Buckeye Bits: Will the real DBU please stand up?

Twenty-six days, people!!! Just four more weeks until the Ohio State Buckeyes are drive, driving on down the field at the home of the scarlet and gray. It’s going to suck not being in the ‘Shoe for the season opener on a crisp October Saturday, but hey, we’ll take watching Ohio State football from our living rooms over not watching it at all any day. In the meantime, we’ve got you covered with all of the preseason coverage from around the beat.

Let’s get into today’s headlines.

From around Land-Grant Holy Land...

Column: Could the air raid be a viable SEC offense?

Meredith Hein, LGHL

Mike Leach’s air raid offense has proved successful in the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences, but can it work against the SEC’s stellar defenses?

Ohio State’s top targets in 2022, big performances by Buckeye commits

Gene Ross, LGHL

There were multiple standout performances by future Buckeyes over the weekend, highlighted by offensive lineman Ben Christman and linebackers Dasan McCullough, C.J. Hicks and Gabe Powers. Plus, Gene pulled some of the biggest names to keep an eye on in the 2022 class.

Play Like a Girl podcast: One year anniversary!

Tia Johnston and Meredith Hein, LGHL

Meredith and I have been recording Play Like a Girl for one year now and we couldn’t be more grateful for our loyal subscribers who tune in every week to listen to us ramble about sports, women in sports, issues in sports, and our love of J.K. Dobbins. In our anniversary episode, we talk about some of our favorite episodes we’ve recorded thus far, Maria Taylor and Katie Nolan, Buckeyes in the NFL and more!

24 Club: Urban Meyer — The Michigan Slayer

Jim Baird, LGHL

Next up in Jim’s 24 Club series: Urban Meyer. Ever heard of him?

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From around the gridiron...

The Week 4 AP Poll— the first poll to include the Big Ten and Pac-12 in its rankings— was released on Sunday. Ohio State— formerly ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP Poll and received 21 first-place votes—received just four first-place votes in this week’s AP Poll, placing them at No. 6.

Other Big Ten teams ranked are Penn State (No. 10), Wisconsin (No. 19), and Michigan (No. 23). Minnesota and Iowa, despite being ranked in the preseason poll, have dropped from the rankings.

You might be thinking to yourself: “Well, that’s because the Big Ten hasn’t played yet.”

Which is true, considering several AP voters said they were only going to vote for teams who have played a game this year, however that doesn’t explain why just last week several SEC teams were ranked highly even though they also hadn’t yet played. So, RedditCFB took it upon themselves to reconstruct the poll, removing the 11 voters who did not include the Big Ten and Pac-12 on their ballots. Much better.

There can be only one DBU. I’ll let you determine who that is based on these numbers.

On Friday, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said that running backs Master Teague and Trey Sermon will likely split carries 50/50. However, Austin of Lettermen Row believes naming a clear front-runner at some point during the season will be more effective for the Buckeyes’ offense in the long run.

Phil Steele’s popular CFB preseason magazine is out, and with it comes rankings and predictions. Lots and lots of predictions. Considering Steele has deemed Ohio State the future 2020 college football champion, he had quite a lot of good things to say about the Buckeyes in this year’s issue. Here’s how he ranked Ohio State’s offensive position groups. You’ll never guess which position is at the top.

Considering Penn State has been stripped of the two things that could have potentially helped them beat Ohio State (Micah Parsons and their home-field advantage) I must answer this question with an easy: Is water wet?

This is certainly no ordinary year. And it’s certainly no ordinary college football season. Chaos and upsets are bound to ensue at a much higher rate than previous (normal) years, as shown by this past weekend’s slate of games, which David Regimbal of Eleven Warriors says is a hint of what’s to come for the Big Ten.

From everywhere else...

Gene will have more on this in Tuesday’s recap of Buckeyes in the NFL, but I couldn’t not include Jeff Okudah’s first interception of his professional career!

In case you missed it, Chase Young left Sunday’s game against the Browns with a groin injury. Again, Gene will have more on this tomorrow, but I am here to happily report that he is okay. The NFL could (kind of literally) not afford to lose another standout player after losing Nick Bosa, Saquon Barkley, Malik Hooker, etc. in Week 2.