Real Pod Wednesdays

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Ohio State’s quarterback competition is now complete, but the pressure is increasing for the Buckeyes to find their A-game.

Tuesday’s press conference at Ohio State brought the expected news that Kyle McCord would remain the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback going forward, bringing an end to the competition between McCord and Devin Brown that extended into the season.

Ryan Day had good reason to shut down the competition and allow the offense to coalesce around one quarterback this week. The Buckeyes are just one week away from a top-10 matchup with Notre Dame, so they need their offense to get into a rhythm before their trip to South Bend. But first, Ohio State will have to pass another test this week when it hosts Western Kentucky at Ohio Stadium.

While the Hilltoppers may not stand out as an opponent who should challenge the Buckeyes, they‘re not a team that should simply be overlooked. Western Kentucky led the entire FBS in passing yards last season and brought back quarterback Austin Reed and wide receiver Malachi Corley, who will present the toughest test of the season to date for Ohio State’s defense.

Given that this will be McCord’s first game this year as the full-time starting quarterback and the first time Ohio State has had to face a dangerous passing offense this year, this week should serve as a truer litmus test of where the Buckeyes stand on both sides of the ball than the first two games of the season did.

We discuss that on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays along with sharing all of our biggest takeaways from the Youngstown State game and discussing what else stood out to us from Week 2 in college football.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:16: Naming Kyle McCord the starter now was the obvious move and the right move
1:40: Devin Brown has promise for the future, but it’s time to focus on winning over experimenting
6:23: Playing well against Youngstown State doesn’t prove anything, but McCord can now build on that
7:44: Quarterback competition, new clock rules, less efficiency have all contributed to lower point totals
15:55: A variety of factors, not just offensive line play, have contributed to third-down struggles
19:49: TreVeyon Henderson clearly has his explosiveness back, which makes him OSU’s No. 1 RB
25:08: We started to see in Week 2 what the Kyle McCord-Marvin Harrison Jr. connection can be
27:23: Ohio State has a top-five defense in the country right now, but this week presents a stiffer test
29:33: Day and Knowles aren‘t worried about lack of sacks yet, but DEs must start making more plays
33:19: Free safety remains a question mark, so it would be best if Josh Proctor can play this week
38:10: Jordan Hancock could be in line to play most of the snaps at slot CB vs. Western Kentucky
44:36: The defensive tackle rotation of Mike Hall, Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton is looking strong
47:30: Ohio State’s offense has a good chance to score more points on more possessions this week
49:20: Taking care of the football, not allowing big plays will be points of emphasis this week
53:41: Score predictions: Andy has OSU covering and the under, Dan has no cover and the over
58:57: Texas might be back, and every Power 5 conference appears to have a real CFP contender
1:06:10: Purdue shows it’s still dangerous and Wisconsin shows it’s still a work in progress
1:09:08: Week 3 in college football lacks marquee matchups, but there’s still potential for chaos

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Ohio State finally has a starting quarterback and the 2023 season is about to begin.

That gives us plenty of topics for conversation on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

We start today’s show by evaluating Ohio State’s decision to name Kyle McCord the starting quarterback and how likely he is to be the starter all year long. We also assess Ohio State’s indecision at free safety and how much of a concern that could be for the Buckeyes’ defense and explore why Jayden Fielding beat out Parker Lewis to be the Buckeyes’ kicker.

After that, we take a brief look at this weekend’s matchup with Indiana – which we both expect to be a decisive win for the Buckeyes, though only one of us believes Ohio State will pull away early. Then, we discuss our expectations for Ohio State’s 2023 season as a whole and make some predictions for whether the Buckeyes will have a Heisman finalist, who their offensive and defensive MVPs will be, which under-the-radar players will have breakout seasons and whether Ohio State will have a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense.

A timeline of the main topics we discuss in this week’s episode:

1:33: Kyle McCord being named the starter seems to be more than a nod to his experience
6:00: Devin Brown deserves a chance to play, but McCord also deserves chance to work through mistakes
11:43: It would be ideal for Brown to enter the game with a comfortable lead, but OSU can’t wait too long
17:13: Ohio State doesn’t have a free safety it’s fully confident in yet, and that’s a concern
24:08: Buckeyes can afford to experiment at free safety for first two games, but not much longer than that
27:12: Jayden Fielding was ahead of Parker Lewis since last year, even though Lewis is on scholarship
30:04: Indiana has fallen hard since it nearly upset Ohio State in 2020
36:16: We both expect the Buckeyes to cover, but Dan expects some first-half bumpiness
39:09: Ohio State vs. Michigan shapes our national championship predictions
46:34: Can Ohio State adapt if it doesn’t have elite quarterback play? It should be able to
55:02: Why we both think Marvin Harrison Jr. will be a Heisman finalist (but not the winner)
56:48: TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka will be OSU’s non-Harrison offensive MVPs
59:16: Mike Hall, JT Tuimoloau are our picks for Ohio State’s defensive MVP
1:03:22: Xavier Johnson, Julian Fleming, Ty Hamilton, Davison Igbinosun could be under-the-radar stars
1:09:20: Why we think Ohio State will have both a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense

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Ohio State’s first game of the 2023 season is 10 days away, but the Buckeyes still don’t have a quarterback.

With it now appearing likely that Ohio State’s quarterback competition will continue into the start of the season, we start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by weighing what we make of the Buckeyes still not picking a starter, when they must settle in on one quarterback and who will hold the edge if the competition continues into the season.

Of course, quarterback isn’t the only position where players have been competing for a starting spot or spots in preseason camp. Josh Simmons, Carson Hinzman and Josh Fryar appear to have won starting jobs on the offensive line and Sonny Styles has solidified himself as a starter at safety, but the free safety job remains up for grabs between Ja’Had Carter, Josh Proctor and Malik Hartford. We discuss all of that on this week’s show as well as the buzz that keeps growing louder surrounding Carnell Tate, Ohio State’s excitement about second-year defensive ends Kenyatta Jackson and Caden Curry and C.J. Hicks emerging as the potential leader to play significant snaps at Jack.

We also discuss what we make of Ohio State selecting only three captains this year, discuss our picks for which regular-season games we‘re most and least confident Ohio State will win and share our thoughts on Ohio State staying within the Big Ten with its new presidential hire.

The full rundown of topics we’re discussing this week:

0:37: Ohio State still needs to pick a starter, but it’s a good thing to feel good about two quarterbacks
4:20: Ohio State needs to have a firm starter before the Notre Dame game, and ideally sooner
10:42: In-season quarterback competitions have worked out at other schools in recent years
12:46: A quarterback competition continuing into the season typically favors the younger player
17:59: Ohio State can’t let the quarterback competition get in the way of winning games
20:49: There’s no longer any doubt Sonny Styles will play a huge role this year
23:54: We still see Ja’Had Carter as the likely starting free safety, but Malik Hartford is making a move
28:34: Ohio State seems to have its starting offensive line and growing confidence in that unit
35:02: Kenyatta Jackson, Caden Curry generating excitement as second-string defensive ends
36:39: Carnell Tate making real push to play a big role as a true freshman
41:25: C.J. Hicks and Cody Simon should both play regularly, and Hicks could lead the way at Jack
45:17: Only three captains was surprising, but it’s not a bad thing
51:26: Who we‘re most confident Ohio State will beat and which games we see as the biggest tests
1:04:01: Five-star pairing of Eddrick Houston, Justin Scott a crucial recruiting win for Larry Johnson
1:08:24: Ohio State’s new president already knows the Big Ten and loves sports
1:12:22: Best wishes to Sammy Sasso, who we hope to see back on the wrestling mat soon

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While Ohio State hasn’t yet named a new starting quarterback, Real Pod Wednesdays has named a new co-host.

In his first episode sharing co-hosting duties with Dan, we introduce you to new Eleven Warriors reporter Andy Anders, who outlines his journey from posting in the 11W forums to becoming a full-time member of the staff.

Then, we get into our usual hourlong discussion of the biggest topics in Ohio State sports of the past week, starting with the ongoing quarterback competition and what we make of Ryan Day’s Monday comments about the unsettled battle. We also discuss how we see things shaking out on Ohio State’s offensive line, Gene Smith’s legacy and the impact of his impending retirement and the fast-approaching reality that Ohio State fans will soon need Peacock to watch every Buckeye game.

The rundown of what we’re talking about this week and when you can find it in the show:

0:12: Andy’s introduction
7:28: Ohio State still needs a starting quarterback, but we’re not pressing the panic button yet
14:12: The likelihood’s increasing that OSU’s QB competition will continue into the first game or three
18:10: This season’s too important for OSU to think about anything but this season when picking a QB
20:04: Jimmy Simmons and Carson Hinzman look likely to start, but right tackle remains in question
32:50: Donovan Jackson and Matt Jones can make life easier on Hinzman (or whoever starts at center)
34:22: We feel awful for Kourt Williams suffering yet another major injury
37:19: Bennett Christian wasn’t likely to play much this year, but OSU’s TE depth is a bit suspect
40:15: Gene Smith should be remembered for far more good than bad as Ohio State’s athletic director
46:26: NIL will be an important priority for Ohio State’s new athletic director
48:35: Smith’s successor seems likely to be someone with OSU ties (but not Jim Tressel or Urban Meyer)
52:47: Smith’s impending departure could make Chris Holtmann and Ryan Day’s seats a little warmer
1:00:04: Ohio State on Peacock is a big change, but it’s a change fans will have to learn to live with

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Ohio State is nearly one week into preseason camp and two more teams are leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.

That gives us plenty to talk about on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays as Chase Brown joins Dan Hope to discuss the most notable things we’ve seen and heard during the first six days of preseason camp and weigh the pros and cons of the Big Ten continuing to expand by adding Oregon and Washington in addition to USC and UCLA.

(Note: This podcast was recorded before Gene Smith announced he will retire as Ohio State’s athletic director next year.)

The timeline for this week’s conversation:

1:51: It was fun to see fans at practice for a change, and we hope to see that continue
3:53: Sonny Styles and Ja’Had Carter getting first-team reps isn’t a surprise, but where they lined up was
8:05: If Styles starts at nickel, we expect Cameron Martinez or a cornerback to play some snaps there too
14:08: Josh Proctor, Malik Hartford also among candidates to be in the “six plus one” at safety
18:49: We don’t know how much Buckeyes will rotate in secondary, but the good news is they can
21:04: Ohio State doesn’t necessarily need C.J. Hicks to play, but it should still find a role for him
33:46: Kourt Williams doesn’t have a clear path to playing time, but linebacker should fit his game well
38:54: Tywone Malone looks increasingly poised to make immediate impact at defensive tackle
41:49: Zen Michalski takes the first reps at right tackle, but that doesn’t mean he’s won the starting job
47:06: We haven’t seen enough yet to draw any conclusions about the quarterback competition
54:06: Adding Oregon and Washington is a win for Big Ten football, but not college sports as a whole
1:00:45: The Big Ten’s next round of expansion seems likely to be schools from the ACC
1:05:56: The Big Ten is in a position of power now, but it wasn’t always guaranteed to go that way
1:11:38: More competition in Big Ten will ensure regular season still matters even with CFP expansion
1:18:46: FBS football should have its own governing body, but that won’t undo damage to other sports

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Ohio State’s current football players are about to return to the practice field while there’s been no shortage of happenings – both good and bad – impacting the Buckeyes on the recruiting trail over the past month.

With all of that to talk about as well as a new wave of conference realignment starting, Garrick Hodge returns to Real Pod Wednesdays this week for a discussion on what’s gone well and what hasn’t for Ohio State recruiting in recent weeks, the biggest storylines entering preseason camp and the rumors of potential further expansion for the Big Ten.

A full rundown of what we’re talking about this week:

1:57: Chris Henry Jr. isn’t even a high school sophomore yet, but he’s a safe bet to be an elite prospect
5:37: Ohio State secures a crucial recruiting win over Michigan by sealing the deal with Aaron Scott Jr.
11:35: Eddrick Houston becomes a must-get at DE with Dylan Stewart’s commitment to South Carolina
15:47: Jontae Gilbert’s decommitment is why it’s hard to get too excited about an early commitment
19:14: Ohio State isn’t out of the race for KJ Bolden, but we’d bet on the field over OSU
20:57: Buckeyes may need to expand DE board or hit the portal next year even if they land Houston
24:55: Nigel Glover is another example of Ohio State using transfer portal more heavily in recruiting
27:12: Assessing the state of Ohio State’s 2024 recruiting class after an up-and-down month
32:28: Ranking OSU’s likelihood of landing Houston, Brandon Baker, Jeremiah McClellan and Bolden
35:26: Offensive line remains the biggest question mark entering preseason camp
38:11: Starting cornerback job opposite Denzel Burke another big position battle to watch
40:27: Where Sonny Styles will line up remains a major point of intrigue as camp begins
42:18: Josh Proctor, Cam Martinez ended spring as starters; Styles, Ja’Had Carter could change that
45:16: Josh Fryar, Carson Hinzman and Josh Simmons are frontrunners to start, but none are locks
48:56: Kyle McCord is the favorite to start at quarterback, but he still has to win the job in camp
51:04: Why Dan is “cautiously optimistic” about Ohio State having an elite defense this year
55:47: Washington and Oregon need the Big Ten more than the B1G needs Washington and Oregon
1:01:35: Florida State and Clemson are bigger targets for Big Ten, but they have more hurdles to clear

(Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded before Nigel Glover announced his commitment to Ohio State on Tuesday.)

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This week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays comes to you one day late but from on location in Indianapolis as we react to everything we heard from Ryan Day and the Buckeyes at Wednesday’s Big Ten Media Days.

There was plenty to react to on Wednesday, particularly Ryan Day’s suggestion that the Ohio State vs. Michigan game could be played before the final week of the regular season, as well as Day’s latest thoughts on the quarterback competition, praise from Luke Montgomery and other Buckeye newcomers and much more.

First, though, we begin this week’s episode with some show news as Griffin, who is in his final week of working for Eleven Warriors, says goodbye after two years of co-hosting RPW. (Real Pod Wednesdays will continue as a weekly podcast with Dan and a co-host to be named later.)

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:55: Saying farewell to Griffin
3:25: It’s logical not to want to play The Game in back-to-back weeks, but is that worth breaking tradition?
7:58: Ryan Day saying this after two straight losses will be perceived differently than if Urban Meyer said it
10:12: If The Game is moved, it’s more likely to still be played in November than in September
13:05: Ohio State continues to preach a more aggressive mindset than it had last year in The Game
17:03: Neither Ohio State nor Penn State seems torn up about no longer playing each other every year
21:33: Day isn’t ready to name a starting QB – or shut down the possibility of in-season competition
25:30: Lincoln Kienholz isn‘t competing for the starting job yet, but Day likes what he’s seeing from him
27:32: Luke Montgomery is making an apparent push in the offensive tackle competition
30:09: Josh “Jimmy” Simmons is impressing everyone with his athleticism
33:43: Lorenzo Styles Jr. came to Ohio State with real expectations of becoming an impact player
36:33: Day is excited about Tywone Malone’s potential, but seems to expect more in year two or three
38:27: Avery Henry and Grant Toutant’s medical retirements bring Ohio State back down to 85 scholarships
41:10: Ohio State could still add Nigel Glover to its 2023 roster, but that would be a move for the future
42:45: Sounds like Ohio State will have its full contingent of scholarship players healthy entering camp
45:31: Day taking steps to avoid off-field issues that have plagued Northwestern, Georgia
50:46: Tony Petitti seems to already be communicating better than Kevin Warren did
54:40: Marvin Harrison Jr. doesn’t love the spotlight, but he’s learned to embrace it
57:35: Cade Stover leaning into the “Farmer Gronk” brand
59:33: Ohio State’s stance remains that NIL shouldn’t be the top priority for any Buckeye player
1:03:43: A thank you from Griffin

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Ryan Day, Marvin Harrison Jr., Cade Stover and JT Tuimoloau will be in Indianapolis participating in Big Ten Media Days one week from today.

We’ll be in Indianapolis too to catch up with those Buckeyes and cover the first official media availability of the preseason for Eleven Warriors. With that in mind, we look ahead to next week’s event on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays with a discussion on why those Buckeyes were chosen to represent the program and what we expect to be the biggest storylines of this year’s media days.

Later in the show, we predict who Ohio State’s 2023 captains will be, identify a few candidates to wear the “Block 0” jersey this season, recap the last three installments of Four Kings and share our thoughts on the gray uniforms that sure seem to be coming for Ohio State’s Nov. 11 game against Michigan State.

The full rundown for this week’s show:

0:17: Griffin celebrates his victory in last week’s draft
3:34: Harrison will draw the attention, but Stover may be the most entertaining Buckeye at media days
8:44: Ryan Day will have his first media availability in three months after a quiet summer
11:11: We’re optimistic Tony Petitti won’t filibuster as much as Kevin Warren did
15:16: The Big Ten has four new coaches, and Northwestern will get far more attention than usual
17:14: We already know Ohio State’s national media storyline: Can the Buckeyes beat Michigan?
19:29: Olu Fashanu, Luke Lachey, Taulia Tagovailoa among interesting Big Ten players making the trip
23:33: Cade Stover, Tommy Eichenberg, Marvin Harrison Jr. are OSU’s most sure-fire captains
26:39: JT Tuimoloau, Xavier Johnson and Donovan Jackson are top candidates to join them
30:30: Emeka Egbuka, Kyle McCord among others who could earn captain consideration
33:44: Johnson, Stover, Avery Henry among candidates to wear “Block 0” jersey this year
36:26: Marvin Harrison Jr. belongs on Four Kings, but how did Jaxon Smith-Njigba miss the top 10?
43:47: Nick Bosa is an elite defensive end now, but did he do enough at OSU to be on Four Kings?
49:01: There was a clear top four on the interior offensive line, but others warranted consideration
53:24: Dan Wilkinson, Jim Stillwagon and Bill Willis are OSU’s three best DTs, who should join them?
56:49: Gray uniforms should be a sleek look
59:27: Ohio State’s new freshmen do not look (or act) like freshmen
1:03:39: Jim Tressel had lots of interesting things to say on Chris Holtmann’s podcast last week

(Programming note: Next week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays will be published Thursday morning – let’s call it a Real Pod Thursday – as it will be recorded after the Buckeyes participate in Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday.)

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If you could pick only 22 Ohio State football players to go win a game for you against 22 other Ohio State football players, which Buckeyes would you choose?

That’s the question we were tasked with answering on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays as we held our annual Eleven Warriors preseason team draft, going head-to-head to pick the best possible lineups for a hypothetical intrasquad game.

The ground rules were as follows: Each of us had 22 total picks to draft 11 offensive players and 11 defensive players. Offensively, we were required to draft one quarterback, five offensive linemen and five skill-position players (wide receivers, running backs or tight ends). Defensively, we were required to draft at least three defensive linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs with the other two picks being flexible, though we both opted to draft four defensive linemen and five defensive backs.

Griffin won the pre-draft coin toss which allowed him to choose between the No. 1 overall pick or the second and third picks, and he chose to pick first. Following the No. 1 pick, we alternated selections two at a time in a snake-draft format until we both filled up our 22-man rosters.

Our picks:
1. Marvin Harrison Jr., WR (Griffin)
2. JT Tuimoloau, DE (Dan)
3. Donovan Jackson, G (Dan)
4. Josh Fryar, OT (Griffin)
5. Josh Simmons, OT (Griffin)
6. Emeka Egbuka, WR (Dan)
7. Kyle McCord, QB (Dan)
8. Tommy Eichenberg, LB (Griffin)
9. Carson Hinzman, C (Griffin)
10. Matt Jones, G (Dan)
11. Denzel Burke, CB (Dan)
12. Mike Hall, DT (Griffin)
13. Jack Sawyer, DE (Griffin)
14. Cade Stover, TE (Dan)
15. Lathan Ransom, S (Dan)
16. Sonny Styles, S (Griffin)
17. Davison Igbinosun, CB (Griffin)
18. Steele Chambers, LB (Dan)
19. C.J. Hicks, LB (Dan)
20. TreVeyon Henderson, RB (Griffin)
21. Julian Fleming, WR (Griffin)
22. Ty Hamilton, DT (Dan)
23. Jordan Hancock, CB (Dan)
24. Tyleik Williams, DT (Griffin)
25. Cameron Martinez, S (Griffin)
26. Ja’Had Carter, S (Dan)
27. Xavier Johnson, WR/RB (Dan)
28. Miyan Williams, RB (Griffin)
29. Enokk Vimahi, G (Griffin)
30. Tegra Tshabola, OT (Dan)
31. Kenyatta Jackson, DE (Dan)
32. Caden Curry, DE (Griffin)
33. Jyaire Brown, CB (Griffin)
34. Josh Proctor, S (Dan)
35. Carnell Tate, WR (Dan)
36. Kye Stokes, S (Griffin)
37. Cody Simon, LB (Griffin)
38. Jakob James, C (Dan)
39. Zen Michalski, OT (Dan)
40. Brandon Inniss, WR (Griffin)
41. Victor Cutler Jr., G (Griffin)
42. Tywone Malone, DT (Dan)
43. Chip Trayanum, RB (Dan)
44. Devin Brown, QB (Griffin)

Listen to the podcast to hear our rationale for picking each player where we did and our arguments in favor of our respective teams. For written explanations of every selection, a side-by-side lineup comparison and to vote for whose team would win, visit elevenwarriors.com.

In the final minutes of the show after completing our draft, we also talk about Pat Fitzgerald’s dismissal from Northwestern, what Griffin learned from interviews with the Ohio State women’s basketball team and what he’s hearing about how the offseason is going for the men’s basketball team.

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On the latest edition of Real Pod Wednesdays, we discuss another massive commitment for Ohio State's 2024 class and take a look at what's on the horizon for the Buckeyes.

With regular podcast co-host Dan Hope on vacation, resident Eleven Warriors recruiting expert Garrick Hodge joins the show once again as Griffin Strom returns from a trip to Florida. While we usually record the show on Tuesday, the Fourth of July pushed things back a day, so we hope you don't mind a rare Thursday edition of RPW.

Ohio State kicked off the new month with a bang before the holiday, landing a commitment from five-star defensive tackle Justin Scott – OSU's highest-rated DT prospect in the modern recruiting era. Garrick breaks down just how surprising Scott's decision was, what the Buckeyes are getting in the Chicago native and how important his commitment was for Larry Johnson.

Although Ohio State missed on Chicago defensive end Marquise Lightfoot, who committed to Miami on Monday, Garrick believes Scott's commitment – and where the Buckeyes stand with multiple five-star pass rusher prospects – will go a long way and making OSU fans forget all about it.

Next, we take a look at upcoming commitment dates for a slew of priority targets for the Buckeyes and the likelihood that they could end up playing for the scarlet and gray. Garrick previews the potential commitment of Arizona cornerback Miles Lockhart, who will announce his collegiate destination on Thursday, and several other coveted 2024 recruits.

We wrap up the show by discussing a number of headlines around the world of Buckeye sports, including recent NFL betting suspensions, Ohio State men's basketball's charity exhibition game against Dayton and contracts for the Buckeyes' non-conference foes on the hardwood.

The full rundown for this week’s episode:

0:32: Griffin is back from vacation, but with Dan enjoying some well-deserved time off, we welcome Garrick back to the show
2:27: The surprising nature of Justin Scott's commitment and what it means for Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes
9:43: Ohio State is starting to stockpile five-star talents in 2024 with Scott giving the Buckeyes four such commits in the cycle
10:47: How stability on the NIL front could be helping shape Ohio State's star-studded class after landing just one five-star prospect in 2023
13:02: Marquise Lightfoot chooses Miami over Ohio State, but should that be any cause for concern for Buckeye fans?
17:45: Where Ohio State stands with five-star 2024 defensive ends prospects Eddrick Houston and Dylan Stewart
22:05: Ohio State's recent trio of defensive commitments has gone a long way to dispel any notion that defensive recruiting was lagging in 2024
25:48: Miles Lockhart appears to be trending toward the Buckeyes with a commitment announcement coming on Thursday
29:13: Breaking down Ohio State's chances with several other 2024 recruits that have set commitment dates this month, including Kyngstonn VilIamu-Asa and Aaron Scott
37:36: Nicholas Petit-Frere and Rashod Berry receive suspensions from the NFL for sports betting
40:59: Ohio State's charity exhibition game against Dayton to benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio
42:35: How much Ohio State's non-conference basketball opponents will be paid to appear at the Schottenstein Center in 2023-24

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The summer official visit season is now over, but more BOOMs could still be coming to Ohio State.

Ohio State already landed three big BOOMs from in-state prospects over the past week as quarterback Tavien St. Clair committed to the Buckeyes’ 2025 class last Wednesday and Glenville teammates Bryce West and Damarion Witten joined Ohio State’s 2024 class on Saturday. With Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge filling in for Griffin Strom on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we start the discussion by talking about each of those three commitments and why they were all priority targets for Ohio State.

Then, we predict who will join West, Witten and Ohio State’s other 14 commits in the 2024 class by playing another round of “In or Out” with the Buckeyes’ top 18 remaining targets in the class. A brief summary of our predictions for each player, with more rationale for each of our picks in the podcast:

Player | Garrick | DanCB AARON SCOTT JR. | IN | OUT
S KJ BOLDEN | IN | IN
DE EDDRICK HOUSTON | IN | IN
DE DYLAN STEWART | IN | IN
S PEYTON WOODYARD | OUT | OUT
CB KOBE BLACK | OUT | OUT
CB MILES LOCKHART | IN | IN
LB KYNGSTONN VILIAMU-ASA | IN | IN
DT JUSTIN SCOTT | OUT | OUT
DT JAYDEN JACKSON | OUT | IN
DE MARQUISE LIGHTFOOT | IN | IN
DE NIGEL SMITH | OUT | OUT
OT BRANDON BAKER | OUT | OUT
OT GUERBY LAMBERT | OUT | OUT
OL DANIEL CRUZ | OUT | OUT
WR JEREMIAH MCCLELLAN | IN | IN
WR ELIJAH MOORE | OUT | OUT
WR JOSHISA TRADER | OUT | OUT

Later in the show, we also talk about a few of the players who impressed us most across Ohio State’s six high school football camps, our expectations for Brice Sensabaugh with the Utah Jazz and our thoughts on who did and didn’t make Ohio State’s Four Kings at linebacker.

The full rundown:

0:47: Tavien St. Clair’s commitment a prime example of how quickly things can change in recruiting
3:52: Ohio State will continue to recruit Ryan Montgomery, but he’ll probably end up elsewhere
7:13: Buckeyes took St. Clair because of his potential – and because they knew he wanted in
15:53: Bryce West and Damaron Witten were always likely Buckeyes, but closing the deal matters
19:43: Vince Marrow’s “groan man” tweet was not a good look for Kentucky
21:16: Witten’s potential as a pass-catcher is obvious, but will he be a true tight end?
28:14: The race to land Aaron Scott Jr. remains too close to call between OSU and Michigan
31:18: Ohio State looks well-positioned with KJ Bolden, Eddrick Houston and Dylan Stewart
36:40: A Peyton Woodyard flip from Georgia to Ohio State looks less likely than it once did
37:56: Ohio State has gained ground with Kobe Black, but he’ll still be tough to pull out of Texas
39:26: Miles Lockhart, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa trending toward OSU after visiting this past weekend
42:05: Chances of landing Justin Scott appear to be improving, but his recruitment is far from over
43:45: Jayden Jackson appears to be most likely DT commit, but he’s not an Ohio State lock
45:26: Marquise Lightfoot is likely in at defensive end, which could leave Nigel Smith out
46:44: Top remaining offensive line targets could all end up elsewhere
50:10: Ohio State still in a good spot with Jeremiah McClellan, but Elijah Moore could be trending away
52:42: Buckeyes not out of the race for Joshisa Trader, but they have to get him back on campus first
53:51: Mylan Graham, Devin Sanchez, Jordon Davison among biggest stars of camp season
59:13: Brice Sensabaugh went around where we thought he’d go, though not a team we expected
1:00:44: Just establishing himself in the rotation will be Sensabaugh’s top objective for year one
1:03:06: Tom Cousineau should have been one of the Four Kings at linebacker

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There are plenty of good vibes emanating from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center following its most recent weekend of official visits.

While Ohio State hasn’t landed any new commitments yet, the Buckeyes certainly appear to be expecting some soon following a weekend in which they hosted four five-star defensive prospects: defensive ends Dylan Stewart and Eddrick Houston, safety KJ Bolden and cornerback Kobe Black. Landing even one or two of those prospects would be a huge and much-needed boost for a 2024 recruiting class that currently includes only three defensive commits: linebackers Garrett Stover and Payton Pierce and safety Jaylen McClain.

Several more marquee targets will be making their way to campus this weekend for Ohio State’s final official visit weekend of June, including in-state cornerbacks Bryce West and Aaron Scott Jr., five-star defensive tackle Justin Scott, California linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Glenville tight end Damarion Witten. The Buckeyes are facing real competition for all of them, with Michigan providing the stiffest competition for West and Scott, making this weekend just as important as last weekend for Ohio State to make a big impression on its visitors.

We talk about all of that to start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We also talk about who’s stood out to us most during Ohio State’s high school football camps. Later in the show, we shift gears to discuss where Brice Sensabaugh could land in Thursday night’s NBA draft, who we voted for to be Ohio State’s Four Kings at quarterback and linebacker and Ohio State’s top athletes of 2022-23.

The full rundown for this week’s episode:

0:28: Ohio State feels good about its chances with KJ Bolden, Dylan Stewart and Eddrick Houston
5:42: The perception that Ohio State has struggled in defensive recruiting is overblown
11:16: With Michigan lurking, Ohio State must impress Bryce West and Aaron Scott this weekend
13:58: Ohio State will be fine with losing Elias Rudolph if it lands Stewart and Houston
18:20: Ohio State must focus on landing best players possible, not who could end up at Michigan
21:15: Buckeyes must also impress Damarion Witten, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa this weekend
25:20: Tavien St. Clair giving Ryan Montgomery real competition to be Ohio State’s 2025 quarterback
33:12: Devin Sanchez, Damarion Witten, Luka Gilbert, Will Griffin among camp standouts
41:11: Brice Sensabaugh’s NBA draft selection should strengthen Chris Holtmann’s recruiting pitch
45:18: Potential landing spots for Sensabaugh as a likely (but not a lock) first-round draft pick
51:48: Our picks for Ohio State’s four best quarterbacks and linebackers of all-time
1:03:53: Dan’s picks for Ohio State’s top athletes of the year and who Griffin would have ranked higher

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The Big Ten’s new scheduling model should help Ohio State, but it might make for a less entertaining regular season.

Following last week’s announcement that the Big Ten will go divisionless and that Michigan will be Ohio State’s only protected annual opponent beginning in 2024, we spend the majority of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing what we like and what we don’t like about the Big Ten’s new scheduling model and why it should give Ohio State an easier path to both the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff going forward.

Later in the show, we talk about the latest developments in Ohio State football recruiting after two weekends of official visits and the first two high school football camps of the month. We wrap up the show by discussing the latest developments surrounding Ohio State men’s basketball, including what Griffin learned from attending last week’s high school team camp, what former NBA assistant Brandon Bailey will add to Ohio State’s coaching staff and the likely nail in the coffin for Ohio State ever playing another game in St. John Arena.

The rundown:

1:18: We think Ohio State vs. Penn State should be a protected rivalry, but OSU seems happy that it isn’t
11:05: Ohio State will be expected to make every CFP, Big Ten Championship Game going forward
15:15: Ohio State will have only one marquee Big Ten home game in both 2024 and 2025
17:13: Big Ten prioritizes getting more teams into CFP over more big regular-season matchups
20:18: Everybody playing everybody at least once every two years will be a welcome change
25:25: All of this could change with further expansion, which is why it’s only a two-year model for now
28:19: Ohio State playing Michigan twice (or even three times) in one season is only a matter of time
37:51: Like it or not, college football is about to become even more of a playoff-driven sport
39:51: Chris Henry Jr., Mylan Graham, Dorian Brew among early standouts of camp season
46:39: Ohio State hoping Jaylen McClain will start a run of defensive commitments in 2024 class
50:48: Ohio State trending up with several defensive linemen including five-star DE Eddrick Houston
53:20: Colin White, Nikola Bundalo and King Kendrick among notable prospects at basketball team camp
57:09: Brandon Bailey can help Chris Holtmann with in-game coaching, basketball schematics
1:00:50: The dream of more Ohio State basketball games in St. John Arena is dead

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With Ohio State’s 2022-23 year in sports just about complete and a new year of Buckeye sports just a few months away, we decided it was the perfect time to sit down with Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith to talk about the hottest topics in Ohio State sports, college athletics as a whole and the Big Ten.

In a 30-minute conversation with Gene Smith to begin this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays, we talk to Ohio State’s athletic director about his expectations for the Buckeye football and basketball programs, how Ohio State is adapting to NIL and why he still wants federal legislation, why Ohio State has no plans to switch back to grass in Ohio Stadium, how the Buckeyes are adapting to the Big Ten’s new TV deal and much more.

The full rundown of our conversation with Smith:

0:36: Smith’s overall thoughts on the 2022-23 year in Ohio State sports
1:42: Why Smith hasn’t talked specifically with Ryan Day about beating Michigan
4:08: Why Smith is confident Ohio State’s quarterback success will continue
6:00: Why Smith still believes Chris Holtmann is the right coach for Ohio State men’s basketball
7:59: Smith expects Ohio State men’s basketball to be “in the hunt”
9:52: How Ohio State can capitalize on the increasing popularity of women’s basketball/sports
11:09: Why Smith remains hopeful about federal NIL legislation
12:30: Why Smith believes Ohio State is in a “much better” position with NIL than it was early
15:38: How Ohio State is preparing for possible changes to the college athletics model
18:06: Why Ohio State has no plans to change Ohio Stadium’s field back to grass
22:04: What the Big Ten’s new TV partners will bring to the conference
23:30: Why this will be the only year Ohio State plays a mid-November home night game
26:11: The impact of some Big Ten games being only on Peacock
27:45: Smith sees new commissioner Tony Pettiti as “outstanding leader” for Big Ten
28:32: The Big Ten’s criteria for expansion candidates and why B1G isn’t looking to expand again yet
30:29: How Ohio State is preparing for a changing future while staying in the present
31:49: Highlighting the academic achievements of Ohio State athletes

In the second half of this week’s show, we react to what we heard from Smith, plus we talk about the game times for Ohio State football that were announced last week and what Ryan Day had to say during his recent appearance on Chris Holtmann’s podcast.

33:07: November night game issue could be a moot point once USC and UCLA join the Big Ten
36:14: Notre Dame, North Carolina, Virginia are likelier B1G expansion targets than Washington, Oregon
40:21: We don’t know how college athletics will change next, but OSU is preparing accordingly
44:23: It seems like it’s only a matter of time before college athletes get a direct cut of the revenue
48:16: The narrative would be different if Ohio State beat Georgia, but The Game will always matter
51:35: The NCAA Tournament sounds like the benchmark for Ohio State basketball this year
53:58: Smith’s case for turf in the Shoe makes sense, but the question will be asked again if injuries hit
56:30: We‘re very glad the Youngstown State won’t be a night game (or on Peacock)
1:00:45: Day recognizes a need to prepare more specifically than philosophically for Michigan
1:04:18: It’s not shocking Day sees NIL and the transfer portal as the most difficult parts of his job
1:06:52: Day has made Ohio State more player-friendly, but he’ll ultimately be judged on results

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For the second year in a row, Ohio State and its fans are left trying to figure out what went wrong against Michigan.

While Michigan didn’t dominate in one phase of the game quite the way it did in the run game in 2021, the Wolverines ended up beating the Buckeyes by an even bigger margin this year as they scored five touchdowns of 45-plus yards while Ohio State mustered only three points of its own in the second half.

Why did Saturday’s game snowball away from the Buckeyes and how do they move forward from another devastating loss to their rivals? And how good of a chance does Ohio State have to still make the College Football Playoff?

We assess all of that on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, plus spend a few minutes reviewing Ohio State basketball’s performance at the Maui Invitational and previewing Wednesday night’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge clash with Duke.

A rundown of topics discussed on this week’s show:

1:25: There were excuses for last year’s loss, but there’s no good excuses this year
3:30: Ryan Day talks about responding when it gets punched in the mouth, but that didn’t happen
5:15: We had concerns about Ohio State’s pass defense all year long, and it cost them against Michigan
6:10: Jim Knowles has been lauded for his aggressiveness, but he overdid it in this game
9:32: J.J. McCarthy continues the trend of mobile quarterbacks giving Ohio State problems
12:39: Griffin had no confidence Ohio State’s offense would score in the second half, which should never be the case with an offense this talented
14:43: We shouldn’t have scoffed at Ryan Day giving up play-calling duties, and it’s probably time now
17:23: Ohio State missed Jaxon Smith-Njigba throughout the second half of the season, especially in The Game
18:40: Michigan consistently dropped seven or more defenders in coverage, and Ohio State struggled to adjust
19:45: C.J. Stroud may not have been fully healthy, but his lack of running hurt Ohio State’s offense
22:04: Ohio State’s rushing offense wasn’t the problem, but the Buckeyes never fully committed to it
25:21: C.J. Stroud is one of Ohio State’s greatest passers ever, but his résumé lacks signature wins
29:53: Jim Harbaugh quickly went from a laughingstock to having Ohio State’s number
31:05: This is the first time (yes, we’re young) we’ve really felt like Michigan controls the rivalry
32:20: Beating Michigan next year won’t be any easier with Ohio State set to lose key players
34:55: It’s harder to pinpoint what Ohio State needs to change this year than it was last year
36:00: Ohio State is supposed to bring its A-game against Michigan, but it hasn’t for two years
37:53: Ohio State is recruiting more highly touted players than Michigan, but it’s not yielding results in The Game
41:13: Ryan Day isn’t getting fired this year and probably not next year either, but the pressure is turning up
45:55: Ohio State will probably make the College Football Playoff if USC loses (and maybe if TCU loses)
51:08: It was a good week for the basketball Buckeyes in Maui, especially for Justice Sueing
52:07: Brice Sensabaugh might already be on the Malaki Branham one-and-done track
56:37: Fellow true freshman Bruce Thornton is also hitting his stride at point guard
57:37: Will Ohio State beat Duke? One of us says yes, one of us says no
58:55: Ohio State women’s basketball is dominating but faces its own big test Wednesday against Louisville

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It’s finally time for The Game we’ve all been waiting for.

Following a full year of buildup for Ohio State’s shot at revenge after last year’s loss in Ann Arbor, the Buckeyes will look to prove they’re a different team than they were a year ago when they host Michigan at Ohio Stadium on Saturday. And the stakes couldn’t be higher, as the second-ranked Buckeyes and third-ranked Wolverines both enter the game with 11-0 records with a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and a likely College Football Playoff berth on the line.

As we always do, we start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by looking back at Ohio State’s game from the previous weekend – a game that was more competitive than anticipated at Maryland. All of our analysis regarding the 43-30 win in College Park and the weekend that was in college football, though, ties back into the season-defining game to come Saturday.

In the second half of the podcast, we turn our full attention toward this week’s game and discuss why this is the most important game of Ryan Day’s career and why we believe Ohio State should have a slight advantage in this year’s game – even though we both expect a one-score game that comes down to which team can make the clutch plays in the fourth quarter.

The full rundown of topics we’re discussing this week:

0:14: It’s the week we’ve all been waiting for, and it doesn’t get any bigger than this
1:49: Ohio State gets a bigger scare from Maryland than we expected, but that shouldn’t come as a shock
3:57: Who we expect to play the most at running back against Michigan after Dallan Hayden’s 146-yard, three-touchdown game against Maryland
11:53: Dawand Jones showed why he’s Ohio State’s starting right tackle, but OSU could have a tough decision to make at right guard
14:27: Lathan Ransom and Tommy Eichenberg continue to play like All-Americans despite injuries
16:46: Zach Harrison continues to play the best football of his career
18:48: The passing defense remains Ohio State’s biggest concern entering the biggest games of the year
22:45: Ohio State’s defense continues to make plays in clutch moments, which is a reason for optimism this week
23:52: How Ohio State plays the week before The Game isn‘t predictive of how Ohio State will play in The Game – and none of the top teams looked great last weekend
29:00: We don’t know who will win this game – and that’s the way it should be in this rivalry
30:12: Three reasons why Dan is 60% confident Ohio State will beat Michigan
32:14: Both teams have injuries at running back, but that hurts Michigan more than Ohio State
33:19: Why this is the most important game of Ryan Day’s tenure as Ohio State’s head coach
36:40: Michigan’s offensive line will give Ohio State’s run defense its biggest challenge of the year
37:42: Michigan’s defense is elite, but it has faced very little top competition
39:50: Neither team has a clear-cut advantage on either side of the ball
41:20: A legacy-defining game for C.J. Stroud, who has his chance for a Heisman Moment
44:47: Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s status for this week remains a mystery, though signs haven’t been promising
48:20: The Buckeyes we think will step up in a big way in The Game
51:19: If Ohio State wins, will Ryan Day issue a response to Jim Harbaugh’s “third base” trash talk?
53:28: We’ll see a bunch of notable Buckeyes play their final home game Saturday
56:59: Our score predictions for The Game – and why the only score that matters is who wins

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We had to start by talking about Kamryn Babb’s emotional touchdown, a moment that epitomized the brotherhood Ohio State often talks about. But Babb was far from the only Buckeye who impressed us against the Hoosiers, as we were also struck by Xavier Johnson’s playmaking ability, Marvin Harrison Jr.’s latest spectacular catch and Lathan Ransom’s continued elite play among other standouts.

We also address the one big concern coming out of this past weekend’s game – the health of Ohio State’s running back room – and discuss whether Maryland will present any real threat to the Buckeyes this weekend, who we think we will emerge as the winner of the Big Ten West and why Ohio State women’s basketball and women’s volleyball are two other Buckeye sports teams you should be paying attention to right now.

A rundown of the many topics we’re talking about this week:

1:20: Why Kamryn Babb’s touchdown was so special
7:44: Running back health is a major concern, though there are reasons to be optimistic
11:24: Xavier Johnson is more than just a feel-good story, he’s a real weapon
14:53: Which Eleven Warriors staff member would be the best emergency running back? (Neither of us)
17:55: Should Ohio State add another running back to its 2023 recruiting class?
19:39: Short-yardage running remains an issue. Will the Buckeyes have to pass in those spots vs. Michigan?
23:20: Marvin Harrison Jr. builds his case for being the nation’s best receiver – and Ohio State’s best player
27:20: Josh Fryar had a strong first start, but that doesn’t mean he should replace Dawand Jones
29:40: Lathan Ransom and Ronnie Hickman are both playing at an elite level at safety
32:36: It sounds like Ty Hamilton will continue to be a starter, partially because Mike Hall is banged up
34:32: Ohio State’s cornerback unit appears to be in the best place it’s been all season
36:36: Tommy Eichenberg is on his way to being an All-American linebacker
37:16: Jack Sawyer plays well, but the Jack linebacker package will likely remain situational
41:11: Maryland’s recent struggles make this week’s game look far less likely to be a trap game, but it’s still a step up in competition
49:55: Purdue looks well-positioned to win the Big Ten West
52:42: Why TCU, Tennessee and USC join Georgia and Ohio State in our College Football Playoff predictions
57:45: Zed Key’s dominance stood out in Ohio State men’s basketball’s win over Charleston Southern
59:57: Ohio State women’s basketball and women’s volleyball look like Final Four contenders

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That’s the big question we seek to answer on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We were in Evanston on Saturday and experienced firsthand just how windy it was, so we know it’s no excuse to say the weather had a major impact on the game. Still, there are some valid concerns to be raised by the Buckeyes’ struggles to pull away from Northwestern – most notably, the run game struggling for the third week in a row and the potential for Ohio State to have to play in more bad weather as November continues.

There were also positives to take away from Saturday’s game, though – namely, C.J. Stroud showing he can be a weapon with his legs if and when Ohio State needs him to be – and we think it’s important to keep a lackluster performance in perspective, as the Buckeyes are still the only team in the country that’s won every game it’s played this season by double digits.

The full rundown of what we’re talking about on this week’s show, in which we also preview the upcoming game against Indiana, discuss the outlook of the College Football Playoff race after losses by Tennessee, Clemson and Alabama and share our takeaways from Ohio State men’s basketball’s season-opening win over Robert Morris:

0:21: Admittedly, we underestimated just how bad the weather would be, but it had a big impact on the game
4:26: What we make of another underwhelming day for Ohio State’s rushing offense
11:07: Ryan Day admits he doesn’t usually want C.J. Stroud to run – but he might want Michigan to hear that
19:25: Slow starts another troubling trend Ohio State’s offense must overcome
21:11: Ohio State holds Northwestern to seven points, though its defense showed some vulnerabilities
25:24: J.T. Tuimoloau, Taron Vincent, Ronnie Hickman, Jesse Mirco among top performers vs. Northwestern
29:27: Giving credit where due – Northwestern put up a much better fight than we expected
32:04: Ohio State is still undefeated, OSU still has the nation’s No. 1 offense and C.J. Stroud is still the Heisman frontrunner
34:55: A tight game is a wake-up call for Ohio State not to look past its next two games before Michigan
36:05: Why we think Ohio State will blow out Indiana this week
42:20: How this past weekend changed the College Football Playoff race
46:58: Where the Ohio State/Michigan loser might fit into a hierarchy of one-loss teams
51:06: Updated CFP picks
53:59: Justice Sueing and Zed Key start the season strong as Ohio State men’s basketball’s best players
57:48: Isaac Likekele could be a Kyle Young-esque “glue guy” for this year’s Buckeyes
1:02:00: Ups and downs for Ohio State’s freshmen in game one

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Penn State gave Ohio State a little bit more trouble than we expected, which raised some concerns about the Buckeyes’ national championship hopes even though there was still plenty to like.

Most importantly, Ohio State found a way to beat Penn State for the sixth year in a row, earning a 44-31 win in a series that has been decided by 13 points or fewer in seven straight seasons. J.T. Tuimoloau and Marvin Harrison Jr. were both spectacular, and the Buckeyes improved to 8-0 with the win, setting them up to earn the No. 2 spot in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

The Buckeyes faced more adversity against Penn State than they had all year, though, as they needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Nittany Lions. Against the best competition Ohio State had faced all season, the Buckeyes’ imperfections were on display as both their rushing offense and passing defense struggled.

We discuss all of that on this week’s show along with previewing this week’s game against Northwestern and sharing our takeaways from Ohio State men’s basketball’s exhibition game against Chaminade.

The rundown of topics discussed this week:

0:17: The win didn’t come easy for Ohio State, but the Buckeyes showed how quickly they can turn a game around
7:38: Marvin Harrison Jr. makes his case for being the best wide receiver in the country
11:50: The rise of Farmer Gronk continues
14:17: Ohio State’s run game struggles for a second straight game, making it a concern that can’t be ignored
18:09: Why the Buckeyes’ passing defense remains their biggest question mark
24:55: Ryan Day draws scrutiny for play calling, leaving points on the table at end of the first half
30:51: Injuries to key players made a bigger impact against tougher competition
34:09: J.T. Tuimoloau had one of the best individual defensive performances we’ve ever seen
37:26: The last two weeks showed Ohio State has more than just one “alpha dog” on the defensive line
40:07: Ohio State should blow out Northwestern because Northwestern is really bad
44:36: The Buckeyes’ No. 2 ranking shows how much they’ve impressed the CFP selection committee so far
48:02: Why we both think Tennessee can beat Georgia this weekend
50:26: Could we see an upset in Alabama at LSU or Clemson at Notre Dame?
54:28: Biggest takeaways from the Ohio State men’s basketball exhibition game

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Ohio State wasn’t perfect against Iowa, but its defense sure came close.

Even though the Buckeyes didn’t have their best offensive day against Iowa, they still scored more points than a Kirk Ferentz-led Hawkeye team has ever allowed. Given that, the good certainly far outweighed the bad in Ohio State’s 54-10 win over Iowa, especially on defense – where Dan’s prediction that the defense would outscore Iowa’s offense came true – though there are reasonable questions to be asked about Ohio State’s rushing offense after the Buckeyes struggled in that regard on Saturday.

We spend the first half of this week’s show sharing our thoughts on the Buckeyes’ performance against the Hawkeyes before looking ahead to the biggest game of the season to date this week at Penn State. How much of a threat do the Nittany Lions really pose? We discuss the ways in which Penn State will challenge Ohio State and where the Buckeyes should have the advantage.

Finally, with less than two weeks to go until the start of basketball season, we draft dueling lineups from the Ohio State men’s basketball team for a hypothetical head-to-head game of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes.

The full rundown of what we’re talking about this week:

0:00: A new introduction courtesy of Jim Knowles
0:57: We expected the defense to dominate Iowa, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t impressive
4:47: Is Zach Harrison another alpha dog on the defensive line? He sure played like one Saturday
8:24: Ohio State’s new defensive coaches are getting the best out of players like Harrison, Tommy Eichenberg and Lathan Ransom
11:49: Denzel Burke seems to have turned a corner in Ohio State’s last two games
13:27: Ohio State had one of its worst running games in the last decade against Iowa
17:21: Does C.J. Stroud need to run the ball more to keep defenses honest? Ryan Day might not want him to
22:07: Jaxon Smith-Njigba wants to play as much as he can, but he needs to be healthy to actually help
28:31: Caden Curry goes from playing high school defensive tackle to covering kickoffs in one year
29:42: Penn State’s performance against Minnesota showed we can’t write off the Nittany Lions, particularly their passing offense
34:15: Penn State’s secondary might be the best Ohio State has faced this year
36:49: The Nittany Lions’ run defense looks vulnerable to a bounceback performance for Ohio State’s rushing offense
38:29: Why we both think Ohio State will cover against Penn State (with nearly identical score predictions)
41:31: Why we’re both currently picking Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson and another SEC team to make CFP
47:10: Where Dan thinks Ohio State will be in the initial CFP rankings if it beats Penn State (which might make Buckeye fans mad)
48:13: Drafting dueling lineups from the Ohio State men’s basketball team

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It was a quiet weekend for Ohio State football, but it certainly wasn’t a quiet weekend across college football.

No Buckeye game gave us the opportunity to watch many of college football’s other top teams play on an eventful Saturday in which Tennessee took down Alabama, Michigan blew out Penn State and Utah upset USC. We spend the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays talking about our observations from the weekend, including why Tennessee might present the most dangerous hypothetical College Football Playoff matchup for Ohio State and why we think it’s likely both the Buckeyes and Wolverines will bring 11-0 records into The Game.

In the second half of the show, we talk about the Buckeyes’ upcoming game against Iowa and why we’re both putting our money on the under, then project what Ohio State’s men’s basketball starting lineup will look like this season after watching the Buckeyes practice and attending Big Ten Media Days last week.

A rundown of the main topics we’re discussing this week:

1:05: Why Tennessee might be the toughest matchup for Ohio State of any potential CFP opponent
7:30: Alabama’s lack of discipline is surprising, and it might keep the Crimson Tide out of this year’s CFP
10:48: Michigan is looking like Ohio State’s biggest test of the regular season by far
17:30: Maryland might be Ohio State’s second-biggest test (because Penn State didn’t look good in Ann Arbor)
22:04: Illinois looks like the team to beat in the Big Ten West
24:52: Our current CFP picks and why another SEC vs. Big Ten debate could be on the horizon
32:00: Iowa’s offense is terrible, but the defense will give Ohio State’s offense a legitimate test
37:20: Score predictions: Only one of us thinks the Buckeyes will cover, but we‘re both taking the under
40:16: What stood out to us at Ohio State basketball’s open practice and Big Ten Media Days last week
50:14: Projecting who will start for Ohio State men’s basketball this season
55:33: Ohio State women’s basketball should be a real contender this year

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Ohio State looked like a national championship-caliber team during the first half of the regular season.

The Buckeyes have been the most dominant team in college football so far this year, winning all six games before their bye week by an average of 33.2 points, the highest in the country. Ohio State currently ranks in the top 15 nationally in scoring offense (1st), total offense (2nd), passing offense (14th), rushing offense (14th), total defense (7th), scoring defense (15th), passing defense (8th) and rushing defense (15th).

As a result, Ohio State has emerged as the betting favorite to win this year’s national championship, and based on what we’ve seen so far this season, we believe there’s a great chance the Buckeyes will be hoisting the national championship trophy at the end of the year.

Only one of us went as far as to predict the Buckeyes will actually win it all, and our one reservation about Ohio State’s early success is the Buckeyes haven’t played anyone that’s currently a top-25 team. But we both agree that Ohio State should be the No. 1-ranked team in the country right now and that the Buckeyes appear capable of beating anyone they play in 2022.

The rundown of what we talked about this week:

1:10: Ohio State cruises to another blowout win in its first road game of the year at Michigan State
3:07: C.J. Stroud becomes the clear-cut Heisman favorite after another fantastic performance
6:48: Marvin Harrison Jr. is well on his way to becoming one of Ohio State’s all-time great wide receivers
9:32: Emeka Egbuka is having a spectacular season, too, and Julian Fleming continues to impress
12:30: TreVeyon Henderson looked motivated to remind everyone what he can do
18:11: Ohio State got creative in the run game without Miyan Williams, and Xavier Johnson looked legit at RB
21:11: The defensive line dominated in East Lansing, especially Mike Hall on his seven snaps
26:10: Cornerback remains a position of concern halfway through the season
30:25: Safeties have been the unsung heroes of Ohio State’s defense
33:15: Why Dan now believes Ohio State will win the national championship
38:12: Why Griffin isn’t quite ready to say the Buckeyes will win it all
45:20: Midseason Superlatives: Most impressive players, biggest surprises and who needs to step up most
52:39: It’s a great weekend to watch some teams other than Ohio State play college football

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It no longer feels like a hot take to say Miyan Williams is Ohio State’s best running back.

Williams hasn’t just been Ohio State’s best running back this season, he’s been one of the best running backs in college football this year. TreVeyon Henderson remains great, too, but after Williams’ 189-yard, five-touchdown performance against Rutgers, we’ve become increasingly convinced that the Cincinnatian is Ohio State’s RB1 right now.

That’s just one of many topics we cover on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays as we also share our thoughts on Jesse Mirco’s run and the subsequent Ryan Day/Greg Schiano confrontation that got everyone talking, standout performances by Steele Chambers and Zach Harrison, Michigan State’s struggles going into this week’s game against Ohio State, the surprising firing of Paul Chryst and the mess that is the Big Ten West.

The rundown of the topics discussed on this week’s show:

0:16: Ohio State vs. Rutgers wasn’t the most thrilling game we’ve ever watched, but it was pretty much what we expected
1:16: The case for Miyan Williams being Ohio State’s best running back and one of the best running backs in the entire country
7:46: Why it’s dumb for anyone to be mad about Jesse Mirco running instead of punting – or running up the score in general
16:15: Steele Chambers and Tommy Eichenberg are thriving at linebacker
20:11: Zach Harrison shows he can be a difference-maker as a situational defensive tackle
24:04: Ohio State’s red zone play calling was a little weird, but you can’t complain about going 5-for-5
28:36: Should Ohio State be getting the backups more playing time in blowouts?
30:52: A look at what’s gone wrong for Michigan State as the Spartans have lost three straight games
35:37: Score predictions for Saturday’s game in East Lansing
38:29: We were shocked Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst so soon, but we understand why it happened
44:30: The Big Ten West is struggling, and the Big Ten is probably wishing it eliminated divisions before this season
47:50: Ohio State is now the betting favorite to win the national championship, but still third in the polls
53:14: A Clemson/USC swap in our College Football Playoff picks – and how Ohio State and Michigan could both make the CFP
57:07: Dan explains what his day covering an Ohio State football game is like
1:02:31: Why we expect Brice Sensabaugh to win the Ohio State basketball dunk contest this week

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While both of us expected Wisconsin’s defense to make life a little more difficult for Ohio State’s offense than Toledo could, the Buckeyes kept things rolling against the Badgers, scoring touchdowns on their first four possessions to race out to a 28-0 lead before ultimately cruising to a 52-21 victory.

There were no shortage of standout performers for the Buckeyes in Saturday night’s conference opener, from Miyan Williams, Cade Stover and the entire run-blocking unit on offense to Jyaire Brown, JK Johnson, Tanner McCalister and Tommy Eichenberg on defense. Of course, there are still a couple of lingering health-related questions for the Buckeyes after star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and starting cornerbacks Denzel Burke and Cameron Brown both missed the game with injuries.

We talk about all of that in the first 40 minutes of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, then look ahead to this week’s game against Rutgers, make our one-month-in picks for who will make the College Football Playoff and share our takeaways from Monday’s Ohio State basketball media day.

The full rundown of what we’re talking about this week:

0:50: Ohio State exceeds our expectations again with a dominant offensive performance
5:25: Miyan Williams might be Ohio State’s best running back, and that’s no knock on TreVeyon Henderson
10:42: Ohio State’s run blocking has been great, and that’s a credit to Justin Frye, his offensive line, the tight ends and the wide receivers
14:50: Farmer Gronk is showing the value of actually throwing to the tight end
22:15: Ohio State needs to be cautious with Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but don’t assume this is a Nick Bosa situation
30:37: Jyaire Brown and JK Johnson stepped up nicely at cornerback
34:52: The pass defense still hasn’t really been tested, and it’s probably going to be a while before it actually is
37:38: Tanner McCalister shows why Ohio State brought him in as a transfer
39:31: Tommy Eichenberg continues to establish himself as Ohio State’s best defensive player
41:55: Why we‘re expecting another blowout win vs. Rutgers
48:45: Should Ohio State be ranked higher than third in the polls?
51:07: Our picks to make the College Football Playoff one month into the season
53:58: Minnesota looks like the Big Ten West frontrunner, and Michigan State might be this year’s Indiana
58:43: What we learned from Ohio State men’s basketball media day
1:09:20: Dan and Griffin compliment players chosen by a random number generator

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Ohio State’s offense couldn’t have been much more impressive in its win over Toledo.

The Buckeyes dominated by both air and ground against the Rockets, scoring 77 points on 763 yards – the second-highest total in school history. In the process, Ohio State went from being ranked 40th in the country to total offense to leading the entire country in yards per game, while Toledo plummed from fourth to 80th in total defense.

We begin this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing all the ways Ohio State’s offense impressed us against Toledo. Later in the show, we talk about why we aren’t overly concerned with how the Buckeyes performed on defense – even though Jim Knowles wasn’t happy about it – before turning the page to Wisconsin, which we believe will present a similar matchup for the Buckeyes this week as Notre Dame did in the season opener (which could be a good thing).

Finally, we talk about our takeaways from the weekend that was elsewhere in the Big Ten and break down what the commitment of Taison Chatman means for Ohio State men’s basketball recruiting class of 2023.

The full rundown of what we’re talking about this week:

0:45: How Ohio State’s offense made a statement against Toledo
2:24: There were no shortage of standouts among Ohio State’s offensive players, and the coaches were in their bag
4:09: Ohio State’s depth of receiving weapons was on full display, but don’t discount the impact Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s presence made
9:15: Dallan Hayden and TC Caffey turn Ohio State’s running back depth from a concern into a strength
16:56: The offensive line was great too, especially Dawand Jones
18:25: Ohio State’s defense struggled to contain Dequan Finn, but it wasn’t awful
21:12: Will Graham Mertz be the best quarterback Ohio State has played? We’d take Finn
22:02: Lingering questions about Ohio State’s passing defense, particularly at cornerback
26:48: Javontae Jean-Baptiste and other defensive standouts against Toledo
32:30: Similarities between this week’s game against Wisconsin and the season opener vs. Notre Dame
34:20: Stopping Braelon Allen will be a challenge, but the Buckeyes have been dominant against running backs so far
37:52: Wisconsin’s defense is good, but will injuries in the secondary doom the Badgers?
40:45: Ryan Day says injured players will return this week, but Ohio State fans are understandably skeptical
44:30: Why one of us thinks Ohio State will cover against Wisconsin, and one of us doesn’t
46:58: Keon Keeley headlines another big recruiting weekend for Ohio State football
49:06: The Big Ten’s most impressive (Penn State, Minnesota) and disappointing (Michigan State, Northwestern) teams from Week 3
56:21: What Taison Chatman will bring to the Buckeyes and how he compares to decommit George Washington III
59:00: Why Chatman, not Bronny James, will likely be the final high school recruit in Ohio State’s 2023 class
1:00:54: Who we’re looking forward to talking to at next week’s Ohio State men’s basketball media day
1:04:26: Come see us at the Eleven Dubgate on Saturday

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On this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays, we give our overall assessment of Ohio State’s 45-12 over the Red Wolves, which Buckeyes stood out in their second game of the season and why a wild second weekend of college football should serve as a reminder to appreciate what was ultimately a convincing win. We also look ahead to Saturday’s game against Toledo, which we think might also be at least a slightly more competitive game than the point spread suggests.

A rundown of some of the many topics we talk about this week:

1:45: Grading the win over Arkansas State
3:54: Ohio State’s passing offense returns to form, showing how special it could be when Jaxon Smith-Njigba is healthy
7:25: Why it’s dumb to be miserable after a 33-point win (even though there are some things to clean up)
11:14: The defense hasn’t been fully tested yet, but it’s been excellent so far, especially in the red zone
14:03: Mike Hall is a star, but don’t discount the defensive ends’ role in helping him make plays
17:17: Denzel Burke’s slow start, what might be leading to that and why we think he will bounce back
21:27: Arkansas State might prove to be a better team than we thought
23:04: JK Johnson had a solid showing, but he still might be behind Jordan Hancock when healthy
25:15: Caden Curry, Dallan Hayden and Jyaire Brown among freshman standouts vs. Arkansas State
28:30: Cody Simon, Josh Proctor, Lathan Ransom, Gee Scott Jr., Mitch Rossi among under-the-radar standouts vs. Arkansas State
35:10: Why Toledo looks like a step up in competition from Arkansas State
43:50: Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba could both be back this week, but it’s important for Fleming to be on the field
46:23: Ohio State vs. Toledo score predictions
48:40: Why TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams will likely continue to split carries evenly
49:57: How Ohio State’s season-opening win loses some luster with Notre Dame’s loss to Marshall
53:45: Nebraska had no choice but to fire Scott Frost
55:46: It was a bad weekend all the way around for the Big Ten West
57:41: Michigan and Michigan State look like Ohio State’s top competition in the Big Ten
59:20: How our preseason confidence rankings Ohio State will win each game would change now
1:01:36: Ohio State should be ranked ahead of Alabama after Crimson Tide barely beat Texas

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Although Ohio State’s season opener against Notre Dame didn’t go quite the way we expected, we came away with plenty of positive impressions from the Buckeyes’ performance.

Ohio State’s defense exceeded our expectations while we expected more from the Buckeyes’ offense against Notre Dame, but overall, we think there was more to like than dislike from Ohio State’s season-opening 21-10 win over the Fighting Irish, who entered the season ranked fifth in the country.

In nearly a full hour of discussion on the Buckeyes’ first victory of the year, we talked about just about everything that resonated with us from Saturday night’s season opener in the Shoe, including:

0:48: What stood out most to each us: The dominant debut of Jim Knowles’ defense and Xavier Johnson’s moment in the spotlight
7:49: Ohio State’s defensive stars against Notre Dame: Mike Hall, Tommy Eichenberg and Lathan Ransom
14:02: How Ohio State’s defensive rotations could change in future games
21:12: Ohio State’s defense will face tougher tests as the season progresses – but maybe not for another month
25:42: Miyan Williams proves he needs to get consistent carries at running back
30:13: Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s injury shows just how important he is to Ohio State’s offense, and the Buckeyes shouldn’t take any chances with him (or Luke Wypler) for the next two weeks
36:15: Ohio State’s offense gets a reality check, but it’s way too early to say Ryan Day should give up play calling
43:18: Barely any freshmen played against Notre Dame, but that’s not a bad thing
46:18: A star-studded weekend at the Shoe was exactly what Ohio State needed to build recruiting momentum

In the final 20 minutes of the show, we spend just a few minutes (starting at 49:43) talking about this week’s game against Arkansas State before making our predictions on whether the Buckeyes will cover the 44-point spread.

We also talk (beginning at 54:35) about how this weekend reaffirmed our belief that there‘s a gap between the top three teams in college football this year (Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State) and everyone else, and share our initial thoughts (59:59) on the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, which Dan believes will be a net positive for the sport but Griffin is not so sure on.

Finally (1:05:42), we talk about this week’s developments in Ohio State basketball: the unfortunate but not shocking end of Seth Towns’ career with the Buckeyes, the decommitment of George Washington III and the possibility that Taison Chatman and/or Bronny James could replace Washington in Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2023.

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After eight months of looking ahead to Ohio State’s 2022 football season, it’s finally game week in Columbus.

Come next week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we’ll have an actual football game to recap and a much better feel of how good this year’s Ohio State football team actually is and what it still needs to work on. This week, though, it’s all about looking ahead to the first and one of the biggest games of the year as we break down how things could play out when the Buckeyes finally take the field against the Fighting Irish in Ohio Stadium on Saturday.

The first half of this week’s episode is all about previewing what will happen on the field in Saturday’s big game. We break down what we expect to see from Jim Knowles’ defense and what would constitute a good first game in terms of points and yards allowed and how much of a challenge Notre Dame’s defense will present to Ohio State’s offense, then make our score predictions (at the 33:30 mark) for how we think the game will ultimately play out.

Later in the show (starting at 36:35), we talk about why this will also be a massive recruiting weekend for the Buckeyes – and not just in football – as Ohio State’s top targets in both football and basketball will be on campus. Dan discusses why it’s vital to Ohio State’s 2023 defensive end recruiting for the Buckeyes to impress Keon Keeley, Matayo Uiagalelei and Damon Wilson this weekend, and Griffin discusses why he thinks Ohio State basketball has a genuine chance to land Bronny James.

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With just one week to go until the first game week, it’s time to look ahead at the season as a whole and make some predictions about how Ohio State’s 2022 season will play out.

To start things off on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, Dan and Griffin each rank Ohio State’s 12 regular-season games from the game we’re most confident the Buckeyes will win to the game we believe is most likely to be an upset. While we agree on which five games we’re most confident Ohio State will win, our lists diverge from there, as Dan is more confident than Griffin about wins over Michigan and Notre Dame while he sees Michigan State and Iowa as bigger threats than Griffin does.

Beginning at the 29:42 mark, we make some additional predictions for Ohio State’s 2022 season, including:

What Ohio State’s record for the season will be
Whether C.J. Stroud will win the Heisman Trophy and if Jaxon Smith-Njigba will join him in New York
Which Buckeyes will earn first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten honors
Why we believe Marvin Harrison Jr. will be Ohio State’s second-most productive receiver and Emeka Egbuka will be Ohio State’s third-most productive receiver
Why Tommy Eichenberg and Ronnie Hickman are our defensive MVP selections
Who we think will lead the Buckeyes in tackles, sacks and interceptions
Why we believe Ohio State will have the No. 1 offense in the country but won’t have a top-five defense

In the final segment of the show (49:16), we talk about our takeaways from Ryan Day and Jim Knowles’ Monday press conference and what Gene Smith had to say after the Big Ten announced its new TV deal last week. We’re not expecting to see Chip Trayanum play at running back unless necessitated by further injuries, but we do believe a divisionless Big Ten and College Football Playoff expansion could both happen within the next couple of years.

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Two weeks into preseason camp, it’s becoming more clear which Ohio State players could be trending toward breakout years and where the Buckeyes still have concerns as the season draws closer.

Running back depth emerged as a concern this week when Evan Pryor suffered a season-ending knee injury in practice, and that’s where we begin this week’s show. Is there reason to worry about Ohio State having only three scholarship running backs, and do the Buckeyes need to move someone else to running back for additional depth?

While Ohio State might still have the nation’s best one-two punch at running back in TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams, Pryor’s injury increases the importance of Dallan Hayden’s readiness, and we believe Kaleb Brown and Xavier Johnson – not Steele Chambers and Chip Trayanum – could be candidates to take snaps at running back if needed.

About 14 minutes into the show, we shift the conversation to everything else we learned from watching a full practice last week and talking to Kevin Wilson, Larry Johnson and their tight ends and defensive linemen this week. Among the topics we covered:

15:10: Cornerback depth concerns and walk-on Lloyd McFarquhar taking advantage of his opportunity
18:18: Tommy Eichenberg standing out in practice and whether that will translate to three-down success
21:20: Julian Fleming and Emeka Egbuka both making their case as they battle for starting spot
26:00: Cade Stover’s noticeable improvement as a pass-catcher
32:47: Defense making life more difficult for Ohio State’s offense on the practice field
35:14: Whether Kevin Wilson’s comments about the short-yardage run game are reason to worry
38:53: The depth of Ohio State’s defensive line and why J.T. Tuimoloau could be the unidentified “alpha dog”
46:55: Why Mike Hall is a player to watch even though he’s third on the nose tackle depth chart

Finally (beginning at 48:04), we talk about the six players Ohio State chose to be captains – Kamryn Babb, C.J. Stroud, Cade Stover, Tommy Eichenberg, Tyler Friday and Kourt Williams – and which players each of us were surprised to not see on the captain list.

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Preseason camp is in full swing at Ohio State, and we’ve had plenty of access to the Buckeyes over the past week as a result.

After watching a portion of the first two practices and attending four interview sessions at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center over the past week, we reconvene on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays to discuss the biggest things we learned from the first six days of camp.

We start by talking about what we heard during Jim Knowles’ interview session on Tuesday, when he made several eyebrow-raising comments. Should Ohio State fans be worried about the Buckeyes’ cornerback depth? Knowles said only 25% of his defense has been installed so far; is that a cause for concern? And is Knowles setting expectations too high by saying the Buckeyes should have a top-five defense?

Following about 25 minutes of conversation about the defense, we shift our attention to the offense and discuss what we heard during offensive line and running back interviews. We also highlight a few players who seem to be building momentum so far in camp – including Tyler Friday and Julian Fleming – and discuss our favorite “Dayisms” from Ryan Day’s first press conferences of the preseason.

Later in the show, we discuss the pros and cons of CBS and NBC replacing ESPN as Big Ten TV partners (41:00), our favorite outfits from hotel check-in (58:07) and what the past week of wins both on the recruiting trail and on the court mean for the present and future of Ohio State men’s basketball (59:58).

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We’re officially one month away from Ohio State’s first football game of the 2022 season and one day away from the start of preseason camp.

We’ll have the chance to watch the Buckeyes practice – well, at least a little bit of practice – on both Thursday and Friday as Ohio State holds its first two practices of preseason camp, and we’re excited to see them up close, in person and on the field again. What will we be watching and listening for as camp begins? We start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by talking about which players and position battles we’ll have our eyes on.

As much excitement as there is surrounding the upcoming Ohio State football season as the Buckeyes’ preparation for the games ahead ramps up, many Buckeye fans are also feeling angst about the recent misses and decommitments Ohio State has suffered on the recruiting trail. In the second segment of this week’s podcast (beginning at the 21-minute mark), Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Garrick Hodge joins us to discuss what’s going on with Ohio State recruiting, what needs to happen for the Buckeyes to overcome those losses and where he believes this year’s class will ultimately stack up in the final rankings. (Note: This segment of the podcast was recorded before Ty Lockwood officially announced his flip to Alabama on Tuesday.)

It’s also a big week for Ohio State men’s basketball, which is headed to the Bahamas on Thursday for a five-day trip in which it will play a pair of exhibition games against national teams from Puerto Rico and Egypt. In the final segment of this week’s RPW (beginning at the 45-minute mark), we share our takeaways from watching the Buckeyes practice and talking to Chris Holtmann on Monday, and Griffin explains why he believes this could be a great week for Ohio State recruiting as four-star small forwards Devin Royal and Scotty Middleton are set to announce their commitments.

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This week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays is coming to you one day later than usual, but we hope it will be worth the wait.

We recorded this week’s episode from Indianapolis, where we spent the past two days covering Big Ten Media Days. And we were joined by a special guest while we were there.

Dan talked to Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith on Tuesday about a wide variety of topics including Big Ten expansion, College Football Playoff expansion, NIL, Ryan Day and Chris Holtmann’s contract extensions, how Ohio State is making up for the deficit it incurred in 2020 and more. You can hear the entirety of their conversation in the first half of this week’s episode.

Griffin joins the show at the 24:10 mark for a conversation on everything we learned in Indianapolis including the likelihood of more expansion for the Big Ten, who is and isn’t available for Ohio State going into the start of preseason camp and Day’s confidence that the Buckeyes can have a top-10 defense this year. We also discuss what we heard from Michigan players about last year’s rivalry game and the weirdest moments of Jim Harbaugh’s media sessions on Tuesday.

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Ohio State’s first official media availability of the preseason will be held one week from today when Ryan Day, C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Ronnie Hickman will meet with reporters at Big Ten Media Days.

With that in mind, we start today’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays – after Dan gloats for a bit about winning last week’s draft – by looking ahead to next week’s Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis, where representatives from all 14 Big Ten teams will meet with the media between Tuesday and Wednesday.

We discuss why Stroud, Smith-Njigba and Hickman are the right choices to represent Ohio State at media days (though we would have also loved to see Dawand Jones back in his hometown) and what we could hear from each of them and Day. Expansion will undoubtedly be the dominant storyline next week, particularly during Kevin Warren’s press conference on Tuesday, but we’re also expecting plenty of Ohio State/Michigan talk – with the near-certainty that both fan bases will get riled up over something a representative from the other team says.

(Programming note: Since Ohio State’s day at Big Ten Media Days will be on Wednesday, next week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays – despite the name – will be published on Thursday, allowing us to talk about everything we learned in Indianapolis.)

Around the halfway mark of the show (29:13), we shift our attention to the latest developments in Ohio State’s recruiting for the 2023 class. Even though the Buckeyes still have the No. 1-ranked class in the country, some fans have expressed concerns after a few notable misses for Ohio State in recent days. Is there really anything to be concerned about with a class that still leads the nation? We take stock of what the Buckeyes have done well in the class and where they still have work to do.

With last week’s news that Ohio State will hold both a black-out and a scarlet-out this season, we also spend some time sharing our thoughts on Ohio State’s alternate uniforms. Should the Buckeyes try some more creative uniform concepts, or should they simply stick with tradition? Should Ohio State bring back the gray sleeves permanently, or wear them for College Football Playoff games only? We discuss all of that (starting at 44:38).

In the final 15 minutes of the show (beginning at 51:55), we turn our attention to basketball and get Griffin’s thoughts on which current and former Ohio State players have stood out in the Kingdom League, what the Buckeyes could get out of their upcoming trip to the Bahamas and where the Buckeyes stand with top targets Scotty Middleton and Devin Royal.

Finally, we show our youth with our answers to a fun listener question: Which Ohio State football and basketball players that you didn’t get to watch live do you most wish you could have?

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It’s draft week on Real Pod Wednesdays.

As we’ve done every year since we started this podcast, we held an Ohio State football team draft this week, selecting 44 total players from the current roster – 11 on offense and 11 on defense each – to build lineups for a hypothetical matchup of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes if they were to play each other this fall.

Through this exercise, we made our picks for who Ohio State’s most valuable players will be this year, based not only on their individual talent but also on the depth at their respective positions, which influenced how highly each player got drafted.

You can hear all of our picks on this week’s podcast, and you can visit Eleven Warriors (https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2022/07/131674/2022-ohio-state-football-team-draft-how-we-picked-head-to-head-lineups-for-a-matchup-of-buckeyes-vs-buckeyes) to read a full list of our selections, see the lineups side-by-side and cast your vote for whose team would win.

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Landmark news broke in the world of college sports this past week.

USC and UCLA are coming to the Big Ten in 2024, and the move will have ripple effects for years to come. With Dan Hope on vacation this week, Garrick Hodge joined Griffin Strom to break down how the Big Ten’s latest expansion efforts will impact Ohio State and college athletics as a whole.

We started by stating our initial reactions (2:35) to the news before assessing the pros and cons from several perspectives, and also dug into the potential recruiting impact the addition of USC and UCLA might have on the Buckeye program (8:10).

With Griffin and Garrick both present at this past Friday’s joint press conference between Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and president Kristina Johnson, we stated our biggest takeaways from the presser (21:45) and look ahead to what might come next as far as conference realignment.

Aside from the biggest news of the week, there was still plenty to discuss in the world of recruiting (30:30), and Garrick had plenty to say about the recent commitments of four-star cornerbacks Kayin Lee, Calvin Simpson-Hunt and Jermaine Mathews. We then discussed the state of Ohio State’s secondary in the 2023 cycle and assessed how Tim Walton and company have done on the recruiting trail since coming aboard the Buckeye staff.

We wrapped up the show by talking about Griffin’s experience at Kingdom League over the week weekend, where he saw past, present and potentially future Buckeyes put it work on the hardwood at Ohio Dominican University. Of note, current Buckeyes Zed Key, Kalen Etzler, Brice Sensabaugh, Bruce Thornton and Felix Okpara all played on Sunday, and Griffin let us in on a slice of what he saw from each (42:53).

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It’s been a huge week for Ohio State in recruiting – specifically, for wide receiver recruiting.

Ohio State landed commitments from five-star wide receivers on back-to-back days when Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss committed to the Buckeyes on Monday and Tuesday. To help us put it all into context and explain how the Buckeyes pulled it off, Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Garrick Hodge joins us on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

We break down how Ohio State’s success recruiting wide receivers over the past five years is unprecedented and how Brian Hartline made OSU into the place top receiver prospects want to go, and Garrick shares his intel on how OSU ultimately won the battle for Tate after a push from Tennessee.

In other recruiting storylines, this week brought us our first opportunity to see Dylan Raiola in person as he participated in Ohio State’s final camp of the summer on Tuesday, and we share what impressed us (beginning 13 minutes in) while watching his throwing session and talking to him afterward.

Another quarterback also stole the show on Tuesday as Colin Hurley earned an offer from the Buckeyes, and we discuss (starting around 18:40) how that could set up a fascinating race to be Ohio State’s 2025 quarterback between Hurley and Ryan Montgomery.

To wrap up camp season, all three of us make our picks (26:05) for who impressed us the most across Ohio State’s seven camps. And Garrick predicts (31:00) which four players in the 2023 class will be the next players to commit to Ohio State. (Note: This episode was recorded before Jermaine Mathews, one of those four players, announced his July 1 commitment date.)

In the final 22 minutes of the show (beginning at 36:15), Griffin and Dan preview this week’s NBA draft and guesstimate where Malaki Branham and E.J. Liddell will be selected while sharing our thoughts on what kind of players we think each of them will be at the next level.

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More than 1,000 high school football players have made their way through the Woody Hayes Athletic Center over the past week for Ohio State’s first three high school football camps of the year, and we’ve been there to watch all the action unfold.

For the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we share what we’ve learned from attending those three camps, including a list of the most impressive prospects we’ve seen on the field so far, the most interesting things we’ve heard from talking to recruits and our observations from watching new Ohio State coaches Justin Frye, Jim Knowles and Tim Walton in action.

In the second half of the show, we discuss some of the other headlines of the past week and address some questions from listeners, including:

30:30: Why Ryan Day said Ohio State needs $13 million in NIL money and whether that’s a realistic target
36:40: How Ohio State is getting more involved in helping its athletes land NIL deals
41:56: What we make of Michigan’s charms for winning The Game and Penn State choosing not to White Out Ohio State
46:00: Who we think will be surprise contributors in Ohio State’s season opener vs. Notre Dame
51:10: Why we’re disappointed Carmen’s Crew isn’t playing in The Basketball Tournament
55:32: Why Ohio State would benefit from an eight-team College Football Playoff with no automatic bids

(Programming note: Griffin will be on vacation next week, so our next episode of Real Pod Wednesdays will be published on June 22.)

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Ohio State’s biggest recruiting month of the summer has begun.

The first of seven camps for high school football players is taking place on Wednesday at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Over the next 21 days, Ohio State will host thousands of high school football prospects hoping to earn an offer from the Buckeyes or at minimum, get some valuable coaching from members of OSU’s coaching staff.

Ohio State is set to also host more than 30 official visitors over the next four weeks, and those visits will be important to the Buckeyes’ chances of landing commitments from some of their top targets in the 2023 recruiting class.

To preview the entire month to come, Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Garrick Hodge joins us for the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. In more than 30 minutes of recruiting talk, we discuss who we’ll be watching at the camps and his choices for the five most important official visitors of the month. And if you like #BOOMs, you’ll want to hear Garrick’s prediction for how many commitments Ohio State will land between now and Fourth of July weekend.

Later in the show, Dan and Griffin talk about what Ohio State men’s basketball needs to accomplish on the recruiting trail this summer. We also share our thoughts on what we heard on the radio last week from Chris Holtmann and Ryan Day and on Ohio State playing a second home night game in September against Toledo.

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Day is now one of the five highest-paid coaches in college football after receiving a two-year contract extension through the 2028 season that upped his compensation to $9.5 million per year. Holtmann received a pay bump to $3.5 million while his contract was extended through the 2027-28 season.

Why was now the time to give both of them extensions, considering Ohio State football did not achieve its goals last year and men’s basketball once again fell short of the Sweet 16? We analyze the timing and the impact of their contract extensions on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays.

Holtmann’s contract extension undoubtedly came with more scrutiny from Ohio State fans, yet it makes clear his job is safe for now – though we‘re not sure it guarantees anything beyond the next couple of seasons. We discuss why he deserves more time to continue building the Ohio State basketball program and what he will need to accomplish over the next couple of years to continue to be the right man for the job.

As for Day’s contract extension, we discuss how his new deal – and the money Ohio State spent on its assistant coaches this offseason – demonstrates that OSU is fully committed to doing what it needs to do to compete for national championships (12:20). Plus, we consider how Day’s first three years as Ohio State’s head coach stack up with his predecessors Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel.

While we generally keep our focus on Ohio State sports on Real Pod Wednesdays, we couldn’t not talk about the Nick Saban vs. Jimbo Fisher drama (23:02) this week. We personally want to see more public beefs between college football coaches, and we discuss why the SEC and college football as a whole should lean into the fun rather than trying to back away from it.

We also talk about some of the other changes coming to college football, including:

33:05: The pros and cons for Ohio State of the likely death of divisions in the Big Ten
41:41: Whether eliminating the 25-man limit per signing class will make a real impact on recruiting
44:25: Why an FBS football split from the NCAA could solve some problems, but probably not all problems

Finally, we share what we learned about Malaki Branham and E.J. Liddell from the NBA Draft Combine (53:45) and make our picks for who will be Ohio State football’s top competition in the Big Ten this year (57:00).

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We now know exactly when Ohio State’s 2022 season will kick off, and it's hard not to start getting excited.

Ohio State’s Sept. 3 season opener against Notre Dame is still more than three months away, but the buildup to the Buckeyes’ first game of the year received a big jolt of energy Tuesday when ESPN announced that the highly anticipated non-conference clash at Ohio Stadium will be played under the lights, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.

So we begin this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by starting to look ahead to the first game of the year, as we discuss some of the many reasons Ohio State vs. Notre Dame will be the Buckeyes’ most exciting season opener in some time and share our thoughts on the early 13.5-point spread.

In that same spirit, we also share our thoughts (beginning at 14:30) on the other early betting lines for Ohio State’s big games that were recently released by FanDuel, which has the Buckeyes as a 16-point favorite over Wisconsin, 21-point favorite over Iowa, 13-point favorite over Penn State and 14-point favorite over Michigan. Are the Buckeyes really that much better than everyone else on their schedule, or are those spreads a bit too generous? And we make our picks for which games we’d feel most and least confident betting on Ohio State’s side right now.

We also take a look (20:08) at the early odds to win the Big Ten by BetOnline, which has Ohio State as a -200 favorite to take the conference crowd and no one else with better odds than +1000. Is betting on the Buckeyes good value even at 1-to-2 odds, and which other team in the conference would we be most inclined to take a flier on? Plus, we discuss which teams could be the sleepers to contend in the conference or at least pull off a big upset in Big Ten play.

In the second half of the show, we hit on a variety of miscellaneous topics including:

29:57: Ohio lagging behind other states by not allowing high school athletes to make NIL deals
32:50: Why Noah Potter and Justin Ahrens’ transfer destinations make sense
38:30: What Malaki Branham and E.J. Liddell could do at this week’s NBA Draft Combine
42:40: Griffin’s post-vacation thoughts on Ohio State basketball’s addition of Isaac Likekele
46:11: Who the Big Ten’s best running backs will be this year
48:40: Why Braxton Miller is Ohio State’s most exciting quarterback of the past 20 years

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We couldn’t have picked a better week for Garrick Hodge to co-host Real Pod Wednesdays.

With regular co-host Griffin Strom vacationing in Costa Rica, Eleven Warriors recruiting writer Garrick Hodge took his place on this week’s episode of RPW, and the timing worked out perfectly as it gave us the opportunity to talk about Ohio State’s biggest commitment of the year to date.

Of course, we’re talking about Dylan Raiola – ranked by multiple recruiting services as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2024 class – who became the first member of Ohio State’s 2024 class when he committed to the Buckeyes on Monday night. We start this week’s show by talking about what makes him such a special prospect and how his commitment sets Ohio State up for continued quarterback greatness for years to come.

While Raiola was Ohio State’s No. 1 target in any recruiting class, the Buckeyes’ priorities now shift back to the recruiting class of 2023, where Ohio State also landed another commitment last week from Austin Siereveld. With 10 commitments in a class that’s ranked fourth nationally so far, we discuss what needs to happen over the next seven months to turn Ohio State’s 2023 class from a good class into a great class. Garrick calls his shot (beginning at 27:22) on the five uncommitted prospects he’s most confident will eventually become Buckeyes, and Dan makes predictions on three more recruits – including two top-11 overall prospects in the 2023 class – he thinks will end up wearing scarlet and gray.

The other big news of the week was the NCAA releasing new NIL guidelines on Monday, and the guys consider – with a healthy amount of skepticism – whether the NCAA will actually be able to enforce those guidelines (that discussion begins at 34:22). Garrick also reveals that he rarely hears about NIL when he talks to recruits about Ohio State, and he explains why he thinks that might be.

We also discuss the impact of Marcus Crowley and Mitchell Melton’s injuries (50:12), project what next season will look like for Ohio State men’s basketball after the Buckeyes filled out their scholarship roster for 2022-23 with the transfer of former Oklahoma State guard Isaac Likekele (59:08), and we close out the show with some admittedly unconventional answers to a question about our favorite vacation spots.

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Ohio State’s 2022 NFL draft class was smaller than usual, but the Buckeyes should have a larger draft class in 2023.

Those two topics get most of our attention on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, just a few days after Ohio State had six players selected in the 2022 NFL draft.

This year’s NFL draft was a mixture of good and bad for the Buckeyes, as there were plenty of moments worth celebrating, like Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave (and Jameson Williams) going back-to-back and Jeremy Ruckert going to his favorite team. We talk about how great a recruiting pitch this year’s draft will be for Brian Hartline, predict which of those receivers will make the bigger immediate impact and analyze why Nicholas Petit-Frere might have landed in the best spot of Ohio State’s non-first-round picks.

There were also some disappointments, like Thayer Munford falling to the seventh round and Haskell Garrett going undrafted, and we talk about what might have precipitated their falls (beginning at 20:48) and whether that should be a warning sign for players using their extra year of eligibility.

At the 27:48 mark of the show, we begin to look ahead to next year’s NFL draft and which Buckeyes could hear their names called a year from now. We discuss how high C.J. Stroud and Jaxon Smith-Njigba could go, predict whether any other Buckeyes will join them in the first round and discuss how Ohio State could have as many as 10 or even more players selected in 2023 if they perform up to expectations this fall.

In the final 20 minutes of the show, we discuss the latest roster moves impacting the current Ohio State football and men’s basketball teams, as we consider why the Buckeyes brought in USC transfer Parker Lewis to bolster their kicking game and how Chris Holtmann’s squad will be impacted by the departure of Malaki Branham even though his decision to stay in the NBA draft wasn’t a surprise. Plus, we talk about the latest headlines surrounding NIL in college sports and why Ohio State isn’t using NIL as aggressively in recruiting as some other schools.

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It’s time to make our predictions for where each Buckeye will land in the 2022 NFL draft.

On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview the NFL draft by making predictions for which teams we think Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson will land with on Thursday night, what rounds we think Nicholas Petit-Frere, Jeremy Ruckert, Thayer Munford, Haskell Garrett and Tyreke Smith will be selected in and whether Master Teague, Antwuan Jackson, Demario McCall or Chris Booker could sneak into the draft.

We also make our personal picks (starting at 27:45) for which Buckeyes we’d be most confident drafting if we were NFL general managers and share some overall thoughts on this year’s Ohio State draft class, including what it says about the talent that will be returning to the Buckeyes in 2022.

As for the 2022 Buckeyes, we also learned this week about some players who won’t be returning to Ohio State this fall – namely Noah Potter, Andre Turrentine and Marcus Hooker – and we discuss (beginning at 34:25) what to make of the latest wave of transfer portal entries as Ohio State sits below the 85-scholarship limit for the first time this year.

It was also another busy week for Ohio State men’s basketball, as Sean McNeil committed to the Buckeyes and Seth Towns announced his return for a seventh year, and we discuss (starting at 49:05) what the Buckeyes will need from both of them during the 2022-23 season as well as what they will do with the one roster spot they’re expected to have left.

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The final week of spring football gave us our closest look yet at the 2022 Buckeyes.

Ohio State took the field on Saturday for its annual spring game in Ohio Stadium, and while there wasn’t necessarily any overarching storyline that came out of this year’s scrimmage, there were no shortage of individual players who stood out.

We begin this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by talking about some of the biggest standouts from this year’s spring game, including players who have received plenty of post-spring game publicity like Kye Stokes and Jordan Hancock but also some players who deserve more attention for their spring game performances like Andre Turrentine, Noah Potter and Xavier Johnson.

We also consider how much playing time Evan Pryor could see at running back this year, what we make of Gee Scott Jr. and the tight ends’ performance in the spring game, why the offensive line remains Ryan Day’s biggest concern, what we took away from Kyle McCord and Devin Brown’s showings and what made Ohio State’s halftime tribute to Dwayne Haskins so powerful.

Before Saturday’s spring game, both of us also had the opportunity to attend the Ohio State football coaches’ clinic on Thursday and Friday, giving us a behind-the-scenes look at what Ohio State’s coaches are teaching their players. Dan shares (starting around the 30:30 mark and continuing around the 40-minute mark) what he learned about the new defensive scheme from watching Jim Knowles speak and Griffin explains why Larry Johnson’s presentation gave him a new lease on life.

In the final 20 minutes of the show, we discuss a handful of other news items from the past week including Jacolbe Cowan entering the transfer portal, why Ohio State is recruiting former USC kicker Parker Lewis, what Sevyn Banks could do at LSU, the commitments of Bryson Rodgers and Dijon Johnson and how Meechie Johnson’s departure makes it even more important for the Buckeyes to land a couple more high-quality players from the transfer portal.

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While we’re looking forward to this weekend’s spring game at Ohio Stadium, we had to start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by looking back.

Following this weekend’s tragic death of Dwayne Haskins, we took some time at the beginning of this week’s show to reflect on the impact Haskins made on Ohio State and remember some of his most memorable performances as a Buckeye, including Ohio State’s comeback wins against Michigan in 2017 and Penn State in 2018.

After paying tribute to Haskins, we turn our attention (beginning at 15:20) to the upcoming scrimmage in the Shoe, where the general public will have the opportunity to watch this year’s Buckeyes in action inside Ohio Stadium for the first time this year on Saturday. We discuss what we’ll be watching most closely on Saturday – spoiler alert: the defense – and which players we believe could benefit most from a big spring game performance, including Julian Fleming and Evan Pryor.

We also talk about everything we learned (starting at 26:38) from the final week of Ohio State player interviews before the spring game, including some telling comments from C.J. Stroud about what he’s seeing from Jim Knowles’ defense in practice this spring compared to what he saw from the Buckeyes’ defense in practice last year. Could facing more defensive looks in practice have tangible benefits for Ohio State’s offense when the actual games begin this fall? We think it will.

Later in the show, we also discuss what Ohio State’s new assistant coach contracts tell us (39:35) and what you should know about the two newest members of Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2023, Malik Hartford and Mark Fletcher.

We spend the final 10 minutes of the show talking about some of the latest developments with Ohio State men’s basketball, including what we think should be expected from Justice Sueing after he announced his return to the Buckeyes for the 2022-23 season and who else the Buckeyes could still add from the transfer portal. (Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded before Meechie Johnson Jr. announced his decision to transfer from Ohio State.)

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You often ask us who’s standing out and making a move up the depth chart at spring practice, and now, we feel equipped to actually answer those questions.

Saturday’s Student Appreciation Day gave us our first opportunity of the spring to watch the Buckeyes practice actual football – as in, we got to watch team drills, 7-on-7 drills and head-to-head competition rather than just warmups and individual drills – and as a result, we got our first real glimpse of who’s where on the depth chart and who’s making plays in competitive action.

We spend the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays talking all about what we took away from Saturday’s viewing opportunity, including which players and position groups stood out most and which units look like they still have a lot of work to do between now and September.

In the second half of this week’s episode (beginning at 30:28), we talk about the impact of a busy week in the transfer portal for multiple Buckeye teams, starting with the football team, who lost defensive backs Lejond Cavazos and Bryson Shaw to the portal on Monday. While those moves are a hit to Ohio State’s secondary depth, we discuss why neither of them came as a big surprise and why heading elsewhere at this point in their careers is probably in both of their best interests.

After answering some listener football questions, we shift the conversation to basketball (beginning at 48:47) and talk about the likely departure of Malaki Branham from the Ohio State men’s basketball team and how the incoming transfer of former Wright State guard Tanner Holden could help fill some of that void. We also discuss who else the Buckeyes could add from the portal – and whether the next priority should be a power forward or a point guard – after Justin Ahrens’ entry into the portal.

To wrap things up, we also share our thoughts on Chris Holtmann’s hiring of Jack Owens and expected promotion of Mike Netti and on what we expect from Thad Matta’s return to the sideline at Butler.

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A national championship-winning coach joins us on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

Just over one week after she led Ohio State women’s hockey to its first national title in program history, Nadine Muzerall joins us on RPW to talk about the Buckeyes’ journey to making history.

In a 20-minute interview with the Buckeyes’ head coach, Muzerall tells us what makes winning a national championship so special, what former Columbus Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella told her after the win and how she was able to transform a “flawed” program into the top team in the country.

She also tells us how her program has benefitted from the success of Ohio State football, says she is “very confident” that Ohio State women’s hockey will get a new facility in the near future and explains why she was upset that Sophie Jaques did not win the Patty Kazmaier Award.

Following our conversation with Muzerall, we shift our attention to the latest developments at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center (starting at 22:45), where there was a lot to learn during a 90-minute press conference with Ryan Day, Jim Knowles and Kevin Wilson on Tuesday. We discuss what we could see out of the “Jack” position in Knowles’ defense, why Cade Stover is moving back to tight end yet again, why it’s likely Tommy Eichenberg will continue to play a major role at linebacker this season and how Ronnie Hickman appears to be emerging as the frontrunner to start at free safety.

Since we recorded last week’s episode before pro day, we also share our takeaways from watching and talking to C.J. Stroud, Master Teague, Cardale Jones and the rest of Ohio State’s pro day participants at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center last Wednesday (beginning at 50:10).

For the final 20 minutes (beginning at 58:49) of this week’s episode, we spend some time talking about the latest developments surrounding Ohio State basketball. We discuss whether Villanova’s run to the Final Four softens the blow of the Buckeyes’ second-round loss, make our picks for who will win it all this weekend and look back on the career of E.J. Liddell after he officially declared for the NBA draft. In response to some heated comments following last week’s episode, we also seek to clarify our stance on Chris Holtmann – no, we do not believe he should or will be fired – and discuss the question of what expectations for Ohio State basketball actually should be.

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While the college basketball season still has two more weeks to go, Ohio State’s men’s basketball season is over.

Ohio State’s 2021-22 season came to an end on Sunday, when the Buckeyes lost to Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Although the loss to Villanova wasn’t particularly surprising, it still made for an unsatisfying ending to the season as Ohio State has now gone nine years without making the Sweet 16.

The men’s basketball Buckeyes draw the majority of our focus on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, though we start by talking about some good news from the weekend in Ohio State sports, as Ohio State women’s hockey won its first-ever national championship and women’s basketball did what the men couldn’t by upsetting LSU and advancing to the Sweet 16.

Our discussion on the men’s basketball season that was starts about six minutes in, beginning with some conversation about the importance of the first-round win over Loyola but then looking at how the Buckeyes ultimately came up short of achieving their goals this season with another first-weekend NCAA Tournament exit. We agree that the lack of a consistent third scorer doomed the Buckeyes this season, and we consider whether that should be blamed more on injuries or simply not having a strong enough roster.

As the offseason begins for Chris Holtmann’s squad, we also look ahead to next season (beginning around the 28-minute mark) and why we aren’t bullish on next year’s Buckeyes being better than this year’s Buckeyes. With E.J. Liddell, a bunch of seniors and possibly Malaki Branham leaving, we believe Ohio State will need to go transfer portal shopping for multiple veterans and will need several returning players – three in particular – to step up in a big way if the Buckeyes are going to have a chance to end their Sweet 16 drought in 2022-23.

If you just want to hear us talk about Ohio State football, skip ahead to the 46:30 mark, where we talk about the latest developments from spring practice, including the possibility that the Leo position might not be as heavily utilized as originally expected, ongoing concerns about the tight end position and how Sonny Styles could help the Ohio State basketball team (even though he’s expected to play only football at OSU).

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Ohio State will play its first game of the NCAA Tournament at 12:15 p.m. Friday in Pittsburgh, where the seventh-seeded Buckeyes will face No. 10 seed Loyola in a matchup that has many calling for a first-round upset. Will the Buckeyes’ late-season skid continue with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss for the second straight year, or will they make the most of their talent advantage against the Ramblers? We discuss where Ohio State should have the edge over Loyola and what makes Loyola a dangerous first-round opponent.

As Ohio State’s recent struggles have had many Buckeye fans questioning whether Chris Holtmann is the right man to lead the program, we also discuss (beginning at 11:55) whether Holtmann should be on the hot seat if Ohio State loses to Loyola, even though it doesn’t appear likely that he actually will be regardless of what happens this weekend.

Since our next podcast won’t be until after the first two rounds of the tournament, we take a look at a hypothetical second-round matchup with Villanova (starting at 23:05) and what the Buckeyes’ chances of upset against the Wildcats could be if they can get past Loyola.

We also zoom out and make some predictions for the NCAA Tournament as a whole (beginning at 32:20), including which Big Ten teams we expect to make the deepest run, how we think the conference will fare as a whole and ultimately, who we have making the Final Four and winning it all in each of our brackets.

The Ohio State football portion of this week’s show begins at the 44-minute mark, where we talk about the impact of Harry Miller’s mental health message and the stark reminder that comes with that. We also discuss our biggest takeaways from last week’s interviews with Ohio State wide receivers and running backs, including the growing hype around Jayden Ballard and the potential for Kamryn Babb to make a real impact even after four ACL tears.

Finally (beginning at 58:43), Dan tells you why you should take some time to watch Ohio State women’s hockey play this weekend and take a look at Ohio State women’s basketball’s draw in the NCAA Tournament – and predict whether the men or women will go further in the Big Dance.

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The Ohio State football team is back on the practice field, the NFL Scouting Combine is complete and the postseason is about to begin for Ohio State men’s basketball.

Tuesday was the first day of spring football at Ohio State, and that’s where we begin on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, on which we share our takeaways from watching the first 30 minutes of the Buckeyes’ opening practice and from talking to Ryan Day, Jim Knowles and Kevin Wilson after practice.

We explain why there’s already a clear group of frontrunners to start on the offensive line, discuss how Kourt Williams and Ronnie Hickman could coexist within Jim Knowles’ defense and talk about some of the players who are clearly already making an impression on Ohio State’s coaches this offseason, including second-year wide receiver Jayden Ballard and second-year cornerbacks Jordan Hancock and Jakailin Johnson.

Dan also learned more about which Ohio State football players could have breakout years and about some of Ohio State’s new coaches by talking to players at last week’s NFL Scouting Combine, where he also watched former Buckeye wide receivers Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave solidify themselves as first-round draft picks. We talk about what he learned in Indianapolis, including what three former Cincinnati defensive backs had to say about new Ohio State safeties coach Perry Eliano and what former UCLA offensive lineman Sean Rhyan said about new Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye, beginning around the 25:20 mark.

While Dan just got back from Indianapolis, Griffin will be going to Indianapolis this week for the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament, so we also talk about what we expect to see from the basketball Buckeyes as they begin postseason play. Can they bounce back from losing three of their final four regular-season games to make a deep run in the conference tournament, or will they have a short stay in Indianapolis? Beginning at the 38-minute mark, we talk about why they could make a run and why they might not, why there’s an argument that they’d actually be better off not making a deep run and what NCAA Tournament seed we ultimately expect them to receive on Selection Sunday.

In the final 11 minutes of the show, we talk about how Ohio State women’s hockey has emerged as the best team on campus, how NIL is being used in recruiting and how Chris Holtmann can most effectively replace Ryan Pedon on his coaching staff.

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This is March, which means there’s plenty happening in the world of Ohio State sports.

The Ohio State football team is expected to begin spring practices next week, so we start this week’s episode – after Griffin recounts his near-death experience during his trip to Champaign for last week’s basketball game at Illinois – by looking ahead to the start of spring ball and discussing who and what we’ll be most looking forward to watching and what questions most need to be answered once practices begin.

After 21 minutes of discussion about the current Ohio State football team, we shift gears to be previewing this week’s NFL Scouting Combine, which Dan is in Indianapolis to cover as seven former Buckeyes – Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jeremy Ruckert, Nicholas Petit-Frere, Thayer Munford, Haskell Garrett and Tyreke Smith – look to impress scouts this week. Dan makes his picks for which Buckeyes will have the most impressive combine performances and who most needs to have good workouts to bolster their draft stocks.

The Ohio State men’s basketball team sent us back to the cutting-room floor early Wednesday morning to re-record the second half of this week’s episode, as we had to talk about what happened on Tuesday night as the Buckeyes suffered a stunning loss to Nebraska, the last-place team in the Big Ten, at the Schottenstein Center. Beginning at the 31-minute mark, we talk about why the last two losses are more worthy of consternation than previous losses this season and discuss what will need to happen for the Buckeyes to turn things around for the rest of March.

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Gene Smith’s press conference at Ohio State last week provided plenty of fodder for this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

Of course, we had to start by talking about the news that got everyone talking: Smith saying he does not think Ohio State should host a College Football Playoff game at Ohio Stadium. Would it really make sense for the Buckeyes to give up home-field advantage in the CFP to play in Indianapolis instead? We can see why Ohio State might prefer to play indoors – and why Ohio State might not have as much of a home-field advantage over warm-weather teams as some people think – but that doesn’t mean it’s not disappointing.

In the end, Smith’s preference may end up being a moot point anyway, as the College Football Playoff announced last week that it will not expand until at least 2026. Griffin’s holding out hope that the CFP might reconsider actually expanding to 12 teams, but Dan thinks the CFP is just delaying the inevitable.

Smith’s press conference last week gave us plenty of other topics to dive into as well, including why it’s a good thing that Ohio State won’t be playing annual games against the ACC and Pac-12 (17:25), why a divisionless Big Ten could be good for Ohio State (20:37), how the schedule might change if the playoff does expand (23:04), why Ohio State has to adapt to compete with other schools on NIL (29:42) and why a new contract for Ryan Day should be only a matter of time (35:28).

Beginning at 39:55, we shift our focus to Ohio State basketball and take a look at where things stand for the Buckeyes with two weeks to go in the regular season. Dan makes the case for why Ohio State’s basketball season should be viewed as a success so far, even though he understands where fans’ frustration after losses comes from. We also discuss Malaki Branham’s emergence as a second star and try to keep our streak going of correctly predicting how the next week of games will unfold for the Buckeyes.

Finally, we talk about why Luke Montgomery is such an important addition to Ohio State’s 2023 recruiting class (52:18) and share our thoughts on whether a five-game suspension is a fitting punishment for Juwan Howard’s meltdown in Madison (54:45).

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Should Ohio State really be a 17-point favorite over Georgia?

That’s a question we ask on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays after early bowl projections released by The Action Network earlier this week listed Ohio State as a 17-point favorite for a hypothetical College Football Playoff semifinal game over Georgia, as well as a 2-point favorite in a hypothetical national championship game against Alabama.

We’re buying that the Buckeyes are one of the top two frontrunners to make the national championship game this year, but we’re not so sure about them being favored by three scores over Georgia or being favored at all against Alabama. We discuss all of that (beginning at 8:54) and make our early predictions for which teams will make the College Football Playoff, including a Pac-12 team that could crash the party for the first time.

Another article that caught our attention this week was a re-ranking of college football’s 2018 recruiting classes by The Athletic, which re-ranked Ohio State’s 2018 class 12th, 10 spots lower than its original composite ranking of second. We take a look (starting at 21:55) at how the class has fallen short of expectations so far and how players like Josh Proctor, Cameron Brown and Taron Vincent could still at least partially rewrite the narrative of that class.

Although we recorded before Tuesday night’s win over Minnesota, we also talk about the latest developments surrounding Ohio State basketball (32:35), including E.J. Liddell’s player of the year campaign and the commitment of 2023 big man Austin Parks.

At the 50:22 mark of the show, Dan shares a few things he learned from interviews with Cade Stover and four other Ohio State football players last week.

Finally (54:33), we give some love to Ohio State’s other sports teams, as there are currently 15 Buckeye teams ranked in the top 25 in their respective sports, led by the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis team, who will compete for an indoor national championship this weekend.

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Ohio State’s early enrollees met the media last week, there’s been lots of coaching staff drama in Ann Arbor and Joe Burrow is about to play in the Super Bowl.

We discuss all of those topics on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays – but first, we share our thoughts on the new turf at Ohio Stadium and our favorite fan-submitted designs.

After projecting which players would be the stars of the 2022 recruiting class on last week’s episode, we got the opportunity to meet more than half of the class when early enrollees met with the media last week, and we share our biggest takeaways (beginning at 4:18) from those conversations, including new insight on which positions Caden Curry and Gabe Powers might play, how Devin Brown already looks like a natural in the spotlight and an interesting comment about how athletic George Fitzpatrick is.

We also discuss (at 18:08) why Sevyn Banks chose to enter the transfer portal rather than enter the 2022 NFL draft and why leaving Ohio State probably wasn’t solely his decision.

After that (starting at 25:00), we shift our attention up north to Ann Arbor following an eventful week in which Jim Harbaugh returned to Michigan after interviewing with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, but Josh Gattis became the second coordinator to leave the Wolverines in as many weeks. Are things already falling apart for the Wolverines after last season’s College Football Playoff run, and how much of a threat to Ohio State will they be this year? We discuss our early expectations for the Buckeyes’ biggest rival and who else could potentially emerge as Ohio State’s top competition in the Big Ten.

Then (beginning at 37:17) we look southwest to Cincinnati and furthermore to Los Angeles, where the Bengals and six former Ohio State players – four of whom actually finished their college careers at Ohio State – are set to play in the Super Bowl on Sunday. We give our takes on the ongoing debate on whether Joe Burrow should be considered a Buckeye and make our predictions for whether Burrow, Eli Apple, Vonn Bell, Sam Hubbard, Isaiah Prince, Keandre Jones and the rest of the Bengals can beat the Los Angeles Rams this weekend.

Finally (51:10), we end the show as we usually do this time of year by talking about Ohio State men’s basketball, coming off of what might have been its most impressive performance so far in 2022 against Maryland and going into a pair of challenging road tests this week against Rutgers and Michigan.

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Ohio State is wrapping up its recruiting class of 2022 today, and we finally got to meet the Buckeyes’ new assistant coaches this week.

We start this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by sharing our overall thoughts on the Buckeyes’ recruiting class of 2022 and making our picks for which players we expect to make the biggest immediate impact from the class, who we expect to be the biggest stars long-term and who could be the class’ hidden gems.

At the 23:24 mark of the show, we shift the conversations to Ohio State’s new assistant coaches – Jim Knowles, Justin Frye, Tim Walton and Perry Eliano – who we got to meet for the first time on Monday. We share our first impressions of the four new assistants as well as our takeaways from Ryan Day’s first press conference of the offseason, in which we learned that several “super seniors” would be back with the Buckeyes, though cornerback Sevyn Banks will not.

Later in the show, we also answer some listener questions, including the outlook for Knowles and Frye as recruiters, players who need to take a leap for the Buckeyes to be a College Football Playoff team next year and a potential date for the Ohio State spring game. Finally, we discuss the positives of negatives of the Ohio State men’s basketball team’s 5-3 month of January and what we need to see from those Buckeyes in February.

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This week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays is all about Ohio State’s 2022 depth chart.

After Dan published his initial projection of Ohio State’s 2022 depth chart on Eleven Warriors on Wednesday morning, the guys spend an hour analyzing the potential depth chart position-by-position.

How will this year’s wide receiver rotation look following the departures of Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson? Who will step up at tight end? Where could Harry Miller factor into the offensive line depth chart, and who do we expect to be the next man up at tackle and guard? How might Jim Knowles’ defensive scheme change the defensive end rotation? Who will emerge to play the biggest roles from a crowded group of linebackers? How will Ronnie Hickman and Kourt Williams coexist in this year’s defense? And could we see a new face at punt returner this fall?

We discuss all of those questions and more on this week’s show, which starts with a look through the offensive depth chart for the first half of the show, continues with analysis of the defensive depth chart in the second half of the show and wraps up with a brief discussion on the special teams depth chart.

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Ohio State continued to overhaul its defensive coaching staff, the Buckeyes got good news at the NFL draft entry deadline and Ohio State has a new schedule for the 2022 season.

All of that made for a newsy week since our last episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, and we dive into all three of those topics as Griffin returns to the show this week.

First up, we take a closer look at Ohio State’s new hires on the defensive coaching staff – secondary coaches Tim Walton and Perry Eliano, as well as multiple additional support staff hires – and what we expect them to bring to the Buckeyes. We also reflect back on the tenures of Kerry Coombs and Al Washington and discuss how they should be remembered at Ohio State and why they are now headed elsewhere. In a little over 26 minutes of talk about the coaching staff, we also share our thoughts on yet another offensive coach getting a coordinator title and why we don’t believe there will be any further changes to the full-time coaching staff before the 2022 season.

At the 26:20 mark, we shift the conversation to a discussion about who will and won’t be leaving Ohio State to enter the 2022 NFL draft. Dan explains why the return of Zach Harrison shouldn’t be viewed as anything but a great thing and why Dawand Jones’ return may be the Buckeyes’ most important win among this year’s NFL draft decisions. We also discuss why this year’s NFL draft decisions went as well as Ohio State could have hoped, how many Buckeyes we think we will be drafted this year (36:26), who we think Ohio State will miss most next season (38:26) from the 2022 draft class and why the Buckeyes could have some work to do to get down to the 85-man scholarship limit (43:10).

Finally, we take a look at Ohio State’s newly revised 2022 schedule and share our early thoughts on what bodes well for the Buckeyes and where they could run into the biggest challenges before making our initial predictions (54:20) for Ohio State’s 2022 regular-season record.

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You’ll hear two different voices on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

With Griffin Strom feeling under the weather, Kevin Harrish joins Dan Hope for the first half of this week’s episode while Garrick Hodge joins Dan for the second half of the show as we talk about all of the latest developments in Ohio State football.

Kevin and Dan start by sharing some Ohio State-themed takeaways from the national championship game – watching that Georgia defense sure looked different than watching Ohio State this year, didn’t it? – and looking forward to what needs to happen for Ohio State to win it all next season.

The guys also discuss why Ohio State fired Greg Studrawa and replaced him with Justin Frye (beginning at 15:50) and the possibility of further staff changes and take a look at incoming transfers DeaMonte Trayanum and Tanner McCalister, and Dan couldn’t let Kevin go without asking him for his go-to order at Arby’s.

At the 35-minute mark of the show, Garrick joins Dan for a nearly half-hour discussion on Ohio State recruiting. Garrick breaks down each of the three commitments Ohio State landed for its recruiting class of 2022 last week – Hero Kanu, Carson Hinzman and Omari Abor – and shares his biggest takeaways from a week at the All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

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Ohio State’s 2021 football season ended in dramatic fashion.

After spending a week in Southern California, where we watched Ohio State beat Utah 48-45 in what we both agreed was one of the wildest games we’ve ever covered, we have plenty to discuss from the Rose Bowl on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

Of course, we had to start by talking about Jaxon Smith-Njigba and C.J. Stroud, as we discuss how both Buckeyes rewrote the record books to cap off spectacular sophomore seasons and potentially set themselves up for even bigger years in 2022. We also talk about the emergence of Marvin Harrison Jr. (10:22), a few encouraging signs from the defense’s second-half performance even though the Buckeyes gave up 45 points and how the events that unfolded during the game were crazy both on and off the field (25:40).

We also discuss the Rose Bowl within the context of the 2021 season and whether it makes a disappointing season more of a success (28:30) and look back at the season as a whole by making our picks (beginning at 37:00) for who was Ohio State’s team MVP (aside from Stroud), what the Buckeyes’ biggest surprises and disappointments were and our favorite moments of the year.

We also answer a bunch of questions submitted by our listeners (beginning at 45:55) looking ahead to the 2022 season, including which players we think will have breakout seasons next year, which incoming freshmen could make an immediate impact and what further changes, if any, could be coming to Ohio State’s coaching staff now that the season is over.

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It’s the final week of the 2021 Ohio State football season, and we’re in Los Angeles to watch it all unfold.

Although we arrived in California one day later than expected thanks to travel issues, both members of the Real Pod Wednesdays crew are in Los Angeles to cover the Rose Bowl, and we spent the entirety of this week’s show previewing Saturday’s clash between Ohio State and Utah.

First up, we talk about the biggest news of the week so far – that Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Haskell Garrett are opting out of the Rose Bowl – and debate whether the absences at wide receiver or on the line of scrimmage will affect the Buckeyes more. We also talk about four other potential player absences – Sevyn Banks, Cody Simon, Antwuan Jackson and Marcus Williamson – and who will need to step up for the Buckeyes to replace those who will be unavailable.

Then, we dive deeper into the matchup with Utah, looking at why the Utes will present another massive test for Ohio State’s run defense – and why stopping the run will be the key to a victory for the Buckeyes – and where Utah’s defense will test the Buckeyes most and where it could be most susceptible.

Beginning at the 41:35 mark, we make our predictions for how the Rose Bowl will play out. While we’re both predicting very similar final scores for Saturday’s game, we disagree on which team will come out on top in what we both believe will be a close contest.

Finally, we discuss why it’s likely Ohio State’s future plan for its coaching staff will be revealed much sooner than later after the Rose Bowl even though we haven’t yet heard who will be leaving the staff and who else (if anyone) Jim Knowles could bring with him.

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As the Rose Bowl draws nearer, dominoes are continuing to fall that could shape next year’s Ohio State roster.

There’s still one last order of business for Ohio State to take care of in the 2021 season, and that’s beating Utah in the Rose Bowl. While we’ll dig deeper into the matchup with Utah on next week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays after we arrive in Los Angeles, we begin this week’s episode by talking about some of the biggest storylines that were discussed by more than a dozen players during Ohio State’s on-campus Rose Bowl media day last week.

The matchup with Utah is an intriguing one on paper, as the Utes play a similar brand of football to Michigan, and that gives the Buckeyes all the more reason to be motivated to make a statement in Pasadena. Will be that enough to carry Ohio State to a victory, though, in a game where the Buckeyes could still potentially be without key players due to opt-outs? We start this week’s show by discussing the Rose Bowl matchup and our biggest takeaways from last week’s interviews.

Last week also brought news that will be relevant to next year’s roster, as 18 high school players signed with Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2022 while Cameron Brown announced he’ll be back at Ohio State for the 2022 season. We discuss the impact of Brown’s return for the cornerback room (11:41), the ongoing NFL draft decisions that Zach Harrison and Dawand Jones still have to make (20:20) and what needs Ohio State still needs to fill on its 2022 roster after the early signing period (26:25).

Ohio State has also lost five players to the transfer portal since the end of the regular season, but we discuss why we don’t think those transfers are anything to panic about (32:57). Ohio State fans have also expressed some angst over how other schools appear to be using name, image and likeness deals to their advantage, but Dan explains (41:54) why Ryan Day’s answer that Ohio State “cannot” set up NIL deals for recruits was the only way he could answer that question.

The past week also brought some bad news on the Ohio State men’s basketball front, as the Buckeyes were forced to cancel two consecutive games due to positive COVID-19 tests within the program. We discuss (48:56) how that could stall the Buckeyes’ momentum and why the Buckeyes can still feel good about what they were able to accomplish in non-conference play, and also discuss the potential impact that COVID-19 could have – though we sincerely hope it doesn’t – on the Rose Bowl (52:43).

We also share our thoughts (56:10) on Urban Meyer’s disastrous tenure as Jacksonville Jaguars head coach and why Dan believes that will lead to Meyer returning to coach college football – though not at Ohio State. Plus, we discuss what Gabe Powers and Sonny Styles’ roles on the Buckeye defense could be (1:00:30) and why we’re looking forward to next week’s trip to Los Angeles (1:03:25).

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It’s early signing day for the class of 2022, so we had to bring in our recruiting analyst to help us break it all down.

With Dan Hope’s voice recovering from a weekend bout with laryngitis, Garrick Hodge fills on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays at the perfect time for him to make his debut on the show, as Garrick and Griffin Strom talk about the players who just signed with Ohio State and who could be the early and long-term stars among the newly inked Buckeyes.

In more than 30 minutes of discussion about the early signing class, Garrick and Griffin discuss what stands out to them about the Buckeyes’ class so far and how Ohio State could round out the class of 2022 between now and the February signing day.

In the second half of the show, the guys share their thoughts on a variety of additional topics including C.J. Stroud finishing fourth in the Heisman race (31:55), the latest developments in the transfer portal (38:51), Ohio State paying Jim Knowles $1.9 million to be its new defensive coordinator (43:45), the Ohio State men’s basketball team’s four-game winning streak (50:15) and which player could make the biggest leap in bowl practices (56:30).

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It's been an eventful last few days for the Ohio State football program.

Ohio State learned Sunday that it will be finishing its season by playing Utah in the Rose Bowl, and we spend the first 18:45 of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing our initial thoughts on the matchup.

We have mixed feelings about the game; it undoubtedly feels like a consolation prize, but we still think it matters for the Buckeyes to get a win. And from a football perspective, we think it will be an interesting matchup, as it will be another big test for the Buckeyes at the line of scrimmage as they look to make immediate improvements in the run game.

After that, we talk about the big news that broke on Friday night, when Quinn Ewers entered the transfer portal. For about 25 minutes, we discuss the impact of his early departure, why Ohio State fans should still feel good about the future at quarterback with C.J. Stroud and Kyle McCord and whether the events of this past year could change how Ohio State handles reclassifications (though we already know now they’re accepting another one from Sonny Styles) and the transfer portal going forward.

We also discussed Ohio State’s hiring of Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator – in a segment we had to re-record after the news broke on Tuesday night – and share our initial thoughts (beginning at 43:47) on why this looks like a “home run” hire for the Buckeyes.

Finally (beginning at 53:58), we talk about an encouraging stretch for the Ohio State men’s basketball’s team and what we took away from the upset of No. 1-ranked Duke and the most recent win over Penn State on Sunday.

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This feels weird.

For the first time in five years, Ohio State isn’t playing in the Big Ten Championship Game. In a week where we thought we’d be going to Indianapolis to watch the Buckeyes play for a fifth consecutive Big Ten title and compete for a berth in the College Football Playoff, we’re instead waiting to find out where the Buckeyes will finish their season in what will almost certainly be a non-playoff bowl game.

That’s because the Buckeyes suffered a 42-27 loss to Michigan in their final game of the regular season, their first loss to the Wolverines in 10 years, leaving them to watch from home this week while their rivals play for a Big Ten championship and a CFP berth.

We spend the first half of this week’s show discussing what went wrong for the Buckeyes against the Wolverines – and what might have contributed to that, including the tough second-half schedule, players being sick and a vanilla game plan on both sides of the ball – in a game where Michigan dominated the line of scrimmage and quite simply, appeared to be the tougher and more prepared team despite Ohio State’s insistence that it prepares for The Game all year. (Plus, at the 14:08 mark, Dan explains why it’s silly for anyone to be blaming the loss on C.J. Stroud.)

If you don’t want to relive the Michigan loss anymore, we discuss what’s coming next for Ohio State beginning at the 31:10 mark. The guys explore the potential scenarios for the Buckeyes’ bowl game – which likely will be a New Year’s Six game, though it’s highly unlikely to be a playoff game – and why it should still be important for the Buckeyes to finish the season with a win. Plus, we discuss the potential changes to the coaching staff that could be coming and ponder a listener question of whether Ohio State has become similar to Oklahoma.

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Ohio State’s win over Michigan State couldn’t have been much more impressive, but another huge test looms this week.

The Buckeyes were utterly dominant against the Spartans in their final home game of the season, defeating Michigan State 56-7 in an “ass-whooping” – as Haskell Garrett predicted – that was even more lopsided than the final score reflected.

While C.J. Stroud, Chris Olave and the rest of Ohio State’s offense deservedly got plenty of love for their performances – and do from us on this show, too – we start this week’s episode by talking about how the Buckeyes turned in a lights-out performance on defense, which well exceeded our expectations after an underwhelming showing against Purdue.

We also discuss how Saturday was yet another reflection of how great Ohio State’s trio of wide receivers is and how the Buckeyes made the case that they’re one of college football’s two best teams this season before shifting our attention to this week’s rivalry game in Ann Arbor (beginning at 22:30).

Given that Ohio State already blew out one top-10 team in Michigan State last weekend and blew out Michigan in each of its last two games against the Wolverines, should we expect more of the same this weekend? Not if the oddsmakers are to be believed, as Ohio State is only favored to win Saturday’s game by a little more than a touchdown. That said, one of us is predicting a far more lopsided game than the other after we discuss what advantages Ohio State should have in this game but also why this Michigan team shouldn’t simply be assumed to be the same Michigan as years past.

After a full 30 minutes of conversation about The Game, we wrap up the show (starting at 52:10) with some quick takeaways from Ohio State’s last two men’s basketball games and what we expect from the Buckeyes on the hardwood in the Fort Myers Tip-Off final against Florida on Wednesday night.

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On last week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we were asked if the defense could become Ohio State’s strength this season. On Saturday against Purdue, it became clear that it isn’t.

The Buckeyes looked like who we thought they were against the Boilermakers, as they re-emerged as an offensive juggernaut by putting up 59 points and 624 yards but looked vulnerable on defense as they gave up 31 points on 481 yards, including 390 yards through the air.

We begin the show by discussing Ohio State’s return to offensive greatness, including C.J. Stroud’s emergence as the potential Heisman frontrunner and Garrett Wilson’s spectacular four-touchdown performance. Coming off of historically great performances by Wilson and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in back-to-back weeks and Chris Olave being named a Biletnikoff Award semifinalist, we also have a discussion about which of Ohio State’s three star receivers is best (4:55).

Of course, we also had to talk about what didn’t go as well for the Buckeyes on defense (10:41) – including an almost complete lack of pass-rush against the Boilermakers – and why that could be concerning but also why you probably shouldn’t panic too much about how the defense played in a game that was never in doubt for the final three quarters.

At the 20:20 mark of the show, we turn our attention ahead to this week’s top-10 matchup with Michigan State. What makes this one of the toughest tests of the season for the Buckeyes, where should Ohio State have an edge over the Spartans and how do we ultimately see it playing out? We spend about 13 minutes discussing all of that.

We also discuss who is and isn’t participating in Senior Day and what that could mean for next season (33:25), discuss our takeaways from the first three games of the Ohio State basketball season and the impact of Justice Sueing’s injury (42:00) and break down why Sonny Styles is such a big addition to Ohio State’s recruiting class of 2023 (50:50).

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While one bad game can be chalked up as an off day, two games is a trend, and Ohio State’s offense has had some recurring issues in its last two games against Penn State and Nebraska.

The Buckeyes have scored just two offensive touchdowns while settling for four field goals in each of their last two games as they’ve struggled to run the ball effectively and finish off drives in the red zone. Ryan Day’s play calling has also drawn scrutiny from Ohio State fans, as has C.J. Stroud rarely running the ball.

Diagnosing what’s gone wrong with Ohio State’s offense is our main topic of discussion on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays, as we spend the first half of this week’s show looking back on Saturday’s 26-17 win over Nebraska. While we personally believe the criticism toward Day and Stroud has been overblown, we discuss what the Buckeyes are going to need to do better on that side of the ball in order to win the big games they have coming up on the schedule.

Beginning at the 25:30 mark, we also discuss whether the defense could become Ohio State’s strength – we’re not ready to go there yet – and talk about some of the Buckeyes who had standout performances against Nebraska including Tyreke Smith and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Our look-ahead to this week’s game against Purdue – another game that could be dangerous for the Buckeyes after the Boilermakers beat Michigan State for their second top-five upset of the season last week – begins at the 37:07 mark. We break down why Purdue could match up well with Ohio State, but also why we ultimately believe the Buckeyes will avoid the upset in their first matchup against Purdue since 2018.

We also react to the College Football Playoff committee’s latest head-scratching decision to rank Michigan State behind Michigan (44:40), project the likelihood that Ohio State will win out and make the playoff (49:55) and share our takeaways from the men’s basketball Buckeyes getting all they could handle from Akron (55:38) in their Tuesday night season opener.

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The Ohio State football team just won one of its biggest games of the year, the first College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night and the Buckeye basketball season is about to begin.

That – not to look past another game that could be a test for the football Buckeyes against Nebraska this week – gave us a lot to pack into this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, but we still managed to cover it all in just over 70 minutes.

Our review of Ohio State’s 33-24 win over Penn State leads off the show, as we spend the first 23-plus minutes of this episode discussing the good and the bad from the Buckeyes’ performance against the Nittany Lions. While any win over Penn State should be recognized as a good win for Ohio State, it was an unspectacular performance for the Buckeyes’ offense – specifically in the red zone – and we analyze whether that should simply be a chalked up as a bad game or if there are issues that other top defenses could exploit.

Our reaction to the initial College Football Playoff rankings of 2021 begins at 23:35 (forgive the decreased audio quality for this segment, as it was recorded over Zoom while the rest was recorded in our studio). While Dan believes the Buckeyes’ No. 5 ranking supports what he’s already been saying for weeks that Ohio State will almost certainly make the playoff if it wins out, Griffin plays devil's advocate as we discuss the one scenario that could – though that doesn’t mean it actually will – keep the Buckeyes out of the four-team field even if they’re a 12-1 Big Ten champion.

If you just want to focus on the upcoming matchup rather than think about CFP scenarios right now, fast forward to 35:15, where we discuss this week’s game against the Cornhuskers. We explain why Nebraska can’t be dismissed as a threat even though it has a 3-6 record, then make our score predictions (which just so happen to be almost identical) for Saturday’s game in Lincoln.

We shift gears to the basketball court for the final 16 minutes of this week’s show (beginning at 54:05). After briefly discussing our takeaways from Monday’s exhibition against Indianapolis, we draft head-to-head lineups for a hypothetical intrasquad game between the players on this year’s Ohio State basketball roster, so listen in and let us know who you think drafted the better team.

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Ohio State keeps looking better and better each week, but this week's game should – or at least could? – give the Buckeyes a tougher test.

The Buckeyes kept things rolling with another blowout win over Indiana on Saturday, and that's what we spent the first half of this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing. There's plenty of good things to say about both Ohio State’s offense and defense after the Buckeyes scored 54 and allowed just seven against the Hoosiers, and there were no shortage of players who had performances worthy of praise in Bloomington, from C.J. Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Evan Pryor, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Jeremy Ruckert on offense to Tommy Eichenberg, Kourt Williams, Zach Harrison and Tyreke Smith on defense.

At the 28-minute mark, we shift our focus ahead to this week's game against Penn State. The Nittany Lions are the first ranked opponent Ohio State has played since its loss to Oregon, but they're also coming off of back-to-back losses, and the Buckeyes are favored to win Saturday's game by nearly touchdowns. Will Saturday night's game be another lopsided win for the Buckeyes, or will it be the battle that a game against Penn State usually is? We dig into the matchup and make our predictions for how it will play out.

In the final 10 minutes of the show, we also discuss whether the winner of this week's Michigan/Michigan State game will jump Ohio State, how the first seven games of the 2021 season have been similar to 2014 and 2017 and why Saturday is C.J. Stroud’s chance to become the Heisman frontrunner.

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A week off for the Buckeyes gave us the opportunity to watch more of other teams playing college football this past weekend, and it only gave us more reason to believe Ohio State is still the team to beat in the Big Ten.

Iowa got beaten soundly by Purdue and Michigan State barely beat Indiana, taking some wind out of the sails of two of Ohio State's top competitors in the conference. At the same time, though, it was also a reminder that there are plenty of teams capable of beating just about anybody in the Big Ten – a reminder that comes as the Buckeyes are about to begin a second-half schedule that includes many of the Big Ten's top teams, including Indiana this Saturday.

We begin this week's episode by talking about why we think Ohio State is starting to more clearly look like the best team in the Big Ten, but also why the Buckeyes will have to prove themselves over and over again over the next seven weeks. We also take a look at the national landscape (15:45) and which teams outside the Big Ten look like top College Football Playoff contenders – and why there's truly no reason to worry about Ohio State being left out of the CFP if it can finish the season as a 1-loss Big Ten champion.

We turn our focus to the task at hand at the 25:45 mark of the show and talk about this week’s game against Indiana. The Hoosiers haven't been nearly as successful this year as they were last year, when they went into their matchup with Ohio State as a top-10 team and made a furious second-half comeback to lose to the Buckeyes by just seven points, but are they better than their 2-4 record indicates? We break down what to expect from Saturday’s matchup and make our score predictions.

In the final 17 minutes of the show, we discuss a grab bag of topics including how many carries TreVeyon Henderson should get in the second half of the season, a revelation that Quinn Ewers nearly played against Maryland even though he might not play at all this year and our takeaways from watching basketball practice last week.

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We've officially reached the halfway point of the 2021 Ohio State football season.

With no game on the schedule this weekend, that made it a perfect time for a midseason report on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, on which we discuss what’s impressed us most so far, what concerns we still have and what’s surprised us most from the first half of the year.

We begin that discussion a little over 23 minutes into the program, but first, we discuss our takeaways from Ohio State’s 66-17 win over Maryland, including what’s impressed us most about the Buckeyes’ near-perfect offensive performances in back-to-back games, why we think the defense’s improvement is for real and why Emeka Egbuka looks poised to break Ohio State’s 11-year kickoff return drought. We also discuss Kerry Coombs’ impassioned press conference on Tuesday (beginning at 12:54) and why it seems unlikely Coombs will remain at Ohio State beyond this season.

In our midseason report, we answer what we feel best about and what concerns us most at the halfway point of the regular season (beginning at 23:45); take a look back at what Dan got wrong (and one thing he actually got right) in his preseason team draft with former RPW co-host Colin Hass-Hill (28:51); rank some of the biggest surprises from the first half of the year, including the emergences of Denzel Burke, Tyleik Williams and Steele Chambers (35:21); discuss what C.J. Stroud must do in the second half of the season to win the Heisman Trophy (43:02); and make our predictions for what Ohio State’s second-half record will be and whether it will win the Big Ten, make the College Football Playoff and play for a national championship (52:02).

We also make our early predictions for how the Ohio State/Michigan game will play out (58:18) and discuss what Griffin learned from attending last week’s Big Ten basketball media days in Indianapolis (1:06:00).

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Ohio State was impressive in every facet of the game against Rutgers.

C.J. Stroud showed why he's Ohio State's starting quarterback while the defense was dominant for the second game in a row, and we begin this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing the tangible improvement we saw from Stroud and from the defense in Piscataway.

Now that Ohio State is starting to look like the team it's supposed to be, the Buckeyes are beginning to re-emerge as one of this year's frontrunners to make the College Football Playoff, so we also spend a segment (beginning at 16:30) discussing why Ohio State should have a clear path to the CFP if it wins out, and why it's probably the third-most capable team of winning a national championship this year – but also how the rest of the Buckeyes’ Big Ten schedule will provide plenty of potential pitfalls.

At the 32:06 mark, we begin looking ahead to this week's game against Maryland and why it will be the biggest test of the year to date for the pass defense, even though the play of both teams last week doesn't exactly suggest that this game should be competitive.

In the final half-hour of the show (beginning at 41:28), we discuss a vast array of questions submitted by our listeners, including whether Kerry Coombs could return next season as a non-coordinator, why Tyleik Williams isn't playing more and how this Ohio State offense could stack up with the Alabama and LSU offenses that won the last two national championships.

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Although Ohio State's 59-7 win over Akron wasn't competitive, the game didn't lack for interesting storylines.

It was our first opportunity to watch Kyle McCord and Jack Miller throw passes for the Buckeyes, and that's where we begin this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, as we discuss what we saw from McCord and Miller and why their performances weren't enough to change Ryan Day's mind on who should start at quarterback.

The other big story from Saturday night's game was K'Vaughan Pope's sideline outburst and subsequent dismissal from the team, and we discuss how we saw that unfold and the impact of Ohio State losing two senior linebackers in one week, beginning at the 21:30 mark.

We also talk about why Ohio State's defensive depth chart still isn't quite settled (37:55), how Ohio State's interior pass rush stepped up but it still needs more from its defensive ends (41:12) and which true freshmen caught our eye against Akron (45:56).

Beginning at 48:22, we look ahead to this week's game against Rutgers and discuss why we believe this will be Ohio State's most competitive game against the Scarlet Knights yet, although we do believe Rutgers’ weakness (offense) will play into Ohio State’s strength.

We also answer a variety of miscellaneous questions from Real Pod Wednesdays (beginning at 58:52), including why this season is still about the present rather than the future, our honest expectations for the rest of the year, what makes the Ohio State beat unique, whether the Buckeyes should have done more to utilize Jameson Williams and which condiments belong on a hot dog.

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A 41-20 win over Tulsa didn't do much to alleviate the concerns about Ohio State's 2021 football team.

Ohio State's defense gave up 501 yards against the Golden Hurricane while C.J. Stroud had his worst performance so far as Ohio State's starting quarterback. The Buckeyes' rushing offense and rushing defense were both better against Tulsa than against Oregon, but the passing offense and passing defense took steps back.

We start this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing what went better and what didn't go better for the defense against Tulsa, then discuss how Ohio State should handle the quarterback situation this week against Akron as Stroud continues to battle a shoulder injury while backup quarterbacks Kyle McCord and Jack Miller continue to await their first playing time of the season.

We also talk about what to make of Quinn Ewers likely not playing this year (13:38), how injuries are starting to pile up for this year's team (21:25) and answer a wide variety of questions from listeners, including whether Al Washington will be on the hot seat if the linebacker play doesn't improve (31:08), what the honest expectations should be for the rest of Ohio State's season (34:54), whether Kerry Coombs deserves less blame for defensive struggles now that he's not calling plays (39:20), whether Master Teague should return kickoffs for the Buckeyes (51:10), how the 2018 and 2019 recruiting classes need to step up (54:30) and what we make of Ohio Stadium's historically low attendance against Tulsa (1:00:04).

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Coming off of Saturday's loss to Oregon, there's one question that most Ohio State fans have on their minds: Can the defense be saved?

After sharing our initial reactions to Ohio State’s 35-28 loss to Oregon and Ryan Day’s Tuesday press conference – where he made clear his displeasure with the performance of Kerry Coombs’ unit – we bring on Eleven Warriors film guru Kyle Jones (beginning at 17:00) to discuss what the Buckeyes need to do to try to salvage their defense.

Jones believes we should be realistic with our expectations for the defense for the rest of the year, as the Buckeyes probably won’t be able to completely revamp their scheme now that the season has begun. That said, he believes the defense can improve to some extent with better coaching and execution, and he explains what that might look like while also answering questions from our listeners about whether Coombs really deserves all the blame, whether Coombs should coach from the press box and why we shouldn't worry about offensive play calling.

Later in the show (51:15), we discuss why C.J. Stroud isn’t Ohio State's problem – and why we like most of what we saw from the young quarterback against Oregon – and why it's still way too early to give up on the Buckeyes as a College Football Playoff contender (57:40).

Finally, we also discuss why it's weird that Sevyn Banks isn't playing, our score predictions for this week's game against Tulsa and how much we think we'll see Kyle McCord – and if we'll see Quinn Ewers at all – this weekend.

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We've had five full days to digest Ohio State's season opener, and there was plenty to take away from the Buckeyes’ first game.

On this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we spend a full hour discussing the many things we learned from the Buckeyes’ 45-31 win over Minnesota. Among the many topics we dive into:

2:50: The good and bad of C.J. Stroud's first start
10:00: Assessing the defense's performance in game one
14:13: Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson make their case for being Ohio State's top two running backs
20:10: How Chris Olave looks better than ever
25:44: A great start for Ohio State's offensive line
35:54: Why Dan wasn't surprised by Tommy Eichenberg starting against Minnesota, and why he thinks Cody Simon will start against Oregon
55:55: Why it's too early to jump to conclusions about Kerry Coombs' defense

At the 1:05:48 mark of the show, we begin previewing this week's game against Oregon, break down what challenges we expect the Ducks to present and make our predictions for what the first game with fans back in Ohio Stadium will be like (1:15:52) as well as our predictions for how the game will play out (1:20:55).

Finally, we discuss our takeaways from watching the rest of the first weekend of college football play out, including which teams around the Big Ten impressed us, how vulnerable Clemson might be to missing the playoff this year and Bama still being Bama.

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Ohio State's season opener is just one day away.

Of course, that means this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays is dedicated to previewing Thursday night's game at Minnesota. Our topics of discussion ahead of the Buckeyes’ matchup with the Gophers include:

2:44: Expectations for C.J. Stroud's first game as Ohio State's starting quarterback
8:58: How Ohio State could split carries between Miyan Williams, Master Teague and TreVeyon Henderson on Thursday night
16:45: Why Ohio State's defensive front seven is the biggest concern entering this game
35:05: Score predictions

Beginning at 41:20, Dan and Griffin also talk about what it was like to witness the now-infamous game between IMG Academy and Bishop Sycamore, as we were both in Canton on Sunday – albeit for the purposes of watching IMG Academy – as Bishop Sycamore started to become the most-talked-about story in sports. We share our firsthand accounts of what we saw from Bishop Sycamore in what could well be the final football game played by the so-called high school that's now facing the scrutiny and punchlines of the nation.

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This week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays features a brand new co-host and an exclusive interview with Ohio State's head football coach.

As the newest beat writer at Eleven Warriors, Griffin Strom is also the new co-host of Real Pod Wednesdays, so we start the show – the 101st episode ever of Real Pod Wednesdays – by introducing Griffin to our audience.

Dan sat down with Ryan Day for a one-on-one interview in his office on Tuesday morning, and we also play that interview for you in its entirety on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. In a 16-minute conversation (beginning at 3:53), Dan talks to Day about the lessons Ohio State has learned from dealing with COVID-19 over the past year, how he's handling the national championship expectations entering his third year as the Buckeyes’ coach, the culture he's tried to build within Ohio State's program, why this year's freshman class could be special and more.

After that interview, Griffin returns to discuss all of the latest developments within the Ohio State football program, including C.J. Stroud officially becoming the starting quarterback (24:15), the lingering questions about the back seven of the Buckeyes’ defense (32:45) and the six players who were named captains for this season (45:20).

We also talk about the alliance between the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC (49:57) that was announced by the three conferences on Tuesday, and Dan explains why he's not sure whether playing annual non-conference games against the ACC and Pac-12 would actually be a good thing for Ohio State's future schedules.

Coming next week: A preview of Ohio State's first game of the season against Minnesota.

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If you want to spend an hour hearing about what Ohio State's offensive and defensive schemes could look like this season, you've come to the right place.

Eleven Warriors scheme analyst Kyle Jones guest hosts this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. As we look ahead to the start of the 2021 season in just a couple weeks' time, we discuss a wide variety of topics related to what we could see from the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball, including:

2:20: How the spring game foretold C.J. Stroud likely becoming Ohio State's starting quarterback
8:35: Why Ohio State's offense should look similar with Stroud as it did with Justin Fields
13:13: How aggressive Ryan Day will be calling plays for Stroud
15:45: How Ohio State could manage playing time for the rest of Ohio State's quarterbacks, including Kyle McCord and Quinn Ewers
25:30: Whether Ohio State could change its run-blocking scheme to fit this year's running backs
29:55: Why Ohio State's offensive line changes are more about pass protection than run blocking
37:50: What the bullet position could look like in Ohio State's defense
45:11: Why Ohio State could mix and match its defensive personnel more this year than past seasons
48:33: How the nose tackle position is different at Ohio State than many other defenses
51:52: How Ohio State will defend against Minnesota in the season opener
56:40: How Ohio State could use the 3-3-5 and other exotic looks in pass-rushing situations
1:00:46: Whether Ohio State's defense will ever place less emphasis on stopping the run to prioritize stopping the pass
1:04:03: Why Ohio State's defense should have done something differently against Alabama, but maybe couldn't

Coming next week: The first episode of Real Pod Wednesdays with our new full-time co-host.

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Preseason camp gave us plenty of talk about, our listeners gave us plenty of questions to answer and we shared some show news on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays.

First up, we react to an interesting day at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday, where we learned that Ohio State is moving toward making some major changes on the offensive line. Does it actually make sense for Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere to change positions? Although we were skeptical initially, we're buying that the new-look offensive line can be a dominant unit, and we explain why.

Tuesday's practice also gave us our best look yet at the quarterback competition, as we got to see the quarterbacks throw deep balls and attempt passes with wide receivers going one-on-one against defensive backs, and we explain why (beginning at 17:22) what we saw strengthens our belief that C.J. Stroud will be the starting quarterback – but also that Kyle McCord has separated from Jack Miller in the competition.

We also discuss why we still have a lot of uncertainty about the defensive back seven (23:00), and answer more than a dozen questions from our listeners, including whether Jaxon Smith-Njigba is being overlooked, how Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau look physically and which two schools we would add to the Big Ten.

Finally (59:47), Dan makes Colin answer a couple of additional questions and Colin makes a bold prediction on his way out after revealing that this will be his final episode of Real Pod Wednesdays (which will continue on with Dan and a new co-host to be named later).

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On a day like today, we'd typically start Real Pod Wednesdays by talking about what we just saw at preseason camp.

After all, we recorded this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays – together in person for the first time in more than a year – just hours after watching some of Ohio State's first practice of preseason camp on Wednesday morning (which is why this week's episode of RPW comes your way a little later than usual).

This, however, has been no ordinary week, as Quinn Ewers announced Monday that he will be reclassifying and joining the Ohio State football team this season. Given the potentially massive ramifications of Ewers' decision on the Buckeyes' quarterback room, we spent the first 43-plus minutes of this week's show discussing how his reclassification could change Ohio State's quarterback both this season and in the future.

We discuss what it would take for Ewers to become the starter this year, why there will be questions about who else stays in the room no matter who starts this year and whether it's really even worth worrying about the future of the room given Ryan Day's track record of recruiting elite quarterbacks.

We did have plenty of other takeaways from the first day of camp, too, and we discuss those in the final half-hour of the show, including the emergence of second-years Josh Fryar, Cody Simon and Miyan Williams as potential starters, the possibility of Haskell Garrett and Taron Vincent starting together and why Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau should quell concerns about losing Tyler Friday.

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While we were at Big Ten Media Days, the college football landscape began to change again.

We start this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing our biggest takeaways from Big Ten Media Days, including:

How it could impact Ohio State's linebacker competition if Palaie Gaoteote isn't cleared by the NCAA by next week's start of preseason camp
Good vibes on Kourt Williams, Harry Miller, Julian Fleming and Lathan Ransom
Why it's good for the rivalry that Jim Harbaugh and Michigan players are talking more about The Game
Kevin Warren has no regrets? Really?

Then, we talk about the biggest news of the week in college sports – Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC – and specifically, whether the Big Ten should counter with expansion of its own and why we believe it would be fine for Ohio State if the Big Ten sticks with the status quo.

We also talk about Felix Okpara's commitment to the Ohio State men's basketball team and how Chris Holtmann is recruiting exactly what the way he should be in building a class of 2022 that's currently ranked as the best in the country.

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For the first time in 16 months, we finally get to interview Ryan Day and Ohio State players in person.

Day, Thayer Munford, Zach Harrison and Jeremy Ruckert will all be in Indianapolis on Friday for the second day of Big Ten Media Days, and we'll be there too to talk to them as well as other coaches and players from around the conference.

It'll be the first time Day and Ohio State players have been available for interviews in more than three months, and a lot has changed since then – players are now receiving name, image and likeness benefits, and the College Football Playoff is moving toward expansion to 12 teams – so it'll be our first opportunity to ask them about those changes, as well as how the Buckeyes are preparing for the 2021 season with just a couple of weeks to go until preseason camp.

What Dan's looking forward to most, though, is the opportunity to finally get the opportunity to ask Kevin Warren about everything that happened last year – even though we aren't expect the Big Ten commissioner to say a lot.

We tackle all of that in the first 24 minutes of this week's show, then discuss some of the questions from Colin's staff Big Ten roundtable – like when Ohio State could lose its next Big Ten game and which other Big Ten player we'd add to the Buckeyes' roster this year – and answer a five-pack of reader questions, including whether we think Ohio State's 2010 wins will be reinstated, what the interior offensive line depth chart could look like and how other great wide receivers in OSU history compare to Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.

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With Big Ten Media Days and preseason camp on the horizon, it's time for our annual Ohio State football team draft for Real Pod Wednesdays.

As we did last year, Colin and Dan went back and forth selecting players from Ohio State's 2021 roster to build dueling 22-man rosters – 11 players on offense and 11 players on defense – with the objective of building a lineup that would beat the co-host's lineup in a head-to-head game right now.

Listen into this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to hear us make all 44 of our picks, analyze why we made those picks and react to each other's selections as the draft unfolded.

In the final five minutes of this week's episode, we also talk about the Ohio State men's basketball team's addition of Cedric Russell and what his role could be in the Buckeyes' backcourt this year.

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It certainly hasn't been a quiet two weeks since our last episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

There was no shortage of Ohio State sports news while Dan was on vacation – headlined, of course, by the long-awaited news of J.T. Tuimoloau committing to Ohio State and becoming the highest-rated defensive player to sign with the Buckeyes in the modern recruiting era.

We discuss why landing Tuimoloau is such a big win for Larry Johnson and the Buckeyes, what role we expect to see him play in Ohio State's defensive end rotation as a freshman and at the 15:40 mark, why anything less than winning at least one national championship would be a failure for Ohio State's recruiting class of 2021, which now holds the highest average composite player rating of any Ohio State recruiting class ever.

Beginning at 22:50, we also talk about the three commitments Ohio State landed for the recruiting class of 2022 over the past 15 days: Terrance Brooks, Kojo Antwi and Dallan Hayden, and why each of them can also be considered big wins for the Buckeyes as they build up a 2022 class that could be as good if not even better than the 2021 class.

Starting at 32:05, Colin talks about his experience in California last week at Elite 11 and The Opening, where he kept a close eye on five Ohio State commits and targets: Quinn Ewers, C.J. Hicks, Kyion Grayes, A.J. Harris and Xavier Nwankpa. We discuss what we learned about Ewers last week – and why he's not a finished product yet – as well as why Harris could be an ideal first commitment for the 2023 class, why Grayes should continue to move up the rankings and how Hicks looked the part of a five-star linebacker.

In less positive news, we also talk about Brenan Vernon's commitment to Notre Dame (beginning at 46:25), why that makes Sonny Styles the most important recruit in any class for Ohio State right now and whether there's any reason to be concerned that the Buckeyes don't have any commitments for the 2023 class yet.

Finally (53:07), we talk about Duane Washington Jr.'s decision to stay in the NBA draft, E.J. Liddell's decision to stay in school for another year and how both of those decisions could impact Ohio State men's basketball entering the 2021-22 season.

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Ohio State has unofficially added a former five-star recruit to its roster for the upcoming season, while it's still trying to woo a current five-star recruit to become a Buckeye this fall.

Although it still hasn't been officially announced by him or the program, all indications are that former USC linebacker Palaie Gaoteote is transferring to Ohio State, so we begin this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing why the Buckeyes are bringing him in, what we think he'll bring to Ohio State's defense and what that could mean for the rest of the linebacker depth chart.

Of course, we couldn't go too long on this week's podcast without talking about J.T. Tuimoloau's official visit to Ohio State; that conversation begins at 22:14. Dan talks about what it was like to cover Tuimoloau's arrival at the airport, then we discuss our level of confidence that he will end up at Ohio State – or whether Nick Saban will be able to close the deal and get him to Alabama – as well as the possibility that Tuimoloau could join Chris Holtmann's basketball team, too.

We also discuss the potential addition of Wilfredo Aybar (38:50), another defensive end who's reclassifying to the class of 2021 and is expected to choose soon between Ohio State and Stanford, and debate whether Emeka Egubka or Marvin Harrison Jr. will have the bigger freshman year at receiver (51:30).

(Programming note: Real Pod Wednesdays will be off next week while Dan is on vacation. Our next episode will be published July 7.)

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The College Football Playoff appears set to expand to 12 teams, and we're here for it.

Even though Colin previously said on Real Pod Wednesdays that he didn't think the playoff should be expanded to more than eight teams, he's changed his mind and now believes 12 teams is the right move for the CFP. Dan agrees, and we discuss why we believe College Football Playoff expansion will be both good for the sport as a whole and a net positive for Ohio State, even though there will be pros and cons for the Buckeyes.

We also discuss our one big gripe with the recommended playoff format – quarterfinals being at bowl sites rather than on-campus home games for the top four seeds – and answer listener questions about the possible impact of playoff expansion on Ohio State recruiting and Notre Dame remaining independent.

After reacting in real time (35:22) to the then-breaking news that Aaron Craft is returning to Carmen's Crew for this year's TBT, we quickly shift our focus back to football to discuss the developments so far in a busy month of June on the recruiting trail. We discuss the commitment of wide receiver Kaleb Brown (37:55) and how he could fit into Ohio State's offense as a slot receiver/H-back, look ahead to J.T. Tuimoloau's official visit this weekend (44:45) and Dan shares his takeaways from covering camps (51:10).

We also discuss the addition of graduate transfer kicker Noah Ruggles (55:46), plus why Ohio State also pursued graduate transfer wide receiver Daylen Baldwin (58:47) – before he ultimately committed to Michigan – and whether we should expect the Buckeyes to pursue another transfer receiver.

Finally, we answer a few more listener questions (1:07:20) on what we would change about the recruiting process, who will round out the Ohio State men's basketball recruiting class of 2022 and who's the most underrated or unheralded player on the current Ohio State football team (or whether there actually is one).

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With June now underway and the dead period over, all eyes are on the recruiting trail as college football teams throughout the country finally get to host visitors for the first time in over 14 months.

Eleven Warriors' own Andrew Ellis joins us for the first 30 minutes of this week's Real Pod Wednesdays to help us preview the month ahead for Ohio State football recruiting. Who are the most important June visitors for the Buckeyes, who should we have on commitment watch and where do things stand with J.T. Tuimoloau? Our resident recruiting guru joins us to discuss all of that and much more.

We also spend some time talking about Ohio State basketball recruiting and which players Chris Holtmann and his staff could look to add to their 2022 class (30:25) and what we learned about Kristina Johnson, Gene Smith and Kevin Warren from Ohio State's document dump last week (36:54). We wrap up the show by taking your questions (52:25) about C.J. Stroud's potential, how this year's offensive line could compare to last year's offensive line, why the rich keep getting richer in college football and how concerned you should be about Ohio State's special teams.

(Programming note: Real Pod Wednesdays will be off next week while Colin is on vacation. We'll be back with our next new episode on June 16.)

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With an unprecedented year in Ohio State sports nearing its conclusion and significant changes coming soon in college sports, we thought it would be a good time to invite Gene Smith on Real Pod Wednesdays.

In his first-ever appearance on the show, Ohio State's athletic director spent 35 minutes talking to us about a wide variety of topics, including:

2:50: Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, what he has learned from the past year and planning for the post-pandemic future
9:45: What needs to happen for Ohio Stadium to be full this fall
14:30: Name, image and likeness benefits coming to college sports
18:25: What College Football Playoff expansion could look like
22:47: Why he chose to sign a contract extension at Ohio State rather than become Pac-12 commissioner
26:33: Why the Ohio State athletic department shouldn't have to make further budget cuts
28:42: Why he believes Chris Holtmann has “done an excellent job” as Ohio State's men's basketball coach
33:08: Which Ohio State football players have particularly impressed him both on and off the field

Following our conversation with Gene, Colin and Dan also discuss the name, image and likeness bill that was introduced in the state of Ohio this week and why that shouldn't matter much if the NCAA actually, finally passes its name, image and likeness legislation in June.

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With the throes of the offseason upon us, it's time to take a look ahead to Ohio State's 2021 football schedule.

That's our main topic of discussion on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays, in which we dissect Ohio State's 2021 football schedule from start to finish, identify the “most losable” games for the Buckeyes and predict whether Ohio State will have another undefeated regular season or drop a regular-season game for the first time in Ryan Day's tenure.

After our analysis of this fall's regular season slate, we shift gears to another listener-suggested topic and discuss the pros and cons of potential College Football Playoff expansion for both Ohio State and the sport at large. That conversation starts at 37:30.

Finally (55:25), we share our latest thoughts on how we think things could shake out at the running back position between Master Teague, Miyan Williams and TreVeyon Henderson.

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The biggest news in Ohio State football over the past week wasn't good news for the Buckeyes.

That news came on Saturday, when Tennessee linebacker Henry To'o To'o – Ohio State's top target in the transfer portal this year – announced he was transferring to Alabama, thwarting the Buckeyes' plans to add him to the middle of their defense.

We start this week's episode by discussing the impact of To'o To'o's decision on the Buckeyes' 2021 linebacker corps and who we expect to start at linebacker now.

We also took this week as an opportunity to discuss Ohio State's efforts to compete with Alabama both on the field and on the recruiting trail (starting at 19:13). After Alabama landed transfers from To'o To'o and former Ohio State wide receiver Jameson Williams in the same week, while continuing to battle the Buckeyes for five-star defensive end recruit J.T. Tuimoloau, the Crimson Tide's standing as the team Ohio State is chasing has only increased.

Later in the show (33:54), we talk about two players Ohio State did land commitments from last week – three-star defensive backs Kye Stokes and Ryan Turner – and evaluate what the Buckeyes' priorities should be now as they look to continue filling out their recruiting class of 2022.

Finally (42:30), we take your questions about what Tuimoloau's role could be if he chooses the Buckeyes, why we believe the stands will be full at Ohio Stadium this fall and which opponent – if any – could be the sleeper opponent on the Buckeyes' regular season schedule.

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Another NFL draft is complete, and people are already looking to ahead what could be another prolific class for Ohio State next year.

Before we look ahead, we start by talking about the 10 Buckeyes who were drafted last year – starting, of course, with Justin Fields, and how we expect things to play out for him as he starts his career with the Chicago Bears.

We also discuss how the Cleveland Browns might have gotten a steal in Tommy Togiai (7:35), why Pete Werner landed in a great spot in New Orleans (12:15) and more on Ohio State's 2021 NFL draft class as a whole, including how it explains what happened in last year's national championship game (24:40).

Our discussion on Ohio State's potential 2022 draft prospects begins at 27:35, including whether Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson will be the Buckeyes' top wide receiver prospect (29:05), why Jeremy Ruckert could be their next-best prospect (30:50), what Zach Harrison (33:45) and Sevyn Banks (34:33) need to do to make good on their early first-round projections and why Nicholas Petit-Frere (38:00), Taron Vincent (42:45) and Cameron Brown (44:27) could be Buckeyes who shoot up the draft board.

We also talk about Jameson Williams' decision to leave Ohio State for Alabama (45:30) – and why we really don't think that hurts the Buckeyes' loaded wide receiver room very much – and why the Ohio State basketball might not add anyone else to their roster even after Ibrahima Diallo's decision to transfer opened up a roster spot.

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The speculation is almost over.

After months of debate on where Justin Fields could be selected and an exhausting cycle of rumors about why the former Ohio State quarterback might not be a top pick, we'll finally find out on Thursday night where Fields is going. We start this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing where we think Fields will end up when the picks are finally made tomorrow.

While Fields is Ohio State's only projected first-round pick, there's plenty of other Buckeyes who also have a chance to be selected over the draft's three days, so we also make our dueling predictions for what order we believe the rest of the Buckeyes will be selected in and in which round we think each of them will come off the board.

In the final 20 minutes of this week's show (beginning at 41:30), we have a quick-hitting discussion on some of the non-NFL draft storylines from the past week in Ohio State sports, including:

Ryan Day's timeline for naming a starting quarterback
Day's admission that he was surprised by how well Ohio State played against Clemson – and why Colin doesn't believe him
More confirmation that the bullet is real
The impact of Dasan McCullough's flip to Indiana
How Ohio State men's basketball could replace departed assistant coach Terry Johnson

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Saturday's Ohio State spring game left us with plenty to analyze and discuss on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

We finally got to watch Ohio State's quarterbacks throw passes in Ohio Stadium, saw numerous early enrollees impress in their debuts in the Shoe and learned that the bullet is in fact real among other takeaways from Saturday's scrimmage, which concludes Ohio State's spring practice season for 2021.

A rundown of some of what we talked about on this week's show:

3:30: 22 minutes of quarterback talk, including why C.J. Stroud looks like the frontrunner but why Kyle McCord should also get a shot to compete for the job in preseason camp
25:30: The other freshmen who stood out on Saturday – Jack Sawyer, Emeka Egbuka, Marvin Harrison Jr. and TreVeyon Henderson – and why Ohio State has to find ways to get them all on the field this year
37:54: The bullet is real! Why we think that new position can make a positive impact on Ohio State's defense, and what else we think about the state of Ohio State's passing defense coming out of the spring
46:45: The under-the-radar players who also shined in the spring game

For the final 15 minutes of this week's podcast (beginning at 51:30), we shift gears to Ohio State basketball to talk about the addition of Joey Brunk, what he brings to the Buckeyes and why Ohio State should have one of college basketball's most complete rosters in 2021-22 even though it settled for Brunk rather than landing five-star center Efton Reid.

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It's the final week of spring practice at Ohio State, and there's still plenty happening at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

After talking to Ohio State's offensive linemen and defensive linemen last week and then watching another spring practice on Monday, we have new takeaways on how the quarterback competition is going, how things might stack up at wide receiver, why there's a real competition happening on the interior offensive line and why Ohio State should have lots of options on the defensive line. And we're looking forward to learning more about the Buckeyes when we watch them play their spring game in Ohio Stadium on Saturday at noon (Big Ten Network).

A rundown of some of what we talked about on this week's show:

6:00: Why Kyle McCord can't be counted out in the quarterback competition
9:24: Why Julian Fleming isn't a lock to make the two-deep at wide receiver – and why that says more about Ohio State's receiver depth than Fleming
21:14: How Luke Wypler and Josh Fryar are making a real push for starting jobs on the interior offensive line
31:00: What we're expecting from Taron Vincent this season
48:20: Why Colin is most excited to watch TreVeyon Henderson on Saturday
54:45: Who we'd each pick first in a spring game draft
1:05:40: Why the move to a 4-2-5 defense wouldn't be an overreaction

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We're finally about to talk about spring football observations that we've made with our own eyes.

Well, Dan's own two eyes – as only one media member per outlet was able to attend the two practices that were open to the media this past week – but nonetheless, we have plenty to talk about on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays as we've learned more about how the quarterback competition could stack up, what Ohio State's 2021 defense could look, multiple Buckeyes playing new positions and more.

Among the topics discussed in this week's show, which is all about spring football:

1:47: C.J. Stroud looks like the frontrunner at quarterback so far
12:05: How Ohio State's defense could look different in 2021
24:10: Lingering question marks at outside cornerback
31:51: What to make of Demario McCall and Gee Scott Jr.'s position changes
44:30: Taron Vincent is impressing Ryan Day at defensive tackle
50:56: MVP picks for next week's spring game

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With everything that happened on both the Ohio State football and basketball fronts over the past two days, we needed a little extra time to digest it all before recording this week's Real Pod Wednesdays.

That's why this week's episode is coming a little later on Wednesday than usual, as we talked about the latest happenings in Ohio State sports (though E.J. Liddell's decision to test the NBA waters came after we recorded) including Ohio State's football pro day and the basketball Buckeyes' addition of Jamari Wheeler.

We start with pro day, which only gave both of us more reason to believe Justin Fields should be a top-three pick in this year's NFL draft. We also talk about some of the other standouts from the event, including Baron Browning, Pete Werner and Tommy Togiai, and what we learned about the injuries Josh Myers and Wyatt Davis played through at the end of last season.

Our weekly look at what's happening in Ohio State spring football (19:47) takes us to the linebackers after we talked to Teradja Mitchell, Dallas Gant and Al Washington last week. We're pretty confident Mitchell and Gant will be two of Ohio State's new starting linebackers this year, but who will start at Sam? Is Craig Young the man to beat at that position, or could a transfer addition be in the works? And does Gant's foot injury potentially open the door for another linebacker such as Tommy Eichenberg or Cody Simon to push for the starting job at Mike?

We also talk (27:32) about how the absence of several other projected starters or key players due to injuries this spring, including Haskell Garrett, Harry Miller, Cameron Brown and Kourt Williams in addition to Gant, could impact the Buckeyes in their preparation for the fall.

In the second half of the show (39:05), we turn our attention to the basketball Buckeyes and their latest addition, as Colin explains why Ohio State quickly moved to add a guard through the transfer portal and what Wheeler's role could be for the 2021-22 Buckeyes. We also talk (46:17) about the Buckeyes' potential options to still add a coveted big man to their roster.

Additional news on the basketball front came last Friday when we learned that Indiana had made a run at trying to hire Chris Holtmann away from Ohio State, so Colin shares what he learned about the Hoosiers' efforts to poach Holtmann (51:05) while we also talk about the impact Thad Matta could make in his return to college basketball as Indiana's associate athletic director for men's basketball administration.

Stay tuned until the end of the show, too, to hear why Colin is bullish about Ohio State basketball taking a step forward and being a real contender next season.

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Ohio State's basketball season came to an earlier end than expected with a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament, leaving some questions about the state of the program after Chris Holtmann's fourth year.

That's where we begin this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, as we discuss what happened to Ohio State basketball in Friday's loss to Oral Roberts, what we make of the Buckeyes' 2020-21 basketball season as a whole and why we think next year will be a crucial year for Holtmann and the Buckeyes – who should have their best roster yet of Holtmann's tenure at Ohio State – to take the next step and prove they can win in the postseason.

We also discuss whether the Big Ten was really overrated this year (22:48), whether the Big Ten's 20-game conference schedule and late-finishing tournament hurt the conference in the NCAA Tournament and consider a listener-submitted question: Is there any number of men's basketball wins Ohio State fans would trade a football win for? (Feel free to comment with your answers.)

In the second half of this week's show (32:35), we discuss our takeaways from the first week of spring football interviews, including the Buckeyes' plans to experiment on defense, Miyan Williams' rise and TreVeyon Henderson's confidence. We also play “buy or sell” (44:30) on whether Zach Harrison will live up to the hype in 2021, whether a full spring will actually make a big difference for Ohio State's defense, whether the bullet will actually exist this year and whether Ohio State will ever play two running backs on the field at once.

Finally, Dan shares a parting thought (58:20) on the threatening messages E.J. Liddell received last week and what he hopes people will learn from that disturbing situation.

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It's a big week for both the Ohio State men's basketball and football teams as the basketball Buckeyes begin NCAA Tournament play while the football Buckeyes begin spring practice.

The men's basketball Buckeyes have momentum back on their side after making a run to the Big Ten Tournament final this past weekend, and we start by reviewing the action from Indianapolis. We liked what we saw from the Buckeyes in three wins against Minnesota, Purdue and Michigan – except for those late-game struggles – and were especially impressed by Duane Washington Jr.'s record-setting performance.

Now the question is, how far can Ohio State go in the NCAA Tournament? We take a look at Ohio State's first-round matchup with Oral Roberts (21:00) and potential second-round matchup with either Florida or Virginia Tech – and why the Buckeyes really should make it to at least the Sweet 16 – and then consider whether Ohio State can make a run all the way to the Final Four. Are the Buckeyes good enough to beat Baylor? Could Arkansas or Texas Tech trip them up in the Sweet 16? Do their Final Four hopes hinge on Washington playing like an All-American? We discuss that all.

Then, with just two days to go until the start of spring football at Ohio State, we take a look at the biggest questions surrounding the Buckeyes' defense and what we'll be watching for on that side of the ball this spring. (ICYMI: We previewed the spring for Ohio State's offense on last week's episode.)

We debate whether personnel or scheme is the bigger area where Ohio State's defense needs to improve this spring (42:07), discuss the need for players other than Haskell Garrett to emerge as stars and focus in specifically on the concerns Ohio State must address their spring at all three levels of their defense.

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Spring football is (hopefully) on the horizon, and the Big Ten Tournament is on tap this week.

Ohio State is scheduled to start spring football practices on March 19, though a bit of doubt was cast over that start date when Ohio State announced Tuesday it had paused football activities for one week due to a rise in COVID-19 cases. We don't believe that pause is anything to panic about, though, and we discuss why for the first 10 minutes of this week's Real Pod Wednesdays.

The plan is still for the Buckeyes to return to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center next week and hold their first practice of the spring two Fridays from now, so we begin our two-part spring football preview this week with conversation on what we'll be watching for from Ohio State's offense this spring.

What will each of the three potential starting quarterbacks bring to that competition, how could a crowded running back competition shake out, is there room for anyone new to break into the wide receiver rotation, who will be the No. 2 tight end behind Jeremy Ruckert and who's likely to be the new starters on the interior offensive line? We discuss all of that and more.

We also preview this week's Big Ten men's basketball tournament (48:50), where the Buckeyes will play their first game against either Northwestern or Minnesota on Thursday afternoon. After Ohio State lost four straight games to end the regular season, we discuss whether the Buckeyes can get back on track in Indianapolis, how many games we actually expect them to win there and whether that will enough to secure a No. 2 seed when the NCAA Tournament bracket is set on Sunday.

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This is March, which means two things are coming soon: The NCAA Tournament and spring football.

Ohio State basketball fans might not be quite as excited for March Madness as they were a couple weeks ago because the Buckeyes have lost their last three games, including losses to Michigan State and Iowa since our last podcast, but we don't think Ohio State fans should give up hope of a deep tournament run yet.

We spend the first half of this week's Real Pod Wednesdays discussing basketball once again, as we analyze why Ohio State's offense struggled in its last couple of games, why the Buckeyes can't afford any bad offensive days in March and which Buckeyes other than E.J. Liddell and Duane Washington Jr. most need to step up in March – but also why Ohio State still isn't out of the conversation for a No. 1 seed, and why the expectation for the Buckeyes should still be to make it to at least the second weekend of the tournament.

In the second half of the show (28:28), we begin looking ahead to spring football, which we now know will start in just over two weeks. Each of us draft four players who we're most intrigued to see this spring and discuss why.

At the 44:44 mark, we also spend some discussing the ongoing debate about Justin Fields as an NFL draft prospect and make our cases – after a week where Fields dropped as far as the 24th pick in one mock draft – for why Fields should be one of the draft's top picks and why the concerns some have about his ability to make reads and go through progressions are overblown.

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Ohio State couldn't beat Michigan, but the basketball Buckeyes still look like one of the nation's best teams.

With less than three weeks to go until Selection Sunday, that's where we start on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays, discussing the outlook for Ohio State basketball following Sunday's 92-87 loss to the Wolverines.

Although there's been a lot to like about this year's Buckeyes, particularly how explosive they've been offensively, Sunday's loss exposed some problems – Ohio State's not great defensively, and Hunter Dickinson exploited the Buckeyes' lack of size – and we discuss whether the Buckeyes can fix those issues and how problematic it will be if they can't. We also make our predictions for how the Buckeyes will finish out the regular season, how far they'll go in the Big Ten Tournament, what seed they'll earn in the NCAA Tournament and how deep they'll ultimately go in the Big Dance.

(Note: This podcast was recorded on Tuesday afternoon, prior to Michigan State's win over Illinois, so that was not factored into our discussion about the Spartans and Illini.)

In the second half of this week's episode (beginning at 39:30), we shift gears to football for a discussion on the Buckeyes' second-year players. Which members of the class of 2020 do we expect to make the biggest impact in 2021, and who are we most intrigued to watch this fall? Kourt Williams, Cody Simon, Lathan Ransom, Ty Hamilton and Mitchell Melton are among the Buckeyes we discuss.

Also, at our listeners' requests, we select some of our favorite non-superstar Buckeyes from the past decade – Amedeo Della Valle, BB Landers and Kenny Guiton all make appearances – and remember some of the most impactful walk-ons in recent Ohio State history.

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The Ohio State football program got some good news last week, and the Ohio State basketball team is entering a huge week.

We start this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing the football news of the week, led by Al Washington's decision to stay at Ohio State rather than become the defensive coordinator at Tennessee. We also discuss the three new hires Ohio State made last week – Todd Fitch and Paul Rhoads as analysts and C.J. Barnett as director of player development – and why each of those hires make sense for the Buckeyes.

In the second segment of this week's show (beginning at 24:45), we shift over to the hardcourt to discuss a massive week ahead for the men's basketball Buckeyes, which starts with a Thursday night game at Penn State but is headlined by a hugely anticipated rivalry game on Sunday afternoon, when Ohio State will host Michigan in a matchup of two teams currently ranked in the top four nationally. What must the Buckeyes do to beat Michigan, and could the looming threat of the Wolverines lead to a letdown in State College? We discuss all of that as well as what the Buckeyes must still do to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

We then shift gears back to football for the third segment of our show (40:55) for a discussion about the mostly unproven group of 14 five-star recruits on Ohio State's roster. Not including the two established stars of that group, Garrett Wilson and Nicholas Petit-Frere, we discuss which five-stars we are most confident will start playing like five-stars in 2021 and which ones the Buckeyes most need to step up this year.

Finally, we answer a pair of listener questions (54:20) about the importance of recruiting vs. player development vs. X's and O's and about what creates the elite culture that is so often referenced in Ohio State's football program.

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Ohio State's defensive struggles in 2020 shouldn't be blamed solely on Kerry Coombs, and there's reason to believe he can fix the Buckeyes' defense in 2021.

Eleven Warriors' own Kyle Jones joins us on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to explain that, as we spend about 30 minutes talking with our X's and O's expert for a deep dive on what went wrong with Ohio State's defense in 2020 and how Coombs and the Buckeyes could get things back on track.

As Jones also wrote about in his most recent Film Study, the problems with Ohio State's defensive scheme that opponents exposed this past season can be traced back to 2019, when Jeff Hafley was still co-defensive coordinator and Coombs was still with the Tennessee Titans. While Coombs has been in the crosshairs of Ohio State fans since the team's defensive issues culminated with the Buckeyes allowing 52 points to Alabama in the national championship games, Jones discusses why Ohio State's existing defensive structure and an offseason impacted by COVID-19 also led to the problems on that side of the ball.

Jones also shares his thoughts on Ohio State's decisions to promote Matt Barnes and Parker Fleming – which is what we open this week's show discussing before Jones joins at the 15:10 mark – as well as what changes he believes the Buckeyes are likely to make to their defensive scheme in 2021, why they relied on the 4-4 defense as much as they did in 2020 and why Bill Belichick is who he'd most like to sit down and watch film with.

Later in this week's show, we also discuss the continued rise of the Ohio State men's basketball team (44:35) – and whether the Buckeyes could really make a Final Four run – and answer some more listener questions (51:37) about Ohio State football, including what Zach Harrison must improve upon to have a breakout junior season, why the Buckeyes need to work on their offensive scheme this offseason too and whether the mythical “bullet” position will actually exist in 2021.

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Even though it's been an uneventful National Signing Day, there's still a lot to like about Ohio State's 2021 recruiting class.

While the Buckeyes would have liked to land a commitment from four-star linebacker Raesjon Davis on Wednesday – and they certainly still want to land a commitment from five-star defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau, who isn't making his decision for another two or three months – they already have a loaded class of 21 signees, including 15 who are already on campus as midyear enrollees, that they can feel good about.

In the first half of this week's show, we take a closer look at the new class of freshmen. While we'd already talked some on Real Pod Wednesdays about the five-star trio of Jack Sawyer, TreVeyon Henderson and Kyle McCord, we dive deeper into the class this week to talk about some of the other new Buckeyes you need to about, including Jakailin Johnson, Jordan Hancock and four more defensive backs (10:20), defensive tackles Mike Hall and Tyleik Williams (19:20), guard Donovan Jackson (21:55), the wide receiver trio of Emeka Egbuka, Jayden Ballard and Marvin Harrison Jr. (24:00) and running back Evan Pryor and linebacker Reid Carrico (27:20).

We also provide our answers to the following five “Call Your Shot” questions posed by Colin:

Will Sawyer make Larry Johnson's Mount Rushmore of defensive ends? (33:00)
Who will be the highest NFL draft pick from this class among the prospects ranked outside the top 100? (35:15)
Which defender from the class not named Sawyer or Tuimoloau will start first at Ohio State? (36:35)
Which member of the class will make the most money from name, image and likeness reform? (37:00)
Which player in this class will Ohio State fans fall in love with? (39:20)

After that, we spend the second half of this week's show answering your questions about a wide variety of topics, including:

Is promoting Parker Fleming to replace Greg Mattison an underwhelming hire? (41:00)
Ranking the assistant coaches, Mickey Marotti and Mark Pantoni in order of their importance to Ohio State (49:20)
Is there reason to be concerned about Quinn Ewers flipping back to Texas? (1:03:20)
How deep a run can Ohio State men's basketball make in the NCAA Tournament? (1:09:30)
What are your go-to snacks for the Super Bowl? (1:17:15)

(Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded on Tuesday, before Parker Fleming's hire was made official on Wednesday morning.)

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Ohio State has a vacancy to fill on its coaching staff, it just might have a frontrunner at quarterback and we're ready to discuss how the Buckeyes' depth chart could stack up in 2021.

We begin this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by discussing our takeaways from Ryan Day's recent press conference, led by the news that co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison is retiring at the end of the month. How will the Buckeyes replace Mattison? We discuss why this could be Day's most important hire yet, why you probably shouldn't get your hopes up for a splashy hire and how that could make 2021 a true prove-it year for Kerry Coombs.

Although Day didn't divulge any insight into who might have the upper hand in Ohio State's quarterback competition, we still find ourselves believing that the starting job could be C.J. Stroud's to lose, so we spend some time discussing why we think that beginning at the 22:40 mark.

From there, we continue with a discussion about how the rest of the Buckeyes' 2021 depth chart could stack up at every position on offense and defense and which starting positions could be most up for grabs this offseason.

Finally (1:02:50), we answer your listener questions about where the Buckeyes should be ranked in the preseason polls, which players are entering make-or-break offseasons, whether Ohio State will win a national championship while Urban Meyer is coaching in the NFL and more.

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Now that we know which key players will and won't be back, it's time to start looking ahead to Ohio State's 2021 season.

The Buckeyes' 2021 roster took shape over the last few days as Justin Fields, Tommy Togiai, Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis and Shaun Wade all announced they'd be leaving early for the NFL draft, but Ohio State also got some great news as Chris Olave, Thayer Munford, Jeremy Ruckert and Haskell Garrett – among others – all announced they'd be back for another season in Columbus.

We spend the first 26 minutes of this week's show discussing those developments, including just how loaded Ohio State's receiver room will be with Olave's return, why Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere could be college football's best offensive tackle pairing and how the Buckeyes can survive the somewhat surprising departure of Togiai. (Note: This podcast was recorded before Garrett announced his decision to return on Tuesday evening.)

Then, we dive into the three-way competition Ohio State will have between C.J. Stroud, Jack Miller and Kyle McCord to replace Justin Fields at quarterback, including why we believe Stroud is a slight frontrunner to win the job and why we're certainly not ruling out McCord as a true freshman.

Beginning at 35:40, we discuss our other big questions for 2021 as the offseason begins, including what the running back rotation could look like next season, why we are concerned Ohio State's defensive struggles could continue next year (41:00) and why we still believe the Buckeyes will be back in the national championship hunt next season (50:00).

Finally, we answer a handful of listener-submitted questions (54:25) including your questions about which freshman could make the biggest immediate impact, which returning player has the most to prove in 2021, what the Buckeyes could look to accomplish through the transfer portal this offseason and reasons to be encouraged about Ohio State's returning defensive backs.

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The national championship game didn't go well for Ohio State, but there are still plenty of positives we can take away from the 2020 season.

Ohio State was blown out by Alabama, 52-24, in Monday night's national title game, and we start by discussing our takeaways from the Buckeyes' disappointing performance against the Crimson Tide. Of course, much of that discussion centers around their struggles on pass defense – naturally leading to additional discussion about what changes Ryan Day and Kerry Coombs might need to make in 2021 to get the defense back on track – though Colin argues that the Buckeyes' subpar performance on offense was actually the biggest reason why they lost to Alabama.

At the 30-minute mark, we pivot to a more positive conversation by talking about the impact Justin Fields made on the program during his two years as Ohio State's starting quarterback. Then, we review the 2020 season as a whole and discuss why we think the season should still be considered a success (36:00) and name our offensive MVPs (other than Fields), defensive MVPs and biggest surprise players for the season (46:12).

We also answer your questions about potential offseason staff changes, Shaun Wade's season and NFL future and more.

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Ohio State proved us wrong.

Yes, we both picked Clemson to beat Ohio State in last week's Sugar Bowl, and we're here to admit we whiffed on our predictions. The Buckeyes didn't just beat the Tigers, they rolled to a 21-point victory, as Justin Fields had the performance of his career, Trey Sermon continued his Ezekiel Elliott-esque postseason run and Ohio State dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage.

We spend the first half of this week's episode going over all the highlights from the Buckeyes' 49-28 win, how Justin Fields furthered his case for being Ohio State's best quarterback ever, how Brent Venables' Clemson defense looked completely overmatched and which other players and units impressed us most in New Orleans.

Then, around the 36:30 mark, we turn our sights ahead to the national championship clash with Alabama, which both of us expect to be a shootout between two great offenses and two suspect defenses. And this time around, we're believes in the Buckeyes' potential to win even though they're once again an underdog by more than a touchdown.

There's reason for confidence that Fields, Sermon and the rest of Ohio State's offense can keep things rolling, but there's no question the Buckeyes' defense is in for its toughest test of the season against Heisman winner DeVonta Smith, Mac Jones, Najee Harris and the rest of Alabama's offense. What does Ohio State's defense need to be able to do for the Buckeyes to have a chance to win, and what does Ohio State's offense need to do to overcome the likelihood the Crimson Tide will put a big number on the scoreboard?

We discuss it all, and answer your listener-submitted questions about the matchup, before giving our best bets for the game (we're taking the over and the points) and taking our best guesses at how the game will play out.

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The game we've been waiting for all year long is finally here.

This week's Real Pod Wednesdays is all about Friday's College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl, starting with an interview with Brad Senkiw, who covers Clemson for 105.5 The Roar and Clemson SI. We get Brad's insight on why Clemson fans are so confident entering this game, where the Tigers are better and worse than last season and what the biggest areas of concern for the Tigers are entering their matchup with Ohio State.

After that, we embark on a wide-ranging discussion about the game from Ohio State's perspective, including:

How important this game is for the Buckeyes to remain alongside Clemson and Alabama as one of college football's elite teams (22:00)
How Ohio State has to play its best football in this game, and what that actually means (28:00)
Why Ohio State could have the edge in passing offense, rushing offense and rushing defense, and why Clemson's passing offense vs. Ohio State's passing defense could outweigh those three combined (33:40)
Why Clemson's offense will present a different test than Indiana – and why that might be one Ohio State is better equipped to handle (35:42)
What to expect from Trey Sermon and Justin Fields against Clemson (51:40)
Brent Venables' sign-stealing and what Ohio State could do to counteract that (59:30)
The single most important things Ohio State must do to beat Clemson (1:07:50)

All in all, you get an hour and 20 minutes of Ohio State vs. Clemson talk on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays before we wrap up the show with a brief Three Things We Think on why Ohio State should stop recruiting H-backs, how Kerry Coombs is rolling on the recruiting trail and why it could be important for quarterback recruiting for Justin Fields to change the narrative about Ohio State quarterbacks in the NFL.

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Ohio State is the Big Ten champion for the fourth year in a row, and is heading back to the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row, but it might not be if not for Trey Sermon.

We had to start there on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, as we broke down Sermon's record-breaking performance against Northwestern, how he improved so much after a disappointing start of the season and why we believe his success can continue in the College Football Playoff.

Then, we look at the big reason why Ohio State needed Sermon to step up in its 22-10 win over the Wildcats, in which Justin Fields had his worst game as a Buckeye. Should we be confident Fields will get back on track next week against Clemson, or is there real reason for concern about Ohio State's passing attack? We consider the factors that led to his struggles against Northwestern and what Fields and his coaches will need to do to be better prepared for Brent Venables' defense.

We also question why Ryan Day waited so long to commit to the run against Northwestern – and why that might not matter against Clemson, as the Buckeyes are probably going to have to be able to both pass and run effectively to beat the Tigers – and discuss our takeaways from Ohio State's defensive performance against the Wildcats (with the acknowledgement that Ohio State is about to face a much tougher offense next week).

In the second half of this week's show (41:30), we dive into the matchup with Clemson with a look at how Dabo Swinney became Ohio State fans' most hated villain, which Tigers you should know about other than Trevor Lawrence and Travis Etienne and how Ohio State stacks up against Clemson position-by-position.

For this week's Three Things We Think (1:03:15), we discuss why Ohio State doesn't have as many national award candidates this year as it usually does, why Haskell Garrett deserves to be an All-American and highlight how Cormontae Hamilton and Miyan Williams have flashed over the past two games despite very limited action.

Finally, we answer your questions (1:12:49) about Indiana getting the shaft from playing in a New Year's Six bowl, which seniors could come back for a bonus year and how the Big Ten's return-to-play protocol ensures anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 has ample time to practice before playing in a game.

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There's a lot happening in the world of Ohio State football this week.

Today is Signing Day for the recruiting class of 2021, which means the Buckeyes have now officially inked another star-studded crop of players who will join the team next season. Typically, that would take center stage this week, but because of this year's modified college football schedule, Ohio State is set to play in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, with the College Football Playoff set to be chosen on Sunday.

We start this week's episode by previewing the matchup with Northwestern and sharing our thoughts on why we believe the Buckeyes should stack up well in that matchup.

Then, we make our predictions of what we expect the College Football Playoff field to look like on Sunday – and reiterate why we're confident Ohio State will make the CFP just as long as it beats Northwestern, regardless of whether the game's close or a blowout.

In the second half of this week's show (31:20), we bring in Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter to get his thoughts on the class that Ohio State signed on Wednesday, as all three identify some of the players in the class who we're most looking forward to seeing play for the Buckeyes.

Finally, in Three Things We Think (50:20), we talk about the potential for Haskell Garrett to return to Ohio State for another year, how Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year Wyatt Davis might not have even been Ohio State's best offensive lineman this year and how Kyle McCord adds to a quarterback room that's going to be loaded even after Justin Fields leaves Columbus.

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Although there's reason to be disappointed this week, there's still plenty of feel good about.

The disappointment is obvious – Ohio State won't be playing Michigan this year for the first time in over 100 years – and we couldn't start this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays anywhere but there as we reflect on what we'll miss as we don't get to watch the Buckeyes play the Wolverines this weekend.

The good news for the Buckeyes, though, is they're still sitting a good position to make the College Football Playoff, especially now that they are locked into the Big Ten Championship Game. Ohio State could certainly help its cause by dominating Northwestern, and we discuss why we think that should be the expectation for the Buckeyes next weekend (17:40), but also why we're not sure that will necessarily even matter (23:50), as we think there's only one scenario – Florida beating Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and Clemson beating Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game – that spells any real trouble for Ohio State's playoff chances, if it even does, as long as Ohio State wins next weekend's game.

At the risk of sounding like a homer or a hypocrite, Dan explains (38:05) why he changed his mind from last week about the Big Ten's decision to remove the six-game minimum, and why he ultimately believes the Big Ten got it right by changing the rules to allow Ohio State to play in the Big Ten Championship Game over Indiana.

Then, we share our takeaways from the 52-12 win over Michigan State, including the impressive performance by Max Wray and Ohio State's other fill-in starters on the offensive line (49:50), how impressive Justin Fields was given the circumstances (56:10), Trey Sermon having a breakout performance (58:55) and Haskell Garrett's emergence as a stud defensive tackle (1:03:25).

In Three Things We Think (1:11:00), we talk about how it looks like Jim Harbaugh is actually going to get a contract extension at Michigan, how it helps Ohio State the longer Harbaugh stays at Michigan and Tom Herman stays at Texas and why this year has made the case for the College Football Playoff to expand to eight teams.

Finally, we answer your questions (1:27:05) about Zach Harrison's development, whether Miyan Williams could be a factor at running back and the proper way to eat French fries.

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Just a few hours after we published last week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, 2020 struck again.

That's when the news started to leak out that Ohio State was battling positive COVID-19 cases within the program, and by the end of the week, the Buckeyes had to cancel their road trip to Illinois, marking the second time in three weeks that Ohio State has had a game canceled.

So that's what where we start on this week's episode of RPW, as we discuss why Ohio State made the decision to cancel (7:50) – and why that might have, hopefully saved this week's trip to Michigan State – followed by how that could impact Ohio State's chances of making the College Football Playoff (18:00). Is Ohio State a sure bet to make the playoff if it plays the remainder of its three scheduled games and wins out, and do the Buckeyes need to play all three of those games to make the CFP? We discuss the various scenarios that could help or hurt the Buckeyes, whether they need to win impressively or just win out and why we're both putting Ohio State's chances of making the playoff at just over 60 percent right now (40:50).

With hopes that we will see the Buckeyes play the Spartans on Saturday, we briefly discuss our expectations for that game (43:00), how the absence of Ryan Day and players who tested positive could impact Ohio State in that game and why we're still both mostly confident Ohio State will win convincingly in East Lansing despite the uncertainties at play.

In Three Things We Think (50:00), Colin talks about why he's glad to see Larry Johnson finally get his head coaching opportunity and Tuf Borland finally getting some respect, and Dan rants about why the Big Ten shouldn't change the six-game minimum for the conference championship game, why the conspiracy theories about teams ducking out of games need to just stop and why we need to appreciate every game we get to watch Ohio State play this year.

Finally, we answer your questions (1:15:55) about who Ohio State's next recruiting commitments could be (with an assist from recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter), who impressed us most in the first two Ohio State basketball games and more.

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We had no shortage of ground to cover on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

The initial College Football Playoff rankings were revealed on Tuesday night, Ohio State just landed a pair of five-star recruits from Texas and the Buckeyes are set for an unconventional Thanksgiving weekend matchup with Illinois. But we had to start this week's episode by talking about the Buckeyes' pass defense, which has been the topic of the week after Ohio State gave up 491 passing yards against Indiana.

What's wrong with Ohio State's pass defense, and can the Buckeyes fix it? We talk about what we believe the issues are, what changes we would make to Ohio State's secondary and why there might not be a sure-fire solution – though we don't believe that's reason to give up your championship hopes and dreams.

After about 25 minutes of discussion on that, we share our other takeaways from the Buckeyes' 42-35 win over Indiana, including why we think Justin Fields suddenly become mistake-prone against the Hoosiers, why we don't have any concerns about lingering issues for the Ohio State quarterback and how we believe the offensive line and running backs stepped up their games to help lead the Buckeyes to victory.

We share our thoughts on Ohio State's initial College Football Playoff ranking around the 48:40 mark, and why we don't believe the Buckeyes are in a position to complain about being ranked behind Clemson, but why Ohio State is just fine at No. 4 anyway, as it appears to have a clear path to the playoff if it can win out.

Because we both expect that the Illinois game should be a fairly easy win for Ohio State, and there isn't anything that particularly stands out about the matchup with Illini, we spend just a few minutes previewing the Buckeyes' next game (beginning at 54:30).

Then, we shift our focus to the recruiting trail to talk about the commitments of five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers and wide receiver Caleb Burton, the eye-popping start that Ohio State is off to in building its recruiting class of 2022 and how Ohio State has emerged as the new QBU in the eyes of top quarterback recruits.

In Three Things We Think (1:08:30), Colin shares his preseason takes on Ohio State basketball and why he'll be focusing on the backcourt, Justice Sueing and defense as the season begins, while Dan explains why he's ready to grade the Al Washington hire as an “A” and how he believes fixing the pass defense is a new kind of test that Ryan Day has to deal with for the first time as Ohio State's head coach.

Finally, Colin discusses his controversial stance on Thanksgiving food (1:26:20) as we wrap up the show by answering a couple food-related questions from listeners.

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Let's hope this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays has a longer shelf life than last week.

Just a few hours after we published last week's episode, aptly titled “What's Actually Worth Worrying About?”, we got a harsh reminder of the threat that everyone has to worry about this season when Ohio State's fourth game of the year was canceled due to a spike in positive COVID-19 tests at Maryland. We begin this week's episode by discussing the fallout of that cancellation and whether it has any effect on the Buckeyes' College Football Playoff hopes.

We don't spend too much dwelling on that, though, since the Buckeyes have what looks to be their biggest game of the regular season against Indiana – currently the only team with a winning record that Ohio State will play in the regular season – on Saturday at noon. What's enabled the Hoosiers to start the season 4-0, and are they actually a threat to Ohio State, or will the Buckeyes' superior talent enable them to win comfortably? We discuss all of that and answer your questions about the Hoosiers.

In a season where Michigan is now 1-3 and Penn State is now 0-4, we also weave in a conversation (around the 40-minute mark) about how unusual this Big Ten season has been so far and how the gap between Ohio State and the other traditional powers in the Big Ten East appears to be wider than ever.

Finally, in Three Things We Think (53:05), Dan talks about why the narrative that Maryland didn't want to play Ohio State is foolish, why James Franklin's seat should be starting to warm up and why it's gotta be the end of the line for Jim Harbaugh, and Colin talks about how chaotic he expects college basketball season to be, why Roddy Gayle's commitment is a big win for the basketball Buckeyes and why it's difficult to figure out how the extra year of eligibility will impact college football rosters beyond this season.

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Even though Ohio State was never in jeopardy of losing against Rutgers, most of the discussion following the Buckeyes' 49-27 win over the Scarlet Knights has been about their imperfections rather than their 3-0 start to the season.

So as we started this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays with our look back at the Buckeyes' 22-point win against Rutgers, we spent much of the first 35 minutes of the show talking about how much Ohio State fans should actually be worried about some of the areas that have been raised as concerns, including the running game, the interior offensive line and the defense as a whole, particularly the secondary.

Dan explains why he thinks the panic over the Buckeyes' subpar second-half play against Rutgers is mostly unnecessary overreaction after a game Ohio State still largely dominated, while Colin explains why he's actually more confident in Ohio State's chances of winning a national championship now than he was three weeks ago.

After sharing our takeaways from the Rutgers game and why the Scarlet Knights ran so many trick plays, we shift our focus to Maryland around the halfway point of the show to discuss how the Terrapins' offense could be the biggest test yet for the Buckeyes' passing defense and what could make the difference between a competitive game and a blowout.

We also spend a few minutes talking about Ohio State basketball (56:30), including the news that Jimmy Sotos and Meechie Johnson will be eligible to play this season but Abel Porter won't, before turning our focus back to football for our Three Things We Think (1:05:30), including how Tuf Borland has legitimately become one of the best players on an Ohio State defense with limited star power, why Colin's back on the Demario McCall bandwagon and how Antwuan Jackson has quietly started to make an impact at defensive tackle.

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For the most part, Ohio State looked like a team capable of contending for a national championship on Saturday night at Penn State.

Justin Fields, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson continued to shine, the running game took a step forward and the defensive front seven broke through in a big way to lead the Buckeyes to a 38-25 win in what might be their toughest test of the regular season. So there were plenty of positives from the trip to Happy Valley for us to discuss on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays, and that's how we started the show.

The one major area of concern still lingering for the Buckeyes after that game is their secondary, as Penn State passed for more than 250 yards in Saturday night's second half and cornerback Cameron Brown is now out for the remainder of the season. So at the 22:30 mark, we pivot to talking about the defensive backs and what needs to happen there for Ohio State's secondary to be good enough to win a national title.

We don't spend a lot of time breaking down the upcoming game against Rutgers, considering that the Buckeyes are favored to win by 38 points, but we do talk about what we're most looking forward to watching on Saturday night (for one, freshman quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller likely throwing their first collegiate passes) and what we think Greg Schiano can realistically accomplish over the course of his tenure with the Scarlet Knights.

In Three Things We Think (49:00), Colin talks about why he thinks Ohio State is a College Football Playoff lock and why he thinks all five of the Buckeyes' offensive linemen will be selected in the first three rounds of the NFL draft, and Dan talks about the Big Ten backing itself into a corner with its schedule and why he thinks Pete Werner will block a field goal this season.

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“Some guys are walking around the locker room like, man, what happened? 52-17, that's a pretty good day, boys.”

That's what Ryan Day said Tuesday regarding the expectations surrounding his Ohio State team right now – which caused some Buckeyes to be displeased by their performance despite a 35-point win over Nebraska in Saturday's season opener – and we're sharing a similar message on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays.

While much of the narrative following Ohio State's first game has been about its shaky defensive start and its underwhelming running game, some growing pains in the Buckeyes' first game shouldn't have been unexpected – especially considering the unusual offseason and the fact they were opening the year against a conference opponent – and there were plenty of positives to take away from the game, like Justin Fields' almost perfect performance and Ohio State scoring 38 of the final 41 points.

So we spend the first 30 minutes of this week's show by talking about why you should be happy with how the Buckeyes started the season and what our biggest takeaways were from Saturday's opening game.

In the show's second trimester, we look ahead to what should be a tougher test this week at Penn State, where the goal for Ohio State should be just to get a win in its first road game of the year against the Big Ten team that's given the Buckeyes their most consistent competition for the past four years. We discuss what Ohio State must do to contain Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford and tight end Pat Freiermuth, why we're looking forward to the matchup between Ohio State's offensive tackles and Penn State's defensive ends and much more about Saturday night's showdown in Happy Valley.

In Three Things We Think (47:20), Dan argues that Ryan Day shouldn't have apologized to Scott Frost and considers the dose of reality that comes with Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz testing positive for COVID-19, and Colin shares his thoughts on Nicholas Petit-Frere's strong debut at right tackle, the continued wait for Tyreke Smith to break out and why he disagrees with the notion that Ohio State is playing the wrong linebackers.

Finally (1:05:00), we wrap up the show by answering a large batch of reader questions about why Justin Fields will likely continue to run the ball often, whether Ohio State will have a 1,000-yard rusher or receiver this season, who the Buckeyes' No. 3 receiver will be and whether Pete Werner should move back to Sam.

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We made it.

Ohio State will finally play its season opener on Saturday at noon against Nebraska, so we spend this week's show talking about our expectations for the first game and what we're most intrigued to see the Buckeyes as they play an actual football game for the first time in 10 months.

In the first 30 minutes of this week's show, we hit on why a mostly-empty Ohio Stadium shouldn't have much impact on the actual game but will make for a weird environment, the top matchups to watch in Saturday's game (10:30) and what could actually allow Nebraska to keep this game close (17:00). We also discuss how we'd bet on the game (25:30 – take our advice at your own risk) and come to the conclusion that the current spread is right where it should be but the over could be in play – both because of Ohio State's offense and because of Ohio State's defense.

In Three Things We Think (31:30), Dan discusses how much Georgia would benefit from having Justin Fields right now, why Ohio State's secondary absolutely must be good for the Buckeyes to have a chance to win in the College Football and why we're still not exactly sure what Greg Mattison's role will be this season. Colin talks about the Ohio State players he's most fascinated to watch on Saturday, including offensive tackles Nicholas Petit-Frere and Thayer Munford, wide receiver Garrett Wilson and safety Marcus Hooker.

Finally, we answer your questions (54:10) about why you shouldn't read into C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller still having their black stripes, how confident we are that Ohio State will actually get to play all of its games this fall, which running back should be in the game on third-and-long and why Jameson Williams may or may not be a factor in the return game this year.

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We discuss why this season is national championship or bust for Ohio State, who the Buckeyes' most indispensable players are and more in our Season Preview episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We also discuss our takeaways from Ohio State's most recent press conferences and turn on the "BS Meter" for some of the coachspeak we're just not buying.

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After we finally got to watch the Buckeyes practice in person for the first time in seven months, we share our takeaways from a brief glimpse into the team's preparation for the 2020 season as well as what we've learned from the team's most recent press conferences, including why we're increasingly excited about Ohio State's offense, why we're concerned about the Buckeyes' defensive tackle depth and how Pete Werner's move to Will linebacker could impact the defense.

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Dan and Colin draft players from Ohio State's 2020 football roster with the objective of building the best lineup to beat the other host's team in a hypothetical game. They also discuss their takeaways from Ohio State's most recent press conference, including how the running back rotation could shake out, why there could be as many as three freshmen in the receiver rotation and what Justin Fields' decision to become a vegan says about his commitment to getting even better.

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We break down Ohio State's new(est) schedule for the 2020 season and discuss the impact of Shaun Wade announcing he'll return to Ohio State (again) and how the rest of the Buckeyes' secondary could stack up around him.

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Big Ten football is returning in October, and Ohio State will have the chance to compete for a national championship after all. We discuss how we got here and what our expectations for the Buckeyes are now that we know we'll actually get to watch them play football this fall.

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Ohio State's season opener should have been last Saturday, so we begin this week's episode by reflecting on what we miss about covering games at Ohio Stadium. Then, we look ahead to which new NFL Buckeyes we're most excited to watch this weekend and which current Ohio State draft prospects could be hurt the most if there's no fall season. Finally, Colin gets some frustration off his chest and rants about the Big Ten's continued indecisiveness.

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After another week full of twists and turns, we discuss whether we should actually expect the Big Ten to play at some point this fall and whether that will come with a chance for Ohio State to make the College Football Playoff. We also share our thoughts from attending our first high school games of the year, why the Big Ten is still failing to be transparent and why watching other teams play college football right now just feels weird.

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We talk about the continued unrest surrounding the Big Ten's decision to postpone fall sports, what the conference's plans for winter football are looking like and the ramifications of the NCAA giving everyone an extra year of eligibility. We also bring in Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter to discuss how recruiting has been impacted by the season postponement and who he expects to be the next Buckeye commits.

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We assess the Big Ten's decision to shut down fall sports, consider how that affects Ohio State in the short and long terms and discuss what needs to happen for spring football to work.

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After a busy 24 hours for Ohio State football and college sports, we break down the Buckeyes' new schedule for 2020, preview Thursday's start of fall camp, take a look at Ohio State's captains for the 2020 season and weigh in on the NCAA's decision to deny C.J. Saunders a sixth year of eligibility.

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After a week off, we're back to talk about the commitments of Jordan Hancock and Malaki Branham to the Ohio State football and basketball teams and to discuss where things stand for the 2020 football season as we still have more questions than answers entering the last week of July.

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After the Big Ten canceled non-conference games and Ohio State temporarily shut down workouts, we discuss what must happen if college football is going to be played this fall. We also wrap up our State of the Position series with a look at Ohio State's present and future at safety.

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We discuss our expectations for Shaun Wade and the rest of Ohio State's cornerbacks in 2020, consider which Buckeyes we overvalued and undervalued a year ago and answer your questions about the basketball team's potential, which other Big Ten coaches we think would do best at Ohio State and more.

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We take a look at which members of Ohio State's recruiting class of 2018 the Buckeyes will be counting on breaking through in 2020, weigh how the Buckeyes can best utilize their seven upperclassman linebackers this season and debut Three Things We Think, a new segment in which we banter about some of our Ohio State football thoughts from the past week.

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After a week in which several college football teams reported COVID-19 outbreaks, we discuss whether things are moving in the wrong direction and what needs to happen for the 2020 season to start on time. We also discuss last week's news that Ohio State has scheduled a home-and-home series with Alabama and look through the Buckeyes' strong slate of non-conference opponents for the next 12 years. We also continue our State of the Position series with a look at the Buckeyes' defensive ends entering 2020.

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We discuss which Ohio State freshmen will play in 2020 and who should redshirt this year, how the Buckeyes' defensive tackle room could stack up this season, what to make of the "Buckeye Pledge" Ohio State athletes signed and what needs to happen for Ohio State to sign the highest-rated recruiting class ever.

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We discuss Ohio State's return to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for voluntary workouts and continue our State of the Position series with a look at the Buckeyes' present and future on the offensive line. Then, we bring on former Ohio State linebacker Cie Grant for a conversation about the 2002 national championship, current events and more.

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We reflect on what we've learned over the past week as Ohio State student-athletes have been among those speaking up about racism in the aftermath of George Floyd's death. We also discuss who Ohio State's captains for the 2020 season could be and continue our State of the Position series with the tight ends.

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We discuss how Ohio State continues to pull away from the rest of the Big Ten with its work on the recruiting trail, continue our State of the Position series with a look at the Buckeyes' wide receivers and highlight some under-the-radar Buckeyes who could emerge as impact players in 2020. Plus, Dan attempts to sing.

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Former Ohio State linebacker Joshua Perry joins us to discuss the challenges players could face in returning to football after months away from campus and with the ongoing risk of COVID-19, and we continue our State of the Position series by discussing the present and future of the Buckeyes' running back room.

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Zack Carpenter joins us to draft teams from Ohio State's 2020, 2021 and 2022 recruits and we begin our State of the Position series with a discussion on the Buckeyes' present and future at quarterback.

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Ohio State men's basketball coach Chris Holtmann joins us to discuss everything from next year's team to Tiger King, and we break down the potential impact name, image and likeness benefits could have on college sports and specifically the Buckeyes.

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We discuss our takeaways from a prolific 2020 NFL draft for Ohio State, who could be the Buckeyes' top prospects for 2021, what we learned from recent teleconferences with Ohio State's assistant coaches and how the recruiting class of 2022 is off to a strong start with two commitments.

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We discuss Ryan Day's most recent comments on the possibility of an altered college football season, the commitments of recruits Tunmise Adelye and Jantzen Dunn to Ohio State and where each of the Buckeyes in this year's NFL draft could end up.

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We discuss the current outlook for whether there will be a college football season this fall, what Chris Holtmann had to say about all the transfers from the Ohio State basketball team and who's most likely to be the Buckeyes' third wide receiver behind Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson in 2020.

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Following Luther Muhammad's surprising decision to enter the transfer portal, we begin this week's episode by discussing the heavy roster movement that has taken place for the Ohio State basketball team since the end of the season. Then, we discuss how Ohio State's recruiting operation has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak and consider whether the remaining members of the Buckeyes' recruiting class of 2017 can lead Ohio State to a national title in 2020.

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Coming off the commitment of five-star running back TreVeyon Henderson, we talk about Ohio State's No. 1-ranked recruiting class and how each assistant coach is performing on the trail. We also discuss our takeaways from Ryan Day's recent teleconference, analyze the NCAA's decision to give spring sports athletes another year of eligibility and look back at some of the best moments in Ohio State's year in sports.

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Ohio State's football and basketball roster movement gives us something to talk about on this week's episode as we discuss the incoming transfers of Trey Sermon and Seth Towns and the departures of DJ Carton and Alonzo Gaffney. We also discuss how the lack of spring practices and uncertain months ahead could affect the football team's preparation for the 2020 season, what the basketball team's lineup will look like for 2020-21 and how each football position group could compare between 2019 and 2020.

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We talk about the impact the coronavirus outbreak has had on Ohio State sports, including the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament and the stoppage of spring football practices. Then, we bring in Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter to help us break down a huge week on the recruiting trail for the Buckeyes, who landed four commitments in the past three days.

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We interpret what we can take away from the Ohio State assistant coaches' new contracts, discuss how Ohio State's seven-upperclassman linebacker depth chart could shake out, analyze Cade Stover's move to tight end and preview the basketball Buckeyes' trip to the Big Ten Tournament.

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We discuss the impact of Master Teague's injury and our takeaways from Ohio State's opening day of spring practice. We also discuss college football's new proposed rule changes and Ryan Day's contract extension, recap how the Buckeyes performed at the NFL Scouting Combine and look at the Ohio State basketball team's late-season surge.

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Ohio State's current football team will begin spring practice on Monday and 11 former Ohio State football players are participating in this week's NFL Scouting Combine, so we preview both – plus give our latest thoughts on Ohio State men's basketball after its top-10 win against Maryland – on this week's episode.

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We begin this week's episode with a brief discussion on Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint's arrest and subsequent dismissal from the Ohio State football team, then take a position-by-position look at the Buckeyes' 2020 defense heading into spring practices.

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We discuss our takeaways from last week's National Signing Day, including the potential for Cameron Martinez to play on both sides of the ball and Kerry Coombs' introductory press conference, and continue our pre-spring position-by-position breakdowns with the wide receivers, tight ends and offensive line.

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As Ohio State officially wraps up its recruiting class of 2020, we take a look at each of the Buckeyes' 25 new freshmen.

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Eleven Warriors film guru joins us to discuss how Kerry Coombs will fit Ohio State's new defensive scheme and how the Buckeyes' running game could change with Master Teague, and we begin our pre-spring position previews with a look at Ohio State's quarterbacks and running backs. We also discuss our takeaways from last week's Mickey Marotti press conference, wrap up the Decade in Review series and considering what Ohio State men's basketball must do to secure an NCAA Tournament berth.

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We discuss Kerry Coombs' return to Ohio State as defensive coordinator, our takeaways from last week's Ryan Day press conference and the best games and most dominant seasons of the 2010s. Also, what's wrong with the Ohio State men's basketball team, and should we be concerned about the Buckeyes being over the 85-man scholarship limit?

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We reflect on Joe Burrow's journey from Ohio State to LSU, discuss how the Buckeyes would have fared in a hypothetical national championship game at LSU, take a look at the early odds for next season's national title and Heisman winner, check in with Zack Carpenter for an update on Ohio State recruiting and discuss which Buckeyes made – or should have made – the All-Decade team for the 2010s.

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We discuss the impact of Shaun Wade's decision to stay at Ohio State, weigh the pros and cons of promoting Corey Dennis and potentially rehiring Kerry Coombs and discuss some of the biggest questions looking ahead to the 2020 season.

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We discuss the missed opportunities and questionable calls that cost Ohio State in its season-ending Fiesta Bowl loss to Clemson and put the Buckeyes' 13-1 season in perspective as we turn the calendar from 2019 to 2020.

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We break down Ohio State's matchup with Clemson from all angles and make our predictions for who will win ahead of Saturday's College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl.

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We discuss the impact of Jeff Hafley's departure and how Ohio State will move forward without him, Kyle Jones joins us to talk X's and O's and break down the Buckeyes' matchup with Clemson and Brad Senkiw also joins us for insight on the Tigers.

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We take a first look at Ohio State's College Football Playoff matchup with Clemson, review the Buckeyes' closer-than-expected Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin and predict which Buckeyes will win national awards. Additionally, we bring in Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter to preview early signing day, discuss Ohio State basketball's continued rise in the rankings and answer your listener questions.

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We review Ohio State's 56-27 win over Michigan, discuss why we don't expect the Big Ten Championship Game rematch against Wisconsin to be very different from the first game, consider potential College Football Playoff scenarios and preview Ohio State basketball's road test at North Carolina.

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We discuss our takeaways from Ohio State's first close game of the year against Penn State, what it means for the Buckeyes to be back at No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings and preview Saturday's rivalry game in Ann Arbor.

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We break down this week's big game against Penn State, discuss why the Buckeyes' 56-21 win over Rutgers isn't worth overanalyzing, take a look at the race for the College Football Playoff's No. 1 seed, considering how good Ohio State basketball could be this season and answer all your questions about Ohio State football ahead of Saturday's showdown with the Nittany Lions.

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Ohio State is now No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings despite obliterating Maryland without Chase Young. We discuss the Buckeyes' beatdown of the Terrapins, their chances of still getting the No. 1 seed in the playoff, Young's suspension and what should be another blowout win over Rutgers on Saturday. (Disclaimer: This episode was recorded before the news that Young's suspension would last two games was released.)

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Ohio State is No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, the Buckeyes are 44-point favorites against Maryland and Ohio State basketball season begins tonight against Cincinnati. We discuss it all on this week's Real Pod Wednesdays.

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We discuss Ohio State's most impressive win yet against Wisconsin, Chase Young's chances of winning the Heisman Trophy and the upcoming College Football Playoff rankings and answer a large batch of reader questions about the Buckeyes.

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We break down Ohio State's 52-3 win over Northwestern, discuss just how impressive the Buckeyes' consistent dominance has been and look ahead to whether Wisconsin can finally be the team that gives Ohio State a real test this week.

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As the second half of Ohio State's regular season begins, we preview this week's Friday night game at Northwestern, take a look at the national big picture and discuss which Buckeyes will be in the spotlight as players who could play bigger roles as the season progresses.

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Eleven Warriors' Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill review Ohio State's latest impressive win over Michigan State and how the Buckeyes stack up through the first six games of the season, and take some bye-week time to answer your questions, including who could leave early for the NFL draft after this season.

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After yet another dominant win by Ohio State at Nebraska, Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill discuss whether the Buckeyes are the best team in the country, struggle to find any weaknesses, look ahead to this week's game against Michigan State and answer another batch of questions from Eleven Warriors readers.

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Eleven Warriors' Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill review Ohio State's latest display of dominance against Miami (Ohio), discuss how Chase Young stacks up against the Bosas and look ahead to what should be the Buckeyes' toughest test of the season to date against Nebraska. They also answer the latest batch of questions from Eleven Warriors readers, including whether the bullet position really exists and whether there's anyone on the regular-season schedule who can actually beat the Buckeyes.

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Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill discuss how Ohio State has looked like a complete team so far and its big-picture potential after the Buckeyes' 51-10 win over Indiana. Additionally, Dan and Colin answer questions from Eleven Warriors readers, including a look at which freshmen will redshirt and who won't, how the backup quarterback situation currently stacks up and more.

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Eleven Warriors beat writers Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill review the Buckeyes' 42-0 win over Cincinnati, including another strong start for Justin Fields and a shutout by the defense, look ahead to this week's game at Indiana and answer readers' questions on the third episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

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Eleven Warriors beat writers Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill review Ohio State's season-opening 45-21 win over FAU, break down Justin Fields' first start, look ahead to the Buckeyes' second game against Cincinnati and answer questions from 11W readers in the second episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.

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Eleven Warriors' Dan Hope and Colin Hass-Hill hit the ground running with the first of a weekly podcast on Ohio State sports.

In the premiere episode, Dan and Colin preview the 2019 Ohio State football season and make their predictions ahead of Saturday's season opener against FAU.

Real Pod Wednesdays: Recent Episodes

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