Heart of the Rivalry

Heart of the Rivalry: Happy New Year, Losers!

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan. It’s the final episode of HOTR season 2, all our teams lost. So Dave and Phil are out on the street hustling again until two-a-days.  Dave tells about his trip to Dallas to see Ohio State undressed by an ill-intentioned Miami team. He sees nothing but good things surrounding Michigan’s head coach hire in Kyle Whittingham. Phil remains obsessed with Toledo’s trip to the Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Baked Beans, believing it to be the only contest where the game’s MVP was ejected.  HOTR then looks ahead to next year, wildly throwing the dice of speculation against any wall.  Cameos include John Cooper (again), Bo Schembechler, Suge Knight, the hopes and dreams of another Cleveland Browns offseason in tumult, the nightmare that is the transfer portal, Elon the college, Curt Cignetti, Urban Meyer, Lane Kiffin, Ferris State, and as much college football lore as we can muster for this season.  All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.

Heart of the Rivalry: The unmooring of Sherrone Moore meets the magic of Mike Jacobs

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan. In this episode, it’s the last episode of the 2025 calendar year for our hosts, and it has turned out to be a doozy.  Dave gives us the full detail of Michigan’s firing of Sherrone Moore and the disgraceful fallout that has taken all of the college football headlines for all the wrong reasons.  Phil was first to meet Toledo’s newest hiring, coach Mike Jacobs, who arrived at Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport last week. The Maumee native has climbed from the most unheralded of college football corners, and this appears to be a feel-good story for all the right reasons. Cameos include Wolverine athletic director Warde Manuel, Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka, Big Ten wideouts Jeremiah Smith and Makai Lemon on the weight of Fred Belitnikoff, Biff Poggi, Jim Harbaugh, People’s Court reporter Doug Llewelyn, and all the salacious scandal you can handle.  All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.

Heart of the Rivalry: Like a flame to a Candle

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan. In this episode, Dave takes us through all the nooks and crannies of Jason Candle’s exit from the Rockets to the UConn Huskies after 17 years with the program, 10 as head coach.  Phil has a limited impression of an SEC hot-take artist, and teaches Dave how to correctly pronounce Louisville.  We learn about a winter bowl game the used to happen in Toledo, and we find out if the Buckeyes simply must lose a game 13-10 in order to be successful in the playoffs.  Cameos include “fun-tivities,” Curt Cignetti as the ‘ciggernaut,’ Angela Lansbury, Shedeur Sanders, all the UT coordinators Dave can name, Tampa high school lore, kicker panic, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, and Fort Collins, Colorado. All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.

Heart of the Rivalry: High-Low-Ha for OH-IO and UM

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan. In this episode, Dave recounts his reports Ohio vs. Michigan through Phil’s vacation-style recap game called High-Low-Ha, in which we find out the highest moment of the game, the lowest, and the funniest. Toledo’s regular season ends on a high note for a sad song. Bowling Green is onto off-season schemes. The Big Ten championship game looms ahead of Ohio State, and a bowl outside of the playoff for Michigan can still be a launch pad for next season.  But all eyes remain mostly on The Game. Michigan’s stadium became a living snow globe. Brutus got more run in the end zone than the Wolverines. And the bands played on.  Cameos include OSU standout lineman from Toledo Luke Montgomery, UT basketball coach Tod Kowalczy and Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel’s connection to the official head-butt of the year by Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham, 1960s Brutus, Tom Brady’s glasses, Derek Jeter, Eddie George, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, and more! All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.

Heart of the Rivalry: Ohio State and Michigan predictions, hunches, and ghosts of The Game

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast available on all major platforms that covers the heart of college football through the sport’s own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green. The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan. In this episode, The Game is here. Ohio State will play Michigan in Ann Arbor for the 122nd edition of college football’s rivalry-iest rivalry.  Dave sets the stakes with some historic quotes from both sides of the border. Phil’s hat says more than he does, though armed with more stats than usual — they are perhaps kept inside the giant hat. Toledo look to take care of business against Central Michigan, and hope for the weirdest series of dominoes to fall to end up in the MAC title game. As always with the Rockets, hat or no hat, confounding stats surround them. Find out what other great stat where Toledo is top-10 nationally.   Bowling Green will wrap up its 2025 campaign Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. as a 3-score favorite against UMAss, the only winless team left in FBS college football.  Cameos include the flag-planting incident of 2024, weather in the form of “precip,” Earl Bruce (again), John Cooper (again), the suddenly questionable Carnell Tate, Michigan’s psychological lock on the Buckeyes, and the extra dramatic, unique nature of this year’s edition of The Game.  All that and more from Heart of the Rivalry, the only show to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Bowling Green and Toledo, as well as Michigan and Ohio State.