Inside The Pylon: A Midwest College Football Podcast

Ryan and Clinton return to the Big Ten to hit the home stretch of fall previews, tonight talking the Iowa Hawkeyes. To help break them down, Tyler Tachman from the Des Moines Register joins the show. The Hawkeyes took a notable step forward on offense last season under first year OC Tim Lester, on the back of now-departed RB Kaleb Johnson but still a motley crew cast of characters at the QB positi...

It's officially college football month and Ryan and Clinton start to wind down fall previews, tonight tacking the Mid-American Conference as a whole. To help break them down, Alex Scheer from the MAC Sports Connection Podcast joins the show. Six MAC programs break in new coaches in 2025 (Kent State, Central Michigan, Bowling Green, UMass, Ohio and Ball State). Which of these six programs is best s...

Ryan and Clinton end the July portion of preseason programming talking defending national champions Ohio State. To help break them down, Tony Gerdeman from Buckeye Huddle joins the show. The Buckeyes won the ultimate prize in 2024. But with success at the college level comes inevitable change gone are both coordinators -- OC Chip Kelly to the NFL, and DC Jim Knowles to conference rival Penn State....

Clinton returns to the show for some west-coast Midwest action, as the guys talk UCLA. To help break them down, Mike Regalado from Bruin Report on the 247 Sports Network joins the show. The big offseason storyline was the return of Nico Iamaleava to Southern California during the spring portal window. What are fair expectations for him, given the hype surrounding the player but also given he spent...

Ryan flies solo while Clinton is on vacation, and continues wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling Notre Dame. To help break them down, Jack Soble from Blue and Gold Illustrated joins the show. ND made a national title game for the second time in 12 years in 2024, but did so with one of the toughest runs in school history. Was this path more sustainable than the 2012...

Ryan flies solo while Clinton is on vacation, and continues wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Washington Huskies. To help break them down, Roman Tomashoff from Locked on Huskies and USA Today joins the show. Jedd Fisch did well reconstructing this program in 2024 following the max exodus of coaches and players from 2023's run to the national title game. Howe...

Ryan flies solo while Clinton is on vacation, and continues wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Indiana Hoosiers. To help break them down, Jordan Jones from Boilers and Beyond joins the show. Ryan Walters was given the hook after two seasons as head coach, following a 1-11 2024 season. In comes Barry Odom, following a 19-8 two-year run at UNLV, which saw the R...

Ryan flies solo while Clinton is on vacation, and continues wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Indiana Hoosiers. To help break them down, Sammy Jacobs from HoosierHuddle.com joins the show. Year one under Curt Cignetti was a a smashing success with a playoff berth and a third-place Big Ten finish capping an 11-2 season. With several key returnees and another...

Ryan flies solo while Clinton is on vacation, and continues wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Maryland Terrapins. To help break them down, Jeff Ermann from InsideMDSports.com joins the show. The 2024 season proved to be a somewhat unexpected downward trend for the Terps, following three preceding bowl seasons from 2021-2023. What is the tenor of the fanbase...

Ryan and Clinton continue wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Oregon Ducks. To help break them down, Dale Bliss from Autzen Zoo joins the show. Dante Moore appears poised to be the next in the line of succession of great Oregon QBs, following Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. The former 5-star had a difficult time as a true freshman in a difficulty situation at UCLA,...

Ryan and Clinton continue wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Penn State Nittany Lions. To help break them down, Matt Flip from the Roar Lions Roar podcast joins the show. By any reasonable measure Penn State had a successful 2024 season. However that has not stopped the James Franklin detractors from perpetuating the "Big Game James" trope in light of the Lio...

Ryan and Clinton continue wading through the Midwest for summer/fall previews, tonight tackling the Nebraska Cornhuskers. To help break them down, Redcast Rob rejoins the show. Year 3 of Matt Rhule tenures have found success at both Temple and Baylor. After reaching a bowl game (Nebraska's first since 2016) in year two, what can we expect from this team in year 3? With a manageable schedule, is me...

ITP's fall previews continue and Ryan and Clinton are joined by Ryan Burns from Gopher Illustrated on the 247 Sports Network to help break down Minnesota. A 7-5 regular season does not aptly summarize how close the Gophers were to being excellent in 2024, with four of the five defeats coming by 7 points or less, including a 1-point loss to national semifinalist Penn State. How can the Gophers clos...

ITP's fall previews continue and Ryan and Clinton are joined by Clayton Sayfie of The Wolverine to help break down Michigan. The first season of the Sherrone Moore era had some bumps along the road, but ended about as good as possible with wins against Ohio State to close the regular season, Alabama in the bowl game, and they closed the class of 2025 with a bang with 5-star QB Bryce Underwood. Eve...

Ryan and Clinton continue their deep dive on the Big Ten with team fall previews, today touching on one of the trendiest "sleeper (?)" playoff selections of the 2025 offseason/preseason: the Illinois Illini. To help the guys break down Illinois, Sunny Verma from the Locked On Illinois podcast joins the show. Part of the hype surrounding Illinois is the plethora of offensive talent returning. The w...

It's hotter than hell outside but it's officially a month away from the onset of preseason fall camps, so it's time for us to dig back into team previews. We start with the Northwestern Wildcats, and joining us to help break them down is Matt Shelton from Wildcat Report. QB play was a challenge for the Wildcats last year, so they hit the portal to bring in former SMU starter Preston Stone; is it a...

Ryan and Clinton begin the wrap-up of their summer programming portion of the schedule, discussing their bold predictions for the Midwest college football contingent in 2025. Join us on our Youtube channel live Sunday/Monday/Thursday for shows, with the episode dropping in your podcast feed the following morning. Live time for Monday/Thursday shows will remain 9 pm, with Sunday time varying based...

Ryan and Clinton engage in a little early summer hot-takery, discussing what teams, position grounds, or theories they are buying, selling or holding heading into the 2025 season. Join us on our Youtube channel live Sunday/Monday/Thursday for shows, with the episode dropping in your podcast feed the following morning. Live time for Monday/Thursday shows will remain 9 pm, with Sunday time varying b...

Ryan and Clinton return for another summer blues episode. The guys briefly discuss the house settlement and what it means for college football. The guys also rank their top 10 Big Ten QBs for 2025. Join us on our Youtube channel live Sunday/Monday/Thursday for shows, with the episode dropping in your podcast feed the following morning. Live time for Monday/Thursday shows will remain 9 pm, with Sun...

The clock has turned to June and the beginning of fall camp is ever closer. Ryan and Clinton return to discuss the official change to a straight seeding method for determining the first-round playoff byes in 2025 and the implications for the Big Ten. The guys also discuss over/under win totals in the Big Ten, as well as their top-5 key matchups that could determine the Big Ten race in 2025. Join u...

Following completion of spring overviews, Ryan and Clinton formally wrap up ITP's spring football calendar with a snapshot view of their as-it-stands Big Ten power rankings. With spring portal season more or less complete and rosters set, how to the guys view the conference heading into the summer camp portion of the schedule? Join us on our Youtube channel live Sunday/Monday/Thursday for shows, w...

Ryan and Clinton officially wrap up spring season with the defending national runners up, talking the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. To help the guys break down ND, they welcome back Jack Soble from Blue and Gold Illustrated on the On3 network to the show. ND's three-man QB battle self-reduced to two in late April, with returning No. 2 man Steve Angeli heading to Syracuse via the portal. Where do thin...

Clinton and Ryan continue rolling through spring previews with extra special bonus content, tonight bringing some MACtion to ITP. To help the guys dive deep on the conference, Alex Scheer of the MAC Sports Connection joins the show. After a wild rematch of the Battle of the Bricks in last year's MAC Title game, the two teams have been going in opposite directions in terms of roster building. Champ...

Ryan and Clinton wrap up the Big Ten portion of their spring previews with a trek through California discussing USC and UCLA To help the guys break down the Trojans, Marc Kulkin from WeAreSC.com and the Locked on Trojans podcast joins the show. After two seasons that did not look all that different from the Clay Helton era, is Lincoln Riley on the hot seat in 2025? A lot turns over from an offense...

Ryan and Clinton return to further break down the Big Ten in the spring, today discussing the Washington Huskies. To help out the guys welcome back Roman Tomashoff from Locked on Huskies. A Big Ten newcomer in 2024, the Huskies faced a stark rebuild in 2024. New head coach Jedd Fisch was able to do reasonably well with a 6-7 season. However disciple issues hampered Washington in multiple games. Ho...