After a slow first half, the Ohio State Buckeyes settled in and cruised to a 24-6 win over the Washington Huskies in their first road game of the season.
The win ends a 23-game home winning streak for Washington, as they suffer their first home loss since 2021. Ohio State’s record moves to a perfect 4-0, 1-0 in conference play, and they remain the No. 1 in the country, per the latest AP poll.
As a team, the Buckeyes outgained Washington 357-234. The defense held the Huskies to 1-11 on third down and made timely plays to keep the Huskies out of the endzone.
Julian Sayin performed well in his first road start. He finished with 208 yards on 22 of 28 passing and two touchdowns. One went to Jeremiah Smith, who hauled in a game-high 8 catches for 81 yards. The other went to CJ Donaldson, who also added a rushing touchdown. The freshman back Bo Jackson continues to shine, getting a career high 17 carries for 80 yards.
Defensively, the Buckeyes registered a season-high six sacks and nine tackles for loss, all from three defensive linemen. Caden Curry led the way with 11 tackles, 3 sacks, and 5 tackles for loss. Kayden McDonald followed closely with 7 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 tackles for loss. Finally, Kenyatta Jackson added a sack early for his only tackle.
The Buckeyes will next take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Horseshoe on Saturday night. Listen to the Buckeyes all season long on 98.3 WPKO, where pregame on Saturday will begin at 6 p.m. with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
Julian Sayin showed poise and confidence, so can we please open the offense up for him?!
Sayin had a slow start, but who didn’t during this game? His second half was great, and he passed his first major road test. Seattle is not an easy place to play, and those fans hadn’t seen a loss in three and a half years.
His poise and confidence in the pocket is something you cannot teach. The thing that was most comforting to see was his pocket mobility. There was a lot of pressure on Sayin throughout this contest, and he was able to effortlessly move the pocket around and find a way to get the ball to a receiver. His o-line played okay, it wasn’t fantastic, but his mobility is a big reason why he was sacked just once, when it could’ve been a whole lot more.
While this next point may be counterintuitive to the goal of your offense, it speaks to the growth and maturity of the first-year starter. He made a mistake in the Ohio game when he tried to make something out of a dead play, and it resulted in a turnover. Yesterday, if the play wasn’t there, Sayin threw the ball away. He even took opportunities to run, yes, run, the ball if he had space to do so.
Before this next point, might we note the offense has punted only 7 times this year, but you can understand why the offense hasn’t opened up more. The first game was against a top team in the country with a first-year starter; the next two opponents didn’t make the offense flash any creativity, and yesterday was the first road game of the year.
Head coach Ryan Day has said Sayin can handle the full complexity of this offense…so where is it? At least a little taste of it? Answering the question with a question, did Ohio State need to do so to come away with the win? No, but they’ll have to eventually.
Now, let’s answer the first question: where is the creativity and the aggressiveness? Sayin did not throw a football farther than 20 yards downfield, but once. Quite simply, the coaching staff is calling conservative for a lot of different reasons, but the main one is to not put a lot on film. Say what you want about Coach Day and his conservative style. That argument has been beaten down enough, and there are other ways to explain what is going on.
Fans want to see this offense run wild. Sayin is more than ready, the skill position rooms are some of the country’s best, the offensive line will hold more often than not, and the coaching staff has some of the best offensive minds in the country. It will start to really roll…eventually. Patience will have to pay off.
Faith in the four-man front is paying off.
For those fans (myself included) who had any doubts about this d-line, they should be put to bed after that performance. This was not a game plan coming in thinking they needed sack after sack, but the main focus was containing the two rushers, Jonah Coleman and the Huskies’ signal-caller.
The linebacker spies did a great job in helping the cause. Most of the six sacks came in some really timely spots:
- 5:52 in the 2nd – (2nd & 5, Kenyatta Jackson gets the Buckeyes’ first, which forced UW out of the redzone)
- 4:29 in the 3rd – (3rd & goal, Kayden McDonald delivers, forcing the Huskies to settle for a field goal)
- 8:44 in the 4th – (4th & 2, McDonald again brings the heat, starting to seal the game for Ohio State)
Even outside of those three circumstances, it made Williams limited in his mobility, containing him for the great majority of the contest.
This front seven as a whole has now started to find its full groove, and with likely the best secondary in the country, this defense is going to be a massive headache for every offense that opposes it.
Top three things to improve after a third of the season has been completed.
Through all the good we’ve seen from the Buckeyes this year, some major concerns will need to be addressed as we get into the middle stretch of the season.
1) Tackling, tackling, tackling! And defensive coordinators everywhere groan in misery. Tackling has been a weird inconsistency, especially in open space. It’s not the biggest issue, but if you fail to tackle the big playmakers, which was an issue at times against Jonah Coleman, they will make you pay.
2) Special teams needs a wake-up. Some are calling special teams a complete disaster so far this season. Agree to disagree. It needs work, yes. That muffed punt from Brandon Inniss was awful, and some other mistakes in form and formation need work.
But a disaster? That’s extreme. Kickers are people, too, and they deserve some love. Every field goal and extra point attempt has found its way between the uprights, and Joe McGuire has averaged 42.1 yards on his seven punts this year.
It’s about execution. Special teams is the phase of the game that will never get the love, but it will get all the hate if it costs you.
3) What is going on in the redzone? The defense has been great. Washington had scored in every redzone trip until they ran into the Buckeyes.
The offense? Different story. There were some struggles at home against Ohio, and they reared up again against the Huskies. The redzone percentage is around 85%. That sounds good, until you realize that puts the Buckeyes in the middle of the pack across the country. In fact, 11 Big Ten teams have a better percentage than that.
Simply put, that’s inexcusable. 4th down has been the big reason why the Buckeyes have a percentage that low. It must be fixed.
GAME RECAP
1st Quarter
8:40 – Ohio State Turnover on Downs: Buckeyes stuffed on 4th and short inside Washington’s 5-yard line
5:00 – Ohio State Special Teams miscue: Brandon Innis fumbles punt return, Washington recovers at its own 21. Score still 3-0.
2nd Quarter
14:05 – Washington FG: Huskies finish a 69-yard, 10-play drive with a 28-yard Grady Gross field goal (3-0 UW)
6:02 – Ohio State Defensive Stop: Sack on 3rd down forces Huskies to settle for a punt.
4:39 – Washington Fake FG Fails: Instead of a 45-yard attempt, the Huskies run a fake. The receiver doesn’t turn, and the pass falls incomplete.
1:08 – Ohio State TD: On 3rd & 11, Sayin finds Jeremiah Smith underneath. Smith weaves through defenders for a 14-yard score. (7-3 OSU)
3rd Quarter
7:19 – Ohio State TD: CJ Donaldson punches in from 1 yard out. Drive: 14 plays, 75 yards, 7:41 TOP (14-3 OSU)
3:49 – Washington FG: Huskies drive, but a Kayden McDonald sack on 3rd down forces a 32-yard field goal from Grady Gross (14-6 OSU)
4th Quarter
13:19 – Ohio State FG: Holding penalty stalls OSU drive inside red zone. Jayden Fielding hits 34-yard field goal (17-6 OSU)
8:44 – Washington Turnover on Downs: On 4th down, OSU defense brings down Demond Williams on a stumble/sack from Kayden McDonald.
4:46 – Ohio State TD: On 4th & goal, Ryan Day keeps offense on the field. Julian Sayin finds CJ Donaldson out of the backfield for a touchdown. (24-6 OSU)
