Urban Meyer Breaks Silence on Jeremiah Smith’s ‘Frustrations’ After Ryan Day’s Old Wounds Reopened

“I don’t think Ohio State’s a great football team. When you’re at home and you’re outgained by 100 yards, you just can’t say you’re great.” Ryan Day’s 2025 premiere win—14-7 over No. 1 Texas—isn’t exactly a “Feeding time for Ohio State” highlight. There were problems. Despite the scoreboard blaring a W for the Bucks, Jeremiah Smith felt… lost? 6 receptions and around 43 yards. Numbers you don’t expect from a freshman-of-the-year stunner who absolutely dominated the 2024 season with his production. Now, naturally, Jeremiah Smith wasn’t a fan of what he managed to accomplish.

We saw the tapes, and the kid looked visibly frustrated, but maybe it all ain’t his fault? Former Bucks HC Urban Meyer offered a more tempered evaluation during The Triple Option. Meyer’s opinion was simple: Week One performances, particularly from young players, should be framed within the difficulty of the opponent. “In the first start against that defense… he’ll learn. Week five, six, he’ll start to figure it out,” the former HC pointed out. At the core of it, Smith is no messiah. He is a great freaking player, yes, but no “oh he will singlehandedly win us the game.” And this is exactly what Meyer also emphasizes.

“Make sure that ball is going to a scarlet jersey accurately, and if not, throw it away… I would never set it [up] as, ‘Hey, let’s get it to Jeremiah.’” This is what Day and the Bucks should stay focused on—game management and efficiency. Despite Smith being on his “revenge arc” for Texas stopping him at only one pass for 3 yards back in 2024, it ain’t worth throwing the entire game just so the 19-year-old could exact his vengeance.

The arguably “best wideout in the nation” will expand in his production as the offense settles into the season, and that’s all that the Bucks faithful would want. See, the Longhorns were a big test. Steve Sarkisian did manage to expose Ohio State’s early-season impact, but at the same time, Day and Co. easily managed to force Arch Manning into extremely tight windows all night.

There is a positive and a negative to this whole debacle, but what matters is that both teams are in their prime forms, and Smith does have a ton of time to bring back the 2024 impact and maybe do even more. Heck, Grambling is waiting for a good beating come weekend…. right?

More problems for Ryan Day or “EZ” game for the Bucks?

Coming off a defensive droolfest win against the No.1 team in the country, most fans might think that Grambling won’t be much of a challenge. Yes, despite the offensive frustrations. But is it all sunshine and rainbows?

See, what should give you a slight scare about Grambling is their reputation. There is hardly any FCS team that has managed to dominate, let alone beat an FBS champ, before. But the same cannot be said for the Tigers. They did manage to snag a win back in 1985.

Now is that all to prove their prowess? Yes and no. Bucks 100% win this solely based on the talent disparity. Ryan Day’s trenches are LOADED. Meanwhile, the Tigers have a few select names on the depth chart (like QB C’zavian Teasett).

This shouldn’t be all to topple the Buckeyes’ dominating nature, but you gotta keep in mind Day and Co. are still on their ‘big game hangover’ phase. Never in a million years would anyone think of the 2024 natty winners losing this game, but who knows?

After Week 1, we can safely say that the playing field has been quite weird.