Unscripted Ohio

The Big Ten has made it to the finish line, barely. We are here on the eve of the Big Ten Championship Game and the Buckeyes and Wildcats are set to compete for a league crown as champions of their respective divisions. The path for each of these teams have been very different however as the Buckeyes have run through their schedule putting up a bunch of points, maybe allowing a few too many as well as too many passing yards in second halves but then having to sit back and see if the league would alter a rule that would have prohibited the Bucks from competing for a league crown, despite having a head-to-head win over the second place team. On the other side the Northwestern Wildcats have played close games, won with defense and have a game that nobody can quite explain where the Cats tripped up against a Michigan State team that really had no business competing with Pat Fitzgerald’s crew. What happened over the past eight weeks will not matter once this game kicks off on Saturday at 12pm EST (FOX) and 60 minutes of football stand between Ohio State and its fourth consecutive Big Ten Championship or Northwestern’s first in quite some time. We catch up with our good friend Louie Vaccher of WildcatReport to talk a little bit more about Ohio State’s opponent and put everything into perspective. See our Picks: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/staff-predictions-northwestern-6 See Louie's Pick: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/behind-enemy-lines-northwestern-39

COLUMBUS, Ohio – We are all still reeling from the news that “The Game” has been called off for this year and the Buckeyes are still looking for a dance partner for this weekend. There is a lot of significance when it comes to getting to six games for Ohio State, or any team in the Big Ten for that matter. According to rules that are currently in place, there is no opportunity to be in the Big Ten Championship Game without having competed in at least six games, based on rolling averages of games played and things of that nature. That rule, like most things, could be subject to change but as of now, is still in place. We don’t know who else may not be able to go in the Big Ten and if the Buckeyes will be able to find someone to play against this upcoming weekend to get to Indy to try and defend its crown as Big Ten Champion. But it does bring up an interesting thought if the Buckeyes were able to go out of the league and find a non-conference opponent. A game last weekend between BYU and Coastal Carolina came together at the 11th hour and provided one of the more entertaining games of the season. Texas A&M saw its game canceled against Ole Miss this week as the Mississippi program was dealing with its own COVID issues and now the Aggies would like to find someone to play as they sit outside of the top-four in the College Football Playoff rankings, strangely enough, just behind the Buckeyes who are No. 4 in those rankings. We want to preface this whole discussion by saying that we are well aware that the league shot down Nebraska earlier this year when the Huskers’ game against Wisconsin was canceled and while the Huskers found an opponent, the league said that was not an option. But what if this game was green-lit and allowed to happen?

It has been a week of highs and lows for the Ohio State program and we are going to try and talk about a few of them in this edition of the BuckeyeGrove Instant Access (BIA) podcast. A couple of wins and a big commit on the basketball side of things and a second game canceled for the Ohio State football team and a lot of uncertainty moving forward as we are unsure what the future may hold in terms of the 2020 season. We start off the show by joining longtime friend Bill Bender of The Sporting News to talk about all of the happenings on the college football side of things. Bill is no stranger to college football and we have a deep conversation about some of the rules that the Big Ten has in place and why Kevin Warren and the leadership must address these issues if they want to have any sort of credibility when it comes to crowning a champion. Does the 21-day rule still make sense? Who has been the biggest surprise this year? We touch upon all of that. Then we head to basketball with BuckeyeGrove’s own Jake Spegal, who makes his debut on the BIA show. We recently had the commitment of Bruce Thornton to Chris Holtmann’s program, what does that mean? What does the rest of the class of 2022 look like? We talk about all of that. Plus, we go over what we have seen out of the first two games of the season and a whole lot more from the hardwoods. Not a member of BuckeyeGrove but interested in checking things out? Now is the time with our CYBER MONDAY special. Get your first year for just 75-dollars AND get a $75 gift code from Nike to pick up some of your favorite Ohio State gear. Be sure to use code: NIKE75.

Ohio State Buckeyes Football 2020 is off to a 4-0 start so far this season but the most recent against Indiana had a weird feeling to it as the Buckeyes got up big, saw the Hoosiers not go away and really needed to take it to the final possession. Andy Anders joins Kevin Noon on this Monday edition of the podcast to talk about what we know and what we don't know.

The Buckeyes entered the 2020 season as heavy favorites to win the Big Ten season and has changes and alterations to the schedule took place as the conference had an on-again, off-again approach to things, the biggest fear for Ohio State fans was that COVID would be the biggest opponent in the grand scheme of things. As we learned on Wednesday, COVID has taken a bite out of the Ohio State season but not at Ohio State’s fault as Maryland had to call off Saturday’s game with the Buckeyes due to concerns around the Terrapins program. So now the Buckeyes will have a seven-game schedule, at best before a hopeful trip to the Big Ten Championship game. We will never know for sure what would have happened if the Buckeyes and Terps would have played but we caught up with our friend Scott Greene of Terrapin Sports Report to get his views on the Terps and what may have been if these two teams would have been able to meet in College Park. (Md.).

The Big Ten has lost its third game of this shortened season and unfortunately, it will end up costing the Buckeyes a game as Maryland is dealing with an outbreak and will not be able to move forward with the previously scheduled game. We talk about this breaking news and did the B1G put its teams in a bad spot by waiting so long to get things started this season? All of that and more in this emergency podcast of the BIA show.

We are still a little bit more than 24 hours from the start of the Ohio State versus Rutgers game and while this series has been anything but competitive, you can't look past any opponent. Just ask Michigan about that and Rutgers in 2014 (a 26-24 shocker by the Scarlet Knights). No, this game has the Buckeyes as better than a five-touchdown favorite as former coach Greg Schiano brings a mixture of players who have been in this program for years along with a heavy dose of portal transfers. What can we expect out of this game? We catch up with our good friend Richard Schnyderite of TheKnightReport.com to get his thoughts on the upcoming game and to see what makes this Scarlet Knights team tick, and if there might be a surprise or two left to throw Ohio State's way in this one.

Kevin Noon and Jacob Benge talk about the big 38-25 win over Penn State this past weekend including a dominating game by Ohio State's defensive line and yet another huge game in the air with Justin Fields finding Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, early and often. Is there concern though about how the team could not put Penn State away? We talk about that and a whole lot more. Plus, Kevin talks about the rest of the week in College Football including around the Big Ten and has some words about some childish antics by Florida head coach Dan Mullen.

An announcement from Johnny.

We are talking Penn State with Nate Bauer of BlueWhiteIllustrated.com as we find out what happened to the Nittany Lions last week against Indiana, talk about what kind of team we might expect to see here in week two and what Penn State has to do to win this game.

Host of @LockedOnNittany, @KevinOnCFB, joins us to discuss this week's main even. What can we expect from Penn State? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Potential intriguing matchups? Tune in! #GoBucks

We are wrapping up our final thoughts on the Nebraska game from week one, what did the Buckeyes do well and what needs some work. Plus, we are starting to do some scheme breakdowns when it comes to Ohio State's second opponent, the Nittany Lions of Penn State. Justin Whitlatch joins us, our terrific analyst over at BuckeyeGrove.com. Check out what he has to say about both games and where he feels that the Buckeyes have to get better if they want to have a special season this year. And if you want to see Justin's piece breaking down the Nebraska game, you can look at that free content here: https://ohiostate.rivals.com/news/all-22-breakdown-adjustments

Welcome to The Buckeye Beat w/ Jay Stephens. Jay, who also is the host of Locked on Buckeyes, is excited to join the Unscripted Ohio Podcast Network and the other voices you hear on a consistent basis. On today's first show he talks about what impressed him about Justin Fields in game 1, some elements of Buckeyes play that need to improve, and why Buckeyes shouldn't read into everything they saw in game #1.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. It wasn't perfect, and you may have been upset at times, but there's reason to be encouraged by what you saw. Putting some things in context. #GoBucks

We are wrapping up the Ohio State versus Nebraska game from week one of the Big Ten season in this solo edition of the BIA Podcast. Do you prefer us doing postgame podcasts? Doing live video wrap-ups from the pressbox? Let us know. Email - Kevin@BuckeyeGrove.com Twitter - @OSUatRivals or @Kevin_Noon