Jeremiah Smith shines, but is Ohio State's run game enough? Oller's instant opinions

Ohio State vs. Ball State was always going to be a blowout, so the question was not whether the Buckeyes would win but how would they look while winning. Verdict: The offense is what most everyone expected in a 56-3 win, i.e., dynamic, even if the overall run game was only adequate. Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith, Legend Bey, Bo Jackson and Ja'Kobi Jackson are uber talented. The defense didn't get the shutout, and recorded onlyone sack, but held the Cardinals to 118 yards, including 29 on the ground. The biggest beef with Sayin last season was his lack of legwork, specifically the quarterback's hesitancy to run the ball in short-yardage situations or when OSU needed him to scramble for tough yards. The fans' concerns abated with 2:41 left in the half when the junior dropped back to pass, saw nobody open and scampered 3 yards for the first rushing touchdown of his career to put OSU up 21-0. Ohio State will need more of that this season, especially in the biggest games. Recall how Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza scored a 12-yard TD on a quarterback draw on fourth down in the College Football Playoff championship game win against Miami last season? Mendoza rushed for 27 first downs on 65 carries in 2025, when he won the Heisman Trophy. Sayin had nine on 34. Expect both of those numbers to increase significantly. When Sayin began the game with two consecutive incompletions, my hand scratched my chinny chin chin. 'What are we seeing here?' My curiosity quickly evaporated over the course of the next 2½ quarters as Sayin completed his next 19 of 23 before halftime, with three touchdowns. Suffice to say he did nothing to hurt his early Heisman candidacy. It's hard to believe that Smith might be better than his headlines, but the junior put on a clinic against a defense that for whatever reason opted to try to cover him man to man a few times. I'm still not sure Smith caught Sayin's 48-yard TD pass the first time he was targeted, but otherwise he was as sensational as advertised. His tip-toeing 3-yard touchdown catch at the back of the end zone that made it 28-3 in the second quarter was a thing of beauty. 'Hey, Julian, I'm a Heisman favorite, too.' At halftime I bumped into former Buckeyes coach John Cooper, who is 89 but looks much younger. Our discussion turned to what had just happened during the first half, and Coop was concerned with OSU's ground game. With good reason. The Buckeyes rushed for just 32 yards the first quarter and three the second. 'I know this, the guy at Michigan (coach Kyle Whittingham) will run the ball and play defense,' Cooper said. Coop's concern went AWOL after halftime as OSU rushed for 202 yards on 18 attempts for a 11.1-yard average, though the stats were padded by two big plays: Bo Jackson's 65-yard TD run and Ja'Kobi Jackson's 49-yard score, which showed off the Florida transfer's cutback instincts. Freshman tailback Legend Bey turned in the snazziest play of the game, catching a swing pass from backup QB Luke Fahey and zig-zagging for a twisting 25-yard score that made it 49-3 with 14:16 left in the game. Related: What's up with Tavien St. Clair, the sophomore who entered fall camp as the expected backup to Sayin? It has to be more than coach Ryan Day sending St. Clair a message to pick up the pace, which you don't do to a player who at one point was expected to be OSU's franchise quarterback of the future. Could it be that he has been slow to pick up coordinator Arthur Smith's offense? St. Clair did toss a 15-yard TD pass to Chris Henry Jr. in the final two minutes. It was a nice finish for Henry Jr, who had two earlier drops. Face it, anyone willing to pay $142,700 for the new end zone suites isn't spending for the view, which at field level isn't all that special. They're not paying to see, but to be seen. And 6-foot-5, 327-pound OSU offensive lineman Austin Siereveld did not disappoint them, high-fiving fans in the suites after Bo Jackson's 65-yard TD run. Sports columnist Rob Oller can be reached at roller@dispatch.com and on X.com at @rollerCD.