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ARLINGTON, Texas — During the celebration following Ohio State’s 28-14 win over Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl on Friday night, Jeremiah Smith encountered Longhorns safety Michael Taaffe.
As they met on the field at AT&T Stadium, Smith found out how committed the Longhorns had been to stopping him.
“My only job was to not let you over the top,” Taaffe told him.
Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith tries to get open against Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron on Friday. Smith caught only one pass for 3 yards in the game, the first time in 15 games he did not have multiple receptions.
Taaffe dropped deep in zone coverage and floated toward Smith’s side of the field, helping to double-team him during frequent stretches.
After Smith burned the secondaries of Oregon and Tennessee deep in previous rounds, the Longhorns sought to avoid a repeat performance, devoting significant attention to the freshman receiving phenom, limiting his involvement. Smith caught only one pass for 3 yards, the first time in 15 games he did not have multiple receptions.
“It was pretty frustrating the whole game,” Smith said, “but was just trusting the coaches and my teammates to get the job done.”
For all his feats during a dazzling debut season, few defenses had given him this type of treatment, and with Texas’ top-ranked secondary having no shortage of talent, led by Jim Thorpe Award winner Jahdae Barron, he did not expect to see as much double coverage.
But from Ohio State’s first drive, Smith recognized he was drawing multiple defenders and seeing safety help.
When he ran a deep post out the slot, safety Andrew Mukuba continued backpedaling until the ball arrived just shy of the end zone. Mukuba kept Smith in front of him as the pass fell incomplete.
“They weren’t going to let me go deep or…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/texas-cooled-ohio-state-footballs-205912831.html
Author : The Columbus Dispatch
Publish date : 2025-01-11 20:59:00
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