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October 31, 2025 13 mins
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, here we are. It is a fallback weekend. Man,
there's so much going on the Buckeyes. It feels like
have not played for years. I don't know if that's
what it feels like to you whenever they have a bye.
First of all, the first bye felt that way. The
second bye felt even longer for me as far as
the Buckeyes go. And so, yeah, the Buckey's coming off

(00:21):
of a second bye. And so do you ever think
when you played LOGI that you're like, I wish we
would have had a second by or did you guys
even have a buy during that I don't think you did,
did you?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
No, No, we didn't have any bye weeks at all.
In fact, at the end of the season, between the
game against the team up north in the middle of
November to the bowl game was a six week period
of time before you played your next game. And you know,
to make things even worse for the fans, And with
this Ohio State schedule the way that it's been, we
only had one home game in the month of October,

(00:56):
and so you know, this game November first against Penn
State tomorrow will be a return to the shoe. But
it feels like we haven't been in that building forever
to watch our Ohio State football team.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah that and so yeah, so really, when you think
back to when you played, are you going, boy, we
really could have used that then. I mean it's something
that you know, when you're in that moment, when you're
in you know, the season, when you were playing and
all of that, you just you pay no nevermind to
it because nobody was doing that. But when you see
that now, or you see even a second by week added,

(01:31):
do you think, like, man, that really would have been
nice during that time or you probably can't imagine Coach
hay is even dealing with that.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
I'm guessing yeah, you know, I think players want to play,
and my era, the current era, they would much rather
go out there and have a game and keep the
momentum going, keep things moving along. But you know, there
are times where that body needs a little bit of resk.
It's not like they just sat around in a bombomb.
You know, during this break they have a very specific

(02:01):
schedule and after the bye week was over, they got
right back into game preparations. So they've had a full
week in advance getting ready for Penn State, and Penn
State has had the same time off, if you will,
because they had their buy at the same time, so
they probably needed it more than we did from a

(02:21):
standpoint of just trying to get a new quarterback ready
since Drew Holler has gone down. Obviously, Ethan Grunkeemeyer will
be the starting quarterback, a kid from Owen Tangy. He
got the start two weeks ago against Iowa, a game
they lost by one point, and this will be quite
a test for that young man, getting his second start

(02:42):
ever and being in Ohio Stadium against the number one
team in the country.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
I'll tell you what, He's probably gonna need some serious
meds to even get him to calm down tonight. I
don't imagine he's going to sleep. This is going to
be all the Christmases as a kid for him, Christmas
Eve all rolled into one, and it's all going to
culminate tonight for him, I would imagine. I mean, think
about the butterflies that kid's going to be having as
he struts into the horseshoe and just gets a load

(03:10):
of you know, everything, the pageantry, if you will, and
everything that's going to be going on tomorrow. I'm excited
for him. As a local kid, But I'm also at
the same time kind of sad because he's probably going
to get his butt kicked inside the horseshoe tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Well, when you look at the and you look at
the statistics for Ohio State defensively, they are number one
in the country and everything that matters, and Penn State
is going to really want to take some pressure off
of that young quarterback and try and run the football
with their two very talented running backs. But they have
not been all that successful running the ball. You know,

(03:46):
throughout the season. They've had spot times where they've been
pretty decent, but for the most part they have been
kind of pedestrian in terms of their run game, similar
to Ohio State's at this point. But the difference is
they don't have second in that quarterback spot hitting eighty
percent of his passes. They've got a kid getting a
second start.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I know you mentioned. I believe it was you that
mentioned the interim head coach Terry Smith was saying I
believe I got his name right there, but saying he
had never seen Penn State a three touchdown underdog before.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, this is and this is not you know, bulletin
board material that Ohio State provided this is what the
experts are saying out there, and the line opened at
twenty and a half, it's down to nineteen and a half,
but it's still basically three touchdown difference. In Penn State
in their entire history has never been an underdog by
three touchdowns or more. And I think you could probably

(04:38):
say the same thing against Ohio State. This is rarefight
air for one of the pre premier programs to be
stuck in this kind of a situation. But based on
their performance over the last four weeks and a fired
head coach and you know, new quarterback and everything else
in the game being at Ohio State, I can see
why Vegas would think that this could be a three
touchdown game.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah about that fired head coach, Were you surprised James
Franklin got the acts this? I mean, it's like, did
they give him enough time? Your thoughts on that?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
He said, he's been on the hot seat for the
last five or six years and he always seems to
be able to dodge it and duck it and get
a win here or there. But when you're four and
twenty one against ranked opponents and in this competitive environment
today where you've got to get into the college Football
Playoff and go, you know, deep into that playoff for
expectations of a school like this. If you can't get

(05:30):
it done and your record is what it is, you
got to move on. And I think they I think
they were remiss in not getting rid of him a
couple of years ago, and quite frankly, as an o
Higo State fan, I wish James Franklin was still on
the sideline because he was one of our greatest assets.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, I absolutely, yeah, I understand exactly what you're talking about.
There was a coach up north that we were sad
when he left too, if you remember, so, no doubt
about it. Yeah, probably along the same line of kind
of what you're saying there, I would I would imagine.
So are you at all concerned as far as I mean,

(06:07):
I know we use the word trap game or the
two words trap game sometimes this, you know, maybe maybe
some of the other years with the Buckeyes, even when
they were going into a game where they were undefeated
and you're like, look, on paper, this is looking like
a bloodbath for the for the Buckeyes to administer here
kind of a thing. But it's a little bit different somehow,

(06:28):
with the quality of player that that place for Penn State,
isn't it, Oh, no.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Doubt about it. I think, you know, I think from
a gambling standpoint, the spread could be a trap, but
it being a trap game comparable to you know, games
that we've seen like Virginia Tech when they came to
Columbus or when we've gone to Purdue and had some
of those situations. You know, I don't think you can
look at Penn State and underestimate who they are, what

(06:54):
their talent is. You know, they lost their starting quarterback,
Drew Aller, who has been their starter for the last
three seasons, and that's a major blow to the program
just because of the experience that he provided to the
football team. But I don't think you can go into
a Penn State game, regardless of the spread or their
record at this stage and even begin to think of
it as a trap game. It's one that if you

(07:15):
allow Penn State, with all of the problems they're going
through right now, to begin believing what Terry Smith, their
new interim head coach, is telling them that they can
compete in this game, then they're going to believe it.
You're going to get yourself a four quarter game. So
I personally think this ball game is going to be
a lot closer than what people are predicting out there.

(07:38):
I think Ohio State wins just from a talent standpoint
and purely from the quarterback situation and how important that
role is. But if they're running backs are able to
run wild and they have explosive plays, watch out.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
I think the other variable here is and he's part
of our best buck eye coverage, Jeff Logan is who's
joining me right now? I think another variable here. Tell
me what you think which scenario could be truest here?
The buck Eye defense has an extra well an extra
large chip on their shoulder because Jim Knowles abandoned them,
if you will, or is it Jim Knowles has gotten

(08:11):
his Penn State defense extra fired up to kind of
help improve OSU. You know, they should have paid him
more money. Is that even a kind of a storyline
with this, I would imagine it would have to be.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
Well, I think it is with certain people. I don't
know that it's there with the players. I think there
was a lot of respect for Jim Knowles with the
defensive players, and I think there will be a certain
amount of recognition that he's on the other sideline and
wanting to prove to him that we've got a pretty
good defense even without him here, that they've got the

(08:43):
capacity to move forward. And I don't know that he's
been at Penn State long enough to have developed a
relationship with those guys that they want to go win
one for Jim Knowles. I don't think that that's a possibility.
You know, he left his program abruptly. He was looking
for a big number contract and Ryan Day pulled the
plug on that and basically said, we've got limitations. Nobody

(09:05):
is bigger than the program, and they moved on. So
are their hard feelings maybe, But if there are, I
think both sides are probably too professional to let it
show on the field.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, it's just it's a business like anything else. It's
just a business kind of a thing. Blessing in disguise
for us man. Holy cow, it's been amazing what we're
witnessing with our defense this year. LOGI, where are the
one or if you had to pick one or two
weaknesses for the Buckeyes, this current Buckeye team. And it's
tough because I mean we see it weekend week out.

(09:38):
We're like man oh man, they have really shining in
some spots maybe where they weren't before the last year
or two something like that. And it's even tough to
say that because last year was clearly unbelievable. I mean,
we saw what happened there. We sagged in the end
of the regular season and then you know, Will Howard
and everybody who just went put it in overdrive and
nobody could catch him. But where are the weaknesses if

(09:59):
you think of one or two for the buck guys
where they could maybe get a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Well, I think the only areas and a lot of
people have talked about the running game, and I'm not
so much down on the running game because of the
way defenses have been playing against us, but we need
more explosive plays from our running backs. They've got to
do a better job of getting the things making people miss.
Be your own blocker, get it to the second level.
That's something they need to do. I think the biggest
concern that I have the weakness of this program is

(10:26):
in special teams. You know, I'm not one hundred percent
confident when we put the field goal kicker on the
field that it's going to be an automatic three points
that we're going to get. And on the other hand,
we gave up a fake punt for a twenty yard
first down against Wisconsin week ago or two weeks ago.
That's something that can happen. I mean, you have to
be alert on special teams. Penn State has blocked four

(10:50):
kicks this year. Three games in a row they have
blocked a punt or a field goal. And so this
is a team that obviously cares about special teams. They
did a scoop and score after a blockfield goal attempt
by Iowa two weeks ago. And if Ohio State isn't careful,
and we've seen a bunch of games against Ohio State

(11:10):
and Penn State come down to the kicking game. Where
there have been block kicks, there have been punt returns,
there's been all kinds of crazy things that go on.
If we don't get better in the kicking game, that's
a liability. It's certainly not an asset.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yet, you guys are on tomorrow morning at nine am,
the best Buckeye coverage, right, you guys will be on
the air and get that going tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
YEP nine to twelve will be on the air and
then there'll be a postgame show afterwards. Matt McCoy and
I'll be in the post game and we really look
forward to it. We'll be at the point on Lane Avenue,
which is very top of the building, right there beside
the Varsity Club and indoors because it's going to be
a little chilly in the mornings. So I always worry

(11:52):
about I always worry about Matt McCoy. He gets out
of his house sometimes and he doesn't dress properly. You know,
he's used to those swimming legs that he has from
when he was a varsity swimmer at Ohio State. You know,
there are sometimes I see him walking around that I'm
not sure those are his legs or if he's writing
a chicken and so so, you know, I get concerned

(12:16):
about Matt, and one want to make sure that his
wife doesn't let him leave the house without making sure
he is dressed properly. And it's going to be a
little cool tomorrow, and his walk from the parking garage
to where we are indoors, I'm just a little concerned
that Mac might get a little too cold.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, I love it man giving him the business. We
love our Matt McCoy. No question about it, Logan, are
you on the call tonight on c W or are
you doing high school call tonight?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
No, we are done with the call. We have regular
season only. Spectrum takes over and there'll be a lot
of opportunities to watch your high school teams on television
tonight if you if you're paying attention. The top four
seeds in each of the divisions get buys for the
first week, so the games will be between five and

(13:02):
twelve playing their games, and then they will play the
bye teams the next week. So high school football in
the playoffs can't be more exciting than what goes on
in Ohio, in the great state of Ohio.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Very good man. It's the big newon kickoff tomorrow on Fox,
the Buckeyes welcoming in the Nitney Lions of Penn State.
And at this point too, I think, Logi it's even
down to eighteen and a half, is the Buckeyes are
favored to do this? I think it's a forty five
and a half or forty four and a half over under,
that kind of thing. So we'll be listening the best

(13:34):
Buckeye coverage starting at nine am in the morning, of course,
and Jeff logan part of our best Buckeye coverage. So
great to talk to you man. Thank you for jumping
on today. All right, ed go Bucks, all right, outstanding.
Thanks brother,
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