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Ohio State is not required to provide availability reports for its first three games of the 2026 season. And the Buckeyes have chosen to use that option. There will not be availability reports for OSU today against visiting Ball State (12:30 p.m. ET; BTN), next Saturday at Texas and in two weeks against visiting Kent State. Then, when Big Ten season begins, it will be "availability lists gone wild." Why? Because the conference is requiring each of its 18 teams to provide four availability lists per week leading up to any intraconference games. Yes, four. Each team needs to submit one Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by 8 p.m. ET. Then another one must be provided two hours before kickoff on game days. This is a new rule this year and it closely models what the NFL does. The mid-to-late-week categories (Wednesday-Friday) will be: Probable (likely to play), Questionable (uncertain to play), Doubtful (Unlikely to play), Out (will not play), and Out for the First Half (will miss the first two quarters). The categories for game days are trimmed down a bit. They include: Game-time decision (status decided right before kickoff), Out (will not play) and Out for the First Half (will miss the first two quarters). I was hoping, as a courtesy, that Ohio State would provide an availability report for today's game. However, that did not transpire. How is Ohio State's health for the opener? I am hearing it's all systems go for the vast majority of the Buckeyes today against the Cardinals, in the first-ever matchup between the programs. There is a small handful of exceptions such as fourth-year wide receiver Kyle Parker, who transferred in from LSU in January, but I'm told no starters are expected to be held out today, and almost all of the primary backups are ready to go, too. Basically, Ohio State is about as healthy as a football team could hope to be coming off training camp and heading into its opener. Fourth-year right guard Austin Siereveld was banged up at times during camp and it would not surprise me in the least if he gets taken out as a precaution after 3-4 series or so. This would allow him to make sure he is as close to 100 percent as possible for next week's showdown in Austin. Furthermore, head coach Ryan Day and his staff have really talked up fourth-year offensive lineman Josh Padilla the last few weeks. This would allow Padilla to get some playing time with the first-team offense, in theory for the remainder of the first half. Then if things go according to plan, the second-teamers could begin the second half and all the starters could rest up for Texas. In that scenario, I could see Padilla getting some action in the second half with the twos at center, because he's basically the top backup at both guard spots and center. He would be getting game reps at guard and center today if it plays out the way I think it will. Keep it locked to Bucknuts for full coverage of Ohio State football.