The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Week 5 Preview: Happy Valley Hosts a September Playoff Test as Oregon Visits Penn State

Marissa Bleday
September 25, 2025


There are weeks that feel like they’re still taking attendance, and there are weeks that start handing out grades. Week 5 is the latter, the first real stretch of the season where undefeated records stop being a novelty and start being a responsibility.

College GameDay is heading to Happy Valley for the biggest stage of the weekend, where No. 6 Oregon visits No. 2 Penn State in a game that already carries the weight of a playoff résumé line. Penn State has spent September building a case with defense, not just “good,” not just “disciplined,” but the kind of defense that makes opponents feel behind schedule before the ball is even snapped. Oregon has built its case with rhythm, spacing and a quarterback who looks like he’s playing in fast-forward without ever looking rushed. It’s control versus chaos, speed versus pressure, and a whiteout atmosphere that turns routine moments into tests.

“This is exactly what you want,” Penn State coach James Franklin said earlier this week. “A top opponent, a packed stadium, and a chance to measure yourself against the best.”

Oregon coach Dan Lanning didn’t shy away from the setting either. “You embrace these games,” he said. “If you want to be the team at the end, you have to be able to walk into places like that and play your ball.”

The fascination here isn’t just the ranking next to each name, it’s the question of which identity holds when the environment starts pushing back. Penn State’s defense has been the story of the season’s first month, a weekly avalanche of pressure and tight windows. Oregon, on the other hand, has felt like a design masterpiece: clean reads, quick triggers, big plays that look like they were drawn up in permanent marker. The Ducks have been efficient in a way that can travel anywhere, but Happy Valley is the sort of place that forces you to earn every first down twice, once with your execution, and once with your composure.

Franklin has heard every version of the “big game” narrative, and he addressed it this week without flinching.

“You don’t change narratives by talking about them,” he said. “You change them by winning games like this.”

If the weekend has a second headline, it’s in Athens, where No. 14 Alabama visits No. 3 Georgia in a matchup that feels like a referendum on the early season for both programs, and a pressure point for one of them. Alabama’s year opened with a jolt that still lingers, a reminder that the standard doesn’t pause just because the name on the office door changes. The Tide steadied themselves last time out, but this is different. This is Georgia after a bye, Georgia at home, Georgia with a defense that can turn the line of scrimmage into a no-fly zone and an offense that, when it’s sharp, can bury you in five minutes.

“We know what the standard is,” Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said this week. “We also know we’re still building the version of ourselves that can handle games like this.”

Kirby Smart framed it from the other side: urgency disguised as confidence. Georgia isn’t searching for itself the way some teams are in September; the Bulldogs are tuning the parts. Smart pointed to the details, the moments that don’t trend on social media but decide games between heavyweights.

“You can’t waste opportunities against elite teams,” he said. In other words: you get a short field, you finish. You win a down, you win the drive. You get a chance to break a team’s spirit, you do it.

Then there’s Oxford, where No. 4 LSU visits No. 11 Ole Miss in what might be the weekend’s most volatile game, not because LSU has shown cracks, but because Ole Miss has the kind of offensive structure that can turn one mistake into two touchdowns. Lane Kiffin has built a program that plays with a blade tucked behind its back, and there’s always an edge to the way Ole Miss wins, or loses.

The week’s storyline, though, isn’t just scheme. It’s uncertainty under center where the Rebels are starting Ferris State transfer Trinidad Chambliss at Quarterback in place of the injured Austin Simmons. Ole Miss’ quarterback situation is the kind of thing that can change an entire game plan on a Thursday, and Kiffin acknowledged that reality without giving anything away.

“Next man up is a real thing,” he said, “but you don’t replace your quarterback with a slogan.”

LSU arrives looking like the most stable contender in the country: veteran quarterback, veteran confidence, and an offense that doesn’t feel like it needs luck to score. Brian Kelly put it plainly at his press conference earlier this week.

“He’s playing like he’s seeing the field in high definition,” Kelly said of Garrett Nussmeier. LSU has already proven it can win away from home, which is why this one reads like a challenge rather than a fear. Ole Miss, meanwhile, has already shown it can wobble, and also that it can punch.

The Big Ten’s other ranked spotlight comes in Champaign, where No. 23 USC travels to No. 16 Illinois in a game that will say a lot about what “real” looks like for both. Illinois is coming off a bruising loss to Indiana that didn’t just sting, it demanded a response.

Bret Bielema called it a “response week,” and his program is built on the idea that getting hit is inevitable, but staying down is a choice.

USC, on the other hand, is still introducing itself to this league. Lincoln Riley’s teams have always played with a certain offensive confidence; the question is how that confidence holds when the weather changes, the stadium gets colder, and the opponent makes every yard feel like it was stolen.

“Our job is to play our style, anywhere,” Riley said.

Beyond the marquee games, Week 5 is stacked with the kinds of matchups that become important later, the ones you don’t fully appreciate until November when tiebreakers and rankings start getting weird. No. 1 Ohio State goes to Washington for a true road test after three straight weeks of asserting itself. No. 22 Tennessee faces an unbeaten Mississippi State team that seems to enjoy making games uncomfortable. (3-1) Auburn gets a measuring stick trip to No. 8 Texas A&M. No. 25 TCU and No. 20 Arizona State gives the Big 12 a ranked-on-ranked check-in. No. 21 Notre Dame heads to Arkansas needing to stabilize before the season becomes something darker.

Week 5 isn’t the loudest slate of the year. It might be better than that. It’s a slate that forces truth.

Happy Valley will test poise. Athens will test resilience. Oxford will test nerve.

And by the time Saturday night fades, somebody’s September is going to feel a lot heavier.




[toysoldier00]

Game Preview: Ohio State’s First Road Trip Puts Sayin Under the Lights
By Zachary Anderson on September 26, 2025





Ohio State has spent September doing what a preseason top three team should do: win, control, move on. The Buckeyes beat Texas 31–13, then handled Grambling State and Ohio 46–6 and 40–10, and they used last week’s bye to reset before the first trip that feels like a measuring stick. Saturday at 7 p.m. on NBC, Ohio State heads to Husky Stadium as a 7.5-point favorite with questions you only get answered away from home.

The biggest one is obvious: Julian Sayin’s first road start. Ohio State has asked the redshirt freshman to be efficient and poised, and he’s delivered steady football through three games. Now he gets the full college experience, a late kickoff, a loud stadium, silent counts and a Washington defense that has spent two weeks building ways to make his night uncomfortable.

“You don’t get to simulate it,” Ryan Day said this week. “The noise, the communication, the emotional swings, you have to handle it in real time. Julian has been very even-keeled, but we’ve got to play clean football.”

Washington is 3–0 and coming off its own bye, giving Jedd Fisch’s staff time to craft a plan for the sport’s top-ranked team. Fisch didn’t hide from the moment. “It’s why you coach and why you play,” he said. “You want games like this. We’re approaching it like a chance to win.”

If Washington is going to do that, it starts with its quarterback. Sophomore Demond Williams Jr. [Pictured Right] is the type of dual threat who can make a defense look right for nine plays and wrong on the 10th. Ohio State has been brutal against the run and relentless rushing the passer, but mobile quarterbacks create the one scenario that can slow down a rush: when the rushers have to think. Williams’ ability to extend plays is Washington’s best path to the explosive moments that keep an underdog alive.

Ohio State’s counter is a defense built to erase comfort. Caleb Downs is the star everyone circles, but the early-season story has been the way new starters have played like veterans. Arvell Reese has been everywhere at linebacker, and Caden Curry has turned pressure into points of emphasis for opposing protections. The key in Seattle is discipline, tackling in space and refusing to let scrambles turn into back-breaking chunk plays.

Offensively, the chess match is whether Washington can force Sayin into obvious passing situations. The Huskies have corners with size and confidence in Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock, and the goal is simple: make Jeremiah Smith work for everything. Nobody truly “stops” Smith, but if Washington can keep Ohio State from living on quick, easy completions, the crowd becomes a factor and the margin tightens.

That’s why Ohio State’s run game matters. James Peoples has been the steadier of the backs, CJ Donaldson remains the finisher, and Bo Jackson has forced his way into the rotation with juice that shows up on the first cut. Ohio State doesn’t need to reinvent itself on the road; it needs to travel as itself, stay on schedule, lean on the run when it’s there, and hit shots when Washington overcommits.

Day framed it plainly. “We have to be who we are, wherever we are,” he said. “Protect the football, win the line of scrimmage, and play with great effort for four quarters.”

For Washington, the upset formula is familiar: win a handful of high-leverage downs, steal a possession with a takeaway, and cash in in the red zone. For Ohio State, the formula is just as clear: keep the operation clean, prevent Williams from creating chaos, and let depth do what depth usually does late.

Seattle is the first place Ohio State has to prove it can look the same away from Ohio Stadium. If Sayin stays calm and the Buckeyes avoid self-inflicted mistakes, they should leave the Pacific Northwest with a win, and with the kind of confidence that only comes from surviving your first real road night.

[Captain Canada]

An undefeated Washington is going to give the kid one hell of a first road trip test.

This team is too talented, should still be smooth sailings regardless of inexperience.

[Caesar]

Good game to start on the road. Get the win, give the team some confidence and put some gloss on the resume (not that it's needed) with a win over an undefeated opponent in their own house.

[redsox907]

big test coming up

Washington always looks tough on paper, but I got faith Sayin can keep the team level and rolling

[djp73]

hope he will be Sayin' "damn" after the loss

[ShireNiner]

Tough place to play but I think you have enough talent to overcome the crowd noise and get it done.

[toysoldier00]

An undefeated Washington is going to give the kid one hell of a first road trip test.

This team is too talented, should still be smooth sailings regardless of inexperience.

luckily the defense carries

Good game to start on the road. Get the win, give the team some confidence and put some gloss on the resume (not that it's needed) with a win over an undefeated opponent in their own house.

I do like gloss though

big test coming up

Washington always looks tough on paper, but I got faith Sayin can keep the team level and rolling

I think it's always just about making sure the QB doesn't kill you on scrambles

hope he will be Sayin' "damn" after the loss

no thank you

Tough place to play but I think you have enough talent to overcome the crowd noise and get it done.

yes.

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State 37, Washington 16: Caleb Downs’ Two-Minute Takeover Breaks Washington as Buckeyes Win in Seattle
By Zachary Anderson on September 27, 2025


Caleb Downs forced two first quarter fumbles, recovering one and returning it for a touchdown.



For 12 minutes, it looked like the kind of Big Ten road opener that turns into a long night. Ohio State’s first trip away from Ohio Stadium brought the expected early jitter: a few conservative calls, a couple of stalled series, and a Washington crowd waiting for one spark to make Husky Stadium feel even tighter. Then Caleb Downs happened. Downs didn’t just swing the game, he snapped it in half.

In a span of 2:11 late in the first quarter, the All-American safety authored the kind of sequence that only a handful of defenders in college football can even imagine. He blitzed and strip-sacked Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. to set up a short-field touchdown. One play after the ensuing kickoff, he forced another fumble himself, scooped it up and ran it in for six. Ohio State scored 17 points in that blur of violence and precision, and while Washington kept fighting, it never truly recovered. The Buckeyes left Seattle with a 37–16 win that wasn’t flashy on the offensive stat sheet, but was decisive where it mattered: turnovers, field position and the kind of defensive playmaking that travels anywhere.

“This is what great players do,” Ryan Day said afterward. “They change the game. Caleb was around the football all night, and those two plays, that’s the difference in a tough environment.”


Both teams came out physical, and chippy, as the game looked even over the first few series.

The Buckeyes didn’t start fast. Washington opened with purpose, spreading the field with quick throws and giving Williams defined reads, while Ohio State tested protections and tried to settle Julian Sayin into his first real road atmosphere. Both defenses won early, and the first quarter had the feel of a game that might hinge on which offense blinked first.

Ohio State finally found its rhythm midway through the opening quarter, and it was Sayin’s legs that rescued a drive that otherwise looked stuck. Facing third-and-3 from the Washington 44, Sayin stepped up and took off for an 18-yard scramble, sliding down with the kind of composure that told you he understood the situation: take the free yards, keep the drive alive, calm the moment. Three plays later, Jayden Fielding drilled a 40-yard field goal to give the Buckeyes a 3–0 lead and a small exhale.

The exhale lasted about a minute.

On Washington’s next possession, the Huskies faced a third-and-3 and were looking to answer. That’s where Downs detonated the night. Ohio State dialed up pressure, Downs timed it perfectly, and he hit Williams as he tried to set his feet. The ball came loose, Kenyatta Jackson Jr. recovered at the Washington 8, and Ohio State’s offense suddenly had the shortest kind of field, the kind contenders turn into touchdowns.

They did it in one play. Sayin pulled the defense with his eyes and fired to tight end Max Klare for an 8-yard score, a clean, simple punch that made it 10–0 and turned the stadium’s buzz into unease.

Then came the play that made the rest of the night feel inevitable.

After the kickoff, Washington tried to settle itself with a quick throw to tight end Decker DeGraaf in the flat, a safe first-down call designed to get Williams back into rhythm. Downs read it immediately, launched like he was shot out of a cannon, and delivered a hit that popped the ball free. Downs didn’t just force the fumble, he picked it up himself and sprinted into the end zone. The Buckeyes had scored 17 points in 2:11, and what had looked like an even game suddenly felt like Ohio State had found the cheat code.

“It’s a momentum sport,” Washington head coach Jedd Fisch said. “And when you give a team like that points, when you put the defense on the field in bad spots and then you turn it over again, you’re climbing uphill the rest of the night.”

Washington, to its credit, kept climbing. The Huskies stabilized enough to get on the board with a 36-yard Grady Gross field goal, and for a moment it looked like they might at least keep the game from running away. But Ohio State answered with the kind of drive that good teams use to punish teams that finally get a breath: efficient, controlled and built around the players who can flip a field without needing a perfect play call.


Brandon Inniss's second quarter touchdown helped Ohio State keep their foot on the neck.

Brandon Inniss was the key. On third-and-8, he ran a wheel route and hauled in a 27-yard catch to move the ball to the Washington 27. Two plays later, Ohio State threw a screen, Inniss got behind his blocks and turned it into a 30-yard touchdown. The Buckeyes led 24–3, and for Washington, the margin began to feel like it required perfection.

The Huskies found their best stretch late in the second quarter, and it came the way Fisch likely envisioned it: Williams leaning into the pass game, tempo increasing, and Ohio State’s defense having to cover for longer and longer stretches. Williams completed 11 straight pass attempts on a 12-play drive that ended with a 12-yard touchdown to Omari Evans Jr. with 30 seconds left in the half. It was the calmest the Huskies looked all night, and Husky Stadium woke up.

Then Sayin gave Washington a gift. On the first play after the touchdown, he threw an interception to Dylan Robinson, setting up Gross for a 31-yard field goal as time expired. Suddenly it was 24–13 at halftime, and Washington was getting the ball to start the third quarter. For the first time since Downs’ early fireworks, the game felt like it had a pulse again.

“We had life going into the locker room,” Fisch said. “That’s a really good football team, but we told our guys: if we string good drives together, we can make it interesting.”

It didn’t become interesting, because Ohio State’s defense slammed the door and the offense did just enough to lock it.

Washington opened the second half hoping for a quick strike, but Ohio State’s pass rush and coverage discipline kept forcing Williams to check down and snap the ball again and again. Ohio State didn’t need a shootout. It needed one drive that ended in points and chewed up belief.


A 43-yard run by James Peoples in the third quarter, followed by a touchdown, helped seal the game for the Buckeyes.

That drive came midway through the third quarter, and it was powered by the one Buckeye who provided the most consistent balance all night: James Peoples. Peoples ripped off a 43-yard run that flipped the field, then finished the job two plays later with a 2-yard touchdown to make it 31–13 with 6:43 left in the third. The Buckeyes weren’t explosive overall, they finished with just 267 yards, but they were decisive when the game asked for it.

From there, the story became Ohio State’s defense controlling the shape of the game. Williams piled up passing yards, 36-of-57 for 295 and a touchdown, but Ohio State kept him in the pocket and made every possession feel like a 12-play exam. The Buckeyes sacked him four times, and the negative rushing total (-28) captured the plan perfectly: contain first, punish second. Washington’s run game never found oxygen; Jonah Coleman finished with 47 yards on 15 carries, and the Huskies had to live in the air.

In that passing game, DeGraaf became Washington’s most reliable chain-mover, catching 10 passes for 107 yards. Rashid Williams added 67 yards on eight catches, and Evans had six grabs for 39 and the touchdown. Star receiver Denzel Boston was held mostly in check, finishing with 51 yards on six receptions, a quiet stat line for a player Ohio State respected enough to tilt coverage toward.

The Buckeyes were hardly perfect on offense. Sayin finished 19-of-27 for 181 yards, two touchdowns and the interception, adding 21 rushing yards. He didn’t have to win the game with volume; Ohio State’s defense won it with violence, and the special teams and field position did the rest. Jeremiah Smith, dealing with elite corner Tacario Davis, caught seven passes but for just 39 yards, a reminder that even the best receiver in the sport can be limited when the coverage is committed. Still, Smith’s catches mattered in the hidden ways: keeping drives alive, preventing negative plays, making sure Ohio State never gave Washington the sudden stop that could turn into a wave.

Inniss was Ohio State’s offensive spark, turning three catches into 60 yards and a touchdown. Klare, again, made his presence felt with two catches, 22 yards and a score. And Peoples carried the ground game, finishing with 12 carries for 69 yards and the touchdown, plus two catches for 15.

Ohio State didn’t dominate time of possession, Washington actually had the ball longer by nearly five minutes, and it wasn’t a third-down clinic, either. The Buckeyes went 4-for-12, Washington 4-for-18, and the Huskies were forced into six fourth-down tries, converting three. But the entire box score bends around one simple truth: Washington needed the game to be clean. It wasn’t. Ohio State forced the kind of mistakes that end chances.

The defensive stars looked like stars. Arvell Reese led the Buckeyes with 13 tackles. Sonny Styles was active and physical. Jason Moore and Tywone Malone Jr. added sacks, and Jackson helped set the tone early with his fumble recovery. But the night belonged to Downs, whose stat line read like something pulled from a video game: seven tackles, a sack, two pass deflections, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a touchdown.


Ohio State sacked Demond Williams Jr. four times on the afternoon.

Day didn’t shy from the obvious afterward. “When you have a guy like that back there, it changes what you can call,” he said. “It changes what offenses feel. Caleb plays with instincts and with effort, and when those two things meet, you get plays like tonight.”

Washington, meanwhile, left with the frustrating kind of loss that includes long stretches of “pretty even” football but also one stretch that breaks you. Fisch’s team ran 80 plays, produced 321 yards, and kept swinging well into the fourth quarter. It even got within two possessions after Gross hit a 23-yard field goal to make it 31–16 with 11:24 left. But Ohio State answered with two Jayden Fielding field goals, a 48-yarder with 8:03 remaining and a 32-yarder with 4:40, to make the final 37–16 and remove any lingering suspense.

“We have to learn from it,” Fisch said. “The effort was there. The response was there. But against Ohio State, you don’t get to have a stretch where you hand them points. You just don’t.”

For Ohio State fans, the takeaway is both encouraging and instructive. The Buckeyes won a road game in a hostile environment without needing the offense to put on a show. Sayin made enough plays, including the scramble that set up points and the throws that capitalized on short fields. The run game found just enough bite when it mattered. And the defense, led by a safety playing at an All-America, potential-best-in-the-country level, reminded everyone that Ohio State’s championship formula still begins with the ability to break games open with defense.

The Buckeyes didn’t have their cleanest offensive night. They didn’t win because of gaudy totals. They won because they had the best player on the field, and because that player decided, for two minutes and eleven seconds, that the game was over.

Qtr	Time	Team	Result	Play	OHST	WASH
1st	4:20		FG	Jayden Fielding, 40 Yd FG	3	0
1st	2:31		TD	Max Klare, 8 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	10	0
1st	2:11		TD	Caleb Downs, 17 Yd Fumble Recovery	17	0
2nd	9:44		FG	Grady Gross, 36 Yd FG	17	3
2nd	4:58		TD	Brandon Inniss, 30 Yd Pass from Julian Sayin	24	3
2nd	0:25		TD	Omari Evans, 12 Yd pass from Demond Williams Jr.	24	10
2nd	0:00		FG	Grady Gross, 31 Yd FG	24	13
3rd	6:43		TD	James Peoples 2 Yd run	31	13
4th	11:24		FG	Grady Gross, 23 Yd FG	31	16
4th	8:03		FG	Jayden Fielding, 48 Yd FG	34	16
4th	4:40		FG	Jayden Fielding, 32 Yd FG	37	16

[redsox907]

Caleb Downs

even with their rally at the half, great game all around