Game of the Week · 2026 Week 2
Away
Ohio State
No. 1 in the AP poll
1-0 · Big Ten · poll read September 9, 2026
At
Home
Texas
No. 4 in the AP poll
1-0 · SEC · poll read September 9, 2026
Saturday, September 12 · 7:30 p.m. ET
ABC · Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium · Austin, Texas
Kickoff, network and venue as announced, confirmed September 9, 2026.
Played September 12, 2026. The result is below; everything above is as published before kickoff.
Est. roster value
$38,029,283
$48,937,555
Each figure is The NIL Standard's estimated total value of that team's 2026 roster, produced by our valuation model across every active player and incoming signee it prices. Read live on September 9, 2026; these move whenever the model runs.
How each roster was built
Share of each roster's estimated value by how the player arrived — retained from the program's own recruiting, acquired through the transfer portal, or an incoming signee. Percentages only.
Ohio State
- Retained
- 64.7%
- Portal
- 21.4%
- Recruit
- 13.9%
Across 80 valued roster spots.
Texas
- Retained
- 59.4%
- Portal
- 24.8%
- Recruit
- 15.8%
Across 91 valued roster spots.
The two shapes are close. Both rosters are majority-retained rather than portal builds, so the gap between these two programs is a gap in total, not in method.
The most expensive WR on each side
These are the highest-valued WRs on the two rosters — a statement about what each player costs, not about who is the better receiver, and not a prediction about the game. Both are listed first at their slot on their team's depth chart.
$5,000,000
The NIL Standard's estimate
Week 1
8 catches, 151 yards, 2 touchdowns
34.8% of Ohio State's receiving yards and 25.8% of its catches. All of it in the first half. He did not play the second.
$3,000,000
The NIL Standard's estimate
Week 1
3 catches, 70 yards, 2 touchdowns
19.4% of Texas's receiving yards and 11.5% of its catches. Two of the four touchdown catches Texas threw, on three targets caught.
He was not Texas's leading receiver that week. Ryan Wingo had 7 catches, 121 yards, 1 touchdown — more catches and more yards, at a lower estimated price.
Both of those figures are editorial overrides rather than model output. Where we hold a specific estimate for a player, it replaces what the model would otherwise calculate, and the team totals above include them. Week 1 lines are from the official box scores, checked September 9, 2026.
One receiver, three meetings
Updated September 14, 2026. As published before kickoff this section was headed “One receiver, two quiet nights,” and its premise was that this opponent had held him to far less than his national leads. The game answered it: 8 catches, 164 yards, 1 touchdown. The figures and dates below are kept as published; only the framing has changed.
Jeremiah Smith has led the nation in receptions (171), receiving yards (2,709) and touchdown catches (29) since 2024. His three meetings with this opponent:
- 2024 College Football Playoff semifinal: 1 catch for 3 yards
- 2025 season opener: 6 catches for 43 yards
- September 12, 2026, this game: 8 catches for 164 yards and a touchdown
In Week 1 he had 8 catches, 151 yards, 2 touchdowns and then sat. “We decided to hold him in the second half,” Ryan Day said afterwards — rest, not injury, with this game ahead.
Career and prior-meeting figures as reported by the Associated Press, September 8, 2026. Quotation: Athlon Sports, September 6, 2026. This game's line: official box score, checked September 14, 2026.
What actually happened
Texas 24 – 23 Ohio State
Ohio State 10 · 10 · 3 · 0 | Texas 0 · 3 · 0 · 21
Texas trailed 23-3 entering the fourth quarter and scored 21 unanswered points, the last on a one-yard Hollywood Smothers run with 25 seconds left, while being outgained 372 yards to 336.
- Jeremiah Smith: 8 catches, 164 yards, 1 touchdown — 20.5 yards per catch. Six catches for 110 yards by halftime, the last of them the 19-yard touchdown from Julian Sayin with ten seconds left in the half; two more catches in the third quarter, and none in the fourth.
- Cam Coleman: 4 catches, 49 yards, 0 touchdowns — 12.3 yards per catch. Texas's only receiving touchdown was Ryan Wingo's, from three yards, 41 seconds into the fourth quarter.
The more expensive receiver had his best game against this opponent and lost. The cheaper one was quiet and won, and the only Texas receiving score went to Ryan Wingo, the receiver the preview had already named as the more productive at a lower estimated price. That is what the two prices described, and what they did not. The page never said they would decide anything.
The prices on this page are what each roster and each player was estimated to cost going in. They were never a prediction, and one result does not test them.
Official box score, checked September 14, 2026. The preview above is preserved as published: its roster values and build percentages are as read on September 9, 2026 and were not refreshed after the game; the live figures are on each team page.
Roster values and build percentages read live on September 9, 2026. Week 1 figures from the official box scores, checked September 9, 2026. Kickoff, network, venue and both poll standings as announced, confirmed September 9, 2026; the game has since been played, and the result above is from the official box score.