Zak Drapeau's CFB Week 1 Game of the Week: 1 Texas vs 3 Ohio State

Zak Drapeau
Aug 28
5 min read

Updated: Sep 17

by Zak Drapeau 8/28/2025 Sportz Nation

Week 0 may have already started the 2025 College Football season but this Saturday marks most fans' true beginning of the season as Texas travels to face off against the reigning NCAA Champion Ohio State Buckeyes.

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Legendary Coaches

Being split in the preseason NCAAF rankings by just Penn State, Ohio State and Texas not only have 2 of the best rosters but some of the best coaching in the nation too. From the home team, Ryan Day will be in his 7th season at the head of Ohio State's program. From Texas, Steve Sarkisian will start his 5th campaign for his school. Both former offensive coordinators and QB coaches and both had been on some of the 2000's and 2010s best teams as assistant coaches before starting their own Head Coaching careers.

Day's National Championship as Ohio State's Head Coach was the first Natty of his career, while Sarkisian has been a part of 3 championship teams as an assistant coach for the mid-2000's USC dynasty and most recently as Alabama's OC in 2020.

In their times as Head Coaches for their respective programs, Ryan Day is 70-10 in 7 seasons with a 6-4 record in Bowl Games. Steve Sarkisian is 38-17 in 4 seasons with a 1-3 Bowl Game record. Sark's numbers may seem mid but in the last two years has been 25-5 with an appearance in the CFP both times. In those same two seasons, Day's Buckeye's are 25-4 with the obvious CFP run and subsequent National Championship last season.

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2024 Roster Changes

Both of these teams underwent a dramatic turnover from their 2024 campaign thanks to graduation and the NFL Draft. In total, Texas' turnover may have been the largest of any program, losing 43 players to the draft, graduation and the transfer portal. Ohio State would lose 34 in total and hold the honor of most draft picks by any school with 15. Not far behind, Texas would hold the 3rd most drafted players with 12.

The impact that the Transfer Portal has had since it was modified ahead of the 2024 season. Now that players can transfer multiple times in their career and not have to sit out a year or lose any eligibility. To the transfer pool, Texas and Ohio State would lose 18 and 17 players respectively.

Both teams would do well in incoming transfers for their own part but would also have two of the best recruiting classes in 2025 as well, with Texas largely being considered as having THE best in the nation.

Returning Starters

Some of the most notable changes of any team will be the changing of starters which these teams are no stranger to. For Ohio State, of their 22 offensive and defensive starters only 7 will return this season and that includes G Luke Montgomery who only started due to an injury to Tackle Josh Simmons. On defense, the Buckeyes will only return 1 starter from their front-7. MLB Sonny Styles may be one of the best linebackers in the nation but surrounded by 6 new faces will take time getting used to.

As for Texas, they will also return only 7 starters from last year including only 1 offensive lineman, G D.J. Campbell and 0 defensive lineman starters from last season. Contrastingly, Texas will be bringing back 3 starting DBs from last season after sending both Jahdae Barron and Andrew Mukuba last year.

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Top Players

Texas

For the upcoming 2025 season, there's a reason Texas is ranked #1 and that is because of having a Top-5 Quarterback, Edge Rusher, Linebacker and Safety on their roster. While much of the media focus will be on Arch Manning this season, we can't forget about the superstars that Texas has on it's defense.

Linebacker Anthony Hill is widely regarded as the best linebacker in the nation in both coverage and downhill-ability. Edge Collin Simmons has 14 TFLs and 9 sacks last season as a true Freshman and returns as one of the best Sophomores in the country. Michael Taafe rounds out this completely-rounded defense as their deep Safety taking over from Andrew Mukuba after intercepting 5 passes in the past two years.

Ohio State

The best of the best on Ohio State are legitimately the best in the sport. On offense, Junior WR Carnell Tate is one of the best in the nation but pales in comparison to the true Sophomore WR Jeremiah Smith who is regarded as the best player in the nation at only 19-years old.

Throwing Smith the ball this year is somewhat of a mystery, as Redshirt Freshman Julian Sayin will be the Day 1 starter. A #9 ranked recruit in the 2024 HS class and 2nd ranked QB, Sayin has a good arm and dual-threat ability and should command this team even at a young age.

Not only does the Buckeyes have the best player in the nation on their offense but they very well might have the 2nd best player in the nation on their defense in Safety Caleb Downs. One of the most complete Safeties we've ever seen in College Football, Downs became the focal point of their defense which ranked 1st in the nation last season. For his Junior year, Downs should get even better.

Alongside Downs, Davison Igbinosun will return as a terrific Cornerback with Jermaine Matthews Jr who has a lot of people talking after a phenomenal summer. Sonny Styles will also man the middle of the field as the Captain of this unit. After 2024 where this defense ranked #1, the top players they return could have them toward the top of the league again.

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Greatest Week 1 Matchup Ever

Never before have two teams inside the Preseason Top-25 Polls' Top-3 ever faced off in Week 1. The reigning National Champions face off with the #1 preseason ranked team who also happens to have the Heisman Trophy and 2025 NFL Draft #1 pick favorite.

At the moment, Ohio State are 1.5-point favorites in Columbus for Week 1. At 47.5 points, the game's over-under is lower than most college games and predicts a strong defensive showing from both teams. Just last season, Ohio State would have the #1 ranked defense, leading the league in both points and yards and similarly, Texas would be ranked 3rd in the league in both points and yards earning a #2 ranked defense.

As we've seen, their defenses took quite a hit to the draft but should still remain as two of the best units in the sport. As both defenses will face off against relatively inexperienced QBs in their matchup, I too believe we will see a defensive battle and low-scoring game.

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Prediction

In picking the winner, I have to look at the defensive advantage for Texas and the coaching advantage for the Buckeyes. While the QB advantage has to also go to Texas, the OSU's Wide Receivers make up for it and even out the offenses for me. Because of all this, I am going to tentatively pick Ohio State in this one if not solely because of their home field advantage.

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