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Ross Fulton Analysis: Has Ohio State's Offense Found Its Identity? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, September fourteenth. I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Western Kentucky game is in two days, the game against
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  Michigan in seventy two days. It is Thursday, which means it is that
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  time of week again. We're gonna be talking to our budd Ross Fulton,
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  everybody's smart football friend and one of the XS and nose gurus at puckey huddle
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  dot com. Thank you for everyone for your patients last week as we worked
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  through some of the kinks of a new the fancy new Hey, look,
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  we have football highlights on here and be figuring out what we can what we
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  can do, what we can't do, all that kind of stuff. We
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  think we've got it going pretty much figured out. Now. All right,
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  we'll see if that worked. But we're gonna welcome in Ross. Now.
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  We're gonna take a look at some of the plays on offense last week that
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  maybe we're kind of notable for one reason or another. And Ross, I
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  guess the first four plays here are all kind of basically off the same general
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  concept. We're gonna start right off the start of the game. I think
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  maybe the first play from scrimmage started, you know, the week before.
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  They started out with a terrible run on their first down, my lost yard
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  and first play from Shi on Saturday against Youngstown State, really good run to
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  start from Fravy and Henderson. What was it that set that all up?
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  Yeah? And so I think from a bigger picture perspective, I think there's
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  quite a bit of change in the offensive strategy between game one and game two.
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  And Ryan Dick a couple of times is alluded to this in terms of
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  sometimes you think certain things going into the season, and then those notions are
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  either confirmed or your disabuse of them. And if I guess, I think
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  that they thought that the way that they were going to succeed the most was
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  being in some heavy personnel sets, running a bunch of stretch or under center
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  run game with play action, and instead what we talked about last week,
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  I think they saw the same thing against Indiana, which actually Tom McCord in
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  this offensive personnel group is best in the shot gun, getting the ball out
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  quickly in space, letting him Accord make some quick decisions and so and and
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  running the football downhill. So you see that right away here. So a
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  lot less stretch in this game a lot less twelve personal or even heavier packages.
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  Instead, you've got it spread out. You do have a tight end
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  the game, but it attached. So but you're in. You have essentially
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  this is inside zone with two potential RPOs to it. So the one to
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  the bottom of the screen you'll see they have a two receivers run a smoke
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  screen or you know now screen. And so right away, that's a pre
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  snap reed from a chord. So if he sees he has numbers down there,
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  he's just gonna pull it immediately and throw then to the top of the
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  screen. You have a quick out, and so that's a post snap read.
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  So again he's gonna look at the leverage of the corner and decide whether
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  to give or pull it. So on this one he gives and it leads
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  to a you know, as we said, a big run first right off
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  the bat. All right, So now we're gonna go a little later on
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  in the game, same thing, except here this time comic Chord pulls it
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  and hits Amica Abuca for a nice game yep. And so again this is
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  just the flip side of it, right. So this time again you've got
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  easy leverage, so we talked about last week with Indiana that you know,
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  teams want to sort of try to have their cake and eat it too by
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  you know, potentially putting eight guys in the box and limit the ISA run
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  game, but also protect themselves deep with soft corners, especially to the field,
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  and so you just it's an easy read from a Cord. He's decisive
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  on these, He's accurate. I think it fits him well, you know,
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  he did this in high school. And also it has the benefit of
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  getting the ball out of space too. A Buca and Harrison, so here
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  you see, you know, a Buka makes a guy miss. It's a
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  big game again, you're I think so, you know, I think I
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  heard a third of the targets or a third on the of Ohio State's total
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  play is a third of them we're target gets to Harrison and Abuca, and
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  I mean, I think that's the world they want to live in, you
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  know, like they came out between those two and Xavier Johnson and Henderson to
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  some extent too, Like you could tell the game plan was to make sure
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  those guys got involved, and they did so with a lot of these RPOs
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  or PPOs, which are past pass options, and so I will look at
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  one of those with a bucca, but you saw a couple of those with
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  like you know, they threw the ball early to Henderson where they run you
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  know, one of their stable plays. They run a swing swing screen to
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  the wide receiver to the running back to one side and then double slats to
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  the other side. And so quarterback again reading is its own through it to
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  the running back side man throw the double slats. So so a lot of
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  these concepts. Harrison coming I think probably people remember, kind of came in
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  motion underneath and they read as a kind of a wide receiver quick outscreen to
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  him. So a lot of difference compared to Indiana. And again you know
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  the next clip you mentioned again doing that with a mecca BOOKA. Yeah,
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  so let's talk about that next one that you know McCord pulls it and then
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  bro to McCord hits aca a buka for a touchdown. This was I think
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  in the late in the late in the first half. But you know another
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  one where like you said, they seem like they were looking for Harrison and
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  a Bucca and Henderson for the most part and getting the ball in their hands.
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  And when you do good things happen. Yeah, I mean the first
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  thing to note about this is it's fourth and two, right, So I
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  had another unsuccessful third and three or less run play, which continues to be
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  an issue. But as we talked about last week, like, there are
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  more than one way to skin a cat, and so you know, to
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  the extent teams are loanadied up, you know, you can just eseasily.
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  Do you see here, which again is a variation of what I just talked
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  about with that Trevia Henderson's swing screen. Right, So to one side here
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  you have a little slant to the top of the screen, I should say
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  a slant and shoot route, so you know, a slant and then a
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  flat route. And to the other end you're they're just running a wide receiver
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  screen. So you can see that. Like because Abuka stays behind the line
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  of scrimmage, the guys in front of him can block, and so again
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  mccare can just read the leverage and get the ball quickly. Obviously they're in
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  an empty formation and it you know, turn a fourth and two not alien
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  into a touchdown, but into a score. So again I think that I
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  mean them and probably others thought that you know, we're going to be a
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  run heavy team early in the season, as we have breaking a new quarterback,
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  new offensive lines, We've got you know, five deep in the backfield,
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  and I do think, like I don't think the run game is is
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  all for not. I mean I think that there's week and I'm gonna you
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  know, you can talk about that a bit more in terms of what they
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  did better this weekend. But you know, your two best players are still
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  probably your two wide receivers, and so these are again easy ways just to
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  get the ball on space and particularly you know if teams want to load up
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  on them in short yard. All right, and now the fourth play the
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  kind of this related package we're talking about. This came right after Trevi and
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  Henderson had a touchdown wiped off on a holding call on Chip training that Ryan
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  Day on Tuesday said he had talked to the Big ten and they said,
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  m probably shouldn't have actually been wiped off the board, but that's okay.
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  This was I guess a ball don't lie example where a play or two later
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  Trevi and Henderson does get into the end zone. This is the one where
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  they said he fumbled and then they replayed it and it was very immediately obvious
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  that no, in fact, it was a touchdown. But you know,
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  again we're talking about this in terms of the schematics of the play, So
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  why was this a particular interest to you? Yeah, so this is a
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  duo run is the name of it, which duo is just power without a
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  puller. So you know, you can see o high seats in a bunch
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  set here there's still in actually eleven personal says Stell. Three receivers, just
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  one tight end. But it's a tight bunch. So you have both Mecca
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  Book Jillian fleming to the top of the screen, Munch with Kage Dober and
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  so doo. They're just gonna down block. They've run due on the past,
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  but I don't know if I've ever remember him doing it as much from
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  a shotgun halfback situation, which I personally like better for them because you don't
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  necessarily know it's a duo. There's there's certain tells for duo like this type
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  bunch or they like to send the wide receiver and sort of a short motion
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  with this that you don't know whether it's inside zone or duo, which has
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  some similarities but also differences. And then on the run, I mean so
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  Travion Henderson on duo is going to read the mic, he sees the mic
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  fills straight up and he cuts it back. I thought, I think that
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  the downhill blocking, both like inside zone and duo, if it's their offensive
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  line better. Right now, they've you know, as we've discussed, they're
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  having some struggles still. They had someone Saturday Combo blocking stretch, like you
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  know, guys are a tight end will release off the block when he shouldn't,
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  or someone doesn't release when they should. Think they're doing a better job
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  getting downhead on this, and I think it fits Treyvon Henderson better too,
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  Like you look like a different runner on inside Zone duo than he did trying
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  to run stretch because he's he is explosive, so you know, it kind
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  of forces him to make one cut and go and get north and south and
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  so and again, and then off of that. When you're in a gun
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  like that, you can always rpo it and keep spread out. So again,
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  I just think this fits their personnel better, and obviously I think they
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  realize that too, So I would expect more of this sort of formula going
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  forward, less you know, deep tailback either a pistol or shotgun with multiple
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  tight ends and sort of trying to run a more pro style, you know,
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  stretch and then play off action off of that, all right, and
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  something else you can probably expect more of later this year. Touchdown passes to
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  Marvin Harrison comical chord, connecting for the first time in his college career with
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  his former high school teammate. This was a seventy one yarder on the opening
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  drive. If you look closely towards the end, you will see Marvin Harrison
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  run right pat in the end zone. He got real big in my viewfinder
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  and I kind of went that he's close enough. The camera is no longer
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  focusing, and he's still running towards me. I should probably take a little
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  step to the side before I get knocked on my butt. And I did
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  and everyone lived happily ever after. But before that happened, Ross, you
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  know, Marv after the game talked about the fact that maybe there was a
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  little bit of a breakdown in the secondary for Youngstown State on that one.
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  What did you see on that long touchdown play for Marvin Harrison read off the
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  bat, Hey, someone I had to try to make attack on him.
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  Tom So say, I might have been the closest defender to him the whole
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  time exactly, So I kind of agree it's a breakdown. I also don't,
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  but on the flip side, also think it's like a nice design by
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  Ohio State. And then I think it's a nice job by call him before
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  going through his progression, So that's kind of why I grabbed him. So
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  young Suns State here's running what they ran off a lot and against High State,
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  which is quarter quarter half. So they're playing cover forward in the field
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  and cover two to the boundary, and so you've got a squaw corner over
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  Harrison. I mean the first thing to note right is that you have a
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  Macaboo guy and Harrison the same side. They the route I think after the
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  game Ryan Day said it was I think it was designed hit a book on
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  that curl right past the first down marker. But the safe, the cover
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  two safety, jumped the a book around, So then cal McCord came off
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  of that and hit Harrison the hole. So yes, break down can understand
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  though why the Cover two safety might try to cheat and jump that route,
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  because I do think that's where McCord's eyes were at first, and you know,
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  it makes sense to go towards the sticks. But I think it's it's
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  a good example of where or has taken sort of exploit things with those two
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  receivers. And you know, I do think McCord is a you know,
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  justin Whitlock talked about like that he's a good progression passer like he does like
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  for a you know, a guy with now three stars like goes through his
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  progressions and he does it quickly and like but he does go you know,
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  one to two to three. Uh. And you know the next example is
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  that as well. So you know, I think buck a high state fanshould
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  they like hardened that he is. It's not like he's like locking onto one
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  guy and just sticking there. Like you know, there was a few examples
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  where he made the wrong read or like you know a couple you know,
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  one thrower so two that were behind the receiver. But like I do think
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  he he's shown an inability to process on the field. All right, And
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  so let's go to that next one with Kyle McCord connecting with Marvin Harris again.
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  This time was at third and nine, and you know they have been
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  behind the sticks, you know, behind off schedule, maybe a little more
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  than they would have liked and let first couple of games. But when you
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  can do this, you know, then then you get you get right back
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  on schedule when it is first and ten. So welcome through this last one.
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  Yeah, I mean I grow this a couple of reasons. Like I
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  mean, I think it's an interesting concept from from a high state. It's
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  sort of like a shallow cross combination with this deep almost follow route from Harrison
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  behind it. But again, I think it's just a good example of like
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  mccordicly, like you can watch him in the pocket, like he works his
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  way through his progressions right like at first he's looking at the shallow cross,
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  then he's looking then he's looking at the next cross, and then he goes
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  back to Harrison behind that and just hits him in stride. I mean,
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  I think he did show you know, he's got play of arms strength for
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  the position. I mean that, you know, second touchdown pass to Harrison
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  demonstrated that as well, Like he hit him on a post post corner route
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  fifty yards down field. You know, he can be his accuracy's good when
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  he's on time. You know, I don't think everything's gonna be perfect,
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  but like you know, I think everyone saw what Ryan Dame made inevitable on
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  Tuesday in terms of before being the starter, because you know, I think
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  he does have some shrinks that they can use here to get the ball out
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  of quickly, to work his way through his progressions, as I said,
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  And you know, I think as I said, I think he really excels
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  sort of on those quick, quick passing game concepts, but certainly has the
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  ability to push the ball down field all right and quickly. Before we wrap
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  this one up, just want to kind of get a sense from you what
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  you're looking to see on Saturday. It is now Kyle McCord's offense, km
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  Icchord's team. My assumption is you should see maybe a little more rhythm to
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  the offense maybe. I mean, Brian Day talked on Tuesday just he kept
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  using the word consistency, having the same starting quarterback getting more reps with the
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  woes during practice this week, having the same quarterback played the whole game where
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  you're not getting yanked out to go sit a series here and there. I'm
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  assuming we should see kind of a little bit of a little bit more progression
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  from Commicchord even though you're playing you know, at least a slightly better defense
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  than Youngstuns. Yeah, I agree. I mean it's easy in hindsight,
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  But I do think the sort of the quarterback carousel was probably too strong a
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  work because you know, KLM McCord's played a lot more than Devin Brown has,
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  but this sort of back and forth has sort of slowed down that cohesion
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  a little bit. And you know, as I said, I thought he
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  was McCord was in a pretty good rhythm against Young Sounds State and then you
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  know, he basically didn't play the rest of the game, and so kind
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  of like what would have been. But you know, getting more reps,
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  he should improve, Like you know, you can't make up for the ones
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  he lost. But I agree with you, like I think you should definitely,
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  Like if there's no more cohesion and rhythm, then that's obviously troubling.
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  But I think the other thing I'm looking for at least is building off of
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  this and like continuing to be in like eleven personnel Shotgun. You know,
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  spread it out, plenty of run pass options and pass pass options and hopefully
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  you know, you can still both have a diversified run game with the RPOs
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  and so you know, running the ball downhill and hopefully seeing what would we're
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  all seeing in terms of what's been working and what's not all right? Well
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  this we will see what all works this Saturday and what doesn't With the Ohio
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  State Defense. We're gonna be talking about the Ohio State Defense on tomorrow's show,
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  so we'll have that to look forward to. A will be back to
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  talk about that. And if you want to talk to Ross about all this
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  stuff, or talk to Mikey or Justin or Devon or any of our other
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  scheme guys, you can do that on the huddleboard at pukeeyehuddle dot com.
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  That is a member exclusive area. We were going to try and release these
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  shows a little bit earlier to our members. And then you have questions.
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  Ross is always active in those threads, answering your questions, giving you,
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  you know, his insight and all this kind of stuff. So that,
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  hey, that seems like a great reason to think about Come inmember fuckey huddle
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  plays at Notre Dame. I'm going to guess there might be a little live
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  content for you here and there during the course of that week and that weekend,
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  so make sure you're subscribed there as well, and we'll give you plenty,
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  plenty of Ohio State football content for what is starting to shape up to
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  be a pretty interesting season. So that we'll do it for today. Thank
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  you guys all for joining us of a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.