Ohio Against the World: Football Passion in the Buckeye State

Dive into the heart of Ohio football passion with the debut episode of the Scarlet, Orange and Brown (SOB) podcast! Hosts Chris Huesman and Ken Carpenter – both former coaches with decades of experience – bring their blue-collar perspective to Ohio's football landscape, covering everything from the Buckeyes to the Bengals to the Browns.

Football runs deep in the Buckeye State, and we're embracing the "Ohio against the world" mentality. Our hosts break down what to expect from Ohio State this season, projecting a return to the Big Ten Championship against Penn State. With analysis of Michigan's challenges, Nebraska's potential breakthrough under Matt Rule, and why Oregon could dominate the western division, we provide insights you won't find elsewhere.

The NFL conversation heats up with an in-depth look at the AFC North, where the Ravens and Bengals battle for supremacy while the Browns rely on elite defense to overcome quarterback questions. We examine Joe Burrow's weapons, Cincinnati's offensive line improvements, and Cleveland's veteran addition of Joe Flacco. Our bold predictions include the Bills finally breaking through to win the Super Bowl against the Eagles, with division winner forecasts across the NFL.

Beyond X's and O's, we highlight the character of Ohio's football culture through stories like Nick Chubb's $5 million donation to Cleveland homeless shelters and similar community initiatives from players across the state. We wrap up with betting locks for the week, including the Commanders over Giants and a potential Browns upset of the Bengals in the Battle of Ohio.

Join us weekly as we bring you insights from our coaching backgrounds, passionate fan perspectives, and upcoming guest interviews with insiders from across Ohio football. Subscribe now to get every episode delivered straight to your device – because here, it's all football, all Ohio, all the time.

Tune in every week for a new episode!

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the SOB Podcast
• 1:24 Ohio State and Big Ten Preview
• 9:43 AFC North Predictions
• 15:35 NFL Division Winners and Super Bowl
• 18:17 Game Predictions and Betting Locks
• 22:49 Player Impact Beyond the Field
• 27:00 Closing Thoughts and Future Episodes

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Scarlet, orange and Brown podcast, the show that brings you the best of Ohio football every single week, from the Ohio State Buckeyes to the Cincinnati Bengals to the Cleveland Browns. We've got every inch of the Buckeye State covered Insight, passion and plenty of bold opinions. Because here it's all football, all Ohio, all the time.

Speaker 2: 0:23

here's your hosts coming to you live from the dublin bubble chris hughesman and ken carpenter hello and welcome to the sob podcast, also known as scarlet, orange and brown, the i-71 football connection, where we break down the buckeyes, bangles and the browns.

Speaker 3: 0:42

I'm ken carpenter and I'm chris hughesman all right guys just want to talk a little bit about some uh, Buckeyes, Bengals and the Browns. I'm Ken Carpenter and I'm Chris Huseman, All right guys just want to talk a little bit about some football here in the state of Ohio. I know we listened to the podcast one that we put out here recently, and then we want to get a little bit more in-depth here. In a couple of these things I'm going to provide more of a Bengals background, being from Cincinnati. I think Coach Carpenter is going to provide a lot more of the Browns background from being from the Valley too as well. And then, since we both live here in Columbus area, we're both going to give our takes on Ohio State and what we feel we have on Kenny, what do you want to start out with first?

Speaker 2: 1:25

You know you almost don't need to do it, but a quick preview of the Buckeyes versus Grambling and I guess probably the thing you want to know is how many of the Buckeyes are going to win by.

Speaker 3: 1:36

Well, hey, grambling State's coming in here 1-0, coach, and they have a 55-7 dismantling of Langston University. So you never know what's going on. I'll do a really truth be told short, and my final prediction of this I'll just say Ohio State 48, grambling State 10. We're going to want to get out of there unhurt. Ohio University is going to be, I think, a battle a little bit. So yeah, 48-10 on my half.

Speaker 2: 2:22

I got us winning 63-7, and I think you know Ryan Day is going to do his best to not make them look bad. But it's going to be tough because when you put backups in, that's going to be their, you know, one chance to get in there and show that they need to be getting some playing time. So it's going to be tough, but you know, like all these teams that go out and play the big powerhouses there, they get to walk away with a big check.

Speaker 2: 2:53

Yeah, and I'm sure Ohio State's going to be paying them a good amount of money to come up here to make this trip up and play. That's for sure.

Speaker 3: 3:00

They're always going to fund their whole athletic program for a year.

Speaker 2: 3:05

We've got to talk a little bit about the Buckeyes. Let's just ask this who's going to win the Big Ten this year? They take the top two teams. Who do you have as the top two teams going into the Big Ten championship?

Speaker 3: 3:17

Let's see. I like Penn State and Penn State has no excuses. After this year I'm tired of Penn State and their excuses. This year they have none. They have no leg to stand on. With that being said, I think they're one of the top teams. They've got Ohio State's former defensive coordinator. I think Ohio State has better athletes. Obviously, penn State has a more experienced quarterback, drew Allard. That's a tough call. Michigan, they've got a quarterback up there. Underwood makes more money than some of the pros right now with his NIL bills. You know those three out of that. You know I kind of like Ohio State's chances. To be honest with you, oregon, I think, is going to be the class of the West. I've seen Wisconsin play. I saw Minnesota play. I saw you know they're all good teams. Illinois is going to be tough, indiana is going to be tough, iowa same thing. But I like Oregon. I like Ohio State right now.

Speaker 2: 4:42

Yes, I'm going to say Ohio state makes it back again this year and, uh, I believe I I don't know the exact date, but I think, um, they are. They haven't played in the big 10 championship in several years, so and I think it's it's got to be penn state. But, um, you know, if there's going to be a surprise team in the big 10, I I gotta wonder about matt rule out at nebraska. He always year three for him has always been a good sign where teams tend to take that big step. And they got a quarterback with a little bit of experience. So I that dylan riola, so I think that they got a chance to be decent, but I just don't think they're going to be better than Ohio state and Penn state.

Speaker 3: 5:29

Yeah, I agree, rail was a, rail is special. But you know, I watched them play UC university of Cincinnati. Basically, uc gave up a home game to go play at. You know, get how field out in Kansasansas city and, um, you know, they basically flipped the home game and it was still a close game. Yeah, um, so I, nebraska is one of those ones that you know. I just, yeah, they got athletes, they got a wide recruiting base. It's just, you know, it's bizarre. All of a sudden they'll lose to, you know, a team that they, you know, shouldn't have lost to, and you know, it puts them back in my mind at least, puts them back to square one.

Speaker 2: 6:20

Yeah, definitely. Well, you know I'm kind of thinking just because of Matt Rule, but you know, the more you think about it, I just can't see them finishing ahead of. You know, Oregon, penn State, ohio State, michigan, michigan might be there this year, but then again I'm not sure what to make of Michigan year, but then again I'm not sure what to make of Michigan.

Speaker 3: 6:45

Well, we're going to find out a lot about Michigan when they go to Oklahoma and play here this weekend. Yeah, we're going to see how they can handle that pressure. You know, I think Michigan for all intent and purposes, you know, you talk about the pressure with all these penalties coming down on them lately, and you know people that are suspended this, that and the other. And then you know, not to mention the you know the injuries that they have developing. You know you're trying to develop a new quarterback. There's a lot of stuff going on in Michigan right now. So this week when they go to play at Oklahoma, in my mind it's going to speak a lot of volumes about where they're at as a program.

Speaker 2: 7:28

Well, you know, since you brought up Michigan, I mean, I think that the NCAA clearly showed that they're not serious.

Speaker 2: 7:38

They didn't do anything really that's going to hurt them. I believe it was a $20 million fine that year at Michigan. $20 million is really nothing. I think back to what Ohio State had to punishment they got for the tattoos and it just blows my mind that someone were you know. Yeah, it probably wasn't right to get these tattoos and the whole story behind that. But when you're blatantly cheating and you've been caught and nothing really really happens to the program, that serious questions about the NCAA.

Speaker 3: 8:17

Well, and I totally agree with you and that's what gives us the idea of this SOB. You know this podcast that we're doing I mean we're blue-collar people and you know we understand that it's Ohio against the world you know we've adopted that and we've embraced that mentality. Whether it's people making fun of the Browns and the Elf or it's people making fun of the Bengals' defense or whatever it is, we take that stuff to heart. We're a very passionate fan base and that kind of gave us the reason this podcast is. You know the passion that we feel for all of our football teams here.

Speaker 2: 9:05

Well, you did mention the Elf and I believe, if I'm right about this, which I hope I am, the Elf will not be in the middle of the field as the logo. No, no, that struck fear. The elf will not be in the middle of the field as the logo, would you know?

Speaker 3: 9:16

no, that struck fear into the hearts of many people there oh my god, I just I don't understand it.

Speaker 2: 9:24

But then again I'll take the plain orange helmet over anything. So yeah, yeah, I like it well, let's, let's jump into the um, the nfl here, and since we're at the start of the season and everything opens up this Sunday, what is your prediction for who wins each of the divisions?

Speaker 3: 9:47

Well, let's talk about the best division in football AFC North. You know, I think, honestly, know, I think, honestly, I think it's a crapshoot. Just I think the top two teams are the Ravens and the Bengals. At this point, you know, I think it'll say a lot with what happens this Sunday with the battle of Ohio with Cincinnati at Cleveland, for all intent and purposes you got on a power ranking scale, you got the number 17 coming in to play the number 30 team. But you can throw all that stuff out the window because it's the Battle of Ohio and I like the Ravens, I just don't like, you know, I mean, their first game. They got a good plate Buffalo. So you know those two.

Speaker 3: 10:45

Pittsburgh is always going to be a crap shoot because you know they have the old Pittsburgh Steeler, you know aura, and I just don't see Aarongers coming out and lighting up the NFL. I just don't see it happening, especially with playing two, four, six games in the AFC North against those tough defenses. And then you know Pittsburgh doesn't have an easy schedule this year. So that one's tough to me. Cleveland to me. You've got to settle the quarterback issue. You know, shador Sanders said the other day that he came in thinking he was promised to be the either number one or number two quarterback. Well, here he's sitting at number three. So you know, I think you've got to. I mean, let's face it, how old is Joe Flacco?

Speaker 3: 11:40

I mean, you know he's well yeah, he's into his 40s, and you know same thing with Aaron Rodgers. I mean, you got Pittsburgh and Cleveland with you know, 40-plus year quarterbacks, you know. And then you've got Jackson and Burrow, you know on the other side, on the flip side. So to me that's what makes it different.

Speaker 2: 12:08

I you know, when I look at that division it's either going to be Cincinnati or the Ravens. But that division it's either going to be Cincinnati or the Ravens. Pittsburgh always tends to be plus 500 every year, but I just don't see anybody in either one of those teams keeping up with them.

Speaker 2: 12:30

I'd love to see the Browns get there, but they just don't have a quarterback, and that's going to be a problem. And what's even more scary is I'm not totally sold on the quarterbacks that could be possibly coming out for next year. So they got a lot to figure out, that's for sure. But as far as the other divisions, here's what I think. I think the Bills win the AFC East. I think the Chiefs win their division. I'm going to coin toss it and say the Ravens win and the Bengals will get the wild card. The Texans win their division. I got Eagles, 49ers, lions and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and my Super Bowl is Buffalo Bills and I think the Eagles get back there again. But I think this might be the year that the Bills break through.

Speaker 3: 13:24

Very bold. After watching the Eagles play the Cowboys too, I think they're pretty formidable as well. I'm going to wait on this because I want to see what the Packers and the Lions have to offer up, to be honest with you, just to see if they can offset, so to speak, that Eagles and, I'm honest, washington, the commanders are no joke this year. I mean, they're putting together something. Rio, yeah, I do like the Bills. I do like the Broncos and Chiefs as well. Mila's getting upset. She's getting ready to go ham slice here on the window. That's my dog too, by the way. Yeah, we got a rival dog walk too. Um, but uh, yeah, texans, I think is going to be the class of that division. So you're right, it could be the bills. Um, might be their year this year.

Speaker 2: 14:33

I think people are probably tired of the Chiefs, but they're still good. I think if there was one coach I would like to have as the coach, I would have to take Andy Reid. Something about what he does is it works. He did it for Philadelphia and he's doing it in Kansas City, and he just keeps rolling.

Speaker 3: 14:54

I agree, I mean, you cannot say one negative thing really about the chiefs, or? You know, andy Reed, yeah, I mean, there's a whole Taylor fifth Swift, kelsey factor there's. You know, people don't, people don't like people, that just went all the time. I mean, you know, look at the Yankees, you know. Look at the Dodgers, you know, look at, um, you know, the chiefs, you, I mean, therefore, remember when, uh, miami hurricanes were winning championship after championship, you know, I mean, they were just, you know, uh, people love to hate on them. So I, yeah, I agree, I think we're everybody's getting to that point where it's time to turn over something new. How about some locks this week? What do you have? You have anything this week? I got a couple locks this week that I think that people can bet.

Speaker 2: 15:55

And I have an upset I think I feel pretty confident about. Well, if I were to pick, just in the NFL alone, I think the commanders are going to. That's my lock for the week in the NFL. I believe they're playing the New York Giants and if I were to pick an upset, I'm going to say that because it's early in the season and the Bengals tend to struggle a little bit early in the season that for some reason the Browns are going to pull one off, but I have trouble to see if they're going to win the next five after that.

Speaker 3: 16:30

Interesting. Yeah, no, I agree with you on the Washington lock. I would take Washington minus five and a half is the spread on that. The other lock I would take would be Arizona minus six and a half over New Orleans. You got Spencer Rattler starting for New Orleans. I mean, I know it's at New Orleans, but you've got a quarterback in Kyler Murray that can run, do all kinds of dynamic things, and not only that, he's got an Ohio State guy that he's starting to fall in love with down there throwing to, and Marvin Harrison Jr too as well. But my upset this week is the New York Jets over the Pittsburgh Steelers. New York Jets take the plus three. You have Justin Fields taking over in a role reversal with Aaron Rodgers basically, and I just don't see Aaron Rodgers continuing on that Pittsburgh Steeler guy. Yeah, this is defense tough for Pittsburgh, 100%. But when you get Justin Fields running around out there and first game of the year, you're going to tire big Cam Hayward out and TJ Watt. And yeah, I like New York Jets.

Speaker 2: 17:55

It should be a fun game this weekend with the Browns and the Bengals and I really believe that the Browns' defense is going to be what keeps them in every game and it's just going to be a matter of slowing down Cincinnati this week because their offense is just loaded up and you know if they can keep Burrow healthy this year. You know it's crazy the numbers, but the one thing they need to do more than anything is they have got to get the ball to the receivers as much as possible. I mean, you've got to just let Joe turn it into a basketball game every time.

Speaker 3: 18:40

Yeah, 100%. And you know I mean when you talk about protecting Joe, obviously your thoughts go to the offensive line. Lucas Patrick is going to get the start ahead of Dalton Risner this week. If you remember, dalton Risner was just signed for Minnesota. Just a key depth piece right there, um, but dalton risner is probably going to play some to a guard, uh as well.

Speaker 3: 19:05

One thing that I really really liked is they just signed ted caris to a one-year extension through 2026, for an extra five mil um and um. You know some of the things that are that are interesting. Out there they wave big six, seven, caleb intimate Indian, the tackle that was undrafted from BYU. That's going to mean that Cody Ford is going to slide in and back up both tackles, which is a viable substitute. Cody is so versatile he's worth his weight in gold. And then you have Andrew Coker and Javon Foster on the practice squads now, and I've never been a fan of practice squads, never really followed them, but man, it is so important to have a good 16 roster practice squad with guys like Coker and Foster on. We just signed him from Kansas City.

Speaker 3: 19:59

So one of the things I really like about the Bengals on this situation, kenny, is our second-team receivers Charlie Jones, which is going to return, punts Jermaine Burton, which is kind of an enigma right now. Nobody really knows what's going on with Jermaine. But the one that really really I think is surprising is Mitchell Tinsley, who had a big, big game at Washington in a preseason and he comes from Washington. But those three receivers combined with you know who Cincinnati already has and you know Iosevich and Higgins and Chase, you know. And then we just have Noah Fant. We just signed from Seattle, along with Kosicki. You know we have a lot of weapons and I think it's just going to be too much. We've always had a game plan for Myles Garrett and you know what that is and what that's going to look like this year. I couldn't tell you. But I just think we have a little bit of too many weapons for, uh, for Cleveland this year.

Speaker 2: 21:20

I got to ask did you watch the quarterback thing that was on Netflix?

Speaker 3: 21:25

I did.

Speaker 2: 21:26

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:26

I did. And you know, joe, um, joe's always one of the. I mean, joe Joe can be one of those guys walking down the sidewalk and you're just like man, that guy kind of looks familiar, but he's just I don't want to call him a fly under the radar guy, because that's what he's been really all of his life, but I just think he's one of those guys. He knows what he wants, he knows how to win, he knows what it takes to win and he's one of those guys that you just can't count him out.

Speaker 3: 22:01

I really like the signing of Joe Flacco, instead of leaving it up to two rookies for Cleveland. And sure enough, what's Joe Flacco do? Joe Flacco does what he always does, which is, you know, he's like a bad penny. I mean, he always turns up, you know, and he's always there and I mean he's going to throw an interception just because his arm and that quick twitch muscle fiber, you know, just isn't maybe right there, like it used to be with that cannon that he had, but it's still enough there that you've got to respect it. So, um, you know, I like the fact that they have joe flacco and and there too as well yeah I I really think that you know they've got to have a running back.

Speaker 2: 22:49

I know quinshawn judkins I I don't even know if he's even signed yet you know he's a situation where maybe he can help them, but they've got to have some sort of a running game to go with Flacco or it's going to be a long season for the offense. I think a good chunk of last season I think they maybe at best averaged 14 points a game and that ain't going to win very many games in the NFL this year, that's for sure.

Speaker 3: 23:19

Well, here's an interesting fact that you know. You mentioned running game in cleveland and I I just want to throw this out because this is this is this is something that I think we need to see more of. Nick chubb, all right, just donated five million dollars to the homeless shelters across Cleveland and his whole response was Cleveland gave me everything in my life and I just couldn't sleep at night knowing that there's families in Cleveland that are sleeping out on the street and I mean that's that really says something about the character to Nick Chubb. In my opinion, you can do the flip side of that too. I mean, I think Trey Hendrickson just came through and did something similar down in Cincinnati with the Homeless Softers down there as well.

Speaker 3: 24:13

So I really like seeing these NFL players having their own foundations. You know, I know Teddy Karras has a Teddy care, a six one, four foundation down there. Uh, trey has his stuff. Nick Chubb apparently still has his stuff going on up there in Cleveland. You know, to me it's just more than Ohio. Um, you know an I 71 game, um, you know, I think it's uh, people about people taking care of other people in Ohio. And you know an I 71 game, um, you know I think it's uh people about people taking care of other people in Ohio, and you know we really can't lose in this situation.

Speaker 2: 24:43

Right and Chuck, I don't know. I I understand he had a serious injury and he may have lost the stuff and stuff in it and professional sports or businesses, but Cleveland made a mistake when they didn't bring him back. They should have done whatever they could to get a situation where he's he's a part of, because he would probably be the starting running back right now if he was still in Cleveland.

Speaker 3: 25:08

I agree, and it's a business.

Speaker 3: 25:12

It is. It's a business and I think we're. We found that out with Cincinnati. Cincinnati and Cleveland are kind of middle-of-the-market teams. I mean we don't have a lot of the money that a Jerry Jones might have and this, that and the other, but we've showed that we're going to go out there and pay people. I mean it might take forever to get done, people might knock our franchise. You know, boomer Esiason might get mad because he's in the ring of fame and he has to pay his own plane fare to the Hall of Fame thing. But you know, at the end of the day, I mean the Brown family is the Brown family.

Speaker 3: 25:52

You know what you're going to get. You know what you're going to get with the Browns we're going to get. You know what you're going to get with the Browns. We're going to bring passionate fan bases to the thing or to the game. We all want to win. We all want to get back to the Super Bowl. We all want to get to the Super Bowl. We want to take our place in history. I don you know. So I don't know It'll be fun.

Speaker 2: 26:20

Yes, it'll be a lot of fun this weekend and please be sure to check us out every week as we put out a new episode. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and leave us a review and, if you want, tell your friends about us. Tell we like to hear what they have to say. Chris, you want to close it out for us today?

Speaker 3: 26:42

yeah, absolutely kenny. I'm just um, I'm happy to be doing, uh, doing the podcast with you. Not only is it um something that two retired guys can sit back and uh, former coaches and you know we've both been head coaches for um uh in sports for decades uh as well, and you know, it's just something that maybe we see, that maybe somebody else might not see um, and maybe somebody from ESPN's not recording, or um, you know, 11 Warriors, or uh, cincy Jungle, um, you know all these different things that we see, um, we're going to try to bring up to you guys and get your thoughts on it. We are going to plan on I'll have some guests, um on the show that uh, kenny and I um are familiar with and have contacts with. So it's going to be fun to just sit back and, um, you know, on your drive home, uh, listen to our podcast and, um, you know, on your drive home, listen to our podcast and, you know, get your opinions on things too, as well.

Speaker 2: 27:40

SOB podcast scarlet, orange and brown.

Speaker 3: 27:44

SOB, SOB.

Speaker 2: 27:46

For Chris Huseman I'm Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening you.