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5 Takeaways From Ohio State's Big Win Over Penn State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Monday, October twenty third. I'm your
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  host, tom Or. The Wisconsin game is in five days. The game
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  against Michigan in thirty three days. While the Ohio State Buckeyes have now moved
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  on to focusing on those Wisconsin Badgers, the Ohio State fan base they might
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  be taken another day or two to savor that twenty to twelve victory over Penn
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  State. We're going to be taking a look back at that game through the
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  help of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, Hia State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles,
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  and Penn State head coach James Franklin. What they had to say after
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  the game. You're going to be hearing directly from all three of those guys.
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  We're going to start with Ryan Day. That was one of the best
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  defensive performances of his time in Columbus. The only touchdown they gave up against
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  an offense that had put up six to three points the week before that and
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  was ranked coming the best in the nation. The only touchdown they gave up
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  that team was in the final minute when they were in prevent defense in a
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  two score game. So this was the first question of the day just to
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  Ryan Day's thoughts on that defensive performance. So he's going to have a little
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  bit of a diversion about the crowd and then the atmosphere at one point,
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  but he'll circle back to the defense. And they shouldn't have been out there
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  at the end of the end of the game. You know, that was
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  not their fault. I thought, first off, the crowd was tremendous.
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  You know, Jean brought it up. I brought it up. When when
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  the shoes rocking like that, it's it's difference maker. I thought our players
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  fed off of it. You could tangibly see it on the field. They
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  just fed off the crowd. And we got that sack on JT on that
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  fourth down. That was as loud as I've I've heard in a long time.
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  And I just felt the toughness, the physicality on defense we started off
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  with, you know, really stopping the run and then forcing them to throw
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  the ball. And you know, there's a lot of people who did a
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  lot of great things on defense, but I got to give Jim Knowles a
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  lot of credit his staff for, you know, the adjustments they've made.
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  You know, that was that was you know, two top ten wins now
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  in the first seven games where our defense played really well. And I'm happy
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  for our guys. I'm happy for the success they've had. You know,
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  they came off of the last season with a few scars, just like we
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  all did. But you're starting to see the confidence grow in a big way.
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  All Right, that was a game that grades out is at least an
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  A maybe an A plus for that Ohio State defense. How about the offense,
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  It was not quite as impressive a day, but again, much like
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  the Penn State offense, they were going up against a very good defense as
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  well. So what did Ryan Day think about the offense's performance? Yeah,
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  number one defense in a country statistically coming in, so we knew it was
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  going to be a little bit that way. I thought there were times where
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  we actually moved the ball, okay, didn't run the ball well enough and
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  didn't get enough explosive plays. We certainly, you know, could use you
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  know, Trey and and the Mecca back, but you know, we had
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  enough to win and you know, we don't score there. We we had
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  a couple of really nice plays designed for Devin and he rolled the ankle there
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  and you know, and so it was out for the game, so that
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  that kind of threw us off. You know, we still can't get in
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  on those two you know, third and fourth down plays that would have been
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  a huge difference maker. But you know, overall just you know, not
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  good enough. But I got to give Marvin Harrison so much credit, you
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  know, to to go for eleven catches for one sixty two and a touchdown
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  when you know, I would think most teams the first thing they look at
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  is how do I take away Marvin Harrison? And we targeted him sixteen times.
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  I think he was open on most sixteen of those plays. And so
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  you know, he showed up in a big spot today again. And you
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  know, I would argue to say, I haven't seen everybody play across the
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  country. That it's hard for me to find somebody who's better in the country,
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  you know. So you know, I don't know, you know,
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  how he gets on these lists or doesn't get on these lists, but to
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  me, he's one of the most special players in the country. That was
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  not a perfect game by any means for Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord. You
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  rarely see a college quarterback play perfect games. That's probably not a fair standard
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  to hold him too. But he now has a road win over Notre Dame
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  and now a home win over Penn State. So how has Ryan Day seeing
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  Kyle McCord progressed throughout the season. He took care of the ball. You
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  know, there was the one sack fumble that was a return for a touchdown.
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  So you know, if I wasn't a hole there, you know that
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  that would have been a whole different game. So we got it. We
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  got to get rid of that stuff. It was a whole well I think
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  that's why I double clutched it. But still there were some really good things
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  he kept battling in there, and you know, did enough for us to
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  win. But I know we're going to watch this film and there's still going
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  to be things that we need to grow on and then things that we did
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  well that we got to enhance. And you know, we'll watch the film
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  and on Tuesday, I'll have a better assessment of that to fight figure out
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  if you grated out a champion or not. But you know, I just
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  I know we left a lot of plays on the field today on offense,
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  and we didn't execute well on off in certain areas. Now again Number one
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  defense in a country, so you have to it's all relatives. So we'll
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  look at it, and it was good enough to win, but certainly our
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  defense put us in a great situation on offense to win. You heard Ryan
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  Day mentioned there that the defense sort of helped out the offense at some points
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  during the game. And one of the big things that they do to help
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  the offense was the defense just got off the field. Penn State was one
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  of sixteen on third down. I'm I say again, one for sixteen on
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  third down, and the one that they made came in the final minute of
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  the game. So they were zero for fifteen through the first fifty nine minutes
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  of the football game. That is crazy against the team of the caliber of
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  Penn State. So how did the Ohio State defense do that? Yeah,
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  we did a I mean one for sixteen is just tremendous and then one for
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  three on third down, so I guess it's two of what nineteen for third
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  and four thounds unbelievable job, you know. I think that was the combination
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  of the rush and the coverage. I thought Jermaine Matthews played a big time
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  game for a freshman, having a step up without having Denzel in there that
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  was big. I'll forget some guys because there was just a lot of great
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  play on defense. But you know, if we can play like this,
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  then this is that championship level defense. And if we can keep growing as
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  a team, then you know, you know, we'll be tough to beat
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  here down the road. Everyone has a different way to look at games.
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  There are people who are going to look at everything through the filter of well,
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  is this good enough to win the national championship? Is this good enough
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  to beat Michigan. There's just also a certain amount of this time of year,
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  in the words of Al Davis, just win baby, just got to
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  go one to zero each week and good things eventually will happen. That adds
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  up. This was also, though, a big win for their resume as
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  a college football playoff contender. So Briandy was asked about that and his answer
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  sort of goes to a few different places. He sort of meanders through a
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  couple of different answers as he's sort of working through it in his head.
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  But I think you're going to find the difference. I'm sure there's a couple
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  of teams out there, maybe not that have two top ten victories right now,
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  on their resume, and I think the most encouraging thing, although it's
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  like this back and forth, is you know, we come out of this
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  game thinking that, you know, we probably should have won the game by
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  a few touchdowns at least, So I'm going to wait for that tomorrow.
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  I'm going to enjoy this because it is you know, you have to find
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  these moments to enjoy, because this is a top ten win. And if
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  you said you know you're going to beat Penn State today twenty to twelve,
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  you know, where do I sign up? You know, this is a
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  good team coming in here, well coached. James does a great job.
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  Man, it does a great job on defense. You know, Mike,
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  as we know, does a great job on offense. And you know they
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  have good players, you know, NFL players all over the field. So
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  you know, like you said, the goal is to be one to zero.
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  It doesn't always look pretty at times in these games. You know,
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  I think about the last few games that we've been in against or not few
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  since I've been here, the games that we've been in against Penn State,
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  it's like it's kind of ugly early on, and then everything kind of happens
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  in the fourth quarter. I know, Jerry, you mentioned that last year,
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  like it was sixteen fourteen and the final ended up forty one to thirty
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  three or whatever it was. You know, so we we knew we had
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  to get this game into the fourth quarter. Tom and I Tommy Aikenberg mentioned
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  something in the locker room about how we have to be second half warriors and
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  if you know, we want to take the next step as a team,
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  you know, we got to finish this thing off the right way. Really
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  good leadership there. I thought Kate Stover's leadership was tremendous. Xavier Johnson had
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  to step up with a mecha out again, I thought he did. That.
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  Leadership is important in big games like this. If this was an A
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  or A plus performance for the Ohio State defense, it was probably an A
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  or A plus performance for Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison as well. He
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  had eleven catches, ten of them went for first downs. That is nuts
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  ten first downs just for one wide receiver. He also set a new Ohio
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  state record, according to spokesman Jerry emmig with his fifth game in his career
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  with one hundred and sixty receiving yards. That breaks the old mark, which
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  he had shared with David Boston. So Brian Day was asked, when you
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  have a player like Marvin Harrison Junior, what does he do to get ready?
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  How does he prepare himself for a game like that? People ask me,
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  you know, a couple of guys in this room when when they're at
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  there in the woody during a Tuesday, Wednesday or whenever they're in there,
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  say who's going to leave first? You or Marvin? I said, I
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  don't know, but I always looked before I leave the sea. I mean,
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  he's in there early in the morning, he's out there late at night.
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  Practice. We'll practice, you know, however long we practice and practice
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  gets done, you know, I'll go up and eat and he'll still be
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  out there on the jugs going through the routine. You know, he goes
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  through every play at you know, just going through it in his head.
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  He'll go out there and throw with Kyle. Then he'll get on the machine
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  that he has, which you should see this machine, and he can actually
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  feed it and then he presses the button and he shoots it to himself.
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  Coach Mick made a rule that he has to bring somebody with him. Now
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  though he can't just go on his own, but guys have embraced that,
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  and that's something that's a legacy that he'll leave behind, is his work ethic.
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  Now on to Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Knowles had an up
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  and down first season in Columbus. It was undoubtedly a significant improvement from the
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  twenty twenty one defense under Kerry Combs. That was good, But then the
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  end of the season against Michigan and Georgia, and the defense gave up more
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  than forty points in both of those games, gave up a few too many
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  big plays, and Ohio State lost both of those games. So coming into
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  this year, there was a lot of talk about limiting the big plays and
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  the fact that Knowles's defense typically get better the longer he's been at a school.
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  So what does it mean to him and to the defense to have that
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  kind of performance after the way last year? And you know, your first,
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  you're happy for the players, you know, and happy for our head
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  coach and all the fans and that they now have confidence, you know that
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  they can win the game on defense. You know, we I don't look
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  at stats, but I guess Penn State had a pretty good defense, you
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  know, So We talk to them before the game about, hey, you're
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  not just playing Penn State's offense. You're playing Penn State's defense. You know.
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  If they make one play, we got to make two. If they
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  make two, we got to make three. So it's a sense of maturity,
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  leadership. Yeah, maybe a little chip on your shoulder, you know.
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  And we've done a lot of work to have everyone have faith in us
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  for sure. Talked earlier about how Kyle McCord's performance has improved throughout the course
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  of the season. Where is the defense now as compared to the beginning of
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  the year. They know the scheme, you know, and when I make
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  adjustments during the week and the things you talked about that we had to get
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  the stops, we had to get them off schedule, and we make little
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  adjustments in the scheme, they pick up on it, you know. And
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  that's a big deal because winning those downs in a game like that is huge,
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  and that only comes with preparation and with guys who are knowledgeable about the
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  scheme. One thing that certainly Merritt's mention here is at Ohio State put that
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  before worms together against that Penn State offense, and they did it without their
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  top cornerback Denzel Burke had to sit out the game with an injury. That
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  meant that a true freshman, for freshman, Jermaine Matthews got thrust into a
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  big spot. You had Jordan Hancock playing outside in Denzel Burke spot during a
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  lot of situations, but then when they moved, they moved Burke inside in
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  passing situations. Jermaine Matthews is out there. That is a big spot for
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  a true freshman, and he really held up and really passed that first big
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  test for him. Yeah, like I said, the kids got moxie.
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  You know, I don't think he knew how big a moment it was.
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  And that's not a bad that's not a bad thing. You know. He
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  just went out and played, made some tackles, you know, didn't flinch,
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  you know, at the moment of truth. And yeah, really really
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  proud of him. He's a good player. Ohio State returned it's two starting
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  linebackers this year, and that was viewed as what probably was going to be
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  a real strength in the defense with Tommy Eikenberg and Steel Chambers, and then
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  Cody Simon sort of is that third line back and it has sort of been
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  an up and down season for those backers this year, They've had some good
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  moments, they've had some not good moments, and Cody Simon has earned a
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  bigger role as the season has moved along. Saturday against Penn State, all
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  three of those guys had a good game. That was a big day for
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  the linebackers, both against the run and the pass. That intermediate passing game
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  combined with a you know, a really strong running attack. We knew that
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  they were going to be a real focus in terms of making plays. I've
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  always had faith in them and you know they're doing the right things, and
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  then it's just, you know, it's that competitive excellence showing up when we
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  need them the most. And those guys are veterans and they showed that we
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  can count on them. So there was a lot of happiness, a lot
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  of joy in the Ohio State postgame press conference room. I can tell you
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  from having been in the past, Penn State one not so much. You
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  have all the same facts being discussed in a very different tone, in a
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  very different side of the conversation. So I want to let you hear just
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  a couple things from James Franklin about some of the things we talked about earlier
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  in the show from the Ohio State perspective that it was just kind of interesting
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  to let you hear what his view on things were. Let's start with the
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  fact that Penn State was one of sixteen on third downs. Well, I
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  think the combination of too many thirds third and longs obvious passing downs, which
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  obviously you want to stay out of and manage. But even when we did
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  have some short yardage situations, they were playing cover zero. We felt like
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  coming into this game this was one of the better short yardage defenses that we
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  had seen on film. They had a good plan and they executed it well.
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  It would probably be overly simplistic to take a game which featured two really
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  really good defenses going head to head, that was such a low scoring slugfest
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  for most of the game and boil it down to Ohio. Ohio State had
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  Marvin Harrison Junior and Penn State didn't. That's probably oversimplified, but not that
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  oversimplified, because the day of good news for the Ohio State secondary meant a
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  very frustrating day for Penn Streate Heandre Lambert Smith and the rest of the Penn
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  State receivers. Why was that such a frustrating day for Penn State. You
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  know, obviously, key Andre's kind of our most veteran guy. Same thing
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  with with Trey. Trey's been out for a couple weeks, had him back.
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  Our tight end unit's been able to do that at times, but I
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  think their combination of man coverage and the pressures they were bringing, they were
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  getting there a half second before we were able to get opened, and we
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  weren't able to make plays in those scenarios. Well, hope you guys enjoyed
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  that. Always interesting to hear from the opposing coaching staff. I feel like
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  that's something that gives you a little bit of a different perspective on the stuff
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  you're hearing from the Ohio State coaching staff. So if you like hearing from
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  the opposing coaching staff or the Ohio State coaching staff or Ohio State players,
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  you love our post game show. We do those after every game at YouTube
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  dot com slash Bucket Huddle, have Mark and Devin go on immediately after the
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  game and give you sort of their instant reaction. You get to hear the
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  Ohio State press conference with Brian interviews with players. Usually we'll give you some
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  of the the opposing coach as well, and then Tony Gerdam and I will
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  do our bucket weekly instant reaction show immediately after that. It's usually two plus
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  hours of live postgame coverage right A quite a festive evening. Madtown is a
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  fun place to watch a football game. If you've not been up there,
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  might consider making that trip this weekend. If you have the time and the
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  inclination to do so, we will be there. We will have full coverage
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  for you of the Buckeyes and the Badgers Saturday night in Madison. I can't
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  wait. Should be a fun should be a fun game. It could be
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  a fun home stretch of the college football season regular season for the Buckeyes as
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  we are about to turn the corner into November already. Somehow, I don't
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  know how that's happening here. We are already almost in November. Buckeye is
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  still undefeated, Michigan's still undefeated, both teams right at the top of the
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  college football polls, and oh man, are we setting up for a fun
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  home stretch of the college football season. Make sure you join us at Bucky
• 15:54
  Huddle dot com for all of that. Should be a very active week as
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  we talk Buckeyes and Badger to be a very active week with recruiting talk as
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  the Buckeyes had a huge weekend of visitors for that Penn State game. Plenty
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  of scheme x'es and nose talk there as well on our huddleboard at Buckeye huddle
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  dot com. Hope to see you there. Thank you guys all for joining
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  us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.