Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ohio State vs. Michigan: 'This One's For Those Guys Who Came Back'
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning from Monday, November twenty fifth,
- 0:03Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or. The Michigan game is in
- 0:06Speaker 1: five days. This is normally the show where we play
- 0:09Speaker 1: a bunch of clips from interviews after the previous game
- 0:12Speaker 1: on that Saturday. Let's look back at that game and
- 0:15Speaker 1: some of the things we may be learned. I know
- 0:18Speaker 1: this week is different. You don't need to tell me
- 0:20Speaker 1: this week is different. So we're going to be mostly
- 0:23Speaker 1: focusing looking forward on this game. There's plenty of questions
- 0:27Speaker 1: about Michigan. During those postgame interviews, you're going to be
- 0:30Speaker 1: hearing from Will Howard and Brian Day and Jack Sawyer
- 0:33Speaker 1: about that.
- 0:34Speaker 2: And we will have a little.
- 0:35Speaker 1: Bit of stuff later on about some of the interesting
- 0:37Speaker 1: stuff from that Indiana game. But we are going to
- 0:39Speaker 1: start with Michigan because well it always starts with Michigan,
- 0:42Speaker 1: doesn't it. So let's start with Ohio State head coach
- 0:45Speaker 1: Ryan Day. How quickly do you turn the page to Michigan.
- 0:50Speaker 1: It was a top five win. Everyone gets it, it was
- 0:51Speaker 1: a top five win. How quickly do you turn the
- 0:54Speaker 1: page to Michigan after that game?
- 0:56Speaker 3: Yeah, well, it's just that, you know, we know we
- 1:00Speaker 3: need to at least and celebrate and enjoy the win.
- 1:03Speaker 2: But it's not going to be a late night.
- 1:06Speaker 3: You know, we all need to get to bed, We
- 1:07Speaker 3: need to get our rest, we need to enjoy it.
- 1:10Speaker 3: You can't just, you know, have a top five win
- 1:12Speaker 3: like this and just move on. The minute it hit
- 1:16Speaker 3: triple zeros on that clock was on to the team
- 1:18Speaker 3: up north, onto the rivalry game. We know what's coming
- 1:21Speaker 3: and how important this week is for everybody in the
- 1:23Speaker 3: state of Ohio and Buckeye Nation and most importantly our
- 1:26Speaker 3: team and our obligation to play really well next week
- 1:30Speaker 3: and win that game. But we also need to make sure,
- 1:33Speaker 3: you know, we take a deep breath and recognize the
- 1:35Speaker 3: things that happened today. We'll do that tomorrow during our
- 1:38Speaker 3: champions meeting. Celebrate the guys who played really well, and
- 1:41Speaker 3: then move on, because you know, it's easy just to
- 1:43Speaker 3: move on, but there's a lot of work that gets
- 1:45Speaker 3: put into a win like this, and it's a top
- 1:47Speaker 3: five win. So we'll get some good rest tonight, make
- 1:50Speaker 3: sure we get to bed early, and then we'll wake
- 1:52Speaker 3: up tomorrow and make sure we get back to work.
- 1:55Speaker 1: All right, We'll come back to Ryan Day for the
- 1:57Speaker 1: rest of his thoughts on the game a little bit
- 1:59Speaker 1: later on. But let's move on to Ohio State quarterback
- 2:01Speaker 1: Will Howard. Pennsylvania native, so he's obviously familiar with stuff
- 2:05Speaker 1: in Big Ten country, but this is his first time
- 2:08Speaker 1: being a part of the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry.
- 2:10Speaker 1: So is he looking forward to that next week?
- 2:13Speaker 4: I can't wait, man, I can't wait. I'm like I said,
- 2:16Speaker 4: I'm stoked. I'm fired up. You know this one, you know,
- 2:21Speaker 4: this one's for those guys that came back. This one's
- 2:23Speaker 4: for Buckeye Nation. You know we've been I feel it, man,
- 2:26Speaker 4: I can I can just feel it. You know, there's
- 2:28Speaker 4: been that hurt the last three years. You know this
- 2:30Speaker 4: this rivalry game. It's the first thing that I heard
- 2:34Speaker 4: when I came here on my visit. Beat the team
- 2:36Speaker 4: up North, and it's the first goal we have every
- 2:38Speaker 4: single year, beat the team up North. And you know,
- 2:42Speaker 4: you could say anything about records. Man, that's going to
- 2:44Speaker 4: be a hard, hard game every single year. They're gonna
- 2:46Speaker 4: bring it. We're going to bring it. And I want
- 2:48Speaker 4: to do this, man, for Coach Day. I want to
- 2:50Speaker 4: do this for the guys that came back. For a Mecca,
- 2:52Speaker 4: for Tray, for JT, for Jack, for all those guys
- 2:55Speaker 4: that came back, ty leak ty. I could go on,
- 2:57Speaker 4: but I want this for them so bad because they've
- 3:00Speaker 4: they've been here. You know, I've seen it from a
- 3:02Speaker 4: distance and you know, I feel it and I'm a
- 3:04Speaker 4: part of it now and I want this for me too,
- 3:06Speaker 4: But I want this for those guys. I want it
- 3:08Speaker 4: for coach day, you know, shut up the haters and
- 3:10Speaker 4: be able to go out there and say, man, like
- 3:13Speaker 4: you know, this is this is the Ohio, say buck guys,
- 3:15Speaker 4: and this rivalry game means everything.
- 3:17Speaker 1: Man.
- 3:18Speaker 4: We we talk about it all the time. It's all
- 3:21Speaker 4: over the place in our building. And I'm just honored
- 3:23Speaker 4: to be able to be a part of it. And
- 3:25Speaker 4: I won't take it lightly. And this is you know,
- 3:28Speaker 4: it's the big biggest game of our season and I'm
- 3:30Speaker 4: looking forward to it.
- 3:31Speaker 2: Man.
- 3:31Speaker 1: Saturday's win over Indiana was one of the most complete
- 3:35Speaker 1: performances the Buckeyes have put together. It wasn't perfect. They
- 3:38Speaker 1: left a couple of touchdowns potentially on the board in
- 3:40Speaker 1: the red zone, but overall pretty good performance in all
- 3:45Speaker 1: three phases of the game. So is it performance like
- 3:48Speaker 1: that going to be enough to win against Michigan next
- 3:50Speaker 1: week and then potentially to even win it all.
- 3:53Speaker 4: I don't want to say yes or no on that
- 3:55Speaker 4: because we're gonna need to turn it up and I don't.
- 3:58Speaker 4: I still don't think you've seen our best. That's that's
- 4:01Speaker 4: the mindset that this team has. And you know, when
- 4:04Speaker 4: you go into that locker room and you look in
- 4:06Speaker 4: the eyes of every single guy, you just you see it, man,
- 4:09Speaker 4: you see that edge. And I've never been on a
- 4:11Speaker 4: team that. You know, the last time I saw this
- 4:13Speaker 4: edge in people's eyes was when we won the Big twelve,
- 4:16Speaker 4: you know, like that, I just I see that, man,
- 4:18Speaker 4: I see that, and I know that we have more
- 4:20Speaker 4: in the tank, and we're fired up. You know, we're
- 4:22Speaker 4: gonna enjoy this one.
- 4:24Speaker 2: But we're fired up. Man.
- 4:25Speaker 4: We got two big weeks coming up here, you know,
- 4:27Speaker 4: go take care of business next week, you know, the
- 4:29Speaker 4: week after that. Like, we're not worried about that. Man,
- 4:32Speaker 4: I'm getting ahead of myself, but we got to you know,
- 4:35Speaker 4: we got to go out there and this week's the
- 4:36Speaker 4: biggest game of the year. Beat the team up North man.
- 4:39Speaker 4: That's what we say from the from the moment I
- 4:41Speaker 4: got here, I don't wear blue. Just beat the team
- 4:44Speaker 4: up north.
- 4:45Speaker 1: This year's Ohio State Michigan game is not quite what
- 4:48Speaker 1: it was the last couple of years when both teams
- 4:50Speaker 1: entered with Big Ten championship hopes, national championship hopes. The
- 4:53Speaker 1: Wolverines just six and five this year, So does that
- 4:57Speaker 1: record change anything about Saturday? For Will Howard?
- 5:01Speaker 4: Absolutely nothing means absolutely nothing. This is This game is
- 5:05Speaker 4: as big as they come.
- 5:06Speaker 2: Man.
- 5:06Speaker 4: It's the Michigan Ohio State Game.
- 5:08Speaker 2: You know.
- 5:08Speaker 4: I'm sorry I just said that, but it's a team
- 5:11Speaker 4: up North Ohio State game. It's it's it's everything. It
- 5:14Speaker 4: doesn't matter what their record is. I couldn't care less.
- 5:17Speaker 4: This is It means everything. And I'm just so excited
- 5:21Speaker 4: to go out there and to do this for my brothers,
- 5:23Speaker 4: for Coach Day, for everyone out there in Buckeye Nation
- 5:27Speaker 4: that's been hurting. I just I can't wait.
- 5:30Speaker 1: Man. Next up, we're gonna be hearing from Jack Sawyer
- 5:33Speaker 1: real real quickly. This is someone who grew up in Pickerington, Ohio,
- 5:38Speaker 1: just east of Columbus, Central Ohio native. He knows the
- 5:41Speaker 1: Ohio State Michigan rivalry very very well. Came back this
- 5:46Speaker 1: year at least in part to beat Michigan and achieve
- 5:49Speaker 1: some of the things that they have not achieved in
- 5:51Speaker 1: recent years. So how quickly is he turning the page
- 5:55Speaker 1: from the top five win over Indiana to the Michigan.
- 5:58Speaker 2: Wolverine right now? Yeah?
- 6:00Speaker 4: I could really care less, and you're no offense talking
- 6:02Speaker 4: about this game because the managers people, this the game
- 6:05Speaker 4: that you come back for. It is the game that
- 6:07Speaker 4: let the you know, I was unpacked with so many
- 6:09Speaker 4: lives in the last few years. And yeah, while I
- 6:12Speaker 4: want this one so bad for so many different reasons.
- 6:13Speaker 1: So well, right now, all right now, we're going to
- 6:15Speaker 1: circle back to some of the other things of note
- 6:18Speaker 1: after the game. One thing that was definitely of note
- 6:21Speaker 1: the first punt returned for a touchdown for the Ohio
- 6:24Speaker 1: State Buckeyes in ten years and one day. Caleb Downs
- 6:27Speaker 1: returned the punt for a touchdown, first time since they
- 6:29Speaker 1: played Indiana in twenty fourteen. That was also the week
- 6:33Speaker 1: before the Michigan game. You probably know how the twenty
- 6:35Speaker 1: fourteen season ended up for Ohio States who or if
- 6:38Speaker 1: you were into omens, there you go. But Caleb Downs
- 6:41Speaker 1: returning punts? What went into that decision because it was
- 6:44Speaker 1: something that was sort of talked about and then they
- 6:46Speaker 1: didn't do it at the start of the year. So
- 6:48Speaker 1: was an injury risk part of that decision.
- 6:51Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we go, we take we take everything into consideration,
- 6:55Speaker 3: and we made the decision a couple of weeks ago
- 6:58Speaker 3: that we felt Caleb well, really well midway through the season,
- 7:04Speaker 3: you know, after the Oregon game, we just felt like
- 7:06Speaker 3: Caleb needs to be more involved and make more an
- 7:08Speaker 3: impact on games. I think that what's been happening on defense,
- 7:12Speaker 3: you know, it's kind of shown that that's happened. And
- 7:14Speaker 3: then we felt like, as you know, as a punt returner,
- 7:18Speaker 3: he was dynamic with the ball in his hands. You know,
- 7:21Speaker 3: he when he was in high school, I saw live
- 7:24Speaker 3: and in color. You know, I felt like he could
- 7:25Speaker 3: play running back here at Ohio State. And when you're
- 7:28Speaker 3: when you're in the special teams, you know, meetings every
- 7:33Speaker 3: day and putting the work in that these guys are
- 7:35Speaker 3: putting in. It's a great example to the other players
- 7:38Speaker 3: that you know, you may not see the results, but
- 7:40Speaker 3: if you trust the process, good things are going to happen.
- 7:42Speaker 3: And now you know, we've had three weeks in a row.
- 7:45Speaker 3: We've had a you know, a punt block and then
- 7:50Speaker 3: and now a punt return for a touchdown, and those
- 7:53Speaker 3: are big plays in matchup games. Those are the things
- 7:56Speaker 3: that we got to have. I felt like we made
- 7:57Speaker 3: some good personnel changes there. And you know, Brian Hartline
- 8:02Speaker 3: deserves a lot of credit. He's the one that heads
- 8:03Speaker 3: up the punt return and you know he and Rob Keys,
- 8:06Speaker 3: I mean, it's everybody. We all coach it. You know,
- 8:08Speaker 3: Tim Walton coaches the the you know, the Jammers, which
- 8:12Speaker 3: I thought Denzel and Jermaine did a great job on
- 8:15Speaker 3: that play. I'm going to go back and watch the film,
- 8:17Speaker 3: but there was great effort on that play. And so
- 8:20Speaker 3: that that's one of those things we got to make
- 8:22Speaker 3: sure that we celebrate the efforts on those plays because
- 8:24Speaker 3: those are game changing plays.
- 8:26Speaker 2: And but give Kale, you know, all the credit he deserves.
- 8:30Speaker 3: You know, I felt like we had a chance to
- 8:33Speaker 3: return it based on what had happened earlier in the game,
- 8:36Speaker 3: if the if the Jambers gave us a chance. The
- 8:39Speaker 3: punt was a little short, and I said, here we
- 8:42Speaker 3: go again, because we've had a lot of short punts.
- 8:44Speaker 3: It bounced off the turf, and Caleb's you know, decides
- 8:47Speaker 3: he's gonna he's going to return. It made a few
- 8:48Speaker 3: guys miss and then just some great effort on that
- 8:50Speaker 3: play to go turn good.
- 8:51Speaker 2: Into great and again in game changing play.
- 8:54Speaker 1: Brandy was also asked about Will Howard, who started his
- 8:57Speaker 1: day fourteen for fourteen became the first player in Ohio
- 9:00Speaker 1: state history to have six games with more than eighty
- 9:03Speaker 1: percent of his passes completed. He actually completed eighty five
- 9:06Speaker 1: percent of his passes on Saturday, not too bad, but
- 9:10Speaker 1: his impact on the team goes more. I means is
- 9:14Speaker 1: way more than just the stats. So what does Will
- 9:16Speaker 1: Howard mean to the team? This is a he starts
- 9:20Speaker 1: with Will Howard and then the sansor kind of goes
- 9:22Speaker 1: a whole bunch of different places.
- 9:24Speaker 3: Buckeye Nation is now seen after you know, eleven games.
- 9:29Speaker 2: This this guy is a winner.
- 9:32Speaker 3: He's tough, he cares about his teammates, he's a leader,
- 9:36Speaker 3: he's you know, there was a tough spot this week
- 9:40Speaker 3: when we lost Seth in practice, and he, along with
- 9:43Speaker 3: the offensive line, Donnie and Josh, you know, really just
- 9:48Speaker 3: raised you know, the spirits of everybody. And that's that's
- 9:52Speaker 3: hard to do when you lose somebody who makes such
- 9:54Speaker 3: an impact like Seth. But he's got great resilience, great toughness.
- 9:58Speaker 3: He's a heart and soul of our team. But but there's
- 10:02Speaker 3: more to it than just will you know, we look
- 10:04Speaker 3: at the way Travion ran today. I thought Travion played
- 10:06Speaker 3: his tail off today, how hard he ran, how physically ran.
- 10:10Speaker 3: I thought Gwin Shawn had, you know, some good runs.
- 10:13Speaker 3: But you know, Carson Hinsman stepping up and playing center
- 10:16Speaker 3: in Austin, you know, so there's a lot of things
- 10:20Speaker 3: that we need to celebrate. And after a game like
- 10:22Speaker 3: this and you feel like, you know, you want to
- 10:24Speaker 3: make sure you're recognizing those guys. But you know, like
- 10:26Speaker 3: somebody said, it's going to be on in the next
- 10:28Speaker 3: game quickly, and we got to learn from it, keep growing,
- 10:30Speaker 3: because there is some things coming out of this game
- 10:32Speaker 3: that you know that wasn't very happy with, you know,
- 10:35Speaker 3: I mean, especially the way you know, we're down in
- 10:36Speaker 3: the red zone.
- 10:37Speaker 2: Don't get in early on. You know, we have a
- 10:39Speaker 2: turnover there in the red zone.
- 10:40Speaker 3: I mean, that could have been a whole different score
- 10:42Speaker 3: at halftime, you know, and that was that was not good.
- 10:45Speaker 3: But we were resilient. The crowd just kept swinging. I
- 10:48Speaker 3: mean it was awesome. You could just feel the crowd
- 10:50Speaker 3: was like, there's no way this thing is going to
- 10:51Speaker 3: go any other way, and and that's kind of how
- 10:54Speaker 3: it all played out.
- 10:55Speaker 1: What was Ryan Day's assessment of the offensive line during
- 10:58Speaker 1: the game. They was obviously the big story going into
- 11:01Speaker 1: the game with the injury to Seth McLaughlin and Carson
- 11:03Speaker 1: Hintsman moving over the center and Austin Serveld stepping in
- 11:06Speaker 1: at left guard, and against Indiana that led the big
- 11:10Speaker 1: ten in sacks coming into the game, they allowed zero sacks.
- 11:14Speaker 1: So what was right Ryan Day's assessment of the offensive line.
- 11:17Speaker 3: Yeah, well, you know, when you look at the number
- 11:20Speaker 3: of plays, I mean, they were huddling.
- 11:21Speaker 2: We were huddling.
- 11:22Speaker 3: We ended up with fifty five plays on a short field,
- 11:25Speaker 3: So you know, the numbers aren't going to be as
- 11:27Speaker 3: gaudy as maybe like we've talked about in the past.
- 11:29Speaker 3: When you're talking about fifty five plays, you know, it's
- 11:31Speaker 3: thirty less plays than we used to get, so the
- 11:34Speaker 3: numbers won't look that way.
- 11:35Speaker 2: So I'll go off of what I felt I saw
- 11:37Speaker 2: on the field. I felt like guys were getting after it.
- 11:39Speaker 3: I felt like, you know, some of the plays that
- 11:42Speaker 3: guys were distraining and this style of defense, there is
- 11:45Speaker 3: people moving every play and shifting and changing the fronts.
- 11:49Speaker 3: And there were times where they were free guys in
- 11:51Speaker 3: a hole and I thought of running backs, you know,
- 11:53Speaker 3: ran down hill. But the game plan was that, you know,
- 11:56Speaker 3: there might be a couple free guys, you know, near
- 11:58Speaker 3: the near the line of scrimmage, but we were going
- 11:59Speaker 3: to come off the ball and not play hisit then
- 12:01Speaker 3: trying to figure all that out. I think they played hard,
- 12:04Speaker 3: and I thought they protected well w Willson, you know,
- 12:07Speaker 3: in past protection.
- 12:08Speaker 1: And we're going to wrap it up with Will Howard
- 12:11Speaker 1: now mentioned earlier first player in Ohio state history with
- 12:14Speaker 1: six games of eighty percent completions or more. He was
- 12:16Speaker 1: asked about that, and he was also asked about just
- 12:18Speaker 1: you just seemed fired up during the game and afterwards.
- 12:22Speaker 4: No, man, I just you know, I'm I'm just proud
- 12:24Speaker 4: of this team. Man, I'm proud of I'm proud of
- 12:26Speaker 4: this this this university. I'm proud of Buckeye Nation for
- 12:31Speaker 4: showing up and being loud and making an impact on
- 12:34Speaker 4: the game. Having them go on the silent count. That
- 12:37Speaker 4: really makes a difference. It really does. And truly, that
- 12:40Speaker 4: was the loudest I've ever heard Buckeye Ohio Stadium. That
- 12:43Speaker 4: was the loudest I've ever heard it in there. It
- 12:45Speaker 4: was turned up, man, after that, I don't think I've
- 12:47Speaker 4: ever gone crazier on the sideline than I did after
- 12:50Speaker 4: Caleb's hunt return. I think that was really what sealed
- 12:52Speaker 4: the game for us right there, like that just put
- 12:54Speaker 4: him out of it. Got a lot of respect for
- 12:56Speaker 4: what they do and what coach Signetty has done over there, Like,
- 13:00Speaker 4: you know, they've had a heck of a turnaround, man,
- 13:01Speaker 4: but you know, you got to remember you're coming in
- 13:04Speaker 4: to play the Buckeyes. Man, it's a little different.
- 13:06Speaker 1: And finally, as the guy who works most closely with
- 13:09Speaker 1: the offensive line of anyone on the team, what did
- 13:11Speaker 1: Will Howard think of the offensive lines play this week?
- 13:14Speaker 4: I'm so proud of those guys, man, for them, for
- 13:18Speaker 4: him and Austin to step into new roles. You know,
- 13:20Speaker 4: Austin's playing right guard early in the season. Now he's
- 13:22Speaker 4: playing left guard. And for those guys to be able
- 13:25Speaker 4: to step in like they did, I was just so
- 13:26Speaker 4: proud of them and really all weak.
- 13:28Speaker 2: You know.
- 13:28Speaker 4: I just told those guys. I was like, dude, I'm
- 13:30Speaker 4: not worried. I'm not worried about you guys. You guys
- 13:32Speaker 4: have played a ton of football cars and started twelve
- 13:34Speaker 4: games last year, and he's a good football player. I
- 13:36Speaker 4: wasn't worried about at all. I just hurt for Seth.
- 13:38Speaker 4: You know, that was the biggest thing on my heart
- 13:42Speaker 4: was that I just hurt for my brother who just
- 13:45Speaker 4: lost the rest of his season. And I told those
- 13:47Speaker 4: guys man like, I'm not worried about you know, you
- 13:50Speaker 4: say whatever you want about who we throw in there.
- 13:52Speaker 4: I don't care like you know, it's next man up mentality,
- 13:55Speaker 4: it's competitive excellence. I'm so proud of those guys for
- 13:58Speaker 4: how they stepped up, and I think they did a
- 14:00Speaker 4: of a job today.
- 14:01Speaker 1: Well, just to give you a little bit of a
- 14:02Speaker 1: look ahead at this week, Dony Gerb and I and
- 14:05Speaker 1: are working hard on the Buckeye Weekly podcast to drop
- 14:08Speaker 1: some of those episodes early your Michigan Monday episode that
- 14:11Speaker 1: dropped on Sunday. We now we get it, but we
- 14:14Speaker 1: know you guys are traveling this week and probably a
- 14:16Speaker 1: little antsy for the Ohio State Michigan game as you
- 14:19Speaker 1: are most years, I'm guessing we have plenty of coverage
- 14:23Speaker 1: on the Buckeye Weekly podcast feed, have plenty of coverage
- 14:26Speaker 1: on this feed as well. We always treat this as
- 14:28Speaker 1: a big game week.
- 14:29Speaker 2: You get some.
- 14:30Speaker 1: Extra episodes on both of those, and it is definitely
- 14:32Speaker 1: a big game week at Buckeye Huddle dot com. Plenty
- 14:36Speaker 1: of coverage there, lots of extra coverage, lots of stuff
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- 14:41Speaker 1: Ruby's Columbus. We would love to talk about all of
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- 14:52Speaker 1: Championship Game, the early signing day for recruiting, the College
- 14:57Speaker 1: Football Playoff selection show, and the first round of the
- 15:00Speaker 1: College Football Playoff. If you've ever thought it might be
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- 15:09Speaker 1: That will do it for today. Thank you guys all
- 15:11Speaker 1: for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
- 15:13Speaker 1: you tomorrow.