Ohio State football boasts the most explosive wide receiver in the College Football Playoffs in Jeremiah Smith. The freshman torched two straight power conference defenses, looking un-guardable against Tennessee and Oregon. Nick Saban is one who's in awe of Smith.

The seven-time national champion head coach even believes Ohio State can ride Smith to the title. Saban shared this belief on his Thursday appearance with The Pat McAfee Show.

“I don't think there's any question about it,” Saban told McAfee and panelist Chuck Pagano, former Indianapolis Colts head coach. “When you have a mismatch player like that, Chuck (Pagano) knows this, when you’re a coach and you know you’ve got a go-to guy and they can’t guard the guy, from a quarterback standpoint I mean who makes who better? The receiver makes the quarterback better, the quarterback makes the receiver better.”

Saban knows how impactful having a “mismatch” wide receiver is — having coached numerous ones at Alabama.

“And you know when you’ve got a mismatch guy like this that he’s going to make plays in critical situations,” Saban said.

Jeremiah Smith reminds Nick Saban of former Alabama star WR

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) scores a touchdown during the first half of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against the Oregon Ducks at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 1, 2025.
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Saban watched DeVonta Smith emerge as a future Heisman Trophy winner. He later turned Jerry Jeudy into a first round WR talent. Amari Cooper and Jaylen Waddle are two more past Saban wideout talents.

The legendary head coach, however, blurted out one of his biggest WRs ever in discussing Smith's impact.

“I mean we had Julio Jones back in, what, 2009 or whatever?” Saban said. “And he was that kind of player. We had lots of first-round draft pick wide receivers, but he was the one guy you knew if you threw him the ball in a critical situation he was going to win and he was going to make the play. And I think that’s what they’ve got in this guy, No. 4.”

Smith shredded Oregon with a career-best 187 receiving yards. He zipped past the Ducks' secondary for a pair of 40+ yard touchdown catches.

The first-year college athlete will enter the CFP semifinals with 70 catches, 1,224 yards and 14 touchdowns in tow. Texas now has its defensive coaches up and night thinking about how to counter Smith. The Longhorns happen to be led by former Saban assistant Steve Sarkisian.

Ohio State and Texas will meet in the Cotton Bowl down in Arlington. It'll mark the fourth meeting between both programs. They last clashed in the 2008-09 season at the Fiesta Bowl — which the Longhorns won 24-21. Smith also will face one of the 40 universities that offered him a full scholarship during his 2024 recruiting period.