For the last two games, the Ohio State football team has not had the services of Carnell Tate for the last couple of games. He has not been able to play against Purdue or UCLA. Tate is supposedly dealing with a mysterious injury that no one can pinpoint.
Before the UCLA game, Tate seemingly put out a message to calm Ohio State fans about his availability. Since then, nothing has come out that should make Buckeye fans happy. Ryan Day refuses to give an update about Tate or anything about his situation.
Fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes are worried that Tate is not going to play against Rutgers. It's officially time for people to start panicking about that, because it seems increasingly unlikely that Tate will be out there in what will likely be the last time he walks in the Shoe.
Ohio State football fans need to start worrying about Tate playing against TTUN
This is slowly turning into a JSN situation. There's a chance that Tate doesn't play against TTUN, either. That would likely signal that Tate has played his last down as a Buckeye, which should be the case if he doesn't play that game. If he's healthy enough to go through warm-ups against Purdue, then he should be healthy enough to play against Rutgers and Michigan.
If Tate doesn't play against TTUN, fans will not remember him fondly. That game is the most important game this season. In some fans' eyes, it might even be more important than a potential national championship game. Ryan Day needs every possible player available for that game.
Not having Tate for Rutgers is not the end of the world, but it's a troubling pattern. The Buckeyes might have to tie Jeremiah Smith to a chair to keep him from going in this game, even if he's not fully healthy. That's how much he cares about this program and about playing football.
There's no excuse not to have both players available next week against TTUN.