COLUMBUS — Quick thoughts on what we saw from Ohio State’s offense in Saturday’s 42-19 win against Illinois.
1. Ryan Day talked during the week about needing Julian Sayin to be a playmaker in all facets now that the Buckeyes are in Big Ten play. That includes Sayin using his legs, which he did on a 7-yard touchdown scramble at the end of the first half.
Sayin scrambled three times. He also executed three successful sneaks in short yardage and kept the ball on a designed run. He’s never going to be a prolific or dynamic runner, but he needs to make teams pay when they give him space to pick up easy yards. He did that against Illinois, one week after taking an inexplicable fourth-down sack against Kent State on a play he could’ve scrambled out of.
The third-year quarterback now has two rushing touchdowns this season after failing to post any last year. Saturday’s game was the first of the season in which he finished with positive rushing yardage.
This was also the sharpest Sayin has been throwing the ball so far this season. He finished 27-of-36 for 367 yards and four touchdowns.
The five total touchdowns in one game set a new career high.
2. Jeremiah Smith scored Ohio State’s first three touchdowns, added a fourth in the fourth quarter, and is now two away from passing Chris Olave for the program’s career touchdown record.