No. 1 Ohio State traveling to face No. 4 Texas in a rematch of last year's season-opening bout is the marquee matchup of Week 2. The winner will receive a massive boost to their resume and have the inside track to a top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian should be rubbing his hands as his team is given a 59.6 percent chance of victory as the 1.5-point underdog, according to ESPN Analytics. From an observer's perspective, Texas has the edge in all the major categories entering Saturday: A better quarterback, a deeper receiver corps, a stronger backfield, bigger size in the trenches and homefield advantage.
Arch Manning was the clear preseason Heisman favorite and he's been given a lot of grace after having a disappointing 2025 with the same expectations. He's got more experience and looks poised to take Ohio State passer Julian Sayin to task after being outdueled in Columbus last year. That's mostly because Manning enjoys the benefit of throwing to multiple NFL-caliber receivers like Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo while Sayin will be leaning primarily on Jeremiah Smith.
Yet there's one thing that's probably keeping Sarkisian awake Friday night despite all the preparation he and his team have done leading up to Saturday. He just cannot beat Ryan Day when it matters most.
Steve Sarkisian looks to shake Ryan Day-sized monkey off his back vs. Ohio State
Sarkisian is 0-2 as a head coach against Day and 1-3 overall in his career when he's been on opposite sidelines from him. Saturday is Sarkisian's first opportunity to show he can learn from his past mistakes and return Texas to its dominant era, a la Mack Brown and 2006.
However, that season may be where everything began to slip for the Longhorns. After being crowned national champions for the 2005 season, then-ranked No. 1 Ohio State visited Austin and thumped No. 2 Texas 24-7. The opportunity for revenge wouldn't come again until 2009, when Texas defeated the Buckeyes 24-21 in the Fiesta Bowl. Then the program entered a lull of mediocrity until the Sarkisian era but Ohio State has returned to thwart them at every corner.
Day and the Buckeyes downed Sarkisian and Co. in the CFP semifinal in 2024 and then again in 2025 to kick off last year's campaign. Prior to then, however, Day still was on the better side when he faced Sarkisian.
As Boston College's offensive coordinator in 2014, Day helped lead the Eagles over Sarkisian -- then head coach at USC. The latter managed to best his seemingly now-nemesis as offensive coordinator for Alabama when the Crimson Tide topped Ohio State in the 2020 national championship game.
It's one of the weirdest things in sports. One team could have all the tools necessary and possess all the key indicators of success on paper but still never get past a particular foe just ... because. Day may just have Sarkisian's number and despite possessing an underwhelming roster compared to Texas, there's a reason the Buckeyes are ranked No. 1 entering this matchup.
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