Ryan Day and Ohio State make Luke Fahey decision for clash vs. Oregon

Ryan Day and the No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes have to feel a bit on edge heading into Week 10's matchup with the No. 23 Oregon Ducks.

That's because, literally, they're on the edge right now. OSU is now 6-2 after a loss to the unranked USC Trojans, and another loss could push the Buckeyes right out of the College Football Playoff. That reality amplifies every decision that Day makes, and he's made a big one heading into the clash against the Ducks.

With Julian Sayin out indefinitely with an injury to his throwing shoulder, the Buckeyes will stick with freshman Luke Fahey at quarterback. The other option would have been sophomore Tavien St. Clair, who battled Fahey for the Buckeyes' backup job during the season and again got a chance at first-team reps during the bye week.

Fahey's first career start came against USC, and he completed 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown. 

"There's things to build on there for sure," Day said of Fahey, via Jake Trotter of ESPN. "But we've got to do a better job around him, helping him out as a young player."

Ohio State has confidence in freshman QB Luke Fahey 

Fahey led the Buckeyes to just 18 points, and a normally explosive offense was held out of the end zone for the first 57 minutes of the game. 

Down 15 points late in the fourth, Fahey found Jeremiah Smith for a one-yard touchdown pass with 2:12 to go, but then OSU failed to convert the two-point conversion.

The result was a 30-18 loss that saw the Buckeyes go 7-of-16 on third down, 0-of-1 on fourth down and commit 11 penalties for negative 75 yards.

"I thought he had the right approach," Day said of the freshman. "It was not all perfect. There were certainly things that happened operationally that for a young quarterback it was a lot on him, and he was working through it. There were some misthrows, but we expected all that to happen. He also made a lot of plays. He also had command of the huddle. He also showed some grit out there and toughness."

Either way, this game against Oregon will be the "battle of the backups" in Columbus. The Ducks quarterback is former Nebraska five-star prospect Dylan Raiola, who took over for Dante Moore after the latter suffered a serious concussion that knocked him out for the season.