Ohio State is heading into Saturday night’s showdown at Texas with one clear offensive mission: get Jeremiah Smith more involved than the Buckeyes have in their last two meetings with the Longhorns.
That’s been the strange part of this matchup. Texas has done a strong job of keeping Smith quiet in both previous games against Ohio State, yet the Buckeyes still walked away with wins each time without their star receiver carrying the load. This time, though, Ohio State is treating Smith’s usage as a major priority as it prepares to play Texas for the third time in 20 months and for the first time in Austin since 2006.
Ryan Day made it clear that Smith will be built into the plan, but not at the expense of the rest of the offense.
“It’s no mystery that when the ball is in his hands, good things happen, and so he'll always be a part of how we game plan and what we do," Ryan Day said of Smith's impact. "We do have other guys certainly on the field, and there's a balance that we're striking, but we all know the impact it can have on games, and when he has the impact like he's done in other games, you see what happens to the rest of the guys on the field.
"But I've said it before, what makes a great player great, he makes everybody on the field better, and certainly Jeremiah does that. But, yeah, we're going to work hard to make sure that he has a major impact on the game," Day said.
The numbers from Smith’s two games against Texas are a little jarring. He has just seven catches on 13 targets for 46 yards in those matchups, with an average depth of target of 6.5 yards. In the 2025 game in Columbus, that number dipped to a career-low 3.7 yards per target.
Last year in the opener, Smith led the team with six receptions, but they only produced 43 yards. Ohio State kept things conservative in a 14-7 win, and that had a lot to do with Julian Sayin making his first start. Sayin finished 13-of-20 for 126 yards and a touchdown.
The passing game was especially cautious against Texas in 2025, when Sayin completed only two passes beyond 10 yards downfield on four attempts. Smith’s six catches all came within six yards of the line of scrimmage, and two were behind it.
That said, Smith’s overall body of work dwarfs those two quiet nights. In the other 28 games of his career, he has 164 catches on 207 targets for 2,663 yards and 29 touchdowns, plus 10 carries for 73 yards and two scores. His career average depth of target sits at 12.3 yards.
Sayin doesn’t think Texas has necessarily shut Smith down, either. In his view, the ball simply didn’t find him enough.
“Whether it's certain coverage or something like that, they tried to double-team him or whatever it was. I think sometimes the ball didn't go his way," Sayin said. "I think there were opportunities maybe even last year where I could have taken the ball towards him, and so, I wouldn't say they limited him in any aspect.”
Texas has clearly been willing to make somebody else beat them. That approach has still left room for Smith to matter, though, even when he’s not piling up catches. His presence can tilt coverage and create space for Ohio State’s other receivers, which is part of why the Buckeyes value him even when he’s being used as more than just a target.
Saturday’s game also brings a new wrinkle on the sideline, with Ohio State first-year offensive coordinator Arthur Smith matched up against Texas first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. That could change how both teams approach the game compared with the last two meetings. But the basic chess match stays the same: Ohio State wants Smith involved, and Texas wants to keep No. 4 from taking over.
Day said the uncertainty around Muschamp’s defense adds another layer to the preparation.
“You're trying to figure out how it all comes together, how the game plan comes together, how the defense is going to react. There's a lot of unknown here," Day said.
"Coach Muschamp's a great coach, and we all have a lot of respect for him. But he really hasn't called a game in a while.
So there's an unknown here on how it's going to play out, what they're going to do defensively. So we have to be able to respond to that in-game and figure that part of it out.
“But we know that there'll be a plan to stop Jeremiah and try to identify what that is, and then have the contingency plans in place for what that looks like is important," Day continued. "And Julian is going to be a big part of that because he's got to recognize what's going on and then respond from there. So all those things are part of our conversation as we put our game plan together.”
Smith comes into the game on a hot streak, too. He has posted back-to-back 150-yard receiving games, and he’s gone for at least 120 yards in three straight contests and five of his last seven overall.
Two of those came against Indiana, when he had eight catches for 144 yards, and Miami, when he finished with seven catches for 157 yards and a touchdown. Ohio State lost both of those games, but both opponents were viewed as two of the best defenses in the country in 2025.
Even so, Day and the Buckeyes kept finding ways to get Smith open. With Arthur Smith now running the offense, Ohio State figures to keep searching for fresh answers, whether that means moving Smith inside, lining him up outside, or using quick-hitting routes and other concepts to create space. However it looks, the goal is the same: make sure Jeremiah Smith is a major factor against Texas this time around.
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