Ohio State QB Julian Sayin set to lead Big Ten in 1 stat, as per college football analyst

Julian Sayin is coming into what is going to be an important season for him and the Ohio State Buckeyes. They are the defending national champions and will want Sayin, a top-ranked prospect, to lead the team to another one in 2025.

On Friday, college football analyst J.D. PicKell suggested one statistic that Sayin will lead the Big Ten in.

"Julian Sayin is going to lead the Big Ten in passing," PicKell said on his show.

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Passing yardage is a metric that the Buckeyes have led in every season except one (2023 - Taulia Tagovailoa for the Maryland Terrapins) since 2018. The quarterbacks who have led this metric have become household names: Justin Fields, CJ Stroud and Will Howard.

PicKell explained that this is mostly down to one person.

"The second part of the Brian Hartline of it all is the fact that he's calling the plays," PicKell said. "Well, Hartline is a former wide receiver, wide receiver coach. ... I think they're gonna throw the heck out of it."

Hartline has been with the Ohio State program since the 2017 season. A former NFL wide receiver, he has been able to work his way up to the program's offensive coordinator and is involved in calling the plays.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day on the College Football Playoff expansion

While Julian Sayin and Brian Hartline are focusing on the field issues, Ohio State coach Ryan Day has given his take on the ever-changing format of the College Football Playoff.

"We're in the Big Ten, and we have 18 teams and some of the best programs in the country," Day told ESPN. "I feel like we deserve at least four automatic qualifiers."

Day is firmly in the "yes" camp in the automatic qualifiers debate, something Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey is not.

If this were to happen, Ohio State would almost by default get a CFP spot due to the program's strength, which will allow them to always finish in the top four.

About the author

Ben Tredinnick is a journalist who covers college football and college basketball at Sportskeeda who is currently studying for a masters in Data Science. His degree in Psychology has helped him gain an in-depth understanding of the minds of coaches.

Ben has been involved in sports writing since 2022 and covered the NFL previously. His strengths include providing in-depth profiles of athletes and coaches, with a particular focus on development, and looking at which teams could be in the hunt for today's college stars.

Ben enjoys following college sports more than the NBA or NFL because there is more variation in terms of playstyles. The tournaments are often more competitive than the major leagues, and due to the constant turnover of players, there are rarely any "superteams" in college sports.

He prioritizes research, looks at multiple sources and publications to make sure he gets the full picture of the story before writing. He tries not to write from a one-sided perspective to allow the reader to be able to make their mind up on their own.

A Texas Longhorns fan, as well as a massive New York Giants fan, some of his favorite college players of all time are Arch Manning, Tim Tebow and Reggie Bush.

When he is not working, Ben enjoys watching films (especially Godzilla) and spending time with his cat.

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Edited by Ribin Peter