We're Back for Season 5 and Previewing The 2023 Buckeyes!

Coach AJ Pratt brings his "A Game" every week, as he and Paul James begin their fifth season of The OH Show! Coach Pratt is breaking down the Buckeyes in all three phases and talks about the national landscape, as we open college football's 2023 season!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome into The Oh Show on iHeartRadio. My name is Paul James, my
partner, coach A. J.Pratt, and brother. We've we've done.
This is a fifth season of thisshow. It's it's the kickoff of
our fifth year together. Can youbelieve that? Lovable? I don't whether
it's unbelievable or overly crew, Ilove it. When you sent that to

(00:22):
me last week, I went,holy cow, he's right. Well,
I got the shakes. The otherday we did our first Friday night postgame
show and the show ponies not sittingover there. Yeah, but those guys
did a great, great job,fantastic. I was thinking. I told
my wife, I said, I'mlooking forward to getting back and kicking off
season five of the Oh Show.By the way, this is the real

(00:43):
Oh Show. That was the otherthing I wanted to tell you. I
was helping Otis today. Yeah,I told you. I said, there
was another thing I thought about youtoday. Otis the guy that does the
show on our country station that hasthis this Oh Show that he likes to
call it, And I was helpinghim with one of his radio stations today
and I thought of you. Ithought of you when I worked on a

(01:03):
couple of projects today because I wasready to do this show. But yeah,
absolutely, this is the real OHShow, the Oh Show, and
we got a lot to talk whenit comes to Buckeye football. But it
really blows my mind that in thefive years of five seasons of doing this
show, that the Buckeyes have yetto win a national time. We're going
to get right to that. Butyou know, I always have something to
start the show off. Absolutely.Yeah. I didn't get my parking spot

(01:27):
today, but sorry, I tookit the prep time. You gave me
the script about a week ahead ofso I had time to dig deep.
But you had a comment about myshirt here when I came in. Looks
like you're growing on vacation man.So I want to tell a quick story.
And there's guys that were on thatstaff that will laugh. Is I
was on a coaching staff and thehead coach liked to scream and yell at

(01:48):
the coaches during practice. And oneof my best friends, Walt Wells head
coach at Eku, who their preseasonfavorites in their conference. By the way,
he would we would get back behindthe players, we get kicked out,
and he would just start singing livingon sponge cake watching the sun and
I would join in with him,and the players would look like, you

(02:12):
guys, just got your butt rippedby the head coach and you're back there
singing Margaritaville, and this this shirt'stribute today to those songs of us getting
our butt ripped by that head coach. There's guys on that staff that listen
to this and they know exactly whatI'm talking about. How they're old's health.
I want to start with that realhe's great, good. Absolutely,
we're gonna see We're gonna see oneof their foes in your old school early

(02:36):
on the season for the Buckeyes withWKU, that's gonna be fun looking forward
to that. They've got a quarterbackand we're gonna talk about that in a
couple of weeks. But today wewanted to get the show started by talking
about the twenty twenty three Buckeyes andgetting people a little bit up to speed
on this Buckeye team. And youknow, Coach, you and I talk
about it every year. The Buckeyesreload, reload, and reload, and

(02:59):
they've got starters that we'll start theseason on the bench that would not only
be starters, but stars and someother Division one leagues around around the country.
So they are very, very loaded. But when you start talking about
the offense, you obviously have togo c J. Stroun. He's gone,
the NFL's got him. Who's goingto be the quarterback? Is it
gonna be Kyle McCord? Is itgonna be Devin Brown? We heard yesterday

(03:21):
that there's a good chance we're gonnasee both of them against Indiana. Who's
going to start that game? Andis it going to be important if one
does versus the other? Well,we got plenty of amo for that stuff
right there. But I don't wantto miss your first questions. I interrupt
you with my goofy Margaritaville story.Your question was is why haven't we seen
the Buckeyes win a national chance?Why not? I just, yeah,

(03:46):
it's hard. You know, it'shard to get a first down. People
say, well, it's hard toget a first down. Yeah, that
was urban Meyer's goal and offensively geta first down. It's hard to win
a game. It's real hard towin a game, let alone, is
it hard to win a championship?You got twelve games, you got to
win all of them. Or youmay get one shot to screw up and

(04:09):
not pull a game off. Thenyou got a conference championship, then you've
got a semi final, and thenyou've got a national championship. But Paul,
all the hurdles, take into accountall the hurdles. Number one,
it's about the players. It's thetalent you have. You have to have
good players, the recruiting, thedevelopment, and now you throw in the
transfer portal and the ni O moneyto pay them and what kind of players

(04:30):
are you recruiting. One thing Ilook at is we get into today's show
that I like experience. I meana lot of times you don't see teams
that are real young. You've gotsome experience up and down in that roster
of twenty two. Schedule is critical. We're going to talk about some teams
today that people say, really,and I'm gonna say, look at their
schedule. Your health, there's someluck involved with that. The opponent's talent,

(04:55):
their experience, their health, theleadership or lack of it in your
locker room. Coaching. Coaching matters, the teaching, the plans, the
development of players. There's guys thathave a knack for calling good ball games.
There's guys that don't and obviously puttinga plan together that's best for your
players against the opponent that week.Culture, like I've talked about the game

(05:16):
plans like thereof the conference, howstrong is your conference? There's some teams
are easier to get into the finalfour because of who they're playing in their
conference. The number one position incollege and pro football, and you may
say high school, I think it'sa little bit less because there's some things
you can do at the high schoollevel with different offenses you can't run in
college. In the pros is yougot to have a quarterback and that's going

(05:40):
to be a big piece of somethingthat you've already let into with the Buckeyes
quarterback fans. Like there of offseason strength training training staff those are they
good at what they do? Administrativestaff and support? Do you have money?
What's the budget? I mean,there's all of these things that make
it hard. But I and onevision or is everybody on the same page.

(06:03):
There's not a team that's won anational title in my lifetime or your
lifetime that everybody didn't have the samevision. It's not going to happen without
that. But last, but notleast again, I'll repeat the most important
thing is the players. But Iwant to throw this at you. Buckeye
fans may not like this, butthis is perspective the last thirty years of

(06:25):
college football. Talking about winning anational championship. Do you know how many
the Big Ten has won in thelast thirty years. I'm gonna say five
three two by the Buckeyes and oneby shared by Michigan. Yeah, the
SEC seventeen seventeen, the ACC iswon six, the Pac twelve is one

(06:46):
two, and the Big Eight Bigtwelve and that transition is one five.
So right there tells you the BigTen conference itself. And actually, if
you go do the I think mymath was right. It's actually been fifty
or fifty one years that Big Tenhas won three national championships. So that
just tells you the difficulty of gettingthere. But go ahead with your next

(07:08):
as we roll into the twenty twentythree Ohio State Buckeyes. Well, I
really want to talk about and becauseit's your specialty, I really want to
talk about the quarterback in the quarterbackposition and how that room could evolve this
year. I mean, obviously,today we don't have a starting quarterback and
it appears that Ryan Day is perfectlyokay not having a starting quarterback. But

(07:30):
we've talked over the last four seasonsthat if you don't have if you have
two quarterbacks, you don't have aquarterback. That probably isn't as much a
problem with Ohio State as it wouldbe with you know another team, you
know, well none of the topten teams, because Ohio State is who
they are, but you still haveto have a quarterback. Right. Well,

(07:51):
look as we focus in on thequarterback, let's look what's gone from
that offense. Kevin Wilson, theoffensive coordination right. C. J.
Strout obviously is gone. You've gota tackle with thirty one starts in Paris
Johnson that was a sixth overall pick. You have a fourth round pick in
Dwan Jones that had twenty seven starts, and you have the captain of the

(08:13):
old line the center and Luke Whipplerthat had twenty six starts. Both of
those guys are playing for the Browns, and Jones hasn't allowed anybody to touch
the quarterback in preseason. I talkedto today actually about that. Here's the
thing that I'm not gonna say.It's concerned because those two quarterbacks with McCord

(08:35):
and Brown, the cast of charactersthey have around them are spectacular, especially
if they can fill the gaps withthe great recruiting they've had with the offensive
line. The backfield is as deepas any in the country, and the
best room in college football in termsof at the wide receiver position is in
Columbus. But did we hear wasthere a buzz about JT. Barrett?

(08:58):
There there was a buzz about JT. Barrett? Was there a buzz about
Justin Fields? There was certainly abuzz about Justin's And even while Fields was
on the field trying to win anational title, was there buzz about the
next guy coming? And see,absolutely there absolutely was, and that would
be my only thing. Coach Dayhas said, it's split down the middle
of the staff. One pulls away, the next one comes back. There's

(09:22):
not a clear cut favorite. Butthat's why I think you're confidently the first
couple of games of the year,you're gonna see both guys on the field
maybe to finally see if they're separationbetween the two. And you may get
those guys all year and they're notthe same style a quarterback, which which
is how how does that do foryour offense when you're this close to your
first game where you've got two quarterbacksthat are kind of sharing the starting position,

(09:45):
but they're two different style type quarterbacks. And we've seen that before at
other places, and and sometimes it'sit's sometimes it's a successful strategy and play,
But it all comes down to this. I say this sometimes maybe every
show. It's all about the players. And when coach Day, who's the
CEO of the high state football program, makes a decision, the answer of

(10:07):
who's on the field taking a snapcomes down to one thing. Who gives
us the best chance to win?Right? Who gives our players, our
fans, this team the best chanceto win. That's where the decision will
go. And the fortunate thing.And you look at Michigan and the fact
that Hardball's not coaching for the firstthree games because of his crazy suspension or

(10:28):
whatever's going on there. You lookat that, you look at all high
States some other ones. The Blackeysreally don't need to be running at full
tilt boogie at this point in theseason until they get ready to head to
Notre Dame. So they've got alittle bit of room to work that out.
Is that part of the thought processof the coaching staff knowing that you
don't just show up and win becauseobviously, you know, winning a football

(10:48):
game is tough, but you're notgoing to be challenged by a really,
really national power until you had toNotre Dame. That's this is where I've
leaked over from being coached to beingon a show with you. And I'm
not talking yeah, I mean,that's the rat poison when you say,
hey, we're playing team. Youhave to respect whoever the opponent is.
But but we're doing a show.And let's be realistic. They're gonna be

(11:11):
heavy favorites in those three games wkyou can score points, and they do
have a quarterback that they got theykept from losing in the transfer portal.
But yeah, they're gonna have sometime because there's another blue blood down in
Tuscaloosa that doesn't have that because they'rein the same situation with three guys and
their second game of the year isagainst Texas, right, so they got

(11:33):
to figure some things out by theend of camp or week one because that
second game is not going it's goingto be a battle. So the Buckeyes
are fortunate that their first few gamesnow. They start with at Indiana Big
ten team, They're gonna respect them, just being blunt. The expectations for
that IU team, Coach Allen,aren't high everywhere else but that locker room.

(11:54):
And then you've got Youngstown State,which obviously is a FCS school,
and then you've got WKU before theygo to who I think is going to
be a very tough road game atNotre Dame. I agree, and anybody
who knows Buckeye football and knows Indiana, when we go to Indiana, that
stadium is going to be full ofBuckeye fans, and it is what it

(12:16):
is. Indiana is going to doeverything they can to get to get tushies
in the seats next weekend, butthere is going to be an Ohio in
that stadium next Saturday, guaranteed,and it's gonna sound really, really loud.
So we are going to travel wellto Indiana. We always do stand
on the offense. Coach, Let'smove to the running backs. And I
know we were so frustrated all seasonwith the running backs. Everybody was injury

(12:39):
plagued last year, really never becamedominant. But they didn't have a bad
year when it came to run inthe football. But I guess Trevion Henderson
is looking really, really good.That's what it sounds like. Talk to
a couple of people that have beena practice and then the reports you get
from from camp. You know,one side note this week that was announced

(13:01):
and I said, Kevin Wilson's leftand the best recruiter and developer of receivers
the last five years in college footballis Brian Hartline was named offensive coordinator.
But it was announced this week interestingenough that Ryan Day has said I still
will be the chief play caller.He'll have some say so I thought that
was interesting. And again there's dynamicsthat we never know about that only the

(13:22):
people in that building know that's goingon, and that may be great for
everybody in the room. You neverknow. But the running back room,
the injuries to Travian Henderson were frustratinghim because he was phenomenal this freshman year
and you're thinking, this guy.A lot of running backs aren't taking in
the first round. This one maybe and Buckeye fans got frustrated because durability.

(13:43):
We've talked about durability a lot onthe show the last few years,
but may and Williams stepped up,and then you had Dallen Hayden showed up,
and then you had Chip train himshow up. So they know they
have depth with guys that are goodenough to help them win the game.
And I honestly think with what we'retalking about at the quarterback position, as
good as the perimeter is, theyhave a guy at the point at tight

(14:05):
end and Kate Stover that I thinkthe Buckeyes are going to lean more on
the run this year than we've seenin the last five years. I feel
like, and correct me if I'mway off or laugh at me, I'm
fine with that. You know thatwhen you look at the experience that all
those running backs had last year,I think that's a gigantic advantage for the

(14:26):
Buckeyes. I really do. Imean, yeah, we had to get
through that and we darn near we'rein the National title game. Should have
been, if you want my opinion. But still, I mean, those
guys all have solid game, bigtime experience because of the disaster we had
in that room last year. Ironiron sharpens iron like another man sharpens another.

(14:46):
Okay, that's why the bluebloods usuallydon't back down because they're playing people
as good are better than they're gonnaface on Saturday and practice every day.
But one of the biggest jobs foran assistant coach is to control his room.
And I've coached wide receivers, thankgod, just one year. They
every every what they want the ball. But for that running back room to

(15:11):
have that much depth and there's onlyone ball in the field each snap and
on offense, to keep all thoseguys happy and competitive and it not be
about me, it's about we.Uh That That that's that's a great task
for for a coach because of thatmuch depth. Yeah, let's talk about
that. That receiver room that everybodyin the entire country is talking about because

(15:33):
we know that the best player incollege football currently resides in Columbus, Ohio,
and we know Marvin Harrison junior.Everybody's thinking he's going to be the
greatest in everything. But you factorand everything you talk about when you talk
about injury possibilities, all those typesof things bad calls. Saw one of
those last year in the semi finalgame with him. But when you look

(15:54):
at that receiver room, oh mygosh, how do you get ball to
every one of those guys and utilizetheir power. Well, they've done a
great job of it because if youlook back, we've seen Julian Fleming step
up the last couple of years,and even without Jackson Smith and Jigba last
year because of his injuries, there'snot much drop off with a BUCA.

(16:15):
Yeah, and he's he's projected asbeing a first round pick as well.
Once again, two receivers in thefirst round. There's very few receivers that
I've watched and on the field watchinga Buckeye game last year, pregame watch,
I watched the receivers and that's usuallyI'm not I mean they're Brian Hartline
not just recruits good players, hedevelops them. But Marvin Harrison Junior possibly,

(16:37):
and this term is overused, maybea generational player, Paul. When
when when you're projecting the possible topfive or higher pick in the first round
of the NFL Draft on a widereceiver that doesn't happen very often. I
mean he has the ability. Imean he's got the size, the body,
control, the catchability, his routerunning, the acceleration, and I

(17:00):
mean he's a big guy. Imean he's a lot bigger than his dad,
who's Okay, No, they're superand those guys seem to love to
play and have not been selfish atall. Not You can look at him
as a receiver, you can lookat him at whatever you want, but
the entire country knows who Kade Stoveris, and he is just appears to
be an amazing human being and afantastic football player. And he's a senior,

(17:25):
and he's done everything that program's askedhim to do. Hey play defense
for a year, Hey play thison offense, go back and forth,
do whatever. He's done everything asked, and he's done it very very well.
Is he a special player? He'sa special player because he's captain Kate
Stover along with Tommy Eikenberg and XavierJohnson another receiver, offensive skill player that

(17:48):
we didn't even mentioned. And Ithink he got the he got the oh
didn't he? I believe you Johnsonget think about that. He does a
lot for them. So he's ateam guy. I respect that they've left.
I've never believed let's have six oreight captains. I mean, how
many captains, true captains, doyou have, even on a really good
special football team. And those theyhad only three, which is the least

(18:11):
I think they've had it all HighState in a long time. No,
Cage Stover's the point man, He'sthe mismatch. He's the guy that helps
you in the run game, passgame. They gave him sugar last year
getting him some catches, especially inthe red zone. So I look for
him to let's stay healthy. He'sgonna have a special year. I would
love to see him step up inme an All American. It's pretty cool.
Coach is the biggest question on theoffense is the offensive line. You

(18:33):
talk about all the new players thathave come in. We can obviously talk
about all the players that have movedon, especially the ones that have moved
on to the NFL because of howgood they are, we don't know how
good that offensive line is or howquick they're gonna gel. Yeah, So
this, to me, without question, is one of the two biggest questions
on this football team, well oneof three, obviously the quarterback being number

(18:57):
one. But this offensive line.We've been spoiled. The Buckeye fans have
been spoiled with great players. Butright now it looks like Josh Fryar's in
the lead. That's had some snapsat left tackle, which is critical just
as critical as the center position.Like I said, you're you're you're the
man up front. It looks likeJacob James, but it looks like red

(19:17):
shirt freshman car Carson. Heinzman's inthe lead to be the center. And
then you know they have the SanDiego State transfer and Josh Simmon's coming in.
But it sounds like the right tacklefrom Lakota West High School and Ohia
Boy and Tiger to Shabola is havinga good camp and maybe the man at
right tackle or at least sharing sometime there. So there's some things you
can do as a play caller tohelp that offensive line. That's why I

(19:40):
think the hardest thing up for anoffensive line is past protection. You can
help them by being more aggressive inthe run game, and I think with
that you may start to see Icould be dead wrong, but I think
you're going to see some more nakedboot action play action where you can help
in protection, but you can movethe the launch point of the ball and

(20:02):
that takes gives some relief on thequarterback as well. I think that's what
we may see. But it's amajor question is if those guys can step
up. And I really look atthe offensive line coach this year as a
coach that's in a transitional point.I mean, this is a big year
for him, I believe because RyanDay specifically went after him for the reason
to have the best offensive line incollege football. And I think if they

(20:25):
falter this year, you've got toyou've got to throw a little blame back
at Ryan Day and the guy hehand picked because Stud was there and did
what he did. But you know, he went out and got this guy
for a reason. It's a bigyear. It's it's it's a resume builder.
You've got three new starters on theteam that is at one of the
three favorites to win the State ofthe national championship. Yeah, so he
gets paid well. Obviously. CoachDay believes in him and there's no reason

(20:48):
for us not to. Again,this is a big year for him and
that the big uglies up front.Yeah, I'm sure one of the other
that you talked about the three thingsthat are a big concern, I would
imagine number two is the same wayI'm looking at it is the defense and
those defensive backs and everything that happensin that room. It's a big year
for the Ohio State defense. TheSilver Bullets need to come back. People

(21:11):
are saying, that's funny you saidthat Buckeye fans were spoiled for so long
with great defense trestle ball even beforethat, Coach Cooper. I mean,
the silver Bullets term has been aroundfor a while. And yeah, this
is big year for Jim Knowles,high expectations. The last two games they

(21:33):
gave up at forty five and fortytwo points and that's not okay. Eighty
one points in two games at OhioState ain't gonna get it done. If
they're a little bit better and makinga play in the fourth quarter, they're
a play away in that fourth quarter, and they're gonna go play TCU and
you're probably gonna see the very likethe same outcome. You know, you

(21:56):
have some stars and JT. TuAmala with American hopes, Tommy Eikenberg Captain
Tommy is back after a great year. We saw the improvement Steel Chambers,
lath and Ransom last year. Theybelieve that Denzel Burke is going to be
the next big time corner. Theythink he's had a great offseason, spring
and camp. But the player thatI'm looking forward to watching, who is

(22:17):
a specimen physically from Pickerington and Sunnystyles and uh, reading between the lines,
it looks like he's the man andthe nickel. They've renamed it.
The strike position. Reminds me alot of an old player, Uh,
David Fulcher. They played for theBengals long time ago, back in the
eighties. But a huge guy thatcan move like a linebacker or the receiver

(22:41):
room, isn't he Yeah, he'salso there. So here's the thing.
The Buckeyed defense has to get linedup. They have to tackle, they
have to take away the ball,and they have to limit plays in the
spotlight or the microscope is on JimKnowles this year. There's no excuses.
They have to get back to playin great defense if they're going to win
the national championship that you talked about. I love that. I love that.

(23:04):
I'm going to actually mark that becauseI think that's a good point and
I just yeah, I mean,they've got to do something. They've got
to be ready to go. I'mlooking forward to it. I really am
looking forward to Timolo al because hehad one breakout game last year. He
had a great season, but hewasn't that all American that we thought he

(23:25):
was going to be the day hewalked on campus at Ohio State. We
saw Eikenberg get better and better andbetter. And now they're talking about him
maybe ruling in the NFL and allthat stuff. Well, let's see if
those two guys can get it togetherand get it done. And man,
I would love to see the silverMan Sawyer in hall or key pieces all
agreed, Yeah, key pieces onthat front. Four. I think Sawyer

(23:47):
is a huge part of that.Totally agree. So special teams can really
make a difference this season. AndI think you and I talked about this.
So one day I stopped by youroffice. I look at Notre Dame,
Penn State, Wisconsin and the teamup north. Those four games are

(24:07):
going to be fifty five today.Right now, I'm telling you, those
are fifty fifty games. In mymind, all four of those games.
I think we can win them all. I think we can lose them all.
That's why I call them a fiftyfifty game. In my world.
You can get in to run theodds if you want. I think we
have to have the best special teams, if not definitely in the Big Ten,
We've got to have one of thebest special teams in the country to

(24:30):
win those four games. I reallybelieve it. Well, the Bluebloods have
another advantage because of how much depththey have. The twos as good as
most people's wants, some of theirthrees are as good as some people's wants.
So and it's good for morale becauseyou have a lot of other players
playing that maybe are not starting onoffense and defense, but they're talented,

(24:52):
and that that depth and personnel youshould have an advantage in every game you
play when you're someone like Ohio State, except for when you're playing the other
big boys. But look, thereturn game, you have to be confident
that with Amika Buca, Jayden Ballardsome and the punt return game. The
kick return game was Xavier Johnson.We're hearing some about Tate Carnell, and

(25:14):
every once in a while they throwthis guy named Marvin Harrison Junior. Harrison's
gonna maybe take some kicks. Yeah, and then you look, some people
believe the Buckeyes have arguably one ofthe if not the best punter in the
country coming back and Jesse Murco withsome opportunity maybe all Big ten, All
American. The battle right now isat place kicker between Jaden fielding and Parker

(25:36):
Lewis. I don't know if thatdecision has been made, but it looks
like from what I see, it'sstarting to lead to fielding. But yeah,
special teams should be an advantage almostevery week the Buckeyes take the field.
Here, I am dropping things onmy board. You could tell I
haven't sat in the studio for aweek. I can't even hold onto things.
What the heck are you doing,Paul? So anyway, the reason
why I dropped things is because Iwant to move on next to a little

(26:00):
bit about the I want to pausereal quick, real quick, because you
pointed it out. Look at thefour that are marked for me. Yeah.
Again, when I go into aseason looking at football, and I
don't like to make predictions, butI'm thinking, Okay, what's most important
to get to the end of theseason. It's talent, it's experience,

(26:22):
the trigger man, and obviously theschedule. Right, there's some schedules I've
looked at. I mean, theconference commissioner must hate the head coach in
some of these leagues, because golook at Arkansas schedule. I'm like,
what did Sam Pittman do? Thedeserve it is, But you know,
the fourth game, you feel goodagain. This is rat poison to coaches
that are listening. But at iU Y s U w KU, you're

(26:45):
gonna be heavy favorite. At NotreDame, you're that's going to be a
fight. The only one I've gotkind of a dot next two that I
think's a wild card game for anybodythis year is Maryland because of Eliah TAGAVALOA.
Yeah, I mean he's he's backas the quarterback. He stayed for
a reason. Yeah. So,and then you've got Penn State and at

(27:08):
Wisconsin those back that that's gonna be. I miss Purdue, but I think
Purdue will be down. You're atRutgers, wild Car. We have no
idea what's going on at Michigan State. And then you've got Minnesota. Don't
know, we'll see if they bounceback. And I'm a bit fan of
p J. Fleck, you knowthat. And then when you go to
Michigan, after what we've seen thelast two years, you know you're going
to be in a battle. Ijust I look at those four games.

(27:32):
I agree with with the talk aboutMaryland. I think that's obviously going to
be a key game. Talk aboutPurdue being down, you know the quarterback
that they lost is only right noweverybody in the country looking at is maybe
being the breakout NFL rookie at quarterbackthis year. So Aidan O'Connell's got it

(27:52):
going on. Everybody's talking about him, and Purdue lost him. Obviously he
moved on to the NFL. SoI agree with with your talk there.
So let's let's talk a little bitabout that top twenty five because it has
been talked about quite a bit.The top ten are legitimate. Every single
one in that top ten are legit. It comes down in twenty twenty three

(28:15):
to the top four at the endof the season. We start with Georgia
and then we go Michigan and OhioState at three, followed by Alabama,
LSU, USC, Penn State,Florida State at eight, clumps it at
nine, and Washington squeaks in thereat ten. Now number eleven to me
is intriguing because that can change alot because number eleven is Texas, and

(28:36):
if they win Game two, they'renot number eleven anymore. They're probably number
four or maybe number three, becauseI think everybody in the country that follows
college football knows that Texas can bea gigantic sleeper at eleven and quite frankly
could win at all. They havethat much talent and a coach that knows
how to put points on the board. I look at Texas a big sleeper

(29:00):
and the possibility of being there.It will not be until it happens,
until I say Texas is. ButIrvin Meyer said this office this summer he
thinks for the most talented team inthe country. And coach Sark has been
raving about Quinn Evers. A yearago. We sat here and we're talking
about tam yep and member, yousaw, we saw how that went in
the first five weeks. You knowthat's happened almost every year in the last

(29:22):
twenty five years or something. Atop ten team in the beginning of the
year isn't in the top twenty fiveat the end. So real quick,
let's look at who's been the bigfour the last decade. We know it's
been Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson. That's been the Big
four. Michigan's starting to sneak inthere. But Georgia no Stetson Bennett,
no Todd Munkin, call them ballplays. Alabama no Billy O'Brien and Pete

(29:44):
Golden as coordinators. No more BryceYoung Ohio State, no Kevin Wilson,
no c J. Stroud. Andthen you look Clemson. We have a
quarterback now and club Nick at quarterback. We have a new OC and Garrett
Riley that is on the fast track, Lincoln's brother. Then I look the
next three. Michigan head football coachJim Hardball's back with Sharon Moore as offensive

(30:06):
coordinator with his quarterback j J.McCarthy. That doesn't happen very often this
season where the coordinators and the quarterbackare back on the same team. LSU
head football coach Brian Kelly, JadenDaniels, and Mike Denbrock at OC.
I love Jayden Daniels. They havemaybe the best defensive player in the country
with Harold Pickens junior. He isa stud edge guy, hybrid player.

(30:27):
Then you look at USC. Theplay caller is the head coach Lincoln Riley.
You got some guy named Caleb Williamsback that want to him he wanted
he want a trophy back in Decemberand a rarity. Josh Henson's the offensive
line coaches there. OC. Ofcourse we know that Lincoln caused the plays.
Then you look at the team overthere in central Pennsylvania, Penn State,
James Franklin, DC's Manny Diaz andMike Kursich are both back as coordinators

(30:52):
the offense with all the love thatDrew Oller, a Buckeye high school player.
And then you've got maybe arguably thebest tandem of running backs at Penn
State and Singleton and Katron Allen Michiganwould say something about that. Oh High
State would say something about that.Then we go to the team you just
talked about that. You've got Starkback, You've got yours that they're raving
about. They're very talented. Theygot nine starters back on offense. FSU

(31:18):
Jordan Travis. He will be inthe Heisman talk. It will be bright
lights Game one against LSU and thebiggest game of the weekend in Week one.
They're good offensively on both sides ofthe ball. Mike Norvelle has done
a great job. Then you lookat Washington, Utah and Notre Dame.
You look, that's Michael Pennox,Cam Rising and now Sam how Yeah pulling

(31:38):
the trigger Notre Dame. But Paulreal quick, and I'm gonna buzz through
this. I want to look ateach conference and you're gonna pick and tell
me who's gonna win the conference,because you know I don't like to make
picks. Ye, starting to Bigten the East, you got o Highest
State, the questions that we've talkedabout and the schedule we've talked about.
You've got Michigan with everybody that gotback, including Worm and Edwards at running

(32:00):
back. They're talented. They're projectingseventeen NFL draft picks off that Rostow second
to that projection today or the HighState Buckeyes with thirteen. Yeah, Penn
State, is this the year?Is this the year? Can they win
one or both of those big twogames? Of the teams they can't beat

(32:20):
No. High State and Michigan.We talked about Maryland their wild card and
they've done a good job with gettingpersonnel. And I have a question mark
Michigan State. I have no ideawhat's going on there in year three of
mel Tucker. Then you look atthe West, I am You're gonna say,
I am more than intrigued and cannotwait to see what happens in the
Big ten West Iowa. There's aquarterback at Iowa that has taken a team

(32:47):
to the Final four named Kade McNamara, and we know the woes of that
offense. Woes. They did loseone of their number one offensive linemen to
Peed. Yes, yeah, theyfound out what over the weekend that he's
gonna have to sit out the wholeseason. I guess we know they're gonna
play great defense. And then you'vegot Wisconsin. You've got Luke Fickle that

(33:13):
got Phil Longo to come from youand c so there's some air raid in
the Big Ten West with a quarterbackand ten er Mordecai that is more than
capable that transferred in from SMU.And then you've got Matt Rule at Nebraska.
Now, I think a good yearfor Matt Rule is seven to eight
wins, just get him to abowl coach, But they have sixteen starting

(33:35):
returners. The intrigue in the Westof me perdue the defending champ in the
West. I do think it's goingto be down and I'm interested to see
if if Illinois can do anything closeto what they did a year ago.
So who's your team in the BigTen? Well, I think the Buckeyes
win it, I really do.But I feel like the there's gonna be
two very interesting changes. I thinkyour second best team is either going to

(33:59):
be State or Wisconsin. I thinkI think Michigan gets upset a few times
and people get frustrated. I reallydo. And I don't know if I'm
rooting for that to happen or Ijust think that'll happen. But I feel
like this is James James's year.He's he's got. It's either this or
he's done, because everything he hasdone is now sitting in front of him

(34:21):
with an opportunity for greatness. AndI just I just think he either seizes
it or he loses it, oneor the other. So so let's let's
get to the SEC. We gotGeorgia, can they three pete hasn't been
done since like the thirties or forties. At Minnesota's bizarre stat Carson becks their
new man at quarterback. We knowthey're talented. Brock Bauer's first team All

(34:42):
American at tied end. Tennessee biggestarm in college football, a guy named
Joe Milton who can throw rockets.Then you've got Kentucky. Uh. Liam
Cohen has come back from the NFLfrom the Rams to come back to Kentucky
where they had success and we gota quarterback that transferred from See State and
Devin Larry. And then the otherteam in the East that I'll bring up

(35:02):
because of how they finished Spencer RattlersSouth Carolina, those upsets at the end
of the year. Clayton White's defensethat I think will be very good.
Then we go to the West OCTommy Reese DC, Kevin Steele back with
coach Saban who's the quarterback is aJalen Milro, Ty Buckner the transfer from
Notre Dame or is it Ty Simpsonwho's the youngest of the three LSU with

(35:24):
eight starters back with Jaden Daniels pullingthe trigger. Strong defense. We've already
hit on Harold Perkins, A andM. This is gonna be like watching
the TV show Dallas this year Jimboand Bobby Petrino. Is Connor Wigman their

(35:45):
quarterback. It looks like it.Lots of talent, fifteen starters back,
but what will be the dynamic ofthose two personalities who have called ball plays
for decades? Oh, Miss QuinshawnJudkins arguably one of the top running backs
in and what our man Lane Kiffindoes. He brings in multiple transfer portal

(36:06):
guys. Is that Jackson Dart SpencerSanders, who's been a star at Oklahoma
State is in the mix. MississippiState with a new start with our man
Mike leach rist In Peace gone.But Will Rogers is back at quarterback and
one of the better quarterbacks in thecountry is at Arkansas kJ Jefferson. But
their schedule is brutal. Who yougot in the SEC? I have?
I have Alabama losing to Texas butwinning the SEC. Okay, I really

(36:30):
do. I think Alabama is goingto get better, all right, and
I think Saban has decided George ain'tgetting me this year. I really do
out of respect to coach Saban,right, yeah, all right, So
we go to the ACC. Nodivisions this year in the ACC. First
time FSU quarterback Jordan Travis sixteen returningstarters Dan Jared Verse will be a first

(36:51):
time All American if he stays healthy. They've done a great job. What
a game in Week one against LSUClemson good talented again. On defense,
Jeremiah Trotter is one of the bestlinebackers in the country. Garrett Riley's there
calling ball plays. I think it'sgoing to be a fresh start and help
with Kate Klubnik. Will Shipley's anoutstanding running back. Don't count Clemson out

(37:14):
because I think with a new playcaller, it's a fresh start. Football
is gonna be fun again. Onoffense, we'll see what happens. Then
you've got North Carolina seven back ondefense, Drake May We're saying it's one
two with him and Caleb Williams asof today, projected in the draft.
Miami new OC Shannon Dawson, NewDC Lance Gidr, who's a heck of

(37:36):
a football coach. I've coached withLance Tyler van Dyke if he can stay
healthy. They have a quarterback andsafety Carmen Kitchens is one of the best
players in the secondary in America.Then NC State has our man from Shelby,
Brendan Armstrong, who's transferred from Virginianow sling his name to captain for
that team last week for him.Don't sleep on Mike Elko's defense, Duke

(37:59):
one of the best coaching jobs inthe country last year. And do not
sleep on their quarterback Riley Leonard.He is one of the better quarterbacks in
college football. And then lastly,my sleeper. Don't laugh. Is Louisville
really Jeff Bram Jack Plummer? Butwith an asterisk? Go look at their
schedule. They will be favored ina lot or most of their games.

(38:23):
And I believe in coach Bram whoyou got in ACC Bram went there for
a reason. He went there fora reason. I'll tell you who I
got in the ACC And we talkedabout him a lot last year because everybody
just looked past him every single time. And that was Clemson. That team
got better and better and better.All they did was improve and just kind
of creep up until they were rightthere at the end of the season,

(38:44):
and they were as good as anybodyin the country at the end of the
season. I think Clemson has theirswagger back and I think they're ready to
rule. I wouldn't be surprised ifthey're in the final four. Well,
it's funny you say that when weend the show with what you've got.
The show ended with let's look athere Texas big twelve, lots of talent.
Nine back on offense. We've talkedat Starcuers defensive fronts one of the

(39:05):
best in the country. They hadsome transfer portal wins Alabama Week two Oklahoma
question mark question mark question mark.Huge year for year two for Brent Venables.
Key that Dylan Gabriel stays healthy atquarterback. But they've got seven back
on defense, and I think thatthey will have a bounce back here.
We'll see how much the champ whatTCU. The champion was Case State.

(39:29):
I really respect Chris Kleman as afootball coach. They're good in all phases
of the game. That's how theyplay quarterback. Will Howard's back with seven
returners. Offensively, they do havea lot to replace, specially on the
back end on defense. TCU thenational title game. Chandler Morris is back
at quarterback. He was supposed tobe the starter last year. People remember
Duggan was the backup. They haveeight back on defense, and they have

(39:53):
a very favorable early schedule, sothey're gonna be probably feeling good about themselves
the first five weeks. Text Techis the talk of that conference. Really.
I'm a big Joey McGuire fan.I love guys that coached high school
football and we're successful at that levelbecause high school football coaches are the best
coaches. Eight to five in hisfirst year with fourteen starters back and quarterback

(40:15):
Tyler Shall show us back Oregon athome week two, so we'll see what's
happening there. Kansas Jaylen Daniels backwith ten starters on offense, defense with
seven back. If we remember theystarted last year five and oh they lose
seven of their last eight. Weekfive, they're at Texas, question Mark
Baylor. Other than Blake Chapin comingback, there's not much there. They're

(40:37):
at Utah at and Texas at homeweek two and four, so we'll know
quick. Mike Gundy has one set, has seventeenth straight winning seasons. Does
that happen this year? Spencer Sandersgone new quarterback, new DC and my
sleeper in that league. Remember wehave some additions UCF Gus Malson and quarterback

(41:00):
John Rice Plumly. They can scorepoints, they have skill on offense.
They had some wins in the transferportal that they're happy about being healthy and
then playing defense is going to bethe key. Who's your big twelve?
Alec will be mad at me.I think I think the Horns are there.
I think I think they they dowhat they do. They've got one

(41:21):
of the toughest schedules in college football, and I think they get through that
schedule and I think they've got alegitimate chance of woining it all. I
think the Horns are going to bereally, really good. You may be
right, Yeah, Pack twelve CoachPrime, Yep, nothing no other show
like it on the show, right, Ten players, I think is what

(41:44):
I've got, and I could beoff, but it's closed. Ten players
returned on this roster. The scheduleis brutal, one of the hardest schedules
in the country. My opinion,four or five wins is a heck of
a year by Coach Prime and hisstaff and those players. USC. Caleb
Williams his health, They're going tobe dynamic on offense as long as he's

(42:07):
out there. The question will beas the same as last year. Can
they defend? They could take theball away, but they would give up
a lot of big plays. Thatwas the same thing with the Buckeyes.
They could play defense most of thegame and give up big plays. USC
has to play better defense. Washingtonlast year eleven and two. Kaylin Deboard
great job. Two of first threegames this year Boise State and at Michigan

(42:31):
State, which will answer some questions. Michael pennockx in that offense will be
terrific. They did lose their runningback this week, the injury for the
season. I believe, which Ihate. That the defense should be improved
and watch Braden Trice on the edge, good player Utah Kyle Woodingham's teams always
physical, always played defense, alwaysplay tough. The question is who is

(42:52):
came rising with the injury there atthe end of the year. They haven't
even announced if he's starting that firstgame against Florida yet four of their first
five games. We're gonna know quick. Paul Oh, yeah, Florida.
Question Florida, Baylor, UCLA,Organ State. Then you've got Organ bo
Nix is back, Kenny Dillon Haam'snow the head coaches the OC is now
at Arizona State. They have toreturn a lot of players. And here's

(43:15):
my sleeper in this league. JonathanSmith's Oregon State Fighting Beavers last year,
stellar on defense, great returners,they're good on special teams. And they've
got a guy named Dju that's nowpulling the trigger. Well he follow what
Michael Pennocks, Bownix and Caleb Williamsdid last year. Getting a new start.
Maybe this is a great thing forDJ who you got in the pack

(43:37):
twelve? Paul, I like camerising man. I'm just I'm a fan
since the first time I watched himplay football, So I feel good.
I think I think the Utes aregood. I also think USC is good,
but I agree with you. Theycan't be like Ohio State can give
up forty points and they're gonna beokay. But I like Utah. All
right. So the next question Ithink you have from me is who's going

(44:00):
to compete compete for the college footballplayer? Yes, absolutely, I got
I got five tiers here. Here'sTier one Georgia michigan O High State.
If somebody puts a gun to myhead right now, I said, you
got to tell me at least threeteams that's in the final four, I
would not hesitate. Georgia Michigan OHigh State. Tier two Alabama, LSU,

(44:20):
Southern cow Penn State. I reallylike LSU. Tier three, your
pick Texas, FSU, Clemson,Washington, and Utah. Tier five Notre
Dame Tennessee, Oregon. Here's mysleepers, which is funny because two of
them are yours. If it's notDallas with Jr. And Bobby you in

(44:47):
down there ye going head to headand there's not friction. Texas A and
M could pull a surprise. Itcould be a flip of what happened last
year. I believe that Bobby Petrinois a great play caller, great offensive
coach. Clemson, maybe they gotthe chip back on their shoulder, the

(45:08):
change and then last but not leastas your pick is, if Texas as
talented as they are, if ifthey can finally pull together, maybe we
can say at the end of thiscollege football season, Texas is back.
Yeah. I think you're correct onall of them. I don't. Yeah.
So, a couple of things Iwant to talk about before we get
into the week zero games, whichstill makes no sense to me. Matth

(45:30):
is hard though. Obviously the conferencere alignments huge, that's been the talk
of the summer. And what doyou feel how do you feel right now
about the conference re alignments and whatare your thoughts on what happens next in
the Pac twelve. Well, here'sthe irony. This is the health this

(45:50):
season the Pac twelve's ever had.When has there been? I mean,
can USC win it? Yeah?Washington, YEP, Oregon, yep,
Utah, Oregon State. I thinkthose are your five probables. There's never
been that kind of depth in thatleague. And this is it here,
Paul, bulletproof bullet points, justto be timely on this. It's sad.

(46:15):
The conference free alignments is sad.College football is never going to be
again what you and I and everycollege football fan has been used to in
our lifetimes. It's not it's themost uncertainty in college football history. They
keep moving the goalposts. The coachesjust have to adjust and and and and
go go with it. There's itis what it is because when you throw

(46:37):
in transfer portal nil and then thisconference realignment, it's it's something. It's
I don't know it. We don'tknow what this game is. Uh Death
the mid majors. I believe thatthere's these money games because these major conferences.
The Buckeyes aren't going to be playingU, Y, s U ANDREEN
and w K. I mean thosedays are probably gone. So these mid

(46:58):
majors are going to get crushed anda lot of them are gonna have football
anymore. I believe that it's professionalfootball without guardrails. And the realignment is
driven by money, TV money,period into story. That's what it's driven
by. Pack twelve one away becausethey didn't get the TV money they want,
and a few coaches have brought thisup. Is this what's best for
the players? Is it? Isthe realignment best for the players? You

(47:22):
know, football is eighty five percentof the revenue major college football in college
athletics. These decisions were made becauseof that. What about the golf team
from Oregon? What about the volleyballteam from Washington? What about the baseball
team at Ohio State? When theseplayer, these student student athletes are traveling

(47:49):
back and forth across the country allthe time, and when are they going
to be in school? I mean, it's not about the players, it's
about the money. And I'll getoff that soap box. But the NC
double is now impotent. I meanit's impotent, and that's a strong word
to use, but they are.But to finalize that, I hate it.

(48:10):
Stanford, cow Oregon State, WashingtonState. It looks like the Pac
twelve is dead. I still hopethe ACC can bring them on. Does
something happen with the Mountain West that'sabove my pay grade. But it's been
a dark day for the PAC twelvethe last few weeks. Yeah, yeah,
we're gonna see what happens in twentytwenty four. That's when a lot

(48:32):
of this change happens. Let's talkabout the Week zero games that once again,
Matt is hard for college students apparentlyto have Week zero Navy at Notre
Dame coach, a lot of peopleare going, all right, this isn't
gonna be good for Navy, butthere won't be any passes thrown by the
Navy. Well, real quickly,you know we're gonna bust through these games

(48:53):
to get to the end of theshow. But you know, with Navy,
I'd never I did not many coachesdid not agree with letting Kenny nia
Mantalogo absolutely, so you got himand Ivan Jazz for the offensive coordinator and
the triple option gone. They keepon Brian Newberry, who's the new head
coach's been the DC there for fouryears. He brings in Grant chess Nut
from Kennesaw State, which is tripleoption football, so we know what we're

(49:15):
going to see. Notre Dame isone of the most intriguing teams. To
me. It's year two for MarcusFreeman. Things will be easier for him
because he's had a year of experience. Jared Parker, who has slept on
my couch in my house before,is their offensive coordinator. We've got Sam
Hartman. There's some real hope.The biggest thing is in this game is
obviously you stop the option, butyou have an entire offseason to prepare for

(49:37):
option football. That's why option teamsusually struggle the first week and in bowl
games because there's more prep time.But the big thing for Notre Dame is
they'll be They'll be good on defense. They've got a quarterback, they've got
good running backs. Is can theymake better plays on the perimeter other than
at the tight end position? Right. Hartman's biggest problem last year was throwing
the I NT, especially in thesecond half of the season. He threw

(49:59):
a bunch of gonna have to takecare of it. Yeah, absolutely.
San Jose State at USC. Somepeople say this might be a fun game.
I think USC will blom out.Uh. Brett Brennan in a sixth
season, He's found a way tosurvive. He found seven wins last year.
Their quarterback has a chance to beplayer of the year, Chevon Courtier
in that conference. Uh. Theirinexperienced, especially at front on d Hello

(50:21):
Caleb Williams that's not good. ButUSC defense this is a big year for
Alex Grench. Crew was good attakeaways, but again weren't great with points
and yards. Uh, it's abig year Stars with recruiting and transfer porter
on offense, they'll put some pointsup. I feel good about USC and
the other two games. Talk aboutflying across the country. Ohio, you
goes all the way out to SanDiego State. Tim Alban was on the

(50:44):
hot seat, had a terrific yearten wins, seven and one in the
MAC. Curtis Rourke at quarterback thirtytwo hundred yards, one of the best
quarterback statistically in college football last year. And then you've got written fact he
was player of the Year in theMAC. At San Diego State. Jalen
Maiden last year helped them bounce backin the second half of the season where

(51:06):
he went from quarterback to safety,back to quarterback. So he's had an
entire office. This is Brady Hoke'ssixth season. They're young on upfront on
defense. I kind of like theBobcats. Yeah, all right, let's
see what happens Hawaii. They goall the way to Vanderbilt. That could
be there just as an ugly game. Well, prayers to what has happened
in Hawaii. Absolutely, that tragedythey've had to live with right there front

(51:30):
and center. So it's a longtrip to Nashville. Timmy Chang run and
shoot quarterback for June Jones is hidinghis second year and they've committed completely now
to the run and shoot, whichI got to learn from Mike Malk at
Kenton High School and then Vandy ClarkLee year three did a great job last

(51:50):
year, much improvement. Two oftheir last three games where wins against Kentucky
and Florida. AJ Swan back atquarterback. Have to improve on defense,
but they were getting better and theywere gold. This year obviously is just
to get to a bowl. Right? Is there anything else you wanted to
throw in about the games this weekend? I need the energy to prepare for
week ones. You definitely do.I do want to start as we did

(52:14):
last year because I thought it wasone of the neatest features we ever came
up with. And that is thewin the Day award. And I know
we're coming into week zero, butcoach, you gotta have somebody who you
want to salute that one of theday. Here's who I want to salute
all the nonsense realignment, nil portalcoaches, moving coaches, getting fired,

(52:39):
everything that's been talked about this offseason. Guess what we have football back.
And I reminded my wife the otherI said, you know, sweetheart,
we're not going to have a weekendwithout high school, college, or pro
football until middle of February. Thatlook was like, oh, you're right,
and her deal one. Thank good, I get my basketball team back.

(53:01):
If you're listening to show you're afootball fan, you like football or
you love it. The winner ofthe day are college football fans period.
They get to watch the game theylove, and it'd be a peewee middle
school, high school, obviously,college and the NFL right around the corner.
You get to watch the game youlove and not have to worry about

(53:21):
all the other nonsense that's going aroundthe game, especially at the college level
right now. So the winner ofthe day is football fans. Football is
back, and let's eat it up. It's funny, hm. I already
Adams said, yeah, it's notmany great games. I said, I
bet you watch every game that's onTV this weekend, because you're right too.
Before I get you the big question, I want to. I want
to ask you if you're if youheard what's going on with Josh Cribbs.

(53:44):
I did not. He is beinginducted into the Cleveland Hall of Fame,
Cleveland Brown Hall of Fame. No, no, the Cleveland, the city
of Cleveland has a Hall of Fame. He is. He is a treasure
in northeast Ohio and they are happyto have him. And I'll tell you,
I mean, it's I think it'sall sports guys, but it's different
ones. But it's uh, butyeah, he's being inducted into the Cleveland

(54:07):
Hall of Fame. Recruited Josh outof the DC Dunbar High School with one
of my good friends, his headcoach, Craig Jefferies. Josh starred immediately.
We put him in against West Virginia. I think it was our second
game of the season. We wantedto red shirt him. He went for
ninety nine yards his first game ona college football field at West Virginia.

(54:27):
But our players because I coached offense, but I had a lot of times
coached old line and tight ends,and they'd be like, coach, we
can't understand a word this guy saysin the huddle. I means mustmouth in
there. And he has had aTV show in Cleveland now for years,
and he's polished. He's a motivationalspeaker. He speaks loud and clear,

(54:49):
smart, big heart. That's greatfor him. Congress. Yeah, I
didn't know if you'd heard that,and I heard that the other day and
I thought, I'm gonna make sureCoach knows that that Cleveland love Josh Cribs
and very much. Coach. Let'send the show by talking about those Buckeyes.
And you know, at the beginningwe talked about the fact that we've
done this show, first episode ofseason five, the Buckeyes have not won

(55:12):
a national title game. Coach,what's it gonna do to get over the
hump to win that national title?You're still gonna have the explosion plays that
you get from the Buckeyes because ofthe skill set they have. They're guys
that you know, they touch it, they make one miss, they're taking
it to the house. Yeah.Obviously we've already talked about that. What

(55:32):
does the old line due to helpthis team? And obviously, most importantly,
what's the quarterback? But I dothink, and I could be dead
wrong, that they're throwing up morethan ever. But I think you're gonna
see taking some pressure off the quarterback, not him having to carry the load
of running the ball more consistently,I mean calling it more consistently and doing

(55:53):
some things to change the launch point. But again, to me, as
long as they take care of theball, they're going to score points.
This is about the Buckeye defense.Is they have to show up because if
they you're hard pressed. I couldchallenge some of the greatest football study people.

(56:13):
They that's their junkies. Name mea team in the last thirty forty
fifty years that won a national titlewith an average or below average quarterback or
purse average defense, hard press,go think about it, didn't happen.
If the Buckeyes can come back toBuckeye defense that people were used to watching

(56:37):
for years and the quarterbacks just justdon't turn the ball over, the Buckeyes
absolutely will will have the opportunity toplay for a national title in January.
I believe that I go back toone really bad call in that Georgia game
against Marvin. I'm telling you rightnow, I'm gonna think about that play

(56:59):
all see and long. I'll probablymention it too much to the point that
you'll tell me to shut up,but we should have been an attational title
game. I'm leaving it at that. I think Marvin Harrison took that to
heart during this, uh this offseason. I've heard that a Mecca Eggbuca is
a solid leader in the locker room. I think Carnal Tate's just gonna blow

(57:22):
people's minds and I'm just can't Ican't tell you how I'm excited to watch
this football game a week from Saturdayat three thirty in the afternoon because I
think this team is going to bustthrough the gates and I think they're gonna
roll, and I think they're readyto do something, and man, let's
hope they stay healthy. Look forwardto talking about the IU game next week.
Absolutely we will. We'll do itagain next Thursday. We're gonna try

(57:44):
and have these out every Thursday evening. So thank you so much for joining
us. Episode one, Season fiveof The Oh Show. As we get
ready for College Football Week zero beginsnow.