Explore every episode of the podcast Real Pod Wednesdays
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
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| Drafting Head-to-Head Lineups from Ohio State’s 2025 Roster | 13 août 2025 | 00:38:10 | |
In our annual Ohio State football team draft, Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope and Andy Anders went head-to-head to draft dueling lineups from OSU’s 2025 roster for a hypothetical game of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes. Each beat writer drafted 22 players – 11 on offense and 11 on defense – with the goal of building a lineup that would defeat the other writer’s team in a head-to-head game. Each player could only be drafted once. Each writer was required to draft one quarterback, five offensive linemen and five skill-position players (running backs, wide receivers or tight ends) on offense, and at least three defensive linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs with two flexible positions on defense. There was little suspense around who the first two picks would be, but things got interesting from there as Dan and Andy attempted to strategically outmaneuver each other to give their teams advantages at specific positions. Dan ultimately chose to go to mirror Ohio State’s base formations, drafting three wide receivers on offense and five defensive backs on defense, while Andy opted to go old-school by drafting two tight ends and three linebackers. Dan won the coin toss for our snake draft and chose to take the No. 1 overall pick, after which Andy and Dan alternated selections two at a time until both teams had 22 players for a total of 44 selections. You can read our full explanations for every pick and vote for whose team should win here: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2025/08/157238/2025-ohio-state-football-team-draft-picking-head-to-head-lineups-for-a-matchup-of-buckeyes-vs-buckeyes | |||
| Preview of Ohio State’s Top Position Battles Entering Preseason Camp | 30 juil. 2025 | 00:43:49 | |
We’re less than 24 hours away from the start of preseason camp at Ohio State. As the Buckeyes prepare to start their 25-practice preseason slate on Thursday, we’re previewing all of Ohio State’s top position battles entering camp on a Real Pod Wednesdays-style episode of Press Coverage. We start by sharing our thoughts on the headlining competition of camp, Julian Sayin vs. Lincoln Kienholz for the starting quarterback job, before continuing with our pre-camp thoughts on the ongoing battle at strong safety, competition along the defensive and offensive lines and challenges for Ohio State’s incumbent starters at kicker and punter. The full rundown for our Preseason Camp Preview show, which you can watch in the video at the top of the page:
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| 2025 Kickoff Times Predictions with Ohio State vs. Texas Likely Set for Noon Start | 14 mai 2025 | 00:32:15 | |
Even we beat writers who typically prefer noon games believe Ohio State vs. Texas should be a night game. With how spectacular the atmosphere was for Ohio State’s home night College Football Playoff game against Tennessee, we want to see another primetime showcase for the Buckeyes’ season opener against the Longhorns. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards, however – unsurprisingly – with FOX set to broadcast the Cotton Bowl rematch, likely at noon. As such, Ohio State finds itself facing the possibility of playing most of its big regular-season games at noon once again this year, though we do believe Ohio State vs. Penn State is a prime candidate for the marquee home night game Ohio State and its fans covet. But we’d love to see more transparency with the Big Ten television networks’ game selection process – which could be easily achieved by televising the networks’ game draft during a time on the calendar when sickos like us are starved for more college football content. Eleven Warriors’ Dan Hope, Chase Brown and Garrick Hodge share their thoughts on the season opener’s likely noon destiny, our kickoff time predictions for the rest of the season and how the networks could bring fans into the game selection process on a new episode of Press Coverage, which is also available on the Real Pod Wednesdays feed for this episode. | |||
| The Biggest Things We‘re Looking Forward to With Ohio State Football in 2025 | 07 mai 2025 | 00:54:13 | |
While there’s not a ton happening with Ohio State football right now, there’s a lot to look forward to over the next eight months. Right now, the most anticipated event of the summer for Buckeye fans might be Michigan’s Committee on Infractions hearing that’s set to take place in one month as the Wolverines could finally face punishment from the NCAA this summer for their impermissible scouting scheme orchestrated by former staffer Connor Stalions. The height of recruiting season will also come soon as Ohio State prepares to host official visitors and camps in June, while we’re personally excited to make our way to Las Vegas in July for Big Ten Media Days, the unofficial kickoff to football season. Ohio State’s season opener could be its most highly anticipated season opener ever as the Buckeyes host Texas in a Cotton Bowl rematch that could be a 1 vs. 2 game. Ohio State’s Nov. 1 home game against Penn State will be one of its most-anticipated games against the Nittany Lions ever as the Buckeyes look to spoil Jim Knowles’ return to Columbus. And of course, everyone in Columbus has Ohio State’s Nov. 29 trip to Ann Arbor circled on the calendar with hopes that Ryan Day’s Buckeyes will finally end their drought against Michigan. Add in road trips to Washington, Illinois and Wisconsin and Nico Iamaleava’s return to Columbus with UCLA, and the Buckeyes’ regular-season schedule is loaded with games we can’t wait for. As fun as the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff was, we’re also excited for year two of the expanded playoff race. Of course, we’ll be excited to watch Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs play every game as the Buckeyes’ superstars have the potential to be even better than they were last year. And there’s no shortage of players with the talent to emerge as stars around them, such as Max Klare, James Peoples and Jermaine Mathews Jr., just to name a few. With Ohio State in the quietest part of its offseason and us preparing to take an early summer break on Real Pod Wednesdays, we highlight all the biggest things for Buckeye fans to look forward to this season. The full rundown:
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| Ohio State’s Quarterback Battle is Real and Austin Siereveld’s Stock Keeps Rising | 30 avr. 2025 | 00:43:23 | |
Ohio State’s quarterback competition is real, as is Austin Siereveld’s surge on the offensive line. Those two things were made clear by Ryan Day on Tuesday, when he revealed that Lincoln Kienholz led Ohio State’s quarterback competition entering the spring game – until Julian Sayin evened it up with his spring game performance – and that Siereveld has already earned a starting job this offseason even though Day doesn’t know where he’ll line up on Ohio State’s offensive line yet. Day’s press conference Tuesday also included excitement for the Buckeyes’ recent transfer addition of North Carolina transfer defensive end Beau Atkinson, who we view as a high-quality addition that gives Ohio State the ability to deploy a deep rotation on the edge and get creative with its pass rush personnel this season. Ohio State’s defensive tackle depth is a much bigger question mark, and that concern was only exacerbated by Day’s acknowledgement of the reality that the Buckeyes’ options to upgrade that position through the transfer portal are dwindling – though there is still one available defensive tackle, Oklahoma State’s Justin Kirkland, who would be exactly what the Buckeyes need at nose tackle. Regardless of how that plays out, though, there are many reasons to feel good about the state of Day’s program after the Buckeyes retained their entire scholarship roster during the spring transfer window and had 14 players selected in the 2025 NFL draft. We talked about all of those topics on the newest episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. Here are the timestamps for each chapter should you want to listen to a specific segment first:
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| Predicting Where Each Buckeye Will Land in the 2025 NFL Draft | 23 avr. 2025 | 01:00:07 | |
The 2025 NFL draft is just one day away, and there are at least 15 reasons to be excited if you’re an Ohio State fan. Ohio State is projected to have 15 players drafted, which would break its school record and tie Georgia’s record for the most players selected in a seven-round NFL draft. It’s not out of the question that Ohio State could have as many as 17 players drafted, and we talk about all 17 of the Buckeyes’ draft prospects on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays. In the first half of our NFL draft preview episode, we build our own five-man Buckeye draft squads in which we draft Ohio State players from five different tiers based on their average mock draft position. After that, we make our picks for the Eleven Warriors NFL Draft Contest, in which we predict which round each Buckeye will be drafted in. One of us has four Buckeyes going in Round 1 while the other has only two, but both of us expect at least seven Ohio State players to be drafted in the first two rounds and nine total Buckeyes to be drafted in the first three rounds. We’re both also expecting each of Ohio State’s 15 projected draftees to come off the board no later than the sixth round. The full rundown for our NFL draft preview edition of RPW:
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| A Post-Spring Assessment of Ohio State’s Roster and Championship Chances | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:54:51 | |
Spring practice is in the books and the transfer portal has reopened, which means it’s time to assess where Ohio State stands in its quest to compete for another championship in 2025. While only one of us would say we’re more confident in Ohio State’s championship chances coming out of spring than we were going in, Eleven Warriors‘ Dan Hope and Andy Anders both agree that there’s a lot to like about the Buckeyes based on what we saw this spring. Ohio State is loaded with offensive skill position talent and its defensive back seven looks like it should rank among the nation’s best once again. Ohio State’s offensive line also looks to be on a promising trajectory coming out of spring. Strong showings by Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz in the spring game left us feeling better about Ohio State’s quarterbacks than we did just one day before, but the spring game exacerbated our concerns about Ohio State’s depth at defensive tackle, the position that stands out as the Buckeyes’ clear-cut top priority for adding to its roster in the post-spring transfer window. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we make our assessments for what we think the Buckeyes’ biggest strengths and biggest areas of concern are coming out of spring and make our early predictions for what Ohio State’s regular-season record will be in 2025. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Quarterback Competition in the Spotlight Entering Ohio State’s 2025 Spring Game | 09 avr. 2025 | 00:55:18 | |
Ohio State’s starting quarterback competition will be in the spotlight during Saturday’s spring game at Ohio Stadium. After Ryan Day said Monday that Julian Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz are “pretty much neck-and-neck” in their competition to be Ohio State’s No. 1 QB this season, the biggest storyline on Saturday will be the performance of the Buckeyes’ top two quarterbacks as each of them look to make their case that they’re best the choice to lead Ohio State’s offense when it opens the season against Texas on Aug. 30. Aside from quarterback, other positions to watch on Saturday include right tackle, where Austin Siereveld appears to be making a move in the competition for a starting job, and the defensive line, where the Buckeyes are still assessing whether they have the depth they need ahead of the transfer portal reopening later this month. We discuss all of those storylines on our spring game preview episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We also conducted a fantasy draft in which we made our picks for which offensive skill-position players will have the biggest days in the spring game, keeping in mind that established stars like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate will likely see only brief action. In a snake draft format, each of us drafted five players – one quarterback, one running back, one wide receiver, one tight end and one flex player (a spot each of us elected to use on a second wide receiver) – based on who think will score the most fantasy points using standard fantasy football scoring (one point per 25 passing yards, four points per passing touchdown, one point per 10 rushing/receiving yards and six points per rushing/receiving touchdown). Our picks, which are explained in more detail in the show: 1. Dan - Bo Jackson, RB The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Assessments of All 10 Ohio State Position Groups As Spring Practice Passes the Halfway Point | 02 avr. 2025 | 01:06:56 | |
Ohio State is now past the halfway point of spring practice, and it became more apparent this week how Ryan Day is feeling about all 10 of the Buckeyes’ position groups. Day had lots of positive things to say on Monday about Ohio State’s running backs, tight ends, linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties, but indicated the Buckeyes are still looking for more than what they’ve seen so far this spring at defensive tackle, quarterback, offensive tackle, backup wide receiver and defensive end. With that, we also talk about all 10 Ohio State position groups on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays, in which we share our thoughts on what we heard from Day on Monday and what that could mean for the outlook of each of those position groups this season. Following our position-by-position spring football updates, we also talk about the transfer portal movement thus far for both Ohio State basketball teams, the momentum Ohio State is building on the recruiting trail and the top standouts from last week’s Ohio State pro day. (Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded before Ohio State basketball target Jonathan Powell’s commitment to North Carolina on Tuesday night.) The full rundown for the show:
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| Matt Patricia Keeps Making A Great Impression and Ohio State’s Defensive Line Rebuild is Underway | 26 mars 2025 | 00:37:02 | |
Spring practice is in full swing at Ohio State, and Buckeye fans will get their opportunity to watch the team in Ohio Stadium in two-and-a-half weeks. Ryan Day said Monday that Ohio State will have a spring game after all this year, and that’s a decision that should be celebrated at a time when other colleges are canceling their spring games. The spring game can be a great opportunity both for fans to connect with the Buckeyes and for the team to get game-like reps ahead of the season, and it’s apparent Day recognized the value of both of those things in opting to move forward with a spring game. After opening this week’s show by looking forward to the April 12 spring game, we talk about how Matt Patricia has continued to impress us in our early glimpses of Ohio State’s new defensive coordinator. Then, we share some of our early-spring thoughts on how Patricia’s defense could look this season, including the multiplicity he wants to be a hallmark of his scheme, Malik Hartford’s emergence at safety and Ohio State’s rebuild along the defensive line, where the Buckeyes’ defensive end two-deep looks promising but there’s still more questions than answers in terms of defensive tackle depth. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Takeaways from Ohio State’s First Two Days of Spring Practice | 20 mars 2025 | 00:57:12 | |
Ohio State’s first two days of spring practice are in the books, and we already have plenty of thoughts. The first two days at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center allowed us to watch the first hour of each of Ohio State’s initial two practices as well as talk to Ohio State coach Ryan Day, each of the Buckeyes’ scholarship quarterbacks and running backs and each of their respective position coaches, giving us plenty to see and hear. While we haven’t yet seen any head-to-head 11-on-11 work between Ohio State’s offense and defense, numerous players have stood out physically while there have been some interesting developments with Ohio State’s initial lineups, such as Austin Siereveld practicing at left tackle and Malik Hartford taking the bulk of the first-team reps at safety. With that in mind, we spend the majority of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing our takeaways from the first two days of spring practice. We wrap up the show with a brief conversation about the end of Ohio State’s basketball season and why we both believe it’s the right decision to give Jake Diebler a second year to turn things around. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| New-Look Defense in the Spotlight As Ohio State Begins Spring Practice Next Week | 12 mars 2025 | 00:58:45 | |
The spotlight will be on Ohio State’s defense as the Buckeyes begin spring practice next week. Yes, the quarterback competition will draw plenty of attention too, but it’s the defense that we’ll be watching most closely this spring as we seek to get an idea of what Ohio State’s defense will look like in 2025 with eight new starters and a new defensive coordinator. While we know the defense will be built around Caleb Downs and that Sonny Styles and Davison Igbinosun will play major roles as returning starters, there are otherwise more questions than answers about Ohio State’s new-look defense under Matt Patricia – even if the Buckeyes’ defensive talent and what we heard last week from Patricia offer plenty of reasons for optimism. We spend more than half of this week’s show talking about our expectations for Ohio State’s defense entering spring before turning the conversation to what we’re looking to see from Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes’ offense over the next four weeks. We wrap up the show by discussing what Ohio State men’s basketball needs to do in this week’s Big Ten Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| What We Learned About Ohio State’s Draft Prospects and Potential Breakout Players at the NFL Scouting Combine | 05 mars 2025 | 00:47:08 | |
The NFL Scouting Combine gave us an opportunity to not only watch some of Ohio State’s 2025 draft prospects work out for NFL scouts, but to learn more about some of OSU’s returning players in the words of last year’s Buckeye stars. Garrick Hodge joined Dan Hope in Indianapolis to cover the combine last week, so Garrick joins us on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays as we talk about both the combine performances of Ohio State’s 2024 NFL draft prospects and our biggest takeaways from what they had to say about players who could be breakout stars for the 2025 Buckeyes. Former Ohio State running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson and defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton helped themselves with their on-field workouts in Indianapolis. The combine raised some concerns for quarterback Will Howard and defensive end Jack Sawyer, but we‘re still believers in both Buckeyes as NFL prospects because of how well they played in leading Ohio State to a national championship. As for what we heard about some of Ohio State’s returning players in Indianapolis, Denzel Burke added fuel to the Julian Sayin hype train while Henderson made an Andy-approved comparison for James Peoples. Jaylen McClain, Mylan Graham and Max Klare were among the other 2025 Buckeyes who received hype from OSU’s draft prospects at the combine. We talk about all of that – plus the spectacular NHL Stadium Series game at Ohio Stadium last weekend and a couple of other Ohio State-related comments by combine participants that went viral – on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The full rundown for the show:
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| A Draft of Ohio State’s Historically Deep 2025 NFL Draft Class | 26 févr. 2025 | 00:45:48 | |
Ohio State’s historically deep 2025 draft class will be in the spotlight at this week’s NFL Scouting Combine. 15 members of Ohio State’s national championship team are in Indianapolis for the combine – the most players from any school – and all 15 of them are expected to be drafted, which would tie Georgia’s record for the most picks from one school in a seven-round NFL draft. With media interviews at the NFL Scouting Combine starting today and on-field workouts commencing at Lucas Oil Stadium tomorrow, we take a look at Ohio State’s loaded NFL draft class on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. We start the show by sharing some overall thoughts on Ohio State’s draft class, which Buckeyes boosted their NFL draft stock the most during the College Football Playoff, which Buckeyes we expect to be combine stars and which Buckeyes would benefit most from a strong combine workout. Then, we put our GM hats on and conduct our own draft of Ohio State’s draft prospects, with each of us making seven rounds’ worth of picks of which Buckeyes we’d draft if we were calling the shots for an NFL team. The full results of our draft: The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| What to Expect Schematically from Ohio State in 2025 After Coaching Staff Changes | 19 févr. 2025 | 00:41:24 | |
Now that Ohio State has new coordinators on both sides of the ball, one of the biggest lingering questions entering this spring is how the Buckeyes’ offense and defense will operate under Brian Hartline and Matt Patricia. We aren’t expecting any drastic changes on the offensive side of the ball – Ohio State’s offense is still Ryan Day’s offense, and Brian Hartline’s promotion comes in part because of how well he knows Day’s offense – though the Buckeyes will have to make adjustments to fit their personnel as new starters take over at quarterback, running back, tight end and offensive tackle. Defensively is where the bigger scheme questions lie. Patricia was never tied to one specific scheme as the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator, so there’s reason to believe his defense will be built to fit Ohio State’s personnel, but that will require changes too as the Buckeyes break in eight new starters on that side of the ball. And while the rest of Ohio State’s defensive coaching staff returns, there are questions about how Patricia’s ideas will mesh with defensive line coach Larry Johnson and whether Patricia’s success in New England will translate to the college level. We discuss all of that on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays with Eleven Warriors scheme analyst Kyle Jones, who joins us to share his thoughts on what Ohio State’s offense and defense could look like in 2025 as well as what impressed him most about Ohio State’s national championship run this past season. The full rundown for our conversation:
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| Expectations for Ohio State’s 2025 Offense With Offensive Coaching Staff In Place | 12 févr. 2025 | 00:59:17 | |
With Ohio State’s offensive coaching now set for 2025, the Buckeyes’ focus on that side of the ball turns toward trying to build another championship-caliber unit this season. Offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, co-offensive coordinator Keenan Bailey, run game coordinator and offensive line coach Tyler Bowen, running backs coach Carlos Locklyn and quarterbacks coach Billy Fessler have plenty of talent to work with as their preparations for spring practice begin. The Buckeyes’ receiving corps should be the best in the country once again, hopes are high for five-star redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin and Ohio State’s offensive line has the potential to be its best in a few years. But there are also some significant questions surrounding Ohio State’s 2025 offense including its inexperience at quarterback, how effective its running game will be following the departures of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and whether the Buckeyes’ returning offensive linemen will reach their potential with another year of development. With all of that in mind, we spend this week‘s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays assessing the state of Ohio State’s offense for the 2025 season and discussing our expectations for how we think the offense will fare in both the passing and running games come fall. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Projecting the Future Stars of Ohio State’s 2025 Recruiting Class | 05 févr. 2025 | 00:44:18 | |
You may have forgotten, but today is National Signing Day. From Ohio State’s perspective, the real signing day happened two months ago, as the Buckeyes signed 26 high school players during the early signing period. Ohio State isn’t expected to add any more scholarship players to its high school recruiting class for 2025, making the traditional February signing day a non-event for the Buckeyes. That said, we didn’t spend much time talking about Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class on Real Pod Wednesdays during the early signing period because the Buckeyes were preparing to play in the College Football Playoff at the time. So we felt the secondary signing day would be an appropriate time for us to take a more complete look at Ohio State’s new crop of freshmen. Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge joins us on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays as we share our overall thoughts on the 2025 class and make our picks for who we think will be some of the class’ biggest stars and hidden gems. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| A First Look at Ohio State’s 2025 Roster | 29 janv. 2025 | 00:59:33 | |
After recapping Ohio State’s national championship run on last week’s show, we’re beginning to look ahead to the 2025 season on this week‘s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. Ohio State’s 2025 roster is set for the spring now that the winter window for players to enter the transfer portal has closed. With that in mind, we spend the entirety of this week’s RPW taking a first look at Ohio State’s 2025 roster and sharing our initial thoughts on how the Buckeyes stack up at every position. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| A Recap of Ohio State’s Legendary National Championship Run | 23 janv. 2025 | 01:00:01 | |
Ohio State is a national champion once again after one of the most impressive championship runs we’ve ever seen. The Buckeyes’ four-game run to the national title was one we won’t soon forget as Ohio State beat four of the nation’s best teams in the College Football Playoff – all by double digits – to turn what could have been one of Ohio State’s most disappointing seasons ever into one of its greatest success stories. Ohio State’s national championship run featured too many great moments and top performers to highlight them all in just one hour, but we spent our post-championship episode of Real Pod Wednesdays recapping the best of the best from Ohio State’s spectacular four-game CFP and contextualizing the legacy of the 2024 Buckeyes. The full rundown for this week’s episode:
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| Ohio State On Verge of National Championship After Thrilling CFP Semifinal Win over Texas | 15 janv. 2025 | 00:52:34 | |
Ohio State is one game away from accomplishing the biggest goal we thought the Buckeyes would achieve when the season began. The Buckeyes didn’t always look like a national championship team during the regular season, but they sure have in the College Football Playoff. While they weren’t as dominant against Texas as they were in their first two CFP games against Tennessee and Oregon, the CFP semifinal win over the Longhorns may prove to be the defining game of a title run as the Buckeyes showed their resiliency in the fourth quarter and won the game in thrilling fashion. That gives us plenty of confidence that the Buckeyes will finish the job on Monday night and win the first-ever 12-team CFP. If Ohio State plays as well as it has throughout the CFP, the Buckeyes should have a clear advantage over Notre Dame with the Fighting Irish’s limited passing offense, though Ohio State will have to contend with Notre Dame’s strong running game and defense. We discuss what went well and what didn’t for Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl and preview Monday’s national championship game on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The full rundown for the show:
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| What We Expect from Ohio State’s CFP Semifinal Matchup with Texas at the Cotton Bowl | 08 janv. 2025 | 00:48:28 | |
As well as Ohio State’s played so far in the College Football Playoff, it feels like the only team who can beat the Buckeyes is themselves. But that doesn’t mean a win over Texas will come easily. The Longhorns are in the CFP semifinals too for a reason, the biggest of which is its defense, which leads the nation in passing yards allowed per attempt. We’re not sure if anyone in college football can stop Jeremiah Smith right now, but the Longhorns might be the most well-equipped team in the country to at least slow Ohio State’s passing offense down. On the other side of the ball, Ohio State faces a dangerous passing attack led by an old friend in Quinn Ewers. But we expect the Buckeyes’ defense to make life difficult for Ewers, especially considering the Longhorns’ recent struggles in the running game, and we think Ohio State might hold the quarterback advantage anyway with how well Will Howard has played in Ohio State’s first two CFP games. We share our full thoughts on Ohio State’s matchup with Texas and make our predictions for how the Buckeyes’ Cotton Bowl battle with the Longhorns will play out on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, as outlined below:
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| Keys to the Game, Predictions for Ohio State’s Rematch with Oregon in the Rose Bowl | 31 déc. 2024 | 00:33:40 | |
With the Buckeyes set to play the Ducks on a Wednesday in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl, this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays comes one day early as we discuss the keys to the game and make our final predictions for how the game will play out. The full rundown for our Rose Bowl preview edition of RPW:
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| Christmas Comes Early vs. Tennessee and A Big New Year’s Battle with Oregon Awaits | 25 déc. 2024 | 00:50:51 | |
Ohio State fans got their Christmas present four days early. In front of a raucous Ohio Stadium crowd that gave the Buckeyes plenty of energy despite a Tennessee takeover attempt, Ohio State gave its fans everything they could have asked for in a 42-17 dismantling of the Volunteers that reestablished the Buckeyes as a national championship contender and punched their ticket to the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The next round could be the biggest hurdle in the Buckeyes’ path to actually winning a national championship, as they face the CFP’s No. 1 seed in a New Year’s Day battle with Oregon at the Rose Bowl, but our belief in Ohio State’s ability to beat the Ducks is much higher than it was a week ago based on its performance against the Volunteers. We recap what made Ohio State’s showing against Tennessee so impressive and look ahead to the Buckeyes’ rematch with Oregon on our Christmas episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, which you can watch in the video at the top of the page or listen to in the audio player below. The full rundown for the show:
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| Predictions for Ohio State vs. Tennessee and the Entire College Football Playoff | 18 déc. 2024 | 00:52:01 | |
Three days away from the first-ever College Football Playoff game at Ohio Stadium, our confidence level that Ohio State will beat Tennessee sits at around 60%. Ohio State’s interior offensive line remains a major concern as the Buckeyes have opted not to commit to a set trio of starters inside, and we think Tennessee is a well-rounded team capable of challenging Ohio State in all phases of the game. But Ohio State’s dominant defense and its elite receiving playmakers still make us think the Buckeyes should beat the Volunteers, though we’re both expecting a tight game at the Shoe on Saturday night. In our pre-CFP episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we discuss what concerns us most about the matchup with Tennessee and what gives us confidence in Ohio State, then make our official predictions for not only Ohio State vs. Tennessee but the entire College Football Playoff. The full rundown for our game-week show:
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| Initial Breakdown of Ohio State vs. Tennessee and the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff Path | 11 déc. 2024 | 00:53:34 | |
Ohio State’s College Football Playoff opener is just 10 days away. While there have historically been more than three weeks between Selection Sunday and the marquee bowl games, the wait for games that matter is much shorter this year as the College Football Playoff begins on Dec. 20 and 21. Ohio State will host the last of four first-round games as it welcomes Tennessee to Columbus for an 8 p.m. game in the Shoe on the 21st. With that in mind, we start this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays with our initial breakdown of Ohio State’s matchup with Tennessee and the challenges the Volunteers will present to the Buckeyes. Ohio State’s offensive line will be put to the test again – potentially with a new starting lineup – and the Volunteers’ running game is one of the best in the country. But the Buckeyes should still have the edge if they do what they failed to do against Michigan by playing to their strengths in the passing game. We also take a look at Ohio State’s College Football Playoff draw as a whole and the challenges that could lie ahead for the Buckeyes if they advance – and whether the draw should affect the requisites for Ryan Day to keep his job. To wrap up this week’s show, we discuss what Ohio State needs to accomplish in the transfer portal – starting with beefing up the offensive line – now that it is officially open for players to change teams for the 2025 season. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Ryan Day Must Win in College Football Playoff After Ohio State’s Loss to Michigan | 05 déc. 2024 | 00:55:30 | |
Ryan Day said the right things at his press conference on National Signing Day, but that doesn’t change the reality surrounding Ohio State’s head coach. After losing to Michigan for the fourth year in a row, Day must win in the College Football Playoff to show he should still be the Buckeyes’ coach. How many games he must win in the CFP remains up for debate, but the pressure is on for Day to deliver results in the postseason, especially now that Ohio State is safely positioned to host a first-round playoff game. On a late-Wednesday episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we share our thoughts on Day’s signing day press conference and what he needs to do to salvage his job before looking ahead at the seeding scenarios for the Buckeyes that remain in play this weekend ahead of Selection Sunday. We finish up the show by sharing our initial thoughts on Ohio State’s 2025 recruiting class after 25 players signed with the Buckeyes on Wednesday. The full rundown for our signing day show:
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| Ohio State Confident But Ready for War Entering Michigan Game | 27 nov. 2024 | 00:48:33 | |
It’s time for war. The LL Cool J song wasn’t playing at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday as it used to during the Urban Meyer years, but the message could still be heard loud and clear as Ryan Day and four of Ohio State’s top leaders met with the media four days ahead of The Game. The Buckeyes’ confidence entering this year’s rivalry game appears very real, but Ohio State isn’t overlooking the Wolverines despite their 6-5 record. We share their confidence and believe Ohio State will end its three-game losing streak against the team up north on Saturday, but we also aren’t taking the Wolverines lightly. While Ohio State holds most of the advantages in the matchup on paper, Michigan will test the Buckeyes in the trenches – at least with its defensive line vs. Ohio State’s offensive line – and that’s usually where this game is decided. We share our thoughts on where we see Ohio State having the advantage and where we see the Buckeyes being challenged in this matchup and make our predictions for how The Game will play out on this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays. We also have some Thanksgiving week fun at the end of the show by building our ideal Thanksgiving plates (with plenty of football analogies from Dan). The full rundown for this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays:
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| Ohio State vs. Indiana Preview with Taylor Lehman | 20 nov. 2024 | 00:42:32 | |
An old friend of Eleven Warriors joins this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to help us break down Ohio State’s third top-five opponent of the season. Former Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Taylor Lehman, who now produces the Indiana football newsletter Bite-Sized Bison, joins us on this week’s show to discuss the rise of Indiana football in Curt Cignetti’s first season as head coach and what’s enabled the Hoosiers to go 10-0 entering their biggest game of the season at Ohio State. Lehman tells us this year’s Indiana football team is different even from the good Indiana teams that have challenged Ohio State in the past and says the program under Cignetti reminds him more of the program he covered at Ohio State than past Indiana teams. On the field, Lehman is confident in Indiana’s defensive front and passing offense entering the matchup with Ohio State, though establishing a run game and covering the Buckeyes’ elite trio of wide receivers will also be crucial to the Hoosiers’ success. From start to finish, this week’s episode is all about Ohio State vs. Indiana as we focus entirely on the Buckeyes’ top-five matchup with the Hoosiers, even after Seth McLaughlin’s season-ending injury. (For a more in-depth conversation about McLaughlin’s injury and how Ohio State could replace him, watch our most recent episode of Press Coverage). The rundown for this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays:
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| When and Where Bigger Storylines Than Who Ohio State is Playing This Week | 13 nov. 2024 | 01:04:17 | |
The biggest storyline for Ohio State this week isn‘t who the Buckeyes are playing, but where and when they’re playing. Ohio State is expected to win big for the second week in a row as it plays another one of the Big Ten’s worst teams in Northwestern one week after blowing out Purdue. This week’s game offers a layer of excitement that last week’s game didn’t, however, because it will be played at Wrigley Field, offering a unique backdrop for an Ohio State football game at one of America’s most storied sports venues. That said, the biggest talking point of the week among Buckeye fans has been kickoff times after the Big Ten announced Monday that Ohio State’s top-five showdown with Indiana next week will be yet another noon game, which means the Buckeyes will play six noon games in a row to conclude their 2024 regular season. Many Buckeye fans want to see Ohio State play in more night games, but OSU doesn’t seem overly eager to push back against early afternoon kickoffs. We begin this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays by sharing our top takeaways from the Buckeyes’ 45-point win over the Boilermakers, then look ahead to this week‘s trip to Wrigley before sharing our thoughts on the noon game debate. We wrap up the show by discussing the latest developments in Ohio State basketball as the men’s team races out to a 2-0 start while the women’s team (also 2-0) makes two home run additions to its coaching staff in Katie Smith and Jacy Sheldon. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| The Vibes Are Good Again for Ohio State Football | 06 nov. 2024 | 00:58:24 | |
The vibes are good again surrounding Ohio State football. After three weeks of negativity that followed Ohio State’s loss to Oregon and uncomfortably close win over Nebraska, the Buckeyes gave their fans reason to be excited once again as they went on the road and earned a marquee win over Penn State, the No. 3 team in the country at the time. Making the win particularly special for the Buckeyes was how they won the game, as their defense held Penn State without a touchdown while the offensive line carried Ohio State to victory as it ran out the clock in the fourth quarter. Ohio State’s improvements in both of those areas from its previous two games restored confidence that the Buckeyes remain a national championship contender, and the College Football Playoff selection committee agreed as it ranked Ohio State second in its initial rankings of 2024 on Tuesday night. With what should be an easy win over Purdue on tap this week, we spend this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing what impressed us most in Happy Valley, where our confidence stands now that Ohio State will achieve its three major goals and how the initial rankings put the Buckeyes in excellent position for the CFP. The rundown for this week’s show:
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| Ohio State vs. Penn State Preview with the Pop-Tarts Bowl Mascot | 30 oct. 2024 | 01:00:23 | |
Ohio State plays Penn State in its second top-five game of the season on Saturday, while we’re just one day away from Halloween. We celebrate both of those momentous occasions on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. Nearly our entire hour of conversation this week is centered around the Buckeyes’ trip to Happy Valley for a game with massive Big Ten championship implications for both teams, mixing in our takeaways from Ohio State’s closer-than-expected battle with Nebraska and how that shapes our perception of the Buckeyes entering their second major test of the season. In the spirit of Halloween, our Ohio State vs. Penn State preview show also features a guest appearance from the Pop-Tarts Bowl mascot – who you may recognize as one of Eleven Warriors’ own if you listen closely – who serves as our guest picker as we close the show by making our predictions for Saturday’s game, where our toaster pastry friend serves as the tiebreaking vote in who will win the nationally anticipated contest. An overview of what we’re talking about and when on this week’s show:
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| Zen Michalski, Safety Depth and Ohio State’s Pass Rush Will Be Under the Microscope Against Nebraska | 23 oct. 2024 | 01:06:46 | |
Ohio State shouldn’t be in danger of losing to Nebraska, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the Buckeyes as their second half of the regular season begins. Three areas in particular will be under the microscope as Ohio State returns from its bye week against Nebraska on Saturday: New starting left tackle Zen Michalski, the Buckeyes’ safety depth and their pass rush. Michalski is the player we’ll be watching most closely on Saturday as he makes his first career start in place of Josh Simmons, who is out for the rest of the season due to the knee injury he suffered against Oregon. With a massive test looming next week against Penn State and Abdul Carter, can Michalski prove he’s up to the task of protecting Will Howard’s blind side? If not, how quickly will Ohio State turn to a plan B – and will that plan B be moving Donovan Jackson or Tegra Tshabola outside? Offensive tackle and safety were the positions where we most concerned about Ohio State’s depth entering the season, and it appears both will be tested this week after Lathan Ransom was injured last week in practice. While Ryan Day offered no clarity on Ransom’s status Tuesday, his non-answer is enough to suggest Ohio State will likely be without him for at least one week. If so, it remains uncertain whether Ohio State will replace him in the lineup with Malik Hartford, Jaylen McClain, Jordan Hancock or Lorenzo Styles Jr. – or some combination of both. The pass rush, meanwhile, has been a major talking point for the past 10 days after Ohio State failed to notch a single sack against Oregon. After Day agreed with Nick Saban’s assessment that Ohio State’s pass rush scheme isn’t working, will we see more creativity from the Buckeyes’ pass rush against Nebraska, or will Ohio State save that for next week’s trip to Happy Valley? Either way, the Buckeyes need to prove that they can put more pressure on the quarterback this week as they go against another passer who’s capable of testing their defense in former Ohio State commit Dylan Raiola. We discuss all of that and more, including our predictions for Ohio State vs. Nebraska and what we saw this past weekend from the likes of Indiana, Michigan, Georgia and Texas, on a new episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The rundown for this week’s episode:
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| Ohio State’s Defense Must Be Better and Josh Simmons Injury Looms Large, But Buckeyes Can Still Achieve Their Goals | 16 oct. 2024 | 00:58:13 | |
There’s no sugarcoating Ohio State’s defensive play against Oregon, but we still think the Buckeyes can achieve all of their goals. Ohio State’s defense was bad against Oregon, especially when considering what this year’s defense is supposed to be with all of the talent the Buckeyes have on that side of the ball. The Buckeyes’ defense gave up way too many big plays without making big plays themselves, allowing eight plays of 25 yards or more while recording zero sacks and zero takeaways. We still believe Ohio State’s defense can be the best in the country, but the Buckeyes must take full advantage of their bye week to figure out why they haven’t played up to their talent and improve accordingly. Ohio State was much better on the other side of the ball against Oregon, with Will Howard having a great game aside from his mistake on the final play, but Josh Simmons’ likely season-ending injury looms large as the Buckeyes must figure out a way to replace arguably their most irreplaceable player at left tackle. All of that said, Ohio State still effectively controls its own destiny in the Big Ten and College Football Playoff races, and we still expect the Buckeyes to prevail as Big Ten and possibly national champions – though they no longer have a mulligan to work with as they enter the second half of the regular season, which includes four challenging games even though we think Oregon is the toughest opponent Ohio State will face until the CFP. We discuss all of that and more, including our thoughts on the controversial pass interference penalty against Jeremiah Smith, Dan Lanning’s clever gamesmanship and Ryan Day’s late-game clock management, on our Oregon post-mortem/midseason bye week episode of Real Pod Wednesdays.
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| Breaking Down the Potential Advantages and Challenges for Ohio State in Its Top-Three Showdown with Oregon | 09 oct. 2024 | 01:08:21 | |
It’s time for our first true look at what this year’s Ohio State football team is made of. The first half of the season has all built up to this week’s road trip to Oregon, where the second-ranked Buckeyes will face the third-ranked Ducks in what’s not only one of the biggest games of Ohio State’s regular season but one of the biggest games of the entire year in all of college football. While Ohio State was heavily favored to win all of its first five games, this week brings a true matchup game for the Buckeyes in which they’ll be tested in all phases. Ohio State has some potential advantages over Oregon, with its defensive line and running game looking like two of its biggest strengths. But the Buckeyes will have to break the trend of the past three weeks in which teams throughout the Big Ten have lost after long road trips. Will Howard faces his first major test as Ohio State’s quarterback, the offensive line faces its first major test in pass protection and the Buckeyes’ pass defense must prove it’s up to the task against an Oregon offense full of weapons. We spend more than an hour previewing the game from all angles on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The rundown below highlights some of the main topics we covered in our breakdown of the Buckeyes vs. the Ducks.
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| Ohio State Shows Championship Potential in First Month of Season As Ramp-Up Continues This Week vs. Iowa | 02 oct. 2024 | 00:56:42 | |
Ohio State’s first month of the season is complete and we’re still feeling good about our preseason picks that the Buckeyes can win this year’s national championship. There’s still a couple of lingering question marks, though it’s not necessarily what we thought the biggest concerns would be going into the season, as Ohio State’s linebacker play has been shaky while its offensive line has exceeded expectations. And there are certainly bigger tests to come than what the Buckeyes have faced so far, including this Saturday’s game against Iowa at Ohio Stadium (3:30 p.m., CBS). With that being said, we both agree that we’re feeling just as if not more confident that Ohio State can achieve its goals of beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten and winning the national championship one month into the season as we did before it began. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we evaluate what we saw from Ohio State in the first month of the season before looking ahead to this week’s matchup against the Hawkeyes and the challenges they’ll present to the Buckeyes in the ground game on both sides of the ball. The rundown for this week’s conversation:
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| Evaluating the Big Ten Through Four Weeks As Ohio State Begins Conference Play | 25 sept. 2024 | 01:01:16 | |
Ohio State appears to have plenty of competition in the Big Ten as the Buckeyes begin conference play this week. While we agree with the widespread consensus that Ohio State is the class of the conference, that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes will easily run the table to a Big Ten title. Their conference schedule includes three of the conference’s other marquee teams – Oregon, Penn State and Michigan – while Iowa, Indiana and Nebraska have all established themselves firmly in the middle of the conference’s pack with the potential to surge higher. Ohio State’s first Big Ten opponent can’t be overlooked either. Michigan State enters this week’s matchup against the Buckeyes with a 3-1 record, having already earned one conference win over Maryland, and the Spartans will be the toughest competition Ohio State has faced so far this season on both sides of the ball after the Buckeyes started their year with a trio of tuneup games against overmatched Group of 5 opponents. That said, we spend most of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays taking a big-picture look at the Big Ten and assessing which teams have impressed us most through the first four weeks of the season before turning our attention to the matchup with Michigan State and making our predictions for how the Buckeyes’ battle with the Spartans will play out. The full rundown for this week’s episode:
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| Assessing Ohio State’s Depth Chart at Every Position After the First Two Games | 18 sept. 2024 | 01:05:37 | |
Ohio State’s first two games have given us a look at how the Buckeyes’ depth chart stacks up at every position, and the Buckeyes appear to be loaded just about everywhere. The Buckeyes haven’t faced any real tests yet, and they won’t this week either – at least we don’t think so – as Ohio State hosts Marshall in its final non-conference game of the regular season, a game the Buckeyes are favored to win by 40 points. That said, the Buckeyes have looked the part of an elite team so far, dominating their first two opponents with a 52-6 win over Akron and a 56-0 rout of Western Michigan. Ohio State’s starting lineup is full of stars on both sides of the ball, and the first two games have demonstrated that the Buckeyes have a lot of talented backups, too. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we take a look at how Ohio State’s depth chart stacks up at every position so far this season and evaluate where the Buckeyes are the deepest and where question marks still linger. Following a nearly hourlong discussion on the Buckeyes’ depth chart spanning their offense, defense and special teams, we conclude the show by making our predictions for how the Buckeyes will fare against the Thundering Herd and whether Michigan is headed for its second loss of September when it hosts USC this weekend. The full rundown for this week’s episode:
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| Premierdrum Discusses His Reporting on Michigan Sign-Stealing Scandal, Potential Punishments for Wolverines | 11 sept. 2024 | 01:02:17 | |
If you’ve been following the TTUN Scandal threads on Eleven Warriors‘ message board, you‘re undoubtedly familiar with the name Premierdrum by now. For those who haven’t, Premierdrum is one of several Eleven Warriors site members – along with Brohio and 22buck, among others – who have taken it upon themselves to dig into the Michigan sign-stealing scandal and share what they’ve learned from their investigative reporting in the 11W forum. Premierdrum, who formerly worked for multiple Columbus TV stations, has used his background as a media member to uncover information about the NCAA’s investigation into Michigan and potential punishments the Wolverines could face as the NCAA awaits Michigan’s response to its Notice of Allegations. Premierdrum’s posts have drawn thousands of daily visitors to Eleven Warriors as his reporting has garnered attention from Ohio State fans and others following the scandal, so we invited him onto this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to share how and why he started reporting on the scandal, what he’s uncovered through his reporting and why he believes major sanctions and a possible coaching change could be coming for the Wolverines. (Disclaimer: Premierdrum is not an employee of Eleven Warriors and his reports have not been confirmed by Eleven Warriors staff unless otherwise stated.) Following our conversation with Premierdrum, Dan and Andy delve into the trouble Michigan is facing on the field after suffering a 31-12 loss to Texas this past weekend. Ohio State, on the other hand, looked like a championship-caliber team in its 56-0 win over Western Michigan, and we wrap up the show by talking about what impressed us most from the Buckeyes’ dominant performance against the Broncos. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Ohio State Shows Plenty of Promise Despite Imperfections in Season Opener | 04 sept. 2024 | 01:01:19 | |
We said last week that anything less than perfection against Akron could be seen as a disappointment for Ohio State’s season opener, and that’s pretty much how it played out. With all the hype Ohio State entered the season with, much of the focus in the days following the Buckeyes’ first game of the year has been on what could have gone better – namely, an underwhelming start for the offense and specifically the offensive line, particularly in run blocking. But Ohio State still won its season opener by 46 points, which means there were far more positives than negatives. There was no bigger positive than the play of Will Howard, who exhibited none of the accuracy issues that were present in the earlier stages of the offseason as he impressed as a passer while also proving to be a clear upgrade for the Buckeyes in terms of athleticism and pocket presence at the quarterback position. Other promising developments from the Buckeyes’ 52-6 victory included the immediate impact of Jeremiah Smith, the depth that stepped up in the defensive front six and the explosive punt returns of Brandon Inniss. We spend more than half of this week’s show discussing our takeaways from the season opener before looking ahead to the Buckeyes’ second game this weekend against Western Michigan, who they’ll host in Ohio Stadium at night on Saturday. In the final segment of the show, we share our biggest takeaways from what we saw from the rest of college football in Week 1 as Oregon and Michigan struggled to beat lesser opponents, USC made a statement in its season opener and Florida State and Clemson stumbled out of the gates. The rundown for Real Pod Wednesdays post-Week 1:
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| Ohio State Preseason Superlatives and Why Connor Stalions’ Story Doesn’t Add Up | 28 août 2024 | 00:58:54 | |
Ohio State’s first game of the 2024 season is just three days away and Connor Stalions has broken his silence. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview Ohio State’s season opener against Akron and share our thoughts on Netflix’s Connor Stalions documentary while also making some big-picture predictions for the Buckeyes’ 2024 season. In the first 20 minutes of the show, we discuss what we’re most eager to see from the Buckeyes in their first game of the year after eight months of hype and make our predictions for whether Ohio State will cover the 48.5-point spread. In the middle segment of the show, we hand out some preseason superlatives by making our predictions for who will be the Buckeyes’ team MVP, All-Americans, breakout stars (other than Jeremiah Smith) and unsung heroes this season. In the final third of the show, we give our opinions on what Stalions had to say about his role leading Michigan’s sign-stealing operation and why his story doesn’t add up, with a shoutout to Eleven Warriors’ own Brohio for his role in “Untold: Sign Stealer.” The full rundown for our opening-week edition of RPW:
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| Ohio State’s Most Important Players for the 2024 Season | 21 août 2024 | 00:55:46 | |
Ohio State’s 2024 roster is loaded with star players, but some of them would be tougher to replace than others. While there’s no question that the likes of Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer and Emeka Egbuka rank among Ohio State’s best players entering the 2024 season, the Buckeyes have enough depth at each of their positions to be OK if someone misses time. Losing a starting offensive tackle, safety or Will Howard, on the other hand, could be more concerning. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we discuss which Ohio State players most need to stay healthy and perform well for the Buckeyes to achieve their goals of beating Michigan, winning the Big Ten and winning the national championship this season. Later in the show, we also discuss the ongoing backup quarterback competition between Devin Brown and Julian Sayin, why Justin Frye should be on the hot seat and why we think the Buckeyes got it right with their captain selections. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| Previewing the First 12-Team College Football Playoff and Ohio State’s Toughest Regular-Season Games | 14 août 2024 | 01:06:03 | |
With our Season Preview in full swing here at Eleven Warriors, we’re taking a big-picture look ahead to the 2024 season on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. First, we look at the just-released AP Top 25 and discuss whether the voters got it right by slotting Ohio State as the No. 2 team in college football behind Georgia entering the 2024 season. After that, we break down the initial projected field for the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff and make our own predictions for which dozen teams will play in the four-round national championship tournament this December and January. We both agree that Ohio State, Georgia and Florida State will earn first-round byes as conference champions, but we have some different thoughts on who else will make the 12-team cut. From there, we focus more specifically on Ohio State and evaluate the Buckeyes’ regular-season schedule with an eye toward which games will be the toughest tests for OSU. Finally, we share our biggest takeaways from the past week of preseason camp and interview sessions as Will Howard closes in on Ohio State’s starting quarterback job and the Buckeyes project confidence about what they’ll accomplish this year. The full rundown for this week’s show:
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| First Week of Camp Offers Many Reasons for Optimism in 2024 Buckeyes | 07 août 2024 | 00:51:19 | |
The defense was as impressive as expected during the four practices Ohio State opened to media members and paying fans, but our confidence in the Buckeyes’ offense has also grown after seeing Will Howard and the offensive line make strides during the team’s initial practices of August. Howard was just one of many standouts during Ohio State’s first four practices. Linebackers Sonny Styles, Gabe Powers and Arvell Reese, offensive tackles Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar, cornerbacks Jermaine Mathews Jr. and Calvin Simpson-Hunt, freshman running backs James Peoples and Sam Wiliams-Dixon and the wide receiver trio of Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss were just some of the Buckeyes who caught our eye in the first week of camp. We share all of our biggest takeaways from the first five days of camp on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The rundown for the first RPW of camp:
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| What Ohio State Must Accomplish in Preseason Camp | 31 juil. 2024 | 00:57:23 | |
Ohio State is one day away from the start of preseason camp and one month away from the first game of the season. Thirty days before the Buckeyes begin their much-anticipated 2024 campaign against Akron on Aug. 31 at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State will take the field for its first of 25 preseason practices at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday. The good news for the Buckeyes entering preseason camp is that most of their starting lineup is already set. Everyone expects the defense to be one of if not the best in the country, and there’s no doubt the Buckeyes will be explosive at the offensive skill positions with the likes of TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, Emeka Egbuka and Jeremiah Smith in their arsenal of weapons. That said, there is still plenty that the Buckeyes need to accomplish over the next four weeks before the games begin. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview preseason camp by discussing the most important things Ohio State needs to accomplish over the next month. At the end of the show, we also spend some time discussing Ohio State men’s basketball’s additions of Ques Glover and Ivan Njegovan to round out the Buckeyes’ 2024-25 roster. The full rundown for our final RPW of July:
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| Carson Hinzman’s Push for A Starting Job, More Jeremiah Smith Hype Among Big Ten Media Days Takeaways | 24 juil. 2024 | 00:31:51 | |
Real Pod Wednesdays is on location this week at Lucas Oil Stadium as representatives from Ohio State and the Big Ten’s other 17 schools go through Big Ten Media Days. After Ohio State coach Ryan Day, cornerback Denzel Burke, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and defensive end Jack Sawyer participated in their media sessions at Lucas Oil Stadium on Tuesday, we sat down inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday morning to share our biggest takeaways from what we heard from the Buckeyes. (Note: This episode of Real Pod Wednesdays was recorded before Wednesday’s Big Ten Media Days interview sessions.) Among those takeaways: Carson Hinzman sounds like a strong candidate to start on the offensive line even with the addition of former Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, the hype around freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith just keeps growing and Will Howard still has work to do to prove he should be Ohio State’s starting quarterback this season. The full rundown of what we’re talking about on our Indianapolis edition of RPW:
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| Drafting Head-to-Head Lineups from the 2024 Ohio State Football Team | 17 juil. 2024 | 00:44:49 | |
It wasn’t easy choosing which Ohio State players we’d most want to have on our team this year. Ohio State’s star-studded lineup for the 2024 season gave us plenty of options to choose from as we conducted our annual Real Pod Wednesdays draft to build head-to-head lineups for a hypothetical game of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes between our two hosts. Eleven Warriors beat writers Dan Hope and Andy Anders conducted a snake-format draft to build 22-man teams consisting of players on Ohio State’s 2024 football roster. Dan won the coin toss for the No. 1 overall pick, after which Andy and Dan alternated selections two at a time until both teams had drafted 11 offensive players and 11 defensive players for a total of 44 selections. The ground rules for the draft required each of us to draft one quarterback, five offensive linemen and five skill-position players (wide receivers, running backs or tight ends) on offense and at least three defensive linemen, two linebackers and four defensive backs with two flexible selections on defense. Ultimately, Dan and Andy both chose to draft three wide receivers with one running back and one tight end on offense and to draft four defensive linemen, two linebackers, three cornerbacks and two safeties on defense, mirroring Ohio State’s actual base offensive and defensive personnel alignments. We made each of our selections in real time on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The full list of selections and where you can hear us talk about each of them is below. 0:00 Intro Visit elevenwarriors.com for more analysis of each pick and to vote for whose team you think would win. | |||
| Taking Stock of Ohio State’s Top-Ranked 2025 Recruiting Class After Summer Commitment Wave | 10 juil. 2024 | 00:49:53 | |
Ohio State’s quest for the No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 is looking more and more real. The Buckeyes have strengthened their position at the top of the team composite recruiting rankings, currently leading No. 2 Alabama by nearly 20 points, by landing commitments from 11 prospects since the start of June: running backs Bo Jackson and Isaiah West, wide receivers Quincy Porter and Bodpegn Miller, tight end Brody Lennon, center Jake Cook, defensive end Zion Grady, defensive tackles Maxwell Roy and Trajen Odom, linebacker Riley Pettijohn and safety Faheem Delane. Ohio State is now up to 23 commits in the 2025 recruiting class, including four five-star commitments from Pettijohn, quarterback Tavien St. Clair and cornerbacks Devin Sanchez and Na’eem Offord. That said, the Buckeyes still have some work to do to round out the class. Landing five-star offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. remains THE top priority for the Buckeyes, while Ohio State also remains in the market for another interior offensive lineman, another defensive tackle, another wide receiver or two and ideally one more running back, one more cornerback and one more safety. With summer official visits and a big wave of commitments now complete, Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge joins us on this week’s show to help us break down why the 2025 recruiting class could be Ohio State’s best ever and the boxes Ohio State still needs to check to actually get there and secure its first-ever composite No. 1 recruiting class. The rundown of what we talked about and when:
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| Ohio State President Ted Carter Discusses First Six Months on the Job, What Sports Mean to Him | 03 juil. 2024 | 00:30:05 | |
Sports have always played an important part in Ted Carter’s life, but he’s come to understand just how much they mean to Ohio State fans in his first six months as OSU’s president. Just before the halfway point of his year as the leader of The Ohio State University, Carter sat down with us for a 30-minute conversation last week to talk about his first six months on the job, what sports mean to him as a former Navy hockey player, the athletic director transition from Gene Smith to Ross Bjork, how Ohio State is preparing for a new era of college sports and more. We bring you that conversation in its entirety on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. The rundown of what we talked about with Carter:
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| Ohio State’s Top Competition in First Year of 18-Team Big Ten | 26 juin 2024 | 01:05:45 | |
The Big Ten will officially expand to 18 teams next week. Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA will officially become members of the conference on Monday, bringing in a new era for what’s traditionally been a Midwest-based conference. From a football standpoint, the Big Ten’s newest round of expansion should immediately make the conference more competitive as Oregon enters 2024 as a major College Football Playoff contender while Washington is the defending national runner-up and USC has a history of competing for championships. With that in mind, we thought this week would be a good time to take a look at how the Big Ten stacks up entering the 2024 season with a focus on the conference’s new teams and the teams that we expect to be Ohio State’s toughest competition for the conference title this year. Both of us agree that Oregon will be Ohio State’s biggest challenger for the Big Ten championship this year while Penn State and Michigan round out the conference’s top tier of teams entering the 2024 season. Iowa, USC, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Rutgers – yes, Rutgers – are among the teams to watch in the second tier of the conference while Washington and Indiana are other teams we’ll be keeping an eye on in the Big Ten this year. We spent the first 42-minutes of the show breaking down Ohio State’s competition in the Big Ten before concluding this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesday with some discussion about what’s been a very successful month of June for Ohio State on the recruiting trail. The rundown for this week’s show:
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| Gene Smith Discusses His Ohio State Career, College Sports Changes and Upcoming Retirement | 19 juin 2024 | 00:47:16 | |
Gene Smith is ready for the next chapter of his life. Less than two weeks away from his retirement, Ohio State’s athletic director says he isn’t having any second thoughts about his decision to move on at the end of the month. After 19 years leading OSU’s athletic department, Smith feels ready to move to Arizona, play more golf and spend more time with his grandchildren. Before leaving Columbus, however, Smith joined us for nearly 30 minutes on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to talk about how he’s helped Ohio State prepare for the future and reflect on his career in Columbus. Following our conversation with the athletic director, we shared our thoughts on what Smith had to say about the changes that could be required for Ohio State to continue funding 36 sports in the revenue-sharing era, how OSU is prioritizing the success of its football program and what we believe Smith should be most remembered for. The rundown of our conversation:
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