The No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes are entering a challenging stretch in the back half of the college football season, beginning Saturday night.
Ohio State will travel to face the USC Trojans but won’t have star quarterback Julian Sayin, who is expected to miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury.
That leaves two highly touted freshman quarterbacks, Luke Fahey and five-star recruit Tavien St. Clair, competing for the starting job ahead of Saturday’s game. Fahey entered the Indiana game after Sayin went down.
Ryan Day Gives New Update on QB Battle
Speaking to the media Tuesday, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day explained how he’s evaluating Fahey and St. Clair and when he expects to narrow his choice.
“Both quarterbacks practiced well last week, which was good. It was good energy. Guys were rallying around both guys,” Day said on Tuesday. “We’ll keep working this week and keeping working on packages for both guys. Like I said before Luke was ahead of Tavien going into the Indiana game. But both guys are working hard. So we’ll kind of see how the next couple days go. They both have been really into it and practice was good last week so we need to stack a few more days and then we’ll kind of go into the game and see what gives us the best chance to win.”
Ohio State HC Ryan Day isn’t ready to commit to a starting QB yet, noting both Luke Fahey and Tavien St. Clair had strong weeks of practice during the bye.
Day said he’ll need to make a decision after today and give that guy the majority of the reps the rest of the week. https://t.co/SfJG3O3T3Y
— Dillon Davis (@DillonDavis56) October 27, 2026
Looking at Ohio State
Neither Fahey nor St. Clair has any starting experience, so making a first start on the road in a night game isn’t ideal. However, both players were highly regarded prospects coming out of high school.
Fahey was a four-star recruit, while St. Clair was one of the top quarterbacks in his recruiting class. They’ve spent the entire season learning behind Sayin and developing their skills at the college level. Now, one of them, or possibly both, will need to step up to help keep Ohio State’s season on track.
Ohio State’s Ryan Day Gives New Update on QB Battle Before USC Game