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Curt Cignetti Previews Indiana vs. Ohio State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, October 13th. I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Indiana game in four days,
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  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in 46 days. Today's episode presented
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  Speaker 1: by Jeff Rubies of Columbus, proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA
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  Speaker 1: prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service, live entertainment, and
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  Speaker 1: an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go
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  Speaker 1: to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to check out the menu and
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  Speaker 1: make a reservation today. On today's show, you're going to
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  Speaker 1: get to hear a little bit from Indiana head coach
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  Speaker 1: Kurt Signetti. one of, if not the most fascinating men
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  Speaker 1: in all of college football. He is an interesting cat.
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  Speaker 1: You're going to, in this show, get to hear a
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  Speaker 1: bunch from him. He is not the most charismatic guy
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  Speaker 1: and also not a particularly long talker in most of
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  Speaker 1: these answers. But when he speaks, people listen. So we're
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  Speaker 1: going to start with Kurt Cignetti, some of his overall
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  Speaker 1: thoughts on their comeback win over Nebraska, and a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a look ahead to this weekend's game against
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  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 2: Great road win, hung in there, gave ourselves a chance
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  Speaker 2: and found a way. And tough environment, really loud. Nebraska
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  Speaker 2: played really well. Good football team. That's why they were undefeated.
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  Speaker 2: But the last 11 minutes, you know, all three phases contributed.
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  Speaker 2: And it was gut check. You know, it would have
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  Speaker 2: been easy to let that game get away from you
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  Speaker 2: in the first half and We hung in there, so
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  Speaker 2: good win. Playing a great team this week, obviously, at home.
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  Speaker 2: High estate. I mean, they're a great football team with
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  Speaker 2: a lot of great players. Extremely well coached. Ryan Day
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  Speaker 2: does a great job. Both coordinators, all the position coaches.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they're really, really good. And not only do
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  Speaker 2: they have a lot of excellent players, they got a
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  Speaker 2: wild player.
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  Speaker 3: That's the only one.
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  Speaker 1: As I mentioned, he is not the longest talker in
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  Speaker 1: the coaching business. Ryan Day on his Tuesday press conference
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  Speaker 1: will give you much more detailed answers than Cignetti and
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  Speaker 1: also will at least fake the enthusiasm a little more.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know that anyone is as unenthusiastic as Cignetti
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  Speaker 1: is around the media these days. But you are going
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  Speaker 1: to be hearing lots of quick answers in this show.
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  Speaker 3: That's okay.
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  Speaker 1: So the first question was about their right tackle added
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  Speaker 1: to Mola Adjani and his growth so far this season.
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  Speaker 2: I think you see improvement every game. And he's only
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  Speaker 2: going to improve because he's a young guy. It's going
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  Speaker 2: to get older, bigger, and stronger. And, you know, repetition
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  Speaker 2: is a mother of learning.
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  Speaker 1: Indiana's veteran linebackers are really good. We were talking about
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  Speaker 1: those guys last year with you, and we talked about
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  Speaker 1: them again on the Indiana-Nebraska Rewatch Show that Tony Gerderman
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  Speaker 1: and I did on the Buckeye Weekly podcast feed. But
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  Speaker 1: a young guy who's coming on strong for them already
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  Speaker 1: is true freshman linebacker Jacob Savage. So what was it
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  Speaker 1: that the Indiana Hoosiers saw in him and liked in
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  Speaker 1: him as a high school recruit?
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  Speaker 2: You know, really an instinctive player, loves ball, loves the process.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he's a football guy through and through. And
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  Speaker 2: he had a lot of tackles in high school. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it was, I can't remember the exact number, but, and
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  Speaker 2: you knew he was going to do everything he could
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  Speaker 2: to be the best he can be. And over time,
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's worked his way, you know, onto the
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  Speaker 2: field in a significant role.
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  Speaker 1: Indiana got an important player back last week in defensive
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  Speaker 1: back A.J.
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  Speaker 3: Harris.
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  Speaker 1: That is a name that Ohio State fans may remember
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  Speaker 1: from recruiting. He was looking at the Buckeyes pretty seriously
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  Speaker 1: at one point before picking Georgia, and he stayed there
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  Speaker 1: for one season, then jumped to Penn State for one season,
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  Speaker 1: then transferred into Indiana last season. He got hurt in
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  Speaker 1: their season opener this year, finally got back on the
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  Speaker 1: field last week at Nebraska. How big was that for them?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, he hadn't practiced very much, really, to
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  Speaker 2: be honest with you. And he had an opportunity there
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  Speaker 2: in the second half. And, you know, there's some things
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  Speaker 2: to clean up. You know, we had a PI back there,
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  Speaker 2: but he's played a.
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  Speaker 3: Lot of football. He's got ability.
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  Speaker 2: And if we can get him screwed in assignment-wise to
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  Speaker 2: do the right thing, play in, play out, you know,
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  Speaker 2: he'd be a good player.
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  Speaker 1: This weekend's game is being discussed as at least one
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  Speaker 1: of the biggest home games in Indiana program history, if
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  Speaker 1: not the biggest home game in Indiana program history. So
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  Speaker 1: what has Kurt Cignetti and his staff done to turn
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  Speaker 1: this from a game where the stadium is half full
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  Speaker 1: of Ohio State fans to to a national game of
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  Speaker 1: the week.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, winning does a lot of good things,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that's what's happened. And, you know, you
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  Speaker 2: got an opponent coming in here that's used to winning
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  Speaker 2: and winning championships and as strong a brand as there is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in America, high.
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  Speaker 3: State football for years and years and years.
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  Speaker 2: So, you know, we're a team that's developing still, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure they would say the same thing about their team.
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  Speaker 3: And, you know, it ought to be a great environment.
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  Speaker 1: The Buckeyes in Indiana played at the very end of
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  Speaker 1: last season, so not a whole lot has happened on
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  Speaker 1: the field between now and then. But of course, Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State has hired a new offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith.
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  Speaker 1: So Signetti was asked about whether anything has changed with
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  Speaker 1: Arthur Smith now calling the plays, as well as the
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  Speaker 1: impact of wide receiver Jeremiah Smith.
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  Speaker 2: Anytime you have a new coordinator, there's going to be
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  Speaker 2: some subtleties, but they still run the ball really well.
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  Speaker 2: They throw the ball really well. They're very efficient, effective.
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  Speaker 2: They do a lot of really nice stuff. They moved
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  Speaker 2: Jeremiah around quite a bit. He's taken it up a
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  Speaker 2: notch without question. I think he has nine touchdown catches
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  Speaker 2: in the last three P4 games. There's no one like
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  Speaker 2: him right now playing.
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  Speaker 3: At this level.
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  Speaker 2: We've got two really good ones. He's a freak, and
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  Speaker 2: we're going to have to do a great job on him.
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  Speaker 1: Kurt Cignetti is one of those people who seems like
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  Speaker 1: he's always at least kind of annoyed about something. So
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  Speaker 1: when they went one for 10 on third downs against Nebraska, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he's probably not a big fan of that. But so
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  Speaker 1: how big is third down going to be going into
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  Speaker 1: this weekend? And note that he can't wait to correct
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  Speaker 1: the reporter who asked that question.
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  Speaker 3: One on one on fourth down. So we're two at 10. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: you're not going to win many games doing that.
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  Speaker 2: Although I will say this, one of the biggest wins
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  Speaker 2: I ever had in my career was when I was
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  Speaker 2: a head coach at Elon. We went to JMU and
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  Speaker 2: broke their, whatever, 26 or 27 game winning streak at home.
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  Speaker 2: And I think we were three of 15 on third down.
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  Speaker 3: Bottom line is win. But if you're good on third down,
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  Speaker 3: it sure helps.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State has its defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, back from
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  Speaker 1: last season. But, of course, it is a new look
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  Speaker 1: on the field. Lots of new players. But how different
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  Speaker 1: is the scheme and just the gameplay, the way things
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  Speaker 1: are playing out under Matt Patricia this year as compared
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  Speaker 1: to last? You will hear him reference the Alabama transfers. Buckeyes,
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  Speaker 1: of course, got three guys from the Crimson Tide. James Smith,
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  Speaker 1: Cam Calhoun, Quay Russo. Alabama, of course, played Indiana in
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  Speaker 1: the Rose Bowl back in January.
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  Speaker 2: You know, some subtle, more same than different, but some stuff.
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  Speaker 2: But doing a great job. I mean, you know, they've
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  Speaker 2: got a lot of new faces. And some of those guys,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we played against at Alabama. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: they've really got them coached up. I mean, playing really well.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of good players flying around, keep you off balance.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the guy's a great football coach. And the
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  Speaker 2: kids really play well.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of things that are going to annoy Kurt Cignetti,
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  Speaker 1: The Hoosiers missed a ton of tackles in the first
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  Speaker 1: half last week against Nebraska. That was one of their
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  Speaker 1: big problems. How do they address that this week?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't play well really in any of the
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  Speaker 2: three phases in the first half. We had critical missed
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  Speaker 2: assignments on offense. We ran 16 plays. We had a
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  Speaker 2: hard time getting Nebraska off the field. You know, they
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  Speaker 2: were executing really well and we weren't. And a lot
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  Speaker 2: of our issues were assignments and they got the ball
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  Speaker 2: out there in space and we had a hard time
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  Speaker 2: getting off blocks and, you know, um, but once we
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  Speaker 2: settled down, we did a better job.
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  Speaker 1: The longest win streak of the college football era by
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  Speaker 1: any big 10 team is held by Ohio state between
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  Speaker 1: 2014 and 2015. Indiana has a chance to match that
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  Speaker 1: with a win on Saturday. So is that something that
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  Speaker 1: Kurt Cignetti is thinking about right now? And I will
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  Speaker 1: give you a little spoiler alert.
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  Speaker 2: No, this is all about giving our team the best
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  Speaker 2: chance to be successful and, uh, doing a great job
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  Speaker 2: as coaches. Both teams are going in, in my mind, 0-0.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure that's how they're approaching it too. All that
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  Speaker 2: other stuff is just noise and clutter.
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  Speaker 1: This is a week when the Memorial Stadium is going
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  Speaker 1: to be full. It is going to be packed to
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  Speaker 1: the brim with loud and very excited Indiana fans. How
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  Speaker 1: big of an impact can the home crowd have in
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  Speaker 1: a game like this?
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  Speaker 3: I'm glad we're playing at home.
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  Speaker 2: We really need our crowd to be loud and very involved.
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  Speaker 3: We got to give them reasons to be.
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  Speaker 2: So I can't, it's just a football game, but I'm
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  Speaker 2: glad it's at home. It's two good teams, two really
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  Speaker 2: good teams, a great team we're playing. Not sure how
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  Speaker 2: good we are yet. But our crowds have been awesome.
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  Speaker 2: And They need to be loud, real loud.
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  Speaker 1: Indiana has caught a lot of heat for not playing
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  Speaker 1: the strongest out-of-conference schedule, and it's, you know, fair enough.
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  Speaker 1: But now, last week, they had to go on the road,
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  Speaker 1: and they had to take on Nebraska, which is obviously
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good team, and they had to pull out
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  Speaker 1: a comeback win in the final quarter. So how important
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  Speaker 1: is it to have a win like that over a
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  Speaker 1: good opponent before you're heading into the challenge they're going
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  Speaker 1: to face this week?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's important, just like the Northwestern win was
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  Speaker 2: important to be in a tight game like that and win.
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  Speaker 2: Especially on the road with all that adversity, we were
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  Speaker 2: down 11 points with 11 minutes ago, responded and it
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  Speaker 2: was extremely loud. I heard some comments from people that,
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  Speaker 2: it's the loudest it's ever been there and so you
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  Speaker 2: know that was a good one to find a way
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  Speaker 2: to win a game like that but you know it's
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  Speaker 2: behind us now and it's total focus on.
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  Speaker 1: Prep After the game, one of the Nebraska players talked
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  Speaker 1: about the fact that Indiana's tight end alignment was kind
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  Speaker 1: of tipping off what to expect in the run game.
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  Speaker 1: Is that something that Cignetti's concerned about?
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  Speaker 2: Good teams have tendencies, but you've got to have some
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  Speaker 2: change-up pitches too.
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  Speaker 3: The run game's got to have at-bats.
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  Speaker 2: When you run 16 plays in the first half, you're
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  Speaker 2: not getting many at-bats.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. A little bit from Indiana
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  Speaker 1: head coach Kurt Cignetti. I'm sure there will be plenty
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  Speaker 1: more of interesting stuff coming out of the Hoosiers this week.
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  Speaker 1: And of course, on Tuesday at noon, we will be
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  Speaker 1: at Ryan Day's press conference, hear what he has to say,
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  Speaker 1: along with a couple Buckeye players. And of course, we'll
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  Speaker 1: be back after practice on Wednesday night for a couple
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  Speaker 1: more interviews. You can find all of that on our
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  Speaker 1: YouTube channel at youtube.com slash at Buckeye Insiders. That'll do
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  Speaker 1: it for now. Hope you guys enjoyed that. We'll be
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  Speaker 1: back tomorrow with another episode.