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BONUS: Why Has Ryan Day Been So Aggressive On Fourth Down? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is a very big game week for the Ohio
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: State Buckeyes as the number four Ohio State Buckeyes go
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  Speaker 1: to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the number five Indiana Hoosiers.
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  Speaker 1: That means we are going to have some bonus coverage
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  Speaker 1: for you this week, some bonus episodes. This is one
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  Speaker 1: where you're going to get to hear a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. I did
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  Speaker 1: a whole morning show episode with clips from his interview,
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  Speaker 1: but he had some really interesting stuff to say, got
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  Speaker 1: asked a lot of interesting questions this week. So you're
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  Speaker 1: going to get to hear a little bit more on
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  Speaker 1: this show. We're going to start with one about the
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  Speaker 1: Indiana wide receiver unit, Nick Morris, Charlie Becker. They are
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  Speaker 1: a dangerous duo for the Hoosiers this year. What kind
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  Speaker 1: of a challenge do they pose to Ohio state secondary?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Um, all those guys you mentioned are very good receivers.
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  Speaker 2: You know, these guys in particular are very clean route
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  Speaker 2: runners play really strong on contact, um, make, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 2: have really good body control. Um, they have run after
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  Speaker 2: the catch ability. Um, Very, very confident playing against man-to-man coverage.
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  Speaker 2: They do an excellent job with their slants and their
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  Speaker 2: fades and back shoulder fades. You can tell that's clearly
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  Speaker 2: taught at a very high level there. Certainly, Becker has
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  Speaker 2: made some big-time plays in big-time moments. And Marsh is
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  Speaker 2: playing as good as anybody right now. This is a
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  Speaker 2: huge challenge for our secondary. Again, we talk about winning
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  Speaker 2: our one-on-ones. We've got to win our one-on-ones, whether that's
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  Speaker 2: up front or in the back end. Whether you're a
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  Speaker 2: man or zone, it doesn't matter. I think you combine
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  Speaker 2: those two guys with the backs that they have. They've
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  Speaker 2: got a really good group of guys that are very
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  Speaker 2: dangerous on offense.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State has had remarkable success in the final moments
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  Speaker 1: before halftime. They have scored in the last 30 seconds
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  Speaker 1: of the second quarter every single week this year. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if that's officially a record. it feels like
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  Speaker 1: it has to be pretty close at this point. So
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  Speaker 1: how do they take what they've done in two-minute drill
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  Speaker 1: and translate that into a drive to win a game,
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  Speaker 1: if that's needed, at the end of the game against
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  Speaker 1: a good opponent like Indiana?
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  Speaker 2: When we talk about playing for four quarters, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: really matter what the score is in the fourth quarter,
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  Speaker 2: but it's sustaining that focus through 60 minutes. And There's
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  Speaker 2: times where when you're winning, you know, you really want
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  Speaker 2: to shorten the game and get out of there. And
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  Speaker 2: I think we've shown we have the ability to do that.
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  Speaker 2: But then there's going to be situations where, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we have to elongate the game and play in a
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  Speaker 2: two-minute situation, you know, because we're either tied or from behind. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, so far the only time we've really been
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  Speaker 2: operated like that has been at the end of the
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  Speaker 2: first half. So we practice it a lot. We talk
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  Speaker 2: about it a lot. But that is part of, you know,
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  Speaker 2: winning in the fourth quarter. So Whatever the situation requires,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have to be able to execute it.
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  Speaker 2: But I would say that we're confident, whatever game it is,
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  Speaker 2: that we're going to go into the fourth quarter and
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  Speaker 2: win that game. But we also know these guys aren't
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  Speaker 2: going to give us anything. We have to earn everything
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  Speaker 2: we get.
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  Speaker 1: The Buckeyes' win over Maryland last week was a little
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  Speaker 1: bit ho-hum in a lot of ways. But one way
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  Speaker 1: that it was not ho-hum was on the offensive line.
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  Speaker 1: Because Austin Searveld, who had been starting at right tackle
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  Speaker 1: the last few weeks, he was suddenly not available just
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  Speaker 1: a few hours before kickoff. So Jake Cook stepped in
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  Speaker 1: at right guard, and then Gabe Van Sickle went from
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  Speaker 1: right guard to right tackle. That is a spot he
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  Speaker 1: really had not played in a game at the college level,
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  Speaker 1: and he just sort of got thrown in there on
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  Speaker 1: short notice. Was he impressed with what Gabe Van Sickle
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  Speaker 1: was able to do in the game? Yeah, I thought.
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  Speaker 2: You got to give him credit for doing that. That's
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  Speaker 2: a tough ask, and I think to me, it was
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  Speaker 2: the mindset again. Um, one of the things I asked
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  Speaker 2: Tyler was, you know, what, what's, what's on his mind
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  Speaker 2: when you bring this up? Um, what's the reaction that
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  Speaker 2: you're getting, you know? And so for him, it was
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  Speaker 2: just very positive, very confident that he could do the job.
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  Speaker 2: And so, uh, when I heard that, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we decided to make the move and, um, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I thought for, you know, on short notice, being able
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  Speaker 2: to step in like that, um, there wasn't, it wasn't
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  Speaker 2: all perfect, but there was a lot of good out there.
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  Speaker 2: And so now, um, you know, we'll be able to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, move him around if we need to a
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  Speaker 2: little bit in practice more, but, you know, we'll move
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  Speaker 2: him back down to guard and we'll fill the right
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  Speaker 2: tackle and see how the week goes. But I think,
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  Speaker 2: you know, one thing for sure is we do need
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  Speaker 2: to move him out there a little bit more during
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  Speaker 2: practice so that if we get caught short, he's able
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  Speaker 2: to respond even quicker.
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  Speaker 1: There are going to be a lot of high emotions
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  Speaker 1: this weekend in Bloomington. Obviously a big game, top five matchup,
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  Speaker 1: huge environment, maybe the biggest game on campus in Indiana
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  Speaker 1: football history. But on the Buckeyes side, maybe a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of revenge on their minds after the Hoosiers took
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  Speaker 1: the Big Ten championship game away from them in a
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  Speaker 1: 13-10 win last December in Indianapolis. How does that factor
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  Speaker 1: into this weekend's game?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think everybody has their own thoughts and emotions,
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  Speaker 2: but I think, you know, as we, you know, talked
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  Speaker 2: on Sunday and we'll talk again today here in the
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  Speaker 2: team meeting, like nothing that happened in the past has
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  Speaker 2: anything to do with what's going on this weekend. You know,
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  Speaker 2: We can learn from the past, you know, and so
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  Speaker 2: some of the guys who played in that game can
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  Speaker 2: learn about all the reasons why we came up short
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  Speaker 2: and that's fine and that's good. But the focus has
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  Speaker 2: to be on right now and that's it. So that's
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  Speaker 2: what we're going to focus on and that'll be the
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  Speaker 2: message of the team.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State has been pretty aggressive on fourth down situations
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  Speaker 1: this season. They are 10 for 14, which is, first
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  Speaker 1: of all, quite successful. Very good success rate there. They
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  Speaker 1: are ninth in the nation in terms of most fourth
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  Speaker 1: down conversions made. They're 16th in the nation in in
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  Speaker 1: terms of the most attempts of any team in the
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  Speaker 1: nation going forward on fourth down. So what goes into
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  Speaker 1: those decisions? Is that a gut decision? Do they have
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  Speaker 1: analytics that they're leaning on in those moments?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have a group that we work with, and
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  Speaker 2: there's a book. It's really amazing. They have just about
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  Speaker 2: everything covered in terms of all of that. So Billy's
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  Speaker 2: up in the box and goes through that in these situations. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: book says this, book says that. And so, um, you know, we,
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  Speaker 2: we definitely use that, um, as, as a thought process
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  Speaker 2: and then, but you also have to take into consideration, okay,
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  Speaker 2: do we have a good play right now? You know,
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  Speaker 2: what's going on? Is there an injury? You know, there's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of things to take into consideration, but, um,
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  Speaker 2: in all of those situations, we use the book as
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  Speaker 2: a starting point and as a reference, and then we
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  Speaker 2: go from there. But, um, but yeah, I mean, I, I,
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  Speaker 2: I feel like we'll have a plan for if we
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  Speaker 2: need to do those types of things, then, um, We'll
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  Speaker 2: have several things that we can go do, and that's
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  Speaker 2: the work of the coaches, be prepared to have answers
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  Speaker 2: for all those situations. It can be exhausting at times,
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  Speaker 2: quite honestly, to go through all the things and then
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  Speaker 2: may never show up in a game, but that's the
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  Speaker 2: part of a coach. We have to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: these guys are prepared, and when those moments come up,
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  Speaker 2: we're ready to execute at a high level, and that's
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  Speaker 2: what it's going to come down to here.
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  Speaker 1: Since Kurt Cignetti got to Indiana, the Hoosiers have been
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  Speaker 1: very portal-heavy in quarterbacks. Curtis Rourke, then they had Fernando Mendoza.
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  Speaker 1: This year, they've got Josh Hoover. So three guys, three years,
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  Speaker 1: three portal quarterbacks. For Ryan Day, it's been kind of
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  Speaker 1: the opposite. Outside of Will Howard and Justin Fields, Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State has really mostly developed guys internally. And yes, technically,
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  Speaker 1: I will note that Julian Sane is technically a transfer.
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  Speaker 1: He spent a couple weeks at Alabama, but has been
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  Speaker 1: at Ohio State for more than 95% of his career
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  Speaker 1: at this point, clearly developed at Ohio State. So is
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  Speaker 1: going to the portal for a quarterback going to be
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  Speaker 1: more of a thing for them moving forward?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think most coaches, I think, would tell you
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  Speaker 2: they want to, you know, bring in somebody and develop
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  Speaker 2: them and keep them within their program. Because when you
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  Speaker 2: bring somebody in, you know, for a single year, you
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  Speaker 2: may know a lot about them, but you don't know
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  Speaker 2: everything about them. And, you know, we knew a lot
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  Speaker 2: about Will, but we didn't know everything about Will. And
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  Speaker 2: that worked out great because it was a veteran guy
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  Speaker 2: who had a lot of experience. And had an unbelievable season.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I look at some of the other programs
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  Speaker 2: and how they've done it. You know, certainly look at
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  Speaker 2: what Indiana's done and some of, again, some of the
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  Speaker 2: other programs across the country. But again, I would guess
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  Speaker 2: that most people would say, no, I would rather develop
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  Speaker 2: somebody and know what I have and bring them along
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  Speaker 2: for leadership purposes and, you know, retainment and all those things.
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  Speaker 2: But there's no question, you know, for the quarterback position,
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  Speaker 2: there's nothing that replaces experience and repetitions. And just the
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  Speaker 2: only other thing is like, When you see a lot
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  Speaker 2: of those guys who end up in New York City,
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  Speaker 2: you know, a lot of those guys are older guys
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  Speaker 2: and have been, you know, starting back, you know, probably, what,
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  Speaker 2: now five or six years, you know. And, you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: some of them were places where, you know, you think
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  Speaker 2: of like Michael Penick started in Indiana and then went
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  Speaker 2: to Washington, went on, you know, and Jalen Daniels or
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: Jane Daniels and all the different guys that have, Bo Nix,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you start to go through the list of guys.
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  Speaker 2: They started somewhere, had some success, had some failures, learned
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  Speaker 2: from it. and then kind of went to a new place.
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  Speaker 2: And then, you know, by the time you get to
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: be 21, 22, 23 years old, you're just much more
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  Speaker 2: experienced than you have this Rolodex of plays you're remembering
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  Speaker 2: as opposed to learning. So I think that's the biggest,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: you know, benefit that you get, you know, you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: watching Lincoln, like great to see Lincoln playing well, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm proud of him and what he's doing down there,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: you know, spent multiple years together. And, but like, when
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  Speaker 2: you have a couple years under your belt and you've
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: grown through a program, you're a little bit more mature
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  Speaker 2: and older, it does certainly help. We'll always evaluate it
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  Speaker 2: the best we can, but for us, we always want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure we're recruiting young guys, developing them, and
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  Speaker 2: then retaining them.
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  Speaker 1: We are now halfway through the regular season and coaches
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  Speaker 1: feel like they're probably getting a better sense for who
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  Speaker 1: their teams really are at this point. So, How ready
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  Speaker 1: is this Ohio State team to go out and play
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  Speaker 1: a clean game and execute well against this caliber opponent
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  Speaker 1: in what is going to be a raucous environment?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you just mentioned it. I mean, that's where we're
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  Speaker 2: at right now. That's, that's, that's the challenge right in
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  Speaker 2: front of us. Like, okay, here we are now. And, um,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: against a team that, you know, hasn't lost a game
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  Speaker 2: in a So we're here right now, and that's why
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  Speaker 2: everybody's got to, whatever it takes this week, to go
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: get this win. And you're exactly right. We've got to
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: play clean. Everyone's got to do their job, coaches and
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  Speaker 2: players included. And the number one thing is to win
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: this game. But that's it. We're here now, so we've
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: got to go.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State has seemingly taken a step forward on defense
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  Speaker 1: the last couple weeks, and Edric Houston has felt like
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  Speaker 1: a big reason why. He has really seemingly taken that
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: next step in the middle of that defensive line after
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: back-to-back really good games against Iowa and Maryland. Is that
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  Speaker 1: what Ryan Day sees there?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's been really good play there. I
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: think he's gaining more and more confidence. And so now
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  Speaker 2: the question is for Edric, can he sustain it now
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  Speaker 2: after having some success? You've seen him. struggle with some
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: things and overcome that. What a great sign for a
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: young player to, who's now, you know, maturing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: to go through a little bit of adversity and then come,
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  Speaker 2: come out the back end. Like that's the part of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: retainment that you just love to see the growth of
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  Speaker 2: some guys. Um, now, now he's taking the next step
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  Speaker 2: and he's playing with really, you know, a ton of confidence.
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  Speaker 2: And so now, all right, how can we, you know,
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we're staying focused, um, and we're playing consistent, um,
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  Speaker 2: because Just like when you have success, you can easily
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: get distracted when you're struggling. It can be very similar.
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  Speaker 2: I'm excited about how he's playing. We're going to need
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: him in this game. If he had some of his
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: better games the last couple games, we need him to
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: have his best game against Indiana.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: In short yardage at Iowa, they tried running the wildcat.
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  Speaker 1: Once it worked, and one time it very much did not.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Against Maryland... They lined up at the goal line in
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  Speaker 1: the robust tee. Chip Kelly kind of bringing that back
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: in college football. The Buckeyes have used that a little
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: bit over the years. Are they now sort of building
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: confidence in the fact that they have some different ways
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: to move people off the line in those short yardage situations?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I agree with you. And this is going
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: to be a great challenge this week to be able
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: to sustain that. I think there's been growth in those areas.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I think there's definitely confidence. I think there's a mindset
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  Speaker 2: and But now we've got to go do it against
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  Speaker 2: Indiana this week in a big spot. So you can
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: say it all you want, but you've got to actually
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: do it on the field. I think we've seen some
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: of that. I think Maryland had a really giant front
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: last week, and those guys were not easy to move.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: And I think as the game went on, we were
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: able to do that more effectively and efficiently. The week before, Iowa,
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  Speaker 2: that was a challenge. OK, so now here we are
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: in a big spot on the road against Indiana, all that.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: momentum now is going to mean something. And so we've
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: got to keep this momentum and be able to execute
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: in these spots because that's really what it comes down to.
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  Speaker 2: I think what we're all saying, we've seen some growth
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  Speaker 2: in areas, but now we've got to go put it
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  Speaker 2: on the field. That's all that matters.
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  Speaker 1: And the last question was from Tim May inappropriately. In
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Tim May parlance, it was a quickie. And the answer,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: not a long one here from Ryan Day, but it's
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: one that I'm sure Ohio State fans are going to
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: be very interested in the answer to. Legend Bay. It
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: felt like after weeks being on the bench or kind
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of being out of the picture, it feels like he
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: took a big step forward last week. Have they been
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: seeing more progress from him?
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: He's to take some steps in the right direction for sure.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: And he's built a little momentum. So I'd like to
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: have another good week with him.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: All right, that will do it for now. We are
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: going to have much more coverage all week long. Wednesday night, Buckeyes.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Interviews after practice, we'll be streaming those live on our
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel, youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders. We'll be talking
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: to Ryan Day and a few players after practice. It
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: feels like there's not that much time that goes past
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: between the Tuesday interviews and the Wednesday evening interviews. But
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: in between those, they have their two most physical practices
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of the week. So sometimes a lot has changed in
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: that 30 hours or so between those interview sessions. We'll
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: find out what has changed when we talk to Ryan
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Day and the Buckeyes a little later on on Wednesday.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: If you want to talk to us about that and
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: a whole bunch of other stuff, the best place to
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: do that is at BuckeyeInsiders.com. We're going to have a
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: ton of coverage all week long. Looking forward to this game.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Our Scheme Insiders are working overtime this week. churning out content,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: looking at that Maryland win, but also looking ahead at
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: the Indiana Hoosiers and what to expect this weekend. Man,
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: oh man, would this be a great week for you
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to join us at buckeyeinsiders.com to support the work that
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: we do, but also get access to a really fun community,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: get access to great content and more. That is all
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: at buckeyeinsiders.com.