No. 5 Buckeyes Extends Home Win Streak to 12 Games

Saturday, October 10

Columbus, Ohio

4:15 p.m.

Ohio State

5-1 , 3-0

Maryland

2-4 , 0-3

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Maryland	3	7	6	0	16
Ohio St.	14	17	7	7	45

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No. 5 Buckeyes Extends Home Win Streak to 12 Games

10/10/2026 8:52:00 PM | Football

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With the win, Ohio State extended its home winning streak to 12 games and the Buckeyes improved to a perfect 10-0-0 all-time against Maryland, winning all five games in the Ryan Day era.

By: Will Pantages and Andrew Kovar

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 5 Ohio State football team (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) defeated Maryland (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten), 45-16, on Saturday afternoon at Ohio Stadium.

With the win, Ohio State extended its home winning streak to 12 games and the Buckeyes improved to a perfect 10-0-0 all-time against Maryland, winning all five games in the Ryan Day era. In the Day era, Ohio State has won by a combined 264-94 in the five games. Additionally, Ohio State has scored 37 or more points in every matchup in series history.

Ohio State also improved to 491-115-20 all-time at Ohio Stadium, which is in its 104th season as the Buckeyes' home venue. Since 2000, Ohio State owns the nation's best home record among FBS programs at 160-17 (.904).

Saturday also marked the 100th game of the Ryan Day era with the Buckeyes holding an impressive 87-13 record in those games.

The Buckeyes amassed 449 yards of total offense, including 242 passing yards, and scored two touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Jeremiah Smith continued his standout season with 4 catches for 93 yards and two touchdowns.

He needs just two touchdown receptions and 315 yards to break the conference's records.

Junior quarterback Julian Sayin completed 13-of-21 passes for 242 yards and a career-high tying four touchdown passes. On the ground, tailbacks 5th year Ja'Kobi Jackson and sophomore Bo Jackson combined for 183 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Ohio State totaled 52 total tackles, only allowing Maryland to gain 146 yards of total offense.

Individually, the Buckeye defense was led by junior safety Jaylen McClain, recording a team-high eight total tackles, including four solo stops. Up front, junior defensive lineman Eddrick Houston collected 1.5 tackles for loss and four total tackles.

Next, the top-five Buckeyes travel to Bloomington, Indiana to play No. 6 Indiana. The two teams are meeting for the 99th time in program history, with Ohio State is 80-13-5 all-time against Indiana. In the Ryan Day era, the Buckeyes are 6-1 against the Hoosiers and hold a 37-10 road/neutral game record.

Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET on FOX.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ohio State forced a three-and-out on Maryland's first drive of the game, allowing sophomore wide receiver Phillip Bell to return a punt 31 yards to the Maryland 36-yard line.
After the return, junior quarterback Julian Sayin found junior wide receiver Jeremiah Smith for a 33-yard passing touchdown.
During Ohio State's third drive of the game, the Terrapins forced a fumble to set them up for a field goal on the ensuing drive, cutting the Buckeye lead to 7-3.
On Ohio State's ensuing drive, Sayin connected with sophomore tight end Nate Roberts for a 68-yard touchdown pass to bring the lead to 14-3, capping a two-play, 71-yard drive.
At the end of the first quarter, the Buckeyes have outgained the Terrapins 124-to-48 in total offense.
To open the second quarter, Maryland scored a rushing touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10.
Ohio State capped their first drive of the second quarter with a 40-yard passing touchdown from Sayin to Smith, extending the lead to 21-10.
After forcing a Maryland three-and-out, the Buckeyes marched 64 yards in seven plays, setting up a 40-yard field goal by junior kicker Connor Hawkins, extending the Buckeye lead to 24-10.
Maryland gives Ohio State positive field position with 3:35 left before halftime after attempting a trick-play on their own 44 during a punt, which led to a 1-yard touchdown reception by senior tight end Mason Williams, extending the buckeye lead to 31-10 entering halftime.
After the first half, the Buckeyes led 282-to-87 of total offense.
After nine scoreless minutes to start the third quarter, Maryland intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. They missed the two-point conversion, cutting the Buckeyes' lead to 31-16.
On Ohio State's ensuing possession, the Buckeyes marched 64 yards in seven plays, capped by a 25-yard touchdown run from sophomore running back Bo Jackson, extending the lead to 38-16.
During the third quarter, Ohio State outgained Maryland for 88-to-40 yards of total offense.
With 4:52 left in the game, Ohio State capped a 72-yard, 16 play drive with a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Jackson to end all scoring, extending the Buckeye lead to 45-16.
In total, the Buckeyes outgained the Terrapins 499-to-145 of total offense, ending the game with a final score of 45-16.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

In Saturday's game vs. Maryland, Smith finished the game with four receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns.
- Smith is the sixth Buckeye in program history to record 200 or more receiving yards in a game and is one of two Ohio State receivers (Jaxon Smith-Njigba):

Rank	Game	Receiving Yards
1.	Illinois (Sept. 26, 2026)	217
2.	at Iowa (Oct. 3, 2026)	206
3.	vs. Oregon (Jan. 1, 2025)	187
4.	vs. Miami (Dec. 31, 2025)	157
5.	Ohio (Sept. 13, 2025)	153
T6.	at Texas (Sept. 12, 2026)	151
T6.	Ball State (Sept. 5, 2026)	151
8.	vs. Indiana (Dec. 6, 2025)	144
9.	at Purdue (Nov. 8, 2025)	137
10.	Penn State (Nov. 1, 2025)	123

He has 211 receptions and is now the program leader in career receptions, passing Emeka Egbuka (2021-24) at No. 14 Iowa:

Rank	Player	Career Receptions
1.	Jeremiah Smith (2024-Pres.)	211
2.	Emeka Egbuka (2021-24)	205
3.	K.J. Hill (2016-19)	201
4.	David Boston (1996-98)	191
5.	Chris Olave (2018-21)	176

Smith has 3,474 receiving yards, breaking Michael Jenkins' record of 2,898 against Kent State on Sept. 19 at Ohio Stadium. Smith is also the only receiver in program history to have over 3,000 career yards:

Rank	Player	Career Receiving Yards
1.	Jeremiah Smith (2024-Pres.)	3,474 yards
2.	Michael Jenkins (2000-03)	2,898 yards
3.	Emeka Egbuka (2021-24)	2,868 yards
4.	David Boston (1996-98)	2,855 yards
5.	Gary Williams (1979-82)	2,792 yards

Smith broke into the top 10 in Big Ten history in career receiving yards at No. 14 Iowa and needs 314 yards to move up to first in conference history:

Rank	Player	School	Career Receiving Yards
1.	John Standeford (2000-03)	Purdue	3,788 yards
2.	Taylor Stubblefield (2001-04)	Purdue	3,629 yards
3.	Dorien Bryant (2004-07)	Purdue	3,548 yards
4.	Braylon Edwards (2001-04)	Michigan	3,541 yards
5.	Jeremiah Smith (2024-Pres.)	Ohio State	3,474 yards
6.	Lee Evans (1999-03)	Wisconsin	3,468 yards
7.	Dequece Carter (2019-23)	Indiana	3,430 yards
8.	David Williams (1983-85)	Illinois	3,392 yards
9.	D'Wayne Bates (1995-98)	Northwestern	3,310 yards
10.	Tyler Johnson (2016-19)	Minnesota	3,305 yards

He has 38 TD receptions, breaking the Ohio State in all-time receiving touchdowns at No. 14 Iowa as he passed Chris Olave (2018-21):

Rank	Player	Career Receiving TDs
1.	Jeremiah Smith (2024-Pres.)	38 TDs
2.	Chris Olave (2018-21)	35 TDs
3.	David Boston (1996-98)	34 TDs
4.	Marvin Harrison Jr. (2021-23)	31 TDs
5.	Devin Smith (2011-14)	30 TDs

With his 31st career touchdown reception against Illinois, Smith entered the top 10 in Big Ten history in career touchdown receptions. He is second in conference history with 38 career touchdown receptions and needs two to become the Big Ten leader:

Rank	Player	School	Career TD Receptions
1.	Braylon Edwards (2001-04)	Michigan	39
2.	Jeremiah Smith (2024-Pres.)	Ohio State	38
3.	Anthony Carter (1979-82)	Michigan	37
4.	James Hardy (2005-07)	Indiana	36
5.	Chris Olave (2018-21)	Ohio State	35
T6.	David Boston (1996-98)	Ohio State	34
T6.	Dequese Carter (2019-23)	Indiana	34
7.	Tyler Johnson (2016-19)	Minnesota	33
9.	Desmond Howard (1989-91)	Michigan	32
T10.	Marvin Harrison Jr. (2021-23)	Ohio State	31
T10.	Bobby Engram (1991-95)	Penn State	31
T10.	Brian Alford (1994-97)	Purdue	31
T10.	Ron Johnson (1998-01)	Minnesota	31
T10.	Elijah Sarratt (2023-25)	Indiana	31

STAGGERING STATISTICS

Saturday marked head coach Ryan Day's 100th game as the head coach at Ohio State.
With Saturday's victory over Maryland, Day is now seven wins away from the third-most victories in school history:

Rank	Name	Ohio State Wins	Win Percentage
1.	Woody Hayes	205	.761
2.	John Cooper	111	.715
3.	Jim Tressel	94	.817
4.	Ryan Day	87	.870
5.	Urban Meyer	83	.902

Additionally, Day's 87.0 winning percentage is a historic pace with only Knute Rockne having a higher winning percentage as an FBS head coach in the history of the game:

Rank	Name	Career Wins	Career Win Pct.
1.	Knute Rockne	105	.881
2.	Ryan Day*	87	.870
3.	Frank Leahy	107	.864
4.	Urban Meyer	187	.854
5.	Kirby Smart	122	.853

* Has not reached 10 years as a head coach

Additionally since 2019, Ohio State has the most home wins in the country with 48:

Rank	School	Total Home Wins	Games Played	Win Pct.
1.	Ohio State	48	51	.941
2.	Alabama	47	50	.940
T3.	Georgia	44	46	.957
T3.	Oregon	44	47	.936
5.	LSU	43	50	.860
T6.	Michigan	42	50	.840
T6.	Notre Dame	43	49	.878
T6.	Missouri	42	53	.792
T6	Ole Miss	42	51	.824
10.	Clemson	41	50	.820

Maryland was Ryan Day's 63rd Big Ten game in his tenure as head coach (win vs. Rutgers as acting head coach in 2018 included).
- Day's Buckeyes are 58-5 in Big Ten games including a 30-2 record in Big Ten games at Ohio Stadium. Additionally, Ohio State is 42-1 against opponents who were unranked in Big Ten play during his tenure.
- Day's teams are 24-1 in the month of October and 8-1 against ranked opponents during the month. Additionally, Ohio State is 13-0 at home in October contests.
- In Day's 63-game Big Ten tenure, Ohio State has averaged 39.9 points per game while allowing just 15.3 points per game to their opponents.
This marks just the fifth time that Ohio State has played Maryland in the Day era, improving to 5-0 all-time in those games:
- Nov. 9, 2019 in Columbus: W, 73-14
- Oct. 9, 2021 in Columbus: W, 66-17
- Nov. 19, 2022 in College Park: W, 43-30
- Oct. 7, 2023 in Columbus: W, 37-17
- Oct. 10, 2026 in Columbus: W, 45-16

FROM COACH DAY

The first thing is, going into the game there were some things that popped up late in the week and then some things that—we decided before the game that we were going to hold some guys. There were five guys in there that were starters that didn't play in the game, so it was an opportunity for some guys to step up. There was some good play out there; that the energy, that the physicality was really there, there were a lot of good things there. But, some of the penalties—on one drive there were four penalties on defense—when you do that, that's about us and our discipline. And then there were other things that popped up in terms of penalties. When you have eight penalties like that, that's not the sign of a good team, so we got to make sure we're getting that fixed and being more focused in that area. And obviously the turnovers can't happen. Now that being said, you take a lot of that out of there; there was a lot of good. We scored at the end of the half again for the sixth straight game in a row. I don't know if that has ever been done before— pretty remarkable. We were able to hit some big throws to Jeremiah Smith early on and then really get the run game going in the fourth quarter, so there's a lot of good there. The other thing, someone like Gabe VanSickle who on short notice had to move out to tackle and then move Jake Cook in there against a very talented front—that's a big, strong front that took a little time to wear down—they were playing pretty hard and did a nice job, so some good there. But we know what it's going to take next week, so we got to keep working for perfection, knowing that it's not always going to be perfect, but that's what we're looking for. We're competing every day to be the best version of ourselves; that's the bottom line. When we come up short, we have to hold each other accountable and that starts from coaching and goes from there.

UP NEXT
Next, the top-five Buckeyes travel to Bloomington, Indiana to play No. 6 Indiana. The two teams are meeting for the 99th time in program history, with Ohio State is 80-13-5 all-time against Indiana. In the Ryan Day era, the Buckeyes are 6-1 against the Hoosiers and hold a 37-10 road/neutral game record.

Kickoff is scheduled for Noon ET on FOX.