No result against Rutgers could have calmed fan anxiety about next Saturday’s game in Ann Arbor. But the look of Ohio State’s wide receivers without Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate the past one and a half games didn’t help matters.
The Buckeyes’ wideouts produced just four combined receptions for 43 yards, with two catches each from Brandon Inniss and David Adolph.
This isn’t a story meant to hit the panic button on Ohio State’s season. There were many, many positive things the Buckeyes did against Rutgers. Dominant play from the Silver Bullets again. Growth on the ground, even against (by far) the nation’s worst yard-per-carry run defense.
But the dropoff in Ohio State’s passing game when Smith and Tate aren’t in the lineup is larger than expected, and with the psychological trauma of the past four Michigan losses haunting everyone who cares about the Buckeyes, worry is warranted. Though Ryan Day didn’t express as much concern publicly after the win.
“I thought, overall, there was some good things there,” Day said. “I thought David had a really big third-down catch. Brandon had a really big week last week. And I thought Max (Klare) stepped up in a big way. So it's a great opportunity for those guys.”
In a 42-9 domination of a Big Ten opponent, it’s good to focus on some positives. The biggest on Saturday for the Ohio State passing game was Klare.
The tight end was the crown jewel transfer portal addition for the Buckeyes this offseason, but in the shadow of Smith and Tate’s spotlight, he’s just been quietly productive in a few spots where he needed to be. Against Rutgers, he went from a side fixture to the main feature of the passing attack.
Klare racked up seven receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown caught as he streaked wide open on a wheel route. He flashed great athleticism on his biggest play of the day, a 39-yard catch-and-run (and hurdle) off a drag route.
“I think it's just more opportunities,” Klare said of his performance without Smith and Tate in the lineup. “I mean, obviously, not having those guys out there hurts. We always want those guys out there just because they're so special. But when your number's called, you got to make a play, and that's kind of what happened today.”
With Smith and Tate out, Max Klare has reminded everyone that Ohio State also has one of the best tight ends in the country.
— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) November 22, 2025
The Purdue transfer is now over 100 yards today. Another playmaker for defenses to worry about in the CFP. pic.twitter.com/3aLwmHHrxE
All that production came on eight targets for Klare, giving him a catch rate of 87.5% when targeted by quarterback Julian Sayin. That duo was clearly on the same page. The receivers and Sayin? Not so much.
Sayin went 4-of-7 for 43 yards (6.1 yards per pass attempt) when targeting wide receivers vs. Rutgers, and threw another pass away while looking downfield for a target. Adolph dropped a would-be third-down conversion early in the game, but finished as the leading wide receiver for the Buckeyes with two catches for 23 yards. Sayin finished 13-of-19 (68%) for 157 yards and two touchdowns, all told.
There’s enough of a sample size with Inniss now to say he’s not going to reach Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Garrett Wilson levels of receiving threat out of the slot this season. It’s not that he hasn’t played well the past two weeks, which featured 1.5 games of him as the No. 1 receiver for Ohio State. He made six catches, including some big third-down and fourth-down conversions, for 30 yards vs. UCLA. He only had two receptions for 10 yards against Rutgers, though one went for a touchdown on a clinical toe-tap.
Inniss got the foot in.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 22, 2025
Brandon Inniss' second TD of the year extends No. 1 @OhioStateFB's lead.
: FOX pic.twitter.com/WcbG3IBd7s
But he’s just not separating across the middle on the mesh concepts, the spots, the yards-after-catch routes that have been slot staples of Day’s offense since he arrived as an offensive coordinator. He’s a leader. He’s made plays. But clearly, Smith and Tate are far bigger threats in the passing game.
“Brandon Inniss is a leader,” Day said. “He's a captain of our team. And Bryson Rodgers, Mylan, David, they've really had an opportunity here to step up. I think there's some good things that they did. There's some things they'll get on film and get better, but we need to play depth. Everyone knows that, and this is their opportunity.”
Adolph’s usage was another puzzle in the pass game against Rutgers. The former walk-on starting on Senior Day, even playing the full first series, made perfect sense. He’s a great blocker for the run-centric game plan that Ohio State deployed. But him seeing more use than Bryson Rodgers and far, far more use than Mylan Graham made less.
Rodgers is a four-star prospect in his third year and had been the No. 4 option at wide receiver all season. Graham, a five-star prospect, seemed to be No. 5. That duo was the main one playing alongside Inniss after Smith left the UCLA game in the first half last week. But Adolph ate up all the snaps against the Scarlet Knights, and Graham didn’t touch the field until the second half.
“When he gets in there, obviously, we want him to be consistent and do his job,” Day said of Graham. “So we're challenging him to do that and step up in a big way. And the more he does that, the more he builds trust, the more opportunity he'll get.”
No updates were given on Smith and Tate, who remain “day-to-day.” Both were roaming the sidelines on Saturday, Smith with the same limp that he carried off the field following the Buckeyes’ bout with the Bruins. He made a post on X on Saturday that provided no clarification on where he stands for The Game.
God is in charge
— Jeremiah Smith (@Jermiah_Smith1) November 22, 2025
“The only thing I'll say, really, is that they are day-to-day, and the staff and those guys are working really hard to get ready to play next week,” Day said on Smith and Tate.
Ohio State ended up running the ball 38 times against 22 passes, collecting 254 yards at a clip of 6.7 yards per carry on the ground. But Rutgers’ run defense is last nationally in yards per carry allowed, by a full yard at 6.6. Michigan’s defense is 12th nationally at 3 yards allowed per carry.
“Each week is different in terms of our approach and what we need to do,” Day said. “But that's why we have to have balance. And we've said that all along. And so here we are in November, and we'll do whatever we can to put our game plan together to put our guys in a situation to win the game.”
Everyone’s attention, on the team, outside the team, any association with Ohio State, is fully on the Michigan game. And everyone associated with the Buckeyes will feel a lot more confident going into that bout with Smith and/or Tate in Ohio State’s lineup.
“They're always in the back of our mind in terms of what we're working towards,” Day said. “We know this is the last game of the year and what it means to everybody here. So, yeah, it doesn't take long in the fourth quarter, once the game was in hand, for everybody to start figuring out this thing's coming fast. And it was just a good look in everybody's eye in the locker room. And we're excited about this one and just need to focus on what really matters, and that's everybody just doing their job and going on the road in what's going to be a great environment and going to get it done.”
