It’s a season-defining week for Ohio State men’s basketball. The Buckeyes are headed to the Big Ten Tournament with a chance to earn their way into the NCAA Tournament, but they’ll need to win at least two games in Minneapolis – which means beating an equally desperate Iowa team and a top-15-ranked Illinois team – to have a real shot of landing a spot in the bracket on Selection Sunday. Meanwhile, Ohio State’s search for its next head coach continues to unfold behind the scenes. Florida Atlantic...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 232
Ohio State doesn’t have as many holes to fill this spring as it usually does, but there’s still plenty to talk about after the Buckeyes’ first spring practice. The biggest headlines from the first day of spring practice included Sonny Styles’ move to linebacker, Luke Montgomery starting the spring as the first-team right guard and Devin Brown getting his shot to compete for the starting quarterback job. Tuesday also brought Chip Kelly’s first press conference as Ohio State’s offensive coordinato...
Mar 06, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 231
The start of spring football is less than one week away, Ohio State men’s basketball could play its way back into NCAA Tournament contention, a frontrunner has emerged in Ohio State’s coaching search and the NFL Scouting Combine is underway. That gives us a lot of ground to cover on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, and we discussed it all in a little more than 80 minutes. With Ohio State football set to begin spring practices Tuesday, we start this week’s RPW by previewing the spring ...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 230
There’s finally something positive to talk about with Ohio State men’s basketball. After struggling through most of January and February in Chris Holtmann’s final weeks as head coach, the Buckeyes started Jake Diebler’s interim coaching tenure off with a bang by upsetting No. 2 Purdue, 73-69, to earn their biggest win of the season in their first game following Holtmann’s firing. Could that win spark a late run back into NCAA Tournament contention for the Buckeyes? We assess what would need to h...
Feb 21, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 229
What will Chip Kelly bring to Ohio State’s offense? We called in our X’s and O’s expert to help us break it down. Eleven Warriors football scheme analyst Kyle Jones joins us on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays for an in-depth conversation on what Ohio State’s offense could look like with Kelly calling the plays as the Buckeyes’ new offensive coordinator. Our conversation with Jones touches on a variety of topics related to Kelly’s hiring including how he has built consistently elite ru...
Feb 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 228
A lot has happened in Ohio State football over the last five weeks, and Ryan Day still has to hire at least one more coach for the 2024 season. Ohio State reporters had their first chance to ask Day about everything that’s happened as he held his first press conference since the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday, giving us a lot to talk about on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We start, however, by talking about the one answer we didn’t get on Wednesday: Whether or not Bill O’Brien will still...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 227
We begin this week’s episode by talking about the big news of the week up in Ann Arbor, where Sherrone Moore is now the head coach following Jim Harbaugh’s departure. While we agree that Moore was the right choice to succeed Harbaugh, we foresee a challenging season ahead for the defending national champions as they replace their head coach, several other key assistants and the majority of their starters from last season. In Columbus, meanwhile, expectations are only growing for the 2024 Ohio St...
Jan 31, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 226
Ohio State’s big start to the offseason got even bigger over the past week. The Buckeyes added the best safety in the country to their roster with the transfer of former Alabama safety Caleb Downs. They added the top quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class with the transfer of former Alabama quarterback Julian Sayin. And they added an offensive coordinator with impressive qualifications in Bill O’Brien. All of that speaks to the sense of urgency Ryan Day and Ohio State are feeling as the Buckey...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 225
The Ohio State football team’s 2024 roster is loaded – especially on defense. With TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, Donovan Jackson, Jack Sawyer, JT Tuimoloau, Tyleik Williams, Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock and Lathan Ransom all choosing to stay at Ohio State for another year rather than enter the 2024 NFL draft, Ohio State’s roster could be the best in the country. The Buckeyes’ defense, in particular, looks like it should be even better than it was this past season. Ohio State’s offense faces ...
Jan 17, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 224
The past week has been full of both good and bad news for Ohio State. Michigan won the national championship on Monday, forcing Buckeye fans to watch their archrival celebrate college football’s biggest prize. On a better note for the Buckeyes, Ohio State added three key pieces via the transfer portal to its offense over the past week: Former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, former Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins and Alabama offensive lineman Seth McLaughlin. We begin this week’s epi...
Jan 10, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 223
Ohio State’s offensive performance in the Cotton Bowl was unlike any we had seen since Ryan Day came to Columbus. The Buckeyes’ three points and 203 yards of offense against Missouri were both by far the worst totals put up by an Ohio State offense in any game since OSU’s 2016 College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Clemson. That game, in which the Buckeyes failed to score any points, led to an offensive staff shakeup that initially brought Day to Ohio State as the Buckeyes’ co-offensive coor...
Jan 03, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 222
Ohio State’s 2023 season finale has arrived. While the Buckeyes aren’t playing for a national championship as hoped, they still have an intriguing matchup to wrap up the year as they take on No. 9 Missouri in the Cotton Bowl on Friday. While the game might mean more to Missouri than it does to Ohio State, the Buckeyes are still plenty motivated to conclude their season with a victory to take some momentum into 2024. A win over the Tigers won’t come easily, however, as Missouri possesses what mig...
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 221
A crazy National Signing Day meant we had to re-record Real Pod Wednesdays. Ohio State signed all but one player it was supposed to – that is, assuming Jeremiah Smith ultimately submits his National Letter of Intent, which he hadn‘t yet as of Wednesday night – but the twists and turns of the day, which unfolded amid Ryan Day’s press conference , were such that we felt we had to record a fresh episode, having previously prerecorded on Tuesday, to talk about everything that happened Wednesday. Per...
Dec 21, 2023•54 min•Ep. 220
With one week to go until National Signing Day and two weeks to go until the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State is simultaneously preparing to play its final game of the 2023 season and working to fill holes on its 2024 roster. We start this week‘s episode with some Cotton Bowl-related conversation after speaking with 11 Ohio State players on Tuesday. We talk about how the initial fears of mass opt-outs appear to have been overblown and discuss Ohio State’s apparent move toward starting Devin Brown at quar...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 219
Now that Kyle McCord is in the transfer portal, the biggest question surrounding Buckeye football is who will replace him as Ohio State’s starting quarterback. Plan A might be bringing in a transfer quarterback – and we see Washington State’s Cam Ward as Option A – but we also think Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz are both viable candidates to start next season if the Buckeyes don’t land a top passer from the portal. We spend the first 30 minutes of this week’s show talking all about why McCord...
Dec 06, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 218
It’s not quite as easy to pinpoint what went wrong against Michigan this time around. In 2021, Ohio State lost because it couldn’t run the ball or stop the run. In 2022, Ohio State lost because it gave up five touchdowns of 45 yards or more. This year, the Buckeyes needed to be just a little bit better across the board. Unfortunately for Ryan Day and the Buckeyes, there’s no moral victories in The Game. Ohio State was more competitive against Michigan this year than it was the last two years, bu...
Nov 29, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 217
It’s all about The Game on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. Typically, we start each week’s episode of RPW by breaking down the previous week’s game before previewing the next opponent. This week, however, we jump right into previewing Ohio State’s season-defining rivalry game with Michigan, weaving in a few takeaways from the Buckeyes’ 37-3 win over Minnesota but otherwise focusing fully on the impending clash of titans in Ann Arbor. With the College Football Playoff set to expand to...
Nov 22, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 216
Ohio State still has to beat Minnesota this week, but we’re already looking ahead to The Game. While the Buckeyes are keeping their focus on the task at hand of beating the Golden Gophers, we aren’t expecting Ohio State to face much resistance from Minnesota in the final home game of the season. Next week’s game at Michigan, however, will make or break the Buckeyes’ season – and we get our best look before The Game at the Wolverines’ strengths and weaknesses in their 24-15 win over Penn State on...
Nov 15, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 215
Ohio State might be making a habit of winning ugly, but it still covered the spread in Piscataway. The Buckeyes had their most competitive game ever against Rutgers this year but still came away with a 35-16 win , and we felt there was more good than bad to take away from Ohio State’s performance – even if it wasn’t the most prolific day for the Buckeyes’ passing offense, run defense or special teams. We begin this week’s episode by sharing all of our takeaways from the Buckeyes’ performance aga...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 214
Ohio State football is the No. 1 team in the country as it enters the final month of the regular season while Ohio State basketball season begins next week. We talk about both sports on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, though our discussion mostly centers around the football Buckeyes, who earned the top spot in the initial College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday night. We think that ranking is well-deserved, and we explain why – and why it does matter – on this week’s show. Ohio ...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 213
Ohio State’s defense keeps getting better. The Buckeyes had their most impressive defensive performance of the season yet as they held Penn State to just one touchdown and one third-down conversion in a 20-12 victory that was good for Ohio State’s second top-10 win of the season. We begin this week’s episode by discussing what impressed us most in Ohio State’s win over the Nittany Lions – including another memorable performance by JT Tuimoloau, how Jordan Hancock and Jermaine Mathews Jr. stepped...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 212
Ohio State played one of its most complete games of the season against Purdue, but a much bigger test awaits this week against Penn State. We spend the first half of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays breaking down what impressed us most from Ohio State’s 41-7 rout of Purdue, including the performance of Dallan Hayden (and why Ohio State should scrap its plan to redshirt Hayden), more creativity in the run game on offense and the play of Ohio State’s defensive ends, Cody Simon, Davison I...
Oct 18, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 211
Ohio State has a defensive-driven team for the first time in Ryan Day’s tenure. Five games into the 2023 season, it’s become increasingly clear that the Buckeyes’ defense is their strength this year. The Buckeyes currently rank in the top 10 nationally in points allowed per game (3rd), yards allowed per play (4th) and yards allowed per game (8th), but their offense – which has perennially ranked among the nation’s best since Day became Ohio State’s head coach in 2019 – ranks just 20th in yards p...
Oct 11, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 210
Maryland is better than all but one team Ohio State has played so far this season, but are the Terrapins good enough to actually challenge the Buckeyes for a win? The Buckeyes don’t have any easy games in October, and that starts this week with Maryland, who has won its first five games of the season. We’re not sure the Terrapins are as good as their records and statistics indicate, however, given that they have yet to play a team with a winning record this year. Taulia Tagovailoa will present a...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 209
We’ve never seen Ryan Day as fired up as he was after Ohio State’s win over Notre Dame on Saturday. Usually calmer and more reserved, Day used both his postgame interview with NBC and his postgame press conference to fire back at Lou Holtz for comments the former Notre Dame coach made one day before the game, in which Holtz predicted that Notre Dame would win and critiqued Day by claiming that “everybody that beats him does so because they are more physical than Ohio State.” We start this week’s...
Sep 27, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 208
Ohio State’s first big game of the season has arrived, and the Buckeyes look to be hitting their stride at the right time. The Buckeyes face a big step up in competition this week against Notre Dame, which will serve as this year’s first real test of how good Ohio State actually is. That said, the Buckeyes are entering the game with momentum on their side after looking the part of an elite team in their dominant 63-10 win over Western Kentucky this past weekend. Ohio State’s offense certainly el...
Sep 20, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 207
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 Buckey...
Sep 13, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 206
Ohio State’s first game of the 2023 season gave us plenty to talk about. While the Buckeyes were never in danger of losing and came back from Indiana with a 1-0 record and a Big Ten road win, Ohio State and its fans were left generally unsatisfied with the team’s performance on offense after the Buckeyes scored just two touchdowns in a 23-3 win . That’s exacerbated concerns about whether Ohio State will have the quarterback play, offensive line and running game it needs to have a championship-ca...
Sep 06, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 205
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 Pa...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 204
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...
Aug 23, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 203
