Texas Rewind, B1G Results, and Grambling Preview

Ohio State won the marquee battle of Week 1 of the 2025 college football season after a hard-fought defensive struggle with the Texas Longhorns. Julian Sayin’s first college start was more successful than the first road start of his more hyped opposite number, Arch Manning. Sayin likely could have done more than he was asked to do, but the Buckeyes didn’t need it, thanks to the defense helping a conservative offensive game plan and the Alabama transfer’s poise and accuracy when called upon. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but most importantly, Sayin didn’t put the ball in harm’s way.

We broke down the game, which came just a few minutes shy of a shutout for the defense in Matt Patricia’s first game as OSU defensive coordinator, checked back on our score predictions and our picks to click, and went over all of the important stats from Ohio State’s victory over the No. 1 Longhorns.

As we usually do, we discussed the other games around the Big Ten, with Northwestern, UCLA, and Wisconsin not looking great, although the Badgers at least got themselves a W. Indiana wasn’t as sharp as expected, but the Hoosiers got the job done. Everything else went pretty much according to plan, although had Cincinnati played at home instead of in Kansas City, the Bearcats might have given Nebraska even more of a fight.

We also looked ahead at the games coming up around the conference this weekend.One of those games is a curious matchup between the Buckeyes and the Tigers of Grambling State. This game was a scramble drill for the schedule makers after a previously scheduled game fell through. It’s not likely to tell us much about the 2025 Buckeyes one week after a win over Texas, but it will provide valuable reps for the new Buckeye starters and should provide playing time for plenty of backups.

We made our picks to click for the game, selecting the offensive and defensive Buckeyes we think will shine on Saturday afternoon, and we made similar predictions for the final score.

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 - There was no revenge for Texas from last year’s Cotton Bowl, as the Buckeye defense came to play!

33:01 - A look around the other results from Week 1 in the Big Ten.

48:03 - Grambling is coming to Columbus. The Buckeyes should feel no obligation to make the Tigers welcome in the Horseshoe, and they probably won’t.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Log everybody at it's time once again for the Silver
Bullets podcast. I'm Michael Citrow and I'm Chipminnick Chip. We
are in the twenty twenty five Ohio State Buckeyes season.
You and I have been doing this weekly for now
for a couple of weeks, and the games are here.
And what a way to open the season. You get
a fourteen to seven home victory over the number one

(00:40):
ranked Texas Longhorns. First start for Julian saying, and I'd
have to say that, you know, while it wasn't a
perfect game by any means, you really have very little
even the grumpy old buck Eye has very little to
complain about from this opener.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, I would agree with you that it wasn't necessarily
the prettiest thing, but a win over a let's face it,
I realize when we talk about the fact that you know,
preseason rankings are very very subjective until you actually see
the team's play. But my hats off to Texas. I

(01:18):
mean that is a team that will improve like Ohio
State will improve, and a win over them in the
season opener, I think is definitely something that Ohio State
fans should be excited about.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
I felt like both coaches wanted to protect their young
quarterbacks in this game. I felt like both had a
little bit of a conservative game plan, especially Ohio State.
I felt like the Buckeyes really had a conservative game plan.
Didn't want to put the ball in harm's way. It
didn't want to make their let their young quarterbacks make mistake.
But I feel like in the course of this game,

(01:53):
if you were to ask me which one was the
much heralded, hyped up, you know, potential Heisman Trophy winner,
wouldn't have gone with arch Manning. I thought Julian saying
was extremely accurate and extremely poised in this game.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Absolutely, you know, I kind of I know, we'll talk
about it in greater detail. I kind of in a
way felt sorry for arch Manning in the sense that
he I think what was kind of lost in the
shuffle was that this was his third start, his first
road start. He had started last year against Louisiana Monroe

(02:27):
and against Mississippi State when at home for Texas, and
not to take shots at either of those programs, but
the reality is like going on the road season opener
against the defending national champions in what everything seems to
be what was a very raucous environment. So I would
agree with you. I think Julian Saying had a really

(02:49):
good game. And to that point, Ryan Day even admitted,
you know, after the game, one of his first comments
is like, we probably could have allowed him to do more,
but I think they wanted to protect Julie insane and
I thought he had a really good game in his
in his debut.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, it was a good confidence builder when you go
out and get a result like this, And in fact,
it could have been a frustrating day for him because
the way the game started. You know, Texas gots the
ball first, they come down the field, put a mini
drive together, but then they stall in Ohio State stops
him on fourth down, first of many. But Julian Sayan's

(03:26):
his playmakers were letting him down in this game. I
mean at one point he was four for eight and
of the four incompletions he had thirty some odd yards.
I think of the four incompletions, three were drops and
one was a pass interference that wasn't called. That was
pretty obvious on Jeremiah Smith. So he was delivering the ball.
It would have been easy for a young quarterback to
get a little bit frustrated, you know, with guys dropping

(03:49):
the ball, maybe trying to do a little bit more.
But you know, credit to Julian saying, you know, obviously
it wasn't a flawless game, but he really started this
game with his head on straight.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah. I definitely thought that he played with a great
deal of poise and certainly, as I said a moment ago,
I think you know something to build upon. And you know,
we'll see, you know, starting with next week against Grambling
and the subsequent games, how much more O High State
allows him to do beyond what was basically I don't

(04:24):
want to say restricted, but that they kind of, you know,
kind of instructed him. I'll say that instructed him to
kind of like keep things even keel.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Against Texas, Ohio State's first drive came to an end
on a fourth down play that you know, saying, didn't
see Jeremiah Smith down the field on single coverage, probably
had had him for a touchdown there if he sees it.
Delivered the ball a little late to Max Clair, but
in his hands catchable ball. Somebody of Max Claire's quality,

(04:55):
you would expect him to to catch that and did
not catch it. And I guess, like I said in
Grumpy Old Buckeye this week, Chip, you can take the
player out of Purdue, but sometimes you can't take the
Purdue out of the player.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah. I think that might have been some first game jitters.
I mean, I'm not gonna yeah, I'm not going to
get too worked up over that one.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Yeah, a couple drops uncharacteristic drops for Jeremiah Smith in
this game. I thought it was funny. They they reporter
on the sideline, I can't remember who it was, said
that he was. He came over and changed his gloves.
He was angry, he changed his gloves, and I thought
that was funny because you could you could tell on
the replay he wasn't watching the ball and it had
nothing to do with the gloves. But hey, whatever works
for you psychologically exactly.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I watching it. That was a classic case of trying
to run up field before securing the ball. Like you said,
the glove. The gloves made a convenience scapegoat, so be it.
He seemed to certainly played better after.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
That, and Ohio State was the recipient of some help
from Texas on one drive, where Text has committed a
couple of penalties and possibly making up for a non
call on a pass interference that was pretty evident, but
there was certainly a hands to the face penalty that
extended a drive. There was another penalty after that that

(06:14):
extended a drive defense holding and again and that was
a legitimate call because Smith was not allowed to get
out of his break because he was being wrapped up.
And then Ohio State came down the field put the
first points on the board in the first half with
a fourth end goal run by CJ. Donaldson, who I
thought was clearly of the of the two main running backs,

(06:37):
he was the better of the two.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
I would agree with that. I have to also confess
there was a moment of concern here by me. I
don't I don't want to speak on behalf of missus Minnick,
but for me, when they lined up in the in
the I formation, I thought, okay, you've been getting stonewalled
every time even trying to run the ball, and the

(07:00):
fact that they lined up in the I formation, okay, okay,
this might not go well. But fortunately for high stated did.
And I agree with you. I think CJ. Donaldson playing
better than James Peoples. But like I said, a moment
ago with regard to Julian saying, I think there's certainly
room for growth and improvement by the running game overall,
and James People certainly is among that that I'll be

(07:20):
looking forward to as the season progresses into the next
week against Grambling.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Yeah, it remains to me seen how is Texas's run
defense going to pan out over the course of the season.
If it's a very good run defense, and there's absolutely
nothing to worry about at this point. This offensive line
will gel, it will get better. They're still in some
ways finding themselves. There was some substituting on that offensive line.

(07:46):
We saw only on wall come in and out a
few times and that kind of thing. But I thought
the offensive line in past protection was way better than
I expected it to be, but not quite as good
in the run game as I expected it to be.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Yeah, and that's fair. And the strength of going into
this game, the strength of Texas's defense was along that
was along their defensive line. So, like you said, I
think the Ohio State offensive line is certainly going to
have room for improvement. But the reality is, I mean,
let's give credit to you, know, Texas. I mean, like
their defensive line was good. I would agree with you

(08:22):
that I think the Ohio State pass protection was better
than the run blocking, but that's something to work upon.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Absolutely, So seven to nothing at the break chip, and
it became pretty evident at that point that my final
score prediction was going to be way off.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
I think everybody. I think everybody, myself included.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah. So, I mean and you thought, I remember last week,
you thought you were going to predict a low scoring game,
and you still went over I did.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I think almost everybody. If if i'd have to go
back and kind of look at I know that, you know,
writing for Buckeye Huddle, the kind of the consensus was
kind of almost everybody. And think when I say everybody,
like the various columnists like our friend like Tony Gerdaman
and Tom Orr and Mark Gibler, and you know, like

(09:09):
I think we were all pretty much in that twenty something,
you know range. Not all of us predicted I say, victories.
I did, but yeah, like you know the fact that
it wound up being fourteen to seven, and I know
we're going to get to that, you know, I don't
think anyone had it that low scoring.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yeah, And I kind of thought that with these two
young quarterbacks, that the defense would be able to make
some more plays than they did. Defenses would be able
to make more plays than they did. But you know,
credit to both of them, I thought, for the most part,
certainly saying didn't put the ball in Harm's way. Manning
did a few times, but he also was able to
get rid of the ball several times when it was

(09:49):
prudent to throw it away. So you know, both of
those guys, I think we'll end up having good seasons.
And I know there was a lot of joking and
aim at arch Mannings expense Ohio on the Ohio State
social media scene, but I think he's going to be fine.
He did make some plays in the second half after

(10:10):
they made some adjustments, and certainly took advantage of some
of the matchups he got. I think that on the
touchdown drive, I think Devin Sanchez may have been victimized
once or twice, just a true freshman, even though he's
expected to do big things. So I thought he made
some good throws in the second half. He certainly wasn't
on his game to start this thing, but you know

(10:30):
that that was a really good atmosphere the Ohio State
put on, and I'm not going to credit it anything
that Ross Buorke did. It's not because people all wore scarlet.
It's not because the scoreboard told them to make noise.
I feel like in big games, Ohio State fans show
out and they're loud, and they're and they make the
things appropriate. I think there's a bad rap for Ohio

(10:52):
Stadium because there's a lot of noon games, there's a
lot of bad home games against opponents that Hio State
fans just expect a steamroll, so they maybe don't put
in the work every week.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, I mean, it'd be great if this coming weekend
against Grambling, you know, like the same kind of level
of intensity. But that would be a surprise, you know.
I don't think, you know, even though it's at three
thirty kickoff, I don't think the students. And one of
my sons is a is you know, he had a
tremendous time. He's an Ohio State student. Was in the

(11:27):
in the stands, so I was texting him he had
a tremendous time. But yeah, I mean, I would be
surprised if the student body gets as fired up for
Grambling State as they were for Texas.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
And I've been in that stadium for many big games,
and I know how loud it can be. I don't
think it's ever been louder than and I know it's
been forty years, but I don't think it's ever been
louder than Ohio State against number one Iowa in nineteen
eighty five.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
I wasn't. I wasn't at that game. I will tell
you that I was in and the stands, you know,
in two thousand and two for the Ohio State Michigan game.
Was there in two thousand and four for that game,
you know, so I know it can get loud, absolutely
all right.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
So it was seven to nothing and Ohio States defense
just kept getting stops. It was a nice interception in
the in the game for Matthews. I thought there was
I thought the secondary played really well. I thought that
there were when arch Manning had time to throw a
lot of times he just didn't have anywhere to go
with the ball.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
That's I think a credit to matt Patricia. I think
that he everything in terms of social media was that
there were a lot of confusing fronts in terms of
who was dropping back in coverage, what kind of coverage
it was. So I think even though they didn't get
I mean I know that RBL Reese was credited with
the one sack. They didn't get all of the sacks

(12:58):
that I think Ohios fans would prefer. They did their
job and being able to keep arch Manning uncomfortable and
unsure as to what to do.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, they forced some bad throws with some pressure. They also,
you know, credit to arch Manning, he turned a couple
of those would be sacks into getting back to the
line of scrimmage and avoiding a sack. But it was
essentially more or less still a sack exactly. Let's talk
about R. L. Reaves for a minute, because to me,
he was he was the best player on the field

(13:28):
on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Well, Arvel Reese is a guy that all of the
I don't want to say it late, but all of
the things coming out of the summer conditioning, all of
the things in pre season camp, is that okay, like
other people, which is kind of when they would see him,
would say it seems like Argo Reese is getting bigger

(13:53):
and stronger every time I see him, kind of like, Okay,
what's going on here? And the fact that I I
mentioned a moment ago with Matt Patricia, I think that
Matt Patricia was genuinely excited. One of the one of
the comments he made last spring was the fact that
as soon as he saw rvil Rees Sunny Styles like Okay,

(14:14):
I've got big linebackers, and he, you know, kind of
had a big smile in his face, like I loved
big linebackers when I was coaching in New England and
I got him here. So I think, Rvel Reese, this
is this is a sign of things to calm. I
don't want to put too much pressure on Arvo Reese,
but I think this this opening game against a really
good Texas team, I think it's a sign of things

(14:34):
to come.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Yeah, and I think that, like you said, Sonny Styles
and Caleb Downs get all the ink, they get all
the press, but Rvel Reese showed what he's capable of. That.
Matt Patricia's defense was extremely tricky in this game. And
I love the one what they call it a coffee
shop blitz where, yeah, where Reese takes two steps backward,

(14:57):
looks to the sideline like he's bailing out his man,
and then starts to look outside for someone to block,
and then he comes on the blitz And that was
I don't think I've ever seen that at the college
level before.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
I think I would agree with you. And you know,
and I know exactly what you're talking about. That that
you know, that's coaching, that's that's a Matt Patricia coaching moment.
And postgame Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian gave credit to
Matt Patricia that, Okay, there were confusing things out there
that that made the arch manning's job that much more difficult.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
So credit to him. I know that. You know, when
Greg Ghiano was defensive coordinator, he tried a lot of
stuff from the NFL, a lot of complex things that
didn't right really work out for the personnel that he had.
But if if Matt Patricia gets these guys bought in
and gets them to be able to run those plays,
this could be a really scary defense. And on the

(15:52):
back of last year's top defense. And you know, when
all the guys they lost, it's amazing that they have
had this kind of success in their opener.

Speaker 2 (16:02):
Absolutely, and I think they're only going to get better. Right.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
So, Ohio State did then make it a two score
game finally with a forty yard touchdown pass from Julian
Sayan to Carnell Tate, and it was a little bit underthrown.
There was certainly pass interference not called on the play,
but Carnel Tate was able to manage to catch the
football on the second try, as you know, after fighting

(16:26):
through the contact. A great catch by Carnell Tate. So
Tate was able to hang onto the ball and at
that point in the game, two score lead seemed insurmountable,
but still there were there was plenty of time left
on the clock.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Yeah, I think Carnel Tate, I mean, that was that
was quite remarkable in terms of I have to I
have to admit watching it in real time, I thought
for sure that that defensive back, like you said, you know,
like the that it looked to me like okay he
was he was batting the ball out, but it was
more of Cornel Tate being able to double catch. It
doesn't matter. He came down with a really good catch,

(16:59):
and like you said, at the time, it seemed okay,
Texas was in a world of hurt, but they did
battle back, which is a credit to them.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, Ohio State had a chance to get they got
the ball back, they had a chance to run out
the clock. It looked like they were trying to do
the Penn State thing last year where they were just
we're just gonna run the football, and it worked for
a couple of plays. Donaldson a couple carries, got a
first down. Then Luke Montgomery took a holding penalty on
a very short game by Peoples and that put them
behind the sticks. They had to give the ball back

(17:26):
with just over four minutes to go, and that's when
arch Manning got things going. Devin Sanchez was in the game,
gave a big play. They also had a play in
the end zone. It was a little bit controversial, but
they end up making it fourteen to seven. A little
bit concerning that balls that moved when they hit the
ground were not treated the same in this game. I

(17:48):
don't think that either was a catch. I don't think
Sonny Styles caught his interception, and I don't think that
was a touchdown reception. When you go to the ground
with the ball and you know, nominally sort of loosely
in one arm and you roll over and it's in
the other arm, that tells me that something changed.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, I I knew the Sunny Styles one was definitely
gonna was going to be overturned. I just I'm not
disagreeing with you. I just kind of skeptically thought, you
know something, they're gonna they're they're gonna say not enough evidence,
and they're gonna uphold that touchdown. But yeah, I mean
I saw that. Let's take let's take this out of
the context of Ohio State Texas. In other games that

(18:28):
I watched after, you know, like there were other moments
like that where it's like, Okay, this is it's kind
of difficult to come up with the right call. I
certainly saw it against LSU Clemson. I mean it was
it was you know, yeah, I thought someone that that
would be a little bit even more egregious. So I
agree with you. I think, you know, some of these

(18:48):
it was just you know, not necessarily officiating best moments.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, I know it's commonplace chip to have the road
team in a non conference game have that Conference of
f officiate it. But I don't like that practice, and
I don't think it's necessary when you've got you know,
other conference officials you can choose from. It didn't have
to be sec reps, could have been acc refs, it

(19:13):
could have been reps from the Big Twelve. There's no
reason to use a crew from one because in this
day and age, when these these two mega conferences are
fighting to get more teams into the playoff, you don't
want the you don't want any appearance of impropriety, So
why not just remove that completely by using neutral referees.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
I agree with you. I think it's a good point.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
But uh, and for whatever reason, you know that they
didn't do it, and I think I think maybe the
idea is you negate the home field advantage, But why
would you. I mean, it's going to be a home
and home series, so why would you want to negate
the home field advantage? That's part of college football exactly. Anyway,

(19:57):
Texas able to put a touchdown on the board just
forty two seconds, which was extremely disappointing from a defense
that had pitched a shutout all day, and it really
kind of deserved that shutout. It was a little bit
aggravating to watch that go away. But and then Ohio
State ran some clock and then did end up having
to give the ball back, but another fourth down stop

(20:17):
by the Buckeyes got pressure on arch Manning, but to
his credit, got his ball to the receiver. But of
course a fitting end too the game as Caleb Downs
made the open field tackle to keep the receiver short
of the sticks, and Ohio State was able to kneel
down with a fourteen to seven victory.

Speaker 2 (20:34):
I'll say this much one of the one of the
players that I mean, it didn't I could see he
was frustrated because he didn't get the sack. But I
was genuinely happy was the fact that CJ. Hicks was
the one applying the pressure on arch Manning on the
last play. And I was explaining to my wife as
we were watching it, you know, like the backstory on CJ.

(20:55):
Hicks was, Okay, he came in highly touted, you know,
you know, kind of named, you know, Captain Buckeye, you know,
with the recruiting class and all of this, and you know,
when he was in high school, from what I understand,
he was just such a the dominant player on the
field that you know, he never really learned how to

(21:15):
play linebacker. That's not I'm not that's not a judgment thing,
but it was just that, okay, like, we need you
to play in the secondary, we need you to be
on the defensive line, we need you to play linebacker.
Like he could do anything and everything and be the
best player on the field at the high school level,
and so then when he made the transition to Ohio
State at linebacker, wasn't picking it up. And we were

(21:36):
talking earlier giving praise to Matt Patricia that one of
the key things that they noticed is like, Okay, this
guy he can rush the passer and it doesn't matter
who cares. I mean, it's what he can rush the passer.
I know that he was frustrated that he didn't get
the sack, but we talked about it earlier, the fact
that he put the pressure. Credit to arch Manning for
being able to get the pass off, but it wasn't cleaning.

(21:59):
It was something under duress and that was all it took.
And yeah, like Caleb Downs came up themed up on
the tackle short of the first down, Ohio State comes
out with a victory. So yeah, my larger point being
that I think that overall that you know, like the
situational players rose the occasion. CJ. Hicks, I was happy
for him. They have such a prominent part in, you know,

(22:23):
helping Ohio State seal the victory.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah all right, Chip, let's look back at our score predictions.
You had the correct result as you picked in Ohio
State victory twenty four to twenty one, a little bit
higher scoring you expected. I had even higher scoring, But
I had Texas winning this game because I put too much,
too much stock in the revenge factor and too much
stock in arch Manning having more experience than Julian saying,

(22:48):
So I was incorrect, you were correct, and congrats.

Speaker 2 (22:52):
To you well, thank you. Like I said, I you know,
I certainly anticipated lower scoring, but not as low as
it turned out to be. And kind of what I
said earlier, I think, you know, if if there would
be something that you pen touched on it, Michael about
the Ohio State fans taking glee at arch manning struggles,

(23:13):
He's he's going to get better. This was, this was
This would be a tough situation for anyone. And I
think arch Manning he certainly showed with his mobility. I
think obviously the passing can improve, but with his mobility
and I think you know he can he can rely
on a lot of the talented players around him, and

(23:35):
especially the fact that he's got a really good defense
that will be able to support him. I think Texas
is going to be fine, and I think arch Manning
is going to be fine.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah. I think one thing that surprised me was that it
took Steve sarcasion a long time before he started giving
Manning more running plays to make plays with his legs.
And he didn't really escape the pocket a whole lot
of times, but he did buy himself a little bit
extra time a few times in the game. And I
really expected more design quarterback runs and more quarterback draws
and that type of thing to try to slow down

(24:05):
that Ohio State defense. But you know, that's something I'm
sure we'll have to look at it if they meet
again in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
Absolutely. I mean my wife was she I mean she
the one notable scramble that I mean it kind of
not that I mean kind of I never saw Archie
Manning at the college level, but you know, back in
the day, you know, he kind of gained his reputation
for being able to we even move when he was

(24:36):
playing at the college level. The one scramble that comes
to mind arch Manning. I mean he was able to
escape pressure and just kind of weave in and out
and he got to the sidelines. You know, I agree
with you. I think that it wouldn't surprise me if
steve'sarkeasy and when they're looking at the game film like, hey,
we need to do more to capitalize on Arch's mobility.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, I think I know the player talking about I
think I was angry that they reviewed the spot. He
didn't review the spot chip and it was it was short.
It looked short to me, and it looked like a
good yard short. But whatever. Anyhow, they didn't score on
the drive, so I didn't. You know, ball don't lie,
as the kids say, picks to click you and you

(25:19):
had Kenyatta Jackson, who unfortunately left this game with an injury.
I had Caleb Downs. I don't think anybody put up
huge numbers either of them, but I'm giving a I'm
giving a click to the entire defense. The entire collective
defense gets a click for me in this game.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
I think deserve these out.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
I don't think either of us picked a good offensive
pick to click. I had Brandon Innis. I thought that
the Jeremiah Smith attention would open things up for Tate
and Innis, and they certainly. Tate had the touchdown couple.
He had also had a big catch on a third
down to extend a drive coming back to the ball
that was a great play by Julian saying to escape
pressure and make an accurate throw on the run. And uh,

(26:00):
you had Max Claary had one reception for eleven yards.
So year of the tight end still on hold.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
It is like you said, he had the one drop,
Like I said, I think that was more of jitters
and we'll see, Like I said, there's certainly room for
improvement along the offense. But yeah, it definitely a guy
that obviously neither of us picked. I want to give
credit to that I think was certainly crucial to Ohio

(26:29):
State's win. And it wasn't necessarily the greatest exhibition of
hunting that I ever saw, But Joe McGuire I thought
was crucial. I mean in the fact that he was
often put in very challenging situations that you know, punting
from deep within Ohio State territory. And again like he
averaged about forty three yards of punt. So like I said,

(26:51):
it wasn't the greatest punting, but against a really good
Texas defensive line that you know, if they could have
broken through, blocked it, tipped it, whatever, I mean, it
could have certainly had an impact. So I thought Joe
McGuire certainly played extremely well for I State.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
All right, Well, they definitely came close to getting one.
It's funny you bring that up, because I actually this
one of my grumpy old Buckeye gripes is that I
did not feel that McGuire flipped the field when it
needed to be flipped. He had two good punts in
the game, two that were over fifty. But there were
a few times when Ohio State was backed up where
he I mean, because his average was forty three and

(27:26):
he had two over fifty, that tells you what the
other punts were like. And some of those came when
when Ohio State was backed way up and it put
Texas basically at the fifty yard line.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Okay, opinion, yep.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
I thought Brandon Enisa was my two catches for eight yards,
and one of them, if he had just been able
to break a tackle, he could have picked up a
key first down, but he was not able to do that.
So neither picked a click offensively, but both got our
picks to click defensively. It's funny the Ohio State site
has given cornerback Bryce West nineteen carries for sixty seven

(28:05):
yards and a touchdown because he wears the same number
as CJ. Donaldson.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Yeah, that's well, that's just part of the challenges that
like everybody wanting certain numbers and then you have to
you have to, okay, account for one on offense one
on defense. So yeah, they'll get it rectified.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Yeah, I imagine they will. James People's ten catches for
twenty one I'm sorry, ten carries for twenty one yards,
I'm sorry, twenty yards. He did have a one yard
loss on one of his carries. His longest carry was
six yards. It was not a good day for the
run game overall, but you know, and the offense, the
offenses were fairly quiet on both sides. But I thought,

(28:46):
you know, Saying with a thirteen of twenty day one
hundred and twenty six yards, a touchdown, the forty yard
Tait did not throw an interception, did not take a sack,
and he had at least three drops. So I feel
like Julian Saying had a strong game.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
He did. Julians Sayan had a really good debut.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Arch Manning was seventeen of thirty fo one hundred and
seventy one touchdown, one interception, took a sack, and Quinn
Travion Weisner ran for eighty yards on sixteen carries. He
actually had a fairly decent game with a five yard average,
but you know, some of that, some of his longer
runs came after they were down two scores. In Ohio

(29:25):
State was protecting against the pass a little bit more.
So I felt like they for the most part, took
care of Texas's run game when the game was close
in the first half and even into the third quarter.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, I definitely think, you know, if anything, Texas they
when they were reviewing that the film, they're going to
be kind of, you know, in terms of like their
offensive game plan, kind of think about things that they
could have done differently and maybe the outcome would have
been different.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Jeremiah Smith had six catches for forty three yards, and
I think Texas would take that. Of course, I feel
like he was pretty obviously interfered on one incomplete pass
and he had a couple of drops, so he could
have maybe approached that hundred yard markt he not had
the drops and not been interfered with. Tate had two
catches for forty nine yards. Nobody else well in US

(30:17):
had two for eight Nobody else had more than one catch,
and on the defensive side of the ball. Davis and
Iguanosen had a huge game.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Chip Hm, I agree the much malign Davis and Ignosen
played well.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Ten tackles. He had one pass breakup that was on
a fourth down play in the end zone. We had
really good coverage and most importantly, no pass interference penalties.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (30:43):
So Caleb Downs only had five tackles, three solo, but
he was all over the field and his presence dictated
what Texas did. He wherever he was, they knew where
he was, and he was creating problems just by being
in areas. And there were times when arch Manning had
places I had time to throw the ball, but had

(31:04):
no place to go with it.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, I think Caleb Downs definitely, his presence is impacting
the opposition. I think Texas had to account for wherever
he would be lining up.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Jackson I thought had a strong game. I feel like
that the defensive line, the starting defensive line in general,
had a good game. So that's it for the stats
and anything else we need to cover from this game.
I mean, it's some people are saying Ohio State qualified
for college football playoff by winning this game. Of course,

(31:36):
it's not that simple. There's a lot of football to
be played. Anything can happen over the course of a season,
but it certainly feels like this was an important win
in terms of where they'll be at the end of
the season.

Speaker 2 (31:49):
I agree. I think if anything, it's a good barometer
for both teams to kind of assess what they have,
what they need to work on. And don't be surprised
you happen to see them match up in a few
months down.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
The road, absolutely, and that one will again be a
freaking knockdown, drag out battle. These are these are two
good teams, and they match up well against each other,
So it's a It really just comes down to mistakes,
and in this game, Texas made a couple more mistakes
in Ohio State did exactly all right, Chip, We've still

(32:26):
got to go around the rest of the Big Ten
to see how everybody did in Week one, and we've
got a We've got a game coming up Saturday against
Grambling State, a team that we both know extremely well.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
When you say we maybe you have a frog in
your pocket. But that.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Uh sarcasm, that was that was sarcasm. But why don't
we why don't we get to those topics, right? After this,
all right, Jip, why don't we go around the rest
of the Big Ten to see how everybody else made

(33:04):
out this week?

Speaker 2 (33:06):
Sounds good?

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Did you watch any of the other games in the
Big Ten?

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Absolutely? Absolutely, Wisconsin, Miami, watched some some of the Penn
State Nevada, and then as far as you know, like
had the Michigan New Mexico and then caught some of
the beginning of the Utah Ucla game.

Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yeah. I watched quite a bit of the Cincinnati Nebraska game.
I thought that Nebraska looked like they might be in
trouble a few times in that one, and there were
some interesting results. But why don't we start with Rutgers
escaping against the Bobcats of Ohio University a thirty four
to thirty one win and Rutgers having to convert a
late fourth down to seal that game.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
I didn't watch any of it, but that game surprised
me that it was that close.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Yeah, I was very surprised. I think Rutgers is in
for a pretty strong season. Greg Shanno was one of
his better teams, and I felt like Ohio would fall
off a little bit after last year. But credit to
the Bobcats for going to Piscataway and given Rutgers a scare.

Speaker 2 (34:16):
Well, Rutgers, they'll be welcoming in Miami, Ohio this coming weekend.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, Minnesota chip with a twenty three to ten win
over Buffalo. I expected that to be a little bit
more lopsided, but ultimately Buffalo didn't really didn't really challenge
them other than in the maybe the middle part of
the game.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Okay, I didn't see it, so I know, like I said,
I mean like the games I the games that I
know about I can talk about.

Speaker 1 (34:43):
So yeah, now Nebraska and Cincinnati and Nebraska, and since
now I thought this game was going to be a nipper,
it ended up being in Kansas City and probably a
good thing for Nebraska. They were able to win twenty
to seventeen with a very largely Nebraska friendly crowd. But
I thought if this game had been at Nippert they

(35:04):
might have been in a little bit of trouble.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
I'm sure they probably would have been.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Twenty to seventeen is the final. Dylan Yola threw the
ball forty two times. It was thirty three or forty
two for two hundred and forty three yards and a
couple of touchdowns. Chip Wisconsin in Miami, a game that
you watched some of I watched a few plays but
didn't really get to see a whole lot of it.
And it was after Wisconsin had lost starting quarterback and

(35:31):
they win it. But not very impressive from the Badgers.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
No, Wisconsin. I can tell you that Wisconsin, if they
don't improve dramatically, they're going to have a very long year,
very long year.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Is it too late for me to go back and
change my Big ten predictions because I would like to
drop Wisconsin into the bottom three or four.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
Hey, I'd say, well, we'll get to some of the
more obvious bottom teams. But you know, Wisconsin, they need
They've got a lot of work to do.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
But that way, that game was three to nothing at
the half, and even with a backup quarterback, they should
be able to win that game at home fairly handily.
So probably not a great sign to start the season
for Badger fans, as you and I surmise, Chip Illinois
number twelve, Illinois, no trouble with Western Illinois, fifty two
to three win there for Burt.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Yeah that you know, nice easy cupcake to start off
the season for Illinois.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Michigan State one. It's I think I have this right.
The fifth consecutive opening day win for the Spartans twenty
three six over Western Michigan. Not a lopsided win, but
you know for a team where Michigan State is, that's
you know, it's pretty comfortable.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Yeah, I did, Actually that I think about it. I
watched some of this. I didn't watch it, you know,
from start to finish, but Michigan State certainly looked improved
from last season. And I realized Western Michigan, but there
definitely seemed Aidan Child seemed like he had shown improvement
from last season.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Of course, Ohio State beat Texas among the ranked teams
of Penn State. No trouble with Nevada. Didn't expect them
to have any forty six to eleven win in Happy Valley.
I didn't see. I think I saw two plays in
that game while I was flipping through. But yeah, I
didn't expect that to be a close game and it wasn't.
Maybe I'm a little bit surprised of had to put

(37:33):
a touchdown on the Penn State defense. Or again, no
trouble with Montana State or should they have any at
Oddsin Stadium fifty nine to thirteen win there Michigan. I
don't know that a thirty four to seventeen win at
home against New Mexico was all that convincing. But they
won the game.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, at one point, you know, New Mexico, I mean
they were down a touchdown. I never had any doubt
that Michigan was going to win, considering it was Bryce
Underwood's debut as a starting quarterback as a true freshman.
I guess you could say that, all right, you know,
it's not a big surprise that Michigan, you know, won

(38:13):
the game, But I certainly I think it'd be fair
to say that I thought that they would win more
impressively than they did.

Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah. Same, Indiana struggled more than I thought the Hoosiers
would with Old Dominion only a twenty seven to fourteen win.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
That didn't see it. But one of the things that
I'm going to give some props to Kurtzignetti last week
on the Big Ten Network on the press conferences, he
kept saying, hey, don't you know, don't overlook this team,
like they gave South Carolina everything that they could handle
last year, and it sounds like Old Dominion did that
for a little bit but yeah, Indiana won, but just

(38:49):
not as convincingly as we probably anticipated.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Yeah, Fernando Mendoza's debut with the Hoosiers eighteen of thirty one, one
hundred ninety three yards a lot of accolades coming out
of Maryland for a quarterback Malik Washington as he led
the Terrapins to a thirty nine to seven victory over
Florida Atlantic at home. And you know, miss me with

(39:13):
this talk until he does it against a team of
the pulse. Florida Atlantic last year was one in seven
in the American not a great team, and you're at home,
you should put up big numbers. And he did, you know,
twenty seven to forty three for two hundred fifty eight yards,
three touchdowns, and you know, good job. You still got
to go out and execute, and he did that. But
me throwing the ball forty three times against FAU.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
That's the concern is that Maryland. It's never been about
their passing game. It's always been about their running game.
And it's great that they did that, like you said,
against Florida Atlantic, but when they start to get into
big ten play, we'll see how successful that kind of
offensive strategy is.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Purdue no trouble at home with ball State thirty one.
Nothing there. Northwestern got waxed two Lane twenty three to three.
And I thought that Northwestern would win that game, and
because I just feel like they're usually scrappy defensively, they
run the ball, and I wasn't, you know, necessarily maybe

(40:14):
I wasn't necessarily overlooking tou Lane. I thought it would
be a close game, but I thought Northwestern would definitely
score more than a field goal.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Yeah, and Preston Stone, their new quarterback, pitched four interceptions. So,
I mean, what a terrible way to start the season.
You know, Northwestern that that you know, it was a
team that that you know, we both thought would would
do poorly this year, and they're certainly getting off to
fulfilling our expectations.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
Absolutely, Chip, I had to look three times to make
sure this wasn't a basketball game. But Iowa played Albany.
I think it was a basketball season already. Iowa wins
it thirty four to seven. But why are you playing Albany.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Again? I you know, it's when we start talking about
scheduling here, you know, some of the other games that
we still have to talk about. Yeah, I disagree with it.
But it certainly worked well for Iowa. You know, congratulations
to Kirk Pharentcy tied Woody Hayes as the Big Tens
all time winning as coach. He needs one more to

(41:19):
move into being the all time winning his coach.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
Yeah. I'm not trying to disparage too much because obviously
Ohio State's got Grambling State come up this weekend. But
you know it, definitely, I was not even aware. I
don't think I was aware all when he had a
football program.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
USC no trouble with Missouri State, nor should they have
any trouble with Missouri State seventy three thirteen Chip.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Yeah, that's the kind of game that basically, you know,
I think USC probably wanted for psychological reasons. But you know,
all right, kind of what you just said at a
moment ago, Let's see how they do. USC has a
I don't want to say the most challenging, but they
have a you know, in October, they have some tough games.

(42:07):
So you know, let's see how they do when they
start playing against teams that provide a little bit more
of a challenge.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Yeah, Utah went to UCLA, and I felt like this
was a game of Utah would probably win. It was
much easier than I expected, although it was closer at
halftime forty three to ten utes. And you know, I
don't know why Nico transferred out of Tennessee to UCLA.
That seems like a giant step down to me.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
We'll never know. I know that he's originally from the
California area, so maybe that might have played a part
in it. But yeah, Ucla they've got they've got a
long way to and now let's let's be fair. Utah,
I think is definitely one of those teams that usually
is pretty stout defensively. They certainly showed that by only

(42:55):
giving up ten points. But Ucla they better improve in
a hurry before they get into Big ten season.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Yes, they certainly need to improve. And then finally, Washington
hosted Colorado State a little bit closer than I expected,
about thirty eight to twenty one win for the Huskies.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yeah, I thought Washington would win more convincingly. But kind
of what I said earlier when we were talking about
Ohio State Texas that you know, it gives you an
idea in terms of what you need to work on.
So they always say that the biggest improvement is between
weeks one and two, so we'll see if that holds true.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Yeah, that game was fourteen fourteen at the half, and
the Huskies took control in the second half of the game.
And that's that's what you need to do. Make your
adjustments and take care of business in the second half.
So looking ahead to this week chip in and around
the Big Ten, Northwestern we'll try to get right at
home against Western Illinois. That's a Friday night game. Maryland

(43:51):
also plays on Friday against Northern Illinois. So it's a
big weekend for the directional Illinois schools.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Yeah, and you know my thoughts on Friday night games
and all that.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
So you'll be watching Avon Lake or something, right.

Speaker 2 (44:06):
I probably as a matter of fact, Avon Lake is
on the road, but eventually I will ye.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
All right, Well, the good thing about road games in
the state of Ohio is.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
They're not that far away, yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
On Saturday, Penn State will host Florida International. Illinois will
travel to Duke. That's one of the more intriguing games
of the weekend. Around the Big Ten. In the non
conference schedule, Indiana will host Kennesaw State. That's gonna be
a mess for Kennesau State. Another intriguing game is the

(44:43):
Big Corn matchup between Iowa and Iowa State, and it's
in Aims this.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Year and Iowa States too, and oh they now granted
they beat Kansas State, and it looks like Kansas State's
gonna have their challenges because they barely won their game.
You know, Iowa State one convincingly against an FCS opponent,
so they're two and oh. So this should be the

(45:09):
games in ames Iowa, so it should be this should
be a tough game.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Yeah, Minnesota should not struggle with Northwestern State. Ohio State
should definitely not struggle with Grambling. Oregon will host Oklahoma State.
That's at least somewhat intriguing.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Somewhat we'll see if Oklahoma State has fixed what ailed
them in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, we know that the Cowboys won't play good defense.
We just don't know how many points they'll score exactly.
Rutgers will host Miami of Ohio as they continue their
tour of the Mac in the preseason here or the
non conference schedule, I should say Wisconsin has a chance
to improve things against Middle Tennessee. Michigan goes to Oklahoma

(45:57):
and that one's anyone's ballgame.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
I would agree with that. I think that Okay, Michigan,
we said it earlier that Michigan they won against New Mexico.
Now we'll see when they go on the road night
game Oklahoma. Now, granted, I'm not necessarily the biggest Brent
Venables fan, but I believe that he'll have his team
ready to go against the Wolverines.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
Nebraska will host Akron, should be a win for the
Huskers at home. USC will host Georgia Southern should be
an easy one. Boston College goes to Michigan State. Both
those teams are one to zero. So I think we'll
get a little bit better idea of how improved Sparty is.

(46:41):
If it's improved.

Speaker 2 (46:44):
Yeah, last year, that was a game that Michigan State.
I don't want to say that they gave it away,
but they probably felt that they could have won that
game or should have won that game. So, like you said,
I think it'll be a better idea in terms of
how much better Michigan State is this year. Boston College
I think improved. You know, I think Bill O'Brien is
a good coach, So we'll see that. You know, it

(47:06):
will be interesting to see how that one turns out.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
Yeah, Purdue, we'll host Southern Illinois as the directional Illinois
schools continue to try to get one over on the
Big Ten. UCLA travels to UNLV, Chip.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Yeah, and u n L vs two and oh. So
that's that might be a challenge for the Bruins.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
And the best thing about UNLV being two and oh
is a chance to go three now exactly, and UCLA
may not be very good. Washington should clabber the hell
out of UC Davis, you would.

Speaker 2 (47:38):
Think, so, you know, U see Davis is you know,
a lower level school. So going to Husky Stadium at night,
those fans will be primed, maybe not necessarily because of
the opponent, but just because of the festivities. And so yeah,
you would think that Washington will be ready to go
against UC.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Davis absolutely, all right, Chip, The Buckeyes will take on
the Grambling Tigers on Saturday. That's a three thirty game
on Big Ten network. You and I don't know anything
about Grambling.

Speaker 2 (48:14):
No, we don't.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
We really didn't do any research at all. But that's
because we just expect this to be a fairly comfortable
win for Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
It should be I mean Grambling, since you brought it up.
Grambling is coming off a fifty five to seven victory
over Langston. Now Langston is an NAIA program.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Okay, it's a program, it's just not some guy named Langston.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
Exactly the Langston Lions. They've won that it looks, you know,
when I look at the stats that all right. Obviously
the fact that they won fifty five to seven had
little to know issues whatsoever with this game. And in
terms of like when you say about like no research

(49:03):
that's accurate, I will I will say that probably the
most I know about this is that this game came
about because and the only reason I know this is
because the voice of the Buck Eye's Paul Keels. A
few weeks ago, I heard him say that this game
came about because Yukon was originally scheduled to play against

(49:26):
Ohio State, and it was kind of a mutual decision
by Ohio State and Yukon to cancel it. And then
Ohio State was scrambling trying to find some an opponent
and lo and behold, the only opponent that was available
to them was Grambling. So that's kind of what I
do know. I will say that personally, and I've never
made a secret of this, I'm against any FCS opponent.

(49:49):
Ohio State should not be playing that caliber of opponent
because it just I think, not only for appearances, but
just you know, overall, I mean, it's not really any
kind of a challenge. I'd say the same thing about
any team within the Big Ten that also, you know,
coming off of a grueling season opener against Texas, this

(50:10):
is a I'm going to just say, it's basically an
opportunity for Ohio State to have kind of like a
glorified scrimmage to work on some things that they that
they identified in that win over Texas.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Yeah, of course you've got to come to play. Grambling's
going to come to play. But like you said, this
was a replacement opponent, and you know, it just it's
like that old saying when for an opponent you're scrambling,
you got to call Grambling. Oh gosh, we all know
that one, that old chestnut. Okay, there you go, there

(50:44):
you go, all right, So they won't handily. They were
able to use two quarterbacks in the game. And I'm
not sure I'm pronouncing this right, but their starter was
Xavian Ti Sitt who went twenty of twenty five for
two hundred three yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, was not sad.
And they also got Ashton Fry into the game, who
was six of eight for forty four yards and another touchdown,

(51:05):
did not throw an interception and was not sacked. But
I would say, without knowing anything about Langston like where
it is, probably that's an overmatched opponent.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
Yeah. I mean the fact, you know, like Grambling last
year went five and seven. I did look that up
in the SWAC all right, so you know, and I
think it's great, you know, at the at the FCS level,
when you go back twenty twenty three when they played LSU,

(51:40):
LSU beat them seventy two to ten. So whenever they
match up against a powerhouse team, it's usually the results
are usually not pretty, which is kind of my point
is that I'm not I don't see how that I realized.
There's a financial aspect. I'm happy that Ohio State is
supporting the ambling athletic department with you know, I'm guessing

(52:03):
a million dollars or something like that to play this game.
That's all. Find it good. My biggest concern is, Okay,
if you're Ohio State, Are you really getting what you
need out of this kind of an opponent. So if
I'm Ohio State and I'm Ryan Day, I'm gonna, like
I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna be pouring over what
worked what didn't work against Texas and really focus on

(52:26):
what didn't work and treating this like a glorified scrimmage.
That's what I would do.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Yeah, all right, Chip, I think we're gonna see a
lot of backups in this game pretty early on Prohio State.
I think that they'll start they'll start rotating, maybe before
the end of the first quarter, regardless of what the
score is, just to get looks at other guys and
get them some reps. So let's get to our picks
to click. And we went with offense first last time.

(52:51):
So you're you're up. You're going to select the defensive
player to click for Ohio State on Saturday against Grambling.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
All right, I'm not going to take the free bingo
space because I mean, I think it's just too obvious.
So I'm going to kind of go a little bit
off and I'm going to go along the lines of
with the interior defensive line. I'm gonna go with Kaiden McDonald,
I think, I mean, he's just one of those underrated
interior defensive linemen, and I think he's just gonna make

(53:21):
things miserable for Grambling, regardless whether they're trying to get
the runs established or like maybe even as a pass rusher.
I think Caden McDonald is gonna have a solid game.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Okay, I am kind of also along those same lines,
I was thinking that along the same lines, I don't
think that the starters will be in long defensively in
this game, but I think they'll they'll make early impacts,
and so I'm going to take Kayden Curry, Okay, I
think that he'll make some plays before, you know, in

(53:53):
his time on the field, maybe get a sack or two,
tackle for loss or two, and then he'll he'll leave,
and then you know, I think guys we'll put up
bigger numbers, guys like CJ. Hicks and maybe some of
the backup defensive backs. I think we'll put up bigger
numbers than the starters. But because I don't expect the
starters to go deep into this game, so that leads

(54:15):
us to the offensive side. And on the same note,
I'm going to say this is going to be again,
the starters are going to come off early, but I
think they're going to want to get James People's going.
I think this is a good opportunity to work on
the run game, and I'm going to take James Peoples
to have a big game because I think he'll get
more snaps.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
I like it. Yeah, that was actually going to be
my pick, so just kind of sticking with that. I
truly believe that that establishing the run is going to
be a focus. You know, so you know, maybe Ohio
State doesn't put up seventy two points, you know, it
might not be you know, like that kind of a

(54:56):
game against Gramley, But I think by running the ball,
think and we didn't see him at all against Texas
unless you know, you and I both missed him and
the participation report, I'm going to go with bo Jackson.
I think he's going to get an opportunity to come
in and show what he can do, just because getting
an idea of getting the backups involved. So I'm gonna

(55:17):
go with Bo Jackson.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
I definitely think they'll throw the ball early a bit
to get Julian say in some reps and some looks
downfield against a live defense. But I think you're right.
I think they'll run the football a lot and get
try to get the offensive line to gel, you know,
with with only one more non conference game left ahead
of the Big Ten schedule, so I think those guys

(55:41):
will put up some decent numbers. I also think that
Lincoln Keenholes will put up numbers, you know, in relief
of Julian saying in week two. So we'll check our
picks to click next week. That brings us Chip to
our score predictions. I've already written mine down. So what
do you got for Saturday against Grambley?

Speaker 2 (56:01):
I just think this. I mean it's it's gonna be
like you said. By the end of the first quarter,
we're gonna start rotating out and I just think Grambling
is going to be overmatched. I'm gonna go fifty six
to nothing. I just I think Ohio State is just
too much. And that's kind of where I'm gonna stick
with that one.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
That's incredible, Chip, I had written down fifty six to three. Okay, No,
we're both thinking very similarly as we sometimes do. Yes, Yes,
in fact, we often do. I think you're you're a
little more confident in some of the big games than
I am. But but I think you and I have

(56:41):
very similar predictions a lot of the time.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Oh exactly. Well, I think the fact that I was
going to take James People's I you know, kind of
my rationale is. And I think you're right. I think
that they're going to try and get some you know,
cause they I mean Julian's AA and let's face it,
I mean he's inexperienced, and so you need to get
him some reps. But by the same token, guess what,

(57:06):
beating up an FCS opponent really doesn't do a lot
for Julian saying, and so why not, you know, like
work on the running game. And that's kind of why
I was leaning towards James Peoples, And I started thinking,
you know something, that rationale of getting the starters out
so like Donaldson and People's, that leads to bo Jackson

(57:27):
playing a lot.

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah, I think he will play a great number of
snaps in the second half of the game, and I
think that they'll probably try to get Smith a couple
of big plays early and get him off the field
and protect him.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Yes, very much.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
So, all right, you have anything else in your mind
before we get out of here. After week one.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
If you're going to the the Grambling game just right now,
and I and I want to emphasize the words right now.
The weather forecast is supposed to be you know, like
seventy one, so that sounds like it would be a
delightful day, delightful game for those of you who are
season ticket holders. Then you want to be generous with

(58:10):
your you know, like with your tickets to give to,
you know, somebody, This would be the game to give to,
you know, like somebody that has always wanted to go
to an ISO A game, because I don't think Ish
State's gonna have too much trouble handling the Tigers of Grambling.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
All right, Well, and kudos to the fans for getting
two virtual buck eye leaves for false starts on Texas
on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
Okay, well, we'll see how that is represented on the
you know, I guess on the scoreboard this coming is
coming week.

Speaker 1 (58:41):
I'm sure it'll be just as noisy for Grambling.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
I'm sure if.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
They run out of beer, If they run out of
beer midway through the second quarter, that's and that's when
it'll get loud.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
All right, Chip, that's it. That's gonna do it for
this week's show. So why don't you remind folks where
they can find you on the internet and your work.

Speaker 2 (59:01):
I can be found on the internet at Chipmanik. Last
name is spelled m I N N I c H.
And I'm a contributor to Buckey Huddle dot com as
well as Saturday Glory dot com. So look for articles
about not only what to look for against grambling, but
also like things going on around the Big ten later
this week.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
All right, you can of course find me on Twitter
or blue Sky at Mike thirty six fan. You can
find my work at Landgrant holy Land dot com. And
every Monday I write the Grumpy Old Buckeye column. And
of course, even with a win over number one Texas,
there's plenty of things you can gripe about, and I

(59:44):
find those things and I gripe about them very much,
tongue in cheek. It's not an angry column, despite the
name it is. It is there to nitpick, even says
so in most of the headlines it'll say nitpicking, like
this will say nitpicking Ohio State's fourteen seven win over texts.
There are knits there to be picked, and I'm just
the guy to pick them, as it turns out exactly. Also,

(01:00:08):
you can find the Silver Bullets Podcast on Twitter at
silver Bullets Pod, but no E in the word silver
s I l v R Bullets Pod on Twitter, and
you can write to us at silver Bulletspod at gmail
dot com. You will spell silver the correct way because
there's no restriction on characters in the Gmail naming conventions,

(01:00:30):
at least not to the point where I can't spell
it out. So Silver Bulletspod at gmail dot com. Ask you,
ask us questions, ask us anything, just say hey, give
us a shout out. Whatever we we'd love to hear
from you. So give us a drop, us a line,
and we would. We would appreciate that and we look
forward to hearing from you. Thank you for listening to
this episode of the Silver Bullets Podcast. Great to be

(01:00:52):
back in the season, Chip, and it's it's a big game,
but it's just one step along the road.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
You got it, and let's enjoy it while we while
we've got it, because like we always say, the season
always goes by a way too fast.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
It's right the non conference schedule, Chip is already thirty
three and a third percent done. You got it, So
we'll be back next week. Thanks everybody for listening. Nothing
left for us to do but sign off the way
we always do, by saying these two words that we
all know and love, Go box, Go Box.