It's been an eventful last few days for the Ohio State football program.

Ohio State learned Sunday that it will be finishing its season by playing Utah in the Rose Bowl, and we spend the first 18:45 of this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays discussing our initial thoughts on the matchup.

We have mixed feelings about the game; it undoubtedly feels like a consolation prize, but we still think it matters for the Buckeyes to get a win. And from a football perspective, we think it will be an interesting matchup, as it will be another big test for the Buckeyes at the line of scrimmage as they look to make immediate improvements in the run game.

After that, we talk about the big news that broke on Friday night, when Quinn Ewers entered the transfer portal. For about 25 minutes, we discuss the impact of his early departure, why Ohio State fans should still feel good about the future at quarterback with C.J. Stroud and Kyle McCord and whether the events of this past year could change how Ohio State handles reclassifications (though we already know now they’re accepting another one from Sonny Styles) and the transfer portal going forward.

We also discussed Ohio State’s hiring of Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator – in a segment we had to re-record after the news broke on Tuesday night – and share our initial thoughts (beginning at 43:47) on why this looks like a “home run” hire for the Buckeyes.

Finally (beginning at 53:58), we talk about an encouraging stretch for the Ohio State men’s basketball’s team and what we took away from the upset of No. 1-ranked Duke and the most recent win over Penn State on Sunday.