No. 5 Ohio State gets a chance at a ranked opponent on Saturday night for the first time since Week 2. The Buckeyes lost that game at home against Oregon, but No. 20 Penn State comes to Ohio Stadium this weekend, giving the Scarlet and Gray the opportunity to earn a ranked win.
If Ohio State is to earn that, the Buckeyes will do so without 15 players. The Scarlet and Gray’s status report was released on Saturday afternoon and a number of Scarlet and Gray players are not available against the Nittany Lions. Ohio State does not specify why a player in out for a game, just whether they are unavailable or a game-time decision.
Fourth-year junior running back Master Teague will not suit up for the Buckeyes against Penn State. Teague also missed last week’s game against Indiana, but head coach Ryan Day expressed hopefulness this week that he would be back on Saturday. That is not the case. additionally, third-year sophomore running back Marcus Crowley is also out. Day confirmed this week that Crowley will “be out for a long time” with an injury suffered during the off week.
Offensive lineman Harry Miller is also out. Miller missed the first several weeks of the season but returned to feature as a backup at a number of positions but is unavailable once again.
The Ohio State status report is below:
UNAVAILABLE
GAME-TIME DECISION
What this means for Ohio State
While Buckeye fans would love to be completely healthy going into a ranked matchup, this status report only adds one player from last week’s group. That is Henry-Young, who has only played in two games this year, against Tulsa and Akron.
Missing Teague is unfortunate, but the Scarlet and Gray have done well replacing running backs this year. With Teague out last week against the Hoosiers, freshman TreVeyon Henderson rushed for 81 yards and two touchdowns and redshirt freshman Miyan Williams had 60 yards and a score, so Ohio State should manage in the rushing department.
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Otherwise, the Buckeyes are more or less as healthy as they’ve been all season and ready to go against the Nittany Lions.