Urban Meyer questions Ohio State's pick of Luke Fahey to replace injured Julian Sayin

Ohio State's quarterback debate now has a famous voice behind it. Former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer said publicly that he doesn't understand why Ryan Day has picked true freshman Luke Fahey over sophomore Tavien St. Clair to start while Julian Sayin is out. "It's perplexing why he is not the quarterback," Meyer said of St. Clair on his show The Triple Option, according to EssentiallySports.

The opening came in Saturday's 19-15 win at Indiana. Sayin took a hard hit from Indiana's Mario Landino in the fourth quarter, and CBS Sports reported he ran to the locker room with his right arm hanging at his side. Day said afterward that Sayin would probably miss several weeks with an injury to his throwing shoulder, and ESPN reported that Fahey will start while he is out.

Neither backup has started a college game. EssentiallySports counts nine completions for 203 yards and two touchdowns for Fahey across four games this season. St. Clair has five completions for 52 yards and a touchdown in two appearances. St. Clair was a top-10 national recruit in the 2025 class. Fahey, a 5-foot-11 four-star by Ohio State's count, arrived this year and pushed past him in camp. Against Indiana, Fahey went 0-for-2 after coming in. Day defended him after the game, saying the freshman wasn't overwhelmed and that the game was simply moving fast for him.

Meyer didn't let it go. On The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Monday, he said Ohio State's chances with Fahey in the coming weeks were about even. He noted that Fahey had not been taking first-team snaps and that the offense stalled once he came in. Meyer also pointed out how much the Buckeyes lean on receiver Jeremiah Smith. In his view, Sayin's 38-yard fourth-down touchdown to Smith was not a great throw, and Smith turned it into a score.

What it means for USC

The timing of the bye week helps. Ohio State is 6-1 and has two weeks to settle the job before it visits No. 16 USC on October 31 on NBC. Its only loss was 24-23 at Texas. Since then the Buckeyes have won five straight, including ranked road wins at Iowa (31-14) and Indiana. The Indiana win was also their lowest-scoring game of the season, so the offense was already struggling before the quarterback change. Meyer also warned against overlooking Lincoln Riley's team, saying the Trojans have learned how to win hard games away from home.

The loss leaves Indiana at 6-1 ahead of a trip to Michigan on Saturday on Fox. The Hoosiers are favored there. Novig has them at -257 on the moneyline, and the best price among the 12 venues on our board is Polymarket's -240. On the other side, Michigan is +239 at Novig and +240 at FanDuel, so the venues are only a point apart. On the spread, Novig lists Indiana at -7.5 (+113), while theScore Bet has the Hoosiers at -6.5 (-115). The total is 41.5 across the board. That fits an Indiana team whose last two games were decided by four and three points.