The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State 53, Minnesota 22: Early Haymakers Set the Tone, But Minnesota’s Punches Made the Buckeyes Prove It
By Zachary Anderson on October 4, 2025


Julian Sayin had a career day, throwing for five touchdown passes against Minnesota.



Ohio State has spent the first month of the season looking like a team that can win in whatever way the night demands, a defensive avalanche one week, a road-game composure test the next. Saturday against Minnesota, it was both. The Buckeyes landed first, landed hard and, for a moment, looked ready to turn another opponent into a second-half scrimmage. Then the Golden Gophers steadied themselves, found a rhythm and forced Ohio State to respond like a top team is supposed to respond. The result was a 53-22 win that will read like a blowout in the box score, even though the tension in the middle of the game told a more complicated story.

The opening sequence felt familiar for anyone who watched Ohio State at Washington a week ago: pressure, disruption, sudden points. On Minnesota’s first snap, Caden Curry burst into the backfield to drop quarterback Drake Lindsey for a sack, setting an immediate tone that the afternoon would not be comfortable. Two plays later, Arvell Reese arrived with even more violence, stripping Lindsey and leaving the ball on the turf for defensive tackle Jason Moore to recover at the Ohio State 28. Four plays after that, Julian Sayin turned the short field into seven points, feathering a 14-yard touchdown to Jeremiah Smith to put Ohio State up 7-0.

“That’s how we want to start games,” Ryan Day said afterward. “Play with great urgency, create negative plays on defense, and when you get opportunities, you’ve got to cash them in.”

The defense forced another punt. The offense went back to work. And when Sayin found Smith again, this time on a 5-yard touchdown, the Buckeyes were up 14-0 and Ohio Stadium was already in that early-season comfort zone where the only question is how quickly the backups will be warming up on the sideline.


Jeremiah Smith only had four receptions in this game, but he pulled two of them in for touchdowns.

Minnesota refused to let the afternoon become that kind of story. Lindsey, a redshirt freshman in his first year as a starter, took the lumps from Ohio State’s front and then started ripping throws into windows like he’d been in those moments before. The Gophers’ first real answer came with 12:25 left in the second quarter, when Lindsey hit Malachi Coleman for a touchdown that injected life into a Minnesota sideline that had been wobbling. After the Gophers’ defense forced a punt, Lindsey came right back and drove them again, finishing the march with a 26-yard touchdown strike to Le’Meke Brockington.

Then P.J. Fleck made the decision that told you Minnesota didn’t come to Columbus just to keep it respectable. The Gophers went for two, Lindsey found Javon Tracy, and suddenly Ohio State, after opening the game with two sacks and a forced fumble, was trailing 15-14 with 9:35 left in the half.

“That’s the kind of mentality we have to play with,” Fleck said. “You come into a place like this, you have to take your chances when they’re there. We weren’t going to win playing scared.”

Ohio State’s response mattered, and it came in the form of the offense settling the game back into its hands. Sayin hit Carnell Tate for a 43-yard reception that flipped the field and flipped the feeling in the stadium, and a few snaps later James Peoples powered in from 14 yards out to give the Buckeyes a 21-15 lead. Ohio State added a field goal on the next possession for a 24-15 edge with 2:59 left.


Drake Lindsey and the Minnesota offense may have exposed something on Ohio State's pass defense.

That should have been enough to take the air out of Minnesota. It wasn’t. Lindsey kept throwing, kept finding answers, and with 21 seconds left in the half he found Logan Loya for a 12-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to two, 24-22 at the break. Minnesota had outlasted Ohio State’s initial burst and, for a half, made the Buckeyes work for every inch.

At halftime, Matt Patricia and Ohio State’s defensive staff made the adjustments that top defenses have to make in a 12-game season: fewer easy outlets, tighter spacing, more discipline in coverage, better answers for the slot mismatches Minnesota was creating. The Buckeyes didn’t completely shut Minnesota down immediately, Lindsey still moved the ball, but the explosive rhythm that had carried the Gophers through the second quarter started to dry up.

Ohio State, meanwhile, found its own separator late in the third quarter. Facing a clutch third-and-13, Sayin delivered one of his most confident throws of the day, finding Mylan Graham for a 22-yard touchdown with 4:05 left in the quarter. It wasn’t just points, it was a reminder that Ohio State can hurt you even when you think you’ve forced them into the kind of down-and-distance that favors a defense.

From there, the Buckeyes’ big-play defense returned to finish what it started. On a third-and-7 scramble attempt, Lindsey lowered his shoulder toward the sticks, but Caleb Downs closed from the front and Tywone Malone Jr. arrived from behind. The collision jarred the ball loose, and C.J. Hicks recovered at the Minnesota 16. Early in the fourth quarter, Ohio State turned that takeaway into a Sayin touchdown to Brandon Inniss on a 4-yard crossing route. The Buckeyes went for two, Peoples converted, and Ohio State’s lead swelled to 39-22.


Ohio State's offense created a number of havoc plays, including a third quarter fumble that helped turn the momentum.

That’s the moment the game broke open. Lindsey, forced to press, threw an interception on third-and-9 that Jermaine Mathews Jr. returned to the Minnesota 10. On the very next play, Sayin threw his fifth touchdown, a 10-yarder to Graham, to push the game from “comfortably ahead” to “over.” Lindsey tossed another interception, this one to Jaylen McClain, and Ohio State eventually marched to a 2-yard Bo Jackson touchdown that made it 53-22 before the Buckeyes shut the door completely.

Sayin’s final line reflected a quarterback who is growing into Ohio State’s offense each week: 24-of-33 for 269 yards and five touchdowns, plus 12 rushing yards. Peoples carried the ground game with 16 carries for 70 yards and a touchdown. Tate was the volume receiver, piling up 107 yards on eight catches, while Smith (four catches, 57 yards, two touchdowns) remained the red-zone problem defenses can’t solve. Graham made the most of his touches with two touchdowns, and Inniss added another score to a season that keeps finding him in big moments. Jayden Fielding’s 54-yard field goal was another quiet stamp of reliability from a kicker Ohio State trusts.

Defensively, Ohio State’s pressure was constant. The Buckeyes finished with six sacks, two credited to Curry and Hicks, with Reese and Malik Hartford also getting home, and they created four turnovers. Reese was everywhere, finishing with 11 tackles (10 solo), three tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup in a performance that continues to make him one of the early-season standouts on the roster. Payton Pierce, stepping into a larger role with Sonny Styles sidelined by a hamstring, finished with 10 tackles and two tackles for loss, while freshman Riley Pettijohn also saw meaningful work, especially as the game tilted late.


Ohio State's defense finished with six sacks on Minnesota QB Drake Lindsey.

Minnesota will leave Columbus with a loss, but not without proof it has something in Lindsey. Even with the two interceptions and two lost fumbles, he threw for 382 yards and three touchdowns on 28-of-44 passing and kept the game alive far longer than the final score suggests. Brockington was the best skill player on the field for long stretches, torching mismatches from the slot for 10 catches, 143 yards and a touchdown. Darius Taylor was held to 63 yards on 17 carries, a testament to Ohio State’s run defense staying sturdy even as the passing game bent it.

If there’s a lingering question for Ohio State, it’s the one the yardage total teases: Minnesota outgained the Buckeyes 429 to 354, and for a half the Gophers found far too many comfortable completions. But the Buckeyes also won the turnover battle, lived in the backfield, and shut Minnesota out after halftime. That’s the profile of a team that can take a punch, make the adjustment, and then drown you with depth.

“We’ve got things to clean up,” Day said. “But I love the way our guys responded. That’s what good teams do, they respond.”

Qtr	Time	Team	Result	Play	OHST	MINN
1st	7:31		TD	Jeremiah Smith, 14 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	7	0
1st	2:25		TD	Jeremiah Smith, 5 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	14	0
2nd	12:20		TD	Malachi Coleman, 14 Yd pass from Drake Lindsey	14	7
2nd	9:28		TD	Le'Meke Brockington, 26 Yd pass from Drake Lindsey (2-Pt)	14	15
2nd	7:17		TD	James Peoples, 14 Yd run	21	15
2nd	2:54		TD	Jayden Fielding, 53 Yd FG	24	15
2nd	0:17		TD	Logan Loya, 12 Yd pass from Drake Lindsey	24	22
3rd	3:59		TD	Mylan Graham, 22 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	31	22
4th	11:47		TD	Brandon Inniss, 4 Yd pass from Julian Sayin (2-Pt)	39	22
4th	10:55		TD	Mylan Graham, 10 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	46	22
4th	1:56		TD	Bo Jackson, 2 Yd run	53	22

[Count]

Jeremiah Smith is just unguardable. More 5 TD games from Sayin and he’ll be bringing the Heisman back to Columbus.

[Captain Canada]

Was literally just commenting that this shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you and you put up a 50-burger on them. Sayin tossing five must feel nice.

[Soapy]

its too easy smh

[toysoldier00]

Jeremiah Smith is just unguardable. More 5 TD games from Sayin and he’ll be bringing the Heisman back to Columbus.

Smith is such a cheat code. Getting him and Caleb Downs right out of the gate makes season 1 such a "Just win it all" type year

Was literally just commenting that this shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you and you put up a 50-burger on them. Sayin tossing five must feel nice.

Sayin was awesome

its too easy smh

got iffy at halftime, I ain't gonna lie

[toysoldier00]

Week 6 Recap: Texas’ Miss, Penn State’s Freefall and Miami’s Statement

Marissa Bleday
October 5, 2025


College football didn’t just deliver chaos in Week 6, it delivered the kind that changes how the sport feels. A preseason No. 1-caliber Texas team walked into Gainesville needing a stabilizing win and walked out with another loss, a fan base suddenly bracing for survival math in October. Penn State’s season, once framed around playoff margins, took another hit on the West Coast in a game it had no business losing. Miami and Florida State played a game that felt like it belonged in late November, not early October, and it ended with the Hurricanes planting their flag in Tallahassee. And in the Big 12, Iowa State’s dream start evaporated in the rain as Cincinnati announced itself as a real contender. By the time the dust settled, the national picture didn’t just shift, it reshuffled.



The loudest tremor came in Gainesville, where Florida, sitting at 1-3 and having just fired their head coach, pulled off a 20-17 upset of No. 4 Texas that felt equal parts revival and gut punch. The ending was as cruel as the sport gets: Texas kicker Mason Shipley lined up a 41-yard field goal to tie it as time expired and pushed it wide, sending the Swamp into a roar and the Longhorns into another round of what-if’s. Florida didn’t win with trickery. The Gators won by meeting Texas with steadiness and physicality, building a 17-3 third-quarter lead and later a 20-10 advantage in the fourth. DJ Lagway, the lightning-rod talent at the center of Florida’s rollercoaster month, played his cleanest game of the season, 24-of-34, 261 yards, a touchdown, no disasters, and the Gators looked, for the first time in weeks, like a team that knew exactly what it wanted to be. “We needed a response, not a speech,” Lagway said. “This week was about doing the simple things right and playing for each other.”

Texas nearly stole it anyway, because Arch Manning is already comfortable living in the chaos. He went 30-of-40 for 274 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and his 12-yard strike to Ryan Wingo with 3:57 left pulled Texas within three and set up the final, brutal kick. Steve Sarkisian didn’t hide from what this means for his team’s margin for error. “It’s October and we’ve put ourselves in a corner,” Sarkisian said. “That’s not where we wanted to be, but it’s where we are. Now we find out what we’re made of.” Texas is now staring at a schedule that still includes Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas A&M, and the path has narrowed to something close to perfection.

If Texas’ loss was painful, Penn State’s might be disorienting. UCLA, winless and without star transfer quarterback Nico Iamaleava, shocked the ninth-ranked Nittany Lions 28-21 in Southern California, giving Penn State a second straight defeat and a free fall from “national title résumé” to “unranked and searching.” The script was the opposite of what you’d expect: Penn State’s offense never found traction, Drew Allar went 12-of-25 for 167 yards and threw two interceptions, and UCLA leaned into the oldest formula in the sport, run the ball, shorten the game, make the other team blink. Senior Jalen Berger was the heartbeat, rolling up 127 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries as the Bruins played their first clean, confident football of the season. “We’ve taken our lumps,” UCLA coach DeShaun Foster said. “This group kept showing up. Tonight, they got rewarded.”



The game of the weekend, though, lived in Tallahassee, where No. 3 Miami walked into Florida State’s house and walked out with a 36-33 double-overtime win that felt like a referendum on both programs. It was messy early for the Hurricanes, who trailed 24-10 at halftime and looked rattled. Then Carson Beck went into full veteran mode, throwing a staggering 63 passes and completing 47 for 436 yards and three touchdowns, dragging Miami back possession by possession. His most important connection was with freshman Malachi Toney, who keeps growing up in public. Beck found him for a 39-yard touchdown with 1:54 left in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 27, then found him again on the walk-off score in double overtime to end it. “That’s why you come here,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “You want to be in the middle of a storm, you want to see who flinches. Our guys didn’t.” For Florida State, the loss stings because the Seminoles had control for stretches and got a solid night from Tommy Castellanos (221 passing yards, three touchdowns), but they couldn’t close the door when the game tightened. “We had opportunities to finish it,” Mike Norvell said. “Against a team like that, you don’t get unlimited chances.”

In the Big 12, Cincinnati authored its own statement, blasting No. 8 Iowa State 31-7 in a rain-soaked upset that never really turned into a game. The Bearcats ran for 278 yards, rotating backs and pounding a Cyclone defense that couldn’t get off the field. Rocco Becht, who entered the week with Heisman chatter trailing him like a shadow, couldn’t find rhythm through the weather or the pressure, finishing 9-of-30 for 109 yards with two interceptions. Cincinnati didn’t just beat Iowa State, it erased the illusion that the Cyclones could win every kind of game. “That’s Big 12 football,” Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield said. “If you can run it when everybody knows you’re going to run it, you’ve got a chance every week.”



Alabama, meanwhile, kept stacking evidence that its early stumble was just that, a stumble. The Tide swatted away unbeaten Vanderbilt 48-21, earning revenge for last year and slowing a Diego Pavia-led story that had been gaining real national steam. Ty Simpson was calm and efficient, Jam Miller churned out 121 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries, and Ryan Williams turned in another star turn with 139 yards on eight catches. Pavia still flashed his toughness, 107 rushing yards and a score on 13 carries, but Alabama’s depth eventually made the game feel inevitable. “We talked about playing our brand for four quarters,” Kalen DeBoer said. “When we do that, we’re hard to deal with.”

Notre Dame also delivered the kind of win that stabilizes a season, handling Boise State 32-10 in South Bend in a game that was essentially over long before the final minutes. The Irish leaned on Jeremiyah Love (134 yards, two touchdowns) and played clean football around freshman quarterback CJ Carr, who went 21-of-27 for 213 yards. Boise State moved the ball through the air, Maddux Madsen threw for 314 yards, but the Broncos’ run game never got breathing room, and the mistakes (a pick and a fumble) kept them from turning yards into points.



And in one more reminder that Saturdays don’t care about rankings, Virginia went on the road and beat No. 19 Louisville 33-31 behind Chandler Morris’ 286 yards and two touchdowns, with Cam Ross hauling in eight catches for 151 yards and both scores. Clemson, sitting at 1-3, also found a little footing with a 34-17 win over North Carolina, not a national headline like the upsets above, but a necessary exhale for a program trying to stop the bleeding.

Even the weekly awards matched the weirdness: Kent State corner DeWayne Gissendanner earned national defensive player of the week honors in a 38-3 loss to Oklahoma, and James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III put up video-game numbers in a 70-31 win at Georgia State to take home the offensive award. Week 6 didn’t just deliver big results, it delivered proof that in college football, control is always temporary.

[The JZA]

Minny said put some respect on it

[toysoldier00]

Minny said put some respect on it

they had some fight for sure

[toysoldier00]

Arvell Reese Named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week After Dominant Showing vs. Minnesota
By Zachary Anderson on October 6, 2025


Arvell Reese is flying up draft boards with his performance this season and impressive set of tools.



Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese has been named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following his latest impact performance in the Buckeyes’ win over Minnesota.

Reese stuffed the stat sheet against the Golden Gophers, finishing with 11 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup as Ohio State’s defense delivered its most aggressive front-seven showing of the season. Reese was a problem for Minnesota from the opening possessions, consistently beating blocks at the point of attack, closing space in the backfield and helping set the tone for a defense that repeatedly disrupted Drake Lindsey and the Gophers’ rhythm.

The award continues what’s quickly becoming one of the early-season storylines for Ohio State: Reese’s emergence from “promising piece” into weekly difference-maker. Through the first month, he’s been the Buckeyes’ most consistent play-driver at linebacker, pairing sideline-to-sideline range with the kind of downhill violence that turns routine plays into momentum swings. Against Minnesota, his forced fumble was one of several moments where Ohio State’s pressure and physicality flipped the field, and his tackles for loss helped keep the Gophers behind schedule as the game wore on.

Head coach Ryan Day said Reese’s production is matching what the staff has seen behind the scenes since spring and into fall camp.

“Arvell’s been playing with great effort and great physicality,” Day said. “He’s doing his job, he’s playing fast, and when you play that hard in our defense, you’re going to show up. He earned it.”

Reese becomes the latest Buckeye to collect a weekly conference honor during a season in which Ohio State’s defense has leaned on havoc plays, sacks, tackles for loss and turnovers, to seize control early in games. With Big Ten play now fully underway, Reese’s recognition also serves as another marker of just how important his role has become for a unit that expects to contend at the highest level every week.

[Captain Canada]

That Around the Nation results is insane

Fuck the Gators