Andrew Perloff won’t vote Julian Sayin for Heisman: ‘He has the easiest job in college football’

Andrew Perloff isn’t buying the Julian Sayin Heisman hype.

The Maggie and Perloff morning show host dismissed Ohio State’s redshirt sophomore quarterback as a serious candidate on Tuesday, arguing Sayin’s job is too easy to warrant real consideration for college football’s most prestigious award.

“There’s a lot of Heisman hype, but how hard is his job? Let’s be realistic,” Perloff said. “I mean, Penn State, that means nothing.”

“How hard is his job? Let’s be realistic… You cannot vote for Julian Sayin.”@andrewperloff says the Ohio State QB should not be seriously considered for the Heisman Trophy, but @MaggieGray says his numbers and the Buckeyes’ success makes him a worthy candidate pic.twitter.com/IWo19WfH2i

— Maggie and Perloff (@MaggieandPerl) November 4, 2025

Sayin became the Heisman Trophy betting favorite after torching Penn State for 316 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday. He completed 20 of 23 passes in the 38-14 win, pushing his season completion percentage to 80.7 percent while leading the nation in quarterback rating at 197.1. Those numbers would shatter the FBS single-season completion percentage record if they hold.

But Perloff questioned what any of it actually means.

“How could people vote for Julian Sayin? Who has Ohio State beaten? They’re in the Big Ten, who are they going to beat?” Perloff continued. “I mean, I don’t know, I can’t understand it. How do you know what this actually means until he’s playing a good team? And he’s throwing to the great wide receiving corps we’ve seen, except for the last three years of Ohio State wide receivers.”

Sayin is throwing to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, arguably the best receiving duo in the country. Smith has 55 catches for 725 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Tate has caught 39 passes for 711 yards and seven touchdowns. Both receivers combined for 247 yards and three touchdowns against Penn State alone.

The talent surrounding Sayin is exactly Perloff’s point.

“For me, it’s really hard to distinguish Julian Sayin from, say, Jeremiah Smith,” Perloff said.

Ohio State’s schedule does offer ammunition for skeptics. The Buckeyes opened with a win over No. 3 Texas, but Ohio State leaned heavily on its defense in that game. Sayin only attempted 24 passes. Since then, Ohio State beat No. 17 Illinois, unranked Washington (Joel Klatt complained about that one), unranked Wisconsin, and unranked Penn State on Saturday.

The remaining schedule offers little opportunity to change minds. Ohio State travels to Purdue this weekend before hosting UCLA, visiting Rutgers, and finishing with Michigan. Rutgers and Purdue have one Big Ten win between them, and it came when they played each other.

Beyond the schedule, Perloff questioned whether Sayin’s numbers even set him apart from his peers. He asked co-host Maggie Gray if Sayin has been better than Alabama’s Ty Simpson, who was the other top Heisman contender alongside Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza before Sayin jumped both in the betting markets.

“There’s nothing to be said for it,” Perloff added. “He has the easiest job in college football.”

The case for Sayin isn’t just about completion percentage. He’s thrown 23 touchdown passes against just three interceptions. He hasn’t thrown an interception since Week 3 against Ohio University. Four times this season, he’s completed at least 85 percent of his passes while throwing for 300-plus yards and at least three touchdowns. No other quarterback in the country has more than one such game.

Ohio State’s offense is designed to make things easier on its quarterbacks. Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline have consistently produced elite efficiency from that position. But Sayin’s ball placement, decision-making, and pocket presence separate him from previous Buckeyes quarterbacks at this stage of their careers.

Sayin plays for the best team in college football with the best weapons in the country. His completion percentage leads the nation by more than seven percentage points. The gap between him and second place is larger than the gap between second place and 44th.

None of that changes Perloff’s point. The remaining schedule won’t either. Purdue, UCLA, Rutgers, and Michigan are a combined 9-14 in Big Ten play. Suppose Sayin keeps completing 80 percent of his passes against that group while Ohio State wins by three touchdowns every week. In that case, voters will decide whether historic efficiency against a weak schedule beats anything else the field has to offer.