Ohio State vs Texas Preview: What Changed Since Last Year

Ohio State and Texas scored 115 points between them in Week 1. They combined for 21 when they played each other last August. Julian Sayin went from 126 passing yards in Ohio State’s 14-7 win to 320 yards and three touchdowns against Ball State, while Arch Manning followed his 170-yard day against the Buckeyes with 305 yards and four touchdowns against Texas State. Ohio State vs Texas now asks how much of that improvement survives once the defense across the line can remove the first option.

Manning has not hidden from the old film. During Texas player availability Monday, he called the 2025 loss “a rough film to watch” after throwing for only 38 yards with an interception through three quarters. Texas still outgained Ohio State 336-203 and ran for 166 yards, but the passing game arrived too late to change the result. Manning said the offense moved the ball better than the final score suggested. The rematch begins there, with two quarterbacks carrying better Week 1 numbers into a much less forgiving test.

The Matchup

What Changed From the Last Meeting

Sources: Ohio State Athletics, Texas Athletics and ESPN. Smith played only the first half against Ball State.

Sayin and Manning Bring More Experience Into the Rematch

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was asked during his Monday game-week press conference how much the quarterbacks had changed since their first meeting. “Pretty drastically different,” he said, pointing to their confidence, pocket presence, and willingness to use their legs. Sayin’s Ball State game was the seventh 300-yard performance of his career and pushed him to 4,014 career passing yards. Manning now has a full season as Texas’ starter behind him and described himself this week as “a year better.” Week 1 supported both cases, but Sayin’s growth still depends on how much time Texas gives him to show it.

Texas Can Test Ohio State’s Protection

Ohio State produced 671 yards against Ball State, but its offensive line did not leave Week 1 completely settled. Sayin took two sacks, and Ryan Day said Tuesday the staff would “continue to evaluate” the line combination. Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons gives that evaluation a different level of urgency. Simmons led Texas with 13.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks last season, then opened 2026 with a quarterback hurry, a half-tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Ball State showed what Ohio State can do once the passing game finds rhythm. Simmons gives us a better look at what happens when the pocket starts changing shape.

Players Who Can Change Ohio State vs Texas

Texas Has to Account for Jeremiah Smith Everywhere

Pressure can shorten Sayin’s clock, but Texas still has to decide what happens once the ball leaves his hand. Jeremiah Smith caught eight passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns before halftime against Ball State. Texas has already limited him twice, holding him to six catches for 43 yards last August after he managed one catch for three yards in the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinal. Sarkisian is preparing as though Texas cannot assume a third quiet performance. “We better know where No. 4 is on every snap,” he said Monday, adding that the Longhorns must “mix our pitches up” in how they defend Smith and Ohio State’s scheme. You can see the problem for Texas: every extra resource devoted to Smith changes what becomes available to Bo Jackson and the rest of Arthur Smith’s offense.

Ohio State Faces Its Own Coverage Problem

Texas built the same kind of pressure around Manning in Week 1. Ryan Wingo caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, while Auburn transfer Cam Coleman scored twice on three catches for 70 yards in his Longhorn debut. Manning found eight receivers, which makes it harder for Ohio State to build its coverage around one name. Sophomore linebacker TJ Alford contributed five tackles and an interception in Ohio State’s opener, but the Buckeyes’ second level and secondary now have to handle a quarterback who can extend plays while Wingo and Coleman work downfield. Manning’s place in the larger conversation about SEC quarterbacks will depend on much more than one September night, but Ohio State gives him an early national-stage test against an elite defense.

Situational Football Decided the Last Meeting

All of those individual matchups eventually have to produce points. Texas moved the ball better than Ohio State last August and still scored seven because its best possessions died when another yard mattered most. The Longhorns went 1-of-5 on fourth down and failed to score on both red-zone trips. Week 1 looked very different. Texas converted 11 of 15 third downs and scored on six of seven red-zone possessions, while Ohio State went 5-for-5 in the red zone and 2-for-2 on fourth down. If we judge Saturday only by passing yards, we may miss the situations that decided this matchup a year ago. A higher-scoring rematch can still turn on one fourth down or one possession inside the 20.

Three Things to Watch Saturday

• Ohio State’s protection against Colin Simmons. Sayin’s efficiency depends on whether the Buckeyes can keep the pocket usable against a much more disruptive edge threat than Ball State provided.
• How Texas changes coverage around Jeremiah Smith. Smith’s alignment and the help Texas sends toward him can change the run box and create one-on-one chances elsewhere.
• Red-zone and fourth-down possessions. Texas lost those moments last year despite winning the yardage battle, and both offenses were far cleaner in those situations in Week 1.

Last August gives both teams a warning before anyone assumes Week 1’s scoring carries straight into Austin. Ohio State returns home to face Kent State on Sept. 19, while Texas hosts UTSA before opening SEC play at Tennessee. Those games come later. Saturday is the first place both teams can measure their improvement against an opponent capable of answering back. Manning put the occasion more plainly during Monday’s media availability: “This is why you come to a school like Texas playing these big-time games.”