Tim, thank you for the time.
Hey, no problem, my man, no problem. Now, we've seen what's taken place over the past few games. Ohio is letting Nebraska hang around in a game where they're supposed to smash them. Before that, they lose to a powerhouse, another one in Oregon.
What's going on? Have they hit a little bit of a doldrum in the season? Have they kind of flattened out? Are the young players too young?
Why have they kind of blanked at this point? How's they got beat by Oregon by one point at Oregon? First second trip ever by Ohio State to Oregon.
First time was 1967. But the point is, Austin Stadium is a different animal than it was then. But the bottom line is they played, you know, they lost that game by one point, had the ball with a chance to drive down and win it. I know everybody saw what happened in the last 30 seconds of that game. It was very strange.
But it is what it is. Yeah, last week, after having the week off, after the Oregon game, last week was, I don't know how you would describe it. It just was a clunky game, is the best way of putting it. Ohio State never solved Nebraska's defensive front when it came to, by front I mean 5, 6, 7 guys. The way they played that 3-3-5 defense never really solved it as far as the running game goes. They hit two huge passes. But where you got to give Ohio State some kudos, in fact that's the correct term, is when they needed to drive at the end of the game to win it, they got it. And so, yeah, it was not a game to write home about, but you're watching college football like I am this year, man. I mean, explain to me how Mississippi State scores 31 points on Georgia and Texas only scores 8.
You got my drift? Yeah, it's a give and a take every week, every team for itself. Tim Mayes joining us from lettermanrow.com. When you think about Ohio State, people are looking at them kind of cross-eyed right now, but they still sit at number 4 here in the top 25. They have Penn State this upcoming Saturday, who's sitting right in front of them at number 3, and they're dealing with an injury to their quarterback, Drew Alar. What do you expect in this matchup?
Because if they look ugly again, people are going to start dropping them from the ratings. I don't know if they're going to start dropping them. I mean, you know, Penn State's rating is number 3. You know, they're not number 33. So, bottom line is that this is a game for both of these teams. The only thing that matters on Saturday is winning the game, the W. You know, the style points, the margin of victory doesn't matter when it's 3 versus 4. It just matters getting the W. And Ohio State, of course, has kind of got its back to the wall, it's backed into a corner because they already have a loss, and he's still in control of his destiny of getting to Indianapolis with a chance to play for the Big Ten championship if it wins out. Because, you know, of course, farther down on the schedule, the week before, Ohio State hosts Michigan. It also hosts Indiana the week before, and Indiana is undefeated. So, everything's still in front of Ohio State if it takes care of business on Saturday. But this is 3 versus 4, like I just pointed out, and it's really funny because it's almost like the poll voters right now, both in the media and the coaches poll, almost have more faith in Ohio State than maybe even some of the fans around here at the moment. So, what is that sentiment by the fans? Have they been scared out of the past two games as to what the future's going to look like?
You know how you expect, you get something in the mail or whatever and you expect it to look one way, but it turns out to look a little bit different? That's what you're talking about. I mean, this was, everybody's talking about the $20 million quote, payroll end quote. I mean, there are a lot of big time schools in the nation right now that I guarantee you are at that number if not even higher themselves. But, you know, the Ohio State athletic director, Ross York, put that out there beginning of the year, but he was just being upfront about it. But the bottom line is, when you have all these guys come back, you get some major transfers from the Southeastern Conference, including Quinshine Judkins, the center, Seth McLaughlin from Alabama, the safety, one of the best safeties, if not the best safety in the country, Caleb Dowse from Alabama. And to add to all the guys that came back and in a big time recruiting class, it includes Jeremiah Smith. You know, I think you expect a big time Broadway show every time they take the field, but we all know college football is not like that. It hasn't been for a while, but definitely not like that this year. What does that mean for the reaction to Ryan Day, given the fact that we know that Michigan is lower on the totem pole and the expectations of Ohio State to trample through everybody?
Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, sometimes things are unrealistic because you're still dealing with college football players, even though they're all getting paid now at every school. But the expectations are, you know, Ryan Day has lost, what, nine games in six seasons at Ohio State. But we all know what's happened against Michigan the last three years. They lost them, didn't even get to play for the Big Ten championship. And of course, we know how close Ohio State came to knocking off Georgia two years ago. Georgia going on to win its second straight national championship, but nobody cares about that anymore. It's like, can you win the big one, Ryan? Well, you know, he's beaten Penn State a few times, if that's a big one. But yeah, and he's beaten Michigan before, in 2019.
So the question now is, what have you done for me lately? And do you understand that? I mean, when somebody's getting paid $10 million, in most people's minds, they're supposed to be able to take care of it no matter what. But as we all know, it's played by the players, not the coaches and the coaching staff. I mean, last week was a conundrum, though, to kind of figure out because I don't care what kind of defense Nebraska was playing, it had just been bushwhacked by Indiana 56 to 7.
So, of course, that pill did not go down easily. It's amazing. Joining us from Letterman Row, when you talk about Chip Kelly, from a national perspective, he doesn't get a lot of attention outside of that game versus Oregon. How has he contributed? Have people taken a look at him and kind of go, hey, you're supposed to be here to make this work? Yeah, I mean, to a certain extent, especially after last week, they were only getting, what, 64 yards rushing against Nebraska.
Of course, that's a big question. They kept trying to run the ball, though, so you got to give them some credit for effort, but it just didn't happen. They weren't blocking everybody. I mean, they had a brand new left tackle because their really talented left tackle, Josh Simmons, was lost for the season due to an injury against Atta, Oregon. So, clearly, Nebraska took advantage of a lot of things, but really mixed it up up front. Ohio State never really solved that puzzle. But what Ohio State's got going for it, I've been saying this forever this year, but okay, you stuff them on the run game.
You still gave up two big, over-the-top passes to arguably the most talented wide receiver core in the country, if not second most talented. Maybe Oregon's boasting about that now, I'm sure. But, you know, Ohio State still has a way to beat you, even when you shut down this thing.
They still have weapons they can go to that not necessarily every other scoop can go to. And then, number three, they did get that drive at the end of the game, or near the end of the game, to win the game. And, yeah, it wasn't like anybody expected it to be, but now it's moving forward as far as solving this Penn State puzzle. I mean, Penn State's one of the slowest starting teams in America, but boy, when it gets steam going, it's pretty good. But now they've lost Drew Allar, and they've got the privula kid at quarterback, which presents a different kind of challenge for your defense from the standpoint of being able to run and throw. So I'm sure Ohio State is paying very little mind to what happened last week in terms of fixing some things, but this is a totally different test. Well, Tim, given what you've seen throughout the course of this season, what you've seen over the past several weeks, what do you think is the likeliest outcome for this team over the next month and change? Oh, I mean, Ohio State has the wherewithal to win out. I mean, it went all the way out.
Everybody hits the doldrums. Georgia got beat by Alabama, but was down 28-0. I mean, everybody can look bad for one week or the next. Vanderbilt almost pulled off another one last week against Texas.
So my point is, anybody can beat you now, because everybody, people aren't paying attention, I don't think, close enough. Everybody's got players now because of the transfer portal and NIL opportunities, and there are very few teams that just stink anymore because of that. You're getting guys who are maybe crestfallen and they're not getting their shot early enough at school A and they move to school B, and then suddenly school B looks pretty good. I mean, look at Indiana. Indiana, it's not just pure coaching genius that's getting Indiana there. Indiana's got some pretty good players, and that's why they're 8-0 as much as anything else.
You know, the days of really out-scheming somebody for the most part are long gone. You've got to have players. So I think Ohio State has the wherewithal. You know, what it's got going for it is this game this week is at Penn State, but the game with Indiana is at home, and then the game with Michigan is at home. The schedule sets up pretty good for them after this week, let's put it that way. Obviously, they've also played Purdue in that run, and Northwestern. Yeah, we'll see. There'll be no reason why they can't win out taking a look at the rest of the game.
No, there's the altitude. How do you explain? I mean, I'm not playing. I don't have an idea from the standpoint of exactly, I mean, I can see with my own eyes what was going on last week. Occasionally, Nebraska had more guys than they could block and took advantage of that and went after Ohio State and attacked, but then got burnt over the top two times and finally gave up a game-winning touchdown drive.
So Oregon, you know, put that same game on a on a neutral field, and who knows how that comes out, and we may see it here in about a month. Yeah, well, give it due time. Hey, Tim, thank you so much for the time and for the insight. Where can people follow you in the LettermanRow.com? Yeah, I've got LettermanRow.com is exactly it. Not Letterman, but Letterman, like you're saying correctly. And then I also have on LettermanRow.com, I've got the Tim May show where I mainly have Matt Wilhelm, former Ohio State linebacker, on with me, and we dissected that frog a heck of a lot more than you and I just did. You know what I'm saying?
And then occasionally I have different guests on and stuff, but the Tim May show now, I also do radio and TV here, so yeah, there straight to the bottom of the barrel, but there I am right there. Oh, no, don't say that, sir. Well, we appreciate you for coming through with the insight, and let's see how far Ohio State rolls and get you back on.
Yeah. Hey, let's talk again Indiana week, man. That could be the biggest week in the Big Ten this year. Who saw that one coming, right?
The answer is nobody. I think I have an idea what the game is going to look like versus Michigan, so shoot, I may make my way out to that one, okay? There you go, brother. I'll see you there, man.
