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Previewing Ohio State with Paul Keels · The Craig Way Show

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: No, you did not stumble onto a rerun of the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Rush Limbaugh show from years ago since that was his
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: theme song. No, it's Back to Ohio, the great Chrissy
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Hynde and the Pretenders because we're going up to Ohio, Columbus, Ohio.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: to visit with our good friend, the play-by-play voice of
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes, Paul Kills. Did it have you thrown off
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a little bit there when it was coming back there
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: with some pretenders? Did you think you'd stumbled on to,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: you might say, a revamped edition of the Rush Limbaugh.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: Show or something?
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: I did think about it for a second, but I
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: trusted you had everything under control.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Okay. How many decades, how many years overall now in
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the play-by-play?
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: This is season 29 for Ohio State.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: There you go.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And before that, I remember, weren't you the voice of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bearcats?
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: That was like seven years over a 10-year period because
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: I think we came across one another at a basketball
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: game at the Alamodome, I believe.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: That's exactly right. Boy, now that would have been January 93, maybe.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: Sounds about right. Yeah.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. All right. Well, it's great to see you.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: It's great to be.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: And of course, I mentioned this earlier in the first
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: hour of the program that Paul and I did a
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: joint appearance on a network show the other night and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: we went by and it was. It's kind of funny
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: because we wound up talking about a lot of other
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: things other than the football itself. But such is the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: way of broadcasters. We're wanting to give that up. Let
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: me get your thoughts first of all. This was something
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I was watching Ryan Day's press conference from yesterday. And
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: fascination is too strong a word. But there's the intrigue,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I think, on a lot of the media who are
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: there and certainly the media down here about... his coordinators,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: having that NFL influence, having Arthur Smith on the offenses.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: We saw Matt Patricia last year. What's been your take
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: so far on that? Coach Day did say, look, in
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: the final analysis, this isn't the NFL or college players.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: He did make a point of saying that. But have
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: you been able to tell a nuanced difference or maybe
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: even beyond a nuanced difference in how the offense and
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: defensive systems are run with two former NFL, not only coordinators,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: but at one time head coaches?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Well, offense, not really, not yet, based on just one game.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: And Craig, the thing about what Ryan Day has done
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: and his time as a head coach, he's really grown
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: with making coaching decisions. Very early on, he had to
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: make some tough choices about, in one case, demoting a
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: defensive coordinator and then moving on from other people, something
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: that his predecessor wasn't really good about doing. But when
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: these high-profile spots have been open the last few years,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: he's been very deliberate.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: He's taken decisions.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: Whatever he felt is the appropriate amount of time, not
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: rushed after the new hot target. And not so much
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: because they were NFL guys, but I think with both
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Matt Patricia and Arthur Smith, they were guys that he
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: felt could come in and fit with what they wanted
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: to do. And people will talk about, well, really, Ryan
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Day is the one calling the plays. It's the Ryan
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Day offense. And Ryan Day will say, no, it's the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Ohio State offense. But he's got his fingerprints all over it.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: With Matt Patricia, I think really what we saw last year,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: It was a simplification because when Jim Knowles was here,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: it was a little more complicated. And it took about
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: a year and a half of that really to take
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: hold of the players they had. So it's been interesting
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: to see. And I don't know, Craig, that it's had
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: a lot to do because of their NFL background. I
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: think it's just because of the way they fit with
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: what they've had to work with.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Well, we've obviously got a lot of very talented people
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: to work with. I know you've heard this, and I
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: think it was in the news conference as well. Certainly,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: it's been talked about down here is the difference between
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: And again, only one game in the books for both
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: of these guys as the designated dyed-in-the-wool starter. But the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: difference for Julian Say and the difference for Arch Manning, yeah,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Arch had to start a couple of games when Quinn
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: Ewers was banged up.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: But as the.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Designated guy and the tough lessons he had to learn
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: along with his teammates last year, in Columbus. And then
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: somebody was saying, well, you know, Julian made some really
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: good progress over that. How do you measure what you
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: saw from him being thrust into that situation last year
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: to what you've seen so far, even just with one
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: game and the smaller sample size to this point?
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Well, I think, Craig, what we've seen with Julian through
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: last year and into now, they're willing to give him
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: a little more latitude. They're allowing him maybe to change
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: more stuff than what they did in the Texas game
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: last year. That was, you know, for both teams, really,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: that was kind of you know, first game, not knowing
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: what you had as far as an on-the-field capacity from people,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: and just do what needed to be done to win
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: the game.
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: I think I saw one of the writers said, hey,
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: if they can win the game 3-0, it's a win.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of the way it was last year
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: at 14-7. You saw really where both defenses had a
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: big influence on all of that. What we saw last
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Saturday was really kind of encapsulated what Julian Sane did
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of last year, but doing it as efficiently
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: as he did in game one was what really stood out.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: You know, he's got the great wavelength with Jeremiah Smith
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: but you know getting Devin McCune involved Brandon Ennis is
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: kind of a known commodity there as well but just
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to be as efficient as he was in game one
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and really as he was all season last year was
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: kind of the big launching point as opposed to what
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: happened in that first game last year.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: I was kind of intrigued by something uh first of
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: all something you said when we were uh doing the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: podcast the other night uh when you considered to one
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: of the key matchups to be the Ohio State offensive
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: front against the Texas uh front four, front seven, whatever,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: in terms of the offensive line versus the defensive line,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing. And then in the press conference,
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Coach Day was asked in specific. He was asked about
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Philip Daniels at right tackle. He was asked about Ian
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Moore at left tackle. And what did he think about...
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: certain performances of certain guys in certain spots as well.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Would you say if there was a specific question mark
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: to take a look at going into the season, maybe
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it was going to be that? And have they kind
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of answered it, at least with the early sample size
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: to this point?
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: No question.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: And there was some good question coming out of the
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Ball State game. Phillip Daniels didn't have his best game.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: He wasn't awful, but you know, he wasn't at the
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: level that you would expect. And a lot of that
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: ties into the fact that Austin Sarabelle has been moved
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: from tackle to guard. And also what they've tried to do, Craig,
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: is get guys to play multiple positions. If you remember
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: in the championship year, when they lost Seth McLaughlin at center,
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: that's when they had to move Carson Hinsman from guard
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: back to center. So because of some of those things,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: they've tried to be flexible with all of that. And
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: really the bottom line is they knew that how they
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: played against Ball State was not how they're going to
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: have to play this weekend.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: So Is it a concern? Certainly.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: And it's more about because of the upgrade in defense
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: and what they're going to see. You brought up the
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: receiving quarter.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: You said Devin McCune, and we got a chance to
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: see him, obviously, when he was playing for UTSA. But
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: all roads lead back, obviously, to Jeremiah Smith. And another
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: fascinating thing, I think, that came from the news conference
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: was they were asking Coach Day– How do you, I'm paraphrasing,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it's almost like, how do you make him the weapon
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: everybody knows he can be without forcing the issue? That
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: type of thing. And I thought Coach Day had some
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: pretty good responses on what he is, but what the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: other guys are can make Smith all the more dangerous.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: No question.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And some of that, Craig, comes from the fact that,
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: if you remember in the Cotton Bowl game two years ago,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: Jeremiah had just one catch. Last year, he had six catches,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: but didn't get in the end zone. everybody understands that
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: he's going to get a lot of attention.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: What is going to happen?
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: And last year, Carnell Tate, who scored against the Longhorns,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: it really allowed Carnell Tate to turn into the guy
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: he became. That's where Ohio State went and they added
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: guys like Devin McCune, Brock Boyd, a freshman, Kyle Parker,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: who transferred from LSU, but hasn't played yet. So, and
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: you know, where do the tight ends even fall into
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: this also? And we've seen at times too, how some
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: of the running backs in the past have been crucial
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: in the passing game. So, You know, what Jeremiah can
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: do is really amazing. It's especially amazing when you know
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: that he's going to be a guy that's featured. He
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: makes such incredibly tough catches. But he's also a guy
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: that's really gone to school on the blocking part of
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: it and doing all of that. There was a quote
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: somebody had after Saturday. And, again, this is paraphrasing like
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: you said. They said something to Jeremiah about playing the
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: second half last Saturday. He's like, no, let the other
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: guys get in there. You know, we need to be ready.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: for what's coming next week.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: It's a real grown-up assessment for him to have. And
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: by the way, when I was looking at all the
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: numbers there, I saw Brock Boyd, and it put a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: smile on my face. I did his state semifinal game
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: last year, and it was an unbelievable game between South
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Lake Carroll and DeSoto. in that state semifinal. One more
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: at the offense, the running backs. And, you know, I
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: feel like we're all like supposed to say Bo Jackson,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: not that Bo Jackson, you know, a long time ago,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: you and I were a little bit younger when, when
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Bo knows football and was playing there. But how about
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: your assessment? Not only him, but Jacoby Jackson, Isaiah West,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Legend Bay, your, your, your thoughts on what you see
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: from those guys?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: Well, Bo Jackson certainly was a guy that last year
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: especially late in the year, really kind of came into
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: his own. He's the guy that's shown the ability to
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: handle a big workload. We didn't see a lot of
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Isaiah West last week, but he's the guy that's also
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: shown the kind of ability you would think of. And
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Jacoby Jackson was the guy at first who kind of
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: thought he was going to come in and be what C.J.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: Donaldson was last year, short yardage guy. But he showed
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: some explosiveness last week. Now, the subject of Legend Bay
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: is a very interesting one because, and you probably are aware,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: there was the big recruiting brouhaha that went on on
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: signing day, a difference with family members.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Yes. I've heard a number of those stories over the years.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: It's not the first and it won't be the last.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: But he showed, especially in the little touchdown catch that
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: he had on a short pass. I mean, the guy
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: has an incredible, the young man has an incredible ability
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: to make people miss. Now, the drama comes because they
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: designated him as the kick returner. And as I'm sure
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: you saw, the very first kick return when Brandon Innes
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: was telling him to stay out, stay in, he ran out.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: His second decision was not a great one. Now, fortunately,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: the ball did get lost. I think we're all curious
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: to see if he's going to get another opportunity. to
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: return kicks, but they know that this is a guy
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: that's got some special talent that somehow or another, not
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: only just this weekend, but during the course of the season,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: they're going to have to figure out ways to get
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: him to utilize that talent.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Talking with Paul Keels, play-by-play voice of the Ohio State
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Buckeyes for a few more minutes here on 1300 Zone.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Let me shift to the defense. What was your biggest takeaway?
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously, you know, Holding Ball State to three
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: is impressive on its own end. It is Ball State,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: just like everybody says the same thing about Texas. Holding
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Texas State to seven, it is Texas State as well.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: But other than that, the totality of it, what were
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the takeaways that you had from looking at the Buckeye defense?
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Well, the first thing is they didn't even let Ball
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: State get in the red zone. And that kind of
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: goofed up one of our sponsor reads. We had to
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: figure out how to redo a red zone read.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but we figured it out.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: I didn't realize it until after the game, but But
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: maybe the biggest thing that I took away from it, Craig,
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: is not only that they played a lot of players
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: on defense, but we saw glimpses of a number of
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: different people having influence on plays. I won't say making
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: big plays, but having influence on those plays. And you
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: know the talent they lost last year with losing Cade
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: McDonald on the line, losing those two outstanding linebackers in
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: recent styles, and losing Caleb Downs in the back end.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: It's hard to think that they're going to have guys
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: that can play at that level, but They bring back
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: experience and they bring back some guys that have transferred
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: in with experience. So maybe the biggest thing I could
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: say is we saw a number of different people's affecting plays.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Bo Atkinson and Kenyatta Jackson, basically the anchors of that
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: defensive front.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: They are.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: And I think you're going to see Edward Houston, who
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: as a freshman two years ago, really flashed last year.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: It was a little nagging injury that kind of kept
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: him bothered. But, you know, another guy to keep an
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: eye on for Craig is Kari Wilder, a freshman who
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: they list as a defensive end. They line him up
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: at tackle sometimes, too. And this young guy is a freshman.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: Even from as far up as we were at the
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: press box, you could tell this is a guy that's
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: a little different out there. But you'll see new guys
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: like John Walker and James Smith who came in. Quay
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Rousseau from Alabama didn't play last Saturday but should be
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: good to go. But, yeah, Jackson and Atkinson on the
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: ends are kind of their anchor.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: In the secondary, and again, rolling back to what Coach
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Day said, he said, yeah, there's some guys that went up.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Jermaine Matthews is a veteran. He's back there. And I'm
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: here to tell you, and he's only a sophomore. But again,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: another example, when I called state championship games, he played it.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Devin Sanchez was a homewrecker at the high school level
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: when he played for Galena Park North Shore in the
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Houston area. I think it speaks to guys like that.
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: And then you have a grad transfer like Terry Moore
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: at the free safety and Jalen McLean at the strong safety.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Guys that bring some experience from other areas and have
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: grown into their positions as well.
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: They have.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: And Jalen McClain's another returning guy who's just steady. He
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: hasn't done a lot that really makes you know. But
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: the guy to watch out for is Jay Timmons, a
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: true freshman from Pennsylvania. He started last week in the backfield,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: and he's a guy that all summer we kept hearing,
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: this is a guy that's really showing an awful lot
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: out there. And, you know, freshman to start a defensive
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: back at Ohio State, that's not something you generally see
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: a lot, Craig.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right. And last year in that very similar position,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: the nickelback position with the Buckeyes, that's what we saw
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: from Grayson Littleton last year in that starback as a freshman.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: And maybe guys grow up a little quicker back there.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: I don't know. And the football IQ is big as well.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: It's been 20 years since you've been down here. That's amazing.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Have you not set foot in Austin, Texas, USA since then?
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: No.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: No?
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Not that I haven't wanted to, but I haven't, no.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I mean, you and I, across paths, we saw each
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: other in Las Vegas before the basketball season opener a
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: couple of years ago. There was that. And then, obviously,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: we've seen each other since with the bowl games. You know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: I think when I think about this, I know what
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: last year was, and everybody talked about it, and it
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: was difficult. And then, really and truly, the game in 06,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: the last time you were here, That was the widest
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: point spread final margin of the game. But even that,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: with Troy Smith launching the Heisman campaign, even that I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: thought was a pretty entertaining ball game. And then you
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: add to that the game in Columbus in 2005, and
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: then that Fiesta Bowl. I mean, we've seen some really
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: entertaining games between these two.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking about the Fiesta Bowl back
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: before all of those when Terrell Pryor and Todd Beckman,
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: two quarterbacks, both started the game on the field at
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: the same time, and Pryor lined up as a receiver.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: The one in Columbus that Texas won, if you remember,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: that's when Troy Smith had been suspended for the opener
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: and they were kind of shuttling Smith and Zwick back
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: at quarterback, and that kind of retarded the offense a
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: little bit. The one in Austin, and it came up
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: about James Laurinaitis, now the linebackers coach, had a big
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: interception in that game. But it is crazy to think
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: that it's been 20 years since that happened. Even crazier, Craig,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: to think that it's only been since that first Fiesta
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Bowl way back when that these two schools had not played.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, even by accident in a bowl game. That's
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: the thing that really jumped out at me. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: The final thing I want to ask you here, and
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: it kind of dovetails off of what we were just
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: talking about. And that's these big matchups. And in this
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: day and age now, NIL and Portal and what we
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: apparently are going to see with an expanded, doubled-in-size playoff
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: as well with the expulsion of conference championship games, certainly
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: my hope, and I think it's your hope as well,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that we continue to see these big games. Michigan has
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: a return game back in Austin next year. Right now
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: there's a home-and-home with Notre Dame. We'll see in 2029
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: if it comes out that way. But I would imagine
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: that's a hope of yours to see matchups like this
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: continued even in the ever-changing face of this game.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Well, Greg, I think that's good for the fans, too.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Ohio State next year will start a home-and-home with Alabama.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: And both schools have indicated they're still on board with
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: letting it continue.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: You hope so.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know how you feel, but if
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: they do expand, not brokenhearted about the possibility of conference
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: championship games going away, but I think the other part
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: of it is, and unfortunately you guys lived it, you
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: can lose a game like Ohio State-Texas, but then if
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: you lose another one someplace that you really shouldn't lose,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: and Ohio State's had that.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: They had a bad.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Loss at Purdue a number of years ago, a loss
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: at Iowa, two losses that kept them out of the
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: 14 playoff. Games like this, if they're tight, close games,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: that damage is somewhat limited.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: It's what you do the rest of the year.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: And this is For Ohio State, maybe one of the
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: most challenging schedules they've had in a number of years
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: outside of this game because they've got to go to USC.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: They've got Illinois and Oregon coming to Columbus, and then
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: there's the one at the end of the year that's
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: always its own life. So you hope that these continue,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: and you hope they continue on campus sites and not
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: the one-offs in Atlanta or wherever because I think those
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: are good for the fans.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I agree with you. If I rapid-fire asked you, other
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: than the Buckeyes, Who is the best team in the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Big Ten, the team to beat, in your opinion?
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I'd say Oregon, despite what we saw last Saturday. And,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: you know, Boise State has given Oregon trouble in two
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: of the last three years.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: But that would probably be the team I'd say right now.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, it's great to see you. And I can't wait
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: to see you get down in Austin. Your broadcast position
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: will be slightly better than Glendale. I can promise you that.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: So we'll kind of work with that.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: You know, I was thinking last night after we did our,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: or the other night if we did our thing, we
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: go months and maybe years where we don't speak to
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: one another.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: And then the last month, we've talked a lot.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: I know. That's fun. I'll look forward to seeing you
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and the crew. It'll be great to see when you
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: get down here, Paul. Safe travels. I'll look forward to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: visiting with you on Saturday.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: All right, Craig. My pleasure. Good to see you. You too.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: That's Paul Keels, play-by-play voice of the Ohio State Buckeyes.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: We have more coming up. We'll hear some more from
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Brian Schottenheimer when we continue on 13 Under the Zone.