Ohio State receiver Brandon Inniss, left and quarterback Julian Sayin celebrate their win over Texas following an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

COLUMBUS – Ohio State made Texas’ stay as the No.1-ranked team in college football a short one with a 14-7 win over the Longhorns on Saturday at Ohio Stadium in its opening game.

It was defense which contributed the most to the win in maybe the most-hyped opener ever for the No. 3 (and soon to climb higher in the polls) Buckeyes.

Ohio State scored on and 80-drive in the second quarter and a 68-yard drive to go up 14-0 before Texas got its only touchdown with 3:28 left in the game.

On a day when OSU had only 203 yards total offense, 11 first downs and averaged 2.3 yards per carry on running plays, defense was a badly needed difference maker.

“It was a gritty win to start the season,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “There’s a lot we can build on, a lot we have to improve on. The team you see now will not even be close to the team you see halfway through the season or at the end of the year,” he said.

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin hit 13 of 20 passes for 126 yards and a 40-yard touchdown connection with Carnell Tate for the Buckeyes’ first touchdown in his first career start.

West Virginia transfer C.J. Donaldson was OSU’s leading rusher with 67 yards on 19 carries and scored its first touchdown on a 1-yard run.

“I thought he handled himself well. He took care of the ball, made some throws when he needed to. A couple times when it was not there he didn’t force it,” Day said about Sayin.

“I was impressed with his poise. He had a good look in his eye. What he was seeing and what he was saying was exactly what was going on. That’s a great sign. The one thing we didn’t want to do was put him in a bad spot.,” he said.

Sayin said, “I was just going out there and focusing on my job. The defense obviously played really well.”

Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who became the Longhorns’ starter when their previous starter Quinn Ewers went to the NFL, was 17 of 30 passing for 170 yards, threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Parker Livingston for Texas’ only score.

Texas’ inability to convert in fourth down situations played a significant role in its fall from the No. 1 ranking.

The Longhorns came up short four times when they went for it on fourth down.

It started on their first possession of the game when they drove to OSU’s 43-yard line and gave the ball to running back C.J. Baxter in a fourth-and-two situation and he was brought down by linebacker Arvel Reese after a 1-yard gain.

In the third quarter, Texas got to Ohio State’s 1-yard line on its first possession, but Manning was stopped for no gain on fourth down with defensive end Caden Curry and defensive back Lorenzo Styles Jr. getting the credit for the tackle.

Early in the fourth quarter Texas had a fourth-and-three situation at Ohio State’s 9-yard line but Manning threw an incomplete pass.

The Longhorns had the ball at midfield with a fourth-and-five situation with 1:27 left in the game but Manning’s pass went for only three yards when Caleb Downs tackled the receiver short of the first down.

Ohio State created one turnover, an interception by cornerback Jermaine Mathews, but in Day’s mind those fourth down stops were as good as a turnover.

“Any time you get a fourth-down stop it’s like a turnover,” he said.

“I played this game over in my head every day for the last three months. I didn’t know how it was going to go because when you’re going against yourself every day and you have inexperienced players who haven’t actually been on the field you’re not sure. I had an idea what we’d look like but I wasn’t sure,” he said.

Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, in his first game at OSU in that position, also praised the defense.

“All the way across the board, from the front end to the back end, they just did a tremendous job,” he said.