Purdue Rewind and UCLA Preview

Purdidn’t.

The Ohio State Buckeyes dispatched the Purdue Boilermakers with one starting wideout and one starting offensive tackle tied behind their backs, winning 34-10 on the road in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ohio State luckily avoided some of the nasty weather we saw in other games around the Big Ten on Saturday, but it wasn’t one of the prettier games we’ve seen in the Ryan Day era. Then again, that can happen at Purdue. 

We looked back at the Buckeyes’ road win, discussed the key players, moments, and plays, and checked back on our picks to click and our final score predictions. 

After dissecting Ohio State’s win over the Boilermakers, we took a quick spin around the rest of the B1G to see how other teams fared. Indiana looked to be in trouble against Penn State on the road, but the Nittany Lions stayed true to their nature and found a way to lose a close game against a top 10 team. We saw a few familiar things from Jim Knowles’ defense on the decisive drive. Elsewhere, Nebraska’s new quarterback had himself a nice game on the road as the Huskers beat UCLA out west. Oregon struggled in Iowa, but the Ducks pulled out a late win, with an untimely fumble by the Hawkeyes helping the visitors avoid a Kinnick Stadium upset. Rutgers got a vital win in a bid for bowl eligibility but the Scarlet Knights will still have a tough road to get to six wins. And, what do you know? Wisconsin won in conference play. 

We also looked ahead to the matchups coming up this weekend. The Badgers will probably not win two in a row when they visit Bloomington. Probably. Meanwhile, Iowa will have a tough time bouncing back when they visit USC. There are some fun matchups coming up in Week 12. 

Finally, we previewed Ohio State’s home game against UCLA. The Bruins’ quarterback has played a night game at Ohio Stadium within the past year, and this trip to Columbus doesn’t seem likely to yield a much better result. A raucous Horseshoe crowd, the nation’s most efficient quarterback, and a bad Bruin defense don’t seem to make for a good combination. We break down the matchup and provide our picks to click on Saturday on both sides of the ball and make our score predictions. 

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or 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 - An easy but boring day in West Lafayette. 

26:05 - A look around the B1G. Penn State ain’t gonna not Penn State, but maybe Saturday things will get better for the Nittany Lions. 
 
47:03 - The Buckeyes host UCLA in a rare November night game. We discuss 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hell Loo again. Everybody, it's time for another episode of
the Silver Bullets podcast. I'm Michael Citro, I'm chip Mednick.
Buckeyes have improved and got through another opponent, final road
test before the Michigan game, beating Purdue thirty four to ten.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, it kind of went the way I anticipated. And
I know we'll talk about the UCLA game coming up,
but this, I think this is kind of the blueprint
of what we're going to be seeing from Ohio State
for the next few games as they prepare for the
game as well as the College Football Playoff.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
I made a couple of curveballs before the game. As
Philip Daniel was out for this. Ean Moore started at
right tackle. Also had Carnell Tate come up lame during
warm ups and he didn't get to play in this game,
and that was something it was nice of the broadcast
team to find out about that midway through the second quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yeah, I mean, I I'd rather be cautious. I think
Ryan Day like the way he kind of described it's like,
you know, it's not anything serious. I think that's kind
of to my point. I think that's going to be
the mindset of just trying to be as not that
you want people, you know, wrapped in bubble wrap, per se,
but you want to be cautious and you know, try

(01:38):
to not put people in into a situation where they
might actually make a situation worse. So I give him
credit for asking the question and for Ryan Day just saying, oh,
we're just being precautionary.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, it was just odd for a quarter and a half.
They talked about great the two wide receivers were, but
they didn't notice that date wasn't. Yeah, it was a
slow start for the buck Eyes didn't score in the
first quarter. They trailed three nothing after one, but it
could have been an extremely fast start for the buck guys.
A seventy yard touchdown run on the first play of

(02:13):
the game offensively for bo Jackson was called back on
an uncharacteristic penalty from Jeremiah Smith and a push in
the back that didn't need to be made. All he
has to do right there is stand in the guy's way,
keep him from changing direction and making the play. And
bo Jackson still scores that touchdown without.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
The penalty, without question.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, I think that's going to be instead of a
major tongue lashing, I think that's going to be kind
of the I presume would be the kind of tone
that Ryan Day would take with Jeremiah Smith, like, hey, listen,
you don't have to do anything except just getting the way.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Yeah, I mean, you're not gonna I mean, just a
good learning experience for wide receiver who was trying to
do the right thing, trying to make a downfield block.
And that's of course a big part of what Ohio
State does and what Ohio State wants out of its
wide receivers. Just got to make sure if you can
read their name, just get in their way. Don't give
them a two handed shove in the back. It was

(03:08):
kind of a light push, but it still counts. They
all count the same, I agree. So the Buckeyes did
not score on that drive after all, And I said,
Purdue came down the field kicked a field goal in
their next drive, and then that was the way the
quarter ended. Very very sluggish start to the game and

(03:29):
really sleepy second half. It was not a beautiful game
to watch, No.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
It wasn't, but I think that it was kind of
by design.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah, maybe there was a lot of running the football,
even when the running wasn't working that well. From Ohio State.
But Oo State did get things going in the second
quarter and jumped out to a big halftime lead with
three touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter. CJ.
Donaldson one yard run just inside this after the second

(04:00):
quarter started the first minute of the second quarter. Then
a big thirty five yard pass from Saying over the
top to Jeremiah Smith who was triple covered, but is
he really covered? It's Jeremiah Smith. So that made it
fourteen to three. Lincoln Keenoles came in for a quarterback
run for a three yard touchdown to make it twenty

(04:20):
one to three, and then Jaden Fielding attacked on a
late forty nine yard field goal career high in a
well worked two minute drill.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
I would agree with the well worked.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
I like the fact that obviously they had no timeouts.
I mean, I mean, I really, I really did respect
the fact that, all right, they knew that, all right,
Purdue was going to try to run out the run
out the clock at the end of the second at
the end of the first half for the second quarter,
and so Ryan Day used his timeouts. Well, now, that

(04:52):
left Ohio State with no timeouts when they got the
ball back, but instead of trying to force the ball deep,
they just played the the shorter routes, got out of bounds,
recognize the fact that I we're probably not gonna be
able to score a touchdown. I'm sure they would have
preferred to do that, but instead of forcing the ball
and we'll talk about forcing the ball later on that

(05:14):
they were able to get in position for Jaden Fielding
to kick that field goal.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
And what I like about it is.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
It's nice to know because he's I mean, he's missed
a few, but I just think it's nice to know that, Hey, like,
you know, you have it within your capacity, Jaden, if
need be the forty plus to be able to kick
a field goal, you know that we have confidence in
you that you can do it.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
So I was happy to see him do that.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
On the road. Now, so twenty four to three at
the half and the Buckeyes trying to get the back
to back scores with the final score of the first
half and the first score on the first drive of
the second half, nearly pulled it off, went all the
way down the field, but an ill advised pass from
Julian Say and really the only mistake that young Julians
Say had made it again. Every once in a while,

(05:59):
you get a minder that he's not even ten games
ten starts into his collegiate career, throws late across his
body over the middle. This guy really wasn't open in
the back of the end zone anyway. The only thing
you can really do there is throw it high, hope
your guy gets it, or it goes out and you
kick the field goal. But that wreck that drive by
ohiostate get the ball back and kicked a forty five

(06:21):
yard field goal in the fourth quarter at the beginning
of the fourth quarter as again very sleepy second half,
and then CJ. Donaldson another one yard run to make
it thirty four to three, and Purdue kick tacked on
a late touchdown against the backup defense to make it

(06:43):
thirty four to ten. I want to congratulate you. You
got a little bit closer than I did because of
that turnover, and that kept me from winning this week
or getting closest to the final score prediction. You had
predicted twenty eight seven I had predicted thirty four to seventeen.
Were a little bit closer than I was, as I

(07:04):
was off by a foot. Oh no, wait a minute,
I'm looking at that I had looked at the state ones. No, yeah,
you predicted thirty five seven. I predicted thirty eight thirteen.
Sorry about that. I that's okay, too much, too much scrolling. Sorry,
my finger got carried away. But yeah, you had thirty
five to seven, so you're very close. You're one off
of Ohio States score and three off of purdues. And

(07:27):
I had thirty eight thirteen. So I was four off
of Ohio States and a full three points off. So
you just barely edged me.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Yeah, I, like I said at the at the onset,
I really do believe as the game got closer because
I think, you know, I wrote an article for buck
Eye Huddle.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
And I'm not I'm not going back on anything I said.
I mean, you know as well as I do, anyone.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
That follows a high state football closely knows that going
to west Lap I eat, especially you know this millennium
Ohio State. All five of their losses to Purdue have
been when they've gone to ross Aid Stadium. So there
was I want to say genuine respect for Purdue. I
think that even though the final score wasn't close, I

(08:15):
think it's leaps and bounds compared to what Purdue the
way that they played the last two times Ohio State
faced them. I think Purdue is definitely heading in the
right direction. But I kind of getting back to the
point I'm trying to make is I really think that.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
This game, the upcoming UCLA game.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
The game against Rutgers are going to be very similar
in the sense of, all right, let's get an early lead,
let's work on things that need working on. Even though
like the running game wasn't spectacular, they had some moments.
The offensive line is a work in progress. Not that

(08:55):
I think Ryan Day is happy, but I think they're
trying to figure out who's the best person at the
right guard position, getting the backups on defense especially, I
saw a lot of freshmen out there for that touchdown
that Purdue scored. So my point being is, I think
that's kind of the blueprint of what we're going to
be seeing. What we saw against Purdue as well as

(09:16):
against UCLA and against Rutgers.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
That's going to make for some tough watching.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
I just I'm I could be mistaken, I could be mistaken.
I just think that it's it's to me, it's the
kind of thing where Ryan Day in the past has said,
you know that it's a it's a long season, and
you know, with the college football playoff and and I
realized Ohio State so far, you know, when it comes to,

(09:41):
you know, the the playoff projections, they would be you know,
getting that that buy.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
But even so, it's like everybody, like.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
I mean, like you said, it was kind of a
surprise that Cornel Tait being withheld and not really getting
an answer until halftime.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
I think we're just as fans.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
I think, regardless whe they're talking about High State or
any other Division one program across the country, everyone is.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
At this stage of the season.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
There's bumps and bruises and you know, and it's like, okay,
it's in your best interest.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
I really do believe. I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
It might be for some tough viewing, but it's it's
in everyone's best interest to rest your starters and get
them out, especially if you're projected to be a college
football playoff team, a national championship contending team like Ohio State.
And it's also important I think you would agree to
get those those backups valuable repetition time in the event

(10:35):
something unfortunate does happen.

Speaker 1 (10:37):
Absolutely, I think there were there were a couple other
guys out on the right side of the line backups
because we saw a lot more of Tegri Shabola than
we normally do, and that hasn't necessarily been a good
thing for the offensive line this year. He's kind of
had a tough year. If you follow the rank the
ratings that they give the college players after each game,
he has been one of the lowest rated offensive lineman

(11:00):
in the in the Power for Football. I think, certainly
for the Buckeyes, he's not done well. He didn't do
well in this game. I thought Luke Montgomery missed some
pretty makeable blocks in this game. And of course we
could talk about the big whiff putting freshman Isaiah West
in the game on a pass play and he did
not pick up the blitz and got Julians say and

(11:21):
sacked on that play. And these are the kinds of
things that that broke things down during this game that
could have made it a much more comfortable lead and
gotten the backups in the game earlier.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
I would agree with that.

Speaker 2 (11:33):
I think Isaiah West he had some moments I thought
as a runner, I think he's definitely showing you know,
Bo Jackson is the starter. I think Isaiah West has
established himself as the next guy in terms of the rotation.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
I think you would agree with me that CJ.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Donaldson, Not that it's necessarily a good thing, but his
his niche on this team is that short yardage guy,
especially near the goal line. And for what it's worth,
you know, I just think, you know, the running backs,
I mean, it's not going to be as dominant as

(12:11):
what we had last year as fans watching you know,
Henderson and Judkins, but I think that the that the
the running backs that they're trying to figure out what
works and try and get their running game better established.
Because as you saw not only at Purdue, but also
like the other games throughout the Big Ten, the November,

(12:33):
the November weather is here. We are actually, as we
are recording this up here, I'm going to make you
really jealous. There's a possibility of snow the next couple
of days, So you know, you need to make make
sure that you're going to be able to run the
ball in the event that you have in clement weather
for these games for the November stretch.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Yeah, it's been an interesting year running the football. It
seems like Ohio State struggles in the first half to
run it and then in the second half make they
make some adjustments and then figure some things out, and
they're a little bit better running the ball in the
second half. And it doesn't matter if they're up against
a poor rush defense or a good rush defense. It
seems like it still takes that half to get the
run game going.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
I would agree with that.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
I'm not sure if it's if it's just the personnel,
if it's the opposition. I'm not sure if it's a
combination of those things, but they definitely what I'm liking
about this running.

Speaker 3 (13:26):
Game so far is not.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
And we'll see it all come. You know, we'll see
when Ohio State when they go to ann Arbor is
like not trying to insist on running the ball to
try and prove a point, like okay, like we're going
to run the ball because you know, we think we
you know, certain run plays and they're not nearly as
I know what you said earlier. It was unfortunate that

(13:52):
Bo Jackson that explosive touchdown run was called back, but
you know, being able to get you know, three yards
four yards a clip, Yeah, it's not nearly as productive
as you would like. But I think they're working through
some things to try and figure out which starting five
on the offensive line will enable them to be able

(14:13):
to run the ball much more productively.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
I hope they figured it out soon because we're running
out of games. I understand, all right, So one thing
we should probably point out. Nice takeaway for the defense
in this game, as there was an interception by Jermaine
Matthews Junior was basically caused by Caleb Downs, So good
to see that the defense continues to make plays. I

(14:37):
thought kayten Curry played well. But we'll go to our
picks to click, and there are two guys here, you
and I on offense. You picked Jeremiah Smith. I took
Julian Say and I debated a long time should I
take away the click for the interception and the block
in the back. But at the end of the day,
I mean say, it was twenty seven of thirty three

(14:59):
for three three yards, a touchdown and a pick. He
was sacked twice, but at least one of them was
not his fault. I would say probably neither of them
was his fault. And you know, he was playing with
a little bit of a stacked deck because with Purdue
double teaming Jeremiah Smith, who still had a big day.

(15:19):
You couldn't just keep going to him every down. And
they used a lot of three tight and sets. They
put a lot of younger receivers in there that you know,
we saw bryceon Rodgers make some catches, Mylon Graham was
targeted a couple of times, Brandon Inness had three catches,
and it really felt like they were trying to force
the ball to Max Claire in this game. I don't
know if they were just trying to rub it in

(15:40):
to Purdue for letting him go. It doesn't seem like
it's in Ryan Day's nature to do that, but it
did seem like they were trying to force things to
Clare a bit.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
I'm not sure about trying to rub it in as
much as you know, like you said, you know, it's
like the double team of Jeremiah Smith that he might
have just you know, without knowing the play design that
you know, when it came to or Julian saying like
in terms of all right, that was just a viable
option that he decided to take advantage of. You know,

(16:13):
I neglected to mention when we were talking about the
running backs, just a real quick thing like James Peoples.
I think one of the things that you know, the
sack that Isaiah West, the block that he missed James Peoples,
I think is demonstrated out of the running backs a
really good willingness on blitz pick up, you know, as
a blocker. So, like I said, I think they're they're

(16:35):
kind of working their way through. But yeah, to your
point about the receivers, it was great to see Bryson
Rodgers get some playing time, Mylon Graham, Brandon and.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Us more as a receiver.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
So I think it's going to be important that they
do that because you know, I think that's going to
be the strategy of all teams going forward, is to
always double team Jeremiah Smith. So you've got to make
sure that your other guys are capable of producing when
you need them to.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, and it felt like that when Ohio State started
having some success round the football, they were running out
of eleven personnel, one back, one tight end. But with
Tate out, I think they decided to put more tight
ends in because they trusted them more than they trusted
to have the backup wide receivers in probably a good point. Yeah,

(17:19):
I do want to call out there was a great
play by Julian Saying that really went unnoticed or at
least unremarked on the broadcast. There was a moment where
Julian's Saying approached the huddle. I don't know if you
saw this. He approached the huddle, but he noticed that
the wrong personnel were out there, so he didn't get

(17:40):
in the huddle, and he waved out the guy that
shouldn't have been in there. I think it was one
of the tight ends. And then after he left, he
went in the huddle. And I thought that was just
such a smart play because it probably cost probably saved
Ohio State from an illegal participation penalty. And I think
the pass to Jeremiah Smith for the touch, and I

(18:03):
think came to play after that.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
I I can picture what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
And yeah, I mean, I think his maturity, like you said,
you know the fact that, yeah, he made a very
bad decision. I like the way Ryan Day put it
is that I'm sure that you know after throwing that
interception that he had, probably Julian Saying probably would have
preferred to have gone over to the other sideline rather
than have to hear the.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
Face the wrath.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
But those are the kind of things where you know,
fortunately for I state, they already had a lead, they
already you know in terms of you know, just kind
of now should he have forced it? No, But again,
these you know things, I think I think you said
it very well. That all right, remembering that you know,
we're talking about somebody who's still making initial starts. So

(18:52):
I mean, his his progress has been tremendous, but I yeah,
his his growth and stature as the leader of the
op is remarkable.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
About that point you just made, he's.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Going to start seeing these coverages and recognizing the earlier
he's this. There's just an insane ceiling for this kid,
I would agree, So he does get a click from me.
Jeremiah Smith ten catches one hundred and thirty seven yards
and a touchdown. He definitely clicked, despite the unfortunate penalty.
Bo Jackson carried fourteen times for seventy five yards and

(19:27):
unfortunately lost a seventy yard touchdown do a penalty. Isaiah
West start didn't start great, but he had a good
second half and he ended up carrying nine times for
sixty yards. So Jackson and West both average over five
yards of carry. People's had a couple of nice runs
in the second half, so eight carries four but only
for twenty six yards. He did have four yards in

(19:49):
lost yardage. CJ. Donaldson carried five times for twelve yards
and two touchdowns, so making the most of his few carries.
They even threw you some trick or in there. I
mean Brandon Innis had to carry, Nate Roberts had to
carry at the goal line from the two he got
to the one, and I saw a lot of consternation
online about it, and I was like, well, you know,

(20:11):
for all the dirty work he does, you're playing Purdue,
it's only one down. Yes, give him a chance. He
didn't make it, but he does not like he.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Lost yards exactly. And he also got some receptions yeah
this game.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah. Also I think had a critical penalty in this game.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Yeah, a little bit of everything from Nate Roberts to
this game. Other than Smith. Max Clair had five catches
for fifty nine yards, so one of his best days
of the season. Bryson Rodgers two for thirty, n S
three for twenty six. Graham had won for twenty and
dropped the ball on the first series, but that would

(20:52):
have been a first down, but it was a tough catch,
but he got two hands on it, and I feel
like Tate would caught it.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
I'm sure he would have.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
It's easy to say, definitely not as easy to do,
all right, So we both had clicks on the offensive
side of the field and on the defensive side of
the field. Well, I mean you had Caden McDonald, I
had Rville Reese. Reese only had one tackle, but it
was a tackle for loss. But I feel like he

(21:25):
affected where Purdue went a lot in this game. I
can't really give him a click for one tackle, even
if it was a TfL, but he impacted what the
Boilermakers were trying to do.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
He's certainly has made his presence known, I think to
the opposition. I think he is one of those guys
where trying a track where he is and where he's
lining up.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Caden McDonald had four tackles, which tied him for third
on the team. One of those was a TfL for
a D lineman and interior D lineman. He definitely flashed
for me even when he wasn't making plays, So I'd
definitely give him a click.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
I think he was named the defensive player of the
game by the coaching staff. He's just I mean it's
the dirty work that I think that the average fan
doesn't recognize and realize how important it is.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
But he's just one of those guys.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
I mean he clogs up the posing the line of
scrimmage for the opposition in terms of their running game,
I mean he sometimes in terms of collapsing the pocket
on passing downs. He's certainly one of the most I
think under I don't want to say underrated, but unsung,
let's say unsung players on the O High of State defense.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, I thought McDonald did a good job of just
gumming up the running lanes for Purdue. They weren't able
to really run the football very well. The most success
they had is when the quarterback got out of the pocket.
But overall, pretty good day for the defense. Although no
sacks in this game.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
No if he tackles for a loss.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Ryan Brown, Uh, there were times where you know, you know,
he would, you know, get himself out of harm's way.
You know, he he's mobile, you know, tried to you
know sometimes that's kind of where uh, you know, what
I liked about Julian saying is that we're starting to
see some of the mobility on in his game, Ryan
Brown recognized the fact like Okay, I'm I'm gonna either

(23:25):
have to get out of the pocket and you know,
throw the ball away or I'm gonna take a sack.
And I think that's kind of why we saw, you know,
no sacks, just a lot of a lot of pressure
from the High State defense.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
And he put the ball in harm's way several times.
Could have could have thrown several interceptions in this game,
including the one Davis Andigbanosen just had to turn around
and catch the ball on instead. I agree, admitting past
interference like he did.

Speaker 3 (23:48):
MH.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
Well, you know Davis and Niguanosan gonna Davisonigbanosen hopefully not Iggy.
All right, anything else we need to talk about? Like
I said, three out of the four clicked, and the
only reason r vel rees didn't click this week is
because they stayed away from him.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, I mean, the only thing I would say, you know,
just finishing up is I think Purdue. I said it before,
I'll say it again. I think that Purdue is definitely
on the right track. I think Barry Odom he is
getting players in now. Granted, you know, with the transfer
portal and and with recruiting, We'll see what year two

(24:29):
looks like. But I think that Purdue should be much
happier about the direction of their football program that where
it was a year ago at this time.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, one thing they talked about in the broadcast was,
you know, playing hard, and I felt like Purdue had
nothing to hang their heads about it. I felt like
they played hard from the first snap to the final snap.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
I think that's well said.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
I think I mean the fact that Purdue they had
I mean, they had Rutgers, Minnesota, and I'm going to
say Michigan, you know, within their within their grasp to
win those games. I mean, they played Notre Dame tough
for a while, USC tough for a while, the very
beginning of the game against Ohio State, you know, until

(25:15):
you know, like midway through the second quarter, and then
you know, Ohio State just I think just with the talent,
I mean, it's kind of tough to keep pace. But yeah, Purdue,
like you said, they have no reason to hang their head.
I think that they are certainly playing with a lot
of effort, and hopefully this is a sign of good
things to come.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
All right, Well, Chip, we have a game coming up
at home against Ucla. Not not we You and I
aren't playing, but we're going to watch it. Yes, uh
Ucla and it's a night game in November.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
I have some thoughts on that as well. We can
talk about that.

Speaker 1 (25:49):
Yeah, talk about the Bruins, and we'll take our weekly
lap around the Big Ten. We'll get to those things
right after this, all right, Chip, Big Ten. This weekend,
I think the theme was if you played in the Midwest,

(26:11):
you played in absolutely terrible weather, except West Lafayette wasn't
too bad.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
West Lafayette wasn't too bad by comparison.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
It's just it's just the nature of the time of
year that we're in right now, where it's like you
can have I mean, for example, you know, we're projected
to have snow, not necessarily like a blizzard or anything,
but we're projected to have snow over the next few
days by the end of the week, back to.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
Forties and fifties. So you just never know what you're
going to get this time of year.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
So you're saying that the weather's like a box of
chocolates exactly. All right, let's take a quick lap around
the rest of the Big Ten to see how everybody
else made up this week. It started Friday night with
the Northwestern Wildcats going out to USC in a close game.
At the half it was twenty one to fourteen, but

(27:11):
Trojans pull away in the second half with seventeen points
only allow three thirty eight seventeen is your final. Northwestern
is five and four on the season, at three and
three in Big Ten play and USC seven and two,
staying alive for the College Football playoff as they were
ranked nineteenth five and one in the Big Ten. They're
staying alive in the Big Ten race.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
They're staying They're staying alive in the Big Ten race.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
It's going to start to get more and more precarious
for USC with the fact that you know, for example,
we'll talk about Iowa. They still have to play Oregon,
they still have to play UCLA, So that's going to
have If they win all those then absolutely they'll they'll
be in the colleg football playoffs. But yeah, for Iowa,

(28:00):
excuse me, for Northwestern, they got to get that magic six.
It's gonna be it's gonna be challenged. It's not gonna
be impossible, though.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Yeah, well, it's gonna be tough this week for him
don't get to that. The Buckeyes we talked about over Purdue.
The buck Eyes are nine and oh ranked first in
the country, six and OHO and Big Ten play. Perdue
is two and eight on the season, h to seven
in Big Ten Play. Not going bowling in the this
this particular season, but taking steps in the right direction.

(28:30):
And when you they said they had something like eighty
new players hurt changes in on the roster. That's a
lot to assimilate in one season. I expect a much
more cohesive Purdue team next year.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, Perdue, Like I said, things are definitely trending in
the right direction.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
One of the games of the day CHIP was Indiana
going to Penn State, and Penn State looked like they
were gonna do it at the end of this thing.
They take a lately and then they get a sack
on the first play of Indiana's final game winning drive.
But then they give up a long pass play on

(29:10):
second and long. It was like, this is Jim Knowles,
get a sack in the early downs and then give
up a long pass play. This is what Jim Knowles
did at Ohio State a lot.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, I genuinely feel bad for Penn State.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
I mean, it was such a gritty comeback, the fact
that you know at home and it seemed like they
had Indiana.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
Right where they wanted him.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
And then you know, Fernando Mendoza, you know, he didn't
have a great game. I mean, he had interception, like
you said, he had that sack, but then the just
the pool call them demeanor to lead his team down
the field and score the throw the winning.

Speaker 3 (29:51):
Touchdown, passing the final sackets at that. It was just
a great game.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
It was a great game. And I'm not trying to
take anything away from Mendoza, but I keep seeing and
that this was his Heisman moment, and my goodness, did
him his receiver make an insanely good play. This was granted,
he had to put the ball where he put it,
and he did it, so kudos to him, but come on,
give the receiver some more of the credit than that.

(30:17):
It's like, you know, it's like we were spoiled because
we see those kind of toe taps every week from
Jeremiah Smith and Carnal Tate. Every single week we see
plays like that. So you know, somebody was saying, one
of the national guys, this is this is the catch
of the year. It's over, and I'm like, well, you know,

(30:39):
I've seen Jeremiah Smith do stuff that's been as good
at or better. I've seen Carnel Tate do things that
were as good or better. So but the hype train
is always the most recent thing.

Speaker 3 (30:52):
I would agree with that. I think that.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Fernando Mendoza right now I would say that, yeah, you know,
it wasn't his best game.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Something to keep in mind is that right now.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Indiana looks, you know, very much prohibitively to be in
that Big Ten Championship game. And what I've been hearing
in terms of, you know, people that have Heisman votes
is that they will withhold their vote until the results
of the Big Ten Championship because that's kind of where,
all right, if he's truly the best player in the country,

(31:28):
he's going to have to do it more than likely
against Ohio State, and we'll see if he's worthy of
that award.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
We'll see Indiana is wins it twenty seven to twenty four,
are ten and oh overall seven to oh in the
Big Ten, Penn State falls to three and six oh
and six and Big Ten play and that's not good
for getting to Bowl eligible.

Speaker 3 (31:50):
No.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Penn State has a very, very difficult challenge ahead of them.
They've got to win, you know, the remaining games. It's
not impossible, but it's just highly unlikely.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
And they had this game. And I said after the
game kind of facetiously, maybe it wasn't James Franklin. Maybe
it's just a Penn State thing, losing close games to
top ten teams.

Speaker 3 (32:16):
Yeah, I mean, Indiana's very good.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
They're good.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
But I think I mean this game kind of demonstrated
what I think Penn State. The expectations preseason of Penn State.
The fact that they battled Indiana so competitively. I think
this is kind of why if you're a Penn State
fan and has to just be so disappointing because you know,
they battled Oregon to double overtime, they lost a heartbreaker

(32:42):
at home to Indiana. So you know, these are the
kind of things I'm sure that just have Penn State
fans lamenting what their season would have been.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Yeah, Penn State, this game to me showed a lot
of had some flashbacks to the gym Noles defenses when
when Ohio State played good teams in close games games
we saw some of the things we saw Penn State
do against Indiana secondary would have meltdowns at times, they
were susceptible to quarterback scrambles. Mendoza scored a touchdown on

(33:12):
one that absolutely had no business going the distance. And
then again, you know, Knowles brings pressure on second and
goal and busts up the play. He just it was
an all out blitz. He came right back to the
same play on third down and Indiana wrote ran the
slant and that's what they scored the game winning touchdown on.

(33:34):
So you just showed this, Why do it two plays
in a row? Are you just going to do it?
Is it one of those things where we'll just keep
doing it until they beat it, because a good team
will beat it if they've just seen it.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Yeah, Jim Knowles.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Like I said, it would be interesting to see what
direction Penn State takes with their head coaching decision, and
more than likely Jim Knowles will be looking for employment
elsewhere after the season.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
I'm not trying to take anything away from obviously won
a national championship with Ohio State, but oh I mean
the Texas game was close, but Ohio State basically owned
the postseason last year exactly. Anyway, moving on, Oregon went
to Iowa and win. The Ducks win eighteen to sixteen.

(34:21):
A heartbreaker for Iowa as they give up the late
field goal and they they had to fumble deep in
Oregon territory in this game. And it was a killer
because Iowa basically was its own worst enemy in this game.
Very winnable game for Iowa in a downpour, and yet
they did not pull it off. And the Ducks win,

(34:44):
and they go to eight and one, five and one
in Big Ten play. They still alive in the Big
Ten race. And Iowa six and three, four and two
in the Big Ten and just had gotten up to
the number twenty team in the country. And I'm not
saying that they're not going to make the college football playoff,
and I think it's going to be pretty difficult.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Now I agree with that. I think it's going to
be very difficult.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I mean, they are going out to USC next you know,
we were just talking about USC's schedule, you know, so
the fact that you know Iowa on the road. I'm
not saying that they're a bad team, but they're not
nearly as fearsome as when they're in Kinnick Stadium, you know,
with with Oregon. Give them credit for going into one

(35:26):
of the most difficult stadiums within the Big Ten Conference
and being able to come out of there by the
skin of their teeth with a win.

Speaker 3 (35:35):
But even so, like this is the kind.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Of game that that I think most people that are
familiar with Big Ten football in Iowa kind of expected
that that.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
All right, it's November.

Speaker 2 (35:48):
It's just that everything, all the conditions were ripe for
Iowa to to be able to pull off the upset.
Like you said, that, just a few different balances of
the ball in Iowa's favor and probably would have been
Hawkeye victory.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yeah, it was unfortunate. They ran a little bit of
an it was a jet sweep or end around, whatever
you want to call it, and they had the first
down on the play and the player lost. I think
it was the wet gin Weechinijin how you say his name.
I think it was him that lost the ball. It
was just unfortunate because he had his first down and
lost it on the way down. It was almost almost

(36:23):
got his knee to the ground and then it got
caught up underneath his legs. He was like trying to
pull it in with his legs. It was crazy, crazy play,
but Iowa takes the loss. Washington went to Wisconsin and
chip the Badgers are on the board. They have a
Big Ten victory. Luke Fickle wins thirteen to ten, an

(36:45):
absolute barn burner, and it was a little bit more
exciting than the than the final score indicates. I watched
some chunks of that game, and Wisconsin is now three
and six overall, one in five in the Big Ten,
and yeah, you know, nine games down, three to go.
Who's to say they don't get six wins. Washington is

(37:06):
six and three, three and three in the Big Ten.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Yeah, I think you know Wisconsin, I mean they they
had to resort to their fourth quarterback of the season,
you know, I mean, you want to talk about just
I mean, just an ugly win, but hey, a win's
a win. Happy for Luke Fickle, especially in light of
the fact that Chris mcintoshity Wisconsin athletic director, has publicly

(37:31):
announced Luke Fickle will be back in twenty twenty six.
They are not going to be making any changes. So
a lot of the Wisconsin fans have been completely just
disgusted and apoplectic about the what they believe is a
horrible direction for the football program. So for them to
get a win I think is tremendous for Washington. I

(37:53):
genuinely feel bad for them because I've certainly been one
of the people kind of advocating for Washington to be
considered one of the better teams that you know, it
hasn't been ranked. They finally were ranked, and then they
go on the road and lose an ugly fashions, So
their college football playoff hopes probably gone. Wisconsin great to

(38:14):
see that they got that win, you know, like you said,
third win. They're going to be going to Indiana this
coming week, so stranger. You know, it's not beyond the
roman possibility that they're playing well on the defensive side
of the ball, but offensively, I mean, they're they're certainly
it would be charitable to call them a work in progress.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
Rutgers hosted Maryland in the Bowl Eligibility Bowl. As though
the team that wins this game has a chance to
get Bowl eligible, the team that loses the game isn't
necessarily out, but certainly going to be difficult. And Maryland
jumped out to the early lead in this game, but
Rutgers came roaring back with a big second quarter. It
was twenty one to seventeen Rutgers at the half, and

(38:57):
the Scarlet Knights run away and win it thirty five
to twenty. Rutgers is five and five, one game from
Bowl eligibility, and two and five in the Big Ten.
Maryland four and five, one in five in the Big Ten,
and of course Maryland just is not good. After the
first month of the.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
Season, they aren't.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
I mean, we were just talking about Wisconsin that that
last victory that Maryland had was at Wisconsin. They've lost
five straight games. They're going to be going on the
road to Illinois this coming week, so more than likely,
you know, sixth straight. And as far as Rutgers goes,
they're starting to kind of resemble the typical Greg Ciano

(39:39):
teams there. You know, like they ran the ball well
now it was it was against Maryland, so you have
to have that with a caveat there. But offensively they're
they're certainly playing better, but you know, for them to
get to six wins, it's gonna be tough. I think
they have a bye week this coming week, but then
they'll be playing Ohio State and Penn State.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
That Penn State game.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
Is looking large for both teams in terms of pride
and possible bull eligibility.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah. And finally, Nebraska in the late game Saturday, went
out to UCLA and without Dylan Riola, who's out for
the year, they get to win twenty eight to twenty one,
and a big day for their new starting quarterback for
the rest of your TJ Latif. I think he hit
his first eleven passes in this game.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Yeah, he had. He had a great game.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
I think he's he's He's from Compton, so it was
kind of almost like a homecoming for him to be
able to play in the Rose Bowl. The guy that
really had a spectacular game for Nebraska was Emma Johnson
running the ball, catching the ball. You know, he's become
the focal point of the Nebraska offense. Ucla, we're going
to be talking about them in greater detail. They put

(40:50):
up a fight, but it's just one of these things
where they're certainly missing pieces on the on the defensive
side of the of the ledger there. So Nebraska, I'm
happy that they have a victory beyond just their six
because I know that that's something that Matt Ruhle had
talked about, you know, not wanting to kind of just

(41:11):
back into bowl games. So they have seven wins on
the year and the brat excuse me. UCLA is a
program that more than likely will be sitting at home
at Bowl time. But compared to how they started off
the season, the fight and the grit that they're demonstrating,
I think it's a good thing.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
And very competitive since the coaching change. As you mentioned,
Johnson had one hundred and twenty nine yards and a
touchdown rushing and one hundred and three yards and two
touchdowns receiving. So big day for him. And did I
hear you say that TJ. Latiff was straight out of Compton?

Speaker 3 (41:44):
I did, okay, I did two.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
Hundred and five yards three touchdowns on thirteen to fifteen passing.

Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah, not a bad debut for you know, on the road,
on the road. So you know, it's good to see
that he.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
The team has rallied around him in the wake of
the injury to Dylan Ray.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
All up.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, Nebraska seven and three, four and three in the
Big Ten, Ucla three and six, three and three in
the Big Ten. Now let us turn our attention chip
to the upcoming week, because got a bunch of games
this week and always always some intriguing matchups. Minnesota and
Oregon will kick things off Friday night. I don't think

(42:30):
that I think Oregon got their scare out of the way.
I think that Oregon handles Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I think Oregon at home, I think they're just I
think that they're gonna I don't want to say they're
gonna take it out on Minnesota, but I think that
they are just going to play with a great deal
of confidence and win easily.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Whole different environment and you know, if they had to
go to Minnesota and play in the snow, maybe different and.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
Exactly all right.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
We will talk about UCLA at Ohio State a little
bit later. That's a night game. The at twelve o'clock Wisconsin,
we'll go to Indiana, and I think we will officially
have a Not Bowl eligible Wisconsin Pager team.

Speaker 3 (43:15):
That's that you read my mind.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
Yeah, I think that I'm happy for Luke Fickle. I'm
happy for his players the competitive competitiveness that they demonstrated
against Washington, But I think Indiana is going to kind
of take them behind the woodshed.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
So to speak.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
And uh, you know, I think that this is going
to be a brutal game for the Badgers.

Speaker 1 (43:37):
Michigan goes to Northwestern at noon. That's a Fox game,
and that one in that picturesque stadium on the waterfront.
The weather might not be picturesque.

Speaker 3 (43:48):
It's actually in Wrigley Field.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
This one, this is oh yeah, yeah, you're right.

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Yeah, So this this is Wrigley Field. And I think
Michigan they're going to win.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But the way that Michigan they had their issues playing Purdue,
and I realize it's not, you know, necessarily the transitive property,
but Northwestern there they're scrappy, you know, like in terms
of on the you know, in terms of the defensive
side of the ball.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Michigan's not throwing the ball.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
Well, So I think this is I think this would
be a good game. I think Michigan wins, but I
think it's going to be a competitive game.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
All right. Iowa goes to USC and so things don't
get any easier for the Hawkeyes this week, and that's
it's kind of a big game. I think the winner
of this game could maybe stay in the hunt for
a potential college football playoff invitation. But I don't think
the loser is no.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
I think the odds odds are that USC just being
at home. Now it's going to be the challenge for
for USC is that Iowa.

Speaker 3 (44:53):
They like to run the ball.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
That's been the USC's Achilles heel, so USC needs to
be prepared for that.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
But I think the Trojans win one.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
Penn State goes to Michigan State. Chip, I'm gonna call
it now, Penn State finally wins a game.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (45:08):
I think Michigan State, there's rumors about Jonathan Smith, his
job security they had to buy this past week. But
they certainly, you know, I mean they they played Minnesota
tough a couple weeks ago. But I think Penn State,
I think that they certainly with their running game, I

(45:28):
think that they're going to do have enough to go
to East Lands again get the win.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Yeah, I'm not not loving what's been going on with
the Spartans this season. I don't necessarily think that a
lot of that's on Jonathan Smith, but Aidan Chiles has
not progressed. The defense hasn't progressed, and that's a big problem. Yes,
Maryland goes to Illinois. I feel like Brett Bielima's got

(45:53):
that one covered.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Yeah, they they're well rested.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
They're at home, like I said, I think Maryland just psychologically,
they have really had some issues. They gave up games
in the Big Ten where they had the lead and
blew it. And I think going on the road to
a pretty confident Illinois team, I think the fighting a
lie and I will do it.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
That's a three thirty game on FS one, and at
seven o'clock on FS one, Purdue visits Washington. Washington had
better play better than it did against Wisconsin, because like Northwestern,
Purdue is scrappy and Washington did not impress me on

(46:37):
the road. But it's a lot different in Husky Stadium.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Obviously, it is different in Husky Stadium, and I think
Purdue will give them a good game kind of what
they've done all season. But I think just being at home,
I think Washington will play with a lot more confidence
and get the win.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
And I think Washington will play angry at having lost
that Wisconsin.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
I agree with that too.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
All right, let's go back to UCLA at Ohio State
night game in November. We don't know what the I'm
assuming you've looked up what the weather is going to
be at least now obviously.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah, yeah, it could change, you know, kind of that
old joke. If you don't like it, you know, five
minutes from now be completely different. But right now it's
projected to be much much better than what we're going
to be having at the beginning of the week. In
terms of I mentioned how it's projected to be cold
and snowy.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
The beginning of the week.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
It's supposed to be like fifty degrees and sunny during
the day, and then at night.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
It'll be in the forties.

Speaker 2 (47:41):
And that's I mean, that's pretty much part for the
for the course when it comes to, you know, this
time of year. My thoughts on a night game in November,
and again these are.

Speaker 3 (47:54):
Just my thoughts.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
It's not anything I've read that This is my personal
opinion is that you know, for years, our mutual friend
Tony Gerdaman, I asked him, like his the policy changed
when this kickoff time was announced, and he basically said,
like it was always just a gentleman's agreement.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
And so two things I think have come to kind
of change this and I haven't. Again, just my thoughts.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Number one, I think that it was more a Geen
Smith thing than a Ross b York policy. I think
that was just you know, like Jean Smith was not
really a big fan of night games in November.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
All right.

Speaker 2 (48:30):
Now that second thing, and you have to agree with
this is all right, if you're going to be against
night games in November, then you know, what do you
say when as Ohio State did host a college football
playoff game in December when it's colder, then you know.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
It doesn't make any sense.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
So I'm not suggesting that Ohio State just says okay,
you know, like you know, like we should always have
night games in November.

Speaker 3 (48:56):
I'm saying that beggars can't be choosers.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
You can't be complaining about not getting night games and
then when the opportunity presents itself, you know, the fact
that all right, yeah, it's like maybe not necessarily the
high profile opponent that you want. But that's just my
belief is that I think with ross Byorck as well
as the college football playoffs scheduling, I think b York
is kind of like, you know something, we have to
rethink this policy.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
And again it's just my just my personal opinion.

Speaker 1 (49:21):
Yeah, well, and it's it's obviously it's good to get
a night game on national television when you've got to
Heisman Trophy contenders.

Speaker 3 (49:32):
I'd agree with that too. I think Ryan Day is
trying to.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
I don't want to say hype both players, but I
think he's trying to be considerate of both players possibilities
of winning the award, but not at the expense of
the team. So I think he's he's doing it the
right way in terms of, like, you know, I for
what it's worth, you know it. You know, You're you're

(50:02):
hearing more and more about Julian saying, and you know
Jeremiah Smith is I mean, you're kind of running out
of superlatives, is to how to describe him.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
The two catches he made this week that were amazing.
One he was interfered with and still made the catch
that he tipped to himself, and the other one he
made another catch that was tipped to himself. Again, we
see this every week, but it's just so funny that
these two guys are both contenders for the award and
both deserving really to be in the in among the finalists,

(50:31):
and there their fortunes are extremely tied to each other's performances.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
Yeah, without without it, without a doubt.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
So the team guys on the team, uh, from what
I read post game you know, like they're their supportive
of each other about you know the fact that they're
both deserving so Ohio State keeps winning, which is the
which is the the biggest goal for the team. I think,
you know, it's very likely that both will get invited

(51:02):
to New York City in December.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
All Right, U c l A. Chip Nico Iamalaeva has
to come back to Columbus for a night game.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
He is pretty much the UCLA u c l A offense.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
I didn't I have to confess, I didn't stay up
to watch the entire u c l A Nebraska game,
but you know I did.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
I have watched him.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Play, most notably that upset of Penn State a few
weeks back. He certainly, you know, in terms of he's
a threat with his legs, in terms.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
Of his passing. So he will be the guy that UCLA.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
I'm not trying to imply, you know, for example, that
they don't have receivers or backs, but he will be
the catalyst for that entire offense because of his his
ability to uh, you know, keep plays alive with his
legs as well as throwing the ball.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
As as he goes, so goes U c l A
you you said it, well, uh he he has sixteen
hundred and fifty nine yards on the season, twelve touchdown,
seven picks. He's completing sixty three percent of his passes,
but he is taking some chances and putting the ball
in harm's way. He's a gifted athlete, but I feel

(52:14):
like he's he's going to come into a tough environment.
He's obviously played there before, so he knows what to expect.
But he had a much better team with him. Obviously
he had less experience, but he's he had a much
better team with him and a much better defense, putting
able to put him in a better well, theoretically would
have been able to put him in a better spot,
but or Ohio State just was like unstoppable that night

(52:38):
running out to that big lead against Tennessee. He just
doesn't have the teammates around him he had at Tennessee.
And I feel like that's going to be a problem.
Matt Patricia is going to give him looks that he's
not used to. Rvel Reese is going to probably spy him,
as my guess. So you know, a guy as big
as rvel Reese and capable of running you down, that's

(52:59):
not something he's used of facing either.

Speaker 3 (53:02):
No, he isn't.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Maybe he has flashbacks from you know, being harassed last
December when he was playing for Tennessee. But yeah, I mean,
you know, when you look up the stats for UCLA,
he's there leading rusher, you know, like like you said,
he sometimes puts the ball in harm's way trying to
I think, trying to make things with his receiving corps.

(53:26):
But you know, it's probably like the most notable wide
receiver that I recognize in terms of just because he
played against Ohio State when he was at Notre Dame
is Rigo Flores, who has twenty three receptions. So it's
not as though he has nearly the kind of arsenal
that Julian Sayan has available to him. So I think
some of it it's just one of these things where

(53:47):
like like you just said that Matt Patricia is going
to probably spy on him. With Arbel Reese, the defensive
line is certainly capable of, you know, harassing him. I
just don't see UCLA being able to sustain drives the
way that they did, you know, in their in their

(54:07):
winning streak, you know, which which began against Penn State.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
I expect a lot of cage rushes from the defensive
line in this game, where they just basically build a
wall around the quarterback and just try to push their
offensive linemen back into the pocket. And so I don't
I don't think we'll see a ton of exotic blitzes.
I think we'll see occasional safety or corner or linebacker come.
But it's going to be other than that, four guys

(54:34):
trying to keep him in the pocket and keep cracks
from appearing that he can escape through. Because he carries
ball ten times a game, and like you said, he's
there leading rusher. He's four inner seventy four yards and
four touchdowns. And other than that, UCLA's running backs they
got three guys between two hundred and two hundred and
seventy seven yards. So not a ton of thread on

(54:55):
the ground from the running game, no.

Speaker 2 (54:57):
And I mean that the kind of if anything necessitates Nico,
you know, try trying to make something happen, you know.
But I mean it's also one of the things, you know,
we talked earlier about Indiana. You know, Indiana had no
problem whatsoever, you know, lamping down on him, and you
know pretty much you know, taking UCLA out of the

(55:20):
game from the onset. So my belief is, like you,
like you said, I think they're they're going to try
to restrict his his running ability as much as they
can in terms of, like with with passing downs, kind
of give him very little to escape options, you know,
in terms of escape options, and you know, by and large,

(55:40):
I think it's just going to be all right, you know,
let's see what you can do when you pretty much
you know, there's nobody you.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
Can throw, no where to run to, nowhere to know
where to hide.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
Kind of a mentality, Yeah, receivers very similar to the
running back situation is like the one guy slightly ahead,
but everybody else is right around two hundred and some yards.
It's it's not like a lot of standouts that you
have to worry about. Defensively, UCLA is one hundred and
twelfth in the country CHIP in scoring defense, giving up

(56:10):
an average of thirty point six points a game. That's
probably not good news for the Bruins.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
No, there was a reason why there was a coaching change,
and I think it'll be interesting to see what direction
the administration decides to take this offseason. But in one
of the very first things that happened when Tim Skipper
was elevated to the interim head coach is okay, they
made kind of a mutual decision to move on from

(56:37):
their defensive coordinator. I think that they're obviously playing better
the fact that they have three wins, but you know,
like you said, you know, one hundred twelfth in the
country in terms of you know, giving up you know,
well over thirty points a game.

Speaker 3 (56:51):
That's not going to win you too many games.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
UCLA is twenty seventh in the country defensively against the pass,
allowing one hundred and eighty five yards per game. But
I think there's a caveat there because UCLA chip is
one hundred and twenty fourth against the.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Run, And that kind of goes to my earlier point
about why I believe like what we saw against Purdue
is kind of what we'll see against UCLA. It may
not may not be scintillating television viewing, but I think
that this is going to be. It's going to it's
going to suit Ryan Day's desires to work on things

(57:29):
that need improvement, while also Ohio State.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
They're going to be able to get a lead and
and win comfortably only twelve.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Teams in the country are worse against the run, Chip,
and one of them is a Big ten school. Can
you can you guess which bend which Big ten school
is worse defending the run than UCLA.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
I'm going to guess Michigan State.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Incorrect, it's right, Okay? Oh wow, Okay, yeah, I was
surprised by that.

Speaker 3 (57:56):
I am yeah, obviously I am myself.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
So yeah, there is a Michigan school below them, but
it's Eastern Michigan, which is dead last in the country. Okay,
Michigan State is sixty sixth in the country against the run. Okay,
which I've seen enough of their games to say that
they're not good against the run. Yep, all right, Chip,

(58:19):
that's the tale of the tape. And obviously, you know
one would expect Ohio State to win. I don't know
what the early line is. Have you seen a line
from Vegas?

Speaker 3 (58:29):
Yes, I have.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
I can tell you right now that as of this recording,
Ohio State is favored by thirty one point five.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Okay, that point five is important.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
Yes, So that should give you an idea what Vegas thinks.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Now, what you know how Ryan Day chooses to handle
this this game like I said, I have my belief
that it's going to be kind of similar to what
we just saw with Purdue, and what we'll see against
Rutgers is like play a lot of the backups and
work on things that need improvement.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
All right, Chip, that brings us store picks to click,
and we started on the offensive end last week, so
we'll go on the defensive side of the ball. Chip,
who on the Buckeye defense do you think will click
on Saturday night?

Speaker 3 (59:14):
I'm going to Rvel Reese. I mean, you talked about it.

Speaker 2 (59:17):
I apologize if I stole your guy, but I think
Rvel Reese is the perfect spy against Nico ima Valava
that you know, the mobility factor that Nico possesses.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Rvel is Taylor made for this assignment.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
So I fully anticipate Rvel kind of putting an end
to any of Nico's ideas of running rampant all over
Ohio State's defense.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
All right, I'm gonna go. I could obviously, I could
go with the free space. Caleb Downs always has a
big game. I feel like it's I feel like the
defensive line is gonna take it a little bit personally
that there were no sacks this week, and I'm gonna
take Kenyata Jackson to have a big game on Saturday.
I think he'll get some TFLs, maybe a sack. I

(01:00:07):
think he will harass Nico in the backfield a few times,
and so I think I'll go with Kenyatta.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
I like it all right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
On the offensive side, Chip, I am sorry, but I
am going to go and take the free space of
Jeremiah Smith. I think that we don't know what Carnel
Tate's status will be. Obviously he had just some tightness,
but I do not think that Ryan Day needs to
risk him if he has all any soreness or tightness,

(01:00:38):
no need to risk him against this opponent at home.
So I don't know if he'll have that guy on
the other side, but I feel like Jeremiah Smith's going
to get his.

Speaker 3 (01:00:48):
Makes sense, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
What do you like On the offensive side for Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
I think they're going to be running the ball, which
means bo Jackson is going to get ample opportunity to
possibly I'm not saying he's going to get that seventy
yard touchdown run that he was denied against Perdue, but
I think he's going to get a lot of opportunities
to carry the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
So I'm going with bo Jackson.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
All right. That will bring us to our score predictions.
Chip on the Ohio Stadium scoreboard Saturday night, what's going
to be up there for numbers when the Buckeye's in
Bruins meet.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
I'm going Ohio State forty two, Ucla fourteen. I'm thinking
the scoring by UCLA is going to be kind of
what we saw at the tail end of the Purdue game,
you know, against backups.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
You know, I really do. I like I could.

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
I could see Ohio State having a very comfortable lead
at the half and pulling people and that's where Nico
can get some you know, some touchdowns, maybe himself or
through the air.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
But that's how I see it, forty two to fourteen.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
I don't know if you've noticed me smiling when you
said your score, but it's because I had already typed
in forty one to sixteen. So we have a whopping
three difference.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:02:05):
You and I are just again, we're just uncannily similar
in how we think these things are going to come out.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Yeah, well again, I like, like you said, you know,
it won't make necessarily for scintillating, you know, television viewing.
I just think, you know, Ryan Day, I just go
back to what he said previously and then what you
kind of saw against Purdue.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
It kind of played itself out. So that's why I'm
just thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:02:33):
Like, all right, the score, you know, like the talent
on Ohio State side that Ryan Day is, he really
doesn't care, you know how exciting it is as long
as okay, they get the win, and then that gives
them opportunity to improve, work on things that need improvement,
and get the backups some needed playing time.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
Now I'm hoping you know, of course we don't. We're
not there every day in the Woody. We don't know
what's going on. I'm really kind of hoping he's pulling
a page out of wood He Hayes' book and just saying,
you know what, one day a week, we're going to
approach this as preparation for Michigan and the rest of
the week, we'll prepare for who's in front of us.
You know, with the exceptions of teams like you know,

(01:03:12):
Washington on the road or Texas obviously the beginning of
this season, you know, you have to prepare every available
minute you have to prepare for those teams. You have
to prepare. But I mean, if you're facing Purdue or UCLA,
I think you can get away with one day where
you go. Let's take a look at Michigan.

Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
I think they I certainly think they can.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
The biggest thing that I want this year is, all right,
do not feel compelled to play the game the way
Michigan wants you to. I think you go in and
if that means that, all right, Michigan wins the battle
of the rushing you know, comparison, you know, so be it.
You know, if Ohio State walks out of there, you know,

(01:03:53):
beating them by you know, three touchdowns. But Michigan has
run the ball more. I don't think anyone's really going
to care.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
I think that there's just way too much being made
of the team that ends up with the most rushing
yards always wins this battle. This is not the nineteen
seventies anymore. It's not the nineteen eighties anymore. There's more
than one way to skin a cat. And right now,
the way that the rules are in place and with
the athletes you have, it is very smart to throw

(01:04:23):
the football. And there's a lot of ways you can
get guys open. There's a lot of different things you
can do out of it, RPOs all of that. I
don't think you need to get hung up on we
have to get one more yard at least rushing than
them to beat them. No, you have to score more
points than them.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
So you know, instead of being all man ball about it,
we're gonna play man ball. We're just gonna keep doing
it because we're gonna eventually be successful. And then the
clock runs out and you haven't been successful, Maybe just
be who you are and do what you're good at
and let the rest take care of itself. Yep, we'll
see in a couple of and then it makes you

(01:05:01):
a brilliant coach because you just beat the other team
in the game without out rushing them. But yeah, we're
getting ahead of ourselves. Check anything else before we get
out of here.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
No, I think we're good.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
All right? Why don't you remind our listeners where they
can find you and your fine work online.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
I can be found on Twitter.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
Last name is spelled minic M I N N I
C h so at chipminik is my handle. I'm on
Buckeye Huddle dot com as well as Saturday Glory dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
All right. You can find me on Blue Sky or
Twitter at Mike thirty six fan, and you can follow
the Silver Bullets Podcast on Twitter at silver Bullets Pod,
but don't put the E in silver silv R Bullets Pod.
You can also email us at silver Bulletspod at gmail
dot com. You spell that all out the normal way.
Silver Bulletspod at gmail dot com, no omissions. And if

(01:05:57):
you want to read my stuff, I'm at Landgrant Holyland
dot com every Monday the Grumpy Old Buckeye. So you
can you go find out what made my blood boil
when the Buckeyes played the boiler Makers. That would be
on our site, and of course it will have been
on the site since Monday, so you might have to
scroll down the page a little bit, but it's there.
There's even when you win thirty four to ten, there's

(01:06:19):
things to be annoyed with.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
I know. I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
It's fest of Us every week of the college football
season for me, and I'm going to be airing my grievances.

Speaker 3 (01:06:31):
If that's how you choose to If you choose to.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Me, yeah, I think if anything, you know, though, I say,
problems are small, small, problems comparison to what you know
you see other programs dealing with around the country.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Yeah, I'm pretty happy that I get to say what
annoys me from a Buckeye fan perspective instead of say,
Wisconsin fan perspective. Yeah, I think I would have a
My columns would be much longer, Yes, much more angry.
There is really no anger in these columns. It's mostly
just tongue in cheek and like, Hey, what's up with

(01:07:13):
the block in the back dere am Iah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Well, like I said, I think he's gonna I think
he'll get uh. I don't want to say a scolding,
but a talking to we'll get.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
We'll get to look at it in the film room.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
And yeah, I have to deal with you know with that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Give maybe maybe uh go uh go apologize to bow
for ruining a seventy yard touchdown run.

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
Yep, that's part probably at Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
All right. We'll be back next week to break down
the u c l A game and then chip we
will be preparing for the final home game of the
regular season and the final game before the game as
the Rutger Scarlet Knights prepare to visit Columbus a week
from Saturday, and by the way, we that's the only
game remaining on the schedule that we don't know the

(01:08:00):
start time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:02):
Yeah, the projections, it looks like it might be a
noon game, but we'll find out officially hopefully tomorrow. I
mean like we're we're we're in that dreadful part of
the college football season where sometimes the Big Ten exercises
the six.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
Day window option. So you know, we'll see.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
Uh, since we're recording this, we don't know yet, but
I've seen things that it might be a noon game
on Fox.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Yeah, as we a reminder, we're recording this Sunday night,
so we may go live after that. It's been announced.

Speaker 3 (01:08:35):
Yep, exactly, all right, that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
We'll do it for this episode of the Silver Bullets Podcast.
Thank you so much for listening. We look forward to
hearing from you. If you want to email us at
silver bulletspod at gmail dot com. And until then, you know,
next until next week. We'll just sign off the way
we always do by saying, go box, Go bocks.