COLUMBUS, Ohio — C.J. Stroud’s approach remains the same: one game at a time.

The Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback is set to face back-to-back Top-10 teams in Michigan and Michigan State, but the primary focus is on the Spartans.

“Definitely, especially in college football, you can lose any week,” Stroud said.

That’s why he’s singularly focused on the task at hand and not on the race he’s currently leading.

According to BetOnline, FanDuel and many other sports books, Stroud is the favorite to take home the 2021 Heisman Trophy, ahead of players like Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral and Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker III — someone the Buckeyes will try to stop Saturday afternoon.

Stroud doesn't see that list as players vying for what's rightfully his.

To Stroyd, Young and Corral are friends. They are his “homies.”

They are the quarterbacks he watches to support not scout, along with Clemson quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims and Miami quarterback D’Eriq King when he was healthy.

To Stroud, Young isn’t a direct competitor. He isn’t someone he’s watching to prepare for a potential matchup in the College Football Playoff.

He’s a person the Ohio State quarterback met heading into his freshman year of high school. It’s the player who’s team whooped his team on the basketball court; Young’s Division 1-bound athletes compared to Stroud’s 10.

To Stroud, Young is a brother. Young is on the same journey as him.

“Me and Bryce often FaceTime and we’ll talk. We won’t even talk about football. We’ll just talk about life and parents, different things like that,” Stroud said. “It’s really good to have a brother who’s going through the same path as you. He’s big on his faith too. I feel like our relationship is awesome.”

Stroud didn’t lie Wednesday night as he and his team prepared for its final home game of the season. He said it’s a blessing to have his name out there as a Heisman candidate. But it’s not something he says he dwells on.

“I don’t look at that stuff, at least I try not to,” he said. “I even tell my family members not to send that stuff to me, just to focus in on that opponent that week, which is Michigan State.”

But Garrett Wilson knew what Stroud was capable of when he was named Ohio State’s starting quarterback.

“Coming into the year, I thought it would be the kid from Oklahoma or our dude,” the junior linebacker said.

While Wilson himself is turning heads, garnering the question of if he should be considered as a Heisman candidate, the junior receiver shrugged it off, pointing to Stroud’s ability to make the checks, hand the ball off, hitting him when he’s open, not hitting him when he’s not open.

To Wilson, Stroud makes him look good. To Wilson, Stroud should be a Heisman candidate.

“I’ve seen him sling it now for a year-and-a-half or two years now. He’s something very special,” Wilson said. “If we finish the way we expect to, the way we prepare to, he’ll be right where he wants to be at the end of the season as far as those Heisman odds, the Heisman race.”

But that’s not something Stroud will talk about.

His message is the same as head coach Ryan Day’s has been all season: to stay level-headed, to not ride the roller coaster of highs and lows, to execute.

Stroud preaches the message because he knows what’s on the line, both for the team as a whole and for him personally.

“After that Sunday, we’re always like, ‘Throw the last games behind us. They’re over with. You can never go back and play Purdue again. You can never go back and play Penn State again,’ anybody,” Stroud said. “I try to tell them even if we left the game off a high, we kind of have to let it go and move on.

“If you don’t come out and execute the next game, they are going to talk about how bad we were.”