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The 5 Biggest Questions Facing The Ohio State Buckeyes Right Now · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, October twenty second.
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  Speaker 1: I'm your host, tom Or. The Nebraska game is in
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  Speaker 1: four days, the game against Michigan in thirty nine days,
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  Speaker 1: man oh Man under forty days till the Michigan game.
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  Speaker 1: This season is flying by. The season is technically just
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  Speaker 1: halfway over for the Ohio State Buckeyes six games into
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  Speaker 1: their regular season, So today wanted to take a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a midterm exam on where things stand, what
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  Speaker 1: the biggest questions are for the Buckeyes as they head
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  Speaker 1: into the back half of their schedule, starting this Saturday
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  Speaker 1: against Nebraska's been welcome in Tony Gerderman of bucke Huddle
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  Speaker 1: dot Com. Tony, I think the first question starts with
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  Speaker 1: an injury that was suffered at the Oregon game, and
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  Speaker 1: that has left tackle Josh Simmons. I don't think we've
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  Speaker 1: officially officially officially been told that he's out for the season,
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  Speaker 1: but I think by all reasonable expectations, he's likely going
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  Speaker 1: to be out for the season. And I think the
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  Speaker 1: first big question for Ohio State is Okay, now what Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: First, Tom, you mentioned this as kind of a midterm thing.
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  Speaker 2: I was let's just wait until finals before we get
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  Speaker 2: really into stuff and really try to pass this thing.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm with you, what is what is the
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  Speaker 2: answer at left tackle? Ryan Day said last week that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to go with Zen Mahowsky said that on
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  Speaker 2: Thursday of his radio show that was the first plan,
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  Speaker 2: but there are fallback plans, and so when we talked
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  Speaker 2: to him Tuesday at lunchtime or so, it'll be interesting
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  Speaker 2: to see where and hear where those plans are right
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  Speaker 2: now and how this passed week of well actually maybe
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  Speaker 2: two total practices by that one total practice by that point.
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  Speaker 2: What have you learned about your left tackle position in
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  Speaker 2: this limited amount of time these couple of practices that
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  Speaker 2: you've had with Zen Mahawsky as you're number one, and
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  Speaker 2: then if it's like, well, we're also looking at so
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  Speaker 2: and so and it's like, oh, so it didn't go well, huh.
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  Speaker 2: But he also mentioned something that we've mentioned for a
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  Speaker 2: year now as Donovan Jackson being a possibility that would
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  Speaker 2: maybe you allow Austin Sierravell to go in too left
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  Speaker 2: guard or you know, they always talk about how athletic
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  Speaker 2: tag grishabola is and that is that a possibility, So
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  Speaker 2: I am fascinated to see where things are right now.
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  Speaker 2: Ideally zen Malski steps in, plays well and is as
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  Speaker 2: seamless as possible. But there's a reason whenever we would
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  Speaker 2: talk about what injury can the Buckeyes not afford, Josh
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  Speaker 2: Simmons was always top two, top three in that list.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we'll see how they do respond. I'm right
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  Speaker 1: there with you. If we get a real affirmative, yes,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be Zen Maholsky during the press conference
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  Speaker 1: on Tuesday, that's going to tell me one thing. And
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  Speaker 1: if we get a well, that's going to tell me
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  Speaker 1: a very different thing. And that's going to be a
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  Speaker 1: spot where the Buckeyes are tested this week and then
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  Speaker 1: tested even more next week at Penn State. Another spot
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  Speaker 1: where they're going to have to figure things out, because
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  Speaker 1: if an injury suffered at Oregon is the tight end position.
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  Speaker 1: Will kas Merik was really taking on a bigger role,
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  Speaker 1: felt like he had really won a significant spot on
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  Speaker 1: this team. They really really like his blocking, and now
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  Speaker 1: he's out for probably not the season, but probably a
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  Speaker 1: decent amount of time. So let's let's call that four
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  Speaker 1: to eight weeks or so, maybe maybe you get him
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  Speaker 1: back for the postseason something in that neighborhood day. He's
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  Speaker 1: got some good production out of g Scott up and
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  Speaker 1: up in Eugene, And you saw more Bennett Christian, certainly,
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  Speaker 1: But I think what next at tight end? How does
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  Speaker 1: that impact things if the guy that you liked best
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  Speaker 1: as a blocker is going to be out of the
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  Speaker 1: picture from probably at least maybe the the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the regular season.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you'll see everybody move up one spot and
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  Speaker 2: you'll see more Patrick Kurd as well. We saw true
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  Speaker 2: freshman Max the Blanc loose his black stripe last week,
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  Speaker 2: not really expecting him to move into a situation where
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  Speaker 2: they're going to be calling upon him. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: Bennett Christian has played a lot. I don't know how
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  Speaker 2: well he's played in terms of I don't you know.
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  Speaker 2: We're not seeing the grades, we're not seeing who's champion
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  Speaker 2: or not. But they are relying on him, relying on
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  Speaker 2: him and more than Jeelanie Thurman, which tells me something
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  Speaker 2: there that you know, he's been practicing well, doing the
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  Speaker 2: little things, which I think is the main thing when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to your number two tight end. We need
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  Speaker 2: you to be able to block We need you to
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  Speaker 2: be the right place the right time. We need to
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  Speaker 2: be able to trust you that you're going to be
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  Speaker 2: here because this third down run needs to be run precisely.
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  Speaker 2: And if one guy does that the majority of the time,
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  Speaker 2: the other guy doesn't, you're going to go with the
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  Speaker 2: guy who does it the majority of the time. And
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  Speaker 2: I think right now that's what they're getting out of
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  Speaker 2: Bennett Christian, So kudos to him. But is there more
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  Speaker 2: that Jeelani Thurman can be doing? Is there something that
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  Speaker 2: he can be doing for this offense? Probably, and now
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  Speaker 2: he needs to step up this. This will be another
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  Speaker 2: one where I don't know how much Jilanni Fairman will
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  Speaker 2: be asked about this week, but he probably should be.
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  Speaker 2: There's just just a lot to ask Brian Day right
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  Speaker 2: now that how is that two number two, number three
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  Speaker 2: tight end situation coming? May not be at the top
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  Speaker 2: at the forefront of things, but it's still big issue.
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  Speaker 2: For as much as they want to run twelve, for
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  Speaker 2: as much as we've run seen them run thirteen and
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  Speaker 2: do some crazy things in some heavy packages, it's definitely
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  Speaker 2: an issue because Will Cosmerica was playing better and better
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  Speaker 2: and was a guy that they were relying on and
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  Speaker 2: now for him to be gone. This is this is
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  Speaker 2: what Bennett Christian stuck around for. You know, he couldn't
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  Speaker 2: play last year. He could have left, he could have gone,
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  Speaker 2: he could have quit, and he stuck around. Was only
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  Speaker 2: able to practice last year. So he's gotten plenty of
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  Speaker 2: reps in that way, and so now he's actually getting
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity to you know, prove himself and maybe reward
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  Speaker 2: himself for sticking it out.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned something we might ask Ryan Day about,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to guess something else Brian Day might
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  Speaker 1: get asked about on Tuesday is the pass rush defensive
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  Speaker 1: line in general. There was just there was not a
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  Speaker 1: lot of something and twisting and a lot of the
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  Speaker 1: stuff you typically see in big games, and just from
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  Speaker 1: a lot of teams across the country. You really did
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  Speaker 1: not see that from Ohio State. I haven't seen it
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  Speaker 1: much this year, really didn't see it to Oregon. Guessing
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  Speaker 1: he's going to get asked about that. We are not
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  Speaker 1: getting Give Knowles, we're not getting Chip Kelly on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: It's just Riyan Day and Will Howard, so a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of a different Tuesday press conference. So I'm guessing
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  Speaker 1: Ryan day will get asked about that pass rush and
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  Speaker 1: what needs to change there to make that more effective,
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  Speaker 1: because that was certainly a part of the Buckeye struggles
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  Speaker 1: on defense against Oregon.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and when you go and watch the Michigan Illinois
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  Speaker 2: game and see the way Illinois got after Michigan quarterback
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  Speaker 2: Jack Tuttele, it was does Illinois have better talent in
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State? I don't think so, but they were after him.
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  Speaker 2: And I've always said that if you have a bad offense,
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  Speaker 2: it's on purpose. And because you can scheme up a
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  Speaker 2: good offense, I've come around to the fact that you
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  Speaker 2: can also scheme up a good pass rush and if
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  Speaker 2: you're not, then you're doing it on purpose as well.
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  Speaker 2: And so yeah, do something. And if you're just looking
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  Speaker 2: for we don't want any changes, then you know, then
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  Speaker 2: you're gonna sleep in that bed eventually and you're not
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  Speaker 2: going to be happy be about it. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: when you look at the lack of impact and the
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  Speaker 2: need for it, you get to a point where your
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  Speaker 2: defensive line has to win you games, has to interrupt
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  Speaker 2: the quarterback enough that your secondary can't bear the brunt
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  Speaker 2: of everything. Because we saw what happened against Oregon. When
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  Speaker 2: you put everything on the secondary, sometimes that breaks, and
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  Speaker 2: when it breaks, it breaks big. And I still wonder
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  Speaker 2: how much Jim Knowles is gunshy about his first year
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  Speaker 2: at Ohio State, where he did scheme up pressures but
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  Speaker 2: the secondary wasn't able to handle it. Now he has
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  Speaker 2: the secondary, but he's still still reticent to be like
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  Speaker 2: to be as aggressive as he's been in the past,
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  Speaker 2: Like he's over reliant on the talent and less reliant
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  Speaker 2: on his ability to scheme, or not able to be
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  Speaker 2: as reliant on his ability to scheme because of the
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  Speaker 2: talent on hand. And that's something he talked about maybe
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  Speaker 2: a second year when he said, no disrespect to the
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  Speaker 2: Oklahoma State talent, but I have more talent here, so
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  Speaker 2: I don't need to get as crazy. But as we
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  Speaker 2: all know, sometimes crazy, a little bit crazy is okay.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see how that defensive front meshes with the
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  Speaker 1: secondary in these coming weeks. Probably not a ton of
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  Speaker 1: big outside threats in the coming weeks, especially at Penn State.
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  Speaker 1: That's much more of a tight end based offense. But
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  Speaker 1: how will that secondary hold up against Penn State, against Nebraska,
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  Speaker 1: by against some of these other teams coming up on
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  Speaker 1: the calendar, and that was This is not a question
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  Speaker 1: I expected to have to ask before the Oregon game,
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  Speaker 1: because the secondary felt like it was in pretty good shape.
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  Speaker 1: Now it was not. It was not outstanding out in Eugene,
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  Speaker 1: gave up some big plays, and I think it's reasonable
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  Speaker 1: to wonder, which is, you know, will the reals Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State secondary please step forward? Because they were among the
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  Speaker 1: nation's best for the forced five games and very much
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  Speaker 1: not among the nation's best in game six. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I think ironically the stepping forward was part of the problem,
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  Speaker 2: and that they were stepping forward to the first down
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  Speaker 2: marker and focus so much on that because that was
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  Speaker 2: Dylan Gabriel's game planner. That's what he's done in the
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  Speaker 2: past with his arm. And then they'd get to the
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  Speaker 2: first down marker and watch the receivers go past them.
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  Speaker 2: So I am fascinated to see what that rematch looks
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  Speaker 2: like and how much leeway they give the receivers at
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  Speaker 2: that point and doesn't Orgon take advantage of it. But
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  Speaker 2: this is another one where you have to look and
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  Speaker 2: see how much confidence has been lost by the players,
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  Speaker 2: by the coaches in this we know cornerbacks aren't supposed
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  Speaker 2: to have any kind of memory, but they'll remember this
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  Speaker 2: and certainly carry it with them and not want it
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  Speaker 2: to happen again. But can you trust that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think we all believe that this is a good secondary,
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  Speaker 2: and we've seen it be a good secondary also all
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  Speaker 2: over throughout the years, seeing good secondaries have bad days,
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  Speaker 2: seeing great corners have terrible days, and maybe you can
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  Speaker 2: chalk that up to that's what happened last week, but
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  Speaker 2: it was also kind of across the board, like everybody
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  Speaker 2: made mistakes in that secondary last last week for Ohio State,
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  Speaker 2: two weeks ago for Ohio State. So everybody comes into
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  Speaker 2: this with questions, and you know, maybe that's maybe that's
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  Speaker 2: a good thing personally where you see Kirby Smart talking
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  Speaker 2: about how everybody doubted them against Texas. Yes, everybody's always
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  Speaker 2: doubting the Georgia Bulldog football program. Maybe this is one
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  Speaker 2: of those things where you know, everybody's doubting Ohio State's
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  Speaker 2: secondary and they can turn it into a positive. We
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  Speaker 2: certainly don't want to turn it into another negative.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not sure anyone has really doubted the Georgia Bulldogs
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  Speaker 1: football team other than their ability to perhaps follow routine
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  Speaker 1: traffic laws and that type of thing. Everything else, they
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  Speaker 1: have gotten the benefit of the doubt, I think pretty
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  Speaker 1: strongly for a few years now. One last piece of
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  Speaker 1: this that this is, you know, away from this sort
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  Speaker 1: of new gritty of the team. This is more big picture.
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  Speaker 1: This fifth question for the Buckeyes on the back half
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  Speaker 1: of the season, and that is just how big is
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  Speaker 1: the margin for error right now? I think during a
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  Speaker 1: typical four team playoff season, you'd have the loss to
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  Speaker 1: Oregon and you'd say, boy, if they lose to Penn State,
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  Speaker 1: they're out. You gotta figure two losses, you're out. You
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  Speaker 1: sort of had a sense for if you had two losses,
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  Speaker 1: you really needed a lot of other stuff to line
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  Speaker 1: up for you to make the four team college football playoff.
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  Speaker 1: Now we'll see if the Buckeyes lose to Penn State
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  Speaker 1: and Indiana, or you lose to someone else along the way.
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  Speaker 1: Three losses, you're probably out. Two losses, you're probably in.
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  Speaker 1: But so much of this is a little bit of
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  Speaker 1: the unknown. And we talked about this on yesterday's morning show.
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  Speaker 1: All the teams with zero and one loss, I think
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  Speaker 1: they're twenty pow er. Four teams with zero or one loss.
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  Speaker 1: Right now, you got to kind of figure they're all
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  Speaker 1: in some of them are going to knock each other out.
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  Speaker 1: But there's just so much uncertainty about the back half
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  Speaker 1: of this schedule. What's the College Football Playoff Committee going
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  Speaker 1: to take into account? Are they going to want good wins?
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  Speaker 1: Are they going to want good losses that aren't too bad?
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  Speaker 1: Are they going to want margin of victory? Are they
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  Speaker 1: going to want I mean, you could go just about
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  Speaker 1: any direction right now and tell me, yeah, sure I could.
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  Speaker 1: I could see the committee doing that. That just raises
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  Speaker 1: a lot of questions about can the Buckeyes afford to
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  Speaker 1: lose another game and still make it comfortably or are
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  Speaker 1: they you know, are you are you looking at a
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  Speaker 1: road game? Like what is that going to look like
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  Speaker 1: the back half of this year?
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  Speaker 2: Well, and I think part of that is there are
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  Speaker 2: going to be a lot of teams with two losses
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  Speaker 2: that are going to be examined and be part of this.
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  Speaker 2: If Ohio State loses de Penn State, what's their quality win?
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  Speaker 2: It would be Indiana with possibly a backup quarterback or
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  Speaker 2: you know, you know, something to that nature, where maybe
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  Speaker 2: Indiana isn't because what's what's Indiana's quality win, And so
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  Speaker 2: there's not even a transitive quality win necessarily in there
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  Speaker 2: that you would get by beating Indiana. And I don't
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  Speaker 2: know if I think Ohio State would have two of
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  Speaker 2: the better losses in the country to both the number
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  Speaker 2: three at the time on the road. But you need
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  Speaker 2: some wins to counteract that and to balance that out.
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  Speaker 2: And but then then you just get measured against you know,
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  Speaker 2: Ole miss or Alabama or whoever else. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: if we're talking about a two loss Alabama team, they've
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  Speaker 2: got to win over Georgia. So there they're gonna be
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  Speaker 2: some some some certainly some tough calls in there. I
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  Speaker 2: can hear people say, yeah, but Ohio State gets the eyeballs.
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  Speaker 2: Playoffs are going to get the eyeballs, So you need
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  Speaker 2: to be something more than that. But man, I guess
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  Speaker 2: since it's never happened, I'll believe it. I believe that
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State as a two loss team gets left out
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  Speaker 2: of the twelve team playoffs when I see it. We've
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  Speaker 2: never seen it before.
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  Speaker 1: Tom That's true. Never, never once we were turning this
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  Speaker 1: into a bull prediction show, Tony. Not once since Rutgers
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  Speaker 1: and Princeton met on that field in New Jersey in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen sixteen, left out twelve team college football playoff, not
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  Speaker 1: one as a two lost team in a twelve team
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  Speaker 1: college football playoff. Will it happen this year? We'll find
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  Speaker 1: out it is? Uh we well, I guess we may
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  Speaker 1: not find out because it may it may not become
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  Speaker 1: an issue. We'll see if it becomes an issue, and
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  Speaker 1: if it becomes an issue, we'll see if it ends
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  Speaker 1: up becoming a big issue or not. There is a
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  Speaker 1: lot to talk about in the back half of this
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  Speaker 1: college football season. That is all going to start with
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  Speaker 1: the Brian Day Press conference on Tuesday that will start
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  Speaker 1: at noon. Be streaming that live on our YouTube channel
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  Speaker 1: YouTube dot com slash Buckey Huddle, and we'll be talking
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  Speaker 1: about it as well at bucke Huddle dot com. That's
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: where Tony, Kevin and I cover the team, Mark covers recruiting.
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  Speaker 1: Got our whole team of X's nose gurus there, like
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  Speaker 1: you a smarter football fan all at buckey Huddle dot com.
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  Speaker 1: That'll do it for today. Thank you guys all for
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  Speaker 1: joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.