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BONUS: How Has Texas Been So Effective In Limiting Jeremiah Smith? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Here we go. Bonus show number three with Texas head
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: coach Steve Sarkeesian in the lead up to the Buckeyes
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  Speaker 1: showdown with number one Ohio State getting ready to face
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  Speaker 1: number four Texas. This time we're going to be talking
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  Speaker 1: about the Texas defense and a few other sort of
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  Speaker 1: general thoughts and general trends. So let's start with one
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  Speaker 1: area where Texas has been very successful. They're 0-2 against
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State the last two years, but man, it feels
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  Speaker 1: like they're kind of 2-0 in terms of limiting Jeremiah Smith.
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  Speaker 1: He has just seven catches for 46 yards in the
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  Speaker 1: last two games against Texas. Now, Stark was asked, what
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  Speaker 1: makes Jeremiah Smith special, but also why they've been so
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  Speaker 1: successful in limiting him?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I think one, he garners your attention
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  Speaker 2: and he deserves our attention. It's arguably the best player
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  Speaker 2: in college football. And the challenge is with him, it's
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  Speaker 2: the size, speed, catch radius, you know. He's a big
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  Speaker 2: physical guy who can cover a lot of ground in
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  Speaker 2: a short amount of time. And it doesn't always look
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  Speaker 2: like it, but it almost feels like it. Like you
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  Speaker 2: can feel his presence on the field. I know I
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  Speaker 2: said this about Cam, but we were talking about Cam's
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  Speaker 2: catch radius. When you just talk about body structure, this
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  Speaker 2: guy looks like Julio Jones. This guy looks like A.J. Brown,
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  Speaker 2: like when it physically– And he can cover ground. And
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  Speaker 2: then because he's so strong, 50-50 catches are very difficult
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  Speaker 2: with him. And so, you know, you have to have
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  Speaker 2: a plan. But I think like anything, when you have
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  Speaker 2: a plan against somebody like him, you can't just throw
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  Speaker 2: all fastballs. You know, even as good of a fastball
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  Speaker 2: as you have, if that's all you got.
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  Speaker 3: Sooner or later they're going to hit it.
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  Speaker 2: So we've got to be able to mix our pitches
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  Speaker 2: up and how we defend him and how we defend
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  Speaker 2: the scheme because, you know, Arthur– And Ryan, they believe
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  Speaker 2: in running the ball, and they've got a good runner
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  Speaker 2: and a good old line.
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  Speaker 3: They've got other weapons.
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  Speaker 2: And so we've got to be diligent in having our
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  Speaker 2: ability to throw different pitches and then be sound in
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  Speaker 2: the back end to make sure that we're aware of
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  Speaker 2: where number four is.
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  Speaker 3: And he garners that.
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  Speaker 2: Not every game do you go into where you say, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we need to know where this guy is every snap.
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  Speaker 3: We better know where number four is on every snap.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State fans will remember that their team knocked off
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  Speaker 1: the Texas Longhorns in the semifinals of the 2024 college
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  Speaker 1: football playoff run. But some people might not remember they
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  Speaker 1: also lost to another team in the semifinals the year
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  Speaker 1: before that. That time it was the Washington Huskies in
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  Speaker 1: their final year in the Pac-12 knocking off Texas in
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  Speaker 1: the semifinals. How long did it take Sark to get
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  Speaker 1: over losing just one game from the national championship game
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  Speaker 1: in back-to-back years?
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  Speaker 3: They're tough. I'll be honest with you. They're tough. You know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think it would probably have been easier to get over
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  Speaker 2: if we had just gotten blown out.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I think when you.
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  Speaker 2: Get so close, you know, when you have a fourth
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  Speaker 2: down against Washington with a fade to A.D. Mitchell, that's
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  Speaker 2: off his fingertips that if he catches it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: for a little better pass, maybe they call a holding.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know, like, that you're playing for a national title.
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  Speaker 2: I think back to the Ohio State game and I
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  Speaker 2: look at like, I can count them on one hand,
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  Speaker 2: plays that maybe were difference making plays in the game.
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  Speaker 2: The screen at the end of the first half, I
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  Speaker 2: still see Travion Henderson running in front of me. I
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  Speaker 2: still think to his 21-17 and I think to the
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  Speaker 2: sack fumble that they run back. And so when you're
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  Speaker 2: that close, it's probably harder to get over. But like
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  Speaker 2: I say it a lot, that's the life of a competitor.
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  Speaker 2: And we're very fortunate to put ourselves in that arena,
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  Speaker 2: to put ourselves on that stage. And I wouldn't want
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  Speaker 2: it any other way than to be on that stage.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot of other people that were sitting at
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  Speaker 2: home on their couch, watching us play in that game.
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  Speaker 3: And You know, the goal is to win that one
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  Speaker 3: and then win one more.
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  Speaker 2: And we've got to do everything in our power to
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  Speaker 2: try to put ourselves back in those positions to be
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  Speaker 2: even better if we're fortunate enough to be in that
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  Speaker 2: situation again.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier in the week, we talked to Ryan Day about
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  Speaker 1: how Ohio State and Texas, how those games had come
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  Speaker 1: down to goal line situations. And Sark was asked about
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  Speaker 1: that as well. Obviously, they've been on the other side
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  Speaker 1: of those and it hasn't gone as well in several situations.
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  Speaker 1: So those goal-to-go situations where they've struggled at times against
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State, does he feel like they've added the right
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  Speaker 1: people to get over the hump there?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think there's a, you know, when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to those scenarios, personnel helps, schemes help, the right
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  Speaker 2: play call at the right time helps, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: mentality helps. It all adds up because they've got good scheme,
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  Speaker 2: they've got good players, they got good play callers. And
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  Speaker 2: so it's that, it's the marriage of those two things
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  Speaker 2: coming together. you know, ultimately we need to be better
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  Speaker 2: in those scenarios, you know, and you just think about
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  Speaker 2: these last two games we played them. That was probably
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  Speaker 2: the difference in the ball game was our inability to
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  Speaker 2: score inside the 10. And so, you know, that's why
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  Speaker 2: we do the extra work. That's why you play certain
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  Speaker 2: emphasis on different seasons of where do we need to improve?
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  Speaker 2: You know, hopefully this time around we get more opportunities
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  Speaker 2: like that and we can capitalize on them.
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  Speaker 1: Sark is one of relatively few head coaches at that
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  Speaker 1: real high level who still calls his own plays when
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  Speaker 1: he goes back and evaluates the last two games against
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State. How did he feel he did in those
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  Speaker 1: two games? And how does that and lessons learned there
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  Speaker 1: maybe impact the plan for Saturday?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I.
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  Speaker 2: Felt like last year, you know, unbeknownst to probably more
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  Speaker 2: of the national media, we ran the ball really well.
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  Speaker 2: I think people think we just went out there and
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  Speaker 2: laid an egg and had minus 10 yards rushing or something.
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  Speaker 3: We ran the ball pretty well.
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  Speaker 2: I felt like the passing game was not where it
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  Speaker 2: needed to be.
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  Speaker 3: The first two and a half, three quarters or so
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  Speaker 3: in that game.
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  Speaker 2: Then when you get behind, you got to start throwing
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  Speaker 2: the ball and now you got to try to find
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  Speaker 2: your way into the end zone. And I felt like
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  Speaker 2: we had some opportunities and we just didn't get that done.
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  Speaker 2: Two years ago, I think the run game was where
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  Speaker 2: we didn't have as much success as we would have liked.
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  Speaker 2: So what does that tell me? I got to find
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  Speaker 2: a way to find balance in this game. You know,
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  Speaker 2: when you're playing really good teams, which Ohio State is
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  Speaker 2: a very good football team, you have to try to
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  Speaker 2: find a way to have balance in the game because
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  Speaker 2: the coaches are too good. The players are too good.
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  Speaker 2: The players are too smart. And when you become one dimensional,
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  Speaker 2: you're that much easier to stop. And so finding balance
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  Speaker 2: in a game like this is important. You know, We
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  Speaker 2: hit a few of those passes. I probably feel a
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  Speaker 2: little better about me as a play caller in those games.
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  Speaker 2: You don't hit them. Oh, I don't feel quite as good.
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  Speaker 2: You know, that's kind of the life of a play caller.
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  Speaker 2: That's the way it goes.
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  Speaker 1: You know, one of the players who's going to be
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  Speaker 1: tasked with trying to defend Jeremiah Smith and the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the Ohio State wide receivers is Bo Masco. That
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  Speaker 1: is a name that Ohio State fans might recognize because
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  Speaker 1: he had previously played at Rutgers. He played at Ohio
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  Speaker 1: Stadium against the Buckeyes last fall. So what did Bo
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  Speaker 1: Masco bring to Texas and how does he fit into
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  Speaker 1: their plan for this game?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I think that those are always things because
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  Speaker 2: you're trying to find comps, right?
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  Speaker 3: You know, I get.
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  Speaker 2: Our regular season schedule, but also I'm trying to think
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  Speaker 2: big picture, right? If what we're trying to do is
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  Speaker 2: go win a national championship, you know, who are we
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  Speaker 2: going to have to defend? Who are we going to
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  Speaker 2: have to block in November, December, and January? And And
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  Speaker 2: so for Bo to have a performance like he had
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  Speaker 2: against Ohio State a year ago, that's helpful because Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State's a perennial playoff team. At some point, if we
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  Speaker 2: don't play them in the regular season, if we're fortunate
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  Speaker 2: enough to make the playoffs, you're probably going to have
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  Speaker 2: to play an Ohio State caliber team or teams in
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  Speaker 2: the playoff. And so that's helpful for us to know.
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  Speaker 2: I think for Bo, one thing that for some of
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  Speaker 2: our newer players, I don't know if it's 107 in–
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  Speaker 2: where's Rutgers?
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  Speaker 3: What's that?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if it was 107 degrees in Piscataway
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  Speaker 2: this past weekend. So playing in those conditions is a
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  Speaker 2: little bit different and playing two positions. He was playing
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  Speaker 2: corner and star. We were trying to work that rotation.
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  Speaker 2: So I just think his kind of footing, let's refer
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  Speaker 2: to it as, of playing under those conditions and what
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  Speaker 2: that feels like from an energy standpoint, I think he'll
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  Speaker 2: be much better second time around. Not that he played bad,
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  Speaker 2: but I think he can be even better.
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  Speaker 1: A name you're going to hear a bunch this week
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  Speaker 1: is Texas linebacker Raheem Biles. He is a Pickerington Central
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  Speaker 1: High School grad, so a Central Ohio kid, but he
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  Speaker 1: did not get an offer from Ohio State coming out
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  Speaker 1: of high school. He went to Pitt instead, turned into
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  Speaker 1: a star with the Pitt Panthers, and then transferred to
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  Speaker 1: Texas instead of going to Ohio State after last season.
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  Speaker 1: So what does Raheem Biles bring to the Texas defense?
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  Speaker 1: Because he had a monster first week, five tackles, half
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  Speaker 1: a tackle for loss. forced to fumble, had an interception.
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  Speaker 1: He did a little bit of everything for Texas. It
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  Speaker 1: feels like one way or another, he is going to
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  Speaker 1: be a big story this weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this guy, he is a problem. He's a problem
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  Speaker 2: because he has his unique skill set. In high school,
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  Speaker 2: this guy was a DB, so he's got coverage skills.
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  Speaker 3: He's got.
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  Speaker 2: Route recognition, but on top of that, he's got instincts
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  Speaker 2: that are Hard to quantify, if that's the right word
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  Speaker 2: to use there, because, like, the screen he gets the
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  Speaker 2: interception on, they were trying to deceive us with a
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  Speaker 2: bolt motion by the running back with a kind of
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  Speaker 2: a tunnel screen coming back inside, and he sees it,
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  Speaker 2: puts his foot in the ground. But there's certain guys that, like,
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  Speaker 2: the ball finds them, or you can say they find
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  Speaker 2: the ball, right? There's this, like, weird, like.
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  Speaker 3: Which one is, it?
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  Speaker 2: Um, because he almost recovers the fumble that Marad causes too.
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  Speaker 2: Not to mention, there's not many guys that are in
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  Speaker 2: a hole where there's about a five yard space that
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  Speaker 2: would think here comes a runner. And my first thought
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  Speaker 2: is I'm going to six inch punch the ball as
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  Speaker 2: I'm striking them in the face. Like Most guys are
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  Speaker 2: thinking just get him on the ground. But he plays
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  Speaker 2: the game on another level intellectually. And a lot of
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  Speaker 2: guys probably can do that. He has the skill set
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  Speaker 2: to match it, to have the ability to do that.
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  Speaker 2: And so we're fortunate because he is versatile. He can
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  Speaker 2: play in pass coverage. He can play the run. He
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  Speaker 2: can rush the quarterback. He's got ball skills. He's got instincts.
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  Speaker 2: And so all those things add up to he's a problem.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. A little bit from Sark.
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  Speaker 1: Hope you guys enjoyed that. We are going to have
• 10:49
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• 10:53
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• 10:57
  Speaker 1: up this week with our scheme insiders, Ross Fulton and
• 11:00
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• 11:03
  Speaker 1: offense recapping their first week. Michael Pettit doing a show
• 11:06
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• 11:10
  Speaker 1: also did a show. We had some questions from members
• 11:12
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• 11:15
  Speaker 1: about the Texas defense and your new defensive coordinator, Will Muschamp.
• 11:18
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