Ohio State opened its season by removing Ball State from the premises, 56-3, and the top-ranked Buckeyes were done celebrating before the confetti of it settled. Ryan Day was already on Ohio State vs Texas, calling next week's trip a monster game moments after the final horn. He is not wrong, and he is also telling on himself a little. Nothing that happened Saturday told him one useful thing about the team he actually has.
That is not a knock on the Buckeyes. It is the nature of the thing. You schedule a MAC opponent in Week 1 to get your legs under you, find out who can line up correctly, and get out of the building healthy. Ohio State did all three by roughly the middle of the third quarter.
What did Ohio State do to Ball State?
Fifty-six to three. That is a game where the starters do their work early, the sideline gets long, and the coaching staff spends the fourth quarter watching a scout-team quarterback learn on the job. The final margin is a fact, not information. I have watched enough of these to know that a 53-point opener against a mid-major tells you the varsity is the varsity and very little else.
What it does buy is a clean week. No coach in America says "monster game" out loud in September unless he has already decided the season's first real measurement is seven days away.
Ohio State vs Texas: what actually carries over
The honest carryover from a rout is short: health, penalties, and whether the offensive line held up in the eight or nine snaps that were actually contested. Everything else is going to look different when the opponent can match athletes. Texas can match athletes.
checked the almanac on this one. these two have a real, weird history for programs that do not play often: a home-and-home in 2005 and 2006 that split, texas taking the first one in columbus and ohio state answering in austin the next fall, then a january 2025 cotton bowl semifinal that ohio state won on its way to the title. it never seems to be a blowout. one beat of wonder, then back to work.
The thing I will be watching is not the scoreboard next week so much as the snap count from Saturday. If Ohio State's front-line offensive line played into the third quarter of a 40-point game, that is a tell about how settled that group actually is. If they were on the bench in street clothes by halftime, the staff feels good.
The rest of opening Saturday looked a lot like this
Ohio State was not alone in the demolition business. Opening weekend is the one week a year when the sport lets the big rooms decorate.
| Game | Final | Margin |
|---|---|---|
| South Carolina vs Kent State | 57-0 | 57 |
| Ohio State vs Ball State | 56-3 | 53 |
| Alabama vs East Carolina | 48-10 | 38 |
| Iowa State vs SE Missouri State | 38-10 | 28 |
South Carolina's shutout came with LaNorris Sellers talking up the tempo Kendal Briles has brought to that offense, which is the kind of thing that either shows up in October or does not. Alabama got 249 passing yards and a rushing touchdown from Keelon Russell with Ryan Coleman-Williams going for 130 receiving. Iowa State's Jaylen Raynor accounted for four touchdowns, two through the air and two on the ground. Real production, soft opposition. Both things are true.
The one piece of news with actual teeth came out of Bloomington, where Curt Cignetti said running back Khobie Martin will miss "a little bit" of time with an apparent arm injury from the opener. "A little bit" is coach for "I am not telling you." Hope the kid is fine.
What I'm watching next
Ohio State's injury report and practice availability out of Columbus this week, because that is the only thing from a 56-3 game that will still matter seven days from now. And whether Day keeps talking about Texas or suddenly goes quiet. Coaches who get louder about the next opponent usually like their week. Coaches who go silent are fixing something.
