Josh Pate’s take on how Ohio State football’s season will go after the Julian Sayin injury is a tough one
College football talking head Josh Pate delivered his take on how he thinks the rest of the season will go for Ohio State following the Julian Sayin injury.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are in the middle of their bye week following a narrow win over the Indiana Hoosiers. That victory came at a cost. Quarterback Julian Sayin appears to have played his last down of the season in the win over the Hoosiers.
There are no specifics on Sayin’s injury, and he was in a sling after the game. Ohio State coach Ryan Day revealed the team is preparing to be without him for the rest of the regular season. Day added that there is a plan in place for the Buckeyes to be without him in the postseason as well.
Luke Fahey is next up for Ohio State and Josh Pate isn’t buying in
Even with Sayin out, the Buckeyes still have goals to meet, and that means next man up. Freshman quarterback Luke Fahey is expected to step in after beating out former 5-star recruit Tavien St. Clair for the backup job. Fahey has made multiple appearances in mop-up duty this fall. When he was forced into action against Indiana, he attempted just two passes and didn’t complete either.
With Sayin likely done for the season, college football analyst Josh Pate doesn’t have a good outlook for Ohio State the rest of the way. Pate recently appeared on the Rich Eisen Show and shared his thoughts on the Buckeyes.
“I think they’ll lose at least three games, and I think they’ll miss the playoff. I don’t think they’ll be in the postseason. I think they’ll be a 9-3 team, really good defense, and if they make it, it’ll be because of defense … I keep going back to this, Julian Sayin before he got hurt was not performing phenomenally. You watched that Indiana game like I did. Neither of those quarterbacks were really dealing. Now they’re facing two really good defenses, but you know Trinidad Chambliss is going to face a good defense this weekend. I guarantee you, he still has really good numbers.
“So, I power rate them the number one team in the country with Julian Sayin so, like, it sounds like I’m talking out of both sides of my mouth. But I’m just watching him and thinking, man, they’re gonna have to walk a tightrope. Then he goes down, and you just assume. I guarantee a lot of Ohio State fans assume. Alright, here comes Tavien St. Clair. Wait a second, the Fahey kid’s in. What’s the deal with this? And so that’s this whole side conversation of why is Tavien St. Clair not ready to play for Ohio State? He’s another one of those former five star guys.”
It’s a bold take from Pate, who believes Ohio State is going to lose two more games. While that’s very possible, Pate contradicted himself along the way. He said Sayin hasn’t been good this year, yet he also believes losing him will force the Buckeyes to drop multiple games. If Sayin wasn’t playing well and wasn’t a big factor, you would think Ohio State should be able to replace him, at least going by Pate’s own words.
Pate also missed the mark on the backup situation. St. Clair hasn’t been Ohio State’s backup at any point this season. It was made clear in the opener against Ball State that Fahey held that role. So St. Clair not coming in for Sayin didn’t surprise Buckeye Nation at all, because that’s how it had been all season. That part of the take shows Pate is out of touch with what’s going on with this team in certain areas.
Ohio State’s remaining schedule is far from easy
Still, the schedule the Buckeyes have left leaves room for more losses. Ohio State goes on the road to face USC before returning home against Oregon the following week. The Ducks could have quarterback Dante Moore back for that game, and we’ll have to see on that. From there, the Buckeyes play a decent Northwestern team, a solid Nebraska team, and then the regular-season finale against Michigan.
Ohio State can afford to drop one more game, but it can’t drop multiple. Fahey will have plenty of chances to prove the doubters wrong over that stretch. Time will tell whether Pate’s prediction ends up being true, or if the Buckeyes still find a way into the College Football Playoff.
