No. 1 Ohio State heads to No. 3 Texas on Sept. 12 with a familiar problem and a bigger one behind it: Texas has already kept Jeremiah Smith in check, yet Ohio State has still found ways to beat Texas in both of the last two meetings.
That is why the search around Ohio State Vs Texas is so focused now. Smith has only seven catches for 46 yards across two games against Texas, but Ohio State still won last season’s opener and then beat Texas 28-14 in the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2024. In those games, Carnell Tate gave Ohio State a second answer, combining for nine catches for 136 yards and one touchdown before departing to the NFL. Now the burden shifts again, and Utah State transfer Devin McCuin offered a first glimpse of depth with six catches for 97 yards and one touchdown in Ohio State’s season-opening win over Ball State.
The clearest path through this matchup may come near the goal line. Texas held Ohio State to one touchdown in four red-zone trips in the last two meetings, even as Ohio State’s defense has been one of the nation’s best in that area in recent years. Texas, meanwhile, has not finished higher than 61st in the Football Bowl Subdivision in red-zone scoring since 2022, which turns every drive inside the 20 into a stress test for both teams. Jack Sawyer’s scoop-and-score sealed the semifinal win, and the difference then was not volume but finishing.
Texas has also changed how it wants to play. It hired Will Muschamp to replace Pete Kwiatkowski as defensive coordinator and blitzed Texas State quarterback Brad Jackson on 44% of his dropbacks in Week 1, producing three takeaways, two sacks and a havoc rate of 20%. That sort of pressure can force Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin to speed up his reads, especially after Ohio State surrendered two sacks against Ball State. But Texas also showed an opening of its own, because Arch Manning was under duress on just 13.3% of his dropbacks against Texas State even after Ohio State used a mix of blitz packages and disguised fronts to rattle him last season. If Texas can create pressure again, it can make life hard on Sayin. If Ohio State can keep the pocket clean and spread the ball beyond Smith, it can turn a top-three game into another result that looks oddly familiar.
Texas added Wake Forest transfer Melvin Siani at right tackle and Oregon State transfer Dylan Sikorski at left guard, and that is the part of the matchup that still needs proof. Ohio State will know by Sept. 12 whether those additions can hold up better than Texas did a year ago, because the game may come down to whether Texas can keep sending pressure without exposing itself, and whether Ohio State can answer the way it has in the last two meetings: with enough balance to make Smith only part of the problem.
