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BONUS: Is Lincoln Riley Still The Best Man For The Job At USC? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: We are back with another bonus show. You're going to
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  Speaker 1: get to hear a little bit from USC head coach
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley on this show. And hoo boy, is Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: Riley having a week out at USC. But before we
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• 0:17
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the end of that. Now let's talk a
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  Speaker 1: little bit about Lincoln Riley. And boy, this might be
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  Speaker 1: the end of Lincoln Riley pretty soon as well. The
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  Speaker 1: vibes in Southern California, not real good right now. They
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  Speaker 1: just lost 24-7 to Wisconsin. the fewest points a Lincoln
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  Speaker 1: Riley offense has put up during his time at USC
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  Speaker 1: or in his previous stop at Oklahoma, they rushed for
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  Speaker 1: negative 17 yards.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: Congratulations to you. Yes. You, you rushed for 17 more
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  Speaker 1: yards than you, the USC Trojans did last weekend. So
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  Speaker 1: the first question of his press conference on Tuesday, this
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  Speaker 1: week was about why he thinks he's still the best
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  Speaker 1: guy for the job at USC. And if that's not
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  Speaker 1: bad enough, listen to this answer.
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  Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to playing Ohio state. We've got a,
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  Speaker 2: 6-2 record right now. We've got a huge home game
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  Speaker 2: coming up here in the Coliseum. And if my focus
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  Speaker 2: is anywhere outside of that, then it's in the wrong place.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things that was maybe a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of a hindrance to the USC ground game was that
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  Speaker 1: 50-year senior running back Waymon Jordan, redshirt freshman running back
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  Speaker 1: Riley Wormley, neither of them were on the availability report
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  Speaker 1: for the Wisconsin game, but neither one played either. So,
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  Speaker 1: all right, what happened there?
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  Speaker 3: No, both were available to play.
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  Speaker 2: Waymo's still been, I think, fair to say, continuing to
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  Speaker 2: work himself back. you know, from that injury and just
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  Speaker 2: the couple of procedures that he had and all of that.
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  Speaker 2: And so has some weeks where it's pretty good and
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  Speaker 2: have some weeks where it's not. But they were both
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  Speaker 2: not limited in a way where they couldn't play, but
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  Speaker 2: it was coach's decisions.
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  Speaker 1: So what happened in the run game? As I've mentioned
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  Speaker 1: several times, they finished with negative 17 yards rushing, and
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  Speaker 1: while sacks were a big part of that, they had
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  Speaker 1: a long run all night of seven yards. Starter King
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  Speaker 1: Miller ran it 11 times for... eight yards. Yes. Less
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  Speaker 1: than one yard per carry. Not great out of your
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  Speaker 1: starting running back. So, all right, what went wrong?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I mean, number one, obviously college football,
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  Speaker 2: it always looks a little bit different with some of the,
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  Speaker 2: with some of the sacks and the penalties that we had. Um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the biggest problem we, we had some, we
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  Speaker 2: had some air in the run game in the first half. Um,
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  Speaker 2: we blocked some stuff up pretty good. We thought we
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  Speaker 2: missed a couple of cuts. We had some things there.
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  Speaker 2: We had some solid runs. Um, And then in the
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  Speaker 2: second half, to be honest, the biggest problem I thought
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  Speaker 2: was I didn't do a good enough job staying with it,
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  Speaker 2: to be completely honest. We could have been better, which
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  Speaker 2: that always, for a play caller, is going to increase
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  Speaker 2: your confidence to call it more. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 2: there were certainly some situations in the second half where
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  Speaker 2: we could have stayed with it a little bit more.
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  Speaker 2: Now the end of the game, I think, was pretty understandable. No,
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  Speaker 2: we need to, you know, we got to capitalize on it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when we block it up the way that
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  Speaker 2: we did a few times, we got to really finish.
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  Speaker 2: We had some good tough runs where maybe we were
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  Speaker 2: one block away. You know, we know that group is
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  Speaker 2: going to challenge in the run game. But yeah, I just,
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  Speaker 2: you know, needed to finish some plays in the first
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  Speaker 2: half and I got to do a better job of
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  Speaker 2: staying with it in the second half.
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  Speaker 1: Here's another one where if this question is getting asked,
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  Speaker 1: that in and of itself is not a good sign.
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley on his alignment with Jen Cohen, the AD
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  Speaker 1: for USC right now.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, fantastic. She's a tremendous AD.
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  Speaker 2: Even though she's not the AD that I came here
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  Speaker 2: with and I'm not the head coach that she hired,
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  Speaker 2: fantastic relationship. She's been a huge part of all the
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  Speaker 2: progress that we've made and has been incredibly supportive. So
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  Speaker 2: we've got an incredible working relationship.
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  Speaker 1: Does he think he's a cultural fit at USC? How
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  Speaker 1: does he feel like he fits in with the Trojans?
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  Speaker 2: I love it here I mean like I told you
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  Speaker 2: guys a lot of times there's not many people in
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  Speaker 2: college football history that gave up what I gave up
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  Speaker 2: to come here you know so that that's I don't
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  Speaker 2: care if it's 15 years down the line like that
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  Speaker 2: doesn't that that never should be taken lightly it's certainly
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  Speaker 2: not taken lightly by me so I came here because
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  Speaker 2: this is where I wanted to be I came here
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  Speaker 2: because I believe in this place and none of that
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  Speaker 2: has changed whatsoever.
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  Speaker 1: This is year five for Lincoln Riley at USC. They
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  Speaker 1: still haven't made the college football playoff, and after a
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  Speaker 1: really promising 11-3 start in year one, they've lost five, six,
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  Speaker 1: and four games the last three years. They're 6-2 this
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  Speaker 1: year right now, so is there an increased sense of
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  Speaker 1: urgency right now?
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  Speaker 2: You know, listen, I understand the questions, and I understand
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  Speaker 2: the perspective from the outside.
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  Speaker 3: That's just, you know, I try to.
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  Speaker 2: Give you guys, maybe sometimes regardless of maybe what you
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  Speaker 2: think about how I answer questions. I try to really
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  Speaker 2: give you guys insight on like how I really feel
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  Speaker 2: and think, you know, my life has been in college coaching,
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  Speaker 2: especially as a head coach has been every single year
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  Speaker 2: I've went in high standards championship expectations. Listen, the first,
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  Speaker 2: the first loss that I ever had at Oklahoma, um, one,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't even think I was going to be able
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  Speaker 2: to get out of bed the next morning, but, but
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  Speaker 2: on top of that, there were people willing to run
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  Speaker 2: me out of town, like right away.
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  Speaker 3: And I learned a lesson pretty.
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  Speaker 2: Quick that, you know, the highs and lows of this
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  Speaker 2: thing in my position, if you let those get to you,
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  Speaker 2: then you're the wrong person for the job. By the
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  Speaker 2: end of the year, everybody was, we, we went on
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  Speaker 2: a run and everybody was, you know, saying all this
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  Speaker 2: and that, which was, you know, making me look way
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  Speaker 2: better than I certainly was at the time by any stretch.
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  Speaker 2: But I, that was like my first, um, kind of
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  Speaker 2: my christening, right, as a head coach and a head
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  Speaker 2: coach of a blue blood school. And when you're the
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  Speaker 2: head coach of a blue blood school, you have to
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  Speaker 2: be ready to weather the storms, the overly positive or
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  Speaker 2: the overly negative. Typically, what I've learned from doing this
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  Speaker 2: for a few years, I haven't learned at all, but
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  Speaker 2: the truth typically lies somewhere in the middle. And that's
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  Speaker 2: typically where it's at. And you know that it's going
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  Speaker 2: to sensationalize. And so my job is to stay steady. Listen,
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  Speaker 2: if I didn't want to be at this place, I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't have come here in the first place. If I
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  Speaker 2: didn't want to be at this place, I've had plenty
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  Speaker 2: of opportunities to leave. This is where I want to be.
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  Speaker 2: This is the right place for me. I'm the right
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  Speaker 2: person to be here. And that's just, that's as honest
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  Speaker 2: and transparent as I can be with you guys.
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  Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley is one of a dwindling number of people
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  Speaker 1: who tries to both be the head coach and the
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  Speaker 1: play caller at the same time. The guys who are
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  Speaker 1: still trying to do that at a high level, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of them like Steve Sarkeesian, Lincoln Riley, not really
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  Speaker 1: achieving the way they want to right now. And Maybe
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  Speaker 1: a coincidence and maybe not. The year after Ryan Day
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  Speaker 1: gave up play calling, he won a national title. So
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  Speaker 1: is it getting to be impossible to do both of
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  Speaker 1: those jobs at the same time?
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  Speaker 2: No, no. I mean, honestly, it's probably right now it's
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  Speaker 2: probably easier than it's ever been in my career. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: now you have personnel departments and general managers and bigger staffs.
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  Speaker 2: And I mean, to be honest, there was a large
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  Speaker 2: part of my career previously in the early years here
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  Speaker 2: where I was doing just about all of that.
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  Speaker 3: So I, I honestly don't. Now the question is still
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  Speaker 3: a fair question, right?
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  Speaker 2: And I think for every coach and every school in
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  Speaker 2: every situation, you got to look at it on.
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  Speaker 3: Where can you provide the most value to the team?
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  Speaker 3: And that's how I've always tried to look at it.
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  Speaker 2: I've always said, if, if there's ever any point where
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  Speaker 2: I feel like that me calling offensive plays is not
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  Speaker 2: the best thing for this program that I would, I
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  Speaker 2: would happily hand it to somebody else. And I'll always
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  Speaker 2: look at that. But again, In terms of my experience
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  Speaker 2: doing it, because I've done it for a long time,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so used to it right now that the in-game
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  Speaker 2: decisions and other stuff throughout the week, I'm not saying
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  Speaker 2: it's easy, but I've learned and honestly it's quite a
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  Speaker 2: bit easier than it was in previous years for me.
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  Speaker 1: Looking back at the game plan for Wisconsin and the
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  Speaker 1: play calling for Wisconsin, what was off there?
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  Speaker 2: You're trying to call best plays in the moment. I
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  Speaker 2: think every person that's ever called plays has been guilty
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  Speaker 2: of you know, coming back after the fact and saying, oh, man,
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  Speaker 2: I wish I'd have had this one over, that one over.
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  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, rarely
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  Speaker 2: even the games when we've had, you know, 500 yards
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  Speaker 2: and 60 points, I still come back and there's always
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  Speaker 2: things that I want back. So, you know, now the
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  Speaker 2: flip side of that is, you know, our and my
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  Speaker 2: track record offensively is pretty decent. So, you know, there
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  Speaker 2: ain't been many games around here like that and there's
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  Speaker 2: not going to be many more.
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  Speaker 1: USC's defense has actually been pretty good on third downs
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  Speaker 1: this year. They are 39th in the country right now.
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  Speaker 1: That is actually better than Ohio State, but Wisconsin, they
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  Speaker 1: went six for 12 on third downs and they picked
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  Speaker 1: up another one on fourth down. So was there anything
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  Speaker 1: different there last weekend?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's definitely something that we've looked at, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I think in college football right now, there's, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there's just so many more of those, right? You've got sequencing,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the era of analytics. There's just so many
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  Speaker 2: more teams obviously going for it. So your ability to
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  Speaker 2: Third down defense is important. I don't know if it's
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  Speaker 2: as important maybe even as it used to be because
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  Speaker 2: so many people are going for it on fourth down
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  Speaker 2: as well. So, you know, no, a lot of times
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  Speaker 2: you see similar type calls. A lot of times they're
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  Speaker 2: similar type situations. And so I can't sit there and say,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when we've gone back and look at it, that, man,
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  Speaker 2: there's just been this one problem that we haven't done
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  Speaker 2: well on fourth down. But it's something that we've identified
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  Speaker 2: and something that we know we need to do better
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  Speaker 2: in this last stretch of games.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, the offensive line gave up five sacks last weekend,
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  Speaker 1: struggled to run the ball. What is going on there
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  Speaker 1: with the USC offensive line?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we did some really good things in
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  Speaker 2: the run game. You know, the protection, the protection was
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  Speaker 2: kind of shared. There was a couple of times we
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  Speaker 2: should have gotten rid of the ball. There's a couple
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  Speaker 2: of times they had better calls and outmanned us on
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  Speaker 2: the pressure that, listen, if you got six guys protecting
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  Speaker 2: and they're bringing seven or eight guys, like no matter
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  Speaker 2: how good the O-line blocks, like somebody's going.
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  Speaker 3: To be free.
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  Speaker 2: We missed a couple, and we knew, listen, I give
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  Speaker 2: Wisconsin credit. They have a couple of the, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: they're two of the better pass rushers that we've seen
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  Speaker 2: all year, even despite some of the good teams that
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  Speaker 2: we've played. So it's a group that we do have
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  Speaker 2: really high expectations for, and we do need them to
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  Speaker 2: play better, but I would put all the other offensive
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  Speaker 2: players and position groups in that category as well.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Ohio State heading out to USC this weekend.
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  Speaker 1: They've got a new starting quarterback, but man. I think
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Lincoln Riley would probably trade problems with Ryan Day right
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: now and trade situations with Ryan Day right now if
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: he had that option. But will the Trojans be able
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: to bounce back against the Buckeyes? What will the Ohio
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: State offense look like with their new starter quarterback? We
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: cannot wait to be out there to tell you all
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: about it. We will be out there all weekend long
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: covering the Buckeyes and Trojans out at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Should be a phenomenal week of coverage. Lots of stuff.
• 12:08
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