The Ohio State Buckeyes football team had its way with the Grambling State Tigers on Saturday, dominating so thoroughly in a 70-0 win that the biggest storyline coming out of the game was whether or not everyone came out of it unscathed.
The good news for OSU? That was the case.
But while the contest was an uncompetitive showcase of Brian Hartline's play-calling and Matt Patricia's defensive prowess, one of the team's biggest stars showed some life after a lethargic season debut against the Texas Longhorns.
As CBS Sports' David Cobb notes, while it was basically an exhibition, the Grambling State game gave receiver Jeremiah Smith much-needed momentum before an Ohio Bobcats squad coming off a 17-10 home win over the West Virginia Mountaineers and a near-win against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, New Jersey.
"This was basically a scrimmage for Ohio State, which decompressed from a stressful Week 1 win over Texas by racking up 651 yards and nine tackles for loss while getting reps for a litany of young players. Star sophomore receiver Jeremiah Smith made five catches on five targets for 119 yards and two touchdowns. That was encouraging after his underwhelming season debut," Cobb wrote.
While Smith had one more catch (6) against Texas than he did against Grambling State (5), the Miami Gardens, Florida, native finished with 119 yards and actually found the end zone against the Tigers. Twice, to boot.
Most of Smith's catches against the Longhorns were unspectacular checkdowns from Julian Sayin. No one thought Smith magically lost the ability to make big plays on the football field, but his NIL price tag dictates results.
Even against a SWAC opponent, Buckeye fans want to see Smith make things happen. Those meaningless counting stats will be used later on when deciding awards -- when optics take over and individual circumstances of each game blend in to a national audience.