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BONUS: Is Illinois Playing 'Moneyball' Against The High-Rolling Buckeyes? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, we got a bonus show for you here.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: We did a show with Brett Bielema, some clips for
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the morning show earlier in the day. And now there
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is just too much good Brett Bielema stuff. You're getting
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: a little bit of extra Brett Bielema content here. Illinois
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: head coach in the lead up to Ohio State's game
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  Speaker 1: against the Illini this weekend. Buckeyes 27 and a half
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  Speaker 1: point favorites game will kick off noon on Fox this
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  Speaker 1: Saturday in the Horseshoe. This is the first road game
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  Speaker 1: of the season for Brett Bielema and the Illini. That's
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  Speaker 1: something he's been focused on a bunch during this offseason,
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  Speaker 1: that home versus road thing. They were a pretty good
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  Speaker 1: team at home last year, not quite as good on
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  Speaker 1: the road, but he did a big study looking at
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff and figuring out how they can
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  Speaker 1: play better on the road. This is their first chance
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  Speaker 1: to actually do that. So what did he learn with
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  Speaker 1: all that studying?
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  Speaker 2: Every year since I've been here, it's kind of gotten
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  Speaker 2: better and better and better, just statistically the number of
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  Speaker 2: wins versus losses. But I do remember, I think the
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  Speaker 2: first game that I really felt unified this football program
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  Speaker 2: um uh was on the road at Penn State ironically
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  Speaker 2: and I remember going into that week that I probably
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  Speaker 2: talked about being on the road I thought that was
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  Speaker 2: a game we could win right I didn't know we're
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  Speaker 2: going to win it but I knew we'd play well
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  Speaker 2: it was a good matchup for us um and I
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  Speaker 2: remember I really preached to our guys I don't want
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  Speaker 2: to build false hopes right so one of the things
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  Speaker 2: I did that week was talked about the 74-man travel
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  Speaker 2: roster there's going to be a group of support staff
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  Speaker 2: there's going to be some administration we had a great
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  Speaker 2: group of donors that went with us um talked about
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  Speaker 2: being on the road at Penn State and how it,
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  Speaker 2: you know, everybody says it's not any different. Well, it
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  Speaker 2: is different, right? There's 100,000 people screaming at you over there.
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  Speaker 2: And the other big difference is, you know, when you
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  Speaker 2: go on the road, you know, just the normalities of
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  Speaker 2: going to the sideline are different, right? Like you just
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  Speaker 2: get so accustomed to being in your home stadium, locker room,
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  Speaker 2: all that.
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  Speaker 3: Goes into it.
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  Speaker 2: And just a simple thing, it may not sound like
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  Speaker 2: a big deal, but just registering for tickets, right? Your parents,
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  Speaker 2: when they come here to Geese Memorial, they know what
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  Speaker 2: they're doing, how they're doing it. keys to my apartment,
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  Speaker 2: you know, or in the glove box of my car
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  Speaker 2: or whatever it is, right? You've got to do a
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  Speaker 2: lot of things different when you go on the road,
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  Speaker 2: and I think it starts literally today through Friday, and
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  Speaker 2: then Saturday is the big day.
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  Speaker 3: But it's a 100-yard game.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the sidelines are equal in measurements, but it's
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  Speaker 2: just a different feel, and I.
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  Speaker 3: Think our guys have got to be aware of that.
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  Speaker 1: As Illinois was sort of preparing for this and all
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  Speaker 1: their other road games this year, they did some very
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  Speaker 1: different stuff this offseason. One of their scrimmages back in August,
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  Speaker 1: they treated it like a road game. That's something he's
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  Speaker 1: never done before. So what went into that idea?
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  Speaker 2: I really do believe in life, not just in away games,
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  Speaker 2: home games, like you learn more from being in the
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  Speaker 2: moment than you can ever, you know, study for it, right?
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  Speaker 3: Like you just got to throw it in.
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  Speaker 2: And so I actually obviously had to go to our
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  Speaker 2: athletic director and Ask him if I could stay in
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  Speaker 2: a different hotel with our team and present a non-familiarity,
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  Speaker 2: like something they weren't used to. For, you know, just
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  Speaker 2: staying in the hotel, meeting, doing the Friday night meetings.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it was actually Wednesday, I guess, when we
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: did it. So there was all kinds of these variables. But,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the biggest thing that really came to me
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  Speaker 2: was when we moved him to the other sideline, which...
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  Speaker 2: caused our equipment guys to kind of move things around
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  Speaker 2: and do some different things. But anytime you can make
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  Speaker 2: people uncomfortable, I think you grow. And that was a
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  Speaker 2: big part of it.
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  Speaker 1: There was a report from The Athletic in the last
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  Speaker 1: week or so that sort of laid out general tiers,
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  Speaker 1: pretty good ballpark ideas on where different teams were in
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  Speaker 1: terms of, I guess it's not technically payroll, but I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to say payroll because you know what I mean,
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  Speaker 1: in terms of how much guys on each team are
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  Speaker 1: getting paid, both from the house settlement money and also
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  Speaker 1: from NIL. And Ohio State they're about double what Illinois was.
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  Speaker 1: These are all kind of ballpark numbers, but Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: was in that $ 50 million range. Illinois, around the $ 25
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  Speaker 1: million range. So here are Brett Bielema's thoughts on the
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  Speaker 1: current state of college football and Illinois' place in it.
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  Speaker 1: You'll then hear a quick follow-up question. And then in
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  Speaker 1: that follow-up, when he talks about Josh, that's Josh Wittner,
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois athletic director. And when he mentions Brad, that
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  Speaker 1: would be Brad Underwood, the Illinois men's basketball coach.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I've never really been part of a Blue
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  Speaker 2: Blood team. I'm just not wired like that. So I
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  Speaker 2: just think I've always kind of learned to give me
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  Speaker 2: the rules, let me play. I will say I got
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  Speaker 2: a little pissy out in LA last year in the
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  Speaker 2: Big Ten meetings just because I thought we were kind
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  Speaker 2: of all staying within a parameter that we were going
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  Speaker 2: to be. And then when that didn't become reality, I said,
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  Speaker 2: we can only blame ourselves. I sat back and watched
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  Speaker 2: LSU Ole Miss on Saturday night, just like everybody else,
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  Speaker 2: except for I had a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old sleeping
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  Speaker 2: on my chest. And I just think it's insane, but
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  Speaker 2: it's absolutely awesome what's going on in college football right now.
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  Speaker 2: The only parameter that I always go back to is
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  Speaker 2: I just wish everybody played within the same rule book
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  Speaker 2: or played within the same parameters, because I think that's
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  Speaker 2: what's really making our game great. I think the reason
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  Speaker 2: you have a peaked interest in college football right now
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  Speaker 2: is just simply one reason alone, I think rosters can
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  Speaker 2: change in literally a year that's never been seen before. Right. And, uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's, it's just like going to the grocery store.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to have good buys and bad buys.
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  Speaker 3: Right. And, and same thing kind of happens now in
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  Speaker 3: college football. Right.
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  Speaker 2: Like, uh, obviously, um, You know, one of the best
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  Speaker 2: things I would say that probably helped our last two
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  Speaker 2: years be great was we had a quarterback that was
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  Speaker 2: here that probably played here because of what we are
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  Speaker 2: and what we do and what got him to help
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  Speaker 2: to where he was. But he could have went other
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  Speaker 2: places for more money. I see Gabe Ackes last night.
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  Speaker 2: Somebody told me Gabe Ackes had an interception. I said,
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  Speaker 2: bulls * * t, that did not happen. I literally
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  Speaker 2: just called him about an hour and a half ago.
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't resist.
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  Speaker 3: I had to call him. But, you know, Gabe's another guy, right?
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  Speaker 3: Like probably... uh could have.
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  Speaker 2: Went i know he had offers that were in front
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  Speaker 2: of him for more than a million dollars more than
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  Speaker 2: than we were at but uh so is it sustainable
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  Speaker 2: i don't think over a long period of time but
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  Speaker 2: i think we'll continue to find our niche um uh
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  Speaker 2: and basketball and football are a little bit different like
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  Speaker 2: basketball the rosters pretty much equate to where they finish
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  Speaker 2: um football there's a little bit less uh um structural
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  Speaker 2: reality to that so um i love doing what we
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  Speaker 2: do like i i think saturday was awesome on so
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  Speaker 2: many accounts. And the fact that, you know, we didn't
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  Speaker 2: have success a week before our guys bought into what
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  Speaker 2: we're doing and I think it's given us some juice,
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  Speaker 2: you know, going into this week.
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  Speaker 3: And now we know what we're doing, going over to
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  Speaker 3: Ohio state.
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  Speaker 2: I talked about the last two weeks about building a
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  Speaker 2: routine and a repetition. So I don't know, you know,
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  Speaker 2: literally had a, had a situation pop up in the last,
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  Speaker 2: you know, 10 days that are guys that are in
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  Speaker 2: the 27 signing class, and I don't really know what
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  Speaker 2: their number is, right? Like, there's so much discrepancy that's
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  Speaker 2: going on right now, and we're really trying to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: as much as I'm trying to beat Ohio State, I
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  Speaker 2: got to build a roster for 2027, and I got
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  Speaker 2: to know what that number's at, right?
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  Speaker 3: And it's just something that we're working through right now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just thankful I'm on a journey with a guy
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  Speaker 2: that I just trust with everything I am, like Josh
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  Speaker 2: Whitman just completely has the faith of, of what I
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  Speaker 2: believe in, what we're doing.
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  Speaker 3: And I know he always steers me in the right direction.
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  Speaker 3: It is like, I have to money ball this. I
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  Speaker 3: have to underdog it in a way. Um, I appreciate
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  Speaker 3: the question.
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  Speaker 2: I don't, I don't like, well, this first came up,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I like literally said, Hey, if I'm within
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  Speaker 2: $ 2 million of Ohio state, Oregon and Penn state and Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: I'm good.
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  Speaker 3: Right. Like, just let me go. Um, when I'm within
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  Speaker 3: 25 million, like I'm not so good.
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  Speaker 2: Right. Like, so I think, um, there is probably an element.
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  Speaker 2: I just think, you know, one of the beauties of
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  Speaker 2: coming to Illinois, I think about this all the time.
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  Speaker 2: I see Bobby sit back there. Like when we were
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  Speaker 2: in a hotel, right. And I knew I was taking
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  Speaker 2: this job. Like I knew where Springfield, Illinois was right.
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  Speaker 2: I knew where Decatur was. I knew where Chicago was.
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  Speaker 2: I knew where the Quad Cities was. I knew where St.
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  Speaker 2: Louis was right. Like I was taking over a job
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  Speaker 2: that even though I'd never been here, I'd been preparing
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  Speaker 2: for that moment at that point for, you know, for
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  Speaker 2: 50 years.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: And, and, um, That's what makes this job really awesome.
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  Speaker 2: That's why I had Brad come in and speak last week.
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  Speaker 2: I think Brad, even though he hadn't been in Illinois,
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  Speaker 2: had prepared for Illinois his entire life, right? And now
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  Speaker 2: to be on his journey with him and Josh and
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  Speaker 2: to have the familiarity, I think that's what makes Illinois
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  Speaker 2: really good. But you can't be blind to the fact
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  Speaker 2: of what's going on around you. And nobody has that
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  Speaker 2: better awareness than Josh because he and I sit on
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  Speaker 2: some committees that I think is really, really helping Illinois
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  Speaker 2: be where it's at.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. A little bit from Brett Bielema,
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  Speaker 1: Illinois head coach, the Illini, coming to Ohio Stadium this weekend.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: 27 and a half point underdogs getting ready to take
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: on Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. The game will kick
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  Speaker 1: off noon on Saturday.
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  Speaker 3: We will be there.
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  Speaker 1: Pre-game coverage, post-game coverage, the whole shebang. Buckeyes starting Big
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Ten play this week. with those fighting Illini. So we'll
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: be there for that. If you want to get an
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: in-depth deep dive on what to expect this weekend, a
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: great place to get that would be at buckeyeinsiders.com. That's
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: where we got our whole team covering the Buckeyes, covering scheme,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: covering recruiting, covering basketball, big, big, lot of basketball news
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: coming out this week as well. So want to join
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: us there for that and be part of a really
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: fun and active community. We would love to see you
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: there at buckeyeinsiders.com. As Tony liked to say, it is
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the best way to support everything that we do. So
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: We'd love to see you there at BuckeyeInsiders.com. Thanks again
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: to our friends at Jeffery's Rubies of Columbus, the award-winning
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus. Name one of the top
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: 50 steakhouses in America by Food Network. Just go to JeffRuby.com
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: slash Columbus to check out the menu and make a
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: reservation today. That will do it for today. Thank you
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: talk to you tomorrow.