Is Luke Fahey giving Ohio State its best chance to win?

The Ohio State Buckeyes are 6-3, No. 21 in the AP poll and coming off back-to-back losses to the USC Trojans and Oregon Ducks, the two games true freshman Luke Fahey has started since Julian Sayin hurt his arm against the Indiana Hoosiers on Oct. 17. Sayin is out for the rest of the regular season, and every week since, the quarterback conversation around the program has circled back to the five-star sitting behind Fahey on the depth chart.

Ryan Day took that question at his weekly press conference Tuesday, ahead of Saturday’s noon ET game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ohio Stadium, and walked through how he got to his answer before giving it.

“The first thing to know is we’re just gonna do whatever we can to win the game. What gives us the best chance to win the game? What gives the team the best chance to win it? And when we go through the process of making that decision, it ultimately is my decision, but I go through a lot of different channels to make sure that I’m getting really good feedback on what everybody else is seeing because it’s a big decision. So coaches, both sides of the ball, players, older guys, guys on offense, receivers, everybody, to find out what am I seeing here. Am I missing something? And so, Luke is gonna be our quarterback this week. Tavien’s one snap away. And that mentality has got to continue to be his mentality and continue to grow. And if we can continue to improve in practice and build enough trust within practice and if we feel like he gives us the best chance to win, we’ll make that move. We’re not at that point right now,” Day said.

Is Luke Fahey giving Ohio State its best chance to win?

Fahey went 21 of 38 for 260 yards and a touchdown in the 30-18 loss at USC on Oct. 31, then 36 of 50 for 360 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in the 41-28 home loss to Oregon last Saturday. Ohio State averaged 438.5 yards across those two games and scored 46 points.

The Buckeyes are moving the ball with a former three-star freshman throwing 44 times a game, and they finished too few of those drives to keep pace with USC or Oregon. Fans asking for St. Clair are working from those two Saturdays, and Day tied any change to what St. Clair shows on the practice field during the week.

St. Clair, the five-star from Bellefontaine, Ohio, who signed in the 2025 class, has played 19 snaps in two games this season and is 5 of 7 for 52 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He threw two passes as a freshman in 2025 and has not taken a snap since Sayin went down.

What Northwestern brings to Ohio Stadium

Northwestern arrives at 6-3 with a +12 turnover margin, tied for fourth in FBS, while Ohio State sits at +1. Fahey has thrown 88 passes in two starts, and a defense that has lived on takeaways all season is a difficult opponent for a first-year quarterback carrying that much of the offense.

Ohio State has won 11 straight against Northwestern. A loss Saturday would be the Buckeyes’ third in a row and their fourth of the season, which would leave little left of their College Football Playoff hopes.

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