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3 Things To Know About Jim Knowles' Return To Columbus · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Thursday, October thirtieth, I'm
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Speaker 1: your host Tom Moore. The Penn State game in two days.
0:06
Speaker 1: Degan gets Michigan in thirty days. If you were planning
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Speaker 1: In today's show, you're going to get to hear a
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Speaker 1: bunch from Ryan Day from his press conference earlier in
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Speaker 1: the week. This was one of the better press conferences
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Speaker 1: we've had all season long with him lots of interesting stuff. Obviously,
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Speaker 1: helps to have an interesting opponent this week, even if
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Speaker 1: Penn State is not having quite the season that ever
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Speaker 1: went anticipated. Plenty of fascinating storylines as well, the return
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Speaker 1: of Jim Knowles to Columbus. You'll hear Ryan Day's thoughts
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Speaker 1: on Jim Knowles, who hear Ryan Day's thoughts on why
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Speaker 1: the defense is maybe even better this year. You'll hear
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Speaker 1: Ryan Day's thoughts on that Patricia and what he's done
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Speaker 1: is sort of a little bit of a contrast with
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Speaker 1: Jim Knowles. You're also going to hear at the very
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Speaker 1: end one of my favorite Ryan Day press conference answers
0:56
Speaker 1: since he's been the head coach at Ohio State, going
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Speaker 1: back even to his inner time at twenty eighteen, it
1:01
Speaker 1: has been a minute since Ryan Day took over at
1:03
Speaker 1: Ohio State. This was one of my favorite press conference
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Speaker 1: questions and answers of that whole time. So you get
1:08
Speaker 1: to hear that as well. So all right, before we
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Speaker 1: get to that, going to get to more of this
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Speaker 1: sort of traditional stuff for this week. One of the
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Speaker 1: questions was about Penn State's new starting quarterback Ethan Grunkameier.
1:18
Speaker 1: Of course, the regular starter Drew Aller, he suffered a
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Speaker 1: season ending injury at the end of the Northwestern game,
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Speaker 1: So that is one former Ohio high school star down.
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Speaker 1: Another Ohio high school star steps into his place. Grunkameyer,
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Speaker 1: of course, is from Olin Tangi High School in Lewis Center,
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Speaker 1: just north of Columbus, so he is having a little
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Speaker 1: bit of a homecoming game this weekend. What were Ryan
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Speaker 1: Day's impressions of Grunkmeyer during recruiting and then now on film.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's a very talented young man. He's
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Speaker 2: anybody who speak to up in the Olan Tangi High
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Speaker 2: School or in the area growing up. He's got a
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Speaker 2: great family, He's a great leader and very intelligent competitive
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Speaker 2: player that you know has a bright future in the game.
2:02
Speaker 2: And you know this is just his second start, but
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Speaker 2: you can see the talent on the field. You can
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Speaker 2: see you know that he's got leadership skills, and he
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Speaker 2: obviously had a great career here while he was in
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Speaker 2: high school, and you know, think very very highly of him.
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Speaker 1: There are a couple different assistant coach angles this week
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Speaker 1: with Ohio State and Penn State. One is that Jim
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Speaker 1: Knowles left Ohio State for Penn State after last season.
2:27
Speaker 1: So Ryan Day has lost assistant coaches before, and of
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Speaker 1: course he could potentially lose assistant coaches again at some
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Speaker 1: point in the future. There, of course, had been rumors
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Speaker 1: about Brian Hartline and maybe being linked to the Penn
2:38
Speaker 1: State job. Just calm your bodies if you are concerned
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Speaker 1: about the idea that he was in state college last
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Speaker 1: week and now, of course not, that's stupid. Don't pay
2:47
Speaker 1: attention to that. He may hear his name linked to
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Speaker 1: these jobs. He may even take a job. He was
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Speaker 1: not in state college last week and relaxed. Okay, So
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Speaker 1: how do you protect yourself though as a head coach? Sure,
3:00
Speaker 1: how do you prepare yourself maybe for the fact that, hey,
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Speaker 1: you've lost assistant coaches before, it might happen again in
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Speaker 1: the future.
3:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, just keep winning and continue to have opportunities is
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Speaker 2: the goal. And you know, that's part of the understanding
3:15
Speaker 2: of being unselfish, whether it's players or coaches. And we
3:17
Speaker 2: know that when we're unselfish and we win as a team,
3:24
Speaker 2: there's great opportunity for everybody in their careers.
3:27
Speaker 3: And and that's that's a good thing. You know.
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Speaker 2: We want to make it great for guys to stay
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Speaker 2: in the program, players and coaches and retain as many
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Speaker 2: people as we can, knowing that one hundred percent is unrealistic,
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Speaker 2: but that's that's why we want continently, that's why we
3:41
Speaker 2: want stability. I think that's a big, a big focus
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Speaker 2: for us right now to make sure that we have
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Speaker 2: that because in a day and age when you're just
3:52
Speaker 2: seeing a lot of.
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Speaker 3: Changes in the game.
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Speaker 2: Right now, I think you've heard a lot of coaches
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Speaker 2: get up and say, you know, there's been a lot
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Speaker 2: of changes the college landscape has changed with nil with
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Speaker 2: transfer portal. Well, I think you're seeing that on the
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Speaker 2: field now. You're seeing teams that maybe haven't been, you know,
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Speaker 2: historically in the top ten or top fifteen, that that
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Speaker 2: now are in the top ten, top fifteen. And so
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Speaker 2: all of the changes that have happened in terms of
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Speaker 2: roster building, roster management, and things like that are now
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Speaker 2: happening on the field, and it's just you know, a
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Speaker 2: reflection of that. And so, you know, we want to
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Speaker 2: make sure that we're retaining all of our players and
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Speaker 2: all of our coaches so that it is a it's
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Speaker 2: an edge for us against our competitors.
4:39
Speaker 1: Win Ohio State announced that Matt Patricia was a new
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Speaker 1: defensive coordinator earlier this season, replacing Jim Knowles. The reaction was, well,
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Speaker 1: let's just say mixed. Was there was a lot of
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Speaker 1: why on earth would they hire that guy? Did you
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Speaker 1: see what he did with the Lions, and a lot
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Speaker 1: of stuff in that vein So then I think a
4:57
Speaker 1: lot of those people would probably have been very surprised
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Speaker 1: to learn that Patricia has not only been incredibly successful
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Speaker 1: on the field, top defense in the nation right now
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Speaker 1: by a whole lot of different metrics, but also incredibly
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Speaker 1: popular off the field as well. Players seem to love him,
5:12
Speaker 1: seems to have a great relationship with guys. We see
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Speaker 1: him in the woody all the time, hanging out talking
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Speaker 1: to players for half an hour forty five minutes after practice,
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Speaker 1: just relaxing, hanging out, having conversations, being you know, being
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Speaker 1: a normal human being with the players. So why has
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Speaker 1: he been able to connect with this group so well?
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Speaker 2: I mean, everybody has their own style, and I think
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Speaker 2: when he got in here, he had a certain list
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Speaker 2: of things that he wanted to get done early on,
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Speaker 2: and I think he's done that. He's let his personality go,
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Speaker 2: which has been great. And you know, each each year
5:43
Speaker 2: you have a different set of dynamics at play coaches
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Speaker 2: and players, and you know that journey has its own story.
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Speaker 2: So you know, I think he understands more than anybody
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Speaker 2: that you know, the season has just begun now, you know,
5:55
Speaker 2: we just we're just getting started here. You know, we've
5:57
Speaker 2: had the first half of the year and that's great,
5:59
Speaker 2: but like you know, this is what really matters. And
6:03
Speaker 2: his history of coaching in the NFL, you know, helps
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Speaker 2: him give you know, give some perspective to everybody of
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Speaker 2: just how long of a run this is. You know,
6:10
Speaker 2: for those of us who went through it last year,
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Speaker 2: that's one thing, but he's done it for multiple years,
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Speaker 2: and you've got to keep building each week. And I
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Speaker 2: know that he understands that, and he's continuing to talk
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Speaker 2: with the staff and the players about that as well.
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Speaker 1: One of the big storylines of Patricia's defense this fall
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Speaker 1: is the fact that they've used multiple fronts. You have
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Speaker 1: certainly heard our buddy Russ Fulton, our exes and os
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Speaker 1: Guru talking about that a whole lot of weeks this fall.
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Speaker 1: So was that something that they really wanted to do.
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Speaker 1: Is that something they're doing to sort of take advantage
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Speaker 1: of the skill sets of someone like Arvel Reese? What's
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Speaker 1: the deal with the multiple fronts and how does Rvel
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Speaker 1: Reese maybe factor into that?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you always want to put the best
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Speaker 2: players you can on the field to do their job
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Speaker 2: the best they can.
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Speaker 3: So what does that mean?
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Speaker 2: Well, I think sometimes you recruit to certain schemes, but
6:53
Speaker 2: then you also want to make sure you're doing things
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Speaker 2: that put guys in situations that that can be successful.
6:59
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is, if somebody is a
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Speaker 2: really really good football player, but maybe a non fit
7:03
Speaker 2: schematically do you add them to the team. And I
7:05
Speaker 2: think you always want to require talent the best you
7:07
Speaker 2: Can's the coach job to put them in a position
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Speaker 2: to be successful. So you're seeing I think this year,
7:13
Speaker 2: you know, last year we had you know, Jack jt
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Speaker 2: Ty and ty Leak and it was four down and
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Speaker 2: that that's kind of what it looked like most of
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Speaker 2: the plays. Now you're seeing, you know, different guys with
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Speaker 2: different skill sets who can do versatile things, and rfl
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Speaker 2: is one of those guys, and our coaches are making
7:27
Speaker 2: sure that we're putting those guys in those positions. So
7:30
Speaker 2: that's all part of the conversation. But you know, bringing
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Speaker 2: Matt in was important because you know he had a
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Speaker 2: history of doing that.
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Speaker 1: This week's Penn State game is not what it was
7:39
Speaker 1: sort of expected to be back in the summer when
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Speaker 1: the Nitney Lions were number one nationally by a lot
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Speaker 1: of sources and number one in the Big Ten by
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Speaker 1: even more sources. So this season obviously has not gone
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Speaker 1: the way anyone in state college probably anticipated. They have
7:53
Speaker 1: lost four games, they've lost their head coach, they've lost
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Speaker 1: a streaded quarterback. But of course they do have still
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Speaker 1: a talented group of players. A lot of those guys
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Speaker 1: who made them a preseason national title contender or a
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Speaker 1: national title favorite, they're still there. It's not like they're
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Speaker 1: out of good players. So how do you convey that
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Speaker 1: this year's Ohio State team that, hey, you can don't
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Speaker 1: look at the three and four record, this is still
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Speaker 1: a really talented Penn State team that's coming into town.
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Speaker 2: Well, it's already been conveyed to them, and it'll continue
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Speaker 2: to be conveyed. We have two thirty meeting here. As
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Speaker 2: you know, Tuesdays are a big day. We'll go through,
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Speaker 2: you know what we think in terms of all three phases.
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Speaker 2: But we know that this is, you know, one of
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Speaker 2: the top five ten teams in a country. I don't
8:36
Speaker 2: think there's many teams in a country that have more
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Speaker 2: talent than Penn State has, and I think people recognize
8:42
Speaker 2: that early in the season. Sure, it hasn't gone the
8:45
Speaker 2: way they've wanted it to, but that doesn't change that
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Speaker 2: they still have really good players. And when you looked
8:52
Speaker 2: at this game, you know, a few months ago, I
8:56
Speaker 2: mean it was an absolute matchup game that has not changed.
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Speaker 3: It's still the same players other than the quarterback.
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Speaker 2: And so our guys know that they understand that and
9:06
Speaker 2: they know that it's about us. It's not about our opponent,
9:10
Speaker 2: and so we'll focus on our preparation. But you need
9:11
Speaker 2: to know your opponent. And these are very very talented players,
9:14
Speaker 2: and they have a lot of NFL players, and we
9:16
Speaker 2: know they have really good coaches. So all that's going
9:20
Speaker 2: to lead into a huge matchup game for us on Saturday.
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Speaker 1: On one of the shows earlier this week, you get
9:26
Speaker 1: a chance to hear from Penn State interim coach Terry Smith.
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Speaker 1: He talked about a bunch of different stuff about how
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Speaker 1: they are really going to have to be aggressive. He's
9:33
Speaker 1: also used the phrase emptying the clip a few times
9:36
Speaker 1: and really just whatever they got, they're going to shoot
9:39
Speaker 1: it out there and see what happened. So between that
9:42
Speaker 1: and the fact that they're coming off a week off
9:44
Speaker 1: and therefore have a lot more time to prepare and
9:47
Speaker 1: just scheme up some crazy stuff. Is this sort of
9:50
Speaker 1: an unexpected game for the Buckeyes.
9:52
Speaker 2: They really have nothing to lose mentality, So we have
9:55
Speaker 2: to be on high alert at all times for things.
9:59
Speaker 2: You know, they have two weeks to put together different
10:01
Speaker 2: things on offense, defense and special teams that they haven't
10:05
Speaker 2: put on film. We know that, and certainly when you
10:08
Speaker 2: have a coaching change like they did, you know we
10:10
Speaker 2: expect that. So, like you said, you have to expect
10:12
Speaker 2: the unexpected, be on high alert, know that they sort
10:15
Speaker 2: of have you know that mentality going into the game,
10:17
Speaker 2: and so all of those things matter. At the end
10:20
Speaker 2: of the day, you still got to go play the
10:21
Speaker 2: play and you don't know what's going to come. But
10:24
Speaker 2: we have to understand understand what our opponent is and
10:28
Speaker 2: you know the fact that they've had two weeks to
10:29
Speaker 2: prepare and change up the looks.
10:31
Speaker 1: One of the storylines going into the Buckeyes week off
10:34
Speaker 1: last week was will there be a change on the
10:36
Speaker 1: offensive line? That right guard position in particular. We had
10:39
Speaker 1: seen Josh Padilla rotating in periodically for Tager Shabola in
10:43
Speaker 1: Shabola's play was not great in the last couple of weeks.
10:46
Speaker 1: So what's the update on the right guard spot? And
10:49
Speaker 1: I'm going to read between the lines here, doesn't sound
10:52
Speaker 1: like there's a change coming at starter.
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Speaker 2: Well, I think that Josh Padilla has continued to practice
10:58
Speaker 2: well when he's gotten the games, he's played well. He's
11:01
Speaker 2: not perfect, and so you know, we feel like he
11:04
Speaker 2: has an opportunity to you know, mix in there as
11:07
Speaker 2: the sixth offensive linement in the game like he's been
11:09
Speaker 2: in the last few games. We'll continue to evaluate it
11:12
Speaker 2: this week and figure out what gives us the best
11:14
Speaker 2: chance to win. But he certainly has played into one
11:17
Speaker 2: of our top six players.
11:19
Speaker 1: There are always concerns for every team, and I think
11:21
Speaker 1: Ohio State fans have been pretty concerned about the Buckeyes'
11:24
Speaker 1: run game this season. But what's interesting is you don't
11:27
Speaker 1: really hear that same sense of concern and certainly not
11:29
Speaker 1: a sense of panic coming from inside the Woody about
11:32
Speaker 1: the rushing attack. They've been efficient, but really not explosive.
11:36
Speaker 1: So where are things on the on the running game
11:40
Speaker 1: right now for the buck Eyes? And you're going to
11:42
Speaker 1: hear Ryan Day talk about something that Ross has talked
11:44
Speaker 1: about before on shows this fall, the fact that the
11:47
Speaker 1: passing game off of RPOs really they kind of considered
11:50
Speaker 1: that an extension of the run game.
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Speaker 3: You know, I say it all the time.
11:54
Speaker 2: Every play we want to want to score a touchdown on,
11:57
Speaker 2: so every play should be an explosive. In my mind,
12:00
Speaker 2: we're out at the practice field and on the scout
12:02
Speaker 2: team and it doesn't go for an explosive, it's like
12:04
Speaker 2: why something went broke down. So our execution level has
12:07
Speaker 2: got to increase just across the board. And so yeah,
12:11
Speaker 2: we're you know, there's always the balance of you know,
12:14
Speaker 2: you try to create explosives and then you put yourself
12:16
Speaker 2: a risk of turnovers and controlling the ball, making sure
12:20
Speaker 2: you know you're you're playing to your defense. All those
12:22
Speaker 2: things come into play. We know that, you know, we're
12:25
Speaker 2: gonna have to be explosive on offense and figure out
12:26
Speaker 2: ways to do that. And so I think, you know,
12:29
Speaker 2: during the bye week, we've been able to look at
12:31
Speaker 2: the things that we've done well in the areas we
12:33
Speaker 2: got to get better at. Everybody's involved with a run game.
12:36
Speaker 2: It's not an easy thing, and you know, we I think,
12:40
Speaker 2: you know, it's been good. Has it been great? No,
12:44
Speaker 2: it hasn't been great. We can get better, you know.
12:46
Speaker 2: I think that's everybody involved, including you know, the quarterback,
12:49
Speaker 2: the receivers, the tight ends, the running backs, and obviously
12:51
Speaker 2: obviously the offensive line. So all areas that we want
12:54
Speaker 2: to get better at. In terms of being explosive, being efficient.
13:00
Speaker 2: But I say to the running backs a lot like
13:02
Speaker 2: the first four yards are for the team and then
13:04
Speaker 2: the rest of it. You know, you got to go
13:05
Speaker 2: trust your god given ability. And so you know, some
13:10
Speaker 2: of the things in the in the in the last game,
13:13
Speaker 2: you know, they put an extra guy in the box
13:14
Speaker 2: in the RPO led us to throw the ball. Those
13:18
Speaker 2: don't show up in the running statistics. But when you
13:22
Speaker 2: have a quarterback who has the ability to run, you
13:24
Speaker 2: saw him poll we read an end. We'll do some
13:26
Speaker 2: of that, some more of that with Julian, but you
13:29
Speaker 2: know he also can read some off off the line defenders.
13:32
Speaker 2: And so like when you look at the running statistics,
13:36
Speaker 2: you know, we look at them just a little bit
13:38
Speaker 2: different because if they're leaving one on one on the
13:40
Speaker 2: outside and put put an extra guy in the box
13:42
Speaker 2: and we're hitting, you know, an eight yard hitch to Jeremiah,
13:46
Speaker 2: that's really the run game, you know, because it compliments.
13:50
Speaker 2: So to answer your question, yeah, it's been good, it
13:52
Speaker 2: hasn't been great. We need to get better at it.
13:54
Speaker 2: We want to create more explosives.
13:56
Speaker 1: The Buckeyes twenty twenty four National championship season was their
13:59
Speaker 1: third this century, and after the last two, two and
14:03
Speaker 1: three twenty fifteen, both of those year after there's a
14:07
Speaker 1: little bit of a hangover. Maybe both of those teams
14:09
Speaker 1: had their seasons kind of fall flat. So how about
14:13
Speaker 1: this year's buck Eyes avoided that kind of a hangover
14:16
Speaker 1: and that kind of just sort of a letdown week
14:18
Speaker 1: even so far this season.
14:21
Speaker 2: Well, the first thing about football is you only have
14:22
Speaker 2: so many opportunities. So like, you know, we have twelve
14:28
Speaker 2: that are guaranteed, that's it. And we work really hard
14:31
Speaker 2: around here to have those opportunities. And these guys have
14:33
Speaker 2: worked their entire life for these opportunities. And nothing's guaranteed
14:38
Speaker 2: in life. You know, if we didn't learn anything from
14:39
Speaker 2: this past week, I mean, nothing's guaranteed. So like we
14:42
Speaker 2: have to live every day like it's like it's our
14:44
Speaker 2: last game. That's the way we have to look at it.
14:47
Speaker 2: And so we have to be in the moment and
14:49
Speaker 2: we have to master the process of week in and
14:51
Speaker 2: week out. And the test is on Saturday. And so
14:56
Speaker 2: we've heard me say it before again, not flashy, but
14:58
Speaker 2: like being disciplined enough to contin neually do it week
15:00
Speaker 2: in and week out and being consistent so that's the message.
15:04
Speaker 3: Not easy, but.
15:07
Speaker 2: You know, I think our guys are up for the challenge.
15:10
Speaker 2: But it all comes down to the way we train.
15:12
Speaker 2: That's why to you know, two hours from now, we've
15:13
Speaker 2: got to have a great meeting, we got to get going,
15:15
Speaker 2: we have a great practice, and then we've got an
15:17
Speaker 2: idea what's what's going to happen this week. But you know,
15:21
Speaker 2: we have to continue upgrade as players, we have to
15:24
Speaker 2: upgrade as coaches, We have to upgrade as teams, you know,
15:27
Speaker 2: in terms of offense, defense and special teams. And then
15:29
Speaker 2: we have to continue to play really really hard. And
15:33
Speaker 2: and that's it. I mean there's nothing, you know, magical
15:35
Speaker 2: about it. And people are going to say, what's the
15:36
Speaker 2: key to this game? Well, taking care of football, you know,
15:39
Speaker 2: stopping a run, running the ball. I mean that those
15:41
Speaker 2: things aren't changing. It's a society that wants something new,
15:46
Speaker 2: wants something that's flashy, but it's those things that are
15:51
Speaker 2: going to make the difference in the end. So we
15:53
Speaker 2: have to keep bringing to the table every week and
15:55
Speaker 2: be consistent.
15:56
Speaker 1: Now, several questions in a row related to former Ohio
15:58
Speaker 1: State and current Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. This
16:03
Speaker 1: is not the first time Brian Day has had to
16:05
Speaker 1: replace a defensive coordinator. He's actually made four defensive coordinator
16:09
Speaker 1: hires over his time. He brought in Jeff Halfley for
16:12
Speaker 1: his first season, and then brought in Kerry Combs for
16:15
Speaker 1: the next two, and then brought in Jim Knowles for
16:17
Speaker 1: the next three, and then this time it's Matt Patricia.
16:20
Speaker 1: So what has ran Day learned through that process of
16:24
Speaker 1: hiring four different defensive coordinators and how has his thought
16:27
Speaker 1: process changed as he's gone through that process so many times?
16:30
Speaker 3: Now?
16:31
Speaker 2: You learn every year and I think people ask me
16:34
Speaker 2: a lot, you know when when every year, what have
16:37
Speaker 2: you learned the most? One of the top three things
16:39
Speaker 2: is is when when you make hires. I think maybe
16:44
Speaker 2: early on, I you know, you'd make decisions based on
16:48
Speaker 2: a recruit or two or maybe you know, the public
16:52
Speaker 2: sentiment where you got to do its best for your team,
16:57
Speaker 2: you know, and I think you know knew what he
17:00
Speaker 2: is important, but we also got to do what's best.
17:02
Speaker 2: And but there also is another part of it too,
17:05
Speaker 2: you know, and you know, the guys have to feel
17:08
Speaker 2: like you're doing everything you possibly can to make sure
17:11
Speaker 2: you know you're bringing in the best guy to help them,
17:14
Speaker 2: and you know, whether it is somebody that you know,
17:19
Speaker 2: people around the program, because again, like you know, you
17:21
Speaker 2: talk about fans, you talk about the boosters, you talk
17:24
Speaker 2: about people in the building, you talk about parents of recruits,
17:27
Speaker 2: you talk about the players their parents, like everybody has
17:30
Speaker 2: opinions on all those things. And nowadays people can decide
17:33
Speaker 2: to come and go, you know, through the transfer portal,
17:36
Speaker 2: So we have to take all those things into consideration
17:38
Speaker 2: when we're making a higher But at the end of
17:40
Speaker 2: the day, we have to make the best hire for
17:43
Speaker 2: Ohio State period. And and I watched you know, coach
17:49
Speaker 2: Saban was was really good at it in my opinion. You know,
17:52
Speaker 2: all of those great runs that he made each year.
17:56
Speaker 2: You know, he would have guys picked off of his
17:57
Speaker 2: staff and then he was very thorough about how he
18:00
Speaker 2: hired the next one. And I'm sure he would say,
18:03
Speaker 2: you know, some were better than others. But but making
18:06
Speaker 2: sure that in that moment, we're not rushing in to
18:08
Speaker 2: make a decision.
18:09
Speaker 3: And I think you saw that with Matt. You know,
18:11
Speaker 3: there was a.
18:13
Speaker 2: Lag time between between when Jim left and when we
18:17
Speaker 2: hired Matt where I think, you know, a lot of
18:18
Speaker 2: people were like.
18:18
Speaker 3: Man, he's going to hire one here pretty soon, you know, But.
18:22
Speaker 2: It left us in a tough spot because the hiring
18:26
Speaker 2: cycle was already sort of done and so it was
18:28
Speaker 2: so late. But you know the fact that Matt was available, man,
18:34
Speaker 2: it ended up being a home run. And so just
18:37
Speaker 2: being thorough and making sure we're doing what's right by
18:39
Speaker 2: the players. I think getting some of their feedback is important,
18:42
Speaker 2: you know, talking to Caleb, talking to Sonny, you know,
18:44
Speaker 2: what do you guys think about this? And then the
18:46
Speaker 2: last part, which is probably the most important part, is
18:49
Speaker 2: getting the feedback of the assistant coaches because you know, Tim, James, Larry, Matt,
18:57
Speaker 2: they have to work with.
18:58
Speaker 3: Whoever this guy is who comes in.
18:59
Speaker 2: And that's probably the part that maybe isn't getting recognized
19:03
Speaker 2: enough because yeah, Jim did a great job last year,
19:07
Speaker 2: Matt's doing a great job this year. What's the common
19:09
Speaker 2: denominator those coaches and the players? So I think we
19:16
Speaker 2: have the best defensive coaching staff in America, and I
19:19
Speaker 2: think sometimes you know, they don't get recognized enough. Not
19:21
Speaker 2: that you know, we'ren't for you get recognized, but those
19:24
Speaker 2: guys that put the work in behind the scenes and
19:26
Speaker 2: they're doing a great job. So it's a long answer,
19:29
Speaker 2: but that's kind of some of the things that went
19:31
Speaker 2: into it.
19:32
Speaker 1: With Jim Knowles coming to town this weekend, it is
19:34
Speaker 1: a very natural time to have conversations about the differences
19:37
Speaker 1: between this year and last year on the defense. So
19:40
Speaker 1: how is it that the Ohio State defense is better
19:43
Speaker 1: this year having lost eight starters off of last year's team.
19:47
Speaker 1: What is Matt Patricia doing schematically or maybe personally to
19:51
Speaker 1: get the results that he is.
19:52
Speaker 3: I think it's all the above, And.
19:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, we still have a lot of football to play,
19:58
Speaker 2: so or is yet to be told, But I think
20:03
Speaker 2: it's a simple answer. It's not easy to do, but
20:05
Speaker 2: you have to build trust. And how do you build trust?
20:08
Speaker 2: I think, you know, for Matt coming in, he at a
20:09
Speaker 2: certain level of credibility because of his past.
20:12
Speaker 3: And his resume.
20:13
Speaker 2: But when he came in and he let his personality
20:15
Speaker 2: go and he connected with the people in the building,
20:18
Speaker 2: I think that's, you know, early on what gave him
20:20
Speaker 2: some early wins. And then you know, we played well
20:23
Speaker 2: early in the season and the guy there was belief
20:25
Speaker 2: there and then there was confidence built in and so
20:28
Speaker 2: you know that combined with Sonny, Caleb, kJ Caden, IGB,
20:34
Speaker 2: guys who had been at before that can bring guys
20:36
Speaker 2: along and make them better, which I think is a
20:38
Speaker 2: sign of a really good player when they make others better.
20:40
Speaker 2: And I think that has had a huge part of this.
20:43
Speaker 2: You know, when Jalen's next to Caleb, he feels stronger.
20:46
Speaker 2: You know, when you know Lorenzo's next to you know, Jermaine,
20:49
Speaker 2: they feel stronger together. When our Vel's next to Sonny,
20:52
Speaker 2: you know, he feels stronger. Now, now that we're halfway
20:54
Speaker 2: through the season, I think that we know what we
20:56
Speaker 2: have with these guys, and they have confidence and now
20:58
Speaker 2: they're bringing other people along.
21:01
Speaker 3: But then the other part of it.
21:02
Speaker 2: Is the staff, you know, and these guys work hard,
21:05
Speaker 2: you know, and you know Matt puts together the plan
21:08
Speaker 2: and does a great job. But those are the guys
21:10
Speaker 2: that are, you know, in the front lines, fighting the
21:11
Speaker 2: battles every day to make sure that their guys are
21:13
Speaker 2: great out the champions.
21:15
Speaker 1: Earlier I kind of spelled out the rebetween the lines
21:17
Speaker 1: for you on one of these questions. I'm going to
21:19
Speaker 1: let you do that all by yourself. Here, how would
21:22
Speaker 1: Ryan Day describe his relationship with Jim Knowles, in the
21:25
Speaker 1: relationship of the entire program with Jim Knowles.
21:28
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, you know, when, like any relationship, when it
21:32
Speaker 2: breaks off, you know, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad.
21:34
Speaker 2: But there really hasn't been much communication.
21:37
Speaker 3: You know.
21:37
Speaker 2: He did a great job when he was here, you know,
21:40
Speaker 2: helped us win a national championship and kind of left
21:42
Speaker 2: it at that and then it was, you know, here
21:44
Speaker 2: we got to go make a replacement and move on
21:46
Speaker 2: from there. So yeah, that's that's kind of how it is,
21:50
Speaker 2: and it was abrupt, but we certainly respect the work
21:53
Speaker 2: that he did when he was here.
21:55
Speaker 1: And finally, I mentioned at the start one of the
21:58
Speaker 1: great press conference questions of several years at Ohio State.
22:03
Speaker 1: There are a lot of questions over the course of
22:04
Speaker 1: the years and a lot of press conferences. This is
22:07
Speaker 1: one that people will probably be talking about for a while.
22:09
Speaker 1: This is from Dave Holmes at ABC six. He asked
22:12
Speaker 1: about a Facebook post that showed Ryan Day going through
22:16
Speaker 1: a corn maze of his own face. The farm made
22:19
Speaker 1: the corn maze and carved it into the shape of
22:21
Speaker 1: Ryan Day's face. So did he really go through a
22:25
Speaker 1: corn maze of his own face? With his family last
22:27
Speaker 1: weekend or was that another AI generated fake Facebook post.
22:32
Speaker 2: I've read a lot of things on the internet AI
22:35
Speaker 2: that are not true, so I would say that it's
22:38
Speaker 2: hiitten about twenty percent, but that actually is true. We
22:42
Speaker 2: actually had been That's been something we've been doing as
22:45
Speaker 2: a family yearly. And the folks out there at the
22:49
Speaker 2: corn maze had said, you know, you know every year
22:51
Speaker 2: they do a corn maze and they use somebody different.
22:53
Speaker 2: It was Jack Nicholas one year. They've they've done Ohio
22:57
Speaker 2: state theme for however many years, and they said, you know,
23:00
Speaker 2: you win a national championship, then you know we'll do
23:02
Speaker 2: one of you. And so they held up their end
23:04
Speaker 2: of the bargain. So we went out there for a
23:05
Speaker 2: little while. I tried to be normal as a family.
23:09
Speaker 2: It wasn't normal because the kids are throwing corn at
23:11
Speaker 2: each other when we were in the maze and everything else.
23:13
Speaker 2: But uh now, but it was great, and it just
23:16
Speaker 2: it's great to do things like that when we're in
23:18
Speaker 2: the woody during the season, you know, just to get
23:20
Speaker 2: a wave in for a couple of hours, because you know,
23:21
Speaker 2: we call it the submarine right here, like it's just
23:23
Speaker 2: this is where we are. We don't go out in public,
23:25
Speaker 2: we don't do much, but to hear the people there
23:27
Speaker 2: talk about how you know, we're glad that Ohio State's
23:30
Speaker 2: on a bye week because we got a lot more
23:32
Speaker 2: people here then when they're when they're playing, you know,
23:36
Speaker 2: on Saturdays, you know, there's nobody here, and that's just
23:39
Speaker 2: it's a great opportunity to get an idea of kind
23:41
Speaker 2: of you know, how important football is in the in
23:43
Speaker 2: the community. But but yeah, it was good to get
23:46
Speaker 2: a little bit of perspective walking away for at least
23:48
Speaker 2: for a couple of hours. Anyways, I didn't do the
23:50
Speaker 2: Haunt though. I didn't do the Haunt, although I did
23:54
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago. And we're going through to
23:56
Speaker 2: Haunt and you know, it's it's it's quite an experience.
23:59
Speaker 2: And at one point, you know, with the mass jumps
24:00
Speaker 2: up for here right here, and they're like, coach Day,
24:05
Speaker 2: I was like, man, I got to get the heck
24:06
Speaker 2: out of here. So I said, I'm going to pass
24:08
Speaker 2: this year. Let the kids do it and mean and
24:10
Speaker 2: I waited.
24:10
Speaker 1: So there you go a little personality from Ryan Day.
24:14
Speaker 1: And I'm also going to do a little reading between
24:15
Speaker 1: the lines for you here. This is a There was
24:18
Speaker 1: a rather relaxed Ryan Day this week. We have seen
24:21
Speaker 1: stressed out Ryan Day, Ran Day. It's been a little
24:23
Speaker 1: more relaxed overall this year. That was a relatively relaxed
24:26
Speaker 1: Ryan Day this weekend as well. We'll see how that team,
24:29
Speaker 1: how that translates to the field. On Saturday, buck Eyes
24:32
Speaker 1: and Penn State Nitney Lions kicking off at noon on Fox.
24:36
Speaker 1: It could be a fun day out at the Horseshoe.
24:38
Speaker 1: We'll be there to cover it all for you. At
24:40
Speaker 1: bucke huddle dot com and YouTube dot com slash bucke
24:42
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24:46
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24:48
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24:50
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24:53
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25:27
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