Ohio State (7-0) might look even better than it did when it won the national championship last season. But, according to FOX Sports college football analyst Robert Griffin III, there’s another team that should be considered superior to the top-ranked Buckeyes in 2025.
“I believe Indiana’s the best team in the country,” Griffin said on Monday’s “The Herd.”
Indiana, who moved up to No. 2 in the most recent AP Poll, is also off to a 7-0 start. The Hoosiers’ highlight victory came in Week 7, when it defeated previously third-ranked Oregon, 30-20, in Eugene in a win that many analysts called the most impressive victory of the season.
The win over Oregon isn’t the sole reason why Griffin believes Indiana is ahead of Ohio State, though. In fact, there’s another game that Griffin cited for why the Hoosiers are CFB’s top team.
“My reason for saying that isn’t just solely off how the two teams played against Illinois,” Griffin said. “I saw an Ohio State team that took advantage of the mistakes Illinois made and they capitalized on them, but I saw an Indiana team that absolutely dominated them from the start of the game to the finish. They gave up two rushing yards in that game.
“It’s not a transitive property conversation or argument. It’s just more of what I saw with my own eyes, and I think Fernando Mendoza is playing lights out.”
Indiana had one of the most dominant victories of the season in its 63-10 win over Illinois in Week 4. Mendoza threw three more touchdowns (five) than incompletions (two) in that game, while the Hoosiers rushed for 312 yards.
Mendoza’s performance is part of the reason why he’s a slight favorite for the Heisman Trophy entering Week 9. Mendoza has thrown for 1,755 yards, 21 touchdowns and two interceptions so far, and currently holds +280 odds to take home the honor at DraftKings Sportsbook. This past weekend, his touchdowns matched his incompletions (four) as he finished with 332 passing yards in a dominant 38-13 win over Michigan State.
Fernando Mendoza is now the betting favorite to win the Heisman. (Photo by James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As impressive as Mendoza was Saturday, Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin outdid him statistically. He completed 36 of 42 passes for 393 yards and four touchdowns in Ohio State’s 34-0 victory over Wisconsin. Sayin moved up the oddsboard following that outing, and now has the third-best odds (+400) for the Heisman.
With Sayin throwing for just 166 yards in a 34-16 victory over Illinois in Week 7, a game in which Ohio State forced three turnovers, Griffin thought Saturday’s game was a much-needed showing for him.
“I just think Julian Sayin is not getting the attention he deserves because I believe he’s going ‘Super Sayin’ when it comes to playing winning football,” Griffin said. “I know he leads the country in pass efficiency and completion percentage. This past week, he threw for 393 yards and four touchdowns. I thought he needed that type of game for people to understand how well he’s playing.”
Despite having Indiana ranked as the better team, however, Griffin still thinks the Buckeyes’ quarterback should be in pole position for the Heisman.
Julian Sayin has quickly emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in college football. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
“He’s my frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, and I know he’s got Jeremiah Smith and [Carnell] Tate out there at wide receiver, but at the end of the day, someone has to steer the ship,” Griffin said.
Sayin has completed 80% of his passes for 1,872 yards, 19 touchdowns and three interceptions this season, ranking among the best passers in the nation in completion percentage (first) and yards per attempt (seventh). But he might not even be the most impressive part of Ohio State’s team. The Buckeyes’ shutout of the Badgers was their second of the season, and they rank first in scoring defense (5.9 points per game) while giving up the second-fewest yards per game (216.9).
Griffin believes that it will take a very specific quarterback to take down Ohio State. We’ll see if it eventually ends up being Mendoza.
Said Griffin, “Ohio State, you talk about that defense, you’re going to have to have a quarterback that has the utmost confidence to throw into traffic and use ball placement to beat them.”
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