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Ross Fulton Analysis: How Ohio State Is Making The Most Of Marvin Harrison, Jr. · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning for Thursday, October twenty sixth. I'm your host,
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  Tom Moore. The Wisconsin game is in two days, the game against
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  Michigan in thirty days. This episode of Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning, presented to you
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  And Jeff Ruby is also the sponsor of our huddle board at Buckeye Huddle
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  dot com, So thank you to Jeff Ruby for that. And they are
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  sponsoring all the episodes where Ross Fulton appears on the morning show. So guess
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  what if you hear me talking about Jeff Ruby, you are probably going to
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  be hearing me talking to Ross Fulton. We're going to be doing that again
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  today. These one off our ex's and osgurus at bucke Huddle dot com.
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  Ross there was more good news than bad news for Ohio State. Coming out
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  of that Penn State game. We're going to talk about the offense today.
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  We'll get to the defense tomorrow. And it's pretty much all good news on
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  that side of the ball. But on the offensive side of the ball,
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  the running game was will be polite and say a little uneven, let's start
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  with the good news though, this is they got off to a real good
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  start in this game. The first kick driver or two, I thought,
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  oh boy, this is you know, this is the best I've seen Miyane
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  Williams look all year. And then it sort of tailed off a little bit
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  later on. But you know, how did how did they get off to
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  a fast start on the ground in this game? Yeah, it probably was
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  the best that mine Williams still has looked all year, all things considered,
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  even even with the final stats. And so there's sort of, uh,
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  you know, some some good, some bad, as you said, and
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  so one thing that was both positive and also somewhat frustrating is I think they
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  had a nice plan to run the football early. This is an example of
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  it. And they go to this they went trips to the field through art
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  receivers to the wide field. It's called a trip's nub because you have to
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  tight end to the boundary and he's in line, so he's not in the
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  backfield, he's up on the line of scrimmage and they run then mid zone
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  to the field. So didn't see a lot of stretch this game. In
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  fact, I think they only ran at one time maybe to the field the
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  entire game. It said a lot of mid zone and so they kind of
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  were attacking this a gap bubble that Penn State was presenting you can really see
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  in the replay and doing a nice job getting to the second level from this.
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  Also saw some g H counter early. Unfortunately, the sort of I
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  guess a frustrating thing is that they didn't run this at all in the second
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  half, Like they kept running mid zone, but they did not run it
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  from this formation, you know. Penn State also some change up somewhat of
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  what their defensive tackles were doing that made some of these comumbos a little more
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  difficult. They kept getting more and more aggressive in the box. Penn State
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  played a ton of cover one, a lot more than I expected, a
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  lot more than they normally play, and that did help them get an extra
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  defender down, you know, off the edge. As Ryan Day talked about
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  on Tuesday, so you know, scheme wise, again, it was a
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  little frustrating this sort of way. They stopped running counter largely as well.
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  I think some of that has to do with Min Williams. He tried to
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  bounce one early in the game, and there's you know, there's a picture
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  of I think Justin Whitlock tagged it on X of how frustrated he was that
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  mind Day tried to bounce that play because it was blocked to cut up inside
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  and you know that's mine's tendency to bounce things, unfortunately, and so you
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  know that showed up some. But like I just think they are you know,
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  it's been a lot of focus on the offensive line, but I just
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  think the running back carousel is really hurting at this point. Like I just
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  they're not you know, they missed a lot of holes. You have guys
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  play one game, then they don't play again for several days. It's hard
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  to know what kind of reps anyone is getting. You know, I think
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  that going forward, like you know, for whoever's fault it is, you
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  know, I mean, Travon Henderson continues to be injured, and it so
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  sort of makes it difficult because like if your playing is to play Travon Henderson
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  and then you sort of have like a bigger guy like Williams and Chip Train,
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  I'm like, as a change up, like that makes a lot of
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  sense, but like without that like explosive element, then like if Trayvon Henderson
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  continues to not be available, I think you have to play Dollan Hayden.
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  And I mean personally, what I heard Ryan Day say during his Tuesday press
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  conference, I don't know if you agree with me, was like, yeah,
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  we're gonna play Dollan Hayden going forward, like if things continue out was
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  like he put pretty much shot down, like we're worried about the red shirt
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  idea at this point. Yeah, it felt like he was saying that.
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  But sometimes that's sort of you know, the we're going to kind of evaluate
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  it, take a look this week. Sometimes that ends up with the thing
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  he's talking about happening, and sometimes it doesn't. So I'm still I'm still
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  a little uh wait and see on whether you see Dollan Hayden or not.
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  I'm with you, though, I think, especially if you don't have Travan
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  Henderson, it feels like Dollan Hayden gives you something that mine. Williams and
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  chipprand and they have mind Linage have stuff, they're good at it. Just
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  it feels like Dell and Hyden gives you something else that has sort of been
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  missing without without mine, without the Triviaan Henderson the last couple of weeks.
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  Let's talk about you know this is this is another area where they struggled.
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  Let's talk about the goal line Ross. Yes, we have to, uh,
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  this is another that we're gonna be talking about to play here where it's
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  they're they're down in the goal line. It feels like an opportunity to punch
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  the ball in and they just they continue to struggle in certain short yardage and
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  goal line situations. Yeah, and so you know, again they there's there's
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  probably some you know, not to make excuses, but like they had a
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  package obviously with Devin Brown, like that was their goal line and short yardage
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  plan largely, and that the play before this fell apart, and you know,
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  to further provide context, they did convert several third shorts in this game,
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  Like they they got four man surfaces to each side, they wedge block
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  like again that's mine. Williams did come in very handy on those plays,
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  like he carried a guy half across way across the line and because they're wedging,
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  you know, it was wide enough formation that they didn't have that pressure
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  off the edge. They scored the one. The first touchdown was obviously a
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  similar heavy eye formation look where they ran like a lead outside zone and and
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  Mine Williams got that last half yard. You know. This one again though,
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  is like you know, I Ryan Day has a certain cliches, he
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  loves the scheme, coaching personnel, and again like we have all three hit
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  on this play. So there's a couple of things about this that that like
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  I fund frustrated and like we can start with the execution, like as Brian
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  Day basically acknowledged on Tuesday, like this one's Kate Stiver's fault, right,
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  Like he gets beat inside. They're basically running an isolate ISO but with wedge
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  blocking. So again there everyone's stepping to their inside and you're trying to cut
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  off inside penetration. Like he's slow out of his stance, his splits too
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  wide, Like they kind of referred to that, like they I think there's
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  ways that they could help him get you know, he needs to be tighter.
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  He's again like if you've split, if you freeze it like a half
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  a second after the ball snap, like he's still in the stance and everyone's
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  already moving. I also just think that's a difficult block to make, Like
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  I don't know why they're running this short yardage play as both an isolation play
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  and a wedge play like a typical ISO play, like if you're you know,
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  as the name it suggests, like the fullbacks leading up on the inside
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  play side linebacker and so like to the inside of that you block down,
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  but outside of that usually like the tight end and the tackle fan blocks.
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  So like if Luke Montgomery there is Fan blocking blocking the guy outside who's trying
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  to crash in, and Silver's blocking the next guy up crash in, then
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  you have the hole there and Kate and Curry can lead up. So again
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  like I can quipal with that. I also just think that like it's just
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  they're too predictable that like they run on third down in these situations and they
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  pass on like it's something like it's just like rock paper scissors, like it's
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  some way you're gonna change it up, just to change it up, right,
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  Like I thought for sure they'd come out after the Devin Brown injury and
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  like show this heavy formation and throw a pass, but they didn't. And
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  like, again I don't necessarily have a problem either with the fourth down call.
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  It just wasn't executed well. So you know, I just think that
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  though it just can't be like third down heavy package, we're going to run
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  it and then if we don't make it, will pass. I just there
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  has to be some more variety. But obviously, like Devin Brown's out,
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  so it's kind of back to the drawing board on what they're going to do
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  in these goal line situations they've you know, it's I don't I can't blame
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  them too much for not sneaking here, Like your backup quarterback just got his
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  ink, just got carted off the field, So like, are you gonna
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  throw your your starter into the muck? You know when it's hard to see
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  at the goal line whether that ball crosses the plane anyways, But you know,
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  I still think, like, hey, you could just throw it to
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  Marvin Harrison's back shoulder occasionally as well as also could be a viable option that
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  should be thrown in the mix. Yeah, it's funny that you bring that
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  up because I actually asked Ryan Day about that at the Tuesday press conference.
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  Let's just we'll tell you what. Let's just throw that in here right now.
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  Here was Ryan Day's thoughts when I asked him. You know, you've
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  taken my Marvin Williams off, Marvin Harrison off the field in some of those
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  goal and situations and you know, short yarded situations with him. Just throw
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  him out to the field side, Like I don't want to over simple fit
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  things, but throw him out to the field side with as much attention as
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  he gets. Either you have him one on one or you have him draw
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  one and a half two people away and then you get a no Ober's advantage
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  in the box. So here was Ryan Day's answer on that. Yeah,
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  I think it's a good point. You know, when you get down there
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  on the one or two yard line, you know we got to get in.
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  You know, it's unacceptable not to get in. So we have long
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  discussions on what gives us the best chance to do that, and we'll keep
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  doing that. And you know, if if having moreb out there gives us
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  the best opportunity, then we'll do that as well. But you know,
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  I just I feel like you know, we've got to be able to make
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  a yard or two when we get down in there, and I know there's
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  a lot of people in the box. I get it, but you know,
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  but we'll keep looking at it and making sure that we're doing what's right
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  and putting our guys in the right situation. All right. So that was
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  Ryan Day's answer on that. He was also asked about another thing that they
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  do with Marvin Harrison, which is sort of moving him around. They've been
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  playing him more in the slot recently. Part of that possibly because of the
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  absence of a Mecca Abuca for the last game, game and a half whatever
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  that has been. But this is this next play you're you were going to
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  be talking about here, Ross is an example of Marvin Harrison in the slot.
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  Why is this such an effective thing for this Ohio State offense? Yeah,
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  so, I guess a couple of plays where I've sort of had some
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  critiques of, you know, won what they stuck with or didn't stick with
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  in the run game as well as the short yards. But I thought,
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  uh, Ryan Day and his staff kind an excellent game plan for getting Marvin
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  Harrison open and not allowing Penn State to bracket him or you know, Penn
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  State, as I mentioned, was playing a ton of Cover one, so
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  it's just getting basically forcing Penn State and Cover one to not be able to
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  be up on him and have to play with off coverage. And so you
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  know again like going that game, Noah Mecha Buka, no Tradevon Henderson,
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  Like you're missing two of your three explosive playmakers. So you do have to
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  kind of you know, put things together with bailing wires. So this is
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  one the first place shows one thing they did a lot of, which is
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  like they'd use fast motion, particularly like you know, either from the tight
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  End or from Julian Fleming. And so it starts out looking like Marvin Harrison
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  is the outside receiver, but when the ball snapped, he suddenly becomes a
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  slot receiver. And again that forces Penn State to communicate either they're going to
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  trade off and so now the cornerback bumps out or if he stays with them,
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  you fee people in uncomfortable positions. And by using that sort of like
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  kind of a ending up in a stacked alignment, you again have to you
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  can't have press coverage, you have to be off of him. And so
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  ohiotly got a ton of opportunities, particularly here this is a shallow cross,
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  so they kept taking advantage of Penn State in man coverage. If Harrison was
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  running a shallow cross, they would try to pass it off, so instead
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  of the corner following him, he would basically zone off and have the inside
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  linebackers try to cut the crosser. The problem is is like it's Marvin Harrison,
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  and so he just i mean made all those guys look kind of silly
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  trying to do that. And so he gets a big game here and we'll
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  talk about another one or you know, like they get a lot of like
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  a lot of easy slant completions because again, like Penn State could not either
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  because of a fear of getting beat deep by him or because of the way
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  that Ohio State was using stacks and bunches and releases to give soft man and
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  so you know, these are things that like when we go back to the
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  run game as well, like i mean, he had eleven catches, he
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  could have probably had twenty five. Like they between like there's you know,
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  Kyle McCord's inconsistency at the beginning, Like you know, that's a whole nother
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  subject. Like for whatever, reason and not to digress here, but like
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  McCord's footwork, it's just it's not as sharp at the beginning of games,
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  and it's like something they have to figure out. I don't know if it's
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  like nerves or like getting into the flow or what. Like you know,
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  I think Justin Whitlock had a couple of good posts about it on x showing
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  some of the pictures of that, and like, you know, he snapped,
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  he keeps snapping out of it, like in the second half. I
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  think he was like twelve or fourteen or for whatever, and you know,
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  some of the same concepts, like he was completing that he wasn't early so
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  but anyways, so so between the missus to Harrison and then like you know,
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  you could just keep doing this like they ran in the second half like
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  a double slant RPO. Like again, like with the off coverage, the
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  slants are just or sometimes easy pickings, and so you know, again they
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  did a nice job, like they had the jail break screen that they threw
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  to Harrison, like faking GT counter. They did a nice job off of
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  like hard play action with the one wheel route showing duo with the fast motion.
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  So like they did build things into the run game and really work to
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  get him open, including by putting him in the slot. All right,
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  and then here's this last one is another one where there's some commonality to the
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  last one. They're again using formation, this time tight bunch and a concept
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  we've talked about a bunch and that is mesh and once again using what Penn
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  State does against Penn State to get Marvin Harrison open. This was the touchdown
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  towards the end of the game. Yeah, and again so this is the
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  other thing that they did. So they used the fast motion to put him
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  in the slot, or they would put Harrison opposite the tight bunch. And
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  what they kept doing throughout the game was like they would shift in and out
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  of tight bunch. So again, like you're messing with Penn State's man coverage
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  rules and so you know they have to lock in levels like play it at
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  different depths and against so you're you are preventing them from being up in your
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  face and getting pressed. And so here they're they're running a mesh from a
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  different look. Right, So like mesh a lot of times, like you
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  have the running back and the wheel route. Well here here you have Cornel
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  Tait as the outside bunch guy on the wheel and then coming opposite and again
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  Penn State tries to trade Harrison off to the linebackers and that doesn't work.
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  And so you can see like the focus and effort that went into ways to
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  get Marvin Harrison the ball early and often between like putting him in the slot
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  using the you know screens they had the one RPO also like where he like
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  came underneath across the formation that they blocked for him as like sort of a
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  slide r PO. And so yes, he is taking on a lot of
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  like the both Marvin Harrison and a Mecca Buca rules. Some of these plays
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  they use for ABUCA. But like you know, even before Abuka went out,
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  as we talked about against Maryland, like they're putting it more in the
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  slot and I would expect that to continue. And hopefully a book is back,
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  because they definitely need a Buka back because this is just it's putting a
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  lot on Harrison and then you know, trying to be very efficient because they
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  just they don't have the same explicitness right now without a book, and Trevon
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  Henderson, well, we will find out for sure if at Buka and Trevian
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  Henderson and Denzel Burke are all back this weekend when we get up to Madison.
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  We'll be headed up there on Friday, Tony, Kevin and I covering
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  the game. We'll have probably a little bit of fun and festivities from around
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  Madison, one of the big tens more fun college towns, will be up
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  there this weekend covering that game. We'll have all sorts of usual postgame coverage
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  for you. I'm sure there's gonna be a whole bunch more going on around
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  college football as well. We'll be talking about all that stuff at Bucket huddle
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  dot com. And thanks again to our sponsor, Jefferuby Steakhouse, a sponsor
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  of the Huddleboard at bucke huddle dot com where we have all of our great
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  insider content. Sign up today at Buckeye huddle dot com. That will do
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  it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have a great
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  day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.