COLUMBUS, Ohio — A clip circulated from the postgame locker room of Ohio State’s national championship win last January. It was a slow-motion vignette of head coach Ryan Day celebrating — catharting, really — while surrounded by his team, the weight of an emotional, late-season, script-flipping run unleashed in a full-body, guttural howl.
It was a brief but symbolic snapshot of a 2024 season in which Day went from pariah to paladin in the span of two months.
YOUR 2024 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS ‼️ pic.twitter.com/5blYflHaJb
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) January 21, 2025
A week later, Day made an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” wearing khaki pants and a tucked-in button-up. He looked more like someone who could get you a sweet deal on a pre-owned Honda than he did the part of a title-winning football coach.
It was a brief but symbolic foreshadowing of the 2025 season.
Ohio State is the best and most boring team in college football. The top-ranked Buckeyezzzzz defeated Penn State 38-14, the latest Saturday stroll in an 8-0 run largely devoid of resistance.
In a college football season packed with chaos, Ohio State has been the steady, dominant hand. The team’s closest result was a 14-7 season-opening win over then-No. 1 Texas, a game in which the Longhorns were held scoreless until the final four minutes. The most points the Buckeyes have allowed were 16 on the road against then-ranked Illinois. The defense is the stingiest in the FBS, allowing fewer than 4 yards per play and giving up double-digit points only twice. Ohio State is outscoring its opponents 293-55.
It’s like watching the Harlem Globetrotters. Without the buckets of confetti.
That’s not a criticism, either. Ohio State is the best team in the country. And the most encompassing compliment one can pay it is by appreciating how easy and uninteresting Day and the Buckeyes have made that look.
Last year’s squad, as talented as it was, faced some challenges on its path to the championship. There was the regular-season loss to Oregon. Tight wins over Nebraska and Penn State. The shocking home defeat against Michigan. Ohio State didn’t even make the Big Ten title game. The most adversity the team has faced this season may have been the 17-14 lead it had at halftime over Penn State on Saturday.
The Nittany Lions zombie-walked into the game as losers of four straight, still just a few weeks removed from firing coach James Franklin and losing quarterback Drew Allar to injury. Penn State’s defense forced an Ohio State fumble late in the second quarter, resulting in a prompt four-play, 13-yard touchdown drive to cut Ohio State’s margin to three at the break.
“You would’ve thought we were down by 21,” Day said. “It was a little frustrating. We want to be in at halftime at least winning by 10, and then to turn around and be up only three? It was like, you gotta be kidding me.”
The horror.
The Buckeyes responded by blanking the Nittany Lions 21-0 in the second half, outgaining them 259 yards to 60. Penn State kept it close for a couple of quarters, only perpetuating the stereotype. Ohio State had to treat a costly fumble and 3-point lead like a full-blown crisis.
“I don’t want to just dwell on that one turnover. I feel like I’m talking about it a lot,” Day said, cracking a smile. “We just won 38-14 against Penn State. If you said that to me about two months ago, I don’t think I’d be talking about one fumble.”
One of the biggest offseason question marks for a roster that lost a ton of talent to the NFL was how true sophomore and first-year starting quarterback Julian Sayin would handle the spotlight in 2025. Through eight games, Sayin is completing 80.7 percent of his passes — best in the FBS — with 23 touchdowns and three interceptions. He finished 20-of-23 for 316 yards and four touchdowns against Penn State and may have put himself in pole position in the Heisman Trophy race.
“It’s really a team stat,” Sayin said of his completion percentage. Riveting.
It helps to have the two best receivers in college football. The most exciting debate about the Buckeyes this season is whether Carnell Tate is just as good as Jeremiah Smith. Tate made his case Saturday, catching five passes for 124 yards, including a 57-yarder and a 45-yard touchdown. Smith matched him with six receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns, including his own 57-yarder and a ridiculous score off a deflected pass.
Most of those plays weren’t “boring,” to be fair, Smith’s end zone corral in particular. But he, Tate and Sayin certainly made them look easy.
“See ball, get ball,” Smith said, shrugging off his brilliance. “I didn’t want Julian Sayin to throw an interception. … So I decided to make a play.”
JEREMIAH SMITH ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 😱
He snags an unreal TD catch for @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/yBTdM0xfTW
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 1, 2025
It’s an embarrassment of riches. Even Ohio State’s “weaknesses” are boring. The running attack has been merely OK. (Then the team rushed for 164 yards on 32 carries Saturday.) The second-quarter fumble could have swung momentum. (It was only the second fumble and fifth turnover of the season.) The special teams unit has looked vulnerable at times. They try too hard, they care too much, etc., etc.
The Buckeyes have earned all this lavish praise, though it comes with the important caveat that they’ve yet to face much competition. But that’s not their fault, either. Neither Texas nor Penn State has lived up to preseason projections. Same for Illinois. Most of the Big Ten has looked pretty mediocre, and those that haven’t — Indiana and Oregon, maybe USC and Iowa — aren’t on the schedule. Perhaps Ohio State won’t look like such an unshakable juggernaut against some legit competition. (Or an SEC schedule, for those of you racing to the comments.) With Purdue, UCLA and Rutgers up next, it could be a while before we find out.
But there is that trip to Michigan to close out the regular season. The Wolverines are ranked No. 21 and have won four straight in the rivalry, the last remaining demon for Day and company to exorcise before attempting back-to-back championships.
Regardless of how boring and dominant the Buckeyes have looked to this point, or will look over the next few weeks, at least The Game will be appointment viewing. Last season guaranteed that much.
Wake us up when we get there.
