Jeremiah Smith Takes Ohio State's Receiving Records in 31-14 Win at Iowa

The short version: Jeremiah Smith caught 11 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns in No. 5 Ohio State's 31-14 win at No. 14 Iowa on Saturday — and in the process took ownership of every major receiving record in Buckeyes history. The junior now holds the program's career marks for receptions (207), receiving yards (3,381), and touchdown catches (36). He also became the first Ohio State receiver ever to post back-to-back 200-yard games, and he celebrated the record-breaking score with a Heisman pose.

Kinnick Stadium has ended seasons. On Saturday afternoon, with ESPN's College GameDay in the building and a top-15 matchup on the line, it hosted a coronation instead.

No. 5 Ohio State walked into Iowa City and walked out with a 31-14 win over No. 14 Iowa that was never really in doubt after halftime — and it left with something bigger than a road victory. The Buckeyes left with Jeremiah Smith standing alone atop the record book of the most decorated receiving program in college football, a program that has produced Cris Carter, Marvin Harrison Jr., Garrett Wilson, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Chris Olave, and Emeka Egbuka. On Saturday, Smith passed all of them.

The records fell in order, and each one came with a little more daylight than the last.

The touchdown record falls first

Just before halftime, Smith hauled in a 12-yard touchdown that tied Chris Olave's school record of 35 career touchdown receptions. It was the 200th catch of his career, and it came on an acrobatic 54-yard grab in the second quarter in which Smith rose above three Iowa defenders — the kind of play that has become his signature, the contested catch that isn't really contested because he simply takes the ball from everyone around him.

He didn't have to wait long to make the record his own. With 6:11 remaining in the third quarter and the Buckeyes holding a 17-6 lead, Ohio State dialed up a play it had been setting up all afternoon. Quarterback Julian Sayin faked a handoff to running back Isaiah West, sidestepped a linebacker, and let it go toward the east end of the stadium. Smith had a step on safety Anthony Hawkins, and Hawkins' diving tackle barely broke his stride. Fifty-seven yards later, Smith crossed the goal line for the 36th receiving touchdown of his career — officially moving past Olave and into first place in Ohio State history. He struck a brief Heisman pose on the way in.

"I was one-on-one with a safety," Smith said afterward. "That's why we liked it."

Four minutes later, the receptions record fell too. Smith's 206th career catch moved him past Emeka Egbuka's previous mark of 205, and he left Kinnick Stadium with 207 career receptions — accomplished in just his 34th game as a Buckeye.

That completed the receiving Triple Crown. Smith now owns the school records for career receptions (207), career receiving yards (3,381), and career receiving touchdowns (36). He had broken Michael Jenkins' career receiving-yardage record of 2,898 earlier this season against Kent State, becoming the first Ohio State receiver to surpass 3,000 career receiving yards.

Back-to-back 200s, and a case for the Heisman

The Iowa performance followed a 12-catch, 217-yard, four-touchdown eruption against Illinois the week before — making Smith the first Buckeye ever with consecutive 200-yard receiving games. In two weeks, he has 23 catches for 423 yards and six touchdowns against ranked Big Ten opposition.

He is now making a real case to become the first wide receiver to win the Heisman Trophy since DeVonta Smith of Alabama in 2020.

"That's definitely on my mind," Smith said of the Heisman. "I've got to get to New York this year."

When asked what else is left for him to accomplish at Ohio State, his answer went straight past individual hardware. "Bring this team a national championship," Smith said. "And that's all I've been chasing since the season started. That's a goal of mine before I leave here, and I'm very committed to that."

Head coach Ryan Day, who has taken to comparing Smith to LeBron James, didn't push back on the Heisman talk. "Drawing plays up for him is a lot of fun," Day said, "but the most amazing thing about Jeremiah Smith is his work ethic every day. How much he loves to win. How competitive he is, the way he works every day. Not only is he a great player, he's become a great leader."

Day added: "The performances he's put up the last couple of weeks, they're contagious. The guys feed off it. And this is the best player in the country right here."

The game itself

Lost in the record chase was the fact that Ohio State needed this win. The Buckeyes forced a fumble on Iowa's first drive and scored 10 quick points, but the Hawkeyes hung around through a back-and-forth first half that ended 17-6. Then Ohio State put it away: 75 yards on five plays to open the third quarter, the Smith touchdown that made it 24-6, and that was the ballgame.

Quarterback Julian Sayin threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns, and Ohio State outgained Iowa by more than 200 total yards. The Hawkeyes, whose defense has built a reputation on dropping as many as eight defenders into coverage and limiting explosive plays, simply couldn't take Smith away — even when they knew exactly where the ball was going. Iowa averaged 1.9 yards per carry and finished with 238 yards of total offense.

The win kept the Buckeyes rolling, and they head into a matchup with Maryland next week with the best player in the country playing like it.

The greatest Buckeye ever?

The question started circulating on social media before the team bus left Iowa City: is Jeremiah Smith the greatest Buckeye of all time? FOX Sports' Joel Klatt took it up on his show, arguing that Smith has already passed the single-season legends — Ezekiel Elliott, Chase Young, Eddie George — and is now collecting the career marks at a pace nobody has matched.

"I think if you look at his entire body of work, he is wide receiver one at wide receiver U, and all of them would say it," Klatt said, adding that Egbuka — whose receptions record Smith broke Saturday — stayed at Ohio State in part to play alongside him.

Smith is 20 years old. He has at least half a season left to add to marks that may stand for a generation. What he did Saturday at Kinnick — on the road, against a top-15 team, with a stadium full of people who came to see him fail — was the kind of performance that ends the debate about the best player in college football right now.

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