Speaker 1: Seven hundred wlw Rnlkerrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet.
Speaker 1: I'm Lance Percallister. I'm very excited to welcome on our
Speaker 1: next guest. I can't imagine how busy he is this week,
Speaker 1: and so kind of him to take out time tonight.
Speaker 1: Let's talk buck Eyes. It's Ohio State and Indiana for
Speaker 1: the Big Ten Championships Saturday night in Indy. My next
Speaker 1: guest covers the buck Eyes covered him for fourteen years
Speaker 1: with the Columbus Dispatch. These days on Substack, author of
Speaker 1: fabulous books on Ohio State football, Buckeye Rebirth about the
Speaker 1: undefeated twenty twelve team, The Chase after their twenty fourteen
Speaker 1: National championship season, the newest one on last season's title,
Speaker 1: Buckeye Brotherhood is a must read. For more on all
Speaker 1: of that, let's welcome in Bill Rabinowitz.
Speaker 2: How are you good, Lanns. Thanks for a very kind introduction,
Speaker 2: creshid it, you got it.
Speaker 1: It is so great to catch up with you and
Speaker 1: so happy for all that you have going on. The
Speaker 1: book is fabulous. Let me start from this point. What
Speaker 1: a difference in vibe and narrative around this program and
Speaker 1: around Ryan Day compared to a year ago at this
Speaker 1: time after losing to Michigan. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I mean, in fact, it was was a day.
Speaker 2: It was the Tuesday after the Michigan game last year
Speaker 2: that they had this now famous team meeting with Ryan Day,
Speaker 2: just Ryan Day and the players, and they went at
Speaker 2: it in a healthy way, but a very brutally honest
Speaker 2: way about what had gone wrong against Michigan, what they
Speaker 2: needed to correct before the playoffs. That really ended up
Speaker 2: being a cathartic meeting. And we all know what happened
Speaker 2: after that. But they entered the room that day a
Speaker 2: very very demoralized team and they left it a really
Speaker 2: inspired team.
Speaker 1: Bill was that book buck Eye Brotherhood? Was the book
Speaker 1: in the works from the start of the season, or
Speaker 1: did the season rise to the level of writing a book?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, I did not plan to write another book.
Speaker 2: It'st All of them have been kind of accidental, didn't
Speaker 2: I never intended to be an author. And then twenty
Speaker 2: twelve and I said, okay, fine, I'll do that and
Speaker 2: that'll be on my one and only. And then twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: which was even crazier it happened, Oh I got to
Speaker 2: ride this one. And then I thought, Okay, I'm done,
Speaker 2: and then last year happened. So no, I did not
Speaker 2: plan on doing it. It wasn't like I was like
Speaker 2: a squirrel hiding away little nuts and doing that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. But I did like fifty plus interviews with
Speaker 2: all the key people and really pieced it together from
Speaker 2: the inside out as best I could.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about this team right now, the
Speaker 1: present day team. And this may be a dumb question
Speaker 1: or word question, but they've beaten Michigan, They're in the
Speaker 1: playoff field. How important? How big is Saturday in the
Speaker 1: grand scheme of things.
Speaker 2: No, it's a great question because on one hand, you
Speaker 2: have one versus two, right, normally that'd be like, oh
Speaker 2: my god, it's one versus two, But it really doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: And the grand scheme of things, Yes, they want to
Speaker 2: win in big tens. They haven't done it five years.
Speaker 2: They haven't been to Indianapolis in five years, so I
Speaker 2: definitely want to win it. But they're going to get
Speaker 2: a bye in the playoff no matter what happens. In
Speaker 2: the same with Indiana. There the only two underfeated teams.
Speaker 2: They're not going to drop below four for sure. The
Speaker 2: loser and so it's it's a game for pride, but
Speaker 2: it's not going to be I mean not the game
Speaker 2: gets Michigan is the one they needed to win because
Speaker 2: they lost four straight and that was the one that
Speaker 2: just they that was the must win. This is not
Speaker 2: a must win. They want to win it. It'll be
Speaker 2: nice to win it, but it's you know, I won't
Speaker 2: say it will be forgotten, but in the scheme of things,
Speaker 2: you know, Michigan is important in the playoffs, is really important,
Speaker 2: and this will be kind of the one in the middle.
Speaker 2: But again it's one versus too, so it's a pretty
Speaker 2: cool game.
Speaker 1: There are some moving parts obviously. Today Brian Hartline, the
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator wide receivers coach, has taken the USF head
Speaker 1: coaching job. What's your reaction to that news today?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was I was surprised, but not surprised. I
Speaker 2: think we all knew that Brian Hartline, given the success
Speaker 2: he had as the wide receivers coach and now the
Speaker 2: offensive quitter coordinator, was going to be moving on. I mean,
Speaker 2: he had earned it, and so I think that's a
Speaker 2: really good job for him. You know, people start talking
Speaker 2: about ten State, I thought, I'm not sure that he's
Speaker 2: quite ready for that. That pressure cooker. He could go
Speaker 2: down to Tampa. That was funny that South Florida, right
Speaker 2: is in Tampa, which is not in Southern Florida, you know,
Speaker 2: the west side of Florida. But anyway, you know, it's
Speaker 2: a good program. They're building a new stadium. I think
Speaker 2: he'll be successful there. Then from there he can make
Speaker 2: whatever jump he wants. Probably, but you know, it's impossible
Speaker 2: to keep a guy like that around for too long
Speaker 2: unless he wants to stay. But he played Pro football
Speaker 2: with the Dolphins, so he's familiar with Florida. I think
Speaker 2: he'll do a good job down there.
Speaker 1: For those who maybe aren't up on the latest news,
Speaker 1: it appears one of the dominoes that has fallen from
Speaker 1: that is that Chris Henry Junior, one of the top
Speaker 1: maybe the top wide receiver in the country, had originally
Speaker 1: said he would sign with Ohio State. He now appears
Speaker 1: to be his name in play with multiple schools at
Speaker 1: this moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I don't blame him. I tweeted this earlier today.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you have that kind of news on
Speaker 2: the day that you are supposed to sign, why wouldn't you,
Speaker 2: you know, take as much time as you can and
Speaker 2: figure out. Okay, it's just still the school for me.
Speaker 2: And I asked Ryan Day about he can't talk about
Speaker 2: players specifically who haven't signed, but but his point was essentially,
Speaker 2: Ohio State is Ohio State. We're going to get somebody good.
Speaker 2: It's the culture here strong. I'm sure that's the pitch
Speaker 2: to Chris Henry. But in this nil era, you know,
Speaker 2: who knows how much money we'll talk and Ohio States
Speaker 2: general philosophy is will pay the top guys, and he
Speaker 2: is a top guy. But you know they want guys
Speaker 2: to earn it before they get the big Nio bucks.
Speaker 2: And so it'll be very fascinating to see how that develops. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Ohio State is still a wide receiver you and they're
Speaker 2: going to get a good wide receiver, Seach. I mean
Speaker 2: there's no you know, Mark Antoni, the general manager of
Speaker 2: Ohio State, said they're probably fifty guys who already sent
Speaker 2: their resumes to Ryan Day. So he's going to have
Speaker 2: the pick of the litter. And but I under you know,
Speaker 2: it's all of a sudden he doesn't have the guy there,
Speaker 2: and so it makes sense for him to at least
Speaker 2: take another look at it on.
Speaker 1: The other side of the ball, with the defense. If
Speaker 1: you look at this stat sheet and you see ninety
Speaker 1: three points allowed in twelve games, it almost looks like
Speaker 1: a misprint and you said, well, that can't possibly be right,
Speaker 1: but it is. Describe the impact the defensive coordinator Matt
Speaker 1: Patricia has had in his first season on this team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean ninety three points. It's like two Bengal
Speaker 2: game days.
Speaker 1: Well done.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I used to cover the Bengal pick a shot.
Speaker 2: He has done a fantastic job. And there was a
Speaker 2: lot of skepticism when he was hired because he had
Speaker 2: framed out as the Lions coach, and there's a lot
Speaker 2: of question about the fact that how much was he
Speaker 2: responsible for the Patriots' success on defense versus Belichick. Legitimately so.
Speaker 2: And the other thing was he hadn't coached in college
Speaker 2: for two decades and he really exclusively been in the pros.
Speaker 2: But he's done just an amazing job. I mean, they
Speaker 2: lost eight defensive starters and they're better than they were
Speaker 2: last year. It helpstep Caleb Bounds for sure and Sonny
Speaker 2: Styles for sure at linebacker and Davis Digbdosin is a
Speaker 2: good cornerback. But to have eight new starters and play
Speaker 2: even better than they did last year, that's that's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: Quarterback Julian's saying through I think attempted twelve passes last year.
Speaker 1: This season he made very well, won the Heisman, completing
Speaker 1: seventy nine percent of his passes, thirty touchdowns, five picks.
Speaker 1: Aside from the numbers, what has impressed you most about
Speaker 1: him this season?
Speaker 2: He's just unfazable. Nothing just bothers. On the second pass
Speaker 2: of the game against Mishkin's intercepted for a lot of guys,
Speaker 2: especially a red short freshman that could be really really
Speaker 2: tough to get over, he just went back out there
Speaker 2: like nothing ever happened. He's just really poised. He's incredibly accurate.
Speaker 2: He's got a strong arm, but the accuracy is the thing,
Speaker 2: and the quick release. He also is able to feel
Speaker 2: the pocket very well. I mean, he can run, but
Speaker 2: he's not Will Howard. He's certainly now a guy like
Speaker 2: Braxton Miller or just feels like like the highest he
Speaker 2: has had. But he could run well enough. But he's
Speaker 2: just really good at feeling pressure and being able to
Speaker 2: roll out and throw on the run and it's been
Speaker 2: very impressive. Yeah, I think the I think whoever plays
Speaker 2: better and whoever's team wins between Ohio State Indiana with
Speaker 2: Fernando Mendoza is probably going to be the Heisman winner.
Speaker 1: The book is Buckeye Brotherhood. It's a fabulous read. It
Speaker 1: would be perfect for the holidays for those who want
Speaker 1: to get the book. For those who want to read
Speaker 1: your stuff on substack, tell them how they can go
Speaker 1: about doing that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's Bill Ribido. It's R A, B I, N O,
Speaker 2: W I t Z dot substack dot com. And it's
Speaker 2: a very good problem to have, but it's a problem.
Speaker 2: The book is more or less sold out, at least
Speaker 2: the hardcovers have, so we are working really hard to
Speaker 2: get more copies than paperbacks coming in. If you subscribe
Speaker 2: to my substack, I will I will send you a
Speaker 2: free paperback version of it. If you are a Founder's member,
Speaker 2: which is, you know, kind of an upper level, then
Speaker 2: you can get a free hardcover book from me. I'll
Speaker 2: sign it and personalize it. Otherwise, you can try Barnes
Speaker 2: anddnoble dot com. You can certainly try some of the
Speaker 2: local bookstores in Columbus. In terms of their online site
Speaker 2: book Loft and Gramarcy Books. Yeah, it's frustrating because you
Speaker 2: want everybody who wants the book today to be able
Speaker 2: to get it today. They will have it. We know that.
Speaker 2: The reason that we kind of went to paperback is
Speaker 2: you can produce those fast and quick, fast, and you know,
Speaker 2: and pretty easily. So I think it's it's a matter
Speaker 2: of days. But again, if you want it for sure,
Speaker 2: and you want it signed and personalized, I'm come to
Speaker 2: you know, join my subtech.
Speaker 1: Hey, I always enjoy our conversations. I always appreciate you
Speaker 1: making time. I know it's been a hectic day. Thanks
Speaker 1: for carving out some time tonight. You know you're welcome anytime.
Speaker 1: And congrats on the book and best of luck with
Speaker 1: it going forward.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Lan, It's always banks to the only joy.
Speaker 1: Take care, Bill. We hear a little bit