Breaking Down Julian Sayin's Performance in Ohio State’s Blowout Win Over UCLA

Even when Sayin has an average game, he's still better than most quarterbacks in college football. In Saturday night's dominant win over UCLA, the redshirt freshman completed 74.2% of his passes for 184 yards and a touchdown. It was Sayin's third-lowest completion percentage of the season, only better than the wins over Illinois (70.4%) and Texas (65%) – yet that’s still better than any other FBS quarterback’s completion percentage for the year.

Carnell Tate missed his second straight game and Jeremiah Smith played only on Ohio State’s first three drives, which contributed to Sayin not being as stellar as usual. While Brandon Inniss, Bryson Rodgers, Mylan Graham and Max Klare are all very talented in their own ways, it was clear that Sayin's chemistry and efficiency were a bit off without Smith and Tate on the field. He didn't use that as an excuse, though.

"Carnell and Jeremiah are special players, they're elite receivers, but we have a good receivers room, and those young guys stepped up tonight," Sayin said after the game.

For the first time this season, Sayin threw three consecutive incompletions (one to Inniss and two to Graham between the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third quarter).

While Sayin said that it didn't affect him, he also seemed to be battling through an ankle injury. He came up limping a bit on his left ankle after an apparent hip-drop tackle in the first quarter before rolling the same ankle three plays later.

Three plays later, an uncalled roughing the passer penalty, one in which Julian Sayin rolled his left ankle, the same one he was already limping on. pic.twitter.com/te0nWM8JsR

— Josh Poloha (@JorshP) November 16, 2025

That said, Sayin still completed all of his first 11 passes and 18 of his first 20 throws of the game before completing only five of his final 11 passes of the game.

To take a closer look at Sayin's performance against UCLA, we charted all 31 of his pass attempts in the blowout win. (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.

For only the third time this season, Sayin did not complete a pass 20-plus yards downfield, missing on both of his deep throws. Even with Saturday's misses, he's still completed 66.7% of those passes this season, by far the best percentage in the country. Sayin's 29.1 yards per attempt on those throws lead the FBS. His nine touchdowns on deep throws are tied for the seventh-most in the country.

The difference between Sayin's efficiency with the deep ball and the second-most efficient thrower in that part of the field (Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, 57.1%) is more than the difference between Chambliss and the nation’s 19th-most efficient deep-ball thrower (Notre Dame's CJ Carr, 47.3%). Also, the difference between Sayin's yards per attempt on throws 20-plus yards downfield and the second-most (Kent State's Dru DeShields, 24.0) is the same as it is between DeShields and the ninth-most yards per attempt in that area of the field.

After dominating in the intermediate part of the field in the previous three games, including a season-high 11 passes in that area against Purdue a week prior, Sayin completed five of nine passes for 81 yards and a touchdown on throws between 10-19 yards downfield against UCLA. His 66.7% completion rate on intermediate throws is tied for the 15th-best in the FBS.

Sayin was best on throws within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage against UCLA. He completed 18 of 20 throws for 103 yards on throws less than 10 yards downfield or behind the line of scrimmage vs. the Bruins.

Saturday night's game marked the first time this season that Sayin threw an incompletion between the hashes on a throw 20-plus yards downfield and between 0-9 yards downfield as well.

After dominating on play-action passes the previous three games, Sayin struggled a bit on those passes against UCLA, completing only seven of 11 throws for 50 yards in that concept.

That said, his 79.1% completion rate on play-action passes remains the best in the country among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 50 passes in that concept. Sayin's 1,309 yards on play-action passes are the fourth-most in the FBS. Ohio State has run play action on 45% of Sayin's dropbacks, the 8th-highest percentage among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 100 passes in that concept.

Sayin completed 20 of 27 passes for 150 yards and a touchdown when the pocket was kept clean against Purdue. He was pressured on only five dropbacks, completing three of four passes for 34 yards while under pressure.

While Sayin has only been under pressure on 23.2% of dropbacks, which is the 10th-best mark in the FBS among quarterbacks who have been pressured on at least 40 dropbacks, he has been the best quarterback under pressure over the course of the season. Sayin has completed 69% of his passes under pressure this season, the best mark in the FBS. His 9.0 yards per attempt while under pressure are tied for the seventh-most in the country.

Although Sayin has done well this season when opponents have blitzed, he struggled when UCLA did so. The quarterback completed only eight of 14 passes for 49 yards when the Bruins brought extra pressure.

Sayin's 80.8% completion rate when opponents blitz is the best in the country, while his 14 touchdowns against the blitz are tied for the fourth-most in the FBS. Opponents have brought extra pressure on 35.8% of the quarterback's dropbacks this season.

Below, we take a look at one of Sayin's best plays in the game:

11-Yard Touchdown Pass to Bryson Rodgers

Sayin showed great patience allowing the play to develop, buying time by moving outside of the pocket and eventually finding Rodgers for the wideout's fifirst career touchdown.

Julian Sayin is clean, efficient and technically superior.pic.twitter.com/bsXL29pXhX

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 16, 2025

Even after one of his worst games of the season numbers-wise, Sayin remains the best quarterback in the country this season.

His national rankings for the season include the following:

• First in completion percentage (80.1%)
• Sixth in yards per attempt (9.5)
• First in passer rating (186.2)
• Tied for third in passing touchdowns (25)
• Second in QBR (90.4)

The difference between Sayin and the quarterback with the second-best completion percentage in the FBS (Miami's Carson Beck, 73.2%) is the same as the difference between Beck and the 40th-best completion percentage in the country among qualified quarterbacks (Tennessee's Joey Aguilar, 66.3%).

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