Ohio State Star Predicts Rematch with Indiana Football in CFP National Championship

Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith said the Buckeyes will "see Indiana again" later during the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith (4) shakes off Indiana Hoosiers defensive back D'Angelo Ponds (5) during the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Dec. 6, 2025. Ohio State lost 13-10. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Over three weeks have passed since Indiana football defeated Ohio State, 13–10, in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis, but Buckeyes star receiver Jeremiah Smith still has the Hoosiers on his mind.

And soon, Smith believes he’ll see Indiana on the same field as him once again.

Smith, speaking to reporters Monday morning before No. 2 Ohio State faces No. 10 Miami on Wednesday in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, predicted the Buckeyes and Hoosiers are on a collision course to meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship game Jan. 19 in Miami.

“We’ll see Indiana again,” Smith said, according to Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Fischer.

Indiana and Ohio State both have business to handle — twice — before a rematch becomes possible.

The Hoosiers will face No. 9 Alabama at 4 p.m. Thursday in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. With a win, Indiana will advance to the Peach Bowl and face the winner of No. 4 Texas Tech and No. 5 Oregon.

Ohio State, meanwhile, would face the winner of No. 3 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss, should it defeat the Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday inside AT&T Stadium.

Indiana’s attention is on the present. The Hoosiers haven’t played in the Rose Bowl since 1968, and while they’re three wins away from the first national championship in program history, they’re focused on earning the right to play beyond Thursday.

“When you approach it, we're in a one game season right now,” senior linebacker Aiden Fisher said Sunday. “We're all fighting for our lives to play one more game after this. And it just kind of keeps going like that for the rest of this year.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti spent the season preaching the Hoosiers’ need to focus on each opponent the same as any other, no matter the stakes of the game or ranking of the opponent. That week’s game is the biggest only because it’s the next, he’d often say.

Senior tight end Riley Nowakowski said the mentality is “ingrained” into Indiana’s cultural fabric, which lessens the weight of the College Football Playoff pressure.

“I think it keeps all of us grounded,” Nowakowski said Saturday. “It just kind of keeps you focused on what's going on right now. Because the next game, especially now, isn't guaranteed.”

Smith made no guarantees either, but he made his prediction. Now, only time will tell whether the unanimous All-American receiver is correct.