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Ross Fulton Analysis: Ohio State vs. Penn State Preview · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to a very special bonus episode of Buckeyes tomorrow morning. Talking to our
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  buddy Ross Fulton, the Ex's and o's Gurut Buckeyehuddle dot com. This is
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  the bonus episode we promised you we already did Ohio State's offense, Ohio States
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  defense. It is a special week. It is Ohio State Penn State week.
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  It is the biggest week of the season so far, so we're going
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  to do a little extra coverage for you. Ross has taken a look at
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  Penn State and he's going to share some thoughts on the Nitney Lions what we
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  can maybe expect this weekend in terms of their offense their defense going up against
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  the Buckeyes. It's going to be a I'm guessing a relatively low scoring,
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  close game. But we're going to break it all down with Ross. Ross.
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  I guess let's start with the Penn State offense, because there has been
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  so much conversation about the fact that they just they're not getting long runs,
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  they're not throwing the ball downfield, but they're also putting up crazy numbers of
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  points. Now, I think a lot of that probably has to do with
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  their opposition so far and the fact that they are not good at what do
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  you call it football? But you know it does. It feels like this
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  far into the season, it probably means something. If you're not if you
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  have not been throwing the ball downfield, it probably means something at this point,
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  right Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can. You're not
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  playing cat and mouse with being explosive, like either are or you aren't,
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  because like you would break. If you're explosive, you're things are going to
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  break naturally. I don't think. I mean, they're putting up lots of
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  points because they're getting tons of turnovers, which you know is they're getting short
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  fields. And they did that against Illinois, they did against Iowa. You
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  know, I think that you have to give them some credit for that.
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  Obviously we can we can get into a long discussion about turnover luck and the
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  randomness of turnovers. But the I mean, I don't. It's not that
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  they won't take shots. I mean they try to some off of play action.
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  It's just that they're not very they haven't been very effective at it.
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  And again like I don't, I mean O High State it's been very stout
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  against giving up big play. So I just don't really see that as going
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  to be Penn State's game plan this game. I mean, I don't not
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  that they won't take shots, but I just think it's gonna they're going to
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  try to if I was going to guess, probably try to borrow a page
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  from Notre Dame's playbook and hope that plays them a little conservatively, and you
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  know, maybe even literally borrow from Notre Dame and try to do some of
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  that two back run game and get get an extra hat in the box.
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  You know, they'll use a lot of twelve personnel, like they will RPO
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  and screening off of most of their plays. But again, I just I
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  see to me like I think Penn State is would be looking for a low
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  scoring slug fest and hoping that they win the turnover battle. Well, one
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  thing that would help them try and win a low scoring slug fest would be
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  to be able to move the ball, stay on schedule on the ground and
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  you know, have have a long you know, score score but score an
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  eight twelve played drive where you know they have not been super explosive on the
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  ground, But can they stay on schedule? Can they be efficient on the
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  ground and get to second and four and third and one, get themselves in
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  positions where they don't. It's not an obvious passing situation. Is there something
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  about this Penn State rushing attack, either from a schematic or personnel perspective,
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  that makes you think that they might be able to run the ball consistently against
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  Ohio State and keep themselves on schedule and keep themselves in positions where they're you
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  know, second and four, third and one. Yeah. I mean they
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  had some success last year against a high of state easing formation in a boundary,
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  you know, multiple tight ends, and then you know, going back
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  with the combination of RPOs to the field, you know, I'd expect something
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  similar from them again, you know, I just think it's it's a matter
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  of also how a high state chooses to play it in terms of you know,
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  how aggressive does Jym Knowles want to be. I mean, Penn State's
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  left tackle is really good. I'm not sure the remainder of their offfensive line
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  is particularly challenging. Obviously, the running backs are both good, even though
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  I don't you know, they don't have crazy numbers this year, and so
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  again, I think it's just it's trying to create probably you know, numbers
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  advantages to the short side the field when Ohio State and Jim Knowles want to
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  put their generally put their set their alignment to the wide side, and then
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  you know, take advantage of some numbers, try to stay ahead to schedule,
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  probably try to force Ohio State to you know, play it more aggressively
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  and then see if they can maybe maybe break something. All right, Now,
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  on the other side of the ball, let's talk a little bit about
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  the Ohio State offense. They have struggled a little bit to run the ball
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  for extended periods this this year. Sounds like probably getting travy On Henderson back
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  this weekend. We will find out altogether at ten am on Saturday when they
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  release the availability report. But you know, if you do get Travon Henderson
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  back, or if they do lean on Dellen Hayden more or you know,
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  whoever the running back is, this is a This is a pretty stout Penn
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  State defense. Is there reason to think that Ohio State is going to be
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  able to run the ball with whoever that running back is. You know,
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  they do present some opportunities to run the football, like there are bubbles there
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  many Diaz loves to slant and sim pressure and fire zone and it can leave
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  them vulnerable, like particularly like you know, using on balance or overloaded formations,
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  you know, put your formation in the boundary, run to the field.
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  I do think that there's some they like to play their defensive ends pretty
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  wide, you know, So I think that there's opportunities for the counter game
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  that Ohio State's increasingly using some cracks sweep justin Whitlocke has pointed some of this
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  out throughout the week, and so you know, I do think there are
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  run opportunities there and I do not think it's a situation where Ohio State can
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  be in the run game. The Penn State's defense tackles are a little light,
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  and so I think I do think that they will try to mix and
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  match. I still think that like using gap runs against what Penn State wants
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  to do is the way to go because you can wash down some of that
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  slanting if you catch it correctly and they're out of position, then when their
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  linebackers will be aggressive and the But you know, I also do think that
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  Ohio State is going to be pretty RPO heavy with the run game and try
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  to take advantage because there are some opportunities on early downs with the quick game
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  in the middle of the field and try to hit you know, some glance
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  routes on first second down. Is there a specific back that you think might
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  be best suited for what Ohio State do you think is going to be trying
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  to do today, Because I mean we've talked about you know, hey,
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  sometimes it's a chip train him scheme, or he runs certain plays better than
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  others, or it's a Trevon Henderson you know, might be a better fit
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  here a dllan. Is there someone who you think based on what you think
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  they should do, is there a back that maybe fits that best. Who's
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  on the Ohio State roster healthy or not? In my opinion, based on
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  everything they've showed over the last several years, when when Travion Henderson can play,
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  they're going to lean heavily on him, particularly in bigger games, like
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  assuming he's healthy, and you know, I think that some of what they've
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  been doing with the GT counter, with the bucksweek with crack sweeps, I
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  think fit him because you want to get him outside, particularly like we don't
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  know a mecha BUCA status. You know, Trayvon's explosive, like you got
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  to you got to play explosive guys like I think they need to take a
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  page from what they've figured out Notre Dame. And like I do think in
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  short yardage you need Chip or Mayan Williams, you know, on a third
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  and one or whatnot. But I still I just assume that if Henderson's good
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  to go, like, he's going to be the main guy looking at the
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  passing game. You meant, the questions about a Mecca Abuka, is he
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  going to be able to play or not? It's sort of been some conflicting
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  information out there about that. If you're leaning on Marvin Harrison and Julian Fleming
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  and maybe Carnel Tate, maybe Xavier Johnson, if you don't have a Boca.
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  It was a huge game for Marvin Harrison against Penn State last year.
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  I assume Penn State is going to try to take him away. Does that
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  make this a Garrett Stover game for Ohio State or is there someone else that
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  you think, you know might be you know, might be a big factor
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  in the passing game for Ohio State, right, I mean, our hive
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  State can't let him get taken away. You know, Penn State loves to
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  you know, you get a lot of especially like on early downs, like
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  the middle of the field open they'll play you know, they like Manidias,
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  likes fire zoning and like a two D four under and bring five and you
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  know there's opportunities against that rotation when they like like to run a two steel
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  for instance, and they'll rotate a guy down and one back, and there's
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  chances there, Like on third down, you know they'll play more cover one.
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  They like to show creepers. You know, they'll bring five or six
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  up and guys will drop, some guys will rush, some guys will drop
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  to try to mess with your protection. So I do think throwing on early
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  downs is going to be key. You know, I expect, even with
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  a mecha Buka, a heavy dose of Marvin Harrison the slot and lots of
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  motion to change whether he's the number one, number two, number three to
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  that side, and you know, I'm sure if he's in the slot,
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  they will try to probably try to bracket him. So you want to keep
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  them off balanced. But you know, I think Stover certainly, you know,
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  they need to continue to like hit those just like we talked about earlier.
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  You know, those fake GT counter hit Stover on crossing routes like that's
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  a pretty effective concept. Like the more that they can continue to play action
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  from the pocket, the better, you know. I do think that if
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  a mecha is not available, I think we need to see a heavier dose
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  of Carnell Tait because I think I think Cole McCord trust him, and I
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  think he provides another explicit element, you know. I think Savor Johnson is
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  good and sort of that hybrid role, and I do think you'll continue to
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  see that orbit motion, fake orbit motion some plays in that. You know.
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  I think that the screen game will be pretty critical against Penn State as
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  well in terms of their aggressiveness, particularly if you have Trevon Henderson if you
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  can hit a slow screen or two. But again, I think the key
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  for US eight is to use motion formation to move Harrison around. If Ohio
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  State is not able to run the football, can they win this game without
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  being you know, plus two win turnovers? I think it kind of goes
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  without saying in a close game, you know, the one big mistake,
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  the one big turnover could swing it. But if Ohio State really is not
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  able to run the ball and they're you know, say under four yards to
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  carry something like that, can they is there a way for them to win
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  this game without you know, something being a little bit of an outlier in
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  some other area. I mean, so they basically did that last year.
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  I found, you know, they're playing against Penn State. Last year.
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  It was pretty frustrating to me because they just kept running mid zone and man
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  Ideas was just fire zoning it like crazy and they had no chance. But
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  they eventually cracked one. I mean, that's kind of the triviaon Anderson benefit,
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  right, you can hit one, and you know, they threw their
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  way out of it. So I think, you know, again, it
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  makes it harder. It's going to be a low score and it'll be more
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  like Notre Dame if that happens. And I do think they have better building
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  blocks in place to run the football this year, you know, just the
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  heavier reliance on gap runs like you know, I still think back to what
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  Michigan did de Penn State last year by like going on balance, running power,
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  running counter like and just messing with those slants. I still think there's
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  opportunities there to run it against a man Idea's style defense. But you know,
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  if they can't, they're gonna have to throw. I think lots of
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  quick game on early downs, like I would target the middle of the field,
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  target Penn State's you know, free safety to the boundary with some flood
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  concepts, get the football out. But you know, obviously I think Ohio
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  State. You know, I think the probably the worst matchup for our state
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  is their tackles against the Penn State defensive ends. So you obviously want to
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  stay out of third and long situations. So whether you do that through running
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  the football, RPOs, quick game of probably ideally for our State a combination
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  there. Off. You know, you don't want to leave it, so
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  you're just having to drop back to a spot every down. I don't know
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  if you've thought of it an actual score prediction, but I'm going to ask
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  you this winning team point total over under twenty one and a half, what
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  do you think? I thought this week that I feel very confident for US
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  State if they get over twenty eight. I feel pretty confident if they get
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  twenty four or more. I think Penn State, for I see a Penn
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  State victory as being more like a twenty one to seventeen type game in Ohio
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  State is more like a twenty seven twenty one. All right, So we
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  will we'll be covering that. We have playing more coverage of that in the
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  lead up to the game. Then of course after the game at YouTube dot
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  com, slash Bucket Huddle, and at bucke huddle dot com get much more
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  access to Ross. You mentioned some of our other scheme guys there earlier,
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  so we have a whole team of ex'es and those guys breaking down all that
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  stuff making you a smarter football fan all at bucke huddle dot com. Thank
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  you guys for joining us. We'll see you next time.