WEBVTT - 12-3-25 Lance with Bill Rabinowitz

0:00:07.240 --> 0:00:12.360
<v Speaker 1>Seven hundred wlw Rnlkerrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet.

0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:14.720
<v Speaker 1>I'm Lance Percallister. I'm very excited to welcome on our

0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.360
<v Speaker 1>next guest. I can't imagine how busy he is this week,

0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:19.360
<v Speaker 1>and so kind of him to take out time tonight.

0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:22.119
<v Speaker 1>Let's talk buck Eyes. It's Ohio State and Indiana for

0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.279
<v Speaker 1>the Big Ten Championships Saturday night in Indy. My next

0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.840
<v Speaker 1>guest covers the buck Eyes covered him for fourteen years

0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.960
<v Speaker 1>with the Columbus Dispatch. These days on Substack, author of

0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:34.199
<v Speaker 1>fabulous books on Ohio State football, Buckeye Rebirth about the

0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:37.680
<v Speaker 1>undefeated twenty twelve team, The Chase after their twenty fourteen

0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.600
<v Speaker 1>National championship season, the newest one on last season's title,

0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.560
<v Speaker 1>Buckeye Brotherhood is a must read. For more on all

0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.720
<v Speaker 1>of that, let's welcome in Bill Rabinowitz.

0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:52.720
<v Speaker 2>How are you good, Lanns. Thanks for a very kind introduction,

0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:54.000
<v Speaker 2>creshid it, you got it.

0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:55.560
<v Speaker 1>It is so great to catch up with you and

0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:57.360
<v Speaker 1>so happy for all that you have going on. The

0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.360
<v Speaker 1>book is fabulous. Let me start from this point. What

0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:04.040
<v Speaker 1>a difference in vibe and narrative around this program and

0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:06.560
<v Speaker 1>around Ryan Day compared to a year ago at this

0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.479
<v Speaker 1>time after losing to Michigan. Yeah.

0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.960
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, I mean, in fact, it was was a day.

0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.080
<v Speaker 2>It was the Tuesday after the Michigan game last year

0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:19.240
<v Speaker 2>that they had this now famous team meeting with Ryan Day,

0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:23.000
<v Speaker 2>just Ryan Day and the players, and they went at

0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.720
<v Speaker 2>it in a healthy way, but a very brutally honest

0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.160
<v Speaker 2>way about what had gone wrong against Michigan, what they

0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.760
<v Speaker 2>needed to correct before the playoffs. That really ended up

0:01:32.760 --> 0:01:35.240
<v Speaker 2>being a cathartic meeting. And we all know what happened

0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.400
<v Speaker 2>after that. But they entered the room that day a

0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.559
<v Speaker 2>very very demoralized team and they left it a really

0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:42.319
<v Speaker 2>inspired team.

0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.279
<v Speaker 1>Bill was that book buck Eye Brotherhood? Was the book

0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:47.520
<v Speaker 1>in the works from the start of the season, or

0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.960
<v Speaker 1>did the season rise to the level of writing a book?

0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.360
<v Speaker 2>Yeah? No, I did not plan to write another book.

0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:56.520
<v Speaker 2>It'st All of them have been kind of accidental, didn't

0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.640
<v Speaker 2>I never intended to be an author. And then twenty

0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.760
<v Speaker 2>twelve and I said, okay, fine, I'll do that and

0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.360
<v Speaker 2>that'll be on my one and only. And then twenty fourteen,

0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:07.760
<v Speaker 2>which was even crazier it happened, Oh I got to

0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.200
<v Speaker 2>ride this one. And then I thought, Okay, I'm done,

0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.160
<v Speaker 2>and then last year happened. So no, I did not

0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:14.560
<v Speaker 2>plan on doing it. It wasn't like I was like

0:02:14.919 --> 0:02:17.480
<v Speaker 2>a squirrel hiding away little nuts and doing that kind

0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:22.640
<v Speaker 2>of stuff. But I did like fifty plus interviews with

0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.600
<v Speaker 2>all the key people and really pieced it together from

0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:26.840
<v Speaker 2>the inside out as best I could.

0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.560
<v Speaker 1>All right, let's talk about this team right now, the

0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.160
<v Speaker 1>present day team. And this may be a dumb question

0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.600
<v Speaker 1>or word question, but they've beaten Michigan, They're in the

0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.680
<v Speaker 1>playoff field. How important? How big is Saturday in the

0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:40.640
<v Speaker 1>grand scheme of things.

0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.200
<v Speaker 2>No, it's a great question because on one hand, you

0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.800
<v Speaker 2>have one versus two, right, normally that'd be like, oh

0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.600
<v Speaker 2>my god, it's one versus two, But it really doesn't matter.

0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:52.440
<v Speaker 2>And the grand scheme of things, Yes, they want to

0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.280
<v Speaker 2>win in big tens. They haven't done it five years.

0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.679
<v Speaker 2>They haven't been to Indianapolis in five years, so I

0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.400
<v Speaker 2>definitely want to win it. But they're going to get

0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.880
<v Speaker 2>a bye in the playoff no matter what happens. In

0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.440
<v Speaker 2>the same with Indiana. There the only two underfeated teams.

0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:06.840
<v Speaker 2>They're not going to drop below four for sure. The

0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.760
<v Speaker 2>loser and so it's it's a game for pride, but

0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.000
<v Speaker 2>it's not going to be I mean not the game

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.359
<v Speaker 2>gets Michigan is the one they needed to win because

0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.240
<v Speaker 2>they lost four straight and that was the one that

0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.320
<v Speaker 2>just they that was the must win. This is not

0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.400
<v Speaker 2>a must win. They want to win it. It'll be

0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.080
<v Speaker 2>nice to win it, but it's you know, I won't

0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.800
<v Speaker 2>say it will be forgotten, but in the scheme of things,

0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.680
<v Speaker 2>you know, Michigan is important in the playoffs, is really important,

0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.359
<v Speaker 2>and this will be kind of the one in the middle.

0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:34.480
<v Speaker 2>But again it's one versus too, so it's a pretty

0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:34.880
<v Speaker 2>cool game.

0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.120
<v Speaker 1>There are some moving parts obviously. Today Brian Hartline, the

0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:41.520
<v Speaker 1>offensive coordinator wide receivers coach, has taken the USF head

0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:43.840
<v Speaker 1>coaching job. What's your reaction to that news today?

0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.480
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I was I was surprised, but not surprised. I

0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.320
<v Speaker 2>think we all knew that Brian Hartline, given the success

0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:51.960
<v Speaker 2>he had as the wide receivers coach and now the

0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.120
<v Speaker 2>offensive quitter coordinator, was going to be moving on. I mean,

0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.440
<v Speaker 2>he had earned it, and so I think that's a

0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.200
<v Speaker 2>really good job for him. You know, people start talking

0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.280
<v Speaker 2>about ten State, I thought, I'm not sure that he's

0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:05.280
<v Speaker 2>quite ready for that. That pressure cooker. He could go

0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:08.720
<v Speaker 2>down to Tampa. That was funny that South Florida, right

0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.960
<v Speaker 2>is in Tampa, which is not in Southern Florida, you know,

0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:16.080
<v Speaker 2>the west side of Florida. But anyway, you know, it's

0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.360
<v Speaker 2>a good program. They're building a new stadium. I think

0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:22.920
<v Speaker 2>he'll be successful there. Then from there he can make

0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:27.159
<v Speaker 2>whatever jump he wants. Probably, but you know, it's impossible

0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.040
<v Speaker 2>to keep a guy like that around for too long

0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.839
<v Speaker 2>unless he wants to stay. But he played Pro football

0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.800
<v Speaker 2>with the Dolphins, so he's familiar with Florida. I think

0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:37.039
<v Speaker 2>he'll do a good job down there.

0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:39.680
<v Speaker 1>For those who maybe aren't up on the latest news,

0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:42.000
<v Speaker 1>it appears one of the dominoes that has fallen from

0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.680
<v Speaker 1>that is that Chris Henry Junior, one of the top

0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:47.479
<v Speaker 1>maybe the top wide receiver in the country, had originally

0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.680
<v Speaker 1>said he would sign with Ohio State. He now appears

0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.560
<v Speaker 1>to be his name in play with multiple schools at

0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:54.040
<v Speaker 1>this moment.

0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and I don't blame him. I tweeted this earlier today.

0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.719
<v Speaker 2>I mean, if you have that kind of news on

0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.000
<v Speaker 2>the day that you are supposed to sign, why wouldn't you,

0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.000
<v Speaker 2>you know, take as much time as you can and

0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.479
<v Speaker 2>figure out. Okay, it's just still the school for me.

0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.320
<v Speaker 2>And I asked Ryan Day about he can't talk about

0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:15.679
<v Speaker 2>players specifically who haven't signed, but but his point was essentially,

0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:18.360
<v Speaker 2>Ohio State is Ohio State. We're going to get somebody good.

0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.840
<v Speaker 2>It's the culture here strong. I'm sure that's the pitch

0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.919
<v Speaker 2>to Chris Henry. But in this nil era, you know,

0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.799
<v Speaker 2>who knows how much money we'll talk and Ohio States

0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:30.640
<v Speaker 2>general philosophy is will pay the top guys, and he

0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.440
<v Speaker 2>is a top guy. But you know they want guys

0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:36.560
<v Speaker 2>to earn it before they get the big Nio bucks.

0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.159
<v Speaker 2>And so it'll be very fascinating to see how that develops. Obviously,

0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.880
<v Speaker 2>Ohio State is still a wide receiver you and they're

0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:45.800
<v Speaker 2>going to get a good wide receiver, Seach. I mean

0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.200
<v Speaker 2>there's no you know, Mark Antoni, the general manager of

0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.560
<v Speaker 2>Ohio State, said they're probably fifty guys who already sent

0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.920
<v Speaker 2>their resumes to Ryan Day. So he's going to have

0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.279
<v Speaker 2>the pick of the litter. And but I under you know,

0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.800
<v Speaker 2>it's all of a sudden he doesn't have the guy there,

0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:01.719
<v Speaker 2>and so it makes sense for him to at least

0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:03.320
<v Speaker 2>take another look at it on.

0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:04.920
<v Speaker 1>The other side of the ball, with the defense. If

0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.440
<v Speaker 1>you look at this stat sheet and you see ninety

0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:09.640
<v Speaker 1>three points allowed in twelve games, it almost looks like

0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.240
<v Speaker 1>a misprint and you said, well, that can't possibly be right,

0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.640
<v Speaker 1>but it is. Describe the impact the defensive coordinator Matt

0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.400
<v Speaker 1>Patricia has had in his first season on this team.

0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:20.799
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I mean ninety three points. It's like two Bengal

0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:21.560
<v Speaker 2>game days.

0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:22.880
<v Speaker 1>Well done.

0:06:22.920 --> 0:06:27.160
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I used to cover the Bengal pick a shot.

0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.200
<v Speaker 2>He has done a fantastic job. And there was a

0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:34.240
<v Speaker 2>lot of skepticism when he was hired because he had

0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:36.520
<v Speaker 2>framed out as the Lions coach, and there's a lot

0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.760
<v Speaker 2>of question about the fact that how much was he

0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:44.120
<v Speaker 2>responsible for the Patriots' success on defense versus Belichick. Legitimately so.

0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:47.680
<v Speaker 2>And the other thing was he hadn't coached in college

0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.159
<v Speaker 2>for two decades and he really exclusively been in the pros.

0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.000
<v Speaker 2>But he's done just an amazing job. I mean, they

0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.000
<v Speaker 2>lost eight defensive starters and they're better than they were

0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.560
<v Speaker 2>last year. It helpstep Caleb Bounds for sure and Sonny

0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.520
<v Speaker 2>Styles for sure at linebacker and Davis Digbdosin is a

0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.039
<v Speaker 2>good cornerback. But to have eight new starters and play

0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.760
<v Speaker 2>even better than they did last year, that's that's pretty amazing.

0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.040
<v Speaker 1>Quarterback Julian's saying through I think attempted twelve passes last year.

0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.239
<v Speaker 1>This season he made very well, won the Heisman, completing

0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.360
<v Speaker 1>seventy nine percent of his passes, thirty touchdowns, five picks.

0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.440
<v Speaker 1>Aside from the numbers, what has impressed you most about

0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:25.160
<v Speaker 1>him this season?

0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:30.600
<v Speaker 2>He's just unfazable. Nothing just bothers. On the second pass

0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.840
<v Speaker 2>of the game against Mishkin's intercepted for a lot of guys,

0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:36.480
<v Speaker 2>especially a red short freshman that could be really really

0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:39.160
<v Speaker 2>tough to get over, he just went back out there

0:07:39.200 --> 0:07:43.440
<v Speaker 2>like nothing ever happened. He's just really poised. He's incredibly accurate.

0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.720
<v Speaker 2>He's got a strong arm, but the accuracy is the thing,

0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.280
<v Speaker 2>and the quick release. He also is able to feel

0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.320
<v Speaker 2>the pocket very well. I mean, he can run, but

0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:55.040
<v Speaker 2>he's not Will Howard. He's certainly now a guy like

0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:57.800
<v Speaker 2>Braxton Miller or just feels like like the highest he

0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.280
<v Speaker 2>has had. But he could run well enough. But he's

0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.560
<v Speaker 2>just really good at feeling pressure and being able to

0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.520
<v Speaker 2>roll out and throw on the run and it's been

0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:09.119
<v Speaker 2>very impressive. Yeah, I think the I think whoever plays

0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:12.360
<v Speaker 2>better and whoever's team wins between Ohio State Indiana with

0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.320
<v Speaker 2>Fernando Mendoza is probably going to be the Heisman winner.

0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:19.120
<v Speaker 1>The book is Buckeye Brotherhood. It's a fabulous read. It

0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.840
<v Speaker 1>would be perfect for the holidays for those who want

0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:23.520
<v Speaker 1>to get the book. For those who want to read

0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.400
<v Speaker 1>your stuff on substack, tell them how they can go

0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:25.960
<v Speaker 1>about doing that.

0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.200
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it's Bill Ribido. It's R A, B I, N O,

0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.920
<v Speaker 2>W I t Z dot substack dot com. And it's

0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:35.679
<v Speaker 2>a very good problem to have, but it's a problem.

0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.600
<v Speaker 2>The book is more or less sold out, at least

0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.560
<v Speaker 2>the hardcovers have, so we are working really hard to

0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:46.119
<v Speaker 2>get more copies than paperbacks coming in. If you subscribe

0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.120
<v Speaker 2>to my substack, I will I will send you a

0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:53.240
<v Speaker 2>free paperback version of it. If you are a Founder's member,

0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.880
<v Speaker 2>which is, you know, kind of an upper level, then

0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.600
<v Speaker 2>you can get a free hardcover book from me. I'll

0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.520
<v Speaker 2>sign it and personalize it. Otherwise, you can try Barnes

0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:06.120
<v Speaker 2>anddnoble dot com. You can certainly try some of the

0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:10.000
<v Speaker 2>local bookstores in Columbus. In terms of their online site

0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.120
<v Speaker 2>book Loft and Gramarcy Books. Yeah, it's frustrating because you

0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.280
<v Speaker 2>want everybody who wants the book today to be able

0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.600
<v Speaker 2>to get it today. They will have it. We know that.

0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:20.880
<v Speaker 2>The reason that we kind of went to paperback is

0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.640
<v Speaker 2>you can produce those fast and quick, fast, and you know,

0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.840
<v Speaker 2>and pretty easily. So I think it's it's a matter

0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.200
<v Speaker 2>of days. But again, if you want it for sure,

0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.000
<v Speaker 2>and you want it signed and personalized, I'm come to

0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:33.240
<v Speaker 2>you know, join my subtech.

0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.640
<v Speaker 1>Hey, I always enjoy our conversations. I always appreciate you

0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:38.920
<v Speaker 1>making time. I know it's been a hectic day. Thanks

0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:41.760
<v Speaker 1>for carving out some time tonight. You know you're welcome anytime.

0:09:41.800 --> 0:09:44.680
<v Speaker 1>And congrats on the book and best of luck with

0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:45.720
<v Speaker 1>it going forward.

0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:48.679
<v Speaker 2>I appreciate it. Lan, It's always banks to the only joy.

0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:50.000
<v Speaker 1>Take care, Bill. We hear a little bit