A Field Goal, an interception resulting in another Field Goal, which was how things started for QB Julian Sayin and the Ohio State Buckeyes. That only motivated the team, as the QB completely switched things around by completing 19 passes for 233 yards, and also got three touchdowns. That comeback was enough to instill fear in Michigan superfan Dave Portnoy.

“If you guys remember in an early meeting, I said, ‘I’m scared of Julian Sayin,’” Portnoy confessed on The Triple Option on December 3. “I said it. I’m like, ‘This guy is making me very nervous.’ I think he’s the best quarterback they’ve had in a bit, I want him to graduate and get out of there. I was more impressed with the way he bounced back after that interception. So, he’s a problem.”

Despite having a 6-point lead, the Michigan Wolverines suffered a 27-9 loss. The star player of the night was indeed the Buckeyes QB. Julian Sayin’s evolution explains why he’s a problem for opponents.

Against Texas in Week 1, he was an untested redshirt with 12 career attempts. Fast forward to Week 14, against the Wolverines, he looked like a future Heisman winner. 

“Maybe he doesn’t look different to you, but the guy who played against Texas and the guy who came off that field on Saturday looked like two different people to me,” OSU HC Ryan Day said. 

The numbers validated it. Julian Sayin finished with a 78.9% national-best completion rate, a 184.8 passer rating, and a staggering 79.3% completion rate against blitz pressure. And his highlight plays showed exactly why Michigan’s margin for error has vanished.

First came the early interception and the refusal to fold. Then came the throw that broke the Wolverines’ confidence – a 35-yard strike to Jeremiah Smith on a desperate 4th-and-5, giving Ohio State a 10-6 lead. Minutes later, Julian Sayin heaved a 50-yard throw to Carnell Tate, extending the advantage to 24-9. By the third quarter, Michigan no longer looked like the intimidating rival it appeared to be. And that gap is why HC Sherrone Moore’s seat is heating faster than the program wants to admit.

Michigan’s 9-3 finish, with all three losses against major opponents, brings uncomfortable déjà vu. Sherrone Moore inherited a championship roster yet has not rebuilt an offensive identity, not stabilized the line, and not developed a scoring threat worthy of the rivalry. But patience is evaporating. Dave Portnoy’s fear was only the surface-level truth. The deeper issue sits inside Urban Meyer’s blunt assessment of the Wolverines’ future under the 39-year-old HC. 

Urban Meyer’s warning shot at Sherrone Moore’s Michigan

Since taking over in 2024, Sherrone Moore’s biggest achievement had been extending Michigan’s winning streak over Ohio State. That thin legacy evaporated the moment Julian Sayin took control. The Wolverines entered Week 14 with hopes of reasserting power and walked out with their HC’s resume stripped to its bare threads. U-M has not contended for a Big Ten title under him, and the loss exposed how far they’ve slipped since last season’s championship run. And then Urban Meyer stepped forward to put a finer, sharper point on it.

Asked whether Ohio State would experience a letdown in the Big Ten Championship, the former Buckeyes HC rejected the premise entirely. 

“I don’t think so. That was not a f****** game where it went down, the last game,” he told Colin Cowherd. “I was there, obviously. Ohio State handled them.”

He argued that Ohio State was never stretched thin, that Julian Sayin had barely thrown 25 fourth-quarter passes all season, and that the Buckeye defense had played the fewest snaps of any major program. Michigan’s offense, he added, is “not very good,” and the Wolverines remain multiple steps from where they must be to compete. 

But a back-to-back Ohio State championships could haunt Sherrone Moore. 

“It hurts to say it, but Ohio State was the better team today,” Dave Portnoy posted after the loss. “It’s time for Michigan to get back in the lab. And if Ohio State wins the Natty this year, I will recognize it. Why? Because it’s the Michigan man thing to do.” He also claimed that the team is not even close to the caliber they need to be to put up a tough fight in the league.

And when a booster like Portnoy is admitting Ohio State might go back-to-back, Sherrone Moore’s problems become urgent.