Stop overthinking it: Jeremiah Smith is the Heisman Trophy favorite
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After going the first 20 years of this century without a Heisman Trophy-winning receiver, wideouts have claimed college football's most prestigious individual award twice in the past six seasons.
Make it three in seven.
Statistics aside, Jeremiah Smith has looked like the best player in college football since arriving at Ohio State in 2024. The difference now is the numbers are catching up to the eye test.
Smith isn't just playing like the sport's most dominant player in 2026. He's building a Heisman résumé impossible to ignore.
The latest evidence came Saturday in Ohio State's 31-14 win over Iowa. Against one of the nation's stingiest defenses, Smith erupted for 11 catches, 206 yards and two touchdowns. It was his second consecutive 200-yard game and the fourth time this season he's topped 100 receiving yards.
At this rate, Ohio State should start measuring him for another trip to New York.
Smith isn't merely tracking toward another Heisman finalist finish. He's barreling toward a place in one of college football's most exclusive clubs.
"I got to get to New York this year. Have to," Smith told CBS in his postgame interview.
What Smith is doing this season isn't unprecedented. How he's doing it is.
Every defense Ohio State has faced knows Smith is a generational talent. Opposing coordinators have spent all week drawing up ways to slow him down, throwing double teams, bracket coverage and, at times, even triple teams in his direction. Man-to-man coverage? That's a fool's errand.
The only problem? In the words of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, "It doesn't matter."
No matter the coverage, no matter the scheme, Smith keeps finding ways to torch defenses. At this point, extraordinary has become routine. You expect the jaw-dropping catches, the impossible plays and the weekly highlight-reel moments. Yet somehow, he still manages to leave everyone stunned, making defenders look helpless and defensive coordinators question their career choices.
That's why Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, the longest-tenured active head coach in college football, placed Smith in rare company this week, comparing him to two of the most dominant game-changers of the past quarter-century: Saquon Barkley and Randy Moss.
On Saturday, Oct. 3, Smith made that comparison look perfectly reasonable.
Iowa's vaunted defense had no answers.
When the Hawkeyes left Smith one-on-one, he ran free. When they threw multiple defenders his way, he simply outmuscled, outran and outplayed them. Smith was the difference between a competitive first half and another comfortable Ohio State victory.
We see the Heisman pose after big plays all the time. Most are premature. Many are completely unnecessary.
But when Smith broke loose for a 57-yard touchdown that stretched the lead to 24-6, put the game on ice and silenced Kinnick Stadium, there was nothing forced about it.
It didn't come off as a prediction.
It looked more like a preview.
Because if Smith keeps doing this to defenses that know exactly what's coming and still can't stop it, he wasn't celebrating a Heisman moment Saturday.
He was giving everyone a glimpse of what could be waiting for him in New York this December.
THE RECORD-BREAKER (AND HEISMAN POSE) FOR JEREMIAH SMITH. pic.twitter.com/axl4odkRRI
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) October 3, 2026
NCAA records on the way for Jeremiah Smith
For being "Wide Receiver U," Smith has a major claim to be the best to ever line up for the Buckeyes. He became Ohio State's all-time record holder in receptions (207), receiving touchdowns (36) and 100+ receiving yard games (15).
He's not done breaking records — and may go down as with the best season for a receiver in college football history.
After five games, Smith leads the country with 823 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. With the 164.6 yards per game, Smith is on track to become the NCAA all-time single-season record holder, with Trevor Insley's 2,060 yards in 1999 for Nevada in first.
At his current pace, Smith would end the regular season with 1,932 yards, 128 short of the record. But with how Smith has carried the Buckeyes, Ohio State looks like it will be playing multiple postseason games, and when the stage is at its biggest, is when Smith could cement an outstanding campaign.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stop overthinking it: Jeremiah Smith is the Heisman Trophy favorite
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