Buckeye Talk: Ohio State podcast by cleveland.com

Latest Episodes:

A 92-year-old Ohio State-Michigan game is the weirdest rewatch yet: Buckeye ReTalkables on Buckeye Talk Jun 17, 2022

Show notes

Oh yeah, Buckeye Talk is really going back to 1930. On this Friday episode, it’s the first Buckeye ReTalkable in some time, as Buckeye Talk on occasion likes to rewatch and relive Ohio State football games of the past. But a game has never been this old before.

Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird on this episode break down the 1930 Ohio State-Michigan game, which was played in mid-October in Columbus and won by the Wolverines 13-0.

There are some stars of the era in this game, including Wes Fesler, the OSU All-American and future head coach. Also worth watching is Michigan quarterback Harry Newman, a three-year star for the Wolverines who might have won a Heisman Trophy if the award had existed then. The Heisman didn't debut until 1935.

There's also discussion about Ohio Stadium's history, and how close Notre Dame legend Knute Rockne came to coaching the Buckeyes.

This is different for sure, but we hope you enjoy this old-timey style of Buckeye Talk. Thanks for listening.

QBs Ryan Montgomery and Tavien St. Clair, RB Donovan Johnson and other Ohio State recruiting targets to know Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

On this Thursday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Stephen Means is back to talk with Doug Lesmerises, giving another recruiting report after watching two days of camps at Ohio State on Tuesday and Wednesday. Among the topics:

Two young in-state QBs set to make an appearance in Columbus this week
A 2025 running back who worked out with Tony Alford
The latest on the search for offensive tackle recruits
The Glenville pipeline returning? There are two major OSU targets at the Cleveland high school

And more. Thanks for listening.

Drafting the 10 most important Ohio State recruits of the last 10 years Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

On this Wednesday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means are drafting.

The draftees? The 10 most important Ohio State football recruits since Urban Meyer arrived in 2012. How good the player was for the Buckeyes, and how much he helped Ohio State win, does matter. But so does what the player represents, and whether he established something at Ohio State that led to more recruits following in his footsteps.

There are quarterbacks and defensive ends and running backs and more drafted here. But who is No. 1? Stephen and Doug agreed on that.

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Does Michigan State have the second-best QB and WR in the Big Ten behind Ohio State? Jun 14, 2022

Show notes

Ohio State's first road game of the 2022 football season won't come until Week 6 when the Buckeyes visit the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing. On this Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises is joined by Matt Wenzel of MLive.com to discuss what could be a top-10 matchup, just like it was last season when the Spartans came to Ohio Stadium in late November.

Is Mel Tucker, making nearly $10 million a year, in for the long haul at Michigan State?
Can he make the Spartans a regular 10-win team and a thorn in the side of the Buckeyes like the Spartans were during the best days of the Mark Dantonio era?
Is Payton Thorne potentially the second-best quarterback in the Big Ten behind C.J. Stroud?
Is Jayden Reed potentially the second-best receiver in the Big Ten behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba?
Could Michigan State's last-in-the-nation pass defense be vastly improved?

The week-by-week schedule preview is now halfway home. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

Inside the world of fast food, from Cane's to Wendy's, from Chick-fil-A to Piada Jun 13, 2022

Show notes

Doug Lesmerises could not be more excited for this totally off-topic Buckeye Talk on this Monday. He welcomes The Wolf of Franchises, who runs a website, podcast and Twitter account dedicated to how franchises work, and that means writing and talking a lot about fast food businesses like Cane's, Chick-fil-A and Wendy's.

On this episode, Doug and Wolf discuss what kind of money the best franchises make, how much it takes to open a franchise, and then Doug throws out some local Ohio ideas that he thinks could go national.

Also, Doug wants to create a business that will buy back his guinea pigs.

If you've ever wondered how the business of fast food works, this is the pod for you. And on Tuesday, Buckeye Talk will be back to football. Thanks for listening.

What if Ohio State had beaten Michigan last season? BuckeyeFly Effect Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

It's time for another BuckeyeFly Effect on Buckeye Talk, where the past is reconsidered.

On this episode, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird (this was recorded before Nathan's paternity leave) look at the ramifications of Michigan's victory over Ohio State last season.

What if the Buckeyes had won instead?

Would Ohio State have gone on to win the national title?
Would C.J. Stroud have won the Heisman Trophy?
Would Ohio State have made the four assistant coaching changes it made after the season?
Would Jim Harbaugh still be the head coach at Michigan?
Would anything have changed Ohio State's motivation and mindset for a national title run this season?

And more. One win, a lot of possibilities. The Wolverines won 42-27 last season, their first win in The Game since 2011. How much changed because that happened?

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Brandon Inniss, Caleb Downs and Ohio State's 2023 class plans and priorities: Recruiting Rapid Fire Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

On this Thursday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means go back to their text subscribers to answer more questions about Ohio State's recruiting.

Among the specific players from the Class of 2023 who are discussed: WR Carnell Tate, WR Brandon Inniss, S Caleb Downs, RB Justice Haynes, OT Samson Okunlola, OT Olaus Alinen, CB Daniel Harris, S Joenel Aguero, LB Tackett Curtis, LB Arvell Reese, DE Keon Keeley, DT John Walker and more.

Among the topics covered:

Recruiting vs. Notre Dame
Are QBs starting to come to the Midwest?
How is Ohio State stacking up to Penn State and Michigan?
Is Ohio State having trouble recruiting on the offensive line? And why new OL coach Justin Frye needs some time
The 2023 QB battle

With a lot of official visitors coming to Ohio State over the next three weekends, these questions and answers should catch you up on where the Buckeyes are with their 2023 class.

Thanks for listening to another Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Brian Hartline's excitement, Ohio State's future offensive line, and another QB offer: Buckeyes recruiting camp Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

On this Wednesday episode from cleveland.com, Stephen Means brings his knowledge from watching two days of Ohio State recruiting camps on Monday and Tuesday to Buckeye Talk and discusses it with Doug Lesmerises.

What receivers did Brian Hartline get fired up about and have to offer?
What is Ohio State's 2023 quarterback recruiting strategy with another offer made to a QB this week?
How did the future interior of Ohio State's offensive line look?
What are we learning about Ryan Day as a head coach through these camps?

Thanks for listening to another Buckeye Talk.

The secret to great sportswriting, plus Rutgers has an interesting QB Jun 07, 2022

Show notes

It's time for Week 5 as Buckeye Talk continues to devote an episode to each game of Ohio State's 2022 football schedule. On Oct. 1, the Buckeyes will host Rutgers for homecoming with a 3:30 kickoff, and on this Buckeye Talk, Steve Politi of nj.com is here to talk about that.

But there's only some Rutgers talk, including about quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, who is Rutgers' version of Quinn Ewers. He reclassified and enrolled in college early last year, but as the No. 202 overall recruit in that class, he stuck around. And he has a chance to be Rutgers' quarterback for a long time, and maybe the best quarterback Rutgers has seen in quite a while.

But Doug and Steve also talked about the process of sportswriting for a big chunk of the pod, talking about Rutgers coverage, writing about New York sports, and some of Steve's favorite stories he's ever done, from Mexico to The Masters to the Olympics.

And then Doug wraps up with why he thinks this once again won't be much of a game.

Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com.

Ohio State's $13 million NIL ideas, Doug chickening out, and French Vanilla: Rapid Fire Jun 04, 2022

Show notes

On this Monday Buckeye Talk that is dropping early over the weekend, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means take a bunch of questions from Ohio State text subscribers, many of them centered around Ryan Day saying the Buckeyes need $13 million in NIL money available to them to keep their football roster together.

There's a lot of information shared there, but there are also discussions of:

Doug's potential new nickname
Why Doug didn't push a guest harder on a topic while Stephen was out
Ohio State's 2005 team
The effect of NIL on Ohio State's current recruiting class
Favorite cities to visit
Paris Johnson Jr

And more. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk.

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