As Ohio State football picked up its ninth win of the season against Purdue on Saturday, Nov. 8, the top-ranked Buckeyes did so without one of their top wide receivers in Carnell Tate.
After not playing a single first-half snap against Purdue, the Buckeyes’ wide receiver, who has been one of quarterback Julian Sayin’s go-to targets this season, was held out for the remainder of the game in a 34-10 victory over the Boilermakers.
Tate entered Ohio State’s Week 11 road game second among Buckeye receivers in receiving yards, with only Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiah Smith leading the way by 14 more yards. The 6-foot-3 wide receiver has already set a new career-high for touchdown receptions at seven this season and is 22 receiving yards short of tying his career-high for receiving yards in a single season.
Here’s what to know on Tate’s absence against Purdue on Saturday:
Why is Carnell Tate not playing? Latest updates on Ohio State WR absence vs Purdue
It appears that Tate is injured, though it remains unclear as to when that injury occurred and what type of injury he has.
Tate stood on the Buckeyes’ sideline for the entirety of the game in uniform.
Ryan Day comments on Carnell Tate not playing vs Purdue
Following the Buckeyes’ win over the Boilermakers, Ohio State coach Ryan Day told reporters in West Lafayette that the Buckeyes wanted to be ‘really careful’ with Tate after he felt something in warmups.
‘Carnell, we felt like he was gonna be OK to play, but when he went through warmups, he just felt something there, so we just wanted to be really careful. Could he have played? Yeah, probably. But we’re just gonna rest him to make sure,’ Day said in his postgame news conference of Tate’s absence from Ohio State’s win over Purdue.
Day’s postgame comments were similar to the ones he made on the Big Ten Network going into halftime, though they did omit the implication Tate would have been good to go:
‘He’s not gonna play. We’re gonna hold him,’ Day said. ‘It was kind of a thing before the game — we just didn’t feel comfortable putting him out there, so you won’t see him in the second half.’
The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
