The Ohio State Buckeyes have been deliberate about how to bring along redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin. As the Athletic's Cameron Teague Robinson noted, OSU played a slow-paced, gritty 14-7 win against the Texas Longhorns, stifling Sayin's ceiling as a passer, and later unleashed him downfield against the Grambling State Tigers in what was essentially a scrimmage.
If Sayin can pass the Ohio Bobcats test with flying colors, Robinson believes Buckeyes offensive coordinator Brian Hartline will be able to fully unleash him against Big Ten defenses.
"One thing we know is Sayin is an accurate quarterback. He completed 65 percent of his passes against Texas and left the game without one off-target throw, according to TruMedia. Against Grambling, he threw an interception but completed his other 18 attempts for 306 yards and four touchdowns. He is completing a nation-leading 79 percent of his throws this year, which only emphasizes the reason Day named him the starting quarterback," Robinson wrote.
"During the offseason competition with Lincoln Kienholz, Sayin made up for his lack of experience with accuracy. He’s showing it in games now too.
"It’s unlikely that Sayin keeps up his 79 percent run all season, but if he can put together another strong performance against a strong Group of 5 team that beat West Virginia, it’ll be a good sign going into conference play that the Buckeyes can turn him loose and be confident in his abilities."
There doesn't need to be a slow-by-design gameplan against an Ohio defense that won't come close to Texas's physicality. Hartline also understands that OSU isn't going to have whatever they want. FBS and FCS talent levels aren't that much different, but the Bobcats are one of the better teams in the MAC and Group of Five landscape.
This should look like a matchup against a low-level Big Ten team, which the schedule will be full of. In essence, this will be just a regular game on the schedule.
The first of the year after facing the No. 1 team in the country and a bottom-tier SWAC school.