On a weekend of carnage across college football, Ohio State was one of the few top-10 teams to survive in a 19-15 win at Indiana -- even if only by a foot out of bounds. That win in a battle of Big Ten titans should have cleared the path for the Buckeyes to roll to the Big Ten title game and the College Football Playoff, but in the fourth quarter, quarterback Julian Sayin injured his throwing arm and could miss the rest of the season. Quarterback injuries have unfortunately become a common theme at the top of the Big Ten this season.
Sayin joins UCLA's Nico Iamaleava as starters on contenders to suffer potentially season-ending injuries, while Oregon has been without Dante Moore since he suffered a concussion against USC. The Buckeyes turned things over to Luke Fahey against Indiana, with the freshman throwing a pair of incompletions in support duty, but Tavien St. Clair will also get first-team reps over the next two weeks as Ohio State uses its bye to figure out the quarterback situation moving forward.
We'll learn who will take over for Sayin when Ohio State hits the field on Halloween against USC, and find out if the Buckeyes' offense can remain a title-contending unit with a backup under center. For now, Ohio State nabs the top spot in our Big Ten Power Rankings for the first time this season, but their hold on that position feels tenuous amid the uncertainty at the most important position on the field. Let's dive into where the rest of the Big Ten sorts out behind them heading into Week 8.
A win on the road at Indiana is big for the Buckeyes, especially after what happened in Austin earlier this season. Losing Julian Sayin is brutal for Ohio State's title hopes (and Jeremiah Smith's Heisman hopes), but getting a bye week immediately to sort things out is pretty significant. Whether it's Luke Fahey or Tavien St.
Clair getting the start at USC in two weeks, the Buckeyes will be leaning on their run game and a defense that's been fantastic to try and remain at the top of the conference. Having a star like Smith to target should help whoever takes over, and in a wild year where no one seems to be a super-elite team, I'm not ready to count the Buckeyes out just yet. The Bruins took care of business against Wisconsin last week in a sneaky difficult challenge coming off the high of that Oregon win.
The UCLA offense struggled to get the rushing attack going and had to put a lot on Ty Dieffenbach, but he performed well, and that should raise confidence in Westwood that the Bruins can remain a playoff contender even without Nico Iamaleava. Next up is a home game against Michigan State, and while the Spartans are winless in conference play, they've been competitive in their last two, and the Bruins can't allow themselves to look ahead -- the good news is, with Nevada up next, there shouldn't be too much temptation to do so. Hoosiers fans will be seeing Nick Marsh stepping out of bounds on that fourth-down pass in their nightmares for a while, but Indiana has to turn the page quickly as they head on the road to face Michigan this week.
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