Top takeaways from Ohio State's victory over Minnesota

Onto the next one.

A dominant pass game and lockdown defense ultimately earned the Ohio State Buckeyes a 42-3 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday.

The Buckeyes remained undefeated with their fourth win at Ohio Stadium this season, which kept them at the top of the AP Poll for the sixth week in a row. Receiver Carnell Tate finished the game with 183 receiving yards and one touchdown on nine receptions. His 163 first-half receiving yards were the most in any half by a Buckeye since now-Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Oct. 4, 2025; Ohio State v. Minnesota. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images — Oct 4, 2025; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) drops back to pass during the first quarter against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Ohio Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

Julian Sayin wins the day again

Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin ended the night with 326 passing yards, marking his third outing of the year with 300 or more, while tacking on three passing touchdowns.

Whether it be short or long-burning drives, Sayin continuously found ways to connect with OSU's receivers, including on a 44-yard touchdown pass to Tate after he found the endzone with a defender a mile behind him. Sayin would earn his highest completion percentage since an early-September bout with Grambling State, when he hit on 16 of his 17 pass attempts on their way to a 70-0 victory.

The OSU offense, even with its multitude of playmaking options, can ultimately go where Sayin goes, along with his climbing confidence and comfort in its system this season.

"When you can be accurate underneath and get the ball out quick, but then also down the field, that's when our offense can really be clicking on all cylinders," OSU head coach Ryan Day said in a postgame conference.

Buckeyes defense keeps rolling

Ohio State's defense limited the Golden Gophers to 94 yards from the air and 68 from the ground. It evenly split seven tackles for loss and four pass deflections. The talent and the scheme of OSU's defense kept the Golden Gophers from getting into any kind of rhythm after they drew first blood with an early field goal, which continued their streak of now allowing their opponents to score in double digits this season.

Though they came close with another field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, Minnesota just couldn't find the endzone after scoring 31 against Rutgers the week before.

The Buckeye defense is allowing an average of five points per game with a season-high nine against the Ohio Bobcats. Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck, now in his ninth year in the program, had nothing but high praise for the defense that ranks third in the country in yards allowed per game during his postgame conference.

"It's not just the players and the depth," Fleck said. "That's exceptional. That's off the charts. Some of the best I've seen. It's the schematic pieces that make it so complex, where every single play is a different front structure, blitz structure, coverage structure.

"In the second half, they went more to 1 Rat. They can do that. We weren't able to create any separation and they could stop the run. That was pretty dominating, that's for sure. They've got really good players, they have a really good scheme, they compliment each other very well and they put you in that phone booth."

Ohio State will take on Illinois next Saturday at noon in Memorial Stadium.