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Dan Hope and Andy Anders of Eleven Warriors bring you inside the Ohio State beat every Wednesday with a podcast covering everything you need to know about the Buckeyes.
Note: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been edited for errors.
[Dan Hope]
Welcome into Real Pod Wednesdays. Dan Hope joined by Andy Anders as we are now just two and a half weeks away from the start of the 2024 Ohio State football season, Buckeyes a couple weeks into preseason camp now in full swing. And as we get closer to the season, our season preview is now underway at 11warriors.com.
The preseason polls are coming out. People are starting to look at what that 12 team playoff could look like this year. So we're gonna talk a little bit about camp stuff at the end of the show.
But not a whole lot has changed there I think really from a week ago. I think we talked a lot about Will Howard emerging as that front runner and the starting quarterback competition last week. And I think that is certainly continuing to be the case here.
I think if Ryan Day having a press conference coming up on Thursday. I don't think it would come as a surprise to either of us if Ryan Day was to name Will Howard the starting quarterback on Thursday. And so we'll see if that actually happens.
But wanted to talk a little more today about some kind of big picture stuff for this Ohio State football team. As we start looking ahead to that season that's gonna start in just a couple weeks. And the AP top 25 for the preseason officially came out on Monday.
Ohio State coming in at number two in the AP poll, the same ranking that it came in the coaches poll. And Ohio State a comfortable number two in terms of the points that it received in both of those polls, yet Georgia is still a comfortable number one. Georgia receiving 46 first place votes in the AP poll compared to 15 for Ohio State in the coaches poll Georgia received 46 first place votes compared to just seven for Ohio State.
So Andy, when you look at those rankings, how do you feel about where Ohio State is? Is Ohio State right where it should be? Or do the Buckeyes deserve a little more respect?
[Andy Anders]
I think they're right where they should be. Georgia's won multiple national championships recently. And I know you're obviously ranking it based on what you expect from these year's teams, but just based on what the track record Georgia has, the talent they've accrued over the years is comparable to Ohio State.
I think Ohio State, in my opinion, has the most complete, best roster in the country talent wise, especially on the defensive side of the football, but you have to go out and prove it on the field. And I think number two is right where I would have put the Buckeyes for sure, right behind Georgia. I think the ranking makes a lot of sense.
And it's all semantics in the end. They're gonna have to go out and win games on the field. Otherwise, none of it matters.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a preseason poll doesn't mean a whole lot. And I'd say it means less this year than it has ever before.
Because no longer is Ohio State fighting for one of four spots in the playoff. It's fighting for one of 12 spots in the playoff. And it knows if it can win the Big Ten Championship, it will get a bye.
It will be a top four seed in that playoff. So it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. But it still gives you an idea of kind of how the nation views Ohio State.
Cuz we know how we here in Columbus view Ohio State. There's a ton of confidence in this Ohio State football team. And I think that's true of us in the media.
I think that's true of the Ohio State fan base at large. I think it's true with the players, which we'll get to later in the show of some of their comments that they made this past week showing just how confident they are going into this season. But to see it from a national perspective with Ohio State being that comfortable number two, I think it's pretty clear and I agree with it.
That the consensus is the two best teams in college football this year are gonna be Georgia and Ohio State. Now who's gonna be the best team between them? That's tough to say.
In my opinion, I think Ohio State has the best overall roster in college football this year. I think Ohio State is going to have the best defense in college football. I think Ohio State is going to have the best running back tandem in college football.
And I think Ohio State is probably gonna have the best wide receiver group in college football. That's most of the field right there. So that I think gives Ohio State a strong case for being number one.
I think the case Georgia has is Georgia also has a really good roster, but they're better at quarterback and they're better on the offensive line. And so I think that's kind of where when you even start thinking about making national championship predictions, to me, you're kind of debating between those two things of, at least in my mind, and Georgia's got a really good roster too. But in my mind, I do think overall, with the amount of experience stars that this Ohio State football team has returning or coming in from a transfer portal, I think Ohio State has the best roster pound for pound in college football.
But the quarterback and the offensive line are arguably the two most important positions on the field. And I do think Georgia, at least going into the season, has a clear advantage there. And so I think that's why ultimately Georgia is that number one team to start the season.
[Andy Anders]
I think you hit the nail on the head. And Carson Beck is obviously a gamer and should be a Heisman Trophy contender. I think that when you talk about what they have, like you said, across the board, is comparable to Ohio State.
And offensive line quarterback's so vital to a team. And we know Ohio State is facing questions at those positions. And they've started to answer some of them as camp has progressed.
It seems, obviously, Will Howard's emerging as the starter here. And he's looked better and better in the practices that we've watched. To me, I think it's also interesting to look over the rankings and see where teams stand in different people's eyes.
I think Notre Dame is a little too high. This is probably my biggest, like when you talk about teams that may be overranked or underranked. I kind of, you look at what Notre Dame lost from last year.
Sam Hartman, Audrick Estime, who was a 1,300 yard rusher. They're kind of starting trio of wide receivers there. Joe Alt, who was the best tackle in the country probably last year.
And a couple other starters along the offensive line. This is a Notre Dame team that's gonna have to replace a lot. And so as we kind of get into conversations about teams that might be over or underranked in this initial preseason poll, I think Notre Dame is where I start.
Just because there's a lot of quality teams below them in the rankings, whether that be Missouri or teams of that nature. So I think that as you kind of look over this AP Top 25 poll, it's always an interesting exercise just to see where those preseason prognostications are. Dan, anyone that stands out to you as being over or underrated by the Associated Press?
[Dan Hope]
Well, let's run through a poll here a little bit quickly. After Georgia and Ohio State, Oregon is coming in at number three. Texas is at number four.
Alabama, number five. Ole Miss, number six. Notre Dame, seventh.
Penn State, eighth. Michigan, ninth. Florida State, tenth.
Missouri, eleventh. Utah, twelfth. LSU, thirteenth.
Clemson and Tennessee rounding out the top 15. And very similar between the two polls, looking at them side by side. Really the only differences in the coaches poll is the coaches have Michigan eighth and Penn State ninth, and they have LSU twelfth and Utah thirteenth.
And so very similar between the two polls in terms of what the coaches and the media members who vote in the AP poll see. And I don't see anything that I think is egregious. I mean, I would also, if I was a voter, I would have Oregon ranked third.
We've talked about Oregon before. We think they're going to be Ohio State's big competition in the Big Ten this year, and we'll talk a little bit more about that coming up here in a few minutes. You know, Texas with, you know, Quineo is coming back.
You know, a lot of the talent that they have, you know, you figure they're going to be in the thick of that SEC conversation with Texas and Alabama. Ole Miss is a team that I'm maybe not quite as high on as some people, but there are a lot of people who, you know, think they could have a really good season. I agree with you on Missouri.
I mean, we saw it firsthand when we were at the Cotton Bowl last year. That's a good Missouri team, and they returned some very key pieces from that team last year, namely Lufer Burden, who might be the best wide receiver in the country, Brady Cook at quarterback, really all three of their starting receivers from last season, and they've done a good job of, you know, continuing to add some talent in the transfer portal as well. I think, you know, people saw what they did last year, and more and more high-level players are wanting to go be a part of that program.
And so I do think Missouri is a team that I like to be a top-10 team, you know, by the end of this season. I think even in a very strong SEC, I think, you know, they're going to be, you know, right in that conversation. I think the other thing that really stands out when you look at these rankings is you look at it, you know, the SEC, they have eight teams in the top 25.
The Big Ten, they have, what is it, six teams in the top 25. So that's 14 of the top 25 right there coming from those two conferences. And that's interesting when we start to look at projecting out the 12-team field, as our own Garrick Hodge did this week for 11 Warriors.
He looked at the AP poll as it is going into the season and basically put that into a bracket for what that would look like for a college football playoff, which means, you know, if Georgia and Ohio State hold those one and two rankings, they'd get the first two buys. But then the other two buys would go to Florida State, which is ranked 10th going into the season, and Utah, which is ranked 12th going into the season based on them being the projected champions in their respective conferences. And when you see it in that context, suddenly it makes me at least question a little bit whether this format of having the top four seeds automatically be conference champions.
It makes me question that a little bit, just because of the fact that it's pretty clear now the SEC and Big Ten have separated themselves from the other conferences in terms of being two best conferences. And realistically, those three and four seeds that get a first round buy, probably at least one of those teams is not going to actually be one of the four best teams in college football this year.
[Andy Anders]
No, I agree. And I think when you heard earlier this season, you know, around the time of the transition where Ross Bjork was hired, you know, he, other leaders start calling for, you know, maybe the Big Ten and the SEC should have four auto bids to the playoff. That was, I think, something we maybe, you know, you got taken aback by, but it makes sense for where the leagues are trending right now.
And these rankings kind of reflect why they might feel they deserve that big of a seat at the table in the college football playoff and with those kinds of tie-ins. And yeah, I think there's a clear discrepancy in the quality of conference between the Big Ten and the SEC. And then you go to the Big 12 and the ACC.
Obviously, the Pac-12 is now pretty well defunct. But the, it also takes some of the suspense out of, you know, selection process and like late regular season games and things, because, you know, you can sit here and talk about, well, what does Ohio State need to do to get a buy? It's just as simple as win the Big Ten title.
Like if they went 11-0, just for the sake of argument, if they went 11-0, lost to Michigan, and then won the Big Ten title, or even if they went 10-2, I think, you could lose two games in there. You win the Big Ten title, you're going to be one of the four teams that gets a buy in all likelihood. You know, you went 10-2, 11-2, and, you know, it would be hard to lose two games and win a Big Ten title probably this year for Ohio State, just because two of them would have to probably come and conference play.
But just for the sake of the argument, right? I feel like it does take some of the suspense out of the selection process. And if this is all about, you know, drawing eyeballs and getting media attention and those sorts of things, then it might behoove the college football playoff to kind of renovate how they do it in the future.
And again, I think it would also fit the fact that, you know, there's going to be a lot of years where the second best team in the Big Ten or the SEC is going to be better than the best team from the Big 12 or the ACC now. And so as this playoff, as we move into this 12-team era of the playoff, I'll be interested to see how quickly they maybe tune things with the auto bids, with the selection process for the buys and these sorts of things, or whether they just stay patent and stick to the same format for, you know, several more years.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah. And, you know, to be clear, like I do like the fact that there are auto bids for, you know, all of the, you know, major conference champions, uh, you know, as well as that group of five top champion, because, you know, I, you saw it at, we saw it happen to Florida state last year. Like, you know, that's not going to happen this year in terms of at least a team from a power conference.
I mean, you could have Liberty go 12 and 0 and they might get left out because their schedule is paper thin. But in terms of those, you know, power conference teams, you know, that's not going to happen this year. Those teams in those top four conferences, no, they all have a guaranteed path to the playoff.
Go win your conference, you win your conference, you're, you're, you're going to be in. And so I think, you know, that is a good thing because you do have that guaranteed path now. Um, and, and it does certainly add value to those conference championships, which I think is a big reason why they did it that way, because they want to add value.
I think just a problem with it is because the big 10 and sec have made themselves so much stronger than the other leagues. Now it's like, well, you know, you know, are those really the four teams that deserve a buy? I think that's definitely a conversation we're having.
And as we know, you know, this format as it stands is only locked in for the next two years. There's going to be a new contract in place for the 2026 playoff. And a lot could change, you know, it could be as simple as just the format of seating changing.
It could be expansion to 16 teams. You know, there's a lot of things that could change. One thing that I know has been reported is that they're not going to make any firm decisions on the next playoff format until after this year's playoff is over.
And so I think that's one of the things that will be evaluated kind of as the season goes along. And it could play itself out. Like you could have a team in the ACC and a team in the big 12 both run the table and you know, they're, they're clearly belong in that top four and it could be a non-issue.
But I do know, you know, we were asked by Eric for a piece that he's going to run this weekend to make our predictions for what the college football playoff would look like this year. And I know for me, it was like, for me, it was like, okay, which SEC teams do I leave out? Because realistically, you know, when I, when I looked at it for, you know, making my picks for the CFP, I mean, I, I feel like there's really six SEC teams that are strongly in that conversation between Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, LSU, and Ole Miss.
And it's, it's hard to leave. It was almost hard to leave any of those teams out because I feel like they'll all be top 12 teams. You know, we've, we've said it before.
We agree that we think it's likely the big 10 will have three playoff teams this year between Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State. I do not have Michigan in my top 12 because of the fact that they play Texas, Oregon, and Ohio State who are three of the top four teams in the country. And I don't think you're getting in at nine and three.
And so I have it in my bracket that I submitted. I have an Ohio State and Georgia getting those, those first two buys as the big 10 and SEC champions. I have Arizona winning the big 12.
That's maybe kind of my upset pick there. I mean, the big 12 to me, that's kind of where I look at it because I go back, that division feels like a total crap shoot. I feel like everybody's going to have at least one, maybe two losses in that conference.
And it's going to be kind of a battle royale for who can emerge at the top of that conference. But I'm going with Arizona. I really like Noah Fafita at quarterback.
I know they lost a lot of guys transferring after Jed Fish left for Washington, but I still think that team has enough pieces in place where they can be a real contender in that conference. I've got Florida State as my ACC champion, kind of, kind of waffled between Florida State and Clemson there, but I do think Florida State has a slightly stronger roster between them going into the 2024 season. I went with Boise State for my group of five bid that, you know, they do have a tough non-conference game against Oregon, but I do think they're the best group of five team.
And I think if let's say Boise State goes 11 and one and Liberty goes 12 and oh, I think Boise State gets that nod because Liberty really doesn't have anybody on its schedule who's going to come even close to sniffing the CFP. Whereas Boise State has a much stronger just schedule in general. And I think they'll be forgiven if they lose that came to Oregon because Oregon is almost certainly going to be a CFP team.
And so then for my at-large picks, I went with Oregon, Notre Dame, Texas, Penn State, Missouri, Alabama, and LSU. And some people probably think I'm an SEC homer for putting five SEC teams in the field, but it's a strong conference. They got a lot of really good teams.
And I do think the other thing that's going to be very interesting to see with this committee is like, okay, let's, you know, if, if you're debating, you know, whether it's a, you know, 11 and one Clemson versus, you know, a 10 and two SEC team, or it could be 10 and two, nine and three, whatever. It's going to be interesting to see how does the committee wave effect that the SEC and big 10 are clearly the two best conferences versus teams overall records. And I, I, I tend to think, you know, certainly in case of identical records, the SEC and the big 10 are going to get favored over the other conferences.
I'm going to be interested to see, you know, could we see, you know, teams with worse records in the SEC and big 10, get those at-large bids over teams in the ACC and big 12, just because the committee can sit there and say, well, those teams had a much tougher schedule because of a conference, right?
[Andy Anders]
No, that'll absolutely be an interesting debate that comes up when you're deciding, you know, along that 12 seed line, who are the last handful of at-larges that go in, or I guess the 11 seed lines, that 12 is probably going to go to the group of five champ, but running through my playoff picks to Ohio state, Georgia, or my big 10 and SEC champs, just the same as you, I have Oklahoma state winning the big 12. I really like what they have on offense, especially with Ollie Gordon, who was, you know, our, we submitted our Heisman picks as part of this.
I was shocked to see, like, you can get some really long odds on Ollie for the Heisman, it seems, because the top 23 on either DraftKings or FanDuel, the top 23 Heisman odds are all quarterbacks, which is crazy. Chase wrote about that in the Skull Session this morning, our own Chase Brown here, who works with us at 11 Warriors. So, but I really like what Oklahoma state has, and I'm a big believer that they can go out and win the big 12 this year, now that Oklahoma and Texas are gone, sort of the demons of that league.
But you got Florida state, I'm also with you as the ACC champ. And then my group of five champ, or the group of five champion I have getting into the playoffs, rather, is Tulane. Tulane's got an interesting setup because they have games against both Oklahoma and Kansas state in their non-conference.
So if they can pull an upset there and then go undefeated in the American, I think they'll have a fantastic shot at getting in with a one-loss resume if you can pull off a ranked upset there. As far as other at-larges go, Texas, Oregon, Missouri were the three easiest picks for me. I think that those three, for me, are kind of in another tier below those conference champions, or even better than maybe, like, I would probably say Texas, Oregon, Missouri have better teams coming back this year than, you know, I'm an Oklahoma state believer, like I said.
But I think they're a tier above them, probably. Penn State, we've talked about that before. Clemson, I think, will still get in despite not winning the ACC title this year.
I think they'll be right on that borderline case. I'm actually probably going to switch up a couple of my picks here. My, I would probably put Ole Miss into the playoff just right now as it stands.
And then my last team is Kansas. So I wanted to put a wild card pick in there. I like the Jayhawks.
And why not throw a second Big 12 team into the mix? So those are the rest of my at-large selections.
[Dan Hope]
To make sure I heard you correctly, did you not have Alabama in your playoff? I did not have Alabama in my playoff, no. That's interesting, because I debated leaving them out too, because they've got a tough schedule.
If you look at their schedule that they have for this season coming up, they got a tough road to getting the record they're going to need to play off. They play Georgia. They play at Tennessee.
They play Missouri. They play at LSU. They play at Oklahoma.
So there's a lot of potential pitfalls there for Alabama. Now, again, why did I put them in? It goes back to what I was just saying about that benefit of the doubt, where, again, if it's 10-2 Alabama versus 10-2 Clemson, Alabama's getting that nod, because their schedule's clearly stronger.
So that's why I personally went with Alabama, because I just think they're going to get that benefit of the doubt if it's a close conversation. But I think that's where the suspense comes in. You were talking about, oh, does it take some of the suspense away if the buys?
Yeah, it takes a little suspense away if those top four seeds. But there's going to be plenty of suspense, plenty of debate with those five through 11 seeds and then the 12 seeds separately. And I think that's what's going to make this a lot of fun.
And even just when you then look at the bracket, we will just go off the one based on the AP for the time being, because I don't know that I necessarily have it ranked with the at-large teams that I put in there. But you look at what the projected field will look like right now. You would have first-round games of Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oregon, Boise State, Alabama, Penn State, Texas, Michigan.
Like, those are fun games. And interestingly enough, two of those would be regular season rematches, because Oregon plays Boise State and Texas plays Michigan in non-conference play. We've talked about it in the past.
I still don't fully believe the committee when they say they're just going to rank them, however, and they're not going to worry about rematches. I'm still skeptical that they might fudge the rankings a little bit to try to get the matchups they want. But you just look at those four games.
That's going to be a fun Friday and Saturday of watching college football, watching Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oregon, Boise State, Alabama, Penn State, Texas, Michigan. That'd be a lot of fun watching those four games trying to advance to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.
[Andy Anders]
Especially getting them on home campuses, man. You talk about the potential of an SEC team to go play in the cold. You know, it's very possible it could happen this year.
It's very possible. You know, you mentioned Alabama's schedule, too. I think another game I wanted to mention there is they have to go to Wisconsin early in the season, which is going to be a test for them having a new head coach with Kalen DeBoer.
Off topic, though, of what we're discussing now with the 12-team playoff. And you're right. I am on record probably being skeptical of the 12-team playoff in the past.
I still think if you're actually trying to determine who's the best team in college football, it throws a little more like, you know, you're going to have three lost teams in the mix. And that's, you know.
[Dan Hope]
Well, I think it's also a question of best versus most deserving, right? I think there's maybe a better chance that the final four teams are your best teams but they might not be your four most deserving teams because, again, we talk about it with those buys. If we're looking at what those matchups could be, at least for me, Texas-Michigan winner versus Florida State, I'm probably picking Texas or Michigan.
If you go Oregon-Utah, I'm definitely picking Oregon. I think those buys are going to make it where, because the ACC and Big 12 look like weaker conferences, I think you're going to see at least one good chance of two first-round teams make a run to at least the semifinals. And that's what you want.
You don't want it to just be all chalk because then it's like, what's the point? So I think you are going to see, I don't think this is going to become the NCAA tournament in terms of huge upsets. I don't think it's particularly likely that the 12th seed is going to make a run to the championship game.
But you look at the rest of those teams in there, there's going to be potential for upsets in every game. And yeah, the reward of having a great regular season, a really great regular season is no longer what it once was. Because if you're Georgia or Ohio State or Oregon, whoever, you can run the table, go 13-0 in a really good conference, and you've still got to win three more games to win the national championship.
And so the reward for having a really great regular season is not going to be the same as it once was. But you're also going to have more teams in that conversation that really get a chance to prove themselves at the end of the year.
[Andy Anders]
Right. And that's a lot of the point I was getting to is that someone who was skeptical of the 12-team playoff when it was first announced, when we were talking about expanding from four in the past, I think the fun element is maybe something that I undervalued. It's just like getting to see these matchups that you couldn't imagine having this many great high-end matchups on a weekend with these four first-round games on campuses you're going to get.
You're going to see the upsets, like you said. Maybe a Cinderella run happens. Maybe a group of five teams makes a semifinal one year.
That would be really fun. I just think the L, you know, the trade-off for me was always what you said, is that the value of the regular season was one of the things that made college football unique for me in the past, in terms of that you had such little margin for error. You look at all the pro sports leagues around, a lot of the other college leagues, you can afford to lose games in a lot of places and still go win the ultimate prize, whatever the championship for that sport is.
But that was one of the things that separated college football in the past. However, I'm not sitting here saying it's a bad trade-off to lose some of that regular season value and get the element of fun that the 12th team playoff is going to bring. And now that it's here, I'm fully embracing it.
I'm fully on board. Let's go. I'll be ready to watch those first-round games on campuses, ready to cover one if Ohio State plays the first round of the playoffs.
And I'm excited for it now that it's here. That's kind of the overarching message I want to get across. As someone who was skeptical in the past, now that it's here, I'm ready to roll with it.
[Dan Hope]
Well, at the end of the day, it's entertainment, right? Like at the end of the day, it's supposed to be fun. Sports are supposed to be fun.
So it's okay if you have some added variables that maybe don't always necessarily result in the two best teams playing in that national championship game, but it's going to be a lot of fun to watch. At the end of the day, sports are supposed to be fun. I mean, again, you think about it with college basketball, like how fun March Madness is.
We can certainly sit here, I think, and rationally agree that March Madness does not always result in the best team winning the national championship. But it's a lot of fun to watch. It's why people love college basketball.
I think this has the potential to even kind of bring in audiences, maybe people who haven't been as excited about college football as maybe the NFL in the past. I think you might get some more of those people tuning in to watch this playoff. People who maybe don't live it and breathe it every week like we do, like so many of our listeners do.
The people who are maybe more casual sports fans, I think this is going to bring more of those people in to watch college football in a way that maybe the current structure hasn't.
[Andy Anders]
Yeah. It'll also, I think, pay dividends in terms of parity, which is something that we've talked about in the past, where if you are a team that's made the playoffs, normally the number 11, 12 team in the country isn't going to be able to contend with the biggest programs for the most attractive recruits. But you can pitch them on, hey, we've made the playoffs, we've shown that we can contend for the national title, and now you can be one of the pieces that helps us get over the top and actually try and win this whole thing.
I do think it's going to be good for parity in the sport, too, for people that are, a lot of people are fans of parity. So that is another element of it that I think will be beneficial moving forward. This has all been a lot of great national conversation, Dan, but I do think we want to get back to talking a little bit about Ohio State and what their schedule looks like this year, what their path to the playoff kind of looks like.
Our win confidence rankings came out this morning on 11 Warriors, and I think there's a clear division of games between, and you split it up this way, sort of the tiers of games that Ohio State will play this year. In tier one, it's the first three, it's the non-conference, Akron, Western, Michigan, Marshall. Those are all games Ohio State should cruise through in the non-conference.
Then you step it up a tier, you got Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, which should on paper be your easiest Big Ten wins, especially those that are at home. Michigan State on the road, sort of in between tier two and three, like on paper, given how much Michigan State has struggled in recent years, some of the turmoil that program has gone through with what happened with Mel Tucker last year, all of that, on paper should be one that's easy enough to win, but on the road, you never know what can happen. It's the Big Ten, Michigan State's given Ohio State plenty of issues in the past.
Nebraska and Iowa kind of in that can't be overlooked tier, you shouldn't really sleep on those teams and those games, even though you play both of them at home. Those are two teams that could have, I just think, really good quality teams this year. Then tier four, the three games we've talked about all off season as the three biggest tests for Ohio State this season, at Penn State, at Oregon, Michigan.
Oregon was ranked as the toughest game by our collective vote of the staff. Michigan was number two, and then Penn State number three, as your kind of like 12th lowest confidence for Oregon, right? So we ranked it as the toughest.
So Dan, are there any games that you think that you would put higher on that list or lower? Are there any, like, I guess, what game do you also point out maybe outside of those big three and say, this is the team that could give Ohio State the most trouble?
[Dan Hope]
Yeah, so I personally put Michigan State at ninth on my ballot in terms of win confidence. That being that it's the game that concerns me the most outside of Oregon being at the top of my ballot, followed by Michigan and Penn State. And I think Michigan State was probably the most polarizing team on our rankings because they were ranked as high as fourth.
You know, if somebody's saying that was the game that they were most confident Ohio State would win outside of those three non-conference games, I had it as the game that I was least confident Ohio State would win outside of those three biggest tests of years. And now with that being said, I still fully expect Ohio State to beat Michigan State. I would be very surprised if the Buckeyes lost to Michigan State.
But the reason I put them there were a couple reasons. One, it's the first road game of the year and it's the first conference game of the year. And so while Michigan State may not be expected to be a good team this year, it's still going to be a significant step up in competition from Akron, Western Michigan, and Marshall, who everybody on our staff agreed are the three easiest games of the year.
And those are three games that frankly have no business being competitive or close in any way. I mean, those are three teams that are not even good teams really by group of five standard, let alone going up against maybe the most talented team in the country. So the Michigan State game, that's going to really be really kind of the first real game of the year to some degree for Ohio State.
Again, having to go on the road, having to play a Big Ten team. And I think the big wild card for me for Michigan State this year is Aiden Childs. Because if Aiden Childs lives up to his potential, he could be right up there as one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten this year.
Just seeing what he did in limited action last year at Oregon State. He's got a rocket arm. He's a great athlete.
He's a guy who's got all the tools to where he has the potential to be a very, very good quarterback in the Big Ten over the next two to three years. And so he doesn't have a ton around him to work with. And so I still think Ohio State's defense is going to have the upper hand in that game.
I don't think Michigan State's defense is going to match up great with Ohio State's offense. But I put that game above Nebraska and Iowa in terms of the toughest games. Because it is on the road.
And there's going to be a lot of unknowns going into that game. I do think, as you said, Iowa and Nebraska are two of our games that can't be overlooked. I mean, Iowa might be Ohio State's top competition for having the best defense in the conference.
I do think their offense will be better than it's been the last few years. Now, it has to be a lot better if Iowa's going to beat Ohio State. And I don't know if it'll be a lot better.
But I think it will be better enough that Iowa can at least keep that game competitive. And again, much like with Michigan State, you go into the next week of a season, fifth game in a row, or fifth game to start the season. That's going to be, to that point, the toughest test that Ohio State has faced.
So I put Iowa eighth on my ballot in terms of win confidence. Nebraska, I put seventh. I do think this is going to be the best Nebraska team in some time.
Nebraska's had seven straight losing seasons. I think Nebraska is going to be a winning team this year. I think they have a better roster.
I think Dylan Raiola, while he's a freshman, is going to give them a spark that they haven't had from a quarterback position in quite some time. And so, you look at Nebraska's schedule, it's not a tough schedule. It's not out of a question that Nebraska could come into that game at Ohio Stadium 7-0.
I'm not predicting that they will. But it's not out of a question because they could be favored in just about all of those first seven games. Now, I do feel more confident in Ohio State winning that game than I do Michigan State and Iowa because of the fact that, one, Ohio State's going to be coming off a bye.
They have the Oregon game, and then they have a week off. So they're going to be coming off a bye. I feel like that's probably the most likely game out of a Western Michigan one that's already been scheduled to end up being a home night game.
And so if it is, you know it'll be an electric environment in the shoe. And you've got to think Ohio State's going to be a little bit hungrier to make a statement in that game because of Dylan Raiola, because of him being an Ohio State commit at one time and then choosing to go to Nebraska. You might think Ohio State might just have a little bit of extra fuel for that one, not that it necessarily needs it.
But you might think, man, maybe it'll be a little extra motivated to make a statement in that game to show Dylan what he missed out on.
[Andy Anders]
I agree with that assessment. I do think Nebraska has a good chance to walk into that game undefeated, obviously with the schedule they have in front of it. They play UTEP at home, Colorado at home, who I don't think the Buffaloes are going to be very good this year, just based on Deion Sanders' antics this offseason.
[Dan Hope]
Coach Prime is never going to talk to 11 Warriors again. He will refuse to answer our questions because of that.
[Andy Anders]
I'm getting subtweeted tomorrow. Northern Iowa at home, Illinois at home, at Purdue, home against Rutgers. I mean, that might be their toughest game before they play Ohio State, other than I guess Colorado, depending on what your opinions of Colorado are.
Like I said, mine aren't very high. They go to Indiana. I take Rutgers to beat Colorado.
Oh, yeah. And they go to Indiana, which, you know, rebuilding as much as I love Kurt Cignetti. And then they come to Ohio State.
So I think they have a great chance to roll into that game undefeated. And that rule, I think, is the real deal as a college coach. Showed it at Baylor.
Sometimes when these guys go to the NFL and they don't have success, people forget how good they were at the college level, and then it's two completely different types of coaching. People go fail at the NFL, and they come back, and they're great college coaches. Again, we've seen it happen in a lot of examples.
I'm high on what Nebraska can achieve, but I did have Iowa as a game I was less confident in for Ohio State. They were lowest on my win confidence after those three that we mentioned, obviously the big three. And Iowa, there's some interesting stuff with Iowa this year.
The question is, obviously, how good can their offense be? Because that defense has been awesome year in and year out for the Hawkeyes, frankly. And they've had the last, however many years, however many years, Brian Ferentz was there, one of the worst offenses in the country.
And they finally changed their offensive coordinator, brought in Tim Lester. And they also have a quarterback competition that wasn't expected to be a quarterback competition kind of going on right now between Brandon Sullivan and Cade McNamara, where McNamara was pretty much penciled in as the team's starter for a long time this offseason, but apparently Sullivan's been looking better in some practices, and now there's sort of some controversy developing there, which is interesting to see.
So where Iowa's offense is at is going to determine how big of a challenge that is for Ohio State, because I've said it before, Iowa had national title caliber defenses some of these years that were made to look like a B-tier at best team because of how bad their offense was. If you had even a mediocre offense on some of those Iowa teams, heck, they could have been in some of the college football playoff discussion even, I think, if you had average for the Big Ten or better offenses. So what they can do, what Tim Lester can do in year one, and it's tough to implement a scheme that quickly, is going to determine a lot for that game, obviously.
Now, there was a discrepancy in our top three in the fact that I was more confident in Ohio State's ability to beat Michigan than you were. We had them flipped. I had Michigan 10th, you had Penn State 10th, and then 11th, 11th, and the vice versa there.
So I see Penn State, that road game, as Ohio State's second toughest game. Dan, why do you see Michigan as a tougher test this year than Penn State?
[Dan Hope]
Because Ohio State has lost four years in a row to Michigan, and it's beaten Penn State seven years in a row. It's really that simple. I mean, to be honest, I think which one of those teams is better, I could go either way on that.
I think Penn State probably will have a better offense this year than Michigan, even with some question marks around Drew Aller and their receiving core, I think their offense will probably be better than Michigan's this year. I think their defenses could be comparable. So that's one, I could kind of go either way on whether Penn State or Michigan will be the better team this year.
As we've talked about before, I have Penn State in the playoff and not Michigan, because Michigan's schedule is significantly tougher than Penn State, who really doesn't have any tough games on their schedule outside of playing Ohio State. And so who's the better team there? That could go either way.
But I have Michigan as the tougher game because Ohio State has to prove that it can beat Michigan, whereas Penn State has to prove that it can beat Ohio State. And I can see the other side of the argument because you're going to play Penn State on the road, whereas you're going to have Michigan at home. But just based on the recent history and those matchups that we see every year, I am more confident.
I expect Ohio State to win both games, but I am more confident that Ohio State will beat Penn State than I am that Ohio State will beat Michigan.
[Andy Anders]
Yeah, that's absolutely a valid point. For me, I'm always like when I'm looking at a team's schedule, sometimes I try to isolate previous years and previous trends because I'm of the opinion, and I don't think there's a right way to think about this. I'm of the opinion that last year and trends against certain teams don't influence the results of the following game as much as sometimes it's made out to be.
It's a little different in this rivalry, I'll grant, because you look at what happened in the Cooper years and all these things and the dominance that Ohio State had under Trestle, under Urban Meyer. This game's a little different maybe, but for me, I always think that yes, Ohio State needs to prove they can beat Michigan this year, but I'm not sure if the narrative and the expectations surrounding this game will play as much into it. And when I look at just like, I think Penn State and Michigan have pretty comparable rosters, like you said, and I think it's just much tougher to go on the road.
It's super loud in State College, and that side of it is why I ranked them ahead of each other. But obviously we're a long way off from either of those games, Ohio State still going through fall camp. And we didn't learn necessarily as much from this past week as the week before we recorded our last episode of Real Pod Wednesdays because we got to watch a bunch of practices.
We had more interviews, although we had plenty of interesting interviews from this week. Still, just headline here, Will Howard has not been named a starting quarterback yet, but things continue to sort of be trending in that direction. And to me, I think there's a good chance he's named the starter this week, could happen.
And I think one of the reasons I feel that way is because of what Ryan Day and Denzel Burke especially said about him this week.
[Denzel Burke]
Will Howard's been gaming. He's gotten a lot better, and he's been doing his thing. Great reads.
He's only thrown one interception all camp.
[Reporter]
Yeah, I saw it.
[Denzel Burke]
That was to you.
[Reporter]
That was to you.
[Denzel Burke]
But nah, man, he's a great leader, great person. He's a vet, and he's a great quarterback.
[Ryan Day]
I think this preseason you've noticed a total command of the offense. He's put some work in, I think, this summer. Not only on his body, and by the way, I think it was 2% body fat that he changed.
And so that part was big, but also just understanding of the offense. He's worked on his throwing mechanics. But if you just said, give me the one thing that looks different this preseason, it's his command of the offense, the way that he's making decisions, and his movement.
[Dan Hope]
We've talked about it before that Denzel Burke has almost felt like the arbiter of truth on Will Howard. Because he's known for being blunt, for being straightforward, for not sugarcoating things. If somebody's not doing great in practice, he's not going to come out there and say, oh yeah, he looks great.
He's not going to always give you that politically correct coach speak answer. He's going to kind of tell you how he feels. And when we had talked to him in the spring, when we had talked to him at Big Ten Media Days, it was a lot of, I've got to see more from Will.
I hope he gets there, but we haven't seen it yet. And his tenor was completely different when we talked to him last week of like, oh yeah, he's a great quarterback, he looks great. So to hear him say that, I think that really, again, when we talked about our concerns about Will in the spring, I feel like kind of the first big red flag for me was when Denzel came out and said, yeah, we'll see about him.
That was kind of when I'm like, oh, okay, do we need to actually watch for a real quarterback competition here? And I think now you kind of flip the page the other side and go, okay, if Denzel Burke is sitting out there and he's saying, yeah, this guy's a great quarterback, we love what we're seeing from him, then Will Howard's going to be the starting quarterback. I think it's only a matter of time before Will gets named that starter.
We will see what Ryan Day decides to do this week in terms of whether he wants to name a starter, or whether he wants to go into the second scrimmage, see how that plays out before naming a starting quarterback. But I think everything is trending toward that direction. And Ryan Day has said he wanted to name a quarterback within those first couple weeks of preseason camp.
And so what we're getting to about that time, and certainly regardless of where that ends up going, we'll certainly talk more about that on next week's episode of Real PUD Wednesdays. This past week did give us our first chance to talk to Jeremiah Smith, and he was very humble in his interview. Of course, we've heard everybody else talk about how great Jeremiah is, but Jeremiah said he's kind of trying to block out that noise.
He doesn't want to let the hype distract him from continuing to work hard. So he's just kind of keeping his head down. And focusing on trying to help the team win games.
I think for a freshman in his first interview session as a Buckeye, he really said all the right things. And everybody keeps saying the right things about him, that's for sure. And we got another example of that last week when Jeremiah Smith was one of 10 players named as Iron Buckeyes by Mickey Mirati and his strength and conditioning staff.
All the other players on that list are in at least their third year at Ohio State. They're all expected to play major roles for Ohio State this season. Jeremiah Smith became the first freshman ever named an Iron Buckeye by Mickey Mirati and his strength staff.
So that just tells you right there, you know, we've heard Ryan Day say it before. I mean, it's clear this guy is freaky talented. I mean, his ability is through the roof.
But what is really on top of that, giving him a chance to really be a major impact player from day one, is it's not just his talent. It's also how hard he works. It's the work he's putting in behind the scenes every day to be great.
And when you combine that with just how naturally gifted he is, that's why you've said it here on this show before, Andy, you are very confident he's going to be a 1,000-yard receiver in year one.
[Andy Anders]
It's been amazing to also just to get to talk to him. We don't normally get to talk to freshmen in the preseason before their first year at Ohio State. We also got to talk to James Peebles last week.
So it's been cool to see that access sort of opened up. But when you just stand there and listen to Jeremiah speak, and just this is a kid who has literally the world in his hands, you know, and just all this hype around him. And he's so down to earth and humble when you speak to him.
I think it just took me aback when I was standing there and listening to him talk about his work ethic and how, again, he's shutting out that noise, talking about his dad, inspiring that in him, talking about, you know, the people he looks up to and just his approach. And that is like the Iron Buckeye thing speaks massive volumes. That's not something that Mickey Marotti is just throwing out to generate hype for this kid.
That is something that is taken very seriously in the Ohio State program by the Strength and Conditioning staff. And we also saw Jeremiah become the earliest freshman ever to shed his black stripe this spring. He's breaking records before he even steps on the field.
And yeah, every week there's a new round of hype to be had about this kid. I, like you said, I believe he's destined for a thousand yard season. And I think there's a lot of confidence coming from other players, too, to maybe back up that assertion.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah, while Jeremiah Smith didn't necessarily want to go out there and state any specific goals for himself this year in terms of statistics, we saw several other players do that last week, including Carnell Tate, Jordan Hancock and Brandon Innes.
[Carnell Tate]
All three of us or four of us can have a thousand yards. We got two great running backs. They can have a thousand yards.
So we just we got to come together as an offense to execute.
[Jordan Hancock]
Go get probably like at least five interceptions. I need five.
[Dan Hope]
I know you've gotten a lot of reps at punt returner. What do you kind of asset do you feel like you can be if you end up getting that role this year?
[Brandon Inniss]
I'm definitely going to score a touchdown.
[Emeka Egbuka]
We have the best running back backfield in the entire nation and we have the best receiver unit in the nation. So we're kind of jack of all trades.
[Dan Hope]
It's clear this team does not lack confidence, Andy. Now we know this can go two ways. You know, this is it's not a bad thing that this team has a lot of confidence.
I think, you know, they go out there and they play with that confidence that manifests into playing in a very confident way on the field. I think it can be a very good thing for his team. They may need that confidence to get them over the top in games like the Oregon game and the Michigan game and the Penn State game like we just talked about.
But you now have to go back it up on the field.
[Andy Anders]
Trash talk only becomes a negative when you can't back up the talk, because if you're going to get in the face of your opponent and let them know, you know, hey, what this is how it is, then it's got to be that way. You know, that's a roundabout way of saying things. But you can motivate somebody when, you know, you express that confidence outwardly.
I, for one, believe that you should be who you are on a football field. And if you want to talk trash and that's how you get the best play out of yourself, do it. If you don't, then don't, you know, don't don't force it.
But it's clear that it's a part of this team's identity. When you listen to these receivers and these defensive backs talk about the practice battles they have, especially when Davison Iguinosa gets brought up and just how much trash he talks. You have a crop of South Florida-based receivers kind of behind a Mecca, right, with Brandon Innes and Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith, these guys that played for South Florida Express.
Trash talk is a part of the culture there. It's a huge, that competitive fire is a huge part of why that area of the country produces so much great skill talent. And just the battles that are being had in practice.
It's very entertaining to listen to Brandon Innes and these players talk about, you know, just the drawing back and forth that goes on between these veteran cornerbacks and these South Florida boys. Has the trash talk intensified in fall camp?
[Brandon Inniss]
Oh yeah, for sure. Me and ITB probably have went at it every day so far.
[Andy Anders]
What's your main way to try and get under his skin?
[Brandon Inniss]
Probably my main way to get under his skin is just say some things I can't say out loud right here. Yeah, that's pretty much it.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah, we've heard Brandon Innes say it before, Davison Iguinosa, and he's almost like an honorary South Floridian. He has that dog mentality, as the kids like to say, that is reminiscent to what, you know, Brandon Innes and Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith have seen down there playing their high school football in South Florida. I think, you know, those receivers and DBs, they're having a lot of fun with it.
I mean, again, I mean, I think the receivers, they feel like they have the best receiving core in the country. The secondary, they feel like they're the best secondary in the country. And so they feel like they're just getting each other better every single day.
And I think they feel like, you know, most of his games, like this is going to be harder than most games, like going up against each other is going to be harder. So I think they just feel like they're making each other better. I think it's very healthy, the competition.
I think, you know, the trash talk, it's not anything negative, you know, it's not leading to, you know, fights or anything like that on a field or bad blood. It's just really just that competitiveness in both sides really kind of fueling each other up. And we talked about that, you know, going into camp.
But the thing you really needed to see was we know this defense is going to be really good. You need the offense. The offense does not need to dominate out there.
It shouldn't dominate out there because that defense is too good. But they need to be competitive. They need to get their wins.
You want to see the wins on both sides and you get the impression that's been the case. You know, we weren't able to attend the scrimmage on Saturday. We aren't expected to get to watch any more practices before that first game on August 31.
So now we're kind of going more off of what we hear versus what we see. But it was great getting the opportunity, you know, to watch five preseason practices. I think that gave, you know, certainly me, you know, a better feel for kind of where this team is at.
And it doesn't feel like there's a ton of, you know, unanswered questions left at this point, more than just like how good can this team really be? Like, you know, I think we expect, you know, Will Howard's going to be that starting quarterback. I think right guard is still probably the biggest question mark in terms of who's going to be that starter.
You know, we saw when we were at practice last week, a lot of the offensive linemen were sick. That included Carson Hinsman. And so we haven't really gotten to see a full look at that right guard competition.
I think Tegra Shabola has done a good job of taking advantage of those reps that he's gotten. But we haven't, we haven't been able, at least with our own eyes, to see enough of Carson Hinsman yet to really evaluate him in that battle. And so I think that's still a question mark, but, you know, one that they have to kind of get straightened out here over the next couple weeks.
I know we have been impressed, though, you know, by what we've seen from the defensive line depth. Anyone in particular, Andy, that's really stood out to you?
[Andy Anders]
From the defensive line depth, specifically, I would say, you know, we've talked about that next wave of guys. Hiro Kanu has been awesome in these practices. They've kind of mixed in a lot of the depth with the starters, trying to keep guys, you know, especially JT Tuimolo, while he has had limited reps, they're keeping some guys healthy.
And I think that's smart with some, how many reps are on some of these guys' bodies. You want to get them, obviously, in season form, but you want to manage just the hits they're taking. I think Edric Houston's really stood out, especially the later practices we saw.
And he's not going to be a part of the defense this year, in all likelihood. They have three defensive ends behind Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimolo that are likely ahead of him on the depth chart with Mitchell Melton, Caden Curry, and Kenyatta Jackson Jr. But for the future, that's a great trend, and I could definitely see him getting involved in the defense next year. Five-star defensive end, and I think he's shown some of that ability here in some of these early practices.
Another guy I wanted to highlight that I don't think we've talked about enough is Carnell Tate. I wrote a story about him earlier this week. All the hype that's surrounding Jeremiah Smith, and I've mentioned what I've seen from Brandon Ennis a few times in practice, I think, whether it's in these or press coverage.
From our observations. But Carnell, I've been really taken aback by his catch radius, and Brian Hartline said it when we talked to them, his catch radius, his hands. I said catch radius already.
His hands. In combination with that catch radius. He can jump up and spear a football and just look like suction cups, you know, like the good receivers do.
Snagging that thing and bringing it down. They can move him around the offense. Brian Hartline says they feel good playing him at, you know, basically all three receiver positions.
And so I think Carnell Tate is another receiver. It's going to be really interesting to see after Emeka Buka, what the pecking order actually kind of ends up being. Like, we expect all four of those top four to get significant reps in the offense, but who's actually, in terms of production, the number two receiver, number three receiver on this team.
That's an interesting storyline for me to follow. I don't think it's one that's going to make or break their season. They're great at receiver either way, but who is it that claims stake to those sort of number two, number three options behind Emeka?
And I think Carnell Tate, Brandon Ness, and Jeremiah Smith have all three had awesome flashes in camp that lead you to say, yeah, all of these guys are just going to be really good.
[Dan Hope]
It feels absurd to say because I think Marvin Harrison Jr. is the best receiver that's ever played at Ohio State, but I really think this receiving might be better than last year's receiving corps. And it's just because I think they have four guys who all can be really, really good. Whereas I think last year you had two guys that were really, really good, and then you had other guys who were good.
But I think this year you have four guys who can legitimately be stars. And that's why I don't think that any one player in that group is going to be as good as Marvin Harrison Jr. Was the last two years, a year from now, I might be saying Jeremiah Smith can be that. I'm not going to say that yet because he's a freshman, but I don't think that any one of those guys will individually be as good as Marvin Harrison Jr. Was the last two years. But I think collectively like that group, I do think they're going to be the best receiving corps in the country. I really do. Even though only one of them is proven in a Mecca, Bucca, just everything you see and hear about Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith, and Brandon Innes gives me reason to believe all three of those guys are going to be really, really good.
[Andy Anders]
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I think another couple of names I did want to mention from the linebacking corps, Gabe Powers and Arvell Reese have looked really good in practice to me. Arvell, a little more pass coverage, kind of playing the field, doing some different things.
And Gabe Powers has been really involved, especially stopping the run at that Mike position and really setting himself up well. If he doesn't get involved in the defense this year, I think I feel a lot better about him as the starting Mike next year than I did entering this fall camp. And Arvell Reese is a guy who I think the more I watch him, the more I'm intrigued by his skill set.
So it's a lot of those depth pieces on defense that are really shining in these practices as veterans have reps limited or we kind of already know what some of those guys can do. So a lot of those depth pieces have really shown out on defense to me. But I think that's kind of the overarching feel I get from that side of the ball washing in practice is like, yeah, this team's awesome at the top, but they're also really deep.
And I think that depth is shown even at safety too, like a little more than I thought it would with how good Jalen McClain has looked and kind of maybe emerging as a candidate to be on the two deep despite having Jaden Bonsu and Kenan Nelson Jr. in front of him. So I think the depth at every position of every level of the defense is even stronger than I thought it was entering fall camp based off what I've seen in fall camp.
[Dan Hope]
Yeah. And you mentioned Edgar Houston. You mentioned Jalen McClain, another defensive freshman worth mentioning, Peyton Pierce.
He just lost his black stripe on Tuesday. And we heard James Laurinaitis say a lot of really good things about him last week. And so that linebacker depth, we think Sonny Stiles is probably going to be that starting wheel linebacker.
We think CJ Hicks is going to have a role in this defense as well. But that linebacker depth, I think that's another area where even with losing Tommy Eikenberg and Steele Chambers, their depth might be stronger this year because I think guys like CJ Hicks and Gabe Powers and Arvell Reese have all made steps toward where Ohio State feels comfortable playing them in a way that they probably wouldn't have a year ago along with Sonny Stiles making that transition down to linebacker from safety.
So once again, there's a lot to be excited about with this Ohio State football team. We're only a couple weeks away from actually seeing this Ohio State football team play in a real game. And so we're really excited for that.
And we're going to keep counting you down to the season here on Real Pod Wednesdays. So we hope you'll join us again next week. Keep up with our season preview over at 11warriors.com where we will have lots and lots more Ohio State football coverage to come leading up to that season opener against Akron at Ohio Stadium on August 31.