The 2024 Buckeyes won a national championship, but Jeremiah Smith thinks the 2025 Buckeyes are better.
In an interview with CBS Sports following Ohio State's 34-0 win over Wisconsin, Smith expressed confidence in the 2025 Buckeyes, who are undefeated at 7-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation.
"I feel like this team is better than last year's team."
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) October 19, 2025
Jeremiah Smith on the 2025 Buckeyes, who are looking to win back-to-back national titles pic.twitter.com/AHt0oYhzLQ
"This year's team, we want to make a name for ourselves. We want to go down in the history books as the team (to win national titles) back-to-back," Smith told former Ohio State running back Beanie Wells. "I feel like this team is better than last year's team. That's what I feel."
Wells' co-host, former Florida State cornerback Bryant McFadden, let out a loud, "Oooooo" when hearing Smith's claim. Wells responded, "I love it."
Ohio State's 2024 team won the national championship with a 14-2 record, including regular-season losses to Oregon and Michigan and postseason victories over Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame. The Buckeyes had the No. 14 scoring offense (35.7 points per game) and No. 28 in total offense (429.4 yards per game) in college football. They also had the No. 1 scoring defense (12.9) and No. 1 in total defense (254.6) in the sport.
This season, Ohio State is 7-0 with victories over then-No. 1 Texas, Grambling State, Ohio, Washington, Minnesota, then-No. 17 Illinois and Wisconsin. The 2025 Buckeyes are currently better than the 2024 Buckeyes in the four categories mentioned above, averaging 36.43 points and 431.4 yards per game on offense while allowing 5.86 points and 216.9 yards per game on defense.
Ohio State is putting on the CLAMPS this season pic.twitter.com/iZ6zCLhvFZ
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) October 18, 2025
While the statistics back Smith's claim, Ryan Day would likely argue Ohio State still has a lot of work to do if it wants to end the season as a better team than last year's Buckeyes.
"There are certainly areas that I won't get into because I don't want to give anybody anything to look at," Day said with a laugh, "but we know what our issues are and we have to continually work on them to get them better. Then we have to continually put guys in position to be successful."
