This has to be Julian Sayin’s moment. The Ohio State Buckeyes travel to Bloomington, Indiana, to take on the Indiana Hoosiers in one of the biggest college football games of the season, and the Ohio State quarterback has never had a better chance to prove what he is. This is a heavyweight fight between two programs I fully expect to see again down the road.

You could spend all day on the angles in Ohio State vs. Indiana. I’m going to focus on the quarterbacks, as basic as that sounds. I don’t believe either offense will run the football effectively, so this game falls on Sayin and Josh Hoover and how each of them handles pressure. I don’t expect a ton of points. I expect it to be competitive from start to finish.

Pressure is the whole story for Julian Sayin

Look at the worst moments of Sayin’s career and they share one thing. He was pressured, and he got sacked. He doesn’t have the athleticism to escape the pocket, so when the protection breaks down, the play is usually over.

That’s why the Ohio State offensive line is the swing factor in this game. If Sayin gets a clean pocket, he can pick a defense apart. If he doesn’t, things get ugly in a hurry.

Hoover is a different animal. Credit to him, because he can extend plays and he has more athletic gifts than Sayin. The bigger surprise is how well he has protected the football. He has not turned it over a ton, which is the opposite of what we saw from him at TCU.

Does that hold up against this Ohio State defense? If Hoover gives the ball away even once, it might be the play that decides the night. Saying Sayin can avoid the pressure against this Indiana front.

Why I’m picking Ohio State on the road looking beyond Julian Sayin

I’m taking the Buckeyes to win in Bloomington. There is every opportunity for Indiana to win this game. The Hoosiers still have Nick Marsh. They still have Charlie Becker. They’re an incredibly talented team with a really good football coach, and I’m not pretending otherwise.

But I saw what Ohio State did against Texas. And yes, the Buckeyes lost that game. They choked it. Because of the way they choked, though, I think it pushes this team in the right direction. Indiana has gotten off to slow start after slow start, and if Ohio State jumps out early, I expect a more aggressive group that won’t let the Hoosiers climb back in. Need I remind you how quickly a lead can disappear when a team gets conservative? Ohio State learned that lesson the hard way.

Then there’s Indiana’s secondary, which I simply don’t believe in. Look at how Texas slowed down Jeremiah Smith in the second half. The Longhorns ran man coverage and tried to stop him that way, because you can’t sit in zone and you can’t really scheme around a player like that. So you play man and pray. I don’t think Indiana has the horses to do that against Smith.

And you may say, Tegan, you’ve been one of Sayin’s biggest doubters, so why trust him in a hostile road environment? Fair question. Unless we get an absolute disaster class from Sayin, I don’t see the Hoosiers pulling it off. And if that disaster does happen, I will tell you I was right. He is not an NFL quarterback, and he should not be drafted with a first-round pick. That’s the only path I see for Indiana to win this game.

I know fading Curt Cignetti is a dangerous business. He has made plenty of people look foolish. Even so, I think this one is low-scoring, I think the first team to 20 points wins, and I believe Ohio State is the better team with more talent to get the job done. Buckeyes on the road. That’s my pick.