Barstool Sports questions if Julian Sayin injury will help Jeremiah Smith win Heisman

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Although the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday in a top-10 clash in the Big Ten, starting quarterback and former Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin went down in the game with an injury to his throwing side.

On Monday, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day announced that Sayin wouldn’t be returning imminently as the team and medical personnel are still working to determine the best course of action for Sayin to get healthy.

“It’ll be at least several weeks,” Day said on the Buckeye Roundtable radio show,  “No update right now. They’re still going through testing and meetings.”

The injury not only has major ramifications on the College Football Playoff field and national championship race, but also on the Heisman Trophy race, which, until Saturday’s cruel twist of fate, Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had been running away with.

On Wednesday’s episode of Wake Up Barstool on Fox Sports, the show’s hosts wondered whether the injury could actually end up helping Smith’s case.

“So, obviously, the national championship is the big prize in college football, and this throws that into question,” Brandon Walker said. “This is one of your number one contenders, one of your top three or four contenders, and they have a lot of question marks going forward. Jeremiah Smith, this does two things to his Heisman Trophy, and I don’t know which one it is.

Will the Julian Sayin injury help or hurt Jeremiah Smith’s Heisman chances? https://t.co/rVkslvk1pj

— Wake Up Barstool (@wakeupbarstool) October 21, 2026

“It takes it away because he’s not gonna be thrown to by a good quarterback, or it even strengthens his case because he is able to carry a young quarterback by himself. Now, I don’t know which it’s gonna be. I know his next two games are against USC and against Oregon. Those are two marquee spots. If he goes out and he has three catches for 29 yards and a touchdown in one of those games and then doesn’t affect the other, his Heisman odds really go, I mean, he loses his lead basically.”

For Smith’s part, he knows the road ahead won’t be easy.

“A lot of practice, a lot of reps. We gotta get together,” he said of Fahey. “I ain’t gonna say it’s gonna take one day; it ain’t that easy. It’s gonna take time”

The Buckeyes will now turn to freshman Luke Fahey, who relieved Saying against the Hoosiers.

“A unique spot to be put in as a freshman, but he’s somebody that up until this point, he comes in every day prepared,” Day said of his freshman quarterback. “I think he has the respect of the team, and so now he’s going to be thrust into a bigger role.”

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