Only one of the four juggernaut College Football Playoff opponents Ohio State faced on its run to a national championship last year managed to contain then-freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. The Buckeyes happen to play that team in their 2025 season opener.
Texas held Smith to one reception for three yards in the CFP semifinals at the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10, though it didn’t stop Ohio State from mounting a 28-14 victory. Still, Smith is eager for a different outcome this go-round.
“I'm definitely hyped about this one, especially how things went last year, things people were saying about me about that game I had last year,” Smith said earlier this month. “I'm definitely hungry for this one for sure.”
Ohio State’s coaching staff is going to do all it can to scheme Smith open, but the key to winning football often comes from a balanced game plan. Ryan Day and first-time play caller Brian Hartline are working on a plan to walk the right line.
“The goal here is not to get a certain player a certain amount of touches. It's to win the game,” Day said on Tuesday. “Now, in order to win the game, certain guys have to touch the ball. So I don't know if that makes sense, but that's it. We have to win the game. And when Jeremiah's touching the ball, a lot of good things happen. So that's our job, is to make sure that that's happening. But at the same time, we've got to make sure we do what we can to win the game and then go from there.”
Texas’ entire defensive game plan centered around slowing Smith seven months ago, with constant brackets and rolled zone coverages to pester him at every turn. Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski will likely have a similar scheme as he enters his fifth season in that role. But there are three key differences between this year’s meeting and the last.
First, Smith and Ohio State’s coaching staff will have seen the designs once before and have had months to prepare a counter to what Texas did successfully last year. It could involve deploying Smith at various spots in formations, it could be going to other targets early to punish the increased focus on him, it could involve different passing concepts that find holes in the coverage.
Second, Texas is replacing two key defenders from its vaunted 2024 secondary. Jahdae Barron, a first-round 2025 NFL draft pick, won the Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back before matching wits with Smith in the CFP. And the Longhorns will also be without the steady hand of safety Andrew Mukuba, a second-round pick in the draft.
Lastly, as hard as it might be to believe for a man who caught 76 passes for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns last year, Smith is going to take a leap from his freshman to sophomore year. Day has already been quoted as saying he’s “bigger, stronger and faster” than in 2024.
Smith showed in the CFP that he can produce in big spots, too, collecting 18 receptions for 378 yards and five touchdowns in Ohio State's other three CFP games. Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian certainly isn’t taking him lightly, seeing shades of a future Pro Football Hall of Famer.
“I had a chance to coach Julio Jones for two years in Atlanta. Reminds me a lot of him,” Sarkisian told FOX’s Colin Cowherd in July. “So big and physical, but yet fast and they cover ground. So strong at the point of attack when the ball is in the air, you see the ability to make contested catches. I do think, at the end of the day, that’s where your attention needs to be, but hey, they’ve got really good coaches. He’s gonna be moving around, he’s not gonna be lining up in one position all the time. Ideally, you’ve got multiple people with eyes on him and guarding him. But you still have to play great team defense.”
“I had a chance to coach Julio Jones for two years in Atlanta. Reminds me a lot of him.”– Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian on Jeremiah Smith
Day also felt Ohio State’s self-inflicted wounds via penalties put it behind the chains and made the team more predictable in stretches during the Cotton Bowl. That only hurt the matchups for Smith.
“I think when you look back on that game, those penalties really hurt us,” Day said. “They set us way behind the sticks. And we have to play better football than that. They're a very disciplined team, and we have to do a better job than we did in that game.”
In any case, Smith is anxious to rewrite the story Texas’ defensive backs told last time they squared off.
“It motivates me a lot. I know I didn't really have a great game last year. This game is gonna be a different outcome,” Smith said.
