Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ross Fulton Analysis: What Next For Michigan, Red Flags For Top-5 Teams
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, September seventeenth. I'm
- 0:03Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Marshall Game is in four days.
- 0:06Speaker 1: The game against Michigan in seventy four days. Can be
- 0:09Speaker 1: joined today by Ross Fulton of bucke Huddle dot com.
- 0:11Speaker 1: And when we're joined by Ross, we're sponsored by Jeff
- 0:14Speaker 1: Rubies of Columbus, proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA prime stake,
- 0:18Speaker 1: seafood and sushi, impeckable service, live entertainment, and an attention
- 0:21Speaker 1: to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to Jeff
- 0:24Speaker 1: Ruby dot com slash Columbus, check out the menu, and
- 0:27Speaker 1: make a reservation today. So all right, Normally on one
- 0:30Speaker 1: of these shows, we would be breaking down all the
- 0:32Speaker 1: stuff that we saw from the Ohio State offense the
- 0:34Speaker 1: Ohigo State defense in the previous weekends. Well there was
- 0:37Speaker 1: no Ohio State offense or Ohio State defense last weekend.
- 0:40Speaker 1: They had the week off. So instead today we're going
- 0:42Speaker 1: to be looking at some of the other big name
- 0:44Speaker 1: programs around the country. Teams may be doing a little
- 0:47Speaker 1: better or a little worse than perhaps we thought going
- 0:50Speaker 1: into the season. And having Ross take a little bit
- 0:53Speaker 1: of a deep dive on some of the whys behind
- 0:55Speaker 1: that and Ross. You know, our audience, if they don't
- 0:58Speaker 1: want to talk about Ohio State, they want to talk
- 1:00Speaker 1: about Michigan. So we are going to talk about Michigan first.
- 1:02Speaker 1: Tony Gerderman and I did more than an hour on
- 1:05Speaker 1: Michigan on Sunday on a live show. And my conclusion
- 1:11Speaker 1: from watching them is they only really have three problems
- 1:14Speaker 1: on offense. Their offensive line has some significant issues, their
- 1:17Speaker 1: quarterback play isn't very good, and they don't really have
- 1:19Speaker 1: a lot of talent in the wide receiver room. So
- 1:21Speaker 1: have I misdiagnosed anything there? And if I have that correct,
- 1:26Speaker 1: how big of a concern is that in terms of
- 1:28Speaker 1: having any kind of a functional offense moving forward?
- 1:31Speaker 2: Yeah? I would add their other problems they continue to
- 1:34Speaker 2: play the lesser running back of the two. Principally, I
- 1:38Speaker 2: mean I think that. I mean, I know Donovan Edwards
- 1:41Speaker 2: has had some big runs against Ohio State. If you
- 1:44Speaker 2: take those runs out, his career has been a lot
- 1:46Speaker 2: of very mediocre production. I think Khalil Mallins is the
- 1:50Speaker 2: better running back and more consistent, And you know, I
- 1:53Speaker 2: know they wanted Edwards for his explicitness, but ironically it
- 1:56Speaker 2: was Mullins on Saturday generating the explosive runs. Your diagnosis correct,
- 2:02Speaker 2: I am. They have significant issues at center and right tackle.
- 2:07Speaker 2: The guys that were starting there were not either of
- 2:09Speaker 2: whom were really expected to start there in the season,
- 2:12Speaker 2: and the production has not been there. They've gone back
- 2:14Speaker 2: and forth at center. The pass protection is really bad,
- 2:19Speaker 2: exacerbated by Davis Warren panicking under pressure, throwing off his
- 2:23Speaker 2: back foot, making bad decisions. I think from a general level,
- 2:28Speaker 2: I still am shocked. I you know, I told, you
- 2:31Speaker 2: know some Michigan partisans that I like to talk to,
- 2:34Speaker 2: like Space Coote and Manuel xl on Twitter prior to
- 2:38Speaker 2: the season that like, I'm like, Michigan is going to
- 2:40Speaker 2: be play Alex Orgie and run a re run offense
- 2:45Speaker 2: right and I just am shocked they didn't go that direction.
- 2:49Speaker 2: I think Orgy obviously is very limited as a passer,
- 2:52Speaker 2: but like your points all remain true, like they don't
- 2:56Speaker 2: have to play a game manager style, like you need
- 3:01Speaker 2: people around him that can help, and they're super limited.
- 3:05Speaker 2: And so you know, the problem now is obviously in
- 3:07Speaker 2: the middle of the season, if you didn't really prepare
- 3:09Speaker 2: to do that. I mean we saw with Orgy on Saturday.
- 3:12Speaker 2: They you know, they could do a little stuff. I
- 3:14Speaker 2: mean they did stuff with JJ McCarthy too, and last year,
- 3:16Speaker 2: you know, they can run you know, zone read, they
- 3:19Speaker 2: can run some bash concepts, power read. So it's hard
- 3:25Speaker 2: though in season to like really lean into that. I mean,
- 3:28Speaker 2: like I think that you know, they don't do much
- 3:30Speaker 2: RPO stuff. They can maybe do some reliefs like where
- 3:33Speaker 2: he reads pre snap. You know, it's like I got
- 3:35Speaker 2: three receivers over two defensive backs. I'm going to pull
- 3:37Speaker 2: it and through the bubble screen. But I just think
- 3:41Speaker 2: it's going to limit their upside in general on offense.
- 3:44Speaker 2: I mean, it's going to be a you know, I
- 3:45Speaker 2: said after the Texas game, like people were bashing on
- 3:49Speaker 2: the Michigan defense, and I do think that they've They're
- 3:53Speaker 2: not as good as they were last year. They're really
- 3:55Speaker 2: good last year. They're still probably a top ten defense.
- 3:57Speaker 2: They don't have the depth.
- 3:58Speaker 1: I don't.
- 3:59Speaker 2: I think Martin Dale step down from what Jesse Minter
- 4:02Speaker 2: was doing, and like you know, he's introduced some like
- 4:06Speaker 2: I think he had to step back. He put in
- 4:08Speaker 2: a bunch of like his NFL, like you know Amiba
- 4:10Speaker 2: concepts where people are lined up all in the live
- 4:13Speaker 2: scrimmage and then like they bust plays because it's you know,
- 4:16Speaker 2: college still and they don't as much practice time and
- 4:18Speaker 2: you're not dealing with the best players in the world,
- 4:20Speaker 2: and so they seem to like sort of dial it
- 4:22Speaker 2: down and simplify things on Saturday. But like all that's
- 4:25Speaker 2: to say, like the defense is good enough, right, like
- 4:28Speaker 2: to win, Like it's still probably a top ten defense.
- 4:30Speaker 2: But like when you're in the sixties offensively, like in
- 4:33Speaker 2: advanced stats, and you're like in Iowa territory.
- 4:37Speaker 1: And if you were Sharon Moore right now, what would
- 4:40Speaker 1: you do? Are you trying to Are you going to
- 4:42Speaker 1: put Alex Orgi in there and you're going to try
- 4:44Speaker 1: and just do a quarterback run and ground based attack
- 4:49Speaker 1: because you don't have a great passer. Are you desperately
- 4:52Speaker 1: hoping that Jack Tuttle comes back from whatever his injury
- 4:55Speaker 1: situation is and he can magically fix it. I mean,
- 4:58Speaker 1: Colston Lovelin went down with an injury on Saturday. I
- 5:01Speaker 1: have not seen an update on his status yet. How
- 5:03Speaker 1: do you how do you fix this for Michigan? What
- 5:06Speaker 1: where can they go because you said, your limited in
- 5:09Speaker 1: how much you can really change once you're in the
- 5:11Speaker 1: middle of the season.
- 5:13Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, as I said, I think it's sort
- 5:14Speaker 2: of an indictment of their preseason process that they didn't
- 5:18Speaker 2: sure they sort of wanted to just like run back
- 5:20Speaker 2: what they did last year. And you know, when you don't,
- 5:23Speaker 2: you got to deal with the players you have, Like
- 5:25Speaker 2: you know, they're all gone from last year, so you
- 5:28Speaker 2: can't really run the same offense. Yeah, I think you tried.
- 5:31Speaker 2: You you know, they announced that Orgin is going to start.
- 5:33Speaker 2: The Jack Tedtle situation is odd to me. I'm not
- 5:36Speaker 2: really really sure Jack Tittle is a savior in general.
- 5:38Speaker 2: I mean, have the same problems where you're like you
- 5:41Speaker 2: have one good receiver and your tight end and Loveland
- 5:44Speaker 2: and that's about it. I think you just lean into
- 5:48Speaker 2: everything you've got in terms of read concepts, as I said,
- 5:52Speaker 2: like try to mix in some reliefs, some easy throws
- 5:55Speaker 2: to like keep leveling involved, and you know, you hope
- 5:59Speaker 2: that gets you of an extra you know, from the
- 6:01Speaker 2: sixties and offensive efficiency to like the forties, right, Like,
- 6:05Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think there's going to be any
- 6:07Speaker 2: sort of grand uh, you know, Sky's partying and all
- 6:11Speaker 2: of a sudden, they're good offensive team. They just have
- 6:13Speaker 2: to be less bad and like hope that the combination
- 6:17Speaker 2: of of you know, when you're reading people, it minimizes
- 6:20Speaker 2: obviously your offensive lines issues. They can't really pass protect anyway,
- 6:24Speaker 2: so I mean, I think their passing game is pretty
- 6:26Speaker 2: much sunk no matter what. So I guess you try
- 6:28Speaker 2: to run it as much as you can.
- 6:31Speaker 1: Well, one team that has sort of sh shine, shined
- 6:34Speaker 1: a bright light on some of the issues that Michigan
- 6:36Speaker 1: has had this year is Texas. They went up to
- 6:38Speaker 1: ann Arbor and just thumped the Wolverines a couple of
- 6:41Speaker 1: weeks ago. That's another team with a little bit of
- 6:43Speaker 1: uncertainty at quarterback. Right now, Quin you'res having an injury
- 6:46Speaker 1: Arch Banning stepping in and looking pretty darn good against UTSA. Well, caution,
- 6:51Speaker 1: this is not the UTSA you are familiar with for
- 6:53Speaker 1: the last few years. Texas State put up forty nine
- 6:56Speaker 1: on them a week ago, So Texas putting up fifty
- 6:58Speaker 1: six on them does not necessarily move the needle quite
- 7:00Speaker 1: as much as it might have in previous years. But
- 7:03Speaker 1: they feel like they are at least they have looked
- 7:06Speaker 1: as consistent and as good as you sort of expected
- 7:10Speaker 1: them to, at least in my mind coming into the
- 7:13Speaker 1: season where they were sort of perceived as broadly at
- 7:16Speaker 1: least a Final four caliber team. What have you seen
- 7:19Speaker 1: out of Texas so far and do you feel like
- 7:21Speaker 1: they're you know, have they have your expectations for them
- 7:23Speaker 1: changed it all so far this year?
- 7:26Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I would not want them if I
- 7:29Speaker 2: was Texas, I would not want to be without Quin
- 7:31Speaker 2: Yours for an extended stretch. I putting aside. You know,
- 7:35Speaker 2: the arch man in perpetual hype like I mean, yours
- 7:38Speaker 2: is probably a first round quarterback, and I think he's
- 7:40Speaker 2: the strength of their team, especially with what start does
- 7:44Speaker 2: with just so rpo heavy, you know, and that's what
- 7:48Speaker 2: really challenges you. And he's a great play caller, you know.
- 7:52Speaker 2: I still so like m GO blog like Brian Cook
- 7:56Speaker 2: and those guys, do you know, extensive breakdowns of you know,
- 8:00Speaker 2: scheme stuff post game and you know, I mean, I
- 8:03Speaker 2: think their assessment was it wasn't like Texas defensively was
- 8:07Speaker 2: overwhelming Michigan with talent. It just Michigan was that bad.
- 8:11Speaker 2: And so I've cautioned a little bit, like to our
- 8:14Speaker 2: previous discussion, like I don't want I think Texas is
- 8:17Speaker 2: maybe getting a little bit too much credit for going
- 8:19Speaker 2: to beat with Michigan, which is maybe like the seventh
- 8:23Speaker 2: best team right now in the Big Ten, you know,
- 8:25Speaker 2: I mean, I think, you know, Indiana statistically is doing
- 8:28Speaker 2: far better than Michigan is right now and has better
- 8:30Speaker 2: quarterback play. So you know that being said, like Sark's
- 8:34Speaker 2: going to always challenge you. You know, they sort of
- 8:36Speaker 2: play that three down front, odd front that try to
- 8:40Speaker 2: spill everything, sort of the Big twelve defense for lack
- 8:43Speaker 2: of a better word, even though I know they're not
- 8:44Speaker 2: in the SEC that you know, creates some different blocking challenges.
- 8:49Speaker 2: But I'm still not convinced that they from top to bottom.
- 8:54Speaker 2: You know, they lost their defensive tackles to the NFL,
- 8:58Speaker 2: have the same talent level as Ohio State or Alabama
- 9:02Speaker 2: or Georgia. I don't know, but they may be able
- 9:05Speaker 2: to overcome that with the quarterback play and play calling.
- 9:09Speaker 1: Well, we probably will not have a great sense for
- 9:12Speaker 1: what Texas is again, any more of a sense anyway.
- 9:15Speaker 1: For the next few weeks. They have Louisiana Monroe this week,
- 9:17Speaker 1: Mississippi State the following week, and then a week off
- 9:20Speaker 1: before the Red River Shootout against Oklahoma on October twelfth,
- 9:24Speaker 1: and then the Georgia Bulldogs coming to Austin on October nineteenth,
- 9:27Speaker 1: and by that point, yeah, we should know a lot
- 9:29Speaker 1: more about what the Texas Longhorns.
- 9:31Speaker 2: Are.
- 9:31Speaker 1: Last team I wanted to talk to you about was
- 9:33Speaker 1: the Oregon Ducks because they came out they were, you know,
- 9:36Speaker 1: came into the season basically with the same level of
- 9:39Speaker 1: expectation as Texas, where you look at just about anyone's
- 9:42Speaker 1: playoff projections and everyone had them sort of penciled into
- 9:44Speaker 1: the final four at the very least, and then they
- 9:47Speaker 1: looked terrible against Idaho, and then they looked retty not
- 9:51Speaker 1: great against Boise State for long stretches, played a good
- 9:55Speaker 1: first half against Oregon State, and then really hit the
- 9:57Speaker 1: Jets in the second half that I felt it feels
- 10:01Speaker 1: to me like the issues there are largely in the trenches.
- 10:04Speaker 1: They made a change at center around halftime against Boise State,
- 10:07Speaker 1: and that seems like maybe that has addressed some of
- 10:09Speaker 1: the issues, But is or you know, has the has
- 10:12Speaker 1: the projection for you for Oregon materially changed And if so, why, Yeah.
- 10:19Speaker 2: I mean again, I should say in Texas's favor. You know,
- 10:22Speaker 2: they have very good offensive line play. Organ does not,
- 10:24Speaker 2: and I mean that's going to limit them. I think
- 10:27Speaker 2: a lot of the preseason projections are based on the
- 10:29Speaker 2: fact that they do have a very good wide receiving corps.
- 10:32Speaker 2: They have a good, very good running back. You know,
- 10:34Speaker 2: they have Dylan Gabriel. I just think it's it's just
- 10:37Speaker 2: very hard to overcome for interior offensive line player. It's
- 10:41Speaker 2: at least going to limit. So you see sort of
- 10:43Speaker 2: like a perky, jerky nature to them that they have
- 10:46Speaker 2: some explosiveness, but then they'll have setbacks. Like Texas, they're
- 10:50Speaker 2: another team that's just going to run run pass options
- 10:53Speaker 2: to death against you. You know, they do it in
- 10:57Speaker 2: such a way that they kind of expose their quarterbacks
- 11:00Speaker 2: to getting hit a lot. We talked, you know, we conversely,
- 11:04Speaker 2: like last week, we're talking about how Chip Kelly does
- 11:07Speaker 2: some things on the back side of our pos with
- 11:09Speaker 2: this offensive line to protect the quarterback in terms of
- 11:12Speaker 2: past that eight. You know, so they they sort of
- 11:14Speaker 2: opened Gabriel up to quite a bit of shots, which
- 11:18Speaker 2: you know, I guess can challenge you in the sense of,
- 11:21Speaker 2: like you gotta you know, they're they're reading those people,
- 11:23Speaker 2: but it's just really sort of playing with fire a
- 11:26Speaker 2: little bit, both just in terms of his you know,
- 11:29Speaker 2: not just his health, but just in terms of like
- 11:30Speaker 2: the boom or bust of the offense. And so I
- 11:34Speaker 2: just think they're going to continue to be sort of streaky,
- 11:38Speaker 2: for lack of a better word, a little bit up
- 11:39Speaker 2: and down. You know, they'll have some great dries and
- 11:41Speaker 2: then they'll have some some duds. But you know, I mean,
- 11:45Speaker 2: I think they're going to obviously still be a challenge.
- 11:47Speaker 2: Like if you look at like the advanced stats right now,
- 11:50Speaker 2: like Ohio State sort of comfortably the first team in
- 11:53Speaker 2: the Big Ten, and then you sort of have Oregon
- 11:55Speaker 2: and pen stated that next tier, and obviously you know
- 11:58Speaker 2: Ohio State has to go to Oregon. You know, they
- 12:01Speaker 2: can make some plays on defense too. I mean, I
- 12:03Speaker 2: think they'll continue to post a challenge is because of
- 12:05Speaker 2: their explosiveness, even if their offensive line sort of limits
- 12:08Speaker 2: their upside.
- 12:11Speaker 1: Yeah, it feels like one of those teams where the
- 12:13Speaker 1: talent is just good enough that it's probably going to
- 12:16Speaker 1: be able to drag them to a pretty good number
- 12:18Speaker 1: of wins this year and probably have them. I think
- 12:21Speaker 1: there were people who are looking at that Oregon game,
- 12:23Speaker 1: maybe a week ago, after the Oregons or after the
- 12:27Speaker 1: Idaho and Boise State games and going, oh, High State's
- 12:30Speaker 1: got that one in the bag, and it was I
- 12:32Speaker 1: I think it's probably a little early to be protecting that.
- 12:37Speaker 1: Is there anyone else in the country who you know,
- 12:39Speaker 1: any other teams at the top of the sport or
- 12:42Speaker 1: anywhere else that you feel are you know, either either
- 12:46Speaker 1: some big red flags right now or are substantially ahead
- 12:50Speaker 1: of where you thought they might be.
- 12:53Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously it's hard to ignore Georgio only
- 12:56Speaker 2: scoring thirteen points against Kentucky, you know, just I still
- 13:01Speaker 2: wonder a little bit about their they seem to really
- 13:03Speaker 2: be missing brock Bowers, about their overall talent at the
- 13:07Speaker 2: skill positions, you know, and how much Carson back last
- 13:12Speaker 2: year was sort of propped up by the talent surrounding
- 13:15Speaker 2: him versus his play.
- 13:17Speaker 1: You know.
- 13:17Speaker 2: I mean, I I still think usc Is is dangerous
- 13:21Speaker 2: and maybe still a little underrated. You know, they obviously
- 13:24Speaker 2: have a big game coming out at Michigan this week,
- 13:26Speaker 2: and we'll see how that defense holds up. They're going
- 13:29Speaker 2: to have to prepare as I said for Michigan basically
- 13:32Speaker 2: changing to be a rerun team to the extent that
- 13:35Speaker 2: Michigan is able to do that. But I just think
- 13:39Speaker 2: they're getting really high quarterback play. You know, they're they're
- 13:43Speaker 2: explosive on the outside. I think, you know, Michigan has
- 13:46Speaker 2: you know, defensively like Texas did take advantage of some
- 13:49Speaker 2: things in the secondary, and you know, Michigan's second corner.
- 13:53Speaker 2: And so I still think, you know, in terms of
- 13:56Speaker 2: Big Ten picture, like thinking ahead, like, I still think
- 13:59Speaker 2: USC is also definitely a potential team to make it
- 14:02Speaker 2: to Indianapolis in the Big Ten championship.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a team I was kind of about
- 14:08Speaker 1: ready to sort of write off the Lincoln Riley era,
- 14:11Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, now they have a defense
- 14:12Speaker 1: and it looked like they maybe have an offense again
- 14:14Speaker 1: as well. And so it is perhaps perhaps I was
- 14:17Speaker 1: a little premature there on that one, but you.
- 14:20Speaker 2: Know, an sp plus if you take out the preseason projections,
- 14:22Speaker 2: Indiana is the eighth best team statistically right now. So
- 14:26Speaker 2: I know it's it's hard to say, but I mean,
- 14:29Speaker 2: I think he's a good coach. He brought in like
- 14:31Speaker 2: forty some transfers. I mean I made number maybe a
- 14:34Speaker 2: little hot, but not too much. They're getting good quarterback play,
- 14:37Speaker 2: and so I think that they are you know, like,
- 14:40Speaker 2: for instance, Michigan has to go play in Indiana. I
- 14:43Speaker 2: think right now I would call that a toss up game,
- 14:46Speaker 2: and so I think that they're going to cause some
- 14:49Speaker 2: problems as well Illinois. So you know, they're sort of like,
- 14:52Speaker 2: as I said, there's sort of like a mid tier
- 14:54Speaker 2: depth right now in the Big Ten where there's teams
- 14:57Speaker 2: that I don't think they're necessarily playoff teams, but I
- 15:00Speaker 2: think they could cause some problems for some of the
- 15:02Speaker 2: potential playoff teams.
- 15:05Speaker 1: Well, Ohio State does have to Iistate does not have
- 15:07Speaker 1: Illinois on the schedule this year, but they do have
- 15:10Speaker 1: Indiana coming to Columbus, so we get to watch that
- 15:13Speaker 1: when Michigan does have to go to Bloomington. Yeah, that
- 15:15Speaker 1: is that is potentially a little bit of a little
- 15:17Speaker 1: bit of an issue there would not have necessarily expected
- 15:20Speaker 1: to think that six weeks ago or six months ago,
- 15:23Speaker 1: but Kurt Signetti, Curtis Rourke, Yeah, definitely some definitely some
- 15:26Speaker 1: positive up arrow trends there in Bloomington. So thank you
- 15:30Speaker 1: to Ross for joining me. I always appreciate having him
- 15:33Speaker 1: on to share his insights on the Buckeyes and everything else.
- 15:36Speaker 1: Of course, we once again thank our sponsors Jeff Rubies
- 15:38Speaker 1: of Columbus, the award winning Upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus,
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- 15:47Speaker 1: check out the menu, and make a reservation today. That'll
- 15:49Speaker 1: do it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
- 15:51Speaker 1: Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.