With the much-anticipated season-opener featuring No. 2 Ohio State hosting No. 5 Notre Dame set for Saturday night in the Shoe, Ryan Day met with the assembled media yesterday to preview the blue blood showdown.
While Ohio State's revamped defense enters the contest as the great unknown, Day's offense appears to be a known commodity despite losing wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave to the NFL after both were selected in top 11 of last April's draft.
Of course the main reasons for supreme confidence in Ohio State's 2022 offense are quarterback C.J. Stroud and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
First-year starters a season ago, Stroud and JSN featured elite chemistry which as Day recalled, felt like a natural progression.
think it started in high school. They knew each other in the recruiting circles. They were on scout team for awhile and it quickly grew to last year. They’ve just naturally had a great relationship and understand each other’s body language. They have a good connection. – Ohio State head coach Ryan Day
To say the pair had a "good connection" ranks as a candidate for understatement of the year especially after how the two finished out the 2021 slate.
With Stroud frequently targeting Smith-Njigba despite his lining up alongside two first rounders for four of those five games, JSN went bonkers tallying 60 catches for 958 yards including a legendary performance in the Rose Bowl versus Utah.
| OPPONENT | RECEPTIONS | REC YARDS | YARDS PER CATCH | TOUCHDOWNS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| @NEBRASKA | 15 | 240 | 16.0 | 1 |
| PURDUE | 9 | 139 | 15.4 | 1 |
| MICHIGAN STATE | 10 | 105 | 10.5 | 1 |
| MICHIGAN | 11 | 127 | 11.5 | 0 |
| UTAH | 15 | 347 | 23.1 | 3 |
| 5 GAME TOTAL | 60 | 958 | 16.0 | 6 |
| 13 GAME SEASON | 95 | 1,606 | 16.9 | 9 |
Despite those five games representing just 38% of his 13 games played in 2021, JSN recorded 63% of his season's catches and 60% of his total receiving yards as Stroud found him early and often.
Smith-Njigba finished with 25 more catches and 548 more receiving yards than Wilson, Ohio State's second-most prolific receiver.
For his part, Stroud threw for 4,435 yards on a 71.9% completion rate with 44 touchdowns against six picks on the way to New York City as a Heisman finalist.
| SEASON | COMPLETION % (RANK) | YDS PER ATTEMT (RANK) | PASSER RATING (RANK) | YDS/GAME (RANK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 60.8% (66) | 6.8 (30) | 120.59 (25) | 224.2 (63) |
Wanting to get off to a big start this fall, Stroud and Smith-Njigba face a tougher-than-usual season-opening opponent in the Fighting Irish.
While the pregame talk has centered on Notre Dame's banged up offense featuring a first-year starting quarterback, the reality is its defense looks to have a chance at keeping the Stroud, JSN and the OSU passing attack from blowing up.
Last year's pass defense under defensive coordinator turned head coach Marcus Freeman ranked a respectable No. 30 in yards per attempt allowed and No. 25 in passer rating allowed despite giving up a 60.8% completion rate.
This season, Freeman and new defensive coordinator Al Golden must replace All-American safety Kyle Hamilton but they figure to have done exactly that after importing fellow All-American Brandon Joseph from Northwestern. Joseph is absolutely the real deal and he'll be joined in the secondary by safety DJ Brown and corners Cam Hart and Clarence Lewis, among others.
How well this group holds up against JSN and the rest of Ohio State's pass catchers, and of course whether or not the Irish can generate a consistent pass rush, will go a long way in determining if Freeman's squad can pull the upset.
