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Ross Fulton Analysis: Ohio State Defense vs. Michigan Offense Preview · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning for Thursday, November twenty seventh.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The game against Michigan in
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  Speaker 1: two days. Today we're talking to our buddy Ross Fulton,
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  Speaker 1: our exes and O's guru and when Ross's on the show.
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  Speaker 1: We were sponsored by Jeffreybus of Columbus, probably offering nationally
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  Speaker 1: and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just
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  Speaker 1: go to Jeffrey dot com slash Columbus to check out
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  Speaker 1: the menu and make a reservation today. All right, So
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  Speaker 1: we were talking about the Ohio State defense taking a
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  Speaker 1: look at the Michigan offense and how those two units
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  Speaker 1: could match up on Saturday. Ross, We're going to start
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  Speaker 1: with just the fact that we talked. We talked a
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  Speaker 1: week or two back about the fact that Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: had really kind of stopped mixing in a ton of
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  Speaker 1: new stuff. He's not a little bit, but not a ton.
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  Speaker 1: It feels like that has changed, and you're seeing a
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  Speaker 1: lot more variety in coverage the last week or two.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought, especially on Saturday, they definitely Matt, Patricia
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  Speaker 2: went back to increasing the variety. As you mentioned, gotten
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  Speaker 2: a little stale. I mean, they just hadn't had to
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  Speaker 2: do much. Rutgers obviously presented more of a passing offensive
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  Speaker 2: challenge as well as I think probably you know, Patricia's
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  Speaker 2: trying to ramp things up here. So in particular, you
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  Speaker 2: saw him mixing a lot more Cover two concepts, you know,
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  Speaker 2: attacking the flat obviously, like as we talked about, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they've been a base cover three team Cover one. You know,
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  Speaker 2: those single high coverages you know, can have sort of
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  Speaker 2: a soft field, flat area, and so you saw them
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  Speaker 2: sort of try to take that away, particularly like all
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  Speaker 2: the trips formations.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of that that they're getting.
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  Speaker 2: We talked about, like a lot of you know, teams
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  Speaker 2: trying to stretch them out and you know, put more
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  Speaker 2: guys to one side of the ball and the other. So
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  Speaker 2: this first clip, you know, a lot more zone blitzes
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  Speaker 2: on Saturday, you know, some hot pressure as well. But
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  Speaker 2: so here this is a trap too We've talked about, right,
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  Speaker 2: So like you're you're kind of you're bringing pressure off
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  Speaker 2: the field edge with the Lorenzo styles here and you're
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  Speaker 2: you're rolling the coverage if you will, to the white side.
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  Speaker 2: So Jermaine Matthews is the cover two corner there trapping
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  Speaker 2: the flat. You got the deep safety over the top.
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  Speaker 2: Then Caleb Downs is basically coming across as a robber
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  Speaker 2: in that hook curl zone. Kenyana Jackson drops out, so Rutgers,
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  Speaker 2: you know, tries the only place you can go is
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  Speaker 2: you know, to the Davidson igbuinos and locked up on
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  Speaker 2: the backside. So again, give it a couple of examples
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  Speaker 2: of like you know, mixing in just different types of
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  Speaker 2: cover two keeping quarterbacks off balance. I would I expect
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  Speaker 2: that and to throw situations. He's going to throw a
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  Speaker 2: lot at Bryce Underwood. Obviously he's a freshman. They're going
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  Speaker 2: to try to create turnovers, They're going to use disguise.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we can talk a little bit more about it. Conversely,
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  Speaker 2: like in those situations, like I wouldn't be surprised if
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  Speaker 2: Michigan tries to catch High State off guard and run
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  Speaker 2: the football when Ohio States, like in Creeper looks, you know,
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  Speaker 2: if everyone walked up, you know, quick screens that kind
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  Speaker 2: of stuff to sort of try to reduce the pressure
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  Speaker 2: on Underwood.
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  Speaker 1: I think earlier this year. A lot of people had
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  Speaker 1: concerns about Davis and Agnosen obviously had a lot of
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  Speaker 1: penalties last year. It's been a lot better this year.
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  Speaker 1: That last rep was a pretty good rep for Davis
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  Speaker 1: and Aguanosen. This next one is another really good one.
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  Speaker 1: Really nice break on the ball here to break the
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  Speaker 1: ball up, you know, I think and we can we'll talk.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure about Andrew marsh in the Michigan passing game
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  Speaker 1: a little later on, it feels like Ohio State on
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  Speaker 1: the outside, with both Jermaine Matthews and Davis Inggbanosen has
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good answer for wherever Michigan decides they want
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  Speaker 1: to line line Marsh up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I thought Igbinossen has played really well all
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  Speaker 2: year and it's probably underrated at this point. It would
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  Speaker 2: obviously help Ohio State to get Lorenzo Styles back. I
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  Speaker 2: think he's really improved. You know, we've talked about how
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  Speaker 2: he gives them versatility because he can play safety, which
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  Speaker 2: lets him move Caleb Downs around. You know, he always
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  Speaker 2: brings up physical presence, you know, notably when Styles went
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  Speaker 2: out on Saturday, rather than bumping Math, he's inside and
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  Speaker 2: playing Devin Sanchez. They put Bryce West at Nickel at
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  Speaker 2: least before they got to their dime packages. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think Ohio State obviously would be better off if
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  Speaker 2: Styles is back, but to and part of that is
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  Speaker 2: just to keep Matthews outside to the point you're making,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, here this is like kind of another unique
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  Speaker 2: coverage and this gets to the Andrew Marsh point. So obviously,
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  Speaker 2: like Underwood as the season's gone on, is very very
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  Speaker 2: reliant on Marsh. You know, Donovan McCaulay I think presents
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  Speaker 2: some some threat. But I do think that you know,
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  Speaker 2: talking like reading and listening to Michigan scheme people, you
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  Speaker 2: know they're wondering whether High State will play you know,
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  Speaker 2: like one double some of these concepts that we've talked
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  Speaker 2: about with Jeremiah Smith on Michigan. I have not seen
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State do that really, but this is the closest
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  Speaker 2: they came so on Saturday they used It's kind of
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  Speaker 2: this like combo coverage. They are playing man on the
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  Speaker 2: front side and then they're playing the kind of like
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  Speaker 2: a cover two invert to the backside and which gives
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  Speaker 2: you kind of this bracket. Saw this a few times.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it could be like a two roll, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, you basically have McClain playing as sort of
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  Speaker 2: like the flat defender, and then you have the corner
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  Speaker 2: over the top is sort of the deep path, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, just again like throwing a lot at
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  Speaker 2: the Ruckers quarterback here, which they can similarly do. The
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  Speaker 2: other thing I note about this, this is a drop
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  Speaker 2: eight and they're using RBL Reese as a spy here.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we saw that against Washington obviously in Illinois.
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  Speaker 2: I expect they will use Reese a lot like that
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  Speaker 2: on Underwood. Not that Underwood is like a He's not
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  Speaker 2: a demand Williams scramble threat, but what he does is
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  Speaker 2: bail the pocket. And so what they will do is
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  Speaker 2: have similar to Williams, like Reese will spy him, and
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  Speaker 2: then as soon as Underwood to clear us his intentions
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  Speaker 2: to one side or the other from the pocket, Reese
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  Speaker 2: will play Downhill on him. So you kind of get
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  Speaker 2: what almost looks like a drop eight, but it's really
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  Speaker 2: because you're using one of the guys. You're sort of
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  Speaker 2: having Reese hangout rather than immediately rush the passer.
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  Speaker 1: One thing that's going to be interesting with Bryce Underwood
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  Speaker 1: is we've seen him maybe have trouble with reading some
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  Speaker 1: coverages at some times and looking confused, which he's a
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  Speaker 1: true freshman. That is what's going to happen to a
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  Speaker 1: true freshman quarterback. But Ohio State has shown a lot
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  Speaker 1: of ability to sort of show one thing pre snap
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  Speaker 1: and then do something very different. This next one, I
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  Speaker 1: think is a good example of that, where it looks like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: Cayden Curry is getting ready to rush the passer, Caleb
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  Speaker 1: Downs is out in coverage on the guy in the slot,
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  Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden, boom, Caleb Downs is
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  Speaker 1: splitz and Kayden Currey is dropping into coverage and you
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  Speaker 1: got a sack.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about High State like disguising like
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  Speaker 2: what looks like one high and then going to two
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  Speaker 2: cover two or vice versa. This is like actually giving
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  Speaker 2: a cover one look right because like you know, as
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  Speaker 2: a quarterback, where you're you're looking at the eyes of
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  Speaker 2: the defenders right, and like Cab Downs his head up,
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  Speaker 2: he looks like he is ready to play man coverage
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  Speaker 2: on that Slott and then obviously at the last minute
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  Speaker 2: he's coming. It's a triple a gap blitz. We talked
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  Speaker 2: about UCLA running out against Ohio State. You know, Indiana
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  Speaker 2: ran that in the pass against Ohia State. So basically
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  Speaker 2: sunny styles and RVL res like you can see from behind,
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  Speaker 2: are to attack both a gaps are going to try
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  Speaker 2: to eat up those blockers, and then Caleb Downs is
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  Speaker 2: going to come free. Once that has you know, the
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  Speaker 2: offensive line and the running back have declared themselves and
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  Speaker 2: and then you drop both defensive ends as you mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: into sort of a hook player. So you're playing a
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  Speaker 2: cover three here with this this triple a gap blitz.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, it was sort of a apropos moment
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  Speaker 2: if you will, with you know, Caleb Downs for about
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  Speaker 2: his final playing the horseshoe, having the sack and waving
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  Speaker 2: goodbye to the crowd.
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  Speaker 3: So it was a nice, nice sendoff, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: Now it wasn't perfect for Ohio State. If you look
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  Speaker 1: at the Parker fleming. How bad did we get? Beatlehouse
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  Speaker 1: did womped Brutgers pretty well and pretty thoroughly throughout the game.
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  Speaker 1: But there were some concepts that Rutgers was able to
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  Speaker 1: find some success on in the passing game. And I'm wondering,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this next one is probably a good example.
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  Speaker 1: Is this this seems like something that Michigan could certainly
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  Speaker 1: do if they wanted to.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So they had these back to back plays. This
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  Speaker 2: one they threw the flat and the quarterbacks uh you know.
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  Speaker 2: Instead the next play, r vel reaches took that slide
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  Speaker 2: route and so the quarterback was able to scramble for
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  Speaker 2: a first down. You know, this is just little stuff, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that I grab And this is part of what I
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  Speaker 2: go to about talking about playing cover two to change
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  Speaker 2: it up, to sort of take away this flat, because
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  Speaker 2: like this is their base cover three, right, and so
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  Speaker 2: they're rolling the tight end down or they're excuse me,
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  Speaker 2: they're rolling the safety down to the tight end side
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  Speaker 2: and that just opens up. They're just down a body
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  Speaker 2: for this little play action flip to the flat. Like
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  Speaker 2: you know, this stuff isn't going to kill you, but
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  Speaker 2: I'll give you an example of Michigan running it here.
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  Speaker 2: And this is the kind of stuff I would see,
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  Speaker 2: Like I would think that Michigan would definitely want to
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  Speaker 2: try to do to settle Underwood down, try to get
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  Speaker 2: in a rhythm, keep keep ahead of the chains, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, it'll just sometimes you give that stuff up,
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  Speaker 2: Like we showed against Perdue. This is similar to like
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  Speaker 2: Purdue would run like counter opposite, like the safety would
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  Speaker 2: rotate down and cover three. They'd run counter opposite against
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  Speaker 2: Penny and then you're you know, down a body. You
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  Speaker 2: need that safety to flow over the top to to
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  Speaker 2: you know, re equate numbers.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, there's little things out there.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing's perfect, and you know, but this is the kind
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  Speaker 2: of stuff that I would be expecting from Michigan.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned the Penny front there. That has been one
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  Speaker 1: of the topics we've hit on a bunch over the
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  Speaker 1: course of the fall. Been really kind of a new
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  Speaker 1: thing for Ohio State this fall, but obviously not a
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  Speaker 1: new thing for Ohio State at this point. We've seen
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  Speaker 1: plenty of it over the course of the year. How
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  Speaker 1: does what you know, how does that and what Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State wants to do upfront match up with what Michigan
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  Speaker 1: likes to do in the run game.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's it's not a great matchup for Michigan
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  Speaker 2: because the Penny front is really good against zone runs.
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  Speaker 2: We've talked about that you can't get double teams. Michigan's
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  Speaker 2: principally an inside zone outside zone team. You know, I
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  Speaker 2: could see them, you know, use quite a bit of stretch,
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  Speaker 2: particularly from twelve. But then like Patricia will use that
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  Speaker 2: six to one front. We've showed that weeks ago, where
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  Speaker 2: like you know, they the Patriots used to grade fanfare
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  Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl against the Rams, who.
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  Speaker 3: Are in a heavy outside zone team.
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  Speaker 2: So like he has answered, so like what I look
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  Speaker 2: for from Michigan is like some of this, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it's just this is so this is wind back, which
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State runs as well. Like Marylyn is not in
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  Speaker 2: a penny front here. This is just like more of
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  Speaker 2: a traditional off front. But for illustration purposes, you can see,
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  Speaker 2: like with the down blocks you can try to get
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  Speaker 2: at least a double team on the nose. Now in
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  Speaker 2: the penny front, Kate McDonald will not, he will lag technique.
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  Speaker 3: We showed that.
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  Speaker 2: So like the center blocks to his right, Kate McDonald's
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  Speaker 2: going to go to the backside to his left, which
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  Speaker 2: makes it much harder to get a double team. But
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  Speaker 2: like this is basically duo with this extra blocker, right,
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  Speaker 2: So things like duo, I'm sure they'll try to run
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  Speaker 2: outside down pin and poll. You know, Like one thing
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  Speaker 2: I'm expecting from Michigan is and this will mentioned by
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  Speaker 2: Manuel XL. So credit to him is like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: unbalanced some quarterback run game like try to because we've
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  Speaker 2: talked about like how balanced the penny is on either
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  Speaker 2: side of the ball, particularly if you're in cover three,
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  Speaker 2: So you know, use some you know.
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  Speaker 3: Penn State use that unbalanced look against I State. We
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  Speaker 3: showed it.
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  Speaker 2: Illinois use some unbalanced so you know, try to get
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  Speaker 2: forced Ohio State to adjust the penny like shift over
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  Speaker 2: or get them out of it, and then you know,
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  Speaker 2: use the quarterback some to equate numbers.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Now into the passing game, this first one
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  Speaker 1: feels like it sort of relates to the play we
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  Speaker 1: just showed with Rutgers running something in the flat against
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State. This is one where Bryce Underwood's gonna pull
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  Speaker 1: it and there's probably something there, but it's just it's
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  Speaker 1: a bad throw. But you know, is this kind of
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  Speaker 1: the same general concept that we were just talking about
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  Speaker 1: with with Rutgers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, so, same exact thing, right, batthrow. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: the point remains like you're going to get that kind
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  Speaker 2: of stuff from Michigan, which is why you know the
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  Speaker 2: cover three You're you're gonna have to mix it up
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  Speaker 2: and maybe you you know, just sacrifice the flat occasionally.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 2: The other interesting thing here, like these last year clubs
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  Speaker 2: from Michigan have both been twelve or even the first
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  Speaker 2: one I think was thirteen personnel. So again like just
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  Speaker 2: like we talked about the other day with Wink Martindale,
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  Speaker 2: Like how does Matt Patricia handle you know, heavy twelve
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  Speaker 2: twenty one personnel from Michigan, Like, is it going to
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  Speaker 2: be a game with a lot of Peyton pieris where
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  Speaker 2: they're running three down looks that you know they've done
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  Speaker 2: that some.
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  Speaker 3: It does limit their coverage somewhat.
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  Speaker 2: They did some different coverage things against Rutgers from three linebackers,
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  Speaker 2: like some Tampa and stuff. So you know, maybe it's
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  Speaker 2: it's in the bag, but I do think it'll be
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  Speaker 2: that's sort of again just like on the Ohio State side,
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  Speaker 2: sort of a good cat and mouse game, Like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: does Michigan try to get heavy and then try to
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  Speaker 2: hit these flat routes where you know they'll linebackers.
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  Speaker 3: They like to have them play run action first.
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  Speaker 1: And one thing that's a little different on this year's
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  Speaker 1: Michigan team than some of the ones we've seen recently
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  Speaker 1: is it feels like as the season has gone along,
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  Speaker 1: Bryce Underwood has gotten a little more comfortable throwing the
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  Speaker 1: ball a little bit downfield, but even into just sort
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  Speaker 1: of those intermediate kind of level routes. This next one,
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  Speaker 1: Maryland's in his zone. This feels like a nice, nice
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  Speaker 1: zone beating concept for Michigan. This is something that you
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  Speaker 1: have not necessarily seen, you know, last year. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know that I would have gone into the game saying
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  Speaker 1: this is something Michigan can definitely do. Obviously they won
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  Speaker 1: the game anyway, but it feels like this is something
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  Speaker 1: where you know, this is a nice concept that they got.
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  Speaker 1: They got Bryce into Underwood into a winning play and
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  Speaker 1: he executed it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean Maryland ran a bunch of Cover three you know,
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  Speaker 2: not well, but they ran it, and so you saw
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  Speaker 2: like the Cover three beaters you would expect, right, So
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  Speaker 2: like this one, I say, it runs all the time
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  Speaker 2: We've talked about hitch is on the outside, seems down
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  Speaker 2: the middle, like if you give Underwood this easy read,
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  Speaker 2: he's going to hit it. You don't Maryland know like
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  Speaker 2: the things we talked about, like they don't reroute the
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  Speaker 2: tight end at all. The deep safety doesn't come over
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  Speaker 2: to break it up and you hit that week seem
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  Speaker 2: you know, we saw it like they hit a big
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  Speaker 2: sale route early to Marsh. You know, again, we've showed
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  Speaker 2: that Ohio State run sale all the time, that deep
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  Speaker 2: out three levels concept against cover three. So those are
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  Speaker 2: the kind of things I would look for. And like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the key for o High of State obviously
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  Speaker 2: is in this situation. You know, if you're going to
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  Speaker 2: be playing cover three, they generally disguise it better and
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  Speaker 2: do a lot of things better. But you know, you
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  Speaker 2: got to reroute. You got to for out of the
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  Speaker 2: seam all the things we talked about, and then just
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  Speaker 2: change up coverages, like you don't want to give him
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  Speaker 2: easy like this is an easy read right, like one
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  Speaker 2: step throw. And so you again, I think disguise, you know,
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  Speaker 2: on rundowns, it's one thing like you want to get
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  Speaker 2: obviously Michigan behind schedule, and then you can amp up
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  Speaker 2: the disguise or pressure.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, in terms of amping up the pressure pressure,
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  Speaker 1: Bryce Underwood has not necessarily done a great job dealing
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  Speaker 1: with pressure. Again, he is a true freshman, and lots
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  Speaker 1: of quarterbacks don't like having a rusher in their face.
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  Speaker 1: So that's not exactly you know, revolutionary thought there. This
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  Speaker 1: next one is a good example of of what I've
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  Speaker 1: seen a lot from him this year, where you go
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  Speaker 1: back and watch the last play and his quarterback mechanics. Look,
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  Speaker 1: you know, they look fine. I'm not, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: QB guru by any means, but I kind of can
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: look and go, yeah, that looks about right. This next one,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Maryland gets a little pressure and you want and you
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: know it's not a guy who's about to hit him,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: but it's just you get someone in his face. He
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: doesn't step into throw, he's kind of fallen back airbails
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: to throw. This really could have slash, should have been
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a pick six. Maryland defender just straight up dropped it.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But you see him if you get a little pressure
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and he doesn't step into the throw, he'll sail it.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: A lot that That is one of those things that
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Tony Gerdaman and I have been watching on all these
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: all these Michigan games all year, and it's like, boy,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you know, I know you want to balance and we'll
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: probably get into the specifics of how much you're pressuring
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: him later, but let's let's hit this play first.
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: No, it's so I mean, I agree, so he will
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: throw off platform. I mean he has the arm strength
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: to do it, and so he's got away with it.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: But I do think you see, so as I said,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: they like to get him out of the pocket to
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: begin with. When he's in the pocket, he's apt to
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: bail the pocket and rely on his legs and arm strength.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: I think that has worked better for him, bailing the
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: pocket against lesser competition, the better competition. I think that's
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: where r VL Reese, as I mentioned, comes into play.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I think you know, as Michigan, you know,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: knowledgeable watchers will say, like teams have had success pressuring him, right,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: So I mean, I think you're going to amp it up.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: And so as I said, I like to get him
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: other pocket. This is another Cover three, another Cover three
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: beater with this weak flood concept and this is a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: hot pressure from Maryland. So he talked about a high
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: state running that. So you're bringing six and you're playing
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: three deep, two under with the two under guys having
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: eyes on the on the quarterback and the ball and
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: you know, forcing him off platform where you know he
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: can't make good throw. So that's true of any quarterback.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: We talked about like when Julian's saying his off platform,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: he's not as accurate, and so you just want to,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: you know, you want to give him different looks. And
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, as I said, I think you know, job
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: one is stopping the run game. I do think the
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Penny Front is well built for that against Michigan. Michigan's like,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: you know, not a great gap team, which is ideally
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: what you want to run is counter against the Penny Front,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: as we talked about. And so I think, you know,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: for Michigan it's like very incumbent on them to stay
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: ahead of schedule. Ohio State obviously, assuming you know Smith
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: and or Tate are playing, have the ability to make
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: up for being off schedule better. But then you know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I think that if you're Michigan, when you're behind schedule
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: and third and long, as I said, I do not think,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: you know, the last thing you want is a turnover
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: from confusion and pressure. So like I would not be
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: surprised to see you know, draw screens, those kind of things,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: slow screens, tunnel screens in those situations.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, from the Michigan side, I'm wondering how much of
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the game plan if you're not you know, obviously run
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: first you would expect from them this weekend. But when
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: it's when they are in throwing situations, how often is
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the plan you know, one read, two reads, go or
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: one read to read get rid of it rather than
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: you know, I would imagine they don't want him sitting
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: back in the pocket and just trying to read the
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: defense and trying to get to his fourth and fifth read.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think they keep it. You know,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: you keep it the half field. You see the things
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: that that we've just shown here right like seam concept
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: sale to one side of the field. I don't think
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: his his inclination, as I said, is kind of two
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: reads and go anyways. You know, I think that they
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: will probably rely more on his legs and they have
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: you know, I honestly have to admit I have a
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: tough sense of how well that will go.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: I can't.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I had I have trouble assessing how good of a
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: runner he actually is or you know, I mean, he's
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: obviously got some skill. I don't know if he has
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: a speed against like you know, top level defenders, but
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: he's obviously a big guy. But you know, quarterback draw
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: or like you run the pp like you know, where
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: you have the screen to one side drawl as another option.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: He had a touchdown run earlier this season on that,
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: so I think you'll see those kind of concepts. I
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: think they will try to keep it. You know, a
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: lot of play action throwing to one side of the field.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: And then from Ohio State side of things. I could
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: see arguments for one of two things. One is, you know,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: as you said earlier, he's not demand Williams and Ohio
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: State against Demon Williams was very much just sort of
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: cage him, keep him in the pocket, don't let him
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: get out. We just talked about the fact that under
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: would like to They like to get Underwood out of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the pocket and let him get get out there. So
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: are you caging him? We also talked about the fact
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: that he doesn't like having pressure in a space. Are
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: you bringing a bunch of heat in predictable passing situations?
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: You know what's.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Is? I assume the answer is it's a mixture of
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: those things. But you know, is there one of those
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that you think is going to be more successful than
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: the other?
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think consistent with what Ohio State has done,
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I think you're going to get a lot of creepers
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: and some pressures. I think you what, I would you
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: want to actually probably try to flush him to one
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: side and then let Reese try to clean it up,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: so to speak, as a as a spy, so like
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: somewhere between a cage and like a controlled rush.
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: You know. So I think that's the key.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: I just as I said, I think if I States
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: in those situations like they're in a good spot, you know,
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: the key is to winning standard downs. I mean Michigan
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: has like I think they've run blocked pretty well, but
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: they're they're very young up front, right and a little undersize.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: So like I mean, Ohio States interior has been really stout,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: and like this is the game to show it, right
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: in terms of block destruction and the like against zone runs.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: And so it starts there and then and then I
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: think you can sort of mix and match all those
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: different types of looks.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: In And this is one of these sort of lazy questions,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: but is there someone just schematically, is there someone based
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: on what Michigan likes to do that would be like
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the key player for ohiose date. I think you could
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: obviously say Caleb downs in literally any game. But given
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Michigan's what Michigan likes to do in the run game,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: is it Caden McDonald? Who is who is the guy
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: who's really you know, could be this is the fill
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: in the blank game kind of match up for for
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: someone on the Ohio State defense.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: I was gonna say kid McDonald, because if they can't
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: get double teams on him, it's it's going to be
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: a long day. I mean, their center is a little undersized,
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: they're best at outside zone runs. And you know, then
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: I you know, I would mention RVL Reese, but maybe
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: like in a different context than people would expect. So, like,
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: you know, as I said, that Penny front, like some
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: of it is, Michigan's going to have to try to
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: get outside of it. And Reese has been really good
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: at block destruction at that edge and controlling tight ends
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: or tackles and making plays, and so I would say, actually,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: that run defender on the edge, I would maybe mention
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: Reese as well.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: All right, So there you go, your a schematic breakdown
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: of the Ohio State defense versus the Michigan offense. Thanks
• 22:27
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• 22:30
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• 22:38
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• 22:41
  Speaker 1: down the days to the trip up to ann Arbor. Tony,
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Kevin and I will be up there on Friday. We'll
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: have the ohious date team arrival. We're going to try
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: and do sort of an extended Friday live show. So
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: go ahead and just clear your afternoon. You don't have
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: anything else to do anyway on Friday. Clear your afternoon,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: clear your early evening. We'll have plenty of live coverage
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: up in an Arbor on Friday, and then of course
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: on Saturday, you know what's coming, extended live pregame show,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: all sorts of postgame coverage. We'll have lots of behind
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: the scenes stuff and much more. That'll be all coming
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: up this weekend at YouTube dot com, slash Buckeye Huddle
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: and also you can find us at Buckeye Huddle dot com.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: That will do it for today. Thank you guys all
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you tomorrow.