This Week in Ohio State Football: Who's your quarterback?

Vo. 2, No. 8

This week in Ohio State football, Ryan Day has to pick a new quarterback.

So much for a leisurely off week eh?

I suppose having to use the open week in the schedule to evaluate options is still better than the alternative of having to prepare a replacement for Julian Sayin in only a few days, but it’s still far from ideal.

The Buckeyes won the battle at Indiana last weekend, but did they lose the war for the Big Ten and the pursuit of the national championship?

Only time will tell, but let’s take a closer look…

The smart money is on Luke Fahey, the true freshman¹ from California, to start next Saturday night at USC.

He has been the No. 2 quarterback since early in the season for a reason.

That reason, of course, is Ryan Day decided he should be.

While I believe the staff truly opened up the competition between Fahey and Tavien St. Clair this week, I also find it hard to believe the coaches are likely to suddenly start seeing things differently in such a short amount of time. That is mostly because football coaches tend to be stubborn, believe what they believe and trust their own judgement.

All that said, this is a fascinating situation for a few reasons…

Truth is, we don’t know exactly how far ahead Fahey is of St. Clair, the sophomore from Bellefontaine who was a five-star prospect in the class of 2025, but I don’t think Fahey just moved ahead by default, either.

The best-case scenario would be St. Clair is fine, but Fahey is better.

If you flip on his high school highlights, Fahey obviously has some game. He has a good arm and good feet. He should be able to make some good things happen.

The bigger question is how much bad can he avoid?

I would say the same thing about St. Clair: He’s going to do some good things if he gets a chance, but the inexperience is bound to bite him at some point as well.

On the flip side, we also need to acknowledge Sayin was not doing the best job of avoiding negative plays, especially for a second-year starter. He missed more than a couple of throws at Indiana and was not sharp against Maryland the week before, either. That’s led to some speculation he wasn’t 100 percent even before getting knocked out of the Indiana game, and I tend to agree it’s possible.

Whatever the case, he’s got to focus on getting healthy, and both Sayin and Ohio State have to figure out what the picture looks like for each side next season, but there is time for the rest of us to worry about that later.

Buckeye Historian: Indiana series, revenge games

Of course, that is something people have been asking really since Fahey emerged as the backup at the beginning of September.

St. Clair has the tools and passes the look test, but is something missing?

Many have blamed the lack of competition at Bellefontaine High School, but I think that is oversimplifying it. Yes, the Central Buckeye Conference was not murderer’s row the last few years (thought it seems like it was deeper this year with Kenton Ridge and Urbana showing major improvement), but I just don’t know how much ANY high school experience prepares guys to play in the Big Ten. I’m sure there is more than zero, but at the end of the day I’m not convinced it matters much, especially after more than a year of tutelage from Day and his staff competing against the players Ohio State has on defense.

I know Day can’t help but gush about Fahey’s intangibles, praising his moxie and his work ethic and all those things coaches love.

Does that mean St. Clair is deficient in all those areas? Well, we don’t know.

Another question of the week has been whether or not there was a real competition between Fahey and St. Clair.

I tend to think there was. Maybe Day was just blowing smoke, but he certainly could have come out and said, “Nope, it’s Luke’s team now, and we are putting all our resources into making sure he’s ready for that role.”

There’s a case to be made that is what they should have done, but again it comes down to exactly how close Day and the other coaches view the competition.

Maybe it’s all lip service. Maybe it’s a matter of motivation for one or both of them to push that much harder this week.

No matter what, the staff is going to have to ramp up the preparation for both of them because one is going to be in the game, and the other is a play away.

I would think St. Clair winning this little mini-competition this week would be an upset, but there might be some ground he can make up between the staff’s comfort level with putting him in the game even if Fahey is their first choice.

I would guess the realistic best-case scenario for St. Clair would be showing enough this week the staff would be willing to try him if Fahey struggles in the first half against the Trojans rather than just feel they have to sink or swim with him.

The BEST best-case scenario is obviously the starter playing well whoever that is, but life often doesn’t work that way. There are sure to be ups and downs next Saturday and for the rest of the season.

The performance of Fahey and St. Clair is only part of that question — maybe not the biggest part, either.

I wrote earlier this week about Ohio State’s remarkable history of success with backup quarterbacks, and my biggest takeaway was the 2014 run did not happen because J.T. Barrett came in and replicated Braxton Miller’s dynamic play. Barrett was efficient with what he was asked to do, creating opportunities for those around him to play well and contribute rather than rely heavily on the quarterback (Miller) to make magic.

When Barrett — who did grow into more of a playmaker later in that season — went down, Cardale Jones did not replicate his efficiency, either. Jones was more of the thunder, shocking Wisconsin and Alabama with big plays that were difference-makers as guys across the field won their matchups, be that Ezekiel Elliott behind and improved offensive line, Devin Smith down the field or the defense stepping up big time (also with an improved line led by Centerville’s Michael Bennett).

The rest of the story of the 2026 Ohio State football team’s story will begin to be told next week, and the quarterbacks won’t be the only authors — at least if these Buckeyes are going to achieve their original goals.

Per usual, Jeff Gilbert has good perspective at Press Pros Magazine:

If you want an idea of what’s been working and what to expect coming up for a football team, the film is a great place to look.

BuckeyeInsiders.com is cornering the market when it comes to scheme talk, and this week was no exception.

On the offensive side, Justin Whitlatch points out Fahey ran plenty of the same concepts Ohio State does when he was in high school. That means they don’t have to start from scratch building a new offense, but many of the bells and whistles probably have to be stripped away that make life harder for defenses and easier for offenses to know what they’re doing.

The Buckeyes can still use the quick passing game and take deep shots when they are there, but what else can they do?

Ross Fulton notes the first issue could be how Fahey handles changing the play at the line of scrimmage, including the basic task of making sure they are running away from the strength of the defense. One thing a veteran even with physical limitations can do is make sure at least the play isn’t dead before it starts, but will Fahey be able to do that regularly now?

Fulton also notes Fahey has some similar skills to Sayin but could be better at navigating the pocket, where Sayin still struggled at times, and bring a run threat.

Truth be told, the Ohio State offense was not really living up to expectations.

I thought before the season it needed to be great both because it has the parts to do so and the defense was likely to take a step back from last season.

That isn’t what Ohio State got through seven weeks, though it was certainly good enough.

Now with the quarterback position a question mark, everyone else is going to need to step up. That is no easy task considering opposing defensive coordinators know Ohio State has a young quarterback and will no doubt want to avoid overburdening him if at all possible.

That will require better execution in the run game against likely tougher situations (more men in the box) so how is that going to work out?

Meanwhile, the defense is coming off its best game with respect to the opponent. That unit seems to be getting better every week, so how are they doing it?

Buckeye Insiders defensive scheme insider Michael Pettit said it’s hard to believe this is the same defense we saw at Texas.

Of course, it is not exactly the same defense thanks to adjustments Matt Patricia has made and some different personnel, but there is also a matter of some guys just playing better.

The key to success stopping the run has been deploying three true defensive tackles, a stand-up end, a hybrid-type outside linebacker, middle linebacker, two corners and three safeties.

The tackles firm up the inside, being able to win in part because they can’t be double teamed, and that makes everyone else’s job easier. Plus the tackles are just playing better.

If you’re an old person like me, this is not unlike a 5-2 eagle except one of the ILBs is a middle-of-the-field safety who might drop to cover the deep middle or attack the run depending on the play.

In this video we also see how Ohio State did some alternate things with the line including some stunting and a unique technique by Eddrick Houston.

The best news here is probably this looks to be sustainable, at least as long as guys like Little, Jay Timmons and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. remain healthy.

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