Things could not have worked out better for Ohio State in the first 10 weeks. The Buckeyes are clearly one of the best teams in the nation, and they have not let up on the gas all season.
The schedule has been great. Ohio State hasn't left the region since late September and will close the schedule with home games against UCLA and Rutgers before... Well, you know what game ends every season. Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith are probably heading to New York for the Heisman ceremony, yet it's clear neither one of them has made that a priority. And most importantly, Ohio State hasn't suffered too many major injuries to jolt the depth chart.
And that's why the Carnell Tate situation is being monitored so closely. Will he play this week against the Bruins? Does he need to play? The decision seems pretty simple.
What is Tate's status going into the weekend?
Still unknown. Tate was a late scratch last Saturday when Ryan Day said he had a minor injury and didn't see any reason to chance it, especially against an opponent like Purdue (he didn't say the last part out loud, but we know that played into the decision).
Anything Tate has or hasn't done in practice this week is being heavily guarded, so we won't know exactly where the junior wide receiver is in terms of recovery until some information is released. It's not ideal to continue to add to the speculation, but college football coaches are not going to release any injury information they don't have to.
Should Tate play this Saturday against UCLA?
If he's healthy, sure. He's one of the top wide receivers in the game and the competitor in him is going to want to suit up as long as he's able to move. But if he's not around 100 percent, there's a good chance that Day decides to give it another week.
UCLA is spunky, sure. The Bruins beat Penn State earlier this season when that sort of thing mattered, and they have played hard over the past two months, but they aren't beating Ohio State. So it's another week to rest Tate and give the younger receivers more reps against an opponent they should handle.
It's not the ideal situation, you never want the top players to get hurt, and the coaches don't want Tate to get rusty with the Michigan game around the corner. But expect Day and the Buckeyes staff to err on the side of caution this week.