Julian Sayin (10) runs past Washington’s Zach Dufree. Sayin led Ohio State to a 24-6 victory at Husky Stadium, snapping the Huskies’ 22-game home winning streak. Credit: Liam Ahern | Lantern Photo Vault
Julian Sayin stepped for his first college road start into a roaring Husky Stadium that hadn’t seen its team lose in 22 games.
The home crowd on the banks of Lake Washington did not make life easy for him, as the noise from the crowd shook the stadium, making every snap feel like the biggest play of the day.
In the end, the Husky fans’ deafening roars faded into the familiar bars of “Carmen Ohio,” as No. 1 Ohio State dominated its opponent once again, extending its win streak to eight games with a 24-6 win Saturday in Seattle.
The theme for the freshman quarterback, as dictated by head coach Ryan Day: poise in the noise.
“Coach Day has been preaching that to us all week,” Sayin said. “We did a good job of having poise in a loud environment.”
That poise, however, took its time coming. With five minutes left in the first half, Sayin had completed only two passes for 9 yards. Ohio State instead leaned on its run game, with 13 of its first 17 plays being rushes.
With Ohio State down 3-0, the redshirt freshman flipped the game. He orchestrated a 10-play, 63-yard touchdown drive with five pass completions. The capper: an 18-yard drag-route strike that Jeremiah Smith carried into the endzone for a 7-3 lead at the break.
“It would have been very easy to get discouraged,” Day said. “We hung in there and kept swinging.”
The Buckeyes opened the second half the same way. Sayin directed a 75-yard march, capped by a 1-yard CJ Donaldson plunge into the endzone to extend the lead to 14-3.
Donaldson crossed the goal line, but Smith was the drive’s engine, hauling in four catches for 39 yards. Smith finished the game with eight catches for 81 yards and a score, taking full advantage of a Washington team that was down star cornerback Decario Davis.
“That guy is different,” Donaldson said of Smith.
Ohio State’s defense again dominated and kept the Buckeyes on solid ground until the offense found its footing. It piled up six sacks and held the Huskies to two field goals.
Caden Curry and Kayden McDonald were standouts on a line that stiffled a Husky offense that had averaged 55.7 points per game. The duo combined for five sacks and eight tackles for losses, and Washington was held to just 234 total yards.
The Buckeye defense has allowed just one touchdown this season, with none coming within the red zone.
While McDonald made a game-sealing fourth-down sack, it was Sayin who made sure the Buckeye lead would stand.
The quarterback finished 22-of-28 for 208 yards and two scores, did not make any dangerous throws and repeatedly extended plays with his legs–something he had done sparingly in the first three games of the season.
“They were playing man coverage and nobody had the quarterback,” Sayin said. “It was what the game called for…I had to make plays with my legs.”
Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline trusted Sayin to stretch the field in the second half, and the redshirt freshman rewarded that faith with 145 of his passing yards and a score.
The performance gave Ohio State more than a conference win, after a week of questions about how a first-year starter would handle a true road test.
“You just went into an environment that won 22 straight games and won,” Day said. “The confidence is there.”
