Haunted Coliseum: Luke Fahey's First Start Comes at the Scariest Address in the Big Ten

USC's own game notes this week opened with "FOOLISH MORTALS" and a promise that the ghosts of the Coliseum are rising from their eternal slumber. Somebody in the Trojans' communications office had a really good week.

But the bit lands, because the horror movie setup is real. A No. 2 team flies across the country. Its starting quarterback is gone. The new guy has never started a college game. The home team is wounded, unranked, and has nothing left to protect. It's night. It's Halloween. Don't go in the basement, Buckeyes.

Ohio State at USC, 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, is the biggest game of a loaded Saturday, and it's not particularly close. Miami goes to Chapel Hill, Georgia and Florida meet in Jacksonville, and all of that matters. But no other game asks a question this big: what is Ohio State without Julian Sayin?

Meet Luke Fahey, who has 13 career passes and the whole sport watching

The answer starts with Luke Fahey. Per USC's notes on the Buckeyes, Fahey is 9-of-13 this season for 203 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. That's the entire résumé. Tonight is his first career start, and Ohio State took a bye week to get him ready, though USC noted Tavien St. Clair also took first-team reps during the off week. Read into that what you want.

CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli dug up the encouraging precedent: Ohio State has won first starts on the road before. Craig Krenzel did it at Michigan in 2001. Kenny Guiton did it at Cal in 2013. C.J. Stroud did it at Minnesota in 2021. That's a nice list. It's also a list that doesn't include a Halloween night in a stadium where the home team is desperate.

What Fahey does have is the cheat code. Jeremiah Smith has 52 catches for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns, per USC's scouting report, and CBS calls him the clear Heisman favorite. Fahey's whole job description might be "find No. 4 and get out of the way." But Smith's Heisman case now also depends on a quarterback he's never started a game with, and that's a fascinating subplot. The award usually goes to the guy who makes everything look easy. Tonight Smith may have to make something hard look possible.

The Buckeyes' real plan is probably the defense

Here's the thing people are underselling: Ohio State doesn't need Fahey to be Sayin. It needs him to not be a disaster.

This defense gives up 13.4 points and 264.3 yards a game, per USC's own numbers on the Buckeyes. That's a unit that can win a 20-17 game in its sleep. The AP's Eric Olson picked Ohio State 24-17, writing that the defense is capable of carrying the load. CBS leaned under the total, figuring the Buckeyes lean on Bo Jackson and the run game to take the weight off the new guy.

And honestly, the last time out tells you what this team can survive. Ohio State won 19-15 at Indiana in the game Sayin got hurt. Ugly, grimy, two fourth-quarter field goals. The Buckeyes are 6-1 and have won five straight since the one-point loss at Texas. They know how to win the ugly ones.

USC is cornered, and cornered is dangerous

Now flip it. USC walks in 6-2 and unranked for the first time all season after a 17-7 loss at Wisconsin last week. Seven points. At Wisconsin. That's the kind of result that makes a fan base start drafting angry message-board posts at 1 a.m.

But here's what makes the Trojans scary tonight. Jayden Maiava leads the Big Ten in passing yards and touchdowns, per USC. Freshman receiver Trent Mosley has been a weekly highlight. And on the other side of the ball, freshman edge Luke Wafle, the No. 1 overall prospect in On3/Rivals' 2026 class, has a sack in each of his last three games, according to the school. Against a first-time starter, a freshman pass rusher with something to prove is the scariest costume in the building.

The history isn't nothing either. USC has won 8 of the last 10 meetings, per the school, though these two haven't played since the 2017 Cotton Bowl and this is their first ever meeting as conference mates. And the Trojans are 9-2 at home in Big Ten games since joining the league, CBS noted.

Now the bad news, also courtesy of Fornelli: USC is 5-14 against ranked teams under Lincoln Riley, and Maiava is 1-5 as a starter against them. That's the number that should keep USC fans up. This program has spent years looking like a contender until a contender actually shows up.

Why this matters more than one game

Two things make tonight bigger than the spread (Ohio State by about a touchdown, per CBS's panel).

First, the first College Football Playoff rankings drop Tuesday. The committee is going to look at an Ohio State team that just lost its quarterback and ask how real it still is. Win in the Coliseum with a backup, and that question goes away. Lose, and the Buckeyes walk into Tuesday as the most debated team in the room.

Second, this season has been absolute chaos. Olson noted there were 30 one-score conference games last week, the most in a single week since at least 1973. Top-two teams have been falling to unranked opponents like it's a weekly tradition. USC is unranked. Ohio State is No. 2. You do the math, then you double-check it, then you lock your doors.

Our call: Ohio State's defense is the most trustworthy thing in this game, and that usually wins. But "usually" has been a dangerous word in 2026, and if Fahey gives Wafle and that crowd a couple of early gifts, the Coliseum is going to get very loud and very haunted. The Buckeyes are the pick. Just don't be shocked if you're watching the fourth quarter through your fingers.

Happy Halloween. Something in this sport is getting spooked tonight.