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Blake Corum Finally Getting His Chance For A Big Game Against Ohio State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  All right, this is another one of these bonus episodes in the Buckeyes Tomorrow
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  Morning podcast feed, letting you hear a little bit from some of the Michigan
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  players and coaches orsus Ohio State players and coaches as well. Today we're gonna
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  be hearing from Michigan running back Blake Korum. Quorum played just a few snaps
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  last year. I suffered a knee injury the week before against Illinois and then
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  had to you gave it a run, couldn't make it work, had to
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  sit on the sidelines and watch as Michigan beat Ohio State in Columbus. This
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  year, he is healthy, he is ready to go, and he is
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  I think safe to say, pretty excited about the opportunity to wait him and
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  the Wolverine Saturday inside the Big House against Ohio State. So how well equipped
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  is Ohio State to play Michigan's style of football? You know, ahiuse Data
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  is a great team, you know, coach by great coaches, and their
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  defense you know, is one of the best. You know, so you
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  know they're definitely going to provide a challenge for us. But you know,
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  we're always up for a challenge, you know, saying you know They're fundamentally
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  sound, you know, they play good as a unit and they fly around.
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  So I think it should be a good game, you know, if
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  we just have to have a good week of preparation, you know, and
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  prepare for one of the top defenses. If you are watching on YouTube,
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  you have probably already seen this, But if you are listening on the podcast,
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  I will just tell you. Blake Korum did his interview this week wearing
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  a Michigan Versus Everybody's shirt. It has obviously been some sort of a rallying
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  cry for the Wolverines and their fans over the last few weeks as everything around
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  the situation surrounding Connor, Stallions and Jim Harball and everything else has sort of
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  swirled around that program. So is that an indication that the Wolverines have a
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  chip on their shoulder? Yeah, you know, I think we've been feeling
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  like that for quite a bit now, you know, so we just kind
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  of took it upon us to, you know, treat it as such.
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  You know what I'm saying. If you're not with us here against us,
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  and that's how we feel, and that's how I feel like we play.
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  So I guess you could say maybe a little shit. Yeah, the expectations
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  for Michigan started high at the beginning of the season and have just continued to
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  increase over the last few weeks and last few months as they stack win upon
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  win upon win eleven and no Michigan versus eleven Ohio State. Honestly, this
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  is a season that a lot of Michigan fans are viewing as national championship or
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  bust. So with that championship or bust view kind of around the fan base,
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  around the program, how do you not make this game too big?
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  You know, this game is a championship. You know, it's the championship
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  for the East. You know, so championship game. You know we're coming
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  up on Saturday, November twenty fifth, you know, so we just got
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  to stay locked in, you know, be where our feudar this week,
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  prepare really well, and then just play our ball man, you know,
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  don't do anything different. Just play together as one unit and then play for
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  our brothers and just do what the Michigan Olver Ranges do. Mentioned earlier that
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  Quorum had to sit out last year's game for the most part, only played
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  a few snaps. How much does it mean to him to go into this
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  game and actually be able to play after having to watch for most of last
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  year. Oh man, when I woke up this morning, I'm like,
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  man, this game week, you know, and finally, you know,
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  I get to play in the game, you know, healthy, you know.
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  So you know, I'm super excited, you know, but I'm trying
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  to remain calm, you know what I'm saying. Make sure you know,
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  I prepare really well. But yeah, you know, last two years,
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  sophomore year, you know, a little banged up with the ankle. Then
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  last year tried but couldn't. So you know, this game is a lot.
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  You know. It's not only you know, my first time being healthy,
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  but it's not going to be my last time in the big house,
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  you know, playing in front of the best fan base, you know,
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  with my brothers and the best coaches, and you know, so I'm super
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  excited, you know, to say the least, I'm super excited. This
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  will be the fourth game that acting head coach Sharon Moore will have coached in
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  Jim Harball's place on Saturdays. What's the biggest difference between Jim Harball and Sharon
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  Moore on game days? You know, both great coaches, you know,
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  I love Coach Harball's pretty game speech and I love Coach moorees. You know,
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  they're both great coaches. You know, maybe Coach Moore has a little
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  more a little more emotional, you know, but I love that about him.
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  You know what I'm saying. I love, you know, the juice
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  that he brings, and I love the juice that Coach Harball brings. So
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  you know, you know, they're different ways, but they're the same ways.
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  You know, both great coaches. You know, Coach Moore has done
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  a phenomenal job at stepping up to the plate and you know, running this
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  team, and that's I think that's because you know, Coach Harbo showed them
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  the way. You know, Coach Harbor has over the past few years has
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  kind of been, you know, leading these coaches and showing them how it's
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  done. And now they just picking up, you know, where he left
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  off left off for the time being. You know, but I know he's
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  proud of Coach more. But I said, at least, you know,
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  they're both great coaches. Saturday is going to be a very very emotional day
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  inside Michigan Stadium. The game is always the biggest game on the schedule for
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  everyone and it sort of defines the next twelve months and all that for the
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  rivalry and the trash talk between the fans and all that, and in addition
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  to all the other stuff that you already know is going on that we've sort
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  of been talking about all week. This is also senior Day. This is
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  Blake Krum's final game in Michigan Stadium. It's also his final game against Ohio
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  State. How emotional is this going to be for him? Yeah? Yeah,
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  I think, you know, definitely be emotional. But it's the game,
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  you know what, who's not going to be emotional? You know,
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  So I'll definitely be amped up, you know, going down a tonnel one
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  last time, definitely will have a lot of emotions going on. And you
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  know, playing in front of a one hundred and ten thousand, like I
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  said, the best fan base, so, you know, going into my
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  last game in the big House, you know, I just want to say,
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  the University of Michigan has been nothing but good to me. You know,
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  I'm so glad, you know, I chose the University of Michigan,
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  and the University of Michigan chose me, you know, so you know,
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  I'm just thankful man. And you know, I'm excited and hopefully we you
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  know, we can end with the bang. It's obviously not ideal to have
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  your head coach miss half of the season because he's been suspended for two separate
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  NC Double A or Big ten violations, but this is the sixth time this
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  year that Jim Harball will be out sitting out on not on the sidelines for
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  Michigan. So as Michigan at this point got in comfortable being uncomfortable without Jim
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  Harball, I think we've we've been comfortable being uncomfortable. I think we just
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  we're that type of team, you know. I think we've been like that
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  just because of our preparation, just from our offseason work, from what coach
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  Herb does with us. You know, he always puts us in uncomfortable situations
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  to become comfortable in so you know, when you know, when trials and
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  tribulations and bad things happen, you know, we just stand there and stay
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  tall and just keep pushing, you know. So I think we're very comfortable
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  being uncomfortable. But I don't think it's just because of this situation. I
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  think this is just how this team is managed with all the other stuff going
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  on. I mentioned earlier, Senior Day, mentioned obviously the Ohio State game.
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  How do you compartmentalize emotionally the fact that you're head coach, the guy
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  who recruited you, the guy who's been there leading your program for your whole
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  career, is not there on your senior day, is not there for your
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  last game against Ohio State. It's been tough, you know, not just
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  even this game's last two games, you know, because coach Hardball means so
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  much to this program, but especially you know, to like myself and the
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  guys. You know, he's formed the culture here. You know, he's
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  a players coach, great guy. You know, we we love, you
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  know, playing for him. You know, a lot of us would would
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  run through a wall for him. So you know, it's definitely been tough,
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  you know, and going into the game, you know, without him,
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  you know, it's kind of just like adding fuel to the fire.
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  You know what I'm saying, We're gonna play, not that we weren't gonna
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  play hard at all, but might play a little harder for him, you
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  know, and make sure at the end of the game, you know,
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  we give a game ball to him. And if you give a game ball
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  to someone or you say you're going to give a game ball to someone you
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  must win, So, uh, you know, we'll make sure we do
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  that for coach. But uh, you know it's it's been tough, but
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  uh, you know, we know how to react to situations like this,
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  and this team is very strong, strong minded, and so we're prepared.
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  We'll be ready. There's gonna be a whole lot on the line in terms
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  of narrative around this game, and I'm sure we'll be talking about that a
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  bunch throughout the week. But what would a third win in the row mean
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  to Blake Orum and the Wolverines in this series? You know, three wins
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  would mean with a sweep, right, three sweet, So you know it
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  would be major. You know, it would be huge for the program.
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  We would be huge for us in the type of season you know we're having,
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  so you know it'd be huge, you know, So you know it
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  would mean a lot in this rivalry. You know, went in three straight
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  in a row. So like I said, we know, we just got
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  to me with our feet on. In the meantime, you know, prepare
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  really well for Saturday and go out there and play our best ball. There
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  are probably a lot of Ohio State and Michigan fans who are having trouble sleeping
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  this week, having trouble focusing at work. Well, if you're a player,
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  you don't want to get you don't want to get to the point where
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  you're losing sleep. How do you keep yourself from getting too amped up too
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  early in the week? You know, I just you know, maybe it's
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  the music you listen to. You know, you don't listen to the stuff
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  that you listen to before a game, you know, you know, but
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  just you know, when you're watching film, you know, always know you're
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  not prepared yet, you know what I'm saying. If you feel like you're
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  not prepared, then you might be able to be a little calm because you
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  know you have more time, you know what I'm saying. So no one,
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  you know, I'm not going to be prepared until you know. Going
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  to the hotel on Friday night, you know, allows me to remain calm
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  because I know I got more film to watch. I gotta watch this guy
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  and that guy. You know, So I think that helps me. I
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  don't know what other guys do, but that definitely will will help me throughout
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  the week. For a bunch of years, under Jim Tressel and then Urban
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  Meyer. Everyone always said that Ohio State took the Michigan game so much more
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  seriously than Michigan took the Ohio State game. Ohio State ran a beat Michigan
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  or a team up north period in practice. Every day during the year.
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  They had the countdown clock to the game in the locker room, beat Michigan
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  stuff all over the all over the football facility, the Wody Hayes. In
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  twenty twenty one, Michigan finally tried to match that. They really increased their
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  focus on the game. They instituted a beat Ohio drill. But what should
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  they really think about this game? During the course of the year, you
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  know, you try to be where your feut are as much as you can
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  throughout the season, but sometimes it's hard not to glance off at that last
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  game, you know, And I think we've been doing that, you know,
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  throughout the year. You know, even though we've been preciating, you
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  know, one game at a time, you know, we've definitely glanced off.
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  You know, I know a lot of the guys watched some film you
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  know previously, you know, maybe a little double dabble here and there,
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  you know, throughout the weeks. But we're here now so we can focus
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  all we want on this game, and you know, I think that's what
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  we're going to do, you know. So you know, we've kind of
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  been looking at it from afar all year, but now we're locked in,
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  and uh, we're gonna be ready. We're gonna prepare like no other and
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  come Saturday, you know, the Wolverines, Uh, we'll be ready.
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  Finally, last year, Michigan gashed Ohio State for a bunch of big plays
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  that was really the difference in the game, helped the Wolverines walk out of
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  Columbus with a pretty comfortable win. So how different are things this year?
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  What stands out Blake quorm about this year's Ohio State defense. Yeah, I
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  think, like I said, I think, you know, it's eleven hats
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  to the ball at all times. You know. I think they have great
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  players on all levels, not just you know the d ns and the linebackers,
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  but I think the n's linebackers, secondary, you name it. I
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  think they're fundamentally sound. I think they play well together. So it's gonna
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  be a good challenge for us to be able to go up against other great
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  athletes. So I think overall, you know, I don't think they're missing
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  many pieces, you know, I think they're a pretty darn good defense.
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  So I'm super excited for the challenge. I hope you guys enjoyed that,
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  and hope you guys have been enjoying that stuff all week long. We're gonna
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  have a whole bunch all week from the Buckeyes, from the Wolverines in addition
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• 11:48
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  Thank you guys all for joining us. We'll talk to you next time.