Comparing the quarterbacks in the Ohio State vs. Michigan game

The 11-0 Buckeyes will travel to Ann Arbor to take on the 9-2 Wolverines. Ohio State is the top ranked team in the nation and is hoping to end the four game losing streak to Michigan with a victory on Saturday. Ohio State’s playoff spot is already secured, but Michigan needs a win over the Buckeyes to have a strong argument to make the playoffs themselves. The quarterback matchup in this game is a very interesting one as they were both former 5-star players. Let’s dive more into how they’ve performed so far this year below.

Julian Sayin

At quarterback for Ohio State it will be redshirt Freshman Julian Sayin making his 12th start for the Buckeyes. As a former Alabama signee, he transferred to Ohio State almost immediately after Nick Saban retired. He sat out last year learning the system under Will Howard and had taken the reins of the offense and ran with them this year.

On the season, he has completed an absurd 79.4% of his passes so far this year for 2,832 yards, 27 TD’s, and 4 INT’s. His QB Rating is 2nd nationally, and his pass efficiency is 1st nationally. He’s elite in almost every measure you can look at for a quarterback, and it’ll be a big challenge for Michigan’s defense to try and keep him contained on Saturday.

Despite how good he has been, there are two things about him that could be a good thing from Michigan’s perspective. The first is that he’s not a very big quarterback, listed at 6’1” and 208lbs. The second thing is that he’s also not very mobile. In terms of former Ohio State QB’s, he’s much more in the mold of a Dwayne Haskins or a CJ Stroud as opposed to a Justin Fields or a Will Howard type. He’s a classic drop back pocket passer, and while he doesn’t run it much, he can move around well in the pocket and buy an extra second or two when necessary.

Bryce Underwood

At quarterback for Michigan it will be Bryce Underwood making his 12th career college start. As a former 5-star himself, he’s been starting every game of his Freshman season for Michigan. He’s had some mixed results as you’d expect from a Freshman, and has overall completed 62.2% of his passes for 2,166 yards, 9 TD’s, and 5 INT’s. He’s also added 322 yards rushing and 5 TD’s on the ground.

His QBR is 25th nationally, and his pass efficiency rating is 69th nationally. The QBR metric is obviously much higher on him than his overall pass efficiency and you also have to remember that he doesn’t have nearly the same weaponry to throw to as Julian Sayin does at Ohio State.

He also does have the size and speed advantage over Sayin, listed at 6’4” and 228 lbs. He’s much more mobile as well, rushing for far more yards than Sayin has accounted for on the ground for Ohio State.

Nonetheless, you have to admit, Ohio State certainly has the quarterback advantage at least in terms of experience and production so far in their young careers. Sayin has been playing as well as any quarterback in the country and is one of the top contenders for the Heisman Trophy as well.

It’ll be a tough challenge for Michigan to contain him and the potent Ohio State passing attack. They’ll also need to make sure they get Bryce Underwood playing comfortable and confident early on in this game or else this game could get sideways in a hurry.

Julian Sayin

Bryce Underwood

— Sign up for the Michigan Daily Digest newsletter for more free coverage from Michigan Wolverines on SI —