It doesn’t take a math major to realize the numbers conundrum that defenses face when covering both Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.
Typically, there are only five defensive backs on the field at a given time. With five total receiving options to cover – often three total receivers for Ohio State on passing plays – dedicating four to double-cover Smith and Tate seems impossible. But the duo seems equally impossible to slow down if either is left singled up.
Dedicate all your resources to stopping Smith at your own peril. Because Tate continues to make plays like this.
This is just a my guy is better than your two guys throw.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) October 18, 2025
Carnell Tate, man. pic.twitter.com/cZR6VCS4WS
Tate posted his third 100-yard receiving performance of the season against Wisconsin, continuing to solidify himself and Smith as the two best individual receivers in college football – and there’s simply not much separation between them anymore.
“His play speaks for itself and the catch he made early on was tremendous,” Ryan Day said after the Buckeyes’ 34-0 win. “You see some of those catches he makes on the sidelines. He's a great blocker. He is playing himself to be, again, a first-rounder (in the NFL draft) and All-American. He's just a different style of player than Jeremiah, but just as dangerous and just as good.”
Tate finished with six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns, and it took him a mere seven targets to accumulate those numbers. He got going on Ohio State’s second offensive play, snapping off a crisp comeback route to gain separation and snag a 15-yard toss from quarterback Julian Sayin.
Seven plays later came perhaps the best catch of the Buckeyes’ season – though Tate has another candidate from the Texas game in Week 1. Wisconsin came out in Tampa 2 coverage, which features two deep safeties and the “Tampa” or “Tricky” player in a middle zone that runs with any action he sees going down the middle of the field. That defender, Wisconsin safety Matthew Jung, attempted to close on Tate’s post route while fellow safety Austin Brown converged from his deep zone.
Sayin’s throw came late after he had to evade the pass rush. But it didn’t matter. Tate Mossed both men for a 33-yard touchdown catch. He’d just taken over in the slot for a briefly-injured Brandon Inniss, and as such hadn’t even run the play before.
“He had not run that play in practice one time,” Day said. “He actually ran that play against Purdue as a freshman and got a big play down the middle. And what it was was we were running down the field against a coverage, what we call Two Tampa or Tricky, and he stuttered on the Tricky player. It was a stutter on him, and then went by him.
“Julian got pushed off his mark and had to slide. So he was a little late getting it to him. And so he threw a good ball, but it was a little bit late. And so Carnell had to come back and make a contested catch over the defender's head. And I just thought that was a really great catch. That's an all-American catch.”
The snag is so nice it has to be played twice, this time from a different angle.
This angle of the first TD from Julian Sayin to Carnell Tate pic.twitter.com/rsGEyDdAk0
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) October 18, 2025
Whether it's that spectacular grab or the litany of toe-tapping sideline catches Tate has secured, the receiver has proven he might have the strongest pair of hands in college football. They’re like suction cups. Add in his fantastic athleticism, elite ball skills and body control, and defenders become merely incidental to the junior.
“It was just a great ball from Ju, for giving me the chance to go up there and make the play. There just happened to be two defenders up there,” Tate said of the twice-clipped catch above. “I just went up there and grabbed the ball.”
It sounds far too casual. Tate often makes it look far too casual. Just look at his second touchdown grab of the afternoon. Wisconsin cornerback Omillio Agard is in the right spot defensively. He fights Tate’s hands as Tate has to fight the sideline. But the receiver plucks the football like a flower.
“I've always been learning to catch the ball with my hands and I'm just going to continue to do that week in and week out,” Tate said. “We always work on it in practice, and then Coach Hart always preaches on it. Always catch the ball with your hands, never your body.”
Carnell Tate must wanna be a top 10 pick
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) October 18, 2025
Playing out of his MIND this year pic.twitter.com/NaJDNuiNDC
For the season, Tate is now up to 34 receptions for 587 yards and six touchdowns. Despite the clear threat he presents, defenses are still overcommitting to Smith at the cost of leaving Tate isolated.
Take this 27-yard strike from Sayin to Tate. Sayin’s first read is to Smith on a curl route. But three separate Badger defenders all spot the star sophomore and flock toward him, leaving Tate wide open near the sideline.
“We got two guys who, when it's one-on-one and you're looking both sides, I have full confidence that both these guys are going to go score a touchdown for us,” Sayin said. “It's really tough, but we have a great receiver room here, and these guys make some great plays for us.”
Sayin knew Tate was destined for greatness since the quarterback arrived on campus a year after his receiver.
“You knew about him coming in because he had a great freshman year,” Sayin said. “Just the route running, his hands and ability to get open. You quickly see it on day one. It's evident in practice and in the games.”
Tate has stamped himself as the nation’s second-best receiver, and it’s hard to separate him much from the first. In Day’s eyes, few have done more to earn it.
“To see somebody who has put the work in and – you heard me say before – put the dirty work in, and now he's seeing a lot of the balls come his way and he's seeing a lot of play,” Day said. “The throw and catch on the back-shoulder fade, all those things are working for him. And it's great to see him have success with the numbers he's getting now because this is a guy that sacrificed a lot in the past, a little bit last year. And had to put the work in and then maybe not see the numbers and see the results, but had faith in the program and stuck in there and believed in the culture, and now you're seeing it pay off for him.”
