Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / BONUS: What Makes Kinnick Stadium Such A Tough Place To Play?

Transcript

BONUS: What Makes Kinnick Stadium Such A Tough Place To Play? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Got another bonus show for you, and we're going to
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: be talking about the defense and maybe some more general
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: stuff about the game this weekend in Kinnick Stadium. And
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: we're going to start with Kari Wilder. He has been
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: a very hot topic on the Ohio State blogosphere, Twitter,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: our board, everywhere. Everyone wants to know, okay, what's the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: deal with Kari Wilder? Why is he not playing more?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And Ryan Day last week talked about the fact that
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: they really wanted him to focus on that third down
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: role in the pass rush package. And he has been
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: very good in that role.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: No question.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: So are they happy with what he's done there? Are
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: they happy with what they've been getting from the other
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: defensive ends on the team not named Kenyatta Jackson? And
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: if they're not, does that mean that maybe there should
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: be a bigger role for Kari Wilder?
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, we need production for sure. And... So
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: we're taking all applications. We need production.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: So it's everybody's job in the building, coaches and players,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: to make sure that we're putting guys in a situation
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: to be successful. But then in practice, we're building trust
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: that when you go in the game, you're going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: do your job. Because it's one thing to have talent.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: It's one thing to flash. But when you're playing team
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: defense and one guy is not where he's supposed to be,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I'm not talking about this person you know, any player
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: in particular, but I think it does matter. And I
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: think we all need to recognize that all it takes
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: is one guy to be out of a, out of
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: a gap and it can turn into an explosive play.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: So we all have to be disciplined in what we do.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: We don't just go out there and make plays. We
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: have to play within the defensive scheme, but we have
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: to dominate our one-on-one. And so that takes discipline. And
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: I think that going back, just because we brought it up,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, we have talent, but we need discipline and skill,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: skill to play the position, discipline to do our job
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: at a high level and everything that comes with it. So,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: but that's why we practice. And so there'll be a,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: plenty of opportunity for all those guys to come in
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: and build the trust. Because as coaches, we don't have
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: any time to not play guys that we think are
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: going to produce on the field, but also playing within
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: the scheme.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: If you've followed college football for a while, you probably
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: have noticed a pattern, and that is highly ranked teams
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: going into Kinnick Stadium and just sort of getting sucked
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: into playing an Iowa football game. And when I say
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: an Iowa football game, you know exactly what I mean. Man,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the 16-13 is real strong in that building in Kinnick Stadium.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So How does Iowa manage to take teams that are
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: usually a little more high-flying and sort of drag them
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: down into a Kirk Ferentz-style football game, and how, as
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a visiting team, do you avoid getting pulled into that
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: kind of game?
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a very difficult place to play. You just see.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: Teams who go in there, and like you said, first off,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: you got just the environment in general. It's a loud environment,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: so we got to be able to handle that part
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: of it, but this is This is a big opportunity
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: for our team, I think, to go onto a tough
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: road environment against a very good team and go get
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: a win. And that certainly would build a lot of
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: momentum for our season as we move forward.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So this is a huge week for us.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: And like you said, any coach would tell you that
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: you want to dictate the terms in all three phases.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: And they've historically done a good job of that, especially
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: at home. So it's going to be a great challenge
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: for us. And I think that's what we all have
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: to recognize and make sure that we're doing that.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Week two against Texas, you saw a good bit of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: someone like a true freshman, Jay Timmons, but a lot
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: of the other younger guys, Brock Boyd, Chris Henry Jr.,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: they didn't play as much as they have in most
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: of the other games when they were down in Texas.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: So as they're sort of building trust with those young guys,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: are some of those guys maybe ready for more time
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: this week?
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we're in a different place than we
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: were going into week two with a lot of guys.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Some guys are still working through that, but Yeah, I
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: think there's guys that you just mentioned there that have
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: built up enough trust that we feel like we need
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: to take the next step with them.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Ryan Day's first year on the staff at Ohio State
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: was 2017. He was just a young, fresh-faced quarterback coach,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: and he brought his team and his unit into Kinnick Stadium,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and they lost 55-24. Now, as the quarterback coach, he's
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: not responsible for the 55, certainly, but what lessons from
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: that game might be able to be applied today to
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: this year's team? Because the Buckeyes have not been back
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to Kinnick since that game.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's a different team. And, you know, it's
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: a difficult environment. So anytime you're going to throw, you know,
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: turn the ball over like we did early in the
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: game and, you know, not play very good in all
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: three phases, yeah, that's what's going to happen on the road.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: But to specifically say that, you know, that has anything
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: to do with this team in particular, no. But have
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: we talked about, you know, teams that have gone into
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Kinnick Stadium and had a hard time and been absolute
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: dogfights and, you know, they play really good at home. Yeah,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's a huge message, but that's been a
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: message for a long time. We've got this schedule going
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: on the road. This year, we knew this was going
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: to be part of it, you know, some of the
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: toughest stadiums in the country, and this is one of them.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I thought this was an interesting question from our buddy
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Tony Gerderman of Buckeye Insiders. He asked Ryan Day what
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: his two biggest concerns are on defense and what the
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Buckeyes can do to address those.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Coming out of the game, we just have to make
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: sure that you were just executing at a high level
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: across the board in terms of like everyone doing their job.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: I think, you know, overall, like you saw effort, but like.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Just not good enough execution.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Now you saw that we did do a few more
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: things in terms of, you know, some more pressure, some
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: more man. And so when that happens, you know, you
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: have to kind of play through some of that, but
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: you know, too many explosive places, you know, I mean,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: that goes without saying. And, our players and coaches obviously
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: would recognize the same thing. And so we've talked long
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: and hard about that. And so we got to do
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: a better job coaching and the players got to do
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: a better job of being accountable of that. And that's
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: really what it comes down to. And I think just
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: sustaining a certain level of focus throughout the entire game
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: is critical. And it's going to be four quarters in
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: this one right here. So we're going to have to
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: be at our best. And so we need a good plan.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: We need a good week of practice.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Here's kind of a sneaky, low-key answer from Ryan Day.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: was he able to watch the end of the Iowa-Michigan
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: game live? And if he was, was he able to
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: kind of do that just as a college football fan,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: just enjoy it rather than sort of having it, watching
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that game with your coach hat on?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I did with that one.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I thought it was very typical of an Iowa win,
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: you know, where They're very comfortable late in the game
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: like that, you know, punting and playing field position and
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: getting the ball back. But you got to give them
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: a lot of credit to go down the field and
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: a two-minute drill was really impressive. And so this is
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: a tough-minded group of players and coaches that, you know,
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: you got to give them a lot of credit going
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: on the road and winning like that. And they're playing well,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: and they're going to have a lot of confidence going
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: into this game, especially coming off of that win.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Communication has been a big topic with this year's Ohio
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: State defense, and You've heard it over and over again,
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: all the guys they lost and all the guys sort
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: of right down the spine of that defense, Hayden McDonald,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: Arvel Reese, Sonny Stiles, Caleb Downs, all these guys who
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: were really crucial parts of the communication for last year's defense,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: all gone off to the NFL. So now when they're
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: sort of filling that void on the defense, has that
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: sort of communication issue played a role in some of
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: the issues that you've seen on the defense?
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Um i think that that's very important making sure everybody's
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: on the same page and um you know it starts
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: with you know with the green dot making sure that
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: you know the communication is clean there that everybody on
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: the field has um an understanding of what the call
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: is but then all the adjustments that come with it
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: and then where you need to be post that um
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: all things we can control so you know that's that's
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: again on all of us to get fixed but I
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: don't think something like that happens and you say to yourself, boy,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: our communication was great.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: No, it's got to get better.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Here's one I wasn't really expecting an answer for, but
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Dan Hope of Love and Warriors phrased this one very
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: well to get an answer out of Ryan. He asked
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: about the status of nickel Jay Timmons, who went down
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and was sort of grabbing at his hamstring at one
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: point in the second half of the game against Illinois.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: But if Jay Timmons is not able to go this weekend,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: would Jermaine Matthews kick inside to nickel? Jordan Thomas, what
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: would be the plan there?
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Jermaine and Jordan both will step into those roles.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: We'll see how the week goes with Jay, see how
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: today goes, and then see what we can get out
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: of him on Saturday.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: But those will be the next guys up. All right,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: there you go.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to be having bonus shows for you all
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: week long. I'm going to let you hear from Ryan Day.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: We're going to let you try and hear from Kirk Ferentz,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Iowa's head coach, from his press conference on Tuesday. We
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: have Ohio State Basketball Media Day on Wednesday. We'll try
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and let you hear a little bit from Jake Diebler
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: as well about the Ohio State men's basketball team. Don't worry,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: we have not forgotten about the Ohio State men's basketball team.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: They open their season next Wednesday in an exhibition game.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: We'll try and be there to cover that one for
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: you as well. But we've got to really talk about
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: this week's Ohio State-Iowa game. Top 15 showdown in Kinnick Stadium.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Number 5 Buckeyes, number 14 Iowa Hawkeyes. Should be a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: great one. We're going to have lots of coverage all
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: week long. We would love to see you at BuckeyeInsiders.com
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: to take it all in. We've got our team insiders
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: covering the Buckeyes. We've got a recruiting insider covering the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: future Buckeyes. We've got our scheme insiders making you a
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: smarter football fan. And yes, we have our basketball insider
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: as well covering hoops, men's and women's hoops, basketball season
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: right around the corner as well. It is a great
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: time to sign up at BuckeyeInsiders.com. Just get access to
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: our whole team of insiders. Get access to a really
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: fun and active community. It's just $ 11. 99 a month.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: We would love to.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: See you there at BuckeyeInsiders.com. Just click on subscribe and
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: we will see you on the insiders board. Thank you
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: guys all for joining us. We'll be back with another
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: bonus episode soon.