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BONUS: Is It Really Just As Simple As 'Throw It To Jeremiah?' · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: We're back with another bonus episode, one more in advance
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  Speaker 1: of Saturday's kickoff between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers at noon
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday. In this one, you're going to get to
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  Speaker 1: hear a little bit from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day,
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  Speaker 1: some of his thoughts before that massive top five showdown
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  Speaker 1: against Indiana. We're going to start with Bo Jackson. He
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  Speaker 1: certainly has looked better the last couple of weeks. He's
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  Speaker 1: been breaking tackles, been pushing piles. Is he better off
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  Speaker 1: sharing carries as he has over the last couple weeks, or...
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  Speaker 1: If that's not it, what accounts for the better performance
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  Speaker 1: the last couple of games?
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  Speaker 2: He had a good week of work and then played
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  Speaker 2: a good game. I think that's more applicable here than
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  Speaker 2: anything else. He's worked hard again this week, so he's
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  Speaker 2: got some good momentum. We need him to be at
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  Speaker 2: his best this week. I think it more has to
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  Speaker 2: do with his preparation and what he's doing every day
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  Speaker 2: to make sure he's prepared to play in the game
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  Speaker 2: on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: Jermaine Matthews was pretty hard on himself after the Indiana game,
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  Speaker 1: big 10 championship game against Indiana last year. He of
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  Speaker 1: course gave up a long completion right sort of towards
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  Speaker 1: the end of the game to Charlie Becker that helped
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  Speaker 1: Indiana kind of seal it. So is that experience something
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  Speaker 1: he can maybe draw on heading into this weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for guys who have, um, played Indiana
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  Speaker 2: before they know what, what they're up against, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: very good team, veteran team. And, um, And so, you know,
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  Speaker 2: guys like Jermaine, you know, know that. They also know,
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  Speaker 2: you know, what's at stake here and the fact that
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  Speaker 2: it's a conference game on the road and everything like that. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's why it's great to have guys on
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  Speaker 2: the team that have been through it before and have
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  Speaker 2: the experience that you can remember as opposed to learning. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's somebody that has played against these guys
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  Speaker 2: before and knows he's got to be at his best.
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  Speaker 2: And that's really the challenge for all of us is, like,
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  Speaker 2: we all have to be at our best going into
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  Speaker 2: this game, coaches and players included, and Jermaine will be
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  Speaker 2: a big part of that.
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  Speaker 1: There are a lot of little things that could end
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  Speaker 1: up deciding this weekend's game between the Buckeyes and Hoosiers.
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  Speaker 1: One of them is how well Ohio State can protect
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  Speaker 1: Julian San. If he can stay upright and Jeremiah Smith
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  Speaker 1: has a little bit of time to run some routes,
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  Speaker 1: that could be the deciding factor in the game. But
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  Speaker 1: how is the Ohio State offense going to protect Julian San?
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  Speaker 1: There are questions about the offensive line. There are also
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  Speaker 1: questions about the running backs in pass protection. What has
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day seen from the Buckeye running backs in pass
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  Speaker 1: pro so far this year?
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  Speaker 2: I think overall, um, it's been solid. I think it
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  Speaker 2: always can be better, but there's been some good things, um,
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  Speaker 2: of guys, you know, standing in there and making some
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  Speaker 2: good blocks. The one in particular, I remember in the
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  Speaker 2: Iowa game, Jacoby did a nice job on the edge. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: but then there was another one in that game where
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  Speaker 2: we didn't communicate it well, didn't pick up one of
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  Speaker 2: the a gap. Um, so I, I think for the
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  Speaker 2: most part, in terms of assignments, we've been solid. I
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  Speaker 2: think we can always get better in terms of our technique. Um,
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  Speaker 2: but we have some guys that are willing to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: stick their nose in there and are physical. And that's
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  Speaker 2: something that, that coach Locke takes a lot of pride
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  Speaker 2: in and making sure that guys are three down backs. And, uh,
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  Speaker 2: we know how important it is, you know, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in protection as a running back, because, you know, uh,
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  Speaker 2: especially against a team like this who, you know, constantly
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  Speaker 2: tries to blitz your back. And, um, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: whole idea of simulated pressure is that they pressure your back,
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  Speaker 2: keep your back in and then get the, get everybody
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  Speaker 2: else in coverage. So, um, We know that that'll be
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  Speaker 2: a challenge this week in making sure we get the
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  Speaker 2: protections right, but also good job in terms of our
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  Speaker 2: technique when these guys are blitzing and we've got to
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  Speaker 2: pick them up.
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  Speaker 1: Last year in Indianapolis in the Big Ten Championship game,
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  Speaker 1: Julian Sane got by far the most pressure he had
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  Speaker 1: seen at that point in his young career and didn't
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  Speaker 1: particularly handle it well. So is that experience now something
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  Speaker 1: he can maybe fall back on, having seen it before
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  Speaker 1: and therefore dealing with it better this time?
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  Speaker 2: Similar to what we were saying before, when you've played
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  Speaker 2: against teams like this, you know what you're up against.
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  Speaker 2: And a very good team. And their front does a
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  Speaker 2: really good job with the twisting. And so whether it's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Carson and Luke and the guys up front,
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  Speaker 2: but also, like you said, Julian. So, yeah, this is
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  Speaker 2: an important game for all of us, an important game
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  Speaker 2: for him. And, you know, these guys do a good
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  Speaker 2: job in terms of their looks and their coverages. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I know, you know, just like everybody else,
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  Speaker 2: Julian wants to be at his best.
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  Speaker 1: Indiana's defense under defensive coordinator, Bryant Haynes is a pretty
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  Speaker 1: confusing one and a pretty challenging one for opposing quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 1: They did do a really good job disguising things pre-snap.
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  Speaker 1: So how is Julian saying doing at recognizing and evaluating
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  Speaker 1: things pre-snap and then getting the team into the right play?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think very good. Um, but there's no question
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  Speaker 2: that Indiana is a really good job post-snap of, of
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  Speaker 2: changing up the looks, uh, rolling the coverages, you know,
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  Speaker 2: in certain ways and doing different things. So, we'll have
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  Speaker 2: to trust our eyes and trust our feet. That's why
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  Speaker 2: everything we do right now in terms of preparation has
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  Speaker 2: got to be on point, making sure he understands what
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  Speaker 2: the game plan is and what we're trying to get
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  Speaker 2: done and what they do. That's the whole game within
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  Speaker 2: the game right now between two teams. As the quarterback,
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  Speaker 2: you need to have logged the most hours of watching
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  Speaker 2: film of anybody in the building. Really important. Because when
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  Speaker 2: you do, then that's when you can play fast on
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  Speaker 2: Saturdays and that's the reward. Um, and so while, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they do a great job with a lot of the
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  Speaker 2: work they do in terms of their vision and break
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  Speaker 2: and the different coverages, uh, that they can throw at
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  Speaker 2: a quarterback, uh, the more prepared you are, the more
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  Speaker 2: ready you'll be. So, um, you know, we don't get
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  Speaker 2: to choose what the coverages they're going to, they're going
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  Speaker 2: to play against us, but what we have, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we have the opportunity right now to prepare the best
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  Speaker 2: we can for, um, you know, what they're going to
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  Speaker 2: throw at us and making sure that the, the schemes
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  Speaker 2: are right and that you know he's prepared for what's
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  Speaker 2: to come.
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  Speaker 1: When you have a player as remarkable as jeremiah smith
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  Speaker 1: it's easy to say just throw it to jeremiah smith
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  Speaker 1: and sometimes it is that easy but definitely not always
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  Speaker 1: so is this a game where jeremiah smith needs to
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  Speaker 1: be the central focus of the ohio state offense it's
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  Speaker 1: just not that easy just to say hey we're going
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  Speaker 1: to do this every snap a lot of it is
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  Speaker 1: based on you know what the defense is is dictating um.
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  Speaker 2: We have to have balance. That's the whole idea. To
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  Speaker 2: say that we don't expect to score touchdowns every time
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  Speaker 2: we touch the ball, that wouldn't be true. We want
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  Speaker 2: to score every time we touch the ball. I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: Indiana is the same way, but the balance is what's critical.
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  Speaker 2: When you can do both, then you put the most
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  Speaker 2: stress on a defense. We can stretch teams horizontally and vertically,
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  Speaker 2: run the ball, you know, in different styles, different groupings, then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's it. But at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: it comes down to efficiency. You know, they're not just
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  Speaker 2: going to sit back and let us run the ball
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  Speaker 2: down their throat. They're not just going to sit there
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  Speaker 2: and let us throw the ball to four every snap.
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  Speaker 2: It's just not going to happen. So, you know, we
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  Speaker 2: have to be able to mix that up. I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: they're going to mix it up. And then it literally
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  Speaker 2: comes down to how well are we going to do
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  Speaker 2: our job and execute the plays. And that's what it
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  Speaker 2: comes down to. Because I always say, you know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: They're not all good plays, but a lot of them
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  Speaker 2: are when you execute them well. But we're going to
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  Speaker 2: try to do the best we can to call the
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  Speaker 2: plays that put our guys in the best position to
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  Speaker 2: be successful and try to get guys prepared to get
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  Speaker 2: their minds right. And it's their responsibility to be prepared
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  Speaker 2: to go put it on the field and be a
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  Speaker 2: competitive excellence. Like I said, we need to be at
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  Speaker 2: our best in this game and be able to sustain
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  Speaker 2: it for four quarters.
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  Speaker 1: Our team is on the ground in Indiana right now.
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  Speaker 1: We will be over at Memorial Stadium early Saturday morning,
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  Speaker 1: starting to give you your pregame coverage. for the number
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  Speaker 1: four Buckeyes, number five Hoosiers, Saturday morning in Bloomington. You
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  Speaker 1: can find us at BuckeyeInsiders.com. You can find us at YouTube.com
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  Speaker 1: slash at BuckeyeInsiders. We're going to have a ton of
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  Speaker 1: coverage for you during the game, before the game, after
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  Speaker 1: the game. And then, oh boy, is there going to
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  Speaker 1: be a lot to talk about after the game. Our
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  Speaker 1: postgame show will probably be long and lively, win or lose.
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  Speaker 1: We would love to see you there. YouTube.com slash at BuckeyeInsiders.com. And,
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  Speaker 1: of course, on the Insiders Board at BuckeyeInsiders.com.