Ohio State is making noise about Jeremiah Smith not getting the calls he thinks he deserves, and Ryan Day has now pushed the issue into the open.
The Buckeyes head coach has started leaning on the public side of the conversation after another obvious pass interference went unflagged against Indiana on Saturday. On that play, Smith was sprinting down the middle of the field, and the missed call became the latest flashpoint in a season-long trend.
Smith still has not drawn a pass interference penalty this season. The last one came almost a full calendar year ago, on November 22 against Purdue. In the time since, Ohio State has played 12 games without Smith drawing a flag.
That Indiana play helped bring the frustration into focus, and it also led to action behind the scenes. Ohio State reportedly sent more than 10 plays to the league office for review after the game. Day, who usually keeps those kinds of concerns out of the spotlight until they become real problems, made it a central topic after the loss.
He said he didn’t know what to do to get the calls, but he planned to start by sending a lot of those plays in for review.
The interesting part is that Smith has spent enough time around contact to show he can still beat it. On more than one occasion, he has made the kind of difficult, high-end catch that erases the damage from a missed penalty. He has been good enough to survive a lot of the contact that isn’t getting called.
Smith also hasn’t made a scene about it. He doesn’t argue after the whistle or spend possessions barking at officials.
He either celebrates the catch or heads back to the huddle. That quiet approach says plenty about him, and it’s part of why he’s being talked about as one of the best to ever do it.
For now, Ohio State is turning up the pressure and waiting to see whether that brings a few more flags when Smith goes up for a ball.
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