Ryen Russillo says stupid things

Submitted by kyle.aaronson on January 11th, 2023 at 7:36 PM

I listen to sports podcasts while doing chores around the house, driving to work, exercising, etc.

Today, I was doing the dishes and listening to Ryen Russillo's podcast (knowing I shouldn't have, cause some of his takes about college football drive me absolutely bananas) recapping the National Championship Game with Trent Dilfer. Russillo said two things that (a) really grinded my gears, and (b) I thought were totally ridiculous.

(1) "Yeah, man, [Georgia] was playing the right team, even if, like we all thought, the Peach Bowl [Georgia vs Ohio State] was the national title."

(2) "Ya know, 'flukey' always feels a little insulting, but there was like three specific busted plays in that Ohio State-Michigan game where I was like, 'What the hell happened there?' Like, if Ohio State and Michigan played 10 times, what do you think the record would be? Cause I don't think it'd be 5-5. I think Ohio State would win more of those games."

Dude.

What the hell are you talking about?

Those busted plays came from Jim Knowles' strategy to play balls-to-the-wall, aggressive-as-hell defense, despite having a secondary that can't do that. When Knowles recognized that wouldn't work and adjusted to a more conservative defense, Michigan just shredded them on the ground in the second half. They ended up winning by three scores in Columbus, and you read that as a fluke?

Then, Ohio State only makes the playoffs because USC face-plants in the PAC-12 championship game, but your take is still that Georgia-Ohio State was the national championship?

And, then, the icing on the cake is that you won't give Michigan the same benefit of the doubt when they had multiple "flukey" plays against TCU (and ref stuff)?

Get outta here.

(Obviously, there's no reason for me to get upset about a national jabroni's takes, but I did anyway.)

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CRISPed in the DIAG

January 11th, 2023 at 8:05 PM ^

I love Rusillo but he was consistently downgrading Michigan all year. Like, to the point where i wondered if he applied and didnt get admitted (kidding...sort of). Hes an unapologetic SEC guy and considers OSU/Clemson to be ex officio SEC. 

The only thing to do is point at the scoreboard. That's basically Klatt did when he was on the show a few weeks ago. 

Joined: 11/08/2010

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Newton Gimmick

January 11th, 2023 at 8:17 PM ^

Man I forgot that guy existed.  Would occasionally hear him on national sports blather radio years ago and I think he personally was the final nail in the coffin of any belief I ever had in meritocracy.

Joined: 05/06/2015

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lilpenny1316

January 11th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^

I've heard quite a few people on radio say the UGA-OSU game was the national championship game. Then someone else comes behind them and points out 45-23 and then there's all these FCC violations for dead silence on the air.

I listen to ESPNU radio because those are mostly former players and coaches hosting the shows. And the non-former athletes are college sports lifers that offer up reasonable takes.

Joined: 11/19/2009

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Rhino77

January 11th, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^

Didn’t he get busted passed out naked in a strangers cabin? Something like that. He doesn’t watch the Big Ten. 2 years in a row, a win on road is not “fluky” 

Sometimes it’s just odd matchups. Where does one team beat another? 

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sleeper

January 11th, 2023 at 8:59 PM ^

Chris Russo said on his show that due to their close loss to Georgia, he feels Ohio State should feel better about their season than Michigan… and in fact feels they had a better season than Michigan! That is why you don’t take anything these “national” guys says about college football seriously, they really only talk in depth about it 1-2 games a year, much like their bad takes leading up to and throughout March Madness. 

Joined: 11/02/2013

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duffman is thr…

January 11th, 2023 at 9:40 PM ^

That’s so stupid. I listen to national fox sports radio a lot in my car. I haven’t really heard this take much of at all personally. Most of the guys that matter at all understand we’ve owned them two years in a row and have an excellent shot at a third. I used to think this guy was okay years ago when he was paired with Van Pelt. Didn’t realize he was back in radio after getting arrested. 

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RickSnow

January 11th, 2023 at 8:59 PM ^

Pro tip: don’t listen to the guy who got fired from ESPN because he showed up shitfaced and naked in a random person’s house 

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mgeoffriau

January 11th, 2023 at 9:23 PM ^

Honestly, I love it. Keep it coming. Print these pieces out and mail them to Ryan Day. I hope OSU fans are absolutely eating this stuff up, and will be just as flabbergasted when we paste them again next year.

Joined: 01/01/2013

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MDot

January 11th, 2023 at 9:35 PM ^

Russillo never thought the team was as good as it’s record. Several of the national folks didn’t. Most of it dealt w/ how they felt about JJ. They are much lower on him than local/B1G media. It is what it is. Their opinions don’t affect the outcomes of games. 

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DHughes5218

January 11th, 2023 at 9:42 PM ^

To be fair, once we lost to TCU, Georgia vs. OSU became the national championship game. TCU needed every break in the world to beat us and they would need it all to happen again just to be in the game with Georgia. Two pick sixes and a fumble at the goal line and if we would have had another 45 seconds, we would’ve still won despite those 21 points. Not to mention that OSU should have beaten Georgia. It’s great that we won the Big Ten and made the playoffs again, but this was absolutely a year we should’ve won the national championship.

Joined: 10/04/2014

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MGoChicago5

January 11th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^

The "take away the big plays" take is so bad it doesn't even warrant response. On the other hand, if you take away most of Michigan's points then Ohio State actually won the game. 

 

Joined: 03/23/2021

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L'Carpetron Do…

January 11th, 2023 at 9:50 PM ^

I think that is a bogus take for sure. But I also think that Michigan blew it by taking Ohio State's defensive game plan and applied it to TCU. They were ready for every blitz and then Michigan didn't cover its ass and they got bombed for big plays. Michigan is definitely a better team than Ohio State and TCU but they absolutely shot themselves in the foot. Probably the only team that could give Georgia a game, but here we are. And we can only wonder what could've been. 

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B-Nut-GoBlue

January 11th, 2023 at 10:13 PM ^

Always had a soft spot for Rusillo.  It's his opinion man.  It's many people's opinions.  Doesn't mean they're right.  Especially in 2023 with trashy short term memories.  At least he believes his take versus the other infamous hot-takers who still clog cable channels with takes they can't possibly belive but draw clicks and views.

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chatster

January 12th, 2023 at 1:23 AM ^

Ohio State played poorly against Michigan and very well against Georgia in games that mattered. Michigan played very well against Ohio State and poorly against TCU in games that mattered.

Maybe Ohio State would've beaten Michigan if they'd played again a month later and maybe Michigan would've beaten TCU if they'd played again a week later. Maybe Ohio State would've beaten TCU in the semifinal and Georgia in the championship game if the playoff matchups had been different, but we'll never know.

Maybe USC would've beaten Utah in the Pac-12 championship game and made the playoffs if Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams hadn't played with a hamstring injury during most of that game, and Ohio State would've been playing Utah in the Rose Bowl. We'll never know.

But THIS we do know: Michigan finished the season with a 13-1 record; Ohio State finished 11-2. 

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GRRBlue

January 12th, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^

Unlike others, who are only happy when they are negative, I don’t mind the post.  It’s the off-season so let’s keep talking football.  If someone is on a blog, they seemingly do not have anything better to do at that time. If it was such a waste of someone’s precious time to read a post, don’t comment.  Just move on.

Now, I am sure Russilo drew analogies to Don Brown and performed the same analysis.  Or not.

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