Ryan Day points to lack of execution for Jeremiah Smith's low output vs. Texas
Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl on Friday to land a spot in the national championship game.
However, the coach wasn’t exactly thrilled with his offense’s execution and knows the unit has to be better going forward. For example, star freshman Jeremiah Smith was held to just 1 catch for 3 yards. The phenom had caught at least 6 passes and gained 100+ yards in each of the previous 2 Playoff games.
On Sunday, Day was asked why Smith didn’t have much of an impact.
“Yeah, I think when you look at it, it’s a little bit more about execution than it is anything else,” the coach explained. “They really didn’t play us any differently than some of the other teams that we played. But we weren’t able to sustain a few of those drives and connect on a couple of other plays.”
Day also explained that he knows what defenses are attempting to do against his offense and it’s up to his unit to execute. The Longhorns clearly emphasized stopping the dynamic receivers for Ohio State and the unit was able to do that.
“But ultimately at the end of the day we’ve got to execute at a high level and continue to move the ball down the field, so we’ll do the same thing this week. We’ll put our game plan together. But he’s obviously a huge part of our offense, as you know,” said Ryan Day. “There’s different ways that teams will adjust based on what he’s done and what he’s capable of, and so we’ll identify what those are in this game and then go from there.”
The Buckeyes’ next matchup against Notre Dame likely won’t be any easier for Smith. The Fighting Irish allow just 165.3 passing yards per game, a mark that’s only bested by the Buckeyes’ own pass defense.
The Buckeyes and Irish will kick off from Atlanta on Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET.