Jeremiah Smith’s Ohio State future suddenly feels like a real question after another brutal loss left the Buckeyes staring at a season that has gone off the rails.
Getting beaten at home by Oregon wiped out Ohio State’s hopes of winning the Big Ten or reaching the College Football Playoff, and the program now appears headed for a wave of changes when the season ends. In that kind of mess, Smith is the one player who has still poured everything into the Buckeyes. He’s an all-time great, and he was plainly frustrated when Luke Fahey kept looking elsewhere.
That frustration is part of why the idea of Smith shutting things down has surfaced. With the season effectively over, he could decide he’s done playing football this year.
There’s a strong argument for it. Smith is viewed as a top-five pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, and the source describes him as the best receiver prospect since Calvin Johnson, with a real chance to go No. 1 overall. Even after the loss to USC last week, he was still the Heisman favorite.
But the latest setback makes that race much harder to win. With a third loss on the schedule, it’s tough to see Smith piling up the kind of numbers he would need, especially with Fahey showing little confidence in throwing to him when he’s even slightly covered. That’s a sharp contrast to Julian Sayin, who didn’t have that issue.
The bigger concern is simple: injury risk. Smith has three games left, and one bad hit could affect his draft stock. When he’s positioned to make so much money as one of the top picks in 2027, the temptation to protect that future is obvious, especially with no national title left to chase.
If Saturday night really was the last time Ohio State fans saw him in a Buckeyes uniform, there’s a good chance they’d understand. He’s that kind of player, and he’d leave Columbus with plenty of goodwill.
Still, there’s a case for him to keep going. Smith loves football, and he clearly loves Ohio State. He had chances to transfer and multiple programs tried to pull him out of Columbus over the last couple of years, but he stayed.
He’s also one of the most competitive players on the roster. That showed when he was barking at the sidelines after Fahey went two full hours without targeting him. The frustration was obvious, but so was the reason behind it: Smith knows getting him the ball gives Ohio State its best chance to win.
And even after back-to-back losses, the Heisman door isn’t completely closed. His receiving production is outrageous, and the source makes the case that he’s still the best player in the country. With the Buckeyes having nothing left to play for, the team could lean hard on him and let him chase the kind of stats that keep him in the Heisman conversation.
If forced to guess, the source lands on Smith staying on the field for the rest of the year. He’s too competitive to sit out.
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Ohio State Still Has A Path But Two Problems Need Fixing Fast
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Two areas stand out most: the defense has to tighten up, and Luke Fahey needs to keep developing at quarterback if Ohio State is going to stabilize its offense. The upcoming games now carry far more than ordinary Big Ten weight, because they will help determine whether the Buckeyes can keep their national championship hopes alive or whether this season turns into a lesson in missed chances. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Oregon Collapse Exposed A Problem Buckeyes Fans Feared
Ohio States loss to Oregon at home was the kind of game that left Buckeyes fans replaying the same first-half promise and second-half unraveling over and over. The start was encouraging enough to suggest the day could go differently, but the collapse that followed only sharpened the sense that this team still has issues it cannot afford to ignore, especially when a marquee opponent forces it out of its comfort zone.
Jeremiah Smith was not used nearly enough, Luke Faheys performance came under scrutiny, and the defense looked like it had slipped from the standard Ohio State expects. The bigger concern, though, was how little changed as the game tilted away from the Buckeyes, with coaching decisions and the lack of in-game adjustments adding to the feeling that the problems were as much about direction as execution. [Read more 🡒]
Urban Meyer Just Added Fuel To Indianas CFP Debate
Urban Meyer added another layer to the College Football Playoff debate by questioning how the committee is handling Ohio State and Indiana in the latest rankings. His concern centered on the gap between No. 12 Ohio State and No. 4 Indiana, especially with the Buckeyes owning the head-to-head win. Meyer said the placement did not seem to match what the teams have shown on the field, and he took aim at the committees approach to nonconference scheduling as part of the broader evaluation.
Indianas rsum has been strong enough to keep it firmly in the conversation, with an 8-1 record and wins over Michigan and Nebraska. Still, Meyer pointed out that the Hoosiers do not have a victory over a ranked opponent, which only sharpened the debate over how much weight the committee is giving different parts of the schedule. For Ohio State, the issue is less about needing outside validation and more about whether the rankings are reflecting what happened when the two teams actually met. [Read more 🡒]