Michigan Rewind and Indiana Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
How long everybody at his time once again for the
Silver Bullets podcast. I'm Michael Citrow, I'm chip Minnick Chip.
The Buckeyes have done it. They've done it. They've got
the monkey off their back. No amount of signs stealing
or pretending you've got COVID so you can't play can negate.
The fact that Ohio State has once again bested its

(00:42):
rival and in the sweetest way possible, uh, in front
of their fans.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
I would agree, the sweetest way way possible. The I
guess I've gotten uh. I don't want to say spoiled,
but the reality is, you know, winning up and up
in an arbor as regularly as Jim Trussell and Urban
Meyer did kind of maybe very nostalgic for you know,

(01:09):
how sweet of a feeling this was to win that game.
I would personally rank it second behind the two thousand
and one victory that Jim Trussell simply because of the
fact that Jim Trussell broke a losing streak that had
extended back to nineteen eighty seven, which we've kind of
talked about. So yeah, I think for any Ohio State

(01:30):
fans that were getting a little anxious and antsy about
the fact that Ryan Day was not as successful against
Michigan as they would have liked. The hecks the curse
is over.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
Yeah, so what is he two and four?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:43):
In the games two and four, so many people acted
like he had never beaten them before. But he beat
him in the first try. Christ then the second try
didn't happen because we're sick, we can't play. Sorry, we
have to cancel the game. And then they brought in
a cheater to steal all the signs for a couple

(02:03):
of seasons, and you know, and then really Ohio stated
nobody had blame but itself last year because that was
just we're going to be men, and we're going to
be mainly men. We're going to beat them at their
own game. And you know what, I think there was
still some component of that in this game. We'll talk about.
But at the same time, it was a thorough win
twenty seven to nine in the final wasn't really as

(02:26):
close as the final score indicates. But in some respects
it was part of the fact that this team did
not start the game well. And I think it's a
testament to this group that they started the game so
poorly and still we're able to, you know, come back
and win so convincingly.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Yeah, I would agree. I think that the final score,
it wasn't a blowout by any stretch. But I will
also say that pretty much throughout the entire second half,
I never ever felt like, Okay, they were ever going
to come back. I mean, I just never felt and
I know we're going to go over the game here momentarily,
but I never ever felt like, oh, okay, here's where
Michigan is going to start to take control. They never

(03:07):
ever seemed like they had that within their capacity. So
the second half was very enjoyable.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
It was very enjoyable. The main thing I was concerned
about in the second half was how will the team start,
because the second half the last few years has belonged
to Michigan and Ohio State did fine to start the
second half, and especially defensively, and once you figured out
that Michigan had no answers on offense, I was like, well,

(03:32):
just a matter of how many points can we score
and let's not turn the ball over.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
I agree with you, so let's.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
Talk about it. Michigan got the ball first. Things quickly
became concerning with a long thirty six yard run on
the first play of the game. I try not to
get too excited about the first drive because the first
drive is scripted. There's a lot of emotion. Sometimes you're
not making your reads and you're not keying on the
things that you're supposed to key on because just hype,

(04:00):
you're hyped up, you're ready to go, and emotion kind
of overtakes you, and so I try not to get it,
you know, too excited about it. But by watching a
thirty six yard run against this defense, it's not something
we've seen a lot.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
No, we haven't. But I, like you said, I just
kind of attributed the first drive just to nerves, and
I really I just kind of figured things were going
to settle down on which they eventually did.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
And as this team often does, this defense often does.
It's stiffened up when the you know, it needed to
forced a field goal and then the offense took the field.
And you know, right before the game, they interviewed Ryan
Day and he said, yeah, we're gonna we're going to
be aggressive, we're going to go after it, we're going
to be us. You know, these are all good things
you want to hear. But then you know, the first

(04:46):
pass is a target to Carnell Tate. It was not
thrown while I was a little underthrown and it was
broken up. And then the second one they target Jeremiah
Smith and it was intercepted. And you know, we talked
last week about these are two first time starters in
the game, so let's see how they respond. And I
Faudulian saying started more nervy of the two, but he

(05:08):
grew into the game. Underwood started maybe a little bit
more cocky, but then he faded.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
A very good point. I think, you know, on that
pass that was intercepted, I mean it certainly looked like
doing sane stared down Jeremiah Smith. I mean that there
was never ever anyone else that he was thinking of
going to. I thought it was again, you know it was.
It was a very poor start. It kind of reminded me,
in all fairness, I know we're going to start talking

(05:35):
about other things. It kind of reminded me of the
Penn State game last year at Happy Valley. You know,
almost like the potential to you know, be you know behind,
and you know, and it's it's it's a tough environment,
but again, you know, like the highest a defense really
rose to the occasion.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
They did, so the defense forced a field goal to
make it six, and then Ohio State settled down, put together.
Then Chip we again we saw at the goal line,
just the same stuff that we keep seeing. It's it's okay.
Now we take bo Jackson out and put Donaldson in.

(06:13):
We we bunch up the formation so they know we're
going to just try to power it in. And it's
the first down. Still could have been a touchdown. Donaldson
didn't see that he had space to his left. He
tried to go a different way, didn't get in. They
tried a couple other things. They end up having to
kick a field goal six to three, and but they're

(06:33):
on the board and they finally settled down, they get
some things figured out. They hit the pass play down
the field too or you know, down in the red
zone to Brandon Ennis. So then you you, oh sorry,
I'm sorry. Smith was the first one. Smith was a
And that one was a little bit nerve wracking because
you had to wait for a review and a replay.

(06:55):
And I'm watching this thing live and we're talking about
it in the internal slack chat over at Langrant, holy Land,
and I'm like, you know, he had full control of it.
It looked like he It looked like to me it
started to come loose as he's breaking the plane and
he gathers it in and yes, he steps on the line,
and they're trying to you know, everybody's saying, oh, it's
a touchback, it's touch back, it's a touchback, but you're

(07:18):
all looking at his foot and you're not looking at
where the ball comes loose. And in the end the
play was upheld and it was a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Yeah, I think if anything, part of the you know,
I'm sure you've heard the expression how over analysis leads
to paralysis when you watch that seriously. I mean, obviously
we're we're not objective when it comes to Ohio State
in this capacity, but when you watch it, you know,
for example, you know this earlier today watching it on
the Big ten network on that Big ten football in

(07:47):
sixty minutes, when you watch the play the way it
had happened, I mean, it looked like a touchdown, just
playing and simple and so like when you go back
and watch it in slow motion on the replay, of course,
like it's gonna you're gonna see some bobble and like
you said, you know, it's like okay, you know, like
that he did his footstep out and wasn't a touchback,
and it's like wait a second here. I mean, I

(08:07):
thought the whole point of the replay wasn't to slow
it down, you know, kind of like the Zapruter film.
For God's sakes, I mean, like, let's let's treat this like, Okay,
the guy had the ball. He had I mean as
he went to the ground, had control. Yeah, he was
kind of bobbling it as he as he crossed the
goal line, but again, it never looked like he was

(08:28):
completely lacking control. So I just thought it was just
completely overdone by you know that the Fox announcers, you know,
saying like, oh, that's a fumble and that's no, no,
it's not, it's a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Let's move on. Yeah, the the they were treating it
like it was almost in different ways, like different for example,
like you're going to ground when making a catch, which
wasn't the case. He took several steps after that. It
was it was not ever about that. And again, once
the tip of the ball breaks the imaginary plane from

(09:02):
the front of the goal line and play is over.
So if he loses the handle on it, then.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
It doesn't matter exactly.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
So and let's not forget you know, Michigan fans are
really been out of shape about that play because that's
what made it ten to six at the time Ohio
State gets take the lead. So not look away from
the fact that on that play Smith was held coming
out of his break and there was no flag for it,
and Julian Sayin was hitting a head with a hand,

(09:30):
also not penalized. So maybe Ohio State scores anyway, I agree,
So let's just settle down, and it's not like Ohio
State didn't lose a touchdown that it earned, because you'll
never convince me CJ. Donaldson didn't score a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
I will say that it was ridiculous that they said
Julian Sayan got in when he never got close.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, I'm glad that they went back and reviewed that
because that one didn't look good.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
No, that was a bad look. Are you guys just
always going to be wrong? It's kind of the tech
that I took, so so yeah, Michigan hopefully they took
pictures of the scoreboard after the first quarter because it
was six to three. But then from that point on
Ohio State never trailed after Smith's touchdown. They kicked another
field goal, a fifty four yard field goal, to make
it ten to nine with five and a half minutes

(10:21):
to play in the half, so one point game. I
believe that was the drive that was helped by the
Jermaine Matthews ridiculous pass interference call on third and four
when the ball was about eight or ten yards out
of bounds.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, we were watching and again like the idea that
it was on you know that it was uncatchable, wondering
why that why that was called, but hey, this had
to roll with it.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, So the Buckeyes did manage to get the last
laugh and made it seventeen to nine in the final
seconds of the second quarter, a four yard touchdown pass
from Julian Saying. And by this point we started to
see the snow flourries come.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, and I can just tell you that up here
in Ohio I found it amusing because, yeah, I mean,
we we have snow on the ground. It is cold.
And in the days leading up to the game, a
different social media posts about how Michigan fans were so
excited about the fact that there was going to be
snow and it was very humorous to me in the

(11:26):
sense that, Okay, it's not as though the Ohigo State
players weren't used to seeing snow themselves. I don't know
where this idea that, okay, like they were playing that
that thought that, yes, you have players from Florida like
Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Innies. But guess what, they they
were used to playing in cold weather and in the snow,

(11:47):
having been at Ohio State for the last few seasons.
So it was not anything that I found that was
going to be that much of a factor. I was more,
quite frankly, I was more concerned about the win, not
the snow.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Oh yeah. And I think that the win did have
some effects in this game. Not a lot, but I
think I had a few, you know, it affected a
few throws. But one throw that it didn't affect was
a fifty yard touchdown pass from Saying to Carnell Tate
in the third quarter, midway through the quarter. That was
after each team had had the ball, and from that

(12:20):
point on, once I got to twenty four to nine,
I just I kicked my feet up. I'm like, yeah,
there's no way they're getting back in this game.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right, Well, That's kind of what I've been saying all
along this season, is that I respect the fact that
Michigan likes to run the ball. I like the fact that, Okay,
they usually because we haven't talked about it yet, they
usually are pretty stout defensively. But I just knew that.
And this is not meant as a permanent indictment on

(12:50):
Bryce Underwood, but I just knew that his passing skills
and the talent on hand for the Wolverines is not
capable of getting back into this game by throwing the ball.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, you certainly knew they weren't at that point. They
were going to run out of time if they tried
to just you know, run the ball repeatedly. They weren't
having success. They had, you know, they had tried to
have Jordan Marshall give it a go. He left the
game for a while, came back in, but he wasn't
as effective when he came back in. And I don't

(13:22):
think it had anything to do with his shoulder as
much as it had to do with Matt Patricia saying,
here's what you guys need to do to adjust to
what they're doing on the outside. Because the only time
they had success running the football. There were plenty of
bodies at the point of attack, but they would find
a crease and get through it.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, I mean I felt bad for Jordan Marshall, and
from what I understand, it's an ac joint injury, you know,
which is kind of the one point earlier in the
first half when he left in his right arm was
kind of dangling that, you know, and not knowing what
the extent of the injury was. But it's kind of
you know, what we talked about in the previous weeks

(14:00):
about withholding Arnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith, Okay, you want to
make sure that, okay, that these guys are as healthy
as they possibly can be, so by withholding them from action,
the more likely that they would be healthy. Conversely, with
Jordan Marshall, I think Michigan tried to do that, but
a little too late. You know. It's like the fact

(14:21):
that that Jordan Marshall, I mean, it's one of these
things where, especially considering just just the shots that are
running back takes, you know, it's a very physically demanding position.
You know, that was not going to get better. So
hopefully he'll get better by whatever bowl game Michigan qualifies
for because you know, you would hate to see you

(14:41):
know that kind of permanently I shouldn't say permanently, but
mar his twenty twenty five season.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, then Michigan just really didn't threaten at all to
score in the fourth quarter. In Ohio, State took over
the ball in the third quarter chip and went on
I believe it was a twenty play twelve minute drive, yeah,
and almost all of it on the ground. And this

(15:09):
was talking about where it was like, okay, we can
play some man ball too and keep the play. What
it reminded me of was that final drive against Penn
State last year when they got the goal line stand
and then never gave the ball back. In this case,
it was a lot more time on the clock and
they ended up going down and scoring. Unfortunately, I had
to settle for a field goal, a short one twenty
three yarder. But I mean that drive, it just sapped

(15:33):
whatever will the Wolverine still had was gone after that drive.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah. Somehow somewhere Woody As was smiling because that was
just that was exactly, you know, like the the stereotypical
three yards and a cloud of dust that it was
very you know, direct to the point, all right, we're
not going to we don't need to put the ball
in the air. A few times that they did, but

(15:59):
it was never ever or you know, really anything you know,
remotely close to Okay, well we're doing this to try
and put more points on the board. Ryan Day understood,
all right, kind of what you know, you and I
and other people have been clamoring for. It's like, okay,
we've got we've got the lead. All right, who cares
about you know, trying to and even though they did

(16:19):
actually you know, show that they were manly and tough,
who cares about playing that style of game? All right?
Once you've got the once you've got the lead, just
you know, who cares, you know, win the easiest way.
And the fact that Ohio State was dominant with not
onlye Bo Jackson, uh you know we mentioned CJ. Donaldson,
Isaiah West was in there, and I made the comment, Okay,

(16:40):
the fact that Isaiah West is a true freshman and
he was getting legitimate carries in the biggest game of
the year shows the full faith and confidence that the
coaching staff has. So it was just I didn't care
that it was you know, something out of like a
nineteen seventies Ohio State playbook to me, all right, burning
clock and and just making them basically quit, you know,

(17:04):
And I loved it, every moment of it.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yeah, they took one shot down the field to Tate
in that drive. They threw a nine yard pass to
Max Claire. I think they might have thrown another short
pass later in the in the drive. In fact, it
was on the third down and four when they didn't
pick it up and the ended up kicking the field goal.
So only a few pass plays and then there was

(17:28):
a drop back from saying where he scrambled for a
first down. But the rest of it was was just
a mixture of Donaldson and West and Bo Jackson and
you know, three yards here, five yards there, minus one here,
six yards there. It was, it was. It was a
beautiful thing because that's exactly what Michigan wanted to.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Do throughout the whole game, without question.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
So that gives you your final score of twenty seven
to nine, although there was a nice exclamation point put
on the game with Davis Iguinosen, who also got flagged
for pass interferits in this game on a play where
his shoulder pads and jersey were being tugged and it
was a flop, but Michigan got the call. But he
ended up intercepting a pass late and he wanted the

(18:14):
Holes stadium to know about it, so he took his
helmet off and got a penalty.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah, Davison Iguanosen does not suffer from a lack of confidence.
I mean, it gets frustrating, but I do like the fact.
I really do. I'm saying that, you know, smiling, but
I do like the fact that, Yeah, he gets flagged
for pass interference calls and it's frustrating, but he comes
back with as much confidence in himself, which is what

(18:39):
you need to be able to play that position effectively.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Got the memory of a goldfish. Does not let a
penalty or to change how he approaches the game exactly.
He doesn't play timid. That guy does not play timid. No,
So there you go, twenty seven to nine. One thing we
didn't talk about is the shippiness of this game. And
I felt like this was a lot of manufactured chippiness
on the Michigan side, where they were trying to get

(19:07):
Ohio State riled up and out of and not thinking
about the play and thinking about them instead. There was
a lot of stuff after the play there was. I
don't know how the young man from Michigan did not
get thrown out of the game for headbutting an official,
but somehow only got an unsportsmanlike conduct for it. I
have never seen that chip and if he had hit

(19:27):
him any harder, helmet to nose because he pulled back
just in the nick of time to where he barely
brushed him. But if that's any harder, he's breaking that
referees nose.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
I agree it was. It was surprising that there wasn't
an automatic ejection. I think even Fox was dol Klatt
was surprised when it happened that he didn't wasn't ejected.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
And there were a few offsetting penalties for unsportsman like
conduct in the Ohio State got one on a kickoff
to really set the drive back to their thirteen, which
could have been costly, but it ended up not being
a big problem. But yeah, they Jayshawn Barham, I mean
a Terry McCauley, former referee who now works as one

(20:12):
of the rules experts, said in no universe. He tweeted out,
in no universe, is that not an injection?

Speaker 2 (20:20):
I agree? I I thought it was. It was stunning
that when they showed it that he wasn't injected. I'm
still kind of surprised.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
And you know, sort of mysteriously in the third quarter
and into the fourth, Ohio States communications didn't work, but
Michigan seemed to work.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Okay, Yeah, I mean, what a pity that. Okay, we're
just gonna We're just gonna run the ball and you
still can't stop it. So you know that that kind
of you know ruined that, you know, after the plan
of trying to be you know, trying to be geniuses. Okay,
we'll just run the ball being you know, very vanilla
and you still can't stop that.

Speaker 1 (20:57):
And Julian saying having to run to the side line
back between plays helped run more clock, you got it,
and then finally defending the m from flag planting while
the Ohio State players went to celebrate with the fans.
Was it showed me really what the character of the
current teams are. And teams are different from year to year,

(21:21):
but the current team from that team up north, they're
more worried about, you know, intimidating and protecting and not
letting Ohio State get revenge in every way but on
the game, you had sixty minutes of football to protect that.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
M Yeah. I just like the visual, the fact that
the Ohio State players were sitting up on the up
in the basically up in the with the Ohio State
fans who made the trip looking down on the Michigan players.
I liked the visual of it. It was nice.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
It was all right, us check our score predictions, Chip,
I think you got me again. I had twenty four
to twenty. I thought Michigan was going to score some
points in this game. I should have had more trust
in the defense. But you had the twenty eight to seventeen,
so you have that much more trust in the defense.

(22:18):
So I guess I was eleven off on the Michigan
side and I was three off, so I was a
total of fourteen off. You were one off on the
Ohio State side, and you were a little closer eight
off on the Michigan side. So you nipped me again, Chip.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Well, it quite frankly, I really thought that the game
was going to be the fact that Michigan wanted to
run the ball. That wasn't a surprise. I thought it
would take longer for Ohio State to be able to
I don't want to say figure it out because I
have more faith in Matt Patricia and the defensive staff
than that, but just kind of I kind of we

(22:59):
alluded to it earlier about you know, getting everyone's nerves
calmed down and let's figure out what's working. And let's
let's face it. Not knowing the full health and extent
of Jeremiah Smith and Cornell Tate, I had thought that
it was going to be Jeremiah Smith was definitely going
to play, and I really thought Cornell Tate would play sparingly.
It was happy to see both of them play and

(23:19):
could contribute as much as they did.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
But yeah, so that was kind of the rationale behind
that that score is. I just thought it was going
to be closer in the first half and then in
the second half of High State would start to figure
things out and pull away.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Yeah, it remains to be seen how healthy those two are.
They did play, but you saw as well as I did.
They ran a lot of twelve personnel, thirteen personnel, fourteen personnel.
So every tight end played in this game. We saw
a ton of Max Claire, Will kas Merrick, we saw
Christian A. Bennett Christian, we saw Roberts, and we even

(23:54):
I even saw Jelanie Thurman out there several times while
the game was still fairly close.

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, and don't forget Dave Adolph was out there too,
because I think it was just one of these things
where and that's not meant as a as a slight
on Dave Adolph or any of those those tight ends.
You just that you just discussed, is that I mentioned
a few moments ago that all right, once the game
was in hand, and all right, we're going to run
the ball and that rotation of Jackson and West and

(24:23):
Donaldson and let's just try and kill Clock. And you know, okay,
why not have other players out there that are affective
blockers and let's burn Clock. And there's no need to
have Jeremiah Smith and Cornel tape. Because I'm sure it
was I mean, I'm just speaking from my personal perspective.
I'm sure it was bitterly cold, because I mean here

(24:45):
in the west side of Cleveland, I mean it was.
I mean it was in the thirties and you're talking,
you know, a few hours more to the north, so
it's probably you know, twenty Like you said, the snow
made sense to me.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, twenty two wind Chill to start the game. Yep,
so you know, hopefully, because Ryan Day said after the game,
you guys have no idea what how much work those
two put in to get back to where they can
play in this game. So they're not one hundred percent,
but they still had a major impact on the game.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah. Rumor, the rumor has it that with Jeremiah Smith,
it's more of a pain tolerance issue. And what I
mean by that is like a deep thigh bruise that
And I'm not trying to suggest all like anybody could
you know, should be able to just go through that.
It's like, okay, well kind of what you just said,
It's like, all right, well let's you know, what what
do you have to do to be able to get

(25:36):
out there and contribute, you know, So it made sense,
all right, sitting him down and not playing him last
you know, last few games, you know, so he would
be ready. With Carnel Tate, I think it was more
of a calf issue that could possibly, you know, linger
into or develop into something more serious. So the fact
that they both I think with with Ryan Day and

(25:58):
the medical staff, that they did the right thing by
both young men in terms of sitting them down, trying
to treat these injuries as seriously and gingerly as possible
to allow them to be able to contribute, you know,
and again it remains to be seen how much they'll

(26:18):
play against Indiana. But that's kind of why, you know,
it's like, all right, you know, listen to what the
doctors say, and let's figure out what we need to
do in order to win this game as well as
the Big Ten championship.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah, all right. The buck Geys held Bryce Underwood to
a season low sixty three yards only eight of eighteen
chip with one interception, no touchdowns, and was sacked once.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, I'm I'd say that I'd be surprised, but it's like, Okay,
it's just the reality is is that he's got a
lot of talent. I'm more surprised that considering, you know,
the fact that his passing is a work in progress,
that they didn't try to use him more as a runner,

(27:01):
saying but you know, but hey, you know, they seemed to,
you know, like the fact that they wanted Tim you know,
to to try and beat Ohio State from the pocket.
I'm happy that they did, because I mean, the results
kind of spoke for themselves.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Yeah, I thought that he would run more, even if
it wasn't designed runs. He would tuck it and go
a few more times than he did. But credit to
Ohio State's defensive line and linebackers for keeping him penned
in and taking away his receivers downfield. He was clearly
not feeling good. He was rushing a lot of things.
He he avoided some sacks well by throwing the ball away.

(27:39):
But you know that's that's a win for the defense
if you're making him throw the ball away. I would
agree Julian's saying. On the other side, nineteen of twenty
six for two hundred thirty three yards, three touchdowns, did
throw the one pick was not sacked. I mean, that's
just not normal to get through a Michigan game without
giving up a sack.

Speaker 2 (27:57):
No, that's again, that kind of spoke volumes about. I
think just the job that the Ohio State offensive line
in terms of not only their pass protection but also
the run production that they gave. So I think the
offensive line deserves many kudos from the coaching staff as

(28:18):
well as, like social media from Ohio State fans.

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I agree. I think the line played a great game.
And you know, I typically will give Tiger Shabola some grief,
but I thought he played a good game.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
Even Yeah, I think I think if he gets the
opportunity to play a physical style, I think that that's
more his I don't want to say his mentality, but
I think just like his just overall. You know, I
think running the ball suits him better. So this might
have that might have been part of why, like you said,
like one of his better games.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
All right, Bo Jackson a big game for bow twenty
two carries, hundred and seventeen yards and he had a
thirty six yarder as well in this game. And he
was your pick to click, and he clicked.

Speaker 2 (29:01):
I wouldn't think so.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yes, not only was he good at running the football,
they used him out of the backfield as a receiver
and I've been wanting them to do that more. He
had four catches for forty nine more yards. I believe
he may have had more total yards than Michigan. It
could be wrong about that. No, I think you're right
absolutely just by himself, Donaldson ended up rebound having a

(29:26):
good game. His first three carries were from minus one
yard total, but he ended up with fourteen carries for
forty four yards, and Isaiah West had six carries for
twenty Julian say and four for seven and then the
kneel down, which is always nice to have in there.
Uh huh, So you get your pick to click. My

(29:47):
picked the click was Max Claire three catches for twenty yards,
but he also had a drop and that could have
been a big play had he not dropped the ball,
and it wasn't an easy catch, it was behind him.
And then when I had talked earlier about I think
the wind affected some passes, that was one where I
felt like, you know, you're not leading your tight end.
It's not like you're miss you know, misinterpreting his speed.

(30:07):
That's probably the wind affecting the ball a little bit.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah, I think. I mean, I still have a lot
of faith in Max Clair. I was happy to see
Will cast Merrick had some clutch receptions.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
He had a big catch in this game down the field.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
You know. So yeah, I think, I mean it just
might have been like you said, it might have been
more weather impacted than anything else.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah. So, I mean, I don't think that Max Claire
played poorly, but I wouldn't give I'm not giving him
a click. Carnel Tait five catches eighty two yards and
a touchdown, Jeremiah Smith three catches, forty yards and a touchdown,
and Will Kasmerk two catches for thirty but twenty five
of that on one play where he went up over
the defender. He was well covered and made a great play.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
I would agree.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
Brandon Innis only two catches for twelve yards, but he
maximized them by getting a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yeah, very nice.

Speaker 1 (30:57):
Now on the defensive side, your picked to click chip
was one rvil Ree. Rvel Reese played very well in
this game, but his numbers were pretty modest, and overall
Ohio State's defensive numbers were modest because Michigan had a
lot of trouble staying on the field. So that's really
a click for the whole defense, and I'm gonna list

(31:20):
it as such, even though you know, rvel Ree had
two tackles and really no other stats to speak of,
and I had Caleb Downs who only had three tackles
and a pass breakup. But I thought that every one
of the defense played well against the run and against
the pass. I mean eight of eighteen when the quarterback
was eight of eighteen you're doing something well in coverage,

(31:42):
and the fact that Underwood didn't make anything happen with
his legs and the running game was shut down indicates
that everybody was in their lanes doing their job. So
I think a full defensive click is in order.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
I would agree with that.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
And if you look at the way that they played
just you couldn't. You can't speak highly enough of the
defense that Matta Patricia has put out there this year,
and it was neat seeing the video of him celebrating
with Ryan Day after the game.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, I think Matt Patricia has certainly earned a raise,
without a question.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
I think if there was anybody that stood out to
me in this game, two guys probably stood out the
most defensively. Sonny Styles was everywhere he wanted his gold
pants and he earned him with six tackles. He had
a tackle for loss as well. And I thought that
Cayden McDonald did a great job of just absolutely stuff

(32:37):
in the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, Cayden McDonald, I've mentioned this before. I think he's
just one of those guys where and this is not
meant to imply that the talent is in there, but
I think he gets kind of lost in the shuffle
with you know, when you've got a Caleb Downs, you've
got a Sonny Styles, you've got rbl Reese. That's the
fact that Okay, he plays on the interior that defensive line,
and the reality is, I mean he is vile to

(33:02):
the overall performance of that Ohio State defense. So you know,
Kate McDonald is certainly worth the accolades that he was
getting from the national in terms of like on social
media about you know, just how dominant of an interior
defensive line he is.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
If he doesn't go in the first round, I don't
know what the NFL is doing. He's bringing sexy back
to the nose tackle position is not a sexy position.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
Well, be grateful to the Georgia Bulldogs. I mean, we're
talking about a guy. We talked about this all the
time with recruiting that we're not recruiting people. But basically,
you know, Kate McDonald was the player of the year
in Georgia. But Georgia didn't even look at him because
the measurables that they have for their interior defensive linemen,

(33:48):
they didn't think that he could fit their scheme. And
Ohio State was more than happy to snatch him up.
So I'm glad that Georgia has kind of elitist ideas
about an interior defensive line that should look like High
State was more than happy to take them off their hands.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah. My only regret is he's going to be gone
after this season.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (34:10):
It'd be light, be really nice to have him for
another year, I know, And I'm trying so hardship not
to think about the guys that are gonna be gone.
But like I was thinking the other day, it's I
think it's at least eight defensive starters are going to
be gone again this year.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
It'll be another reload. But hey, after after last year,
you know, everyone thought, man, how could they possibly be
a contending team? And look at where we are now.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
Absolutely, so we'll see, uh, we'll see how well they
do loosen all these guys again two years in a row,
just completely rebuilding the defense. Chip. Anything else from this
game that we need to discuss.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
No, let's move on to talking about the Big Ten
Championship game as well as the other Big Ten games
that happened this weekend.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
All right, well, twelve and oho, this feels pretty good, Chip,
and we'll get to the rest of our topics for
this show. Right after this, All right, Chip, we are
back and it's time to go around the rest of
the Big Ten to see how everybody else made out.

(35:15):
Sometimes there were winners, even if they were losers in
the end. But it was another interesting weekend in the
Big Ten, and of course a lot of rivalry games.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Oh yeah, I love this time of year just because,
you know, with Thanksgiving and family and days off, you know,
being able to watch as much football on the days,
you know, because like you said, you know, rivalry games
they're not all played on a Saturday, so being able
to watch them over this time period was really enjoyable.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Unfortunately, the Big Ten teams that were in action on
Black Friday ruined our Black Friday a bit because those
were not great games. Iowa absolutely clobbered Nebraska forty to sixteen,
and Indiana was never threatened by Purdue a fifty six
to three win there. So Indiana finishes twelve to oh
nine to zero in Big Ten Play, most wins in

(36:08):
a season for Indiana. They go to their first Big
Ten championship game. Purdue ends up the season two to
ten without a Big Ten victory, and in the basement
and Iowa, for their part, finish eight and four, six
and three in the Big Ten. Nebraska finishes seven and five,
four and five in Big Ten and losing Big Ten record,

(36:29):
and rumors coming out that Dylan Rayola's brother is transferring
and that might lead to a Dylan Royola transfer. That
was a rumor going around this weekend.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, a lot to unpack there. Watched the Iowa Nebraska
game and it was actually a game for the first
half and then things just completely unraveled for Nebraska in
the second half. And just watching it, you know, the
fact that Nebraska they were they were losing forty to
sixteen and drove down the field, burned a lot of clock,

(37:04):
even though the announcers were kind of wondering, Okay, they're
they're I'm not looking for them to make, you know,
a rally here, but they're sure burning a lot of clock.
And the next thing you know, they're backup quarterback who
came in because TJ. Latif suffered an injury. He fumbled
the ball into the end zone which was recovered for
a touchback. So, I mean, Nebraska burned many minutes just

(37:27):
to come up with nothing. So that was that was
just I mean, it was a dreadful second half. And
as far as the Purdue Indiana game, yeah, I mean
it was it was just kind of what I expected.
I think, uh, I realized if you're a Purdue fan,
the talk is cheap, But I sit here and genuinely
say that the Purdue team of this year compared to

(37:51):
the Purdue Purdue team of last year, I think is
just I mean, there's just a just a substantial difference.
And I think if your Purdue, you know, with Barry Odom,
with another good year of transfer portal and with recruiting development,
that Purdue can become a better team next year in
twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
So the buck Gys win twenty seven to nine at noon.
So the buck Guy's twelve to oh nine to ohero
in the Big Ten and they will play Indiana on
Saturday night. We'll talk more about that than a bit.
Michigan finishes the regular season nine and three, seven to two,
a Big Ten play number fifteen. Michigan Chip is not
going to the College football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
No, they are not. They're going to be. They'll they'll
find out their fate on us Sunday, December seventh. You
know when when all the college football bowl games are announced.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
Oregon went to Washington and this was one of the
games I really wanted to see chip and it ends
up Oregon winning twenty six fourteen, and Washington's problem was
always playing catch up in this game. And I don't
think Demon Williams threw the ball. Particularly while the passing
game wasn't good for Washington, they could run the football.
Adam Ohamad had one hundred and five yards. He look good,

(39:03):
but too much Oregon. They could not contain at all
that Oregon offense and More through for two hundred and
eighty six yards in a touchdown. And not only did
Dante More have a good game, but they also ran
the ball well.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, I was able to watch the second half of this,
and I will tell you that for all the people
that I mean, there were rumors going around all if
Oregon loses us, they're out of the college football Playoff.
I look for Oregon to do some damage in the
College football Playoff. I really do. I think that they'll
Whoever gets the misfortune of going to Ottson Stadium, you

(39:42):
better be ready because that Oregon team I think is underrated,
even though they're ranked right now at number six.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, there are only losses to Indiana, That's right, That's
what I'm saying. And now I think they're a better
team now than they were then. I think there might
not be a team playing better than Oregon right now.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
That you might not be incorrect. I'm just saying that
they their commitment to running the ball. Dante Moor is
playing well. Elik Benson had an impressive touchdown reception. I
mean as impressive as you're going to. I mean like
he basically split that Washington secondary like you know, and
and went, you know, for a sixty four yard touchdown

(40:22):
that broke that game completely wide open for Oregon. So
they're they're and they and they're strong on the defensive
side of the ball. So I just think Oregon is
going to I'd be surprised if they don't make it
out of the first round of the colleg football Playoff.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Yeah, Huskies are not slouches, but I mean Benson ran
past them like they were running in mud. Yeah it was.
It was impressive. Oregon eleven and one, eight and one
in Big Ten play and a lot of years that's
good enough to get you to Indy, but not this year,
Washington finishes the regular season eight four, five and four
of the Big Ten. A step forward for the Huskies

(40:58):
and they're on the right path.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
They are. This is definitely jedfish is. This is this
is his program. Now, no disrespect to what Washington achieved
under Kaitlin Debor, who's now at Alabama, but I thought
that Fish had a tough job last year, coming in
late after Debor left for Alabama. So it was kind

(41:22):
of all right, just trying to make do. And we've
talked about this about you know, players that left for
the NFL and you know, and for the transfer portal,
and you know, trying to just kind of make things,
you know, I don't want to say, you know, match,
but you know, just try and get something cohesive. It
was kind of elusive that first year. I think now
it's even at eight and four, and they had some

(41:44):
tough losses, one of which was to Ohio State that
I think Washington they're definitely pointed in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yeah, Ucla played at USC and USC wins at twenty
nine ten. It was ten to seven Ucla at the half,
but you USC had no trouble in the second half.
Mates some adjustments in Ucla. I watched some of the
second half of that game. It looked like they gave up.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Yeah, I think Ucla. I just think they they just
kind of ran ran out of gas and ran out
of spirit. And it's kind of interesting that Ucla. I mean,
as we're recording this, there's a lot of college coaching
news and hires and firings and and UCLA has been
open for a while, so I'm not sure what they're

(42:28):
doing because in my mind, and this is just kind
of just making a general statement, not necessarily about UCLA,
is that if you're a college program, you've got not
only college recruiting that begins the early signing period begins
the first week of December, but you also want to
have your ducks in a row, so to speak, for

(42:49):
the transfer portal. So it's like, what do you I
don't know. I'm not saying to impulsively make a hire,
but you need to make a decision and get going.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Here they're waiting on Lane Kiffins.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
I I'll tell you what, LSU, this is going to
be a day long. Remember if you're if you are,
you know, if you were unhappy with Brian Kelly, just
remember five years from now when you are when you've
got your porches and pitchforks at lane lane Kiffin's I'm
just saying the guy, the guy. I mean, it's just

(43:24):
everyone was like, oh, like he's really matured and he's
really grown up. It's like, man, uh, there's the people
of ole Miss that now that that's a game. Next year,
when when that gets scheduled, because LSU actually does go
to ole Miss, that's going to be something.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Yeah, that's going to be some reception.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
USC finishes the regular season nine and three, seven and
two in the Big Ten. Uh. A good step forward
for Lincoln Riley's team this year. And UCLA finishes three
and nine, three and six in the Big Ten, and
considering how they started, that's that's not a terrible finish
based on you know, what their first four games.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Were, Like, I would completely agree.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
All right, Then we had some snow games, Chip, Yes,
always fun to have snow games, unless you are Wisconsin.
Because Minnesota won that game seventeen to seven. And there
was a massive change in that game, Chip, where Wisconsin
was already in arrange to kick a kying field goal

(44:25):
and driving and they turned the ball over and Minnesota
ends up scoring a touchdown at the end of that
instead and then they hold on to win seventeen to seven.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
Yeah, I think, you know, Minnesota, I mean, this is
the kind of thing where like PJ Flex they I mean,
they went seven and five, so they're going to a bowl.
And the thing that Minnesota with PJ Flex is gonna
have to figure out this offseason is what do I
need to do to have my team ready to be

(44:57):
a factor on the road, because that's where they lost
all their games. They had a good season when they
were playing in front of their home crowd. Unfortunately, that's
not how it works in college football. You know, as
far as Wisconsin finishing four and eight, they definitely now granted,
you know, losing a rivalry game to Minnesota is never

(45:17):
a good thing, but they definitely compared to where how
it was looking. It was looking like a two to
ten that you know, like Luke Fickle supposedly is going
to get an influx of a financial commitment or you know,
the transfer portal and things like that. So Wisconsin is
staying the course of Luke Fickle. I hope, I genuinely
hope he turns it around, but so far, Wisconsin fans

(45:41):
have to just be kind of keeping their fingers crossed
that Luke Figgle gets is turned around.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Yeah, Wisconsin needs help at the skill positions they are.
That's not the old Wisconsin Badger's skill.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Positions, No, not at all.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
So as you mentioned, four in eight for Wisconsin, two
and seven in the Big Ten, Minnesota finishes seven and five,
five and four the Big Ten. They're going bowling. Another
snow game chip was Illinois hosting Northwestern, and I feel
so bad for Northwestern because the game was there for them,
and again turnovers killed the Wildcats in this game. And

(46:15):
at peyton Stone was he was terrible. He threw for
one hundred and sixty three yards, but he was nineteen
of thirty six and I know the weather had a
lot to do with it, but he was terrible.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Yeah, I I mean Northwestern they're going bowling. They're six
and six, So that's kind of a that's actually you know,
when you think about the job that David Brown, you know,
he's taken that team to bowl games too out of
the last three seasons, you know, which which is good.
But yeah, like Northwestern, they're going to look back on

(46:47):
not only this game. I mean we talked earlier about
when they played Michigan. I mean, they had games where
they had it and they just you know, did not
They did not close the deal. So that's the I
think the direction that Northwest has to take, as well
as improved quarterback play. With Illinois, they kind of, you know,
like you said, like the game was there for Northwestern,

(47:09):
so they just kind of, you know, seemed to what
I mentioned earlier about UCLA, they just seemed to kind
of run out of gas down the stretch. They finished
eight and four, but yeah, they didn't look nearly as
impressive as how they began the season.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
Yeah, some interceptions at Northwestern through weren't necessarily on Stone.
Some of them weren't good throws, but there were stuff
going off of Northwestern's hands and into Illinois hands, and
that's not what you want if you're Northwestern. But twenty
to thirteen, the final there Northwestern six and six and
four and five and Big Ten play and Brett Bielima's
Illinois fighting line. I finished eight and four, five and

(47:43):
four in the Big Ten. They'll go into a bowl game.
Two teams not going to a bowl game, Maryland and
Michigan State Chip and Michigan State finally gets a win
in conference play. It looked like it was going to
be easy. Then Maryland closed the gap, and then Michigan
State put the game away. Congrats to Jonathan Smith, but

(48:04):
then not congrats to Jonathan Jonathan Smith because it didn't
help him. He is losing his job chip and they're
talking about Pat Fitzgerald replacing him.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
Yeah, I will freely admit I I actually enjoyed watching
this game late last night, so I felt bad. I
had predicted that Michigan State would do this. I didn't
think they would be a shootout. I mean Lake Washington
threw for fourgn er fifty nine yards. I mean he
was I mean in the second half, but it was
the same old Maryland where it's like, Okay, they can

(48:37):
throw the ball over the all over the field, but
they can't run the ball. They can't you know, stop
the run. I mean. So yeah, like Michigan State, they
broke their big ten winless streak. But then, yeah, Jonathan Smith,
I mean, his reward was to be fired. The rumors,
like I said on social media that you know, it's

(48:58):
pretty much a done deal with Pat It's Gerald. It'll
be interesting to see what direction Michigan State takes with
Pat Fitzgerald. But Maryland, man, they've got a lot of
work to do, because when it comes to I know,
it sounds like a broken record here. They've got to
be able to play much better on the defensive side
of the ball, and they've got to be able to
run the ball. It's great that you throw. You've got

(49:20):
a talent in Elakue Washington. He's a true freshman, but
boy do they they've got a lot of work to do.
If if Mike Loxley wants to avoid winding up in
the unemployment line himself.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Yeah, And I've seen Elik Washington and against bad teams,
he looks very good. Against good teams, he doesn't look
very good. But that's you know, that's part of being
a freshman too. But I don't know how Mike Locksley
has a job. That team is terrible. And it was
twenty four to seven at one point. Maryland had a
big third quarter to get back in the game, but

(49:52):
it was Maryland is not good. They're both these teams
have finished four and eight, one in eight and Big
Ten Play and miss stay congrats for not going winless
in Big Ten Play. I think it would have been.
I think it would have been the first time since
the fifties if I'm not mistaken that they hadn't won
a single Big Ten game. Maryland is just not a

(50:12):
very good football team. I don't, you know, They've got
a couple individual players, but they've got a lot of
work to do. And I got to wonder. I'm not
a message board guy, Chip per se, but I don't
wonder what Spartans fans are thinking of when you look
at Pat Fitzgerald. And I know that not all his fault, necessarily,
but three of his last four years at Northwestern, his

(50:37):
teams went one in eight in Big Ten play three
of his last four years there, and the one year
that they had a good year in conference play in
those four years was the COVID year.

Speaker 2 (50:48):
Yeah, I could understand the apprehension. I'm not suggesting that
Michigan State fans, I've seen what you're talking about in
terms of the last three years of Pat fitzgerald tenure
at Northwestern weren't exactly you know, setting the sport on fire,
per Se, you know, in terms of his record, I
just think that and I mean, I'm just gonna kind
of you know, perceive you know, what the what the

(51:12):
attraction might be is that you know Pat Fitzgerald. And
this is because I do think that Jonathan Smith is
still a good coach. I think it was unfortunate that
they did not give Jonathan Smith more than two years
to clean up the mess that was created by his predecessor,
you know, and expect you know, immediate results. But I

(51:32):
think when it comes to the Pat Fitzgerald hiring, if
I had to kind of read between the lines and
again it's not official yet, is that I think the
fact that Pat Fitzgerald being a big ten guy gets
it being you know, like more of okay, like we're
going to be able to run the ball, play you know,
tough defense, not necessarily have to be flashy because his

(51:53):
Northwestern teams never were. And maybe just maybe that the
fact that this is not too right to be you know,
sounding condescendingly towards the academic standards of Michigan State, but
you know, like the academic demands of Northwestern is compared
to Michigan State. You know that he'll be able to
you know, do more, uh with with recruiting than maybe

(52:15):
he was able to do it Northwestern. So again a
lot to unpack there, But I just think that they
the fact that he's like a you know, like a
big ten guy through and through. Jonathan Smith never was
that maybe there was like a culture thing that just
never seemed to really fit well. Whereas like I think,
you know, with Pat Fitzgerald, he'll he'll know the significance of, hey,
we need to play extremely physical, tough, especially against our

(52:41):
our in state rival, against the Wolverines, and I think
maybe that's what Spartan fans are going to be expecting.

Speaker 1 (52:47):
Yeah, well, we'll see how he does. I'm old enough
to remember thinking Milt Tucker was a good hire.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
I did too, until until it turned out that his his,
uh all his his his one year was all built
on transfer portal guys and then you know everything collapsed
under you know, all those allegations. So uh yeah, I
thought he was going to be a good hire as well.

(53:14):
So you know, if you're Michigan State, you got to
keep your fingers crossed that you're hiring the right guy.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
Absolutely. All right, moving on, We've got another game to
talk about, and it was the Bowl Eligibility Bowl Chip
and my goodness, Chip, Rutgers loses the game. Forty to
thirty six on a dropped ball by Athan calliac mannis

(53:42):
in the backfield that scooped and scored.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
Yeah, I have to confess I only I saw this
on the Final Drive on the Big ten network. I
wasn't watching it, like I said, I did watch the
games that I happened to, you know, catch you know,
portions of you know, just kind of like furiously flipping around,
like I said, the Oregon Washington game, the Northwestern Illinois game,
the Michigan State Maryland game, some of the USC and UCLA.

(54:07):
I didn't see any of the Penn State Rutgers game,
but I did see the mishap of eight and calick
manus Penn State. I mentioned this earlier about UCLA. Penn
State fired James Franklin, and I'm not suggesting that they
were unjustified in doing that. But what I do find
very interesting is that James Franklin, ever since he's arrived

(54:30):
at Virginia Tech, all the players or a significant portion
of them, that were verbally committed to Penn State have
either taken visits or have said that they are going
to commit to pen to Virginia Tech instead. Penn State
is like I said, this flurry of coaching hires. I
hope they know what they're doing because again, transfer portal
and recruiting is beckoning. So, you know, Penn State, congratulations

(54:52):
making it to a bowl. We'll see which bowl it is.
Six and six. You don't know, you know what kind
of options they're going to have and is Forhutgers they've
got to figure out what because the fact that they
were so woeful on defense this entire year, which is
kind of like Greg Ciano's calling card. Yeah, you know
you got you gotta get that straightened out.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Yeah, Jim Knowles defense there, Penn State gave up five
hundred thirty three yards to Rutgers.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
I would think because Terry Smith, the interim coach, if
he winds up as the full time coach, I think
Jim Knowles will be sent packing if Terry Smith gets
the job. It wouldn't surprise me if the new coach
comes in and says, thanks Jim, but we're going in
a different direction.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
Because maybe he goes to Virginia Tech.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
I don't know. I mean, it's a I mean, it's
a lot of money. I mean, that's you know, let's
let's call it what it is. Like he that's why
he left Ohio State. But yeah, I think you know
any State fan when you look at the results that
O High State has had on defense this year and
what Penn State fans are experiencing with Jim Noles, you
know defense, you know this year, it's like, man, I'll

(56:03):
take I'll take Matt Patricia every day and twice on Sunday,
I have given the option.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Over absolutely, And I will say that even with that
scoop and score, Rutgers still had a chance to win
this game.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
And they got it to a third and third and two.
They ran a quarterback sneak and made it a fourth
and one, and then I think James Franklin called the
play because it was a terrible play. Caliac manus with
a fake handoff and tried to run for it and
lost like four yards. It was a terrible play call.

(56:34):
If he just gets up under center, falls forward, he
probably keeps the drive alive and maybe they go on
to win the game and become Bowl eligible. So I
feel bad for the kids there that play for the
Scarlet Knights because they had a historic win. A granted,
Penn State is not what they normally are this year.
But they had a win over Penn State in their
sight and scored thirty six points and still lost the game.

(56:57):
So Rutgers falls to five and seven and is not
bowl eligible two and seven in the Big Ten. Penn
State gets to go to a bowl game at six
and six zza three and six in the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (57:09):
We'll see which I mean, this is kind of I'm
not trying to make light of it. With Penn State.
It remains to be seen not only which bowl game,
but okay, which coach is going to be hired. And
let's face it, you know, if you're a Penn State player,
who is you know, for example, like Kitron Allen. I'm
not saying. I'm not saying that this is going to
be the case, but it won't surprise me. If you're

(57:30):
k Tron Allen, do you really want to play in
a six and six bowl game that has no impact
whatsoever on national standing, you know, and jeopardize you know,
put yourself in jeopardy, you know, for the NFL draft. So,
I mean, it's going to be interesting to see what
bowl game they get, which players decide to go, you know,
all those kinds of things. It's going to be like

(57:52):
I said, keep your eyes and ears open for what
direction Penn State takes.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah, I think they lose Singleton also.

Speaker 2 (57:58):
That's what I mean. It's I mean, it's just gonna
be okay, And you have no idea. You know, which
players are gonna say, I'm gonna as soon as as
soon as the transfer portal is open for them. Which
ones are saying, okay, I'm gonna you know, whoever the
new coaches. You know, I'm just gonna I'm just gonna
make myself available on the transferport I'm seeing it now,
you know, like at the at the lower level. I'm serious.

(58:20):
So it's like, you know, like these you know, if
you're a Penn State player, do you want to go
to you know, playing a game in Detroit? Uh, you know,
like against a MAC team. You know, just you know,
just just you know, like for what you know, what
do you what's the what's the benefit to you?

Speaker 1 (58:38):
Yeah? Speaking of Detroit, Chip, did I didn't realize that's
where Michigan State was playing Maryland?

Speaker 2 (58:46):
Yeah, Ford Field.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
I turned it on and went, wait a minute, that's
not Spartan stadium.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
No, it was. That was an entertaining game. I mean
I felt I still I genuinely feel bad for Jonathan
Smith because, like I said a few moments ago, I
think he inherited a bigger mess than I think that
the average Michigan State fan would probably want to acknowledge that.
Like you said, you know, it's like Mel Tucker, you know,

(59:12):
he that that great year that he had, but it
was all built on the transfer portal and you know,
Kenneth Walker and I mean, and they were doing great
and then next thing, you know, it's like everything just collapsed,
and I just think he's you know, whoever. You know,
like in this case, like Pat Fitzgerald, you've got to
you've got to get that in state recruiting and Midwest

(59:35):
recruiting back to you know, being the foundation of your program.
And it's going to take some time.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Yep, we'll see how it goes and we'll see what
they do with then il you got it all right?
Chip the final standings, well, we'll run through them real
quick and we'll have a more in depth look at
them on our next show. Maybe, But Indiana, I don't
have a state tie for first place in the Big
ten nine and oh and twelve and oho. Overall, Oregon

(01:00:02):
finishes third at eight and one, eleven to one overall.
Then there's two teams at seven and two, USC and
Michigan and they both finished nine and three overall. Then
Iowa alone at six and three in the Big Ten
eight and four, and then you've got a three way
tie between the Huskies, Fighting Lining, and Gophers all at

(01:00:22):
five and four, but the Gophers were seven and five
over all, the other two teams were eight and four,
and then the two once you get into the losing
teams in the conference, Nebraska and Northwestern reach four and five,
with Nebraska having a seven and five overall records six
and six for Northwestern, u c l A and Penn
State end up. You know, like in years past, if

(01:00:44):
UCLA and Penn State were tied, you'd think that was
a good thing. Yeah, but no, they were both three
and six, and UCLA three and nine in the Big overall,
i should say, and Penn State six and six. And
then the two and seven teams were Rutgers in Wisconsin
and Rutgers five and seven overall, Wisconsin four and eight

(01:01:04):
in Michigan State and Maryland one in eight each four
and eight overall each, and Purdue oh to nine two
and ten overall finishing last. So we'll just briefly say
that both you and I and our predictions, we each
got four exactly right in their finishing order. You got
Ohio State. I can't take credit for Ohio State because

(01:01:26):
I had them second to Penn State, even though it
ended up being a tie. So the first place in
second place is basically the same thing, but I'm not
taking credit for that. So you got Ohio State. We
both at Oregon third, that's where they finished. You got
Minnesota and Purdue correct, and I got Michigan, Maryland and
Purdue correct.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Okay, So for.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
A piece, and what we'll do is we'll go and
figure out on a point system how far away from
where we predicted them did everybody finish, and we'll have
our final results because we have done that in the past.
We just kind of discussed it briefly, but I'm interested
to know who came closer.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
Okay, that sounds good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Why not? We were both very wrong about Penn State,
everyone was, and we were both very right about Purdue.
All right, Chip, there's only one game in the Big
Ten this week looking forward to it should be a
good one. Ohio State will go on the road to Indiana,
to the state of Indiana to play Indiana. But not

(01:02:31):
in Bloomington. This is in Indianapolis.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
You have to think, and this is not meant as
a slight on. You know, you just mentioned you know, Prdue,
and you know some of the other teams that Indiana
played down the stretch, but Indiana. This, the fact that
Indiana qualified for the Big Ten Championship is not a surprise.
I mean it was as soon as they were able

(01:02:54):
to get by Penn State, people were kind of like, Okay,
you know, it's like, look at Indiana's remaining schedule in Indiana,
you know they'll probably be in the Big Ten Championship game.
The reason I'm bringing this up is not only okay,
the game in Indianapolis, but Big Ten Championship game tickets
have been available for a long time, so I would
not be surprised if this game is heavily in favor

(01:03:18):
of Indiana with the attendance. I'm not saying that Ohio
State fans aren't going to make a trip. I'm just
saying that I think Indiana fans probably have been buying
up these tickets in anticipation of this game, just because
of the way that the schedule laid out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:33):
He may be right, but I feel like if they've
been on sale a long time, probably Ohio State fans
have also been snapping them up, because it's not like
Ohio State had a lot of potential landmines on the
schedule other than Michigan. And I know a lot of
people were pretty confident. I saw some really ridiculous score
predictions for this game, So I don't know. And even

(01:03:53):
if you go to Indiana, usually you see a significant
Ohio State presence for a regular season games. I don't
know what we're going to see, but you may be right.
I'm going to kind of go into this expecting a
fifty to fifty split.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
But of course, when you talk about the Indiana Hoosiers,
you basically have to start with their quarterback because Mendoza
has been phenomenal. He is a Heisman Trophy candidate for
a reason. He's done it against good teams. He beat
Oregon on the road, he went to Penn State, and
even though he made some mistakes in that game, made
some bad decisions, bad throws, he still brought his team

(01:04:28):
back and won that game. So you can't take that
away from him. He overcame adversity, even if he created
some of that adversity for himself, much like Julians say
and did at Michigan.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
Yeah, I think Fernando Mendoza is certainly worthy of, you know,
the Heisman discussion. I'm not saying he is the best
player in college football, but I think he is certainly,
you know, worthy of being invited and you know, worthy
of of all the hype that's that's kind of surrounded him.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
And I'm glad you pointed out that I meant Fernando Mendoza,
because there's another Mendoza, yes, Alberto. But I mean Indiana
is not just doing it offensive. They they have held
opponents to very low scoring all season. They have run
the ball well, they have stopped the run well, they've

(01:05:22):
stopped the pass well. It's really nothing that Indiana hasn't
done well this year.

Speaker 2 (01:05:26):
No, they I think that, you know, earlier in the day,
not that I was able to watch or listen to it,
but just on social media, the Big Ten teleconference between
Kurt Signetti and Ryan Day. Ryan Day has been deservedly
so been very complimentary of Kurt Signetti about the fact

(01:05:49):
that like the job that he's done. You know, think
about it. You know, Indiana has traditionally been one of
the worst programs in college football history. You know, like
just year in year out. You know, the job that
Christnetti has done, not just on the offense, you know,
like you said, you know, like they are a really
solid defensive team. They're able to not just throw the ball,
but they're able to run the ball. You know, So

(01:06:11):
this is this is going to be a very difficult
task for Ohio State in Indianapolis.

Speaker 1 (01:06:17):
Their scoring defense chip is only behind Ohio States this year.
Their past defense is ranked fourteenth in the country, and
that's their weak spot. They're actually ranked second in the
country against the run. That's two spots higher than Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (01:06:37):
Exactly. Like I said, I think it's one of these
things where the Indiana offense gets all of the publicity,
but people that really know football have been saying that,
you know, this Indiana defense, I mean we talked about
earlier when we're kind of looking around the Big Ten.
I mean, they just thrashed Illinois. That's the probably the

(01:06:58):
most gentle way I could put that, you know, and
terms of what they were able to do to Illinois
offensive line and Luke Altmeyer and harassed him all day. So,
I mean, the Indiana defense certainly does not get nearly
the notoriety of the Indiana offenses, but they are very good.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
I'm anxious to see what they come up with, what
Ohio State comes up with, what Ryan Day and Brian
Hartline see as areas they can exploit on the Indiana defense,
and just to put the defense to rest. For Indiana,
their total defense ranking is fourth. Ohio State is first,
Indiana fourth, But we're not talking about a ton of difference.

(01:07:37):
Talk about Ohio State allows two hundred three yards a
game and Indiana allows two hundred and fifty one yards
a game.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
Yeah, I mean, I think you at this stage when
you're talking about two undefeated teams that are ranked one
and two, I mean you really are starting to get
into the splitting hairs discussion here.

Speaker 1 (01:07:54):
Indiana has much higher scoring offense. In Ohio State, they
are ranked second to North Texas. I'm not sure North
Texas really exists, so they're probably first. Just saying total offense,
Indiana's fifth. So again, they do kind of everything well.

(01:08:14):
They're ninth in the country in passing offense, and in
the rush they are they're ninth against the run or
not against the run, but they're ninth running the ball.
I misspoke, not passing the ball. They are scary forty

(01:08:34):
first forty first passing offense. But that's because they're so
good running the football. They don't have to throw it
that much. And they they have probably in the second
half of games not.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Thrown the ball a whole lot exactly. I mean, I
just think that once they once they get the lead,
they're content to you know, just burn clock, pound the
pound the ball, you know, and just get out of
there with the win.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Yeah, so we we will see what they can you know,
what Ohio State can exploit. It's going to be the
biggest challenge of the season, and that might include the
College Football Playoff chip.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
It wouldn't be it wouldn't be impossible to say that, hey,
this might be the first round of you know, like
what you know, we might be seeing you again down
the road. So you know, like if you're Ohio State, hey,
you know you want to win this game, but don't
be surprised, Like this is a team that is certainly
capable of, you know, making a late push into the

(01:09:35):
College Football Playoff.

Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
They are outscoring their opponents by thirty four points, so
just about five touchdowns better per game. You talkt we
talked about Fernando Mendoza, not Alberto, but he's the backup.
Mendoza has completed seventy two percent of his passes this year.
He's thrown for two thousand, seven hun and fifty eight
yards thirty two touchdowns. Only five picks does not put

(01:09:59):
the ball in harm's way very often.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
No very good player running the football.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Roman Hemby has eight hundred and sixty six yards rushing,
Kaylon Black has seven hundred and twenty nine yards rushing,
and Kobe Martin has four hundred and fifty three yards rushing,
So they rotate guys. They've got four guys with six
or more rushing touchdowns, and that includes Mendoza. Mendozo's got six.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
Like I said, just solid all around team.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
But really one area where you can definitely see them
shine other than quarterback is wide receiver chip Omar Cooper
Junior and Elijah Surat. They each have eleven receiving touchdowns,
both are over six hundred fifty yards on the season,
both are averaging over sixty five yards per game.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
Yeah, it's going to be a tough task for the
Ohio States secondary without question.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
All right, that's a lot of scary numbers. So the
next thing is Chip, that we have to talk about.
Who are picks to click? Are who's going to try
to slow down this Indiana offense. Who's going to try
to put points on the board against this Indiana defense?
And we started on the defensive side of the ball
last week, Chip, So pick to click on offense please.

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
I'm going to stick with with bo Jackson. I think
that you know, when it comes to not only running
the ball, but as you said earlier in the podcast,
Michael as a receiver out of the backfield, I think
he's his overall versatility as a receiver and as a
runner are going to be crucial in this game against Indiana.
So I'm going to stick with bo Jackson.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
All right, I Am. I thought it was an interesting
thing for Ryan Day to say after the game on
Saturday that he seemed to have like a little smirk
to him as when he said something to the effect of,
oh boy, if this game had been played indoors on turf,
this game will be played indoors on turf, Chip, And

(01:11:58):
I'm going to say that Indiana does what everybody else does.
It tries to take away Jeremiah Smith. So I'm gonna
go Carnell Tate.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
I like it. You know, if anything, it's going to
be it's gonna be interesting to see. We talked about
this earlier. You know, how much do they play? And
that's not that's not meant as a okay, you know,
like you should regret your selection. It's like it just
remains to be seen. You know, like, Okay, how much
do we want to play knowing that our our big
time intention is to go deep into the college football playoffs.

(01:12:29):
So yeah, I think it's gonna be interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I don't think that this is an opponent where you're
going to have a lot of luxury to put those
guys away early. I think no, I think this is
going to be a four quarter battle. So yeah, I'm
I've had enough games where I've you know, regretted my
picks to click. Not not very many, but there have
been a few, so this wouldn't be the first time.
So let's go on the defensive side of the ball,

(01:12:52):
and again, somebody who can make plays with his arm
and his leg Mendoza. So I'm going with r Vel Reese.

Speaker 2 (01:12:58):
I like it. I genuinely like it. I'm gonna go
kind of off I don't want to say off the grid,
but kind of a little atypical. I'm not gonna, you know,
do the Caleb downs. We talked about him earlier, being
I said that, you know, kind of like an unsung guy.
I'm gonna go with Kate McDonald simply because you know,

(01:13:18):
you talked about it. You know the fact that Indiana
they've got a two headed monster with uh Caylon Black
and Roman Hemby at running back. I think Caate McDonald's
going to be instrumental and clogging up that Indiana running
game and making things more difficult for Fernando Mendoza even
from an interior pass rush.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Yeah, I think they're going to need to stop the
run so that they can take away play action. So
I think that's a good a good pick for you.
Kate McDonald's just a beast, and and even if he
doesn't put up stats, he's usually clicks anyway, because you know,
he's just occupying two or three guys and other people
are getting the tackles, all right. That just leaves us

(01:13:59):
with our score predictions. And I've already written mine down.
I God, I just don't see Matt Patricia holding another
opponent under ten points.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
No, that's that's not gonna happen. I'm gonna I'm gonna
say right now, you know, it's like as impressive as
Ohio State defense has been. I do think this is
a four quarter. I don't want to say shootout, but
I definitely think it's going to be in Ohio State.
You know, Indiana, you know, like back and forth. You
know who can capitalize on mistakes, turnovers, you know, field position,

(01:14:33):
all those wonderful things, and Indiana, I genuinely do believe
it is a really good team. So I'm gonna go
Ohio State thirty five, Indiana twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
All right, high scoring game, but you know, again, you
and I are so locked in the way that we
think I had something not too dissimilar to that. I've
got thirty to twenty four Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (01:15:01):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:15:02):
So I really hope that the buck Eyes don't give
up ten points, because then I think they got a
real good shot at winning the game, winning and putting
a check in that last column there that Ryan Day
has He's beating the rival, He's gotten his championship, and
if he can keep this going, win one more game,
he's got a big ten title going into a college

(01:15:22):
football playoff that you know it, you just have to
be on every week because in this in this day
and age, you know. I watched some of the other
teams around the league, around the country this weekend just
to see what might we be walking into after this weekend.
I thought Oklahoma's defense played really well, although I'm not

(01:15:44):
totally sold on their offense. Georgia just finds ways to
get things done when you think they're dead. They just
they're like Freddy Krueger. Same with Alabama in some respects.
I think there's a lot of Notre Dame looks very,
very dangerous. So I don't know that you can just
say Ohio State may be the favorite, especially if they
beat Indiana. There's there are no easy games from here

(01:16:07):
on out, not at all. I don't think that we're
going to see Ohio State beat teams just into the
ground this year in the playoff the way they did
last year.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
I mean, there would be it would be a huge
surprise if they if they were able to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
All right, Chip there, we're on record, we got our
picks to click. We got our predictions, and I think
that's everything that we came to talk about. Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:16:33):
I think we're good and a lot more.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
As I look at the time, we talked a lot
about a lot of things.

Speaker 2 (01:16:38):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
But hey, you've got to talk about a lot of
things because a lot of things are happening. You've got
a coach, let go already, You've got the Big Ten
title game coming up, you had rivalry games. There's just
so much going on, and it's been such an enjoyable
regular season. And I've enjoyed going through this with you,
and I hope that this run of ours continues for

(01:17:00):
several weeks to come. I agree with you, all right, Chip,
Can you remind our listeners where they can find you
and your fine work online? Please?

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
Yes. I can be found on Twitter at Chipminik. Last
name is called m I N N I c H.
I'm a contributor to Buckeye Huddle dot com as well
as Saturday Glory dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:17:20):
All right, you can find me on Twitter or Blue
Sky at Mike thirty six fan. You can also find
my work at Landgrant holy Land dot com. The Grumpy
Old Buckeye column lands every Monday after a Buckeye game,
and then regular columns other Mondays. And then you can
of course follow the Silver Bullets Podcast on Twitter at
silver Bullets Pod with no E in the word silver

(01:17:41):
sil v R Bullets Pod. And you can also reach
out to us by email and drop us a line
and ask a question. Let's know what you're thinking Silver
Bulletspod at gmail dot com. Is that email address and
that when you spell out all correctly with all the letters,
Silver Bulletspod at gmail dot com, and Chip, I hope
you and I we'll be able to come back next

(01:18:01):
week and talk about another Ohio State victory, and then
we'll have to figure out what's next because all of
that stuff's going to be announced.

Speaker 2 (01:18:11):
Yep, we'll have a better understanding next week in terms
of who's playing where and who's playing who.

Speaker 1 (01:18:18):
All right, well, we won't have to One thing we
know is we talk about the Ohio State game. Will
have already gone through all the big ten scores. You
got it, So we'll see you next week. The only
thing left for us to do is to thank everybody
for listening and to sign off as we always do
by saying, go bocks, Go box

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