Buckeye Talk: Ohio State podcast by cleveland.com

On this Friday Buckeye Talk, Nathan Baird and Doug Lesmerises are playing off the Thursday episode that dug into the 1998 Ohio State-Michigan State game. Was that the most devastating loss in Ohio State history? The one game that fans would want to reverse the outcome of? Or would it be another game, maybe a loss by a great OSU team with national title hopes to an opponent like Michigan, Clemson,...

It's another edition of Buckeye ReTalkables on Buckeye Talk as Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird look back on and discuss Ohio State's 28-24 loss to Michigan State in 1998 season. The Buckeyes were No. 1 coming into this game in this first year of the BCS, and this upset in Ohio Stadium was the only loss of the year for this John Cooper team. Michigan State was an average team coming in, but was co...

It's finally the traffic podcast you've been promised on this Wednesday Buckeye Talk, as Doug Lesmerises is joined by Ohio State professor Dr. Benjamin Coifman. Dr. Coifman is a traffic expert who studies traffic flow and driver dynamics, among other things, and he's here to talk about all the things that drive you nuts on the road and the way we maybe can all be a bit better out there. The topics...

Pat Fitzgerald was fired as the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats on Monday, and though this is Buckeye Talk and a podcast about Ohio State, that kind of Big Ten news merits a discussion. And there are Ohio State lessons involved with this from how the Buckeyes handled Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer in the past. Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird discuss this mess from several angles: (0:30) Reac...

Ohio State linebacker Tommy Eichenberg ranked second in the Big Ten in tackles last season while earning second-team All-American. He's back, so will he lead the Buckeyes in tackles again? On this Mark It Down Monday on Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means talk about Eichenberg's potential place in Ohio State history, and then make their predictions on a tackle leader for...

On this Friday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means are hitting several topics on the Ohio State Buckeyes: (0:52) The addition of cornerback recruit Miles Lockhart (13:55) Would the Buckeyes rather win the national title in 2023 or 2024? (30:28) Which Buckeye would the guys most and least want to box? (39:29) If and when schools can hire more assistant coaches, what will the Buckeyes do...

What are the greatest threats to the continued high-level success of Ohio State football? What are the internal issues that could trip up the Buckeyes? What Big Ten competition could make the future more difficult? How about changes on the evolving national college football landscape? On this Thursday Buckeye Talk, off a great suggestion from an Ohio State text subscriber, Doug Lesmerises and Step...

Justin Scott committed to Ohio State on Sunday, and Marquise Lightfoot picked Miami over the Buckeyes on Monday. It was two major defensive decisions as the Buckeyes try to get back to their old standard of recruiting on the defensive side of the ball. On this Tuesday Buckeye Talk (Happy 4th) Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means break down the state of talent acquisition on defense. That starts with...

On this Mark It Down Monday, the statistical prediction is a little more complicated. Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means aren't looking at an individual stat -- they are marking down what percent of plays for the 2023 Ohio State Buckeyes will be pass plays, and how many will be run plays. To do that, they look at run-pass OSU percentages of the recent past; they compare the OSU passin...

On this weekend Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises is talking about the new national focus for Michigan, which has reportedly instituted a Beat Georgia practice period. Doug theorizes (0:30) that means Ohio State is 20 years ahead of Michigan in being a national program. Then he (11:35) compares the top-10 wins in the histories of the two programs and what that tells us about their n...

What is the single most dominant aspect of Ohio State's offense? On this Thursday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means give their answer to that question from an Ohio State text subscriber. Doug is back from vacation (0:30) and ready to jabber, and that means everyone needs to be ready to give and defend their answers. First Nathan (3:13), then Stephen (...

Ohio State and Michigan have played only one overtime game -- the 2016 classic that sent the Buckeyes to the playoff. Could they be destined for their second such outcome in The Game in Ann Arbor on Nov. 25? Tyler Shoemaker, Buckeye Talk's resident oddsmaker, joins the show to discuss his preseason power rankings. That includes a razor-thin margin for the regular-season finale at the Big House. Ty...

With two more commitments from last weekend's batch of official visits, Ohio State now has 16 for its 2024 recruiting class. How large will that class grow -- and more importantly, who will be in it? Stephen Means gives Nathan Baird his predictions for what could be one of the highest-rated Buckeye classes in recent history. • (2:00) Did Ohio State need commitments last weekend to build momentum i...

Jack Sawyer and Mike Hall Jr. tied for the Ohio State team lead in sacks last season with 4.5. The year before, Haskell Garrett led the team with 5.5. In the last full season before that, Chase Young led the Buckeyes with 16.5. That's quite a drop off. So who will lead the Buckeyes in sacks in 2023, and how many will they have? Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means make their predictions...

It's time for another Buckeye Retalkables, and up on this episode of Buckeye Talk is Ohio State vs. Michigan from 2016, as the No. 2 Buckeyes hosted the No. 3 Wolverines. This was Jim Harbaugh's second year as a head coach in the rivalry and the Wolverines, with a veteran team, had a real chance coming into Columbus. The Buckeyes prevailed 30-27 in double overtime thanks to Curtis Samuel, and in v...

Ohio State's summer camps wrapped up with a big commitment Wednesday. Bellefontaine's Tavien St. Clair completed his rise to the top of the Buckeyes' 2025 quarterback board. Stephen Means reports on how this commitment came together, what kind of player St. Clair is and how he fits in with the program's long-term quarterback project. Stephen and Nathan also discussed former OSU 2024 quarterback co...

Podcasting and text surveys shouldn't feel like homework, but for this edition of Buckeye Talk, they sort of did. So instead of only looking at the past, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird are also predicting the future of Ohio State in the NFL Draft. The last section of this episode is the top 16 picks in the Ultimate Ohio State Draft from the text subscribers. Where are they similar and different...

Which Ohio State receiver is the best NFL Draft prospect ever at that position? That's one of the debates and discussions on Part 2 of The Ultimate Ohio State Draft of NFL draft prospects conducted by Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means. Don't miss Part 1, in which Doug, Nathan and Stephen made Picks 1-16 on a previous Buckeye Talk episode. This episode is the continuation of that, and...

Who is the greatest Ohio State draft prospect ever? How do the best Buckeyes compare to each other in how they were viewed by the NFL coming out of college? On this Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means try to answer those questions with The Ultimate Ohio State Draft. This is the first of two parts as the guys make picks 1 through 16 from the 90 Ohio Stat...

Air Noland and Dylan Raiola will forever be linked as Ohio State's quarterback commits in the 2024 class. They went head-to-head this week at the Elite 11 showcase, where Noland showed where he stands next to now-Georgia commit Raiola and the rest of the best. Back home, in-state Class of 2025 quarterbacks Tavien St. Clair and Ryan Montgomery worked out for Corey Dennis and Ryan Day prior to one o...

Are the expectations for Ohio State football creating a burden that fans feel, and that affects their enjoyment of their very successful program? On this Thursday Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises once again dives into talk about his joy initiative and the hope that all OSU fans can love following their team. Some texters are sick of this topic already, and maybe so are you. But there are some interes...

On this Wednesday Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird react to some recent texter questions and comments around the topics percolating on Buckeye Talk. The discussion points: (0:30) How should the Buckeyes gather talent for this Jim Knowles version of defense and what can be learned from the players at Oklahoma State? (37:19) More on the TV package for the Big Ten and...

It's news and analysis from two days of Ohio State recruiting camps on this Tuesday episode of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. The Buckeyes hosted camps last Thursday and on Monday, and Stephen Means was there. He talks with Doug Lesmerises about: (1:40) The 2024 commit the Buckeyes landed Monday from Jaylen McClain (7:20) The defensive 5-stars Ohio State is targeting in this class (11:10) OSU vs...

On this Monday Buckeye Talk, it's a deep dive into Ohio State head coach Ryan Day with Doug Lesmerises and Nathan Baird. With the help of a survey of Ohio State text subscribers, Doug and Nathan look at the evolution of Day as a head coach and discuss what might be different, better or worse for the OSU boss as he enters his fifth season. The first four years included three playoff appearances and...

The Big Ten released its football opponents for 2024 and 2025 in the new 16-team conference with no divisions. For Ohio State, it’s a new world of games, with teams like Penn State, Michigan State and Rutgers on the schedule less frequently, teams like Northwestern, Illinois and Iowa on the schedule more frequently, and USC and UCLA joining the ranks as new conference opponents. Over the 24 regula...