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Ohio State Playoff Preview: How Miami Is Preparing For Texas A&M · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, December eighteenth, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the Cotton Bowl game in thirteen days,
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  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in three hundred and forty five days.
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  Speaker 1: If you're planning your next event, make it unforgettable with
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  Speaker 1: Grateful Griddle, Columbus's favorite food truck serving up Smashberger's format
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  Speaker 1: a sandwiches and good vibes. Book your catering today at
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  Speaker 1: gratefulgriddleoh dot com. On today's show, or continuing to air,
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  Speaker 1: countdown to the first round playoff matchup between Texas A
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  Speaker 1: and m and Miami. Why that game? Well, the winner
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  Speaker 1: of that will play Ohio's date in the Cotton Bowl
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  Speaker 1: in just thirteen days. On yesterdays show, you got to
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  Speaker 1: hear from Texas A and m head coach Mike Elko.
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  Speaker 1: On today's On today's show, you're gonna hear from Miami
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  Speaker 1: head coach Mario Cristobal as with yesterday. All these clips
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  Speaker 1: courtesy of the Miami Athletics Department. All right, so, first thing,
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  Speaker 1: how has Miami used the extra time between games? As
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  Speaker 1: they said on yesterday's show, This is one of these
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  Speaker 1: questions that gets asked to everyone and here you go.
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  Speaker 1: Here's Mario Cristaball's answer on that.
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  Speaker 2: Do you know what you really have two game weeks
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  Speaker 2: is what you do now. You don't have the brunt
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  Speaker 2: of the physicality of a game last week, but you
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  Speaker 2: still use that Saturday as a practice because you want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure your bodies aren't. You don't want that
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  Speaker 2: a cute spike the week of the game, right, You
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  Speaker 2: want to make sure that you're in process. And we
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  Speaker 2: felt that we were getting stronger in the month of
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  Speaker 2: November and we're playing our best football at the end.
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  Speaker 2: We wanted to continue that trend so to do so,
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  Speaker 2: we just went right to what we do systematically and
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  Speaker 2: consulting with our sports science department as well.
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  Speaker 3: And attacked it.
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  Speaker 2: And we feel like we're in a really good spot
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  Speaker 2: the balance of physicality and practice and getting your guys healthy.
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  Speaker 1: This is Mario Crystobal's fourth season as the head coach
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  Speaker 1: of the Miami Hurricanes, and this is a really big milestone. No,
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  Speaker 1: they didn't win the acc this year, but they did
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  Speaker 1: get into the College Football Playoff. So does that journey
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  Speaker 1: from where we got off the plane from Oregon until
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  Speaker 1: now seem like a short time or has this been
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  Speaker 1: a long and winding path to get to this point.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it seems pretty good while ago, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: mean in the early days, when you know, I've been
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  Speaker 2: very forced to be around some awesome people and be
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  Speaker 2: part of essentially three rebuilds.
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  Speaker 3: You know, those early years are like dog years.
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  Speaker 2: You know they're tough, but you know it was always
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  Speaker 2: we never strayed from the vision, from the process. We
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  Speaker 2: have incredible people that I've worked at it, and I
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  Speaker 2: think the best part of all the people involved is
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  Speaker 2: that there's no relaxed syndrome. You know, the moment it
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  Speaker 2: was announced, it's like, Okay, let's let's get the preparation,
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  Speaker 2: let's get right to work to make sure we go
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  Speaker 2: ourselves the best chance of being one and no on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: One of the complaints you've heard about the Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: Buckeyes this year is that their run game has not
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  Speaker 1: really been very explosive. They've been efficient, but not explosive.
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  Speaker 1: Miami they've had that problem even more than the buck Eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Miami has had only three rushes of thirty plus yards
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  Speaker 1: all year. That is one hundred and tenth in the nation.
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  Speaker 1: No rushes of forty or more yards. Just for comparison's sake,
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  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes have eight rushes or thirty yards are more.
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  Speaker 1: That's forty six in the country. Four rushes are forty
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  Speaker 1: yards or more. So, all right, what's going on there
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  Speaker 1: with the lack of explosiveness in the run game for
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  Speaker 1: the Hurricanes.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's improved the last month or so.
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  Speaker 2: I think we've created more explosive plays. I think it's
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  Speaker 2: a combination of a lot of things. Sometimes you're not
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  Speaker 2: blocked up like you should be. Sometimes a guy falls off,
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes the wide receiver doesn't get to a safety. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: you should throw it on that particular down. But I
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  Speaker 2: think we have gotten more in sync, and I think
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  Speaker 2: we've created some opportunities with some other guys in there
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  Speaker 2: as well.
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  Speaker 3: Marks on the mend or was on the mend.
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  Speaker 2: He's full, fully healthy now, So I think we're in
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  Speaker 2: a good place. We've run the ball effectively for all
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  Speaker 2: the years we've been here, and we feel we're trending
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  Speaker 2: in that direction again. But we're always assessing and analyzing
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  Speaker 2: and adapting where we can to get better.
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  Speaker 1: This is Mario Crysto Baal's fourth year, as I mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: and that means his first recruiting class, is first full
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  Speaker 1: recruiting class. Those guys are in their third year with
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  Speaker 1: the team, and they've really kind formed a core of
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  Speaker 1: this year's Miami team. So what does it meant for
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  Speaker 1: those guys to sort of be on this journey with
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  Speaker 1: Christobal where he sort of started from the ground and
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  Speaker 1: has gotten where they are right now?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I talk about it all the time,
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  Speaker 2: is like, those were the guys that would wait for
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  Speaker 2: us outside of hard Rock, right after those those tough
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  Speaker 2: early games when we first got here back in twenty two,
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  Speaker 2: and they're the ones that bought into a vision that
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  Speaker 2: we're willing to just ignore the noise and all the
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  Speaker 2: craziness surrounding a tough season, and they were going to
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  Speaker 2: be the ones.
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  Speaker 3: They were going to be the ones that were the
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  Speaker 3: agents have changed.
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  Speaker 2: So to see them get the opportunity here in their
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  Speaker 2: third year to continue playing this caliber football and being
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  Speaker 2: the playoffs in December, I know it means a ton
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  Speaker 2: to them. But just like we talked about a second ago,
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  Speaker 2: their whole concentration and focus is on the preparation.
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  Speaker 3: There's no I guess the best way to say.
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  Speaker 2: That, there's no arrived syndrome, you know, back to work mentality.
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  Speaker 1: One of the challenges of the first round of the
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  Speaker 1: college football Playoff is this is not going to be
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  Speaker 1: a neutral site. This is going to be a truly
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  Speaker 1: hostile environment for the Hurricanes going into Kyle Field at
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  Speaker 1: Texas A and M. So, this is a Miami team
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  Speaker 1: that has had some penalty issues, especially some line penalty
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  Speaker 1: issues and dead ball penalty issues. So has that been
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  Speaker 1: an issue? You know, that has been an issue for
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  Speaker 1: Miami at times this season. So how do you address
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  Speaker 1: that going into a game where you know it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a tough environment.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's certainly one of the best environments that you'll
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  Speaker 2: see in football or any sports for that matter. And
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  Speaker 2: certainly I think our approach to the mechanics and the
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  Speaker 2: processes involving the cycle of the snap have really been effective,
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  Speaker 2: and I think you see that in our pre snap
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  Speaker 2: I would say.
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  Speaker 3: Improvements over the past four games, you know.
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  Speaker 2: So, do you have a lot of mechanisms within your
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  Speaker 2: facility to prepare for when you're going to hostile environments
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  Speaker 2: and you have to completely dive into it, be consumed
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  Speaker 2: by it, and prepare your guys for the best of
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  Speaker 2: their ability so that they enter any environment with confidence.
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  Speaker 1: This is undoubtedly the biggest game of Mario Crystoball's time
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  Speaker 1: as Miami's head coach. This is also, as mentioned and
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  Speaker 1: going to be quite a big atmosphere. So how do
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  Speaker 1: you avoid getting overwhelmed by that or having the moment
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  Speaker 1: be too big or making the moment even, you know,
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  Speaker 1: bigger than it really is.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, that's a good point because if you start to
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  Speaker 2: deviate from that, then you create.
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  Speaker 3: Anxiety and that kills performance.
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  Speaker 2: The best thing about this team, besides the fact that
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  Speaker 2: they're fun, they are really good. They're fun to be
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  Speaker 2: around they are, is that they love to work like
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  Speaker 2: they love the grind. They find opportunities to get better
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  Speaker 2: on their own.
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  Speaker 3: By pushing it.
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  Speaker 2: They push coaches, you know, like collectively they they almost
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  Speaker 2: require your coaches to be on edge to provide them
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  Speaker 2: with the best information, the best real work, the best
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  Speaker 2: film sessions they can pop possibly have to improve and
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  Speaker 2: get better.
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  Speaker 3: It's a very hungry, driven team.
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  Speaker 2: It's a team with tremendous hearts as it relates to
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  Speaker 2: football and off the field as well.
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  Speaker 3: They deserve our very best.
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  Speaker 2: They get it every single day and we're going to
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  Speaker 2: continue to give it to them. But they're in a
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  Speaker 2: good mental space because again, of I think I think
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  Speaker 2: they were.
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  Speaker 3: Wired the right way they but I think we've also wired.
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  Speaker 2: This team, you know, because you do by the end
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  Speaker 2: of the senior team is wired a certain way. We
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  Speaker 2: believe strongly that this team is wired in the right manner.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to the atmosphere, one of the other challenges
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  Speaker 1: the Hurricanes are going to face on Saturday is dual
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  Speaker 1: threat quarterback Marcel Reid of Texas A and M. So
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  Speaker 1: they've played other dual threat guys this year, So what
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  Speaker 1: if they learned from going up against those other guys
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  Speaker 1: this season?
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  Speaker 2: Well, certainly, Marcel reads the best one that we played.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what you learn that if you're not disciplined,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to pay the price. And chunk plays right,
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  Speaker 2: extended play is improvisations, guys just breaking free, you know.
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  Speaker 2: And you're looking at a quarterback that keeps his eyes
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  Speaker 2: down the field, has a great connection with his wide
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  Speaker 2: receivers because when he does find time and space, everybody's working.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: That's a dangerous part of a team and that has
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  Speaker 2: a quarterback that can extend plays like that right, all
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  Speaker 2: the offscript stuff. So, but what you learned that you
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  Speaker 2: know in football and particularly and when you play really
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  Speaker 2: good teams.
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  Speaker 3: That there's very little legal room.
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  Speaker 2: There's the Martin Ferrer is very small, and that communications
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  Speaker 2: at a premium right, everybody understanding exactly what to do
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  Speaker 2: and doing their job as opposed to trying to make
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  Speaker 2: a play.
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  Speaker 3: Those things are paramount, you know, and the more you
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  Speaker 3: practice it, the better you get at it.
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  Speaker 2: Fortunately for us, we've gotten better and better defensively as
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  Speaker 2: the year has gone on, and you've got to be
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  Speaker 2: at your best when you're playing against the best players
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  Speaker 2: in the country.
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  Speaker 1: One of those stats that you'll hear a bunch this
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  Speaker 1: week is that Texas A and M is really really
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  Speaker 1: good in terms of defense getting off the field on
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  Speaker 1: third down? How good? Well they are first in the country,
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  Speaker 1: giving up just twenty three percent of third down conversions
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  Speaker 1: this season. So why are they so good at getting
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  Speaker 1: opposing offenses off the field.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I would say that number one, they get you
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  Speaker 2: in difficult down in third down situations.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you don't see a ton of third and shorts.
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  Speaker 2: I think that starts with identification, right, The looks that
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  Speaker 2: you're going to get will create pictures that make you
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  Speaker 2: sometimes guess right, is it a four down rush concept?
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  Speaker 3: Is it an odd or bear rush concept?
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  Speaker 2: You know, who's capped knowing that that might be a
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  Speaker 2: threatn who's not. There's sim pressures, there are zone droppers.
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  Speaker 2: The combination of bluff and bringing it that they present
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  Speaker 2: and the way that they attack your protection.
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  Speaker 3: Rules is what makes it difficult. And therefore you see
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  Speaker 3: you see free hitters.
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  Speaker 2: Now when you don't have free hitters, what you see
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  Speaker 2: is a very talented front, a very physical, explosive, extremely
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  Speaker 2: highly technical, defensive front.
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  Speaker 3: Like they win their one on ones.
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  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes their best third down stuff is just
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  Speaker 2: rushing the four guys because they're so explosive, they're so quick,
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  Speaker 2: they're so powerful, they get their hands on people, and
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  Speaker 2: they get rid of blockers. So I think all those
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  Speaker 2: things come by and make them really good on third down.
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  Speaker 2: But it starts with the fact that they're winning first
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  Speaker 2: and second round to make their down that much more difficult.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, this is a kind of related to a
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  Speaker 1: question we heard earlier in the show, but it's going
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  Speaker 1: to be sort of a little bit of a different answer.
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  Speaker 1: Startying to give it to you here as well, so
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  Speaker 1: how does Mario Cristobal feel like they need to manage
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  Speaker 1: their emotions and their preparation for a game of this
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  Speaker 1: magnitude in an environment as hostile as they're going to
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  Speaker 1: face this week.
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  Speaker 2: So then it comes down to your preparation, because at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the day, it's I mean, this is
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  Speaker 2: going to come down to the twenty two that are
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  Speaker 2: on the field right that are actually executing against each other,
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  Speaker 2: and execution is at a premium. And to get to
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  Speaker 2: that point where you're executing to your standard, it's steps,
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  Speaker 2: it's fundamentals, it's a combination of things that you just
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  Speaker 2: can't compromise.
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  Speaker 3: And these things start in January, right like every year.
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  Speaker 2: Now in college football, it's a lot of teams are
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  Speaker 2: coaching a whole new team, a one year team.
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  Speaker 3: But I would say that you prepare for this way.
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  Speaker 2: Back in January and then you bring it all together
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  Speaker 2: and bring it to life on game week with your
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  Speaker 2: level of preparation.
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  Speaker 3: And that relates to I mean every part of it.
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  Speaker 2: I won't waste your all the time with all the
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  Speaker 2: details that go into that, but because you have to
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  Speaker 2: when you hit that field right when you're playing great teams,
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  Speaker 2: like this, great players, great coaches. You have to play fast,
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  Speaker 2: and you have to play with confidence, and there can't
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  Speaker 2: be any hesitation, any flinch in your game or your mindset.
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  Speaker 2: And certainly we are.
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  Speaker 3: Grateful for the opportunity. We are thrilled, we are excited.
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  Speaker 3: We just want to get to work well.
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  Speaker 1: The Hurricanes and Aggies will face off noon on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as that game is over, we will know
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  Speaker 1: all about who the Buckeyes are going to play. We're
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  Speaker 1: talking about that all week and all weekend long at
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  Speaker 1: bucke huddle dot com and at YouTube dot com slash
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  Speaker 1: bucke Huddle. Make sure you check out both of those places.
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  Speaker 1: We'll have lots of content about this game what it
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  Speaker 1: means going forward for the buck Eyes in the Cotton
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  Speaker 1: Bowl very soon. So thank you all for joining us.
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  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We will talk to you tomorrow