Ryan Day addresses why Jeremiah Smith had quiet day vs. Texas in CFP semifinal

Ohio State star receiver Jeremiah Smith looked unguardable at times against Tennessee and Oregon in the opening two rounds of the College Football Playoff. But Texas was able to shut down the freshman phenom, holding him to one reception for 3 yards during the Cotton Bowl on Friday.

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day was asked ahead of the national title game against Notre Dame how Texas was able to bottle up Jeremiah Smith.

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According to Day, it had more to do with Ohio State’s execution than anything the Longhorns did.

“Yea, I think when you look at it, it’s a little bit more about execution than it is anything else,” Day said. “They really didn’t play us any differently than some of the other teams that we’ve played. But we weren’t able to sustain a few of those drives and connect on a couple of other plays.”

Jeremiah Smith combined to catch 13 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns in the first two games of the CFP, before he struggled to get anything going against Texas.

Day shared that Texas mixed up its coverages, and he expects Notre Dame to do the same.

“We know, typically, how teams are going to take a look at us and play us,” Day said. “They’re going to play some man, and they’ll certainly know where Jeremiah is. And then they’ll play some one high and they’ll play some two high and they’ll mix it up.

“But ultimately, at the end of the day, we’ve got to execute at a high level and continue to move the ball down the field.”

Ohio State will certainly make Jeremiah Smith a big part of its game plan for the national title game. The Buckeyes will work this week to find ways to scheme him open and cut down on mistakes that kept the game against the Longhorns closer than it should’ve been, in Day’s eyes.

“We’ll put our game plan together. But he’s obviously a huge part of our offense,” Day said. “So there’s different ways that teams will adjust based on what he’s done and what he’s capable of. So we’ll identify what those are in this game and then go from there.

“But to me, the story of this past game for us on offense, was self-inflicted wounds that set us back and allowed us to be in a game in the fourth quarter when I think we could’ve done a better job of executing and certainly made it a little bit of a bigger spread down the stretch.”