Buckeye Talk: Ohio State podcast by cleveland.com

Ohio State is a week away from the start of its season. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State football will release a depth chart the day before the Oct. 24 season opener against Nebraska. But what will the actual relationship be between starters and backups when the Buckeyes take the field? Your Buckeye Talk crew got to the bottom of that question. The conversation began with Wednesday's revelations about the safety competition from assistant coach Matt Barnes, then worked its way to the front of the defense. With defensive tackle depth questionable at best, who will rotate through those spots against the Cornhuskers? Also, what will OSU actually do with this abundance of linebacker talent? On offense, we know the first-string offensive line, we know the running back spot will be a timeshare, we know the tight end three-deep and we know the starting quarterback. How much will freshmen factor into the Buckeyes' six-man receiver rotation? Also, we delve into the breaking news regarding COVID-19 and the SEC and what Big Ten fans need to keep in mind as the season draws near. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk podcast from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means describe exactly what would need to happen for Ohio State to have the best football season in school history. The schedule, the opponents, the talent and the context are all there to make it possible. The distinction between best team and best season is important, but playing in the COVID-19 era has a chance to make 2020 as memorable as any OSU season. OSU text subscribers joined the conversation in a live Zoom call on this pod, and they also asked questions about Kerry Coombs, Chris Gamble, Tom Herman and other issues around Ohio State football. If you'd like to join a live zoom podcast, sign up for a free text trial by sending a message to 614-350-3315. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk pod from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Stephen Means, Nathan Baird and the Ohio State text subscribers take a crack at some over/unders and either/ors for this football season. How many touchdown passes will Justin Fields throw -- over or under 39? How many points per game will the Buckeyes allow (over or under 20) and score (over or under 50)? Will the leading rusher be either Trey Sermon or Master Teague? Leading receiver be either Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson? Leader in sacks be either Zach Harrison or Tyreke Smith? And will the Buckeyes score 60 on Rutgers? It's another round of predictions as the season draws closer. Thanks for joining the prognosticating fun on Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the season's start finally closing in, Buckeye Talk delved into Mark It Down Monday for the final time in 2020. Continuing a tradition you may already know from our weekly video series, we all mark down our Outrageous Predictions for the season ahead. So did our Buckeye Talk text subscribers. They chimed in with predictions on how COVID-19 will affect the season, what numbers Justin Fields will put up, who will lead the defense and exactly how many points Ohio State will score in The Game. Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means also made their own Outrageous Predictions covering a high-scoring offense, Justin Fields' touchdown ceiling and how many of them will go to a specific tight end. Outrageous Predictions will continue throughout the season, but Mondays will soon become about recapping the weekend in college football and previewing the week ahead. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the preseason winding down, we had to bring The Game into our discussion of the important games in Ohio State football history. So we took our little time machine back to 1968, when the Buckeyes dominated Michigan with the Super Sophs en route to the national championship. This game lives on as Woody Hayes' finest moment OSU's head coach. It also came during a time of upheaval in society. One year later, Bo Schembechler took over the Wolverines, setting off the Ten Year War in the rivalry. On this day, however, we focused on Rex Kern and a Buckeyes running game equal parts beautiful and punishing. We also paid homage to Jack Tatum and a defense that dominated much of this game and set a tone for the triumph to come in the Rose Bowl against O.J. Simpson and USC. Watch the youtube cut-up version of this Ohio State classic, then join us for this discussion. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Buckeyes add an offensive line recruit See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Thursday Buckeye Talk episode from cleveland.com, the defensive line is the focus. But there's also a discussion about running backs at the end. What Nathan Baird and Stephen Means are doing is explaining the most important things they've learned from recent interviews with Ohio State assistant coaches and players, and both the running backs and defensive linemen recently spoke with reporters. With Doug Lesmerises mostly asking questions, Nathan and Stephen let you know what to expect from Zach Harrison, Tyreke Smith, Tommy Togiai, Tyler Friday, Antwuan Jackson, Trey Sermon, Master Teague and other Buckeyes you care about before the start of the season. Thanks for making Buckeye Talk part of your day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a rapid fire Wednesday for our biggest Buckeye Talk of the week, as Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means take questions from text subscribers. Among the topics: • What should be expected from DBs Tyreke Johnson and Josh Proctor this season? • Is this the year that Ohio State returns a punt for a touchdown? • How large will the betting lines be for OSU games? • How far would you drive for a specific fast food meal? • Could Ohio State win a title if Justin Fields got hurt? • How does a conference develop an identity? • What's our favorite holiday story? • How much upside does new Michigan QB Joe Milton have? • Is Tom Herman on the hot seat at Texas? • Which college coaches would survive on The Walking Dead? • And then there's the last question, which is too dangerous to type out here. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Nathan Baird, Stephen Means and Doug Lesmerises talk about the position changes for Pete Werner and Baron Browning and how everything will fit together in the Ohio State linebacker room this season. But first, the guys discuss Ohio State's latest 2021 recruiting commitment at tackle and what happened with the higher-rated tackle recruits they didn't get. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we close in on the start of the Big Ten season -- finally -- we need to once and for all mark down our College Football Playoff championship scenarios. We tried this back in mid-August, based on what we knew about schedules, opt-outs and the sport's landscape at the time. Six weeks later, Doug, Nathan and Stephen followed through with a Mark It Down Monday on their actual playoff and national championship predictions. To set the stage, the guys discussed the Buckeyes. Does Ohio State's eight-game Big Ten-only schedule make it easier to reach the playoff, and does it also make it more difficult to claim the No. 1 seed? Has the conversation around Clemson's schedule similarly changed? How impressed are we with Alabama so far, and can the Big 12 or Pac-12 summon any sort of a challenge? Then, we revisit our earlier predictions. Have our top four teams changed, and how do we expect the four seeds to shake out? Is Ohio State still our unanimous pick to win its first national championship since 2014? Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's our fourth Buckeye ReTalkables on the Buckeye Talk Podcast from cleveland.com, where Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means relive and retalk an Ohio State game from the past. This time, it's the recent past, as the cleveland.com Ohio State text subscribers picked the 2017 Ohio State vs. Penn State game from a list of four recent classics between the Buckeyes and the Nittany Lions. Great choice, and not only because this was the best quarter of J.T. Barrett's career as he rallied the Buckeyes to a 39-38 win while completing all 13 of his passes in the fourth quarter. This also might have been the most consequential game in recent Big Ten history. Listen to relive it and find out why. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Olave says he was always coming back for another season. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're another day closer to the long-delayed start to the Ohio State football season, and today that means a closer look inside the potential receiver rotation for the Buckeyes this fall. Nathan Baird and Stephen Means were in on a Zoom call with receivers coach Brian Hartline and four players from his room on Tuesday. What did they learn about Chris Olave's commitment to 2020 and beyond, the progress Garrett Wilson is making in the slot, what Hartline wants from that position long-term, how much of a factor Jameson Williams could be this fall and how the freshman have looked in early practices? All of that is covered in this Thursday edition of the daily Buckeye Talk podcast. Come back to cleveland.com all week for more on the receivers and an update from Al Washington and the linebackers. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means dig into a major comparison for the 2020 season, and, well, every season. It's Ohio State vs. Clemson and the Big Ten vs. the ACC. The question here is in two parts: Does Ohio State or Clemson have an easier path to the College Football Playoff with their schedules this season? Does the Big Ten or the ACC have the bigger gap between the team on top (either Ohio State or Clemson) and the teams chasing them (Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, et al. in the Big Ten and Notre Dame, Miami, North Carolina, et al. in the ACC.) Those questions, with answers from the hosts and text subscribers, took up most of this episode. But the guys did start the episode with a look at the way Trey Sermon and Master Teague may share the load at running back this season. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take eight rapid fire questions from text subscribers on this Tuesday Buckeye Talk episode from cleveland.com. It starts off with Ryan Day claiming that this Ohio State team is a once-in-a-lifetime group, then the questions move to whether the Big Ten will change its mind on no fans in the stands; whether any OSU players would opt out midseason; Greg Studrawa's offensive line recruiting; if the playoff should expand for this season; and finally, a Tim Beck question. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the risk of violating the sacred integrity of Mark It Down Monday, we decided to take a bit of a mulligan on some of our season predictions. A lot has happened in the college football landscape over the past two months. At the same time, has anything really changed? So Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means first looked at the early Big Ten-less results of the college football season. Who has surprised us (Miami, and other teams in a bad way)? Who has underwhelmed (basically the entire Big 12). We spent the obligatory segment on former OSU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch's issues at Oklahoma and looked at why the Sooners remain a notch below the other national contenders. Then we took another look at our preseason Hesiman predictions. The Buckeye Talk crew unanimously picked OSU's Justin Fields over Clemson's Trevor Lawrence for the honor originally. Does the Tigers' head start give Lawrence any kind of an edge? Who else do we think could make it to New York, and has anyone already fallen out of contention? We also took an opportunity to correct our preseason Big Ten order of finish. Did the schedule release and any remaining opt-outs change our expectations for who reaches Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game? Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the third Buckeye ReTalkables here on Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. Already in the feed are the 2015 opener vs. Virginia Tech and the 2010 Rose Bowl vs. Oregon. Now, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means go a little further back. It's Ohio State vs. Notre Dame in 1995, the first game between these two historic programs since 1936. The teams played again in 1996, and then they met in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2005 season and the 2015 season. The teams are scheduled for another home-and-home series in the regular season in 2022 and 2023. But this game in 1995 between John Cooper and Lou Holtz was a huge deal because it was so long in the making. Holtz is in a neck brace. Eddie George is going on to win the Heisman. Future coaches Mike Vrabel and Luke Fickell are on the OSU defensive line. And this 45-26 win for the Buckeyes was a great one to re-talk about. Eric Hansen, the Notre Dame writer for the South Bend Tribune who also happens to be an Ohio State grad, joins us to set the scene for this one, as Eric covered this game and Doug, Nathan and Stephen didn't cover this. Neither the Buckeyes nor Fighting Irish are playing this weekend, so we hope fans of both teams can enjoy this look back to 25 years ago. Thanks for listening to Buckeye ReTalkables. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wyatt Davis and Shaun Wade opt in for the fall season. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We finally have real football to talk about at Buckeye Talk, after a Tuesday night Zoom call with defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and a couple of cornerbacks provided new insight into what Ohio State's defense might look like this fall. Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means begin with those cornerbacks, including potential starting slot cornerback Marcus Williamson. He doesn't fit Coombs' ideal look for an OSU corner and yet he recruited him anyway back before the Buckeyes employed a slot cornerback full-time. Now he becomes the missing piece that perhaps allows Coombs to keep his long, athletic options, such as Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown, on the outside with Shaun Wade. Also, why does Cameron Martinez sound like such an obvious long-term option at that slot corner? The Buckeye Talk crew bounces around the rest of the defense. How much of a problem is OSU's perceived lack of depth at defensive tackle? Could the tweaked defensive alignments Coombs mentioned Tuesday become a part of the Buckeye defense as soon as 2020? And looking ahead fo more interviews later this week, what do we most urgently need to learn about the OSU offense? Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, the goal is to build the perfect college football conference for Ohio State. Is it the Big Ten with a few tweaks? Is it the Big Ten with major tweaks? Would Ohio State be better off in a totally different conference? Could you smush the Big Ten together with another conference? And should schools like Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Northwestern, Penn State and Nebraska stay in Ohio State's conference? Or should they be replaced by schools like Notre Dame, Pitt, Texas, West Virginia and Kansas? That was the goal of this podcast episode, considering all the consternation in the Big Ten in the last six weeks. Could we improve the grouping of schools that Ohio State calls conference companions? Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means tackled that assignment and designed their ideal conferences, while our OSU text subscribers chipped in with lots of ideas of their own. It made for a fun exercise -- and some yelling. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's a Tuesday rapid fire edition of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, as Doug Lesmerises, Stephen Means and Nathan Baird take questions from text subscribers. (Try the texts for a 14-day free trial by texting 614-350-3315.) Among the seven topics: Ryan Day scouting Alabama Demario McCall's role Will the freshmen receivers be set back? Buckeyes in the NFL Is there an additional injury risk because of the season and preseason schedule? And more. Thanks s always for joining Buckeye Talk, a rather enjoyable listening experience, wouldn't you say? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten’s current fan attendance policy will prevent Penn State’s usual “whiteout” conditions when the Buckeyes visit on Halloween. Will that still be the closest game any opponent gives Ohio State in this revamped regular-season schedule? Will that distinction instead go to Michigan, which comes to Ohio Stadium on Dec. 12 in the Big Ten’s biggest rivalry game? Only once in the past six meetings have the Wolverines played within one score of Ohio State. Are they due for a challenge worthy of the rivalry’s history and attention? Or perhaps someone else on the Buckeyes' schedule will pull a surprise and summon the scare that Iowa, Purdue and Maryland managed in recent years. In the triumphant return of Buckeye Talk’s Mark It Down Monday, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means predicted which of Ohio State’s eight games would have the slimmest margin of victory. The crew also broke down all aspects of the schedule released Saturday morning. Is it important that Ohio State plays Penn State early? Did the Big Ten do the right thing keeping the rivalry games in the final week? Does Nebraska sound ridiculous whining about getting a tough crossover schedule when they were treated exactly the same as every other team? Thank you for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Friday Buckeye Talk Podcast from cleveland.com, the topic is Big Ten brotherhood. After this five-week fight to save a fall Big Ten football season, how do Ohio State fans now look at the rest of the conference? Do they like Jim Harbaugh more after he marched with members of the Michigan program to have a fall season? Do OSU fans feel camaraderie with Iowa and Nebraska, the other two football programs that never wanted to cancel in the first place? Are OSU fans mad at the original 11 no votes? Will we ever hear "Big Ten" chants at OSU games? All that, plus Justin Fields and whether he ever thought of opting out; Shaun Wade's decision to opt back in; the games around the country that are being postponed; and when OSU will be eligible for the AP poll again. Thanks for joining Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means on Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten reinstates the football season starting the weekend of Oct. 23-24. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're finding the flow on Buckeye Talk. This is the Thursday episode, but it feels like a typical big Wednesday pod, as Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means run through everything that the cleveland.com Ohio State text subscribers are thinking about. What changed to get the Big Ten focused on an October restart? What would the hype for an Ohio State-Clemson playoff rematch feel like? How will the playoff selection committee evaluate the Big Ten champ compared to the SEC, ACC and Big 12? What's up with McDonald's spicy McNuggets? How important is defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs to the Buckeyes now? How do the Big Ten testing regulations compare to other conferences? What's the biggest hurdle for Ohio State on its attempted path to the playoff, and is it football or coronavirus related? Will Wyatt Davis be able to opt in and play for the Buckeyes? It's busy, and it's pretty darn normal. Except for the part where Doug starts shouting about the idea that Wednesday was the darkest day in Big Ten football history. It's Buckeye Talk, and if you stopped listening for a few weeks because you were sad there was no fall football in the Big Ten -- then welcome back. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The long-awaited word officially came Wednesday morning. The Big Ten Conference has reversed course and will attempt to play a fall season beginning the Oct. 23-24 weekend. Ohio State does not yet know the layout of its eight-game schedule, but it knows it again has a chance to earn its was into the College Football Playoff. Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means discussed what the news means for the Buckeyes' potential opt-outs, where they believe the OSU-Michigan game should go on the new schedule, how this affects the College Football Playoff picture and so much more. Also, how far did Wednesday's announcement go in repairing Big Ten Commissioner's Kevin Warren's reputation. And is Ohio State still the same national championship contender it was in the preseason, considering it may not have two preseason All-Americans this fall? Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk podcast from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird are still waiting, just like you. But while the Big Ten still hasn't announced a decision on when football will be played, Doug and Nathan talked about something that has been announced -- Shaun Wade's decision to opt out of the season. They talked about that choice by the OSU cornerback, they looked at what's happening at LSU and Michigan and, like you, they wondered when the Big Ten will make a decision. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten should soon reach a decision about when it will play football again, and the league might play this fall. Aren't you ready for the league to do something? On this late Monday episode of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird make their predictions on what they think the Big Ten will do. And then they talk about what has been so miserable about the last 34 days, since the Big Ten announced the fall cancellation on Aug. 11. What do they hate most about this, from the opportunities missed to the reporting to the Rutgers-ness of the situation? If you've been frustrated, join Nathan and Doug for what should be a final session of venting before the Big Ten makes its call. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the second Buckeye ReTalkables for this bonus Saturday pod, as Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means break down the Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon that capped off the 2009 season. It's Jim Tressel vs. Chip Kelly and a sweater vest vs. a shiny spread offense. It's a big moment for sophomore quarterback Terrelle Pryor and a major test for an OSU defense led by future NFL star Cameron Heyward. It's Ohio State's first Rose Bowl in 13 years and a chance for the Buckeyes to break their string of three straight bowl losses. And it's a way to enjoy the Buckeyes vs. the Ducks on the weekend when Ohio State was supposed to be playing at Oregon in a non-conference game that would have highlighted the Week 2 schedule as a matchup of top-10 teams. The guys tried to replace that -- and it's a fun game to relive. (By the way, the Buckeyes won.) Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All-American offensive lineman Wyatt Davis announced Friday that he is opting out of Ohio State's season and beginning to prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, the first Buckeye to officially declare he won't be part of whatever season the Big Ten might play this season. On this Friday edition of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Stephen Means and Nathan Baird discuss the decision by Davis and what might be next. Plus, they get into the statement Ryan Day released on Thursday pushing for football in October, and the eventual decision the Big Ten presidents will have to make about that. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All-American Wyatt Davis opts out See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Allatoona, Georgia tight end Bennett Christian took matters into his own hands when the NCAA instituted a recruiting moratorium during the coronavirus pandemic. He made his own visit to Columbus and committed to the Buckeyes soon after -- though he waited to announce the decision on his birthday a couple of weeks later. Christian joined Buckeye Talk to discuss the factors that went into that decision, his relationships with coach Ryan Day and tight ends coach Kevin Wilson, and who else he is trying to bring on as the second tight end in OSU's 2022 class. He also talked with Stephen Means and Nathan Baird about why he believes Ohio State is a destination for tight ends and what role his faith played in his recruiting decision. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, the big Wednesday pod isn't quite as big as usual. But it's instructive. As everyone waits for what's next from the Big Ten, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means took a crack at ranking every major college football team in tiers, but with a purpose. The exercise was intended to shed some light on how the 14 Big Ten programs might be thinking about playing football this fall, based in part on their standing in the college football landscape. So Doug assigned a tier to all 65 power conference teams, and Nathan and Stephen offered up where they believe Big Ten teams fall. From regular national title contenders to programs that are just bad, the guys ranked them all. Listen, disagree and enjoy. And thanks for making Buckeye Talk part of your day. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk Podcast from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means eagerly dive into a new mock draft from Bleacher Report draft analyst Matt Miller. He released a three-round 2021 NFL mock draft on Monday, and six Buckeyes were included. The guys discussed all six of those Buckeyes and compared them to past OSU draftees while deciding if they should be projected to go higher or lower. They also talked about the Buckeyes who didn't make the 96 picks in this mock, including one surprising omission in particular. Draft talk is always fun and this was a good look ahead for another group of future Ohio State pros. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Buckeye Talk podcast for Monday, Nathan Baird and Doug Lesmerises split things in half. The first part of the pod has nothing to do with the debate and discussion over when the Big Ten might play football again -- it's talking about favorite gameday memories, what was missed most on a Saturday with no Ohio State football, a Buckeye to look forward to seeing play in the 2021 season, and that annoying chicken wing guy from Nebraska. Then, the second half of the pod is all that other topic, the one everyone has been talking about for the last month -- what's up with Big Ten football? Nathan and Doug took seven questions around the latest news and speculation on that topic. So, if you're sick of that, then just enjoy the first half of the pod. If you want more of that, enjoy the first half of the pod and then stick around. Either way, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to a new feature here on Buckeye Talk. Get ready for Buckeye ReTalkables, a new series in which Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means watch an old Ohio State game and then break it down. The guys, with the help of text subscribers, came up with a variety of categories named after Buckeyes like Jim Tressel, Maurice Clarett, Kenny Guiton, John Cooper, Ted Ginn Jr., J.T. Barrett, Bill Davis and Tim Beck. The first game up is Ohio State vs. Virginia Tech in the 2015 season opener in Blacksburg, with Cardale Jones starting at quarterback for the defending national champs. The conclusion from this pod? This first game represented a lot of what that 2015 season would be like. This game is on YouTube in its entirety, so you can watch that before or after listening, or just let the guys relive the game for you. Either way, thanks for joining us on this first version of Buckeye ReTalkables. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discussion continues around the Big Ten decision to cancel fall football. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Way back in the first week of April, Buckeye Talk's Nathan Baird and Stephen Means drafted starting lineups for a hypothetical Ohio State football spring game. We asked our text subscribers to vote on who came out on top, and by a 105-12 margin, they gave the edge to Team Baird. Stephen vowed that day to find rosters and play out the game on Xbox 360 to determine once and for all who had assembled the better collection of talent. For a brief respite from the roller coaster that is the extended Big Ten offseason, Baird Bunch and Means Machine finally faced off in a living room in Dublin on Wednesday. The final score, like with any spring game or scrimmage, is not especially important. We tried to use the simulation to imagine what we might have learned about the Buckeyes during a normal season without the coronavirus pandemic. What would CJ Stroud and Jack Miller have displayed in their race to back up Justin Fields? Who would step up defensively and make a mark? Which of the freshmen receivers might have emerged the soonest? We know Thursday is supposed to be opening day of Ohio State. We know this fake game cannot take the place of a real season opener. Watching this awkward graphical simulation only reminded both of us how much we missed football and how much we look forward to its eventual return. You'll hear our commentary between quarters, but based on the trash talk and exclamations during the simulation, Stephen's neighbors might have assumed a real game was being played. Let's hope that happens soon enough. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of ground to cover on this week's big Wednesday edition of Buckeye Talk. We covered everything from the use of anonymous sources to Justin Fields-Georgia transfer speculation to heartbreaking sports moments from our past to which fast food fry Ohio State football would be. We tried to push the nonsense towards the end but this was one of the most fun episodes we have recorded in a while after weeks of Big Ten process and non-developments. However, Nathan Baird, Stephen Means and Doug Lesmerises opened the show by discussing a major development. President Donald Trump spoke with Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren about "immediately starting" football. That sparked a day of reports, some of which suggested the Big Ten could play as early as Oct. 10, others disputing the league had any traction towards restarting before late fall. The cleveland.com OSU beat discussed how much the Trump-Joe Biden dynamic brings a new political angle to the situation, and whether Tuesday's call could potentially push Big Ten presidents and chancellors who had previously voted to cancel to reverse their decisions. That's a heavy topic, but overall this was a less serious episode that still talked a lot of football. If anything we hope it gave you a new perspective on how and why we report and write on some of the developments the way we do. As always, thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many have torn into the Big Ten and Commissioner Kevin Warren for both the decision to cancel fall sports and the continued lack of a plan for the winter or spring. We at Buckeye Talk invited our text subscribers to help the league out. Based on what we know today, and the limitations of the calendar ahead, what would be your optimal design for the Big Ten schedule? Nathan Baird and Stephen Means both lay out their preferred plans. Many of the cleveland.com Buckeye Talk text subscribers wanted to start preseason camp right away and play as many games as early as possible. Some had more unique takes on how the Big Ten should move forward. To start the show, we discussed Monday's news, including the Big Ten answering the lawsuit filed by Nebraska players by releasing the results of its cancellation vote. Also, an update on Ohio State defensive tackle Haskell Garrett, who was injured in a weekend shooting. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Monday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Nathan Baird talks about the protest he covered Saturday from Ohio State parents at Ohio Stadium, as they continue to push for answers from the Big Ten and for the chance for the Buckeyes to play football this fall. Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means join Nathan to discuss some cleveland.com polls about how fans are viewing the risks of coronavirus and college football, and to ask if the parents and Big Ten officials are even asking the same questions at this point. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten is discussing the idea of a November restart of the football season. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More guests this week on Buckeye Talk as Nathan Baird and Stephen Means sit down -- virtually -- with 2022 Buckeye linebacker commits CJ Hicks and Dasan McCullough. Hicks and McCullough have developed a close friendship despite having not yet met in person. They discuss how that happened, their approach to recruiting more players for the still-early 2022 class and their impressions of linebackers coach Al Washington and head coach Ryan Day. We also heard the inside story of how Hicks found out McCullough would be committing to the Buckeyes last week. But first, Stephen and Nathan discuss an even newer commitment than McCullough. Four-star defensive tackle Tyleik Williams became the Buckeyes' 19th commit for the 2021 class on Thursday. How does he fit in and what does he mean for OSU's pursuit of the nation's No. 1 ranked class? Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Buckeye Talk episode from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises is joined by Ralph Russo, the national college football writer for the Associated Press. They discussed whether other leagues will be able to play college football this fall; whether a January plan for the Big Ten will work; if Ohio State will have any negative long-term effects for not playing this fall; how AP poll voting will work in the fall and the winter; and if there might be a combined poll at the end of it all that rates the fall and winter teams together and awards a combined national championship. It's a great conversation with Ralph, and thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NCAA granted a free year of eligibility to fall sports athletes for 2021, meaning seniors now could come back as seniors next season. How will that work? What decisions might the Ohio State football program and the Buckeyes players face as a result? While things remain up in the air for this season, on this big Wednesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means dove into what the starting lineups for next fall could look like. How much might they be affected by players who were expected to be gone, and how much influence might a winter football season now have on that? There's a lot to go over, so thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means of cleveland.com look at the Associated Press preseason top 25 rankings released Monday and talk about how many Buckeyes should make the preseason All-American team. Nathan is a voter on both of them. Then came a breakdown of winter football (led by the Big Ten and Pac-12) and fall football (with the SEC, ACC and Big 12 still planning to play). How does the quality of the teams planning to play in the winter or spring compare to the teams planning to play in the fall? How big is the gap? Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will the Big Ten Conference pull off a football season in the winter or spring? If so, will Ohio State's best players participate? With so much uncertainty in the air, the Buckeye Talk crew at cleveland.com puts their names on predictions for whatever season might unfold after the first of the year. Perhaps more intriguingly, they gauged the interest of their Buckeye Talk text subscribers -- henceforth known as Ded Eds, for reasons explained on the show. Are they interested in a winter or spring season at all? What if Ohio State plays but without many or most of its NFL Draft-bound stars? Are Buckeye fans committed to whatever season unfolds, or would a compromised season also hamper their enthusiasm for their team? Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means predict what they believe the Big Ten will do, and what that in turn means for the Buckeyes with big decisions to make. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten reaffirms the cancellation of fall sports in a letter from commissioner Kevin Warren See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Ten will not play football this fall, and does that mean Justin Fields will never play football for Ohio State again? If so, he left a fleeting glimpse of a growing leadership presence with his national media appearances over the past week. Will that enhance his legacy at Ohio State, or does it become one more tantalizing "what if" for Buckeye fans to mourn into the offseason? Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means opened Friday's daily Buckeye Talk with a discussion of how Fields changed as a person over his year in Columbus, They also argued about how good Ohio State might still be in a winter or spring season if Fields decides to pursue professional opportunities. (For that matter they also disagreed about what decision he might make on that.) From there the guys discussed how SEC fans would react to a canceled season compared to how Big Ten fans reacted, whether the cancellation makes it more likely Ryan Day seeks a future in the NFL and more. Thanks as always for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices