Ryan Day is facing heat again for a quarterback decision he made last year, even though Julian Sayin led Ohio State all the way to a Heisman nod in 2025. With Lincoln Kienholz lighting up the scoreboard after transferring to Louisville this season, some fans are asking if Day picked the wrong guy. However, a Buckeye legend begs to differ.

Bobby Carpenter, a 2002 national champion with Ohio State, is stepping in to shut down that narrative before it gains any real weight. “So the guy he kept was in NYC for the Heisman… He found Lincoln in South Dakota and developed him to what he is today,” Carpenter posted on X.

The noise started when a fan posted on X, questioning if Day lost his touch as an elite quarterback evaluator after letting Kienholz leave through the transfer portal. The fan pointed to Kienholz’s explosive start at Louisville this 2026 season, where he piled up 816 passing yards, six touchdowns, and zero interceptions in his first few games. Carpenter saw the post and fired back with his tweet instantly.

This quarterback debate isn’t happening in a vacuum. Ohio State is sitting at 2-1 after dropping a tight 24-23 game to Texas. In Columbus, one early loss changes everything. With zero margin for error left on their College Football Playoff checklist, fans are hyper-focused on every mistake under center.

That is why Kienholz’s hot start at Louisville hits a sore spot for Buckeye Nation. With brutal Big Ten matchups ahead against teams like Oregon, Michigan, and Indiana, Ohio State needs elite quarterback play to survive. If Sayin stumbles or relies too heavily on one receiver, the decision to let a talented backup walk away gets judged twice as hard.

But it’s to be noted that Day chose Sayin as the starter for Ohio State after Kienholz and Sayin had a camp battle back in August 2025 for the QB1 spot. Sayin posted a 77% completion percentage, recording the best single-season mark in Big Ten history and third-best in FBS history. He threw for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns against just eight picks, which got him to New York as a Heisman finalist.

Sayin has kept that streak this season as well, completing 56 of 79 pass attempts for 839 yards, six touchdowns, and just one interception through three games. With a 182.4 passer rating and ranking fourth in the Big Ten in QBR, Carpenter believes Sayin is the true Heisman candidate, and Day’s decision to start with Sayin was backed by his performance on the field.

As for Kienholz, he spent three years as a backup QB at Ohio State behind Kyle McCord, Devin Brown, and Sayin. He completed 21 of 36 pass attempts for 250 yards during his three seasons with the Buckeyes. He left for Louisville as he wanted to play as a starter and eventually got the starter position. In his debut as the Cardinals starter against Ole Miss, he went 18-of-29 for 307 yards and two touchdowns through the air, along with 69 yards and a score on the ground.

“I remember kind of what it was with Dwayne and Joe,” Day said, comparing Sayin and Kienholz to one of the legendary QB battles during a press conference in August 2025, according to ProFootballNetwork. “It was similar, just in terms of the skill sets and the makeups, and so it’s interesting to see those two guys compete with each other. Nothing is exactly the same, but it’s similar in certain ways, but ultimately, it comes down to how they perform on the field.”

Though Sayin played as the starter for two seasons, his game this year hasn’t been without any mistakes either. The loss to Texas exposed his tendency to rely heavily on wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. Day had asked him to spread the ball around before the Week 3 game against Kent State, and Sayin responded well by completing 18 of 22 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns, finding four other receivers for 144 yards.

Now, as Ohio State faces Illinois, Sayin has another chance to prove he can keep the offense balanced against the tough schedule.

Julian Sayin fixed one Ohio State passing issue as Brandon Inniss steps up

Brandon Inniss stepped up for Ohio State against Kent State, giving Julian Sayin another reliable option in the passing game. After the Texas loss, Ryan Day wanted Sayin to work through his progressions and get more receivers involved, and the connection with Inniss was a better step in that direction.

“This was a little more of a full-field progression game,” Ryan Day said, The Columbus Dispatch reports. “I thought overall the ball came out on time. There’s still some things in there that we’re going to look at that we’ve got to get better from: Eyes, feet, timing. I thought overall it was solid. It was good to get other guys involved.”

Sayin’s numbers already put him in rare company for a Big Ten quarterback, and the Heisman buzz isn’t going away anytime soon. But the stretch starting with Illinois and Big Ten games that follow will provide the real test for Sayin and Day, especially after the changes they made to get the offense moving beyond a single target.