COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State coach Ryan Day and his players spent the preseason saying the opener against top-ranked Texas wouldn't be about defending last year's national championship but about establishing the identity of this year's team.
Julian Sayin and the defense took a big first step toward accomplishing that.
In his first collegiate start, Sayin gave Ohio State a two-score advantage early in the fourth quarter with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Carnell Tate. Add in the defense containing the much-hyped Arch Manning, along with two pivotal stops in the red zone and it resulted in the third-ranked Buckeyes defeating the Longhorns 14-7.
It was the fourth time the No. 1 team in the AP preseason poll has met the previous season’s national champion in the opener. The defending champ has won the last three.
“When you start a season, you want to set the tone," Day said. “There’s a lot of guys who are stepping into roles for the first time ever. And for these guys to step in and really have great energy about them, I thought they were poised. I thought the moment was not too big for them.”
Sayin completed 13 of 20 passes for 126 yards as the Buckeyes improved to 4-3 all-time against a visiting top-ranked team. Coach Ryan Day admitted the game plan was a bit conservative, but with a first-time starter he wanted to put his signal caller in the best possible position.
“I thought he handled himself well. He took care of the ball and made some throws when he needed to. A couple times when it wasn’t there, he didn’t force it,” Day said. “We talked about it this week. In Week 1, we can’t beat ourselves. We wanted to make them beat us.”
Sayin’s best pass of the day came with 13:08 remaining in the game, when Tate beat Texas cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau for the Buckeyes' longest completion of the day. Tate juggled the ball before pulling it down in the end zone to put them up by two touchdowns.
“Before the drive, they kind of let me know, ‘Hey, this might be coming.’ But we had done a great job in practice that week of repping that play," Sayin said. "Carnell ran a great route and made a great catch and the offensive line protected me well up front.”
The defense under first-year coordinator Matt Patricia made Manning a non-factor for three quarters. Manning completed 17 of 30 passes for 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception, but most of those yards came in the fourth quarter.
“I thought they tried to do everything we asked them to do. They were in some tough spots. It’s a really good Texas team,” Patricia said of his unit. “Arch is a great quarterback. I’m proud of our guys for stepping up to that challenge and all the way across the board, from the front end to the back end. I think those guys just did a tremendous job with the adjustments.”
Texas' downfall was going 1 of 5 on fourth down, including being stopped twice inside the Ohio State 10. Manning was stuffed at the 1-yard line on fourth-and-goal by Caden Curry and Lorenzo Styles Jr. on a QB sneak in the third quarter.
The other red-zone stop came midway through the fourth quarter when Ohio State's Davison Igbinosun broke up a pass intended for Parker Livingstone.
“Granted the receivers are really good, but they’ve got an excellent secondary, and they’ve got a good scheme, and they’ve got a very smart secondary so they made Arch work," Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
CJ Donaldson Jr. opened the scoring midway through the second quarter on a 1-yard run up the middle to cap a 13-play, 87-yard drive that took eight minutes off the clock. The Buckeyes benefitted from a pair of penalties, including a face mask call on Colin Simmons that wiped out an incomplete pass on third-and-4.
Texas finally got points with 3:28 remaining in the fourth quarter when Manning connected with Livingstone on a 32-yard touchdown.
The Longhorns defense forced a three-and-out, giving Texas a chance to tie.
The Longhorns took over on the 15, but Jack Endries was stopped by Caleb Downs 1 yard short of a first down at the Buckeyes 47 to end hopes of a comeback.
“Ultimately, not good enough. Obviously you don’t want to start off the season 0-1,” Manning said. “They’re a good team. I thought we beat ourselves a lot, and that starts with me. I’ve got to play better for us to win.”
Texas: The Longhorns had their 11-game winning streak in true road games snapped. The run included five victories against ranked opponents.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes should take over the top spot in the AP poll.
Texas: Hosts San Jose State on Sept. 6.
Ohio State: Hosts Grambling State on Sept. 6.
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