Good BAD morning: Michigan thoughts, receiver depth, Julian Sayin and old QBs

Recapping what Bill and Doug put out last week

Hey BAD subscribers, welcome to our new weekly newsletter. We’ll send this to you every Monday morning with links to what you might have missed from the previous week.

I’m Nick Taylor. I grew up in Cleveland and have been an Ohio State fan my entire life. Some of my earliest memories are connected to the Buckeyes: riding in the car with my dad, windows down, blasting “Hang on Sloopy” on the way home after a big win. For years, Bill and Doug have been my source for Buckeye football and feelings. I am a college student studying sports marketing, and I recently started working with Bill and Doug to help out as needed so they can focus on creating content.

I will be sending out this newsletter with some highlights from their articles and podcasts from the past week, written from the perspective of an educated, dedicated, and loyal Ohio State football fan just like you.

My article pick this week

The way Bill breaks down the history of the receiver position since Ryan Day has been the head coach sheds some light on the uniqueness of the current situation in the receiver room.

My podcast pick this week

Setting Ohio State football standards: Beating Michigan, making the playoff, winning national titles (Subscriber only)

I was excited to hear the survey results from Buckeye fans on how many times Ohio State is expected to beat Michigan in the next 10 matchups. I’ll be honest, I was surprised by the results. Although many fans answered 10, the average was much lower. Maybe it’s because I grew up in an era when, by the time I graduated high school, I had only seen the Buckeyes drop one game to the Wolverines, and that was the 2011 Luke Fickell season. But I would’ve picked 10.

Reminder: You can access the audio for our subscriber shows on Apple Podcasts or Spotify by being a subscriber and following the steps listed here under the heading “subscriber-only podcasts.”

Other podcasts this week

• Sunday Soundoff: OSU player leadership, bye week considerations, pitching us to the Big Ten Network, and is the pace of play revolution fast or slow? (Subscriber only).

• Around The Big Ten: Playoff teams, coaching hires, dark horses and most important players. Audrey Snyder of Inside the Lions and Matt Fortuna of The Inside Zone joined Bill and Doug for a roundtable discussion about Big Ten football.

• College Football QBs: Do you need a vet to win? The amazing QB experience returning in CFB in 2026. Bill and Doug go through the consensus way-too-early top 25 and assess the quarterback situations. There’s only one team of the top 19 that does not have an experienced starting quarterback (it’s Bama). Check out the video at the top of the newsletter.

Reminder: All of our free podcasts are available in video form on The Bill & Doug Show YouTube page. You can also find these free shows by searching for The Bill & Doug Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.

Other articles this week

• Julian Sayin will be a veteran QB — right when a veteran QB might be a necessity. Doug breaks down how the Buckeye quarterback fits into this new world where seemingly everyone has an old quarterback.

• A brief history of Ohio State freshman snaps. What happened in 2025? What’s ahead in 2026? I am curious to see whether Ryan Day will lean into giving freshmen more playing time this season to prevent losing so much young, largely untested talent to the transfer portal.

• Drawing up a contract between fans and Ohio State football; relating to transfers in this era: Mailbag. This article got me thinking about the future and whether OSU athletic director Ross Bjork will do right by the fans while striving to increase revenue and stay competitive in the new world of NIL.