Ohio State looks like it might have its next great receiver.
Jeremiah Smith had a 19-yard touchdown run and made a one-handed, 17-yard catch for a score in the second quarter, helping the 3rd-ranked Buckeyes pull away and rout Michigan State 38-7 on Saturday night.
The Buckeyes (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) were in a closely contested game until their freshman phenom took over.
“It flipped the game,” coach Ryan Day said. “It’s where the game turned.”
The Spartans (3-2, 1-1) lost the football three times in the red zone in the first half to hurt their chances of hanging around.
“If we don’t get those turnovers, it’s a different game,” Day said.
Smith’s speed allowed him to go untouched on an end-around midway through the second quarter. His skill set him up to leap and snag Devin Brown’s pass with his right hand — three plays after needing only one hand to make a twisting, 27-yard catch between two defenders — to put Ohio State ahead 24-7 in the final minute of the first half.
“What an unbelievable catch,” Day said. “I can’t believe he caught it.”
Smith, though, said it wasn't his favorite catch of the night.
“The one before was my favorite,” he said.
The country’s top-rated recruit, who is from Miami Gardens, Florida, finished with five receptions for 83 yards.
Smith has lived up to the billing.
He became the first freshman to catch two touchdown passes in a season opener with a program that has a rich tradition at receiver and had 14 catches for 281 yards and four touchdowns over the first three games.
Marvin Harrison Jr., drafted No. 4 overall by Arizona, was the last star at the position for the powerhouse program and the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Smith seems to be the latest.
“He has all the intangibles that you want in a prototypical receiver,” Emeka Egbuka said.
Will Howard, who took a hit that knocked him out of the game briefly in the first half, completed 21 of 31 passes for 244 yards. He had a 3-yard touchdown pass to Gee Scott in the first quarter and a 33-yard touchdown pass to Egbuka to convert a fourth-and-5 late in the third quarter.
Howard threw an interception that helped the Spartans pull within three points early in the second quarter.
Aidan Chiles was 13 of 19 for 167 yards with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Glover with 7:22 left in the first half that made the score 10-7. He threw an interception in the third quarter.
The Spartans made enough plays to get into the red zone on their first two drives, but didn’t score because Chiles was stuffed on a fourth-down sneak at the 20 and Jack Velling lost a fumble at the 11. Chiles coughed up the football at the Ohio State 16 in the second quarter.
“We did not help ourselves,” coach Jonathan Smith said.
Michigan State, he said, is “far away,” from matching up with Ohio State.
“It’s in the details, and it’s in the turnovers,” he said.
The takeaway
Ohio State has one of the best tandem of receivers in college football with Smith and Egbuka, a senior standout, who had seven catches for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Michigan State entered the game with 10 turnovers in four games and added three more against the Buckeyes, continuing a troubling trend for its first-year coach.
Poll implications
The Buckeyes could be No. 3 for the fourth straight week in the AP Top 25.
Up next
Ohio State hosts Iowa on Saturday.
Michigan State plays at No. 8 Oregon on Saturday.
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