Jake TrotterNov 1, 2025, 05:37 PM ET
- Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men's and women's basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He's a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at [email protected] and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State hasn't had a Heisman Trophy winner since quarterback Troy Smith captured the award in 2006.
But heading into the final month of the regular season, the Buckeyes now boast the Heisman front-runner.
Julian Sayin delivered another scintillating performance Saturday in a 38-14 win over Penn State. The sophomore quarterback completed 20 of 23 passes for 316 yards and four touchdowns.
With this latest outing, Sayin jumped Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza to become the Heisman favorite (+175), according to ESPN BET.
"If Julian continues to play the way that he's playing, he deserves to be in the [Heisman] conversation, at the very least," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said.
Sayin now has four games this season completing 85% of his passes for more than 300 yards and at least three passing touchdowns; no other quarterback in the country has more than one such game, according to ESPN Research.
"He's playing at an elite level," said safety Caleb Downs, who transferred to Ohio State along with Sayin early in the 2024 offseason after Alabama coach Nick Saban retired. "I'm just excited for my guy."
The top-ranked Buckeyes (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten) are trying to win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history. Sayin, who backed up Will Howard during last year's championship run, is putting up gaudy numbers in his first season as the starter. He has thrown for 2,224 yards with 24 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Sayin came into the weekend ranked fifth nationally with a QBR of 87.9. He also leads the country by a significant margin completing almost 81% of his passes; no other quarterback has a completion rate topping 75%.
"The receivers do a great job, and the running backs do a great job in pass protection and it's really the offensive line giving me time to be able to go through my read," Sayin said. "So, that's really a team stat."
Both Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate caught passes from Sayin for 57 yards apiece, as the two wideouts combined for 147 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Sayin now has eight passing touchdowns of 20 or more air yards, which is tied for third most in the FBS, according to ESPN Research.
"We were aggressive and I thought some of Julian's deep balls were just excellent," Day said. "Julian's really getting more and more confidence every day."
