Stock Up/Down: James Peoples is Running With More Force Than Ever, Julian Sayin and Backup Wide Receivers Were a Step Out of Sync vs. UCLA

The Buckeyes hunted the UCLA Bruins 48-10 in a game that had three scores of separation by the time Ohio State finished its third drive. Now at 10-0, a College Football Playoff berth is already all but locked up for OSU, and its spot can be filled in with a Sharpie if it beats another overmatched Rutgers squad this Saturday.

Most stocks are one more at stratospheric levels for Ohio State, and the ones that are down are for circumstances beyond the Buckeyes’ control that will hopefully be rectified before the Michigan game. Let's dive in.

Stock Up

James Peoples

It’s hard to decipher which climbed more: Peoples’ stock this week or his body on a hurdle of UCLA defensive back Cole Martin that resulted in a 20-yard touchdown run for the sophomore. He finished with six carries for 42 yards (7 yards per carry) and the score, with 26 of his yards coming after contact per Pro Football Focus. He’s run with more and more force as the year has progressed and is making his case to keep getting carries alongside freshmen Bo Jackson and Isaiah West.

These angles of that Peoples hurdle @OhioStateFB

:NBC pic.twitter.com/WqgFIvrl7r

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 16, 2025

The Run Game*

Ohio State’s run game found the consistency and explosion it’s been hunting for for weeks, racking up 222 rushing yards at a rate of 6.7 yards per carry, both the Buckeyes’ best in Big Ten play this season. Why the asterisk? UCLA is one of the nation’s worst run defenses, ranked 123rd in rushing yards allowed per game (194.2) and 131st in yards allowed per carry (5.2). The only team in the conference that ranks lower in both those numbers is Rutgers, which Ohio State plays this week. The ground game won’t truly get another test until The Game on Nov. 29.

Special Teams

Explosive plays from two units and another 2-for-2 outing for Jayden Fielding, who is now 13-of-15 (86.7%) on field goals this year? Hard to imagine a better day from Ohio State’s special teams. Caden Curry blocked a punt with the assistance of a bad boot directly at him, and Lorenzo Styles Jr. recorded the Buckeyes’ first kick return touchdown in 15 years. No big deal.

Former Notre Dame receiver Lorenzo Styles Jr. had Ohio States first kick return touchdown in 15 years last night.

Always liked covering Styles in South Bend. Just didnt work out for him at ND. It happens. Cool to see him have this moment at OSU. pic.twitter.com/CUhT7lZf0Y

— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 16, 2025

Gabe VanSickle

The redshirt freshman VanSickle was a late riser to earn his fourth star in the 2024 recruiting class. The potential that made him shoot up those ranks is already materializing. With Joshua Padilla out with injury, VanSickle took over his role, spelling Tegra Tshabola at right guard and actually ended up playing significantly more snaps than Tshabola, 44 to 26. There was plenty of movement on the right side in the run game when he entered, though again, it’s worth noting that UCLA’s defensive front is really, really bad.

“There were positives,” Day said on 97.1 the Fan’s Buckeye Roundtable show Monday. “Anytime someone's getting in there for the first time, they got to kind of get the jitters out. But I think the more he settled down, the more you can see the talent. He can really bend, he's strong, powerful, can identify what's going on well. Moves his feet well in (pass) protection. So I think he's got to take that as a good start and keep building from there. But you can see the talent.”

The Silver Bullets’ Front Six

There have been several games this season where the Ohio State defense played so dominantly that it’s impossible to single out any individual man. Here we’ll focus on the front six, which held the Bruins to 68 rushing yards at a pathetic clip of 2.7 yards per carry. It took until the final two minutes of the third quarter for UCLA to cross into Buckeye territory in this one. Sonny Styles picked up seven tackles with a tackle for loss, while Caden Curry added five tackles and a TFL to his punt block.

Georgia

Any reports of the Bulldogs’ demise were greatly exaggerated. Georgia put a good old-fashioned beatdown on then-No. 10 Texas over the weekend, killing the Longhorns’ playoff hopes and effectively securing its own (Kirby Smart’s squad is 9-1 and plays Charlotte next week) with a 35-10 brutalizing. 

Stock Down

Health of Star Players

Carnell Tate was out against UCLA after sustaining an injury in warmups against Purdue the week prior. Jeremiah Smith was limited against the Bruins, playing only three series, then was spotted with a noticeable limp during his postgame walk to the locker room. For what it’s worth, Day made it sound like there’s still no expectation that Smith’s ailment is long-term postgame.

"Jeremiah was just having a little bit of a nagging issue there that we just wanted to make sure that we were being really smart with him as we know what's coming down the road here,” he said.

Julian Sayin sustained a lower-body injury after taking a hit on a sack, but played through it. As great as the Buckeyes have been rolling and with a bad Rutgers squad on the docket this weekend, where Tate, Smith and to some degree Sayin stand health-wise is the top storyline of the week. Running back CJ Donaldson and Padilla were also absent with injuries vs. the Bruins.

Chemistry With Backup Wide Receivers

With Smith on a short pitch count and Tate out, the trio of Bryson Rodgers, Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter – mostly the former two – worked into the first-team offense alongside Brandon Inniss. Things seemed a step off. There were multiple miscommunications between Sayin and Graham in particular. The timing of the offense just wasn’t quite there. Sayin missed a few open reads.

Overall, after Smith left the game following Ohio State's penultimate drive of the second quarter, Sayin went 8-of-14 for 46 yards, just 3.3 yards per attempt.

But if Sayin’s worst performance of the season is going 23-of-31 (74%) for 184 yards and one touchdown with no turnovers in a 48-10 win, Ohio State fans should be overjoyed. Inniss did stand out, even if he had just 30 receiving yards, making a career-high six receptions with some tough grabs mixed in, converting two third downs and one fourth down for first downs. This diving snag was one of them.

Alabama

The MidEC has another two-loss team after the then-No. 4 Crimson Tide fell at home to No. 11 Oklahoma in a 23-21 thriller. The Heisman Trophy chances of Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson are on life support as a result.

Michigan

The Wolverines won about as ugly a game as possible on Wrigley Field against Northwestern, turning the ball over five times before clinging to life on a last-second field goal. But more than that, star running back Justice Haynes is likely out for the rest of the regular season. Does any of this relieve anxieties about The Game after four straight Ohio State losses? Probably not.

The Group of 5

One Group of 5 team was ranked in last week’s CFP rankings, that being No. 24 South Florida. South Florida fell 41-38 to Navy on Saturday. The Group of 5 berth could now be a battle between North Texas, which climbed to No. 22 in the AP Poll this week but was beaten by USF earlier this year, and James Madison, which also stands at 9-1 on the year. Either way, it just feels like a lamb to the five-seed’s slaughter when the CFP arrives.