The Ohio State Buckeyes have reached what many in Columbus consider the biggest week of their college football season.
This Saturday will feature The Game, against Michigan, or That Team Up North, if you prefer. And somehow, the Wolverines have won four of these rivalry clashes in a row.
Last season's Ohio State team made up for it somewhat by going to win the national title. But for some fans, that still wasn't enough.
That makes the stakes for Saturday's game particularly high. It doesn't mean a ton for playoff impact for Ohio State (although Michigan could make an at-large case if it upsets OSU). But it means everything for the psyche of Buckeyes nation.
And that makes the injury questions that continue out of Columbus quite concerning.
Star wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate both sat out Saturday's win over Rutgers with lower-body injuries. Both are considered day-to-day.
That was Smith's first game missed, while Tate has now missed a couple.
Smith might be the best player in all of college football, and Tate is one of the nation's top WRs in his own right. They're a huge asset to Ohio State when on the field and a huge miss when they're out.
The tough part this week is that OSU head coach Ryan Day is very unlikely to give much away. College teams don't have to follow all the same stringent injury reporting rules of the NFL.
It's very possible that Smith and Tate's availabilities aren't known until pregame warmups Saturday.
And their status could decide that game, could decide whether the Buckeyes break the streak, could decide the mood of people in Columbus for this entire holiday season.
Updates will be sparse, but every little snippet that emerges from OSU about Smith and Tate will be viewed as a huge deal.
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