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Ross Fulton Analysis: How Ohio State's Offense Evolves Under Luke Fahey · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, October 29th. I'm
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The USC game in two days,
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  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in 30 days. Today's episode presented
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  Speaker 1: and make a reservation today. All right, on today's show,
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be welcoming in scheme insider Ross Fulton
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  Speaker 1: from buckeyeinsiders.com. These are always very popular shows. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to guess this is going to be a particularly popular
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  Speaker 1: one because we're going to be looking at Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: quarterback Luke Fahey and some of the things that he
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  Speaker 1: may bring to the Ohio State offense this weekend. If
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  Speaker 1: So now we're going to look ahead to this weekend's game.
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  Speaker 1: And the new quarterback, Luke Fahey, again, that is not
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  Speaker 1: official yet, but it sure seems like that's where things
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  Speaker 1: are trending. So we're going to be looking at Luke
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  Speaker 1: Fahey against Indiana. And I know there were some big
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  Speaker 1: emotions and big thoughts as to how doomed Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: was based on the few snaps from Luke Fahey. But
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  Speaker 1: I think I'm going to guess that when we welcome
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  Speaker 1: in Ross, Ohio State will probably not be quite as
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  Speaker 1: doomed as Twitter experts were telling us. So Ross, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to start with the run game. Obviously, the run
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  Speaker 1: game is the best friend of a young quarterback, and
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  Speaker 1: he was probably, and the Ohio State offense was probably
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  Speaker 1: not in a particularly fair situation where Indiana, I suspect,
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  Speaker 1: knew that Ohio State would like to run the ball,
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  Speaker 1: and you probably did not get quite as fair a
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  Speaker 1: shake on the ground as you would in a normal situation.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we were talking about this offline, and like, I
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  Speaker 2: actually don't think Ohio State was particularly conservative with Luke
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  Speaker 2: Fahey in there. If anything, they were trying to take
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  Speaker 2: shots downfield and still go for that kill shot. I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to put out an example and bring up a
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  Speaker 2: couple others. When they did try to run the ball,
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  Speaker 2: it's interesting. Every time they tried to run it, they
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  Speaker 2: basically ran one play. They got an under center 21
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  Speaker 2: personnel and tried to run stretch to the left. That
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  Speaker 2: goes to your point.
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  Speaker 1: We talked about.
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  Speaker 2: Yesterday, like Luke Fahey's increased mobility and how he can
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  Speaker 2: bring some of that, you know, run read quarterback element
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  Speaker 2: to help the run game out. I think they're going
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  Speaker 2: to need that, you know, it's at least in some doses,
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  Speaker 2: particularly like, you know, the less comfortable they feel with
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  Speaker 2: him throwing run pass options, you know, particularly like second
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  Speaker 2: and third level ones, like those glance routes that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've shown so many times with Julian saying, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the more they're going to need him as a threat
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  Speaker 2: in the run game to constrain the backside. I think
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  Speaker 2: you'll see like more, like kind of bubble and wide
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  Speaker 2: receiver screen reliefs. But like, so, but this is the problem, right?
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  Speaker 2: So if you're just sort of, if you don't do
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  Speaker 2: that stuff, like the defense can always overload the box.
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  Speaker 2: And so one problem that Fahey had on Saturday is
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  Speaker 2: they were always behind schedule when he was at the game.
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  Speaker 2: He obviously came in at second 28. I'm guessing some
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  Speaker 2: of this is on him because there were a couple
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  Speaker 2: of full starts. Like again, like they probably weren't prepared
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  Speaker 2: for him to be a quarterback. put them behind the chains,
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  Speaker 2: but they also couldn't run it efficiently once he was
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  Speaker 2: in there. This is a good example. They're running stretch.
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  Speaker 2: They did have success as the game went on with
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  Speaker 2: stretch and that toss play because, as I talked about yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: Indiana's linebackers were just screaming really hard over the top
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  Speaker 2: in pursuit. Isaiah West, in particular, had a few nice cutbacks.
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  Speaker 2: He let the linebackers overrun themselves and then cut it back. Here,
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  Speaker 2: it's just impossible because you don't have a blocker for
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  Speaker 2: the frontside safety. Indiana doesn't cover one. They're expecting Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State to run. It's first down. Ohio State blocks this
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  Speaker 2: up pretty well, but there's no one to account for
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  Speaker 2: the safety number one there. And so again, they have
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  Speaker 2: to fully expect the teams are going to try to
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  Speaker 2: load the box, particularly in first down, particularly when they're
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  Speaker 2: under center like this. And so we talked about the
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  Speaker 2: importance of bootlegs with Fahey. They did try to run
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  Speaker 2: one bootleg. That was one of the false starts I mentioned. Um,
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  Speaker 2: and so they're going to have to use a lot
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  Speaker 2: of that, but I, I just still think that like
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  Speaker 2: having him as a run threat, at least like in
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  Speaker 2: critical situations, you know, um, what will help as well.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and so we're going to move right onto one
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  Speaker 1: where he is a run threat and this was not
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  Speaker 1: a design run. At least I don't think so. It
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  Speaker 1: looked like he was, this is a pretty pure scramble here.
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  Speaker 1: And this is something that you've seen more of from
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  Speaker 1: Julian saying this year. And it felt like that brought
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  Speaker 1: a lot to the Ohio state offense. Fahey, I think,
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  Speaker 1: might be even a little better in the open field
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  Speaker 1: than Sane is. And it feels like it is very
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  Speaker 1: easy to look at all the areas where there's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a step back from Sane to Fahey.
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  Speaker 1: This feels like an area where there could be a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a step forward.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that
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  Speaker 2: he's better as a runner. He also is more apt
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  Speaker 2: to scramble. Like we talked about yesterday, like Julian Sane's
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  Speaker 2: willing to hang in there for better or worse. I
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  Speaker 2: think Fahey, there'll probably be times where he scrambles when
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  Speaker 2: he shouldn't. in fact, as he, you know, is not
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  Speaker 2: going to be comfortable at times. And like, I wouldn't
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  Speaker 2: be surprised if he sort of like looks, you know,
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  Speaker 2: primary read, maybe second read and then goes. But here's
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  Speaker 2: like a good example where, you know, the play before
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  Speaker 2: Philip Dan, this is God beat. He gets beat here
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  Speaker 2: again with another SIM pressure. Indiana, you know, brings again,
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  Speaker 2: the nickel off the edge. And yeah, but, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we're saying may have stayed in there. This is a
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  Speaker 2: three verticals against Tampa too. So like I was, as
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  Speaker 2: I was saying, like I say, it didn't really like
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  Speaker 2: stop trying to push the ball downfield with Fahey, even
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  Speaker 2: against Indiana, like multiple downfield concepts. Nothing's really open here.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe you could say if you hung in there, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there was a couple of times, like the, the wide receiver,
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  Speaker 2: like that escort screen to the top of the screen
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  Speaker 2: where they, they could use the 10 as a lead
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  Speaker 2: blocker was there a few times. And like, you'd like
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  Speaker 2: to see fate hit that maybe, but, You know, here
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  Speaker 2: he scrambles. Obviously, they get the personal foul, so he
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  Speaker 2: gets the first down. So I do think that is
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  Speaker 2: something that you're going to see a lot more of.
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  Speaker 2: And it may, in fact, like lead to the sack
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  Speaker 2: numbers that we talked about, like going down, even if
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  Speaker 2: the offensive line doesn't really improve and picking up twists
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  Speaker 2: and stunts, just because he'll bail out of there. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it may not be a big game, but I don't
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  Speaker 2: think he'll stand in there like Julian Sand did.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and this next one is kind of a little
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  Speaker 1: more of a subtle example of where he might be
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  Speaker 1: a little bit better than Julian Sane in avoiding sacks,
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  Speaker 1: where this is not, you know, he takes off and
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  Speaker 1: runs for 30 yards, but he's able to kind of
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  Speaker 1: just sort of shift himself around in the pocket a
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  Speaker 1: little bit to avoid the rush. This feels like that
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  Speaker 1: if you can get a little more of this out
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  Speaker 1: of him, this is one of those things that might
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  Speaker 1: make a pretty big difference in terms of you know,
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  Speaker 1: number one, keeping him healthy, but number two, not taking
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  Speaker 1: big negative plays.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. And again, like Ohio state goes three verticals here again.
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  Speaker 2: So again, trying to take a shot. It's interesting. Like
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  Speaker 2: Indiana kind of didn't attack Phil Daniels early in the game,
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  Speaker 2: but then once they had success, like they just kept
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  Speaker 2: bringing pressure off the edge and you know, wide. And
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  Speaker 2: so like here, I don't know what he, it's a
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  Speaker 2: half slide and like, Daniels does not get out there
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  Speaker 2: in time. Instead, he gets hung up. Like we talked about,
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  Speaker 2: like people need to trust their slot. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: gap responsibilities in the slide and not get hung up
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  Speaker 2: on a man here. He kind of locks on nine.
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  Speaker 2: And so he's laid out there. And like, as you said,
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  Speaker 2: like Fahey gets out of the pocket. So this, you know,
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  Speaker 2: could have been a sack, but isn't. It's unfortunate. Like
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  Speaker 2: Devin McEwen, again, we talked about like other, excuse me,
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  Speaker 2: other guys, you know, making plays. Like he was open
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  Speaker 2: a lot on Saturday. He's open here again against a nickel.
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  Speaker 2: you know, for a potential touchdown, if the protection holds up,
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  Speaker 2: excuse me. And so they need better offensive line play,
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  Speaker 2: like getting Austin Seragol back, uh, presumably playing tackle will help. Um,
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  Speaker 2: they're going to need to run the ball as I said,
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  Speaker 2: but like, I do think they like seem to like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they, we talked about like, you know, shorter
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  Speaker 2: passes with Faye, but they do seem to be willing
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  Speaker 2: to take shots with them and trust his arm. Um,
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  Speaker 2: and so, you know, I think he'll, he'll get out
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  Speaker 2: of there, but he, uh, I wouldn't expect them to
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  Speaker 2: fully go away from taking their downfield shots either.
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  Speaker 1: And the last one we're going to look at, this
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  Speaker 1: is one where I think the Twitter opinion on Fahey's
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  Speaker 1: performance was probably a little more accurate. Sometimes you can
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  Speaker 1: just see the game is moving a little fast. This
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  Speaker 1: feels like one where the game was moving a little
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  Speaker 1: bit fast for Fahey, but when you're coming in as
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback off the bench and you've been repping as
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  Speaker 1: QB2 all week, you're not necessarily... prepared for the game
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  Speaker 1: you haven't had the reps but also you're just mentally
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  Speaker 1: maybe not quite as involved all week and it's a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more of an adjustment to sort of get
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  Speaker 1: thrown in in the middle of the game towards the
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  Speaker 1: end of the game in a very close game you
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  Speaker 1: know how much of that is understandable and how much
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  Speaker 1: is that something that's maybe potentially going to improve with
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  Speaker 1: a week or two repping with the ones now?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's understandable. Obviously you'd like to see
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  Speaker 2: it not happen, but I mean, I think it's, it's
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  Speaker 2: certainly understandable and certainly something you'd hope would improve after
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  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks of repping with the ones and
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  Speaker 2: the game plan built around you that you're involved with,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and prepping. And so like, But there were
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  Speaker 2: a couple plays, again, like the one, third and 18,
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  Speaker 2: where there wasn't much chance any ways to get that
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  Speaker 2: first down no matter what. And this one where you
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  Speaker 2: can see him spit up. His feet are moving. He's
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  Speaker 2: not comfortable in the pocket. This is a PPO, so
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  Speaker 2: a pass-pass option, right? So it's either you have the
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  Speaker 2: screen to one side or double slams to the other.
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  Speaker 2: So he needs to read the Mike linebacker. It's cover one.
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  Speaker 2: He's following the running back, so he should work his
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  Speaker 2: way back to those slants. And the slants are open,
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  Speaker 2: but he just needs to set his feet and trust
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  Speaker 2: the pocket, right? So it's like anything else. There's too
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  Speaker 2: much of a good thing. It's one thing to be
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  Speaker 2: able to move in the pocket and get out of
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  Speaker 2: there if you need to, but you don't want to
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  Speaker 2: be skittish in there if you don't need to be.
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  Speaker 2: And so he kind of runs right into the pressure
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  Speaker 2: here instead of stepping up and setting his feet. I
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  Speaker 2: will note that he.
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  Speaker 2: He has in obviously, you know, caveat of playing back
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  Speaker 2: backup Mac teams. Like he had shown a nice ability
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  Speaker 2: earlier this year to step up in the pocket. So I,
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  Speaker 2: I do think it's there. I mean, we're, you know,
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  Speaker 2: what we will all have to see. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's again, I think that they were calling, they, they
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  Speaker 2: showed some trust in him. It wasn't like they just
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  Speaker 2: handed off every play and just like, try to get
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  Speaker 2: out of there. Like, they're calling different concepts. You know,
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  Speaker 2: that screen that hit off of Ian Moore's helmet, like,
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  Speaker 2: that was wide open. Like, if he was able to
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  Speaker 2: get that pass completed, that could have been a big gain.
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  Speaker 2: You know, but, like, and people obviously have, like, made
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  Speaker 2: a big deal about that relative to his height. You know, again,
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  Speaker 2: you need your starting left tackle to not get, like,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: deposited back into the quarterback. So, like, they are going
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  Speaker 2: to need other people to step up and make plays. And, like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we've looked at ways where they can use
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith to get other people open, but they're also
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  Speaker 2: going to make me to make sure like they get
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith touches. So like, you know, even if they're
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  Speaker 2: just throwing in bubble screens, you know, reliefs, give them
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  Speaker 2: a reverse, like make sure he's in the flow of
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: the game. And so they're going to have to obviously
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: like everyone step up their game. As I said, it
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  Speaker 2: will be helpful to get Austin Saraville back, but I
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  Speaker 2: do think it will help him if they can, you know,
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  Speaker 2: take advantage of some of his strengths. As I said, like,
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  Speaker 2: Use him as a threat in the run game, at least, to, like,
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  Speaker 2: constrain a defender, right? You know, zone read, bash concepts.
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  Speaker 2: Get him outside the pocket. You know, give him some
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  Speaker 2: easy reads on, like, sprint out passes, bootlegs, to get
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  Speaker 2: him going. So, you know, obviously it remains to be seen.
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  Speaker 2: He's got to be more comfortable in the pocket than this.
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  Speaker 2: But in a very less high-pressure situation, he has shown
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  Speaker 2: an ability to do so.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: A little breakdown of Luke Fahey and some things to
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  Speaker 1: maybe keep an eye on this weekend in areas where
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  Speaker 1: there might be a little bit of a step forward
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  Speaker 1: from Julian saying in areas where they're going to have
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  Speaker 1: to sort of figure some stuff out. But man, oh, man,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: what a fascinating game this is shaping up to be
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: this weekend in Los Angeles. Our whole team of insiders
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: will be out there covering the Buckeyes and Trojans for you.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Could be a really, really fun game and a really
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: fun weekend as well. We'll have lots of coverage for
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you at Buckeye Insiders dot com and of course, at
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: YouTube dot com slash at Buckeye Insiders as well. Thanks
• 13:32
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• 13:34
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• 13:42
  Speaker 1: make a reservation today. That'll do it for today. Thank
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow.