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BONUS Ross Fulton Analysis: Ohio State Football Scheme Insider Q&A · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: We are back with another episode of Ask the Scheme Insider.
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  Speaker 2: Ross Fulton, one of the Scheme Insiders from BuckeyeInsiders.com joins me.
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  Speaker 2: We have four questions here. We put the call out
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  Speaker 2: to members on our Insiders Board at BuckeyeInsiders.com to get questions.
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  Speaker 2: What do you want to know? And so on today's show,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to answer four questions about the Ohio State offense,
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  Speaker 2: have Ross sort of sort out Are these real concerns?
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  Speaker 2: What is the real issue here? Because there's sort of
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  Speaker 2: been a lot of speculation, a lot of wondering about
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  Speaker 2: what's the deal with a bunch of different stuff. So
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  Speaker 2: we're going to try and sort fact from fiction here. Ross,
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  Speaker 2: I guess the first one we're going to do is
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  Speaker 2: just a question about the lack of tempo with the offense. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: that's been something that people have talked about a lot
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  Speaker 2: over the last couple of years, that they really have
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  Speaker 2: been a little bit more deliberate with their pace. And
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  Speaker 2: then when they've needed to ramp things up, they haven't
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  Speaker 2: necessarily been able to ramp things up very effectively is
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  Speaker 2: that a fair criticism is that a real concern to you.
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  Speaker 1: I think the tempo has been better this year than
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  Speaker 1: last year um it was interesting arthur smith noted on
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  Speaker 1: tuesday that they wanted to use more tempo and uh
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  Speaker 1: at times and it was sort of had a variety
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  Speaker 1: of factors slowing them down obviously that usc game i
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  Speaker 1: think in hindsight they needed as we discussed like I'd
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  Speaker 1: say more tempo, not necessarily like in the pace per se,
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  Speaker 1: but like the substitutions allowed USC to then slow them down.
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  Speaker 1: I think that was an issue, but as was not
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  Speaker 1: scoring more quickly once they got inside the red zone,
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  Speaker 1: which ate up a bunch of time. So I think
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  Speaker 1: to me, the tempo has not been as big of
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  Speaker 1: a deal this year. I would look for them though,
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  Speaker 1: just based, you know, I think they may, Given that
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  Speaker 1: Luke Fahey's doing less at the line of scrimmage and
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  Speaker 1: there's less checks involved, they may increase the tempo going forward.
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  Speaker 3: It sounds like something they'd like to do.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 2: Next question from Bucks and Cats, one of our members
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  Speaker 2: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. He asks, is the offense scheming things open
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  Speaker 2: underneath or in the 10 to 15 yard range and
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  Speaker 2: the quarterbacks are just missing it? Or are they just
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  Speaker 2: not doing that as an offense?
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  Speaker 1: We've talked about this a bunch. They're just not doing
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  Speaker 1: it as much as an offense. I wouldn't say they're
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  Speaker 1: never doing it, but I think there's a lot of
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  Speaker 1: focus on deeper concepts, three and four verticals, wide cross.
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  Speaker 1: We've shown a lot of smash. I think it seems
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  Speaker 1: like there could be a concern with Luke Fahey specifically
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  Speaker 1: about targeting the middle of the field, either because of
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  Speaker 1: his– you know, worry about his processing it and interceptions
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  Speaker 1: as a young quarterback or his height could be a detriment.
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  Speaker 1: But I just think they need to get back to more,
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  Speaker 1: you know, quick that we've talked about quick game, but
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  Speaker 1: also intermediate routes, like concepts like snag, like some of
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  Speaker 1: those triangle concepts, you know, where you have, you know,
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  Speaker 1: your base of the three receivers are creating a triangle
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  Speaker 1: for the quarterback with their route depths that they've their
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  Speaker 1: Ryan day has utilized quite a bit in the past.
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  Speaker 1: just too much emphasis on trying to push the ball
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  Speaker 1: downfield and like take shock plays when they get in
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  Speaker 1: advantageous situations. And, you know, as we said on the
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  Speaker 1: show earlier this week, like even when they are trying
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  Speaker 1: to push the ball downfield, like having some sort of
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  Speaker 1: route that's somewhere between a, you know, the three vertical
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  Speaker 1: routes and the swing pass at the line of scrimmage.
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  Speaker 2: All right, next up, one from DC Buckeye, someone we
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  Speaker 2: just actually hung out with at the member meetup out
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  Speaker 2: in LA before the USC game. He wants to know,
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  Speaker 2: Sane was criticized for locking onto Jeremiah Smith too often.
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  Speaker 2: Now the opposite criticism is aimed at Fahey, with some
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  Speaker 2: saying he isn't targeting Jeremiah Smith enough. So what's the
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  Speaker 2: real problem? Is it the quarterbacks? Is it an offensive
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  Speaker 2: line that isn't giving them enough time to work through
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  Speaker 2: their progressions? Is it the scheme or is the scheme
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  Speaker 2: asking this roster to do things? It simply is not
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  Speaker 2: built to execute.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of things in that last, those last questions.
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  Speaker 1: I think I, you know, I, I joked, my pet
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  Speaker 1: theory has been ever since people started asking Ryan day
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  Speaker 1: following Iowa about Julian saying thrown too much, too much
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  Speaker 1: to Jeremiah Smith. It led to things going downhill. So I,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I, I would rather them air on the
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  Speaker 1: side of, of throwing it to him than not.
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  Speaker 3: Even if he is covered.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I think on Saturday we pointed out the, the,
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  Speaker 1: the mesh pivot route, obviously on third and two. I
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  Speaker 1: just think there's, again, like there's a lot of trying
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  Speaker 1: to push the football down the field and Oregon was
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  Speaker 1: capping those routes, like a lot of Tampa or like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, other kinds of split safety concepts and staying
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  Speaker 1: deep over the top. You know, they did open up with,
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  Speaker 1: you know, running mesh early on. They had that really
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  Speaker 1: nicely designed, post behind the white cross that, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith dropped in the end zone on the first series.
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  Speaker 1: It would have liked to see them go back to
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  Speaker 1: that against all the split safety covers they're getting. But like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they're just, again, using like lots of outside
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  Speaker 1: the hash mark concepts like smash or like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: flood routes, sail routes that are just against those like
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  Speaker 1: covered two corners that are playing pretty soft or even
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  Speaker 1: cover for, you know, a lot of the split safety
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  Speaker 1: stuff that, Oregon uses under Dan Lanning.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously he came from Kirby smart.
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  Speaker 1: And so like the Nick Saban, uh, match concepts that
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  Speaker 1: we've talked about previously, like they were just tough reads
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  Speaker 1: for Luke Fahey, to be honest. And like, I've seen
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  Speaker 1: a couple of people like post clips of like, like, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you may have been able to fit into
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith here. And we talked about, I'm like, it's
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  Speaker 1: dropping a ball 35 yards in the bucket against cover
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  Speaker 1: two with a, with a sinking corner. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 1: asking a lot of any quarterback, let alone a 19
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  Speaker 1: year old true freshman, uh, So again, I think this
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  Speaker 1: goes back to, you know, in terms of concepts on offense,
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  Speaker 1: I would have said this with Julian saying, and I
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  Speaker 1: think it's even more true with Luke Fahey. Like I
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  Speaker 1: think they kind of made their way there. It looks
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  Speaker 1: like the game plan was there, but then they kind
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  Speaker 1: of reverted back. You know, keep spread out inside zone
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  Speaker 1: with tempo RPOs and reliefs off of it. I mentioned
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  Speaker 1: that Fahey, like those glance routes, probably the best thing
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  Speaker 1: he threw. Uh, so, you know, get the ball out
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  Speaker 1: of his hands, uh, give him simpler reads that are,
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  Speaker 1: that are underneath. Um, cause that's also like inside zone
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  Speaker 1: is just like the one play that they've probably been
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  Speaker 1: the most consistent blocking this season. And so I would
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  Speaker 1: sort of base off of that because we talked about
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  Speaker 1: their problems with counter and, you know, there's just a.
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  Speaker 3: Lot of there.
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  Speaker 1: The problem is they used to basically run one or
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  Speaker 1: two run plays, and so you get a lot of
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  Speaker 1: reps on it, and now they've tried to add more
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  Speaker 1: and more variety, and that can lead to breakdowns, particularly
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  Speaker 1: when fronts are moving or getting different looks.
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  Speaker 2: Next up, we've got a question from Raleigh Buck. He
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  Speaker 2: wants to know, why was the offense so good to
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  Speaker 2: start versus Oregon and then fell off? Did Oregon adjust
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  Speaker 2: and Ohio State didn't, or did they just not go
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  Speaker 2: back to the things that worked?
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  Speaker 1: So yes and yes. Again, I thought they had a
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  Speaker 1: nice designed opening series there. Like, yeah, they stayed pretty
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  Speaker 1: spread out the whole game. But again, like they got
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  Speaker 1: an empty or, you know, got an open formations, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of horizontal things. They had that nice, I talked
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  Speaker 1: about the post route to Jeremiah Smith behind the, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the deep cross at the safety jumped, the mesh play
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  Speaker 1: on 39 where they use motion to identify it, the
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  Speaker 1: pin and pull, which they did not go back to.
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  Speaker 3: Away from trips for the opening touchdown to Bo Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I think some of that is just game flow. And,
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  Speaker 1: but I do think that they sort of reverted backs,
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  Speaker 1: maybe not the right word, but, you know, went back
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  Speaker 1: into sort of like they're more of some of their
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  Speaker 1: staple vertical pass concepts again, that I think were, not
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  Speaker 1: there and were difficult throws. And I just, I think
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  Speaker 1: the teams are prepared for that, right? So Oregon was just, again,
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  Speaker 1: capping every route. So some of it is what Oregon
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  Speaker 1: was doing because they were just, they were well prepared
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  Speaker 1: for more of what you have come to see this
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  Speaker 1: year from Ohio State, whereas they had a few more
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  Speaker 1: change-ups on the opening drive that helped out.
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  Speaker 2: All right. Well, We are running some pretty good tempo here,
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  Speaker 2: so we have time for a couple more quick ones.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to get to one from Scoots. Scoots with
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  Speaker 2: a Z wants to know, is it time for a
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  Speaker 2: mostly wholesale changeover in the coaching staff, including both coordinators?
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel that this team has a philosophical identity
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  Speaker 2: on either side of the ball? And if so, is
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  Speaker 2: it the correct one?
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so let's start with the second part first, philosophical identity.
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  Speaker 3: Yes. I mean, offensively, it is... I think Dave described it.
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  Speaker 1: It's operating NFL style concepts from being able to do
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  Speaker 1: it from the shotgun and pistol, uh, be able to
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  Speaker 1: spread teams out, being able to be multiple and personnel. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I do think you're seeing some
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  Speaker 1: right now, like it's always the grass, always green or red.
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  Speaker 1: And there's been like lots of discussion of like what
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  Speaker 1: Ryan day hasn't done. Like, you know, running trick plays
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  Speaker 1: like handle situations. Um, you know, one thing that he
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  Speaker 1: does do very well is, successfully operate a pro style
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  Speaker 1: passing game. And like, that's been their secret weapon, so
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  Speaker 1: to speak, or secret sauce throughout the day tenure. And
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  Speaker 1: you can see like, that's how you, you know, points
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  Speaker 1: come off explosives, explosives come off the passing game. Like
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  Speaker 1: that is makes, that's what separates them. And so I
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  Speaker 1: think that's where you would start with. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: that some of the stuff I'm talking about doing is
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  Speaker 1: really making it like a little simplifying it, especially for
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  Speaker 1: a freshman quarterback or even, you know, like when you
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  Speaker 1: have Julian saying like taking advantage of some of his
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  Speaker 1: skill and getting the football out quickly. Um, defensively, you know, I, I,
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  Speaker 1: so I will say, and like, I know Michael Pettit, uh,
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  Speaker 1: you know, is going to be much more aggressive in
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  Speaker 1: his tone than I ever will be, uh, philosophically speaking,
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  Speaker 1: speaking of philosophically, um, I reached out to a few
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  Speaker 1: defensive coaches and asked for objective. They see a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the things that Matt Patricia is trying to do
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  Speaker 1: reflect trends that you're seeing throughout football at both the
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  Speaker 1: college and the NFL level. Even when we're talking about
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  Speaker 1: how much when they're, you know, you're getting open trips
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  Speaker 1: and you're getting Kenyatta Jackson or, or Rusal as the edge,
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  Speaker 1: like over that trips, like you do see NFL teams.
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  Speaker 1: That's how they react to that kind of spacing. I
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  Speaker 1: think there's a question that that raises of like the
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  Speaker 1: hash marks are different.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: And so like, that's a lot more space for that
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  Speaker 1: guy to cover. And then you've got to deal with
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  Speaker 1: the run game to the short side of the field differently.
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  Speaker 1: But so, and, but like, you know, the three high stuff, Penny,
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  Speaker 1: like these are all things you're seeing. So, I do
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  Speaker 1: think Patricia, again, I think it is an NFL style,
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  Speaker 1: odd front spacing scheme that he's trying to run. I
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  Speaker 1: think what has happened is that they couldn't last year.
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  Speaker 1: They like kept things very simple this year. I think
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  Speaker 1: they couldn't generate pressure. They couldn't get off the field.
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  Speaker 1: And so I think he then tried to get, he
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  Speaker 1: has tried to get a little bit more designer or
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  Speaker 1: game plan specific. And some of it has come back
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  Speaker 1: to bite him, right. Especially like on second downs and
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  Speaker 1: third downs where you're seeing the explosives happening. Um, and again,
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  Speaker 1: so like, I would say in both cases, like my
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  Speaker 1: answer on the defense would be in some of what
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  Speaker 1: I think day and Patricia said, or maybe obliquely hinted
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  Speaker 1: at is like, like simplify things. Let's get guys set
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  Speaker 1: so they can more easily adjust to all the unbalance
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  Speaker 1: they're seeing. And we'll assuredly see a lot of unbalance
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  Speaker 1: from chip Kelly. which again is like a much more
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  Speaker 1: college specific thing than an NFL thing you see. So,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a challenge for Patricia, like get the call in,
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  Speaker 1: play some more four down, play some more like cover
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  Speaker 1: four so you can adjust with your defensive backs instead
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  Speaker 1: of your, you know, edge defenders and keep them in
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  Speaker 1: the box. So now getting around to the first question,
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  Speaker 1: I just think, you know, again, I said the other day, like,
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  Speaker 1: to me, like offensively, like you have to, you have
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  Speaker 1: to take into account that Julian saying is out. Like,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's, it's absurd to not like when quarterbacks are, you're,
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  Speaker 1: you're starting quarterback is injured. You like your team is
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  Speaker 1: not going to do well. Like we oftentimes like, yes, it's,
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  Speaker 1: there's exceptions like, but obviously like 2014 being one, but
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  Speaker 1: most of the time your season is sort of just derailed.
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  Speaker 1: And like, that's the sad reality of it. And, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think we'd be in a very different spot right now.
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  Speaker 1: If Julian saying had been healthy the last two weeks,
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  Speaker 1: I think the scheme again, I think it's largely what
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  Speaker 1: Ryan day has done throughout his career. He wants to
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  Speaker 1: be able to try to mix in some more, you know,
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  Speaker 1: downhill run element, 12 personnel, which again is like a
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  Speaker 1: trend you're seeing throughout football. They don't quite have the personnel,
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  Speaker 1: particularly without Julian saying him and Smith were covering up
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  Speaker 1: a lot. And so I don't really have a huge
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  Speaker 1: problem with what they're doing, you know, and I, I
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  Speaker 1: think like you can move things around the margins defensively.
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  Speaker 1: I thought like that game as Mike detailed, like the
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  Speaker 1: scheme was, the scheme is holding the players back.
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  Speaker 3: I think there's some personnel challenges on defense as well.
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  Speaker 1: And like, as I talked about the other day, like
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  Speaker 1: the linebacker rotation is I think kind of a mass and,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, I'm, I'm largely out on what they
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  Speaker 1: were doing schematically. However, I don't think, the day seems
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  Speaker 1: like he's ready to part with either coordinator. I will
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  Speaker 1: just say like, I've, I've seen enough of Ryan day,
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  Speaker 1: like in press conference and stuff when he was, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think he trusts both of them. So I don't
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  Speaker 1: think they're going to make those changes. I think you
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  Speaker 1: will probably see changes underneath those guys. Like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: pretty significant position coach turnover. All right.
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  Speaker 2: And the last one, and this will probably be a
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  Speaker 2: much quicker answer from Finbuck. Which players do you want
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  Speaker 2: to see more of in the last three games?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll make everyone happy. I mean, Legend Bay would
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  Speaker 1: probably be at the top of my list. I was
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: very impressed with how he ran that counterplay, like granted
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  Speaker 1: pretty late in the game, but like he hit it
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  Speaker 1: north and south and went. And like on an offense, again,
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  Speaker 1: that's like really struggling to like have explosives. Like this
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  Speaker 1: gets back to, you know, offensive line hasn't been great.
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  Speaker 1: The running backs have not been very good. There's not
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  Speaker 1: a lot of guys that scare you other than Jeremiah Smith.
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  Speaker 1: Like I think let's see more of what Legend Bay
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  Speaker 1: can do. Uh, sincere Johnson would be another one. At
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: first I was like, what are they doing? Putting him
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: in the game. And then like he came down and
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: filled better than any Mike linebacker has done for Ohio
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  Speaker 1: state this season. Uh, and so, you know, they've, I've
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: talked about, they've really struggled at Mike linebacker this year. Um,
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  Speaker 1: but particularly with this penny scheme or yours, you're the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: only one back there. Uh, so those would be two,
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  Speaker 1: two guys that I would put, um, at the top
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  Speaker 1: of the list.
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  Speaker 2: All right, there you go. So if you enjoyed hearing
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: from one of our scheme insiders, Ross Fulton, and hearing
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: him answer questions from Ohio State fans, well, you would
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: really love being a member at BuckeyeInsiders.com because that is
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: every day on the Insiders Board. We're there to answer
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: your questions about the team, about the scheme, about recruiting.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: Our buddy Juck just had a great thread with some
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: interesting recruiting updates on the running back position and some
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: other spots. You can find that on the Insiders Board today.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: You can also find basketball coverage. The women's basketball team
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: hosting UConn on Thursday. The men's basketball team playing at
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: UConn on Friday. Busy week for basketball as well. And then,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: of course, the Buckeyes back on the field in the
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: horseshoe at noon on Saturday against Northwestern. It should be
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: a fascinating schematic matchup. I cannot wait to see what
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: Chip Kelly has dialed up for Ryan Day. And Matt
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Patricia and the Ohio State Buckeyes should be a fascinating game.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And we'll be there to talk about it all with
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  Speaker 2: you at BuckeyeInsiders.com.