Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ohio State Defensive Standout Out For Rutgers, Will Emeka Egbuka Be Back?

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Ohio State Defensive Standout Out For Rutgers, Will Emeka Egbuka Be Back? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Saturday, November fourth. I'm your host,
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  tom Or. The Rutgers game is today, the game against Michigan in twenty
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  one days. We are here in New Jersey. I'm joined by Kevin Noon
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  of bucke huddle dot com. The Buckeyes just arrived in New Jersey. If
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  you want to watch the live arrival here a little bit from Ryan Day when
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  he got here. You can watch that. We posted that on Friday night
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  as a live show. Tonder Goerdman and I answered a bunch of questions as
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  well, talked about an hour about the Rutgers game, about the Buckeyes arriving,
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  what we learned from Ryanda, all that kind of stuff. You're gonna
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  get a little bit of cliff notes on that here right now from Kevin and
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  I. Kevin, I guess the first piece of news that we got from
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  Ryan Day was someone who you know, was not The status was a little
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  bit up in the air earlier in the week, but Laythan Ransom, safety
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  for Ohio State, did not make the trip to Rutgers. What does that
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  mean for the Buckeyes on Saturday, Well, I mean Leathan Ransom has had
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  a tremendous season so far. So I mean it's a loss in terms of
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  not having him, I don't think that it is a huge loss for the
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  next three weeks. Being Rutgers Michigan State Minnesota, you have three weeks to
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  get him right before the Michigan game. I'm not exactly sure how they're going
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  to rotate their guys to be able to account for that. You're going against
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  a Rutgers team that is not a very pass first type of team. A
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  lot of more stuff is going to be in run support. It's going to
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  be about trying to figure out how to spy against Gavin Wimsat. They're very
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  mobile and run first type of quarterback. Obviously, you don't want anybody to
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  get hurt. The team is pretty healthy otherwise. But you know, certainly
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  that is a loss that nobody wanted to see. As he kind of got
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  pulled from the game, went back to the tent, went back to the
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  locker room, then came out looking pretty gimpy. I would expect it to
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  be a couple of weeks. Yeah, and so based on what we saw
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  last week, I'm guessing Josh Procter at the adjuster that deep safety position where
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  he's been playing all year, kicks Sunny Styles over to the bandit, the
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  boundary safety spot, that's where he was sort of towards the end of last
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  week's game, and then Jordan Hancock in at the nickel spot. They have
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  loved Jordan Hancock at the nickels so far. He has done He's been done
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  a dynamite job this season. You saw Sunny Styles there. Earlier in the
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  year, it felt like you were seeing more and more Jordan Hancock. So
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  this may just be, especially this week where you're not expecting a lot of
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  you know, deep shot passing from Rutgers, this may be a great week
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  for Sunday Styles to be at that bandit position. Absolutely, I think that
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  that it's it's gonna be a good opportunity you do get Hancock in that nipple
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  where he is really excelled. I think it is a good opportunity because there
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  were so many times where like, Okay, we know ten is gonna be
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  on there, and with Denzel Burke, we know one is gonna be on
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  there. With Davison Nigbanosen, who's gonna be playing against his brother not directly,
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  Desmond Igbdosen, who also is a defensive back. But you're gonna be
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  able to have ten, you're gonna be able to have one, you're gonna
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  be able to have six, and you're gonna be able to have seven out
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  there all at the same time. So while it is a loss with what
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  Lathan has been able to do so far, I don't think Ohio State is
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  taking a dramatic step back by any stretch of the imagination. Yeah, and
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  this is this is not the type of offense that's likely to stress them in
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  that, you know, in that downfield kind of area. Gavin Wimson has
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  been, you know, an okay passer, completing like fifty ish percent of
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  his passes. He's elusive, he'll make some players with his legs. It
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  is not This is not a team that's going to pop you for three hundred
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  yards through the air. So, you know, it's a capable Rutgers offense,
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  but it's it is a Rutgers offense that spiritually feels like it should be
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  playing on a big ten West team, right exactly. I mean it's Gavin
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  Wimsat passes for one game on average twenty twenty one pass attempts a game.
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  That's just not that type of offense. Now you always want to talk about
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  breaking tendencies and everything else. He's a fifty point three percent passer, more
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  pass attempts by a fifty to fifty point flip type of passer. I don't
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  necessarily think is going to be the right way when you're trying to pull the
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  upsets. So yeah, I agree. It is more of a Big ten
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  West type of offense. It's you know, you'll hear people talk about complimentary
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  football, and the offense sort of sets up the defense. The Rutgers defense
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  is really good this year. They have not allowed a forty yard play all
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  season. They're early two teams in the country that have not allowed a forty
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  yard play on defense. They are meeting at Shi Stadium on Saturday. It
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  is Rutgers in Ohio State, so don't expect a ton of explosive plays.
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  Rutgers will kind of force Ohio State to maybe work their way down the field.
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  I'm guessing you'll see maybe a couple pops down the field for Ohio State,
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  but it's not going to be easy to do that against Rutgers. Rutgers
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  kind of makes you earn it. One thing that could help Ohio State earn
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  it. They got Trevia and Henderson back. Last week he saw it a
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  different set made. Ryan Day said, Mecha Abuka's here. Mecha Abuka should
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  be good to go. This is the third week in a row that heard
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  Meccha Abuka is good to go. But with the weather being you know,
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  last week it was like thirty tomorrow or Saturday, it's supposed to be in
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  like the sixties in the afternoon. It feels like another week of rest,
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  better weather, dry forecast. This should be a week when you should be
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  able to get a Mecca Abuka back on the field. You should. I
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  think that the conditions are going to be much more ideal in that in that
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  instance, So I think it is a good opportunity. As people during the
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  Friday Night Live show quick to say, well, we were hearing all the
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  same things last week. Well this is this week. Yeah, And I
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  think this is going to be the time before you have back to back home
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  games and then of course the big game at the end of the regular season.
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  But at some point you're going to have to get him out there and
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  test some things and try some things. And I think this is going to
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  be the week we see him and you might just see him in limited action.
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  That's a possibility as well. We were thinking, you know, based
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  on the way they were talking, we were assuming we're going to see him
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  last week in Wisconsin, and then we didn't. And then so now based
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  on the way they're talking, we're assuming you're going to see him on Saturday
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  against Rutgers. Maybe you see him for no snaps, maybe you see him
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  for ten snaps, and maybe you see him for thirty snaps. We don't
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  know yet, and you know, I don't know if Ryan Day knows yet.
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  That might be a see how he feels when he wakes up and warms
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  up on Saturday morning kind of situation too, because he even two weeks ago
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  against two weeks ago was against Penn State at Ohio Stadium. He was out
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  on the field and like while the team was over skull session and Mechabuka was
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  already at the field like getting warmed up. He has wanted to play,
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  he's wanted to be out there. It's been more like team doctors telling him
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  like, yeah, maybe wait another week. He wants to be out there.
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  So I'm sure he's gonna be pushing for it, you know, whether
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  it happens on Saturday. Whether they wait to get back home next week against
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  Michigan State, we'll see. But you know, if it does feel like
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  there's been some progress there, there's been some progress with the Ohio State offense
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  on the whole. This is going to be a decent test from Rutgers.
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  Again, this is, you know, in some statistical categories, one of
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  the better defenses in the country. I think they were like thirteenth in the
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  cut in the country in points allowed per game. Is it is a solid
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  team. There's six and two. This is not the terrible, horrible,
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  no good, very bad Rutgers team that we've seen in the past. This
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  is a team that feels like, you know, Ohio State, barring something
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  incredibly stupid, Ohio State is gonna win this game. But this is a
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  Rutgers team that should test the Buckeyes in a way that previous Rutgers teams haven't
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  been able to, especially as on the defensive side of the ball. I'm
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  probably not as bullish on their defense as Tom is, just because when I
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  go through tailor tape, I've looked at who Rutgers is playing. Oh yeah,
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  yeah, and they play the Big Ten. Spoiler alert isn't very good
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  outside of two and a half teams, and they have played one of the
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  good teams and lost that game thirty one to seven, and honestly could have
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  lost by more, but the dogs were called off a little bit there.
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  And then they have played Drek, but they have done a good job against
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  Druck. We have seen Rutgers go against Drek before and say, hold my
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  Drek, I'm gonna Outdrec you. And so I'm not here to say that
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  they can't play defense. Break Shiano obviously a defensive minded head coach. Before
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  his head coaching roles, he was a d C, I mean even after
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  he was a DC. So that's all going to be there. I think
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  Ohio State is going to have to earn some things, but I also think
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  that there's gonna be a good opportunity for Ohio State to hang one or two
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  forty yard explosive plays on them. Yeah, it does feel like Ohio State
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  should be able to poke some hole in this defense because you know, I
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  mean, they have they have done. They have beaten the teams that they
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  were supposed to beat, and that is real progress for Rutgers because they are
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  already they were Bowl eligible before Halloween, which is I mean, like a
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  miracle for this program. Greg Ciano really does deserve kudos for what he's done
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  because this team was when we were out here four years ago, it was
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  like, this is embarrassing. This is why is Ohio State playing a team
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  that's worse than Young Town State? And why are we driving eight hours to
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  watch that happen? This year? Like they have beaten all the other crappy
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  teams the Big Ten. They they are They're not the bad Big Ten team.
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  They're there. They're in the like midier middle tier. They are mid
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  and that is great for Rutgers. And you know, even you know they're
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  gonna they've got Ohio State coming up, They've got Penn State coming up.
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  Those probably not gonna go great. They got Maryland to the end of year.
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  You could see them, you could see them win that game. They
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  I mean, they could be seven and five for Rutgers compared to what Rutgers
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  have been. That that is legitimately good. And I think that you know,
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  this is a Rutgers team that you have seen in the past just sort
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  of be a pain in the butt to Ohio State, just like you know,
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  the the Bee that the and that that's kind of like just around you,
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  like you know, he's not going to kill you, but it's like
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  this is really annoying. That was Rutgers in several recent years. You know,
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  then that has gotten a little bigger. It's a little mo annoying.
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  It's still not going to kill you, but it's it's going to be more
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  annoying. I had Ohio State winning this game twenty seven to six, and
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  I think you were you were a little higher score. We're kind of in
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  that same NAB thirty eight seven. I think that the offense is going to
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  be challenged and I think it's Wisconsin like in terms of the offense, and
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  then on the defensive side. I just think that with everything that is going
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  on, they say to shut out the noise, shut out the noise,
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  but you know, some people out there are making things very personal about Ryan
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  Day and his family and everything else. And I think we're going to see
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  a little bit more determination. How about that, we'll use that as a
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  word. A little bit more determination. I think we're going to see a
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  little bit more offensive success out of Ohio State. I think we're going to
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  see him get off to a little bit of a better start than usual.
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  Uh, that doesn't mean it's going to be a game devoid of some of
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  that malaise that we've seen for a games. But thirty eight points is what
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  I think they'll score. Yeah. Well, we will be there at SHI
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  Stadium and Lovely Piscataway, New Jersey on Saturday, covering the Buckeyes and the
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  Scarlett Knights. Will have your pregame report coming up a couple hours before kickoff
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  with the official availability report. We obviously know no Lathan Ransom. We'll find
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  out if there's an update an Acca Abuka and any other injuries that we may
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  not be aware of. That'll be coming out around ten a m. On
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  Saturday at YouTube dot com slash Buck Huddle. And then, of course,
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  end of the game, we'll have our usual live postgame show Tony and Kevin
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  and I live from the stadium. Mark and I think we mickey this week.
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  Maybe maybe Devin. We'll find well, yeah, we'll find out when
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  we turn the computer. Yeah we got it. We got a We got
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  a full team here coming for you. It is November. November is for
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  contenders. We will be here contending for your postgame attention at YouTube dot com
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  slash Buckeye Huddle and of course at bucke huddle dot com where we have you
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  we're interested in supporting us, learning more about what we do, and maybe
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  taking a deeper dive on this year's O High State team. And oh,
• 10:58
  I don't know, whatever else is going on to the calle football world,
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  whatever that might be, you can do that at bucke huddle dot com.
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  Sign up to come remember, get access to our huddle board where we do
• 11:05
  all sorts of great lots of lots of active content. We have like three
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  thousand posts on the thread on the Michigan situation and just continues to churn lots
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  of interesting information. There sometimes more information that we can share out in public,
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  so I find that at the huddle Board presented by Jeff Ruby, Columbus
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  at bucke huddle dot com. Now we'll do it for today. Thank you
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  guys all for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow