A week after Ohio State opened its season with a 56-3 win over Ball State and Texas opened its year with a 59-7 victory over Texas State, the two top teams now match up against each other.
This is the third time in as many years that the Buckeyes and Longhorns face off in a big-time matchup, ranked as the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the country, respectively.
However, since the Buckeyes haven’t yet played against top competition this season, there are still some questions that need to be answered, and there is a good chance for them to answer those in this matchup.
Can the offensive line withstand the pressure?
It’s well known by this point the experience that the Buckeyes have on the offensive line with four returning starters. But one of the questions over the offseason was whether the program should have gone into the portal to add to the line instead of relying on a group that was a relative weakness in its two postseason defeats last year against Indiana and Miami, giving up 10 sacks total in those games.
There was a lot of praise coming out of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center over the offseason and in fall camp for how the offensive line was performing, but now they are back in a big game and its time to prove all that work paid off.
Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons has been a force to be reckoned with each of his first two years at the college level, and he’s coming into this game with two losses to the Buckeyes and likely wants to make sure he doesn’t face a clean sweep. He is going to be pulling out all the stops to try to get into the Buckeye backfield.
In the first game of the season against Ball State, Ohio State’s offensive line didn’t look as dominant as it probably should have against MAC competition. Phillip Daniels seemed to struggle keeping pressure away from Sayin, who was sacked twice in the game. The Buckeyes were tackled for loss six total times against the Cardinals, and the Longhorns are going to be bringing much better talent to try to force pressure.
This is a “prove-it” game for the offensive line if there ever was one.
Can Ohio State get its own pressure on Arch Manning?
Another question this offseason for the Buckeyes was about its own edge rushers and whether they would be able to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks and come away with tackles for loss and sacks.
Kenyatta Jackson Jr. came out of the 56-3 win over the Cardinals with eight pressures but wasn’t able to get home for a sack in the game. The fact that he was able to get into the backfield so often was certainly an encouraging sign, but now its time to do that against a team that can compete alongside OSU for the national championship.’
Arch Manning is a good enough quarterback that if he gets time in the pocket, he’s going to be able to go through his reads and find an open man. He’s also able to put his head down and run for a first down if needed.
So the Buckeyes are going to need to do what they can to get pressure on Manning and try to force the ball out of his hands quickly or even bring him to the ground.
Is this the game that Jeremiah Smith breaks out against Texas?
Two times Jeremiah Smith has matched up with Texas in his college career, and two times he has been kept in check.
In the Cotton Bowl of the 2024 postseason, Smith had just one catch for 3 yards. He was much better in the 2025 season opener with six catches, but those went for just 43 yards (7.2 average) and he was kept out of the end zone again.
Part of last season’s performance likely was the fact that quarterback Julian Sayin was making his first collegiate start and the Buckeyes offense was relatively conservative because of it, which Ryan Day himself admitted after the game.
Now Sayin could be fully unleashed with Smith seemingly aided by the fact that the Buckeyes have multiple other pass catchers who have the ability to get open. Devin McCuin, if he looks as good as he did in Week 1, could possibly take a little attention off Smith, allowing Smith the chance to make something happen.
