Penn State to get ape-raped on Friday night,,,,,,,,,, by a bunch of nerds!

Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin and TJ Alford Are Pro Football Focus' Highest-Graded Ohio State Players Against Illinois​

The Top Three​

1. WR Jeremiah Smith (93.7)​

When you catch 12 passes for 217 yards and four touchdowns, it's usually regarded as a pretty good performance. PFF agreed and Smith earned the best offensive grade (93.7), receiving grade (92.5) and drop grade (82.2) of any receiver in the nation for Week 4.

This is the second time this season Smith has been PFF's top-rated Buckeye. It's also the third straight week PFF has ranked Ohio State's star receiver as a top-three player on the team.

For the season, Smith has PFF’s highest grades in the nation in offense (94.2) and receiving (93.7).

Is this good?

2. QB Julian Sayin (92.9)​

Sayin completed 75% of his passes for 367 yards and four touchdowns against Illinois. This is the fourth time in his career Sayin has thrown for 300-plus yards and four touchdowns in a game, making him the first Ohio State quarterback to do so. J.T. Barrett and Justin Fields hit these marks three times each.

Sayin's offensive grade of 92.9 and his passing grade of 92.2 were both best in the Big Ten for Week 4.

3. LB TJ Alford (86.2)​

For the second time this season and the first time since Week 1, Alford is a top-three player for Ohio State in terms of PFF grades. His overall grade (86.2) and coverage grade (81.4) were the third-best among Big Ten linebackers by PFF for the week.

For the season, Alford is the Big Ten's highest-rated linebacker in overall defense and coverage with a grade of 91.4 in both categories.

Position Bests (10+ Snaps)
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Extra Points​

• For the second straight week, Payton Pierce was graded (62.5) as Ohio State's lowest-rated linebacker. However, it is an improvement of 8.4 points from his performance against Kent State in Week 3.
• Ja'Kobi Jackson's season running grade of 87.7 is best on the team.
• Mason Williams (49.1) was Ohio State's lowest-rated player overall, while Devin Sanchez (55.0) had the lowest defensive grade. Sanchez's overall game was graded poorly, but he earned an 82.7 tackling grade against Illinois, the highest among all cornerbacks in the B1G.
• Like Sanchez, Jaylen McClain earned high marks in tackling against the Illini. McClain's 87.0 tackling grade was the best among safeties in the conference.

Well if Bill Bergen could massively improve his BA from .179 in 1901 to .180 in 1902, is it possible that Hayes has a similar leap next year?

ochre said:

they make Dann Bilardello look like a silver slugger.

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Or Sal Butera.

Performance Review: Ross Bjork Says Ryan Day’s Leadership Transcends Ohio State, Buckeyes Had “Best Team All Season” in 2025 Despite Postseason Losses​

Ross Bjork was highly complimentary of Ryan Day in his annual performance review this summer.

In his review of Day for the 2025-26 academic year, which Eleven Warriors obtained through a public records request on Monday, Ohio State’s athletic director gave the Buckeyes’ football coach a grade of “Exceeds Expectations” and praised Day’s leadership and the culture he has built.

“Coach Day's leadership continues to transcend Ohio State and the game of college football on all levels,” Bjork wrote in his review, dated June 18. “He has developed and evolved into one of the leading voices of the sport and has kept Ohio State football at the forefront while also navigating the rapid changes impacting college sports. The culture of our program is as strong as it has ever been, and that is a testament to his leadership and focus on every detail within the program. The coaching staff he has assembled and the program structure in place allows him to truly be the "CEO of Ohio State University Football," and this organizational set-up is critical to our success moving forward.”

Bjork highlighted Ohio State’s performance both on and off the field over the past year. While Ohio State’s 2025 season ended with postseason losses to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game and Miami in the College Football Playoff, Bjork felt Ohio State “had the best team all season long.”

“Coach Day's focus on recruiting the right young men to the program who are stellar students, great people, and elite players are evident in the record-setting team GPA, third straight year of a 1,000 APR score, and the social behavior of our team,” Bjork said. “Our team continues to set the tone on the field as well by going 12-0 in the 2025 regular season and winning the rivalry game. Coach Day continues to operate the most consistent program in the country over the last 25 years at the highest level, and although we fell short of a championship in 2025, we had the best team all season long and unfortunately did not finish the way we expected.”
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JohnnyCockfight said:

Gonna be a monster. Kind of already is.

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Hopefully he welcomes his new 9th string QB in a similar manner;-)

tOSU missed by not going after Cam Edwards in the portal and I mentioned at the time I didn't see an elite RB on this roster.

I will say, Bo is about as talented as they come in terms of catching the ball out of the backfield. Even prior to his one-handed catch against Illinois, he's proven extremely reliable when it comes to making catches on swing passes, screens, etc. So props on that.....and 1 reason it makes sense to play him over Jakobi.....it doesn't tip off run or pass.

brodybuck21 said:

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If you’re into card collecting, Panini has a NIL OSU Prizm box of the 2024-25 team you can get on Amazon for $30. It isn’t just football, but I’ve scored big time on them. Outside of Tate, Julian, and JJ, I scored both an Iggy and Reese on-card auto and a couple Reese parallels, inserts, and numbered parallels. What makes it even more collectible is it’s from the title run season.

BB73 said:

You get as many points for Iowa, your second choice, as there were seconds remaining when they took the lead for the last time.

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Cheeky bastard.

calibuck said:

When both Caitlin and Kelsey missed opening 3's, knew it was gonna be a game much like Lynx couple nights before. Plus Aja went 16/18 or some such obscene number from the field. (usually see that from free throw line). Aja almost had more blocks than many of Fever starters had points. Las Vegas looking at another title if they can keep that intensity up for rest of tournament.

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100% plus they are maybe the most veteran and cohesive team in the league. You aren't going to stop the MJ of women's basketball unless you can get her in foul trouble and sitting. It's the supporting cast that you can't let shoot at a 75% clip and backdoor you all night.

Sophie was great last night and AB battled. The other 2 can't have that off night next game

Bestbuck36 said:

Can I get half the points since I picked 2 of them and got 1 right?

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You get as many points for Iowa, your second choice, as there were seconds remaining when they took the lead for the last time.