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Ross Fulton Analysis LIVE: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame Preview · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to a very special live bonus episode
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of Ross Fulton Analysis. Ross and I both in Atlanta,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: were like two miles away, but it's like fifteen degrees
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: outside and nope, no, thank you. You can actually probably
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: see the ice on the window behind me that's on
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: the east side. The city is literally not built for this.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: We're fine, you know, we're both of northern stock. But
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: all right, Ross, enough screwing around. First of all, we
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: got to thank our sponsor, Jeff Rubies of Columbus, proudly
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes, seafood and sushi, impeccable service,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: live and entertainment, and an intention to detail that is
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: simply unmatched. Just go to Jeff ruby dot com slash
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Columbus to check out the menu and make a reservation
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: for today. Well, that would be a great place, Jeff
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Ruby's Columbus to celebrate a you know, any kind of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: an occasion that might be a celebratory occasion if you
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: can think of one that might be coming up for
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: people in Columbus, Ohio. I can think of one that
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: might be coming up for people in Columbus, Ohio. We
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: will find out tonight in Mercedes Benz Stadium down here
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Ross, We're gonna this this is We're gonna
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: kind of do a little bit of it. We're gonna run
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: some tempo here to get through this show because we
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: both have other things to do. We got other places
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  Speaker 1: to be today as well. A lot of a lot
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: of stuff going on. Let's just start with the Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State offense against the Notre Dame defense. I think the
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  Speaker 1: number one question that a lot of people have been
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: asking is can Notre Dame to take what Texas did
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: to take away Jeremiah Smith and just sort of can
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  Speaker 1: they do that? So what what is the short answer
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  Speaker 1: to can Texas can tech Notre Dame just sort of
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  Speaker 1: control see and control via the Texas game plan?
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: I mean that's the fascinating part to me is I
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  Speaker 3: don't think they will. It's not at all what they do.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, they've played you know, Cover one. We've talked
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  Speaker 3: about over half their snaps this year at a minimum.
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  Speaker 3: I guess there's some dispute whether it's fifty either way,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: it's a lot the you know, Texas had been you know,
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  Speaker 3: maybe a little bit outside of their normal bread and butter.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they probably played a little bit less Cover
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  Speaker 3: three zone and more like split safety zones.
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  Speaker 2: But it's still like within the framework or what they do.
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  Speaker 3: They like play a soft zone, team match routs, and
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  Speaker 3: for Notre Dame, it would be a big change. Now
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  Speaker 3: we can look back at like the twenty twenty three
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  Speaker 3: High State Notre Dame game as somewhat instructive. Obviously O
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  Speaker 3: High State had Marvin Harrison. I do think I'll go it.
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  Speaker 3: In that game, they probably played less cover one man
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  Speaker 3: than they have relative to most of you know, most
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  Speaker 3: of their games, you know, particularly on third down, like
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  Speaker 3: you make they mix sin some Tampa like some like
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  Speaker 3: Cover four stuff. But like it's one thing to do
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  Speaker 3: it on third down, right like on passing downs, it's
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  Speaker 3: another to like suddenly play cover two on early downs.
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  Speaker 3: And like if you're not used to fitting the run
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  Speaker 3: that way, you know you still have to play the run.
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  Speaker 3: So I just I think you will see some you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's I don't think it's gonna be seventy percent cover one.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think it's.
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  Speaker 3: Gonna be like suddenly throw out everything Notre Dame's ever
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  Speaker 3: done on the flip side and play a bunch of
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  Speaker 3: the like Tampa every play, It'll be somewhere in between.
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  Speaker 3: They'll pick and choose their spots. I think fist state.
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  Speaker 3: Then the key is, like, you know, I think you're
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  Speaker 3: more likely to get man on first down or in
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  Speaker 3: standard downs when they have to play the run, and
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  Speaker 3: I just think that the key is to then, you know,
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  Speaker 3: dial up the man beaters on early downs.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Mesh why Cross.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, these are all things that they ran against
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  Speaker 3: Notre Dame last year quite a bit sale concepts, and
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  Speaker 3: then you know, lots of RPOs Jeremi Smith, like, if
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  Speaker 3: they want to press him that go route rpo, if
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  Speaker 3: they want to play off of him hitches, I think
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  Speaker 3: you definitely want to get him going early in the game.
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  Speaker 1: Personnel wise from Notre Dame, I'm not sure how much
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  Speaker 1: Notre Dame you've watched, but the secondary both corners are young,
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  Speaker 1: Leonard Moore and Christian Gray. More is a true freshman,
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  Speaker 1: Gray is a second year player. The safeties are a
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  Speaker 1: little more veteran Shuler and Xavier Watson in particular, pretty
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  Speaker 1: pretty strong on the back end there. But the corners,
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  Speaker 1: how big of a concern would you have if you
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  Speaker 1: were Notre Dame's you know, Notre Dames coaching staff, in
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  Speaker 1: terms of being able to match up with these Ohio
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  Speaker 1: state wide receivers, whatever coverage, you're in a lot.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, like I I that's why it's not on
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  Speaker 3: paper a great matchup for Notre Dame's defense, because they're
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  Speaker 3: they play so much man and they are running into
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  Speaker 3: a team who has who is I mean, I think
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  Speaker 3: Will Howard's only the state's only seen man on like
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  Speaker 3: twenty percent of those snaps this year, because teams don't
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  Speaker 3: really want to do that too often, and but when
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  Speaker 3: they do, like Ohio states, like Will Howard stats are
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  Speaker 3: through the roof against it. You know, Oregon tried to
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  Speaker 3: do some on third down and honestly killed it, like
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  Speaker 3: lots of plants, double slants, slants to Jeremiah Smith. You know,
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  Speaker 3: maybe Notre Dame tries to play some like two man,
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  Speaker 3: uh you know man underneath with two deep safeties, but again,
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  Speaker 3: like you do have to still defend the run, and
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  Speaker 3: so it's I just think it's not a great matchup.
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  Speaker 3: I just I don't know how they're going to handle it.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, you'll find all variations of guesses on this.
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  Speaker 3: I think if you're tip killing Ryan Day, like you
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  Speaker 3: kind of have to be prepared for both. You certainly
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  Speaker 3: have to be prepared for them to play. You know,
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  Speaker 3: have your man beaters ready, but just be prepared, particularly
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  Speaker 3: on third down like that, you're going to get some
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  Speaker 3: other things you know that you weren't necessarily expecting.
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  Speaker 1: So before we get to the run, I did want
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  Speaker 1: to talk to one of the other ways you can
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  Speaker 1: defend the pass, and that's with the pass rush. Notre
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  Speaker 1: Dame obviously missing Riley Mills interior that defensive line, he
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  Speaker 1: was a part of that pass rush, but they've had
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  Speaker 1: some success off the edge as well. Is that How
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  Speaker 1: big of a concern is that for Ohio State? I
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: mean the offensive line obviously he has been reshuffled a
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  Speaker 1: bunch over the last month and month or two, but
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  Speaker 1: they've been pretty good in pass pro kind of throughout
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  Speaker 1: the College Football Playoff. Is this a Notre Dame pass
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  Speaker 1: rush that could present some new challenges for Ohio State?
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  Speaker 3: Man, I don't see any different, Like there's there's in
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  Speaker 3: terms of like personnel. Mire game's not bringing anything that Tennessee, Texas, Oregon, Tennessee, Michigan,
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  Speaker 3: Penn State don't bring I mean they don't have a
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  Speaker 3: dull carter. They will certainly stunt a lot up front.
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  Speaker 3: They will use you know, lots of five and six
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  Speaker 3: man pressures and slant and move around, so that'll test
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  Speaker 3: like the discipline in Ohio States like past protection. But
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: like I mean, as I said, like honesty, it's been
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  Speaker 3: dealing with that. You know, like Texas tried to single
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  Speaker 3: up the guards, they tried to get called Simmons singled
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  Speaker 3: up on Josh Fryer, and Ohio State handled it pretty well.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think the one constant has been that
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  Speaker 3: Ohio State's pass protection has been pretty solid this year.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: And Will Howard helps that too, Like he gets the
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  Speaker 3: ball out, he moves around well in the pocket. Like
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  Speaker 3: on that third and eight completion of Cardinal Tate against Texas,
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  Speaker 3: you know, he he bought himself time, he slid to
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  Speaker 3: the left and bought depth to complete that route. So
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  Speaker 3: I just I think it's more it really just starts
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  Speaker 3: with like how many pressure packages is outbo and throwing
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  Speaker 3: at them? And then you know the converse of that
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  Speaker 3: though is like again, if you're going to do that
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  Speaker 3: or if you're notre Dame, are you playing a bunch
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  Speaker 3: of cover one behind it, and how quickly can O
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  Speaker 3: High State get the ball out?
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  Speaker 2: In response to.
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  Speaker 1: That, we have seen a bunch of different schemes and
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  Speaker 1: looks from the run game at Ohio State, certainly over
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  Speaker 1: the last few years. But we've seen them sort of
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  Speaker 1: adapt and adopt some new things in the College Football
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  Speaker 1: Playoff as well. Looking at the Notre Dame and the
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  Speaker 1: defense and the defensive front in particular, where do you
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  Speaker 1: think Ohio State might be able to find some success
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  Speaker 1: in the run game. It felt like Penn State found
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  Speaker 1: some success outside. If you're drawing up a game plan
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  Speaker 1: for this game, where are you sort of starting with
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  Speaker 1: the run game for the Buckeyes.
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  Speaker 3: Definitely gap schemes off tackle, I mean, I'm going right back.
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  Speaker 3: The countertrait well a lot, I think again you're like,
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  Speaker 3: excuse me. Notre Dame, as I said that even on rundowns,
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  Speaker 3: they move a lot and they try to penetrate right,
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  Speaker 3: and so we've seen oh I say, have issues with
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  Speaker 3: that zone blocking wise in terms of the combination blocks.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm just trying to wash all that down. Like
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  Speaker 3: at Worse, you let those you know, quench on juckins
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  Speaker 3: trade on Henderson try to bounce it outside.
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  Speaker 2: But I you know, I'm mixing that.
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  Speaker 3: Probably sound like a broken record on this, but I
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  Speaker 3: would mix in sorry why the Hotel.
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  Speaker 2: TV suddenly turned itself on its own?
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  Speaker 3: The beauty of live I would try to mix in
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  Speaker 3: you know some Will Howard run game. Probably sound like
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  Speaker 3: a broken record on that, but again, like just looking
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  Speaker 3: for ways, especially if they're gonna play cover one like
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  Speaker 3: the Quarterback Run game.
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  Speaker 2: You obviously guys are turning their backs, you're down.
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  Speaker 3: You know that that adds an extra blocker, and so
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  Speaker 3: I think I'm just trying to mix in that. Get
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  Speaker 3: the football outside, you know some of that power read
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  Speaker 3: stuff like Penn State did as well.
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  Speaker 2: And now I'm gonna fix this.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah you can. You can fix this. Uh. While
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: while Ross is fixing that, I will remind you that
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: we are presented by Jeff Rubies of Columbus, proudly offering
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: nationally acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes, seven sushi and peccable service,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: live entertainment, and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Their TVs won't magically turn on there either. Go to
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Jeff Ruby dot com slash Columbus to check out the
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: menu and make a reservation for today. All right, So
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: let's is this a game. You know, we've seen games where,
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  Speaker 1: you know, traditionally it's you run to set up the
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  Speaker 1: pass and you set up the play action all that
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  Speaker 1: kind of stuff. And we've seen some Ohio State this
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  Speaker 1: post gate postseason passing to set up the run, get guys,
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: you know, force the defense to sort of get out
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: of the box and end up getting a numbers advantage
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  Speaker 1: that way. If your you know, what's your expectation for
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  Speaker 1: how Notre Dame is going to approach things tonight? Are
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: they going to try and be focused on stopping the
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: run first and then worry about the pass and Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State's gonna have to pass them out of it or
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: vice versa, or somewhere in the middle. Where where do
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you think they're gonna where they're gonna go?
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I just there there's such an aggressive
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: seven eight guys in the box, single eye defense. It's
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  Speaker 3: just hard for me to believe that they totally can
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  Speaker 3: shed that stripe like you're just not used to playing
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  Speaker 3: elsewhy So to me, I just think I think Ohio
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  Speaker 3: State has to come out throwing, like I think it's
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: an overall mindset thing like Notre Dame would be like
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  Speaker 3: begging and pleading as we sit here right now that
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  Speaker 3: Ohio State wants to come out and run the ball
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  Speaker 3: a bunch on first down and get into a rock
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  Speaker 3: fight with them, Like I'm trying to get get the
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: tempo going, get the ball out quickly, you know, as
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I said, like I'm throwing a slants to tier my
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  Speaker 3: Smith early, a mecha book up the seam, you know,
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  Speaker 3: hit some of the rpo stuff off counter, like you
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: know some of that first opening drives similar to Oregon
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: or Tennessee where you have like you know, five or
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: six passes to one or two runs. Like that's I
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: think that's kind of the game you want to establish
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  Speaker 3: in the mindset you want to bring to it.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: There's a good question for Meka. She wants to know,
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: do you think they're gonna use a lot of pre
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: snap motion to make Notre Dame sort of tip their
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: hand a little bit in terms of what kind of
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: coverage they might be in.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely they should, all right, Like that's a great way
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: to diagnose man now Notre Dame because they play so
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: much man, they're very good at like not being like
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: super transparent on what they're doing.
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  Speaker 2: They'll trade people off. But yeah, I would be motioning.
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  Speaker 3: And I also think it's important for us say it
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: again like I maybe you know he mentioned Jeremiah Smith again,
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: like he I think you need to motion him more
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  Speaker 3: than you did against Texas, like we talked about following
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: that game, like get him to the slot, get him
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: moved around so that you can't it's harder to bracket,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: like even if Notre Dame, you know, like they could
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: play one double for instance, and have a basically use
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: their deep safety as sort of a bracket defender and
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: you sort of take away your deep safety, but you've
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: at least like rolled coverage that way. But if you
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: motion him, it's harder to do that kind of stuff right,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: or play him, move him into the slot and or
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: motion to mecha book outside of him, so he goes
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: from being the outside or to the now suddenly the
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: inside receiver. So I agree that I think a lot
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: of prestat motion is paramount.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: And one more from Robert before we move on to
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: the defense hit the wrong one. Robert says, I think
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: we see a lot of mesh concept as they go
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: man primarily. I mean, if it's if you're going if
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: you're expecting man, that's a pretty good man.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Beater, right, absolutely, And as I said, I would be
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: focusing that a lot on early downs, right because I
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: do think they will he al Golden will try to
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: catch them on third down and mixing some zone where
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: High States maybe expecting man.
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  Speaker 2: So I would be going to that early.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: You know, justin Whitlatche put up from the O High
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: State Notit Dame game last year on X some third
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: down concepts and you saw not just like mesh, like
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: different variations of mesh. Right, Like that fourth down conversion
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: to Julian Fleming was like a kind of their plays
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: off mesh. So yes, I think you'll see lots of
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: shallow crossers and again good way to get Jeremiah Smith
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: the ball, just like we saw against ten.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: All right, so't of move over to the defensive side
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of the ball now. And for Ohio State, I think
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: the first question that I'm asking going into this game
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: is what does the Notre Dame offensive line look like?
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And how good can they be because they just lost
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Anthony Nap, who was their starting left tackle in the
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Orange Bowl. Sounds like Charles Jaggasaw. He was the guy
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: who when we were at practice we saw him at
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: left tackle. That sounds like what the plan is going
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: to be. He has not started a game since last
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: year's Sun Bowl, has not played more than I think
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: he played twenty five snaps or something like that in
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the Orange Bowl and that's it this season. And he
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: did that at right guard. If your Jim Knowles, are
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you looking at the left tackle, you're looking at the
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: right guard, Rocko Spindler, who's who is banged up as well,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: the right tackle and the Wagner who's had some problems
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: with speed off the edge. Is that something that you're
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: looking at and thinking you might be able to just
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: sort of handle the off handle things with the four
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: man up front and then do what you do with
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the back seven.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think they can.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: It's Notre Dame is such a a run first team.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I'm expecting quite a bit of Cover three from Ohio State.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: Obviously.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: That's become more and more of a trend from them
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: just in the playoffs, and that gets you know, Lathan Ransom.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Or Kleab downs down in the box.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: You're sort of protecting yourself in the back end you
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: get that extra hat from different looks like I'm just
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: expecting from Notre Dame, like the two things, I'm expecting
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: a lot of quarterback run game like design quarterback runs
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: where you get a lead blocker for like Riley Leonard.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: I think they're gonna try to wear him out, and
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: because again you're like trying to get an extra hat,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: and like you know, lots of screens, you know, I
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: think they're trying to get the ball to Jeremiah Love
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: in space in different ways.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: So we'll jump to this one real quickly. From Ben
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: will Hi to State Bek on defense, if similar to
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: the Tennessee game, Riley Leonard scrambling becomes their primary offense.
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: I think so mean he's not going to create explosives, right, so,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: like you're obviously cognizant of it. I would probably expect
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: more of a game plan similar to from Gymnals of
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: what you saw against Oregon or Tennessee. Compared to like
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: State Texas where they brought a lot more pressure. We're
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: much more like try to have a delayed spy, you know,
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: like Tennessee game. As we talked about the time though,
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: like if Tennessee, if it takes sixteen plays of your
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: quarterback scrambling a bunch to just to put together one
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: touchdown drive. Like that's not very efficient, right, and like
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: it's hard to sustain that, and like to be frank,
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: like your quarterback, like Riley Leonard is a big guy.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: But like we've seen it at time and time again
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: this year against this defense, Like quarterbacks can only take
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: so many hits, like they've Teams have certainly had some
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: success with their quarterbacks making plays at their legs, but
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: like it kind of wears down because you need more.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Than just that to sustaining offense.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: So I mean they were okay against Tennessee, obviously, I again,
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: as I said, I think it's even beyond scrambles, like
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: looking at like designed like quarterback counter quarterback power things
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: where you're like getting extra hats and trying to mess
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: with the safety structure for our state.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: And this is one where I think I think the
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: answer is probably going to be it depends, and it
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: will be multiple guys. But Brian wants to know who
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: is the spy on Link, not Lincoln Riley. That would
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: be a very different kind of challenge Riley Leonard.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it depends, right, Like We've seen it
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: with Cody Simon, We've seen it with jt Tmloow like
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: where they sort of spy is not even like quite
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: the right word, Like Cody Alexander has a good display
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: of it right now on ext your Instagram, like you
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: kind of it's almost like a muddle rush right where
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: you're sort of hovering and.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Then once the quarterback commits, then you you come.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Because it's just hard to like sort of sit at
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: six yards in the middle of the field in space,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: so you're really trying to like hem the pocket in
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: and then force the quarterback towards the guy.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: Who's sort of hanging back.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: And that's why Cody Signmon you add multiple sacks against
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: Dylan Gabriel. So they will certainly change it out because
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: like anything else, like you can't be predictablels an offense
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: will adjust to it.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: But I do think that'll use those concepts.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: If you're designing coverage in the back of the defense,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: how does having a the threat of a quarterback run
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: impact what you're doing? Are you thinking? Are you are
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you calling more zone coverage because that way you've get
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: you know, you're dropping and eyes in the backfield are
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: our eyes in the in the defensive backfield are towards
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage a supposed to a man where
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: you're turning and running away and looking the other direction.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Does that change your coverage mix or is that not
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: something you really factor in that much?
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: No, it does.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, in theory, zone helps for the reasons you said.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: I mean, obviously it's been such a zone heavy team
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: in the playoffs. Anyways, you know, I wouldn't be surprised
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: if we see more cover one, particular in early downs,
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: just because of the Notre Dame like run heavy net nature.
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: But I mean they've just been so good at matching
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: in zone, you know, like playing cover two, recover three,
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: but then picking up routes and you know, distributing them
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: and making it really difficult on college quarterbacks to diagnose
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: where to go at the football. I mean, I still
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: think we'll see a lot of that now. Granted, if
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: you're cover, if you're carrying receivers vertically, that's the same principle,
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: right of turning your back to the quarterback. But I
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: just think you'll see, you know, continue with those concepts
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: and again, like it's one thing you know, you may
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: give up a couple of scrambles for first outs. But again,
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: you're like, biggest thing is like stopping explosives, right, and
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: if you force force the team to drive by quarterback
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: scramble is kind of a hard thing to sustain because
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: it's just those are, by its nature, broken plays.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And I know we do have to wrap up in
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: just a couple of minutes here. But if you are
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame, what's the what's the game plan tonight on
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: offense against Ohio State? What are you trying to do?
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Where are you looking and trying to attack?
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: I'll be I would say as I said, so, like
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: I mentioned, like lots of design runs, lots of screens.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're trying to get Jeremiah of the ball.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I I mean, no one's had a lot of success
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: running against Ohio State. You know you've got to try
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: to probably I would assume try to get you know,
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: the tight end coming underneath on something like the drag
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: concepts like once.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: The coverage carries off.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: But you're really like you're just kind of trying to
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: like tread water, for a lack of a better word,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: like trying to sustain drives and and in some ways
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: you're like counting on your defense and special teams to
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: put you in short fields hopefully or you know, like
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: get get breaks you got you're gonna have to hit
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: a few throws. But I just think you're it's almost
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: like as much as like the game plan, it's like
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: you're just hoping to kind of make it your kind
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: of game right where you're sort of as I said,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: like slugging away at the line of scrimmage and you
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: hope that you get the chance to like sort of
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: wear on o Higo State. But as you said, like
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: at the get go, like the offensive line issues against
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Ohio State's defensive line, like not necessarily the greatest matchup,
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: at least on paper.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll wrap up with this. Give us what
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: are you expecting tonight? We got a classic Ross Fulton
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: score prediction on the bucket huddle staff picks. How do
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you expecting this game to play out tonight?
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, so as I've said, like to me,
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: like Notre Dame has a ceiling offensively, right, Like I mean,
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: Ohio State hasn't given up twenty over twenty points to
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: anybody except Oregon, and so I just I think that like.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: That's the ceiling for them.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: So then it's just totally what can ohis how well
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: can Ohio States offense play? Like we've seen games where
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Ohio State's offense when they play well, it's like a blowout,
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: comfortable win, you know. And then we've seen games where
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: like they've hamstrung themselves, whether it's you know, self inflicted
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: like against Penn State or you know, like Michigan or
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: to a lesser extent, Texas, and it's then you're playing
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: for the first one over twenty wins. So you know,
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: as I said, like if a high State gets to
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: twenty eight, I think it's a comfortable win. I just
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: think it's all about, you know, ideally for our state
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: beyond playing a clean game obviously, and like I would
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: be very prepared for special teams for like Notre Dame
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: to try an onside kick, Notre Dame to try to
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: block hunt, you know, try to set up some kind
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: of like reverse return on a kickoff. I would be
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: you know, if a high Stake can play clean, you
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: want to just get a lead, right, like get out
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: of too a lead and make Notre Dame play catch up.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: But as I said, like twenty eight's the goal for sure,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: and you'll be fine.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, we'll see if they can get there tonight.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: We'll have plenty of coverage pre end, post game. We're
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: gonna have coverage basically all day long here on YouTube
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: dot com slash Buckeye Huddle. Tony and I are headed
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: over the stadium early this afternoon, Kevin and as well,
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: gonna have all sorts of behind the scenes videos you
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: come to no one expect, plus an extended, extended live
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: pregame show from the stadium. We know you guys can't
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: think about anything other than this. We're going to be
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: here to help you think about nothing other than this
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: all day long, and then of course after the game,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: live postgame show as well. Make sure you check us
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: out at buckehudle dot com and YouTube dot com slash
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: bucke Huddle. That'll do it for now. Thank you guys
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: all for joining us. We'll talk to you later on