It’s only October and he just keeps getting better and better. Jeremiah Smith poses after his second TD on the afternoon, wowing the crowd with another record-setting day at the expense of the previously unbeaten Hawkeyes. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Scott Stuart)
Ohio State played a four-quarter game on both sides of the football, wore down the Hawkeyes, and Jeremiah Smith set records, made great catches and struck that famous pose.
Iowa City, IA – If Jeremiah Smith voted for the Heisman Trophy, we know who would get his first- and second-place votes.
No. 1: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State.
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When he scored his second touchdown Saturday – wide open on a 57-yard bomb to create an 18-point lead in the third quarter – he found the cameras in the back of the end zone and struck a Heisman pose.
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Jeremiah Smith, though, is no poser.
“Just gotta let the Heisman voters know … best player in the country,” he said.
As the calendar turns to October and after another record-setting day, he’s the clear favorite to hear his name called in New York as the seventh Buckeye to win the Heisman. And he might just catch everything he can touch in the next seven games and run away with it, all the way to Ohio State receiving records that might stand as long as football is played in Columbus.
The 57-yarder out of the slot that left an Iowa safety more dusted than an Iowa cornfield, set Ohio State’s career touchdown receiving record and tied the career receptions record (a record he would later break).
For the second week in a row…the Buckeyes offense rained Jeremiah Smith on the Big Ten and college football as the standard of ‘extraordinary’.
“I think back to Tuesday and Wednesday during this week and Coach Arthur Smith said we’re going to score on this play,” Smith said. “And that’s what happened.”
As usual, a lot of good things happened when airborne footballs were deftly placed in Smith’s vicinity. So many that the No. 5 Buckeyes steadily pulled away from No. 14 Iowa for a 31-14 victory, the first road win this season.
Smith didn’t act alone to hand Iowa its first loss. The running game showed grit and power with the Jacksons combining for 142 yards. And the defense, after a bendy first half, stoned the Hawkeyes in the second half with successive three-and-outs and a Jaylen McClain interception (forced by the rush of tackle John Walker) that gave the offense room to expand the lead to insurmountable.
Back to Smith. There’s so much more.
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His statistical onslaught – almost as good as last week’s career day against Illinois – reads 11 receptions, 206 yards and two touchdowns. Smith’s first touchdown came with 12 seconds left in the first half from 12 yards out. He caught an out at the three, turned up field and stretched the ball over the goal line while being tackled for a 17-6 halftime lead. Add it to the list of ways he graces the end zone.
For the second week in a row…quarterback Julian Sayin used his legs demonstrating an additional element of the offense.
The Buckeyes have now scored a touchdown in the final 15 seconds of every game this season. The two-minute drills, with their tempo, might be the Buckeyes’ most well-executed drives of the season.
Smith didn’t play on much of that two-minute drive because the tempo didn’t allow for many substitutions. That got others involved, which is always good for a team’s collective psyche.
Devin McCuin (four catches for 80 yards), Brandon Inniss (three catches) and Nate Roberts (two catches) each made a key reception on the drive to get in position for Smith’s touchdown.
“You see other guys making plays and people get excited for them,” quarterback Julian Sayin said with an appreciative smile.
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Again, back to Smith.
Last week he set the school career yards record. On this day, he surpassed Chris Olave for the touchdown record – No. 35 and No. 36 – and Emeka Egbuka for the reception record, reaching 207.
Running back Bo Jackson runs over a Hawkeye tackler for additional yards in the first half of Saturday’s win in Iowa City.
His two-week total: 23 catches, 423 yards and six touchdowns. His season totals through five games: 44 catches, 823 yards and nine touchdowns.
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Oh, and he tied Marvin Harrison Jr. with his 15th 100-yard game. That’s the next record he will break, likely next Saturday at home against Maryland.
“Every coach in America is going to say, ‘We’ve got to take this guy away,’” head Buckeye Ryan Day said. “The challenge is trying to figure out ways to get it to him.”
That turns the conversation to Smith’s hypothetical second-place vote.
No. 2: Julian Sayin, Ohio State.
Sayin, the quarterback, benefits from having a receiver of Smith’s outlandish ability. But he’s also an expert at putting the ball where only Smith can catch it when he’s double- or triple-teamed.
Almost two-thirds of Sayin’s 324 passing yards – on his third 300-yard day this season and ninth of his career – belonged to Smith. But that didn’t stop Day from questioning Sayin’s decision to throw down field into triple coverage.
When asked about it, Sayin said, “Which one?”
The one down the middle that Smith left his feet to catch then ran to the Iowa 21 for 54 yards on his 200th catch. While the catch didn’t lead to a score because Connor Hawkins’ 40-yard field goal thumped dead center at the top of the left upright, the play still resonated.
Linebacker Christian Alliegro celebrates a tackle for a loss in the second half.
“What I didn’t figure was that Julian was going to throw the ball into triple coverage and he was still going to catch it for a big play,” Day said. “That was not a great read, but a ridiculous throw and an unbelievable catch.”
Smith, while surprised, is never caught not finishing a route.
“I didn’t expect Julian to throw that one,” he said. “But it just shows that we have trust in each other. He expected me to make the play.”
Sayin would surely vote for Smith as well with a hypothetical Heisman vote. And not just for his production, which is more than enough. Remember, Heisman voters are supposed to value the “most outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity.”
“Extremely talented, but somebody who’s a great worker, somebody who represents our program the right way, and is a great leader for the younger players in his room, the younger players on our team,” Sayin said. “He’s a great representation of our program and great captain.”
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OK, what else about this win?
Akin to other receivers making most of the catches on the drive to close the first half, was a drive-finishing sequence early in the fourth quarter that raised the lead to 31-6.
The Ohio State pass rush collapses on Hawkeye quarterback Hank Brown.
Sayin found McCuin down field for a 34-yard gain to the Iowa 22. Then Sayin became a hand-off machine.
Ja’Kobi Jackson up the middle for nine, then to the left for three. Bo Jackson up the middle for three. Then Ja’Kobi Jackson over the right side for a seven-yard touchdown. Power football like hasn’t been seen from the Ohio State offense this season. And in the fourth quarter when a coach wants it the most.
“The offensive line was strong up front, knocking people off the ball and finishing the game the right way,” Day said.
Ja’Kobi Jackson started and carried 14 times for 72 yards, Bo Jackson 16 times for 70 yards and Isaiah West seven times for 21 yards. Sayin continued to show a willingness to run, taking off five times for 28 yards. His official total, however, was nine carries for minus-one yard because he was sacked four times.
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“The backs had a great day,” Sayin said. “Ja’Kobi’s running through contact. They were like coach said he wanted, to run angry.”
The defense got the angry message, too, after allowing Illinois 199 rushing yards last week.
Julian Sayin completed 20-27 for 324 yards and three touchdowns.
They started with a tone-setter that quieted Kinnick Stadium early. Kenyatta Jackson sacked Iowa’s Hank Brown and forced a fumble that Christian Alliegro recovered at the 14. Two plays and a false-start penalty later, Sayin threw a 14-yard touchdown to McCuin for a 7-0 lead.
“Coach Patricia, he dialed up some plays for us,” Jackson said. “The quarterback struggled with man-to-man coverage, and we sent some pressure at him, and he couldn’t handle it.”
Iowa moved the ball enough in the first half, converting some third-down passes, to kick two field goals. But along the way the Hawkeyes struggled to run with any consistency, not finding the end zone until the fourth quarter when it didn’t matter.
The Buckeyes blamed themselves for Illinois’ big rushing total last week by over-pursuing and getting out of position. Kenyatta Jackson said on Tuesday that the problem would be fixed for Iowa.
He was right. The Buckeyes allowed only 39 rushing yards on 21 carries, forcing the Hawkeyes to pass a not-in-the-game-plan 32 times.
“We can do a lot,” Jackson said. “We showed today, if everybody’s doing their job, playing as one, flying to the ball, there’s no limit to what this defense can do.”
A defense with no limits added to the limitless proclivities of Smith to Sayin?
If that happens, the Buckeyes might be better prepared for the big games ahead than the nation thought after the Texas tailspin. Mentally, this team is in a much healthier zone.
“That’s a feeling that you won’t forget,” Kenyatta Jackson said. “We just learn from our mistakes, and then we come in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday throughout the week, and then we perform on Saturday.”
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