Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate out vs. Rutgers: What it means for Michigan game
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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State will be without standout wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate in Saturday’s game against Rutgers.
Both have been banged up for weeks, but this is the third straight game that Tate will miss. He last played in the Nov. 1 game against Penn State when he caught five passes for 124 yards and one touchdown.
Saturday will be the first full game that Smith will miss in his career. He played 20 snaps against UCLA last week, but the sophomore was seen limping on the field and was clearly not 100 percent healthy.
Head coach Ryan Day has not revealed the specifics of either injury, but said that both players are dealing with short-term injuries.
“They’re working hard to get back on the field,” he said.
Still, their absences, one week before the rivalry game at Michigan, will continue to draw concerns from the fan base until next Saturday.
For this week, at least, Ohio State will turn to its second-team receiver group of Brandon Inniss, Mylan Graham and Bryson Rodgers, to keep its 14-game win streak alive.
What has happened to this point?
Ohio State has been largely injury-free at receiver for much of the season, but Tate was ruled out in the Nov. 8 game at Purdue. At that time, Day said that Tate was a late scratch after pregame warmups.
“We thought he was OK to play, and he felt something, so we wanted to be careful. Could he have played? Probably,” Day said.
Tate was ruled out as a precaution, but he has not dressed for a game since that day. Despite social media buzzing about whether the junior wideout has played his last game for Ohio State, Day has been adamant that Tate is dealing with a short-term injury, but will not go into specifics about what it is.
Smith’s injury began last week against UCLA when he was listed as “questionable” on the availability report. He played 20 snaps, caught four passes for 40 yards and made a one-handed grab on the sideline. Still, he didn’t look like his normal self.
He was limping before and after the game and looked uncomfortable on the sidelines in the second half.
After the UCLA game, Brandon Inniss, who grew up with Smith and played 7 on 7 with Tate in high school, said fans don’t need to worry about Smith and Tate.
“They will be fine,” he said.
What does this mean for the Michigan game?
Ohio State is a 31.5-point favorite over Rutgers, so many fans have turned their focus to the rivalry game next week. It’s a matchup many believe Day needs to win after losing four in a row to Michigan.
With Smith and Tate out this week, any clarity on their injury status likely won’t come until next Saturday morning, when the Michigan game availability report is released. Day will speak to the media on Tuesday and Wednesday, but with his history, he’s unlikely to provide a substantial update.
He won’t want to tip his hand about the availability of arguably his two best players days before taking the field in Ann Arbor.
If they don’t play against Michigan, the Ohio State offense will have to find ways to move the ball against a Michigan defense that ranks No. 12 in the country in run defense. It will throw Inniss, Rodgers and Graham into the rivalry game earlier than expected — and in a must-win situation, if the Buckeyes want to reach the Big Ten championship game.
Smith and Tate are not expected to miss extended time into the playoff run, but if they do, Ohio State’s national championship odds will shift. But for now, the team’s focus is getting healthy for Michigan and a potential Big Ten title matchup with second-ranked Indiana.
