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Ohio State vs. Notre Dame Preview: Did A Big Win Prepare The Buckeyes For The Irish? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning, from Monday, September eighteenth, I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Notre Dame game is in five days. The game
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  against Michigan in sixty eight days. But we're gonna be talking a whole bunch
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  about that Notre Dame game today and for the rest of the week, and
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  with good reason. That is going to be a massive matchup. No matter
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  who you ask. You want to talk to the old school newspaper people,
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  that's fine. They've got the Buckeyes number six in the polls, Notre Dame
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  number nine. You want to talk to the computer as well. Bill Conley's
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  sp Plus rankings have the Buckeyes number one right now, Notre Dame number four.
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  This is going to be a massive, massive game between two of the
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  biggest names in college football, with the biggest brands in college football, two
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  teams that are located just about four or four and a half hours apart from
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  each other, but who've only played a handful of times over the last century.
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  Yes, it's going to be a big game. We're gonna be talking
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  about that game today, but we're going to be doing it doing it through
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  the filter of what we saw on Saturday, as the Buckeyes beat Western Kentucky
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  sixty three to ten in their final tune up before that up to South Bend.
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  So today you're gonna be hearing directly from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day
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  starting quarterback Kyle McCord, both of whom had pretty darn good days on Saturday,
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  about what that win over Western Kentucky means, what it's going to mean
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  in terms of this weekend's game at Notre Dame, and much more. Let's
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  start with Ryan Day. The game on Saturday was really the first time this
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  year's Ohio State team has looked like an Ohio State team under Ryan Day.
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  They just exploded thirty five points in the second quarter, including twenty eight points
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  in the span of eight minutes right before halftime. It really did feel like
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  the first time that they looked like you'd expect a Ryan Day team to look.
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  So you would think Ryan Day probably had to like that. Yeah,
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  we needed to take the next step. We know what we're about to,
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  you know, jump into here in the middle of the season. We know
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  we have to go in the road next week, and I mean it was
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  that was a good week of work right there. Now, It started Sunday,
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  it was Tuesday was a was a really physical day. Wednesday was a
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  great day. Thursday we kept going at him. I'm and it was all
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  week because we knew we had to turn this up and we need to build
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  some momentum going in next week. So I think he's our team play like
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  that today and that's what it's going to be moving forward. That is the
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  kind of game that head coaches love because it kind of felt think like things
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  were just about perfect at times. Things were really clicking on both sides of
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  the ball for the Buckeyes, but of course there are always still things that
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  they can teach off of mistakes that were made that need to be fixed before
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  next weekend. Yeah. No, what we have to do is we have
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  to find those plays that we know in a matchup game can cost us because
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  we know it can come down to one play. But what we wanted to
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  do in this game is, and we knew it wasn't gonna be perfect,
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  we wanted to play really really hard, really super competitive, a lot of
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  energy, a lot of passion, a lot of people running around. We
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  got that done, But that's the way we're gonna have to play moving forward.
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  I think that we knew it was going to be, you know,
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  wide open game. They were gonna make some plays, but I thought our
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  defense overall didn't flinch. They hung in there. They hung in there on
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  the fourth downs and that was good. And then you saw some guys make
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  some plays. You saw Kyle respond after the turnover. That was big because
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  you know, that's you know, that's one of those things you want to
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  watch in a quarterback is how they gonna respond. Are they gonna go into
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  their shaller, just keep pushing forward, and he was aggressive on the big
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  touchdown, and then we were able to flip the scoreboard there. I guess,
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  you know, we had maybe thirty five points there. And then also
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  the two minute drill, and I thought about taking a knee, but I
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  said now that we need to find out what he can do in a two
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  minute drill, and he pushed it down the field and it was good to
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  see that because that's gonna be something we're gonna have to do, you know,
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  to win games. He also did it in the Indiana game at the
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  end of the first half as well, so good signs there. That was
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  the first time that the Ohio State offense looked truly like an Ohio State offense.
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  This year. It was also the first time that the Ohio State defense
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  really got tested by a pass happy offense, and they really stood up to
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  that test. Only ten points allowed, had a couple interceptions, a couple
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  of fumble recoveries, two defensive touchdowns. If you're Ryan Day, there is
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  a lot to like from that defense. Yeah, obviously in the second half
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  the turnovers were huge. I thought they hung in there there when they were
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  getting the stops at the in the end of the first half and getting the
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  ball back to the offense. They kind of fed off of that and we
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  had some really good momentum going there, a good passion, a bunch of
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  guys playing fast, violent. There was some really good collisions going on.
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  There was a really good hit by Lathan, you know, he got a
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  I don't know if that was a fourth down stopper, but that was That's
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  what we're looking for, you know, guys flying sideline to sideline and getting
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  their hands on balls in the secondary. I mean, that quarterback's very good.
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  He'll he'll rip it and challenge us. So we'll get on a film
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  and figure out the areas we gotta get better. At something about the team
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  just looked different on Saturday from the previous two games. It's not like they
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  had been playing incredible competition weeks one and two. They just didn't quite look
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  right. So what was it about Week three in that Western Kentucky game that
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  made things just look and feel just totally different. Yeah. I just think
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  that the style of the game allowed us an opportunity to kind of, you
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  know, go play and compete, but but make no mistake about it.
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  I mean, we were turning and up this week. We know we're about
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  to get into We wanted to build momentum going into next week, and everything
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  was turned up in a big way. So we're got to get back to
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  work, you know, Notre Dame starts now. Usually we started on Sunday.
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  We're starting to prepare tonight in the lead up to that Western Kentucky game,
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  including his speech he gave it skull session before the game, bryand they
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  just he just sounded confident that, Okay, I know you've been patient for
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  two weeks. That next step is coming. So where did that confidence come
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  from? How did he know that that next step really was going to come
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  on Saturday? What went on this week? In practice. We had a
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  few people come to practice and boy, they said, man, that was
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  his physical of practice I've seen in a long time. The guys responded.
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  We talked about it on Tuesday. We needed to do it well. Actually,
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  we talked about it on Sunday and then we have a team meeting before
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  practice on Tuesday and we laid out what needs to be done this week.
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  And these guys like to get challenged, and we pushed them hard this week.
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  So that was a good sign that they responded. Things were not completely
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  perfect for the Buckeyes during the course of the game. In their second drive
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  on offense, for example, Kyle mccoord got stripped. It got its strip
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  sack and Buck guys turned the ball over and Western Kentucky gets the ball.
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  They go down the field, take a field goal, and all of a
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  sudden, what looked like a fourteen nothing lead, or he could what could
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  soon be a fourteen nothing lead can into just a seven to three lead.
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  So how did they respond? Well, they scored touchdowns on their next five
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  drives in the second quarter. That's pretty darn good. You will take that
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  five times out of five. What does that show you? If you're Ryan
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  day. He's poised. You know, he doesn't really ride the roller coaster,
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  and I think that's one of his strengths. And at that point I
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  just kind of stayed away and asked him what he saw and let him know
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  what I saw. Didn't get upset, just said, all right, we
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  gotta come back and go play. Now. We got a long game ahead
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  of us, and it was interested to see how he would respond. I
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  wasn't going to be conservative at that point. I wanted to really push the
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  envelope because you know, we have to turn it up, you know,
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  based on where we're going. And so he responded and it was good.
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  He wasn't phazed. And that's important because there's gonna be there's gonna be plays
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  that don't go exactly the way we design them, and there's gonna be tough
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  moments and we're gonna have to respond. And that's what being competitively tough so
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  all about. There was a lot of talk last week about the lack of
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  production from the Ohio State defensive line, and especially the defensive ends who had
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  not recorded a sack in the first two games. So on Saturday, they
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  just were a lot more active. They just seem to have much more of
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  an impact in the passing game. They Yeah, they Mitchell Melton got a
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  sack, but they just were constantly in the face of Austin Reid, the
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  Western Kentucky quarterback, getting hands and passing lines, deflecting passes, just making
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  life just really genuinely unpleasant back there in the pocket. So was that sudden
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  increase in product production and impact on the game. Was that just based on
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  the opponent and what Western Kentucky was doing scheme wise, or is there maybe
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  more to it than that. Yeah. I thought there was a point where
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  they really, you know, put their hands in the dirt and started coming
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  coming hard. I thought, you know, they were into it. I
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  liked their you know, the competitiveness. I think they're gonna watch it and
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  see some things that they even can you know, improve on that. He
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  does get the ball out quick too. He wasn't like he was hanging onto
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  the ball a lot, So the ball was coming out quick. But but
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  there was a lot of things there to go on and a lot to learn
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  from. But but just their overall attitude was really good. I mean,
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  they were into it. They were you know, you know, I just
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  I felt them out there today which which is a good sign. Now we're
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  gonna let you hear from Ohio State starting quarterback Kyle McCord. He had a
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  very solid first start of his career, nineteen for twenty three, more than
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  three hundred yards, three touchdowns, and through the air putting a seventy five
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  yard or to Marvin Harrison. That was pretty much just like you draw it
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  up. Let's talk to him though, about the one moment that was not
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  how you drawed up, and that was that strip sack. It happened second
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  drive on offense, as I mentioned earlier, and that really could have been
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  a turning point in a bad way for the Ohio State offense, but it
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  wasn't. They came back, as I mentioned earlier, by straight drives,
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  five State touchdowns in the second quarter and bing, bang boom, the games
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  over before the marching band comes out on the field at the half. So
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  what happened on that play and then how did they bounce back after? Yeah?
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  I thought, I responded, well, the strip sack was my fault.
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  Felt like they brought pressure, aligned did a good job of giving me
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  enough time. I just got to make better decisions. And so I think
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  after that we responded well, I thought the guys around me, you know,
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  just lifting me up, and you know it told me that, you
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  know, we just gotta keep going, keep pressing, and I thought we
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  did that. Obviously, follow it up and you know, put some points
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  up on the board. So that was good. It was a good way
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  to respond. That game on Saturday almost undoubtedly helped lower the average blood pressure
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  around Columbus by about ten to fifteen points. But how does that kind of
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  a game help the team when they know they've got that Notre Dame game coming
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  up on deck. Yeah, I think this was probably our most complete game
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  as offense and just trying to continue to take strides and felt like we ran
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  the ball really well. I feel like we had success passing the ball,
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  and so it's definitely a good confidence boost going it's obviously a big test next
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  next week. So it's just all about how can we take that step from
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  week three to week four and continue to get better. You heard Ryan Day
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  earlier talk about the fact that Kyle McCord just had a better week of practice
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  last week than he had had in previous weeks. Was was that because Kyle
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  McCord knew it was his job and he could just focus on improving and how
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  much is a full week of reps with the ones really change things When you're
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  the quarterback after you've been splitting time for the first couple of weeks, you're
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  gonna hear two answers here combined back to back. I think it's definitely nice
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  getting the official nod from him. But at the same time, the more
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  experience I can get, the more opportunity, the more reps, the better
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  I feel like I'll be. So I just kind of had that mind state
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  going into practice week and attacking it like a game every single day. And
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  I feel like we had a really good week of offense or a really good
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  week of practice and offense, and I think that show today. Yeah,
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  I think it does help when you have understanding of kind of have the games
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  and ago that you're going to be getting all the reps and you're you're going
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  with the wines and you really don't have to, uh, you know,
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  try to think about what's going to happen, you know, if you don't
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  put together a driver or anything like that. And then I think this week
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  kind of used that confidence boost a little bit, and you know, just
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  trusting my rules, trust my reach trust my eyes, and I think good
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  things happen. So just continuing on that for next week. The Buckeyes were
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  efficient on their first drive, they kept those chains moving and they marched down
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  the field methodically for a touchdown. And then later they were explosive. They
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  had three drives of one play single one play drives, long touchdown run by
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  train Him, long touchdown reception by Marvin Harrison later in that first half.
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  So how hard is it? How how do you combine being both efficient and
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  explosive at the same time. How were they able to do both of those
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  things? Yeah, I thought the biggest thing today was we ran the ball
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  very well. At anytime you run the ball well, I thought, you
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  know, we did a good job running it, you know, in between
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  the tackles, and then we did a good job kind of getting it out
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  on the perimeter. And I think that stretches the defense and opens up shots
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  to take down the field like we did to Marvin, opens up the drop
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  back pass because they really don't know what to expect. So anytime I think
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  we can really get the run game going, which I thought we did a
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  tremendous job with that today, opens up the entire offense. So I think
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  that's the credit to the O Lion and the running backs today. And finally,
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  as we officially turn the page from the Western Kentucky game to the Notre
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  Dame game, how big was it for Kyle McCord personally, for the Ohio
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  State offense and the Ohio State team on the whole to have a game like
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  that where it looked like, Okay, this is how things are supposed to
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  look as they're now entering Notre Dame week. Like I said, I think
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  we spun our tires at times, and we go out to practice and have
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  some really good days and then you know, maybe that wouldn't always translate to
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  the game. At times, Like I said, I think, you know,
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  we looked really good and then there are times where I felt like we
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  left money on the field. So having a game like this, I think
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  we'll give all the guys a little boost of confidence going into the game next
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  week. And I think the biggest thing is just continuing to ramp up that
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  intensity and practice because you know, we know what it's going to be next
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  week in South Bend against a really good team and you know, in a
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  tough environment. So we're just gonna have to ramp it up and you know,
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  continue on this kind of trajectory that we're on right now. Well,
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  this is going to be quite a week in the city of Columbus and the
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  city of South Bend, and the state of Ohio and the state of Indiana
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  and everywhere else there Ohio State and Notre Dame fans, which is pretty much
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  everywhere I think, Ohio State, Notre Dame. Saturday Night in Notre Dame
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  Stadium, televised on NBC Primetime. Game two, top ten teams, top
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  five teams, depending on who you ask going head to head, should be
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  an incredible game, an incredible night. We're going to have a whole a
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  There's gonna be a whole lot to talk about here as the Black Eyes
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  head into South Bend on Saturday for what is going to be one of the
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  bigger games in the last few years of Ohio State football. I know I
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  can't wait. I'm going to guess a lot of you can't either. So
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  it should be a really really fun week, really really eventful week as we
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  head into that game coming up this weekend. Hope you guys help to have
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  you guys along with us on every step of the journey that we'll do it
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  for today, thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you tomorrow.