Arthur Smith and Ryan Day Abandon Jeremiah Smith During Fourth Quarter Meltdown

Jeremiah Smith was unstoppable in the first half against the Texas Longhorns. He finished the first 30 minutes of football with six catches for 110 yards and a touchdown at the break.

He helped propel the Buckeyes to a 20-3 lead at the break after ripping one up the seam in the waning seconds of the first half for a touchdown that felt like a dagger. He hit the "horns down" celebration in the end zone, and Buckeye Nation was going crazy.

Unfortunately for Ohio State, they would only get one more Jeremiah Smith catch for the rest of the day. When the Buckeyes came out of halftime, they went into a complete and total shell.

They began relying on the run game, and it wasn't working. They targeted Smith seven times in the second half and only connected for two catches. He had an 11-yard catch and a 43-yard grab, and that was it for Smith.

It's really hard to comprehend what their goal and intent were in the second half. The first half could not have made it clearer that Jeremiah Smith was by far and away the best player on the football field. 

Texas quite literally had no defense for him, and to the credit of Ryan Day and Arthur Smith, they did a great job of mixing him up in formations and routes. He wasn't just pinned to the outside; he was in the slot, he was in the bunch, he was all over the place, and it made it really hard on the Longhorns.

Furthermore, when Texas tried to play man, Smith killed them. When they went with zone coverage, he was just running wild.

It was impressive to watch, and he had the Buckeyes absolutely rolling in the first half. In the second half, they just abandoned him when the chips were down.

There are a lot of questions flying around on Sunday morning about the Buckeyes' approach and where things went wrong. The top of that list needs to be the play calling because what it was in the second half was so bad.

It couldn't have been more obvious that the Buckeyes changed their plan from being aggressive to playing conservatively and playing not to lose. When that becomes the plan, the result is almost always a loss. 

The opponent needs to be the opponent. Once you start playing, the clock is when you let a dead team back into the game. 

Jeremiah Smith couldn't be stopped against Texas until the Buckeyes stopped him themselves.