Ohio State Beats Indiana 19-15 to End Hoosiers' Streak, but Julian Sayin Faces Weeks Out

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA · SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2026

Ohio State won the game and lost its quarterback. The No. 5 Buckeyes beat No. 4 Indiana 19-15 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, ending the Hoosiers' 22-game winning streak in front of 54,532 fans — but quarterback Julian Sayin injured his shoulder in the fourth quarter, and head coach Ryan Day said afterwards that Sayin will miss several weeks. Ohio State leaves Bloomington 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten, alone in a far stronger position in the conference race, and facing a stretch of its season without the quarterback who got it there.

Sayin finished 15 of 29 for 235 yards with two interceptions before the injury, which came on a sack by Indiana's Mario Landino in the fourth quarter. He was seen in a sling late in the game. Freshman Luke Fahey played the final 7:36 and went 0 for 2 passing, asked simply to protect a lead that Indiana very nearly took away. That the Buckeyes survived those final minutes says plenty about their defense. That they had to survive them at all is the problem they now carry into their bye week.

The throw that won it

The game's defining play came early in the fourth quarter, and it came from the receiver who has made a habit of defining Ohio State games. Facing fourth-and-1, the Buckeyes did not play it safe. Sayin found Jeremiah Smith for a 38-yard touchdown, the score that ultimately stood up as the winner. It was Smith's 39th career receiving touchdown, tying Braylon Edwards' Big Ten record. Smith finished with four catches for 68 yards, a modest line by his standards that happened to include the single most important play of the afternoon.

Fourth-and-1, on the road, against the No. 4 team in the country, with a winning streak of 22 games on the other sideline: most play sheets offer a safe option there. Ohio State chose the aggressive one and its best player made it count. When a season turns, it usually turns on a call like that, in a moment like that.

Indiana's last chance

Indiana refused to let its streak die quietly. Nick Marsh caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Josh Hoover, and a two-point conversion to Turbo Richard pulled the Hoosiers within 19-15. Then, with the game there to be won, Indiana drove to a fourth-and-4 at the Ohio State 27 in the final minutes. Hoover went to Marsh in the end zone for the lead — and Marsh stepped out of bounds. Incomplete. Ballgame, with 1:02 left.

The margins could hardly be thinner: one foot in bounds and Indiana likely completes one of the great comebacks of the season, extends its streak to 23 and takes control of the Big Ten race. Instead the Hoosiers are 6-1 and 3-1 in the league, with the knowledge that they outgained Ohio State 369 yards to 313 and still lost. Yardage is not the scoreboard, but Indiana's performance confirmed what its ranking said: this team belongs in the conference's top tier, streak or no streak.

The box score underlines how fine the line was. Indiana actually won the yardage battle, 369 to 313, and played in front of 54,532 fans who believed a 23rd straight win was coming. Ohio State's quarterback line captures the strangeness of the Buckeyes' day: Sayin's 235 passing yards came with two interceptions before the injury, and his replacement, freshman Luke Fahey, finished 0 for 2 over the final 7:36. Ohio State won a top-five road game while its passing attack produced one touchdown drive that mattered most, the fourth-and-1 strike to Smith, and while its starter watched the finish in a sling.

The Sayin problem

Now the hard part for Ohio State. Day's assessment, reported by Reuters/FLM, was that Sayin will miss several weeks with the shoulder injury suffered on Landino's sack. The Buckeyes' schedule offers one immediate mercy: their next step is a bye week, and then a trip to USC. A bye buys time for Fahey to take first-team repetitions and for the staff to reshape the offense around a freshman who attempted two passes in Bloomington and completed none of them.

It also raises the stakes of every Ohio State game until Sayin returns. At 4-0 in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes control their path. But a conference race is not won on position alone; it is won week by week, and Ohio State must now win weeks with a freshman quarterback, on the road at USC first. The defense that closed out Indiana will have to carry more. Smith, who just tied a Big Ten record, will have to be the safety blanket and the big-play threat at the same time.

What Saturday settled, and what it opened

Settled: Indiana's 22-game winning streak is over, Ohio State owns the Big Ten's inside track at 4-0, and Jeremiah Smith's name now sits beside Braylon Edwards' in the conference record book. Opened: everything about Ohio State's next month. A 19-15 road win over the No. 4 team is a championship-grade result. Doing the championship part without Julian Sayin is a different challenge entirely, and it starts now. Track the Buckeyes' road ahead on our college football hub and the Previously scores page, and read the rest of a dramatic Saturday in the Previously sports section.