Real Pod Wednesdays

Ryan Day said the right things at his press conference on National Signing Day, but that doesn’t change the reality surrounding Ohio State’s head coach. After losing to Michigan for the fourth year in a row, Day must win in the College Football Playoff to show he should still be the Buckeyes’ coach. How many games he must win in the CFP remains up for debate, but the pressure is on for Day to deli...

It’s time for war. The LL Cool J song wasn’t playing at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday as it used to during the Urban Meyer years, but the message could still be heard loud and clear as Ryan Day and four of Ohio State’s top leaders met with the media four days ahead of The Game. The Buckeyes’ confidence entering this year’s rivalry game appears very real, but Ohio State isn’t overlooki...

An old friend of Eleven Warriors joins this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays to help us break down Ohio State’s third top-five opponent of the season. Former Eleven Warriors recruiting reporter Taylor Lehman, who now produces the Indiana football newsletter Bite-Sized Bison , joins us on this week’s show to discuss the rise of Indiana football in Curt Cignetti’s first season as head coach and...

The biggest storyline for Ohio State this week isn‘t who the Buckeyes are playing, but where and when they’re playing. Ohio State is expected to win big for the second week in a row as it plays another one of the Big Ten’s worst teams in Northwestern one week after blowing out Purdue . This week’s game offers a layer of excitement that last week’s game didn’t, however, because it will be played at...

The vibes are good again surrounding Ohio State football. After three weeks of negativity that followed Ohio State’s loss to Oregon and uncomfortably close win over Nebraska, the Buckeyes gave their fans reason to be excited once again as they went on the road and earned a marquee win over Penn State , the No. 3 team in the country at the time. Making the win particularly special for the Buckeyes...

Ohio State plays Penn State in its second top-five game of the season on Saturday, while we’re just one day away from Halloween. We celebrate both of those momentous occasions on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. Nearly our entire hour of conversation this week is centered around the Buckeyes’ trip to Happy Valley for a game with massive Big Ten championship implications for both teams,...

Ohio State shouldn’t be in danger of losing to Nebraska, but there are plenty of questions surrounding the Buckeyes as their second half of the regular season begins. Three areas in particular will be under the microscope as Ohio State returns from its bye week against Nebraska on Saturday: New starting left tackle Zen Michalski, the Buckeyes’ safety depth and their pass rush. Michalski is the pla...

There’s no sugarcoating Ohio State’s defensive play against Oregon, but we still think the Buckeyes can achieve all of their goals. Ohio State’s defense was bad against Oregon, especially when considering what this year’s defense is supposed to be with all of the talent the Buckeyes have on that side of the ball. The Buckeyes’ defense gave up way too many big plays without making big plays themsel...

It’s time for our first true look at what this year’s Ohio State football team is made of. The first half of the season has all built up to this week’s road trip to Oregon, where the second-ranked Buckeyes will face the third-ranked Ducks in what’s not only one of the biggest games of Ohio State’s regular season but one of the biggest games of the entire year in all of college football. While Ohio...

Ohio State’s first month of the season is complete and we’re still feeling good about our preseason picks that the Buckeyes can win this year’s national championship. There’s still a couple of lingering question marks, though it’s not necessarily what we thought the biggest concerns would be going into the season, as Ohio State’s linebacker play has been shaky while its offensive line has exceeded...

Ohio State appears to have plenty of competition in the Big Ten as the Buckeyes begin conference play this week. While we agree with the widespread consensus that Ohio State is the class of the conference, that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes will easily run the table to a Big Ten title. Their conference schedule includes three of the conference’s other marquee teams – Oregon, Penn State and Michigan –...

Ohio State’s first two games have given us a look at how the Buckeyes’ depth chart stacks up at every position, and the Buckeyes appear to be loaded just about everywhere. The Buckeyes haven’t faced any real tests yet, and they won’t this week either – at least we don’t think so – as Ohio State hosts Marshall in its final non-conference game of the regular season, a game the Buckeyes are favored t...

If you’ve been following the TTUN Scandal threads on Eleven Warriors ‘ message board, you‘re undoubtedly familiar with the name Premierdrum by now. For those who haven’t, Premierdrum is one of several Eleven Warriors site members – along with Brohio and 22buck , among others – who have taken it upon themselves to dig into the Michigan sign-stealing scandal and share what they’ve learned from their...

We said last week that anything less than perfection against Akron could be seen as a disappointment for Ohio State’s season opener, and that’s pretty much how it played out. With all the hype Ohio State entered the season with, much of the focus in the days following the Buckeyes’ first game of the year has been on what could have gone better – namely, an underwhelming start for the offense and s...

Ohio State’s first game of the 2024 season is just three days away and Connor Stalions has broken his silence. On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we preview Ohio State’s season opener against Akron and share our thoughts on Netflix’s Connor Stalions documentary while also making some big-picture predictions for the Buckeyes’ 2024 season. In the first 20 minutes of the show, we discuss...

Ohio State’s 2024 roster is loaded with star players, but some of them would be tougher to replace than others. While there’s no question that the likes of Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer and Emeka Egbuka rank among Ohio State’s best players entering the 2024 season, the Buckeyes have enough depth at each of their positions to be OK if someone misses time. Losing a starting offensive tackle, safety or W...

With our Season Preview in full swing here at Eleven Warriors, we’re taking a big-picture look ahead to the 2024 season on this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays. First, we look at the just-released AP Top 25 and discuss whether the voters got it right by slotting Ohio State as the No. 2 team in college football behind Georgia entering the 2024 season. After that, we break down the initial pro...

The defense was as impressive as expected during the four practices Ohio State opened to media members and paying fans, but our confidence in the Buckeyes’ offense has also grown after seeing Will Howard and the offensive line make strides during the team’s initial practices of August. Howard was just one of many standouts during Ohio State’s first four practices. Linebackers Sonny Styles, Gabe Po...

Ohio State is one day away from the start of preseason camp and one month away from the first game of the season. Thirty days before the Buckeyes begin their much-anticipated 2024 campaign against Akron on Aug. 31 at Ohio Stadium, Ohio State will take the field for its first of 25 preseason practices at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday. The good news for the Buckeyes entering preseason...

Real Pod Wednesdays is on location this week at Lucas Oil Stadium as representatives from Ohio State and the Big Ten’s other 17 schools go through Big Ten Media Days. After Ohio State coach Ryan Day, cornerback Denzel Burke, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and defensive end Jack Sawyer participated in their media sessions at Lucas Oil Stadium on Tuesday, we sat down inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesda...

It wasn’t easy choosing which Ohio State players we’d most want to have on our team this year. Ohio State’s star-studded lineup for the 2024 season gave us plenty of options to choose from as we conducted our annual Real Pod Wednesdays draft to build head-to-head lineups for a hypothetical game of Buckeyes vs. Buckeyes between our two hosts. Eleven Warriors beat writers Dan Hope and Andy Anders co...

Ohio State’s quest for the No. 1 recruiting class in 2025 is looking more and more real. The Buckeyes have strengthened their position at the top of the team composite recruiting rankings , currently leading No. 2 Alabama by nearly 20 points, by landing commitments from 11 prospects since the start of June: running backs Bo Jackson and Isaiah West , wide receivers Quincy Porter and Bodpegn Miller...

Sports have always played an important part in Ted Carter’s life, but he’s come to understand just how much they mean to Ohio State fans in his first six months as OSU’s president. Just before the halfway point of his year as the leader of The Ohio State University, Carter sat down with us for a 30-minute conversation last week to talk about his first six months on the job, what sports mean to him...

The Big Ten will officially expand to 18 teams next week. Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA will officially become members of the conference on Monday, bringing in a new era for what’s traditionally been a Midwest-based conference. From a football standpoint, the Big Ten’s newest round of expansion should immediately make the conference more competitive as Oregon enters 2024 as a major College Foot...

Gene Smith is ready for the next chapter of his life. Less than two weeks away from his retirement, Ohio State’s athletic director says he isn’t having any second thoughts about his decision to move on at the end of the month. After 19 years leading OSU’s athletic department, Smith feels ready to move to Arizona, play more golf and spend more time with his grandchildren. Before leaving Columbus, h...