Urban Meyer did not sound ready to pick against Ohio State. He sounded like someone who had watched enough of the Buckeyes to know they could make a difficult game even harder for themselves.
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“We’ve seen them a few times. They don’t look great,” the former Ohio State head coach said on October 29 on his Triple Option podcast, discussing Ryan Day’s team ahead of Saturday’s trip to USC.
Meyer acknowledged that the offensive line looks reasonably solid and pointed to Jeremiah Smith as “the best player in America.” But his verdict came with a warning.
“Ohio State can win if they take care of the football,” Urban Meyer concluded. “If they take care of the football, they can win this game.”
That is a fairly modest endorsement for the No. 2 team in the country. Yet the circumstances explain his caution. Ohio State is 6-1, has won five straight games and has one of the nation’s best defenses.
What it no longer has is Julian Sayin, the 2025 Heisman finalist and a QB who helped make its offense so dangerous during the first half of the season. Sayin went down against Indiana after an injury to his right throwing arm.
Now, the team is preparing to play without him, and Day hasn’t picked his QB1 between Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair.
“I think things have progressed this week, similar to the way they have in the past. I’ll just kind of leave it at that,” Ryan Day said.
Fahey has completed nine of 13 passes for 203 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions this season. St. Clair has attempted only seven passes, completing five for 52 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Neither has faced the responsibility of running the offense from the opening snap against a ranked opponent on the road. Despite that, USC has its own problems going on, and Ohio State can capitalize on just that, even with either of the two QBs.
The Trojans are 6-2, but they are coming off a 24-7 loss at Wisconsin that exposed serious issues on offense. Quarterback Jayden Maiava threw two interceptions, took five sacks, and finished with 257 passing yards and one touchdown.
USC recorded only one explosive play, and according to head coach Lincoln Riley, his offense missed too many opportunities. That gives Ohio State a chance to win a lower-scoring game, particularly with a defense allowing just 13.4 points and 264.3 total yards per contest.
The Buckeyes have also limited opponents to 92.9 rushing yards per game, making them difficult to beat if their offense avoids turnovers and forces USC to sustain long drives.
There is also a reason not to dismiss Day’s team too quickly. Ohio State has won 30 road games under Day since 2019, tied for the most in the FBS, and has built a strong record away from Columbus. This is a program accustomed to playing in hostile stadiums.
Moreover, the biggest advantage for Ohio State is still Jeremiah Smith. Smith enters the USC matchup with 52 receptions for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is the only receiver in the country ranked among the top two in both receiving yards and touchdown catches.
He also needs just 76 receiving yards and one touchdown to break Big Ten career records in those categories. So, Smith will undoubtedly be hungry and much more lethal against Lincoln Riley’s defense.
Ryan Day isn’t also planning to rip up the playbook just because Ohio State has a different quarterback under center. He wants to keep the offense largely intact, making changes where needed to suit the new starter.
He has also made clear that the quarterback cannot be expected to do everything. Ohio State will need its defense to hold up and its running backs to take pressure off the passing game. That’s essentially what protecting the football is, as Urban Meyer pointed out.
USC may be playing at home, but an unranked team that has struggled this season should not be able to match the Buckeyes across the roster. So, the new quarterback will not need to win the game on his own.
He needs to take care of the ball, stay out of trouble, manage the game efficiently, and let Ohio State’s more experienced players like Jeremiah Smith do the rest.