Carnell Tate Credit: The Columbus Dispatch
By Kevin Harrish on

The Ohio State Buckeyes have two of the most dominant wide receivers in college football, between sophomore Jeremiah Smith and junior Carnell Tate.

The Big Ten Network was sure to note it early and often during its broadcast of Saturday afternoon’s game between Ohio State and Purdue. What it didn’t notice was that one of those receivers wasn’t actually on the field.

Through the first quarter and a half of their coverage, BTN commentators Jeff Levering and Jake Butt spoke extensively about Ohio State’s high-profile offense, headlined by those two prolific wide receivers.

BTN’s coverage included a graphics package comparing Smith and Tate’s production to previous Buckeye receiving duos, such as Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave, as well as Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka. They also made a point of highlighting how the mere presence of both receivers on the field opened things up for other players, like Max Klare, after he made a long catch in the first quarter.

There’s only one problem: Tate was never on the field.

While Tate was not listed on the team’s injury report and was out during warmups, he never actually took the field for the Buckeyes and stood on the sideline without his helmet. BTN seemed completely oblivious to this, failing to even acknowledge his absence until well into the second quarter.

While Smith is undeniably the bigger name in that Ohio State receiver duo, Tate is undoubtedly a star in his own right, with mock drafts projecting him as a top-five pick in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. So it was very glaring that the booth overlooked the absence of one of the top players in the entire country, and fans certainly took notice of the mistake.

Levering and Butt eventually noticed Tate’s absence midway through the second quarter, and sideline reporter Brooke Fletcher provided a bit of an update a few minutes later, saying Tate felt “tight” during warmups and that the team decided to hold him out of the game out of precaution.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day later confirmed this during a halftime interview on the broadcast.

“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.”

So, fans eventually got their answer, but it was bizarre that the crew overlooked the absence of such a high-profile player for so long.

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