Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Inside The Blocked Punt That Kickstarted Ohio State's Win Over Purdue
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning from Monday, November eleventh.
- 0:03Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The Northwestern game is in
- 0:05Speaker 1: five days, the game against Michigan in nineteen days. Buck
- 0:10Speaker 1: guys heading into that Northwestern game with just one loss
- 0:14Speaker 1: on the season thanks to a forty five nothing win
- 0:17Speaker 1: over Purdue on Saturday.
- 0:19Speaker 2: Buck Eys.
- 0:20Speaker 1: Not the most exciting game in the history of Ohio
- 0:22Speaker 1: State football, but they handled their business, something they definitely
- 0:26Speaker 1: deserve credit for. And now they've got to handle their
- 0:28Speaker 1: business again this weekend in Berkeley Field against the Northwestern Wildcats.
- 0:32Speaker 1: Before we turn the page to that Northwestern game, you
- 0:34Speaker 1: can be talking just a little bit more about that
- 0:36Speaker 1: win over Purdue's gonna be laying you here directly from
- 0:38Speaker 1: Ohio State head coach Brian Day some of his thoughts
- 0:40Speaker 1: after the game. Let's start with the punt block. You're
- 0:43Speaker 1: going to be hearing a couple things about that punt block.
- 0:46Speaker 1: It was a big play, a very dynamic play by
- 0:48Speaker 1: the Ohio State special teams. It really kind of got
- 0:50Speaker 1: the game kick started. So what went into that punt
- 0:54Speaker 1: block and why was that such a big play for
- 0:56Speaker 1: the buck Eyes.
- 0:57Speaker 3: Now there was a challenge set out special teams. We
- 1:00Speaker 3: went back and changed some stuff on personnel. We felt
- 1:03Speaker 3: like we had something on you know, in the punt block,
- 1:06Speaker 3: we put Kid and Mitch off the edge there, you know,
- 1:08Speaker 3: which was we felt like a good matchup for us
- 1:11Speaker 3: in that moment. Put a lot of work into it.
- 1:13Speaker 3: But then those guys have to go execute it, and
- 1:14Speaker 3: they did. And we felt like, especially in the first
- 1:17Speaker 3: half of this game, coming off the emotional win of
- 1:19Speaker 3: last week, that getting a special teams either still a
- 1:22Speaker 3: possession or big play could jumpstart us in the game.
- 1:25Speaker 2: I thought it did.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Besides the special teams, another group that stood out was
- 1:28Speaker 1: the Ohios Date defensive ends. It was a big day
- 1:31Speaker 1: for them. Obviously, the big play was the fumble, the
- 1:34Speaker 1: fourth fumble by j T Twoey Molowow, the scoop and
- 1:37Speaker 1: score touchdown by Jack Sawyer. But overall, why was that
- 1:41Speaker 1: such a big day for the Ohisted defensive ends.
- 1:44Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought JT and Jack were both very disruptive
- 1:46Speaker 3: and certainly the force fumble and scoop and score was
- 1:50Speaker 3: the epitome of that in this game. But like you said,
- 1:53Speaker 3: you know, it starts up front, and you know, I think,
- 1:56Speaker 3: you know, we ty Leak was available, he could have played,
- 1:59Speaker 3: but we felt like, you know, we're gonna hold them
- 2:01Speaker 3: unless we really needed him, you know, plan on getting
- 2:04Speaker 3: him back for next week full go. But but it
- 2:07Speaker 3: was good to see some other guys step up and
- 2:08Speaker 3: you have to get in there and play, and you know,
- 2:11Speaker 3: it's everybody across the board. I thought that, you know,
- 2:12Speaker 3: the dbs were you know, solid and coverage. I only
- 2:16Speaker 3: think that I just, you know, I don't know how
- 2:18Speaker 3: many nine completions. So anytime that happens, three sacks, you
- 2:21Speaker 3: know you're gett in a backfield.
- 2:22Speaker 2: That makes a big difference.
- 2:24Speaker 1: Ran Day has talked about overhauling that defense a little
- 2:26Speaker 1: bit in the wake of that loss to Oregon a
- 2:28Speaker 1: couple of weeks ago. What kind of changes did they
- 2:30Speaker 1: really make though.
- 2:33Speaker 3: I think, you know, to the naked eye, there's you know,
- 2:35Speaker 3: it's not like we redid the whole thing. But you know,
- 2:37Speaker 3: when you when you start from scratch, there's just certain
- 2:39Speaker 3: things that you either make assumptions on or you have
- 2:43Speaker 3: to make sure that you're putting the right guys in
- 2:44Speaker 3: the right place. And you know, all it takes is
- 2:47Speaker 3: a little bit to be off. And when you had
- 2:49Speaker 3: these little things up over time, they can make a
- 2:52Speaker 3: big difference. And I think the guys are understanding that.
- 2:56Speaker 3: I think they know how they can go win a game.
- 2:58Speaker 3: But then we have to have the change ups, you know,
- 2:59Speaker 3: some we're along the game to keep people off balance,
- 3:03Speaker 3: and so without getting too technical on it, you know,
- 3:05Speaker 3: I think that you know, we have the right people
- 3:07Speaker 3: in the right spots. I think we're getting lined up
- 3:09Speaker 3: faster and getting set, getting our cleat center ground and
- 3:11Speaker 3: being more aggressive.
- 3:12Speaker 2: On a perimeter.
- 3:13Speaker 1: One thing that changed on the defensive line on Saturday
- 3:15Speaker 1: was it was the first career start for freshman Edrick Houston.
- 3:19Speaker 1: He started his career as a defensive end and they
- 3:21Speaker 1: moved him into that three tech on the interior of
- 3:23Speaker 1: the defensive line, and he seems like he is finding
- 3:25Speaker 1: finding himself very much at home there. What was it
- 3:28Speaker 1: but went into that being his first career.
- 3:30Speaker 3: Start on Saturday, I have to watch the film and
- 3:33Speaker 3: see he's you know, really flashed for us making the
- 3:38Speaker 3: move from defensive end too three technique and he has
- 3:41Speaker 3: a lot of ability. He is active and you know
- 3:45Speaker 3: he's young, so he's going to have to continue to
- 3:47Speaker 3: learn and you know he's going to make plays. He's
- 3:48Speaker 3: going to make some mistakes and he's got to he's
- 3:50Speaker 3: got to grow up quickly because we need him. But
- 3:52Speaker 3: I think his future is very very bright, hit or
- 3:54Speaker 3: high stated. I think he can be a very very
- 3:56Speaker 3: good player, and I think, you know, he could be
- 3:58Speaker 3: a really dynamic three technique for us.
- 4:00Speaker 1: One thing that you'll sort of notice going week to
- 4:02Speaker 1: week is every once in a while, you'll have a
- 4:03Speaker 1: guy who normally makes a ton of big plays for
- 4:05Speaker 1: Ohio State have kind of a quiet week. A Mecca
- 4:08Speaker 1: Abuka he had only one catch. Now the catch went
- 4:10Speaker 1: for a touchdown, but it was still only one catch
- 4:12Speaker 1: on the day. Travion Henderson, he made a bunch of
- 4:15Speaker 1: really big plays, only six carries, three catches on the day.
- 4:20Speaker 2: Why is that? Why?
- 4:21Speaker 1: Why are certain guys not getting as many touches as
- 4:24Speaker 1: you might normally expect. Is that sort of a product
- 4:26Speaker 1: of the slower tempo, fewer snaps, all that kind of stuff.
- 4:30Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of reasons to go
- 4:33Speaker 3: no huddle. There's a lot of reasons to huddle. And
- 4:37Speaker 3: when we're huddling, you know we're not getting as many plays.
- 4:39Speaker 3: You know we're getting you know, we ended up with
- 4:41Speaker 3: sixty six plays and then you know, our starters are
- 4:44Speaker 3: pretty much out there in the fourth quarter, so there's
- 4:46Speaker 3: just not as many plays as there used to be.
- 4:50Speaker 3: So a big part of this season is understanding that,
- 4:54Speaker 3: you know, the touches, the number is not always going
- 4:56Speaker 3: to be as high as maybe in the past. So guys,
- 4:59Speaker 3: guys like a Mech and Carnel, you know, they they
- 5:01Speaker 3: understand that and it's not always easy. You know, you
- 5:03Speaker 3: want to have an impact on the game, but you
- 5:06Speaker 3: know they're their their time is gonna He's coming.
- 5:09Speaker 2: You know, those these big games are coming.
- 5:11Speaker 3: You know, as as we continue to move through November,
- 5:14Speaker 3: we're gonna need them to play at a high level.
- 5:15Speaker 3: But you know, we're looking for that that combination obviously
- 5:19Speaker 3: of being explosive on a perimeter downfield and then obviously
- 5:22Speaker 3: in the run game, and you know, we need everybody
- 5:24Speaker 3: involved with it, you know, and a big part of
- 5:26Speaker 3: that is being unselfish.
- 5:27Speaker 2: It's a big.
- 5:28Speaker 3: Part of where when we go into November, we have
- 5:30Speaker 3: to have an unselfish offense and defense. But you know,
- 5:33Speaker 3: when you're on offense, there's only one football and we
- 5:35Speaker 3: got to do everything we can to win the game
- 5:37Speaker 3: and good to see himcha get that touchdown.
- 5:40Speaker 2: But you know, you know, here's a guy who shared.
- 5:43Speaker 3: Certainly he wants, you know, more touches any receiver does,
- 5:46Speaker 3: but he's not a guy that is going to be
- 5:48Speaker 3: selfish and make it about him. He knows the bigger
- 5:50Speaker 3: picture on this. He's a captain, one of the best
- 5:53Speaker 3: receivers in the history of Ohio State football, and I
- 5:55Speaker 3: know the fans appreciate who he is.
- 5:58Speaker 1: One player who made a big impact on the Ohios
- 6:00Speaker 1: win forty five dozing over Purdue was quarterback Will Howard.
- 6:03Speaker 1: He finished twenty one for twenty six for two hundred
- 6:05Speaker 1: and sixty yards, three touchdowns plus another one on the ground,
- 6:08Speaker 1: no turnovers. Again, this is not an absolute Heisman winning game,
- 6:14Speaker 1: but it was just very efficient throughout. Is this the
- 6:16Speaker 1: kind of day that they need from Will Howard?
- 6:18Speaker 3: You know, he made some nice throws today. He took
- 6:21Speaker 3: care of the football. We did have the one sack
- 6:24Speaker 3: that we'd like to throw away there, but then he
- 6:26Speaker 3: came right back and made you know, two nice throws
- 6:28Speaker 3: to get us back into it, which was which was huge.
- 6:31Speaker 3: I thought the second and long throw to Jeremiah was
- 6:33Speaker 3: great and then obviously the third down they came with
- 6:36Speaker 3: zero pressure. I think Trey did a great job of
- 6:38Speaker 3: picking it up and then he found his hot answer
- 6:40Speaker 3: right there.
- 6:41Speaker 2: So those are the things that are important.
- 6:43Speaker 3: But yeah, we're going to go back on the film
- 6:46Speaker 3: and figure out the things that we got to continue
- 6:48Speaker 3: to clean up and get better at it. Across the board.
- 6:50Speaker 3: It wasn't all clean today. It wasn't, but I thought
- 6:53Speaker 3: guys played hard, and again, good to see us respond
- 6:56Speaker 3: coming off an emotional win. You watch it all across
- 6:59Speaker 3: college football all you know, you know, we we've been
- 7:02Speaker 3: a part of that too, where you come off an
- 7:03Speaker 3: emotional win like that and you have a letdown going
- 7:05Speaker 3: into the game. We just we're in November now, like
- 7:08Speaker 3: every single snap matters, every every play matters, And that
- 7:12Speaker 3: being said, I think some guys took that opportunity in
- 7:14Speaker 3: the second half, some young players to use those snaps
- 7:16Speaker 3: as an opportunity to make a name for themselves because
- 7:18Speaker 3: we're gonna need depth as we continue to go through
- 7:21Speaker 3: through November. We've already seen that, so, you know, good
- 7:24Speaker 3: to see us respond coming off an emotional win last week.
- 7:28Speaker 1: Now back to that blocked punt, they made one of
- 7:31Speaker 1: the changes they made was Kayden Curry and Mitchell Melton
- 7:34Speaker 1: became part of the punt rushers. So what did they
- 7:36Speaker 1: like about what they saw during the week that led
- 7:39Speaker 1: them to make that change.
- 7:40Speaker 3: Yeah, we like the match up with those guys on
- 7:42Speaker 3: the shield. When you look at the shield they you know,
- 7:45Speaker 3: we're a little bit smaller body types. We felt like
- 7:47Speaker 3: we got them to move their feet, that we had
- 7:49Speaker 3: a chance to go after it. We thought both Cayden
- 7:52Speaker 3: and Mitch, you know, do that for a living. They
- 7:56Speaker 3: they can you know, rush the passer and then you know,
- 7:58Speaker 3: they they slithered their way through the through the shield
- 8:02Speaker 3: and at least at the very least put pressure on it.
- 8:04Speaker 3: But we felt like that was a good matchup with
- 8:06Speaker 3: those bigger body types on the shields and so you know,
- 8:10Speaker 3: usually we have those smaller guys that are on punt return,
- 8:14Speaker 3: but we felt this was the good matchup. We've been
- 8:16Speaker 3: working on it for a couple of weeks and you know,
- 8:18Speaker 3: it was good to see it hit early in the game.
- 8:19Speaker 1: We've talked on some recent shows about the fact that
- 8:22Speaker 1: the special teams have kind of just sort of been there.
- 8:24Speaker 1: They haven't made a really big dynamic play in quite
- 8:27Speaker 1: a while. And you've seen over the last few years
- 8:30Speaker 1: that other teams have been able to use special teams
- 8:32Speaker 1: to steal a possession, organ with that on side kick,
- 8:35Speaker 1: that surprise on sidekick against the Buckeyes in Eugene a
- 8:38Speaker 1: couple weeks ago. Sometimes it's a block punt that just whatever.
- 8:42Speaker 1: Some one of those kind of plays can really swing
- 8:45Speaker 1: a game. So has that sort of been an emphasis
- 8:47Speaker 1: for them in the last couple of weeks.
- 8:49Speaker 3: Yeah, And we put a lot of work into it.
- 8:51Speaker 3: I mean a lot of work, so you know, we
- 8:52Speaker 3: need to start seeing results. So we did make a
- 8:54Speaker 3: few adjustments. I think you saw Trevion back there a
- 8:57Speaker 3: kickoff return. We didn't quite get what we wanted there.
- 8:59Speaker 3: We've used know, Caleb and Brandon back there at return.
- 9:03Speaker 3: So we've moved some You saw a couple of guys
- 9:04Speaker 3: run down a little bit different on kickoff. Denzel was
- 9:06Speaker 3: a gunner for us or a jammer for us today.
- 9:09Speaker 3: So you know, we're moving some pieces around to try
- 9:12Speaker 3: to put our best guys out there on special teams
- 9:14Speaker 3: because we work at it. We work at it, and
- 9:16Speaker 3: maybe we haven't always had as many opportunities just you know,
- 9:19Speaker 3: like you've seen the last few weeks, you've seen a
- 9:22Speaker 3: lot of puns. We haven't really had an opportunity to
- 9:23Speaker 3: return them. Put a lot of work into it, but yeah,
- 9:26Speaker 3: it was you know, Rob you know, kind of organizes everything,
- 9:29Speaker 3: but Brian hartlines in terms, you know, in charge of
- 9:31Speaker 3: the punt return and punt block.
- 9:32Speaker 2: So good to see them.
- 9:34Speaker 3: You know, make a difference in this game and change
- 9:36Speaker 3: the game. It was something we were really hammering this week.
- 9:38Speaker 3: We felt like we had something there, but you got
- 9:39Speaker 3: to go do it. You got to go put it
- 9:40Speaker 3: on the field. So it's good for those guys, you know,
- 9:43Speaker 3: to get that done.
- 9:44Speaker 1: Talked earlier about some of the changes that have happened
- 9:46Speaker 1: on defense and some of the shuffling. They definitely did
- 9:49Speaker 1: a lot of mixing and mastic matching of personnel on
- 9:51Speaker 1: Saturday against Purdue, as well as some different looks on
- 9:54Speaker 1: the defensive line. Sometime some three down instead of four down.
- 9:58Speaker 1: What kind of a luxury is that to be able
- 9:59Speaker 1: to sort of shuffle those guys and make those kind
- 10:02Speaker 1: of weeks during a game.
- 10:04Speaker 3: Yeah, and when ty League wasn't available, we felt like
- 10:07Speaker 3: we wanted to try some different things and look at
- 10:09Speaker 3: some different packages. We'll keep building on it and evaluate
- 10:14Speaker 3: it and see what worked what didn't. But we felt
- 10:16Speaker 3: like this was a good opportunity to go, you know,
- 10:18Speaker 3: try some of that stuff, some things that that Gym's
- 10:20Speaker 3: done in his past, and you know, we'll keep looking
- 10:23Speaker 3: at it and see if it fits.
- 10:24Speaker 2: Now.
- 10:25Speaker 1: It is not as easy as just snapping your fingers
- 10:27Speaker 1: and saying, Okay, now you're going to go with a
- 10:29Speaker 1: three down defensive line instead of a four down when
- 10:31Speaker 1: you've played four down for pretty much most of the
- 10:33Speaker 1: last several seasons. So how much does it help to
- 10:36Speaker 1: be you have a group of veteran guys like they
- 10:39Speaker 1: have in that defensive line room and really all around
- 10:41Speaker 1: the defense to be able to try things like that
- 10:43Speaker 1: when you're just sort of in the middle of the season.
- 10:46Speaker 3: Yeah, it could be, you know, a real weapon for us.
- 10:48Speaker 3: And like you said, it's it's not easy to experiment,
- 10:52Speaker 3: you know, when when you know you're in certain games.
- 10:54Speaker 3: But we felt like it's something that we had done
- 10:58Speaker 3: previously with Mitch. We had it previously with CJ and
- 11:01Speaker 3: with the guys, and so even going a year back,
- 11:04Speaker 3: they at least had some recall on it and film
- 11:07Speaker 3: that we could watch to get better at and there's
- 11:09Speaker 3: a lot more that we can build on from there.
- 11:10Speaker 3: And so again it's got to make sense. It's got
- 11:13Speaker 3: to fit in the right spot. But you know, we
- 11:16Speaker 3: felt like it gives us a little bit of a
- 11:17Speaker 3: different wrinkle.
- 11:19Speaker 1: One more now on the punt block and just how
- 11:21Speaker 1: big that was in terms of really getting things going
- 11:25Speaker 1: at the start of that game for the buck Eyes.
- 11:27Speaker 3: I think the first thing was like, coming again, coming
- 11:29Speaker 3: off a last week on emotional win, like, how were
- 11:31Speaker 3: we going to respond to were just going to kind
- 11:32Speaker 3: of flop around in the first half and then it
- 11:34Speaker 3: gets into the fourth quarter like maybe happened a couple
- 11:37Speaker 3: of weeks ago, or are we going to come out
- 11:38Speaker 3: and you know, you know, be aggressive early and you know,
- 11:44Speaker 3: establish a line of scrimmage and you know, get a turnover.
- 11:47Speaker 2: So that was good.
- 11:49Speaker 3: It also is good when you when you emphasize making
- 11:51Speaker 3: a difference to special teams. You heard me talk about
- 11:53Speaker 3: that this week. I think somebody asked me in the
- 11:55Speaker 3: press conference and I agreed with them, like it wasn't
- 11:57Speaker 3: a plus for us, and so that was the challenge
- 11:59Speaker 3: and so they get that pun block is good. It's
- 12:01Speaker 3: good for the momentum. You know, meetings will be sharper,
- 12:03Speaker 3: walk through the will be sharper. Practice will be sharper when
- 12:05Speaker 3: you see the impact it can have on a game.
- 12:08Speaker 1: And finally, ohum, another record breaking performance by Jeremiah Smith,
- 12:12Speaker 1: true freshman wide receiver for Ohio State. Six catches eighty
- 12:15Speaker 1: seven yards in a touchdown. That touchdown gave him nine
- 12:18Speaker 1: on the season, breaking Chris Carter's old Ohio State freshman
- 12:21Speaker 1: record of eight receiving touchdowns as a true freshman. My goodness,
- 12:26Speaker 1: is there anything Jeremiah Smith can't do?
- 12:28Speaker 3: You guys, you guys have seen it. And now he's
- 12:30Speaker 3: gonna have to play his best because you know, he's
- 12:32Speaker 3: got a lot of it on film, and you know,
- 12:34Speaker 3: we're in November now and so all those matchups are
- 12:37Speaker 3: gonna matter. But he's getting stronger, he's you know, getting
- 12:40Speaker 3: more experienced. He's understanding of coverages and different things, and
- 12:44Speaker 3: so we're gonna need We're gonna need everybody though, But
- 12:46Speaker 3: great to see him, you know, you know, break a record.
- 12:49Speaker 1: The Buckeys handled their business over the weekend, but there
- 12:51Speaker 1: were a bunch of teams at the top of the
- 12:52Speaker 1: polls that did not so long Georgia Bulldogs, We'll be
- 12:57Speaker 1: seeing you a little earlier in the College Football Playoff
- 12:59Speaker 1: rank Kings reveal on Tuesday, as they reveal those teams
- 13:02Speaker 1: from the bottom of the pole to the top. Georgia
- 13:04Speaker 1: will probably take a little bit of a tumble, Miami
- 13:06Speaker 1: will probably take a little bit of a tumble. Buckeyes
- 13:09Speaker 1: could be right there at the top again. We'll have
- 13:11Speaker 1: plenty of coverage of that coming up this week, as
- 13:14Speaker 1: well as plenty of coverage previewing the Buckeye's historic matchup
- 13:17Speaker 1: in Wrigley Field coming up this weekend. A lot of
- 13:20Speaker 1: fun stuff to talk about around Ohio State football, at
- 13:22Speaker 1: college football in general, and a great place to do
- 13:24Speaker 1: all that, We'll be at buckey Huddle dot Com. That's
- 13:26Speaker 1: where Tony Kevin and I cover the team, Mark covers recruiting,
- 13:28Speaker 1: got our whole team of x's and those gurus there
- 13:30Speaker 1: to make you a smarter football fan. That is all
- 13:33Speaker 1: at bucke huddle dot Com. Right now are your first
- 13:35Speaker 1: month there, just four ninety nine. Get access to our
- 13:38Speaker 1: whole team of insiders, all that great content, and get
- 13:41Speaker 1: access to it through the most important month of the
- 13:44Speaker 1: college football season. That first month. Will now get you
- 13:46Speaker 1: through the Michigan game, through the Indiana game, through the
- 13:49Speaker 1: Big Ten Championship game, and yes, selection Sunday for the
- 13:53Speaker 1: College football Playoff. Gonna be a lot of great stuff
- 13:55Speaker 1: to talk about. We would love to talk about it
- 13:57Speaker 1: all with you at Buckeye Huddle dot com. That will
- 13:59Speaker 1: do it for today. Thanks, thank you guys all for
- 14:00Speaker 1: joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.