Best Opponent on a Weak Schedule

Let's hope this week's episode of Real Pod Wednesdays has a longer shelf life than last week. Just a few hours after we published last week's episode, aptly titled “What's Actually Worth Worrying About?”, we got a harsh reminder of the threat that everyone has to worry about this season when Ohio State's fourth game of the year was canceled due to a spike in positive COVID-19 tests at Maryland. We begin this week's episode by discussing the fallout of that cancellation and whether it has any effect on the Buckeyes' College Football Playoff hopes. We don't spend too much dwelling on that, though, since the Buckeyes have what looks to be their biggest game of the regular season against Indiana – currently the only team with a winning record that Ohio State will play in the regular season – on Saturday at noon. What's enabled the Hoosiers to start the season 4-0, and are they actually a threat to Ohio State, or will the Buckeyes' superior talent enable them to win comfortably? We discuss all of that and answer your questions about the Hoosiers. In a season where Michigan is now 1-3 and Penn State is now 0-4, we also weave in a conversation (around the 40-minute mark) about how unusual this Big Ten season has been so far and how the gap between Ohio State and the other traditional powers in the Big Ten East appears to be wider than ever. Finally, in Three Things We Think (53:05), Dan talks about why the narrative that Maryland didn't want to play Ohio State is foolish, why James Franklin's seat should be starting to warm up and why it's gotta be the end of the line for Jim Harbaugh, and Colin talks about how chaotic he expects college basketball season to be, why Roddy Gayle's commitment is a big win for the basketball Buckeyes and why it's difficult to figure out how the extra year of eligibility will impact college football rosters beyond this season.