COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State has so completely dominated this college football season that the Buckeyes can have their annual nervous breakdown against Michigan and it won’t matter. Again.

The reigning champions are undefeated and No. 1 after blasting Penn State, 38–14—their largest margin of victory against the Nittany Lions in a decade. They have a cakewalk to Ann Arbor, Mich., with games between now and Nov. 29 against Purdue (2–6), UCLA (3–5) and Rutgers (4–5). Like last year, ending the losing streak against the Wolverines is highly preferable for the fans’ mental health, but it’s not mandatory to maintain national title aspirations. Losing a fifth straight to the hated rival wouldn’t prevent a playoff berth.

At the moment, it’s impossible to see Michigan beating Ohio State this year. Then again, the same was true last year.

Still: The Buckeyes are a playoff lock in what should have been a rebuilding season. Instead, they might actually be improved over last season’s 14–2 wagon of a team. It’s an extraordinary display of sustained excellence.

Ryan Day lost both coordinators and a whopping 14 players to the NFL draft, including his starting quarterback—and this team appears to be better. The record is better through eight games (8–0 vs. 7–1), and the margin of victory is higher (29.7 vs. 25.8). They haven’t trailed for a single second since Oct. 4, have never trailed by more than six points and have never trailed in the second half.

The Buckeyes look bulletproof.

They have the best defense in the country by a wide margin, ranking No. 1 in points per game (6.9), yards per game (214.8) and yards per play (3.8). The upgrade on that side of the ball allowed the Ohio State scoreboard operators to mercilessly troll Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles—who left the Buckeyes after last year for a $3 million payday—in the second half Saturday. They kept cutting between shots of Knowles in the coaches’ booth (boooooo) and shots of Matt Patricia on the sideline (yaaaaaaay), until even Patrica appeared to get a chuckle out of it.

And Ohio State might have the best quarterback in the country. Julian Sayin had never taken a single stressful snap as a college player before this season, but he’s playing like one of those 24-year-old guys who are still in the college game. Sayin was already leading the nation in pass efficiency coming into Saturday—then he played what might be his best game yet. 

He threw three bombs of 40-plus yards on his way to 316 passing yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions—a massive efficiency rating of 259.8. He still hasn’t thrown an interception since Sept. 13, and has never thrown one against a power-conference opponent. He is quick, decisive and very accurate with the ball.

“I thought some of Julian’s deep balls were just excellent in this game,” Day said. “We saw how they were playing us in the first half, felt like we had a chance to get behind them and so we called those plays and Julian and the receivers did a great job.”

Sayin does have the extreme luxury of throwing to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, who are big enough, fast enough, athletic enough and dependable enough to make every play that can be asked of a wide receiver. They combined for 11 catches and 247 yards, with three TD catches—the last of which was a body-control masterpiece by Smith to stop and reel in a deflected pass with one hand at the goal line.

“Nobody’s better than us,” Smith said of himself and Tate. Remember, it’s not bragging if you’re telling the truth.”

But nobody’s been better than Sayin, either. He’s been so good that the coach who recruited him out of high school to Alabama, Nick Saban, jokingly labeled himself a “dumb ass” on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday morning for relegating him to the scout team as a freshman.

As brilliant as Sayin was throwing the ball Saturday, his best play was a freelance scramble. With the Buckeyes leading 10–7 in the second quarter, they faced a third-and-5 at their own 30-yard line, and Sayin faced a free rusher flying at him as he set to throw. He sidestepped that tackler, then dodged a second defender for a nine-yard gain—somehow looking unhurried in the process.

“I’d like to tell you that we coach that, but we don’t,” Day said with a smile. “He has that feel and that’s something that makes a quarterback special. He has that trait.”

The only thing Day hasn’t done at Ohio State is have a player win the Heisman Trophy. That may change this year.

The quarterback heritage is rich here since Day joined Urban Meyer’s staff as quarterback coach in 2017: J.T. Barrett, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, Kyle McCord, Will Howard. Sayin has been as good (so far) as any of them. 

“His mind works as quick as the ball comes out,” Day said, then let himself mention the Heisman. “I think we have to see what the season holds for us and the progress that’s made and then we go from there. Even when you look at the Heisman Trophy, it is sort of after the season’s over and there’s still a whole bunch of football to be played afterwards. But I do think that if Julian continues to play the way that he’s playing, he deserves to be in the conversation at the very least.”

While much of the nation is properly wowed by Sayin’s instant impact, one man saw it coming. Thadd MacNeal, his coach at Carlsbad High School in California, was beaming in the back of the room as Sayin talked to the media after the game.

“This is so much fun,” says MacNeal, wearing a scarlet No. 10 Sayin jersey. “He’s just a great kid and his progression just keeps getting better and better. It’s nothing really surprising. I mean, he’s been the same person I’ve known since fourth grade.”

That person, according to MacNeal, is “pretty intellectual” and possesses an “incredible work ethic.” He’s put in the work, mentally and physically, to develop his quarterbacking tools.

“He’s super sharp intellectually, and then he’s sneaky athletic—you saw a little bit of it today,” MacNeal says. “But then mechanically, he is pretty perfect. The quick release, the high release, throwing on time, anticipation.”

Sayin is pretty much the complete package. So is the rest of this Ohio State team. The best team in the country in 2024 lost a lot, and somehow has gotten better.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ohio State Was Supposed to Fall Off, but Julian Sayin Had Other Ideas.

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