Buckeye Talk: Ohio State podcast by cleveland.com

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Predicting Ohio State's 22 starters vs. Notre Dame: Mark It Down Monday Aug 01, 2022

Show notes

It's a Mark It Down Monday on Buckeye Talk, and it's getting very specific about Ohio State's opener against Notre Dame on Sept. 3.

Who will start for the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball in that game?

This is a way for Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means to talk about the Ohio State position battles, as preseason camp prepares to start this week. But it also puts them on the spot for a prediction: Name the 11 players who will take the first snap on offense and the 11 who will take the first snap on defense.

This is a good exercise to run through the entire roster before practice starts. As always, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Betting the Buckeyes, QB dads and how the Big Ten laid a foundation Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

On this Friday edition of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises visits with former Big Ten sportswriter Teddy Greenstein, who now is a senior editor at PointsBet, to talk about three college football topics:

Betting on Ohio State and the Big Ten this season, and the future of legalized betting in Ohio
The development of high school QBs and Teddy's new book, "Quarterback Dads"
How the Big Ten reached this position of strength in college football and how much former commissioner Jim Delany helped lay the foundation

These are three areas that should interest Buckeye fans, and as always, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

Is Ohio State football's 2024 roster good enough after recent recruiting losses? Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

Ohio State football's recent string of runner-up finishes for top defensive prospects have jarred some fans' confidence in the program's recruiting efforts.

Each of those decisions, though, involved an individual player considering his own unique needs and preferences. When you add them up, how much do they actually affect the team the Buckeyes will put on the field in the future.

Doug, Nathan and Stephen broke down the potential 2024 roster and simply asked if each position group was national championship caliber. The results were somewhat surprising, with more strength than expected at some positions but major questions lingering with some of the most important groups.

Ryan Day expects a top-10 Ohio State defense this season. Can it happen? Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

Ohio State coach Ryan Day put a number on how much improvement he expects from his defense under new coordinator Jim Knowles this season. Day said the standard is a top-10 performance, and regardless of what measurement you use, that is a big jump for a defense that limped through 2021. Doug, Nathan and Stephen discussed whether that is a realistic goal for the coming season and what that sort of turnaround would look like.

Also, what we learned from C.J. Stroud, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Ronnie Hickman as they took their turns at the mic before Big Ten Media Days wrapped up.

Inside the minds of Jim Harbaugh and Kevin Warren at Big Ten media days Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means are reporting from Big Ten media days in Indianapolis.

Tuesday, Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and half the league's coaches and featured players spoke, but it was kind of the boring half. No Ohio State, no Wisconsin, no Penn State, no Michigan State.

That meant the focus was on what Warren said about the future of the league, and what Jim Harbaugh and Michigan players said about the Wolverines after they beat Ohio State, won the Big Ten and reached the College Football Playoff last season.

First, the guys talk Harbaugh. They they talk Warren. Then they talk what to expect when Ryan Day and the Buckeyes talk Wednesday.

Thanks for listening.

Where we voted Ohio State, C.J. Stroud and Jaxon Smith-Njigba in our preseason Big Ten poll Jul 25, 2022

Show notes

On this Mark It Down Monday edition of Buckeye Talk, Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means are marking down their Big Ten predictions for the season and unveiling the results of the 12th annual cleveland.com preseason Big Ten poll.

Thirty-six reporters from around the Big Ten voted in the poll, picking the order of finish in both the East and West Divisions, the Big Ten champion and the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.

The guys discuss the overall voting in all those areas while also revealing their personal ballots. This is all a buildup to Big Ten Media Days, which start on Tuesday.

Cleveland.com will be there, and cleveland.com continues to produce the most official preseason poll for the league. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Ryan Day's future, Notre Dame-Big Ten predictions, J.T Tuimoloau and more rapid fire Jul 22, 2022

Show notes

It's a Friday rapid fire Buckeye Talk to wrap up the offseason as the Big Ten prepares to host its media days next week.

Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird take more than 15 questions from text subscribers, with topics including:

Whether a national title would make Ryan Day more or less likely to stay at Ohio State long-term
Recent recruiting misses and what it means for coaches like Jim Knowles, Tony Alford and Justin Frye
If Ohio State might be voted the No. 1 team in the country with a Week 1 blowout of Notre Dame
Predicting if and when Notre Dame will join the Big Ten
How a big J.T. Tuimoloau year might affect Ohio State's title chances
What will there be more of over the next three years -- Ohio State national titles or Ohio State losses to Michigan?

And more. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

Maryland scared Ohio State 4 years ago, could it happen again? Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

It's the 11th game of the Ohio State season to be previewed here on Buckeye Talk, and Maryland football is about as interesting as it has ever been in the Big Ten.

On this Thursday Buckeye Talk, Ahmed Ghafir, the founder of Insidetheblackandgold.net, joins Doug Lesmerises to talk about Maryland football, which features one of the best QBs in the Big Ten (Taulia Tagovailoa) and two of the better receivers (Dontay Demus Jr. and Rakim Jarrett).

That offensive firepower could challenge a lot of teams in the Big Ten -- if the defense is just good enough to let the Terrapins hang around.

The matchup will be Nov.19 at Maryland. Since Ohio State's trip there in 2020 was canceled because of the pandemic, the Buckeyes haven't visited College Park since 2018, when they barely escaped with a 52-51 win.

Eleven previews down and one to go -- thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

C.J. Stroud and the top of the Most Influential Buckeyes list Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means (with the help of the Ohio State text subscribrers) created a list of the 25 Most Influential Ohio State players for 2022, and this is the fourth and final podcast discussing those players.

The first pod dealt with players 25 through 17, the next with players 16 through 11, the next with players 10 through 5, and now on this Wednesday episode, it's the top four.

And of course, quarterback C.J. Stroud is among them.

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Why Ohio State is the most desirable football program in the country Jul 19, 2022

Show notes

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird are talking desire and meatloaf.

Sports Illustrated created desirability ratings for college football conference purposes last week, and Ohio State was No. 1 on the list. Doug and Nathan discuss that rating.

Then in the second part of the episode, they draft a top 21 of all the Power 5 programs in the country when it goes to their desirability as a conference member.

Finally, it's another Watcha Watchin', Watcha Eatin' as Doug and Nathan catch up on TV and food.

Thanks for listening to another Buckeye Talk.

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