Jeremiah Smith of the Ohio State Buckeyes is hit with a “crazy” penalty in loss to the Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes face a massive rematch in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, with a berth in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on the line.

In their first meeting on October 12 in Eugene, Oregon escaped with a thrilling 32-31 victory, which was one of the best games of the regular season. If just a few plays had gone differently in this game, these two teams likely would have taken completely different CFP paths. Instead, it’s Oregon, which has a Big Ten championship and the No. 1 seed.

One of those plays – which caused some controversy – occurred on the game’s final possession as Ohio State attempted a game-winning drive downfield. With 22 seconds left in the game, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard found star freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith for a completion that put the Buckeyes well within game-winning field goal range on Oregon’s 21-yard field.

However, Smith was called for an offensive pass interference penalty, which set Ohio State back to the Ducks’ 43-yard line. Smith spoke to the media before the Rose Bowl and admitted that he is still thinking about that punishment, even calling it a “crazy decision.”

“I probably think about that call every day,” Smith said. “It was a crazy call. The DB held me; I just freed his hands. I guess receivers can no longer be physical in football, but DBs could hold 10 yards and 15 yards down the field. It’s behind me. I know the step from now on when the DB grabs me. I guess you can’t be physical anymore as a receiver in college football. We’ll just see how things play out in this game.”

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Three plays later, Howard scrambled to center as time expired on a play that will forever be remembered by Ohio State fans if they fail again against Oregon.

Smith already speaks like a seasoned veteran and certainly plays like one. He had 63 catches for 1,037 yards and 12 touchdowns heading into the Rose Bowl that season. In that loss to Oregon, he had nine catches for 100 yards and a score.

Luckily for the Buckeyes, despite the loss to Oregon and the embarrassing loss to Michigan in the regular season finale, they still have a direct path to the National Championship.

The Ducks will look to cause more heartache for Columbus when the Rose Bowl begins at 2 p.m. PT on New Year’s Day.