Ranking Jeremiah Smith’s 5 Best Games at Ohio State So Far

Jeremiah Smith has only played parts of three seasons at Ohio State, and somehow, picking his five best games is already a genuinely difficult task. From a freshman-year College Football Playoff run to back-to-back 200-yard outings this season, Smith has built a highlight reel most receivers never match across an entire career. Here’s a ranking of his five best performances in a Buckeye uniform so far, using real stats from every game of his career.

5. vs. Texas (September 12, 2026) — 8 Catches, 164 Yards, 1 TD

Even in a devastating 24-23 loss where Ohio State blew a 20-point fourth-quarter lead, Smith was the one bright spot keeping the Buckeyes afloat. He caught 8 passes for 164 yards and a touchdown, averaging an explosive 20.5 yards per catch against a genuinely elite Texas defense. It’s a reminder that even on Ohio State’s worst day of the season, Smith still showed up and did his job — the rest of the offense simply couldn’t match him.

4. National Championship vs. Notre Dame (January 20, 2025) — 5 Catches, 88 Yards, 1 TD

Statistically, this isn’t Smith’s biggest game by yardage. But it might be his most important. As a true freshman playing in the national championship game, Smith caught 5 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown, including a clutch 56-yard grab late in the fourth quarter that helped seal Ohio State’s national title win over Notre Dame. Smith delivered exactly when the stakes were at their absolute highest, in the single biggest game of his young career, as part of a freshman season that helped bring a championship back to Columbus.

3. CFP Quarterfinal (Rose Bowl) vs. Oregon (January 1, 2025) — 7 Catches, 187 Yards, 2 TDs

This is the game that first proved Smith could dominate on the sport’s biggest stage, not just against overmatched non-conference opponents. Facing a loaded, top-ranked Oregon team in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, Smith exploded for 187 yards and two touchdowns on just 7 catches, earning Offensive Player of the Game honors in Ohio State’s 41-21 win. His first touchdown came on a 45-yard strike, and his second covered 43 yards — both plays that completely changed the game’s momentum. As a true freshman, delivering that kind of performance on the playoff stage was the moment the entire country realized Ohio State had something special.

2. vs. Iowa (October 3, 2026) — 11 Catches, 206 Yards, 2 TDs

Smith’s most recent masterpiece came against a stingy Iowa defense on the road at Kinnick Stadium. He caught 11 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, including a 57-yard score in the third quarter, in Ohio State’s 31-14 win. This performance was historic beyond just the stat line — it was the game in which Smith broke Ohio State’s all-time records for both career receptions and career receiving touchdowns, making him the program’s outright leader in every major career receiving category at once. It also marked his second consecutive 200-yard receiving game, a feat almost unheard of in college football.

1. vs. Illinois (September 26, 2026) — 12 Catches, 217 Yards, 4 TDs

Smith’s career-best performance came against Illinois, and it isn’t particularly close. He caught 12 passes for 217 yards and 4 touchdowns — career highs in all three categories — in Ohio State’s 42-19 win. His longest catch of the day went for 72 yards, and he was simply unguardable from start to finish, helping fuel one of Julian Sayin’s best statistical games of the season (367 yards, 4 TDs) in the process. This performance instantly vaulted Smith into serious Heisman Trophy conversation and remains, by the numbers, the single greatest statistical game of his college career to date.

Honorable Mentions Worth Remembering

A few other performances deserve a nod: his 9-catch, 153-yard day against Ohio in 2025, his 10-catch, 137-yard outing against Purdue the same season, and his very first career start in Columbus against Ball State to open the 2026 season, where he caught 8 passes for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns. Any one of these would be the signature game of a normal college career — for Smith, they’re just footnotes on an already historic résumé.

Why This List Will Almost Certainly Need an Update

With Smith just two-plus seasons into his college career and already Ohio State’s all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, there’s a strong chance this exact list looks outdated before the season is even over. If his current pace holds, Jeremiah Smith isn’t just building the best receiving career in Ohio State history — he’s building a highlight reel that’s going to keep forcing lists like this one to be rewritten.