00:00So another rivalry of sorts, and to me, it was probably, you know, I know Ohio State or Michigan State,
00:05Michigan's big, and, you know, Ohio State, Wisconsin got kind of big there, but over the last 34 years, Ohio
00:11State has played Penn State every single year, and Pat, you want to throw this up, and I was trying
00:16to figure out what the first year it was.
00:17It was 1992 Big Ten, and the last time they didn't play, they entered the Big Ten as Penn State,
00:23and I think, you know, a lot of my former, you know, teammates at Ohio State are, like, they were
00:31upset about this, current Ohio State, you know, guys over the last 20 years are upset, and honestly, a lot
00:36of the contemporaries who I play against were upset about the fact that Ohio State and Penn State are not
00:42playing anymore, and that was something that James Franklin kind of leaned into, how they had to play both Ohio
00:46State and Michigan,
00:46just about every year, and especially when they were in the East together. Lift it or leave it, the worst
00:51part about 2026 is the fact that this rivalry that's been going on, which, to older folks, seems newer, because
00:58Penn State was that new addition, but the reality, though, I mean, this, if you're Steel's age, like, this is
01:03all that you've ever known.
01:05Oh, I can't stand the fact that they're not playing, and here's why. When Penn State came into the Big
01:13Ten there in the early 90s, that rivalry came out swinging,
01:15because Penn State was really good around 1994. I remember huge games at Beaver Stadium, huge games at Ohio State,
01:23really good national championship teams that we just talked about in the last segment that didn't really get a swing
01:28at Nebraska,
01:28so they swung at each other, and some of the, I was thinking about this the other night, like, what
01:35are some of the best games I've covered at Sporting News, and two popped in my head.
01:38It was the comebacks, Ohio State in 18, at a whiteout with, like, what an unbelievable game that was, and
01:47I'm going to be honest, I probably shouldn't say it.
01:48I had a much different story written with eight minutes left in that game, so I had to do a
01:52lot of rewriting, but, you know, and then the game where
01:56Saquon Barkley takes the opening kickoff back at the shoe, and JT Barrett leads a comeback there, and they were
02:02in gray jerseys.
02:03That was a phenomenal game, and these games, they should play every year. I get that it, you know, from
02:10the scheduling standpoint, like, especially with Ohio State's schedule, it would be tough this year,
02:14but the rivalry between the states, like, even it translates to the pros, like, my Bengals buddies hate the Steelers
02:21more than anything.
02:22There should be a little sports hate between PA, who thinks, I always joke with some of the Pittsburgh guys
02:28I've worked with over the years, I was like,
02:29you think you're not part of this part of the country. You guys think you're East Coast. No, you're part
02:33of this part of the country, so, you know, I love that rivalry between the states, and I wish they
02:38played every year.
02:40Oh, absolutely. I think back to that 2018 game, Benjamin Victor with the insane touchdown at the end of the
02:46game.
02:47Those are the moments that whenever I was growing up, I was already committed to Ohio State. Those are the
02:51games that I wanted to play in, and of course, I was still able to play them all five years,
02:55but now seeing that they're not going to be going up against Penn State, that just feels like a falter
03:00on tradition, and you can look at the silver lining and say,
03:03okay, we've basically just replaced it with a more modern rival and maybe an organ or what do you want
03:08to call it, but that's a game that you're always going to pencil in if you're an Ohio State fan,
03:14if you're an Ohio State player, and the fact that you're not doing it this year, that's, I know scheduling,
03:18it's hard, but you've got to find a way to get that played,
03:20because that's just, that's a staple. Well, people always ask me what your favorite stadiums are in the Big Ten.
03:26I said there was two, and I'm like, Wisconsin's good, and it's Ohio State.
03:29Camp Randall's right at the top, and I'm like, Bieber Stadium, and the irony is that we played our first
03:35game in 03.
03:35It was late in the year after Daylight Savings, so Bill, you know those, those 3.30 starts feel like
03:40a night game
03:40because you come out at halftime, and it is pitch black, and then we played the first whiteout game ever
03:46there in 05,
03:46and every one of those games was always around Halloween. It always felt like it was a big deal,
03:52and if you look at them, Ohio State got the better end of the stick most times, but it was
03:58always highly competitive.
03:59You talk about those comebacks and the things that have happened, and it was absolutely remarkable to see,
04:05and so it's so disappointing just because I feel like the players don't get to experience that now,
04:09and the fans, it was such a fun environment, and that to me is what really made college football,
04:14so that stinks. I think it's the worst part, so I'm going to lift that as well.
04:19All right, Bill, we appreciate your time. The list was fantastic. I'm going to go through,
04:23read everything, see the others receiving votes, where you've got it, how it got there.
04:27I encourage everybody else to do that well for the Sporting News. Thank you for your time again this week,
04:32sir.
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