Biggest Surprises from the First Half of the Season

We've officially reached the halfway point of the 2021 Ohio State football season.

With no game on the schedule this weekend, that made it a perfect time for a midseason report on this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, on which we discuss what’s impressed us most so far, what concerns we still have and what’s surprised us most from the first half of the year.

We begin that discussion a little over 23 minutes into the program, but first, we discuss our takeaways from Ohio State’s 66-17 win over Maryland, including what’s impressed us most about the Buckeyes’ near-perfect offensive performances in back-to-back games, why we think the defense’s improvement is for real and why Emeka Egbuka looks poised to break Ohio State’s 11-year kickoff return drought. We also discuss Kerry Coombs’ impassioned press conference on Tuesday (beginning at 12:54) and why it seems unlikely Coombs will remain at Ohio State beyond this season.

In our midseason report, we answer what we feel best about and what concerns us most at the halfway point of the regular season (beginning at 23:45); take a look back at what Dan got wrong (and one thing he actually got right) in his preseason team draft with former RPW co-host Colin Hass-Hill (28:51); rank some of the biggest surprises from the first half of the year, including the emergences of Denzel Burke, Tyleik Williams and Steele Chambers (35:21); discuss what C.J. Stroud must do in the second half of the season to win the Heisman Trophy (43:02); and make our predictions for what Ohio State’s second-half record will be and whether it will win the Big Ten, make the College Football Playoff and play for a national championship (52:02).

We also make our early predictions for how the Ohio State/Michigan game will play out (58:18) and discuss what Griffin learned from attending last week’s Big Ten basketball media days in Indianapolis (1:06:00).