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Why Is Ohio State Such A Second-Half Team? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. From Monday, November sixth, I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Michigan State game is in five days. The game
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  against Michigan in nineteen days. Ohio State has successfully escaped yet another Big ten
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  road test this weekend. They did it at Rutgers. They won thirty five
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  sixteen, despite the Scarlet Knights holding a nine to seven halftime lead. One
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  of the plays that helped turn that game around was a tipped pass by Josh
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  Proctor that ended up in a pick six for Jordan Hancock. We're to be
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  talking about that and a whole bunch of other stuff. We're going to be
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  hearing directly from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day and Scarlet Knights head coach Greg
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  Ciano about many, many of the big stories of that game. We're gonna
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  start with Ryan Day talking about that huge play Josh Procter breaking up a pass,
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  getting that ball knocked up in the air to lead to that Jordan Hancock
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  pick six that really swung the game. Yeah, I think so, there
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  was a point there in the second half we put the defense in a tough
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  spot to situations where Rutgers gets the ball and plus territory and defense hung in
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  there. I thought that was really big again, but the pick six certainly
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  open things up. After a relatively healthy start to the season, injuries are
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  starting to become a bigger and bigger story for this year's Ohio State team.
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  This on Saturday, Caid Stover, the tight end, did not play.
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  Mechabuka was back after having a couple of games where we were told, yeah,
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  he might be able to play and then he didn't play. Kate Stover
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  was not listed on the injury report, but then didn't play. He was
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  held out sort of a coach's decision, like he could have played if they
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  needed to. They didn't end up needing him too. But here was Ryan
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  Day's discussion on what's going on with Cad Stover. He was available and you
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  know, could have played, but we just felt like it wasn't the right
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  thing to do for him. You know, you talk about, you know,
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  one of the tougher guys that we've been around, you know, Ohio
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  State in my time here. But you know he's going to say you can
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  go, and you know it was a decision made to hold him back and
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  we'll look forward to getting them back next week. If you have just gotten
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  back to civilization after spending the last nine months or so out of internet and
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  cell phone range, well I have some surprising news for you. The Ohio
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  State defense is really sort of carrying this year's team while the offense sort of
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  tries to figure some stuff out. Saturday against Rutgers, the defense once again
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  really kept the Buckeyes in the game, especially during the first half. Here's
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  Ryan Day talking about the defense really kind of having to carry the mail.
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  Well, yeah, I mean it's uh, you know, it's a team
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  game, but yeah, I mean the first half just just got some tough
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  hanging in there, you know, in some bad spots and just those guys
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  that are playing hard across the board, and we were down a couple of
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  guys and you know this, you know the front and you know Tommy and
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  you know the proc to make that play. I mean, you know,
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  he poured it up in there on that one. He never he didn't break
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  stride. And you know, Rutgers is physically you know, coming off of
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  their buy. They were fresh and ready to go, and they played hard.
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  They played as hard. So we've had multiple weeks now, you know,
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  Penn State and Wisconsin and you know, and now these guys, you
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  know, these have been physical weeks. But you know, our guys are
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  playing hard, they're playing physical, and you know, we're playing good football
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  down the stretch, and we're wearing teams down in the second half, But
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  certainly we'd like to play better in the first half as a team. Well,
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  Ohio States first half struggles definitely have been annoying and probably a little concerning
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  to Ohio State fans. The way the Buckeyes have played in the second half
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  that has been no problem at all. So what's the deal? Are they
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  wearing teams down in the second half? Why are they so much better in
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  the second half of these games? No, I think that that is a
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  part of it. I think we are doing that, But but I also
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  think, you know, when you just look at the overall consistency, you
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  know, I think early on, you know, they were playing us in
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  a two high shell. You know, they they dropped the safeties real deep
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  and put clouds on both sides to you know, take that part away.
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  And so we kind of recognized that at halftime and realized, you know,
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  we got to be patient enough to run the ball all the way down the
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  field and you know, I think you know they're there. You know,
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  you have to ask Greg, but their philosophy is probably, well, they
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  think I have patient enough to run the ball all the way down the field
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  and take it and you know, take the receivers out of the game,
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  which is sort of what happened. But then you know, we also,
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  uh you know, have to check the ball out and get to take some
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  of the underneath underneath stuff that Kyle ended up doing a little bit in the
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  second half. I thought we could have recognized that and done a better job
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  early on, but we did in the second half, all right. In
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  the interest of fairness and balance here we talked about the good news about the
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  second half. We got to talk about the first half. All right,
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  you can figure it out in the second half. So what the heck is
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  going on that this team keeps getting off the slow starts, especially on offense
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  in the first half of games. Well, I think we got where we
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  play against good defenses. It was good to get you know, right down
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  the field and get that touchdown the g early on. That was good.
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  But then just you know, a couple of tough, tough drives in there,
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  and it all it takes is you know, to be off a little
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  bit and then you're punting, so you know, and and the run game
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  takes time. You know, you have to wear teams down with the run
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  game. But we'll look at the film and keep swinging exactly right. Yeah,
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  I just you know, when you get him to the second level,
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  he's dangerous. And once he gets out in the open field, I mean
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  those are those are good to great fast and I think the check down one
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  for sixty some odd yards there. And so, like we said, he
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  is a mismatch and a very explosive player. The Buckeyes are now one to
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  oh in November. They are nine to oh on the season, just three
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  more regular season games to go. If they can win those, they'll be
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  twelve to oh go to the Big Ten championship game. But coming off the
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  field against Rutgers again, there's still a lot of stuff to work about.
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  So how did Ryan Day feel walking off that field? What was he thinking
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  about as he was walking off that field after a thirty five to sixteen win
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  over Rutgers. Well, I feel like, you know, this team finds
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  a way. They don't panic, They you know, keep swinging, they
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  keep fighting, and you know, we've been, you know, halftime of
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  these field, these games, and we've said we want to play better in
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  the second half this year. That was a huge part of our offseason and
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  you're seeing that. And again I keep saying, you know, we could
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  play better in the first half so that we don't have to be in these
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  situations. But the number one goal is to win games, and you know
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  we're gonna continue to do that, and we have to take care of the
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  ball on offense. You know, I thought we had an opportunity in two
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  minutes to kind of work the ball down the field there and and I thought
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  Kyle made a nice read. It was actually the will linebacker made the play.
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  We just got to get the ball up over that that would have given
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  us an opportunity to get some points. But but again, I thought we
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  did respond well in the second half. So we'll watch the film and keep
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  growing and keep keep grinding on this thing. I mean, you're in the
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  meat of it. So every time you you go on the road back to
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  back weeks, you know, physical weeks, you know you have to bring
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  it. And it isn't just you're just gonna roll your helmets out there and
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  think you're gonna win a game. It doesn't work that way, and I
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  think our guys understand that and finishing. You got to finish, yeah,
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  exactly, because you just nonmember all how these games are gonna go and you
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  got to be able to respond to whatever comes your way. So you know,
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  and that's that's what championship teams do. They continue week after week to
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  have the stamina to find a way to win. And so yeah, here
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  we go on to Week ten. This year's Ohighsted offense is not going to
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  be confused with any of the recent vintages of C. J. Stroud or
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  Justin Field, at least not yet. But it does seem like by and
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  large, there's been progress. The offensive line has been better, the running
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  game, especially since the return of Traveon Henderson, has been way better,
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  and the play of Marvin Harrison has been pretty darn consistent throughout the year.
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  So is the offense now really starting to come together as Travon Henderson and Marvin
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  Harrison sort of take central roles with it. Yeah, and you know,
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  we didn't have kid today and that that doesn't matter. But I got to
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  give g Scott and pack Ard some credit for stepping in and you know,
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  Kate has shouldered a lot of you know, snaps here the last couple of
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  years, and so for those guys to step up and play well, I
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  think they played well. At least it seemed like it was good. But
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  but yeah, you know, you'd like to see, you know, again
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  early on some better third down conversions. I think we might have been over
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  in the first half. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but then
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  we ended up six to twelve, so we must have been better in the
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  second. Is that what it was? Yeah, Yeah, and that was
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  a big part of it, because we weren't finishing the drives, you know,
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  and and third down is such a huge deal, and so we did
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  do a better job on third down and that made a difference. So,
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  uh, situational football is critical. But yes, I think when you know,
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  for instance, in this game, we recognized that they were in a
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  twohigh shell. They were going to try to take away the outside. We
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  had to run the football and be you know, patient enough to work the
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  ball down the field on a couple of those drives, and that's what happened.
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  But but the have to answer your question. You know, you're starting
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  to see all that you know, you know get on the field together,
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  love to get Kid back so we can really be at full strength. We
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  can't let this show end without letting you hear a little bit from Rutgers head
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  coach Greg Ciano. We always get good numbers when we have the visiting or
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  opposing coach's press conference up. I think there's a little bit a lot of
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  interest in what the opposing coach said, and that's probably especially true of Ciano,
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  who has obviously ties to the Ohio State program, having been a former
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  defensive coordinator in Columbus for a couple of years, and has just done a
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  remarkable job for the second time building the Rutgers program just out of the ashes
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  and turning them into a really legitimate pain in the butt kind of mid tier
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  Big Ten team. After that game, you're gonna this is a little unusual
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  for Shiana. It felt like he sort of had to compose himself of it
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  at least once or twice. It seemed like it was an emotional game for
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  him, because man, they have built that program from nothing into something very
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  real, and they had a chance to knock off the number one team in
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  the college football playoff rankings on Saturday. Here with Shiano sort of immediate thoughts
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  on the game for those guys down there in that locker room. But as
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  I told them, the way they worked and the way they prepared and all
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  that and the way they played doesn't guarantee anything. It just gives you a
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  chance. But we're now giving ourselves a chance, and we're just not quite
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  ready yet, I guess to finish it. But that's Sun's gonna come up
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  tomorrow. We're gonna keep working and we're gonna get better and we'll eventually get
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  there, and I won't have to say yet. And that's me, and
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  it's the staff and it's the players to everybody. But I'm proud of our
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  guys, proud of our staff. We're gonna keep getting better. This is
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  the flip side of the Ryan Day answer on the Josh Proctor tip and Jordan
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  Hancock pick six. On the Rutger side, they had ohios DD on their
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  heels, they had the lead in the third quarter, they had driven down
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  into the red zone, and then you had that pick six that changed everything.
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  What was Giano's thought on that play call and how that all shook out?
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  Yeah, and if it works, it's the greatest call and we're up.
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  It would have been sixteen to seven at that point, right, same
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  thing with the sneak play that got handed to Kyle that did work. You
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  got to be willing to try stuff in a game where you know that it
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  is they're good to Yet we didn't go crazy with ahole bunch of stuff because
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  I felt we could do it just what we did. We could run the
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  football if we stuck to it. Kyle m Nung, guy in the offensive
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  line, thought they ran the Bullhardt, Gavin ran the bullhard. Sam got
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  in there, he ran the bullhard. So yep. One of the reasons
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  Rutgers was close but no cigar on Saturday was they kept getting the ball close
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  to the Ohio State goal line. Six trips to the red zone but only
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  one touchdown. Those red zone failures were a big part of why Rutgers had
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  an impressive game but a losing game. I mean, some of it was
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  execution, some of it was they're really good. You know, they're number
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  one in the country. They have one of the top defenses in the country.
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  You know, we went out there and did things that other people haven't
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  done to them, but it wasn't good enough. You know, that's why
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  I said, it's yet. There's a lot of great things, and we
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  watched that tape, so, oh my goodness, look at that. That's
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  good players you're doing it against. But we just not ready yet. Ohio
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  State fans have spent a lot of this fall sort of recalibrating their expectations in
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  terms of defense that the Ohio State defense is. You know, thirty points
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  is no longer a norm for Ohio State to allow that. Twenty points is
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  not really a norm for Ohio State to allow that. What does it mean
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  on the Rutgers side to watch the Rutgers defense hold Ohio State to just thirty
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  one points after so many years of scores in the forties and fifties. We're
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  getting better on defense, We're getting better on offense. We're getting better in
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  a kicking game. Those two receivers are both first round draft picks, okay,
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  and I think they were held to something like fifty some odd yards together,
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  both of them. Those are two first round draft picks, I think
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  our kids. But again, for us to win that game, we had
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  to be dorned near perfect, and we weren't. I wasn't. The players,
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  weren't, our coaches weren't so we'll keep battling away. But there's nobody
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  that saying, oh, that was a good close up. You know.
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  No, no, no, there's two things. There's winning and there's losing.
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  There's only two things that happened in a game. And finally, for
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  Shiano and the Knights, they rushed for more yards. They were more than
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  two hundred yards on the ground for Rutgers, first time anyone has done that
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  against the Ohio State defense. The fact that they were able to run the
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  ball that way against what has been a really good Ohio State rush defense,
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  that feels like a sure sign of progress for the Scarlet Knights. I think
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  it's one of the signs. I think there's a lot of signs. The
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  way that we played defense today we've played all season, the way that we
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  ran the ball, but we also gave up a pick six. So there's
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  a lot of signs good and not so good. But we're getting better.
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  I don't know how to put it other than we're not there yet. We're
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  working progress. We're getting better. We're just not there against the number one
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  team in the country. Not quite yet, and we have to you know,
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  you can't say, well, we're going to get there. You got
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  to go make yourself get there. So that's what we'll do. We'll come
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  back in this room, we'll be honest with each other tomorrow, and those
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  kids love each other, those coaches love those kids, and we're just going
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  to keep going and Benchi, we're going to get there. Shiano was not
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  always the most popular defensive coordinator in Ohio State history. The guy who was
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  his co defensive coordinator one year when he was with the Buckeyes, Alex Grinch,
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  Well, he was fired on Sunday after another debacle for USC over the
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  weekend, a fifty two to forty two loss to Washington. So a couple
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  of Ohio State former defensive coordinators in the news this weekend. Both lost.
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  I think one feeling a lot better about his loss than the other one.
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  But we'll be talking to the current Ohio State defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles on
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  Tuesday along with Ryan Day as we start to wind things towards this week's upcoming
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  home game against Michigan State that is a primetime game in the Horseshoe. Should
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  be a fun evening as the Buckeyes now just three games away from potentially winning
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  the Big Ten East and earning a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game.
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  We'll be covering that. We'll be covering, Oh, I don't know anything
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  Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll
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  talk to you tomorrow.