It is the J. R. Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast. On the Infinity Sports Network. College football season is underway, but we probably have the biggest matchup getting us started this upcoming Saturday.
The Ohio State Buckeyes, Taking on the Texas Longhorns. Man, we got storylines related to the game. We got young new quarterbacks. We got media members who can get in and out of the building. And to talk about it all and what we can expect.
From the champions, now that things have changed just a little bit, and joining us right now is someone who helps host the Buckeye Huddle. It is Tony Gerdeman. Tony, how are you, man? Doing well. Thank you for having me.
Appreciate the time. I mean, there's so many storylines here, especially after Ohio State coming off of the national championship. We know there's changes. It seems like one of the only constants might be Ryan Day and Jeremiah Smith. We got new coordinators all over the place.
What can people really expect from the Buckeyes this season?
Well, I think you can expect to see plenty of talent. They'll still be one of the most talented teams in the nation. Uh they do have two new coordinators, but those coordinators are Um you know I don't know How much difference you'll see because Brian Hartline is calling plays, but Ryan Day's going to be right there with him. Matt Patricia is the new defensive coordinator, and he's the only change on the defensive staff.
So the defense will be similar. He'll add his flourishes and I think one of the things Marion Day keeps talking about is how young this team is. There's a lot of juniors, basically, who have been waiting their turn for a lot of seniors to lead. they finally left.
So you've got some new starters, but guys that have played I just don't know how many people know them yet. They know Jeremiah Smith and they know Caleb Downs, and that's about it. Yeah, when you think about the the new quarterback, what helps separate Julian saying here from keynotes to go ahead and take the job. Yeah, well, and keep in mind last year, Julian Saint was a true freshman. And he beat up Keynotes for the third.
Third-string job. Keen Oltz was a redshirt freshman last year.
So, you know, he had already been able to kind of move past him, but there was the true quarterback competition. And Throughout the entire thing, whenever anybody talks about Julian Sane, they talk about how quick he gets the ball out, how he throws the ball, everything to do with how he throws the ball, how he understands the defenses that he's seeing, how he operates. And then when they would talk about Lincoln Keenholtz, there was a lot of, he's a great athlete. You know, he can really do stuff with the with the ball.
So. It's that. You you read between the lines and you kind of get an idea of Yeah, this looks like it's going to be Julian Sane. Anyway, he was the runaway favorite, and then, of course, you know, he won the job. because he's able to utilize the weapons around him better.
Tony, when you think about the championship that they won last year, knocking off. Notre Dame, Ryan Day, people are still going to look at him and go, Hey, dude, are you going to go out there and beat Michigan? Does he get a little bit of a mulligan this year? He uh For the first eleven games. You know, that's about.
And really, you know, the Ohio State showed last year that You know, you can lose to Michigan. And still win a national championship. It used to be if you lose to Michigan. The rest of your season, like possibilities of your season. We're gone as well.
And that's no longer the case with the CFP and what else you can do. But It's been 2019 since the last time Ohio State beat Michigan. And yes, to say the natives are restless, I mean, you heard all of the talk from the fans. about you know fire Ryan Day, fire this, fire that, fire anything. Last year after that game.
But I I think he's he's He's shown that it's not a one game season and there's a there's a an entire world that he's kind of uh existing in and it's not just one game. Clever. You know, nobody wants to win that one more than he does, he'll tell you that. But yeah I mean you're gonna see the same thing, maybe not the same thing. You'll see some of the same things if Ohio State loses to Michigan this year.
You know, last year, was just so unexpected because it was at home. And I think maybe maybe you'll have a state thought that There was no chance they could lose. And I don't think that exists. I don't think that thought exists anymore, which should help them moving forward. Tony Gerdeman is here with us from the Buckeye Huddle.
when you think about the start and and even so much the rivalry. Yeah, just over the past 24 hours, we even see Oh, Dave Portnoy has been inserted and being banned and being What is this? Just to hype up the game, right? There's no big deal here. What is all this about?
The conspiracy theorist will tell you this is Fox trying to get ahead of the Lee Corso ratings on ESPN, trying to do something to take away from Lee Corso's last game day. But I think this ultimately was An instance where there were definitely people at Ohio State boosters who did not want Dave Portenoy in the stadium. And they made their feelings known before Fox Total Ohio State. Like, don't worry. He's not going to be at any of the stadiums in the Big Ten this year.
He's not part of the inside the stadium of the last few minutes. And maybe. Maybe if everybody had known that, there wouldn't have been this big brouhaha these last couple of days, and of course, the That's exactly what Dave Portnoy wants. And it helps him, and it helps his brand, and it helps him tout his Michigan Wolverine. Certainly, when Ohio State is like, well, we would.
Mm-hmm. There are definitely people that didn't want him around. And so he kinda wins on all fronts basically.
Well, Tony, but when we actually get to the football inside, I've been anticipating. Just seeing what Arch Manning does. I was like, hey, let's get Quentin Ewers out of here. And so now we got number one rated Texas.
So Ohio State is three coming off of a championship. What should we expect on the field? Because we know what Ohio State's going to do against Grambling. of the next week. But if they end up losing this one, what type of implications is that for the Buckeyes?
You know, I think Steve Sarkeesian said something yesterday that. Win or lose, the committee is going to like this game basically. You know, as long as it's not 59-0 or something like that.
So, in the committee's eyes, and really that's what a lot of this is about. you get credit for this game. And if you lose, that's fine. It's You probably get more credit losing 21 to 20 than you do beating and crambling 75-0, you know, something like that. I'm with Ryan Day talking about it today.
It's this, yeah, absolutely. You want to win it? They've been focused on it, they've been talking about it. I think the greatest thing that comes out of this game for Ohio State individually and Texas, probably as well. is you have a great understanding of where your team is after this game.
Because everybody's going to be challenged. Every single player on the field is going to be challenged on every single play.
So you after this game, everybody's going to know who you can trust, who you can't quite trust yet. Um so I don't think a loss Certainly doesn't knock anybody out. I think a win. Almost guarantees you're in the playoffs unless you find three games to lose the rest of the way out. But the win is huge.
A loss, you still get credit for playing the game because there are so few of these games being played anymore. And Tony Gerdeman is joining us from the Buckeye Huddle. It's the JR Sport Re Show on the Infinity Sports Network.
Well, we know Ohio State, they are the champs. They won earlier this year. Last time we saw a team go out there and give us a repeat was the Bulldogs. We know that things have changed even in that short amount of time with NIL and transfer portal. What are the odds that the Buckeyes can go out here and go back to back?
Well, it's something they've never done. And Ryan Day would love to win another championship, national championship, and then he would just him and Woody Hayes would be at Ohio State as head coaches that have won national multiple national championships. Uh, repeating has never been done. Ryan Day and the team do not talk, they don't talk about defending a national championship because they won it, so there's nothing to defend. That was last year.
It's not like they can lose it. by going eight and four this year, that national championship stays. Even Caleb Downs and some of the team leaders had wanted them. remove some of the the memorabilia and the banners inside the inside the facility because that was last year's team And the focus needs to be on this year's team.
So um I think they have as good a shot as anybody else. They've got They get penned stayed at home, which is good. They they still have to travel to Michigan, of course, but I'd say it's about matchups, but Ohio State had some difficult matchups in the playoffs last year.
So I'd say it's how well you're playing in December and January. and how healthy you are, because that's another thing that Ohio State did last year. They planned on I slowed things down.
So that they weren't playing too many plays per game and basically putting like an extra game or two of snaps. on their players And so by the time they got to the the the playoffs, Their skill positions were healthy. And they were fresh. And I think you saw that. And all four of those playoff games.
So that's going to be something they. Try to do as well because they just don't want to put too much wear and tear because they're planning to play 16 or 17 games. And you can't win the national championship in the first eight games, but you can lose it.
Well, let me ask you about this first game. You know, we talked about some of the names that, well, most of them that have moved on. Who are some other names that people should pay attention to? On the Buckeyes, that may not be known right now, but there are going to be some names in a few months. Yeah, I I think running back James Peoples, who's a sophomore from Texas.
He was the number three guy behind Trayvion Henderson and Quinchon Judkins last year, but you only got to see him. In blowouts, closing out games.
So he's never played in a big game necessarily before in big moments. And the expectations are very high for him.
So he's somebody to watch. Um, you know, defensively, Arvell Reese is a junior middle linebacker. He steps in for Cody Simon this year, and he played as a third linebacker last year, but still. Stepping in as the middle linebacker this year at Ohio State. It's a premium position.
And he and Sonny Stiles, they're. They check in about six, four, two hundred and forty pounds each.
So they are NFL-sized and they can move. And there's a lot that Matt Patricia is excited to do with them. all over the field.
So I think those are a couple of guys uh that people are going to know. We're going to find out sooner than later. I'm looking forward to this matchup on Saturday between Ohio State and Texas. Hey, Tony, thank you so much for joining us and lending your expertise with the Buckeyes. Where can people follow you in all of your work?
Yeah, you can find me at BuckeyeHuddle.com and I'm on Twitter at Tony Gerdeman. You've got a podcast called the Buckeye Weekly Podcast that you can find at all of your podcast platforms.
Okay. Cool. Hey, Tony, great chat with you. Looking forward to catching you down the line, okay? Anytime.
Thanks. Have a good day.
