Seven hundred wlw Rnlkerrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. I'm Lance Percallister. I'm very excited to welcome on our next guest. I can't imagine how busy he is this week, and so kind of him to take out time tonight. Let's talk buck Eyes. It's Ohio State and Indiana for the Big Ten Championships Saturday night in Indy. My next guest covers the buck Eyes covered him for fourteen years
with the Columbus Dispatch. These days on Substack, author of fabulous books on Ohio State football, Buckeye Rebirth about the undefeated twenty twelve team, The Chase after their twenty fourteen National championship season, the newest one on last season's title, Buckeye Brotherhood is a must read. For more on all of that, let's welcome in Bill Rabinowitz.
How are you good, Lanns. Thanks for a very kind introduction, creshid it, you got it.
It is so great to catch up with you and so happy for all that you have going on. The book is fabulous. Let me start from this point. What a difference in vibe and narrative around this program and around Ryan Day compared to a year ago at this time after losing to Michigan. Yeah.
Absolutely, I mean, in fact, it was was a day. It was the Tuesday after the Michigan game last year that they had this now famous team meeting with Ryan Day, just Ryan Day and the players, and they went at it in a healthy way, but a very brutally honest way about what had gone wrong against Michigan, what they needed to correct before the playoffs. That really ended up being a cathartic meeting. And we all know what happened
after that. But they entered the room that day a very very demoralized team and they left it a really inspired team.
Bill was that book buck Eye Brotherhood? Was the book in the works from the start of the season, or did the season rise to the level of writing a book?
Yeah? No, I did not plan to write another book. It'st All of them have been kind of accidental, didn't I never intended to be an author. And then twenty twelve and I said, okay, fine, I'll do that and that'll be on my one and only. And then twenty fourteen, which was even crazier it happened, Oh I got to ride this one. And then I thought, Okay, I'm done, and then last year happened. So no, I did not
plan on doing it. It wasn't like I was like a squirrel hiding away little nuts and doing that kind of stuff. But I did like fifty plus interviews with all the key people and really pieced it together from the inside out as best I could.
All right, let's talk about this team right now, the present day team. And this may be a dumb question or word question, but they've beaten Michigan, They're in the playoff field. How important? How big is Saturday in the grand scheme of things.
No, it's a great question because on one hand, you have one versus two, right, normally that'd be like, oh my god, it's one versus two, But it really doesn't matter. And the grand scheme of things, Yes, they want to win in big tens. They haven't done it five years. They haven't been to Indianapolis in five years, so I definitely want to win it. But they're going to get a bye in the playoff no matter what happens. In the same with Indiana. There the only two underfeated teams.
They're not going to drop below four for sure. The loser and so it's it's a game for pride, but it's not going to be I mean not the game gets Michigan is the one they needed to win because they lost four straight and that was the one that just they that was the must win. This is not
a must win. They want to win it. It'll be nice to win it, but it's you know, I won't say it will be forgotten, but in the scheme of things, you know, Michigan is important in the playoffs, is really important, and this will be kind of the one in the middle. But again it's one versus too, so it's a pretty cool game.
There are some moving parts obviously. Today Brian Hartline, the offensive coordinator wide receivers coach, has taken the USF head coaching job. What's your reaction to that news today?
Yeah, I was I was surprised, but not surprised. I think we all knew that Brian Hartline, given the success he had as the wide receivers coach and now the offensive quitter coordinator, was going to be moving on. I mean, he had earned it, and so I think that's a really good job for him. You know, people start talking about ten State, I thought, I'm not sure that he's quite ready for that. That pressure cooker. He could go
down to Tampa. That was funny that South Florida, right is in Tampa, which is not in Southern Florida, you know, the west side of Florida. But anyway, you know, it's a good program. They're building a new stadium. I think he'll be successful there. Then from there he can make whatever jump he wants. Probably, but you know, it's impossible to keep a guy like that around for too long unless he wants to stay. But he played Pro football
with the Dolphins, so he's familiar with Florida. I think he'll do a good job down there.
For those who maybe aren't up on the latest news, it appears one of the dominoes that has fallen from that is that Chris Henry Junior, one of the top maybe the top wide receiver in the country, had originally said he would sign with Ohio State. He now appears to be his name in play with multiple schools at this moment.
Yeah, and I don't blame him. I tweeted this earlier today. I mean, if you have that kind of news on the day that you are supposed to sign, why wouldn't you, you know, take as much time as you can and figure out. Okay, it's just still the school for me. And I asked Ryan Day about he can't talk about players specifically who haven't signed, but but his point was essentially, Ohio State is Ohio State. We're going to get somebody good. It's the culture here strong. I'm sure that's the pitch
to Chris Henry. But in this nil era, you know, who knows how much money we'll talk and Ohio States general philosophy is will pay the top guys, and he is a top guy. But you know they want guys to earn it before they get the big Nio bucks. And so it'll be very fascinating to see how that develops. Obviously, Ohio State is still a wide receiver you and they're
going to get a good wide receiver, Seach. I mean there's no you know, Mark Antoni, the general manager of Ohio State, said they're probably fifty guys who already sent their resumes to Ryan Day. So he's going to have the pick of the litter. And but I under you know, it's all of a sudden he doesn't have the guy there, and so it makes sense for him to at least take another look at it on.
The other side of the ball, with the defense. If you look at this stat sheet and you see ninety three points allowed in twelve games, it almost looks like a misprint and you said, well, that can't possibly be right, but it is. Describe the impact the defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has had in his first season on this team.
Yeah, I mean ninety three points. It's like two Bengal game days.
Well done.
Yeah, I used to cover the Bengal pick a shot. He has done a fantastic job. And there was a lot of skepticism when he was hired because he had framed out as the Lions coach, and there's a lot of question about the fact that how much was he responsible for the Patriots' success on defense versus Belichick. Legitimately so. And the other thing was he hadn't coached in college for two decades and he really exclusively been in the pros.
But he's done just an amazing job. I mean, they lost eight defensive starters and they're better than they were last year. It helpstep Caleb Bounds for sure and Sonny Styles for sure at linebacker and Davis Digbdosin is a good cornerback. But to have eight new starters and play even better than they did last year, that's that's pretty amazing.
Quarterback Julian's saying through I think attempted twelve passes last year. This season he made very well, won the Heisman, completing seventy nine percent of his passes, thirty touchdowns, five picks. Aside from the numbers, what has impressed you most about him this season?
He's just unfazable. Nothing just bothers. On the second pass of the game against Mishkin's intercepted for a lot of guys, especially a red short freshman that could be really really tough to get over, he just went back out there like nothing ever happened. He's just really poised. He's incredibly accurate. He's got a strong arm, but the accuracy is the thing, and the quick release. He also is able to feel the pocket very well. I mean, he can run, but
he's not Will Howard. He's certainly now a guy like Braxton Miller or just feels like like the highest he has had. But he could run well enough. But he's just really good at feeling pressure and being able to roll out and throw on the run and it's been very impressive. Yeah, I think the I think whoever plays better and whoever's team wins between Ohio State Indiana with Fernando Mendoza is probably going to be the Heisman winner.
The book is Buckeye Brotherhood. It's a fabulous read. It would be perfect for the holidays for those who want to get the book. For those who want to read your stuff on substack, tell them how they can go about doing that.
Yeah, it's Bill Ribido. It's R A, B I, N O, W I t Z dot substack dot com. And it's a very good problem to have, but it's a problem. The book is more or less sold out, at least the hardcovers have, so we are working really hard to get more copies than paperbacks coming in. If you subscribe to my substack, I will I will send you a free paperback version of it. If you are a Founder's member, which is, you know, kind of an upper level, then you can get a free hardcover book from me. I'll
sign it and personalize it. Otherwise, you can try Barnes anddnoble dot com. You can certainly try some of the local bookstores in Columbus. In terms of their online site book Loft and Gramarcy Books. Yeah, it's frustrating because you want everybody who wants the book today to be able to get it today. They will have it. We know that. The reason that we kind of went to paperback is you can produce those fast and quick, fast, and you know, and pretty easily. So I think it's it's a matter
of days. But again, if you want it for sure, and you want it signed and personalized, I'm come to you know, join my subtech.
Hey, I always enjoy our conversations. I always appreciate you making time. I know it's been a hectic day. Thanks for carving out some time tonight. You know you're welcome anytime. And congrats on the book and best of luck with it going forward.
I appreciate it. Lan, It's always banks to the only joy.
Take care, Bill. We hear a little bit