The unsung heroes of Ohio State’s 27-9 victory over Michigan

When the lights were on in Ann Arbor, Ohio State’s stars shined the brightest.

Julian Sayin was on point, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate both scored touchdowns, and Bo Jackson put on a historic performance for a freshman. On the other side of the ball, guys like Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, Kayden McDonald and a host of others showed out and held Michigan out of the end zone.

That said, a win like this requires contributions from almost every player on the roster, and there were no shortage of under-the-radar Buckeyes that assisted in the 27-9 victory.

Jaylen McClain

Despite playing the most snaps of any player on the best defense in the country this season, Jaylen McClain might be Ohio State’s most underrated defender.

If you aren’t a fan of the Buckeyes, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard McClain’s named called at all. The sophomore safety hasn’t made any splash plays this year; He has no interceptions, no sacks and not even one tackle for loss.

What he has done is provide an incredibly dependable last line of defense. McClain is sixth on the team with 44 total tackles, and has three pass breakups on his ledger. Not much has gotten past the first two levels of Matt Patricia’s group this year, but when it has, McClain has been there to clean it up.

That was especially true in Ann Arbor, where the former three-star prospect made some touchdown-saving tackles on the few long plays Michigan was able to muster, including all three 20-plus yard runs.

On Jordan Marshall’s game-opening 36-yard gain, McClain was there to make the tackle. On Marshall’s 21-yard run on Michigan’s second possession, McClain again made the stop. Bryson Kuzdal’s 22-yard run? Again, McClain prevented it from being even more.

Every given Saturday you watch safeties all across the country taking banana angles to the football, leading to long touchdowns. McClain has been a perfect eraser at the back end of the Ohio State defense, stopping those long gains from reaching the end zone and allowing the Silver Bullets to regroup, more often than not resulting in a stop.

Tegra Tshabola

Outside the health of Ohio State’s two star wide receivers, the biggest question mark for the Buckeyes heading in The Game was the play of their offensive line.

A lot of that conversation centered around the play of Tegra Tshabola. The senior right guard has played a ton of football in scarlet and gray, but has been largely inconsistent. Tshabola has been fantastic at times in his career, however throughout most of this season he had struggled in both pass blocking and run blocking alike.

Against Michigan, Tshabola played his best game of the year.

The 6-foot-6 guard has made a bit of a habit of rising to the occasion when the opponents get tough, and that rang true against the Wolverines. Tshabola played a season-high 73 snaps on Saturday, finishing as Ohio State’s second-highest graded pass blocker (79.4) and allowing zero pressures and zero hurries.

As a unit, the Buckeyes’ offensive line was dominant in Ann Arbor, paving the way for a 419-yard offensive performance, highlighted by 117 yards rushing by Bo Jackson and 233 yards passing for Julian Sayin.

Tywone Malone

The interior guys along the defensive line don’t always get a ton of love. The edge rushers get all the glory going after the quarterback and coming up with the highlight plays, but the tackles are the ones doing a lot of the dirty work up the middle helping to stop the run.

One of those tackles is Tywone Malone, who for much of the season has likely been the third-most popular tackle on the roster behind Kayden McDonald and Eddrick Houston. However, Malone has actually played more snaps on the year (259) than Houston (243), and he has really been coming on as of late.

Three of Malone’s highest-rated games in 2025 have come in the last three weeks, with another stellar performance coming against Michigan. The former Ole Miss transfer was bullying Wolverines offensive linemen throughout the afternoon, and came away as Ohio State’s highest-rated run defender in The Game (80.1) as well as highest-rated defensive player overall (80.0).

Malone finished the game with four tackles, all of which stopped Michigan run plays for two yards or less.

Will Kacmarek

The way Malone was having his way physically against the Wolverines in the trenches, so too was Will Kacmarek on the other side of the ball.

With Max Klare on the roster as the primary receiving tight end, Kacmarek has been primary blocker. On the year, the former Ohio transfer has been the highest-graded pass blocker (71.4) and run blocker (73.8) of any non-offensive lineman with at least 200 snaps, per PFF.

It was more of the same against Michigan. Kacmarek was tossing guys around up front, helping to clear the path for Jackson on the ground and keeping Sayin upright.

In addition to his blocking efforts, Kacmarek also made his presence felt in the passing game, hauling in an impressive 25-yard grab over the middle to help set up Ohio State’s pre-halftime touchdown.

The Buckeyes have played a ton of 12 and 13 personnel, and Kacmarek has been on the field more than any other tight end on the roster. The graduate senior led the room with 431 snaps, ahead of Klare (403) and Bennett Christian (229).