• New here? Register here now for access to all the forums, download game torrents, private messages, polls, Sportsbook, etc. Plus, stay connected and follow BP on Instagram @buckeyeplanet and Facebook.

LGHL Power Two Podcast: The best games of 2024, plus an MVP snub?

Power Two Podcast: The best games of 2024, plus an MVP snub?
JordanW330
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl - Texas v Arizona State

Photo by Bruce Yeung/Getty Images

Ranking which games had us on the edge of our seats this year. Plus, did Josh Allen get a undeserving MVP Award?

Welcome to a new episode of Land-Grant Podcast Network’s Power Two Podcast. On this show, we talk about Big Ten and SEC football… and everyone else. This show is for the die-hard fans and the casual college football fans. My name is Jordan Williams, and I am joined by my co-host DaNaysia Jones. Lock in as we run a power sweep through the college football landscape.


In this episode, Jordan and DJ discuss more coach hirings in the news. They also chatted about Anthony Davis’ debut with the Dallas Mavericks. He may already be injured, which is disheartening for our resident Mavs fan. Shockwaves are still going through Dallas as the public continues to digest that Luka Doncic is really gone.

In the two-minute drill, Jordan and DJ react to the 2024 NFL Award Honorees. They are in agreement on every award except for a couple. There is genuine disbelief about Lamar Jackson losing the MVP Award. DJ is not too happy with the justifications for why Josh Allen won over Lamar Jackson. There was extensive discussion on what the most valuable player actually means and if the decision was fair.

Jordan starts the campaign to get Reggie Wayne into the NFL Hall of Fame. DJ shares her joy at Shannon and Sterling Sharpe being the first brothers to get into the Hall of Fame. Jordan shares his thoughts on what qualifies someone to be a first-ballot selection.

In the power sweep, DJ and Jordan share their top games of the season and why they chose them. Some of the highlights were the Ohio State vs. Oregon game, the Clemson vs. SMU game, and the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game. They reminisced about what it felt like to watch those games and discussed the impact they had on the season.

In the two-minute warning, DJ and Jordan give their thoughts on who may win the Unrivaled 1V1 Tournament next week. DJ and Jordan also share their excitement for the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl halftime show and what they hope to see from it.



If you like the show, please share it with friends and family and leave a five-star review. If you want to keep up with the show, subscribe to the Land-Grant Podcast Network Feed where new episodes drop every Monday.

You can also find Jordan’s article ‘B1G Thoughts’ on Land-Grant Holy Land.

Follow the show on YouTube: @GetDefensiveSportsNetwork

Follow the podcast on Instagram: @GetDefensiveSportsNetwork

Connect with us on Twitter: Jordan: @JordanW330 and DJ:@dj_danaysia

Continue reading...

LGHL Way-too-early 2025 Ohio State depth chart projection: Offense

Way-too-early 2025 Ohio State depth chart projection: Offense
Gene Ross
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


2025 CFP National Championship Presented by AT&T- Ohio State v Notre Dame

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Jeremiah Smith highlights the Buckeyes’ returnees on offense in 2025.

Now that the dust has settled on Ohio State’s national championship celebrations and the NFL season has come to a conclusion as well — with Parris Campbell’s Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl — now is as good a time as any to take a way-too-early look ahead at the 2025 Buckeyes.

Ryan Day has filled out his offensive coaching staff by promoting Brian Hartline to full-time offensive coordinator, in addition to the hiring of Tyler Bowen as offensive line coach. Hartline’s knowledge of the passing game mixed with Bowen’s familiarity with the run game should once again provide Ohio State with balance on that side of the ball, albeit the players running the show will look a lot different.

While we still have a long ways to go before the first depth charts are put together, here is how we think the starting lineup will look as we project ahead to Aug. 30.

QB1: Julian Sayin


Will Howard solidified himself as an Ohio State legend after just one season in Columbus, and he now passes the torch to Alabama transfer Julian Sayin. The No. 1 QB and No. 6 overall player in the 2024 class per the 247Sports Composite, the former five-star prospect transferred from the Crimson Tide to Ohio State following Nick Saban’s retirement. He has attempted only 12 passes with the Buckeyes — five completions for 84 yards and a touchdown — but is the heir apparent to Day’s QB machine.

Battling it out for the backup job will be sophomore Lincoln Kienholz and true freshman Tavien St. Clair. A top-200 player in the 2023 class, Kienholz attempted 22 passes for Ohio State in 2023, completing 10 for 111 yards, but threw no passes in his two appearances in 2024. St. Clair, meanwhile, is an incoming five-star as the No. 3 QB in the country in the 2025 class and the top player in Ohio.

RB1: James Peoples
RB2: CJ Donaldson


Ohio State loses both of its top two running backs to the NFL in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, with the pair having been instrumental to the Buckeyes’ national title run. The two stud ball-carriers finished with eerily similar stands, with Judkins rushing for 1,060 yards and 14 TDs and Henderson with 1,016 yards and 10 TDs. Position coach Carlos Locklyn will look to replicate that successful two-back system with James Peoples and CJ Donaldson in 2025.

Peoples is in his second year with the program, coming to Ohio State as a top-10 running back in the 2024 class and a top-20 player out of Texas. The 5-foot-10 tailback got his feet wet as a freshman, rushing 49 times for 197 yards and two TDs in relief of Henderson and Judkins. Donaldson, meanwhile, comes to Columbus by way of Morgantown. The senior spent the past three years at West Virginia, racking up over 2,000 yards rushing and 30 touchdowns with the Mountaineers.

Locklyn adds a deep and supremely talented freshman class to his room as well, with a trio of first-year guys in Anthony “Turbo” Rogers, Bo Jackson and Isaiah West.

WR1: Jeremiah Smith
WR2: Carnell Tate
WR3: Brandon Inniss
Depth: Mylan Graham, Bryson Rodgers, Quincy Porter


Even with the loss of Ohio State’s program record holder in career receptions, Emeka Egbuka, you know a Brian Hartline-led Buckeyes’ receiver core is going to be nasty. That will of course be the case again, headlined by the former freshman phenom himself, Jeremiah Smith. Smith more than lived up to the hype in 2024, leading Ohio State with more than 1,300 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. Despite being NFL ready, the rules dictate he still must play two more years of collegiate ball, and for that Hartline is lucky.

Behind Smith will be a pair of stars in their own right in Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss. Tate played a huge role for Ohio State as WR3 in 2024, catching 52 passes for 733 yards and four TDs, and will now see even more work come his way. Inniss, on the other hand, didn’t do a ton in the passing game, catching 14 balls for 176 yards and a touchdown, but was incredibly valuable on special teams and will be rewarded for the gritty work as a top-three receiver in this offense in 2025.

Outside the top three are a handful of guys who could very well play their way into a bigger role as the season goes on. Mylan Graham was a five-star prospect and the No. 7 WR in the 2024 class, while Quincy Porter is an incoming five-star as the No. 5 WR in the 2025 cycle. Bryson Rodgers was a top-400 player coming out of high school, but has impressed on the practice field during his first two years with the program and seems itching to break out.

TE1: Max Klare
TE2: Will Kacmarek OR Jelani Thurman


Ohio State’s tight end room has a chance to be elite in 2025. That is largely a result of the addition of Purdue transfer Max Klare, the No. 1 TE and a top-15 overall player in this most recent transfer portal window. Entering his junior season, Klare is coming off a huge campaign for the Boilermakers with 51 catches for 685 yards and four TDs — all team-highs. The Buckeyes aren’t usually a team who looks to target their tight ends, but they also don't usually have a receiving threat at the position quite like Klare.

Behind Klare is Will Kacmarek, who will likely see the field along with Klare a ton due to his prowess as a blocker. The Ohio University transfer only caught eight passes for 86 yards for Ohio State this past season, but was functionally a sixth offensive lineman on the field more often than not. The Buckeyes also have Jelani Thurman waiting in the wings, as the massive 6-foot-6 target enters his junior campaign having shown improvement over each of his first two years on campus.

LT: Ethan Onianwa
LG: Luke Montgomery
C: Carson Hinzman
RG: Austin Siereveld OR Tegra Tshabola
RT: Phillip Daniels


It was a crazy season for Ohio State’s offensive line, and many of the bigger names up front are now gone. Tackle Josh Simmons and guard Seth McLaughlin were the stalwarts earlier in the year, but both went down with season-ending injuries, and are now moving on to the next level. Donovan Jackson slid over from guard to tackle to fill in for the injured Simmons, but now he as well as his bookend Josh Fryar are also off to the NFL. Tasked with replacing both starting tackles, the Buckeyes looked to the transfer portal.

It was there that they found Ethan Onianwa and Phillip Daniels. Onianwa is a veteran of 34 starts at Rice, and the 6-foot-6, 345-pound tackle allowed just one sack in 350 pass-blocking snaps all last season, per PFF. Daniels, meanwhile, is a Cincinnati native who began his collegiate career at Minnesota. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound blocker started the final four games of the year for the Gophers, and was slated to return to that starting role in 2025, which he will now do in Columbus instead.

Ohio State will have some options on the interior, as all four guys who played those positions down the stretch this past season are back. Carson Hinzman is the clear frontrunner to resume his starting job at center, while the trio of Luke Montgomery, Austin Siereveld and Tegra Tshabola will battle it out for the two guard spots. Based on how well Montgomery played in the CFP, I give him a slight edge over the other two, and expect him to start opposite either Siereveld or Tshabola.



Ohio State’s spring practices won’t begin until mid-March, with the program taking some extra time off following a 16-game season that only came to an end on Jan. 20. There is also the second transfer portal window, which opens on April 16. Needless to say, a lot can change between now and when the Buckeyes take the field against Texas this August, but it doesn’t hurt to look ahead and start getting excited for the defending national champs!

Continue reading...

LGHL No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball can’t handle No. 7 USC Trojans, lose 84-63

No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball can’t handle No. 7 USC Trojans, lose 84-63
ThomasCostello
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


NCAA Womens Basketball: Ohio St. at Southern California

Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

The Buckeyes head back to Columbus with two losses in Los Angeles.

The No. 8 Ohio State women’s basketball team (20-3, 9-3) finished their West Coast road trip Saturday night against the No. 7 USC Trojans (21-2, 11-1). Despite holding USC guard JuJu Watkins to under her conference-leading 24.2 points per game, Ohio State couldn’t find consistent offense and lost 84-61.

Like the Buckeyes did on Wednesday against the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, Ohio State got off to a quick start from the jump. Saturday night it came defensively, when the visitors forced five turnovers while USC shot 0-of-7 from the floor. Regardless, offensively it didn’t mean Ohio State built up a big lead.

Ohio State had a three-point lead thanks to forward Ajae Petty. After scoring no points against the Bruins, Petty scored the team with four points, all inside the paint. The reason was that the Buckeyes couldn’t find many opportunities with USC’s man coverage locking down OSU’s shooters.

Point guard Jaloni Cambridge and forward Cotie McMahon were kept out of the paint too by the towering size of the Trojans starting four players at least six feet tall. USC outrebounded the Buckeyes 17-9, with two blocks, in the first quarter.

McMahon also ran into foul trouble, picking up two in the first four minutes, requiring the Buckeyes vocal leader to sit on the bench for the remainder of the quarter.

USC began hitting shots and went into the second quarter up a point, thanks to two three-point shots, but none by guard JuJu Watkins. In the first 15 minutes, Ohio State held Watkins to two points, both from the free-throw line. The sophomores' seven shots from the field were all missed, with Buckeye guard/forward Taylor Thierry on Watkins, which caused issues for the star from Los Angeles.

By the media timeout in the second quarter, the Buckeyes were down five points. They quickly went to three, with Petty scoring her eighth point of the game. Then, the wheels began to fall off a bit, and USC went on a run, scoring 11 of the last 17 points of the quarter.

During the run, Petty, the lone player consistently producing on offense, picked up two quick fouls. The second occurred when the Trojans were dribbling up the court, a situation that did not require a foul from the graduate senior. It sent Petty to the bench with three fouls before halftime.

Ohio State entered the locker room down 34-26, needing to find some way around the USC defense to compete with the home side.

Out of the locker room, it looked like head coach Kevin McGuff saw how the Trojans were getting foul calls (10-4) and wanted some of his own. The Buckeyes entered the game and went right at the paint.

McMahon went to the basket twice, one time landing hard on her face and needing to leave the game for a short period of time. Then Cambridge and Thierry followed. The fouls started building against the home side, with forward Kiki Iriafen picking up three quick fouls in the first three minutes of the third quarter.

That sent the Trojans leading scorer of the game (18 points) to the bench.

Even with Iriafen out, the Trojans came out of a quick timeout by head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and went on a five-point run that gave the home side a 13-point lead. Just 52 seconds later, coach McGuff called one of his own to try and stop the game from getting too away from his side.

Out of the timeout, the Buckeyes went small, forced turnovers, and kept going to the basket. Ohio State cut the deficit back to single digits but USC wasn’t easily overcome. With 2:02 remaining in the third, Watkins hit her first shot from the floor, after missing her first 11 attempts.

It started a seven-point run for the Trojans, which increased their lead to a game-high 14 points. That lead held through the end of the third quarter, giving Ohio State the toughest climb of the season to date, a peak the Buckeyes could not reach.

USC extended the lead to 17 points and while the visitors kept pushing, Ohio State couldn’t find enough consistent shooting or stops on defense to make the game close. In the process of the comeback, Thierry also fouled out of the game, making that battle even more difficult.

The Trojans continued to dominate, pushing the lead up to 20 points, taking away any sort of positive for the Buckeyes’s trip west. USC out rebounded the Buckeyes 60-29 and blocked 10 shots, including blocks all the way up to the final moments of the fourth quarter.

Thierry scored in the loss with 14 points, 5 steals, and 5 rebounds, while four of five starters for Ohio State scored at least 10 points.

For the Trojans, three players had double-doubles against the Buckeyes. Iriafen led all scorers with 24 points and 13 rebounds, with Watkins scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds, and six of those points came from the free throw line.

What’s Next


The Buckeyes head back to Ohio, with four of the remaining six games of the regular season played in Columbus. It begins on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET when the Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to the Schottenstein Center for the first time since Feb. 8, 2023.

Ohio State has a 13-game winning streak against the Golden Gophers, a program that made it into the AP Top 25 on January 13 for the first time this season after starting 16-1. Since then, Minnesota has lost five of the last seven games, including losses to the then-ranked Michigan Wolverines, UCLA Bruins, USC Trojans, and unranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

Minnesota guard Mara Braun returned after a foot injury took her out after 22 games last season, but it only lasted five games. Braun hasn’t played since Nov. 17. Instead, guard Amaya Battle and forward Grace Gracholski lead the Golden Gophers with each scoring 11.6 points per game.

Continue reading...

Filter

Back
Top