Jeremiah Smith left USC with another place in the record book, and he may be on the verge of adding one more this Saturday.
The Ohio State star caught 10 passes for 83 yards in the Buckeyes’ 30-18 loss, but the final throw of the night carried extra weight. With a little more than two minutes left, Luke Fahey hit Smith for a one-yard touchdown, giving him the 40th touchdown catch of his career and pushing him past Braylon Edwards’ Big Ten record of 39, a mark that had stood since 2004.
That milestone barely registered in the moment because of the loss, but it underscored how quickly Smith is moving through the conference record book. He already owns every major receiving record at Ohio State, and now he has the Big Ten career touchdown mark too.
The next target is even closer.
Smith’s 83-yard night at USC lifted him to 3,625 career receiving yards. That leaves him 163 yards shy of tying Purdue’s John Standeford for the Big Ten career record and 164 from taking it outright.
For most receivers, that’s a heavy lift. For Smith, it’s the kind of number he has been chewing through all season.
He has already posted 151 yards against Ball State, 164 at Texas, 217 against Illinois and 206 at Iowa. Through eight games this season, he has 62 catches for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns, and he’s averaging more than 130 receiving yards per game.
The timing of the chase has shifted a bit. When I wrote about this race in early October, I thought Smith would break the record at USC on Halloween.
Sayin’s injury, a quiet day at Indiana and the way USC defended him pushed the moment back a week. Now the stage is set for Ohio Stadium, where a home crowd against Oregon would make for a fitting finish.
The biggest question is whether Smith can get there with Fahey.
His numbers have cooled over the last two games. At Indiana, he was held to a season-low 68 yards while the defense crowded him on nearly every snap. At USC, with Fahey making his first start, Smith still caught 10 balls but averaged just 8.3 yards per catch as Ohio State leaned on quick throws and easy completions.
That approach made sense. Fahey needed help settling in, and Smith was the safest option on the field.
But it also meant the explosive plays weren’t there. To reach 164 yards against Oregon, Smith will probably need at least one or two downfield shots.
There’s reason to think those chances will come. Fahey now has a full game behind him and another week of practice as the starter.
After Indiana, Smith said it would, “take time” to build the same chemistry with a new quarterback, but he’s already Fahey’s top target. The touchdown at USC also showed Fahey is willing to look his way when the moment matters.
Oregon will have a plan for him, just like every defense does. That hasn’t mattered much before.
Smith can turn a short catch into a long gain, or go up and win a contested ball over two defenders. One or two plays can change the whole equation.
He has already done damage against the Ducks. In the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2025, as a true freshman, Smith posted seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns in Ohio State’s 41-21 College Football Playoff win and was named MVP. He scored on a 45-yard catch and run on the Buckeyes’ first possession and added a 43-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
If he finds that kind of space again on Saturday, the record might not last long.
If Smith gets there, he’ll own the Big Ten career marks for both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, and he’ll have done it in three seasons instead of four. The career receptions record is a different story. Purdue’s Taylor Stubblefield set that standard at 325 catches, and Smith is at 225.
There are still a pair of single-season marks within reach, too. Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s Big Ten record of 1,606 receiving yards is 540 yards away, and Desmond Howard’s single-season touchdown record of 19 is seven away. With four regular-season games left, plus a possible Big Ten title game and playoff run, both are still in play.
Even with Ohio State sitting at 6-2 and dealing with a changing quarterback situation, Smith remains the constant. He is the best player in college football, and he is on the doorstep of becoming the most productive receiver the Big Ten has ever seen.
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For Ohio State, the more immediate concern is much closer to home after the loss to BYU exposed some defensive communication issues. Jake Diebler and his players have already acknowledged the problem, and it is the kind of early-season flaw that can linger if it is not cleaned up quickly. With another challenging opponent on the horizon, the Buckeyes do not have much time to let those breakdowns sit around and become a bigger storyline. [Read more 🡒]