Chip Kelly, Ohio State offense flamed for confusing use of Jeremiah Smith in Cotton Bowl

Chip Kelly had a lot of explaining to do to Ohio State fans and college football fans in general for the way he was using freshman star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith with the Buckeyes’ season on the line.

Or, rather, for the way OSU’s offensive coordinator wasn’t using one of the best freshman players to play in college football in a very long time.

Yes, in the end Ohio State still won Friday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal against Texas, 28-14, despite Smith amazingly being held to 1 catch for 3 yards. This is a player who broke numerous school and Big Ten records this season, who had racked up 70 catches for 1,224 yards and 14 touchdowns coming into the Cotton Bowl showdown.

And it’s not like Smith had come back to earth during the Buckeyes’ Playoff run after a great regular season. Not at all. Smith had 6 catches for 103 yards and 2 touchdowns in Ohio State’s first-round blowout of Tennessee. He followed that up by catching 7 passes for 187 yards and another 2 TDs in the quarterfinal demolition of previously unbeaten Oregon.

And that was followed up by … 1 catch for 3 yards? It speaks to the Buckeyes’ wealth of weapons that they were still able to beat the Longhorns despite getting virtually nothing from Smith. But that didn’t stop Kelly’s critics from coming to the forefront as Ohio State advanced to play Notre Dame in the national title game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

Here’s a sample of the anti-OSU offense posts on social media:

Cory Nightingale

Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.