Minnesota Rewind, B1G Results, and Illinois Preview

Minnesota came out swinging, but once Ohio State’s defense locked things down in the red zone, the rest of Saturday night belonged to the Buckeyes. The defense was stifling; Carnell Tate and Julian Sayin went off; and Jeremiah Smith, Max Klare, and Bo Jackson all had solid games. Ryan Day was also able to get plenty of depth players a few snaps in the fourth quarter. We look back at the big plays, moments, and players from Ohio State’s 42-3 win over the Golden Gophers, check on our picks to click to see how they performed, and review our game predictions from last week to see how close we were. (We were pretty close!)

After our Ohio State-Minnesota rewind, we looked around the rest of the Big Ten to see how other teams made out in Week 6. Penn State had a bad weekend and Washington nearly did as well, having to come a long way back in the fourth quarter to win at Maryland. Illinois won big, Wisconsin put up a fight for a while but simply couldn’t score points in Ann Arbor. Michigan State couldn’t get stops in Lincoln, and the Spartans had a Sparty No! moment. We also looked ahead to the matchups this weekend, and aside from Ohio State’s trip to Champaign, we’ll be keeping an eye on Oregon-Indiana.

Finally, we previewed the Illibuck game coming up Saturday at noon. The Fighting Illini are a formidable opponent, especially at home, and they have an offense that can test Matt Patricia’s defense. We gave you the Illini players to watch and discussed the matchup. We also selected our picks to click for the Buckeyes at Illinois and made our predictions for what the final score will be after a hard-fought game at Memorial Stadium this weekend.

We would love to hear from you, so please send us an email⁠ at [e-mail]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 - The Buckeyes returned home to face a scrappy Golden Gophers squad. Minnesota came out of the gate hot but couldn’t sustain anything after its opening drive. The Buckeyes cruised.

24:34 - UCLA stunned Penn State with an offensive explosion against Jim Knowles’ defense. Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, and Northwestern (the latter in non-conference play) joined the Buckeyes as winners over the weekend.

52:28 - We look ahead to Luke Altmyer and his command of a versatile Illinois offense, as the Buckeye secondary will be put to the test on the road Saturday.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hello again, everybody. It's time for another episode of the
Silver Bullets podcast on Michael Citrow.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
And I'm Chip Minnick.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Chip. The Buckeyes are five and zero.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Not surprising, but I guess, I guess we could say
that a little bit surprising in terms of how dominant.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
That they were very dominant, forty two to three victory
for the buck guys. They also missed a field goal,
so it could have been even more. And so we
go back to our predictions for this game, and you
had thirty five to ten and I had thirty eight
to ten. So by playing the prices right with you,
I nipped you this week. Chip.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
That's fine, that's completely fine.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
And I was really I was really concerned about that
missed field goal when it was thirty five to three.
I was thinking, man, I could have maybe nailed it
in the end. But well, I'll take it. I'll take
the slim victory in this one, because you've had your
share of slim victories this year. On the score predictions,
so pretty close the buck Eyes again holding an opponent

(01:23):
under six points. And you know, Minnesota did miss a
field goal in this game, but other than the first,
there were basically two Minnesota drives in this game. The
first one looked pretty seamless till it got in the
red zone, and then there was another one that ended
in a field goal attempt that was missed. But everything else,
the defense just shut completely down.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's kind of like a bullet constrictor, you know what
I mean, Like they just they I was never worried
it was. If anything, it was kind of like, Okay,
you know, they held them to a field goal, like
you just said, and so they you know, for the
second and this your Ohio State trailed, and I had
every confidence in Matt Patricia that the defense would get

(02:06):
things figured out. I didn't think it would be this dominant. So,
you know, for Ohio State to score forty two unanswered points,
it just speaks to just the sheer level of talent
that's on the Ohio State side and the coaching that
is using that talent so well.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, I was a little surprised. I don't know if
you were. I was a little surprised that they put
so much of this game offensive game play in Minnesota
on Drake Lindsay's arm.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
That might be out of necessity because they mentioned it
a few times during the game. That Darius Taylor was back.
I think they even referenced I can't remember the precise amount,
but how much he's how many games he's missed throughout
his career due to injury. When he's healthy, he's productive.
But I just think that Minnesota they struggled to run

(02:57):
last week against Rutgers and Ohio State. Let's face it,
I mean they it's it's kind of almost like pick
your poison when you're going up again. I'm being serious,
when you're going up against that, when you go on
against that defense, what is going to hurt us the least?
And maybe that is that is I think I think
Lindsay has a break future. But you could you could

(03:20):
tell that he was just completely overmatched against that Ohio
State defense last night.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Yeah, they Gophers went right down the field on their
first drive, but a lot of that is scripted, and
when you have scripted plays for a young quarterback, it's
it's a lot easier because they know where they're going,
they get it, they get into their drop, they get
it out quickly, so you can't sack them. And you
know they a lot of that was short underneath stuff
and they were racking up four yards six yards, seven

(03:47):
yards here and there, and it wasn't like there wasn't
anything big. It was just, hey, they executed, they hit those.
I think he was seven for seven to start the
drive and then he finished the I have eight for ten,
So a lot of short stuff, a lot of quick stuff,
and it worked. But then once he did have that

(04:08):
benefit of that scripted first drive and Ohio State settled
into the game, it was pretty much over with. There
was no Gopher offense from that point exactly. On the
other side, Ohio State started to answer, came quickly across midfield,
and then the drive bog down when Carnel Tate in

(04:29):
tons of space, slipped and fell and Ohio State decided
to go for a field goal. And I don't mind this.
I like getting the field goal unit some practice in
games like this a fifty three yard attempt. Jaden Fielding
did hook it. But Ohio State special teams has been
a problem this year. It was a problem in this

(04:51):
game in that they didn't get everybody out on the
field on time. So the late arriving guy come out
and that allows Minnesota to substitute, and that forced all
I have stayed to call time out in essence, Ryan
Day had to ice his own kicker.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
I was surprised that they went for it. Excuse me
that they attempted that field goal. To be quite honest,
I really thought that even though I think it was
like a fourth and sixth and I just kind of thought,
all right, it just seems as though that the offense
was starting to click, but obviously they decided to try
the field goal. Like you said, it's special teams is

(05:27):
something that they need to continue to work on, even
though later in the game they really had some impressive moments.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, the unit as a whole, special teams unit is
not on the same level as the offense or defense
at this point, and I would like it to be
on that same level so that it doesn't cost them
a tight game later in the season. But anyway, so
it stayed three nothing. Minnesota again couldn't really do anything

(05:53):
for most of the rest of the game. I think
I think Ohio State when they scored their fifth touchdown,
I think that's when they relaxed a little bit and
Minnesota was able to have some success and get back
into field goal range. But other than that, it was
it was all Ohio State, and I was impressed with
Julian saying, once again, I think he completed just over

(06:14):
eighty five percent of his passes in this game. He
did have a guy in his face a few times.
He made a really good throw under Durest to the
tight end in this game. So he continues to develop it.
And the buck Geys took shots in this game, Chip
and that's something that you know, people criticized them for
against Michigan, but they took shots in this game and

(06:35):
the recipient of most of those shots was Carneal Tate.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, Carnel Tate is going to be the beneficiary I
believe going forward, not only because he's talented, but the
reality is that when it comes to Jeremiah Smith, you're
seeing more and more teams trying to scheme him with
you know, it can be you know, for example, safety help.
So I think when it comes to Carnell Tate, he's

(07:00):
going to get one on one coverage. And Julian saying
is certainly finding Cornel Tate wide open and delivering the
ball very precisely.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah, Minnesota, I heard some people saying, well, it did
Washington show people how to take Jeremiah Smith out of
the game. Well, no, because Jeremiah Smith also had a
pretty good game. But also, Minnesota is not Washington. They
were not able to shut down Cornel Tate. You were
not able to take him out of the game. He
made big plays, and he made big plays over the top,

(07:33):
and I think those plays could have been made against Washington.
But it was a very conservative game plan against Washington
on the road, Julian say, and they had no problem
letting him go at home against Minnesota in a night game,
good atmosphere. The Buckeyes did take the lead late in
the first quarter. In fact, on the last play of
the first quarter, CJ. Donaldson, with a one yard run,

(07:54):
got in on his second attempt, was originally ruled in
on his first attempt, but was overturned correctly on replay.
And it still don't like the reliance on CJ. Donaldson
in short yardage when you've got a running back who's
proven to be a little bit more explosive and is
able to get lower like Bo Jackson. But apparently this

(08:18):
is just going to be how it is. This is
his role that Ryan Day has carved out for him.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
I would agree with that, and I think that we'll
start to see Bo Jackson getting more of those opportunities
if the situations present themselves.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah. The buck Eyes then took fourteenth three lead on
a Jeremiah Smith six yard pass, nice throw into the corner,
and then the Buckeyes got a fourth down stop just
on plus side of midfield on the next drive, and
Ohio State said let's just go ahead and air it
out in a one play touchdown drive as Carnell Tate

(08:54):
hauled in a forty four touchdown pass. And it was
twenty one to three at the half. But it was
it felt over, oh without doubt.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
I mean, it was one of these things where the
dominance had been established. I mean give credit to Minnesota
for attempting to go for it on fourth down because
they could tell that the momentum was clearly on Ohio
State side. But like you just said, Michael, that game
was over at the half.

Speaker 1 (09:23):
Yeah, and you look at the score and it's not
totally lopsided, but you and I thought this would be
maybe one of those annoying games until halftime.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I freely admit that that Minnesota. I know the score
doesn't reflect it, but Minnesota, year in, year out, is
one of the I'm gonna I'm just going to refer
to them as one of the solid middle teams of
the Big Ten. I know that that PJ. Fleck is
certainly trying to do everything he can within his power
to get Minnesota mentioned along with the upper tier of

(09:56):
the Big Ten. But Minnesota is I mean, we're going
to talk about him later. Minnesota did everything they could
last year to beat Penn State. It's not completely beyond
the Roman possibility for Minnesota to clip a team here
and there. So, as I said at the opening, it
wasn't a surprise. I was just surprised the fact that

(10:17):
it was such over at the half.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yeah, PJ Fleck is, I was. I wasn't aware of this,
but it kind of makes sense. PJ. Fleck has a
win percentage at Minnesota over sixty percent, which is a
place like Minnesota, that's a pretty good winning percentage.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Oh absolutely, I will still I will always say with Minnesota.
And I realized showing my age here that back in
the day, you know Lou Holtz, he had a couple
of year run there at Minnesota where he was he
was doing well, and then the opportunity presented itself to
go to Notre Dame and then Minnesota went back into obscurity,

(10:57):
and long story short, Glenn Mason, I thought did a
tremendous job there. Glenn Mason's cardinal sin in the eyes
of the Minnesota administration was trying to get the O
High State job after John Cooper was fired, and then
Minnesota they never forgave him and fired him, and then
Minnesota slid back into obscurity pretty much until Jerry Kill.

(11:18):
And now you have with PJ. Fleck. He's doing a
solid job. It's not an easy place when you think
about it, when you think about you know, like an
old Blu Holtz, you know joke that he used to
make about Minnesota is the fact that, you know, when
you would look on the back page of the USA
Today weather and it was always in blue because it
was always so cold up there, And how they never

(11:41):
let him go outside when they were trying to get
him to take the job in the first place, because
they knew he hated cold weather. Trying to recruit Trying
to recruit players to Minnesota is not an easy thing.
So my long winded response is that I think PJ.
Fleck is doing good of jobs you could possily the
hope considering not only the circumstances with you're trying to

(12:05):
get players from from down south to supplement players from
the Midwest, including Minnesota. He's doing it. He's doing a
good job.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
I feel like he's done a good enough job there
to warrant a look at a bigger program.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
I would agree with that. Also, that's kind of been
the rumor and worry, and I know that I don't
have it in front of me, but I know that
he signed a contract extension. I couldn't be going to
tell you what the buyout is. He's one of those
guys that, depending on rumor, has it that he a
couple of years ago U c l A when that

(12:41):
when the Chip Kelly left, that he was interested in
that job. I don't know if he actually interviewed for
it or wanted to interview for it. He's he certainly
could warrant a look at a higher profile program than Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, he's just had sustained success in a place where
it's difficult to win. So kudos to him. What did
you make In the second half of the the there
was a fourth down play Ohio State. It looked like
Sayin was going to sneak for it and get it,
but the whistle blew and then they put Lincoln Keenholes in,
And I know that Ryan Day looked like he was

(13:20):
unhappy that Keenholes broke it outside, but it didn't look
like there was any room inside the run.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
That was.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
The problem I have with it is that, Okay, why
don't you just I mean, we talked about this with CJ.
Donaldson his role. Why don't you just say we're going
to quarterback sneak with Lincoln Keenholds whenever we bring him
into the game on short yardage. I know that my
wife and I we were watching. You could see the

(13:49):
amateur lip rate reading contest that my wife and I had.
You could see, you know that that coach Day was
not happy with Lincoln Keenholds. But yeah, I thought, all right,
that was just a I just thought it was just
kind of a puzzling chain of events. And that was
certainly something that that Ryan Day certainly finding a room

(14:09):
to be unhappy about, considering the fact that Ohio State
was still up by a considerable marching over the Golden Golfers.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, and then later in the game say and showed
that he could do it. Yeah, so you know it,
it was a surprising change of events. They also used
the timeout in that situation. So Carnel Tait, who had
given them a lead. He had three pass plays over
forty yards in this game. Third quarter, the Buckeyes extended

(14:39):
twenty eight three on a Bojaxon five yard run, really
powerful run in the red zone. It was nice to
see him get a chance in the red zone and
make it payoff.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, he's well, it was nice seeing him be the
starter from the onset. You know, we've been kind of
hoping for that and it's and it has emerged. And
we'll talk about James people's here in a little bit
that I think that they're still trying to figure out
what they want with their with their offense. I know

(15:08):
it sounds kind of frustrating, but you're talking about Colonel
Tait averaging over twenty yards of reception. Another person who
started to emerge, Max Claire. So it's just one of
these things where I think that there, as you said,
it's nice to see that they're putting more trust and
confidence in Julian saying and these other players are starting
to be the beneficiaries of that trust.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Yeah, the fourth quarter they tackled on two more touchdowns
of Jeremiah Smith nine yard passed from saying, so Jeremiah
Smith ends up with two touchdowns, so he was your
pick to click, and he clicked. And then Lincoln keenholes
on a one yard sneak later in the fourth quarter.
Get you to your forty two to three final score

(15:50):
and saying went twenty three of twenty seven three touchdowns,
no interceptions, was not sacked. Fantastic day again for Julian, saying.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Absolutely and just to kind of you know, when it
comes to the conservative nature, my belief is that they
they see the talent, they just want to see how
he does against the opposition. So this coming week on
the road at Illinois, better team better uh, you know,

(16:22):
more more of a challenge in the sense of the
fact that it should be a more raucous crowd, considering
the fact that Ohio states the visitor, and I think
we're going to see the coaching staff. My early prediction
is that the coaching staff is going to split the
difference from what we saw this past game, in the
previous game against Washington in terms of on the conservative side,

(16:46):
I think that they're going to be a little bit
more leaning towards allowing Julian saying some some more leeway,
but you know, not going completely haywire and just letting
him possibly you know, throw caution to the win, so
to speak.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, Bo Jackson had sixty three yards and a touchdown.
I think I predicted he would go over one hundred
and get two touchdowns. So he didn't quite make what
I thought he would do, but he was my offensive
pick to click four point eight yards per carry. I
would say that he clicked in this game. Also was
able to catch the ball out of the backfield for

(17:22):
eleven more yards, so I thought he was an integral
part of the win. And I would say he clicked.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Without a question. He like you said, he's the most
explosive of the running backs, and just to kind of
I mentioned him a moment ago. I think, James Peoples,
it's gonna be it's certainly going to bear watching. But
I was impressed by the fact that James Peoples when
he came in ranted the game was already decided. It
was against a I don't want to say an exhausted

(17:50):
but a Minnesota defensive line that was probably just you know,
kind of depleted in terms of how much they had
left in the tank, and he ran hard, and so
I think James Peoples the reason I want to give
him a shout is the fact that you know, we're
in this age nowadays where people can just all of
a sudden decide I'm out of here because I'm not starting.

(18:12):
It looks like James Peoples is going to be a
complimentary third down back, certainly going to be the number
one backup at tailback. I know that we talked about
c J. Donaldson earlier earlier, but I really do believe
James Peoples is going to have a vital role on
this team, kind of sharing the load with Bo Jackson

(18:34):
as the season progresses.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
Yeah, seven carries for fifty nine yards. He had one
thirty three yard or had two or three really nice carries,
and he had an average of eight point four yards.
So good day, a good day for James Peoples. C J.
Donaldson only carried three times for three yards and a touchdown.
The receiving game, Carnel Tate had a career day nine catches,
one hundred and eighty three yards and a touchdown. As

(18:57):
I mentioned, three play of forty or more yards. Three
extremely explosive plays. Jeremiah Smith was also good seven catches
sixty seven yards, two touchdowns. Max Clair had five catches
for sixty three yards. So ye'ar, the tight end is
back on.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I think we're gonna see more and more of them,
I really do. I think that we talked about it
earlier about with Jeremiah Smith that, Okay, if you want
to do what you can to take Jeremiah Smith out
of the game plan, and that's your prerogative if you're
the opposing defense, but by doing that, you are singling
up Arnel Tait, you are singling up Max Claire, and

(19:36):
Max Claire is a matchup problem even when you don't
decide to single up, you know, when you don't decide
to double cover Jeremiah Smith. So I think the year
of the tight end with Max Clair is certainly a
viable possibility.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Yeah, quiet day for Brandon Innes, but there were a
lot of two tight end sets in this game. One
play we didn't mention you kind of alluded to it
getting tricky on special teams as Brandon Innis fielded a
punt and then threw it backward across the field to
Lorenzo Styles Junior who had a big gainer on it
and then put the team in an excellent field position

(20:14):
to score a touchdown. It's nice to see some new wrinkles.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Absolutely, and you kind of I guess, you know, the
skeptical fan could say, well, why would you why would
you unveil that when you were clearly in the lead
against Minnesota? Why wouldn't you hold that and check I
think of anything. Now, if you're a future opponent, you
have to be concerned, Well, what else does Ohio state

(20:41):
about their sleeves when it comes to their special teams returns?
Most of the time, I will say that I put
me in the camp of you know, I think that
as much as I love an exciting punt return, I
am very much into the idea of a fair catch
and starting starting with my offense and not worrying about

(21:02):
possibly fumbling the punt or you know kind of what
we saw against Washington, you know, fumbling the ball after
the return. But yeah, it was nice to see some
creativity from the special teams units.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
All right, Well, I am in the camp of Ted
Gin Joey Galloway. Give me a big play. I get it,
all right. I'm on the defensive side. Of the ball.
Our picks to click were you had rvel Reese, I
had Caleb Downs and I felt like both of them
played very well. I think everybody in the defense played well. Again,

(21:35):
Downs only had four total tackles, but he also had
a quarterback hurry. He also broke up a pass in
the end zone, so I think he had a good day.
He did take a penalty kicking out at a guy
who cheap shot at him. It absolutely should have been
called that way, and if the flag had flown, maybe
he wouldn't have got upset and kicked out at him.

(21:55):
I agree with you. And then, of course rvel Reese
also four tackles, but also had a sack, the only
sack chip in this game. I was a little surprised
that the buck geys were not able to get to
the quarterback more. But you know what else I saw
in this game is I saw some new wrinkles on
defense because I saw Kayden Curry in coverage at least
three times in this game.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, Cayden Curry his versatility they alluded to. I know
you just mentioned about him dropping back into coverage, but
the fact that he can sometimes be moved into an
interior defensive line position, which I think has tremendous values,
especially on passing down So the defense looked very impressive.
If anything, you know, we're talking about Ohio State on

(22:40):
the defensive line. Zion Grady playing a lot as a
as a true freshman against Minnesota. I think that was
a good sign, you know, and getting to see like
you said, you know, you know, when it comes to
Caleb Downs, I think he's just worth his weight. You know.
He sometimes it doesn't always reflect itself in stats, but

(23:01):
I think in run as well as pass coverage, he's tremendous.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Yeah, it makes makes the quarterback come off his first
read a lot because he's over there helping, and you
don't know, you don't want to put the ball in
harm's way and throw it his way. So I felt
like both of them did it. We hope Kenyata Jackson
Junior is okay. He hurt himself on a big hit
in the backfield. You could see on the replay his
head snap back a little bit.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, that was kind of scary. If anything, you know,
we haven't we haven't received or seen anything on in
terms of social media, in terms of what is going on.
Ohio State is pretty guarded when it comes to injuries.
But it wouldn't surprise me if he is not making
the trip to Illinois, just because, like you said, it
was kind of a scary moment.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, they called it a stinger, so I guess it'll
it'll depend on how he responds to treatment for that,
and you know, if he's still feeling pain from that.
So so we'll keep an eye on it. But forty
two to three is your win over minute soda. Ohio
States starting to look a little bit more formidable in
the offensive side. Defense still looks fantastic, and you know,

(24:08):
we move on to a much more difficult opponent on
the road in Illinois. We'll preview that game a little
later in the show. And of course we've got to
go around the Big Ten to see who everybody else
played and to look ahead to the next week. So
why don't we get to those things, Chip right after this?

(24:33):
All right, Chip, we're back. One other guy I wanted
to shout out is we saw a lot of in Minnesota.
In the Minnesota game was Peyton Pierce, who ended up
with seven tackles in a tackle for loss. I thought
he looked really good and given all the snaps he got.
I would say that the coaching staff is looking to
get him on the field more absolutely.

Speaker 2 (24:55):
I think that with RBLA Reiz, they feel very comfortable
putting him as on passing downs for sure, as kind
of more like a designated pass rusher. And as you
just said, I think that they have a full confidence
in Peyton Pierce as a as a traditional linebacker. So yeah,
it's good to see him out there.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
All right. You know the worst thing that makes me
the grumpiest is I didn't have a whole lot to
write about my grumpy Old Buckeye column.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, I would say, you you kind of alluded to it.
I'm not telling you what to do, but I mean
it's already written. You can't, Okay, all right, so I'll
be I'll just have to keep my eye out.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah. I think I had four sections, and I usually
have way more than that. So okay, it was it
was a it was a pretty dominating win. Let's go
around the rest of the Big Ten Chip. We may
as well start off with the eyebrow raiser in the
conference this week, as Penn State coming off that overtime
loss at home to Oregon. Tough loss. Congrats to the

(25:52):
Ducks for beating Penn State twice because they went out
to UCLA and they were getting smoked at one point.
They end up making a game of it, but the
Bruins win their first game. A team that had not
led at any point all season, put forty two points
on Jim Knowles's defense, and the Bruins win forty two
to thirty seven.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Loved it, and it has nothing to do with any
kind of animosity towards Penn State, because I do have
a criminous amount of respect for Penn State as a program.
I loved it simply because of just the sheer joy
of those players after all of everything that they've been through.
Watching Jerry Neuheisel, who's a tight ends coach who was

(26:36):
kind of named the interim offensive coordinator, watching him get
carried off the field, his father Rick, former UCLA quarterback,
former UCLA head coach, how excited he was. From the
CBS studio, it was a great game. It was a
great way to lead into watching the Ohio State Minnesota game.

(26:57):
I watched the majority of it, and from my perspective,
UCLA deserved to win that game. I mean, you just
talked about the fact that Penn State came back, and
credit to him for doing that. But I think UCLA
outplayed Penn State the majority of that game, and I'm
happy that UCLA won.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Yeah, it was a tremendous effort from that team, and
it when you see the capability that those players showed
on Saturday, it's a pretty big indictment of Deshaun Foster's
tenure as head coach.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah. If anything, the fact that Deshaun Foster had never
been he had never been a coordinator. And that's the
one thing that you know, kind of you know, like
as for lack of a better word, sipping through the
wreckage of the articles that are being written about, you know,
whatever happened to UCLA. One of the scathing indictments is

(27:52):
that Martin Jarmond, who is the UCLA athletic director, there
are so many people out there that have lost confidence
in him because of the fact he personally selected Deshaun Foster.
And as I said a moment ago, Foster had never
been coordinator. And when you see the kind of output
and an effort that these players gave against Penn State

(28:15):
just kind of made you wonder the I guess the
understanding or lack. They're all by Deshaun Foster in terms
of what the offensive game plan should have been and
how they should have been trying to win games earlier
this year.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
You're hearing a lot of unhappy Penn State fans online
right now. Understandably, this is James Franklin came into this season.
All we kept hearing was this was the best team
he's ever had, best chance he's ever had to win
a national championship. Now he's lost him back to back weeks.
There's certainly no shame in dropping an overtime game against

(28:54):
a good team like Oregon. But then, I mean, this
UCLA team had done nothing and yeah, new coaches, but
just talent wise, Penn State should go out there and win.
And maybe that's the mindset they went out there with,
is that they have the talent to just go out
there and win.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
I would agree with that, and I'm not sure if
you happened to see it last night during the Ohio
State Minnesota broadcast, what I thought was just very You know,
it's one of these things where when you talk about
social media, the Penn State fans being unhappy, and I'm
not saying that they shouldn't be unhappy. But what I
thought was interesting is Nicole Auerbach, who is one of

(29:33):
the national national writers for college football for NBC, when
she said, maybe it's time that James Franklin looks for
something else if there's a position open elsewhere. Because the
contract buyout, if Penn State were to move on from him,
they would owe him fifty six million dollars. I'm not

(29:53):
saying that Penn State can't do it. I'm just kind
of put me in the camp of skeptical because because
Penn State, with the renovation that they're doing to the
Beaver Stadium, I just don't see them saying, Okay, yeah,
we'll pay fifty six million and then God knows how
much it would take to get another top coach in there.
So perhaps that's where this is headed, because it just

(30:16):
looks very ominous for Penn State the rest of this year.
Like you said, this was supposed to be their year,
and they still had some really tough games, including a
game at Ohio State on November first.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
Yeah, so it will be interesting to see how that
plays out. Do we know how many years are left
on Franklin's contract.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
I couldn't begin to tell you. I just know that
I know the dollar figure. I know it's fifty six
million dollars. That's something that kind of, I don't want
to say halts everybody in their tracks, but I think
it kind of puts things in perspective for a lot
of the Penn State fans who are understandably upset, but
they also recognize the reality of the situation.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
All right. Well, speaking of big buyouts, a guy who's
got a big one is Luke Fickle, who went to
Michigan with his Wisconsin back And you know, our credit
was consint for hanging around for a while, but it
ended up twenty four to ten Michigan. It was ten
seven at the half. The Badger's just that they don't
have an offense.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
They don't if anything. Like you said, they hung around
through most of not only the first half, but also
like most of the third. It wasn't until late in
the third when Michigan scored a touchdown and then scored
another touchdown. I mean to kind of basically put it away.
What was in What was surprising was it wasn't until

(31:32):
about an hour before the game began that Wisconsin announced
that they were going to have their third string quarterback
play Hunter Simmons, who he had a fairly decent game.
I know he had an interception at the end in
the in the second half that that hurt Wisconsin, But

(31:53):
that was something where Luke Fickle, he was understandably hot
because in his in his belief that Michigan feared with
his wide receiver before Rod Moore made the interception. So
Wisconsin looked improved. But they've got to win this game
this coming week against Iowa because it's just going to
get more and more difficult as the season progresses.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
Yeah, it was looking pretty bad for Washington for a while.
At Maryland. I was chip I was perilously close to
having to live in a world where Maryland would be
considered for real. Maryland led this game twenty to three
after three quarters, but Washington just steamrolled him in the

(32:39):
fourth quarter and won twenty four to twenty.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I freely admit this was a game that because I
was trying to watch as many games as possible prior
to the Ohio State game, and truth be told that
we talked about them a few moments ago. The UCLA
Penn State game was pretty much what was captivating. You know,

(33:02):
pretty much all of my attention when it was getting
closer and closer, So I kind of let this Washington
Maryland game fall by the wayside. I was watching it
at the beginning, and Washington looked terrible. I mean, Demon
Williams throwing interceptions. Maryland was seemingly going up and down
the field with pretty much no resistance. The fact that

(33:23):
they were up twenty to nothing before Washington even got
a field goal on the board in the third quarter,
and then, like you said, Michael, twenty one unanswered points
in the fourth it's a credit to Washington that they
are that resilient. So it just remains to be seen.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
Maryland.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
The biggest issue that they have is when they when
they get into big ten play. We've seen this so
many times. They are when they start playing against better
competition in conference, they just start to fall by the
wayside and they can't run the ball. I mean, they
only ran for about fifty five yards with multiple players

(34:04):
and kind of like by committee. So they've got to
figure something out because if they're just gonna be so
one dimensional, it's gonna be easier for their upcoming opponents
to defend.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
Malik Washington, Yeah, I was, I was flipping through the games,
and I watched, you know, some snaps here and there
that game, and you're right, Demando Williams junior did not
look very good in the first half of this game.
He was he didn't look like the same quarterback that
played Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
I would agree with that.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
So Washington is four and one, one and one in
Big Ten play, and so is Maryland going back to Wisconsin,
two and three overall, oh and two in the Big Ten.
Michigan is four and one, two and oh in the
Big Ten, Ucla one and four, one and one in
Big Ten play, Penn State three and two and a
shocking and two in Big Ten play. Ohio State, of

(34:53):
course five and o two and oh in the Big Ten,
in Minnesota three and two, one and one in the
Big Ten. And then we moved to a weird non
conference game as Louisiana Monroe played at Northwestern and took
a seven to nothing lead, but then it was all
Northwestern like Ohio State, scoring forty two unanswered points, and
the Wildcats improved to three and two and not obviously

(35:16):
not a conference game, so u El Monroe also fell
to three and two, a weird game this deep in
the season to see a Big ten team playing Louisiana Monroe.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
Yeah, I'm not sure how that happened with the non conference.
I'm happy for Northwestern. I know Preston Stone had he
had a really good game. They've been kind of waiting
and holding their breath waiting for this. You know, he
had three touchdown passes. So yeah, it congratulations to Northwestern
for routing Louisiana Monroe. But now they get to have

(35:51):
the joy of traveling traveling to Happy Valley, and I
think they're gonna see that the environment and the opponent
is going to be much more decidedly hostile.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, I think you're gonna see a pretty desperate Nitney
Lions team, Yes, exactly, because they're gonna hear it all week.
And then finally a very well not finally, there's another
game to get to. But Nebraska hosted Michigan State, a
very competitive game the Cornhuskers who win thirty eight to
twenty seven. I watched again some plays here and there,

(36:25):
but I was flipping around and mostly watching one or
two games. But I flipped around a little bit during
commercials and during halftimes and stuff, and I saw Aidan
Chiles absolutely airmail a pass over a wide open back
out of the backfield. I think it was, or maybe
it was a tight end and throw an interception. In
that game, it was they were not taking care of
the ball. Michigan State is they continue to just not

(36:49):
have a very good defense and they can't have mistakes.
They're not good enough offensively to overcome mistakes.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
I completely agree. What was interesting was Nebraska. I mean
they jumped on Michigan State fourteen to nothing. I mean
they had a block punt that Nebraska recovered in the
end zone for a touchdown, and so it looked it
looked bad. But Michigan State, to their credit, battled back
at one point they actually led this Nebraska before they

(37:21):
finally before before they they finally lost. Like you said,
Aiden Childs, the maturation process, it's not as it's not
as pronounced as I guess, and I'm just the reason
I'm stammering here. I'm sure Michigan's a bands certainly expected
a better performance than what they saw against Nebraska. It's

(37:42):
gonna be interesting to see how they bounced back, because
I kind of looked at it like this was a
good bell weather game for both teams. Happy for Nebraska,
considering the way Michigan ran over them a couple of
weeks ago. So how these teams progressed right now? You know,
Nebraska they're getting closer and closer to the magic six number.
They're at four and one. Michigan State they're three and two.

(38:04):
They're going to be welcoming in Michigan State's gonna be
welcoming into UCLA's coming week. So it just can can
they bounce back after a tough loss at Nebraska?

Speaker 1 (38:14):
And can U c l A?

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Can they come back down to earth and keep their
focus after such a high spirited win versus Penn State.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
And Michigan State has been on the road the last
two weeks, and and they're they've really struggled in the
fourth quarter of those games. Uh, they've been in they've
been in both of them, but they just struggled in
the fourth quarter. Maybe that indicates I doubt that it
indicates a conditioning problem, but might indicate a depth problem.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
That is very fair to say. I think that that's
kind of where Jonathan Jonathan Smith has this program pointed
in the right direction. It's just that you know, there
there is no I realize, you know, people will quickly say, like, well,
what about Indiana. Okay, they're they're really the reality is that,
like there really is no quick fix. Like Indiana is

(39:03):
kind of a special case in the sense that with
Pert Signetti, he brought a lot of the players that
were successful for him. You know, in his previous stop
with Michigan State, you know, Aiden Childs was pretty much
the only guy that came along. There wasn't anything. So
I think to get impact players on both lines of scrimmage,

(39:28):
that's something that every college football program has difficulties with.
So I think Michigan State they need to stay the course.
It remains to be seen how they do this coming
week against UCLA, but I think Michigan State's certainly pointed
in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
All Right, Nebraska, in addition to being four and one,
they're one and one in Big Ten and Michigan State
three and two overall zero to two and Big Ten
play and then one of the teams that will interest
Ohio State fans because Ohio State will play them next. Illinois.
Staying nationally ranked and claboring PURDUECE forty three to twenty seven.
What we've seen from Purdue is that Purdue can put

(40:04):
points on the board seemingly against any team they did
against put some points on the boarding in US, Notre
Dame put some points on the board against Illinois. But
the line, I have a very good offense.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
They have a very good offense, and I want to
get credit to Perdue. I mean, they actually led this
game seven to nothing, and they certainly weren't able to
hold onto it. I mean, Illinois put twenty seven points
on the board in the second quarter. So Illinois took
the lead in the in the in the latter portion
of this of the first half, and never looked back.

(40:36):
But my larger point, I realize that I said this
all along. I think with Perdue they have certainly started
taking steps towards being respectable. That's that you know that
when it comes to like the moral victories, they really
don't count for much. But I think compared to where

(40:56):
this program was a year ago at this time, I
think that they have that they would if you were
to ask Barry Odam give them some truth serum. They
they have certainly been far more competitive from what I
have seen. Because I was that was one of these games.
I was kind of flipping back and forth when this
game was going on even though I knew Illinois was

(41:17):
going to win. I give credit to Purdue for being
kind of that annoying test that I think is like
a reasonable expectation for year one of Barry Odom's tenure.

Speaker 1 (41:29):
Yeah, it's if you're terrible, you want to be great. Well,
respectable is the first step on that journey.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
You got it.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
So forty three to twenty seven was the final, and again,
twenty seven of those points for Illinois came in the
second quarter alone. Eli and I are five and one,
two and one in Big Ten play. Perdue is two
and three, zero and two in Big Ten play. And
of course the Buck guys will go to Champagne and
play in the wind tunnel. Hopefully it won't be that windy,

(41:57):
so the passing game will still be able to be
used in full force, because boy, there are some unwatchable
games in that stadium when the wind's blowing hard.

Speaker 2 (42:07):
Yeah, well that's the thing. I mean, consider your blessings
that you know, if you're an Ohio State fan, the
fact that it's still I'm just gonna say early October.
If this game was next month, like you just said,
I mean, you might be going into a wind tunnel all.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Right, So next week's games, Chip, we start on Friday night.
Rutgers will visit Washington. I think Rutgers will hang around,
but I think Washington will take care of business on
that one. I agree with you. Then on Saturday, big
noon kick off Ohio State at Illinois, which we'll talk
about in a moment. Ucla, as you mentioned, goes to

(42:45):
Michigan State. Can UCLA ride the momentum of that Penn
State victory or can Michigan State do enough and close
the game out. I think this is going to be
a good game.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (42:59):
I don't know who I would even pick to win
that game.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
I'm going to give it to Michigan State right now.
Just I realize there's a lot of enthusiasm, justifiably so
for UCLA.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
It's a noon game, that's right, So that's exactly tough
for UCLA.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Yeah, that's exactly why. So it's I think it'll be
a close game. I think that, as you said, the
Michigan State defense, I mean, you saw Nico carve up
Penn State's defense, which is much more talented than Michigan States.
So that's kind of where there's some hesitation on my part.
But I just believe that the time difference, and I

(43:39):
think Michigan State They've got a lot of the pieces
in place, they just need to put it all together.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
One of the games of the weekend, Indiana goes to Oregon,
then somebody's can get their first Big ten loss.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
And I'm going to go with Oregon here. I think
that Indiana is very talented. I think it's gonna be
a great game. I'm looking forward to it. But I
do believe that Oregon at home is pretty formidable, as
Ohio State discovered last year. I think Indiana is gonna
gonna hang around, but I'm gonna I'm gonna go with

(44:12):
the Ducks.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Yeah, I think Audsin gives them the advantage in this game.
Both teams are five and O two and oh and
Big ten play and that should be a real fun
one to watch certainly. Then also three point thirty Northwestern
visits Penn State. As you mentioned, I feel like the
Nitney Lions will bounce back. If they don't, then I
really don't think that James Franklin will finish the season

(44:35):
in Happy Valley.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
The Natives are beyond restless, and so if Penn State
comes out and they're sluggish in struggle against Northwestern.

Speaker 1 (44:47):
Lookout, Nebraska will visit Maryland. This is a pretty vital
game for both teams. I think both of these teams
will be Bowl eligible, but to stay alive in the
Big Ten as Big Ten hopefuls, to either get in
the Big Ten Championship game, or to maybe stay alive

(45:10):
for an opportunity to be one of three or possibly
four teams to make the playoff. I mean, this is
a big game. The winner the loser certainly out of that,
and the winner still stays in the race.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
I've been impressed by the performance of Maryland. I realized
that sounds like I'm talking on both sides, but I've
been impressed. I really thought Maryland was going to be
one of the worst teams in the conference, and they
have shown to be far better than I anticipated. So
I think there's some positives. There is just that I
can't get beyond the fact that they are pretty one

(45:45):
dimensional offensively, and I think Nebraska is going to be
able to capitalize on that, even though they're the ones
making the trek to Maryland. I'm going to go with Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah, Well, I think we've both been somewhat wrong. At
the bottom of our Big Ten per days, you had
Maryland seventeenth and I had sixteenth. They certainly look like
they're gonna finish higher than that. And we both had
Purdue at the bottom. And Purdue isn't great, but they
are hanging around and scrappy, and you know, UCLA has
it looked good, but then now they have a win

(46:16):
in Big Ten play. So anyway, there's a lot of
football left to be played. Nebraska and Maryland is going
to be a tough one. I'm not sure yet about Maryland,
but it'll be interesting to see. I think we find
out this week, even though it's a Maryland home game.
I think we find out if that Washington game for
the Terrapins was a little bit of Ohio State hangover

(46:37):
and travel for the Huskies, I don't think Nebraska will
be as bothered by the travel, having made the trip
before and not having to go only having to go
halfway across the country instead of all the way across
the country. And I think Nebraska is a physical football
team that can hang around.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
Iowa goes to Wisconsin and I don't know. I think
Iowa can hang around against Indiana. I think Iowa can
beat Wisconsin.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
They they certainly can. I'm just kind of curious if
Mark Gronowski is going to be healthy enough to play
for Iowa quarterback because I have every confidence in Iowa's defense.
Phil Parker is such a such a tremendous coordinator, and
the Wisconsin offense has been struggling. I just think that
I think it's a night game in Camp Brandle. I

(47:24):
think the fans are going to do everything they can
to try to be encouraging, but by the same token,
if Wisconsin looks as as poorly as they did the
last time that they played at home, they'll turn on
Luke Fickle and the team very quickly as a as
a voice their displeasure when Wisconsin was getting run out
by Maryland a couple weeks ago. So right now I'm

(47:47):
gonna I'm gonna give the slight edge to Wisconsin, but
it's only because I don't know what the status of
Mark Gronowski is.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
All right, USC will host Michigan, and this is going
to be a big game because I think that USC's
got a good offense, but Michigan has a good defense.
USC has a terrible defense, but I don't know how
good Michigan's offense is I don't know what to expect
in this game, but I it's a It's a seven

(48:14):
to thirty game, which is a four to thirty game
out West, so it's not a full night game. But
as that game gets into the second half, you know
you'll start to see the sun go down and it's
going to be an interesting one. I feel like this
is what I'd like to watch, but unfortunately have a
commitment that night.

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Well I'm sorry that you have a commitment that you
have to honor. I am looking forward to this because
with USC, they they still have to make the trip
to Notre Dame. We were talking earlier about kind of
how strange you just have non conference games in midway
through the season. But getting back to this game, I
think USC the fact that they had that stinging loss

(48:55):
at Illinois, they know that their margin for air to
get into the Collage Football Playoff is very thin. So
I think USC they need this game certainly. I mean,
both teams nobody, nobody can really truly afford a loss,
but I think USC is more in desperation mode than Michigan.
I think that they'll somehow find a way to do

(49:18):
what they need to to slow down the Michigan offense enough,
and I'm gonna go with USC.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
All right, Purdue in Minnesota in Minnesota, the Gophers have
a chance to bounce back from the loss at Ohio State.
I expect them to do that, but I think this
will be a close game.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
I agree with you there. I think this is this
is pretty much a coin flip. Like I mean, Perdue,
They just need to they need to be able to
sustain a game for four quarters. Minnesota has has been
up and down, and the fact that it's at home,
I'll give it to the Golden Gophers, but I really
think it's being a close one.

Speaker 1 (49:51):
I think it will play out probably fairly similarly to
the Minnesota Rutgers game. Yeah that's are Yeah, all right,
Well things are getting interesting. I would not have thought
by this week that Penn State would kind of be
out of the running for the Big Ten championship game.
Unless some really weird stuff happens down the stretch. I

(50:13):
think they're out of that. They still do have a
chance to, you know, get some wins down the stretch
and maybe sneak back into the college football playoff picture.
But as the rankings came out today, you and I
recording this on Sunday night. They are not ranked, so
they got a lot of work to do and are
probably going to need to come up with a I

(50:35):
will say rare the the White Whale for James Franklin,
which is a win over a top ten team, and.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
It's it's just not looking good. The my concerns about
Penn State were kind of warranted by what I saw
against Oregon a couple of weeks ago. And my concerns
were that non conference schedule, you know, playing very weak opponents,

(51:02):
and Penn State did not look tremendously dominating in those
non conference games that I just thought, all right, they
really don't know what they have. And then Oregon came up.
Don't forget Oregon was up seventeen to three on them,
and to Penn State's credit, they battled back and it
went into double overtime. And so I want to give
credit to Penn State for that. But the rest of

(51:25):
the schedule for Penn State, the fact that we've already
talked about the fact they have to come to Ohio State,
they still have to play Indiana, they have to go
to Iowa. There are some games there that I think,
you know, when it comes to just kind of getting
to a good bowl game destination, I think is probably
what should probably be most prominent on Penn State fans' minds.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
It's four teams unbeaten in Big Ten play Indiana, Ohio State, Oregon,
and Michigan for what. Five teams that have not won
in Big Ten play Michigan State, Penn State, Rutgers, Produe
in Wisconsin. Everybody else has at least one loss, with
Illinois and USC at two and one, and I think Illinois, USC,

(52:12):
Washington and the winner of Maryland Nebraska stay alive. All right,
it's gonna be fun love this time here, Yes, all right.
So Ohio State will play the Illinois fighting aliine. I uh,
and they are, as I mentioned, two and one in

(52:33):
Big Ten play five and one overall. The only loss
that bad beat down at Indiana. But this is a
team trip that can score points. And so I think
Ohio State's run of holding opponents under ten points is
coming to an end this week.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
That's a very fair prediction considering the fact that, like
you said, Illinois, they can they can score. They've got
a very very good I'm going to say very good
wide receiver, very capable quarterback. Their running game can be
hit or miss, but I think offensively they certainly present

(53:12):
problems for just about any team in Ohio State. They're
going to need to certainly bring their a game to Champagne.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
If a very inventive offense and they are able to
get some hitting yards and running that Luke Altmeyer could
run and will run and they you know, they just
need to run enough to keep the defense honest. So
it's going to be up to Ohio State's defensive line
to play well in this game. I think you mentioned
Luke Altmeyer. He is a you know, he's kind of there,

(53:39):
do everything guy. I think if he got hurt, they'd
be in real serious trouble. But he is completing seventy
three point six percent of his passes. They keep things
easy for him. He's got twelve touchdowns, no interceptions. He
is the real deal. He's thrown for fifteen hundred yards already.
And that's something that Ohio State will have to do
is to limit Luke Altmeyer's effectiveness. And the other thing

(54:04):
is you got to watch Illinois because they'll throw a
trick play.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
At you, which is I think, you know when you know,
when it comes to Brett Bielima, his reputation that he
that he cultivated when he was at Wisconsin, when he
was at Arkansas is that he would prefer to run
the ball. There's nothing wrong with that, but I think
it's just that he recognizes the talent that he has

(54:27):
on hand with Luke Altmeyer, with the wide receiver corps,
that it kind of warrants, Hey, you know, we we
can sometimes use Luke Altmeyer as a receiver. You know,
he scored a touchdown a couple of weeks ago against
USC as a receiver, so you know, it certainly is
something that I think the Ohio State defense is going
to need to be prepared for.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
They kind of have a running back by committee or
a tandem at least. Khalil Valentine and Caden Fagan each
are over three undred yards and combined for eight touchdowns,
and Fagan has five of those touchdowns. So he's the
guy that they like to give the ball in the
red zone. So that's where Ohio State will have to,
you know, focus their attention defensively inside the ten, inside

(55:11):
the twenty. Hopefully Illinois won't get there very often, but
a good offense with a lot of wrinkles, and they're
sort of my perception of them chip is they are
offensively a similar animal to Ohio State's defense, is that
you might think you know what they're going to do,
but then they do something different.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
I like that. That's a really good point.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
A guy that's going to draw the most attention in
the receiving corps Hank Batty, who has five hundred and
sixty nine yards this year, already only two touchdowns, and
they like to throw the ball in the end zone
to Justin Bowick, who has four touchdown receptions. Those are
the guys to watch out for. On the defensive side
of the ball, of course, Illinois likes to I mean,
they've given up some points this year, but they have

(55:59):
a lot of toughness on that side of the ball.
I don't feel like Ohio State is gonna have a
ton of success running the football this week, but I
think that they're going to try. I think they're going
to I think this will be like you said earlier.
I don't think this will be a conservative Washington slash
Texas style game plan offensively, but I think it'll be

(56:20):
more conservative than what we saw against Minnesota, and.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
I think that's almost by a necessity. I think that
the one thing that Ryan Day has continually emphasized when
talking about Julian Saying, just in very general terms, is
you know, to not to not force the ball into uh,
you know, bad you know, bad situations. You know, don't
force the ball if it's not there, to throw the

(56:46):
ball out of bounds. And and we see that fortunately
for Ohio State, you know the fact that that Julian
Saying has quite often been able to find a secondary
receiver and make a completion. But we might see him,
you know, throwing the ball out of bounds against Illinois,
just because I think Illinois they're talented enough on defense
that Ryan Day would actually for to fight another day,

(57:10):
you know, and you know, possibly punted away if necessary,
rather than you know, you know, forcing a pass that
results in an interception.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Yeah, and I think Illinois will try to force you
to make a lot of plays to get down the field.
They got a couple of senior linebackers that have combined
for six and a half sacks gave Jacob and Leon
Lowry junior, So those are the guys to watch out
before there and in the secondary they only have two
interceptions so far this year. I think you could pick

(57:41):
on them if you can give your quarterback time. I
think you can pick on their secondary a little bit.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
And that's going to be the key because, as you said,
with Illinois, the fact that on offense that they might
throw a trick play. Don't be surprised if Illinois, if
they decide, all right, here's what we're going to do
to try to disrupt Julian saying his rhythm and his time.
I mean, so you have to be prepared for anything
and everything from Illinois.

Speaker 1 (58:04):
All right, So it's going to be a tough game,
and we're going to have to pick our picks to
click now, Chip and last time. We start on the
offensive side of the ball, So on the defensive side
of the ball, who's going to have a big game
for the buck Eyes.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
I'm going to go with I'm going to go with
Kayden Curry simply because we talked about his versatility on
the defensive side, defensive line. I think he's going to
be It was very tempting to go, I will say,
with the free space with Caleb Downs, but I think

(58:38):
Hayden Curry is going to be a guy that is
going to be tasked with unenviably of harassing Luke Altmeyer,
and hopefully he will be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Speaking of Allmeyer, I think I'm going to go with
the other free space on defense, r L res I
think that he'll be He'll be tasked with making sure
Luke Myer stays in the pocket and making sure he
doesn't get out on the bootleg into free space to
throw the ball, which I think he likes to do,
at least from one of the games that I've seen.
So I'm going to go with Rvel Reese. And then

(59:12):
I think after these last two games, I'm going to
go on the offensive side of the ball and say,
if you're going to keep trying to take Jeremia Smith
out of Gamp, I'm going to take Carnell Tait. I
understand that really good choice, all right, the offensive side.
I know it might be.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Kind of premature, but I'm going to go with Max Claire.
I think that what they started to do. I completely
respect what you just said about with Cornell Tait, and
I agree with you. I think that Max Claire is
going to be a guy that is going to present
matchup problems, and I think Ohiostate's going to fry and
exploit them. So I look for Max Claire to have

(59:53):
another big.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
Game, all right. That brings us to our score predictions. Chip.
I think this is going to be a little closer
than the Minnesota get and I also think that the
Aline I are going to be able to put some
points on the board and finish the drives, whereas Minnesota
and some other teams haven't been able to do that. Now,
I will be happy if Matt Patricia proves me wrong.
So that's the challenge to him and his defense. So

(01:00:16):
what do you think. What's the scoreboard going to say
at the end of the game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
I like the way you just put that that we
hope that Matt Patricia proves us wrong. I know that
there's certainly a great deal of pride, understandably so in
the fact that Ohio State has been able to keep
their opponents out of the end zone. I think that
that is going to come to an end in Champagne
this coming week. But I do think Ohio State prevails
in the second half, especially I realized I said this

(01:00:43):
last week against Minnesota, but I really do believe that
Ohio State they're going to have too much for Illinois
to be able to keep paced. So I'm going to
go Ohio State thirty five, Illinois fourteen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
I'm right, once again, we are very similar because I
already wrote mine down and I've got Buckeyes thirty six
a line I twenty. Okay, so you've got one less
than me on the OSUS scoreboard and six less six
fewer points for the align I. So again, very I

(01:01:13):
have to do math because you know our our scores
are so similar. I got to just say, Okay, how
far away are you on this one? How far am
I away on this one? But yeah, I mean I
think you could tell we've both been watching this team
for a long time because we oh yeah, you think
so similarly on some of this stuff. So we'll come

(01:01:35):
back next week and we will look at the scores
and figure out how to Ohio State do and figure
out who had the closer score prediction. See off our
picks to click actually clicked, and of course breakdown the
Illinois game for you, and then of course we will
be getting you ready because the Buckeyes will then go

(01:01:56):
to Wisconsin, so again another hard no football team. It
will be I don't think it'll be easy to score
points against the Badgers on the road, but I feel
like they probably won't need a ton of points to
win that game. But we'll we'll talk about that next
week exactly, all right, Chip, anything else before we get
out of here.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
No, just looking forward to another great week of Big
Ten football, especially when Ohio State travels to Illinois for
the first time since twenty fifteen. I couldn't believe that.
I had to do a double take. Wow, that's kind
of surprising time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:28):
Yeah, God, it doesn't feel that long. No, ten years? Wow?
All right? Well, chiped in before we get out here.
Remind our listeners where they can find you online and
all your work.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
I could be found on Twitter at Chipmanik. Last name
is spelled m I N n H. And I'm a
contributor to Bluckyhuddle dot com as well as Saturday Glory
dot com. With Saturday Glory usually I have articles that
kind of focus more on the Big Ten overall, and
then see with Blucky Huddle, I kind of look at

(01:03:03):
the upcoming Ohio State opponents. So look for an article
about Ohio State in Illinois later this week.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
All right. You can find me on Twitter and Blue
Sky at Mike thirty six Fan and of course you
can find my writing on the Landgrant Holyland dot com.
And of course it's going to be the Grumpy Old
Buckeye every Monday after a Buckeye game. And if there's
a bye week then I'll come up with another feature.
But you can find this week, you can find my

(01:03:32):
thoughts on the Minnesota game and what you know, what
happened to grind my gears during that game? The spoiler
not very much. It was it was a pretty easy win.
So but there's always something because the pursuit of perfection
is never achieved. You can also follow the Silver Bullets

(01:03:53):
podcast on Twitter at silver Bullets Pod, but no E
in the word silver silv R Bullets Pod. And you
can email us at silver bulletspot at gmail dot com.
And that one you spell out, I know it's confusing.
Do I put in an E for this one? Do
I leave it out for that one? It's not that hard.
Leave out the E and silver for the Twitter, include

(01:04:13):
it in the Gmail, and I think you'll be all right.
You'll find us, all right, Chip, if there's nothing else
from your end, we'll call it. We'll call a halt
of the proceedings there, and we'll come back next week
talk about Illinois get ready for Wisconsin, and that's going
to do it. So uh, I guess the only thing
left for us to do is at the end of
this show, we sign off by saying, go Bucks, Go Bucks.