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BONUS: Ryan Day Breaks Down What's Wrong With The Ohio State Offense · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Another loss, another fascinating follow-up week in Columbus, Ohio. Got
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  Speaker 1: a chance to talk to Ryan Day on Tuesday for
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  Speaker 1: about half an hour. You're going to get a couple
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  Speaker 1: bonus shows out of that one because, man, he had
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  Speaker 1: a lot of interesting things to say about a whole
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  Speaker 1: bunch of different topics. We're going to start this one
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  Speaker 1: with a question about Chip Kelly, the Northwestern offensive coordinator
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  Speaker 1: in Maine. You're not going to hear a lot about
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  Speaker 1: Northwestern this week. There's a lot of talk about the Buckeyes,
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  Speaker 1: but the first question of the press conference was about
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  Speaker 1: Chip Kelly. And sort of looking back, Chip Kelly, of course,
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  Speaker 1: was the 2024 offensive coordinator in the national championship season
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  Speaker 1: at Ohio State, then took a big money job as
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  Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders. Did not
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  Speaker 1: last very long in that job. Got fired. So then
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  Speaker 1: after Brian Hartline left last year, were there any conversations
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  Speaker 1: with Chip Kelly about bringing him back last year after
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  Speaker 1: he got let go by the Raiders? You will notice
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  Speaker 1: Ryan Day says a whole lot of words here. Doesn't
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  Speaker 1: actually answer that question, which probably answers that question all
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  Speaker 1: by itself.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he, as you know, he's been a friend, a mentor,
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  Speaker 2: an uncle, a brother to me his whole life. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's just, and now obviously, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: have an opportunity to coach my son. So it's come
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  Speaker 2: full circle. And yeah, he means the world to me.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, now that we're talking about it, I never
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  Speaker 2: coached against him. So this is going to be, this
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  Speaker 2: will be a first. But We're always talking and always
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  Speaker 2: having conversations. You've got to give them a lot of credit.
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  Speaker 2: They've done a really good job on offense this year.
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  Speaker 2: I think when you look at what the quarterback's done
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  Speaker 2: and what he's done with the offense, it's been impressive.
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  Speaker 2: He's got high hopes for what he can get done there.
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  Speaker 2: I give him a lot of credit. It's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a big challenge for our defense this week.
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  Speaker 1: The quarterback position is always one that draws a lot
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  Speaker 1: of attention and never more than when you have a
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  Speaker 1: backup quarterback in there like Luke Fahey, because Julian Sane
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  Speaker 1: is out. And then you have the backup to the backup,
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  Speaker 1: Tavian St. Clair standing on the sideline. And when things
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  Speaker 1: don't go well, everyone sort of starts looking at the
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  Speaker 1: sideline and thinking, well, are they going to bring in
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  Speaker 1: the next guy and see how he does? So what's
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  Speaker 1: the verdict? Are they sticking with Luke Fahey for this weekend?
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  Speaker 1: And did they even think about bringing Tavian St. Clair
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  Speaker 1: into the game at any point last weekend against Oregon?
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  Speaker 2: So I think the first thing to know is like,
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  Speaker 2: we're just going to do whatever we can to win
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  Speaker 2: the game. It gives us the best chance to win
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  Speaker 2: the game. It gives the team the best chance to
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  Speaker 2: win it. And when we go through the process of
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  Speaker 2: making that decision, it ultimately is my decision. But, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I go through a lot of different channels to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that, you know, I'm getting really good feedback on
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  Speaker 2: what everybody else is seeing because it's a big decision.
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  Speaker 2: So coaches, both sides of the ball, players, older guys,
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  Speaker 2: you know, guys on offense, receiver, everybody. To find out,
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  Speaker 2: what am I seeing here? Am I missing something? And so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Luke is going to be our quarterback this week.
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  Speaker 2: And Tavian's one snap away. You know, and that mentality
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  Speaker 2: has got to continue to be his mentality and continue
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  Speaker 2: to grow. And, you know, if we can continue to
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  Speaker 2: improve in practice and build enough trust within practice, and
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  Speaker 2: we feel like he gives us the best chance to win,
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  Speaker 2: we'll make that move. We're not at that point right now.
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  Speaker 1: There were a lot of issues with the team's performance
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  Speaker 1: on Saturday against Oregon, but one of the biggest ones
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  Speaker 1: was they went 30 minutes of game time without getting
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  Speaker 1: the ball in the hands of their best player, Jeremiah Smith.
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  Speaker 1: Is that something that Ryan Day recognized was happening as
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  Speaker 1: it was happening?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I don't think like I had the numbers
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  Speaker 2: in front of me, but you could feel it. And
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  Speaker 2: there was definitely conversation on the headset. There's always conversation,
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  Speaker 2: you know, how do we get the ball to Jeremiah?
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  Speaker 2: You know, there was that point in the second quarter
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  Speaker 2: there where And then into the third quarter where there
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  Speaker 2: was the fake punt, there was the two plays, the interception,
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  Speaker 2: and then the middle eight, which is really where we
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  Speaker 2: broke down, which ate up a lot of time. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, and you could feel it. I mean, when
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  Speaker 2: you look at how we design plays and everything, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: he's obviously the first thing we try to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that he's touching the ball. So when that doesn't happen,
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  Speaker 2: now sometimes there are things that are designed and it
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  Speaker 2: just doesn't go that way based on what's happening, but
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  Speaker 2: it's always a priority.
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  Speaker 1: When you have a young quarterback like Luke Fahey and
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  Speaker 1: you're trying to get the ball to Jeremiah Smith, obviously
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  Speaker 1: you can't just throw it to him. But can there
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  Speaker 1: be plays where you tell him, look, Jeremiah Smith is
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  Speaker 1: the only guy you're throwing it to here? Or can
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  Speaker 1: it be he's at least the first read on a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of plays? Or is he the only read on
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  Speaker 1: some plays?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. There are. And we have those. But
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  Speaker 2: as you can imagine, sometimes there's a mix to it
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  Speaker 2: as well. And there are times where It can't just
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  Speaker 2: go to this person. There are plays like that. We
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  Speaker 2: have those plays and you've seen those plays. The last
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  Speaker 2: couple weeks he's certainly had a lot of targets, but
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  Speaker 2: we certainly want to give him more. There's no question.
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  Speaker 2: Teams do a good job of how they defend him.
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  Speaker 2: When those stretches come, it's everything we can to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that he's touching the ball. That being said, we
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  Speaker 2: also have to find a rhythm on offense. That's the
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  Speaker 2: other part too that I feel like The last couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks, we have not found a rhythm. It's been clunky.
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  Speaker 2: The ability to make sure that he's touching the ball
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  Speaker 2: and find a rhythm is something that, to me, has
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  Speaker 2: been one of the biggest issues.
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  Speaker 1: We've had on offense. When you're trying to figure out
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  Speaker 1: how to get things back on track on offense, how
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  Speaker 1: much of that just starts with the run game, getting
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  Speaker 1: a good, consistent run game going? How much would that
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  Speaker 1: help get things back on track on offense?
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  Speaker 2: It's a big part of it, that and the protection,
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  Speaker 2: because If you're on schedule on first down, then it
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  Speaker 2: gives you an opportunity to be more balanced going in
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  Speaker 2: and then creating a third down that's manageable. Or be
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  Speaker 2: explosive and shoot the ball down the field. You saw
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  Speaker 2: early in the game, there was just times where we're
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  Speaker 2: second and 11, we're second and 10. A penalty can
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  Speaker 2: get us off schedule. And when that happens, you're completely
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  Speaker 2: out of rhythm, especially with a young quarterback. So I
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  Speaker 2: thought the first two drives, we were able to get
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  Speaker 2: back on track, made a couple of nice throws and
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  Speaker 2: got a good rhythm going. But really after that, we didn't.
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  Speaker 2: And so we have to find efficient plays that keep
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  Speaker 2: us on schedule so we can keep drives going and
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  Speaker 2: then build on the explosive plays that we've had because
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  Speaker 2: there have been explosives out there, but there's just not
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  Speaker 2: been consistent play in any type of rhythm the last
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  Speaker 2: couple weeks. So that's obviously a major focus for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: With the way this season has played out for the
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  Speaker 1: Buckeyes at the quarterback position, having to throw a true
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  Speaker 1: freshman in there with the season on the line, has
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  Speaker 1: that had any impact on how they're going to approach
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  Speaker 1: portal quarterbacks in the future?
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  Speaker 2: You always have to have a plan for if somebody
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  Speaker 2: gets hurt. We did have a plan in place, but yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I think you know, having somebody who's more experienced, um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, would be able to step into, you know,
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  Speaker 2: these roles and, and, um, you know, be a little
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  Speaker 2: bit more comfortable. We're working through a lot of growing
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  Speaker 2: pains here. Um, and so, yeah, and you, you try to, um,
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  Speaker 2: it's a challenge to bring in guys and keep them
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  Speaker 2: in the program when they aren't playing after, you know,
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  Speaker 2: two or three years. I think, you know, for instance,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Lincoln's doing a great job this year. Um, And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he had developed, you know, over the time here,
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  Speaker 2: hadn't played a whole lot, but it was sort of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, next up. And, you know, he had an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity to go to Louisville and really had a great opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's the challenge that we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: work through. So is everybody in the country. It's something
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  Speaker 2: we have to make sure that, you know, we're prepared for.
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  Speaker 2: And because, you know, again, this is not about Luke
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  Speaker 2: Fahey because Luke Fahey is trying his tail off. And, but,
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  Speaker 2: Like any position, when someone goes down, we have to
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  Speaker 2: be able to keep that standard and expectation the same thing,
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  Speaker 2: which it is. We're evaluating all those things.
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  Speaker 1: This is kind of an interesting question on the quarterback position.
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  Speaker 1: How do they figure out what they really need in
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  Speaker 1: the portal? How do they figure out whether they have
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  Speaker 1: a future starter in the program when you know, when,
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  Speaker 1: when they need to someone add someone in the portal,
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  Speaker 1: do they, how do they know when it's, they need
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  Speaker 1: to add a starter versus when they just sometimes you
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  Speaker 1: just need an extra guy in that room just in case.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the process there between bringing in a Will
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  Speaker 1: Howard and bringing in a Justin Martin?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, that's, that's, that is a challenge. And then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, for a lot of the guys, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when you're trying to identify, you know, transfers coming in,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you're not going to usually get, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: you try to be creative about this. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: all try to be creative. about bringing somebody in who
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  Speaker 2: isn't going to play. They're coming in to be a backup.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a very specific situation. So you have to
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  Speaker 2: try to identify, do you feel like you have a
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  Speaker 2: young guy in the program that's going to be able
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  Speaker 2: to step into that role? Or do you feel like
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  Speaker 2: you need to bring somebody in? And that's the decision
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  Speaker 2: we'll have to make every year.
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  Speaker 1: You get to this point in the calendar and you
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  Speaker 1: kind of wonder how much you can really do. You
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  Speaker 1: can't install a whole new offense or a whole new defense,
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  Speaker 1: but maybe... Is this just the time to get back
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  Speaker 1: to basics, just to look at the offensive coach and say, hey,
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  Speaker 1: play Jeremiah Smith more, throw him the ball more? Do
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  Speaker 1: you need to put guys like Quay Russo, for example,
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  Speaker 1: in the position they were brought in for, rushing the passer,
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  Speaker 1: not dropping into coverage? You could say the same thing
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  Speaker 1: about Kenyatta Jackson. You could say the same thing about
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  Speaker 1: a lot of things. Is it time to just sort
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  Speaker 1: of go back to basics, go back to square one,
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  Speaker 1: and sort of evaluate everything from scratch?
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: A little bonus show for you. I hope you guys
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  Speaker 1: enjoyed that one. It has been, man, there's going to
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  Speaker 1: be some fascinating talk all week long in Columbus as
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes get ready to take on Northwestern. That is
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  Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating matchup when night, we will
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: find out the status of Northwestern quarterback Aiden Childs. He
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  Speaker 1: was injured last week. If he is back, that is
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  Speaker 1: one kind of challenge for Ohio State. If he's not,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: that's a different kind of challenge for Ohio State. We
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  Speaker 1: will see how that all shakes out. We'll have an
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  Speaker 1: update on that 8 o'clock on Wednesday night for you.
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  Speaker 1: But man, there's going to be a lot to talk about.
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  Speaker 1: We will be talking to Ryan Day and some of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: the players Wednesday night after practice as well. That usually
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  Speaker 1: starts streaming about 6.15 or so. 6.15, 6.30, give or take,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: on Wednesday nights live from the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
• 10:28
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• 10:30
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• 10:33
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• 10:38
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• 10:40
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• 10:42
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