We take our first look at the College Football Playoff, a look through Ohio State's third straight Big Ten Championship Game win and bring on our first-ever guest on our most jam-packed episode of Real Pod Wednesdays yet.
Ohio State is gearing up for its game against Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 28, and so are we. While we'll discuss the Buckeyes' matchup with the Tigers in greater detail in our next two episodes, we take our first look at the playoff semifinal this week, while also discussing why the Buckeyes ended up as the No. 2 seed and how much of an advantage avoiding Clemson could be for No. 1 seed LSU.
We also take a full look through the Buckeyes' Big Ten Championship Game win over Wisconsin, in which Ohio State battled back from a 14-point halftime deficit for a 34-21 victory. While the game ended up being closer than we expected, we analyze why the Badgers were able to have the early success against the Buckeyes that they did, why Ohio State was ultimately able to take over to improve to 13-0 and why Ohio State fans should appreciate what this team has already accomplished no matter what happens from here.
Following Monday's announcement that Ohio State has two Heisman Trophy finalists for the first time ever this year, we also do our best to put into perspective what those individual Buckeyes have accomplished this season, and predict who will join Chase Young – who already won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as college football's best defensive player – in winning national awards this week.
After that, we're joined by Eleven Warriors recruiting analyst Zack Carpenter for a look ahead to next week's early signing period, which will be in full swing by the time the next episode of Real Pod Wednesdays drops next Wednesday. Zack makes his call on whether four-star quarterback C.J. Stroud will sign with the Buckeyes and tells us what else we should expect as Ohio State's recruiting class of 2020 officially puts pen to paper next week.
Even with all of that, we couldn't go without spending a few minutes talking about Ohio State's men's basketball team, who is now ranked No. 3 in the AP Top 25 after improving to 9-0 with a pair of blowout wins over North Carolina and Penn State. Does this team have what it takes to make a Final Four run? We're a little more bullish on the Buckeyes than we were a week ago.
As always, we finish up by answering questions from our listeners, including whether we think the College Football Playoff committee or the BCS model was more effective at selecting teams, what the future could hold for Brendon White and whether winning the lottery would be worth a major change in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
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