The Buckeye Nation – and the entire college football world – is reeling from a gut-wrenching tragedy that unfolded just before dawn on December 5, 2025. A catastrophic bus accident involving the Ohio State University football team’s traveling contingent to Bloomington for the Big Ten Championship game against Indiana has left multiple players, including freshman sensation and projected No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Jeremiah Smith, in critical condition at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The crash, which occurred around 4:15 a.m. on I-70 near Etna Township (Mile Marker 118), involved the team’s charter bus colliding with a semi-truck amid heavy fog and icy patches, sparking a fiery multi-vehicle pileup that injured 25 and hospitalized 12. With the undefeated Buckeyes (12-0) set to face the Hoosiers (11-1) in a winner-takes-all showdown for a College Football Playoff bye, the game is all but certain to be postponed – but today, no one is talking football. Hearts are breaking for the young men who give everything for the scarlet and gray.
This isn’t just a story of twisted metal and flashing lights; it’s a raw, unfolding nightmare that’s united Columbus in prayer and poured salt into the wounds of a program already navigating a season of highs (a 27-9 demolition of Michigan on November 29) and whispers of change (offensive coordinator Brian Hartline’s rumored jump to South Florida). As surgeons battle to save lives and families huddle in waiting rooms, the focus is laser-sharp: survival over scores. “These aren’t just players,” Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith said in a tear-choked presser. “They’re sons, brothers, our future. We’re fighting with everything we have.”
🚑 The Crash: Fog, Fate, and a Fiery Nightmare on I-70
Details emerged piecemeal from the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) and eyewitnesses, painting a harrowing picture. The Buckeyes’ charter – a 56-passenger Prevost carrying 42 players, five coaches (including position coach Chip Kelly), and support staff – was en route to Memorial Stadium for a Friday walkthrough ahead of Saturday’s noon ET kickoff. Fog blanketed central Ohio, reducing visibility to under 200 feet, and black ice from overnight flurries turned the eastbound lanes treacherous. At approximately 4:15 a.m., the semi (a Freightliner hauling produce, per DOT logs) hydroplaned across lanes, clipping an SUV before slamming broadside into the bus’s front left quarter.
The impact? Devastating. The bus jackknifed, shearing off its front axle and rupturing the fuel tank – igniting a blaze that engulfed the cab and front rows within seconds. Flames leaped 30 feet, per first responders, forcing heroic rescues: Players like safety Caleb Downs and lineman Will Kacmarek pulled teammates from the wreckage before firefighters from Etna and Kirkersville arrived. OSHP’s initial report cites “driver inattention compounded by weather” for the trucker (a 52-year-old from Indianapolis, cited but uninjured), but the bus driver – a 15-year veteran with Ohio State Athletics – suffered severe burns and a collapsed lung.
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