How Texas chilled Ohio State football’s Jeremiah Smith during his hot postseason streak.
Jeremiah Smith ran into Longhorns safety Michael Taaffe after Ohio State defeated Texas 28-14 in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl on Friday night.
“My only job was not to let you go over the top,” Taaffe told him.
Smith had witnessed firsthand how devoted the Longhorns were to stopping him. Taaffe had dropped deep into zone coverage and floated toward Smith’s side of the field, assisting in double-teaming him on numerous occasions.
After Smith scorched the secondaries of Oregon and Tennessee deep in previous rounds, the Longhorns attempted to avoid a repeat performance by focusing heavily on the rookie receiving sensation and restricting his role. Smith just grabbed one pass for three yards, marking the first time in 15 games he did not have multiple receptions.
“It was pretty frustrating the whole game,” Smith claimed, “but was just trusting the coaches and my teammates to get the job done.”
For all of his accomplishments during a sparkling debut season, few defenders had treated him this way, and with Texas’ top-ranked secondary, led by Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron, he did not anticipate to face this much double coverage.
However, Smith realized from Ohio State’s first drive that he was drawing several defenders and receiving safety support.
When he ran a deep post out of the slot, safety Andrew Mukuba maintained backpedaling until the ball landed just outside the end zone. Mukuba kept Smith in front of him as the pass was incomplete.
“They weren’t going to let me go deep or take any shots,” Smith informed the crowd.
Smith was an explosive vertical threat in the Buckeyes’ prior playoff victories, ripping the top off opposing defenses. He totaled 13 receptions, 290 yards, and four touchdowns versus Oregon and Tennessee.
As he stood in front of his locker room stall in the aftermath of the semifinal victory, Smith recognized that Texas had devised a number of good coverages, but he seemed dissatisfied with their implementation.
“It shows a lot of respect,” remarked the coach, “but DBs should be able to play us 1-on-1.”
Even though Smith played a lesser role, the Buckeyes advanced to the championship. With all of the attention focused on him, quarterback Will Howard was forced to rely on other playmakers, connecting with another target on 23 of his 24 completions.
On Ohio State’s go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, Howard connected with Carnell Tate on third down. Taaffe stayed on the other side of the field to assist Barron in covering Smith, leaving Tate and others with single coverage.
“They were trying to take him away,” Howard told me, “and I knew that we were going to have to check the ball down and get the ball to our other guys.”
Howard only targeted Smith three times, including an interception on the first series of the second half. He attempted to drop a pass into the zone, but it was intercepted by linebacker David Gbenda.
It was the final time Howard targeted him, as Texas continued to leave a safety over top.
“You watch what he did in the first two rounds of the playoffs,” he continued, “and I probably would have done it too.”
Smith claimed he became useful to the offense as a decoy.
“It’s probably not the best game I had,” she added, “but being able to go to the natty as a freshman is something special.”
