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BONUS: Ohio State vs. Iowa: Pregame Show From Kinnick Stadium · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome inside Kinnick Stadium, site of today's game between the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: number five Ohio State Buckeyes, number 14 Iowa Hawkeyes, who are,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I believe, going to be back in black. I don't
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: know why I just thought about that. Tom Moore from
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Buckeye Insiders, joined by Chuck Valetti, Tony Gerderman, also Buckeye Insiders. Tony,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the music obviously is.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Loud, that's part of the atmosphere, but man, it is
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: a perfect.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Day for football today. Two days in a row, no clouds.
• 0:24
  Speaker 4: It's nice, like 65 degrees, going to get up to
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: a gloomy 70.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: They cool down as the game goes. The people are,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: this place is crowded outside. We're crawling with Iowa fans,
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: a lot of Ohio State fans. Seeing a lot of, like,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: dude bros, like, one Hawkeye fan, one Buckeye fan, all
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: the way around. Ketchup and mustard. It's America.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: And, Doug, this is your first time in Iowa City,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: first time at Kinnick. This is one of my favorite, like,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: low-key favorite places in the Big Ten.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: Like, it's a great setting.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The people here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Are generally very friendly.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: This is a really fun place to see a game.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Would it be crazy to say I like it better
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: than Austin? I think the atmosphere is better than Texas.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Because it is. It's not even close. I love it here. Obviously,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: the weather is amazing. This is going to be an
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: awesome game today.
• 1:13
  Speaker 5: I cannot wait for this.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: So, Tony, I think we've got to start talking about
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: what are we expecting from the Ohio State offense. Because
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: it feels like... Outside of the last time Ohio State
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: was here, generally Iowa's going to score in the high teens,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: low 20s, kind of in that range. And it's really
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a lot of times just a matter of can you
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: get yourself into the mid to high 20s, maybe the 30s.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: For Ohio State, what's the key to getting to that
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: magic number of 24, 28, 31, whatever it is?
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: More touchstones and field goals. I think that's enough settling.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: That seems overly simplistic, and yet it feels like it's
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: also the answer.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: More touchdown drives should win this. You're going to have
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: maybe 10 possessions. You can burn four of those into touchdowns.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: You should be fine.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So it's down to red.
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: Zone execution or maybe not getting to the red zone
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: or just scoring before you get there.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: But being able to run the ball and do red zone.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: But also I think continuing to target Jeremiah in the
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: red zone. That's been something we've all been talking about
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: for three years now.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Don't take him off the field, though.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, Chuck, what does Iowa have to do in
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: terms of limiting Jeremiah Smith?
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: So my assumption is.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: They're going to look at what Illinois did that last
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: week and go, nope, not doing that.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: So what does Iowa need to do?
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe, you know, both schematically, but also just like what's
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the magic number where if Iowa holds Jeremiah Smith below
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: this level of production, that might be enough to make
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: this a win for them.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: I'd say if they can hold him under 12 catches,
• 2:47
  Speaker 5: maybe 100 yards, 110 yards.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: That they got a shot. But maybe that's not even
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: the number. Honestly, guys, I don't feel.
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: This game is going to be all too close. So
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: I'm having a hard time trying to justify or break
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: this down. I just don't think Iowa's very good this year.
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: I think that the Iowa Kinnick magic is the thing
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: that everybody's holding on to to say this is going
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: to be a game. When I watched these guys last
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: week against Michigan, The tight game they played, the three-point
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: game against a crappy Iowa State team.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: I'm just not seeing how they're.
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: Going to be able to do much against this Buckeyes defense.
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: And offensively, I don't think anything but a lightning delay
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: is slowing down 2026 Jeremiah Smith.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's hard to imagine a 16-13 Iowa State score here.
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: being good enough to beat Eli on stage, or remain close.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: I would be like, until somebody stops Jeremiah, I'm just
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: going to assume he's going to be 10 catches or
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: eight catches.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: The key is, is that 17 yards a catch versus 11.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Leaving 11 is probably too much.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: And when you look at.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Coming in here, the last time Ohio State came in here,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: they were coming off a big, dramatic comeback win over
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Penn State in 2017, and probably came out a little flat.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Probably came in thinking, okay, this won't be a problem,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and it turned out to be a big problem.
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: I think the fact that Iowa won.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: That game at Michigan last week, that might be one
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of the most beneficial things for Ohio State where there's
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: no chance you're overlooking Iowa if you just watch them
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: go into Ann Arbor and beat Michigan.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: What have we heard all week? We've heard, well, you know,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: if Iowa loses this game, they can still go on
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: to make the playoffs. It's like the mindset. It's already
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: in there. It's built in. We can lose this. After
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: coming off that.
• 4:26
  Speaker 5: Dramatic win, coming here, and the fans are just like,
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: that's one of the biggest wins we've ever had. The
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: way it happened, I mean, that's like a huge drain
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: after that.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: And they probably didn't get their bearings until Wednesday. And
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, here comes a better team into
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: their place.
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: They got home field advantage. They're going to rely on
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: that to build them up confidently. But if Ohio State
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: can get off to a lead early in this one, man,
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: they're booked.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: And Ryan Day talked about wanting to keep going fast,
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: to keep the speed.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Up, keep the pedal down.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: And if you stay 14 points up the entire time,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: eventually that's going to be 21. Just keep it going
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: because what we've seen from the Iowa defense, it's fine.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: But they gave them 280 yards past the Michigan. If
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: they keep going back to that, Ohio State should, Julian, say.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Theoretically come from 300, 400 yards in this one. Just
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: because this is how the offense is going to operate.
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: With the RPOs, this is a question I have for
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: both of you, and I don't know how much time
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: we have to talk. Successfully on the ground, what is
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: a successful running game for Ohio State?
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: If Ohio State, to me, if Ohio State is kind
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: of like your median run is about four and a
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: half yards, maybe you pop a big one and it
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: skews your average, like the average on the stat sheet,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: which is a mean. But if on average you're running
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: for like between four and a half yards, four, four
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: and a half yards, five yards to carry, more often
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: than not, that's a winning number in this game, almost
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: regardless of anything else that happens. And especially if Ohio
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: State can outrush Iowa, it just feels like there's only
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: a certain number of ways Iowa can win this game.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: If they get a kick return for a touchdown, yeah,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: they get a punt return for a touchdown, you block
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: a punt for a touchdown, you know, If you do
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: something big on special teams, that could be a difference
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: figure for Iowa. If Ohio State can just hold, don't win,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: don't lose, just nothing, special teams are a neutral, that's
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: good for Ohio State. If Ohio State can outrush Iowa,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: that is huge for Ohio State, just on a yards
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: per carry kind of basis. Because it feels like there's
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: almost no scenario in which you look and you go, well,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: here's how Iowa outpasses Ohio State, whether you want to
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: talk about yards, touchdowns, yards per pass, whatever it is.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: You can't imagine Iowa throwing for more than Ohio State.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: So it feels like just win the game on the ground,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: don't lose the game in special teams, and you're probably
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: in reasonably good shape.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. I look at last week's game against Michigan, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: That Michigan rushed for roughly three yards carry on the day,
• 7:00
  Speaker 5: so Iowa did a really good job. Went back and
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: watched it again, and they really were, Michigan, having a
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: rough time getting out on Iowa's linebackers, and these guys
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: were making plays all over.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Number six, their safety, Iowa's safety, really good player.
• 7:14
  Speaker 5: In the run game, and this Buckeyes offensive line, If
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: they can.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Get out on those backers a little bit better than Michigan,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: I think they will rush for four and a half
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: yards of carry, and I agree, that's plenty in this game.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: And Ohio State's offensive line is better than Michigan.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Ohio State's offensive line will be without Phillip
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Daniels today, and it feels like they've kind of had
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: offensive line 1A and 1B, and it hasn't been a
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: big drop-off. So you're going to have the Gabe Van
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Sickle right guard, Austin Cirobel right.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Tackle offensive line, which.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: You know, before the season, it felt like, okay, they
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: think this Daniel thing of right tackle is a better combination,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: which is fine. But, I mean, Ryan Day said this week,
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: they view that as more or less interchangeable, I think.
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. They still want to see more of Philip Daniels,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: you know, see what that is, but I don't know.
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: Has he been well-evented at this point? Honestly, he has
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: not run the ball well enough to say, hey, basically,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: you're in this for good.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: But they weren't so great while Philip Daniels was out.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: There that you were like, we need to go back
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: to him.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: I do think when he's back to full go, I
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: think he's back at right tackle.
• 8:15
  Speaker 6: And if things don't go well, So when Ryan Day
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: said on Tuesday, I don't know if Gabe's done anything
• 8:23
  Speaker 6: to make him lose that spot, it almost sounded to
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: me like that's what.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: You would have said about a starter, right? Like the
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: starter being out, he didn't do anything to lose the spot.
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: So it's kind of weird, but I do think when
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: we talk about getting Wally picked, I'm not sure that
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: Phil had that locked in to begin with.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: I think there was still.
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: a bit of a, we're not quite sure on this,
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: so we don't know who the starter is. And now
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: it feels to me like Gabe, if they come out
• 8:46
  Speaker 5: here with him, and by the way, Austin's playing better
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: at tackle than he did at guard. If they come
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: out and have a successful game here at Iowa with
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: the Gabe VanSickle-Austin-Ceravelle combo, I think for sure that's rolling
• 8:59
  Speaker 5: into next week.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And then we'll see.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: And at that point, you've got four games. versus two
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: with Bill and one of them really shaky. I don't know.
• 9:08
  Speaker 5: I think it likely stays that way if they can
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: put together a good one here.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: If they run it well, there's no reason to change.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: As you said, Bill Daniels, he was yanked from that
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: season opener.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Right, right, yeah.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: So the crowd is about to start.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Coming in here in just a few minutes, so we're
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: going to wrap it up with some real quick score predictions.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: I went 24-13 Ohio State. I feel like that's a
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: perfectly acceptable way. If Ohio State wins 24-13 in this game.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Ohio State fans should be.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Perfectly happy with that. That keeps everything. If they walk
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: out of here with a one-point win, everything, it does
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: not change anything in a negative direction other than everyone's
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: blood pressure is a little higher. But if it's 24-13,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: I know there are people who are thinking, if they
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: don't score 30, it's a big problem. I don't know
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: that I'd look at it that way. I can certainly
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: see them scoring in the 30s. There's a way that happens.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I don't think they have to, but I think it's possible.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: And remember, a 24-13, an 11-point win against Iowa is
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a four. win.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: I went 34-17, I think Ohio State, or 31-17. Five
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: scores for Ohio State, one field goal, a couple touchdowns
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: for Jeremiah.
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: Maybe Brock Boyd gets his first one.
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: I actually think Brock's going to factor into this, but
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: I went 35-12. Every time I went back and forked
• 10:18
  Speaker 5: on this game.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: And I was like, am I being ridiculous?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Is this going to be really close?
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: I kept saying, I'm only thinking that because of the
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: magic that they have sometimes.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going to look at this from the
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: football aspect.
• 10:33
  Speaker 5: And I do think that this Ohio State team in
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: spite of a couple of flaws that we clearly see,
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: is just significantly better than this Iowa team.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: I think we see it play out today.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: So there you go, a pregame look from here at
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Kinnick Stadium. If you want to look at the field
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: behind me, this is a really unique venue. The benches,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the Ohio State bench, is right up against the fence,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: right up against the stands. I shot a behind-the-scenes video.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: We'll post it publicly on YouTube a little later today.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: If you want, you can find it on my Twitter account,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: and you can also find it on the Insiders board
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. get access to all that and much more.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: We're going to give you as much content as we
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: possibly can from as many different places as we can.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: You can find that on our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: at Buckeye Insiders and at BuckeyeInsiders.com.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: Thank you guys for joining us.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: We'll be back with our usual live post-game coverage after
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: the game. Oh, yeah.