Ohio State's wide receiver room looked significantly different on Saturday afternoon against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. 

For the first time in sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Smith's career, he was on the injury report and was marked as out for Ohio State. This wouldn't have been such a major deal for the Buckeyes' offense if it wasn't for Carnell Tate's mystery injury that he has been dealing with since the Purdue game. 

With both of the stars on the shelf against Rutgers, the Buckeyes' offense looked objectively different. They were only able to muster 157 yards through the air, while starting quarterback Julian Sayin was just 13-for-19 on the day.

To make matters worse, out of his 13 completions, nine of them were to tight ends. the Buckeyes wide receivers only caught four passes for a total of 33 yards and a score. 

It didn't impact the outcome against Rutgers, but it did catch the attention of many. If and when they face better competition, they either need to have at least one guy back or a better plan to go without them both.

Well, five days ahead of the biggest game of the season in Ann Arbor, the Buckeyes got great news from Smith.

The star playmaker joined Ohio State safety Caleb Downs' podcast, Downs to Business, and stated that he "should be good to go on Saturday."

A collective sigh of relief from the entire state of Ohio.

Smith famously said this offseason that he "hates them" when he was asked by Urban Meyer what he thinks of the Michigan Wolverines. He was held in check in last year's debacle when the Buckeyes' offense went into an absolute shell against the Wolverines.

This year, Smith has come for blood. In just 10 games played, Smith has 69 catches for 902 yards and 10 touchdowns. He has been virtually unguardable at every level of the field, and when you do get a good cover on him, he makes every catch.

He is a special talent and is much needed for Ohio State on Saturday.

Something tells me that Smith is going to be a focal point of the Buckeyes' offense if he is available to them on Saturday. The days that head coach Ryan Day tries to win this football game in the trenches to just prove a point are gone. 

He knows that he has the best player in the entire country, and he is going to deploy him as such. Look for No. 4 to have the type of game that stands the test of time and is in the history books of "The Game."