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Bret Bielema: Big Ten's New Injury Report 'A Colossal Pain In The Ass' · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, September 22nd. I'm
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: your host, Tom, or the Illinois game in four days,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in 67 days. Today's episode presented
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: by our friends at Jeff Ruby's Columbus, proudly offering nationally
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: acclaimed USDA prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service, live entertainment,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: go to jeffruby.com slash Columbus and check out the menu
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and make a reservation today.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: All right, on today's show, you're going to get a
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  Speaker 2: bunch of Brett Bielema.
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  Speaker 1: And I think there was a time in Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: football history when Ohio State.
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  Speaker 2: Fans would have groaned and rolled their eyes.
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  Speaker 1: And now Brett Bielema has gone from kind of the
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  Speaker 1: thorn in everyone's side to kind of the funny uncle,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, of the Big Ten Football Conference. Head coach
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  Speaker 1: of Illinois had his press conference on Monday previewing this
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  Speaker 1: weekend's game in Columbus against the Ohio State Buckeyes. And
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  Speaker 1: his press conferences are really unlike almost any other head
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  Speaker 1: coach in college football.
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  Speaker 2: He's funny.
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  Speaker 1: He's a little bit, you know, a little bit profane
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  Speaker 1: at times. I'll try and bleep those out for you
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  Speaker 1: listening with kids at home, but also just.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of meandering.
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  Speaker 1: He touches, he gets asked a question and then the
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  Speaker 1: answer goes about 17 different places. It's always entertaining though.
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  Speaker 1: So on this show, you're going to get to hear
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  Speaker 1: a little bit from Bielema, some thoughts on this weekend's
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  Speaker 1: game against Ohio State. We'll have a bonus episode for
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  Speaker 1: you that will drop sometime in the next day or so.
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  Speaker 1: Some of his thoughts on college football in general, because
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  Speaker 1: he was asked a bunch of stuff about that and
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  Speaker 1: payroll and all that kind of stuff. And he had
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  Speaker 1: some really interesting stuff to say there as well. But
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  Speaker 1: all right, we'll start with just sort of general thoughts
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  Speaker 1: on this game, a little bit about his offense, and
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  Speaker 1: we'll go from there. So we'll start with the fact
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  Speaker 1: Illinois two and one out of conference.
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  Speaker 2: They beat UAB.
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  Speaker 1: They beat Southern Illinois. They lost to Duke. Now starting
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  Speaker 1: big 10 play this weekend. So we're going to start
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  Speaker 1: with some general thoughts. This will touch on the Big
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  Speaker 1: Ten's new injury reporting system. Don't worry, he will explain
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  Speaker 1: it to you in a way that only Brett Bielema can,
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  Speaker 1: as well as some of the stuff they've done to
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  Speaker 1: prepare for road games this season.
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  Speaker 3: Now to jump into nine straight games of Big Ten
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  Speaker 3: opponents to open up on the road at Ohio State,
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  Speaker 3: obviously a road game in an environment, have the utmost
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  Speaker 3: respect for not just Ohio State, but.
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  Speaker 4: Ryan and what he's built and what he's been able
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  Speaker 4: to do. So Super excited about the opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: I'm really not going to hit much on Tuesdays just
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  Speaker 3: because there's a, from an injury standpoint, so I'll hit
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  Speaker 3: whatever you want me to hit. But we actually started
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  Speaker 3: a new reporting system in the Big Ten Conference starting
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  Speaker 3: tomorrow that we have to report every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
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  Speaker 3: and Saturday. So it's a colossal pain in the ass
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  Speaker 3: that I can't believe we got to do. But powers
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  Speaker 3: that be said we got to do it. So we
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  Speaker 3: have to do it. And I just want to make
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  Speaker 3: sure I'm doing it the right way so that I'll
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  Speaker 3: just kind of refrain from reporting anything until we kind
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  Speaker 3: of you guys will get more.
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  Speaker 4: Information you've ever had in your life in in.
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  Speaker 3: That regard so that's coming at you but I do
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  Speaker 3: think we're getting healthier every day we'll have some guys
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  Speaker 3: back with us this week some guys joining us next
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  Speaker 3: week so to get into Big Ten play and to
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  Speaker 3: get a little bit stronger rather than going the other
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  Speaker 3: direction is probably positive it's been its own set of
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  Speaker 3: issues coming into the last three games but I'm very
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  Speaker 3: excited I thought Brandon Hanson on Saturday stepped up in
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  Speaker 3: a huge way really excited what he brought to the
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  Speaker 3: table obviously we started our champ smith at right guard
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  Speaker 3: and didn't announce that until it happened but he's a
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  Speaker 3: super super talented kid that's got a lot of upside
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  Speaker 3: and played extremely well especially in that first quarter anytime
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  Speaker 3: you score touchdowns on your first four drives i don't
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  Speaker 3: care who you're playing it's a big deal and i
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  Speaker 3: think their defense did some things in the second half
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  Speaker 3: that made our guys work through some some issues so
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  Speaker 3: with that being said i'm I think the key for
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  Speaker 3: us this week is to go on the road, understand
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  Speaker 3: there is a big difference. I did a lot of
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  Speaker 3: off-season study on our road performance versus our in-home game
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  Speaker 3: performance here at Geese Memorial. Obviously, we have a stadium
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  Speaker 3: that we're very proud of and obviously has been a
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  Speaker 3: huge factor in the first three weeks. But to play
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  Speaker 3: the way you want to play and do what you
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  Speaker 3: want to do on the road in the Big Ten
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  Speaker 3: is going to be a huge deal. So we actually
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  Speaker 3: had a– our first scrimmage was actually an away game scrimmage.
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  Speaker 3: We stayed in a different hotel than we ever stay at.
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  Speaker 3: I threw the meal. Adam, that was completely different. We
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  Speaker 3: dressed in the visiting locker room. We had our offense
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  Speaker 3: perform from the visiting sideline. And there was a lot
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  Speaker 3: of things in that game that when I talked to
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  Speaker 3: leadership council the next day that they talked about how
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  Speaker 3: it was completely different, how it was something they noticed.
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  Speaker 3: So that goes into application this week on the road
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  Speaker 3: at Ohio State in one of the toughest environments you
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  Speaker 3: can play in college football.
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  Speaker 1: Illini's quarterback this year is Caden Houser. That name may
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  Speaker 1: sound a little bit familiar. He's bounced around a little
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  Speaker 1: bit in college football, was previously the quarterback at East
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  Speaker 1: Carolina for a couple of years. But before that, he
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  Speaker 1: was a quarterback at Michigan State. So that means he's
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  Speaker 1: actually gone and played at Ohio Stadium before. So is
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  Speaker 1: that kind of a benefit of that? Is there a
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  Speaker 1: benefit to that? And in this answer, you're going to
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  Speaker 1: hear him mention the name Barry. That is Barry Lunny,
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  Speaker 1: who is the offensive coordinator for the Illini.
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  Speaker 4: It's a big deal. I talked to Barry about it.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Listen, I've been in this business as a head
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  Speaker 3: coach going into my 18th year. And to be one
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  Speaker 3: year with Caden, I text him Saturday night and just said, man,
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  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how impressed I am with who
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  Speaker 3: you are and what you represent and the growth he's had.
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  Speaker 3: But what I don't know is the things I've never
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  Speaker 3: done with him, right? So I don't know all the
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  Speaker 3: intangibles that you know factor into a young man's mind, right?
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  Speaker 3: I'm in the meeting room with him. I'm in an
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  Speaker 3: individual meeting. I'm in a game prep mode with him.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't know all the hours he spends away
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  Speaker 3: from here, who's talking to him, who's talking to him
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  Speaker 3: about what, or how he's going to handle a road environment.
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  Speaker 3: He's a very intense competitor. And I think Caden would
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  Speaker 3: be the first to tell you too, right? Like what
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  Speaker 3: he has to do is have a great muscle memory
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  Speaker 3: when things don't go well to just, you know, play
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  Speaker 3: the next play as it plays out. So, you know,
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  Speaker 3: super excited to be on the journey with him, but
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  Speaker 3: that's just my quarterback, right? I also have, you know,
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  Speaker 3: almost half the roster is new. So, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 3: excited to see, but I don't know, You know what
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  Speaker 3: Mason Moroccan is going to be like on the road,
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  Speaker 3: you know, for the first time as a starter. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know what, you know, my left tackle Christian Martin
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  Speaker 3: is going to be like on the road as a
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  Speaker 3: starter against Ohio State. My right tackle, Nathan Knoppig, played
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  Speaker 3: on the road in a bowl game, but it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: the same, you know, prep. So, yeah, there's all kinds
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  Speaker 3: of these unknowns and tangibles, but you kind of got
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  Speaker 3: to handle the moment we're in and build off it
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  Speaker 3: as best we can.
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  Speaker 1: Bielema spoke after Barry Lunny, the offensive coordinator for Illinois,
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  Speaker 1: and during his press conference, Lunny promised to add some
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  Speaker 1: sizzle to the offense this week. So, okay, what does
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  Speaker 1: that look like in Brett Bielema's mind? This is yet
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  Speaker 1: another one that just goes kind of all over the place.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think if I'm not mistaken, I believe we
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  Speaker 3: scored more points against Ohio State last year than anybody,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and they were an exceptional defense last year.
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  Speaker 3: I like when Barry starts talking about sizzle. Now he's
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  Speaker 3: got a little Arkansas in him, so he's still got
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  Speaker 3: a Southern atmosphere to him. Um, but, uh, I think it's, it's,
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  Speaker 3: it's without a doubt, um, really fun to be in
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  Speaker 3: this environment with Barry. Um, and, and, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I've been with him over 10 years now to see
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  Speaker 3: these things come out.
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  Speaker 4: Um, obviously we've had some.
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  Speaker 3: Um, injuries and, and, you know, um, you know, I think,
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  Speaker 3: you know, we've gotten out of the spring and we
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  Speaker 3: knew Jay Sean Platt was going to be a really
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  Speaker 3: good player for us and not to have him through
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  Speaker 3: the first three games. And, and to get him on
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  Speaker 3: the cusp of being with us is exciting, but Barry
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  Speaker 3: learns in reality. He's done a really good job of just, Hey,
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  Speaker 3: this is what we are. This is what we do.
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  Speaker 3: I think he's learning our players better than ever before. Right? Like, uh,
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  Speaker 3: obviously we knew we had two running backs and the
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  Speaker 3: third guy kind of emerged the other day and Jordan Anderson,
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  Speaker 3: but also in, in, in Javari. So it just brings
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  Speaker 3: a whole different flavor of things. And that's on the
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  Speaker 3: flip side of it. Defensively, um, you know, to be
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  Speaker 3: three games into with our defense, see what they do very,
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  Speaker 3: very well. And to try to minimize, uh, our weaknesses
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  Speaker 3: and maximize our strengths. It's just, it's a, it's a,
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  Speaker 3: Like I would bet you if you asked our guys
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  Speaker 3: last night, we always have meetings about the game. So
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  Speaker 3: we put the game to bed. We have a victory dinner.
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  Speaker 3: It's absolutely awesome. Some ribeye and lobster tails, which is
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  Speaker 3: pretty live. But to get out of that, then we
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  Speaker 3: always go to the next meeting and transition to our
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  Speaker 3: next opponent. And I would bet you they would tell
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  Speaker 3: you that I was very excited to play Ohio State.
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  Speaker 3: But Ohio State has familiarity. It's a rematch game from
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  Speaker 3: a year ago. Obviously, our special teams coordinator that was
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  Speaker 3: here last year is over there. So to think about
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  Speaker 3: the opportunities that that presents, I think it's fun to
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  Speaker 3: watch and be around.
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  Speaker 4: It's just it's part of college football.
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  Speaker 1: Next up, Bielema was asked about whether he has a
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  Speaker 1: favorite moment or a favorite memory from his time playing
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  Speaker 1: or coaching in Ohio Stadium. Kind of a funny question
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  Speaker 1: because he's never won a game there as a coach.
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  Speaker 1: But does he have a favorite moment in Ohio Stadium?
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  Speaker 3: No, I ran two fakes, two punt fakes in one
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  Speaker 3: game against him, which. One worked and one didn't, so
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  Speaker 3: I probably should have just stopped after the first one.
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  Speaker 3: There's just learning moments. I think it's really cool to
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  Speaker 3: get over. They have an OHIO, which is pretty cool
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  Speaker 3: to be a part of. I distinctly remember being on
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  Speaker 3: the field as a rookie head coach. I think I
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  Speaker 3: was in my second year. Tress was the head coach
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  Speaker 3: over there, and we're standing in midfield, and I'm like, man,
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  Speaker 3: I love my Ohio guys.
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  Speaker 4: Every one of them we get, we do really well.
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  Speaker 4: And he goes, I know. And I didn't mean it
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  Speaker 4: like that.
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  Speaker 3: It was just kind of one of those, I think
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  Speaker 3: Ohio kids, you know, you guys know Pat Emilton, Pat's
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  Speaker 3: an Ohio guy. He's a Cleveland guy and it's to
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: a fault, right? They all just, just die on a
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  Speaker 3: sword for what they believe in. And I think that's
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  Speaker 3: absolutely awesome. Um, uh, but, but you know, there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of guys on that Ohio state roster that we've recruited, right. And, uh,
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  Speaker 3: been around, maybe we couldn't land them, but, um, just
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  Speaker 3: have a lot of respect for how they play the game,
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  Speaker 3: what they do.
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  Speaker 4: Um, so I haven't ever won over there. Right.
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  Speaker 3: Um, I made some great games and, um, You know,
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  Speaker 3: Scotty Tolzien, who's now a prominent coach in the NFL,
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: we could have won the game, but we had two
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: pick sixes in one game, right? And when a quarterback
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: throws a pick six in fall camp, I used to
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  Speaker 3: blow the whistle because I saw a quarterback that I
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: played with break his collarbone during practice who tried to
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: cover an interception. And I just said to myself, okay,
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I'm never going to let that happen, right? But then
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: I detrained my offense that if they have to cover
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  Speaker 3: a pick six, they didn't know what to do, right?
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  Speaker 4: And I always think about that. So I've modified how
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  Speaker 4: I practice in that way.
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  Speaker 3: So I've grown a lot through the failures and really
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  Speaker 3: excited about the opportunities.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Illinois in the run game, they've been kind of the
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  Speaker 1: opposite of Ohio State, where Ohio State's been relatively consistent
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  Speaker 1: on the ground, but hasn't really broken off the long
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  Speaker 1: runs that they were hoping. Illinois, they've broken off some
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  Speaker 1: long runs this year, but they haven't been quite as
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: consistent as they'd want. So, OK, how do they get
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: a little more consistent?
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think big plays, explosive or big, but I
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: think we do got to be efficient. I think when
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: we play ahead of the chains, we're a much better offense.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Keaton has done a really good job of avoiding pressures.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: It's not necessarily the protection, just getting rid of the ball.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: Now he's broke a few tackles. But I think to
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  Speaker 3: be explosive on offense, I showed a couple clips from
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  Speaker 3: the Texas-Ohio State game. And two of the biggest plays
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  Speaker 3: in that game, in my opinion, were a second and
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  Speaker 3: seven and a second and six. no one writes about
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: second downs, right? That's why I always say it's the
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  Speaker 3: most forgotten down, but those downs are so important. Um,
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  Speaker 3: and I kind of saw Aiden's big play coming. Like
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  Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks, I kept saying, dude, you
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  Speaker 3: got one coming. You got one coming. Cause I know
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: he was pissed when I went mad, but you know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: Khalil got one and he hadn't gotten one of those. So, uh,
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  Speaker 3: to get Aiden in those moments. And I tell you
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  Speaker 3: what was really cool. Um, I'm sure you saw the
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  Speaker 3: social media clip, but you know, we had three guys
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  Speaker 3: over 21 miles an hour score touchdowns.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 3: And it was, uh, Aiden to, uh, uh, to, um,
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  Speaker 3: Colin and into Matt Bailey so um to show those
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  Speaker 3: guys and every one of them had a block down
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  Speaker 3: the field that was given by someone that was just
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: being extremely selfless right like Aiden Loffrey was Colin Dixon
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: to spring it right off the edge but then Huddy
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  Speaker 3: Komet was like 40 yards downfield straining his tail off
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  Speaker 3: to get him a big play right um uh and
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  Speaker 3: then Colin Dixon was a a A first down play
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  Speaker 3: after a fourth down conversion, right, where he converted and
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  Speaker 3: had a big hit in the far end zone over there.
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  Speaker 3: And then Matt Bailey literally got in the end zone
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  Speaker 3: because Will Holmes took off running and got in front
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  Speaker 3: of a guy that just disrupted him for a yard
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  Speaker 3: or two. So a lot of those big explosive plays
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  Speaker 3: are brought upon and created. They're not just long runs.
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  Speaker 3: They're touchdowns because of somebody else doing something special.
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  Speaker 2: All right, there you go.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: A little bit from Brett Bielema, Illinois head coach, the Illini,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: coming to Ohio Stadium this weekend. 27 and a half
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: point underdogs getting ready to take on Ryan Day and
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: The game will kick off noon on Saturday.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: We will be there.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Pre-game coverage, post-game coverage, the whole shebang. Buckeyes starting Big
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Ten play this week. with those fighting Illini. So we'll
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: be there for that.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: If you want to get an in-depth deep dive on
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: what to expect this weekend, a great place to get
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: that would be at BuckeyeInsiders.com. That's where we got our
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: whole team covering the Buckeyes, covering scheme, covering recruiting, covering basketball, big, big,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: lot of basketball news coming out this week as well.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: So want to join us there for that and be
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: part of a really fun and active community. We would
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: love to see you there at BuckeyeInsiders.com. As Tony liked
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: to say, it is the best way to support everything
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: that we do. So We'd love to see you there
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. Thanks again to our friends at Jeffery's Rubies
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: of Columbus, the award-winning upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus. Name
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: one of the top 50 steakhouses in America by Food Network.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Just go to JeffRuby.com slash Columbus to check out the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: menu and make a reservation today.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: That will do it for today. Thank you guys all
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: you tomorrow.