BOOM
Five-star forward Anthony Thompson, the No. 8 overall prospect in the 2026 class, commits to Ohio State.
Identity is a key term for teams at this point in the college football season.
With the championship months of November, December and January on the horizon, the contenders need to know what they do well. How to accentuate the strengths of their rosters. How they plan to win big games.
In its last game before its second and final off week of the regular season, Ohio State made its identity clear: Air the ball out and smother teams with a defense posting numbers not seen anywhere since the 1990s. Excluding two kneeldowns at the end of the game and accounting for two Julian Sayin scrambles, the Buckeyes called 44 passes and just 24 runs against the Badgers.
Some of those passes came out of RPO looks where Wisconsin committed to the ground game and are therefore extensions of it, but another middling day running the football for Ohio State was more than trumped by its incredible passing game and defense. So, for the seventh time in seven games, stocks are soaring for the Buckeyes after their 34-0 win in Madison.
Stock Up
Julian Sayin
Ohio State’s leading Heisman Trophy candidate isn’t Jeremiah Smith anymore. It’s Julian Sayin. The oddsmakers are reflecting that fact, too.
Smith still holds an argument as the best player in college football, but the Heisman is still more often than not a quarterback award, and Sayin is outperforming the nation’s best. It helps to have Smith and another future first-round NFL draft pick in Carnell Tate as weapons, no doubt, but even that doesn’t account for Sayin’s domination of the national completion percentage leaderboard as the gap between him and everyone else widened this weekend.
Sayin has completed an even 80% of his passes this season. The second-placed quarterback in the FBS is Marshall’s Carlos Del Rio-Wilson at 74.4%. That 5.6%-gap is the same as the margin between Del Rio-Wilson and the 20th-placed quarterback in the country, Fresno State’s E.J. Warner (68.8%). Sayin is picking up 9.6 yards per pass attempt, No. 7 nationally, with 1,872 passing yards and 19 touchdowns against just three interceptions in total. His Wisconsin performance was his best yet, finishing 36-of-42 for 393 yards and four scores with no picks.
“He's the truth. He's the Heisman winner. Ain't no question, ifs ands or doubts,” Tate said. “Each and every week, he goes out there to prove to us why he's a Heisman winner.”
Carnell Tate
Six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns gave Tate his third 100-yard performance of the season. He has the best hands in college football, and I’m willing to put my foot down on that assessment.
This is just a my guy is better than your two guys throw.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) October 18, 2025
Carnell Tate, man. pic.twitter.com/cZR6VCS4WS
Play-Calling
Brian Hartline and Day were willing to lean on what worked against Wisconsin. There was also (in this writer’s estimation), the healthiest mix yet of run-pass option plays for Sayin to progress through, putting more on the blossoming star quarterback’s plate and marrying the Buckeyes’ efficient passing game to its running game.
Isaiah West
West carried the ball nine times for 55 yards against Wisconsin, easily the Buckeyes’ most productive rusher at six yards per carry. Advanced stats provided by Pro Football Focus contextualize his performance even further, however. In just 21 carries this season, West has forced six missed tackles. That’s as many as James Peoples has in his 40 carries at running back and tripling what CJ Donaldson has done in 60 carries. Donaldson’s job is more to run tacklers over than to make them miss, but it is still telling that West had more forced missed tackles against the Badgers (three) than Donaldson has had all year (two).
Some inside baseball from a reporter who’s covered Day his entire head coaching career: You can always tell a player’s stock is seriously rising with the coach when he references specific plays. Could the freshman West be emerging as the Buckeyes’ No. 2 back behind fellow freshman Bo Jackson?
“I got to watch the runs on the coach's copy,” Day said after the win. “But on the iPad on the sideline, two runs I thought were good. One for seven (yards) and I forget what the other one was for (14 yards). But he hit them good. I just kind of like the way. And then there was two guys in the hole that he made miss. So good sign for a young back. So we'll kind of see what it looks like and see where we're going from here.”
Ryan Day was impressed with Isaiah Wests performance in Ohio States win over Wisconsin. The freshman had a team-high 55 rushing yards on nine carries.
— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) October 19, 2025
Hit (the holes) good (on his two runs for seven and 14 yards), Day said. There were two guys in the hole that he made miss. pic.twitter.com/fi9UbZfkPD
The Defense
This was the second contest of the year where it felt as though Ohio State’s defense didn’t have one true standout, but more that the whole unit just imposed its will on an opponent and showed why it has the potential to go down as one of the greatest defenses in college football history if the Buckeyes accomplish the team goals they are after. In summation:
This Ohio State Defense is unreal pic.twitter.com/CMFV1QvbFo
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) October 18, 2025
Alabama
The Crimson Tide are back to rolling, I’m sorry to report. Alabama has four straight wins over ranked opponents, smacking then-No. 11 Tennessee 37-20 this past Saturday to vault to No. 4 in the AP Poll.
Stock Down
Tegra Tshabola
Unfortunately, major lapses continue to plague Ohio State’s second-year starter at right guard. A reminder that criticisms like this of a player are never a personal attack, but this is a results-based business. Watching, rewatching, there was a reason Joshua Padilla played 26 snaps, swapping in for Tshabola for multiple series as opposed to the one he usually plays.
Tshabola has his solid moments. But, thus far this year, there have been too many moments where he’s caught off-balance, like on this play where he leans too far forward on a pass block and gets beat handily at the line, forcing Sayin to scramble.
I’m not one to put much stock into PFF’s grades (their advanced stats are incredibly helpful, however), but Tshabola was Ohio State’s lowest-graded run and pass blocker against the Badgers at 46.3 and 45.1. He allowed two pressures.
Tight End Usage
Slot receiver Brandon Inniss played a season-high 41 snaps against Wisconsin on Saturday, the first time he’s been used more than each of the Buckeyes’ tight ends in a game. Ohio State’s emphasis on the passing game and RPOs called for more 11 personnel, and one has to wonder if that’s going to be the case going forward.
Negative Runs
Excluding the two quarterback kneeldowns and Sayin’s scrambles, four of Ohio State’s rushing plays lost yardage against Wisconsin. Delivering a back to the line of scrimmage is the bare minimum for a successful rushing attack, and more than one or two negative runs a game isn’t sustainable. That said, the Buckeyes did get a decent number of chunk gains on the ground, with 12 runs that gained at least five yards against the Badgers.
Miami
The formerly clear No. 2 team in college football no longer has an argument to be top five. The Hurricanes fell to unranked Louisville at home on Saturday, 24-21. A reminder that Ohio State broke The U back in 2003 (we have a shirt!).
Texas Tech
Chaos sings such a sweet siren song for Big 12 football. The conference simply can’t resist. Just when you think there’s a clear top team, that one squad has separated from the rest, upheaval occurs. As much happened when the then-No. 7 Red Raiders were upset by unranked two-loss Arizona State 26-22 this weekend. Now, who shall emerge from the ocean?
