The Ohio State Buckeyes may be the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff, but they have the No. 1 and No. 2 difference-making wideouts in the field. At least according to Saturday Blitz's Nicholas Rome.
Rome believes Jeremiah Smith is the clear best receiver in the field and in the sport, but feels Carnell Tate could've been that had he not had the game's consensus No. 1 player as his high-usage teammate.
"If he didn't play on the same team as Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate would be arguably the best wide receiver in the sport. The Buckeyes' speed threat was well on his way to a 1,000-yard season before suffering an injury that cost him time. Tate's elite ability to get open and win in all areas of the field has only opened things for this offense," Rome wrote.
"There isn't a better wide receiver in College Football than Jeremiah Smith, who'd arguably be the 1st overall pick this year if he were draft eligible. Smith attracts a level of attention that no other wide receiver garners, yet he still finds a way to make big plays, making the Ohio State offense almost impossible to slow."
Ohio State's talent still the trump card in the College Football Playoff
Ohio State may have held back offensively against the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game. That offensive game plan was similar to their 14-7 win over the Texas Longhorns in Week 1. Things just didn't go their way this time, most notably, Jayden Fielding's missed field goal in the second half that arguably cost the team the game.
Brian Hartline's half-in, half-out approach is probably partially to blame, too. But this team wasn't far off. It was a thin margin of error they were on the wrong side of. And Indiana needed to win the B1G title game a lot more for their legacy.
The next three games, if OSU gets that far, will have similar margins of error. If talent wins out, it'll be the Buckeyes triumphant when the smoke clears on January 19. Smith, Tate, Julian Sayin Sayin, and Bo Jackson are all peaking at the right time.
Ryan Day just needs to unleash his weapons accordingly. He'll have a bigger role this postseason than he did during the team's dominance. With Hartline's imminent departure to become the USF Bulls' head coach, that's not necessarily a bad thing.