Ohio State opens as 1.5-point underdogs against Texas in Week 2
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Betting Line: Texas -1.5 | O/U 47.5
Both Ohio State and Texas won their season openers by lopsided margins against overmatched opponents.
The Buckeyes defeated Ball State, 56-3, behind a big game from Jeremiah Smith and a defense that rotated in a ton of bodies to keep the Cardinals out of the end zone (and really without even threatening to find the end zone) for the entire contest.
Jeremiah Smith hauled in eight passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns while playing only in the first half, paving the way for a strong performance for Julian Sayin, who finished 21-of-25 for 320 yards with four total touchdowns, including his first career rushing TD. The run game took a bit to get going, but the Buckeyes managed a pair of long touchdowns on the ground by Bo Jackson (65 yards) and Ja’Kobi Jackson (49 yards).
There were some growing pains for a defense that has to replace a ton of NFL talent from last season, with more than a handful of missed tackles throughout the game, but it was a largely impressive showing for Matt Patricia’s group. Five-star freshman Jay Timmons shined at corner in his first career start, TJ Alford recorded an interception, and the Buckeyes held Ball State to only 165 total yards and only 45 yards rushing.
Texas, meanwhile, beat up on Texas State by a final of 59-7. The Longhorns took advantage of three takeaways, as the Bobcats fumbled the ball away twice and also threw an interception, and Arch Manning’s 2026 debut went a lot better than his first start a year ago against Ohio State.
Manning completed 20-of-27 pass attempts for 305 yards with four touchdowns and a pick, with a pair of long 40-plus-yard passes completed to Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo. That duo accounted for 190 receiving yards, as Wingo led the way with seven catches for 121 yards and a TD while Coleman scored twice and added 70 yards on three receptions. Hollywood Smothers paced the ground game with 10 carries for 70 yards.
Defensively, Texas was led in part by Rasheem Biles, a Columbus native who spurned Ohio State in favor of the Longhorns in the transfer portal from Pitt this past offseason. Biles recorded Texas’ lone interception and also forced a fumble, finishing the game with five tackles. Star edge rusher Colin Simmons registered just one tackle, while former Buckeyes transfer Hero Kanu tallied three tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Now comes the real test for both of these programs.
Ohio State will travel to Austin in Week 2 for the third meeting between these two teams in the last three seasons, but the first at Texas. The Buckeyes won the first two with a 28-14 victory in the 2024 College Football Playoff and a 14-7 win in the season opener in Columbus last season. Ohio State owns the all-time series edge, 3-2.
An interesting area to watch for in this matchup will be how well either team manages to run the football. While both programs finished with seemingly good rushing totals in Week 1, both were buoyed by a few long runs.
Outside of a 45-yard run by Smothers, Texas only ran for 111 yards on its 35 other carries (3.17 yards per carry). Ohio State, likewise, had two long touchdown runs, but gained only 123 yards rushing on its other 34 tries (3.6 yards per carry).
The Buckeyes were severely out-gained on the ground by the Longhorns in their prior meeting, 166-77, but still managed to eke out the win at home. Sayin, Smith and the Ohio State passing attack is dynamic, but they cannot afford to get one dimensional on the road against a strong Texas secondary.
Neither team will be a finished product just yet with only one less-than-competitive affair under their belts apiece, but this should be a fun, hotly contested matchup and far and away the best game on the slate on Saturday.
All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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