Penn State vs. Ohio State preview, Brock Bowers injury & possible collective bargaining for student athletes

Dan Wetzel, Ross Dellenger & SI’s Pat Forde take a look into this weekend’s most interesting game between Big Ten rivals Ohio State and Penn State before diving into a bevy of other college football news. Both Ryan Day and James Franklin need a win this weekend to keep their playoff hopes alive but the guys question which coach needs it more. James Franklin has yet to get his signature win at Penn State and beating Ohio State this year could give him just that. Ryan Day has been feeling the pressure after dropping two in a row to Michigan, and a loss to Penn State could put him on the hot seat for the Buckeye faithful. We get a rematch of one of last season’s craziest games on Saturday when Tennessee squares off with Alabama again. The tone of this game is different as neither team is equipped for another high-scoring affair, so the winning team needs do it in the trenches. The expectations for Alabama are significantly higher than Tennessee’s right now, so Nick Saban doesn’t want to lose two-in-a-row to the Volunteers. Georgia’s star tight end for Brock Bowers was injured in last week’s game against Vanderbilt. Bowers is expected to undergo ankle surgery in hopes to return to the team before the College Football Playoff. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer had an injury of his own this past weekend after kicking something that he shouldn’t have after losing a tight game to Florida and breaking a bone in his foot. The guys turn their focus to Dabo Swinney, who spoke out about the expectations that are put on the Clemson football team. Swinney doesn’t like that the perception that teams are losers if they’re not undefeated and hopes that a down-year can lighten up the Clemson bandwagon. After many successful seasons at Clemson, Dabo’s biggest problem seems to be that he was too successful in years past. The 10th Congressional NIL hearing took place on Tuesday and the guys tracked it intently. Ross was in attendance and got to report on the theatrics, as well as have a conversation with Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick, who believes that collective bargaining for student athletes may be coming sooner than we speak. The crew debates the pros and cons of having student athletes be considered employees and why this matter has even been elevated to the halls of congress. To close out the podcast, the world now has a new record for the spiciest pepper, as a report came out detailing the process of creating ‘Pepper X’ & the potentially dangerous aftermath of consuming it. 1:00 - Big Ten is back with Penn State vs. Ohio State 20:54 - Tennessee vs. Alabama 27:20 - Brock Bowers is out 4-6 weeks with ankle surgery 32:32 - Shane Beamer’s broken foot 34:25 - Dabo Swinney doesn’t appreciate the lofty expectations for Clemson football 37:40 - 10th Congressional NIL hearing took place Tuesday in Washington, DC 1:05:40 - New world record for hottest pepper Follow Dan @DanWetzel Follow Pat @ByPatForde Follow Ross @RossDellenger 🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube Check out all the episodes of the College Football Enquirer and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts Subscribe to the College Football Enquirer on your favorite podcast app: 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify 🖥️ YouTube 📢 Check out the Yahoo Sports podcast network or yahoosports.tv