Echoes of Excellence: LSU’s Electric Duo vs. Ohio State’s Rising Stars–A Tale of Two Eras in College Football’s Wideout Revolution

In the pantheon of college football, few tandems burn as brightly as a pair of wide receivers who don’t just catch passes—they redefine the geometry of the game. Picture this: a humid Baton Rouge night in 2019, Joe Burrow slinging lasers under the lights of Tiger Stadium, his arms a cannon feeding two predators named Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Fast-forward six years to the crisp autumn chill of Columbus, where Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate prowl the Horseshoe, turning every snap into a symphony of separation and speed. These are not mere players; they are forces, gravitational pulls warping defenses into pretzels.

And as one sharp-eyed Buckeye fan’s viral X post ingeniously “notices,” these pairs are the new Cracker Barrels of the gridiron—timeless duos cracking open secondaries like the restaurant chain’s hashbrown casserole, but with a modern twist that nods to the brand’s controversial 2025 logo refresh. There, the “old country store” emblem—complete with its folksy rocking-chair patriarch—mirrors LSU’s purple-clad trailblazers standing shoulder-to-shoulder, evoking a bygone era of raw, unpolished dominance. Flipped to the “new” barrel, sleek and streamlined, Ohio State’s scarlet phenoms back-to-back in scarlet jerseys symbolize evolution: faster, fiercer, and unburdened by nostalgia’s weight. It’s a meme that lands like a perfectly timed slant—humorous, pointed, and perfectly timed amid Cracker Barrel’s backlash over ditching its rustic roots for corporate polish. In this clash of eras, where Burrow’s blitzkrieg meets modern precision, the question lingers: Who towers taller in the receiver’s coliseum?

Noticing pic.twitter.com/sqgGmJJIEJ

— AzBuckGuy™ (@AzBuckGuy) November 7, 2025

We’ve seen duos like this before—but Chase and Jefferson’s 2019 alchemy propelled LSU to an undefeated national title, while Smith and Tate are scripting Ohio State’s 2025 repeat quest, aiming to defend their national championship from last season. Through their first eight games (noting Chase sat out one game in a merciful opt-out), the parallels are uncanny: body control, and a knack for turning routine throws into highlight-reel daggers. Yet, as we dissect the data—PFF grades, raw production, and the invisible hand of schematic opportunity—the contrasts emerge like shadows at dawn.

The Efficiency Elite: PFF’s Unforgiving Mirror

Pro Football Focus doesn’t lie. It grades every route, every contested snag, every elusively shimmy with the cold calculus of a surgeon’s scalpel. Among FBS wideouts logging at least 20% of snaps and 100 routes—a cohort of roughly 180 alpha dogs—these four aren’t just in the conversation: they’re rewriting the script.

In 2019, amid a receiver apocalypse that birthed NFL stars like CeeDee Lamb and Tee Higgins, Chase and Jefferson slotted in at Nos. 8 and 9 nationally in PFF receiving grade. Leap to 2025, and Ohio State’s young phenoms aren’t knocking; they’re kicking down the door—Tate ranks second (89.8 grade), Smith third at 88.0, both eclipsing the Tigers’ duo’s 86.7 and 86.5 marks. Raw production tells a tale of parity: the pairs’ combined yards hover around 1,500 each, touchdowns tally 18 for LSU and 16 for OSU, while yards per reception averages a near-identical 15.8—yet the Buckeyes’ elevated PFF strata signals a leap in overall polish through these initial eight contests.

These aren’t flukes. Chase and Jefferson feasted in a pass-happy ecosystem—Burrow’s 260 attempts over eight games (32.5 per game) birthed 310 team drop backs, a firehose of opportunity. Ohio State, under Brian Hartline’s hybrid wizardry, tempers aggression at 218 attempts (27.3 per game, 255 drop backs), blending run fakes with surgical strikes. Yet Tate and Smith’s yards per route run (Y/RR) (3.52 and 3.36) eclipses the Tigers’ duo (3.30 and 2.99), their higher average depth of target(aDoT) (12.3 vs. 10.5) yielding crisper execution despite the vertical demand. Normalize for volume, and the Buckeyes project to 92 catches and 1,050 yards combined—15% ahead in efficiency, per PFF’s models. It’s the difference between a shotgun blast and a sniper’s round.

Raw Firepower: Yards, Scores, and the Ghost of Opportunity

Raw stats? They’re the fireworks, dazzling but deceptive without context. Chase, in seven games, erupted for 43 receptions on 61 targets (8.7 per game), torching secondaries for 749 yards at 17.4 per catch and nine touchdowns—a 1.3 score rate that had SEC corners praying for rain delays. Pure poetry, each a Burrow prayer answered in afterburners. Jefferson, the volume vampire, hauled in 55 balls for 819 yards (14.9 average) and nine scores, his 63 targets a buffet of slants and screens that ballooned his totals but masked a subtler artistry.

Flip to 2025: Smith mirrors Jefferson’s reception haul (55 for 725 yards, 13.2 average, nine TDs) but on leaner rations—69 targets (8.6 per game)—a nod to sophomore fearlessness. Tate, the deep-ball diva, lags in volume (39 catches, 46 targets at 5.8 per game) but erupts at 18.2 yards per reception and seven scores, his 19.2% big-play rate (20+ yards) rivaling Chase’s explosive ethos. Ohio State’s tempo lags versus LSU’s which means fewer passes; however, every throw lands like a velvet hammer.

The equalizer? Opportunity’s cruel math. LSU’s aerial armada inflated raw numbers; Burrow’s 78% completion rate fed an ecosystem where defenses gassed out by halftime. Ohio State uses a balanced run attack where it is ranked 46th in the nation in rushing yards per attempt, leaving Tate and Smith in cleaner matchups. Per advanced metrics, the 2025 duo boasts 88% separation wins; the 2019 pair hovered at 82%. It’s evolution: from Burrow’s bomb squad to Hartline’s kinetic chess.

Deeper Dive: Route Runners, Drop Magnets, and Clutch Contesters

Peel back the layers, and the true artistry reveals itself in the granular grind—Yards per Route Run (Y/RR) as the great efficiency equalizer, average depth of target (aDoT) charting the vertical ambition, drop rates that separate the sure-handed from the streaky, contested catches (CTC) where 50-50 balls become sure things, and targeted QB ratings (RTG) that measure a receiver’s gravitational pull on completions. Through eight games, Ohio State’s duo pushes the envelope with deeper aDoT (12.3 average) in a balanced scheme, posting elite Y/RR marks but with the hands of steel—just 2 combined drops on 115 targets (1.7% rate), a 58% improvement over the Tigers’ tandem’s elevated clip (4 drops on 124 targets, 3.2% average) that underscores the toll of Burrow’s high-wire volume. LSU’s pair, at a shallower 10.5 aDoT average, leaned on quick slants and screens for solid Y/RR but couldn’t escape the drop bug—Chase’s 6.5% clip a stark contrast to Tate’s flawless 0.0%, highlighting how pressure in a pass-happy ecosystem extracts a price. Jefferson’s 100% CTC conversion on slim volume outshines all, but Tate’s near-perfection on 13 contested targets hints at a junior forged in The Buckeyes’ RTGs (149.3 and 150.0) flirt with perfection, underscoring how cleaner opportunities breed QB confidence. Despite running routes at deeper depths, Tate and Smith’s superior Y/RR reveals elite per-snap productivity—proof that polish can outpace raw vertical ambition, especially when drops don’t derail the drive.

Portraits in Motion: The Men Behind the Metrics

Ja’Marr Chase was lightning in cleats—a 6’0″ blur with sprinter’s speed 2019 was a coronation, 1,780 full-season yards etching him as Burrow’s shadow soul. Jefferson, wiry and relentless at 6’1″, was the chess master—55 catches through eight games ballooning to 111 by January, his route-running a clinic in deception that NFL scouts still study like hieroglyphs.

Enter Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State’s 6’3″ sophomore colossus, whose 55 grabs evoke a young Julio Jones: contested catches, nine scores that pulse with quiet menace but his 150.0 QB rating whispers otherwise. Carnell Tate, the 6’3″ junior savant, channels DeVonta Smith’s afterimage—18.2 yards per catch on wheel routes that leave LBs in dust clouds, his seven TDs a promise of more. At 20, he’s already the Buckeyes’ kingpin, turning checkdowns into house calls.

Legacy’s Long Shadow: Who Carries the Torch?

In the grand ledger, LSU’s duo owns the raw spectacle—1,568 combined yards and 18 TDs through eight, a title run that minted two perennial Pro Bowlers. But Ohio State’s heirs edge the efficiency narrative: higher PFF strata, superior Y/RR in a stingier pass environment, and a big-play parity that projects NFL dominance sooner. Chase and Jefferson were revolutionaries in a pass-first utopia; Smith and Tate are architects in an era of defensive Darwinism, where adaptability reigns supreme and every route is a calculated strike against evolving coverages. As Ohio State marches toward another potential title, the verdict tilts scarlet: the Rising Stars aren’t just echoing excellence—they’re amplifying it, one precise dagger at a time. In the end, it’s not about who towers taller, but who casts the longer shadow into the NFL’s future halls.