Devin Sanchez, Tywone Malone Jr., Julian Sayin and Brandon Inniss were among 11 Ohio State starters who set or tied their career-high snap counts as Buckeyes against Illinois.
After the Buckeyes claimed their second road win of the season yesterday, Ohio State cemented itself atop both the AP and Coaches Polls for another week.
Ohio State holds onto the Illibuck, Indiana secures a program-defining win at Oregon and Penn State's freefall continues with a home loss to Northwestern.
Following a 34-16 road win against Illinois and Wisconsin getting shut out at home yesterday, Ohio State opened as 28.5-point favorites over the Badgers next weekend.
On an afternoon that marked over a century of Illibuck tradition, Ohio State built an early lead and punished Illinois for mistakes to secure a 34-16 win on the road.
Ohio State's defense dominated in a new way on Saturday, sowing chaos with a trio of takeaways that all led to short fields and touchdowns for the Buckeye offense.
Ohio State's defense created chaos, and though the Buckeyes have improvements to make on offense, they notched a quality, comfortable road win vs. a top-20 Illinois squad.
Ohio State scores 21 points off three turnovers, Jermaine Mathews has one sack, a forced fumble and creates an INT, and Davison Igbinosun has four pass breakups.
Davison Igbinosun tells quarterbacks to "stop throwing at me," and Julian Sayin shares that there's "definitely stuff to clean up" following Ohio State's win over Illinois.
11 Oct 2025 by Chase Brown, Dan Hope and Andy Anders
Jeremiah Smith, Jermaine Mathews Jr. and other Buckeyes held Illibuck aloft on the field of the Fighting Illini after Ohio State beat Illinois 34-16 on Saturday afternoon.
Bret Bielema called Ryan Day an “exceptional” coach but regretted not having Illinois go up-tempo earlier on because Ohio State's defense “couldn't do shit with it.”
Ryan Day loved Ohio State's energy and poise against Illinois, and said his players "expect to be great" and "expect to win" each time they take the field.
Paul Finebaum unloaded on Ohio State fans yesterday during one of his fan call-ins on his SEC Network show, branding supporters of the Buckeyes with several choice words.
Ohio State's travel roster does not include C.J. Hicks or Malik Hartford but features five new players: Inky Jones, Brennen Schramm, Sam Dixon, Epi Sitanilei and Jordyn Woods.
