Neil Castrodale & Luke Neer on Ohio State vs. Texas

0:00It's a look at the game of the year to date in college football right here on the best seat in the house welcome back to the show here on the flagship station for the Virginia sports video that worked w i a i'm your host Luke near and were presented by Applebees eating good in the neighborhood. It's time for the examination of Ohio State Texas which takes place Saturday at 7 30 from Austin. Thankfully I'll be able to watch this what it is entirety with the sound on since Virginia's obviously playing the world out. But for further breakdown specifically from the buckeye's perspective I'm glad to have Neil Castro to back on the show. He's helped us in the past with season previews of Ohio State and I'm glad to have him back on the show. Neil I love action in week number two and we're going to get some good evening. Hey thanks Luke. Hey first of all let's get a shout out to this Cavalier for cracking the top 25. I know that I think they're there to stay because there's not too much danger in the rest of the month of September. Maybe in October but I think they're here to stay for a while. I want to get into Ohio State and what I want to start with is

1:03a question for you. How could it be job did they do remodeling the defense because they lost a ton of talent to the NFL highlighted by three top 15 picks are bell Reese, study styles and Caleb Downs each of those guys anchored a specific unit defensive line linebacker and safety respectively and then they also lost two other defensive players in the second round of the draft. So how did Ohio State remodel that defense in your mind? Well you know of course it's early in the season but based on what I heard from the from the fall camp and what I saw in the first game I think they've done a pretty good job. They have you know as you may have said they had to replace eight starters so I mean obviously that's that's a big big shoes to fill on you. Yeah you'll look at who they lost. You know there's no way that you're going to fill the shoes of sunny styles and Caleb Downs and our of the orries but I think you know on the defensive line they

2:04have Canyada Jackson who's a good quality edge. He's a a guy that had a good year last year. I don't think he's really broken out yet. We have some other guys up front that they a couple transfers. I think they you know they're going to have a solid a lot of a lot of a rotation at the defensive line and the live-backers the same way Luke. They played four guys last week and you know all four of them are almost interchangeable. They're really good. You know Peyton Pierce is kind of a leader of the group. TJ Alfred was actually probably the best player last week and then Raleigh Petagion who's a young young player. He played very well and then on the back end they have Devin Sanchez who I think is you know probably one of the best quarterbacks in college football and then they have yeah some other guys that are filling some some transfers well they can help out J tenmans. Here's a freshman playing nickel has really shown some promise. So I think you know again I think they're going to have to develop. They're certainly not at the level where they

3:07started out last year where they pretty much stifled and played containment against Texas all game and you know Arch could never really get on track. Yeah. Last year of the game. That's what I'm curious about is Ohio State going to be 75% of what they were last year defensively and can they make up that ground on offense with growth. I mean I think that's the major question for me. Can certainly the buck eyes for the entire season. Matt Patricia. Here's my question. Is he a schematic master or is he a top coordinator due to the talent he coaches or is the jury just still out after one season. Yeah I think that's the that's the question that everybody asks. I mean it's easy to be the good coordinator when you have the best players in college football right. So I think you know this year is really going to prove that out. I really do think he's a you know a defensive genius. He's he's gotten great schemes but I think he's going to have to earn it. I think the fans want to see it this year where you don't have quite the talent and they're going to play one of the toughest schedules in the country. So I think this is really going to be a task for you

4:11know how good Patricia has and that defense. All right let's talk about the Ohio State secondary against Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo and the rest of the Texas receivers who are also pretty nasty. How do you project this matchup to play out. Is are we going to see press coverage or we going to see a feeling out stage. I mean Ohio State has been so good at making other teams make mistakes but when you're throw to those guys I don't care if Arches is a little bit inaccurate. Cam Coleman's going to get up and snag stuff. Yeah I think you know I think you can say you know both of these passing offense I think they're going to complete their passes on Saturday. I think there's going to be you know a lot of a lot of passing there's going to be some big plays made on both sides. I think you know Ohio State you know with Devin Sanchez and and Dremay Matthews they're going to be they're going to be on the corners. They're going to be the guys they're going to be expected to to stop the Texas passing attack. I think they probably won't

5:13you know Sanchez is the best corner. They're probably not going to have him following Cam Coleman but I think you know obviously you know Ryan Wingo is probably more of a speed guy and Cam Coleman's more like you know the athletic freak. Yeah just catches everything. You catch everything he's kind of like you know Jeremiah Smith like you know but I think they're going to have their hands full. I think they're going to play some zone I think too to you know kind of take the pressure off you know the off the off the secondary and I just think it's going to be a good matchup but I think again I think they're going to get their receptions and you know I think they're going to get theirs as well. Yeah it's going to be a different flow compared to a season ago. I think it'll be much higher scoring and I'm not going out on a limb when I say that because what was last year 14 to seven. But just the fact that the two quarterbacks are no longer green and they're throwing to what I believe are the two best wide receiver

6:16cores in the country right now and we'll get to a high state of that set of the ball but I think we're going to see some points but speaking of quarterback it may be strange for me to say this but is QB the position with the most question marks for both Texas and Ohio State bear with me here I'm going to make my case because I know Julian saying I to New York last year and he put up some great numbers but has he really come through in a big time game when they've needed him now Ohio state didn't have very many big time games a season ago Texas was one of them but I'd say the defense kind of won that one for them in the opener at the horseshoe and then the other big time games he had were against Indiana in the big 10 title game I mean you can say Penn State but Penn State was a little bit of a lame duck at that point maybe he had he did have a really good game against Michigan remember he early three interception and then after that he really said that I thought he did have a good game against Michigan which obviously arrived or we have a high state pooled away but I was about to say that was so maybe Michigan does count I you some question marks Miami question marks

7:22as well so with that blueprint would you expect Texas to pin their ears back against him which is a little bit of a different strategy than what they deployed a year ago in Columbus yeah I think if you look at a high state this year if you as in terms of a weakness it's probably the you know again the offensive line in particular the right side they had issues last week with ball state you know they had their right tackle had some there's a miscommunication and some poor execution you know they took them out for a couple series and then they put them back in again and if you hear the talk in Columbus this week they're still experimenting with the right side of the offensive line so you know that's not really good news if you're in a high state fan I think you know given what you said last year that you know what you saw in the Indiana Miami games I think that's kind of a blueprint for yeah Texas you know with their two stars calling soon as in the then Rahim Biles they're definitely going to pressure and it will must champs going to probably get you know

8:24from the first play the game on he's going to blitz you know probably over 50% of the time and try to get Julian saying out of rhythm I think so too so I think that's that's going to be a you know key factor in the game and the other question is does he double a Jeremiah Smith because I don't know why ball state wasn't doing that ball state didn't really have a chance for the start but I would expect him to get double coverage throughout the course of this game we're talking to Ohio State Texas Neil Castro deals my guest of the best seat in the house on the other side archmaning still a lot of questions for me he does have the Texas A&M win under his belt I would be more concerned about arch on the road though that's something he is not proven but this game is at DKR and Texas is only lost what one game at DKR in the last three seasons so I don't know what's your perspective on rattling archmaning when he's in the comfort zone with a bunch of burnt orange around him yeah I think you know given that it is it's going to be a home game it's at night there's going to be

9:27a lot of energy for Texas I you know I think he's definitely going to step up from last year's appearance he'd only started you know what was at a game or two before last year's game so you know I think he's you know you saw in the second half of the season you know how much he improved and you know at the end of the season he was definitely one of the better quarterbacks in in college football so I think you know he's again he's gonna he and Julian I think are both gonna have good games from a Ohio State's perspective you have to ask who's gonna step up and apply the pressure because they don't really have the established edge like Texas does and I think that's one of the another interesting part of this game is how does the Ohio State put pressure on him now they may try to you know last year they played a lot of you know what I call prevent where they just tried to contain him and they certainly want to try to keep him out of the pocket and you know when he gets on the edge he's gonna you know probably take off and run it yeah well last year what's amazing is the receivers didn't get in a breathing room you know Ohio State secondary was

10:32all over him and he was throwing a lot of balls in the dirt maybe out of necessity because nobody could get separation and Urban Myer was even talking about this the other day I was listening to his breakdown of last year's game so that's something to look out for can the revamped Texas wide receiver room find that separation now obviously Wingo was around last year but Cam Coleman wasn't so that's something I'll be paying attention to and then finally at running back I don't know I'm throwing my hands up in the air that could be the X factor position how do you feel about the Ohio State running back room right now and are you of the opinion let's keep it fairly stable I'd like to see Bo Jackson get the vast number of carries or use somebody who wants to kind of go for upside and maybe get legend Bay touches yeah well it was interesting in the in the preseason actually Isaiah West was actually kind of the number one running back in front of Bo and everybody was kind of

11:36you know that was a bit surprising and you know Isaiah West did have a great a great camp and then as I got closer to game one and you know Bo kind of was put put ahead and you know really in the in the first half last week neither one of the none of the running backs really could establish much I think they're only getting back three yards per carry but then you know then made some adjustments during half time in the second half you know Bo had like a 60-some yard run and then a guy stepped up Jacobi Jackson the Florida transfer he had a long 49 yard run so I think they they kind of turned the corner a little bit again it was against ball states you know I don't know how much you know you can patch yourself on the back of that but I say West came and he didn't get as many carries but he he carried the ball pretty well and then I don't know if you saw the game at legend Bay had a unbelievable just unbelievable cutting to the right yeah he kept to the right about I don't know four times on that one touches out run

12:40which was something else the past reception was even better when he kind of caught it in the left and then he reversed field to the right and you know he looked like you know Braxton Miller out there so he you know so I think that'll be a question is I think they're going to try to work him you know I can't see him then not getting the ball in his hands I think you have to you have to especially if Jeremiah Smith is going to be in double coverage for the entire game which I suspect I could be wrong about that but all right Neil Castro deals by gas we're breaking down Texas and Ohio state give me reasons Ohio state wins this game and then we'll consider reasons that Texas wins if we're trying to play out how this is going to occur in our minds yeah I think you know if you're looking at the Ohio state I think that you know they do have a little bit of momentum on their side they won the last two games you know that the college playoffs semifinal they won last year so they've got they've kind of got the bragging rights and a little bit of momentum and the coaching matchup I

13:40think it is something that's in their favor I give day the edge oversark I really would all right yeah I think yeah I think you know coaching staff I mean I would give the the edge you know between Ryan Day, Matt Pritchisha and Arthur Smith and that's that's a pretty high level coaching staff you know that Texas isn't good but you know I think you have that and you know you have Julian saying and Jeremiah Smith right so that alone I think it was a Ohio state they have their offensive line is they're pretty much returning you know they're all their productions so I think they just need to figure out where they're they're best suited and you know maybe improve communication you know they got strong receiving core so I think defensively they've again there's a little bit of a question mark there but you know with Matt Pritchisha you know I think I'm confident that I just think that they're probably going to hang with Texas you know even though they're going to be be away and I think I'll give you my prediction shortly but I think they're going to

14:40Texas a very competitive game I think and if you look at the talent I think Texas has the higher end talent in this game if you look at you know the potential first round picks they have four or five guys yeah they could go in the first round in a high state they lost that many in the draft last year so you know Ohio state may have the better depth but if you look at the high end the talent the starters I think Texas does have the edge in this game okay so we gave the Ohio state advantages I'd say coaching staff overall experience at this level and proven wins and then we could mention they probably have the best player in the game which helps what else do we lay it on I'm trying to think that's a nice set of bullet points for Texas if I'm listing bullet points home crowd has to be out there second of all the ability of archmaning to use his legs differentiates him a little bit from what Julian Sands could do so that makes Texas a little bit more diabetic and then finally

15:44I think in the trench that's the other advantage Texas has so those would be the three on each side I'll tell you Neil I'm at a complete coin flip for this game so I'd love to hear your prediction whatever you're ready to get dished out and I can't wait to hear your point total to because I feel like I've got mine somewhere in the vicinity of 2724 that's my range but I might even go higher I might get into the 30s if you can get space we arrived on the we arrived on the same toe I don't know who you picked but that's that's the 2724 as do I picked I just think you know like you said Luther it's not going to be a 14 to 7 game yeah you know I think both both teams are going to have success in the passing game you know I think you know Texas is definitely going to be up trying to apply a lot of pressure they're going to attack again they're going to attack the issue like Indiana am I any to you know I think Ohio State was going to counter with you know some quick passes some play action you know trying to get that ball out quickly and I think whichever team

16:46protects protects their cube it be better is going to be is going to have the edge in this game right I think that's going to be the big the the issue there so I think it's going to be you know kind of a back and forth game I think it's going to go into the fourth quarter so I did say I picked 27 to 24 and I picked Texas that's what I have to say that I that I will you're being fair that's what I love that's what the show is all about it's it's it's keeping it real so I actually landed on the same thing so that's funny we'll we'll see if how closely that's bad news if we both think about the same thing well I mean it might be good news for the buck guys though think about that if we're about big at Texas to win this thing all right finally let's go to the rest of the country and even the Ohio State schedule which is just fascinating to me because I know they're number one of the country but gosh I've never seen so much danger in my life on the schedule I still think if they end with a nine and three record I still think that's good enough for the playoff this year given who they play are you kind of in that same boat that's maybe worst case I mean worst case

17:49scenario would be eight and four and then you're but I don't think they're going to go ahead and for I think probably ten and two is what they land on this year maybe nine and three but where are you with their overall record because not everybody knows they have a trip to Bloomington they have a trip to USC they play Oregon at the horseshoe at Nebraska is going to be an insane environment I mean I don't care what you say about Matt rule or making fun about the court Huskers over the last 15 years not being able to be the right team but that's still going to be a crazy atmosphere Michigan looks much more manageable and that it did but I mean and Iowa I mean I know Neil you've watched a ton of games there that'll make you tear your hair out so what do you think overall about the record and this insane schedule yeah well I'm with you I think you know you look at the schedule this may be one of the more difficult schedules they've ever had and I think you know it's definitely in the top ten and I think Texas actually has the toughest guys

18:50were right I think maybe I got their work maybe Oklahoma I'm trying to it's probably Oklahoma but they're really close yeah Texas has this game obviously their at Tennessee they play the red river shoot out of the neutral Florida at home Ole Miss at home Mississippi State at home at Missouri at LSU Arkansas at A&M so their big ones are obviously this one coming up a DK already get still high state at LSU has to be the next one as far as degree of difficulty I think playing at Kyle Field is still going to be tough even though they think the Aggies are a little brother and then Ole Miss at home and the red river shootouts got to be a war so yeah both both teams have tough schedules so this is an important game so yeah back to your question so when I looked at this schedule I I'm assuming I picked you know them to lose to Texas and I'm I'm thinking that they're going to lose it to either USC or Oregon I think that's I can I think that's probable so you know I again I

19:53had to say it but I'm I'm looking at a nine and three record but I think given their schedule that they'll make the playoffs yeah yeah I think so too Texas to make Texas loses and they go nine and three I think this year they would break through with their schedule and make the playoffs also no I think we're going to see nine and three representatives this year I think last year was more of an anomaly about even ten and two teams being left out of the playoff I don't think that's going to be the case here in 2026 I mean look at all the talent and look at all the the depth in the top 10 I mean I've got nine teams so I think he'd win the national championship that's much higher than what I had last year I mean yeah and Texas losing to Florida that was kind of a nail in their coffin yeah yeah exactly that was a bad loss they didn't deserve to be in the playoffs even though sarkees and tried to make the case but I don't know who scares you the most out there out of any other teams either in the top 10 or you can give me a sleeper potentially you know uh you know what I looked at it Luke and it's like you said I think there's legitimately no I think I

20:58came up with eight teams and um you know I'm kind of thinking you know Notre Dame Texas you know Oregon in Ohio State you know those are maybe the ones that I ranked but then you know you look at Georgia they're always in there you know LSU look fantastic right LSU they've clandented they look pretty good they're in my group and I Miami you know you know you saw last year what Miami did and they're they're strong so I mean you could just toss all those names in the hat and there's one team there's one team you're missing Neil that my Indiana Hoosiers for last year oh yeah the Indiana though sleeper in the national champs the rating chips uh Josh you've looked really good in week one number one so we'll see where it goes anyway thanks so much for the breakdown really enjoyed it we'll have to have you back on later out of the season and maybe when we get towards some of those other big time money games for Ohio State whether that's the Oregon matchup at the horseshoe or a rematch against Indiana in Bloomington or even the Michigan game but I don't know the way Michigan looks uh might be a slam dunk in Columbus but we have said that

22:03before so yeah they should have been one right yeah that's true anyway I'm sure that makes all you Ohio State folks uh grin ear to ear with I mean because I thought Kyle Whitney was was going to be a real asset to them but it seems like Bryce underwood is just lost I mean so you know I think the Oklahoma game on Saturday and that'll tell us a lot to you know see where where I think that'll in terms of the rest of the season you know they just lay an egg then you know they could be looking at uh oh yeah really a seven and five record I've got Oklahoma winning by double digits is my lock of the week so we shall see even in the big house but uh Neil thanks so much appreciate the analysis thanks for giving us the load out of the buck guys and we will chat later on in the season you're in the best sitting house on w i na