all night in his career game, but don't forget about Sayin's ability to move away from pressure and then throw a perfect ball to his wideout while going to his left.

Good Throw: 29-Yard Throw to Max Klare

One of his best throws of the season, all things considered, this was certainly a "Wow, did he just do that?" moment.

With pressure running full speed at him, Sayin stood in the pocket, didn't move his feet or rush the throw, and delivered a perfectly thrown 29-yard pass to Klare just before taking a big hit. The type of play that redshirt senior quarterbacks typically make, not redshirt freshmen.

This throw is just ridiculous, to stand in the pocket and make that throw... it's beyond impressive.

This is Julian Sayin's FIFTH start in college, he is playing at a Heisman level.

He's also shown tonight his deep ball is one of the best in America and he's only getting better pic.twitter.com/Dz0oGwLLKu

— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) October 5, 2025

Five games into his career as a starter, Sayin has been nothing short of impressive as he ranks among the best in the FBS in key passing statistics:

• First in completion percentage (80.2%)
• Tied for fourth in yards per attempt (10.4)
• Third in QB Rating (197.0)
• Tied for eighth in passing touchdowns (13)

Sayin's passing chart through the first five games of the 2025 season: