Top ranked Ohio State travels to Austin on Tonight to face No. 4 Texas in a rematch of last year’s season opener, a game the Buckeyes won 14-7 in a defensive slog nobody will remember fondly. A year later, both starting quarterbacks have transformed into legitimate Heisman contenders, both teams enter unbeaten, and both sides are treating this as the biggest non-conference game of the 2026 season. ESPN’s College GameDay will be on site. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
What actually happened between these two teams last year?
Not much offense, and that’s the point. It was the first career start for Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and only the third for Texas’s Arch Manning, and both quarterbacks played like it. Sayin completed 13 of 20 passes for a modest 126 yards and one touchdown, while Ohio State deliberately kept his workload light. Manning, carrying enormous preseason hype into his first full season as Texas’s starter, struggled against what would finish the year as the nation’s top ranked defense, going 17 of 30 for 170 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The final score flattered how one sided the game actually felt.
How different are these two quarterbacks now?
Almost unrecognizable from a year ago, according to both coaching staffs. Sayin finished 2025 completing 77% of his passes, the best mark in the country, for 3,610 yards and 32 touchdowns against just eight interceptions, earning a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist.
Manning found his footing later in the season, averaging 286 yards per game with 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions over Texas’s final six games, finishing the year with 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns overall. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian has pointed specifically to the confidence both quarterbacks now play with in the pocket and their willingness to use their legs, something neither showed much of in last year’s meeting.
Why does this game matter beyond the two teams involved?
It carries conference bragging rights on top of everything else. The SEC went a combined 16-0 across the league in Week 1, while the Big Ten finished 17-2, and Today’s winner hands one conference a clear early season statement. Both programs also enter with national championship aspirations, and while neither side is treating this as a playoff elimination game this early in the season, the outcome could still carry weight when seeding conversations begin in December.
What are the biggest questions heading into kickoff?
Ohio State’s offensive line is the clearest concern after a Week 1 win over Ball State that head coach Ryan Day admitted still needs work, and that unit will be tested directly against Texas edge rusher Colin Simmons. On the other side, Texas will try for a third straight game to keep Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith contained, something the Longhorns have managed the last two seasons but have never sustained for a full four quarters against arguably the best player in college football. Texas is also chasing history of its own, looking for its first win over a No. 1 team since a 2008 victory over Oklahoma.
What do the numbers say should happen?
They disagree, which is exactly what makes this one worth watching. Oddsmakers have set the total at 49.5 points, more than double last year’s combined score, signaling an expectation that both quarterbacks will finally get to show what they can do.
Texas sits as a narrow favorite in most markets, with some analysts pointing to Ohio State’s shaky offensive line and the Austin heat as factors that could tip the game toward the Longhorns. Other national projections still lean toward a low scoring, defense driven finish similar to last year, with the game ultimately decided in the trenches rather than through the air.
So who actually wins?
That’s the part nobody can answer from a press box on Friday. Two elite quarterbacks who looked nothing alike a year ago now walk in as near equals, two top five defenses have something to prove, and the only certainty heading into Tonight is that neither side is the same team that left Columbus in a defensive standstill last September.
