Standing in front of 72,485 crazy fans in Husky Stadium and playing QB can be nerve racking. But Julian Sayin looked calm, winning it in front of this large and taking Ohio State to a perfect 4-0 finish. Since the start of the season, he’s been turning heads. After looking at the Huskies’ game, even their rival Michigan’s alum Dave Portnoy could not stop his praise for Sayin.
Julian Sayin has been in beast mode since the start of the season. And even his stats show it, as he completed 22 of 28 passes for 208 yards with two touchdowns, which led Ohio State to their first Big 10 win of the season. Now, their first two drives were really safe, focusing more on ball security until the final dive before halftime, where Sayin completed 5 of 6 passes for 54 yards. He also had an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Smith that just adds more to his stats.
Now, we know the kind of heated rivalry Michigan and Ohio State share, and with Ryan Day’s 4-game winning streak, their next face-off just adds more to the anticipation of the fans. But then when you witness that level of excellence on the field, even hate can’t stop you from praising your rival. And that’s what happened with Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy, who’s also a massive NIL investor for Michigan. He didn’t hold back his praise for Julian Sayin and said, “I’m going to say something I wish I didn’t have to say. I am very impressed with Julian Sayin. Very impressed.”
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This comes in as a complete shocker after pulling off Ohio State’s legs during their kickoff against Texas. Before the big noon kickoff, Portnoy entered the stadium with boos and said, “I’m not here to troll you,” before removing a Big Ten jersey and revealing his Maize and Blue Michigan shirt, which said, “Still can’t Beat Michigan.” So, it’s interesting for the praise to be coming from him.
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Well, can we blame him for that? Julian Sayin entered the game with the best completion percentage in FBS, and he made sure he kept the momentum going again by completing 79% of his passes. On top of that, his decision-making held up the ground pretty strong for Ohio State, as he knew when to throw the ball away, and he ran with the ball himself, gaining 12 yards when the Huskies were pressuring him.
Ryan Day couldn’t stop himself from talking about Sayin’s poise and accuracy in the game. “He does a great job of communicating what he sees on the field. There are times when I see one thing on the field, and I watch the film, and he’s right,” Day said. Everyone thought Julian Sayin would mess up big time against the hostile crowd, but everything was on point for him. “Sometimes in the TV timeouts you can kind of feel the energy and the stadium,” Sayin said. “It was an awesome atmosphere.” But Julian Saying wasn’t the only one turning things around for Ohio State.
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Ohio State’s defense comes up big against the Huskies
Look, it wasn’t like Washington’s a weak team. They led the country in third-down conversions at 75 percent. But against Ohio State they just covered 1 of 11. “It’s understanding your opponent. It’s always about us, but you have to know how they’re trying to attack us,” coach Ryan Day said. “A big part of it was stopping the run on first and second down and forcing them into third-and-medium and third-and-long situations.”
And Huskies weren’t just leading in the third down conversion but also their points per drive were on the top of the charts with 5.28 and it totaled just 6 points in 8 possessions. But let’s not forget going up against Ohio State’s defense, which has yet to give up a touchdown inside the red zone this season, is not everyone’s cup of tea. They were making an impact from the start, as they got three red zone stops.
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Even though it was hard to stop QB Demond Williams Jr. from running, as he completed 18 of 22 passes for 173 yards, the Buckeyes still kept him in the pocket and didn’t allow him to rush for most of the game. Even RB Jonah Coleman was held to 70 yards, and interestingly, 34 of which came in one run. Ohio State’s dominance was pretty clear, especially in the red zone.