COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It's time to play "Find a Running Back." What would you do if you were Ohio State coach Urban Meyer this week?

Here are the facts:

• Your top tailback is hurt.

Starting running back Carlos Hyde, averaging 4.5 yards per carry on 24 rushes this season, is almost certainly out for Saturday's game against Cal after spraining his right MCL in the first half of the win over Central Florida. Meyer said the good news is that Hyde didn't have any swelling, which is a positive sign for the future. The bad news is he's out for now.

• Your quarterback is overworked.

The only sure thing in the running game is quarterback Braxton Miller, who has 44 carries for 302 yards. That's too much. Meyer knows it.

But Meyer also loves Miller, giving maybe his most passionate praise yet on Monday, when he called him a "helluva football player" four times in 47 seconds while explaining why the Buckeyes leaned on Miller for 27 carries while trying to beat the Knights after Hyde went out.

"He is a helluva football player now. If you really studied the game with the copies we have, he delivers punishment, he goes hard. He's a helluva football player. I mean, I think a helluva football player. Better than even everybody in this country thinks right now. That's how good I think Braxton Miller is," Meyer said.

Here are the possible solutions:

• Get Jordan Hall back.

The senior has been sidelined for 10 weeks after he cut his foot on a piece of glass over the summer and required surgery. Hall is medically cleared to go for the first time and practiced a bit Sunday, and the plan was for him to run Monday. He'll be tested hard in practice Tuesday and Wednesday before a full evaluation can take place. Meyer said there's a chance he could play against the Golden Bears.

"I hope he plays the whole ballgame," running backs coach Stan Drayton said. "He has not had contact, so we have to see how his body reacts to contact a little bit."

Hall also isn't fully conditioned, and Drayton pointed out how important timing is with this new offense, and Hall missed all of preseason practice. At the worst, the senior won't feel physically ready and he'll be held out. At the best, he'll be rusty and not quite himself.

• Turn to the young combo of freshman Bri'onte Dunn and redshirt sophomore Rod Smith.

They should be third and fourth on the depth chart, but Dunn is listed as the starter and Smith as the backup.

"Those kids are talented, so it's not like we have a bad player back there," Meyer said. "I have got to look in those guys' eyes. It's the psychological approach to coaching now with those two young players -- who can handle it? You're the starting tailback, let's go see how you do."

In limited action Saturday, Drayton said they weren't very good.

"They had some missed assignments, and I think there was at times a lack of focus," he said. "You're talking about two guys who have not had a bunch of playing experience at this level, so that showed up, that inexperience."

Dunn has 12 carries for 60 yards, while Smith had 35 career rushes for 142 yards. But the running is the easy part. They also have to know their blocking assignments to protect Miller, then they have to read defenses while going out as receiving options so they can adjust their routes.

Both were major recruits, and asked in particular about Smith, Drayton said physically he looks like "Tarzan."

"But you don't put a guy out there based on how he looks," Drayton said.

Despite the shortcomings Saturday, Drayton said the slate is wiped clean each week. So he wasn't nervous Monday. He will be if those two don't practice better. Drayton said one of them absolutely has to prove he's ready.

"If it starts to look [in practice] like it did on gameday, then I will become very, very nervous," Drayton said.

• Lean more on Zach Boren and Philly Brown.

The scheme gives the Buckeyes options. They can work converted fullback Boren and receiver Brown into the run game as much as is necessary. But neither is really a tailback.

"If it's me, I need to get a lot better," said Boren, who has nine carries for 26 yards. "I'm not like Carlos out there, but the whole running back group needs to start making strides."

Brown had big gains on his two rushing attempts, gaining 33 total yards on an end around and a swing pass that was a lateral. But he's a change-up, not a go-to guy in the run game.

• The desperation, never-gonna-happen Miller at tailback and Kenny Guiton at quarterback.

"Sounds good to me," Drayton said with a laugh, before turning serious. "But someone has to step up and take the pressure of Braxton."