Two receivers turned season openers into national statements. Malachi Toney’s explosive night in Palo Alto and Jeremiah Smith’s first-half takeover in Columbus vaulted both players into the early Heisman conversation, with DraftKings and national attention already reflecting their Week 1 efforts.
Dominant wins set the stage
Miami opened its season with a 45-6 road victory over Stanford, while the Ohio State Buckeyes rolled to a 56-3 win over Ball State. Both games provided clean canvases for Toney and Smith to make dramatic, highlight-driven cases for individual recognition in a single weekend of football.
Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith were central to Ohio State’s rout. Sayin finished with a polished performance, completing 21 of his final 23 attempts for 320 yards and three touchdown passes, and added his first career rushing touchdown on a 3-yard run. Smith was the primary beneficiary: he made eight catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, as the Buckeyes built a commanding lead before halftime.
At Miami, Malachi Toney announced himself from the first snap. He hauled in a 48-yard reception on the Canes’ opening play, immediately flipping momentum and field position. The night only escalated from there: Toney finished with 12 catches for 234 yards and three touchdowns, repeatedly breaking Stanford deep and forcing the Cardinal secondary into adjustment after adjustment.
Highlight plays and game-changing moments
Toney’s night featured several sequence-defining plays. After the opening 48-yard grab from new starter Darian Mensah, he converted a 23-yard touchdown on the same drive, punctuating the score with a notable touchdown celebration. He later added a two-yard touchdown on Miami’s next possession and capped his day with a 47-yard score in the third quarter that essentially put the game out of reach.
Smith’s most memorable moments came early and often against Ball State. Sayin hit him with a 48-yard strike down the right sideline on Ohio State’s first offensive series, and Smith closed the half with a toe-tap touchdown in the back of the end zone. The chemistry showed in the two-minute drill before halftime — Sayin found Smith five times for 74 yards, the sequence ending with a 3-yard touchdown that pushed the Buckeyes further ahead.
Both performances were about more than one spectacular play; they were efficient and sustained. Miami and Ohio State scored on multiple possessions in the first half, with Ohio State managing scores on four of six drives and punting just twice in that period. The result: decisive wins that allowed both players to pile up stats while their teams controlled tempo and field position.
Early Heisman chatter and the market response
Week 1 created instant headlines linking both players to the Heisman Trophy. Sporting News projected that Malachi Toney and Jeremiah Smith “vaulted themselves into the Heisman race” after their opening games, a formulation that captured the sudden national attention around two high-profile receiving performances.
The betting market mirrored that interest. DraftKings lists Jeremiah Smith at +1000 and Malachi Toney at +1300 on its early Heisman board. Both sit behind Miami quarterback Darian Mensah at +500 and Notre Dame’s CJ Carr at +800; Texas quarterback Arch Manning is listed alongside Smith at +1000. Those numbers reflect how a single standout showing can shift perception and position players among early favorites, even as the season is only beginning.
Even among bettors and pundits who caution that it is early, the combination of eye-popping stat lines and signature plays created a clear first impression. Sporting News added an evaluative note that, while the season is young, both receivers made clear cases for postseason consideration — an opinion that codified what many viewers saw on the field in Week 1.
For Ohio State, Smith’s outing reinforced the Buckeyes’ title billing and the Sayin-Smith connection that fueled last season’s run to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. For Miami, Toney’s production offered a dramatic introduction to the Mesah-era passing attack and an immediate vertical threat opposing defenses must account for going forward.
Both players leave Week 1 with headline-making stat lines and highlight reels, and with the early betting market and national conversation placing them among the names to watch. Whether those first impressions carry to December will depend on consistency, level of competition and the narratives that form over the next several weeks — but for now, Toney and Smith have turned a single weekend into a set of expectations that every opponent will notice.
