Jeremiah Smith has not forgotten Juice Clarke, and Saturday’s matchup with Illinois gives him a chance to make that very clear.
The Ohio State wideout already put together one of those games that sticks in the memory from last season’s trip to Illinois, even though the stat line was modest by his standards. In the Buckeyes’ 34-16 win, Smith caught five passes for 42 yards and a touchdown.
But the play everyone remembers came after a dust-up with Clarke, when the two traded facemask grabs during a run play, Smith swung him down, and a personal foul flag followed. Not long after, Smith turned around and beat Clarke cleanly on a route for a goal-line touchdown.
That sequence said plenty about how Smith handled the moment. He took the confrontation personally, then answered it the way great receivers do - by making the defender pay immediately. With Ohio State and Illinois meeting again this weekend, the same matchup has a chance to get ugly fast.
Smith enters this one as the Buckeyes’ clear centerpiece in the passing game. Ohio State still has not found a second receiver who can consistently stretch the field, which has made Smith the most dependable target on the roster. If the Buckeyes keep leaning on him the way they often do when the offense stalls, Clarke could be staring at another long afternoon.
The expectation is not subtle here: Smith should be able to win this battle again. He already looked like the better player in the first meeting, gliding past Clarke for that touchdown, and there’s every reason to think Ohio State will put the ball in his hands early and often. The thought here is simple - if Smith gets his way, Clarke could be in for another humbling day.
Still, Ohio State can’t let the offense become a one-man show. When the Buckeyes get stuck, they have a habit of trying to force the ball to Smith, and while he can win a lot of those contested situations, they need more answers than that.
Brandon Inniss was the other receiver who stepped up last week against Kent State, finishing with four catches for 78 yards and a Hail Mary touchdown. The bigger question is whether that was a one-off or the start of something more reliable.
That matters because Ohio State’s third-down numbers have been rough. The Buckeyes have converted just 12 of 33 tries so far, and that has to change.
The running game needs work, too. Finding a second receiver who can consistently help could ease some of those problems.
Even so, this feels like a game where Smith is set up to take over. He probably won’t be out there much in the fourth quarter if Ohio State turns this into a blowout. And if Clarke wants to avoid another embarrassing chapter, he may want to keep the heat down this time.
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Ohio State Has Two Injury Concerns Fans Will Watch Closely Saturday
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Joel Klatt Just Framed Ohio State's Arch Manning Problem Perfectly
Arch Manning has spent most of this college football season living under a microscope, and Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt recently put a sharper point on why. Klatt said the Texas quarterback has been okay overall, with one burst against Ohio State standing out from a body of work that has otherwise looked far more ordinary than the hype around his name.
For Buckeyes fans, that evaluation hits close to home because it frames the matchup in Columbus as the outlier in Mannings season rather than the rule. Since then, Manning has been productive but not overwhelming, and the spotlight only figures to get brighter with Tennessee next on the schedule, a game that could go a long way toward defining how his season is remembered. [Read more 🡒]