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Ohio State vs Notre Dame: Can The Buckeyes Fight Off A Team As Resilient As The Irish? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday, January seventeenth. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or. The National Championship game against Notre
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  Speaker 1: Dame is in three days. The game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: three hundred and sixteen days. Today show sponsored by a
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  Speaker 1: friends at Grateful Griddle. If you are planning your next event,
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  Speaker 1: make it unforgettable with Grateful Griddle. Bummas's favorite food truck
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  Speaker 1: is serving up Smashburgs, gourmet sandwiches and good vibes. Book
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  Speaker 1: your catering today at grateful Griddle, oh dot com. The
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  Speaker 1: Buckeyes will probably have some good vibes today as they
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  Speaker 1: head down to Atlanta. We are headed down to Atlanta
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  Speaker 1: on Friday as well. It'd be a lot of coverage,
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  Speaker 1: a full weekend of coverage at bucke hudle dot com
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  Speaker 1: and YouTube dot com slash bucke Huddle. Starting with the
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  Speaker 1: team arrivals, Buckus will be departing at the Woody Hayes
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  Speaker 1: f Like Center are on four thirty on Friday. You
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  Speaker 1: are welcome to join them there and send the team
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  Speaker 1: off from Columbus. Then Notre Dame is going to be
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  Speaker 1: landing down in Atlanta about five fifteen pm, Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: landing down there at about seven to fifteen pm. Our
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  Speaker 1: plan Wi Fi willing is to be live streaming that
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  Speaker 1: whole thing for you, everything we just talked about all
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  Speaker 1: afternoon long at YouTube dot com. Slash bucket, huddle, and
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: go ahead and clear your calendars. It's fine, your boss
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  Speaker 1: set is fine. Just take the next couple of days off,
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  Speaker 1: no problem. Part of it's a weekend, long holiday weekend.
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  Speaker 1: Knock off a little early, enjoy a full weekend of
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  Speaker 1: great Ohio State football contact coming to you. So let's
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  Speaker 1: start that weekend with this. This is a chance to
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  Speaker 1: hear from Ryan Day his last press conference before the
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  Speaker 1: Buckey is headed out the door to Atlanta. We're gonna
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  Speaker 1: start with a question about the wide receivers. Now. Jeremiah
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  Speaker 1: Smith in the College Football Playoff semifinal one catch.
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  Speaker 2: For three yards.
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  Speaker 1: You were a betting person and you probably bet the
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  Speaker 1: over on his numbers on both of those for the
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  Speaker 1: National Championship game. But they were able despite the fact
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  Speaker 1: that Jeremiah Smith had such a limited day against Texas
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  Speaker 1: to advance. And part of that was Carnell Tate. No
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah Smith, no problem, it's Carnell Tait time. He had
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  Speaker 1: only two catches for twenty eight yards combined in the
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  Speaker 1: first two playoff games, but then stepped up in a
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  Speaker 1: big way in the Cotton Bowl against the Longhorns. Is
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  Speaker 1: this just another example of the value of the depth
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  Speaker 1: they have at wide receiver.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you need everybody, and you don't know when
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  Speaker 2: that's gonna happen. It might be the backup left tackle,
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  Speaker 2: or it might be you know, you know, you just
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  Speaker 2: don't know who it's going to be. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: Carnell has played good football for us all year, and
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  Speaker 2: you knew we were going to need everybody on offense,
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  Speaker 2: and we're gonna need him in this game as well.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he's going to have an opportunity to to
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  Speaker 2: have great matchups and and he's got to win. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I thought he did that in the game and and
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  Speaker 2: you can see all season him getting better and better.
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  Speaker 1: Does Ryan Day think that Carnell takes big day against
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  Speaker 1: Texas might impact how Notre Dame could try to cover
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  Speaker 1: this offense?
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  Speaker 2: Uh? You know, I don't know. I don't know. Every team,
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  Speaker 2: you know looks at it differently. That's why we want balance.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, Carnell has been working on it every
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  Speaker 2: day in practice, and you know even when when he
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  Speaker 2: had the drop early in the game, nobody flinched. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we we know what Carnell can do. And then you
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  Speaker 2: know he went on to play a very very good game,
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  Speaker 2: and so you know, we we we're on we're rhythm. Now.
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  Speaker 2: We played in a bunch of you know, big games,
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  Speaker 2: so you know, I feel like it's it's a matter
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  Speaker 2: of us being at our best and maximizing our talents
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  Speaker 2: right now. You know, I don't think at this point
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  Speaker 2: it's about, you know, the fact the big games. We
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  Speaker 2: played a bunch of big games before, we played in
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  Speaker 2: a lot of games. Now we've got to go play
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  Speaker 2: our best game and that's going to be the focus.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like half of the things that we've said
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  Speaker 1: about Notre Dame this week have involved the phrase, well
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  Speaker 1: you have to remember that. So and So is hurt
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  Speaker 1: boy Riley Mills out for the season. Offensive line, they
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  Speaker 1: just lost their left tackle Anthony Knapp for the Sea
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  Speaker 1: for this season. Right guard Rocko Spindler banged up. They're
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  Speaker 1: missing all sorts of guys, missing one of their top corners,
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  Speaker 1: Benjamin Morrison Ohio State. Yeah, they've had injuries, but most
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  Speaker 1: of the guys are in pretty good shape all things considered.
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  Speaker 1: No one's one hundred percent this time of year, of course,
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  Speaker 1: but things are pretty good shape all things considered, being
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  Speaker 1: fifteen games into the year. So how have they managed
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  Speaker 1: to do that? And how much credit does Mickey Muradi
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  Speaker 1: in the Ohio State strength staff deserve for that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't say enough. In the offseason, we talked
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  Speaker 2: a lot about this, but you know, we knew this
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  Speaker 2: was going to be a long hall all the way
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  Speaker 2: to where we are right now, and we need to
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  Speaker 2: be fresh this time of year, even though when you
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  Speaker 2: start way back in February and in January around this
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  Speaker 2: time last year, really is where we were about about
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  Speaker 2: a year ago. When you look all the way ahead,
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  Speaker 2: you say to yourself, Okay, where do we need to be?
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  Speaker 2: How do we need to go? And it's one thing
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  Speaker 2: to put a plan together that has to be on point,
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  Speaker 2: but it's nothing to execute it. So to your point,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we'll continue that that preparation this week and
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  Speaker 2: make sure we're fresh to go in the game. But
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, you know, Mick to me is the best
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  Speaker 2: there isn't a business and his staff is equally as good.
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  Speaker 2: Not only they bring energy and passion every day you
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  Speaker 2: know in the Woody, but also just the understanding of
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  Speaker 2: sports science. I think his staff does a great job of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the old fashioned work ethic and discipline and
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  Speaker 2: leadership and accountability and resilience mixed in with the sports
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  Speaker 2: science of you know, every day taking a look at
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  Speaker 2: the workloads and you know, even going into this for
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  Speaker 2: the first time ever in the playoffs, what was the workload?
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  Speaker 2: How do we adjust things which we did and how
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  Speaker 2: we practiced a little bit. Today's a big day for us.
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  Speaker 1: Head coach love to have different messages that they bring
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  Speaker 1: throughout the season. One of the things that Ohios Date
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  Speaker 1: and Ryan Day has had this this season is building
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  Speaker 1: the foundation, brick by brick. Every day they lay another
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  Speaker 1: cinderblock on there on a little building outside they have
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  Speaker 1: outside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, and they're just sort
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  Speaker 1: of the message just it just takes one practice at
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  Speaker 1: a time, just get a little bit better every day,
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  Speaker 1: build that foundation. You can't do it all in one day,
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  Speaker 1: but over time it really adds up. So has that
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  Speaker 1: message now resonated Now they're all the way through the
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  Speaker 1: season and really stood up through the test of that
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  Speaker 1: long year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it is over going to be over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred brick when it's all said and done in
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  Speaker 2: that foundation. And when you get to this point and
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  Speaker 2: you look at that, it makes you realize where you
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  Speaker 2: are right now and that you know, you were able
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  Speaker 2: to with stand some storms along the way, which in
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  Speaker 2: the first day of preseason camp, that's exactly what we
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  Speaker 2: talked about. And but now we got to go finish it.
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  Speaker 2: We got to finish it. You know, it's one thing
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  Speaker 2: to build the foundation up to this point. Now you've
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  Speaker 2: got to go finish it off. And you know this
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  Speaker 2: is the first time, you know, we get a chance
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  Speaker 2: to finish it this week. And there's a big part
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  Speaker 2: of that as well. It's one thing to build the foundation,
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  Speaker 2: it's another thing to go finish the job. And that's
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  Speaker 2: what we got to get done this week.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that has really helped shape this
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State football season is the presence of transfer quarterback
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  Speaker 1: Will Howard. He of course started his career at Kansas
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  Speaker 1: State and has been a major major positive impact on
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  Speaker 1: this year's Ohio State team both on and off the field.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the biggest thing that has stood out to
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day about Will Howard this season?
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  Speaker 2: Leadership. Leadership. Certainly performance has been excellent, but it's leadership
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  Speaker 2: to me, it's putting a team on your shoulders. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we're going against a quarterback who was an excellent leader
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  Speaker 2: as well, so it'll be a battle. But I've just
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  Speaker 2: you know the way that that Will can, you know,
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  Speaker 2: take the team in the shoulders and you know, not
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  Speaker 2: only lead the way, but also pump guys up. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he's got a good positive mindset, and so we need
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  Speaker 2: a good week of work here in preparation for his
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  Speaker 2: game so we can be at his best as well.
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  Speaker 1: This time last year, down at the Cotton Bowl, Ryan
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  Speaker 1: Day potentially giving up play calling was one of the
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  Speaker 1: big storylines of the week. Eli Drink with It's the
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  Speaker 1: Missouri head coach sat in a press commerce just a
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  Speaker 1: few feet from Day and talked about how great it
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  Speaker 1: was that he had given up play calling, how beneficial
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  Speaker 1: that was for him and his team. So Day ended
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  Speaker 1: up giving up play calling, brought and Chip Kelly, and
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  Speaker 1: the point was just sort of for Day to be
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  Speaker 1: able to spend more time around the rest of the team,
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  Speaker 1: around the players, around the different parts of the team.
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  Speaker 1: So does he feel like he's maybe even seeing the
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  Speaker 1: benefits of that during the playoff And in this answer,
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  Speaker 1: you're going to hear him talk about being a little
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  Speaker 1: more involved with the offense during the playoff, which is
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  Speaker 1: something that Ross Fulton has talked about on some of
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  Speaker 1: these shows before.
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  Speaker 2: I hope so. But during the playoffs, I can tell
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  Speaker 2: you just full disclosure, I've been very much involved with
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  Speaker 2: it all and just making sure that the football is
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  Speaker 2: right because when you get into these playoffs, the football
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  Speaker 2: has to be right. But yeah, to your point, I
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  Speaker 2: think it was definitely the right thing to do. We'll
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  Speaker 2: have a chance to reflect on everything, you know, in
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  Speaker 2: a couple of weeks here, but you know, we've got
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  Speaker 2: no set of grindstone right now, and all focuses on
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  Speaker 2: putting this great game play together, practicing and getting on
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  Speaker 2: the field, walk throughs, meetings. I mean, that's what we
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  Speaker 2: have to do as a staff, and our leader's got
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  Speaker 2: to lead, but we got to be at our best.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, we'll look back on all that now,
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  Speaker 2: but are you know in a couple of weeks from now,
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  Speaker 2: But right now, we'll focus on this practice and making
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  Speaker 2: sure we do a great job today of installing what
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  Speaker 2: we need to get done. As I've told you before,
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  Speaker 2: these are the days I get the most worked up
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  Speaker 2: to make sure we have the right stuff for our
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  Speaker 2: guys to give him a chance to go play fast
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  Speaker 2: and aggressive.
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  Speaker 1: This time last month, Ohio State was going into its
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  Speaker 1: first college football playoff game against the Tennessee Volunteers at home,
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  Speaker 1: and we were talking about the absolutely insane idea that
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State was going to be rotating three guards through
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  Speaker 1: two guard spots in going into the college football playoff.
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  Speaker 1: It sounded nuts. It really is something that you don't
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  Speaker 1: ever see teams do. Did brand A honestly now, really honestly,
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  Speaker 1: did he have some concerns about that going into the
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  Speaker 1: Tennessee game? And then how has that done compared to
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  Speaker 1: what his expectations with that three guard lineup has looked like?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's it's been a group that's had a lot
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  Speaker 2: of different combinations all year, and I think it's been
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  Speaker 2: to become a very resilient group. And you know, again,
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  Speaker 2: they have to be at their best this week. You know,
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  Speaker 2: that's they got to finish the job. And a big
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  Speaker 2: part of this game is going to be upfront on
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  Speaker 2: both sides at the ball. We know that they're very,
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  Speaker 2: very good upfront on both sides of the ball, physical
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  Speaker 2: the way they play, So you know, those guys need
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  Speaker 2: to have a good week of practice. But to your point,
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  Speaker 2: resilience is probably the word that I use the most. There,
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  Speaker 2: just overcoming, you know, difficult situations throughout the year, some
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  Speaker 2: really good moments, some tough moments, but that's football. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think justin and that that whole group
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  Speaker 2: has stuck together, you know, and because of that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they've become stronger in the back end, and now it's
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  Speaker 2: got to pay off in this game. And that's so
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  Speaker 2: we've got to lean towards, you know, in this game
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  Speaker 2: is the fact that you know, they've been through some
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  Speaker 2: some great moments together and been through some other difficult
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  Speaker 2: times that they've learned from and grown from. So I
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  Speaker 2: think they should be going too this game with the
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  Speaker 2: almost confidence.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of an interesting interesting question here. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: ohios It's national championships in the past have coming years
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  Speaker 1: when they weren't expected to win it all. They won
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty eight with a bunch of sophomores at
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  Speaker 1: a time when true freshmen weren't even able to play.
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  Speaker 1: So guys in their first opportunity to get on the field, well,
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  Speaker 1: they stepped up, and they won the national championship. Next
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  Speaker 1: year nineteen sixty nine, when they were huge favorites, Nope,
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  Speaker 1: did not win the National championship. They were huge favorites
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety eight when they were bringing everyone back,
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  Speaker 1: did not win the national championships. But in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and two, as a huge underdog scraping by teams like
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  Speaker 1: Cincinnati and Illinois and Purdue, then they shocked Miami in
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: the Fiesta bal to win the national championship. But as
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  Speaker 1: a huge underdog two thousand and three, they brought most
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  Speaker 1: of that quarterback and then didn't win it that year.
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  Speaker 1: But then in twenty fourteen, with a bunch of young guys,
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  Speaker 1: national champions twenty fifteen, bringing that whole quarterback didn't win
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  Speaker 1: the National championship. So how challenging has it been to
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  Speaker 1: take a team like this year's Ohio State team that
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  Speaker 1: has been recognized as a national championship runner all season long,
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  Speaker 1: one of the most talent teams in the country, to
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  Speaker 1: get them now to the point where they're on the
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  Speaker 1: verge of finally doing that and being a national Championship
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  Speaker 1: favorite that actually wins the National Championship in Columbus.
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  Speaker 2: To think too much about that right now is kind
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  Speaker 2: of over here, and I'm with you. I think you're
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  Speaker 2: dead on and I think it's it's worth, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of conversation. I think when you start to
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  Speaker 2: get into that, though, as a coach or as a player,
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  Speaker 2: it can be a distraction. And one of the things
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  Speaker 2: that we're trying to do this week is eliminate all distractions,
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  Speaker 2: Like what's happened in the past doesn't matter, what's happening
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  Speaker 2: moving forward doesn't matter. All that matters is winning this
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  Speaker 2: game right now, and then we can kind of figure
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  Speaker 2: out what that is. And I think, you know, pressure,
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  Speaker 2: whatever whatever you call it, the way that you just
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  Speaker 2: continue to work during those moments is to focus on
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  Speaker 2: right now and just focus on your job and focus
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  Speaker 2: on what's in front of you because the rest of
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. And that's kind of what I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to focus on right now. I do think that there's
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  Speaker 2: a great conversation to be had about that down the
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  Speaker 2: road and what come with it, because it isn't the
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  Speaker 2: same as a lot of other places. It's just different.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm proud of our guys in a way that
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  Speaker 2: we've stuck together throughout the year and so now we're
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  Speaker 2: just gonna have a great day of practice. That's it,
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  Speaker 2: and no distractions.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of new stuff happening in college football
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: right now, and part of that is with the expanded
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: playoff you're playing more teams outside of your own conference
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  Speaker 1: if you make a little bit of a run through
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  Speaker 1: the playoffs. So the Buckeyes played Notre Dame in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two in Columbus. They played Notre Dame in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three in South Bend. Buck guys won both of
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  Speaker 1: those games. Now they're going to play Notre Dame in
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  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four season, even though it's now twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty five in the National championship game. So pretty rare
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  Speaker 1: to play a non conference team three years in a row.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Is that something that's beneficial in terms of preparation.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's a reference point in this game because
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  Speaker 2: you know, you took a look at Tennessee, you take
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: a look at Texas. Those games, you know, we didn't
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: really know because they were in the SEC and sometimes
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: you're not sure exactly how to compare Oregon we did
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: going in, you know this team we do now they're
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: different than they were last year, but still very similar.
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  Speaker 2: So you know this this game will be the third
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  Speaker 2: time we played them in three years. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: the majority of our guys and certainly the older guys,
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  Speaker 2: have played these guys before, so they know what a
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  Speaker 2: great team this is and they know, you know, how
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  Speaker 2: good they are, so that point, you know it's not
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  Speaker 2: a big ten team. But at the same time, you know,
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  Speaker 2: again three times in three years, I think that's that's
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: good for our guys to understand what they're playing against.
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  Speaker 1: Talked earlier about that three guard rotation. That third guard
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  Speaker 1: who has sort of stepped up and taken a much
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  Speaker 1: bigger role is Luke Montgomery, red shirt freshman, really had
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  Speaker 1: not played a whole heck of a lot until very recently,
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  Speaker 1: and had not played any meaningful minutes really until pretty
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  Speaker 1: recently in the playoff, then got to make his first
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  Speaker 1: career start in the Cotton Bowl. Now, how much has
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Ran Day seen Luke Montgomery grow this season and how
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: has Luke Montgomery earned that level of trust.
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  Speaker 2: Every day in practice you just see a guy who
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  Speaker 2: you know brings it and he's got great athleticism. And
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  Speaker 2: the thing that I've noticed is now that we've gotten
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  Speaker 2: into the games, he's allowed to let his competitive nature
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  Speaker 2: show and and that you're feeling him on the field
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  Speaker 2: and that's not always easy to do in practice, but
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  Speaker 2: you know you're seeing him in big moments step up
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  Speaker 2: and he's gonna need to in this game. You know,
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  Speaker 2: they're they're good inside, they're quick inside, they do a
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: lot of movement and so you know, very penetrating defense.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: So you know this would be a big game for him,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: you know, to to solidify himself moving forward. But but
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: to say you know that we expected him to play
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: like this, yeah, I think that that we we did
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: because we see him this way in practice every day
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: and so it's allowed us some flexibility in the inside
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: and and you know he's we played with depth in
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the offensive line. That wouldn't expect to happen, but it did.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: And so you know, I think him being next to Carson,
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: who's playing with more confidence, you know, Donnie and Josh.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're just seeing guys in there who have
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: now played a lot more football than maybe in the past.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: And so you know, anytime you go into a game,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: you learn from that experience and you play the next
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: game with more confidence. And so I think they've talked
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: to him about that, and he's fed off of those
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: older guys.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Talked earlier about the brick by brick and building the
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: foundation messaging. One of the other messages from Ryan Day
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: this season has been leave no doubt. They have had
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: some close losses in the college Football playoff over the years,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: and boy, you look at for example, the twenty twenty
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: two Peach Bowl, where so close they had a lead
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, Arvin Harrison gets hurt. They missed
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the field goal right at the gun. You missed a
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: what probably would have been a fairly easy national championship
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: win over a wildly overmatched TCU game by one missed
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: field goal or one play, take your pick, whatever play
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: you want to point to. There, it was that margin
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: of a margin of defeat that cost them a chance
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to play for that national champion This year, they've been
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: talking about leaving no doubt, and there have certainly been
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: some close games for the Buck guys, but they have
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: been doing a pretty thorough job of making sure that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the final sec ends of a game are not quite
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: as dramatic as they have been in previous season. So
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: how does Brian Day feel about leaving no doubt now?
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: As there one game away from finishing the job?
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. You got to leave no doubt.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: That's it. And whether it's a game or a season,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: now that's it. You got to finish this thing the
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: right way. And whether you're talking about the foundation and
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: building what you wanted to get done this season and
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: finishing it the right way or leaving no doubt, I mean,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: all those things come into play, and it was all
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: about for this moment right here. So we've been working
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: towards this moment and now we just got to go again,
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: have a great week of practice, and then as we
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: get later in the week, start really diving into taking
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: care of our binds, bodies and souls to go play
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: in his games. It's going to be a battle.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: When Will Howard was in the transfer portal, the Buck
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: guys had plenty of other options. There were lots of
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: other guys in the portal. Dylan Gabriel who ended up
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: going to Oregon, cam Ward who ended up going to
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Miami Riley Leonard who ended up going to Notre Dame,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: among many many others. How did Brian Dane that Will
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Howard was his guy in the portal?
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you never know for sure, but you try to
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: do the best you can, and you're, you know, putting
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: a roster together. You know, you do everything you possibly
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: can to make sure you have everything you need. You know,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: in the right combination of talent culture fits. But with Will,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: you know, Will bring so many great things to the table,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: and his leadership is at the forefront of it all.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: And you know, I know, in a short period of time,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: he's had a huge impact on Ohio State, and I
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: know he wants to finish this thing the right way
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: because we've also had an impact on him in our program.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: So I think that part has been a great marriage
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: back and forth. And so yeah, I know he's really
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: focused on this game. He's already jumped into the game
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: playing and he's excited about playing this one.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: And finally, here's a good one from our buddy, Tony Gerdaman.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: He asked Brian Day about the challenge of playing a
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: team like Notre Dame that just sort of finds a way.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: It's not the most talented team you're necessarily ever gonna play.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: It's not the team that's going to put up explosive
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: offensive numbers. They're sort of banged up right now. But
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: boy oh boy, they go through the playoff and they
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: keep finding a way to come from behind and pull
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: out a win. How difficult is that to play a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: team like that?
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Resilient, tough, well coached. And so that allows or forces
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: us to make sure we're playing very very efficiently across
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: the board. You know, you know, we have to play
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: a clean game. You know, we can't. We can't beat ourselves.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: We've got to make sure that you know, we're the
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: best version of ourselves in this game. That's it. And
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: be really really aggressive and and you know, make sure
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: that you know we're running the ball and defense, we're
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: tackling really really well, you know, getting off the field
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: on third down, you know, running the football and being
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: physical and controlling the game, you know, and and when
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: it's time to make plays nownfield, we've got to make them. So, uh,
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: special teams will be a challenge. They do a great job.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: They they're you know, creative and what they do and
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: you know you've seen them run fakes and different things,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: so you know, we have to be on high alert
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: for different things. They're trying to steal a possession, so
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: they challenge in a lot of different ways and and
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: they're a very good team. Thank you very right. Thanks.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, we are going to be headed down to Atlanta
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: on Friday, our whole team at bucke huddle dot com
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: headed down there. We're gonna have plenty of coverage for
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: you this evening of the team's arrivals, and then all
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: weekend long, lots of coverage for you. We have media
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: day on Saturday morning, we're supposed to go, get to
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: watch both teams practice on Saturday afternoon, got the head
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: coaches press conference coming up Sunday morning, the game on
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Monday afternoon, and then don't worry, there will be plenty
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: of other coverage coming up before, during, after all of
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: those things for you all weekend long at Buckeye huddle
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: dot Com.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: We're gonna have.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: A busy, busy weekend, tons of coverage. We know you
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: guys are very excited and can't wait for that game
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and looking for stuff to kill time between now and then, Well,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: we are here for you. Have hours and hours and
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: hours of coverage planning for you all weekend long and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: then a very very long day on Monday as well.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Make sure you are a member at bucke Huddle dot
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: com to get access to all of our insider insight,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: our team of ex's and those guruz and much much more.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: And then of course make sure you're subscribe to our
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel YouTube dot com. Slash Bucket Huddle can have
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: a lot of content there as well, all weekend long
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: for you and then Monday ended up to the beginning
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: of the game, and then of course our usual postgame coverage.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Oh boy, will that be an eventful one one way
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: or another, So make sure you subscribe to us at
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: YouTube dot com, slash Bucket Huddle and buckeye Huddle dot com.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Thanks once more to our friends at Grateful Griddle. If
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: you are planning your next event, make it an unforgettable
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: one with Grateful Griddle, Blumas's favorite food truck serving up smashburgers,
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: gourmet sandwiches and good vibes. Book your catering today at
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: grateful Griddle oh dot com. That'll do it for today.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great day.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: We'll talk to you tomorrow,