Leading up to Saturday afternoon, the talk around the Ohio State football program centered surrounding the availability of both Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. Smith did not play last week against Rutgers, while Tate has missed the last three games. Both players had lower-body injuries.
All week long, Ryan Day has played coy about whether or not his star receivers would play in The Game. Smith had a pretty noticeable limp in the UCLA game, in which he just played the first half. Tate, meanwhile, seemed to just not want to play over the last few weeks.
Both players are key to what the Ohio State Buckeyes want to do on the offensive side of the ball. Smith is the best weapon in college football, and Tate will be a first-round pick next week. It looks like both players are good to go for the best rivalry in college football.
Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate will play for Ohio State vs Michigan
According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, both receivers will play against TTUN. With today being Smith's birthday, he was always going to play in this game. The coaching staff had to hold him back from playing against the Scarlet Knights last week so he would be more ready to go for this game.
Tate will be as close to 100 percent as possible after sitting out the last three games. Having both receivers available again will allow Julian Sayin to throw it around the field at will, even with the weather being a little iffy. Smith and Tate are just too good to be stopped.
The Ohio State Buckeyes feel very confident that they can beat anyone when they are at full strength. With the Buckeyes being at full strength, all they have to do is just execute their game plan in order to finally end the four-game losing streak.