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Cotton Bowl Preview: Has Miami Finally Fixed Its Penalty Issues? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, December twenty sixth.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The Cotton Bowl game against
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  Speaker 1: Miami in five days, the game against Michigan in three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and thirty seven days. If you're planning a make
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  Speaker 1: it unforgettable with great Ful Brittle, Columbus's favorite food truck
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  Speaker 1: serving up Smashburger's Gourmet sandwich is and good Vibes. Booker
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  Speaker 1: catering today at Greatfulgriddle, oh dot com. All right, on
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  Speaker 1: today's show, get to hear a little bit from Miami
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  Speaker 1: head coach Mario Christaball as his team is preparing for
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  Speaker 1: this year's Cotton Bowl game against Ohio State in the
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  Speaker 1: quarterfinals of the Big Ten the College Football Playoffs. That game,
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  Speaker 1: of course, is a New Year's Eve game. Seven thirty
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  Speaker 1: Eastern is the listed kickoff time, which means it's probably
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  Speaker 1: more like seven forty eight eastern, give or take.
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  Speaker 2: But there you go.
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  Speaker 1: Now you have New Year's Eve plans, you can just
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  Speaker 1: stay home and watch football. That sounds great. All right,
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  Speaker 1: so let's hear a little bit from Mario Christiball. This
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  Speaker 1: is a Miami team that has really not been in
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  Speaker 1: this spot for a long, long time Ohio State fans were.
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  Speaker 1: There were a lot of Ohio State fans there. The
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  Speaker 1: last time Miami was anywhere close to this of the sport,
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  Speaker 1: the buck Eyes, of course, knocked off the Hurricanes in
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  Speaker 1: the two thousand and three Fiesta Bowl for the national
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  Speaker 1: championship in Miami has really not been the same since then.
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  Speaker 1: So all right, now they have a chance to maybe
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  Speaker 1: bookend this this multi decade drought with a win over
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State, sort of end the streak that the Buckeye started.
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  Speaker 1: And this has been an era where Miami has not
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  Speaker 1: been what Miami used to be. But now now that
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  Speaker 1: Miami's sort of back, you're seeing some of those players
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  Speaker 1: coming back. You've seen a lot of Michael Irvin on
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  Speaker 1: the sidelines, for example, at a bunch of these Miami
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  Speaker 1: games this season. Is he maybe hearing from former players
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  Speaker 1: and others around the program after that big win against
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  Speaker 1: Sexist A and M Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's been a little bit overwhelming in a
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  Speaker 3: positive manner. And at the same time, we've learned our
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  Speaker 3: lesson before with attention and praise, how that can become intoxicating,
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  Speaker 3: right if you listen to too much of it so,
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  Speaker 3: but it's awesome to see a lot of the former
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  Speaker 3: players at the game and being on our sideline. It's
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  Speaker 3: great to hear from guys that kind of heard from
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  Speaker 3: them all year long. But the continued support and the
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  Speaker 3: building a momentum by having more and more guys reconnect,
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  Speaker 3: I think that's great. And you know, our alumni reunions
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  Speaker 3: are just champacked every single year, and we expect that
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  Speaker 3: to happen the spring as well, but certainly a lot
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  Speaker 3: of momentum and enthusiasm, and you know, it's always awesome
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  Speaker 3: to have.
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  Speaker 1: He had a whole answer about injury updates and used
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of first names. So I'm just going to
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  Speaker 1: give you the injury update and I give you a
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  Speaker 1: little context around them. Wide receiver Dalen Upshaw he's going
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  Speaker 1: to miss the game. He's a freshman backup, probably not
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  Speaker 1: going to be a hugely impactful guy for Miami to
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  Speaker 1: be missing in this game. Maury Brown, He's a corner
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  Speaker 1: who is sort of in the rotation but not necessarily
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  Speaker 1: a starter. He is questionable for this game. His status
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  Speaker 1: still a little bit up in the air. Defensive tackle
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  Speaker 1: Ahmad Moten, safety, Jacoby Thomas, safety, Zecho at Poyser, linebacker Motore.
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  Speaker 1: Those guys are all people who are banged up in
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  Speaker 1: that Texas A and M game. They are all supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be good to go for the Cotton Bowl according
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  Speaker 1: to Chrystal Ball. So there's your sort of brief injury
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  Speaker 1: update for the Canes. Mostly good news for them there.
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  Speaker 1: So there's also been mostly good news for Miami with
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  Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Corey Heatherman. He came over to join Miami
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  Speaker 1: this year after being the defensive coordinator for PJ. Fleck
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  Speaker 1: at Minnesota. What is Heatherman brought to the team this year.
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  Speaker 3: He's just always in a state of growth and development,
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  Speaker 3: and I think it's really infectious.
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  Speaker 2: It's permeated the room, really, the building. I think on either.
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  Speaker 3: Side of the ball plays to a level like that
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  Speaker 3: or has that much of a I would say, drastic
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  Speaker 3: improvement in its level of play.
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  Speaker 2: It does.
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  Speaker 3: It affects the other side as well. He's just extremely respected,
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  Speaker 3: not only for his knowledge and for his ability to
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  Speaker 3: make players better, but because of his time invested. I
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  Speaker 3: think what as time has gone on our guys, our staff,
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  Speaker 3: you know, everyone has got to realize that he's not
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  Speaker 3: only an elite coach. He's also an elite so things
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  Speaker 3: that aren't surprising considering the resources or I would say
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  Speaker 3: let me, I would say the sources in the hiring
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  Speaker 3: process that came to the table for him.
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  Speaker 2: He's been that more.
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  Speaker 1: Going back and rewatching some of Miami's games from earlier
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  Speaker 1: in the year, they have had some huge issues with
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  Speaker 1: penalties at times. That SMU game that really they basically
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  Speaker 1: cost themselves the game with penalties, had a ton of
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  Speaker 1: false starts and holding penalties and all sorts of procedural
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  Speaker 1: stuff and just really silly mistakes. So going into the
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  Speaker 1: game at Texas A and M I think we all thought,
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  Speaker 1: oh boy, this is this could be a real tough,
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  Speaker 1: tough matchup for them if they keep having procedural penalties
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  Speaker 1: because of crowd noise. And then it wasn't an issue
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  Speaker 1: at Texas A and M They had maybe one or
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  Speaker 1: two penalties that were kind of caused maybe by crowd
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  Speaker 1: noise or the hostile atmosphere, and that was it, and
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  Speaker 1: that was one of the differences that let them win
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  Speaker 1: that game ten to three. So how big was that
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  Speaker 1: that they got some of those penalty issues cleaned up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know that was such a huge point of
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  Speaker 3: emphasis when we hit that rut in the middle of
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  Speaker 3: the season, and it's great to see the hard work
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  Speaker 3: and the assessment and then the adaptations payoff. We had
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  Speaker 3: I believe, one pre snap on defense to delay on offense,
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  Speaker 3: and that was it. We didn't jump off sides on offense.
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  Speaker 3: So systematically at work we use a few different cadences.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously we don't get into exactly what those are in
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  Speaker 3: something like this, but really excited about the way that
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  Speaker 3: our players just took on that challenge and never let
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  Speaker 3: the environment dictate our performance.
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  Speaker 1: As you go through the rosters of both the Miami
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  Speaker 1: Hurricanes and the Ohio State Buckeyes, you're going to see
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  Speaker 1: lots of players who the other team was recruiting pretty heavily,
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  Speaker 1: or who maybe the other team had committed to them
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  Speaker 1: at one point. Our Mark Fletcher, Jordan Lyle, Justin Scott
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  Speaker 1: on the Miami team, just to start, just to name
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  Speaker 1: a few, Jeremiah Smith, that's going to be the big
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  Speaker 1: name that you know on the Ohio State roster, who
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  Speaker 1: Miami was after very very heavily. But the recruit being
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  Speaker 1: impact of a game. You know, this is back in
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  Speaker 1: the day it used to be, well, if you want
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  Speaker 1: a game, then everyone want to go to school play
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  Speaker 1: to play for you. So does a game like this
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  Speaker 1: also potentially come with big boost and recruiting like it
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  Speaker 1: used to.
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  Speaker 2: Every recruiting process is different. I don't.
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  Speaker 3: I wouldn't lump any of those things together. And I
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  Speaker 3: also think that the recruiting season, even though it's part
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  Speaker 3: of the regular season, I think that's also a season
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  Speaker 3: within itself. It overlaps with everything else. But we've seen
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  Speaker 3: it go all kinds of different ways, teams playing each
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  Speaker 3: other and guys going to their respect to the school
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  Speaker 3: of choice due to or do other reasons, right, So
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  Speaker 3: I don't.
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  Speaker 2: Yeh, I don't know. I think to each his own
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  Speaker 2: process really is what I think of. That.
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  Speaker 1: One of the big things that Mario Cristobal has talked
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  Speaker 1: about in the wake of the Hurricanes win at Texas
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  Speaker 1: A and m is just the grit and toughness that
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  Speaker 1: it took from his team. Miami is not a team
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  Speaker 1: that has always really shined in that area. You can
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  Speaker 1: probably think back to some games where Miami was playing
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  Speaker 1: in bad weather environments and really kind of no showed.
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  Speaker 1: I can think of at least one pin strap ball
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  Speaker 1: off the top of my head, that was basically a
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  Speaker 1: free money game. If you knew Miami was going to
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  Speaker 1: be playing in cold weather. This was far from ideal conditions.
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  Speaker 1: This was halfway across the country in front of a
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  Speaker 1: very hostile atmosphere, and they pulled out the win. So
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  Speaker 1: how big is that now that they're once again going
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  Speaker 1: to have to get on a plane, go and play
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  Speaker 1: in a stadium that is probably going to be more
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  Speaker 1: than half at least Ohio State fans, and now have
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  Speaker 1: to do that again in the quarterfinals.
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  Speaker 2: As it released the football always at the forefront. I don't.
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  Speaker 3: I can't imagine a team getting this far into the season, right,
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  Speaker 3: you start off with one hundred and thirty six teams,
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  Speaker 3: Now you're down at eight. I can't imagine a team
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  Speaker 3: getting to this point without having those in some way,
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  Speaker 3: shape or form on their roster. And everybody's banged up,
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  Speaker 3: everybody has been at some point, had to overcome some
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  Speaker 3: type of adversity, and you're going to be in games
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  Speaker 3: now where those margins are now like razor thing. So
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  Speaker 3: got to have it, got to grow it and continue
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  Speaker 3: to develop it. I don't think it's something that's static.
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  Speaker 3: It just doesn't stay the same. I think every week
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  Speaker 3: has its challenges, and like coach Johnson used to tell us,
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  Speaker 3: you're always either getting better you're getting worse, right, so
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  Speaker 3: you always have the power of choice.
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  Speaker 1: The Miami team did a pretty good job. It sounds
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  Speaker 1: like turning the page to Ohio State basically as soon
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  Speaker 1: as the clock hit zero. That's one of the biggest
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  Speaker 1: wins they've had in a couple decades. And they really
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  Speaker 1: have not spent a whole lot of time celebrating it.
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  Speaker 1: They just kind of it's on to the next one.
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  Speaker 1: So how does a team get that approach in a
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  Speaker 1: situation where they maybe haven't been before.
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  Speaker 3: A mentality and resiliency of the team is they were
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  Speaker 3: awesome on their way in and I credit to them,
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  Speaker 3: Credit to the guys in the locker room, the coaches
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  Speaker 3: in the building, the staff. Really everybody's involved, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the training room, the strength conditioning staff, everybody, everybody has
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  Speaker 3: a hand in it. But I think we've done a
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  Speaker 3: good job wiring our program. That staff included as well,
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  Speaker 3: to talk a certain way, think a certain way. Not
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  Speaker 3: don't mean robotic, I mean as it relates to processes,
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  Speaker 3: as it relates to being a competitor and what that
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  Speaker 3: really means, especially as it relates to a sport that
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I'll tear it down and break it down
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  Speaker 3: if you let it, and it's going to demand of
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  Speaker 3: you your very best, and it's going to demand that
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  Speaker 3: you respond in some situations that's going to make or
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  Speaker 3: break your season. So that part is really exciting for
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  Speaker 3: me because I feel that this team, in terms of
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  Speaker 3: challenges and throwing difficult scenarios and situations at them, is
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  Speaker 3: when I think we're at our best.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, we're just going to finish up. With some
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  Speaker 1: general thoughts from Mario Cristobal on Ohio State, I will
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  Speaker 1: put a little bit of context out there. He was
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  Speaker 1: specifically asked about Jeremiah Smith in this question and did
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  Speaker 1: not answer at all about Jeremiah Smith in this response.
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  Speaker 2: They're the defendant national champions.
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  Speaker 3: They have elite talent, some really high caliber players, and
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  Speaker 3: you know, they just about in every category offensively and defensively.
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  Speaker 3: They are one, two, three, four five in the country.
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  Speaker 3: So they do a great job coaching. They've got great
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  Speaker 3: physical and mental toughness, and I've played some elite football
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  Speaker 3: throughout the course of this season.
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  Speaker 2: So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: You got a little bit of Ryan Day a couple
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  Speaker 1: of days ago. You get a little bit of Mario
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  Speaker 1: Christobal Today. We're going to be headed out to DFW
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  Speaker 1: in just about a day or so. We'll be flying
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  Speaker 1: out there on the twenty eighth. Get a chance to
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  Speaker 1: cover a couple of full days. Watch a little Miami practice,
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  Speaker 1: watch a little Ohio State practice, talk to all the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State and players and coaches, all the Miami players
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  Speaker 1: and coaches. Is going to be a lot to talk
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  Speaker 1: about as we count down those days going into the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Cotton Bowl game on New Year's Eve. We hope you
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: can join us at YouTube dot com slash Buckey Huddle
• 11:03
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• 11:05
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• 11:09
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• 11:25
  Speaker 1: That'll do it for today. Thank you, guys all for
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: joining us, have a great day. We will talk to
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  Speaker 1: you tomorrow.