Oregon Football Notebook: How Can The Ducks Contain Jeremiah Smith?

Saturday night’s showdown between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon is shaping up to be a classic, as two of the nation’s best offenses match up against two of the best defenses in what promises to be a raucous atmosphere inside Autzen Stadium.

There is a lot on the line, including a potential spot at No. 1 in the polls for the winner, as well as an inside track to the Big Ten Championship Game, and a huge leg up for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

It’s also a chance for the Ducks to make a statement about where they belong in the pecking order in the newly-expanded Big Ten conference.

But it won’t be easy. The Buckeyes come in with a loaded roster of talented and experienced players, who aren’t likely to get overwhelmed by the crowd noise or a similarly-talented Oregon roster.

Containing Jeremiah Smith (?)

One of the biggest challenges for the Ducks on Saturday night will be to do what no Buckeye opponent has managed to do yet this season, shut down freshman phenom WR Jeremiah Smith.

Just five games into his Buckeye career, Smith is already rocketing up the school’s list of freshman receiving records, and has scored at least one receiving touchdown in every game of his young career.

Saturday night, he is likely to line up across from Oregon’s top cornerback, Jabbar Muhammad. Muhammad is listed at 5-foot-10, while Smith is 6-foot-3. That five-inch height difference could be a factor on jump balls, and Muhammad knows that’s already a strong area of Smith’s game.

“He makes those 50-50 balls look like they’re more his than anybody’s,” said Muhammad. But the senior cornerback has an idea what he needs to do to contain Smith. 

“Just being strong at the catch point, working it throughout the week, putting myself in those positions throughout the week so that when Saturday comes, I can make a play on the ball.”

Muhammad also has some insight into what’s happening on the other side of the ball for the Buckeyes. He started his career at Oklahoma State and played two seasons under Jim Knowles with the Cowboys before the defensive coordinator left for Columbus. He was asked this week if he had shared any insights into Knowles’ scheme with QB Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks’ offense.

“I’ve seen a little bit of it,” Muhammad said. “It seems like he changed some of the stuff. He was more in-your-face, more aggressive. He still is, but some stuff has changed. But if Dillon asks me, I’ll be able to help him a little bit.”

Buckeye Defense Shutting Down Big Plays

Oregon’s offense is among the best in the nation at making big things happen through the air. The Ducks are tied with Ohio State for third in the country with five pass plays of 50 yards or more already this season, but big chunks of yardage might not come so easily on Saturday night.

The Buckeye defense has been channeling Judge Smails all season, telling opposing offenses, “You’ll get nothing and like it.” Jim Knowles’ unit is the only one in the country that has not given up a pass play of 30 yards or longer.

Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel says that a lot of that has to do with the Buckeyes keeping opponents in predictable situations.

“I think they’ve just been really good on first and second down, which allows them to do what they do, and they’re really good at it,” said Gabriel.

A lot of that success begins with stopping the run. Ohio State has held opponents to just 2.25 yards per rush this season, which is good for third in the nation. If you run for two yards on first down, you’re immediately facing 2nd-and-8, and a likely passing situation.

A predictable offense is a stoppable offense, and the Buckeyes have consistently turned opponents one-dimensional this season.

That has kept them among the nation’s best in getting off the field. The Buckeyes are 14th in the country, allowing opponents to convert just 30 percent of their third down chances, and in the rare cases when teams have strung together a few first downs, Knowles and his defense lock things down in the red zone. They are third in the country in defensive red zone efficiency, having allowed three touchdowns in just five trips inside their 20 all season.

“Just extremely talented, play extremely hard, and have produced. So, I guess when you combine all three of those, you see it in game, and that’s why they’re putting up the numbers they are,” said Gabriel.

Familiar Faces In New Places

Oregon and Ohio State have only met 10 times before, and this will be the first time they play as conference opponents, but there are still a number of ties between the two programs.

The most famous, of course, is OSU’s offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who served as an assistant in Eugene for two seasons before taking over as the Ducks’ head coach from 2009-2012, finishing with a 46-7 record, Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl championships, and three finishes in the top-4 of the final AP poll.

Ohio State running backs coach Carlos Locklyn jumped from the Ducks to the Bucks this spring after Tony Alford departed for Michigan.

Oregon’s tight ends coach, Drew Mehringer, was a graduate assistant on Urban Meyer’s first two staffs in Columbus, coaching the tight ends and then the offensive line for a year each from 2012-2013.

The transfer portal has also turned former teammates into opponents. Ohio State’s starting QB Will Howard was teammates with Oregon DB Kobe Savage at Kansas State, and as mentioned above, Oregon CB Jabbar Muhammad played under Jim Knowles at Oklahoma State.

Oregon SAF Peyton Woodyard and Ohio State QB Julian Sayin were both part of Alabama’s 2024 recruiting class before entering the portal following the retirement of legendary Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban in January.

Ducks’ starting RT Ajani Cornelius had to decide between OSU and Oregon when he entered the transfer portal following the 2022 season. The former Rhode Island standout was a hot target as Dan Lanning and Ryan Day looked to supplement their line play, but Cornelius said this week that the choice was pretty simple.

“Oregon was my gut choice,” he said. “When I came here, just talking to Coach Lanning and talking to all the players, specifically (starting RG) Marcus (Harper) and the dudes in the O-line, just this place was clearly home for me.”

Want To Hear More From The Ducks?

We released a bonus episode of the Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning podcast featuring interview clips with Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, as well as Muhammad, Gabriel, TE Terrance Ferguson, and Cornelius on Thursday.

You can watch it below.

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