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Ohio State Football: 4 Predictions For The 2026 Buckeyes' Season · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyees tomorrow morning. From Monday, July thirteenth, I'm
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  Speaker 1: your host, tom Or the ball State game in fifty
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  Speaker 1: four days, the game against Michigan in one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: thirty eight days. We're presented today by our friends at
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  Speaker 1: jeff Ruby's Columbus, proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes,
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  Speaker 1: seafood and sushi, and peckable service, live entertainment, and an
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  Speaker 1: attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey dot com slash Columbus to check out the menu
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  Speaker 1: and make a reservation. Today on today's show, I'm joined
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  Speaker 1: by Tony Gerderman at Buckeye Insiders dot com. He has
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  Speaker 1: some predictions for you. Are they bold predictions? Friends? They
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  Speaker 1: never are. That's okay, He's not even pretending this time.
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  Speaker 1: They're just regular predictions. And Tony, I want to go
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  Speaker 1: through these with you because there's some interesting ones and
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  Speaker 1: I think these are ones that I think Ohio State
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  Speaker 1: fans are going to enjoy all of these, especially if
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  Speaker 1: they all come true. Number one, this was one that
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  Speaker 1: I looked at and I was like, is that right?
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  Speaker 1: And yes it is right. Ohio State has not beaten
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  Speaker 1: Oregon in the regular season since nineteen eighty seven, that
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  Speaker 1: is before Oregon football was anything remotely like what Oregon
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  Speaker 1: football is now. But you think they are going to
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  Speaker 1: do it this year for the first time since nineteen
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  Speaker 1: eighty seven.
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  Speaker 2: First time. Thank you for having me. Thank you for
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  Speaker 2: that wonderful introduction. It is. It is so appreciated. I
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  Speaker 2: cannot tell you how I appreciated. Appreciative I am of that,
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  Speaker 2: so thank you. Yeah, nineteen eighty seven was the last
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  Speaker 2: time that Ohio State beat Oregon in the regular season.
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  Speaker 2: We know, twenty twenty one they lost in Columbus, twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty four they lost in Eugene. The funny thing is
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  Speaker 2: they've played like quite a few times in the sixties
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  Speaker 2: and the eighties, and Ohio State won all of those matchups.
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  Speaker 2: It was not untill that twenty twenty one game where
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State could not stop Oregon that the Ducks actually
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  Speaker 2: got a win over the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes on a
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  Speaker 2: ten too mark on the Ducks. But I do think
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  Speaker 2: it's going to happen this year November seventh in Ohio Stadium.
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  Speaker 2: I think Oregon is they may be, They may this
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  Speaker 2: may be if everybody winning games, this is maybe a
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  Speaker 2: one versus two and I'm not sure Ohio State would
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  Speaker 2: be one in that scenario. You know, maybe even if
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  Speaker 2: Ohio State loses to Texas, they could be to by
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  Speaker 2: the time this game comes around. So I do expect
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  Speaker 2: a top five matchup that day. I also think that somehow, someway,
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  Speaker 2: the buck guys are going to finally win at home
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  Speaker 2: nearly forty years in the making. That's probably what the
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  Speaker 2: shirts will say, nearly nearly forty years in the making.
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  Speaker 2: I think that's pretty that you put that on a
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  Speaker 2: marquis something like that. Yes, I think Ohio State beats
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  Speaker 2: Oregon this year finally.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, other than the relatively minor games such as the
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  Speaker 1: Rose Bowl, the other Rose Bowl, the National Championship Game, Yes,
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  Speaker 1: they will finally get it done on the big stage
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  Speaker 1: of the regular season. The secret bonus question here, Tony
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  Speaker 1: is is that the only time Ohio State and Oregon
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  Speaker 1: play this year.
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  Speaker 2: That's a good question, and I don't think so. I
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  Speaker 2: think there will be multiple matchups. And when I say multiple,
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  Speaker 2: that is more than one. Will it be three? I
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  Speaker 2: don't know. I'll just start it two right now and
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  Speaker 2: go from there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, between the Big Ten championship game being a possibility,
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  Speaker 1: and you figure these are two of the top five
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  Speaker 1: Ish teams in the country, so you got a decent
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  Speaker 1: chance of them playing in the quarterfinals, the semi finals,
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  Speaker 1: maybe even the national championship game. We have seen that
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  Speaker 1: happen before and it is certainly a possibility this year.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Next one, you say that legend Bay Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State freshman running back extraordinaire will have a seventy yard rush.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and as I'm thinking that through right now, that
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  Speaker 2: has number of opportunities to have a seventy yard rush
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  Speaker 2: probably going to be very few. So he's probably gonna
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  Speaker 2: have to hit a seventy yarder on ten percent of
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  Speaker 2: his attempts in terms of having the ball that far
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  Speaker 2: backed up. But I should have just said seventy yard
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  Speaker 2: play Tom, But when I said to you, I mistakenly
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  Speaker 2: put rush. Now that I'm thinking about it and as
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  Speaker 2: I'm considering the possibilities, but he is going to be
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  Speaker 2: a big play guy, I do believe, and they are
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  Speaker 2: going to put him in situations to make plays. Generally,
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  Speaker 2: that's not a rush though, that's some sort of an
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  Speaker 2: other thing. But maybe an end to a round something
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  Speaker 2: like that. But the way people talk about him and
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  Speaker 2: his speed, his agility, all that stuff lends me to
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  Speaker 2: believe that there will be some big plays. Now, seventy
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  Speaker 2: yards town, that is a bold prediction. Ohio State's last
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  Speaker 2: seventy yard rush came.
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  Speaker 1: In they had two and twenty twenty four treu.
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  Speaker 2: And actually both Quinchawn Jenkins had both of those, So
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  Speaker 2: I think the opportunities are going to be few and
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  Speaker 2: far between, which this would probably be at least a
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  Speaker 2: two point or tom And actually, if it's a day
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  Speaker 2: a game week type of thing, this is a free
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  Speaker 2: poorter I think to say seventy yard rush, but I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to stick to it because I wrote it down
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  Speaker 2: and now that we're recording, I can't say I'm lying.
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  Speaker 1: Cant bleasel your way out of this one. Yeah, they
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  Speaker 1: had zero seventy yard rushes last year, two in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty four, one in twenty twenty three, two in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two, one in twenty twenty one, so it's it
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  Speaker 1: is six over the last five years, five over the
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  Speaker 1: last four years. So you figure this is about a
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  Speaker 1: once a year thing, give or take. So yes to
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  Speaker 1: predict any individual player to do it. That would actually
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  Speaker 1: constitute boldness to predict any one individual player to do
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  Speaker 1: this in a specific game. That would probably be a
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  Speaker 1: three pointer. I cannot wait to take that in Week
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  Speaker 1: one and take that away from you and watch you
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  Speaker 1: get extremely, extremely mad. Finally, something to look forward to
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  Speaker 1: with college football season right around the corner. Something else
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  Speaker 1: to be looking forward to with college football season right
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  Speaker 1: around the corner. Can Yata Jackson's senior season, and he
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  Speaker 1: is seemingly poised to take on a bigger role, even
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  Speaker 1: bigger than last year. You know, probably as Ohio It's
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  Speaker 1: leading edge player. And you think that might look like
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  Speaker 1: ten plus sacks.
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  Speaker 2: You know, and that's something that Kenya Kayden Curry did
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  Speaker 2: last year with eleven sacks. It's something that JT. Twey
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  Speaker 2: Moloow did with twelve and a half two and a
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  Speaker 2: half at twenty twenty four. But then you got to
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  Speaker 2: go back to Chase Young and and the bosas before
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  Speaker 2: that's happened, since since it's happened. So this is another
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  Speaker 2: I think this is pretty bold, and do I believe it.
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  Speaker 2: I think the opportunities are going to be there. I
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  Speaker 2: keep saying he's going to be a top ten pick.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm I guess I've got to push all of
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  Speaker 2: my chips in at this point on him. Last year
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  Speaker 2: six and a half sacks, and most of those came
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  Speaker 2: after he was like, hey, is it okay if I
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  Speaker 2: arrest a quarterback? Can we can we do some of that? More,
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  Speaker 2: do more of that? So I think with a more
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  Speaker 2: aggressive approach this year, he will have more sacks and
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  Speaker 2: more games rather than the fourteen they played last year.
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  Speaker 2: Can they get a couple more?
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  Speaker 1: So?
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  Speaker 2: On one end, ten plus sacks, ten sacks is a lot.
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  Speaker 2: On the other hand, it's like, well, I mean, if
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  Speaker 2: you play fifteen games and you're supposed to be an
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  Speaker 2: all Big ten, perhaps like an All American type, if
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  Speaker 2: you don't get to that number, have you underachieved? And
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  Speaker 2: I think ten sacks, maybe ten and a half somewhere
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  Speaker 2: around in there. But yes, I'm going to push my
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  Speaker 2: chips in on Kenyatta Jackson. And I'm just I'm not
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  Speaker 2: going to slow down when it comes to what he
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  Speaker 2: could do this year, other than saying we'll just start
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  Speaker 2: at ten right now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I don't think anything less than ten would
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  Speaker 1: be underachieving for him. But I think ten is a
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  Speaker 1: realistic number, especially as you said, we don't know exactly
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  Speaker 1: how many games they could play. It could be up
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  Speaker 1: to seventeen this year, but you figure they're going to
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  Speaker 1: be fourteen, fifteen, maybe sixteen. You have a lot of opportunities.
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  Speaker 1: And these are teams where you're playing, You're going to
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  Speaker 1: be playing some really high stakes games. You're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: playing games that are gonna be relatively close, which means
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  Speaker 1: you're probably playing four quarters in more games than you
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  Speaker 1: did last year. So there's certainly going to be opportunities.
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  Speaker 1: And he's not someone who I think they're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: taken off the field very often in those big games,
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  Speaker 1: so he is certainly going to have the snaps to
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  Speaker 1: potentially do that. Last one, and this is really you
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  Speaker 1: are calling your shot here. Devin Sanchez, Ohio State corner
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  Speaker 1: will intercept Bryce Underwood, Michigan quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: And this assumes two things. One it assumes that Devin
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  Speaker 2: Sanchez will have an interception in the game, and two
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  Speaker 2: that Bryce Underwo will be playing in the game. And
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  Speaker 2: actually this assumes three things. It also assums that Michigan
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  Speaker 2: will not back out of the game. So one, two,
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  Speaker 2: that's a three pointer time at the very least. And
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  Speaker 2: we know Bryce underwent through nine interceptions last year in
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  Speaker 2: three hundred and thirty five attempts. I expect him to
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  Speaker 2: be better this year in terms of being a quarterback,
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  Speaker 2: but also the more confident that a quarter get, sometimes
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  Speaker 2: the interceptions go up because they know better. And that's
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  Speaker 2: with all, I think, not all, that's with a lot
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  Speaker 2: of second year starters, where you're more comfortable, you're a
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  Speaker 2: little less cautious, you're more confident, and you try to
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  Speaker 2: fit some footballs into some windows that you wouldn't have
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  Speaker 2: done the year before. And so that's one way of
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  Speaker 2: looking at this. Another way of looking at this is
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  Speaker 2: seeing what appear to be a lack of development in
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  Speaker 2: the spring. And we always talk about you can't put
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  Speaker 2: too much on the spring game and trying not to.
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  Speaker 2: But when the quarterback looks the same in the spring
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  Speaker 2: that they did in November, and when the quarterback in
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  Speaker 2: November looks the same that they did in September, at
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  Speaker 2: what point does does the cocoon start and the metamorphosis
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  Speaker 2: take over. So that's a lot of words to say, Yes, Tom,
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  Speaker 2: I think Devin Sanchez is going to intercept the price
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  Speaker 2: Underwood this year, and that doesn't I did not specify
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  Speaker 2: when that could be the regular season, that could be
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  Speaker 2: the Big Ten Championship game, that could be the postseason.
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  Speaker 1: Oh Man, every once in a while we'll have that.
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State and Michigan could theoretically meet at the Big
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  Speaker 1: Ten Championship game where the college football playoff. And it's like,
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  Speaker 1: oh man, what a spectacle that would be if either
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  Speaker 1: one of those happened. It's going to be interesting to
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  Speaker 1: see among the many things that are, you know, potentially
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  Speaker 1: different with Devin Sinch with Bryce Underwood this year, he
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  Speaker 1: has a quarterbacks coach, which is certainly going to help.
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  Speaker 1: He's playing an adjacent back offense where that can be
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback run heavy, slash dependent offense at times. And
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  Speaker 1: what does that do for him? Does that open things
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  Speaker 1: up board? Does that mean he's more banged up when
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  Speaker 1: you get to the latter portions of the regular season
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  Speaker 1: that those are a lot of different variables you got
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  Speaker 1: to kind of price in here. But Michigan has some
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  Speaker 1: decent wide receivers, Andrew marsh coming back for a second year.
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  Speaker 1: They just had a Jamie French in the transfer portal
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  Speaker 1: from Texas they've got some talented receiver, so you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have some opportunities. He is going to be putting
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  Speaker 1: the ball in the air. We know that. So yes,
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  Speaker 1: and then I think your point is very well taken.
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  Speaker 1: You can be a better quarterback, a more experienced quarterback
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  Speaker 1: and throw more interceptions just because you're not being your
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  Speaker 1: first year. Everyone just kind of says, just don't lose
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  Speaker 1: the game, don't blow this, don't you know. And the
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  Speaker 1: second year you're getting you're kind of taking the restrictor
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  Speaker 1: played off a little bit, which can lead to more interceptions,
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  Speaker 1: but also a better season on the whole. So there
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  Speaker 1: you go. Four predictions from Tony Gerdaman to expect things
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  Speaker 1: to look forward to with the Ohio State football season
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  Speaker 1: this year. Something you can look forward to is joining
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  Speaker 1: Buckeye Insiders dot com. That site is live right now.
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  Speaker 1: We have a very active message board already, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of fun folks, a lot of folks we were very
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  Speaker 1: very excited to see join us right away. That site is.
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  Speaker 1: We are just getting ramped up right now. But here's
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  Speaker 1: a little surprising thing that I just realized Big ten
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  Speaker 1: media days about two weeks away right now. The season
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  Speaker 1: actually right around the corner. I was emotionally a little
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  Speaker 1: shaken by that, like, oh boy, we're getting into season
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