I've been thinking about this over the last couple of weeks as Carnell Tate has not only be WR1b to JJ's WR1a, but also had the spotlight shown on him by the general non-Ohio State fan public eye.

We all know who JJ is...literally everyone who watches college football. But as teams blanket him and general leave him well-covered most of the time we've seen Tate step up in a way that I don't think we've had a tandem like this since Wilson/Olave...and maybe even better than that.

But what has stuck out to me most is the amazing connection that Sayin and Tate clearly have. While JJ does his normal thing catching a ton of balls and getting a ton of yards every week, we still seem some passes that are a bit off the mark when you compare them to Sayin's other throws. The shorted TD attempt against Wisconsin is a great example. But when it comes to Tate I feel like we don't see that at all except for the one miscommunication at the left pylon in the end zone maybe two weeks ago (they showed Sayin and Tate talking about it on the sidelines afterwards).

I don't say this lightly because I don't want it to come off with any sort of negativity towards anyone on our team, but I think Sayin and Tate have the best QB-WR connection on this team. They seem to trust one another, Sayin's willing to "just throw it up there" to Tate more than JJ it feels like, and when Sayin throws to Tate the timing and placement is almost always perfect.

It's just an observation and maybe others feel differently but while JJ is our undisputed #1 WR, and the best in the country, I think the chemistry between Sayin and Tate is the strongest and it's resulting in Tate being able to play a true WR1 role when the defense focuses on shutting JJ down. It's a different feeling than when Egbuka was our #2, and excellent in his own way...maybe it's Tate's size and catch radius but I think it's the unbelievable trust that Sayin has in him.

Tate is, at worst, the #3 receiver in the country imo (behind JJ and the USC kid) and I think teams are going to have to resort to significantly lighter boxes if they don't want Sayin picking them apart like he did Wisconsin.

I wanted to put that down to see if anyone has noticed this or feels the same way.