Rumblings of trouble at Ohio State? Probably not

Ohio State continues to be one of the most stable and successful programs in college football with 9 national championships including the most recent one. Since 2009 they've won 11 or more games in 14 of the last 16 seasons.

One of those was the Covid Year, when they still made the playoffs at 8-1. The other was 2011, when Jim Tressel was dismissed and Luke Fickell took over as coach, the Buckeyes tying their all-time record for losses at 6-7.

So it was a bit of a shock Wednesday when the Buckeyes lost a four-star safety to North Carolina even as the Buckeye Sports Illustrated site banged out an article with the click-baiting title, "Concerns Surrounding Ohio State QB Julian Sayin Continue to Grow."

The writer Matthew Schmidt builds his case around the fact that Ryan Day said Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz were neck and neck at spring practice. Pretty thin evidence, since that's the sort of thing every coach has said every spring since the invention of the forward pass.

Sayin is a former five-star quarterback surrounded by some of the best weapons in college football behind a solid offensive line and a Top Ten defense. He'll be fine, and if he isn't OSU will probably win 10-11 games anyway.

The other "evidence" Schmidt provides. is that Andy Staples ranked Sayin No. 7 in his list of Big Ten quarterbacks, which isn't frighteningly low. Besides, the Buckeyes don't necessarily need exceptional quarterback play to look good.

Jeremiah Smith, Brandon Innes and Max Klare would make a lot of quarterbacks look good. Year in and year out, it's one of the most potent offenses in football, especially since the OSU defense sets them up on the opponent's end of the field a decent share of the time.

While no fan base likes losing recruits, Ohio State's 2026 class currently ranks No. 7 in the country with 20 commits, even after Weatherspoon's decommitment. They're second in the Big Ten behind USC.

The Buckeyes aren't in trouble and they'll continue to be a factor in the Big Ten and the national title chase, one of the most stable bluebloods in the game. The 2025 schedule poses some immediate challenges, however, beginning with a home game against preseason No. 1 Texas in The Horseshoe, then conference road games at Washington on September 27 and at Illinois October 11.

They host Penn State on November 1 and they're at Michigan on November 29. With three pivotal games early in the year, Sayin has to acclimate quickly. That's his challenge, but no one should expect a big collapse from OSU.

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