Ohio State has the best quarterback-wide receiver duo in the country for the 2026 season. That’s the good news. The bad news is that having the best QB-WR duo in the country didn’t keep them from flaming out in the playoff last year.
On3 Sports analyst JD PicKell recently labeled Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith as the top quarterback-receiver tandem in college football entering this fall. And the numbers back it up. Sayin threw for 3,610 yards (10th in FBS) and 32 touchdowns (4th in FBS) in his first year as the starter. Smith caught 87 passes for 1,243 yards (4th in FBS) and 12 touchdowns. He was a Unanimous All-American and the Big Ten Receiver of the Year. Both guys are projected as top picks in the 2027 NFL Draft.
So yeah. They’re good. Really good.
The Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
The Buckeyes went undefeated in the regular season last year. They were coming off a national championship. Then they lost to Indiana in the Big Ten title game and got bounced by Miami in their first playoff game. That’s two straight losses with the season on the line, after a perfect regular season. That’s not just a bad weekend. That’s a pattern.
Sayin and Smith torched defenses all year, but when it mattered most the offense went quiet. You can blame the defense for giving up points. You can blame the play-calling. But the cold truth is that Ohio State’s best players didn’t produce when the lights were brightest.
Head coach Ryan Day finally got that Michigan win last season, which took a ton of pressure off. But now the standard is different. Ohio State has won two of the last three national titles. Anything less than a third in three years will feel like a letdown.
What 2026 Looks Like
The roster took some hits to the NFL Draft, especially on defense. But Sayin and Smith are back, and that’s a hell of a place to start. The offensive line needs to be better. The run game needs to be more consistent. But if you’re going to have a weakness, having two future first-round picks throwing and catching the ball is a pretty good way to cover it up.
Ohio State opens the season on September 5 against Ball State. That game won’t tell us much. But the games that follow will tell us everything about whether this duo can actually lead a team all the way, or if they’re just really good during the months that don’t matter as much.
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