Photo by Ohio State Athletics
Jeremiah Smith led Ohio State in their first road and first Big Ten win of the 2024 Season!
Jeremiah Smith
I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again Jeremiah Smith is a Heisman candidate. As a freakin’ true freshman! He’s as good right now as Marv was last year, as JSN, Olave, and Wilson were in 2021 and as any of WRU in Buckeye history. He makes ridiculous catches all the time. His one-handed touchdown from Devin Brown was the Brooklyn Dagger Moment of the Game.
Smith had five catches for 83 yards and a touchdown receiving and showed his speed on a 19-yard end-around rushing touchdown. On the season he has 19 catches for 364 yards and six total touchdowns.
Team Captain And All Around Football Player
TreVeyon Henderson is the Dwayne Haskins Player of the Game and it’s not for his play with the football. (He had a modest 68 yards on nine touches, though he eclipsed 3,000 total yards for his career). It’s because he’s the best pass protector the Buckeyes have right now. He made the key blocks on the touchdown from Devin Brown to Jeremiah Smith, and on the fourth down touchdown pass from Will Howard to Emeka Egbuka. This is why I’m happy I bought a TreVeyon Henderson jersey.
Will Howard
There was plenty to think about from Howard, but I’m a save-the-best-for-last kind of guy so we’ll look at the rough patches first. Will Howard’s interception that made it 10-7 was just like the bad passes Kyle McCord made last year. He locked in on one guy so much that he was throwing it there no matter what and it bit him on the butt hard.
But the reason Will Howard is an upgrade over Kyle McCord has nothing to do with passing. Passing they’re quite similar in both weaknesses and many strengths. The reason he’s an upgrade though, is his mobility. He’s not a statue in the pocket, and you have to account for him in the rushing attack.
Finally, his poise and confidence don’t get shaken easily. He threw a bad interception and just kept swinging and ended up accounting for two more touchdowns. He went 21 of 31 for 244 yards and three total touchdowns.
Buckeye Nation, I’m not hating on McCord here. I’m glad he’s playing well at Syracuse and has them at 4-1. He’s improved from last year in plenty of ways. He has made strides in getting passes off more quickly and more accurately. I’m just observing the differences between him and Howard. No different than between Justin Fields and CJ Stroud. I hope he continues to play well and improve every game for Syracuse.
More Playmakers
Carnell Tate is underrated. He was playing like Dane Sanzenbacher and quietly doing his job and getting first downs and doing it in some heavy traffic. He had three catches for 52 yards and is an abundance of riches at WR3.
Emeka Egbuka had a bit of a rough start to this game with a couple of early drops. But he used his experience and kept his head and kept on swinging. He had seven catches for 96 yards and a big fourth down touchdown.
Devin Brown had to come off the bench in relief of Will Howard and he was five of seven for 54 yards and the wicked Jeremiah Smith touchdown. Brown, gave all credit to the young gun wide receiver later on the sidelines. To Brown’s credit, the pass was in a place where either Smith got it or nobody got it.
Honoring History While Making History
On the one hand, 2024 Ohio State looks a lot like 2023 Ohio State. An offense that is heavily reliant on it’s wide receivers making everyone else look good and that is struggling to run between the tackles. They are about to face some teams that will slow them down by keeping them on the sideline with good running games. Hello, Iowa, Oregon, and eventually Penn State and that team up north. The defense is solid but struggles to stymie quarterbacks. And the team up north is playing just the kind of ball that would hurt this kind of team.
On the other hand the cheaters up north won’t know most of the plays in advance and Ohio State won’t quit on the run this time. Not with Henderson, Judkins, and Howard. This is the best secondary Ohio State has had since 2016, maybe since the 2002 National Champions, maybe ever and they are leading this defense. Howard, Judkins, and Henderson are like Barrett, Jones, Elliott, and Samuel from the 2014 National Championship team.
