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Are The Ohio Bobcats Ready To Face Ohio State? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a special bonus episode. We've got a lot
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  Speaker 1: of stuff to bring you this week, but I did
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  Speaker 1: want to let you hear a little bit from Ohio
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  Speaker 1: Bobcats head coach Brian Smith. He had his press conference
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  Speaker 1: on Monday, had some interesting stuff to say about the
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  Speaker 1: Buck Eyes, his team's upset win over West Virginia last week,
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  Speaker 1: and the challenge ahead for his program and how they're
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  Speaker 1: going to be approaching that challenge. So, all right, buck guys,
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  Speaker 1: buck Eyes. You know, number one in the nation, the Bobcats.
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  Speaker 1: They're coming off a seventeen to ten win over West
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  Speaker 1: Virginia that was in Peden Stadium down in Athens. It
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  Speaker 1: was a rare opportunity for them to get a chance
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  Speaker 1: to host a Power five team and they capitalized on it.
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  Speaker 1: So Brian Smith's overall thoughts on that game and the
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  Speaker 1: challenge ahead in Columbus this weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Saturday night was a great night for Bobcat Athletics and
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  Speaker 2: for the town of Athens. We are very appreciative of
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  Speaker 2: all the fans that came out to watch our kids play,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, the energy that they had and enthusiasm
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  Speaker 2: they head throughout the game. Obviously staying the entire time
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  Speaker 2: was awesome. We hope to continue to see that same
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  Speaker 2: kind of crowd and hopefully we were able to gain
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  Speaker 2: some new fans from across the border who appreciated the
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  Speaker 2: manner in which our kids play and how they approach
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  Speaker 2: the game. So it was an exciting time. Very appreciative
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  Speaker 2: of our staff and our players and the work they're
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  Speaker 2: putting into this program, into each other, and buying into
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  Speaker 2: the culture that we have.
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  Speaker 1: This is a popular question one that gets asked to
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  Speaker 1: a lot of these coaches from nonpower teams when they
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  Speaker 1: come to play Ohio State. How do you game plan
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  Speaker 1: for a team that has a talent that Ohio State does?
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  Speaker 1: What are you trying to prioritize? What are you going
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  Speaker 1: to try and stop because you can't stop everything.
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  Speaker 2: Two the best receivers in the country for sure, and
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  Speaker 2: so it's definitely our defense has their hands full with
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  Speaker 2: that one, which is challenging of you know, what do
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  Speaker 2: you want to take away? I think it. What it
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  Speaker 2: does do, though, is it puts some pressure on them,
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  Speaker 2: which is a nice change, because I do believe that
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  Speaker 2: when you are the number one team in the country
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  Speaker 2: and with the money that is invested into top ten
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  Speaker 2: programs in the country every single year. There's an expectation
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  Speaker 2: of not only winning, but the manner in which you win.
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  Speaker 2: So there's you know, expectations from outside of that program
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  Speaker 2: as well within of you know, how you the manor
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  Speaker 2: imentsry which you can can win a game. So I
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  Speaker 2: think it does put some different kind of pressures on
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  Speaker 2: their staff to try to make sure that those guys
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  Speaker 2: are making plays, getting touches, things like that. You know,
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  Speaker 2: for us, the focus stays the same. You know, We're
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  Speaker 2: going to focus on ourselves and our program and you know,
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  Speaker 2: continue to get great at our fundamentals and our schemes.
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  Speaker 2: And I think our coaches do a great job with
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  Speaker 2: making adjustments and preparing our kids to play at a
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  Speaker 2: high level.
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  Speaker 1: Week one, the Bobcats gave up thirty four points in
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  Speaker 1: a loss at Rutgers. Week two, they held West Virginia
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  Speaker 1: and rich Rodriguez to just ten points. So what went
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  Speaker 1: into that from the Bobcats defensive perspective.
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  Speaker 2: Biggest thing was the energy they played with. I thought
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  Speaker 2: they played with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, They're flying around,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it was great to see how hard the
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  Speaker 2: d Lion was playing and some of the knock back
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  Speaker 2: we were getting. And you know, obviously when you're able
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  Speaker 2: to knock down the knock out, the run on early
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  Speaker 2: downs and force seems to be a little bit more
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  Speaker 2: one dimensional where they're they're only throwing it in passing
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  Speaker 2: situations and it's harder to get in front of the
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  Speaker 2: in front of the sticks, things like that. But I
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  Speaker 2: do think our kids played with a lot of energy,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of enthusiasm. They played really hard, they were physical,
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  Speaker 2: they were fun, fun to watch, It was a fun
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  Speaker 2: film to watch autterwards.
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  Speaker 1: Not only was that game a huge win for the
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  Speaker 1: Bobcat program, it was also the record setting crowd inside
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  Speaker 1: Peedon Stadium ready twenty six and forty fans, biggest crowd
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  Speaker 1: in Peden Stadium history. And now as a follow up,
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  Speaker 1: all they have to do is go up to coumbus
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  Speaker 1: playing the crowd, play in front of a crowd that's
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  Speaker 1: about four times that size. So how do you prepare
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  Speaker 1: for that kind of an atmosphere. Yeah, we stimulate crowd noise.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we did it going into the Rutgers game
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  Speaker 1: as well. So that's just part of prep for any
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  Speaker 1: large stadium capacity that you're going to get into so.
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  Speaker 2: And actually, our practices are typically better when we're in
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  Speaker 2: that kind of environment, and you know, I think it
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  Speaker 2: brings a little bit better energy within practice. We can
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  Speaker 2: go inside and get the crowd noise on, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: they get to focus on playing football. They're not gonna
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  Speaker 2: kill that by their coaches and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: So here's one of those fun stats you'll probably hear
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  Speaker 1: talked about a little bit this week. The Bobcats had
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  Speaker 1: four sacks and seven tackles for loss in that win
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  Speaker 1: against West Virginia. Ohio is Data, on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: has not given up any sax in two games, just
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  Speaker 1: two tackles for loss. So how do the Bobcats play
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  Speaker 1: to approach things on defense to limit big plays if
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  Speaker 1: they're not able to get into the back field as
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  Speaker 1: much this weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think being able to get pressure on the
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  Speaker 2: quarterback is important. And obviously they're returning some good offensive
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  Speaker 2: lineman in their interior and then have some transfers that
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  Speaker 2: are helping outside, So you know, I think being able
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  Speaker 2: to create some pressure move him off of his spots
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  Speaker 2: is important to influence a passing game for sure.
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  Speaker 1: One of the names to watch on the Bobcats defense
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  Speaker 1: is Mike Molnar. He is number twenty five. He had
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  Speaker 1: seven tackles and one and a half sacks against West Virginia.
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  Speaker 1: He's actually named the Max Defensive Player of the Week
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  Speaker 1: last week. So what does he bring to the Bobcats defense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the more reps that Mike's getting, the faster he's playing.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he grew a lot within the first half
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  Speaker 2: of the first game to the second half of the
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  Speaker 2: first game, and he just keeps getting better. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's a kid that's long, and that's a really good
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  Speaker 2: athlete and I think cares a lot. So the more
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  Speaker 2: opportunities that he gets to get reps and play at
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  Speaker 2: full speed at high level, the better he's going to
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  Speaker 2: continue to get. And I was so excited to hear
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  Speaker 2: that he was the defensive player of the week. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's awesome for him.
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  Speaker 1: One of those things you always hear when you talk
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  Speaker 1: to coaches is the teams improve the most from week
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  Speaker 1: one to week two. So okay, going from that week
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  Speaker 1: one loss at Rutgers to the week to win against
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  Speaker 1: West Virginia, where did the Bobcats improve the most?
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  Speaker 2: I thought energy on defense was awesome. I those guys
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  Speaker 2: played with really you know, inspiring energy throughout the game,
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  Speaker 2: which was great and I think continuing with the development
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  Speaker 2: of the culture. The thing that was really impressive throughout
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  Speaker 2: the game was as we got into the second half
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  Speaker 2: and the offense was struggling more and you're getting turnovers
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  Speaker 2: things like that, and the defense is playing lights out,
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  Speaker 2: there was no feeling of you know, what the heck's
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  Speaker 2: happening on the other side of the ball. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there was no point of fingers and nothing like that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, those guys just took the field with energy
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  Speaker 2: and we're confident that they're going to get the ball
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  Speaker 2: right back, and you don't believe that the offense would
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  Speaker 2: would get things going at some point. So I think
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  Speaker 2: that trust and belief in each other and that care
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  Speaker 2: for each other is is great to see.
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  Speaker 1: Brian Smith was asked to stort for whose breakdown of
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State, and this is one of these answers where
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  Speaker 1: you can go like eight minutes just talking about all
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  Speaker 1: the star players and incredible talent, or you can just
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  Speaker 1: keep things simple, and Brian Smith goes to keep things simple.
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  Speaker 1: So not sure what else early is to say, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean they're they're talented everywhere. It's a it's a
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  Speaker 2: really good program. So there's not a lot of holes
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  Speaker 2: that you would say that that that you're seeing within
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  Speaker 2: that program. I mean, they're they have real good personnel
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  Speaker 2: all over the place.
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  Speaker 1: Last week, when Brambling came into Ohio Stadium, their head
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  Speaker 1: coach basically came in and said, look, we understand, we
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  Speaker 1: know what's going to happen, and that's fine. Now what's
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  Speaker 1: interesting is Brian Smith and the Bobcats. That is not
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  Speaker 1: the approach they're taking at all. No, that's not our approach.
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  Speaker 2: Our kids are are extremely competitive, they're very confident. They
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  Speaker 2: obviously know that this is a big challenge and we're
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  Speaker 2: playing a really strong program that has obviously earned that
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  Speaker 2: right to be one of the top programs in the country,
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  Speaker 2: and they're excited for the challenge.
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  Speaker 1: Got to talk a little bit about the Ohio offense,
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  Speaker 1: especially their passing game. I've talked a bunch about Parker Navarro,
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  Speaker 1: who is the Ohio quarterback. Pretty good thrower, pretty good runner,
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  Speaker 1: probably going to make some Ohio State fans pull their
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  Speaker 1: hair out a few times during the game on Saturday night,
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  Speaker 1: and he likes to spread the ball around Chase Hendricks.
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  Speaker 1: He had eight catches for one hundred and twenty one
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  Speaker 1: yards against West Virginia and I had a touchdown as well.
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  Speaker 1: But they had seven different guys who had to catch
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  Speaker 1: and just twenty two completions. So is that an intentional thing?
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  Speaker 1: Is that just they're really deep in the passing game
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  Speaker 1: and they're receiving options. What goes into spreading the ball
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  Speaker 1: around that much?
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  Speaker 2: It's a depth. Yeah, That's I think one one of
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  Speaker 2: the great things for training camp early in the season
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  Speaker 2: and it's helped those guys get better, is there's more
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  Speaker 2: competition there and we feel more comfortable taking someone out
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  Speaker 2: of a game if they make a mistake or if
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  Speaker 2: something happens, and feel much more confident with what the
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  Speaker 2: twos can do when they do get in the game.
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  Speaker 2: And a lot of our targets are more based off
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  Speaker 2: what the look is, what Parker's reading, than you know,
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  Speaker 2: necessarily just trying to get a specific person targeted all
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  Speaker 2: the time.
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  Speaker 1: In that win over West Virginia, the Bobcats had seventeen
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  Speaker 1: points in the first half and zero points after halftime.
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  Speaker 1: Those second half drive for them ended in an interception
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  Speaker 1: on downs in interception two punts and then the final
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  Speaker 1: one ended on downs. All of that last one it
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  Speaker 1: was a five minute drive and it basically let them
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  Speaker 1: run out the clock. So that was a successful drive.
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  Speaker 1: Everything else not really so much. So what changed between
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  Speaker 1: the first half and the second half.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they changed a little bit of what they were
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  Speaker 2: doing on defense, and there were some self inflicted things.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't think we executed as well as we should.
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  Speaker 2: We had some penalties that set us back, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and that was a game where you really wanted to
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  Speaker 2: stay ahead on first downs and get to some manageable
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  Speaker 2: third downs and it kept them out of some of
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  Speaker 2: the junk that you might see in third and medium
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  Speaker 2: to long. So there's some times where we shot ourselves
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  Speaker 2: in the foot a little bit, whether it's execution or
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  Speaker 2: penalties that put us in some bad spots.
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  Speaker 1: And finally mentioned that this is the third game of
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  Speaker 1: the year for Ohio in which they're also going to
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  Speaker 1: be playing a Power conference team. They went on the
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  Speaker 1: road to Rutgers, lost thirty four to thirty one week one,
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  Speaker 1: and then beat West Virginia seventeen to ten in week two.
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  Speaker 1: So now challenge getting the mountain gets a little steeper.
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  Speaker 1: You got to go up to Columbus and take on
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  Speaker 1: the top team in the nation. But how much is
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  Speaker 1: the fact that they've played a couple of Power Conference
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  Speaker 1: teams already help with the challenge it's coming ahead.
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  Speaker 2: I think having confidence going into a situation like that
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  Speaker 2: is very important. And you know, it's important that your
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  Speaker 2: players and your staff believe in each other, trust each other,
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  Speaker 2: and believe in trust in their abilities as kids and
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  Speaker 2: as a staff. And I think it's a reflection of
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  Speaker 2: how successful our program has been for you know, going
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  Speaker 2: into our four years here and then even beyond that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, with the kids that have been the program,
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  Speaker 2: they won a lot of football games. They've been very competitive,
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  Speaker 2: but they've developed a lot of belief and trust in
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  Speaker 2: what they can do.
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  Speaker 1: Hope you guys enjoyed that one. I know there's probably
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  Speaker 1: a little more interest in this matchup than there would
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  Speaker 1: be if they were playing Ball State or Western Michigan
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  Speaker 1: or something like that. Kind of house divided situations, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to guess this week across the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: So try and be civil to each other and remember
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  Speaker 1: it is just a game. That game will kick off
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  Speaker 1: Saturday at seven elevised on Peacock inside the Horseshoe. Should
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  Speaker 1: be a lovely evening for football. Should be an another
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  Speaker 1: nice night. Forecast looks decent so far, so it should
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  Speaker 1: be a lot of fun. In the final are non
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  Speaker 1: conference tune up for the Buckeyes before they have a
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  Speaker 1: week off and then head out to Washington on this
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  Speaker 1: on September twenty seventh, So it should be a fun
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  Speaker 1: a fun week in Columbus, a fun week in Athens,
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  Speaker 1: and a fun week all around Ohio. We hope you
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  Speaker 1: guys choose to spend it with us at Buckeye Huddle
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: dot com. That's where we had a whole team of
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: insiders covering the Buckeyes, covering recruiting, covering Xes knows All
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  Speaker 1: at Buckey huddle dot com and YouTube dot com slash Buckeyehuddle.
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  Speaker 1: That'll do it for today. Thank you guys off for
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: toeing us. Have a great day. We will talk to
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  Speaker 1: you tomorrow.