Julian Sayin operates the offense for No. 1, 8-0 Ohio State with such precision that he's threatening to run away with the Heisman Trophy.
Saturday he and the Buckeyes dismantled Penn State 38-14 in Columbus. Sayin completed 20-23 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns, deftly avoiding pressure in the pocket, hitting Carnell Tate with a 45-yard bomb, connecting with Jeremiah Smith and Tate with twin strikes of 57 yards.
The Nittany Lions pressured him 15 times but never got home for the sack, Sayin picking up a first down with one nine-yard scramble. For the season the OSU redshirt freshman is completing 80.7 percent of his passes for 2,188 yards and 23 touchdowns, intercepted just three times while averaging 10 yards per pass attempt.
That phenomenal accuracy puts him ahead of Oregon quarterback Bo Nix's NCAA record in 2023 when he connected on 77.45 percent.
Sayin has to survive November, a road trip to Michigan and the playoffs to claim the record, but he's already placed his steady hands around the sturdy bronze legs of Jay Berwanger.
2025 Heisman Trophy Odds, FanDuel
Julian Sayin (Ohio State) +200
Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) +230
Ty Simpson (Alabama) +340
Marcel Reed (Texas A&M) +650
Gunner Stockton (Georgia) +1800
Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) +3000
Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State) +4000
Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame) +4000
Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss) +4000
Dante Moore (Oregon) +5500
With five weeks remaining in the race September frontrunner Dante Moore has all but disappeared from contention. Moore was the favorite after he engineered a double overtime win over Penn State on September 27, but he's faded to 25 lengths behind after subpar games versus Indiana and Wisconsin.
It'd take a heroic November for the Detroit native to book a ticket to the Big Apple as Oregon's third-straight Heisman finalist, although he and the team are focused on the bigger goal of staying alive for the College Football playoff.
Julian Sayin had a perfect game vs. Penn State pic.twitter.com/EqTukXhakI
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) November 2, 2025
In a 55-10 win over Maryland, Indiana's Fernando Mendoza was less spectacular, 14-21 passing for 201 yards, one touchdown, one interception. The nation's No. 1 and No. 2 teams are on a collision course toward a showdown in the Big Ten Championship Game Saturday December 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Both the Hoosiers and the Buckeyes will be favored in all their remaining games, though OSU ends the season with a road game at No. 21 Michigan. The IU-OSU final could decide the B1G champ, No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff and the Heisman. That's Mendoza's opportunity to steal it, if he can.