The Ohio State Buckeyes have a tough road in front of them. The Buckeyes managed to hold on for a win against the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, but it was a costly victory, with star quarterback Julian Sayin forced out of the game with an injury to his throwing arm.
This week, the Ohio State head coach gave an update on Sayin, and it’s wasn’t what Buckeyes fans wanted to hear.
“We’re not gonna put any timeline for his injury, but he is out indefinitely,” Day said, via Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors.
Now, the Buckeyes are turning to freshman Luke Fahey, and the hope is that he can pull off what Cardale Jones did and lead them to a title as a backup. Josh Pate, however, doesn’t see that in the cards.
“I think they’ll lose. I think they’ll lose at least three games, and I think they’ll miss the playoff. I don’t think they’ll be in the postseason,” Pate said on the Rich Eisen Show. “Dang. I think they’ll be a 9-3 team, really good defense. And if they make it, it’ll be because of defense, because that’s another thing, Rich. I keep going back to this— Julian Sayan, before he got hurt, was not performing phenomenally.
“I think they’ll lose 3 games and miss the playoffs.” – Josh Pate
Post it all over the Woody. @ryandaytime @OhioStateFB https://t.co/xbkZea9I81
— Buckeye HQ (@RealisticBuck) October 21, 2026
“You watched that Indiana game like I did. Neither of those quarterbacks were really dealing. Now they’re facing two really good defenses, but you know, Trinidad Chambliss is going to face a good defense this weekend. I guarantee you he still has really good numbers.”
What about the run game?
Pate then pointed to other highly touted quarterbacks around the nation who aren’t living up to expectations as an example of what we might see under Fahey and the Buckeyes moving forward.
“The point I was going to make is: look at all these quarterbacks around here. Look at the way Sayin had been playing.
“You could make this point about Marcel Reed. You could make it about John Mateer. You could make it about Arch Manning. All these dudes who are underachieving. Do you notice the common thread there in that every run game either sucks outright or it’s woefully underachieving relative to what was expected? And then conversely, Look at the guys that are thriving, like Gunner Stockton, always got a really good ground game.
“Connor Weigman at Houston got a really good ground game. And so it’s almost like there’s more to playing the quarterback position at a high level than just, well, how far can I throw the ball? How well can I thread needles? Yeah, all that factors into it, but this is still a team game. And, uh, in the portal era, you know, in the massive roster churn era, I think so many of these places are counting on going and buying a quarterback to bail out their failures at other critical areas of the program and organization.
“And it doesn’t work that way. And so, like with Ohio State, as much as people are going to talk about the quarterback thing, I’m wondering, are they going to run the ball better?”
Chris Henry Jr. time?
Pate also wants to know if the Buckeyes will get production from its receivers not named Jeremiah Smith.
“I don’t know how many people have looked at Chris Henry Jr. this year in person. I was talking to some folks around Indiana after that game. game. They thought Henry was going to give them a lot more issue than he did. And I’m not saying, for those who didn’t watch the game, I’m not saying that in a sense of, ‘oh, Chris Henry didn’t deliver.’
“Henry was on the field, I think, 11 plays and had 50-something receiving yards. I think Indiana was surprised Chris Henry Jr. wasn’t on the field more. I’m not going to sit here and question Ryan Day. I know they have reasons for doing what they do. I’m just saying, right now, when you’re head— when you’re starting quarterbacks out, you got to run the ball a whole lot better.
“And man, every available weapon that’s on that team, Jeremiah Smith being the first and foremost. But above and beyond that, like, you’re Chris Henry’s— you’re gonna have to— if you’re gonna die, you need to die with those dudes on the field instead of, ‘well, he’s not quite where we need him to be.’ No, that’s Plan A. Plan A is out the window when your starting quarterback goes down.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the Buckeyes look down the stretch without their offense’s steward.
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