Ed. note: Hello and welcome to the first edition of a new weekly newsletter about Ohio State football! This is intended to be the flagship product of Cus Words Sports, a weekly recap of what went on in the world of Ohio State football.
We will have thoughts, theories, takes, observations and whatever else I feel like including because, hey, it’s my newsletter!
Look for it on Friday mornings from now on…
Vo. 1, No. 1
This Week in Ohio State Football the theme is “We’re gonna find out.”
Ryan Day said that multiple times Tuesday when previewing the Buckeyes’ matchup with No. 1 Texas.
Of course, that’s typically true of season-opening games, but maybe this one feels different because of the quality of the opponent.
What they try to do based on what was working in practice needs to actually, you know, work Saturday if they want to win because they can’t just out-talent Texas like they can 75% of the schedule.
That means they don’t have the luxury of trial and error with a new starting quarterback, new offensive tackles, new running backs, an all-new defensive line and three new starters in the secondary.
Oh yeah, they also have two new coordinators, and neither of them have really done this at this level before. (More on that later.)
So what does Day expect from the offensive and defensive lines?
“Well, we'll find out. Again, we're trying to project what those will look like, but we go off of what we see in practice every day and then guys are getting better.
And, you know, today we'll have inside drill. Today we'll have some team and making sure we have our good percentage of good on good because we know if we don't stop the run and run the ball, we're not going to win the game. So that's been something that we're working on all preseason and we'll see.”
What about the running backs?
“I think we've built depth. I think we need to go play and find out where we're at, but I do think that [coach Carlos Locklin) has built depth there and guys are running hard. Protection, as you know, is important. Ball security is of utmost importance in this game. And we'll find out coming out of the game, but we've seen a lot of progress in those areas.”
Day likes what he has seen from sophomore James Peoples, West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson and true freshman Bo Jackson, who could all see action against the Longhorns.
That figures to be somewhat game-plan dependent, too, as they might not have enough carries to spread among three guys.
How much redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin can handle — and how he handles it once the game actually starts — will also no doubt be a factor.
What does Day want to see from him?
Cue Al Davis:
“Well, the message is just win. Find a way to win. I think when you start setting expectations, you can get yourself out of whack. We're going to take it one play at a time.
He's got a good group of guys around him. He's got a good defense. He's got good special teams, a good offensive line, good skill guys.
He needs to lean into those players and find a way to win the game. We'll try to get him into a rhythm and then go from there, and that's really it. It's a start.”
Again that word “find” made its way into Day’s answer, not that it is a mystery why. Aside from the usual youngsters like Sayin and Peoples from the ’24 class being asked to step up…
This Ohio State team has an interesting dynamic because there are a lot of older guys who haven’t played yet but are on the cusp of getting their chance.
Most of the 2022 class is gone, and some sophomores may be ready to jump into the fray, but the 2023 class is intriguing.
Five of them have transferred (a low number these days), and Carnell Tate is the only one to be a full-time starter.
Offensive linemen Luke Montgomery and Austin Siereveld started some games last year, and receiver Brandon Inniss, cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. and linebacker Arvell Reese got regular playing time, so that’s a start.
There is every reason to believe those guys will thrive in full-time roles, which should be the source of optimism… but still: “We’re gonna find out.”
Wouldn’t it be fascinating if those guys led their own championship season?
The 2021 class was a massive failure until it wasn’t. They had to beat Notre Dame or go down as the least-productive Ohio State recruiting class in about 30 years.
The ’22 and ’23 classes are still looking for their first Big Ten titles and wins over Michigan, but they already have national championship rings, which is unusual to say the last.
They haven’t been in the spotlight taking the slings and arrows from the public those guys last year did, so they are both new on the scene and more physically mature than the typical wave of new starters at Ohio State.
Excluding last year, almost every Ohio State national championship team has won it all a year earlier than they might have been expected to (if they were expected to at all).
Going by experience and returning starters, this Ohio State team looks on paper like perhaps the least likely of any to repeat, but adding in a new core that is not primarily sophomores and freshmen could create a unique dynamic for the 2025 Buckeyes.
John Cooper liked to say if a dog’s gonna bite, he’ll bite as a pup.
In the relatively recent past at Ohio State if a guy got his first opportunity to play when he was a junior or especially a senior, well, that probably meant he just wasn’t that good.
Now of course we rarely see first-time starters who are juniors or especially seniors because guys who aren’t playing usually have already transferred, something a few of the veterans talked about over the last couple of weeks.
Of course quarterback is a position to watch because both guys are new starters, and both were highly regarded recruits.
Arch Manning has more hype than I can ever recall for a junior who hasn’t really played much — again, that is extremely unusual for this day and age — but time will tell if he lives up to the hype.
Sayin might be flying under the radar in more ways than one. He is overshadowed by Manning, but I think there are also probably people who just assume he’ll be fine because Ohio State has typically had great quarterback play under Day.
But what if he’s lost his touch? I wrote about that at Press Pros Magazine this week.
Ready for Saturday, and another quarterback. Some thoughts on where they come from, and what we remember after they're gone: pressprosmagazine.com/2025/08/27/har…
— #PressProsMagazine (#@PressProsMag)
9:23 AM • Aug 27, 2025
Finally, what about those coordinators?
This has also probably not gotten as much attention as it deserves with all the overall hype surrounding the game, Manning’s first start, Ohio State being the defending national champions, etc.
Brian Hartline and Matt Patricia both have much name recognition, but what if either of them are miscast in this role?
Hartline had a chance two years ago to run the show and Day ended up continuing to handle the offense when all was said and done. I’m sure he has learned a lot since then — and Day may have learned a lot about how to keep an eye on the wheel without grabbing it last year — but there’s a lot that goes into figuring out how to utilize all those weapons, especially with a new quarterback and sky-high expectations against a veteran defensive coordinator with a very talented unit.
Patricia put together a great resume with the New England Patriots, but more of Bill Belichick’s proteges have struggled without him than have succeeded. NFL stuff doesn’t always translate to college, especially intricate pro defenses.
I also wonder if the defensive line will go back to playing Larry Johnson’s preferred style of stopping the run on the way to the quarterback or the heavier, “block destruction” technique of the second half of last season that let the linebackers do their thing and made the unit much better as a whole.
Patricia joining a group that already knew how to work together and developed a winning formula last year that he just needs to supplement could work out really well. Maybe if he essentially does quality control and adds to what they were doing with Caleb Downs as the eraser last year, it will be a good fit. Or maybe they will try to do too much and make mental errors that cost them big plays.
I guess we’re gonna find out.
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