Buckeye Talk: Ohio State Podcast By Cleveland.com

Ohio State is 10-0 and facing the best team on its schedule so far on Saturday, and it's not close. The Penn State Nittany Lions are the more talented team the Buckeyes have played. The question is how close is Penn State's talent to Ohio State? On this episode of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means debate that question, and there's a lot of disagreement. The questions from the text subscribers are asking whether there's anything to worry about with this game, and the guys have different views on that. For a great in-depth view on Penn State, beat writer Bob Flounders of PennLive.com joins the show to talk about where Penn State can and can't compete with Ohio State. Then it's back to more questions from the texters, including, as always, playoff talk. It's a real game this week for Ohio State, and another real episode of Buckeye Talk. Thanks for listening. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone

Ohio State won 56-21 at Rutgers on Saturday as the No. 2 Buckeyes moved to 10-0 on the season. Was that impressive enough? On this postgame episode of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take many questions from fans who were worried about Ohio State's pass rush, offensive line and overall defensive performance against the lowly Scarlet Knights. Are there any reasons for concern as Ohio State hits a much tougher home stretch starting with Penn State next week? They talk playoff ranking compared to LSU, the OSU plan to try deep balls against Rutgers, and whether to order breakfast food or dinner food at 10:30 p.m. at a diner. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Justin Fields has already changed Ohio State football and on this episode of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means dig into the impact the sophomore has had on the Buckeyes in his first season. Nathan has a series of stories coming on Fields after a visit to Georgia, and the guys give you a look at how far Fields has come to be the quarterback of the No. 2 team in the nation. Plus, Ohio State announced that the Chase Young absence will end after two games, and Doug reacts to that. Also, OSU legend James Laurinaitis will call Saturday's Ohio State-Rutgers game for the Big Ten Network, so James stops by to talk about that game and to compare the 2006 Buckeyes to this Ohio State team. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State demolished Maryland 73-14 on Saturday without its best player -- defensive end Chase Young. On this postgame episode of Buckeye Talk, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means break down that big OSU win over the Terrapins and look ahead to how long Young might be out and what the Buckeyes can do with or without him. They chose not to do an emergency pod after the Young news on Friday, so this is your update on everything happening with the defensive end and what's happening with the No. 1 team in the country. As usual, questions from text message subscribers lead the way on another Buckeyes Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State football is No. 1 in the first College Football Playoff rankings released on Tuesday night, and Nathan Baird, Stephen Means and Doug Lesmerises are here to break that all down. They are also here to eat pizza. On this edition of Buckeye Talk, they debate what will happen with next week’s rankings after the game between No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Alabama, and get into whether Ohio State is in such good shape, the Buckeyes could make the playoff even with a loss. There’s some talk of seniors that could be even better pros than they are college players, and they preview the Ohio State basketball season that starts on Wednesday night. They they get into pizza. This is the week of the long awaited pizza challenge, as Stephen will attempt to eat an entire large deep dish pizza from Giordano’s by himself. That’s in the last 20 minutes of the podcast. We appreciate you listening to all of, or any of, Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

The Ohio State Buckeyes are off this week for the second time this season, but at 8-0 they've made their case so far as maybe the best team in college football. How long will the Buckeyes keep up that level of play, this season and beyond? On this episode of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises talks with Adam Rittenberg of espn.com to look at whether the rest of the Big Ten has missed its window in the post-Urban Meyer era, and whether Ryan Day will keep Ohio State at the top of the conference for years to come. Doug and Adam talk about Penn State's chances of competing with the Buckeyes this season, and look at where Michigan and Wisconsin are right now. Doug and Nathan Baird discuss whether other Big Ten programs can find their own Urban Meyers to reset their football worlds. And then Doug, Nathan and Stephen Means take text subscriber questions. This is NOT the pizza challenge podcast -- there wasn't time to make that happen. But Stephen will try to eat an entire large deep dish pizza next wee

Ohio State beat Wisconsin 38-7 and on this Buckeye Talk Podcast postgame episode, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take your questions on the victory that moved the No. 3 Buckeyes to 8-0. Among them -- did No. 2 J.K. Dobbins or No. 2 Chase Young have a bigger game as Ohio State pulled away in the second half, led by their running back and defensive end? There's some Young Heisman Trophy talk, a comparison between Dobbins and Wisconsin back Jonathan Taylor and more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joel Klatt of Fox Sports will call Saturday's game between No. 3 Ohio State and No. 13 Wisconsin, and he joined Buckeye Talk for a pregame chat about maybe the most important game of the Big Ten season. Klatt explained why he thinks the Buckeyes are the best team in the country, evaluated them against teams like Oklahoma and Alabama, described why Wisconsin might be able to make this a game, compared running backs J.K. Dobbins and Jonathan Taylor, and revealed his thoughts about the College Football Playoff selection committee. That was just part of the pod. The rest of the time, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means ran through the more than 150 comments and questions they received from text subscribers, and explained how they think this matchup will unfold. They also debated recruiting rankings again, talked about next season's offensive line, and prepared for Stephen's future challenge against a deep dish pizza. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for

Ohio State drubbed Northwestern 52-3 in Evanston on Friday, and the Buckeyes can now look ahead to a home game with Wisconsin next week that will be the toughest test of the season to date. At 7-0,Ohio State handled the Wildcats easily but did give up a handful of runs early Friday. Is that any reason for concern? On this episode of Buckeye, Nathan Baird, Stephen Means and Doug Lesmerises took your questions about the Buckeyes after their bye week. The guys did their best trying to explain a team clearly caught in the boring awesome or awesome boring zone right now. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Buckeye Talk episode, Cam Mellor, a senior college football analyst for PFF, joins the pod to discuss where Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields ranks among the best quarterbacks in college football. Is he ahead of or behind former Ohio State quarterback Joe Burrow, now at LSU? For the rest of the episode, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take questions, a few of them addressing Friday's game at Northwestern, but most of them focused elsewhere. That includes a debate about how much the Buckeyes should play their best players against lowly Rutgers later this season; which Buckeyes are playing at an All-Big Ten level this season; and how Georgia's ugly loss to South Carolina last weekend compares to past Ohio State losses to Iowa and Purdue. All that and more on the latest Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Buckeye Talk episode, Doug Lesmerises, Nathan Baird and Stephen Means take advantage of Ohio State's week off to peer into the future. Do the Buckeyes have a better shot at the winning the national championship in 2019 or 2020? The guys break down the projected starting lineup in 2020 to come up with their answer. There's a debate about running back recruiting, a joke about eating pandas and a look at Doug's experience on the mock college football playoff committee last week. The Buckeyes aren't playing, but they are still talking. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Ohio State football moved to 6-0 with a 34-10 win over Michigan State on Saturday night, Stephen Means, Nathan Baird and Doug Lesmerises dove into the win and how the Buckeyes are playing heading into a week off. As usual, on this episode of Buckeye Talk they answered questions from text subscribers, including queries about running back J.K. Dobbins; how the offense changed after struggling in the first quarter; the play of, and possible concern around, the linebackers; the emergence of freshman defensive end Zach Harrison; and more. The Buckeyes are off next week, but make sure you check in for the usual Wednesday podcast. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this latest episode of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Nathan Baird, Doug Lesmerises and Stephen Means analyze the playoff chances of both an undefeated Ohio State team and a one-loss Ohio State team. How are the Buckeyes matching up in all the possible scenarios so far? Plus a look at how tough Michigan State might be for the Buckeyes this week, and a debate about the meaning of the Heisman Trophy that got pretty heated. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State destroyed Nebraska 48-7 on Saturday night, and Doug, Stephen and Nathan took all your questions about an outing that established that the Buckeyes can play with any team in the nation. While driving back from Lincoln to Omaha, the cleveland.com coverage team discussed whether the offense or defense is more impressive; which teams in the Big Ten could still challenge Ohio State; and whether the Buckeyes have made a legitimate case to be the No. 1 team in the country. All that and more on the 5-0 Buckeyes on Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com, Doug Lesmerises Nathan Baird and Stephen Means embrace a spirited debate over which coach you'd pick right now for this Ohio State team, Ryan Day or Urban Meyer. They hope you enjoy that detour, because it flowed. But what's in front of the Buckeyes right now is of great interest as well. That's a real test against a tough opponent. It's possible the Nebraska Cornhuskers were overrated coming into the season and now are possibly underrated because of a loss to Colorado and a close game against Illinois. But this episode spends a lot of time explaining just how and why this game could get interesting. As always, there are plenty of questions answered from text subscribers, and there's some quick hit news at the start on this matchup; whether the Buckeyes could climb in the AP poll; Justin Fields in the Heisman Trophy race; the transfer of safety Isaiah Pryor; and what this game means for both Day and Nebraska coach Scott Frost. Thanks for listening to Buckeye

Doug, Nathan and Stephen dispense with Ohio State's 76-5 win over the Redhawks and start looking ahead of Nebraska, See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ohio State Buckeyes play Miami (Ohio) on Saturday, and the No. 6 team in the nation is a 39-point favorite in the game. So this podcast is not about that. On this edition of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means, Nathan Baird and Doug Lesmerises start off with a look at the future of the Ohio State running back room and what the position might look like in 2020. There’s also time for a little extra nonsense on whether listeners keep spare change in their car and what fast food restaurants should be turned into an ideal combo restaurant. Then there's a discussion of whether Doug is biased against Greg Mattison, and then it’s a bunch of questions from text subscribers. So hey, why not try the text thing. There’s a 14-day free trial and you get podcast priority. Check it out at cleveland.com/osu. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State beat Indiana 51-10 on Saturday and continued to roll through a 3-0 start to the season. So it's time to start putting the Buckeyes in context. On this postgame episode of Buckeye Talk, Doug, Stephen and Nathan took questions from text subscribers for more than an hour while trying to analyze whether Ohio State could keep this up against the best teams in the country. They talked about J.K. Dobbins' motivation, Justin Fields' accuracy and asked for predictions for an OSU-Clemson national title game. That was just for fun. But this is serous -- the Buckeyes are good. So dive in for 72 minutes of postgame talk from Bloomington. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode of Buckeye Talk might be a trap. Or it might not. Doug Lesmerises, Stephen Means and Nathan Baird explore Ohio State's visit to Indiana on Saturday and ask whether the Buckeyes could face a trap game against the Hoosiers. The guys hate trap game talk ... but there could be something to this. Indiana beat writer Zach Osterman drops by to help everyone understand the Hoosiers a bit better, and to discuss their young, big-armed lefty quarterback and a defense with more talent than usual. All along the guys tackle your questions about the defensive scheme, the potential weaknesses on the Buckeyes and when everyone might officially buy into the hype. Also, we changed podcast platforms, so we might make some money off this, but if you have any issues, let Doug know. Thanks for listening to Buckeye Talk from cleveland.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State football shut out the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday, controlling both sides of the ball in a 42-0 victory that moved the No. 5 Buckeyes to 2-0 on this college football season. So what’s it mean, especially as it relates to Ohio State’s place in the national college football landscape? If the Buckeyes play like that, can they make the College Football Playoff? On this postgame episode of Buckeye Talk, Stephen Means and Doug Lesmerises answered that question and many others sent in by our Project Text subscribers. If you haven’t tried our OSU texts yet, get a couple thoughts on the Buckeyes from Doug every day for $3.99 a month. The first 14 days are free if you want to try it. Nathan Baird was away this weekend, but he’ll be back on the next pod. For now, enjoy 45 minutes of talk about how well your team played. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices