It is a matchup of two of the top three teams in the AP Poll as No. 1 Texas heads to Columbus to take on No. 3 Ohio State. This is a rematch of the 2025 Cotton Bowl Classic, where Ohio State football defeated the Longhorns on its way to winning a National Title. Now, the rematch is on for Week 1 of the college football season. College Game Day will be on site in Lee Corso's final appearance, but he is not the only one giving out bold predictions for this clash.
Texas football comes in ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Poll. This will be the fifth season for Steve Sarkisian with the Longhorns, as he hopes to build off a successful 2024 campaign. They opened up the season 5-0, including a win over a ranked Big Ten team on the road, as they took down No. 10 Michigan in Week 2. They would suffer their first loss of the season at the hands of Georgia at home. After struggling with Vanderbilt, the team went on to win the rest of its regular season games before falling to Georgia in the SEC Championship. This would earn the Longhorns the No. 5 seed in the College Football Playoff, but after two wins, they would fall in the CFP Semifinals to Ohio State.
Ohio State is not even the top-ranked team in its conference, but it is still ranked third in the nation currently. The defending National Champions enter their seventh season under Ryan Day. Last year, the Buckeyes finished with a 10-2 regular season record. They had a week six loss to Oregon on the road. They then closed the season by falling to rival Michigan at home. This would cost them a chance at the Big Ten title, but they would still make it to the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes would avenge their loss to Oregon in the quarterfinal before defeating Texas and Notre Dame in the process of winning a title.
The run game leads the way for Texas
The story of the Texas offense will be Arch Manning taking over at quarterback. Regardless, it will be CJ Baxter and Quintrevion Wisner who steal the show. Baxter is coming off missing all of 2024 with a knee injury. He ran for 659 yards and five touchdowns in 2023 before missing the 2024 season after tearing his LCL and PCL in his right knee. This happened in the first padded practice of 2024, resulting in him needing season-ending surgery.
Meanwhile, Wisner was great in 2024. He ran for 1,064 yards and scored five times. Further, he hauled in 44 receptions for 311 yards and found pay dirt once. He also had 88 all-purpose yards in the loss to Ohio State in the playoffs. The model to beat Ohio State last year was clear. When the Buckeyes lost to Oregon, they gave up 155 yards on the ground and two scores. That was the second most they gave up all year. The most they gave up was 172 yards and a touchdown. That came against Michigan.
Texas beating Ohio State will come down to the ground game. The offensive line will be solid again for Texas. Meanwhile, Ohio State is replacing plenty of talent in the front seven, including Jack Sawyer. Manning might be the story, but the running backs steal the show.
Julian Sayin struggles in Week 1
Julian Sayin has been named the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Sayin was originally a recruit of Nick Saban at Alabama, and he enrolled early there. When Saban decided to retire, he transferred to Ohio State. The former five-star recruit has limited experience. Sitting behind Will Howard, he saw action in just four games, completing five passes for 84 yards and a score. He was in a battle for the job with Lincoln Kienholz. Keinholz has attempted just 22 passes for 111 yards in his two seasons with the Buckeyes.
The lack of experience for Sayin is going to show in this game. While Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba are gone, Malik Muhammad returns at corner, and he is great. Further, Kobe Black looks to be the next star in the Texas secondary. While the Buckeyes' offense does return Jeremiah Smith, they lost Emeka Egbuka, who had ten touchdowns in 2024. The line also lost two players to the NFL, and with a lack of experience under center, Sayin is going to struggle against a solid Texas defense.
Expect him to throw at least one interception while struggling to reach 240 yards passing. If he struggles too much, Day may pull the plug and give Kienholz a chance to get valuable reps.
Lee Corso wears the Brutus Buckeye head one more time, but it does not matter
In the first-ever headgear pick done by Corso, he put on the Brutus Buckeye head. In that game in October of 1996, Corso moved to 1-0 in headgear picks, as Ohio State defeated Penn State. He has now made 430 headgear picks, selecting correctly 286 times. Dating back to 1996, he has picked Ohio State 45 times, and the Buckeyes have 26 wins and 13 losses when Corso has picked them. As he makes his final headgear selection, the 90-year-old will once again pick the Buckeyes.
The Texas Longhorns will say, “Not so fast, my friend.” They have the better quarterback in this game with Manning. While he has been the backup quarterback, Manning has more experience, throwing 95 passes in his career with nine touchdowns. Further, he is a ground threat, running for 155 yards in his career and finding the endzone four times.
Meanwhile, Ohio State lost 14 players to the NFL Draft. This includes two of their best players on defense, with Denzel Burke and Sawyer gone. The odds for the game, provided by FanDuel, have Ohio State as a 2.5-point favorite. The Buckeyes may be the favorite, and Corso may pick them, but it will be a loss in week one for Ohio State, as Texas shows that it has the talent advantage.
