Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Stephen Means (00:05.401)

Welcome back to Book Right Talk. I’m Stephen Means. That’s the phone. Christ, Nick and that’s Andrew Gillis. And we’re coming to you at two thirty in the morning, somewhere just outside of East Lansing, Michigan, after Ohio State’s thirty eight to seven win over Michigan State. We are not going to go along here. We’re going to go about 20 to 25 minutes because it is late. This was the right game. And quite frankly, we still have to get home. Stefan and I will get into some of this stuff.

on the Monday pod, but I’m just going to be frank with you. We’re also going to talk a lot about Jeremiah Smith on the Monday pod because we’ve kind of just reached that point here where we don’t know how to talk about him in a non hyperbolic way. So maybe if we bring some other freshmen into the conversation, we can do that. But for now, let’s do this. Let’s keep this short, simple and sweet. Fuck I talk, get the text six one four three five, all three, three, one five. I asked our textures how do they feel about their team after four weeks?

That will be the Tuesday pod ran through totally through the textures. I think we got some interesting stuff coming from those guys and that will be the Tuesday pod. But for now, Stefan, what is your biggest takeaway from Ohio State’s 38 to seven win?

Stefan Krajisnik (01:17.201)

I think one thing that I was thinking about on our drive back to the hotel from the stadium is are there things Ohio State has to clean up? absolutely. Are there probably a lot of things that Ohio State has to clean up? Yes, absolutely. But one thing that stands out to me, and this is kind of big picture program wide, is they’ve established themselves, and I say this with the full

Knowledge that this could be clipped in two weeks or one week and I could be made fun of for jinxing this but They’ve kind of established themselves as a program in the country that you don’t have to really worry about slipping up right like we talk about a Lot of top 10 teams Ole Miss they slip up against, Kentucky Miami almost had a slip up at home against West Virginia Tech like there’s a lot of these teams across the country where you really don’t know on any given day

And Ohio State, when they play these teams like Michigan State, even when it’s sloppy, even when it’s bad, even when there’s things that they have to clean up in order to beat the, the Oregon’s, the Georgia’s, the Alabama’s of the world. They really don’t leave you questioning like who’s going to win the game. And there was a lot of Ohio State fans at the game and stuff like that. I still thought it was a, you know, it was a 70,000 plus, stadium and there were the students actually at Michigan State was raucous and there were times where it was probably tough for Ohio State. And I think we saw that a bit in the first half.

But they have established themselves as maybe along with Bama, maybe because Bama doesn’t really Bama kind of takes care of business in the games. They showed Georgia really weirdly will like slip up. We saw that in the Kentucky game a few weeks ago. They’ve established themselves as one of two or maybe the program that just doesn’t slip up when it’s a heavy favorite. And that’s kind of something you take away from this program wide that you can look at it. You’re like, all right, like

We can nitpick, can talk about this Michigan State game in a very specific way, but at the end of the day, they’re in a spot where very few programs are, and that’s probably also a testament to the talent they have on the roster this season.

Stephen Means (03:16.245)

Andrew, what’s your biggest takeaway?

Andrew (03:20.066)

You know, Steven, we talk pod after pod after pod after pod about, know, just kind of what team we thought Ohio State was going to be. Right. And what do we think Ohio State was going to be a team led by its defense with a maybe improved run game, maybe. And we knew the receiver talent was great, but I don’t think I’m

down on, you know, Ohio state. know a lot of our textures were, you know, saying like great performance from the offense worried about the defense. I’m looking at this going, I think Ohio state still might be that super team that we thought that they could be, you know, that we like when we went into this season, we were kind of like, man, this could be, you know, really special team, not just national championship team, but you know, this has the ability, the ceiling to be one of the best college football playoff era teams.

I’m not backing off of that. I just think it’s going to be done in a different way. Right? I think the offense is better than I expected it to be. And when you are running the football like they have for the first couple of weeks, when you have the offensive line play as they have for the first couple of weeks. Now, again, all the I mean, all of this is prefaced with the fact that bigger tests are coming. But

This team might be a team driven by its offense. And if you would ask me a month and a half ago, I would have said that that’s insane. And not because I didn’t think the offense was going to be good or I didn’t think the offense was going to be up to the challenge. I just thought the defense was just going to be otherworldly good. And I’m starting to think it might just be the offense that’s otherworldly good.

Stephen Means (05:08.217)

So Stefan, what’s your second most interesting takeaway from Ohio State’s 38 to 7 win over Michigan State?

Stefan Krajisnik (05:17.976)

This defense really needs Tylek Williams back. I think that’s definitely a big thing that this unit is lacking right now. Just that presence at the defensive tackle, it’s huge. thought Michigan State had some success running the ball early on. mean, those first three drives, first two and a half drives, their third drive was off of the Will Howard interception where they come out and score the touchdown. But those first two drives, that are 119 total yards on those two drives alone.

They were moving the ball and I think we saw Marshall do that a bit early on and I think this team is missing Tyler Williams and it’s a big part of why this defense is struggling and Ryan Day said after the game He felt like they were doing a decent job getting some pressure On the quarterback or getting close to kind of get into the quarterback, but coverage wasn’t there just long enough. So that it’s just Something something’s something’s all for the defense. Something’s not clicking Something’s not a sink between the defensive front and the secondary. It always seems like one unit is just

off when the other unit is, is, is feeling itself. This was kind of the first game where I think Steven, Steven Anderson, each other in press box were like, these corners are not having their best game. thought Denzel played well. think, Davidson struggle a little bit and even the safeties at times. It was just like the coverage just seemed not what we’ve seen from this team this season. And I go into this, you know, this key stretch here in October for this team, just wondering to myself, like if it’s like that.

and teams are moving the ball like them pretty easily. Oregon’s offense is built in a way that can make it tough. And I’ll say this, I’ll read this text we got that I thought was actually really interesting. It’s from the 937. Basically summed up the thoughts on the team so far and said the offensive line coming into the season was a concern and everyone kind of freaked out in the first half of week one because that was a concern. And the defense on the flip side is…

The defense isn’t as good as we thought it was going to be. So now we’re freaking out and maybe something in the middle is kind of what’s, what’s fair of, this defensive line or this offensive line is like pretty decent. And the defense is good. Maybe just not like this historically good defense that we thought it was going to be. And maybe it rounds into form and comes to that. But right now this defense is not that historic defense that we thought they were going to be. And that frankly, they said they were going to be right. Like Caleb down said that he thinks this can be one of the best defenses, cultural ball history. Like they put that on themselves too. Something’s not clicking right now.

Stefan Krajisnik (07:40.06)

and this defense has me wondering what is that missing piece? Is it as simple as getting Tye League back? Or is there something more that’s just off right now? Is it a mentality thing? Is it an attitude thing? Like what is it that’s not getting everything in sync right now?

Stephen Means (07:55.417)

Andrew, what’s your second most interesting takeaway from Ohio State’s 38 to 7 win over Michigan State?

Andrew (08:02.84)

think Austin Searveld might be this team’s best right guard option. I said this to Stefan on the way there. I’m not quite ready to pull this trigger yet, but I am curious about what an Ohio State offensive line looks like with Austin Searveld at right guard and Tegra Shibola at right tackle.

But for right now, I’ve been really impressed with the way that Austin Searville has played. think you watch back, you know, some of the games that he did play, you you go back and you, you know, I mean, obviously it’s just the TV copy. You don’t really have like the all 22 and you don’t have that, you know, all seeing eye in the sky. But I thought Searville, he played decently early tonight. I know we didn’t get the start, but he played decently early and I thought he played well for himself. And I think that he might be the guy that.

when you come down to it in a couple of weeks, he might be one of your best five. And Austin Cerevelle being one of your best five is a really, really interesting note for this offensive line because we kind of talked all year about right guard and like, man, where’s this going to map out? How are you going to have this kind of, you know, this battle play out, right? You know, cause everything felt set except for Tegra Shibola and now they might have a right guard.

Now they might have went with the right guard to start the year and because of an injury, you might have accidentally found one of your best five offensive linemen.

Stephen Means (09:38.489)

Stefan what’s your third most interesting takeaway from Ohio State’s 38 to 7 win over Michigan State?

Andrew (09:44.59)

Stephen, what’s your most interesting takeaway from Ohio State’s win?

Stephen Means (09:47.543)

I’ll get there. I’ll get there. I’ll get there. I promise. Stefan, what’s your third motion?

Stefan Krajisnik (09:50.956)

I know what he’s setting up for. My third most interesting takeaway is that Caleb Downs is really good at college football and really good at football in general. He’s probably going have a very successful career playing football. He was all over the field today. And honestly, there was a few tackles he made early in the game, probably first quarter, second, maybe even early second quarter where I was just like, he’s the only one that showed up right now.

Stephen Means (10:05.401)

Mm-hmm.

Stefan Krajisnik (10:16.662)

Like he’s the only one that came ready to play. And I think as the game progressed, think Denzel Burke made a few plays that impressed me. Our guy, Arville Reese was in the backfield on a play impressed me. Sonny Styles, I think had a nice play. As the game went on, the defense obviously got better. I they went from, you know, first three drives getting steamrolled down the field and then giving up seven points and then they give up, you know, much after that. But it’s…

It’s hard in that safety position sometimes. I feel like he’s almost kind of been underrated through the first three games. And this was just one of those games where it’s like, man, like you went out in the portal and you got a dude and you got to be sitting there right now being like, Ohio State’s got the best safety in the country and maybe one of the best defenders in the country. And shout out to Nick Saban for retiring for helping make that happen because he was just all over the place, man. And his speed is so…

Like I highly encourage people when you’re watching the game, like take a play where this you’ll obviously have to be at the game for this. So kind of get the whole field view, but like take it, take a few plays and just watch him move. Like how quick he’s, you know, once that he’s in the backfield, the next snap, he’s making a tackle at the line of scrimmage and then he’s back in coverage. And, know, he’ll be on one hash mark. He’ll make a tackle, you know, at the, at the other, other side of the field. Like it’s, it’s just crazy, the things he can do. And he really is a game changer. asked, you know, Will Howard about him.

earlier this week and he was just like man like like going against him like You know you’re facing one of the best defenses in the country because he is part of it because he could do that What were if a defense is good? He’ll make it great And I think we saw that early on when Ohio State was struggling defensively He was all over the place and he was unstoppable

Stephen Means (12:02.297)

And Andrew, what’s your third most impressive, most interesting takeaway from Ohio State 38 to 7 went over Michigan State.

Andrew (12:10.722)

think we have undersold Jeremiah Smith. And I think that when we talked about Jeremiah Smith, I mean, we talked about him last year on the recruiting pods, you know, Steven and I, and we were like, Hey, man, this this guy’s really good. And he’s gonna be really good. And this guy’s, you know, generational and this guy’s this and this guy’s that. But I don’t know what percent of our listeners are this podcast right now. Like, we’re watching the game on peacock, which didn’t

seem to get rave reviews from our listeners and from our texters. So the game on Peacock happens and I’m kind of curious like how many listeners were like, wait a minute, the Alabama Georgia score is what? Let me flip to that game and know, Ohio State’s put this one away. And it just like, let me see what Alabama and Georgia are going to do. And you got to see Ryan Williams look awesome. And now it’s this very exciting concept where you have two of the best

receivers, players in the sport are true freshmen and one of them at Alabama is 17 years old. So, you know, I think that was always kind of the possibility that we could get there with Jeremiah. you know, maybe by the end of the year, he’s the best player on this team or, know, maybe he’s, you know, maybe he’s the leading receiver by mid season or something like that. like,

It feels very much like he has jumped in and immediately made himself the number one player on this offense. Maybe the number one player on this team. He’s one of the best players in the country already. He’s one of the best receivers in the country already. And it’s four games into a season. So, you know, for as much as we talked about Jeremiah Smith being awesome, for as much as we were like, man, this guy is really going to be good.

I still think we might have undersold it because I think saying this guy’s awesome, this guy’s incredible, this guy’s generational might be underselling it. And those were all the things that we said. So yeah, Jeremiah Smith is better than I could have possibly fathomed.

Stephen Means (14:12.205)

So we got defense, eh, Caleb Downs, whoa. And your third one, Stephon, was.

Stefan Krajisnik (14:23.106)

they take care of business when they’re supposed to probably better than any team in the country.

Stephen Means (14:25.574)

Okay, take care of business when I’m supposed to. Okay, cool. Andrew, yours were JJ Smith is from the same planet Marvin Harrison Jr. is from this offense.

Andrew (14:33.774)

Mm-hmm.

Andrew (14:39.202)

Maybe even a cooler one.

Stephen Means (14:42.785)

Maybe even a cooler one.

This offense might actually be why this team is a super team and also man, the offensive line looks good, but also they could have an upgrade with Austin Cerebell being the starting right guard. That’s yours. Okay, we’re gonna take a quick break there on Buckeye Talk and then we’re gonna come back and continue to talk about this.

Stephen Means (15:05.273)

They were back in on Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means, Stefan Kreisnick and Andrew Gillis late at night after Ohio State’s 38 to seven win after Michigan State. If people have not noticed that. Yeah, a little book I talk after dark. I like this and I have the Georgia, Alabama game on in the background. ESPN is replaying it right now. And then as I walked into my hotel room, I was listening to Kirby Smart talk about the loss. He was obviously saying some good things and talking about the run that Georgia had.

Stefan Krajisnik (15:14.112)

head talk after dark, baby.

Stephen Means (15:34.809)

And then ESPN put up the stat where George, don’t know if it was 45 or 41, but it was 40 something and three during this stretch run. And there are only three losses of all been to Alabama, which is two didn’t save and now one, they tailed the board. None of that’s irrelevant right now. It’s just things that were happening while I was waiting on Stefan and Andrew to get back to their hotel room so we can start to do this pod. Here is my takeaway from Ohio State’s 38 to seven win over Michigan State and the more

I talk it through the less pessimistic I can feel about anything they did. What I found interesting about Ohio State’s 38 to seven win over Michigan State was that Ohio State took its foot off the gas in the fourth quarter and decided to put Devon Brown in the game and then go with Julian Sand when the score was 35, 38, excuse me, to seven. I thought that was pretty interesting.

We were talking about that, Stefan, on the walk back and how maybe part of the reason you do that is, I don’t know, your quarterback got the wind knocked out of him at the end of the first half. It looked like Treveon Henderson had a pretty scary injury that could have been worse. He was limping. Now they both were fine. Both of them actually played after that. But you add that with, know, Tyleek Williams is already a essentially a game day decision in an emergency situation.

Ryan Day used the Donovan Jackson situation in the first two weeks as an example. And so that’s why he did not play against Michigan State, though he was available. That’s what I found interesting. What I actually found interesting now that I’ve given you some new stuff here is listening to you guys talk about what you found interesting about this game and the route you guys took to getting there. And I don’t think you did it on purpose. It just came with the territory. Andrew.

Yours was filled with optimism and excitement. Stefan, yours was filled with. Criticism. Educated criticism, justifiable criticism, but even with the Caleb Downs talk, it was like, man, Caleb Downs is really good. He also was the only guy who was really good for four quarters. Andrew with the offensive line, it was like, hey, the offensive line might need to upgrade.

Stephen Means (17:58.337)

At right guard, but it wasn’t like, man, I don’t know if Tegra Shabola is getting the job done. It was like, no, no, no. It’s because Austin, Sarah Bell might just be that good. It’s just interesting because that felt it felt like the ebbs and flows of me watching this game at halftime. I posted something very harsh about the defense, almost too far out there with the criticism. And then at the buzzer, which is at all zeros, I posted this thing of like.

What are you going to do? Ohio State’s got awesome. What are you going to do? Stefan, we were critical of Ohio State’s defense in its 49 to 14 win over Marshall last week. Do you know how many yards Marshall had in the second half after having 203 yards in the first half? Marshall. It was 61 total yards is what they had in the second half after 203 yards.

Stefan Krajisnik (18:44.492)

He’s like.

It’s like 63.

Stephen Means (18:56.281)

in the first half on 24 plays, that’s 2.5 yards per play today. Tonight, Michigan yesterday, because it’s 2 30 in the morning and the game started at 7 30. They Michigan State had 186 yards at halftime. Do you know how many yards they had in the second half total?

Stefan Krajisnik (19:15.992)

I don’t know the answer to this one.

Stephen Means (19:17.721)

They had 60 yards on 23 plays. That’s 2.6 yards per play. Andrew, what the heck? I don’t know if this team actually has a problem. I just think they just played two teams with competent coaching, quality talent, and a decent game plan that at least for 20 minutes there, it worked. Also, will Howard do an interception?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this team anymore. I think that all of Stefan’s nitpicking and criticism is all valid and it’s important. And we’re going to see in two weeks whether or not it has any merit and anybody else who has any criticism. We’re going to see if what I posted at halftime that was so critical of the defense has any merit in two weeks when they go to Eugene Oregon, which

Just a little inside baseball. That will be the next time all three of us are at an Ohio State football game. Stefan and I have some things going on in our personal lives, so we will not be at the Iowa game next week. Andrew will be there, so you’ll hear his voice. Our rivalry reporter Jimmy Watkins is helping to fill in our recruiting correspondent Landon Barnett. Is is Barnett, right? Or is it Barlett Barnett? He will be helping.

Andrew (20:43.809)

on it.

Stephen Means (20:45.239)

full time right now. He is essentially our tabian st. Clair reporter. He goes to every single tabian st. Clair game, but he will be helping out. And then Tim Bealick, who used to be on this beat, you’ve heard his voice on this pod before. It’s been a while, but he’s still around at cleveland.com. He’s just in a different role. He will be there as well. So all three of us will not be at a game until the Oregon game two weeks from now. I don’t know why I have reached this conclusion. Maybe it’s because I’m sleepy.

Maybe it’s because it’s 2 30 in the morning and we’ve had a long day, but I. I’m rewatching part of the Alabama Georgia game while I’m waiting on us to get on this pod, Stefan, and I’m just like man. Alabama is good. George pretty good too. They just got to show how good they were against each other in this team. Texas the same way they got to show how good they were. This team keeps playing teams. It can just play with its food.

In most situations, I would say, that’s not a good thing. Hey, you keep messing up like this. Hey, defensive tackles, get it together. Hey, linebackers, figure it out. Sunny Styles, CJ Hicks, figure it out. Hey, R. Valries, keep growing. Hey, cornerbacks, get better. Gotta start covering better. All of it’s factual, but also like, you gave up 60 freaking yards in the second half. What is that?

Stefan Krajisnik (22:11.288)

I credit Jeremiah Smith with some of that. think he snatched the soul of Michigan State. He was Ohio State’s best defender today.

Stephen Means (22:16.185)

He killed. He killed Michigan State’s happiness tonight. That is what’s happened. He killed them and so Andrew, yes, yeah, you are correct. The offensive line looks good. The offense in totality seems to be back to where it was in 22 and 21 and 20 and 19. Does it look the same as those offenses? Probably not, because it’s not the same quarterback, but the concept of.

This is an offense that can put up 40 unless it decides to walk into a fourth quarter and go, man, forget about it. Let’s put our backups in. You are right, sir. But you want to know where you’re most right? Jeremiah Smith is a freak of nature who can kill an entire team’s momentum. We can sit here at two thirty in the morning and nitpick and talk about how, hey, will Howard almost do an interception in the end zone? Hey,

Will Howard’s interception will Howard was 21 of 31 for 244 yards and two touchdowns and an interception. Plus he had a rushing touchdown. We can sit here and say, Will Howard’s only interception of the day led directly to Michigan State points because it put them in prime field position, which is pretty ironic because the last time Ohio State played a game in this state, Ohio State’s quarterback do it.

interception that directly led to the team who was at home scoring a touchdown. Sure. Let’s do all that too. But also, I don’t know, man. Michigan State did nothing after its plan. And I think that’s the thing. Cool. Everybody’s got a plan. But eventually you’re going to have to come off of that plan. And when you come off of the plan, you get 60 freaking yards to find.

60!

Stefan Krajisnik (24:12.884)

Yeah, that’s fair. mean, but then again, Oregon’s not going to do that. Oregon’s not going to come off the plan and just be lost here. Here’s what’s going to happen. like, yeah, here’s what’s going to happen is, is the Iowa game is probably going to go something similar to what we saw in this Michigan state game. I think, well, I will might not move the ball as well early as Michigan state did, because I don’t really trust their offense much, but what’s going to happen is how I say it’s about to another big win against Iowa.

Stephen Means (24:20.185)

And you see my dilemma. You see my issue right now.

Stefan Krajisnik (24:42.328)

and I’m going to go into Oregon week and whatever happens against Oregon is how the entire country is going to view Ohio State. If they lose, everyone is going to say, see, they were just playing crappy competition and didn’t mean anything. If they win, we’re going to say, there we go. We finally have proof. This is 100 % one of the two, three best teams in the country, maybe the best team in the country. And if it’s close game, we’ll probably be somewhere in the middle. And whether that’s fair or not, that’s just how it’s going to be. Cause we’re going to judge Batman, Georgia based on how they play each other.

We’re going to judge Tennessee based on how they played Oklahoma and NC State. We’re going to judge Texas based on how they played Michigan and some other teams. We’re going to judge Ole Miss based on how they played Kentucky, because that’s just where we are right now. We’re at that point of the season where we don’t know a lot about these teams until they start playing real competition. And then we start to learn something. And Ohio State is kind of in this spot, Steven, you mentioned on our video, kind of like Michigan last year where we’re going through the whole season being like they’re just beating up on all these teams that we know that they’re better than cheating, cheating or not, like the scandal or not.

Stephen Means (25:13.88)

Mm-hmm.

Stefan Krajisnik (25:39.736)

The teams Michigan was playing early in the season, they were going to be regardless. mean, they had some bad teams either. Very exactly. And all year we kept saying, especially when the cheating stuff came out, is Ohio’s taking exposed this team? Who’s going to expose this team? And then they just kept winning and they’re saying, okay, maybe that team was actually kind of good. Or how many times do we have some years? We talk about Tennessee, Henan Hooker, they’re stacking wins. Yeah, they get a nice win against Bama, but then, you know, soon enough we figure out, well, maybe they’re not that good. So the Oregon game, whether it’s fair or not,

Stephen Means (25:43.245)

They didn’t need to cheat. They didn’t need to cheat to be those things.

Stefan Krajisnik (26:09.376)

When that game ends, it’s going to be October 13th. And that is how we’re going to determine whether Ohio State is a good team or not. Maybe not us specifically, but the country as a whole is going to say Ohio State is good or not good based on what happens in that game. And that’s kind of what this buildup is. That’s just how it goes.

Stephen Means (26:23.853)

And Andrew, Andrew, I think that’s the point here that we’ve reached every to Stefan’s point. Well, we’re going to judge Ohio State after what happens in the Oregon game. Everybody else has just already had their organ game, and so we can already judge them. And so I’ve just come to a point to where. Let’s instead of judging.

because I do think it’s become nitpicky at this point when it’s like, whether it’s factual or not, Michigan State had 60 yards in the second half of football. Marshall had 62 yards in the second half of football. And as bad as the things were defensively at times in both of those games, neither of the teams that they played had more than 203 yards in the first half. So, it’s,

The standard and the expectation for this defense is so unnecessarily ridiculous. That a team scoring seven points because an interception put the defense in a bad spot. Has us going, maybe this defense isn’t as good as we thought it was a more. No, go ahead, go ahead, please.

Stefan Krajisnik (27:45.08)

Can I interject real quick, Stephen? So the line just came out. Ohio State’s only a 21 point favorite against Iowa. At home, that’s three points compared to what they were against Michigan State. That’s interesting to me.

Stephen Means (27:53.645)

But I think…

Stephen Means (28:00.473)

No, it is interesting to me, but also Ohio State was a 23 and a half point favorite against Michigan State. They could have easily blown that out the water today and they went, nah, I’m good. And I think that’s the they control this. They the line is going to be what it’s going to be. But right now, the line is whatever Ohio State wants the line to be. And I think that’s just where I’m at with it is like.

Stefan Krajisnik (28:11.212)

Mm-hmm.

Stephen Means (28:29.081)

They could have scored 50 points today if they wanted to score 50 points. And they decided, let’s just get home healthy. No, no add any more people to our unavailability report for a week from now. Let’s just get home. They called their number at 38 to seven. In a game where we thought the defense for at least 20 minutes didn’t look great.

So I’ve decided, and maybe you can join me in this journey over the next 14 days, but I’ve decided I’m with you, Stefan. We can’t judge them to Oregon. And I just do not see a world where Iowa comes into Columbus and wins next week. I don’t see a world where Iowa finishes that game within 14 points of Ohio State. Now,

They can clip this and if it happens, it happens, but I don’t see a world where when we get back on Monday, Stefan, we’re going, whoa, I will really got in the Ohio state on Saturday. What the heck happened? Let’s dive into this. I don’t see that happening. So instead I’ve decided my most important takeaways are. Jeremiah Smith. Is.

an alien who just killed the team’s confidence with a one handed catch from a throw from a backup quarterback to in the first half. Trevion Henderson ran the ball seven times and it felt like on five of those he was jumping over defenders and quite frankly could have run for 250 yards if they decided to give him the ball 20 times. Ameca Ibuka for the second time this

in

Stephen Means (30:25.913)

quote had 100 yards essentially he had seven catches for 96 yards in a touchdown and stuff on you and I are laughing and going that is the quietest seven catches for 96 yards in a touchdown I’ve ever seen. Cardinal Tate is awesome and we were joking I wonder how many miles he runs in the game because they keep bringing him it’s not pre snap motion all the time the offensive line looks great and if they want to make the switch to Austin Cerevelle to your point Andrew

I don’t think anybody is going to even bat an eye at it. So does the defense go against two teams who have good game plans, Andrew? Yes. Is the offense maybe a little different than we thought it would be? Sure. But the point of the matter is my biggest takeaway is this team spent the last two weeks deciding what the score was going to be while the rest of us were trying to poke holes in

And what does that say about how good this team actually is when it gets on the field with somebody who’s good? Or does it say anything?

Andrew (31:26.764)

Well, I mean, I think you have to do that because I mean, they’re a top three team in college football. Like if we covered Alabama, we’d be talking about Alabama’s like terrible second half defense and like how that’s a problem. you know, if we covered Georgia, we’d be talking about how, you know, like the offense goes dead at times and like, like every team has flaws. And I don’t think it’s nitpicking to be like, Hey, like Ohio state has been pushed around in the run game by

you know, Michigan state and Marshall at points and there’s better teams coming. I don’t think that like, you could say that that’s nitpicking, but like, I don’t think it’s necessarily like overly critical to point out that they haven’t been perfect. And I don’t think it’s like overly optimistic to point out that like, they’ve been really good and they’re all they are really good, right? Like I think that there’s a fine

kind of middle line there where you have to try and tell where it’s just like, you know what, this team is really good, but like, I’m not going to pretend that there aren’t faults, but I’m also not going to pretend that this team isn’t freaking awesome. And one of the best two or three, maybe like, like, I think this team’s floor right now is like the fourth or fifth best team in college football. And that’s if like things go, I think pretty wrong, right? Like, like we saw Will Howard make some decisions tonight that didn’t go his way.

Like that he shouldn’t have made, like the throw in the end zone could have been really disastrous because a team is as good, a team as good as Ohio state is going to make you pay for that. But what happens if he makes that inner, you know, he makes that throw against Oregon. And now all of sudden you have a team that, you know, is going to gain 160 yards in the first half. you know, instead of 60 in the second half, it’s 200, right? Just because Oregon’s good offensively, or you play a team that is good offensively. So, you know, it is a weird kind of.

place that we’re in right now because we have had to like to add everything to the caveat of, well, it’s just Western Michigan or well, it’s just Akron or well, it’s just Michigan State. And I think that we’re kind of in that weird world where it goes both ways now, right? Where it’s like, you know, sometimes if you want to say something critical about the team, it sounds like nitpicking. And sometimes if you want to say something positive, you’re like, well, it’s just whoever. So it’s just a weird world. know, sounds like we’re kind of, mean,

Andrew (33:44.706)

It doesn’t sound like it. We’re actually coming out of it. So, you know, we got, know, the Iowa game, which should be interesting for Ohio State’s offense at the very least. And then we got the big one on October 12th.

Stephen Means (33:57.497)

So I got two questions and we’re getting out of here because I promised them we were not going over 40. First question, defensive line issues. How many of these issues would have been happening if Tyler Williams had played the last two games? Actually, let me let me rephrase that so I can make it a one word answer. Yes or no? Do it does Ohio State’s defensive line have some of the problems it’s had the last two weeks? If Tyler Williams plays Stefan, you first.

Stefan Krajisnik (34:24.833)

No.

Stephen Means (34:25.985)

Okay, Andrew.

Stephen Means (34:31.297)

Yes or no? That’s it? Nope.

Andrew (34:32.055)

I want to say somewhat, but I can’t say that, so I’ll say yes.

Stefan Krajisnik (34:33.888)

not caskarton.

Stephen Means (34:37.675)

Okay, where?

Andrew (34:40.597)

I think there has been issues with, like as they said the other day, over pursuing, like overplaying their gaps. I saw that a little bit tonight. I saw JT Tumaloa did that a few times. I think there have been issues that is more than just, hey, Tylek Williams shows up and he fixes all. So I will say yes. It would have been better. not saying there’s no difference. Tylek Williams absolutely would have made a difference, but yes.

Stephen Means (35:11.705)

OK, I don’t think teams are gashing Ohio State up the middle of Tyler Williams is playing. And I think that’s part of reason they keep doing that, because Michigan State did a lot of some stuff that Marshall was doing, like some of that QB draw stuff. And I think it’s because they know 91 is down the field. I don’t think that happens if Tyler Williams is on the field. You do have a point about the defensive ends, though. Jack Sawyer and JT Tweeny Malo need to be better. And I think when Ryan Day was talking about the sack situation and he made it a point to say even Jack and JT, that wasn’t on accident.

I think both of those guys need to stop chasing numbers and do their jobs better. Specifically, one of them more than the other one, but both of those guys have had too many moments where it feels like they’re going freelance and it’s not working and it’s leading to big plays. That is hurting this defense. I think it will, it’s hurting a defense who has four, three of its four top linebackers have never played.

meaningful snaps at linebacker until this season. And so when they don’t do their jobs, the linebackers can’t do their jobs and they’re already new to this. They need to be better. I’m going to say that here. Everything else though, I’m with you, Stefan. I don’t think the issues are there if Tylek Williams is playing. And so because of that, I am just wondering if, yeah, you’re right, Andrew. Nobody’s perfect. George’s defense had some flaws, right? LSU had flaws.

But what made them super teams was they could be like, so what? You can’t do anything about it. So who cares? And I am wondering if Ohio State is headed in a direction to by the time they get on the playoff stage, we’re going to be at a point where it’s like, yeah, they’re not perfect, but like, so what are you going to do about it? And then they’re going to be holding up a trophy in February. And we’re a long ways off.

from that I understand that but I’m just wondering that right now because they have been a flawed team for two weeks and then you look at the numbers and then you watch the game and it’s like okay and so we gave up 60 yards in the second half chill chill dude chill it’s not an issue chill 60 yards no touchdowns 2.5 yards per play take a chill pill

Stephen Means (37:30.689)

and go watch Alabama and Georgia, because that was a pretty good game. That’s going to wrap up this podcast. Stefan and I are going to talk about the Jeremiah Smith on Monday. We’re going to talk about some other freshmen as well. But look, man, the kid’s really, really good at football and he’s not the only freshman who’s good at football. And I think it’s worth a conversation. And then this week, there’s not going to be a big pot this week because again, Stefan, I have some personal things going on in our lives that we need to attend to. So it’s going to be a weird week. But the Oregon game is right around the corner. Get the text six one four three five.

Three, three, one five. This has been a late night. But I talk for Stefan Christy and Andrew Gillis. We are sleepy. We’re going to get some sleep. We’re going to drive home. We’re going to rewatch this game. And then we’re going to continue on to the week because Ohio State plays Iowa in its second Big Ten game of the season for Stefan. For Andrew, I’m Stephen. We’re out of here. No, it’s my talk.