Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / What Changed In Just Three Weeks To Let Ohio State Thump Tennessee?

Transcript

What Changed In Just Three Weeks To Let Ohio State Thump Tennessee? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is a special bonus episode of Buckeye's Tomorrow Morning.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Mentioned on the last show that there is a lot
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of stuff going on and we are trying to cram
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: ten pounds of content into a five pound bag with
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the now just nine days to go until the Rose Bowl.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Doing that today with Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. Some stuff that we thought
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: was interesting from after the game that we heard from
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: those guys. You'll let you hear a little bit from
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: both of them before we move on to another day.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: We're full of content coming up on Monday. So all right,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: so let's start with this. What was the game plan
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Jim Knowles coming in to this game for the Ohio
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: State defense.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Oh, explosive plays, right, I mean, make them if they're
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: going to score, make them.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I think the one play one drive they one score
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: that was like a sixteen sixteen play drive. And you
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: know we had our shots and a really suspect quarterback
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: roughing penalty and you know, make them go the make
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: them go the distance on us. And I thought we
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: had a great plan to early three and ounce right
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: score early three and outs scores got us out in front.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Ohio State's defensive ends were absolutely dominant against the Tennessee Volunteers.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Two sacks for JT. Twoey Molowel, one and a half
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: sacks for Jack Sawyer, three passes broken up between them,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: a bunch of tackles, tackles for loss. It was. It
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: was a dominant performance. So how disruptive were those two
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: defensive ends.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: You know, we knew, we knew they were going to
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: have a good game, and you know, the set of
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: their quarterback was a lot different. It was a lot tighter,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: and you know, we we thought we would be able
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: to change up coverage enough to make them hold the ball.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So we expected that they were going to have a
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: good game.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: The Oregon game was something of a turning point for
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the Ohios Date team and particularly for the Ohio State defense.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: They gave up thirty two points in a thirty two
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to thirty one loss, and that when they came home
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to Columbus, they knew that was simply not going to
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: be good enough for them to get to where they
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: wanted to get by the end of the season, and
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: that led to something of an overhaul of the Ohio
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: State defense. So is Jim Knowles looking forward to getting
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: another crack at Oregon. And how different is the defense
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that he's bringing into the Rose Bowl from the one
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: that played in Eugene in October.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how different it is.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I think there's been adjustments, there's been some different calls,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: but I think it's a confidence and you know, yeah,
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: we're we're looking forward to the opportunity because you know,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: it was not a great game for us, and you know,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: quite frankly, I think the guys got a little pissed off,
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: and you know, it led to it led to a
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: run for us, you know, in terms of defense and
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: where we're at statistically, which is.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Got to be number one or close to number.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: One in categories, right, So I mean, yeah, they used
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: they used that games as a motivation.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: So I'm sure they're looking forward to another opportunity.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: The Buckeyes had one of their most dominant performance is
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in recent memory, during the first quarter, going up twenty
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: one to nothing on Tennessee before fifteen minutes of football
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: had even been played. And then in the second quarter,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a couple of little breaks here and there, and all
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: of a sudden it was only twenty one to ten.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Buckeyes going into the halftime with Tennessee getting the ball
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: to start the third quarter and a chance to maybe
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: really steal back some momentum. So what was the conversation
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: like in the locker room at halftime. I, you know,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: I got after him pretty good at halftime.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I did, be honest with you, because I felt like
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: we were rolling in to be in the game, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: then I just felt like we took our foot off
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: the gas a little bit. So I got after him
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: at halftime and challenged them, you know, because I knew
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: the way the game was going that as long as
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: we did our job, everything was going to turn out
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: all right. So I thought they came out. I thought
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: they came out strong in the second half.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: Great coach, Thank you very much.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Now onto the other side of the ball. On offensive
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: coordinator Chip Kelly, one of the big stories heading into
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: the game was the Ohouse did offensive line. They've suffered
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a couple of major injuries this year, obviously, and keep
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: shuffling different lineups and different arrangements of players. They shuffled
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: three guards between two positions during the game. That's very unorthodox,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: but it seems like it worked pretty well. So Jip Kelly,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: how did the offensive line hold up in your eyes?
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think our line played outstanding tonight. That defense
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: going in I think there were fifth in the country
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: in total defense, in fifth and scoring defense, and we
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: know how difficult they can be. You watch their games,
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: and they got after everybody they played. But I think
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: really credit to our offensive line keeping Will clean. Will
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: new if he could be clean and go through his
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: reads and get to get a chance to get through
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: his progressions, we'd have a shot at beating these guys.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: And I think our offensive line did an outstanding job
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: and protection tonight on Will for.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Will mentioned rotating those guards, and really the offensive line
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: on the whole. This is a little bit of a
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: more broad question, but when you're playing guys and guys,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: some guys might have some strengths and some guys might
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: have other strengths, and you're trying to figure out the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: best way to mix and match things. Can you help
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: them out with how you call plays.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: We're always trying to play to their strengths. So depending
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: on who's in the game, and Justin did a great
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: job of telling us what the rotation is, who's in
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: at left guard, who's in the right guard. Everybody has strengths.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: You know, sometimes you try to hide a weakness to two,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: but I think we tried to play to all their strengths.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: I think all three of those guys have strengths, I think,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: and I think just you don't get a ton we
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: get some feedback looking at the tablets and seeing some things,
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: but I thought all three of those guys did a
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: nice job. You know, we'll break the film down early
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: tomorrow and get a great on them and get a
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: look at them. But I think having depth at this
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: point in time during the season is critical, and the
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: fact that we got three guys in there that I
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: think played at a pretty high level today was important
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: for us.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: The traditional college football common wisdom is that you have
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: to run to set up the pass. You run the ball,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: you establish the run, and that sets up the play
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: action pass and then boom, you're throwing the ball down
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: the field. But Saturday night felt like the Buck guys
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: really kind of did the opposite. So is it possible
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: to throw to set up the run.
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it just depends on who you're playing.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: So I think there's always a philosophical approach when you're
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: playing somebody based upon what their strengths are and what
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: their weaknesses are and what you're trying to exploit. You know,
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's necessarily as easy as to say,
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: throw to set up the run. I've done that before
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: and gone three and out, three and out, three and out,
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: and we haven't gone anywhere with it. So it's not
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: just hey, just do this and it works. It's it's
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: about it comes down to the players executing, and I
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: thought our players executed at a really high level tonight.
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: Try that's right.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Will Howard may have had the best performance of his
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Ohio State career at least to date on Saturday night,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: eighty three percent completions, three hundred eleven yards, two touchdowns,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: plus thirty seven yards rushing. What did Chip Kelly see
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: out of Will Howard the last three weeks that made
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: that kind of performance in that kind of moment possible.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: I think the one thing with Will is he's consistent.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: You know, he's the same person every day. He's not
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: too high, he's not too low. He's a lifelong learner.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: He's got a thirst for learning. You know, he's in
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: every day. You know, he's watching films and he's always
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: trying to get better and can he get just a
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: little bit better on a daily basis. But the one
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: thing about well, there's a consistency to his approach, and
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: there's a consistency to how he is every single day
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: in practice. You know, he's not one of those guys
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: that's low on one day high on another day. He's
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: not like that. He's kind of really steady in his
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: approach to how he prepares for games, and I think
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: that's what you see when he plays in a game
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: like he did tonight.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: We have seen the Ohio defense struggle at times this season.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: We've seen the Ohio State offense struggle at times this season,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and then they also have looked like one of the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: best units in the country on both sides of the
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: ball at various times. So when you see the team
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: really put together a complete performance, defense looking dominant, the
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: offense looking dominant. What does a dominating performance like that
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: say about Ohio State's chances to play for and maybe
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: even win a national title.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it says we're one of eight teams left. You know,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: everybody is fighting for the same prize, and obviously each
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: game gets a little bit more amplified. But to win
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: it all, you got to win the first one, and
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: that was all really the whole team's focus, and I
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: thought Ryan did a great job of keeping everybody focused.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: It really wasn't talk about what are we gonna do
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: on January twentieth, because January twentieth didn't mean anything if
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: we didn't take care of December twenty first. You know,
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: I think our guys were laser focused on playing this game. Obviously,
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: when you turn the tape on and you watch how
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: talented Tennessee is, that got your attention right away, so
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: you know there was no looking past them to whoever
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: is the next game. And obviously we know we're gonna
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: go play the Oregon and that was in the In
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: the back though, it was just all about Tennessee because
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: you got to win the first one to get going.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: So we'll regroup tomorrow, we'll look at the film, and
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: then we'll start as as quick as we can getting
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: ready for the next one.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: And finally, they talked about this on the broadcast, and
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: most of Ohio state fans are probably well aware of it,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: but Ryan Da and Chip Kelly go way way way
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: back to when Ryan Day was just a kid in Manchester,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: New Hampshire and Chip Kelly was also in Manchester, New
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Hampshire at the same time and coaching football. They have
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a long and pose relationship that spans decades. So chick
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Kelly might be the best person on earth to answer
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that question. What was Ryan Day like the last three weeks?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: What did he see out of Day in the wake
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: of that lost to Michigan and that in that let
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: him kind of turn things around and get them to
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: the point where they got on Saturday night against Tennessee.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: And you're gonna hear a little bit of a break
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: in the audio for a second, and there's a quick
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: follow up question. It's kind of hard to hear. This
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: one is just a clarification about whether he's talking about
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: practice or games.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: Now, I just saw the guy.
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: I've known him for since he was five, you know,
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: and I told him a long time ago. He's built
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: for this, and he's he understands it. He understands the
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: gravity of what his position is. He understands, you know,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: how everybody feels about Buckeye football, and rightly so, and
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: he feels the same exact way. So I don't think
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: anybody took the loss to the team up north harder
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: than he. Took that loss, you know, and that's just
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: the type of person he is. But he also has
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: to lead from the front, you know. So it wasn't
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: feel sorry for me and hey, is everybody gonna pick
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: me up or are going to make me feel better?
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: It was like, no, let's we gotta we gotta address
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: this the right way. We got to look at what
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: we did on film. We got to figure out how
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: can we correct that. How do we put our positions?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: I think at your job as a coach is to
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: put your players in positions to make plays. We didn't
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: do that in the last game, and we did a
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: better job of that tonight. And then our players went
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: out and won this football game. You know, there's not
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: one coach that played today, you know, so the credit
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: goes to those guys. They were awesome and they were
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: clicking on all cylinders and and and when when you
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: start to call plays and Wilkin finish the play before
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: you get it out, you know, you know how dialed
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: in you are. And I think that's what these two
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: weeks were. As were saying, hey, we're gonna go to
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: night and before I could even get the second part
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: of the playout, and it was a ten play word call.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: He had it. He knew what we were doing.
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: And I think the buy in, especially from the leaders
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: here and our senior leaders, is tremendous, and I think
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: that's what's gonna that's what's gonna propel us as we
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: continue to move forward with the ultimate goal of trying
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: to get the January twentieth.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: In both and both.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: You know, we have a communication system that is kind
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: of unique, but we're always talking through the headset and
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: he'll hand signal and got it, and you know, I
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: will start to make no, check it to the and
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: he's he knows he got it. And so I think
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: it just tells where he is and how dialed how
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: dialed in Will has been throughout the entire season, you know.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: And I think I don't know what he finished today,
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: but I think it was above eighty again. You know,
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: we talk about that, but I think there's a reason
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: for that, and it's how hard he works at it.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: I think he understands the fundamentals of the position, but
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: really the the game within the game and taking what
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: the defense gives them and making those decisions of when
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: to take a checkdown and not to force the play.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: But if your opportunity has come and you and you
• 11:31
  Speaker 4: do have a shot to put the ball and only
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: a spot where JJ can catch it, and or if
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: JJ can't catch it, they're gonna have to interfere with them.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: And great decision making today. But I think the credit
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: goes to the players. Man, those got those guys have
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: been awesome since what happened in the last game. And
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: I think those guys said, hey, let's let's we gotta
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: we got a chance here and and because we're in it,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and that was the only thing they were hoping for
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: is are we still in this tournament? If we're in
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: the tournament, then then let's go win it.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Well, the next step to winning that is the Rose
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Bowl that will happen on New Year's Day. We will
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: be there Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks. Number eight seeded Buckeyes,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: number one seed organ Ducks. Buckeye's actually a tiny favorite
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: right now on the betting lines. So boy, it is
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: going to be quite a week of narrative around that.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Quite a week of narrative around the Buckeyes are having
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: a chance for revenge. Quite a rich week of narrative
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: around the O'll have to date, defense having a chance
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: for redemption, and then all the organ storylines as well.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Boy is there gonna be a lot to talk about.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about all of it at bucke
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: huddle dot com. That's where Tony, Kevin and I cover
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the team, Mark covers recruiting. Got our whole team of
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: exce's and ose gurus there as well to make you
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a smarter football fan, all at bucke huddle dot com.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Also make sure you are subscribed to our YouTube channel
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle. We're gonna be
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: talking about a bunch of stuff there as well. Plenty
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: of video content for you before we hit head out
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: to California later in the week. Plenty of video content
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: while we're out there. We'll have interviews, will have access
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: to practice, We'll have all sorts of insight and analysis.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: All at bucke huddle dot com and YouTube dot com
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: slash pokeye Huddle. That will do it for today. Thank
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: We will talk to you tomorrow.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: M