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By the Numbers: How Julian Sayin’s first three games compare with other recent Buckeyes QBs

Julian Sayin was an unknown element going into this season. The Buckeyes have the best wide receiver room in the country, but a prevailing question throughout the spring, summer, and fall camp was whether Sayin could get them the ball the same way Will Howard did in 2024.

Not only has Sayin proven he’s able to do that, especially in his performance against Ohio last Saturday, but his stats through three games are really good.

With 779 passing yards through three games, Sayin is averaging 259.7 passing yards per game. But if you take out his 120 passing yards against Texas, he’s averaging 329.5 passing yards per game over his last two contests.

The Texas game was unique because it was Sayin’s first start against the No. 1 team in the country. Texas has a great defense, and Ryan Day was clearly not putting Sayin in positions where he could lose the game for the Buckeyes.

Sayin also has eight touchdowns and three interceptions through three games. He is on pace to throw for 3,1116 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in the regular season. Again, though, the Texas game may prove to be an outlier.

Since then, we’ve seen that Sayin not only fits right into this offense, but also that he has great arm strength and is being aggressive with downfield throws. The training wheels are off, and now the Buckeyes’ offense is ready to, once again, be one of the best in college football.

So how do Sayin’s numbers through his first three starts compare with those of recent Buckeyes quarterbacks? That’s the topic of this week’s “By the Numbers.”

Howard will forever be revered in Columbus for leading the Buckeyes to their ninth national championship in program history. His performance in the College Football Playoff will long live in Buckeyes lore.

In his first three games in 2024, Howard completed 5-of-74 passes for 795 yards and threw for six touchdowns and one interception. The Buckeyes’ first three games were against Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall, with wins of 52-6, 56-0, and 49-14.

Looking at Howard’s numbers, they’re similar to Sayin’s. Again, Sayin had a bear in Texas to face in Week 1 this season. Howard had three Group of Five teams.

Despite throwing for just 120 yards against Texas, Sayin has numbers in his first three games that are very similar to Howard’s first three games.

Howard finished his 2024 national championship season by completing 73 percent of his passes for 4,010 yards with 35 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

In my opinion, Kyle McCord deserves a lot more credit than he was given at the time. His first three games in 2023 were actually really good. McCord completed 53-of-76 passes for 815 yards with six touchdowns and one interception.

Ohio State’s first three games that season were against Indiana, Youngstown State, and Western Kentucky, with final scores of 23-3, 35-7, and 63-10. It wasn’t an easy first two games, especially on the road at Indiana. That was a weird first game, because it was on the road, but also because the crowd at Indiana looked like it was only half full.

The fact the Buckeyes only beat Youngstown State 35-7 was concerning. I recall speaking with Buckeyes fans who were deeply concerned about the team after that game.

Still, though, McCord had a strong start to the season in the first three games and deserves more credit than he received during the 2023 season.

McCord finished his 2023 season completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 3,170 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Stroud’s 2021 season was prolific, and that doesn’t even do it justice. He had five games with 400+ passing yards, nine games with 500+ passing yards, seven games with four+ passing touchdowns, five games with five+ passing touchdowns, and two games with six passing touchdowns.

In his first three games, Stroud was 63-of-101 for 963 yards with eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Nearly half of Stroud’s 963 passing yards in those three games came against Oregon, when he threw for 484 yards. That was the second game of the season, sandwiched in between Minnesota and Tulsa.

The Buckeyes went 2-1 in those games, beating Minnesota 45-31 and Tulsa 41-20 while falling to Oregon 35-28.

Stroud finished his 2021 season completing 71.9 percent of his passes for 4,435 yards with 44 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Fields enjoyed two dynamic seasons with the Buckeyes that resulted in two College Football Playoff berths and a berth in the National Championship in 2020.

In his first three games in 2019, Fields was 52-of-74 for 657 yards with nine touchdowns and no interceptions. Fields also had 25 rush attempts for 114 yards and four touchdowns. The Buckeyes’ first three games were against Florida Atlantic, Cincinnati, and Indiana, winning 45-21, 42-0, and 51-10.

This is an incredibly clean three-game performance from Fields, who went on to throw for 41 touchdowns and three interceptions. The crazy thing is, only one of those came in the regular season.

Field completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 3,273 yards with those 41 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He also rushed 137 times for 484 yards and 10 touchdowns.

In 10 of the 14 games he started for the Buckeyes in 2018, Haskins threw for three or more touchdowns. His 2018 season was incredible, winning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and setting Big Ten records for passing yards (4,831) and passing touchdowns (50).

Ohio State played Oregon State, Rutgers, and TCU. The game against TCU was at AT&T Stadium. Haskins was 66-of-91 for 880 yards with 11 touchdowns and just one interception. The Buckeyes’ offense was unstoppable during that three-game stretch, winning by scores of 77-3, 52-3, and 40-28.

That Buckeyes team had so many weapons on offense, including Terry McLaurin, Chris Olave, K.J. Hill, and J.K. Dobbins. Haskins had the keys to a very shiny car, and he drove it to a record-setting season.

Haskins finished his 2018 season completing 70 percent of his passes for 4,831 yards with 50 touchdowns and just eight interceptions.

Barrett’s situation was unique because he wasn’t supposed to be the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback going into the 2014 season. That was supposed to be Braxton Miller.

Nonetheless, Barrett started that season and led the Big Ten in completion percentage, passing touchdowns, yards per attempt, adjusted yards gained per pass attempt, and passing efficiency rating.

In his first three games, Barrett was 44-of-74 for 757 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. He also had 41 rushes for 126 yards and one touchdown. The Buckeyes’ first three games were against Navy in Baltimore, Virginia Tech, and Kent State. The last two of those games were at home. Ohio State beat Navy 34-17 and Kent State 66-0, but fell to Virginia Tech 35-21.

Take out the second game that season against Virginia Tech, where he was 9 of 29 for 219 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions, and his passing was pretty good through the first quarter of the season. Considering the circumstances, Barrett did a more than adequate job.

Barrett completed 64.6 percent of his passes for 2,834 yards with 34 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Sayin’s numbers are similar to Barrett’s, Fields’s, McCord’s, and Howard’s. That shows that the Buckeyes have, once again, been able to navigate the transition at the quarterback position.

If Sayin is able to continue putting up numbers like he has in the previous two games, he’s going to accumulate a lot of yards and touchdowns. Those numbers could put him high in the Ohio State quarterback rankings.