Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Did The Iowa Game Answer Some Big Questions Heading Into Oregon Week?
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning from Monday, October seventh. I'm
- 0:03Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Oregon game is in five days.
- 0:06Speaker 1: The gam against Michigan in fifty four days. The Ohio
- 0:09Speaker 1: State Buckeyes have done what they needed to do to
- 0:11Speaker 1: enter that Oregon game undefeated. So have the Oregon Ducks.
- 0:15Speaker 1: All Right, the preamble is out of the way, the appetizers,
- 0:18Speaker 1: the table has been busted. It is time for the
- 0:20Speaker 1: main course, or at least the first main course of
- 0:22Speaker 1: this year's Ohio State football season. Buckeyes and Ducks kicking
- 0:26Speaker 1: off seven thirty pm on Saturday night from Eugene. We
- 0:30Speaker 1: will be there and speak for the whole team. We
- 0:33Speaker 1: can't wait, the whole Buckeye huddle team. We are very
- 0:36Speaker 1: excited to get out there and cover what should be
- 0:38Speaker 1: one of the biggest and best football games of the
- 0:40Speaker 1: college football regular season. So heading into that game, the
- 0:44Speaker 1: Buckeyes had to take care of some business.
- 0:46Speaker 2: First. They had to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes.
- 0:49Speaker 1: Never an easy opponent, never a game that's going to
- 0:51Speaker 1: be a very pretty or exciting game. But the Buckeyes
- 0:54Speaker 1: handled their business. But they did get to face some
- 0:56Speaker 1: adversity during that game and we're only up seven to
- 0:58Speaker 1: nothing at the halftime. We get a chance to talk
- 1:01Speaker 1: to Ryan Day after the game, and he shared his
- 1:04Speaker 1: thoughts on what that locker room was like and then
- 1:06Speaker 1: what really changed in the third core.
- 1:08Speaker 3: It's a mixture of feelings. It's almost twenty yards offense.
- 1:14Speaker 3: You know, on defense, we had held them to under
- 1:16Speaker 3: ninety yards, but two turnovers, didn't convert the fourth down.
- 1:21Speaker 2: I thought we worked hard.
- 1:22Speaker 3: Trying to score there and then the last four minutes
- 1:25Speaker 3: of the first half didn't do that, had the turnover,
- 1:29Speaker 3: So there was you know, on defense, there was there
- 1:31Speaker 3: was an energy, but also even on offense, it's like,
- 1:34Speaker 3: if we just take care of the football, we can
- 1:35Speaker 3: we can we can turn this thing and get going,
- 1:37Speaker 3: because the score was probably a little bit different. If
- 1:40Speaker 3: we take care of the ball coming out of halftime,
- 1:43Speaker 3: then you know, we really wanted to come out and
- 1:45Speaker 3: have a great drive, you know, to start the third quarter.
- 1:49Speaker 3: And then we started getting the short fields on the
- 1:51Speaker 3: turnovers and the game just you know flipped there and
- 1:53Speaker 3: I think it ended up being twenty eight straight points,
- 1:56Speaker 3: and so that was good good to see, you know,
- 2:00Speaker 3: not that you like to see those kind of things.
- 2:01Speaker 3: But but it is good to face a little bit
- 2:03Speaker 3: of adversity and see how our team responds, and so
- 2:06Speaker 3: all things we can learn from.
- 2:08Speaker 1: One thing that was very encouraging for the Buckeyes during
- 2:11Speaker 1: that game was even when they weren't piling up a
- 2:13Speaker 1: ton of points, I felt like they were really controlling
- 2:15Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball
- 2:17Speaker 1: pretty effectively. Now against an opponent like Orgon, that feels
- 2:20Speaker 1: like that's a pretty impressive thing. So how big is
- 2:23Speaker 1: that to be able to have done that moving forward?
- 2:26Speaker 3: That was the challenge coming in was, you know, we
- 2:30Speaker 3: say sixty minutes of inside drill and figure out where
- 2:33Speaker 3: we are running the ball and stopping the run so
- 2:35Speaker 3: we have a reference point moving forward. I think this
- 2:39Speaker 3: can give us a lot of confidence moving forward. There
- 2:41Speaker 3: was a big challenge to our entire team about physicality
- 2:43Speaker 3: and toughness. I thought we answered that, we'll watch the
- 2:45Speaker 3: film and get it figured out. But you know, there's
- 2:48Speaker 3: a team right there that feels like, you know, they
- 2:51Speaker 3: got a challenge and they answered that. But as you
- 2:54Speaker 3: can imagine, it didn't take too long for us to
- 2:56Speaker 3: you know, set our focus on Oregon and so you know,
- 2:59Speaker 3: our our focus is when we leave the locker room
- 3:02Speaker 3: today that we're already starting on Oregon. But all that
- 3:04Speaker 3: being said, we will watch the film to marrow, We'll
- 3:06Speaker 3: learn from it. We'll call it the champions, identify those
- 3:10Speaker 3: and make sure that we recognize the hard work that
- 3:12Speaker 3: was done to go win this game. Because we have
- 3:14Speaker 3: a lot of respect for Iowa coach Ferenz and the
- 3:16Speaker 3: way they do things. It's a veteran team that's played
- 3:19Speaker 3: a lot of football and it's not easy to know
- 3:21Speaker 3: rush for two undred yards against that defense. But also,
- 3:25Speaker 3: you know, some of the throws in a red zone
- 3:26Speaker 3: I thought were pretty well done today because those are
- 3:29Speaker 3: the types of throws you have to make against a
- 3:31Speaker 3: really good defense.
- 3:32Speaker 1: One thing that helped with controlling the line of scrimmage
- 3:34Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball was getting high
- 3:36Speaker 1: Leak Williams back. He was technically available last week against
- 3:39Speaker 1: Michigan State, did not play. He was back and back
- 3:42Speaker 1: in a big way against the Iowa Hawk Eye. So
- 3:44Speaker 1: how big was that in a game where they had
- 3:46Speaker 1: to get, you know, stop that inside run. To have
- 3:49Speaker 1: highleek Williams back on the field.
- 3:52Speaker 3: Well, there's a confidence because he's a very good player,
- 3:56Speaker 3: but he also is a very good communicator, and so
- 3:58Speaker 3: he's constantly talking to guys in there, and you know,
- 4:03Speaker 3: I think it's good to get everybody on the same page.
- 4:05Speaker 3: But but but great to see you know, Ty Hamilton,
- 4:09Speaker 3: you know, get that, you know, sack fumble and then
- 4:11Speaker 3: Jack and you know, I thought our guys were flying
- 4:14Speaker 3: around today. Good to get igb a pick like that.
- 4:16Speaker 3: I mean, those are all huge plays in the game
- 4:17Speaker 3: which helped flip. So you know, overall, I felt like,
- 4:21Speaker 3: you know, we I don't know if I mentioned this
- 4:24Speaker 3: on Tuesday, but you know, when you come into games,
- 4:27Speaker 3: I think especially for guys like Jack and j T,
- 4:32Speaker 3: there's this, well, how many sacks are you going to get? Well,
- 4:33Speaker 3: if they're running the ball every play, it's hard to
- 4:35Speaker 3: get sacks.
- 4:36Speaker 2: And so what do you do.
- 4:37Speaker 3: You stop the run and then force them, you know,
- 4:39Speaker 3: go up by a couple of scores. We wish we
- 4:41Speaker 3: had done that a little bit sooner, forced them to
- 4:43Speaker 3: throw the ball and then here here come the sacks
- 4:45Speaker 3: because now there's opportunity. And I think they did that
- 4:48Speaker 3: and saw some big plays happen.
- 4:51Speaker 1: Ryan Day is of course an offensive coach at heart,
- 4:54Speaker 1: he was a former college quarterback, former quarterback coach, former
- 4:57Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, was calling the plays for the buck guys
- 4:59Speaker 1: as recently as last year, so he is really all offense,
- 5:03Speaker 1: you're sort of in terms of his background, but as
- 5:05Speaker 1: an offensive coach, how much has it changed your mindset
- 5:08Speaker 1: to know that you've got a really solid defense at
- 5:11Speaker 1: your back as well?
- 5:12Speaker 3: Then there's no question. Yeah, And it gives you confidence
- 5:16Speaker 3: to go forward on a fourth down early in the
- 5:18Speaker 3: game like that because you feel like your defense is
- 5:21Speaker 3: strong and that's that's a big part of it. And yeah,
- 5:26Speaker 3: to get the turnovers on a short field like that
- 5:28Speaker 3: is just you know, you're just you're constantly playing downhill
- 5:30Speaker 3: when that happens. So yeah, I mean that those are
- 5:33Speaker 3: huge in a game. And I guess you know, the
- 5:36Speaker 3: turnovers ended up three to two or maybe with the
- 5:39Speaker 3: downs three to three, but those are all really big
- 5:41Speaker 3: plays in a game. So you know, anytime we can
- 5:45Speaker 3: do that, it's a game changer.
- 5:46Speaker 2: A mecca.
- 5:47Speaker 1: Abuka has gone through a lot of his career as
- 5:49Speaker 1: a little bit of an underappreciated player for the Buckeyes.
- 5:52Speaker 1: He always kind of gets a little bit lost behind
- 5:54Speaker 1: the Marvin Harrison's or the Jeremiah Smith who grab a
- 5:57Speaker 1: lot of the headlines, and rightly so, but Mecca Abuca
- 6:00Speaker 1: has just sort of been there, very consistent, very reliable
- 6:03Speaker 1: for his whole career. He had a big game against Iowa,
- 6:06Speaker 1: three receiving touchdowns. Is he someone who's maybe a little
- 6:09Speaker 1: bit underappreciated outside of the program.
- 6:11Speaker 3: Yeah, I think Omecca is one of the best receivers
- 6:13Speaker 3: in the country. And you know, it hurt him last
- 6:16Speaker 3: year to have the high ankle sprain. But when you
- 6:19Speaker 3: think about where he was, you know, the year before
- 6:21Speaker 3: and now what he's doing now, just you see a
- 6:23Speaker 3: complete player. He's a captain of our team.
- 6:26Speaker 2: He's a warrior.
- 6:27Speaker 3: He does all the dirty work like he did in
- 6:29Speaker 3: the Michigan State game. But then to see him come
- 6:31Speaker 3: back and have three touchdown catches and contested all three
- 6:33Speaker 3: of those was huge. And so no, he's he's a leader,
- 6:37Speaker 3: he's a warrior, and he's a you know, I think again,
- 6:40Speaker 3: one of the better receivers in the entire country, and
- 6:43Speaker 3: he's only getting better the more he plays.
- 6:45Speaker 1: One of the reasons that Amecica Abuka had a big
- 6:47Speaker 1: game was because they needed to replace the production of
- 6:50Speaker 1: Carnel Tate. Carneal Tate was not in the game. He
- 6:53Speaker 1: was listed as a game time decision did not play,
- 6:56Speaker 1: so Rhyande shared an update on his status as well
- 6:59Speaker 1: as how the buck Eye defense their focus on hitting
- 7:03Speaker 1: turnovers has really been paying off so far this season.
- 7:06Speaker 3: I mean always always. I think anybody any defense would
- 7:08Speaker 3: tell you that they work on, you know, poking the
- 7:10Speaker 3: ball out. I think our guys have done a good
- 7:13Speaker 3: job of that. And the quarterback is usually the most
- 7:15Speaker 3: vulnerable guy, and so you know, the strip sacks are huge,
- 7:19Speaker 3: and you know we had two of those today. The
- 7:21Speaker 3: interception was well done. But again, when you when you
- 7:25Speaker 3: force a team one handed, then you know, now now
- 7:28Speaker 3: you have more opportunity to get turnovers, and so that's big.
- 7:32Speaker 3: In terms of Carnell, Carnell was available, he could have
- 7:35Speaker 3: played another one of these situations. We decided to hold them.
- 7:38Speaker 3: If we needed to put them in the game, he
- 7:39Speaker 3: absolutely could have played, but we just felt like it
- 7:42Speaker 3: was the right thing to do with the hold them
- 7:43Speaker 3: and hopefully we'll have one hundred percent Carnell going in
- 7:45Speaker 3: next week.
- 7:46Speaker 1: No Carnel take, no problem and Mecha book obviously had
- 7:49Speaker 1: three touchdowns, but Jeremiah Smith had another nice day. How
- 7:53Speaker 1: is Jeremiah Smith just ready to be this much of
- 7:55Speaker 1: an impactful player this early in his career.
- 7:58Speaker 3: I think the first probably over all maturity. What I
- 8:01Speaker 3: mean by that, like his physical maturity. He's big and
- 8:03Speaker 3: strong as you see, and so that's important. I think
- 8:07Speaker 3: the next thing is his is you know, emotional maturity.
- 8:12Speaker 3: This is somebody who practices hard every day. He's avoided
- 8:16Speaker 3: distractions up until this point. He stays disciplined. Practice is
- 8:20Speaker 3: really hard. I know that fumble is gonna absolutely kill
- 8:23Speaker 3: you know, he's gonna it's gonna bother him, you know,
- 8:25Speaker 3: And I think that's what makes him great. But he
- 8:27Speaker 3: also has a lot of confidence. And we have a
- 8:29Speaker 3: lot of confidence you know that we go right back
- 8:30Speaker 3: to him and know what he's capable of. So he's
- 8:34Speaker 3: got a great you know coach and Brian Hartline, he's
- 8:37Speaker 3: got a great mentor in a mecha Buca. But but
- 8:40Speaker 3: but he also came in with a great work ethic
- 8:42Speaker 3: and a great mindset. But also you know, physically he's
- 8:47Speaker 3: big and strong, which allows him to get on the
- 8:49Speaker 3: field sooner.
- 8:49Speaker 1: Quarterback Will Howard did throw an interception on Saturday, but
- 8:52Speaker 1: he had some good moments as well. So what is
- 8:55Speaker 1: will Howard get coming out of this game? Here was
- 8:58Speaker 1: Ryan Day's answer on that.
- 9:00Speaker 3: I think he's gonna get confidence coming out of this game.
- 9:02Speaker 3: But I think when you you know, have a couple
- 9:08Speaker 3: of things you'd like back, you know, you learn from those.
- 9:11Speaker 3: And there's also you know, he doesn't get rattled, you know,
- 9:16Speaker 3: and you know there's times, right you know, I even
- 9:18Speaker 3: try to rattle him in practice and he doesn't. I mean,
- 9:20Speaker 3: he kind of looks like I got your coaching right,
- 9:23Speaker 3: and that's that's a good sign for a quarterback. And
- 9:26Speaker 3: I know he would like to have you know that
- 9:29Speaker 3: that throwback, and you know, a couple other things. But
- 9:32Speaker 3: but I thought, you know, the throw to Jeremiah and
- 9:34Speaker 3: the double move was excellent. And some of those throws
- 9:36Speaker 3: down in the red area, the one in particular to
- 9:38Speaker 3: a mecca in the corner of the end zone here
- 9:41Speaker 3: on the you know, the closed side was was a
- 9:44Speaker 3: tremendous throw and catching, uh And he did make some
- 9:46Speaker 3: nice third down throws and even the third down throw
- 9:49Speaker 3: he made on third and long to get it to
- 9:52Speaker 3: fourth and manageable. We probably were gonna pooch there, but
- 9:55Speaker 3: he got enough. Jeremiah got it. I think was it
- 9:57Speaker 3: fourth and two or fourth and three, and then he
- 9:59Speaker 3: converts on the fourth down. I mean those are huge plays.
- 10:02Speaker 3: And then the red zone throws, so that's winning football.
- 10:05Speaker 3: And then when you add that into you know, him
- 10:07Speaker 3: making a few plays with his feet. That's sort of
- 10:09Speaker 3: the X factor right there.
- 10:11Speaker 1: Iowa has an identity for good and for ill. But
- 10:15Speaker 1: on the good side, they generally are very solid along
- 10:18Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage, able to sort of dominate in
- 10:20Speaker 1: the trenches against a lot of opponents. That's why it
- 10:22Speaker 1: was really impactful that the Buckeyes were able to sort
- 10:25Speaker 1: of win that battle in the trenches on both sides
- 10:28Speaker 1: of the ball.
- 10:29Speaker 3: I mean, that was the challenge run the football stopped
- 10:31Speaker 3: the run, and it starts with the guys up front.
- 10:34Speaker 3: I thought the offensive line played hard. I thought justin
- 10:37Speaker 3: prepared them. I thought the plan was good with with
- 10:40Speaker 3: everybody in the offensive staff. I thought Chip, you know,
- 10:42Speaker 3: put a good game plan together, called a good game.
- 10:44Speaker 3: I thought the running backs ran hard again, I mean
- 10:47Speaker 3: physically hard. But you know, the defense really showed up
- 10:50Speaker 3: and it started off with a really good week of
- 10:53Speaker 3: Tuesday and Wednesday. You know, we had our second offensive
- 10:56Speaker 3: line go down and give a great look, and Tuesday
- 10:59Speaker 3: was was okay, Wednesday was much better, and then you know,
- 11:02Speaker 3: the guys really showed up on Saturday. So if we
- 11:04Speaker 3: can keep grinding on these you know, Tuesday and Wednesday practices,
- 11:07Speaker 3: you know, we can keep building on this because that's
- 11:09Speaker 3: to me what the difference is. And you know, we're
- 11:11Speaker 3: gonna need a big week of work this week against Oregon.
- 11:13Speaker 1: You've heard Ryan Day kind of casually mentioned Oregon a
- 11:16Speaker 1: couple times during this press conference. Already, all right, it
- 11:19Speaker 1: is now officially Oregon week in Columbus. So how big
- 11:21Speaker 1: of a game is this for the buck Eyes?
- 11:24Speaker 3: They're all big, But you know, I think just the
- 11:27Speaker 3: way the schedule's played out, the competition is ramped up
- 11:29Speaker 3: each week. Yeah, just the way they've played out, and
- 11:32Speaker 3: here we go. I mean, this is going to be
- 11:33Speaker 3: a great opponent and we're looking forward to going across
- 11:36Speaker 3: the country and playing it.
- 11:37Speaker 1: One of the reasons that the Ohio State offense was
- 11:39Speaker 1: able to be pretty efficient all day long was they
- 11:41Speaker 1: had really good balance. That was especially true in the
- 11:44Speaker 1: opening drives of the game and the second half where
- 11:46Speaker 1: it felt like things maybe started with establishing the run,
- 11:49Speaker 1: but definitely stayed balanced all the way through.
- 11:52Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean we always want a good mix, and
- 11:54Speaker 3: to your point, when the runs are hitting for four
- 11:56Speaker 3: and five and the balls are being completed, that makes
- 11:59Speaker 3: it easy year. But you're right. I thought both of
- 12:01Speaker 3: those drives were well orchestrated, well designed, and well executed.
- 12:05Speaker 3: And I think that's when we're at our best, when
- 12:08Speaker 3: you feel like, Okay, you got some run, you got
- 12:09Speaker 3: some pass, you're converting on third down, and that's that's
- 12:12Speaker 3: where capble love and that's what we expect.
- 12:15Speaker 1: The buck guys were up only seven to nothing at
- 12:17Speaker 1: halftime over Iowa, but a couple of back to back
- 12:19Speaker 1: plays by Jerismiah Smith really kind of changed things in
- 12:22Speaker 1: the third core.
- 12:23Speaker 3: Yeah, that was a big point in the game. And
- 12:26Speaker 3: I think it was third and it was a third
- 12:27Speaker 3: and six or seven and uh, and we caught them
- 12:31Speaker 3: in in a bracket coverage and you know, executed that
- 12:34Speaker 3: double move and you only get a couple of those
- 12:36Speaker 3: in practice where you can actually get it. But the
- 12:39Speaker 3: key to me, I thought the throwing the catch was excellent,
- 12:41Speaker 3: but the protection on a double move has to be
- 12:43Speaker 3: really strong because it takes time, and I thought the
- 12:46Speaker 3: you know, I'd like to see how much time that
- 12:48Speaker 3: actually took on the watch. My guess is probably longer
- 12:50Speaker 3: than three seconds. Anytime you get that kind of protection,
- 12:52Speaker 3: that's huge. And so that was a challenge for the
- 12:55Speaker 3: offensive line. We knew that on that play we could
- 12:57Speaker 3: get a next play if we were able to help hold,
- 13:00Speaker 3: and we did and then you know, Will and Jeremiah
- 13:03Speaker 3: to the rest. But and then to come right back
- 13:05Speaker 3: with the one on one was that was a big
- 13:06Speaker 3: time play. Yeah.
- 13:07Speaker 1: The Ohio State linebacker unit has been a little bit
- 13:10Speaker 1: of a concern at times this season, and it's sort
- 13:12Speaker 1: of been some growing pains there as some of the
- 13:14Speaker 1: new starters have sort of taken on a bigger role
- 13:16Speaker 1: and just been adjusting to the position. But Saturday, it
- 13:19Speaker 1: felt like Sunny Styles really took a step in his
- 13:22Speaker 1: growth and his progression at linebacker.
- 13:25Speaker 3: Yeah, they did. And he look at you know, Higgins
- 13:28Speaker 3: for them, number thirty four, I think had one hundred
- 13:29Speaker 3: and seventy one tackles last year. You know, how many
- 13:32Speaker 3: inside zones has he seen in his life? You know,
- 13:35Speaker 3: And and you know, you think about where Eichenberg was,
- 13:37Speaker 3: and you think about you know, some of the great
- 13:39Speaker 3: linebackers that are out there. You know they've played a lot,
- 13:42Speaker 3: they've seen a lot, they're able to diagnose plays, and
- 13:45Speaker 3: the more Sunny plays, the more he's able to learn
- 13:47Speaker 3: and diagnose those plays faster. And you know, Cody played
- 13:51Speaker 3: strong in there. You know Arvel was in that. It
- 13:53Speaker 3: was in the mix. Safeties were strong. They think came up,
- 13:56Speaker 3: made some plays. Caleb played well again, so they were
- 13:59Speaker 3: all involved with it. But no good to see Sonny
- 14:02Speaker 3: getting more and more of those reps because every rep
- 14:03Speaker 3: he gets is an investment in his future and he'll
- 14:06Speaker 3: play faster and faster than more. He plays great well.
- 14:09Speaker 2: That will do it for this show.
- 14:10Speaker 1: But we're going to have many, many more shows coming
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- 15:19Speaker 2: We'll talk to you tomorrow.