Ohio — Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayin agree on what Ohio State was missing when last season’s College Football Playoff arrived.
“We [weren’t] battle tested,” Smith said. “We played one team and that was in late August.
“We definitely going to be battle tested this year — and it’s going to show a lot at the end of the season.”
That one team was Texas. The Longhorns came to Columbus as the preseason No. 1. Ohio State held on in the fourth quarter and won 14-7.
The Buckeyes did not play another meaningful fourth quarter until the postseason. Then they could not finish. Indiana stopped them in the Big Ten championship game. Miami ended the year in a playoff quarterfinal.
“This year we have a better schedule, a tougher schedule,” Sayin said. “I think it’s going to be good for us. We just didn’t have that many tough games in the [regular season] — and you need that.”
This season, they will get them.
A top-ranked team with almost no easy weeks
No. 1 Ohio State faces one of the hardest schedules in the country. It starts Saturday night in Austin with a rematch against No. 4 Texas (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).
Ryan Day wanted it that way.
“It’s going to be a challenge, but that’s the way you want it,” Day said before the season. “It’s going to force us to get comfortable winning games in the fourth quarter during the regular season.”
Ohio State plays six teams ranked in the preseason Top 25. Four of those games are on the road: Texas, Iowa (Oct. 3), Indiana (Oct. 17) and USC (Oct. 31). Oregon comes to Columbus on Nov. 7.
Of the remaining opponents, only Kent State, Maryland and Northwestern sat outside the top 33 in ESPN’s preseason SP+ rankings.
“That’s going to help us get calloused up for when the playoffs come around,” senior guard Luke Montgomery said. “Week in, week out, you’ve got to be on your A game. It’s super exciting and I think it will help us out a lot.”
The Ball State opener was a setup, not the standard
Ohio State beat Ball State 56-3 in Week 1. Day said the entire offseason and preseason were built around winning big games on the road, starting with Texas.
He sat most of his starters in the second half, including Smith, who was done after eight catches, 151 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.
“Jeremiah, he understands what’s coming,” Day said Saturday. “He trusted what we did … because he understands we got a monster game coming up.”
That is the new Ohio State week: take care of business early, then turn the page to a ranked opponent in a hostile stadium.
The Texas rematch is the first real test
A year ago, Ohio State’s defense made Arch Manning’s first start as the full-time quarterback miserable. Through three quarters he was 9 of 15 for 38 yards with an interception.
“It’s a rough film to watch,” Manning said Monday. “I don’t like watching it that much.”
Manning got better as the year went on. He threw seven touchdowns without a pick and ran for four more scores as Texas finished with double-digit wins over Arkansas, Texas A&M and Michigan in a bowl game.
This rematch is in Austin, at night. Texas added blue-chip transfer receiver Cam Coleman, a projected high pick in the next NFL draft and a true go-to target for Manning. The Longhorns also brought back 13 starters, including preseason All-America pass rusher Colin Simmons.
Texas is a slight favorite. If that holds, it would be only the 14th time since the 1978 FBS/FCS split that an AP No. 1 team is an underdog in a regular-season game.
Texas is 20-1 at home since the start of 2023. Seventeen of those wins were by at least two touchdowns.
“They have really good talent across the board. It’s going to be a great environment,” Day said. “But this is what we’re going to have to do this year when you look at our schedule. We’re going to have to be able to go on the road and win games like this.”
What last year’s schedule did not do
After beating Texas in 2025, Ohio State never found itself in that kind of game again during the regular season.
The Buckeyes allowed only 86 points the rest of the way and won by an average of more than 31 points. They played only two more opponents who were ranked at the time: Illinois and Michigan.
A possible Penn State showdown disappeared when the Nittany Lions lost three straight and fired James Franklin.
Ohio State entered the Big Ten title game undefeated and No. 1 — and more than three months removed from a one-score game. Indiana got two late red-zone stops, shut Ohio State out in the second half, won the conference title and took the playoff’s top seed.
In the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State cut Miami’s lead to 17-14 early in the fourth on a Sayin-to-Smith touchdown. The Buckeyes gained six yards after that. Miami answered with a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive and won 24-14.
“The biggest emphasis [has been] winning the game in the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “That’s something Coach Day has been talking about a lot. And that’s something [we’re going to] have to do a lot. … These are tough environments.”
Ohio State has seen the other version of this story
Two years ago, the path was different. Ohio State gave up 496 yards in a one-point loss at Oregon, then led the nation in total defense the rest of the way. After a stunning home loss to Michigan, the Buckeyes won four playoff games by double digits and claimed their first national title since 2014.
Smith’s point this week is that 2026 will not let Ohio State ease into November.
“We know we’ve got a very good opponent that we’re playing probably every other week,” Smith said. “We got bangers every week.
“It’s definitely a test for us. … We’ve got to be prepared.”
The bottom line heading to Austin
Ohio State is No. 1. The schedule does not care.
Texas on Saturday night is the first of several games that can create the fourth-quarter reps Smith and Sayin said they did not get last fall. If the Buckeyes want a different ending in December, they have to get comfortable winning the hard way now — on the road, in the fourth quarter, against teams that will not go away.
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