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Ohio State College Football Playoff Preview: 7 Things To Know About Texas A&M · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Ays tomorrow morning for Tuesday, December ninth.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or. The Cotton Bowl game is
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  Speaker 1: in twenty two days, the game against Michigan in three
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  Speaker 1: hundred and fifty four days. If you're planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle Club as his favorite
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  Speaker 1: food truck, serving out smashburger scoremet sandwiches, and good vibes.
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  Speaker 1: Book your catering today at gratefulgriddleh dot com. All right,
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  Speaker 1: as we count down the days to the Cotton Bowl
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  Speaker 1: game against either Texas A and M or Miami, let
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  Speaker 1: you get a chance to know a little bit about
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  Speaker 1: both of Ohio State's potential future opponents. And today's show,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to start with the Texas A and m Aggies.
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  Speaker 1: Going to get to hear a little bit from Texas
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  Speaker 1: A and M head coach Mike Elko some of his
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  Speaker 1: initial thoughts after learning that the Aggies would be taking
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  Speaker 1: on Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoffs.
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  Speaker 1: Texas A and m the seventh seed, Miami the tenth
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  Speaker 1: seed winner. We'll obviously go on to the Cotton Bowl
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  Speaker 1: to play on play second seed at Ohio State. So
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  Speaker 1: This was his press conference sort of reaction to his
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  Speaker 1: selection there, so he was asked about if there was
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  Speaker 1: any stress around selection Sunday and if they were surprised
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  Speaker 1: to see Miami pop up as their opponent, and I
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  Speaker 1: will let you know this video and odeo courtesy of
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  Speaker 1: the Universe of the Texas A and M University Athletics Department.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, not a ton, honestly. I think we were
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  Speaker 2: excited to see our name. I think we had a
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  Speaker 2: pretty good feel for the group of teams that it
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  Speaker 2: was going to be between you know, we've been in
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  Speaker 2: prep mode for that. When you get into the playoffs.
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  Speaker 3: You're playing talented football teams and so you know, there
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  Speaker 3: wasn't really a ton of angst.
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  Speaker 2: I think it was just really cool moment to see
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  Speaker 2: Texas A and M pop up there at seven and
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  Speaker 2: to know that we had accomplished, you know, step.
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  Speaker 3: One of where we want this program to go, which
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  Speaker 3: is getting into the playoffs.
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  Speaker 1: Right at the end there, if you were a an
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  Speaker 1: East Coaster, you may have picked up a subtle accent.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a Texas accent, that he's a New Jersey
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  Speaker 1: native there. We've picked that up just right at the
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  Speaker 1: end there get a little little taste of Jersey Central
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  Speaker 1: Jersey there. So all right, so that's that's a little
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  Speaker 1: bit from Mike Elco and then now let's move on
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  Speaker 1: to sort of what he knows about this year's Miami
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  Speaker 1: team and specifically Mario Cristobal coach teams overall.
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  Speaker 2: You know, not a ton on this one obviously, just
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  Speaker 2: kind of started prep work and starting to dive into it. Fully,
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  Speaker 2: I think in terms of what you expect from them,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're extremely talented. You know they're going to
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  Speaker 2: be really long and athletic on defense. They're going to
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  Speaker 2: have a d line that's getting after the quarterback. I
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  Speaker 2: think you've seen that and just crossover highlights of watching
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  Speaker 2: over the years and certainly got a chance to see
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  Speaker 2: them early in the year when we played Notre Dame. Offensively,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're going to be extremely physical. He's going
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  Speaker 2: to pride himself on how well the offensive line plays.
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  Speaker 2: And they got some talented skill players. The little freshman
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  Speaker 2: slot they got is is an elite skill player and
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  Speaker 2: a really talented quarterback that certainly is familiar with SEC football.
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  Speaker 1: Miami's Malachai Tony is the receiver that you heard him
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  Speaker 1: sort of reference their person back. Obviously is the quarterback
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  Speaker 1: who he was referencing there, so a little more context
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  Speaker 1: around that answer. Elko played Miami when he was the
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  Speaker 1: head coach at Duke in twenty twenty two, and then
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  Speaker 1: Miami and Texas A and M actually just played a
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  Speaker 1: home at home a couple of years ago, twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: two and twenty twenty three. So is there any benefit
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  Speaker 1: to that familiarity.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe a little, But you know, I think from a
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  Speaker 2: coordinator standpoint, I think both the coordinators have changed over
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  Speaker 2: since I played them, and I think there's been so
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  Speaker 2: much roster turnover on both rosters since the twenty two
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  Speaker 2: to twenty three games that I'm not sure how much
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  Speaker 2: that will resonate either. I think it's it's a fresh opponent,
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  Speaker 2: you know, which is always exciting.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: It's the one nice thing about not drawing, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a team from your conferences. You get an exciting, new,
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  Speaker 2: fresh opponent, gives you an opportunity to go just do
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  Speaker 2: something you haven't done before.
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  Speaker 1: Texas A and m opened the season with a win
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  Speaker 1: over Notre Dame on the road not week one, but
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  Speaker 1: early in the season they played up in South Bend
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  Speaker 1: and one by one point. So now that they've sort
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  Speaker 1: of seen how this has all played out this year,
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  Speaker 1: the benefits of winning that game, maybe my Notre Dame
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  Speaker 1: beats are punished for using that game. Does that impact
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  Speaker 1: how Mike Elko views big non conference games in the future.
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  Speaker 2: I think that there's a lot of conversations that are
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  Speaker 2: going to need to be had this offseason. I think, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think it's no different than anything I've said to
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  Speaker 2: this point. I think there needs to be some clarity
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  Speaker 2: on what metrics we're using. And I think that you know,
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  Speaker 2: the number one goal is to create the best opportunity
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  Speaker 2: for your program to get into the playoffs, and the
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  Speaker 2: best thing that the SEC should be doing is trying
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  Speaker 2: to create opportunities for the most teams to get in
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think that's something that we're going to
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  Speaker 3: have to have a lot of conversations about Texas.
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  Speaker 1: Texas A and m is certainly a well known program,
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  Speaker 1: but the brand around the AIKE football program, outside of
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  Speaker 1: the Johnny Manzil years, it has not always been great.
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  Speaker 1: So now they've got a real opportunity head you're playing Miami,
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  Speaker 1: which obviously is a well known program and then potentially
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State after that. What could this mean to the
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  Speaker 1: Texas A and M program and the Texas A and
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  Speaker 1: M brand.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's where we need this program to be.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's part of the mission that we've been on,
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  Speaker 2: which is for people to start talking about what we've
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  Speaker 2: accomplished and a little bit less about what we're capable
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  Speaker 2: of being.
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  Speaker 3: And so when you see.
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  Speaker 2: Texas A and M up there on that big playoff board,
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  Speaker 2: it is it's an exciting opportunity and it's it's a
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  Speaker 2: statement that we've made about where we've elevated this program too. Now,
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  Speaker 2: it's like I told the guys, you know, that was
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  Speaker 2: never the goal. That was the first goal, right, The
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  Speaker 2: first goal was to get the name on the board.
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  Speaker 2: Now we got to go out and we got to
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  Speaker 2: prove that we belong there. We got to prove that
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  Speaker 2: we've earned it.
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  Speaker 3: And we're gonna have to do that against a very
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  Speaker 3: difficult football team.
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  Speaker 1: What is the opportunity ahead for the Texas A and
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  Speaker 1: M players mean to this team? And you know what
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  Speaker 1: kind of level of excitement was there around that watch
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  Speaker 1: party inside their facility, knowing that they had a chance
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  Speaker 1: to play in the playoffs after a couple of down seasons.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the watch party was excitement again, like
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  Speaker 3: I just I think it is.
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  Speaker 2: It's a really cool thing to see the playoffs come
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  Speaker 2: out and your team to be in it. And I
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  Speaker 2: think maybe more than any other year, it was challenging
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  Speaker 2: to get in. There's a lot of good teams that
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  Speaker 2: did not get in this year, and so we made
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  Speaker 2: a really, really difficult field to qualify for. And so
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  Speaker 2: I think that was the initial watch party, and then
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  Speaker 2: you know, we immediately transitioned over into the team room
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  Speaker 2: and started talking about prep and talking about you know, again,
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  Speaker 2: the goal isn't to get your name on a board.
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  Speaker 2: The goal is to advance and the goal is to
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  Speaker 2: compete for the championship. And you know that's going to
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  Speaker 2: be one game at a time, starting with Miami coming
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  Speaker 2: here on December twentieth.
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  Speaker 1: This is only year two for Mike Elgo in College Station.
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  Speaker 1: So are the Aggies here in the college football Playoff
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  Speaker 1: a little earlier than he expected?
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  Speaker 2: Probably not. Probably don't get in timelines. I think timelines
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  Speaker 2: are really scary. I think obviously you hope to do
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  Speaker 2: it as fast as you possibly can, so that you know,
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  Speaker 2: you can get belief and validation and what your program's
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  Speaker 2: about and what you're building. You know, again, though, that's
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  Speaker 2: got to continue to get made right, and so making
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  Speaker 2: it was the first step. Now we've got to go
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  Speaker 2: out and we've got to continue to go play good football,
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  Speaker 2: and we're going to have an opportunity to do that.
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  Speaker 3: And that's a really cool, unique opportunity for us.
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  Speaker 1: This is a really SEC question, and you can judge
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  Speaker 1: for yourself whether that is a good thing or a
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  Speaker 1: bad thing. Does Texas A and M's approach going from
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  Speaker 1: playing SEC opponents all year to now playing one from
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  Speaker 1: the league like the ACC. Does that change your approach
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  Speaker 1: at all going into the playoffs?
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  Speaker 3: No?
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  Speaker 2: I think that the teams that qualify from the other
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  Speaker 2: confidence have the makeup of SEC teams. I think when
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  Speaker 2: you have that SEC conversation, I think you're talking more
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  Speaker 2: about week in and week out, top to bottom, one
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  Speaker 2: to sixteen. I don't think there's any doubt that any
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  Speaker 2: of the teams, Miami in particular, would have been extremely
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  Speaker 2: successful playing in the SEC this year. Miami is an
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  Speaker 2: extremely talented team. They've got a ton of NFL draft
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  Speaker 2: picks on that roster, probably as many as anyone we've seen,
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  Speaker 2: and maybe as many as many as anyone in this
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  Speaker 2: conference this year. And so I think when you get
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  Speaker 2: down to this part of it, I think you've got
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  Speaker 2: the best of the best from around the country, and
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  Speaker 2: I think each one of those teams is certainly going
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  Speaker 2: to be capable of going on and winning this thing.
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  Speaker 1: Different teams are going to handle this sort of weird
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  Speaker 1: sort of mix up in the schedule where you're not
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  Speaker 1: on your every week schedule, but you're also not taking
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  Speaker 1: a whole month off at this point. So how are
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  Speaker 1: the Aggies going to approach that, you know, practice and
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  Speaker 1: all that over the next couple of weeks. In the
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  Speaker 1: lead up to the game on the twentieth.
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  Speaker 2: I think we kind of are going to treat it
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  Speaker 2: like this is our bye week heading into game prep.
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  Speaker 2: And so, you know, we did a lot of lifting
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  Speaker 2: and running last week, but really kind of got the
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  Speaker 2: kids off the practice field for a little bit to
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  Speaker 2: let the bodies heal and recover. This week will be
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  Speaker 2: like an accelerated early season by week for us, where
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  Speaker 2: we're trying to get back out and really tighten up
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  Speaker 2: fundamentals and get back to playing football. The way we
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  Speaker 2: know how fast physical football. And then as we hit
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  Speaker 2: the weekend, start transitioning into game week prep and try
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  Speaker 2: to get as normal of a game week preparation schedule
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  Speaker 2: as we can.
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  Speaker 1: Miami's defense is pretty strong this year, especially upfront. They've
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  Speaker 1: been very good against the run this season. So how
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  Speaker 1: do you go about trying to pick apart a defense
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  Speaker 1: like that?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, they're a challenge.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know that it's possible to pick them apart.
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  Speaker 2: You know, they're really big and physical upfront. They've got
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  Speaker 2: NFL talent all over the place on that defense, especially
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  Speaker 2: in the front four. They're big, they're fast, they're athletic.
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  Speaker 2: I think they're going to present a ton of challenges
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  Speaker 2: to us. And so I don't know if I'm at
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  Speaker 2: anywhere near a point where I'm talking about picking them apart.
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  Speaker 3: We're just trying to figure out how to find yards
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  Speaker 3: right now.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, with the game still more almost two weeks
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  Speaker 1: away and this press conference happening just an hour or
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  Speaker 1: two after that news broke, how much does Mike Elco
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  Speaker 1: really know about this year's Miami team at this point?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, now, trying to get familiar with that as quick
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  Speaker 2: as we possibly can. Obviously you've got the extra preparation
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  Speaker 2: time which will give us time. Certainly was able to
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  Speaker 2: identify last week that they would be one of the
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  Speaker 2: potential matchups for us, and so you didn't do it
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  Speaker 2: deep dive, but certainly just kind of casually watched a
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  Speaker 2: little bit.
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  Speaker 3: And then we crossed over.
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  Speaker 2: Early in the year with Notre Dame and so we
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  Speaker 2: got a chance to see that opener in pretty good depth.
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  Speaker 3: But certainly the team has changed from then.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's going to take everything we got here
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  Speaker 2: over the next few days to kind of really dive
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  Speaker 2: into them and see what they're all about and try
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  Speaker 2: to create a plan to give us the best chance
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  Speaker 2: to go out and have success.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, So there you go a little taste of
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  Speaker 1: the Texas A and m Aggie's We'll try and get
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: you some more content from A and M in the
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: next week or two, and we'll probably start doing some
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: rewatch shows as well on the Bulky weekly podcast Speed
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: to try and get your prepped for the Cotton Bowl,
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: whether it is against Texas A and M or Miami,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: try and get you a little bit of Mario cristoballpress
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  Speaker 1: conferences this week as well, and then we'll see what
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  Speaker 1: the college football playoff folks come up with. In terms
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  Speaker 1: of player press conferences. We'll get you as much content
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  Speaker 1: as we can from both teams and as well as,
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  Speaker 1: of course, from the Ohio State football program. I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: be plenty to talk about there as well. We'll be
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  Speaker 1: covering it all for you at Buckey huddle dot com
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  Speaker 1: and YouTube dot com slash Buckeye Huddle.
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  Speaker 3: That'll do it for now.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
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  Speaker 1: We'll talk to tomorrow.