Real Pod Wednesdays: Takeaways from Ohio State’s Second Game Against Arkansas State and a Wild Week 2 of College Football

Ohio State might not have been quite as dominant against Arkansas State as oddsmakers and fans expected, but a 33-point win is nothing to scoff at nonetheless.

On this week’s Real Pod Wednesdays, we give our overall assessment of Ohio State’s 45-12 over the Red Wolves, which Buckeyes stood out in their second game of the season and why a wild second weekend of college football should serve as a reminder to appreciate what was ultimately a convincing win. We also look ahead to Saturday’s game against Toledo, which we think might also be at least a slightly more competitive game than the point spread suggests.

A rundown of some of the many topics we talk about this week:

1:45: Grading the win over Arkansas State
3:54: Ohio State’s passing offense returns to form, showing how special it could be when Jaxon Smith-Njigba is healthy
7:25: Why it’s dumb to be miserable after a 33-point win (even though there are some things to clean up)
11:14: The defense hasn’t been fully tested yet, but it’s been excellent so far, especially in the red zone
14:03: Mike Hall is a star, but don’t discount the defensive ends’ role in helping him make plays
17:17: Denzel Burke’s slow start, what might be leading to that and why we think he will bounce back
21:27: Arkansas State might prove to be a better team than we thought
23:04: JK Johnson had a solid showing, but he still might be behind Jordan Hancock when healthy
25:15: Caden Curry, Dallan Hayden and Jyaire Brown among freshman standouts vs. Arkansas State
28:30: Cody Simon, Josh Proctor, Lathan Ransom, Gee Scott Jr., Mitch Rossi among under-the-radar standouts vs. Arkansas State
35:10: Why Toledo looks like a step up in competition from Arkansas State
43:50: Julian Fleming and Jaxon Smith-Njigba could both be back this week, but it’s important for Fleming to be on the field
46:23: Ohio State vs. Toledo score predictions
48:40: Why TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams will likely continue to split carries evenly
49:57: How Ohio State’s season-opening win loses some luster with Notre Dame’s loss to Marshall
53:45: Nebraska had no choice but to fire Scott Frost
55:46: It was a bad weekend all the way around for the Big Ten West
57:41: Michigan and Michigan State look like Ohio State’s top competition in the Big Ten
59:20: How our preseason confidence rankings Ohio State will win each game would change now
1:01:36: Ohio State should be ranked ahead of Alabama after Crimson Tide barely beat Texas

Listen to Real Pod Wednesdays in the audio player above or on your streaming platform of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts) to hear what we have to say about all of that.