Ryan Day’s team is heading into one of the biggest games of the season against Michigan in two weeks, but misery came beforehand. As such, they lost two of their offensive weapons to injury, giving a huge blow to Ohio State’s wide receiver room. First, Carnell Tate went down with an unspecified injury before Purdue and missed two games. Now, even Jeremiah Smith went out of the UCLA game limping at halftime. But despite the recent shake-up, Day looks unfazed.

Heading into the game, Smith had a “questionable” status but didn’t seem to struggle while playing against UCLA as he recorded 4 catches for 40 yards. But then, at the end of the second quarter, after making an incredible one-handed catch, he was seen having some trouble with his leg. After which, he didn’t return for the second part of the game and headed to the locker room hobbling.

The same happened to Carnell Tate, who suffered an ailment during pregame warmups and didn’t enter the game, which makes the matter even more concerning. But Ryan Day’s focus is to keep his players healthy. There’s a high chance he’ll even keep them out against Rutgers to make sure they get proper time to rest before going up against Michigan, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel shares Day’s update on both of his WRs on X: “Ryan Day said in the postgame that he’s not worried about Carnell Tate or Jeremiah Smith in the long term. Smith didn’t play in the second half with what Day called a “little bit of a nagging issue.”