ATLANTA — (AP) — Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith was able to keep a team-first approach after having extra defensive attention make him almost invisible in the Buckeyes' Cotton Bowl win over Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
After all, that extra attention limited Smith to one catch for three yards but opened up opportunities for his teammates in the 28-14 win that earned Ohio State a berth in Monday night's national championship game against Notre Dame.
“I’m not a selfish player. It’s not just all about me,” Smith said at Saturday’s national championship media day. “It’s about the whole team as well. If I’ve got to be a decoy this game as well, all I want to do is win, so if that’s what it takes, to be a decoy to win the game, that’s what I’ll do. It doesn’t matter.”
One of the key questions in the championship game: Will Notre Dame play man defense against Ohio State's receivers? That strategy has worked well for the Fighting Irish, but Smith and Emeka Egbuka are different than most receivers.
“At the core of it, we're wide receivers so we'd love the opportunity to be able to just go out and be one-on-one,” Egbuka said. “At the end of the day, whatever coverages they play, our coaches are going to have a good gameplan for it.”
Smith was voted a second-team AP All-American after compiling 1,227 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. Smith broke Cris Carter's school records for receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns for a freshman.
If Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard ever starts feeling too good about himself, all he has to do is look at his right wrist.
Right there, in navy script on a green wristband is a jarring reminder: “You suck.”
The fact that his mom sent it to him just makes the message hit home even more.
Leonard, who transferred from Duke and has thrown for 19 touchdowns and run for 16 more this year, explains he wears the wristband because, growing up in Fairhope, Alabama, he was a star who admittedly never went through many tough times.
“Everybody just tells you how good you are all the time, and I’d just get so sick of it,” he said. “I didn’t really have a lot of adversity. I lived a blessed life, and I just wanted somebody to tell me I sucked to give me a little extra motivation."
He says he shared this thought with his mom, and she “gladly took that and ran with it.”
“My high school locker said ‘You suck’ all over it and it’s just kind of been going on for a long time,” Leonard said.
Even though the national championship game is being played in the South, no Southern team is in the game for the second consecutive season.
Instead, Ohio State has the opportunity to give the Big Ten its second consecutive national championship, following Michigan's win over Washington last year. Michigan's win snapped Georgia's string of back-to-back championships.
“It's a great opportunity for our conference,” Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon said. “I'm not too worried about the conference rivalry stuff. If you want to win the championship, you've got to put together a really good season. I'm just worried about us playing our best game right now. I don't want to worry about too many headlines and the big conference talk.”
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love says he needed a full half in the Orange Bowl before he had total confidence his knee was ready for him to play his normal game.
Love had 11 carries for 46 yards and a touchdown in the 27-24 Orange Bowl semifinal playoff win over Penn State.
“I'd say it all clicked for me in the second half of that game,” Love said. “The hurdling came and the touchdown came. ... It was all a mental thing.”
Love said Saturday he won't need that extra time to gain confidence in the knee in Monday night's game.
“As for this week," he said, "I'm 100% and ready to go.”
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AP Sports Writers Eric Olson and Eddie Pells contributed to this report.
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