COLUMBUS, Ohio — The standard is simple: play more than 15 plays and earn an execution grade of 80%. That’s what makes you an Ohio State champion.

Head coach Ryan Day’s not going to sugarcoat that. He’s not going to change the requirements to make his team feel better after what he feels was a gritty win against a top-20 opponent.

That’s not how this works.

“Guys have to be held accountable, the position coach has to be held accountable for their units, each guy has to be held accountable and do their job over 80% for their execution, and that didn’t happen,” Day said. “If it does, it’s a whole different game.”

One offensive player graded out as a champion against Penn State: sophomore wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba — a six-time champion this season, who was also the offensive player of the game in the Buckeyes’ win against Maryland.

These grades are not something wide receivers coach Brian Hartline looks at. He feels the grades depend on the game plan, differentiating between which of his top three receivers is on the point of attack.

To him, those grades signify the idea of “Who’s game is it this game?”

“I think it’s hopefully the sign of a great offense and a good room that it’s hard to take away everybody and everybody’s going to be accountable when it’s their day,” Hartline said.

But Smith-Njigba does more for the offense than just catching a football.

Hartline calls him the best blocker in the room who’s dynamic in terms of changing direction along with ball skills that are “off the charts.”

Day says the sophomore is very quick inside, understands space and knows how to set guys up, also complimenting Smith-Njigba’s strong hands, competitive nature and toughness.

Smith-Njigba has been seen by Stroud quite often. The sophomore averages 5.8 receptions per game, recording six in his last two games against Indiana and Penn State, for 648 yards and three touchdowns.

The sophomore has not scored a touchdown since Week 4 against Akron. But Hartline still sees a receiver who’s growing up right in front of him, molding into one of the leaders in the room, even with much fewer targets than he experienced at Rockwall High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

“I figured by the numbers he put up in high school he was just screwed when he came to college,” Hartline said. “You ain’t going to get that in college. He did a pretty good job and realizing, ‘Wow, you only get four, five targets a game, I better maximize those.’”

In his sophomore season, Smith-Njgba has maximized his opportunities, becoming one of Ohio State’s three top receivers that Hartline has trouble taking off the field.

In eight games, Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave have brought in 113 of Ohio State’s 175 receptions (64.6%), 1,897 of Ohio State’s 2,770 receiving yards (68.4%) and 18 of Ohio State’s 25 touchdown receptions (72%).

Hartline gets it.

As a former player, he never wanted to come off the field when it was his turn to contribute as a junior and senior for the Ohio State offense in 2007 and 2008. In his perspective, even if the young players are ready, Olave, Wilson and Smth-Njigba are just too important to the offense to leave it hanging when the pressure’s on.

“People can see the perspective on that sometimes where one day, it’s going to be your opportunity, and let me know what you think,” Hartline said. “When you get in that spot, I’ll ask you again: do you want me to take you off the field so a younger guy can play?

“To me, it’s past that. If I am pulling a player off the field, you have to command and compete at that exact same level or I am doing a disservice to the running back, O-line, quarterback. That’s not fair.”

Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jayden Ballard’s time is coming. Hartline is excited about those three receivers and what they will be able to do.

But right now, it’s Olave’s, Wilson’s and Smith-Njigba’s passing game.

And as a six-time champion with four games to go, Smith-Njigba’s role in the offense does not seem to be slowing down.

“He’s highly competitive,” Day said. “Those are all things the guys in the offense see.”