Latest / Run After Cast: The College Football Podcast / Spring Game Break Downs: Mississippi State and Ohio State
Transcript
- RAC Aaron: Welcome back to Rack. As usual, I'm Aaron, but today I'm only going to be joined by Chandler. RAC Chandler: Yeah, I apologize guys, but how's everybody doing? RAC Aaron: we have Ryan off getting some firsthand accounts of spring games at Auburn. So, you know, we weren't going to hear back from him anytime soon as he is deep in the Auburn world. But it it does bring up today's important topic of finally got some spring games. Last week's we had mystery states, but this week, importantly, we had Auburn in Ohio State. We're going to dive into them. talk about Ohio State and Mississippi State today. But before we do that, we do have to check in at the Raction News desk to see what we have missed in the meantime. RAC Chandler: Yeah, so another short one for you guys. we have Iowa's football program. They had to vacate four wins in the 2023 season because of tampering. It's unbelievably crazy because all the coach did was just reach out to Cade McNamara before he entered the portal, which I get is tampering. But if you're going to allow Michigan science dealing thing to go through and not have any wins to get vacated at all. But this is you're to vacate four wins from a 2023 season. I mean, the NCAA is out of control. RAC Aaron: This is one that I had heard of before this week because I was reading about it. It is with everything that's going on, a check-in. mean, we even have right now where the transfer window is closed, but can still change where you're going to school and show up on campus and register as a student to be part of a program at this point. ⁓ have those kinds of things going on. You know, that doesn't happen without somebody calling in and checking in. It is a violation. I'm not going to say ⁓ that Iowa didn't do anything wrong here. But I would say that Iowa do anything wrong that isn't being done by every other program in the country. They just did in a way that they got caught and probably cooperated, which four wins is a crazy punishment. RAC Chandler: Yeah. And it looks like the qualification for vacation of wins is whatever the student that had the infraction on, anything that he played with was ineligible and they were eligible to vacate those wins that he participated in. But I would have to go back and look in the, in the 2023 season. figured he played for more than four games, but maybe he wasn't the true starter then. I'd have to go look because I'm not super in on that, but only four wins out of that. I would feel like he would have been a part of all the games. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It just, it has some of those feelings of like what happened with Missouri and all of that, where it's like, I think it just kind of creates that atmosphere of like, just as a program, shouldn't cooperate with the NCAA to keep you from getting these ⁓ would say some ⁓ penalties on minor infraction because the bigger ⁓ RAC Chandler: Just a weird situation. RAC Aaron: issues aren't necessarily always being addressed or gone after with the same fervent energy behind it. RAC Chandler: Exactly. mean, obviously I'm a biased Ohio State fan towards the Michigan situation, but there was a whole documentary made on it on Netflix. And we're not going to have any vacated wins or anything to keep the rings. RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah! We're just not even really take a look into it. And that seems a lot more impactful than, know, talking to a student or ⁓ believe what was it a few years ago where we had a burger that was bought by a coach for a student. And it's like those little things. ⁓ get it. We, you know, ⁓ the rules is breaking the rules. But right there's a lot more going on ⁓ than a quick check in. RAC Chandler: Wild. It's wild. Exactly. And I, I, I feel like it's not fair or even across the board. And obviously the NCAA can't see every single problem that happens. There's going to be stuff that gets by them. But the things that do come to light, it's interesting to follow punishments they give for what situations, because exactly like you said, there's different situations that we would think as a fan or just for outside and looking in. RAC Aaron: Absolutely. RAC Chandler: they deserve more punishment than they got and then other cases like this, are they really going to vacate four wins for just a text message to do them that? So it's funny what they really cracked on the hammer on and what they don't. RAC Aaron: Yeah. It's always something to like look forward to seeing is like where big punishment that comes out for something that we would consider maybe more harmless compared to other issues that happen pretty frequently. RAC Chandler: Exactly. So of transfers coming in, ⁓ were rumors ⁓ 2C got kicked off the LSU team for allegedly shooting a music video in the locker room and trashing it. Now this hasn't been like proven at all and there has not been a statement come out from LSU that they were either confirming or denying it. But there's been heavy speculation that it was true and I've seen tons of media posts about it. Not from any major news outlets, but it would be interesting to see if that's true or just a bunch of smoke blown because would be a crazy turn of events. But again, ⁓ hasn't been proven true or false yet. But I saw that on my feed from multiple different smaller outlets and had put it in here because we just talked about it a couple of weeks ago. RAC Aaron: Yeah, that was another thing that kind of came across my feeds. I was able to see it. We had talked about it very briefly at the gym and it's very like almost shocking that we had just finished. I think the episode come out and it's like he got kicked off. But you're right. It is all like an a lot of underground, you know. ⁓ media posting about it, but I haven't seen anything official. ⁓ RAC Chandler: Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: So I can't tell if. Who see is either. Playing this in a way that he just doesn't care like he's having fun. I mean, if he had the chance to film a music video in the LSE or locker room, he's very successful already has found great success in the music world. So like there's a little bit of like a who cares energy makes sense, but it would also make sense if he started circulating this as a rumor mill. as in like grassroots ⁓ machine behind it where it's like he's not kicked off. It's just passing the buzz, keeping it through there or even LSU themselves pushing this around to get more of more more interaction. RAC Chandler: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Like you said, there hasn't been like on three or like these big news outlets posting about it and confirming it. So that's why I'm kind of hesitant on fully believing it because the moment any kind of news like this breaks out or it's rumored or somebody gets wind of it, true or false, it's going to go everywhere, especially with somebody at this high profile. So it very well could be just false and speculation and just ⁓ a ploy for views and publicity. But RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: I nonetheless had to go on here because it was pretty funny to see. RAC Aaron: It is. It's very funny. And like I said, I just think it could be it could be something either really smart. It just has that energy of like you normally don't hear that side of football programs. Like if something like that happens, normally does not break outside ⁓ like the athletic directors or any of the staff. They with it in house. It's very handled and it's taken care of. But this is like all underground reports. Everything like it and people in a time when there wasn't a lot to talk about as we were ramping up to the spring games it really passed around everywhere, so funny no matter how it comes out whether it's true or untrue RAC Chandler: Exactly. The last thing I have and wanted to make sure the guy was okay before we reported on it, but the Virginia Tech spring game had a parachuter come in and hit their scoreboard like big screen ⁓ of their end zone sides and delayed their spring game for an hour. And I was scrolling through, we were at a wedding this weekend, I was scrolling through and I saw this on my feed. And I thought it was like AI or it was edited or something happened. was like, there's, I've never seen this happen before. And I felt awful. was like, I hope this like it's been publicly blasted everywhere. I hope this guy is like, okay. Uh, but it seems like there was no major serious injuries on it, but that is one of the craziest things I've heard at a spring game for sure. But just in general at some kind of pre game festivity going on is that happening. RAC Aaron: It was something that when it first happened because the first reports were there were three ⁓ skydivers coming in to land with parachutes, but the winds were too strong that one of was actually blown into the practice field. One did land in the stadium and then the third, it made contact with the scoreboard. I was like, ⁓ no, that sounds devastating. And then it was like, there was a delay and I was like, ⁓ I wonder if there was a lot of injury. But then when I saw the report, there has been a report from the local news sources that he is okay. He's ⁓ completely out. Everything's good. They did say the scoreboard was damaged. Which then immediately my concern turned to humor. I thought it's one of the funniest things that could happen. I watched the video of him coming down. He just kind of comes down over the top really slow and then looks really sad to be just strung up there in front of everybody. And credit to the Virginia Tech fans. They came out for the spring game. So they got their money's worth for that spring game ticket. RAC Chandler: Yeah, I saw like a piece of the letterhead on the scoreboard like fell off like one of the white chunks of the letter like fell off too. It was wild. I did not expect to see that on my feed. RAC Aaron: I was excited to see that my prediction that Virginia Tech was going to be a fun team to follow this year already coming true. RAC Chandler: short sweet, ⁓ short news segment this week. ⁓ We have much, I'm assuming as the Spring Games continue to wrap up, ⁓ we'll kind of first looks at and depth pieces and all that kind of stuff and we'll have more player-specific and team-specific news come out ⁓ for big across the board. But as far as news goes for this week, that's all we got. RAC Aaron: Yep, which going to take us right back into the spring game conversation, which, as I said, we will be talking Mississippi State, Ohio State, as Chandler just mentioned for the next couple of episodes, we're going to dive into the spring games. But we wanted to bring on some fans from the program to discuss their spring games with it, because I do feel like if you're fan outside of a program that maybe isn't watching with that kind of intensity that you do of your own team. A lot of the time it's just a breakdown of a couple plays and it's hard to see exactly what you're looking for, what you should be excited about or what you should be disappointed with. So we figured who better to give us insights than that than people that do care about it that way. But I will kick us off here with Mississippi State. RAC Chandler: Wait, I was just about to say, yeah, kick us off with the headliner here. RAC Aaron: Yeah, yeah, you know, you don't bury the lead, which is SEC football play. You know, we'll pick up with the all smaller school later. But no, Mississippi State, their spring game was not televised. There wasn't a way to watch it. They did. It is an open scrimmage. It's a free thing you can go to. So if you are in the area, go check it out. It seems like it's a fun day. It was a estimated 100 play scrimmage and. RAC Chandler: Exactly. RAC Aaron: format was less of like a back and forth and more of picking up a drive. First couple seemed like long drive, narrowing into 25 yarders to ⁓ yard red zone style plays. So. To start off, I will say most it, I've only really been able to read about, because like I said, there's not really a way to watch it. ⁓ Want shout out that pulling this from the Mississippi's Clarion ledger and the author Sam Sklar, who wrote this up kind of as a break to play by play breakdown, important updates on it. So. One thing as it kind of started out, there's not a whole lot to it, so I was kind of run through the big plays that Sam wrote in the article. The first thing that we had kind of break down was, The first drive ended, had a field goal kicked by our returning kicker, Kyle Ferry, 47 yards out. Camario a 30 yard pass that kind of set that up. So I was excited to see that Kyle back. He's kicking. We're going to talk about a lot of kicks he makes here and he's been consistent. I think, you know, as who have listened to this, I've been pretty down on Mississippi State so far through all of our episodes. I'm not going to say this change that for me, but I do want to shout out the things that we are doing well. And Kyle Ferry is one of them. is, he was very consistent last year, made a lot of puff kicks, was consistent. I think we only missed a few. So seeing that he was here, still putting it in, something to be excited for if you've got not a lot else going on. we do. pull Camario for the next drive and we put in Parker Puckett. do have a turnover on downs for that one, but you're also, yeah. ⁓ yeah. Parker Puckett is ⁓ school that sounds at now. I would say it's not a QB name to me. It definitely sounds more defensive, but I do like it. So shout outs. I would wear a Puckett Jersey. but RAC Chandler: That's a phenomenal name. RAC Aaron: After that, we bring in another string quarterback, Jaden Rashada. And this we do have a punt ⁓ and with sacks. I do think it will see it's good that we're bringing some pressure last year and the year before I had a lot of reservation because we kept putting four on the line. And we weren't bringing a lot of pressure. So seeing two sacks here means at least we were bringing pressure ⁓ offensive line was not doing well. Either way, that could be two things. ⁓ RAC Chandler: ⁓ It's always the thing with these spring games, it's a double edged sword. If the defense does well, you're like, ⁓ wow, does the offense suck? Or does offense not suck, but the defense is doing really well, or they found an exploit there? There's always the thing, it's your team regardless. You wanna see good play on both sides of the ball, but at the same time, you're like, don't beat up the offense too much, I wanna see them do well. And same thing with the defense. So it's funny to kind of break these down, because it is your team on both sides of the ball. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. But I will say this one, I would lean towards this is probably more pressure we're seeing than normal from the last two years from Mississippi State because Zach Arnett returning as DC. I remember Zach Arnett as DC and head coach. He's a very aggressive play style guy. And I think we're probably going to see a lot more pressure coming in, which help. think that is something that. We're. When we're struggling to get to quarterbacks, if you give quarterbacks time in any big conference, they can make big plays. So a narrow window to me always like the call of ball, if you can keep that three second throw clock going, you're going to shut down a lot of big plays that you are using ⁓ deep zone anyway. RAC Chandler: You may touch on this later, but far the spring game did the ones on defense play? Or did they consistently rotate out every time? ⁓ RAC Aaron: that's something in the articles that I was reading about it, I didn't really see they didn't necessarily mark the defensive players involved. So I didn't get to see how often the defense rotated. But we do see the quarterbacks when the quarterbacks got in. So and we did get when the plays are made, we got a lot of notation on who did that. So That's something where it was it was tough to see exactly it because I'd like to see the consistency of like, ⁓ did all these tackles come from one to two names, three players going that were bringing that consistent pressure outside or from ⁓ But just didn't get that for it. But the next one, this is actually the play I was very excited for because the ⁓ one format I Lebby is very good at. that we saw a lot of success for last year and the year prior is when he comes out into a game normally takes a very deep shot early on within the first drive. I do respect that. think ⁓ lot of guts go into doing a deep drive before you really felt out the defense. You can be conservative in that, ⁓ taking a punch in your mouth style play. ⁓ early can get momentum on you. And that has worked for us a lot where it's, you know, a 30, 35 yard ball downfield that goes the distance, gets an early score on the board. Even though we didn't always have something to follow it up, that was something we got to see. And this one follows that playbook with a trick play where a running back ⁓ Bluff Bothwell through a 70 yard touchdown to San Frisco McGee. So I was like, ⁓ it's a it's bold to pull out a trick play during your spring game. You think you keep those in pocket? Yeah, but. RAC Chandler: Yeah. It's already on tape. They're good to go. You can't use that against Auburn now when you upset them. RAC Aaron: I mean, it does, it does feel like if you're playing this on the coordinator side of the ball to give this away by having your running back to it, it now puts a little thought in your head of like, are they keeping them back there to throw a bomb are they doing a delayed run? Now that has to be a consideration. So you might not be able to bring your spy up as much to keep that down. So I could see it. I could see throwing it out here to say like maybe we got to give him something to question on what we got because Bothwell's quick. He's a fast, talent. I am very excited to see what he does this year with Camario at the helm. ⁓ we might have some plays on offense because of that. RAC Chandler: And if you throw that out in the spring game, maybe it's indicating, like you said, willing to do it more frequently than ⁓ would think. So maybe since they're doing it now, they're like, Hey, like you, should be prepared for this ⁓ it'll be disposed more often than we think. And if it's not, then the defense will think it. RAC Aaron: Exactly. And so it does seem like it's a doesn't hurt anything. And you get a lot of benefit for throwing it out here because it is followed up in our next play with another QB coming in an app state transfer AJ Swan through a 65 yard touchdown pass to Zion. It's either Raggons or Raggons either way. That is something where just, you know, seeing two of our transfer players come in, make a play. We've got some connections going and we're getting some of these drives on the long drive side of the ball. Our other quarterbacks are taking snaps. We're seeing that we have at least some arm strength as well as some ⁓ ball game going out. So that's good. And God anything happens to Camario this year. But you also don't want to have a young guy be the farthest in the depth chart you got. Where if something cramps up again or anything happens, we have somebody there and it's not our whole season. following up our, our, one of our backup kickers does miss a 32 yard field goal. But if it is a young kicker, somebody out, sometimes that pressure game, if you're going to miss one, miss it in the spring scrimmage that isn't televised, get the coaching on it. get brought back up, you learn some lessons for it. So no harm, no foul. ⁓ Once RAC Chandler: If he doesn't work out at MSB State, Ohio State will take him. They like a nice kicker that can miss field goals. they'll take him. RAC Aaron: Yep. Hey, we're going to get to talk about your kickers here soon too, because you got news on kicking in this game. But ⁓ we do come back to Camario after this. throws another touchdown to Anthony Evans for 38 yards. so we are a lot of movement on the ball, which worrying to me by this point, as I was reading through here, followed up right after this with a both well short touchdown. RAC Chandler: Exactly. RAC Aaron: But this is where we have moved into the 25 yard plays. So Bothwell had a two yard rushing touchdown. But I'm seeing from that point, like a lot of the ⁓ moving, a lot of things going on. It is worrying when we had so many defensive issues last year. Zach Arnett's only had a few practices to work with it. I'm not expecting a miracle, but it ⁓ is that is concerning. to see a lot of things moving and not it being necessarily a a lot of shutdowns does seem like they do get some tampering on it because the next two were field goals that are normally about the 30 yard mark. But I'm sorry about a 30, 33 to 37 yards out for the next couple of field goals. But both those did start on the 25. So now we've gone from the balls moving to the balls not really moving, which is concerning. But I don't know who started those drives if we are rotating the quarterbacks every drive, because that would also make sense for what we've seen so far. Right after that, we do get consecutive sacks on Camario. These are the ones that were mentioned. It is Isaac Smith and DJ Reed. Both those are back to back sacks, so they were involved in both of them. So some good play there. But, Kamario follows that up with another touchdown pass, but this is where it starts to come from the 10 yard line for the start. Mario then throws an interception that Kelly Jones picked. So, that's rough. I know in the post-game presser, Kamario was kind of beating himself up about it. Think, once again, if you're gonna do it, it here. It's fine. You're doing some schemes, probably some things you're still... coordinating with your new receivers, everything like that. So. Game tempo's off. RAC Chandler: And another thing to think about when you're watching these spring games as a fan of whoever team you are, the offense and defense go against each other every single day of the whole entire season. So if anybody is going to have interceptions jump snaps or sacks ⁓ blown up plays, it's going to be ⁓ defense more likely than another team that has not played against you yet. They get so comfortable playing against each other that they learn their receivers cues. They learn all these different reads and motions that it's good to see in a way that they're already getting these turnovers and pressures and sacks and all that kind of stuff because they're getting comfortable seeing these reads and these cues for your team. RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, and they're also fire. That means that their their heads are up. They're playing. We're making plays on both sides of the ball here against each other, because I mean, you're right. that familiar with it. Plus, as a defensive player, knowing the playbook, too, for your offensive side of the ball, and then they're right there. You hear them making call outs. You know those. So you know the adjustments. Now they're not doing full contact as well. So it is something that it is a bit safer in that regard. ⁓ for it, but when you're talking interceptions, it's probably going to happen in a spring game like that because exactly as you said, a corner is going to know a receiver's tendencies when he's jumping where he's going most of the time. So going to be harder. And especially if you're doing 10 yard. In zone place, there's not a lot of places for that ball to go. ⁓ There's the corners of the inside. RAC Chandler: No. Then you have 22 people shoved up in a 20 yard radius. RAC Aaron: Yep. Yep. It's only a few yards at a time that don't have a human body in them. But that is the drive follows that one with Kyle Ferry ending it with a 51 yard field goal, which I was like, well, we went out with a bang. We ⁓ an interception, but then we a good 51 yard field goal. I'm excited to see how Ferry goes for the rest of the year. I think something if you are having some trouble offensively getting the ball moving. Having a kicker to bring it home can keep you competitive. It can give you the chance to win some games. And he did keep us the games we were competitive in last year. A lot of it came from points that he kicked in. RAC Chandler: Yeah, it's always nice to have a kicker and special teams that you can rely on because then your play calling changes whenever you get on the other side of the 50 on your side of the ball or your side of the field that you can start getting in scoring points territory. And if your kicker has a huge leg, then all of a sudden you don't have to scheme to get to the 20 or 30 yard line to be able to get in range for this guy to maybe make a kick. All of sudden it backs up and if this guy's making 45, 50 yard field goals or 50 plus yard field goals, then your play calling can ebb and flow with that because you're not like, ⁓ it's either touchdown or bust because my kicker sucks. So it's very nice to have somebody like that in your back pocket to where you know three points is on the board more likely than not. RAC Aaron: Well, and I, especially the college level, how many games come down to a last minute drive high game need to get having it that field goal marker can move out to that 40 yard line, you between the 30 and 40, that takes a lot of pressure off your quarterback. That means we have more chance for something to get going. ⁓ When ⁓ markers the 25 yard line, that's quite a march. If you've got the full field to go in no timeouts. RAC Chandler: Yes. RAC Aaron: But that's what we had for our spring game. the most exciting, not a lot of fireworks, not a lot changed for us. But that's good because Mario was there. Kyle was there kicking field goals. The stuff we needed to have on showed up. Bluff, off well was making plays. we did have some surprises there with some sacks. Seeing that go through, especially the back to back from two players. I'm hoping that translate into the full full speed, full contact games for us. RAC Chandler: So what you've read, what you've seen, are you pleasantly surprised? Is it as expected? Are you disappointed? Like what is your overall vibe after the Spring Game? And obviously I know it's Spring Game, you still have whole summer and fall camp, that make you feel better about this upcoming season? How do you feel about it? RAC Aaron: Yeah! So without seeing it, I feel like when you read about it, I've read so many spring game reports, there's always this part where you're like, that turned out really well. And then you to the main season, you're like, ⁓ we're a disaster again, or ⁓ our game looks terrible. And then all of sudden you get to season, you're like, no, we're firing all cylinders. I don't know what's going on with it. Cause you're right to having everybody that you've practiced with, all these people you've known ⁓ for at this point, for some of the senior players, you're playing against. It's hard to get a gauge of who was doing what, but when you're watching the video, when you do see it, you can see, is the line open a little too much? Are we scrambling a lot more? Does the quarterback look comfortable in the pocket making these throws? That would help. I'd say this didn't change my expectations of the season. I would say it just reaffirmed my hopes the people that needed to show up showed up. Like I said, the players I shouted out earlier in some of the episodes are there. I do think they're putting in their lot. Seeing Kamari even beat himself up after it, I was like, you don't have to do that. It's a spring game. You're good. Like, a good talent. Keep going. You're to get coached up about it and it'll be good. But seeing that he even took it seriously meant, well, we can least go on and put on a showing with some of these guys. But with that, let's go over to the Big Ten for a bit. How was your spring game? I know you've been looking forward to this. RAC Chandler: Everybody at the about 30 minute mark can can cut out now because the big tens about to start talking so SEC talk is over This is just extra credit RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah, yeah, we're done now. Yeah. This is the after apper. Yeah. RAC Chandler: So a couple of caveats there's not a lot of bad things I'm going to talk about. So this didn't play a huge factor, but to kind of paint the picture, it started out seventies ish temperature wise and then ended in the thirties and pouring rain and wind. So it was a, for the fans to show up for that, it was cool to see them come out support, even though the forecast looked awful had a huge... ⁓ huge swing in temperature and weather conditions. So that was that was cool to see. RAC Aaron: I assume Michigan had to hire some witches or something to get that kind of shift in temperature against y'all. But I will give y'all credit. I did watch some of the highlights from it. Y'all showed up. Y'all packed in that stadium like that. That whole lower area being filled up was impressive, especially because I wouldn't be out there in that weather. That sounds awful. RAC Chandler: Especially for a spring game and you know you're not going to see a ton of starters and it's not a real team you're playing against. So yeah, it was cool to see how much they showed up. there was schematically on offense, like looking at it like a little 30,000 foot view first. Schematically on offense, there were a lot of overroutes, there were a lot of flood concepts. There just a force the mismatches with the linebackers and kind of create a linebacker to have to drop out into coverage and not just hover around in the flat to 10 yard area where they usually would sit. that was cool to see. It was cool to see him ⁓ the RPO kind of schemes and kind of throwing in those overroutes and floods to work those ⁓ medium deep concepts and not just focus super heavy on the run. ⁓ And there was four running backs that were hurt. in the running back room. So you're a little limited on touches that you want to give those guys because there's only two people splitting it, not six people splitting it. So maybe that's why they leaned more heavy on the pass, but nonetheless, it was cool to see them still create those mismatches and have those RPO looks because there wasn't a ton of that last year. And it was, was cool to see him kind of take those under the center snaps and have those RPO kind of RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: quick throws or those deep throw routes. that was a good positive change right off the bat that I noticed. RAC Aaron: Yeah, and that was something I couldn't tell. had told me ⁓ before we doing the show that you were like, we had four running backs out. I was like, that's crazy. That's an insane number to the point where I'm like, is it a manufactured number to say like we're sitting our running game out for this one? And I mean, you're never going to risk a lot in spring. I mean, you're not doing full contact. You do it and probably 80 % effort on plays in terms of getting things flowing. But. The fact that there was so much focus on the pass game too. It could be, as you said, full running backs out. You don't want to stress out two guys. It's not worth it pre-season. is it, hey, ⁓ the defensive coordinators that are watching film, y'all need to be aware that we're passing this season. So prep that in your defense book. You guys are a big threat to a lot of schools. So. RAC Chandler: Yeah, injury, the injury bug, like you said, was crazy. They had four running backs out out of the six they have, and they had three offensive linemen that were starters out of that as well, on the offensive side of the ball. And then on the defensive side of the ball, they had Earl Little, which was their corner that came from FSU. He was out. I think that was one of the only key players that were out on defense. So the defense was a lot more healthy coming in than the offense was. But overall, the final score was 35 to 26. defense taking the cake and the defense could score I believe with three and outs with turnovers ⁓ time they got a sack with fumble forcing and obviously an interception for a touchdown and then I think they got every single extra point the offense kicked went to the defense to give them an extra boost of points so that and then the offense it was just strictly off touchdowns they could score RAC Aaron: Mm. RAC Chandler: but then Fugls. So. RAC Aaron: Yeah. It's still relatively close. Like a good battle. RAC Chandler: Yes, so I think the last three or four games, not counting, so now three or five, the offense has won, but it's usually a pretty good battle back and forth. And it's cool to see, I think they opened up either 10-0 or 14-0, and then Patricia's defense kind of dialed it in. So it was cool to kind of see that live reaction to Arthur Smith and Matt Patricia kind of battling it out and ⁓ scheming one another to. to get the points to be more even than eventually the defense winning. And then before, yes. I mean, they were both two head coaches in the NFL and now coordinating in college. So I'm sure they're having a blast. And they're definitely overqualified. RAC Aaron: Yeah, I can imagine they have some fun with that. ⁓ yeah. And probably go into even a couple scores that they had each other over long careers like that. RAC Chandler: 100 % and then before I jump into the rest of Iowa State's I do want to point out as an Ohio State fan Michigan spring game the score was 7 to 6 With like last 30 seconds their offense scored the win 7 to 6. So I don't know what their scoring system is But just looking at that final score they could be really bad. I don't know what went into it, I don't know who played, so I'm not gonna make bunch of crazy accusations, but that's not a final score you wanna see at a spring game. RAC Aaron: No, and as an Ohio State fan, have to take every shot you can. And that's one worth a shot. RAC Chandler: Seven to six. I mean it was six to zero going going into the last 20 seconds of the game RAC Aaron: Yeah. we were smart. We didn't keep score so Ole Miss could say nothing about us. RAC Chandler: Yeah, so breaking it down like you did, drive, Jillian was in, a lot of the starters were in, so Jeremiah was in, Brandon Ennis was in. That was a pretty much ⁓ on one's offense defense drive. So Jillian, big thing for him. He looked solid like we expected, but he wanted to emphasize running the ball more and extending plays to create those cheap yardage situations where you turn a third down into third and long and. but then it turns into a third and short and third manageable. So it was cool to see him do that. He rolled out twice in that first drive to extend plays and create those manageable third downs. So that off the bat, like I was sitting there watching the game going, wow, like maybe we actually will scramble a little bit more to extend plays. Not a crazy like Lamar Jackson amount, but just enough to where if you're running a man concept and you don't have a spy, if you can just roll out out of the pocket, just get four or five, six yards and just create a more manageable third down to where the play caller can have this whole playbook at disposal and not just longer plays in this disposal, which would be great. So hopefully that rolls over into the season because that was very fun to see. RAC Aaron: Yeah. And when I was watching it too, I was impressed with whoever, whatever QB coaches, working with them, ⁓ the coach staff ⁓ you can obviously some of those changes just from those couple snaps where I would say he, ⁓ when he was up into the pocket, even when there was pressure on the pocket, ⁓ he was staying a clean pocket. But then on those couple rollouts that we saw when the pressure was coming from a side, it wasn't a blind scramble. was a controlled slow measure rollout. It looked good. It looks like whoever was working on it, that was some high focus ⁓ area for him. he took to it because it very natural. It looked RAC Chandler: Yes, it was very, very nice to see. And I think to accompany that, since those three offensive linemen that were starters were hurt, including one of the best offensive linemen, Sarahville was hurt. He... was still able to kind of maneuver in the pocket enough and as the game progressed and they started rolling through some and stuff like that ⁓ were some weak spots and there were a lot of pressures deeper into the game but for the first couple of drives even the twos that came in to fill those one spots it looked like they were getting a good push at the defensive line point ⁓ they were creating time for Julian to kind of scan the field if when they ran those RPO concepts and make the right reads and not be rushed through his progressions and when they ran the ball it looked like they were creating holes for these running backs to run through and not just running a nice vanilla concept it looked like they were kind of more complex concepts that they were trying to run and the offense of line handled it if they ever had to have a pull blocker they got there if a tight end swung around to go help the left side out on a left side run play, it worked. There was obviously their flaws, but it looked like they were trying to implement a more complex scheme and the offensive line looked like they were working together a lot better, which was great to see. RAC Aaron: Yeah, it didn't just look like it was hit the a gap. Right. I beat him on this to the sideline, throw the ball for third down. Take it away. Which we've seen schools with that kind of play style before. RAC Chandler: Exactly. Exactly. So then going into the second drive. That drive ended up in a touchdown, believe. I didn't write it down for whatever reason, but I think it started off 7-0. Duck and drive, Tavian St. Clair, the backup came in. He looked great. Chris Henry came out, Brock Boyd came out. All these freshmen, sophomore guys, sophomore being Tavian and the two freshmen, Brock and Chris Henry coming in. They looked great. Chris Henry had a 30 plus yard catch. He flashed, he showed why. Continued to be that five-star plus talent that came in a huge recruit coming in that 26th class he Showed why he should get meaningful snaps this year and play that three four five receiver rotation depth Brock Boyd ran a nice route in the beginning. He ran like a delayed little out route to the sideline made a nice catch and then to end that drive the kicker ⁓ a 43 yard field goal, I believe it was so the guy the ⁓ Buddy from Baylor coming over, he drilled it. In the rain, was nice. The stadium erupted, I'm sure. RAC Aaron: I could imagine looking at your faces lighten up just just like a 40 plus yard kick went in. RAC Chandler: Oh yeah, it was fantastic. was like, well, he came out even in the spring game. was like, oh man, I'm getting flashbacks. Like just make the kick, man. Like it doesn't matter because it's a spring game, but just make the kick. And he did. And I was like, man, this is, we have some upswing here. So then exactly, exactly. Cause I mean, they haven't had a 50 plus yard field goal made since 2019 and they still have it. So hopefully this year that changes. RAC Aaron: All you could have hoped for was just a kick made from 30 plus yards. Yeah. RAC Chandler: So third drive, Julian scrambled again. He got a little six yard scramble on second down to make it third manageable as a third and fourth situation. And then Will Smith Jr., which I think is going to be a key piece on the defensive end slot. He came in again, he stayed, he didn't transfer out. I think he'll be a real contender for a starting DN rotation. And if not, he'll be definitely a guy that comes in to take meaningful snaps throughout the year. But he came in, he read Julian well, he delayed, up his hands and got a tip. the force and interception to Boatkitsen who was another defensive end. that and seeing him make a nice step to be a more meaningful defensive lineman was really cool to see because he's an in program guy. didn't transfer in. He's trying to work his way through the depth chart and seeing him make a step was really cool to see. And I hope he continues to do that throughout the summer and fall. RAC Aaron: Yeah, be excited to see whatever snaps he gets this year, whatever he gets to use, how he utilizes that seem get rewarded for that because especially nowadays where people transferring out people not willing to stay in the depth chart to earn their spot. feels like it's not rewarded. So I want to see it. I'm rooting for him this year. RAC Chandler: And then the fourth drive, of depth pieces, this with the running backs, there's a heavy emphasis on running this on this drive. And favorite key, the true freshman came in, was, so was Jacoby Jackson that came from Florida, who was a seventh year senior guy. Incredible. think he's 23 or 24 years old, but he came from Florida. He was taking snaps With the ones and then favorite key was taking snaps to the twos and threes and he came in and made multiple five to ten yard carries and runs He's very patient. He let things develop. He followed his blocks He ran by his pads well So it was cool for him to kind of get out there and see what can be in the next two or three years if he stays in the program and keeps developing and he eventually becomes a a 1-2 kind of carrier with whoever else becomes the starter in those subsequent years. And then again, Chris Henry continued to flash. He had a 40 yard touchdown catch and I think he ended the day right around 100 yards in a touchdown by himself. So he had a phenomenal game and that was the first time he'd ever played in Ohio State Stadium. So he made a great first impression on the fans for sure. So it'll be cool to see if he works his way into over the summer. in that three, four, depth piece rotation in the receiving room because he is going to be a true freshman. And obviously a lot of true freshmen don't start and take meaningful steps. And you can't compare him to a Jeremiah Smith or anybody like that because he is same level of recruitment. He was rated the number one or number two receiver in the class, but there's only so many unicorns to go around. you can't expect a thousand yard season from Chris Henry or every single other true freshman that comes in with some hype because there's been a ton of great receivers that have played before him and been first round NFL picks and had four or 500 yard seasons in their freshman year and been phenomenal the rest of the years. So. ⁓ RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah. Well, and it's as we were just saying, credit to a guy going in and knowing he's going to be sitting for a lot of his freshmen. But. the opportunity to work under somebody who is playing that position really well with that have coached that guy into playing that position very well seems like a great way to get your feet wet as a freshman athlete going in. ⁓ figure out the system, figure out that next level bump. if you are that talented, knowing you're not going to get a lot of snaps, you could go to a school that would put you in first string every play, but not going to get that kind of attention. I think Ohio State is one of those programs that is making a case for that to say, if you come here, we're going to coach you up. You're going to have opportunities. It might not be that first year, but I feel like Georgia is another one making that same case of like we're going ⁓ to develop you. So it that new in the adaptation to the current landscape. RAC Chandler: Yeah, I mean, it's a testament to Ohio State because they've, they've done it for a long time. I mean, they lead the country in first round draft picks, ⁓ all time. think they're closing in on a hundred first round draft picks that they've had in program history. So, and I think they're five or six years in a row now where they've had a first round receiver go off the board. especially if you're an offensive receiver, it's a huge. RAC Aaron: Very impressive. RAC Chandler: statement to go in and just work your way through and just trust the process. Because if you believe in yourself and you're a huge prospect that came in, you will see the field if you are good enough to see the field. And if you can make those meaningful snaps and meaningful impressions, then you're going to go for second round because that's what you were recruited to do. And for him to have a hundred yards in the spring game was pretty crazy to see. hopefully he sticks it out. I would guess that he has somewhere between 300 and mid 300s maybe in yards receiving this year. I couldn't see him breaking 500 unless he just has a crazy year and comes in and improves it. RAC Aaron: Yeah, yeah, you know, barring injury, anything above that ahead of him. But, you know, we don't want to see that. So I'd rather see, as you're saying, a healthy roster 300 yards, but some great plays out of them, think ⁓ still something to look forward to, to give you hype for when he does get the role. RAC Chandler: I think on that same note, Bo Atkinson, ⁓ came from North Carolina, I believe last year, he's a defensive end. And he came in ⁓ he was going to be a starting D end. And he played a good amount, but not, he wasn't a starter. He didn't come in and make impact plays over and over again. And he kind of didn't live up to the hype that people thought he was going to have. And props to him. He hasn't been here the whole time at Ohio State, but he didn't transfer again to go somewhere else. He stuck it out. He came in and he competed with some of the DN they got from Alabama and the guy they're bringing back, Kenyatta Jackson. So he again is not guaranteed a starting role, but he has shown huge signs of improvement and flashes in it. And he picked up, think one or two sacks today or yesterday with that interception. that's, that's a great day to have and to make an impression for your defensive line coach. RAC Aaron: Absolutely. And at the end of it, it's making it look like y'all have some great roster depth there. Like if that pace of game picks up this year, I feel a lot more confident seeing that level of play from both backup and starters to say like, okay, y'all will be able to compete at a heavy pace and with the schedule you have. RAC Chandler: Exactly, and I think they had they had 51 new players I believe including scholarships and transfers So that's a huge amount of roster turnover. They put the names in the back of their helmets During the spring game so they could like see everybody's name and like continue to learn people's names because they're all wearing the Guardian caps So Ryan Day was like, yeah, we we had to put the names out there because there's so many new faces But it's cool because they had so much turnover. Like you said on the defense that RAC Aaron: Yeah. you RAC Chandler: Matt Patricia again being able to go hand pick these people come in and grooming these younger guys that have come in and now stepped into starting roles like Devin Sanchez and Jalen McLean who played a lot last year but now will be really true leaders this year on the defense. It'll be cool to see and with Jermaine Matthews out there as well how he puts all these pieces together from the transfer portal and all these new guys creates another top defense and we saw flashes of that yesterday during the spring game. them winning the game for sure, but also being able to rotate in their ones and twos and still be making stacks, interceptions and pressures and deflections and three and outs and all that kind of stuff. So it's cool to see the depth and the thought process behind Matt Patricia and why he got these guys. RAC Aaron: No, it was still something a lot of those highlights and everything showed that were playing great. Like I didn't see ⁓ lot of ⁓ on the side of the ball. I just saw plays being made on both sides. RAC Chandler: And then the last drive that I'll talk about at least was the sixth drive and Quay Russo, James Smith looked great. The defensive end, defensive tackle combo from Alabama that they got. Quay Russo showed significant run stoppage coming off the edge. He blew up so many plays where he just jumped and beat the right side or left side of the line. ⁓ And ⁓ got there and had TFLs multiple times. And again, not what you want to see against an offensive line because that was a huge sticking point against Miami last year was their ends of the offensive line were not drawn. The blind side was not protected and the right side was not protected. So those defensive ends, Maki Mesador and Ruben Bane, they had field days. So yes, three of them were hurt. And granted, those are two of the positions that they were hurt in, but seeing these true sophomores come in, and have to take snaps against the ones is good. And I think if they can continue to improve and learn on what they did during that spring game, then we could see good depth being built. seeing it a couple of times over and over again as the game deepened was like a sore spot. Exactly. So it is spring. It is really early. It's only April. And once that... RAC Aaron: started getting flashbacks. Yeah. And it's where you want it to happen. Like they got to take those snaps here. They got blown up. Door. now the coach can really work on that even at the second depth. Because you don't want to find that out against Texas ⁓ early on to have, like if something happens, if that edge has to, or the, that side of the O line has to come out for any reason, you don't want to find it against. you know, somebody's end edge pressure and lose a game because of it here. It's great to see that your edge is coming in strong because that's that could really go in your favor for Texas. You've got a line that's still coming together at Texas. So if your edge is bringing great pressure off the side, that is that we could see. ⁓ It'll be good test for Arch. RAC Chandler: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. And like you said, once they get healthy and get back and they start really developing that depth and they continue to get snaps the ones and twos, it would only get better. I mean, they brought in Mateo from the Steelers that followed Arthur Smith as another offensive line coach. have like 50 offensive line coaches now in there. So there's no room error for the offensive line anymore. They have plenty of eyes. They have plenty of film breakdown. Arthur Smith was RAC Aaron: It's a lot of talent. Yeah. RAC Chandler: An offensive line coach and that's kind how he broke into the scene of coaching So there's plenty of people that have done it at high level in there in that room now, so I'm very bullish on the offensive line I don't think fans should take it too hard that they got beat up towards the end of the day because they were having the twos and threes rotate in there Take as you will. I think once the offensive line gets fully healthy. I think it'll be just fine and especially once Bo Jackson, Isaiah West, and those guys come back, Legend Bay, whenever they get healthy in the running back room, you'll really see the full picture then. And I think until then, it's not fair to make assessments on the run game development and the offensive line development because they're not at their full swing and the defensive line was. So that's a big thing to into consideration and not go too heavy on ⁓ far as judgment goes. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Well, and to think too, from the coaching perspective, you know, you have your O line out you've got some injuries on it to put pressure on it. Still says confidence in your program because you know that's coming up. You know, you're going to answer questions in the pressers about it. Like people are going to say like, ⁓ no, here it is. But at the end of the day, you're still choosing to send the pressure on them. You're still using it as a coachable moment. it's allowing you to correct those things. is exposing some of the issue that is there, but if it's through injury, things like that, ⁓ better to get something out of it than to try to hide it. RAC Chandler: Yeah, so all in all, I thought it was a very successful spring game. think the pieces that were starters last year, the solidified guys, Julian, the receivers, those kind of ⁓ defensive pieces, Devin Sanchez looked great as corner, Jermaine looked great, Jalen McClain and the new number eight looked funky, but he looked good. All those key guys that have been there and done it looked great. There was no steps back. looked like, so that was good to see. ⁓ Some of the new guys coming in, I was kind of bummed that like I didn't get to see Legend Bay play because that was a huge buzz name of him playing running back and slot receiver coming in being just a gadget utility guy. Cool to see Chris Henry. So I think all in all, I'd give it a nice seven or eight out of 10 of a spring game. think once we see the full picture come in and the trenches and the health comes back, the running backs come back and we start flowing into the summer and we start seeing the real depths in the right direction. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: it'll my rating will be higher but I think it'll only go up from there I don't think it'll I don't think anybody will regress I don't think the progress will regress I think the team will just continue to mesh and kind of get better RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, and would wonder how much of that of that hidden one side of the ball that be due to the injuries here was a manufactured side of, of course, you know, don't put any of the big name carriers out there to get risked or how much of it was to do they plan on utilizing somebody like Legend Bay getting where it's we just don't want to put it out there, right? We just don't want to give Texas film. RAC Chandler: Yeah, we'll see how it plays out, but I'm excited for the season. The spring game did not add any worries or create any new worries to me. It was a positive thing. I watched it and was very pleased. The kicker made, Connor, I remember his last name. He made two of three kicks, all from 40 plus yards. The last one he missed was pouring rain and sideways wind. So it's okay. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: You're going to miss kicks still, but I mean he was two for three beyond 40, which is great. I'm very happy that he's here and I think they will hopefully make some good kicks. RAC Aaron: Hey, that's what you said you wanted for the season was similar to the way you did, but be able to make the kicks when you needed to. RAC Chandler: Hopefully we do. That's all I have from the Ohio State side. RAC Aaron: Hahaha that's what we're going to hit this week. to be shorter episode than usual since it's just us two here. But next week with Auburn and Alabama going head to head, I'm going to expect that one to go long as we the in-house Auburn fan, the brought in Alabama fan breaking down their spring game season expectations, all of that. I'm sure they're going to get into it. We're going to sit here, bring the popcorn, enjoy it. But I hope you all will join us for it as well. In the meantime, Thank you all for tuning in to each episode. That's fantastic. Especially thank you to all that are interacting with the YouTube comment section, the Spotify comments. Every little bit helps with that. So please leave a comment on the show. Go to our shorts ⁓ on social media. which are all linked in the episode description. That helps us so much getting out there. We're so thankful for all of you that have already done it, but we will be excited to talk next week. So we'll see you then.