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By Bryan Colbert Jr.
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Jeremiah Smith needed just 31 receiving yards Saturday to claim another place atop the Big Ten record book. Ohio State’s star receiver cleared that threshold in the first quarter against Northwestern.
Smith passed Purdue’s John Standeford to become the conference’s career receiving yards leader, adding another milestone to a junior season already filled with them. A 22-yard reception from quarterback Luke Fahey pushed Smith’s career total to 3,798 yards, surpassing Standeford’s mark of 3,788.
That figure represented Smith’s total when he broke the record, rather than his final tally for the game.
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The record-setting catch came on second-and-three at Ohio Stadium. Fahey found Smith over the middle, and the receiver carried the play to Northwestern’s 11-yard line. Standeford had established the previous mark during his Purdue career from 2000 through 2003.
Smith arrived Saturday with 3,758 career receiving yards after catching seven passes for 133 yards against Oregon the previous week. He had already surpassed Ohio State’s career receiving yards record before turning his attention to the conference standard.
His climb has been built on production across all three college seasons.
Smith recorded 1,315 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman in 2024, helping Ohio State win the national championship. He followed with 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2025, then entered the Northwestern game with 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns through nine games this season.
His biggest performance this fall came against Illinois, when he produced 217 receiving yards and four touchdowns. He followed that with 206 yards and two touchdowns against Iowa, giving him consecutive games above 200 yards.
Even before Saturday’s milestone, Smith had reached at least 100 receiving yards in five games this season. His production against Oregon brought him within one routine scoring drive’s worth of yardage of Standeford’s longstanding record.
The receiving yards mark follows another conference breakthrough. Ohio State’s postgame notes from its Oct. 31 game at USC confirmed that Smith became the Big Ten’s career receiving touchdowns leader with his 40th touchdown catch.
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That game also made him the first Ohio State receiver with three 1,000-yard receiving seasons and the second in Big Ten history, joining Michigan’s Braylon Edwards.
Another milestone remained within reach entering Saturday. Smith had 16 career 100-yard receiving games, one behind the conference record shared by Purdue’s David Bell and Edwards.
Standeford’s yardage record survived more than two decades. Smith passed it before the end of his third regular season, with every subsequent catch now extending the standard the next Big Ten receiver must chase.
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