‘Do or die’: Buckeyes beat Irish pressure with game-sealing deep ball to Jeremiah Smith

By Jack Soble

ATLANTA — With 2:45 left in the national championship, Notre Dame faced a difficult choice.

The Irish had Ohio State in third-and-11 from their own 34-yard line, trailing 31-23. They had one timeout left. Stop the Buckeyes, and Notre Dame would get the ball back with plenty of time to mount a season-defining drive. Give up a first down, and the game would be over.

The decision: Try to confuse Ohio State graduate student quarterback Will Howard with zone, or stick with what got them to the title game in the first place and play man?

In that moment, Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and defensive coordinator Al Golden thought the same thing.

“It was do or die,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to get them stopped, and we thought at that moment, the best way to get them stopped is to run zero pressure. We have to have faith at some point that we can make a play.”

“The game dictated that it was kind of do or die,” Golden said. “We needed to make a stop right there.”

Given Ohio State’s ability to beat both man and zone, Golden and Freeman thought Notre Dame’s best chance was with what it does best. They also knew that there was little difference between a 56-yard gain and a 12-yard gain in that situation, so they were prepared to risk the big play if it would increase their chances of getting a stop.

The Buckeyes thought the Irish would think that, too.

Golden pulled the trigger on a zero blitz. Seven Notre Dame players charged toward Howard. Unfortunately for them, though, Ohio State was ready for it.

The Buckeyes called a seven-man protection, only three wide receivers to run routes. They correctly guessed that the Irish would send the house. They picked up the blitz, hanging the defensive backs out to dry.

“There’s 15 other calls I could’ve made,” Golden said. “We were kind of at the end of the rope in terms of, a first down there is kind of it anyway.”

One defensive back, in particular, was in trouble.

Sophomore cornerback Christian Gray lined up across from Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who entered the game with 71 catches for 1,227 yards and 14 touchdowns this season. Smith ran right by Gray, and Howard hit him on a deep ball for a 56-yard reception that effectively sealed the game. The Buckeyes would kick a field goal to ice it and win 34-23.

“Kid made a great throw and catch,” Golden said. “Obviously, hindsight, you always want to stop the play that everybody saw, but the kids gotta execute it, and they did. We were kind of near the end in terms of, couldn’t allow another first down. So we went the pressure route, and obviously [No.] 4 [Smith] made a great play.”

Smith finished the game with 5 catches on 88 yards and a touchdown. Notre Dame actually did play a fair amount of zone in the first half, but Howard diced it up, connecting on 14 of 15 throws before the break.

“[Smith is] a heck of a player,” Freeman said. “He’s difficult to cover. You want to play zone, and they’ll find ways to pick you apart. You want to play man, they’ll find ways to get him the ball. It’s a talented offense, with that situation right there.”

Gray lost his rep, but any cornerback in the country is in trouble in that situation. He had to cover Smith, debatably (it might not even be debatable at this point) the best wide receiver in the country, one-on-one with no safety help. And the pressure did not get home.

“I wish I didn’t put him in that position, but it was kind of like, this is it,” Golden said. “It manifests through him, if you will. That’s always sad when that happens, because everybody looks at that player. Certainly, I should be looked at for putting him in that position.”

Gray will return to Notre Dame next year. Golden might not. He’s reportedly “a top candidate” for the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator opening, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Regardless of his own status, though, Golden knows the young, talented cornerback from St. Louis will bounce back.

“Christian’s a battler,” Golden said. “Christian’s — you don’t have to worry about him. He is a competitor, he is resilient and he’s a blessing.”