College football didn’t make fans wait long for a game with legitimate national championship implications. No. 1 Ohio State travels to Austin on Saturday night for a showdown with No. 4 Texas that could end up serving as a genuine College Football Playoff preview. The Buckeyes have beaten the Longhorns twice in less than two years, and Texas gets another crack at them — this time at home, and with two quarterbacks who have come a long way since their first meeting last August.
Here’s everything you need to know before kickoff.
When and Where Is Ohio State vs. Texas?
Ohio State and Texas kick off Saturday, September 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin. ABC will broadcast the game nationally, with College GameDay also making the trip to Texas for the event. Texas enters the weekend as a slight favorite, with the Longhorns favored by roughly 1.5 points, though some betting models have Ohio State catching points despite being the higher-ranked team nationally.
Ohio State Has Controlled the Recent History Between These Programs
Saturday will mark the sixth all-time meeting between these two programs, but the third since January 2025. Ohio State leads the all-time series 3-2 and has won the last two matchups.
The Buckeyes’ most recent win over Texas came in the College Football Playoff semifinal following the 2024 season, a 28-14 victory punctuated by Jack Sawyer’s 83-yard fumble return for a touchdown that effectively ended the Longhorns’ comeback bid before Ohio State went on to win the national championship.
Texas got its rematch just eight months later and lost again. Ohio State won 14-7 in Columbus despite Texas actually holding the statistical edge for much of the game — the Longhorns finished with more first downs (16-11) and more total yards (336-203) than the Buckeyes, but struggled badly in the red zone, going just 1-of-5 on fourth-down conversions and failing to find the end zone until late in the fourth quarter.
How Arch Manning and Julian Sayin Have Both Improved Since Last Season
Neither quarterback lit up the scoreboard in last year’s meeting. Arch Manning completed just 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, adding 38 rushing yards on 10 carries. Julian Sayin, making his first career start, threw for only 126 yards and a single score.
Things looked dramatically different in each quarterback’s 2026 season opener. Manning exploded for 305 passing yards and four touchdowns as Texas demolished Texas State 59-7, completing his passes at a much-improved clip compared to his rocky 56.7% completion rate against Ohio State last season. Sayin was equally sharp, throwing for 320 yards and three scores in Ohio State’s 56-3 rout of Ball State. Remarkably, the two quarterbacks who combined for just 296 passing yards against each other last season combined for 625 yards in their respective 2026 debuts.
Injury Report: Ohio State vs. Texas
Ohio State enters the weekend with a clean bill of health, reporting no injuries coming out of its season-opening win over Ball State and no new updates in the days leading up to kickoff.
Texas, meanwhile, will be without running back Derrek Cooper, who is out with an ankle injury. Offensive tackle Trevor Goolsby (knee) has been practicing and appears trending toward availability, though his exact status for Saturday remains something to monitor closely given Ohio State’s pass rush.
Betting Trends and Key Stats to Know
Ohio State has been one of the best against-the-spread teams in the country since the start of the 2024 season, covering in 70% of its games (21-9-1 ATS) and beating the spread by an average of 3.3 points per game. The Buckeyes are also a strong 6-3 ATS in true road games over that span. Texas, by contrast, has been much closer to break-even against the spread since 2024 at 14-15-1 (48.3%), though the Longhorns have been considerably better at home, posting a 9-5-1 ATS record at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Statistically, Ohio State was the far better overall team last season by advanced metrics, finishing first in the country in offensive success rate and eighth in defensive success rate, compared to Texas ranking 80th and 30th in those same categories. Whether the Longhorns’ offseason improvements — including transfer additions Cam Coleman, Melvin Siani, Hollywood Smothers, and Raleek Brown — have closed that gap is one of the central questions heading into Saturday.
Key Player to Watch: Colin Simmons
Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons enters the season as one of the most feared pass rushers in college football and a projected top-10 NFL Draft pick. Simmons posted nine sacks as a freshman and 12 as a sophomore, forcing three fumbles in each of those seasons. He’s still searching for his first sack of 2026 after recording a tackle and fumble recovery in Texas’ opener, but expect him to draw double-team attention throughout Saturday night as Ohio State works to protect Julian Sayin.
Why This Could Be a College Football Playoff Preview
Calling any Week 2 game a must-win would be excessive, especially with the expanded 12-team playoff format now in place. That doesn’t make this an ordinary September game, though. Ohio State and Texas are both considered among the leading national championship contenders, and PFF has noted this is one of only two currently scheduled matchups between top-five teams anywhere on this season’s calendar. Both programs also rank among the top three nationally in championship odds heading into Week 2.
The loser can still recover given the expanded playoff field. But the winner walks away from Saturday night with one of the best résumé victories anyone in college football will have all season — the kind of result that could matter significantly when playoff selection conversations begin in earnest come December.
What’s Really at Stake for Texas
Texas carries extra motivation into this one. Losing to Ohio State in a playoff semifinal was painful enough on its own. Losing again eight months later turned it into a troubling pattern. A third consecutive loss to the Buckeyes — this time at home in Austin, in front of a sold-out crowd and a national primetime audience — would turn Ohio State into a rival Texas simply can no longer brush aside as a difficult matchup. For Steve Sarkisian’s program, Saturday represents a real opportunity to flip the script on a rivalry that has, so far, entirely favored Ryan Day and the Buckeyes.
Final Word Before Kickoff
With two of the most talented rosters in the country, two rapidly improving quarterbacks, and legitimate national championship stakes on the line just two weeks into the season, Ohio State vs. Texas has all the makings of an early Game of the Year candidate. Whether Texas can finally solve the puzzle that’s eluded it in three straight meetings — or Ohio State extends its dominance in the series even further Saturday night in Austin should go a long way toward shaping the entire College Football Playoff conversation.
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