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What Oregon should expect from Ohio State's offense
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- What Oregon should expect from Ohio State's offense
If you were to ask a casual sports fan on the street to name a current college football players, you'd get a fair share of answers naming Arch Manning and Dante Moore answers. They're quarterbacks, after all. The guys that appear in the most commercials.
But the next answer is more than likely to come from a position that isn't often nationally known in the sport: wide receiver. That would be Jeremiah Smith of the Ohio State Buckeyes , who's all-world talent have led many to call him the best player in college football — during his true freshman campaign in which he put together a legendary College Football Playoff run that culminated in an Ohio State national championship.
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Now, he's the consensus best player in the sport and would be a shoo-in for the No. 1 overall pick in April if not for the top pick being extremly favorable towards quarterbacks.
That's the player that the Oregon Ducks will be tasked with stopping in Week 10 when they travel to take on the Buckeyes in Columbus at 12:30 p.m. PT. But don't forget the rest of the offense, as it's one of most dynamic units in the country with blue-chippers lining the field. Starting quarterback Julian Sayin is out injured, but there's plenty to work with for this group that entered the year expecting to win their second national title in three years.
In this piece, we broke down what Ohio State does well offensively, who their players to watch are, if Oregon's built to stop their offense and what we expect to see come Saturday in Columbus. Let's get into it.
What do the Ohio State Buckeyes do well on offense?
Just the way things go, there's a large part of Ohio State's game film that can be eliminated from the equation for Oregon, as the first seven games of the year came with Sayin under center. Zeroing in on the USC film and how the Buckeyes schemed up a game with backup Luke Fahey at the helm is imperative.
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During that contest in Los Angeles, the Buckeyes tried to pound the rock, something they haven't had a ton of success doing in 2026. They rank 65th in the country in rushing yards per game despite holding leads late in games. Ohio State had 43 run plays against USC versus 38 passes for Fahey, a mark that I'd guess would be much lower if not for the Buckeyes being down for much of the game.
Against Oregon, we're going to see an emphasis from Ohio State to get the ground game going — in whatever formation they see fit. They'll run the ball out of the gun in zone concepts and run gap schemes in 11 or 12 personnel under center. Running back Bo Jackson is proficient in both concepts.
In the pass game, the Buckeyes send the all-world Smith on plenty of deep routes. But they also use his nimbleness as a route runner to excel underneath in man coverage-beating situations. When the Buckeyes drop back and complete a pass, the ball goes Smith's way 37.3% of the time, an incredibly high reception share.
If I was to answer the question of what Ohio State does well in the shallowest manner, I'd say get Smith the ball and let him be the best player in the sport.
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Who are the top players to know?
QB Luke Fahey
Surprisingly winning the backup job over 2025 five-star Tavien St. Clair, Luke Fahey filled in for Sayin in Ohio State's loss to the Trojans last week. He was solid, completing 21-of-38 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown with no turnovers, but he struggled to finish drives with the Buckeyes settling for four field goals. Fahey has some dual-threat ability, though he never quite broke loose in his first career start. At 5-foot-11 and 206 pounds, the Mission Viejo, CA, native drops farther back than most quarterbacks, giving himself space to see over the linemen. While he doesn't have the strongest arm, Fahey was lauded in high school for his accuracy and anticipation, two things he showed at times versus USC.
RB Bo Jackson
The bell cow in the Ohio State backfield for the entirety of his true freshman campaign in 2025, Bo Jackson is back in that role in 2026. He hasn't had the same type of results, as his yards per carry is down from 6.1 to 5.0, largely due to a struggling running game as a whole. Jackson is tough to take down and uses his strong 6-foot, 218-pound frame to shake off tacklers at the point of attack. He's not too dissimilar to Oregon's Jordon Davison in his combination of physicality and nimbleness for a bigger running back.
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WR Jeremiah Smith
There's not a lot that needs to be said about Jeremiah Smith, but we'll say it: He's the consensus top player in college football, and that notion was realized during his College Football Playoff run as a true freshman. Since then, Smith has more than lived up to expectations, catching 62 passes for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns already in eight games this fall. Smith's 6-foot-4, 222-pound frame makes it impossible for defenses to completely eliminate him from the game, as he's special at plucking the ball out of the air while running crisp, precise routes to get open underneath. His track-star speed is just another plus on top of it all. If not for quarterbacks consistently going No. 1, Smith would be the sure-fire top pick in the 2027 NFL Draft.
Are the Oregon Ducks built to stop Ohio State?
I was skeptical last week that the Ducks could stop Northwestern's offense, but they did something that they've only done one other time this season: flip the switch defensively in the second half. The other time that the Oregon defense did that was against USC, not coincidentally the two most impressive wins of the year for the Ducks.
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Oregon isn't built to stop Jeremiah Smith for all four quarters. They'll take some punches, giving up big gains. That's just what happens when you battle against the best players. But if Oregon is to stand a chance, they'll make some plays in the secondary themselves against Fahey — they'll need some splash plays against the backup if they're to leave The Shoe with a win.
The positive is that the Buckeyes' rushing attack, although it's headed by Jackson, hasn't been particularly strong this year. That doesn't mean that the Ducks can just slack off on that part of game planning; it's likely to be the aspect of the game that decides the outcome. I believe Oregon is built to stop the rushing attack, but it could spell doom if the Buckeyes do indeed get it going, opening up more opportunities for Smith in the process.
What should we expect on Saturday?
The expectation should be what I've alluded to throughout: the Buckeyes are going to run the ball early and often and funnel a heavy volume of targets towards Smith. Anything in which Fahey has to make plays out of the script of the play and the Buckeyes shouldn't feel great about it.
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As for what the result of that game plan will be, I think it'll be a back-and-forth battle. Oregon will have to be resilient in the face of adversity, rolling with the punches as the game goes on. If they can nab a turnover or two from the Buckeyes, it could prove to be the difference.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: What Oregon should expect from Ohio State's offense
