00:00A very difficult conversation that must be had about Ohio State football, where they go from here.
00:07Was it just a one-off? Do they have to work in this young quarterback?
00:12Should they be given the benefit of the doubt?
00:13Should Ryan Day be fired, Doug? Go.
00:16I did that on my show yesterday. I made everybody answer that question first.
00:20Because isn't it what everyone's talking about? No, he should not be fired.
00:23Well, Doug, Doug LaMaurice joins us on the show.
00:27So, Daryl Ryder, all these guys with names that start with D, he says Ryan Day's bad coach.
00:33What say you?
00:34Yeah, I'm not. Daryl Ryder's opinion doesn't move me on that. No offense.
00:39Oh! Yes! Yeah!
00:43I think they have some things that have consistently been issues for them, right?
00:48Like red zone offense is very frustrating.
00:52Big games, they have a certain strategy with putting a bunch of tight ends on the field.
00:57And they're just not effective at it.
00:59That I think that has been like a long-term thing that needs to be addressed, right?
01:03I think you thought the offensive line was going to take a step up this year.
01:06It really hasn't. Makes you question the entire offensive line room.
01:10Like there are, I think, a lack of playmakers probably on this team across the board.
01:15Outside of Jeremiah Smith, which you could see coming.
01:18So, that's not shocking to me.
01:20So, you know, I think there's some things, a lot of things I expected with this team.
01:24And there's a couple things that continue to be issues for them.
01:29Again, mostly red zone.
01:30But I think a decent chunk of this is, you know, it's not the young quarterback's fault that they lost
01:39to USC.
01:39But I think it just was a tough spot.
01:42It threw them off in a lot of ways.
01:44I assume they'll be better in many ways.
01:46Just having him play game two.
01:48And then the sport's chaotic this year.
01:50So, I think a decent chunk of what happens Saturday night is that.
01:55But then you still have to try to figure out, like, why do some of these issues keep happening?
01:59Well, Doug Lamourish joining us here.
02:01He's the host of Bill & Doug, as well as Northern Aggression on YouTube.
02:05He's covered Ohio State for years and years and years and years and years.
02:10He's one of the best writers out there.
02:12What about the coaching staff?
02:14Because there have been, there's been some alum who have been a little bit perturbed that, like,
02:19hey, you can't bring any of these other guys up to speed fast enough that all of a sudden maybe
02:24Ohio State might be missing Brian Hartline
02:26and a couple of the other guys that they used to have that they claim are very good at developing
02:31players at their positions.
02:35Brian Hartline's as good of a position coach as you're going to find, right?
02:38So, like, you know, they don't miss him as offensive coordinator.
02:42Of course they miss him as a receivers coach.
02:44I think there's probably almost every offensive position coach.
02:49Cortez Hankton, I think, in year one, right, he just got here to replace Brian Hartline.
02:54Jeremiah Smith's having a great year.
02:57They're trying to develop the freshman.
02:58Maybe that could happen faster with Chris Henry Jr.
03:00But I think the rest of them, Billy Fessler at quarterback, Tyler Bowen on the offensive line,
03:05which was an iffy hire to begin with, Carlos Lachlan at running back, Keenan Bailey with the tight ends,
03:11I think are all very reasonable questions about are they doing their jobs well enough?
03:15Are their players developing well enough?
03:18Should they continue to be Ohio State assistant coaches, right?
03:21I think that this offensive coaching staff, when you look at the individual rooms
03:25and the development in those individual rooms, there are very reasonable questions to ask.
03:30And I, you know, I would be surprised if they're all back next year, right?
03:35Because I just think it hasn't been good enough.
03:37Well, it's weird, Doug, is I felt like that was the best they ran the ball all year.
03:41And that wasn't enough to give, you know, that offense a real boost.
03:46You know, they had the yardage and had the first downs, had time of possession on USC.
03:51But, you know, there are also some plays, you know, late in that game, zero urgency.
03:55And it looked like a quarterback who just really was not ready for a situation like this whatsoever.
04:01No, by the way, Jeremiah Smith was on the bench during some of those sequences.
04:06Yeah, I mean, Jeremiah, I think, was out two or three plays the whole game.
04:09But I do think they couldn't protect, right?
04:12They gave up a gazillion pressures.
04:14And so, and USC is obviously not a great defense.
04:17They have a couple guys up front, Luke Waifel, a true freshman, Jaquem Stewart inside.
04:22And they got to a point where I think they felt like they couldn't protect Luke Fahey.
04:25And so, the combination of that and him being a first-year starting quarterback, I just, I kind of understand
04:31why they didn't go hyper-tempo.
04:34Just thinking, like, if we go too fast here, what's going to happen is he's going to get hit and
04:39get sacked and we're going to lose the ball.
04:41Or he's going to get hit and get sacked and get hurt like Julian Sagan did, right?
04:45So, we're going to try to make, we have to score.
04:48But also, they were subbing too much, right?
04:50They were still wasting time that I kind of understand it, but they also need to be better still.
04:56But I thought the offensive line, they did run it.
04:58I thought the backs ran probably the hardest they've ran all year.
05:02Austin Saravut at right tackle, who's their best offensive lineman, had a bad game, maybe the worst game of his
05:06career,
05:07coming back from an illness that he'd been out for two or three weeks.
05:10And I think they rushed him back, probably.
05:13I think he probably didn't have his wind, didn't have his stamina.
05:18And that's like knowing your players.
05:20That's knowing the situation.
05:21And then they still just have guys inside.
05:23They got blown up inside on a bunch of plays.
05:25And they couldn't protect against some good young pass rushers on an overall bad defense.
05:31And I think when you then add in the young quarterback, I think that's the primary thing that threw the
05:37offense off completely.
05:38And it's like, can that get better?
05:41The offensive line's not great.
05:42I think it can get better for Saturday, though.
05:45Say he more experienced and don't get blown up in pass protection as much.
05:52Doug, who are the good teams in college football?
05:55Yeah, maybe nobody.
05:57Maybe everybody.
05:58Right?
05:59Like, I'm very curious.
05:59I think Miami on Saturday against Notre Dame has a chance to be like, oh, no, Miami's the best team.
06:05Right?
06:05Like, who have they played?
06:06They could have lost to either Florida State or North Carolina in the last three weeks.
06:11I think they have a chance.
06:13I think Georgia at its best with that defense.
06:16You know, I've kind of thought the whole year they might be the best team at their peak.
06:21Notre Dame, I think, is still good.
06:23But then again, like, you have the loss to BYU when BYU wasn't fully healthy.
06:26So, I think, like, Ohio State with Jeremiah Smith and Julian Sayan had a chance to be at the top
06:33of the pack.
06:34Right?
06:34Like, who has Jeremiah Smith?
06:36He's the guy that differentiates you from everybody else.
06:38But now, if you're not going to be able to maximize him because you have a new quarterback, I don't
06:42think it drops Ohio State, like, out of the mix.
06:46I just think it puts them firmly, like, in this mix.
06:50They're not ahead of anybody.
06:51But they're kind of in this top tier of, like, 6, 8, 10, 12 teams that, like, might all be
06:58pretty good.
06:59I think LSU, as it turns out, might be pretty good.
07:02Right?
07:03So, there's no super team, which means that lots of teams have a chance to win, but lots of teams
07:11have a chance to lose kind of on any given Saturday.
07:13Maybe more than I've maybe ever seen in the sport, and I think this might be kind of the way
07:18the sport's trending.
07:20I agree with you there, Doug, and I have another follow-up thought on that.
07:23I do want to ask, how many more losses can they have and still make the postseason?
07:28Yeah, I think Ohio State has to operate under the idea that they can't lose again.
07:33So, I don't know what the context of 9-3 would be, right?
07:37How many other teams are 9-3?
07:39If you lose to Oregon, then Oregon runs the table, and Oregon's good, but now they have three losses, but
07:44you have a loss to Oregon, so they're ahead of you.
07:46What if Texas is one of the three-loss teams, and they beat you, they're ahead of you, right?
07:50That I just don't – I think before the season, looking at Ohio State's schedule, a lot of people theorized,
07:56could they be in at 9-3?
07:57Now that Oregon's not what people thought it was, like, what if USC wins out, but USC winning out means
08:04beating Indiana, which means your win over Indiana isn't as good, right?
08:08That I just think they have to operate under the ideas of, if they win out, they're definitely in at
08:1410-2.
08:15If they lose, they're in big trouble.
08:17And then if you somehow squeak in as the 10 or 11 seed at 9-3, that's a lovely bonus,
08:23of course, but I just don't think anybody should be thinking that way.
08:27Doug, I also said they should lie to everybody and say Julian Sane will be back for the playoffs, just
08:32so they would have that to convince the committee, which has worked before for certain teams, that, well, they're a
08:39different team when they've got their real quarterback in.
08:41Yeah, I mean, the committee set that, I think, is a bad precedent, right, with that before, that, like, oh,
08:47well, I understand what you're saying.
08:51Like, they're not doing that.
08:53Like, he's not coming back.
08:56Like, that's a tough road to go down.
08:59I hope the committee gets off of that because all you're doing is encouraging people to employ the strategy you
09:06just suggested.
09:07And then it's like, oh, we'll put him in, and then it's like you get out there in the middle
09:10of December and Luke Fahey takes the field, and then what, right?
09:13So maybe you should have gotten that message to him earlier.
09:16All right, Doug, they don't listen to me.
09:18They hate me.
09:18I've called them homers before down in Columbus.
09:20Nobody likes that.
09:21All right, so they are 6-4.
09:23He's had major players down at Ohio State call them on the phone, personally.
09:26So they are 6-4 in their last 10, and the Indiana thing, I mean, very easily could have been
09:335-5 by the slimmest of margins.
09:37We all know that's not good enough for Ohio State, but is that more tolerable in today's game where the
09:43rosters are going to be different every year, new quarterbacks every year?
09:46Or should Ohio State never have a stretch where they're 5-5?
09:51Yeah, I mean, I think it's a tough cherry pick, right?
09:54If you go through, I went through and sort of, you know, compared everybody the last two years.
09:58Indiana has the one loss.
10:00Everybody else in the sport has at least three losses, right, in this time period where Ohio State has four.
10:05So, like, I get it, but also, you know, they were 12-0 right before they were 6-4.
10:11So, but I do think you don't lower the standard of Ohio State.
10:18Ohio State has the highest standard in college football, has maybe the highest standard in North American sport of what
10:24they are, what they've been.
10:25You don't lower the standard.
10:27But the sport has changed.
10:28And when you have the transfer portal and NIL, and everyone talks about the sport flattening out, flattening out means
10:34knocking down programs like Ohio State.
10:36What's good for college football is not good for Ohio State in terms of collecting talent and being dominant.
10:43That doesn't mean Ohio State should not be at the top tier of college football.
10:48But I think in the top tier, everybody's come down a little bit.
10:52So, Ohio State needs to compete at the top of the sport.
10:57That's true.
10:58Does Ohio State's record, are they going to have as many undefeated and one-loss seasons?
11:04Are there going to be more two-loss seasons?
11:06Could they have a three-loss season?
11:08Those records, I think, are still going to keep you near the top of the sport as everything evens out
11:13a little bit.
11:14So, continue to compare Ohio State to its peers.
11:17They need to be as good as anybody.
11:19Like, raw record, I think you just have to get a little accustomed to, like, an extra half-loss a
11:25year.
11:26You know what I mean?
11:26But do not lower the overall standard.
11:28What's good for college football is full stadiums.
11:32Why is there such a problem with attendance over the last couple years, especially this year?
11:37Well, like UCLA and stuff like that.
11:40I mean, good Lord, just about Oklahoma had a paltry sum compared to where they're used to.
11:47Well, I mean, you have some programs that aren't used to winning, right, who are maybe trying to come up.
11:52You have some programs who are used to winning, who are down.
11:55You know, like, I can remember when Ohio State lost to USC in 2008, 35-3, and they came back
12:02the next week and played Troy at home.
12:04And it was the first game that Trail Pryor was ever going to start, right?
12:07But fans were out.
12:09I walked into the shoe that day at kickoff.
12:11I couldn't believe it, how empty the upper deck was, right?
12:15So when you have a great program that's losing, like, everybody's kind of adjusting to it, right?
12:20Teams on the way up.
12:21Like, Indiana's full now.
12:23The Indiana-Ohio State game, that was, like, the best home game in the history of Indiana football.
12:27So they're up.
12:28People are into it.
12:29UCLA is still coming around to that, right?
12:31So they haven't caught up.
12:32Oklahoma, they want Oklahoma to be awesome.
12:34Well, the sports changed.
12:35They're in the SEC now.
12:36They're going to lose some games.
12:37So fans are frustrated.
12:39I'm not saying anybody should accept losing.
12:41I think we're all adjusting.
12:43And in the meantime, we're going to have moments like this.
12:47And it's difficult.
12:48But, you know, maybe you have to lower your ticket prices a little bit if you're not going to win
12:52as many games, that kind of thing.
12:54But college football is healthy.
12:55I do think, I don't think we can cherry pick some empty stadium seats and think there's a problem with
13:00college football.
13:01I think college football is transitioning.
13:03But I think it's still really healthy.
13:04And the Saturdays are pretty fun.
13:07Okay.
13:08I just wanted to ask that question.
13:10And you're up for expanding the playoff.
13:13I am up for, I am, I do not, I'm not a 24-team evangelist.
13:17But I don't think it's going to ruin college football.
13:19And I like giving more teams more hope, more opportunities, keep more fan bases invested during the course of a
13:27long season.
13:28It's okay to lose.
13:29You can have a bad Saturday and your season's not over.
13:32I think all of that is good.
13:33And then I think the 2014 playoff, like that first weekend of playoff games, eight campus home games, like people
13:39are going to be locked in and going crazy, right?
13:41So I do not like the gloom and doom around the 2014 playoffs to get to ruin college football.
13:48I definitely don't think that's the case.
13:49One final one for me, Doug.
13:52True or false, Ryan Day is still the head coach of Ohio State football if they lose to Michigan this
13:57year.
14:00True.
14:01True.
14:02I think the circumstances have changed that when, where we were in 2024, four straight and no national title ring
14:10is a different circumstance than where we are now.
14:12So I think 100% true.
14:16You know, stuff happens.
14:19They have the national title ring.
14:21They have a backup quarterback.
14:22It's not an excuse.
14:23And I just, it's hard with Ohio State.
14:25I understand people's frustrations.
14:27There's a difference between this needs to be better, hold people accountable.
14:31And, like, fire people.
14:33And sometimes around Ohio State, we get to fire people for a mistake pretty quick, right?
14:40And it's like, is it okay if that happens?
14:41No, it's not okay.
14:42It's not okay if Ohio State loses to Michigan.
14:44It's not okay if Ohio State's eight and four.
14:46None of that's okay.
14:48Does it mean you fire the guy who was the national champion two years ago?
14:51No, I don't think that means that.
14:53All right, Doug, we thank you very, very much.
14:56Folks, go, I'm a subscriber.
14:57You should be one, too.
14:58Bill and Doug on YouTube, Northern Aggression.
15:00Of course I am, Doug.
15:01You think I'm some sort of liar.
15:03I love it.
15:04That's 10 bucks in my pocket every month.
15:06Thanks, brother.
15:06You're very welcome.
15:07Doug, thank you.
15:08All right, man.
15:09I'll see you guys.
15:09Doug LaMaurice, host of Bill and Doug, Northern Aggression, YouTube.
15:12Fabulous.
15:13Fabulous.
15:15Why is hard right?
15:16We make it right.
15:16Call Kyle Wright hotline.
15:19Can I do one before we get back to the Browns?
15:22Because people are taking the Deshaun Watson thing wrong.
15:25Before we get back to the Browns, can I do one little thing about college football when we come back?
15:29Why I think attendance is down.
15:31Another big reason why.
15:32Two big reasons I think attendance is down.
15:34Other than what Doug just said.
15:36Can I just give me three minutes?
15:38Then we'll get back to Deshaun Watson.
15:40Because I'm already getting – you're not seeing the forest for the trees.
15:44Let me tell you why.
15:45Coming up in five on the fan.
