WRU Battle 2025: Ohio State & LSU receivers dominate all corners of the globe
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Roger Goodell has taken the NFL international in his nearly 2 decades as the NFL commissioner. The league has played regular season games in the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Ireland, which hosted its first-ever regular season game in Week 5 (Spain joins the group on Nov. 16, 2025; Australia will hold a game in 2026).
Justin Jefferson didn’t play for the Fighting Irish, but he put on a show for them during that aforementioned Ireland affair. As a result, we had an Ohio State or LSU wideout top 100 yards in 3 different time zones last Sunday.
With football continuing to expand its reach, who knows how many Buckeyes and Tigers (and Bears, oh my!) will replicate this feat in the future. For now, though, each of these dynamic talents remain focused on the most important task at hand: victory in this WRU battle.
Ohio State WR of the Week: Emeka Egbuka (Buccaneers)
Week 5 Stats: 7 rec., 163 yds., 1 TD
We’re not sure we could praise Egbuka any harder if we tried. What else can be said at this point? The guy is quite literally putting up numbers that we’ve never seen from a rookie.
As this competition shows, we’ve had an immense amount of receiving talent enter the NFL in recent seasons. Egbuka is averaging more yards per reception (17.8) and has more touchdown catches (5) than everyone else here, and he trails just 1 person on this list (Jaxon Smith-Njigba) in receiving yards. Jaxson Dart and others could make the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award race interesting, but right now, it’s Egbuka’s award to lose.
LSU WR of the Week: Ja’Marr Chase (Bengals)
Week 5 Stats: 6 rec., 110 yds., 2 TDs
We said the “boom” weeks for Tiger receivers were coming. Cincinnati flirted with competitiveness against the Detroit Lions, then fell down 25 points, then made folks raise their brow with 2 quick touchdowns in the fourth quarter to cut the their deficit to 11. Chase was on the receiving end of both scores, providing a beautiful toe-drag on his first TD (a 15-yard grab) and benefitting from a busted coverage on the second (a 64-yard catch-and-run).
The Bengals traded for Joe Flacco earlier this week with hope that the Super Bowl XLVII MVP can get their passing attack going before the team is down 4 possessions. Will he succeed? Only time will tell. If he can, Chase is sure to benefit more than anyone else.
Other Ohio State WRs in Week 5
Here’s how the other Buckeyes we’re tracking performed last week:
Jaxon Smith-Njigba (Seahawks): 8 rec., 132 yds., 1 TD
- There’s an argument to be made that Smith-Njigba was the best receiver on the field in his de facto matchup with Egbuka. Seattle’s fanbase had to wait a year for JSN to really take off, but he has truly stepped into the league’s top tier with DK Metcalf out of the picture. He’ll try to run down Puka Nacua for the league lead in receiving yards against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6.
Marvin Harrison Jr. (Cardinals): 4 rec., 98 yds., 0 TD
- Harrison fell a whisker away from an incredible 44-yard scoring grab — on which he “Mossed” 2 Tennessee Titans defensive backs — on Arizona’s opening drive. Finishing with a season-high 98 yards was nice, but the Cardinals still failed to keep him involved throughout the game’s entirety (no catches or targets after the 11:24 mark of the third quarter). You know Harrison wants to dominate against the Indianapolis Colts in the house his father helped build this Sunday. We’ll see if he gets the opportunity to do so.
Garrett Wilson (Jets): 6 rec., 71 yds., 1 TD
- To his probable dismay, Wilson is becoming a bit of a garbage time connoisseur. Two of his last 3 touchdowns have come with the Jets trailing by 3 possessions. He’s primed to see more action from a similar script in Week 6, but with Pat Surtain II likely shadowing him, production could still be hard to come by if/when things are out of reach.
Chris Olave (Saints): 7 rec., 59 yds., 0 TD
- With this outing, Olave now has more than 50 yards — but less than 60 yards — in 4 of 5 games. Perhaps there’s something admirable about his consistency. However, we believe we speak for people everywhere when we say we’d like to see him with an upper-end quarterback sooner than later. The Olave that recorded 2,165 yards and 9 touchdowns in his first 2 NFL seasons is still on New Orleans’ roster. He just needs help breaking back out.
Other LSU WRs in Week 5
And, of course, here are the remaining Tiger wideouts we’re following in our competition:
Justin Jefferson (Vikings): 7 rec., 123 yds., 0 TD
- That sigh you heard was the lightening of the load on Jefferson’s shoulders. He tried single-handedly to keep LSU in this race last week, posting more receiving yards (126) than the rest of his fellow alums combined (110). Outside of not having scored a touchdown since the Vikings’ season opener, he’s as good as he has ever been.
Brian Thomas Jr. (Jaguars): 4 rec., 80 yds., 0 TD
- The pass Trevor Lawrence floated to Thomas during Jacksonville’s game-winning drive on Monday night was beautiful. There are metrics from the past 2 games that indicate the Thomas-Lawrence connection is returning to 2024 form. This weekend’s matchup with JSN’s Seahawks offers the chance for them — and Travis Hunter — to put crooked numbers on the stat sheet.
Kayshon Boutte (Patriots): 3 rec., 43 yds., 0 TD
- Stefon Diggs stole the show in New England’s Sunday Night Football triumph over the Buffalo Bills. That said, it was Boutte — with a 19-yard catch — that put the Patriots in position for their game-winning field goal. Drake Maye having enough trust in him to make such a play can only bode well for Boutte’s production the rest of the season (we hope).
Malik Nabers (Giants) suffered a torn ACL in Week 4 and is out for the season.
Week 5 Totals
Ohio State: 32 rec., 523 yds. (16.3 yards per reception), 3 TD
LSU: 20 rec., 356 yds. (17.8 yards per reception), 2 TD
Week 5 Winner: Ohio State (4-1)
The Tigers put up a good fight this week, but still fell short of the Buckeyes’ average output (6.4 rec., 104.6 yds., 0.6 TD) in their Week 5 contests (5 rec., 89 yds., 0.5 TD).
Season Totals
Ohio State: 145 rec., 1,911 yds. (13.2 yards per reception), 14 TD
LSU: 105 rec., 1,546 yds. (14.3 yards per reception), 7 TD
Season Leader: Ohio State
