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.

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, Briggs takes us down to Doyt Perry Stadium, where Pudge the Cat and Eddie George’s “special forces” have people peeking at the peregrines from bleachers to blankets.

Phil takes us to the scholastic level with the completion of Under The Helmet. The Blade’s third edition of its yearly high school football training camp documentary series covered the Whitmer Panthers.

We get a who’s who of Kalamazoo in anticipation of the Rockets visit to Western Michigan University, and at least half of the show has the Wolverines on upset alert in Lincoln, Nebraska.

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.

Bowling Green’s unlikely anti-Falcon hero Pudge the Cat takes precedent over the likes of Blair Underwood’s first road test for the Wolverines, Chip Traynum’s breakout performance for the Rockets, and the most band per capita at any college football game this year when Grambling St. visited Ohio State on alumni band day.

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.

The first guest of the year of Toledo Rockets beat writer Kyle Rowland. He and Briggs were in Kentucky for Toledo’s disappointing fall to the Wildcats.

After the running the inside track on horse racing history and referee standards, we revisit Arch Manning’s first trip to the Horseshoe in Columbus, Bryce Underwood’s first start on the Big House in Ann Arbor, and lightning striking twice for the first or third time, depending on you cut it, for Eddie George and his BGSU Falcons.

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.

Welcome back to the second season of Heart of the Rivalry, your favorite show to cover the heart of college football through the sports own treasured programs of Ohio State, Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green.

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast that is available on all major platforms.

The weekly show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, with co-host/producer Phil Kaplan.

Expectations soar for Ohio State and Toledo, while excitement reverberates through Bowling Green and their Heisman Trophy winning coach Eddie George.

Michigan starts the season in infamy making more headlines in the news than in sports. But the Wolverines have beaten Ohio State four straight seasons, and are just one removed from their own title, so Ann Arbor isn’t necessarily gnashing.

That said, no on-field action looms larger than Arch Manning and his Texas Longhorn-aires visiting Columbus to play the beyond loaded Buckeyes to start the season.

And that is where Heart of the Rivalry plants its flag with this first full episode.

All that and more will come from your favorite college football show — the only one to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Ohio State and Michigan, as well as Bowling Green and Toledo.

It’s STILL championship week at HOTR.

Heart of the Rivalry is a Blade-produced YouTube series and podcast that is available on all major platforms.

The weekly college football show is led by The Blade’s sports columnist, David Briggs, and co-host/producer Phil Kaplan.

The season, for all its great gravy's worth, has ended in a championship for THE Ohio State Buckeyes.

Briggs was there and takes us through the bends of the roller coaster championship game, and how it all folds up into a neat little package we call a season.

Phil was not there, but is on his own roller coaster after one of the funnest college football seasons, in general, wrapped up and along with it the first season of Heart of the Rivalry.

We go through some show highlights and of course make wildly speculative predictions for next season.

All that and more will come from your new favorite college football show — the only one to cover exclusively the rivalry programs of Ohio State and Michigan, as well as Bowling Green and Toledo.