Silver Bullets Podcast

What began as a promising 2025 Ohio State football season and morphed into an apparent historic one came crashing to earth with back-to-back losses and a suddently completely overmatched offensive line. Julian Sayin spent his second straight game spending more time looking at guys trying to sack him than his options downfield. The Buckeyes started slowly, seemed to recover in the third quarter, and then faded again at the end, just when things were looking up.We break down a disappointing Cotton Bowl performance that added another layer to our lack of enthusiasm for New Year’s Eve games. We looked back at the key moments in Ohio State’s 24-14 loss to the Miami Hurricanes, checked in on our picks to click, and didn’t even bother to entertain who “won” in our game predictions.  After our Cotton Bowl rewind, we looked at one former OSU offensive coordinator returning to the Big Ten — but not to Columbus — and Brian Hartline’s successor as the receivers coach for Ohio State. Where does the best school at producing NFL wide receivers turn? To the second-best school at producing wide receivers, naturally. But who is going to call the plays for those receivers? [thinking face emoji goes here] Finally, we looked at the insanity that is the transfer window. Seemingly everyone who didn’t start for Ohio State in 2025 is going in, which is weird when you consider how many starters are leaving, but who knows how it will all work out. There are some successful OSU transfer stories, and a bunch of not-so-good ones. But there aren’t just players leaving. Some are already arriving as well, and we discuss what is almost certainly an out-of-date list by the time you hear this podcast.  NOTE: We are in our offseason schedule, so we will be back at least monthly, with the understanding that we may convene if we line up a guest, get some unexpectely big news, or just get a whole lot of noteworthy things to talk about. If not, we’ll see you next month. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening!  0:20 - Buckeye football season comes to a premature conclusion after a costly slow start in the Cotton Bowl. 22:36 - The college coaching carousel sees a familiar name headed to Northwestern and a new face succeed Brian Hartline as wide receivers coach.  26:17 - Ohio State has plucked a couple of guys ou

We’re back from our one-week hiatus to get you ready for Ohio State against Miami in the Cotton Bowl Classic. The Buckeyes and Hurricanes figure to be one of the better matchups in the quarterfinals, and it should be an interesting game.Before we get into our preview, we discuss the latest Ohio State players to have their black helmet stripes removed. Practices between the end of the regular season and the bowls is always vital, and so it was for linebacker Eli Lee and tight end Brody Lennon, who both became “official” Buckeyes just two days before Christmas. That’s a pretty cool gift from Santa.  Following our OSU camp news, we dive into Michigan’s hiring of former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. As far as trying to erase the stench of the scandal-filled Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore years, that school up north could hardly have found a better candidate to lead the football team in the right way. Whittingham’s teams are always hard-nosed, physical teams that run the ball and play sound defense. That said, will he be a good fit in the midwest? He hasn’t exactly moved around as a head coach, so it will be interesting to see how he adapts to Ann Arbor (and how the Wolverines adapt to him). Urban Meyer now has branches of his coaching tree on both sides of the greatest rivalry in college football. Finally, we go into a lengthy discussion of the Miami Hurricanes, who will present some challenges for Ohio State, especially when the Buckeyes have the ball. Indiana sacked Julian Sayin five times, and the Hurricanes’ strength is on the defensive line, so the slobs up front for Ohio State will have their work cut out for them.We talked briefly about Miami’s win at Texas A&M, broke down many of the key players Buckeye fans should watch out for, and discussed the critical matchups. We also provide our Ohio State player picks to click and tried our hand at predicting the final score of the Cotton Bowl. We’ll be back next week to see how we — and the Buckeyes — made out.  We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening! 0:20 - Buckeye black stripe removals and Michigan has a new coach. 15:15 - Our lengthy look ahead to Wednesday night’s showdown with Miami in the Cotton Bowl

With a lull between Ohio State games, we look at all the various trophies and awards Buckeye players piled up with their performances throughout the 2025 season. We dive into the various All-Big Ten teams as well. Who was deserving? Who got snubbed? How the hell did Julian Sayin end up fourth on the Heisman list with numbers comparable to or better than the winner (even in the head-to-head meeting)? And furthermore, how did a receiver win the Biletnikoff Award without even winning the award for being the best receiver in his conference? That’s another snub for Jeremiah Smith (and an egregious one — I didn’t see Makai Lemon’s name in the top 10 in Heisman Trophy voting). Following our walk through the postseason awards, we turned our attention to the coaching carousel. Former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles only worked at Penn State for one season and is now headed to Tennessee. It’s a bit ironic that his last outing before being hired by Tennessee was to give up 500+ yards to Greg Schiano’s Rutgers Scarlet Knights. After all, Schiano was supposed to become the Vols’ head coach until the fanbase pushed back hard against the choice.Mike Jacobs, who played for Ohio State on the offensive line in the late 1990s and early 2000s is the new head coach at Toledo. I can honestly say I don’t remember him as a Buckeye, but now he’s back in the Buckeye State and has a solid job in the MAC.Finally, we discussed the bizarre case of Sherrone Moore and the ongoing issues at Michigan. While Moore’s wife and kids never asked to be put in this position, here they are. It may not be fair to them, but it will probably be some time before this matter is put to rest. The University of Michigan is investigating its athletic department’s response to previous school scandals, and there doesn’t seem to be a way for Warde Manuel to keep his job (nor should there be). We discuss the matter without getting into the salacious details or diving into reports and speculation, and perhaps the best plan forward for Ohio State’s rival is to cut all ties with the Jim Harbaugh era and start fresh.We’re taking next week off, but we’ll be back on Dec. 30 to preview Ohio State’s next opponent in the College Football Playoff. We’ll be watching the Miami-Texas A&M game with great interest.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - Some Buckeyes won some awards, but some of those Buckeyes didn’t win some of the awards that they should have. Also, some Buckeyes may have been honored in ways that didn’t quite make sense.20:26 - Knowles moves on to Rocky Top and Mike Jacobs returns home to northwest Ohio.28:05 - The Sherrone Moore saga is odd and fascinating and sad. Michigan needs a reset.

A week after we praised Ohio State for being Ohio State in The Game, the Buckeyes decided to play very unlike themselves in a 13-10 Big Ten championship game loss to Indiana. The defense did well to hold the Hoosiers’ high-powered offense to 13 points despite Kenyatta Jackson being tackled seemingly on every play, but the OSU offense didn’t do normal things in the red zone, or even things that had been successful there more often than not. There were no C.J. Donaldson runs, no Lincoln Kienholz package, and no quick passes to take advantage of perimeter matchups. Instead, we got slow-developing routes out of heavy tight end packages, one lousy Bo Jackson rush attempt, a missed field goal, and an unfortunate slip on what otherwise would have been a first-and-goal. We got an attempted fourth-down conversion at a time the Buckeyes should have kicked and a shanked kick when the Buckeyes probably should have gone for it.We break down a frustratingly preventable loss, check back on our picks to click, and review our score predictions to see how close we came (we did not come close).  It was the end of a week full of distractions, and we’ll never know if they did or did not affect the team on Saturday, but after a brief detour to figure out who came the closest to predicting the final Big Ten standings, we followed our game breakdown by discussing Brian Hartline’s impending departure to the University of South Florida. We also touched on some of the coaching changes and the Penn State situation. Although we’re not recruiting guys, we also touched on some of the distracting National Signing Day activities that may or may not have also given the offensive coaches less time than they would have liked to work on some of the Indiana game details. Finally, we talked about Ohio State’s bowl destination to kick off the team’s 2025 College Football Playoff run. The Buckeyes are going back to the Cotton Bowl, where they’ll have a difficult first opponent, taking on the winner of Texas A&M and Miami. Both teams present challenges, and the reward for getting past the winner of that game will most likely be Georgia. We’ll have more on the next Ohio State game when an opponent emerges. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening! 0:20 - Jayden Fielding gave Ohio State fans another missed field goal to discuss, but it shouldn’t have come down to what would only have been a game-tying kick. Our B1G title game breakdown. 30:46 - Deciphering our Big Ten finishing predictions, the Penn State situation, Hartline to USF, and National Signing Day drama.  54:04 - The College Football Playoff bracket is difficult for Ohio State but it could have been worse.

The Buckeyes played like themselves (minus a few early plays on each side of the ball) and ended up mauling Michigan in The Game, 27-9. Julian Sayin threw a touchdown pass to all three of his starting wide receivers, two of whom recovered sufficiently from injury to return, and an insane 12-minute drive put the game away in the snowy second half. Matt Patricia’s defense was untroubled by the Michigan run game and did not let explosive freshman Bryce Underwood have anything all day.We fondly recapped a great day for the Buckeyes, looked back at our score predictions and picks to click, and poured over the game stats. When Bo Jackson outgains the entire Michigan offense, the stats do not lie.After our walk through the greatest rivalry in sports, we looked around the rest of the Big Ten to see how others made out. It was heartbreak for Rutgers in the matchup with Penn State for bowl eligibility, as an unforced error (and a terrible play call) combined to give the Nittany Lions the bowl berth. Iowa blasted Nebraska in Farmageddon on Black Friday. Wisconsin was driving but a turnover helped Minnesota win Paul Bunyan’s axe. Northwestern likewise imploded against Illinois as the Fighting Illini won Lincoln’s hat. Other than that, the weekend went as expected.We touched on Michigan State firing Jonathan Smith and the reports about Pat Fitzgerald, which was not official at the time of our recording session. Seems like the Spartans are going back to basics. We also ran down the final Big Ten standings briefly and each of us correctly predicted the exact finishing position of four of the 18 teams. Not great!Finally, we ahead to Saturday’s matchup with Indiana in the Big Ten title game. The Hoosiers might be the best team the Buckeyes will play all season and we’re taking nothing for granted, including the possibility of a rematch in the College Football Playoff. Everyone knows about Fernando Mendoza, but Indiana’s defense isn’t getting enough credit. The Buckeyes will need to be better against the Hoosiers than they were at Ann Arbor to be successful, and they were fairly dominant up there.We discuss the matchup, make our picks to click, and do our best to predict the final score. I know we said The Game would be close, but we’re doubling down this week. This will be a close game.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - Headbutting an official is perfectly fine, and other things we learned from The Game.35:10 - The games around the B1G weren’t all good this weekend, but some of them were quite good.1:02:20 - The Buckeyes and Hoosiers have a lot of things riding on Saturday night’s game in Indy.

TheBuckeyes beat Rutgers by 33 points with both starting wide receivers (and a key backup receiver) tied behind their backs on Saturday. Ohio State’s 42-9 rout of the Scarlet Knights took a while to build up some steam, but the defense’s continued bludgeoning of opponents eventually let the offense catch up. Julian Sayin made good use of Max Klare and Bo Jackson and his fellow running backs ran wild, while Caden Curry made the Rutgers backfield his own personal playground.As we normally do, we checked our score predictions from last week, broke down all the key players, moments, and stats from the game, and checked on our picks to click to see how they performed.  Following our Rutgers rewind, we discussed the other results around the Big Ten. Once again, Wrigley Field delivered a solid game, as Northwestern reached bowl eligibility when Minnesota missed its last-second field goal. USC couldn’t stop Oregon’s offense in what we thought was going to be a good game. Iowa had to stage a furious fourth-quarter comeback to beat Sparty at home. Nebraska was a no-show in Happy Valley. UCLA is bad again, while Maryland remains bad. There are a lot of good rivalry games this week in the Big Ten, and we’re particularly excited about Farmageddon on Friday as well as the Oregon-Washington battle in Seattle. Rutgers and Penn State will meet with bowl eligibility going only to the winner, and we don’t expect that to be the Scarlet Knights.  Finally, we looked forward to The Game Saturday at noon. Everyone with any sense of taste is tired of hearing about the current streak, but there’s only one way to shut those yaps, and that is to win the game in the greatest rivalry in sports. Ohio State will have to shut down the run and make life difficult for Bryce Underwood while hopefully Julian Sayin will have his primary weapons because the Wolverines have a stout run defense but have had issues defending the pass. We discuss the matchup, make our picks to click, and try to predict the final score. We think it will be a tightly contested game.  We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening!  0:20 - Rutgers fought hard but was outmatched on Saturday. Ohio State rested some players and hopefully that will pay off in the big rivalry game coming up. 20:23 - The rest of the Big Ten offered up only a couple of close games, and the best of those was (surprisingly) Minnesota vs. Northwestern. 48:37 - The Buckeyes have a series of scores to settle. We’ll find out on Saturday if they can settle them.

Ohio State was again without Carnell Tate, used Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs sparingly, and still beat the brakes off of UCLA at the Shoe Saturday night. Things went more or less as expected, even if Ryan Day seemed aggravated with the offense’s start to the second half. Maybe some of the mojo rubbed off on the special teams, though, because the Buckeyes recorded a blocked punt and a kickoff return for a touchdown on the evening.We looked back at our score predictions, broke down all the key players/moments/stats from the game, and checked on our picks to click to see how they performed. (Spoiler: they did well.)  After yapping about the Buckeyes for a bit, we turned our attention to the rest of the Big Ten. There were some top-notch games over the weekend, including Iowa at USC and Michigan needing a last-second field goal to avoid a loss to Northwestern at Wrigley Field. Penn State got its first Big Ten win, while Michigan State and Purdue did not. We looked ahead to this weekend’s slate of games in the conference, and USC-Oregon is a critical game for the Trojans’ hopes of reaching the College Football Playoff. Northwestern will be playing for bowl eligibility.  Finally, we looked forward to Saturday at noon, when the Rutgers Scarlet Knights visit Columbus. Greg Schiano’s defense has not been up to its usual standard this year, and we expect the OSU offense to continue to put points on the board. Hopefully, the Buckeyes will be able to rest some key starters for most or all of the game, but it’s important to maintain momentum heading into The Game.  We look at Rutgers offensive weapons and defensive rankings, make our picks to click, and try our best to predict Saturday’s final score.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at silverbulletspod@gmail.com Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening! 0:20 - UCLA with Nico Iamaleava might have been interesting at times, but with a backup quarterback, it was almost over before it started.  21:31 - A look around the rest of the B1G. Penn State finally won a league game. 42:25 - The Buckeyes host their last game of the regular season when Rutgers comes to town

Purdidn’t.The Ohio State Buckeyes dispatched the Purdue Boilermakers with one starting wideout and one starting offensive tackle tied behind their backs, winning 34-10 on the road in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ohio State luckily avoided some of the nasty weather we saw in other games around the Big Ten on Saturday, but it wasn’t one of the prettier games we’ve seen in the Ryan Day era. Then again, that can happen at Purdue.  We looked back at the Buckeyes’ road win, discussed the key players, moments, and plays, and checked back on our picks to click and our final score predictions. After dissecting Ohio State’s win over the Boilermakers, we took a quick spin around the rest of the B1G to see how other teams fared. Indiana looked to be in trouble against Penn State on the road, but the Nittany Lions stayed true to their nature and found a way to lose a close game against a top 10 team. We saw a few familiar things from Jim Knowles’ defense on the decisive drive. Elsewhere, Nebraska’s new quarterback had himself a nice game on the road as the Huskers beat UCLA out west. Oregon struggled in Iowa, but the Ducks pulled out a late win, with an untimely fumble by the Hawkeyes helping the visitors avoid a Kinnick Stadium upset. Rutgers got a vital win in a bid for bowl eligibility but the Scarlet Knights will still have a tough road to get to six wins. And, what do you know? Wisconsin won in conference play.  We also looked ahead to the matchups coming up this weekend. The Badgers will probably not win two in a row when they visit Bloomington. Probably. Meanwhile, Iowa will have a tough time bouncing back when they visit USC. There are some fun matchups coming up in Week 12. Finally, we previewed Ohio State’s home game against UCLA. The Bruins’ quarterback has played a night game at Ohio Stadium within the past year, and this trip to Columbus doesn’t seem likely to yield a much better result. A raucous Horseshoe crowd, the nation’s most efficient quarterback, and a bad Bruin defense don’t seem to make for a good combination. We break down the matchup and provide our picks to click on Saturday on both sides of the ball and make our score predictions.  We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.As always, thanks for listening! 0:20 - An easy but boring day in West Lafayette.  26:05 - A look around the B1G. Penn State ain’t gonna not Penn State, but maybe Saturday things will get better for the Nittany Lions.  47:03 - The Buckeyes host UCLA in a rare November night game. We discuss

Ohio State needed a half to return from its bye week but the Buckeyes were able to pull away from the Penn State Nittany Lions after halftime. Julian Sayin threw more touchdowns than incomplete passes, and his receiving corps continues to practice surgery on opposing secondaries.We broke down the Buckeyes’ 38-14 win over the Nitts, which could have been even more lopsided had forward progress been a thing or if C.J. Donaldson had been a bit more possessive of the pigskin. We checked to see how our picks to click performed on Saturday, and we looked back to see how our final score predictions panned out.  After our Penn State rewind, we looked around the rest of the B1G to see how the other teams in the conference made out over the weekend. The surprise banger was Michigan State at Minnesota. I didn’t say it was a brilliant game, but it was entertaining, at least toward the end. Indiana got some initial resistance from Maryland and then blew the Terps away. USC handled Nebraska on the road, but even with an injured Dylan Raiola, it wasn’t easy. Purdue also didn’t make things easy on Michigan in Ann Arbor. Once again, there are plenty of intriguing matchups coming up this weekend as the Big Ten season enters its final trimester.  Finally, we previewed Ohio State’s visit to West Lafayette, Indiana. Weird things happen in the negative energy field at Ross-Ade Stadium, so the Buckeyes will need to overcome whatever strange contraptions the engineers at Purdue have come up with to level the playing field for their Boilermakers. We selected the players we are picking to click against Purdue on Saturday on both offense and defense and tried once again to predict the final score. We’re expecting the Boilermakers to put up a battle on Saturday but the Buckeyes should prevail as long as they don’t help their hosts. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod. As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - A comfortable win over Penn State hasn’t been the norm in recent years, so the second half was a nice change of pace on Saturday.  27:40 - There was plenty of other action all around the B1G and we dive into it.  46:15 - The Buckeyes head to Indiana to take on Purdue. We preview the matchup.

Ohio State enjoyed its second bye week — or “improvement week,” if you like — over the weekend, while most of the rest of the conference kept playing. We took the opportunity to get a look at some of the remaining competition, but what seemed like a strong slate of games was a bit disappointing in the end.Before we went around the Big Ten to see how other teams made out, we discussed the tragic and untimely passing of former Ohio State center Nick Mangold, who lost his battle with kidney disease at far too young an age. Mangold was a monster in the middle of the OSU offensive line during his time in Columbus and enjoyed a productive NFL career as well. He also seemed to be well liked by just about everyone he interacted with. We pay our respects to the fallen Buckeye legend.After that, we looked around the B1G to see how the other teams made out. Reality set in for UCLA in the Hoosier State, with Indian taking the Bruins to the woodshed. Oregon surprisingly struggled against Wisconsin but did enough to get the win. The Wolverines won the Paul Bunyan Trophy in the battle of the Mitten State, and Rutgers picked up a vital win late after a wild Purdue turnover to stay in the hunt for a bowl berth. We didn’t expect Iowa to spank Minnesota, but that’s what happened. Nebraska also outlasted Northwestern as both teams tried to throw the game away late, but only one team could pull that off.We also looked ahead to the schedule that lies ahead on Saturday. There are always some intriguing matchups and this week is no exception.Finally, we previewed the big meeting with Penn State. It’s fair to say the season hasn’t gone according to plan for the Nittany Lions, but there’s no animal more dangerous than one that is wounded and cornered. Ohio State cannot take the Nitts for granted. Saturday’s visitors are talented, even if they haven’t had their way of things this season and their visit to Columbus will be seen as an early bowl game and a potential springboard for a decent finish to the season and an actual bowl game. We selected our picks to click in the game for the Buckeyes and tried our hand at predicting the final score.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - We remember the late Nick Mangold and take a tour around the rest of the Big Ten.23:10 - It isn’t the Ohio State-Penn State game we envisioned, but it’s the one we have. We try to get you ready for one of the biggest games on the remaining OSU schedule.

Ohio State went on the road for the second straight week and the Buckeyes did their job again, bringing home a 34-0 shutout victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. There was a time not too long ago when a win by that score on the road would have been considered an amazing accomplishment, but with the Badgers’ fortunes the last couple of years, it left some OSU fans wanting more.A shutout in college football against a power conference team on the road isn’t easy, so kudos to Matt Patricia’s defense. Ohio State’s offense stopped itself a few times, and Wisconsin hung tough for a while against the run, but ultimately the game ended up being a comfortable road victory for the men of the Scarlet & Gray.We discussed the key moments, plays, and players in the game, checked on our final score predictions, and perused the stats page to see if we picked the right players to click on Saturday. We went a combined three out of four, so not too bad.Following our Wisconsin rewind, we looked around the rest of the Big Ten to see how other teams made out in Week 8. Penn State lost a tight one at Iowa in the Nittany Lions’ first game in the post-James Franklin era. It was not an aerial battle, with both teams doing damage on the ground. Minnesota, Indiana, Oregon, and Northwestern had comfortable wins. Michigan pulled away from Washington in the second half, UCLA nipped Maryland to keep the Bruins’ resurgent run going, and USC lost on the road to a non-conference rival.We also looked ahead to a great slate of games during Ohio State’s second bye week of the 2025 season. There is plenty of intrigue in Illinois at Washington and Minnesota at Iowa, while the two teams from the Mitten State play for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Nebraska looks to bounce back against Northwestern. Rutgers faces a must-win situation to keep bowl eligibility on the table, while Wisconsin seems primed to suffer another beatdown. UCLA is going to have to raise its level to get past Indiana on the road.Without an Ohio State game to preview, that’s our show. We spent a little more time on the other games around the Big Ten this week, so you’re definitely not getting short-changed. We’ll be back next week to preview Penn State and check on the bye week Big Ten fallout.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - The Buckeyes were better than the Badgers, and Julian Sayin continues to be good at football.22:07 - The Big Ten was full of interesting games, especially that Penn State-Iowa tussle at Kinnick Stadium. We also have a lot of intriguing games that will have us flipping between multiple channels on Saturday.

Ohio State went to Champaign and posted a comfortable win that never really seemed in doubt, although a conservative game plan on the offensive side and some OSU red zone struggles allowed the Fighting Illini to tighten things up early in the third quarter. The Buckeyes pulled away, worked on some things, and even got some backups into the game on the road, handling the No. 17 team in the nation, 34-16.We discussed all the key moments, plays, and players in the game, checked on our picks to click to see how our chosen Buckeyes performed at Illinois, and compared notes on our score predictions, which were both extremely close to the actual final score. After our Ohio State-Illinois rewind, we discussed Penn State firing James Franklin after a second consecutive shocking loss — this time at home to Northwestern at Homecoming. The Nittany Lions also lost quarterback Drew Allar for the season, so it has been a rough few weeks for a Penn State team that is now 0-3 in Big Ten play.  Following our Franklin discussion, we looked around the rest of the Big Ten to see how other teams made out in Week 7. It wasn’t just a bad week for Penn State, as Wisconsin got throttled at home by Iowa, Michigan State got blasted at home by UCLA, and Michigan was mauled at USC. Nebraska won a tight battle over Maryland, and Minnesota squeaked past Purdue. Indiana got the marquee win at Oregon. Oh, and the Huskies beat Rutgers on Friday. We also looked ahead to the matchups coming up this weekend. Washington at Michigan might be the best game to keep an eye on, while USC has a huge non-conference rivalry game at Notre Dame. Also, we think Purdue might win. Finally, we previewed the Ohio State game at Wisconsin. Camp Randall is always a great atmosphere, but it doesn’t seem like the Badgers are likely to hang around in this one without some unbelievable defensive play, a few turnovers, and maybe even a big special teams play or two. But that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes can take Wisconsin lightly. Nothing is certain in this sport. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show. Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod. As always, thanks for listening! 0:20 - The Buckeyes got the job done and brought the Illibuck Trophy back to Columbus, where it belongs. 28:22 - The James Franklin era is over in Happy Valley. We discuss Franklin’s firing before going around the Big Ten to see how everyone else made out. We also previewed the upcoming matchups this weekend. 1:03:30 - The Wisconsin Badgers of 2025 are not like many of the pr

Minnesota came out swinging, but once Ohio State’s defense locked things down in the red zone, the rest of Saturday night belonged to the Buckeyes. The defense was stifling; Carnell Tate and Julian Sayin went off; and Jeremiah Smith, Max Klare, and Bo Jackson all had solid games. Ryan Day was also able to get plenty of depth players a few snaps in the fourth quarter. We look back at the big plays, moments, and players from Ohio State’s 42-3 win over the Golden Gophers, check on our picks to click to see how they performed, and review our game predictions from last week to see how close we were. (We were pretty close!)After our Ohio State-Minnesota rewind, we looked around the rest of the Big Ten to see how other teams made out in Week 6. Penn State had a bad weekend and Washington nearly did as well, having to come a long way back in the fourth quarter to win at Maryland. Illinois won big, Wisconsin put up a fight for a while but simply couldn’t score points in Ann Arbor. Michigan State couldn’t get stops in Lincoln, and the Spartans had a Sparty No! moment. We also looked ahead to the matchups this weekend, and aside from Ohio State’s trip to Champaign, we’ll be keeping an eye on Oregon-Indiana.Finally, we previewed the Illibuck game coming up Saturday at noon. The Fighting Illini are a formidable opponent, especially at home, and they have an offense that can test Matt Patricia’s defense. We gave you the Illini players to watch and discussed the matchup. We also selected our picks to click for the Buckeyes at Illinois and made our predictions for what the final score will be after a hard-fought game at Memorial Stadium this weekend.We would love to hear from you, so please send us an email⁠ at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - The Buckeyes returned home to face a scrappy Golden Gophers squad. Minnesota came out of the gate hot but couldn’t sustain anything after its opening drive. The Buckeyes cruised.24:34 - UCLA stunned Penn State with an offensive explosion against Jim Knowles’ defense. Michigan, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, and Northwestern (the latter in non-conference play) joined the Buckeyes as winners over the weekend.52:28 - We look ahead to Luke Altmyer and his command of a versatile Illinois offense, as the Buckeye secondary will be put to the test on the road Saturday.

Ohio State passed its first major road test of the 2025 season by traveling to the Pacific Northwest and ending the Washington Huskies’ long home winning streak. The Buckeyes employed a conservative game plan, made some early mistakes, and still won comfortably on the road against a good Huskies team. How good Washington is remains to be seen, but the environment was top notch and a good proving ground for redshirt freshman quarterback Julian Sayin.We look back at the big plays, moments, and players (we see you, Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald, and Bo Jackson!) in the game, check on our picks to click to see how they performed, and review our game predictions from last week to see how close we were.After our Ohio State-Washington rewind, we took our weekly lap around the B1G to see how other teams made out in Week 5. There as an unexpected nailbiter in Iowa City as the Hawkeyes gave Indiana a scare. Illinois bounced back from its 53-point loss to the Hoosiers by beating USC at home, despite getting jobbed at the end of the first half. The Oregon-Penn State game was worth they hype. Other results were about what we expected. We also looked ahead to the matchups this weekend.Finally, we previewed the Buckeyes’ upcoming home game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. P.J. Fleck’s team doesn’t usually make things easy on the opposition, and we’re expecting this game to be annoyingly close for at least the first half. Ohio State has the talent to pull away later in the game, but the Buckeyes will have to take care of the ball and finish drives to have a good showing against Minnesota.We selected our picks to click for the Buckeyes on Saturday, and made our predictions for what the Ohio Stadium scoreboard will show at the end of Saturday night’s game.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - The Buckeyes got a big road win, and Caden Curry was a big reason why. Ohio State waited a while to score, but then took control of the game.35:24 - Illinois, Indiana, Northwestern, Minnesota, and Oregon joined the Buckeyes as winners on Saturday. More big B1G games are coming up this weekend.55:33 - We look ahead to Drake Lindsey, Minnesota’s committee of tailbacks, and the rest of the Golden Gophers looking to compete with the Buckeyes under the lights at the Shoe on Saturday.

With Ohio State off over the weekend, there was nothing for Buckeye fans to do but check out the other games around the country. Whether it was watching Clemson lose again, checking in on Michigan at Nebraska, or staying up late to see if Sparty could take down the men of Troy, there was plenty to watch on Saturday.We start this week’s show with a look at the latest Ohio State players to lose their black helmet stripes over the last couple of weeks, becoming “official” members of the team. We also discussed Ross Bjork’s efforts to get Ohio State’s vacated wins from 2010 reinstated. If the NCAA suddenly doesn’t think it’s fair to punish players for the actions of their coaches, there should be no issue overturning those vacated wins, as Jim Tressel lying to the NCAA was the most serious offense of the bunch. The players themselves wouldn’t have had to trade/sell their own belongings to get tattoos in the era of NIL, so it sucks for them that they parted with keepsakes they might regret getting rid of with the benefit of hindsight.  After touching on the recent OSU news, we took our weekly lap around the B1G to see how other teams made out in Week 4 . Nebraska turned down some early points and it came back to bite the Huskers. Washington, Oregon, and Indiana look formidable, while Illinois and Wisconsin came out of Saturday not looking so hot.  We also looked ahead to the matchups this weekend, although many teams around the conference are having their bye weeks. The Oregon-Penn State game and Ohio State at Washington are the marquee matchups on Saturday, so get your snacks ready. Finally, we previewed the Buckeyes’ trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington at Husky Stadium. There are few environments in college football as hostile for visitors, and it will be Julian Sayin’s first road start. We’re eager to see if the young signal caller continues to play calmly and throw accurately in the face of adversity. We also made our picks to click, selecting the players we think will shine for Ohio State on Saturday, and made our predictions on what the final score will be when the game concludes.  We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.  Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod. As always, thanks for listening!  0:20 - More Ohio State players lost their black stripes from their helmets, the Buckeyes could get their Sugar Bowl win over Arkansas back, and we tour the Big Ten’s other games to see who came out on top. 31:05 - The Washington Huskies present a difficult challenge on Saturday, and they’ll have perhaps the best offense the Buckeyes will face all season. We preview the matchup.

It’s the 200th episode of the Silver Bullets Podcast and we get to celebrate it by talking about Ohio State’s 37-9 win over the Ohio Bobcats. As we predicted, it was an annoyingly close game for a while, but the Buckeyes eventually stopped stepping on rakes in the red zone by bypassing the red zone completely and just chucking up bombs to their playmaking wide receivers. The defense was lights out with the exception of one single play early in the third quarter, and even that was pretty much covered. It merely lacked execution on the back end.We looked back at our score predictions to see how well we prognosticated the game, checked our picks to click to see if they…err…clicked (three out of four got the job done), and discussed the key moments, players, and stats from the game.After that, we took our weekly lap around the B1G to see how other teams made out in Week 3 and looked at the matchups coming up this weekend. There are some enticing games on the schedule, so Ohio State’s bye week comes at a good time for us to play voyeur around the rest of the conference.There is no preview this week, as the next game comes a week from Saturday and it’s a doozy. The Buckeyes will perhaps face no tougher environment than Husky Stadium when they take on Washington. We’ll have our preview for that game next week.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - Ohio played the role of annoying little brother for just over 30 minutes and then the Buckeyes flexed on them. That’s a good MAC team and should do well in conference play. Meanwhile, Ryan Day has some things he can work on.27:38 - A look around the other results from Week 3 in the Big Ten and a look ahead to Week 4.

Ohio State was not expected to struggle against Grambling and the Buckeyes did not. Julian Sayin especially did not struggle, going 18-for-19 for more than 300 yards and four scores. Sure, he threw his first interception, but nobody’s perfect. The defense pitched a shutout thanks to a missed field goal by the Tigers. It was exactly what you want against an overmatched opponent — a comprehensive win, the team stayed healthy, and lots of backups got extended playing time.We looked back at all seven touchdowns and other key points from the game and checked back on our score predictions and the players we picked to click.After that, we went around the B1G to see how other teams made out in Week 2 and looked at the matchups coming up this weekend.The Buckeyes can expect more resistance from the Bobcats of Ohio University than they got from the Grambling Tigers. We’re expecting one of those games that is annoyingly close for a while before the Buckeyes take over and wear down Ohio. We discussed the players to watch, made our picks to click for the game, and tried our hand at predicting the final score.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com⁠. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - Grambling has a great band and their quarterback played hard, but ultimately, the Buckeyes simply overpowered an opponent they should overpower.39:14 - A look around the other results from Week 2 in the Big Ten.1:04:45 - The Bobcats visit Columbus to close out Ohio State’s non-conference schedule, and they won’t be intimidated by the Buckeyes.

Ohio State won the marquee battle of Week 1 of the 2025 college football season after a hard-fought defensive struggle with the Texas Longhorns. Julian Sayin’s first college start was more successful than the first road start of his more hyped opposite number, Arch Manning. Sayin likely could have done more than he was asked to do, but the Buckeyes didn’t need it, thanks to the defense helping a conservative offensive game plan and the Alabama transfer’s poise and accuracy when called upon. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but most importantly, Sayin didn’t put the ball in harm’s way.We broke down the game, which came just a few minutes shy of a shutout for the defense in Matt Patricia’s first game as OSU defensive coordinator, checked back on our score predictions and our picks to click, and went over all of the important stats from Ohio State’s victory over the No. 1 Longhorns.As we usually do, we discussed the other games around the Big Ten, with Northwestern, UCLA, and Wisconsin not looking great, although the Badgers at least got themselves a W. Indiana wasn’t as sharp as expected, but the Hoosiers got the job done. Everything else went pretty much according to plan, although had Cincinnati played at home instead of in Kansas City, the Bearcats might have given Nebraska even more of a fight.We also looked ahead at the games coming up around the conference this weekend.One of those games is a curious matchup between the Buckeyes and the Tigers of Grambling State. This game was a scramble drill for the schedule makers after a previously scheduled game fell through. It’s not likely to tell us much about the 2025 Buckeyes one week after a win over Texas, but it will provide valuable reps for the new Buckeye starters and should provide playing time for plenty of backups.We made our picks to click for the game, selecting the offensive and defensive Buckeyes we think will shine on Saturday afternoon, and we made similar predictions for the final score.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at silverbulletspod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:20 - There was no revenge for Texas from last year’s Cotton Bowl, as the Buckeye defense came to play!33:01 - A look around the other results from Week 1 in the Big Ten.48:03 - Grambling is coming to Columbus. The Buckeyes should feel no obligation to make the Tigers welcome in the Horseshoe, and they probably won’t.

It’s game week! The Ohio State Buckeyes will renew acquaintances with the Texas Longhorns Saturday at Ohio Stadium at noon. It’s a brand new OSU football season and there is a lot going on, a lot we don’t know (yet), and a lot of the kinds of ups and downs that are part of every year of college football. We can’t wait to get it started, but we know that it will come and go before we know it.This week’s show opens with a discussion of Ryan Day naming Julian Sayin starting quarterback for the Buckeyes ahead of the season. The race with Lincoln Kienholz was reportedly close, and both signal callers will need to continue to improve and develop, because one will need to keep his lead, while the other will try to close the gap and stay ready in case he’s needed.We discussed the three Ohio State players who made the Associated Press preseason All-American list and the Buckeyes who had their black helmet stripes removed since our last show, becoming “official” members of the squad. Ahead of Big Ten teams starting to take the field Thursday night, we looked ahead to every school’s Week 1 matchup to see how the rest of the conference will start the season. As usual, the first week doesn’t provide many intriguing games, but there are a couple of interesting contests to keep an eye out this weekend — just none with the luster of Texas at Ohio State.Finally, we looked at the Buckeyes vs. the Longhorns. Ohio State went on to win a national championship one game after the teams last met, but Texas has had this rematch circled on the calendar for months. Both teams have experienced a ton of turnover, and we can’t wait to see how they match up with so many new starters on both sides. We made our picks to click for Week 1, selecting the offensive and defensive Buckeyes we think will shine on Saturday, and we made our predictions for the final score.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:21 - Julian Sayin has won the starting quarterback battle, but can he keep it? Plus, other news and notes from preseason camp.17:48 - A look at the first week of the 2025 season around the entire Big Ten.34:30 - The Texas Longhorns are visiting the Horseshoe on Saturday, and this game will tell us a lot about where both teams are now and where they need to be.

We have survived the long, monthly off-season podcast schedule we’ve set for ourselves and now we have to (get to) return to our weekly schedule starting with this show. And we’ve got a lot of ground to cover!Our opening topic is the conclusion of the NCAA investigation into Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal, which ended with Jim Harbaugh becoming the all-time cheatingest coach in college football history, a big fine for Michigan, and absolutely no bowl ban for the school’s Failure to Monitor charge, no vacated wins, and no real teeth to prevent any school from doing it again as long as it’s willing to pay the monetary price and maybe sacrifice a staffer and a coach (who in this case had already left).On the OSU football news front, 10 Buckeyes shed their black helmet stripes between the start of camp and our recording this episode. Notable names include Devin Sanchez, CJ Donaldson, Riley Pettijohn, Phillip Daniels, Beau Atkinson, Bo Jackson, and Nick McLarty. The 2025 captains are now known, and they are Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs, Austin Siereveld, and Brandon Inniss. Styles will also wear the Block O jersey in 2025.We also touched on some news items about former Buckeyes in the NFL and two things that shouldn’t exist — preseason polls and the preseason player of the year — and how they relate to Ohio State.Ross Bjork outlined his plan to get fans to cheer louder. We discuss many of them, and we’re not convinced they’ll do the trick. At wine-and-cheese-crowd ticket prices, it’s difficult to get six-pack-before-the-game fans in the seats to make said noise. Making the games affordable is much more important than courting ridicule with pregame Victory Bell ringing or getting everyone to wear the same color a couple times a year. But hey, that’s just us.Finally, we dove into how we see the Big Ten shaping up with our annual predictions. We did it a little differently this year, giving you our predictions from 18-1 in groups. We were very close in most respects, but we were pretty far apart on Michigan. At the end of the regular season, it’ll be fun to check back to see how close we came to having the correct finishing order.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at SilverBulletsPod@gmail.com. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!0:21 - The NCAA has spoken loudly and clearly about how much it’ll cost to cheat to win a national championship, and beyond the pricetag, there are no real consequences. Also: there has been a lot of OSU news since our last show.31:26 - Ross Bjork wants Ohio Stadium to rock, but his ideas seem a bit weird and don’t seem like they’ll do the trick.45:26 - Our annual preseason Big Ten predictions, in which we don’t differentiate much in our opinions except when it comes to That Team Up North.