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.

This week is rivalry week number one.

The Rockets will travel south to Doyt Perry Stadium for a noon tilt with Eddie George’s Falcons and one cat.

Briggs has the insights and inside info as each team comes off a bye-week to prepare for their rival.

Will Pudge the Cat be fan-manned in at the last second? No. But does he have a busy schedule on gameday?

Busier than Phil’s — who looks to over-emphasize UT’s de-emphasizing of the idea of a big game being just any game, without understanding why over-investing emotion can lead to meandering performance and sideways results.

Ohio State and Michigan get notes of efficiency, but all eyes remain on the rocket pointed at BG’s campus in this episode.

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 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.

This week, we give out mid-term grades.

Dave is dismissive of Wolverine and Buckeye future foes, accepting of BG’s woes, and TBD on whether Toledo has its ducks in a row.

Phil is a forgiving instructor, but there’s an increasing amount of evidence of grade inflation for favorites.

Cameo conversations run the gamut of Guardians vs. Tigers, the Lions and the team they played that claims to be professionals out of Cleveland, and a surprising like-to-like comparison of Phil’s accomplishments compared to Eddie George’s.

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 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.

This week, Dave regales us with the gale forces behind the Rockets trip to Kalamazoo. The road loss by 2-point-conversion was so fraught with doom, a biblical storm was going to end the game whether UT won it or lost it. But with a 99.9 per cent win likelihood according to ESPN models when W. Michigan had a 4th-and-10 near the 50 yard line and barely 2 minutes to go, lighting struck.

It was so bad, Phil wanted to talk baseball or the Browns, where a couple more 99.9 per cent phantoms haunt outcomes.

And through those diversions, we once again observed the unique prism of fan-hood that makes Toledo such a compelling and confusing sports town, with its split fan bases and split personal allegiances taking up residency in any household.

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.