Silver Bullets Podcast

Ohio State won the marquee battle of Week 1 of the 2025 college football season after a hard-fought defensive struggle with the Texas Longhorns. Julian Sayin’s first college start was more successful than the first road start of his more hyped opposite number, Arch Manning. Sayin likely could have done more than he was asked to do, but the Buckeyes didn’t need it, thanks to the defense helping a conservative offensive game plan and the Alabama transfer’s poise and accuracy when called upon. It wasn’t a perfect performance, but most importantly, Sayin didn’t put the ball in harm’s way.

We broke down the game, which came just a few minutes shy of a shutout for the defense in Matt Patricia’s first game as OSU defensive coordinator, checked back on our score predictions and our picks to click, and went over all of the important stats from Ohio State’s victory over the No. 1 Longhorns.

As we usually do, we discussed the other games around the Big Ten, with Northwestern, UCLA, and Wisconsin not looking great, although the Badgers at least got themselves a W. Indiana wasn’t as sharp as expected, but the Hoosiers got the job done. Everything else went pretty much according to plan, although had Cincinnati played at home instead of in Kansas City, the Bearcats might have given Nebraska even more of a fight.

We also looked ahead at the games coming up around the conference this weekend.One of those games is a curious matchup between the Buckeyes and the Tigers of Grambling State. This game was a scramble drill for the schedule makers after a previously scheduled game fell through. It’s not likely to tell us much about the 2025 Buckeyes one week after a win over Texas, but it will provide valuable reps for the new Buckeye starters and should provide playing time for plenty of backups.

We made our picks to click for the game, selecting the offensive and defensive Buckeyes we think will shine on Saturday afternoon, and we made similar predictions for the final score.

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 - There was no revenge for Texas from last year’s Cotton Bowl, as the Buckeye defense came to play!

33:01 - A look around the other results from Week 1 in the Big Ten.

48:03 - Grambling is coming to Columbus. The Buckeyes should feel no obligation to make the Tigers welcome in the Horseshoe, and they probably won’t.

It’s game week! The Ohio State Buckeyes will renew acquaintances with the Texas Longhorns Saturday at Ohio Stadium at noon. It’s a brand new OSU football season and there is a lot going on, a lot we don’t know (yet), and a lot of the kinds of ups and downs that are part of every year of college football. We can’t wait to get it started, but we know that it will come and go before we know it.

This week’s show opens with a discussion of Ryan Day naming Julian Sayin starting quarterback for the Buckeyes ahead of the season. The race with Lincoln Kienholz was reportedly close, and both signal callers will need to continue to improve and develop, because one will need to keep his lead, while the other will try to close the gap and stay ready in case he’s needed.

We discussed the three Ohio State players who made the Associated Press preseason All-American list and the Buckeyes who had their black helmet stripes removed since our last show, becoming “official” members of the squad. 

Ahead of Big Ten teams starting to take the field Thursday night, we looked ahead to every school’s Week 1 matchup to see how the rest of the conference will start the season. As usual, the first week doesn’t provide many intriguing games, but there are a couple of interesting contests to keep an eye out this weekend — just none with the luster of Texas at Ohio State.

Finally, we looked at the Buckeyes vs. the Longhorns. Ohio State went on to win a national championship one game after the teams last met, but Texas has had this rematch circled on the calendar for months. Both teams have experienced a ton of turnover, and we can’t wait to see how they match up with so many new starters on both sides. We made our picks to click for Week 1, selecting the offensive and defensive Buckeyes we think will shine on Saturday, and we made our predictions for the final score.

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at [email protected] Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:21 - Julian Sayin has won the starting quarterback battle, but can he keep it? Plus, other news and notes from preseason camp.

17:48 - A look at the first week of the 2025 season around the entire Big Ten.

34:30 - The Texas Longhorns are visiting the Horseshoe on Saturday, and this game will tell us a lot about where both teams are now and where they need to be.

We have survived the long, monthly off-season podcast schedule we’ve set for ourselves and now we have to (get to) return to our weekly schedule starting with this show. And we’ve got a lot of ground to cover!

Our opening topic is the conclusion of the NCAA investigation into Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal, which ended with Jim Harbaugh becoming the all-time cheatingest coach in college football history, a big fine for Michigan, and absolutely no bowl ban for the school’s Failure to Monitor charge, no vacated wins, and no real teeth to prevent any school from doing it again as long as it’s willing to pay the monetary price and maybe sacrifice a staffer and a coach (who in this case had already left).

On the OSU football news front, 10 Buckeyes shed their black helmet stripes between the start of camp and our recording this episode. Notable names include Devin Sanchez, CJ Donaldson, Riley Pettijohn, Phillip Daniels, Beau Atkinson, Bo Jackson, and Nick McLarty. The 2025 captains are now known, and they are Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs, Austin Siereveld, and Brandon Inniss. Styles will also wear the Block O jersey in 2025.

We also touched on some news items about former Buckeyes in the NFL and two things that shouldn’t exist — preseason polls and the preseason player of the year — and how they relate to Ohio State.

Ross Bjork outlined his plan to get fans to cheer louder. We discuss many of them, and we’re not convinced they’ll do the trick. At wine-and-cheese-crowd ticket prices, it’s difficult to get six-pack-before-the-game fans in the seats to make said noise. Making the games affordable is much more important than courting ridicule with pregame Victory Bell ringing or getting everyone to wear the same color a couple times a year. But hey, that’s just us.

Finally, we dove into how we see the Big Ten shaping up with our annual predictions. We did it a little differently this year, giving you our predictions from 18-1 in groups. We were very close in most respects, but we were pretty far apart on Michigan. At the end of the regular season, it’ll be fun to check back to see how close we came to having the correct finishing order.

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or ⁠send us an email⁠ at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.As always, thanks for listening!

0:21 - The NCAA has spoken loudly and clearly about how much it’ll cost to cheat to win a national championship, and beyond the pricetag, there are no real consequences. Also: there has been a lot of OSU news since our last show.

31:26 - Ross Bjork wants Ohio Stadium to rock, but his ideas seem a bit weird and don’t seem like they’ll do the trick.

45:26 - Our annual preseason Big Ten predictions, in which we don’t differentiate much in our opinions except when it comes to That Team Up North.

A trio of young players went west to Las Vegas to join Ryan Day at the 2025 Big Ten Media Days. Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles were on hand to take in the sights and sounds as the media and key B1G personnel gathered for their annual preseason event. Automatic bids and expanded playoffs are hot topics, but all the Buckeyes really want to discuss is turning the page on the 2024 national championship and letting the 2025 squad carve out its own niche.

Preseason practice starts Thursday and the public will have some access early in camp. One former Buckeye joined the San Francisco 49ers, while another waits to see what’s going to happen with some legal issues before potentially joining the Cleveland Browns.

Additionally, we discuss Buckeyes on the preseason awards watch lists, an OSU Athletics Hall of Fame seat awaiting Billy Price, and other assorted odds and ends from the soon-to-be-over college football offseason. 

With this episode, we conclude our monthly offseason schedule. We will return to our weekly schedule in the second week of August, as camp is in full swing and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season.

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions below in the comments section or send us an email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:21 - We open the show with some highlights from Big Ten Media Days in Vegas, baby, Vegas!

21:24 - Buckeyes in the NFL or who hope to soon be (officially in the NFL), plus an assortment of other snippets of Ohio State football-related news.

As we quickly approach 60 days until the 2025 Ohio State football season, the news continues to flow, because the offseason news never sleeps. We’re back to discuss the headlines since our last podcast, starting off with recruiting news with Cincere Johnson committing to the Buckeyes. We don’t normally dive too deeply into recruiting on this podcast, but it was a noteworthy addition, and how do you ignore a name like that?

We have had a couple of new kickoff times announced for this fall since our last show, and neither of them will start at noon, which should make some folks happy, although these aren’t the marquee matchups of the fall. We now know when the Grambling and Ohio University games will start.

The legendary Lee Corso will don mascot headgear one more time and that will take place at the Horseshoe on Aug. 30. The College Gameday crew will visit Columbus on the day the Buckeyes host the Texas Longhorns, and Corso will call it a career after the broadcast. Here’s to hoping he puts the Brutus Buckeye head on one more time. We talk about Corso’s career a bit and give some statistics about Gameday at Ohio State.

Ohio Stadium will get some renovations that will make wealthy people happy and earn more money for the university, but it will affect the marching band’s location. The new suites will probably be nice, but your hosts will not likely ever see the inside of one.

Some future OSU schedules have been adjusted, and we’ve got the skinny on that, even though everyone will probably forget those changes by the time they roll around.

Finally, we paid tribute to the late, great Jim Marshall, who passed away recently. Marshall may always be remembered for picking up a fumble and running the wrong way, but he had a terrific Ohio State career, and it’s one worth remembering.

We are in our monthly offseason schedule, but we could have more than one show a month depending on how much news there is. We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback via email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:21 - We discuss the Cincere Johnson commitment and the latest kickoff times announced for the 2025 season.

20:04 - Lee Corso will end his storied Gameday career at Ohio State this August, and the Horseshoe will have some work done.

29:03 - Tweaks to future Ohio State schedules, and we remember OSU great Jim Marshall.

We’ve got fewer than 100 days until brand new Buckeye football becomes available, but there’s plenty to talk about as the offseason drags on. For starters, we open this episode with discussion of Ohio State trying to move the opener against Texas to prime time on Sunday, Aug. 31. The Longhorns said no, and we support that decision, as we are college football purists (and old guys who are set in our ways) who think college football should be played on Saturdays — except for MACtion.

Aside from the date of the Texas game, we address the subject of noon kickoffs, which are OK, but admittedly there must be a lot more variety to keep the playing field level from a recruting standpoint. Ohio State prospects in Texas, California, Georgia, Florida, or elsewhere have to be able to play their games on Friday nights and have time to physically fly to Columbus for their visits on game days. The one thing nobody needs is a grandstanding population wasting everyone’s time by trying to legislate away a television contract the universities signed up for in exchange for a lot of money.

The Buckeyes have a new quarterback with an excellent name in transfer Eli Brickhandler. We don’t expect him to play a lot, if at all, but we’re here for the name and we hope he can at least get some snaps late in blowout games. Speaking of quarterbacks, Ryan Day says the competition is close, and we have no reason to doubt him, but we saw what we saw, and we still think Julian Sayin has the advantage entering preseason camp.

Changes are coming to the seeding in the College Football Playoff. It may be a bit premature after one iteration of the 12-team playoff to start making changes, but it is what it is.

Finally, we wish a speedy and complete recovery to Julian Fleming, who sustained severe injuries in an ATV crash and offer our deepest condolences to Julian for the loss of his girlfriend in the accident.

We are in our monthly offseason schedule, but we could have more than one show a month depending on how much news there is. We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season.

We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions via email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 — Texas denies Ohio State’s bid to move the game to Sunday, Aug. 31; noon kickoffs; and stupid legislation to stop noon kickoffs.

15:25 — Eli Brickhandler brings his excellent name to the OSU quarterbacks room and the quarterback battle isn’t over according to Ryan Day.

31:50 — There’s a change coming to the seeding formula in the College Football Playoff and we extend our deepest sympathies and well wishes to former OSU receiver Julian Fleming.

Spring ball is in the books and now we’re in that long, dark teatime of the offseason when news is something you’d rather just not hear.

For this episode, we looked at Ohio State dominating the 2025 NFL Draft. We looked at where the 14 selected former Buckeyes were picked (tying a school record) and wonder why there wasn’t a 15th player — a consensus All-American and winner of a major individual award, no less — taken to give the school a share of the all-time draft record. We also walked through the draft spots of a couple of ex-Buckeyes who transferred to other schools and discussed the landing spots for some OSU undrafted free agents.

With the spring practices coming to an end, we’ve probably seen our final black helmet stripe removal until preseason camp starts. We look back at the most recent players to lose their helmet stripes. We also touch on a couple of important transfer portal arrivals, as well as Ohio State’s trip to the White House, where the vice president tried to mangle the national championship trophy and the foot of TreVeyon Henderson.

Finally, we looked back at the 2025 Ohio State Spring Game. Lots of players stood out during this year’s event, especially the running backs. Bo Jackson and C.J. McDonald looked especially good, and the quarterbacks performed well as a group. It may not have seemed like it, but there were some defensive standouts as well. 

We are in our monthly offseason schedule, but we could have more than one show a month depending on how much news there is. We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season.We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions via email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at ⁠@SilvrBulletsPod⁠.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 — A whole lot of Buckeyes are on their way to the NFL. We walk through where everyone was selected or signed as an undrafted free agent.

34:18 — Ohio State news doesn’t stop in the off-season. We touch on the final black stripes that were removed during spring camp and the Buckeyes’ visit to the White House.

44:42 — Finally, we look back at the Ohio State Spring Game and shine a spotlight on those players who stood out.

The offseason has been fairly quiet for the Ohio State Buckeyes over the last month, but the team has started spring practice, and storylines are sure to surface over the coming weeks.
 
In the meantime, we reconvened to discuss important topics, such as Ohio State players switching jersey numbers. Several Buckeyes will be sporting new numbers on their shirts this fall, and we now know which number some of the incoming freshman and transfer portal players will wear.

We looked at the Sunday league as well, to find out which former Buckeyes might (or might not) change jersey numbers, but have changed entire jerseys. Several Ohio State products have switched teams and some are still in the process of finding the next stop on their career path.

Ohio State legend Eddie George is returning to the Buckeye State to coach Bowling Green. The 1995 Heisman Trophy winner is a solid candidate and could be on a bright career path trajectory, as some of the Falcons’ coaches of the past have gone on to bigger and better things. 

This may be an Ohio State football podcast, but it’s one that doesn’t miss the opportunity to point out when things go wrong for Michigan. As such, we touch on former Michigan assistant coach Matt Weiss’ 24-count indictment and what it could mean for the Wolverines, especially if any of it ends up tying into the ongoing sign stealing investigation.

Finally, we discuss some big dates on the OSU calendar, including Ohio State’s Pro Day and the Buckeyes’ trip to the White House.

We are in our monthly offseason schedule, but we could have more than one show a month depending on how much news there is. We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions via email at [email protected] Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.

As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 — New jersey numbers for OSU players, new homes for ex-Buckeyes in the NFL, and Eddie George returns to Ohio.

24:13 — Matt Weiss brings Michigan more misery.

28:40 — An Ohio State recruit from Chip’s hometown and some upcoming dates of significance for the Buckeyes.

We’re back for our February check-in after a few weeks to bask in the glow of Ohio State’s national championship season. But the news rarely sleeps when it comes to Buckeye football, so we’re back to get caught up on what’s going on.

We start with our discussion of a new position in the government for former OSU coach Jim Tressel. “The Senator” is just a Lt. Governor (for now, at least), and it’s good to see the old ball coach finding productive things to do with his time.

After Tressel talk, we dive into the changes on Ryan Day’s coaching staff since our last show. Did the Buckeyes make the best hires they could? We won’t know until we see how things shake out, but they were interesting additions. Some of the additions were merely promotions, and we’re interested to see how comfortable Day really is when it comes to Brian Hartline calling plays.

Next up, we chatted about spring football starting up and the fact that changes are coming to the spring game...sorry, Spring Showcase. There’s a change right there! We follow that up sith some discussion about a potential expansion of automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC. That right there is a slippery slope.

Finally, we look at the former Buckeyes headed to the NFL Combine and which ones might miss particular drills or opt to showcase their talents at Ohio State’s Pro Day. There sure are a lot of Buckeyes heading to the Combine, so it’s a great year to watch it. We also touched on some former OSU assistant coaches and where their new jobs are, as well as a new number for a returning defensive back.

We are in our monthly offseason schedule, but we could have more than one show a month depending on how much news there is. We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions via email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.
As always, thanks for listening!

0:20 — Tressel is Ohio’s Lt. Governor and Ryan Day has some new (and some promoted) coaches on his staff.

32:43 — Spring Showcase and practice talk and what’s the deal with automatic bids?

45:55 — Buckeyes headed to the NFL Combine, former OSU assistants have new gigs, and a number change for a defensive back.

The college football season is over and the Buckeyes are the reigning champions after a thrilling 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It started and ended as a close battle, with a lot of OSU dominance in the middle. We look back at all the critical talking points, key plays, and notable statistics from the ninth championship in Ohio State history. 

We looked back at the players we picked to click and checked in on our score predictions, as we put a bow on a season that Buckeye fans will remember for a long time.

After our game rewind, we hit the transfer portal news hard, with landing spots for Calvin Simpson-Hunt, Devin Brown, and George Fitzpatrick and another defensive lineman is headed out of town. We discussed Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith taking to social media to shoot down transfer rumors while Quinshon Judkins declared for the NFL Draft. We’re also going to see big returns on the defensive side of the ball with Sonny Styles and Davison Igbinosun not yet ready to leave Columbus. We also had some thoughts on former OSU quarterback J.T. Barrett being named the quarterbacks coach for the Chicago Bears.

One thing we didn’t cover is the departure of Jim Knowles, as we recorded this episode at the same time the Buckeyes were celebrating their championship at Ohio Stadium on Sunday. So, if we reference Knowles during the show, we were operating under the assumption that no sane person would take a lateral move from Ohio State within the conference.

We finished with a discussion of what 2025 might hold in store for the Buckeyes, with a lot of new faces in the starting lineup.

We will return to our weekly schedule in August, as camp opens and we get you ready for the 2025 Ohio State football season. We would love to hear from you, so please reach out with your feedback and questions via email at [email protected]. Any questions directed toward us will be answered on our next show.

Be sure to subscribe, rate, review, share, and follow the show over on Twitter at @SilvrBulletsPod.
As always, thanks for listening!

0:21 - We break down the national title fight between Ohio State and Notre Dame.

46:03 - Ohio State players in the transfer portal, Buckeye receivers shoot down transfer rumors, OSU NFL news, and a couple of key returns on the defense.

1:08:11 - What about the 2025 Buckeyes?