ATLANTA — “Just catch it,” Jeremiah Smith thought to himself.
The Ohio State freshman receiver knew the ball was coming his approach. Notre Dame was in man protection.
“Man-on-man, I don’t lose,” Smith mentioned later.
He didn’t lose right here, both.
He gained massive, coasting previous his defender, Christian Grey, like he was standing nonetheless and hauling within the bomb from quarterback Will Howard.
Fifty-six yards later, the nationwide championship was all however over, Ohio State headed to a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Earlier than the play, there was instantly doubt. A 24-point Ohio State lead was right down to eight.
It was third-and-11, 2:38 remained. A cease, and the Irish had an opportunity.
The Buckeyes may’ve performed it protected and compelled Notre Dame to make use of its ultimate timeout.
Coach Ryan Day determined to go for it, to go for the championship. Depart little question. Coach to win, as an alternative of to not 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 mentioned. “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 on the 10-yard line.
Seven performs later, Jayden Fielding made a 33-yard subject objective, extending the result in 11 with 26 seconds to go, icing the college’s first championship in a decade.
Smith was such an enormous a part of the title.
He set Ohio State freshman data with 76 receptions, 1,315 receiving yards and 15 landing catches.
He additionally set a Massive Ten report for many receiving yards by a freshman, and in 4 playoff video games, he scored 5 touchdowns.
With every part on the road, within the ultimate minute of the faculty soccer season, he got here up massive.
“It’s a blessing,” mentioned Smith, who had 5 catches for 88 yards and a rating Monday evening. “We had too many blessings this year.”
He was on the high of the listing.
