ATLANTA — “Just catch it,” Jeremiah Smith thought to himself.
The Ohio State freshman receiver knew the ball was coming his way. Notre Dame was in man coverage.
“Man-on-man, I don’t lose,” Smith said later.
He didn’t lose here, either.
He won big, coasting past his defender, Christian Gray, like he was standing still and hauling in the bomb from quarterback Will Howard.
Fifty-six yards later, the national championship was all but over, Ohio State headed to a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Before the play, there was suddenly doubt. A 24-point Ohio State lead was down to eight.
It was third-and-11, 2:38 remained. A stop, and the Irish had a chance.
The Buckeyes could’ve played it safe and forced Notre Dame to use its final timeout.
Coach Ryan Day decided to go for it, to go for the championship. Leave no doubt. Coach to win, instead of not to lose.
“I just thought to myself: Only one national championship, you only get one opportunity a year to do this, let’s just lay it on the line and put it out there and be aggressive. And that’s what we did,” Day said. “I talked to the defensive guys and I talked to the offensive guys that we were going to continue to be aggressive throughout the game. I told the team that leading up to the game. And I had to make sure I followed through [with] that.”
The 6-foot-3 Smith was tackled at the 10-yard line.
Seven plays later, Jayden Fielding made a 33-yard field goal, extending the lead to 11 with 26 seconds to go, icing the school’s first championship in a decade.
Smith was such a big part of the title.
He set Ohio State freshman records with 76 receptions, 1,315 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches.
He also set a Big Ten record for most receiving yards by a freshman, and in four playoff games, he scored five touchdowns.
With everything on the line, in the final minute of the college football season, he came up big.
“It’s a blessing,” said Smith, who had five catches for 88 yards and a score Monday night. “We had too many blessings this year.”
He was at the top of the list.
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