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Ohio State Scheme Insider: Why The Buckeyes Struggled In The Red Zone · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Wednesday, November 4th.
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Speaker 2: I'm your host, Tom Orr, the Oregon game in three days,
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Speaker 2: the game against Michigan in 24 days. Today's episode presented
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Speaker 2: by our friends at Jeff Ruby's of Columbus, proudly offering
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Speaker 2: nationally acclaimed USDA prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service,
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Speaker 2: live entertainment, and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched.
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Speaker 2: Just go to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to check out the
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Speaker 2: menu and make a reservation today. All right, this is
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Speaker 2: one of these episodes that I'm looking forward to even
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Speaker 2: more than I was 15 minutes ago, because before we
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Speaker 2: started recording, We started having a conversation. Ross Fulton and I,
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Speaker 2: our scheme insider, started talking about the stuff we were
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Speaker 2: going to be talking about on this show. And it's like,
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Speaker 2: I'm glad we're talking about this because I have a
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Speaker 2: bunch of questions. It's like, all right, wait, wait, we'll
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Speaker 2: save it for the show. We'll just talk about it
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Speaker 2: on the show. So we'll, in the immortal words of
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Speaker 2: a former inside edition or whatever it was, consultant, we'll
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Speaker 2: do it live. All right, Ross, let's start going through.
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Speaker 2: We've got nine players we've got to talk about from
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Speaker 2: the Ohio State offense against USC. And let's start with
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Speaker 2: the run game because man, the run game was really
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Speaker 2: cooking quite a bit on Saturday night.
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Speaker 1: One of the guys who.
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Speaker 2: Was really getting things going early was Isaiah West. This
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Speaker 2: felt like maybe one of his best games as a Buckeye.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's had two pretty good games in
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Speaker 3: a row. I think what they got on Saturday from
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Speaker 3: West and then eventually Bo Jackson, who I, it seems
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Speaker 3: to like need someone else on the team to run
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Speaker 3: well for him to, to kick himself into gear. But
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Speaker 3: it's probably about as good as they can get from
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Speaker 3: those two, right? Like they, they were physical, they broke tackles,
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Speaker 3: they broke, you know, they, they ran through contact, you know,
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Speaker 3: the longest run was still only 28 yards. You know, they're,
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Speaker 3: they're just not going to break things like that. But
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Speaker 3: I think it was pretty consistent, but I want to
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Speaker 3: like bigger picture. There were things that worked in the
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Speaker 3: run game and there's things that worked less well. And
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Speaker 3: the service, something that worked when, again, when Ohio state,
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Speaker 3: like this is 11 personnel, this is a RP, this
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Speaker 3: is an RPO slide route, right? So you have Devin
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Speaker 3: McEwen coming across when they got the, equal or an
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Speaker 3: at advantage of numbers in the box. Um, they blocked
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Speaker 3: well and they controlled, they, you know, they controlled the
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Speaker 3: line of scrimmage. They got to the second level. So like,
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Speaker 3: you can see that here, right? So with McEwen slide route,
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Speaker 3: you get three over three, you get, uh, Luke, uh,
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Speaker 3: whiffle for USC, the backside defensive end. He has to
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Speaker 3: sit on the quarterback, right? That allows three offensive linemen
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Speaker 3: to get to the second level. USC played a ton
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Speaker 3: of particularly like depending on down and distance, like a
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Speaker 3: lot of cover one, a lot of single high, but
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Speaker 3: you hear, you can even get the left tackle. Ian
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Speaker 3: Moore can, you know, stock block that corner to the
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Speaker 3: boundary and then, you know, nice cut by West. And
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Speaker 3: so just generally speaking, the run game worked the best
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Speaker 3: when they used RPOs off of it, or they used some,
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Speaker 3: you know, they, I would frankly, and we can talk
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Speaker 3: about this down at the goal line would have liked
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Speaker 3: to see them use more of Luke Fahey in the
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Speaker 3: run game, but they did use some inside zone bluff
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Speaker 3: where the backside tight end would fake. Like he was
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Speaker 3: going to block the backside end and then like block out.
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Speaker 3: And the quarterback's reading that guy. That was, uh, for instance,
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Speaker 3: like on Joe Bo Jackson's run on the drive that ended, uh,
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Speaker 3: you know, with the quarterback.
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Speaker 4: Sneak snafu situation.
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Speaker 3: Um, and so like, especially with Fahey, who's a little
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Speaker 3: bit more, um, mobile, like defensively, they have to do
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Speaker 3: this stuff because the thing that didn't work was they
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Speaker 3: wanted to either include extra tight ends or they used
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Speaker 3: a lot of inserting a wide receiver, often Devin McEwen,
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Speaker 3: some Phillip Bell as an extra blocker in the run game.
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Speaker 3: And again, like they're getting more and more man coverage,
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Speaker 3: cover one, particularly with obviously a quarterback making his first start.
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Speaker 3: Their teams are willing to be more aggressive. And I don't,
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Speaker 3: Ohio State has not, you know, It's been a while
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Speaker 3: since Ohio State's seen a bunch of cover one. People
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Speaker 3: complain about not seeing mesh routes like they used to.
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Speaker 3: It's because Ohio State doesn't get man coverage because people
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Speaker 3: haven't been able to play man coverage on their wide receivers.
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Speaker 3: And they're getting more of it now because Ohio State
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Speaker 3: has one wide receiver. But they were bringing those either
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Speaker 3: split zone blocks at the tight end or inserting the
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Speaker 3: wide receiver. And that just brought an extra body into
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Speaker 3: the box because you're just adding one on each side.
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Speaker 3: And so, again, I think The multi-tight end thing, I
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Speaker 3: don't think it's going to go away. I'm not saying
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Speaker 3: it should be totally jettisoned. The biggest explosive play we're
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Speaker 3: going to show here was off of an I-formation run.
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Speaker 3: It has its purpose for them, but I just, again,
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Speaker 3: especially with Fahey, they just need to lean more into
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Speaker 3: these short area, these wide receiver reliefs. Because as we'll discuss,
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Speaker 3: he's less comfortable with those second and third level RPOs
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Speaker 3: than Julian Sane was, as I expected. And or run
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Speaker 3: reads to equate numbers and make it easier on the
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Speaker 3: offensive line.
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Speaker 2: All right, next up is that I-formation play you were
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Speaker 2: just talking about. And it goes right to the point
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Speaker 2: you made earlier about, well, once Isaiah West established that
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Speaker 2: he could rip off a couple big runs, it was
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Speaker 2: time for Bo Jackson to establish that he too could
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Speaker 2: rip off a big run.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, I talked about it.
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Speaker 3: I know, obviously, in the Ohio State fan base as
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Speaker 3: a whole, there's a lot of clamoring for less multi-tight
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Speaker 3: end sets. I largely agree with that point, as I
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Speaker 3: just said. But I do think we need to, again,
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Speaker 3: it has its place. You can tend to dictate what
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Speaker 3: you're going to get from the defense, or at least
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Speaker 3: you hope to. Gary Patterson started bringing a lot of
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Speaker 3: nickel pressures off the edge or single high coverage schemes,
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Speaker 3: particularly like when Ohio state went under center.
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Speaker 4: Right.
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Speaker 3: And so that's what you get here. You get the
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Speaker 3: nickel blitz, you obviously have the condensed formation. And so
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Speaker 3: Ohio state's able to run away with from it. And again,
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Speaker 3: so like in so doing, they can basically equate numbers
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Speaker 3: in the box and they can create an extra hat
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Speaker 3: and teams aren't very familiar with fitting a lead fullback anymore.
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Speaker 3: And so, you know, you get a very, again, like
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Speaker 3: a very clean look for the offensive line where they can,
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Speaker 3: you know, double up to the second level. You know, again,
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Speaker 3: like this is a very successful play. If I was
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Speaker 3: going to really nitpick, like I would have liked to
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Speaker 3: seen Bo Jackson, like he, when he's at the line
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Speaker 3: of scrimmage, he wants to bounce. When he's like in the,
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Speaker 3: in this third or second or third level with a
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Speaker 3: deep middle field safety, he wants to cut inside instead
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Speaker 3: of like cutting out. I'm not ever sure why, but like, again,
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Speaker 3: I kind of have, I don't think like that's, these
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Speaker 3: guys are not going to like turn these into 70
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Speaker 3: yard hits at this point. I don't think that's a
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Speaker 3: realistic expectation from them. So, you know, they, they did again,
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Speaker 3: like they've improved. The run blocking is improved. The run
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Speaker 3: game has improved. They, I'm sure they will continue to
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Speaker 3: mix in some of this, you know, multi tight end,
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Speaker 3: more under center stuff. I just think like it's a,
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Speaker 3: it's a gradation, right? It's like not, it doesn't have
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Speaker 3: to be all or nothing. I just think it has
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Speaker 3: to be a smaller portion of what they're doing than
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Speaker 3: the amount they did it on Saturday.
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Speaker 1: All right.
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Speaker 2: And next up, one of the questions I had watching was, okay,
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Speaker 2: how many times are they making, is Fahey making the
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Speaker 2: wrong read or is this a real RPO? Is this
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Speaker 2: a real, you know, does he have the option to
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Speaker 2: pull or is this really something that he is just,
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Speaker 2: it's going to be a handoff no matter what this
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Speaker 2: one is. you look at it and you go, boy,
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Speaker 2: you wish it was a live RPO watching Jeremiah Smith
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Speaker 2: run the route. I don't get the sense that it is,
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Speaker 2: but you know, it's like, boy, there were some opportunities there,
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Speaker 2: but I think they maybe weren't ready to quite turn
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Speaker 2: the keys over to the freshman quarterback just yet. I, yeah.
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Speaker 4: So there were opportunities.
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Speaker 3: And even when they were RPOs, there were several, again,
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Speaker 3: as I said, USC played a lot of, of cover one,
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Speaker 3: particularly when they thought Ohio state was in a run situation.
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Speaker 3: And like, They'd run that slant flat RPO. It kind
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Speaker 3: of creates a pick. There were times where, in theory,
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Speaker 3: the numbers are evened out. But I would imagine Julian
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Speaker 3: Sane would have pulled some of these and thrown them.
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Speaker 3: And you could just tell Luke Fahey wasn't particularly comfortable
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Speaker 3: doing that. This play is, to me, by far the
8:43
Speaker 3: two most frustrating situations to watch. Again, I think the
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Speaker 3: down-to-down play calling was pretty good. I mean, Ohio State, obviously,
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Speaker 3: they gained 460 yards of offense. They won the net
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Speaker 3: success rate against USC. Um, the, but the goal line
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Speaker 3: situation that we're going to get to, and then the
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Speaker 3: first drive out of the third quarter, which this, this
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Speaker 3: was second down. So on both second and third down
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Speaker 3: USC leaves, Jeremiah Smith, single covered like this, like the, yes,
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Speaker 3: that's safety sort of hanging out, but his eyes are
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Speaker 3: clearly in the backfield. I likewise don't think this is
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Speaker 3: an RPO. I mean, if I was going to ask
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Speaker 3: Ryan day a question, I'd be like, this is not
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Speaker 3: an RPO.
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Speaker 2: Right.
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Speaker 3: Um, because also you're going to see Chris Henry's just
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Speaker 3: going to stock to crack block. And they, and again,
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Speaker 3: on third down, they just ran it without an RPO attach.
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Speaker 3: And again, so you see the difference from the first play, right?
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Speaker 3: So like the now Austin, Sarah Veldt has to block
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Speaker 3: that backside defensive end.
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Speaker 4: You need to insert the water.
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Speaker 3: The water receivers have to get in condensed to pick up,
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Speaker 3: you know, the overhangs because USC has got now eight
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Speaker 3: guys in the box. And so they do an okay
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Speaker 3: job of that, but you still have like that strong
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Speaker 3: safety coming downhill and you just have Jeremiah Smith. So like,
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Speaker 3: They they just, they can't let this happen. You know, it's,
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Speaker 3: it's like they have to give him either the, I mean,
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Speaker 3: I would just tell him like, if you see that,
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Speaker 3: like pull it and, and throw it, you know, it's the,
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Speaker 3: the upside is too great. But if they're not going
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Speaker 3: to do that, then that like all the more goes
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Speaker 3: back to my, original point with the first play then
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Speaker 3: you definitely need to use more of like the wide
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Speaker 3: receiver screen game and or run reads because it's just
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Speaker 3: too hard to do to line up and do this
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Speaker 3: and you can't let teams do like not worry about
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Speaker 3: jeremiah smith.
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Speaker 2: All right next up we got to go into the
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Speaker 2: goal line and the first play we're going to be
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Speaker 2: talking about is this is the one right after They
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Speaker 2: ran a quarterback sneak down to about the six inch line.
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Speaker 2: And it looked like they initially called it a touchdown
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Speaker 2: replay overturned it. So, okay. It's first and goal at
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Speaker 2: the one you've just run a quarterback sneak for like
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Speaker 2: three yards. You're six inches from the goal line. Ross,
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Speaker 2: why is it time to get into the shotgun?
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Speaker 3: I'm going to go, I'm going to like go big
10:57
Speaker 3: picture here first and give my PSA. Like I think I,
11:02
Speaker 3: you know, I posted this on the board on bucket
11:05
Speaker 3: insiders following the game. And like, it's sort of like,
11:07
Speaker 3: this is the new college football and people need to adjust.
11:10
Speaker 3: And like, I just feel like people are riding the
11:13
Speaker 3: emotional rollercoaster too much. Like the schedules are harder. You're
11:17
Speaker 3: playing nine conference games. You got to travel cross country.
11:19
Speaker 4: You're going on the road.
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Speaker 3: You have a true freshman quarterback. It's losses are going
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Speaker 3: to happen. They also aren't the end of the world.
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Speaker 3: Like teams are not going to play week to week
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Speaker 3: as well. You know, I said, watching the chiefs Broncos
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Speaker 3: game yesterday. Like, do you think every Kansas city chief
11:34
Speaker 3: fan is like, well, the season's over.
11:36
Speaker 4: We're terrible. We're going to lose the next three games.
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Speaker 3: Like you can't go from everyone like predicting Ohio state
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Speaker 3: to go 10 and two, but then when the loss happens,
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Speaker 3: acting like the world's ending, like there were bad things
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Speaker 3: on Saturday that need to get fixed. We aren't sitting
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Speaker 3: here and I'm going to talk more about Luke Fahey specifically.
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Speaker 3: Like we could have been sitting here after this game
11:55
Speaker 3: being like, well, let's see, like they, they just don't
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Speaker 3: have a quarterback that can, that can do this.
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Speaker 4: Right.
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Speaker 3: And like, that's bad luck. That's how injuries happen. And
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Speaker 3: I don't think we're in that point instead. Like, and
12:05
Speaker 3: as I said, like on a down to down basis,
12:07
Speaker 3: they moved the football. It's just, but, but when games,
12:11
Speaker 3: when you are playing other good teams more frequently and
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Speaker 3: like you're in this situation, like the situations matter more
12:17
Speaker 3: and the goal line stuff, just, just killing them. And
12:20
Speaker 3: so like, I, I, empathize with everyone who says like
12:24
Speaker 3: they should have just snuck the ball again in this situation. I,
12:27
Speaker 3: I would love again, like a very specific answer to that,
12:32
Speaker 3: but the best, the most terrible thing I can say
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Speaker 3: about this is I talked about, you know, that they
12:39
Speaker 3: needed to involve Fahey more in the run game, particularly
12:42
Speaker 3: the goal line, like to, you know, that gets you
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Speaker 3: your numbers. My thought is maybe they hoped in this situation,
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Speaker 3: like they, they are, you know, they, to your point,
12:52
Speaker 3: they're not in 14 personnel. Like they got Chris Henry
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Speaker 3: and Jeremiah Smith out there, right? They are running. They
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Speaker 3: do block the backside end. So they don't bluff it,
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Speaker 3: which would have been better. Maybe the best I can
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Speaker 3: say is that they're hoping that that backside safety crashes
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Speaker 3: down harder and Luke Fahey can keep it and walk
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Speaker 3: into the end zone or at the very minimum, they're
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Speaker 3: trying to gain a number by, by using the read
13:22
Speaker 3: action that said, like, that's just the scheme, right? Your
13:28
Speaker 3: right guard cannot get blown up six yards off the
13:30
Speaker 3: ball on the goal line. Like it's just an excuse. Well, he,
13:33
Speaker 3: it happened here. It happened on the sneak on the,
13:36
Speaker 3: before the last touchdown where they didn't sneak it in
13:39
Speaker 3: off the goal line. So, you know, I will say,
13:41
Speaker 3: obviously they, they learned from their own mistakes because they
13:43
Speaker 3: did sneak in this situation later in the game, but
13:45
Speaker 3: like your gave in single plays way too high and
13:48
Speaker 3: he's getting pushed back. And then, Bo Jackson, again, as
13:52
Speaker 3: I said, you cannot bounce the football in these situations
13:56
Speaker 3: near the end zone. You have to stick your pads
13:58
Speaker 3: down and go. I'm not sure why. I mean, I
14:00
Speaker 3: would play Isaiah West in this situation. He's a bigger
14:03
Speaker 3: guy who can run downhill. I mean, it's unfortunate, again,
14:07
Speaker 3: they've just had so many injuries that they don't have
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Speaker 3: Jacoby Jackson here. And so there's some execution issues as well.
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Speaker 4: But again, it left a lot to be desired.
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Speaker 3: If you're going to get in the gun like this,
14:19
Speaker 3: I would love to see them run a design quarterback
14:22
Speaker 3: power or something where you're, you're using the running back
14:25
Speaker 3: as a blocker to again, gain a number. You know,
14:27
Speaker 3: I think they, I, I was one of the things
14:30
Speaker 3: that I was sort of disappointed in was they did
14:33
Speaker 3: not involve Fahey more as a runner, particularly in these situations. So,
14:40
Speaker 3: you know, it's obviously a mistake. And then they were
14:43
Speaker 3: getting under center of the next, the next play, which
14:45
Speaker 3: still may not have been a sneak, but then the
14:47
Speaker 3: false start. And it's just like, you know, the compounding
14:50
Speaker 3: the issues. And a lot of those, you know, pre-snap penalties,
14:53
Speaker 3: some of it's having a new quarterback, but like, you know, again,
14:56
Speaker 3: it can't happen.
14:59
Speaker 2: So as you mentioned, the next play, they go to
15:02
Speaker 2: 14 personnel, pull Jeremiah Smith off the field, they get
15:04
Speaker 2: the false start.
15:05
Speaker 1: So then they're back at the five.
15:08
Speaker 2: And so then you, they get back in 13 personnel,
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Speaker 2: Jeremiah Smith's back on the field and they end up
15:13
Speaker 2: throwing the ball to him here. It's not a great throw,
15:16
Speaker 2: but you know, the, Bennett Christians may be open here.
15:21
Speaker 4: Well, yes.
15:22
Speaker 3: So again, like personally at the time, so this isn't
15:26
Speaker 3: just hindsight bias, like it's still only second and second five, right?
15:31
Speaker 3: I'd have personally liked to have seen them again, try
15:34
Speaker 3: to use a quarterback design run here, like a lead
15:38
Speaker 3: outside zone, a counter power, something to try to get
15:41
Speaker 3: back into like shorter yardage. But they, you know, they
15:45
Speaker 3: call this is leak, right? So we've talked about leak before,
15:49
Speaker 3: like Bennett Christian's faking to block and you're giving that
15:52
Speaker 3: heavy play action.
15:53
Speaker 4: You're trying to get the throwback.
15:55
Speaker 3: A lot of the game plan on Saturday was predicated on,
15:59
Speaker 3: I think my assumption is in knowing, you know, the,
16:03
Speaker 3: the reputation of the USC defense, shall we say, is
16:07
Speaker 3: that like they, they thought that they, they would have
16:09
Speaker 3: breakdowns when you sort of, faked one way, threw back
16:12
Speaker 3: the other. They try to do like a lot of
16:14
Speaker 3: things with the running backs and tight ends to fake
16:16
Speaker 3: like out and ups. And to USC's credit, they pretty
16:19
Speaker 3: much covered it throughout the game. But again, like I
16:25
Speaker 3: just think Art Smith is used to having NFL tight
16:28
Speaker 3: ends because they're just, it's not even just the blocking,
16:31
Speaker 3: which has obviously been poor, but like they're trying to
16:34
Speaker 3: use them in the past game and they're like not open.
16:36
Speaker 3: And so, I mean, in particular, like Bennett Christian, why
16:39
Speaker 3: are you trying to throw a leak to Bennett Christian? Like,
16:42
Speaker 3: I guess you're hoping that the USC thinks they're never
16:44
Speaker 3: going to throw to this guy. And so I do
16:48
Speaker 3: think he's kind of open. I mean, to your point, like,
16:51
Speaker 3: especially if the ball is out right away. I don't
16:56
Speaker 3: think Julian Saint would have thrown it to Bennett Christian
16:58
Speaker 3: in this situation either. I do think like the throw
17:01
Speaker 3: to Jeremiah Smith, you know, I, again, freshman quarterback context,
17:07
Speaker 3: I think if he doesn't lead them and instead he
17:09
Speaker 3: just puts it up high, like we've seen Joey Lane
17:11
Speaker 3: say and do it, like put it up where Jeremiah
17:13
Speaker 3: Smith can kind of stop and jump because he can
17:15
Speaker 3: elevate over any defensive back that's covering him. It probably
17:19
Speaker 3: would have been a touchdown. And so, you know, not
17:22
Speaker 3: the worst call. I just, the way that the tight
17:24
Speaker 3: end usage just remains baffling to me, like to play
17:27
Speaker 3: Bennett Christian, 20 snaps. They had a snap where Brody
17:30
Speaker 3: Lennon was in the game. It's sort of like, I joked,
17:33
Speaker 3: it's kind of like rec soccer. Like, they're making sure
17:35
Speaker 3: all the tight ends get to see the field. I
17:37
Speaker 3: don't understand why. Like, I think they've done a good job.
17:40
Speaker 3: I've complained about rotations in the past, like really pairing
17:43
Speaker 3: it back on defense, but on offense now, they like
17:45
Speaker 3: really need to cut down the tight end rotation. They
17:48
Speaker 3: need to play less of them in general. They need
17:50
Speaker 3: to cut down the wide receiver rotation as well. You know,
17:54
Speaker 3: the drop situation, like they need, they need to play
17:57
Speaker 3: like guys and get them in a rhythm again, like
17:59
Speaker 3: Brandon Innes is out. And so they're, they missed him,
18:02
Speaker 3: but yeah, So again, I'm not sure the execution wasn't
18:06
Speaker 3: great here. I would have preferred them to run league
18:09
Speaker 3: to Nate Roberts or Mason Williams that you can count
18:13
Speaker 3: on to be more reliable.
18:15
Speaker 2: All right, so we're going now to outside of the
18:18
Speaker 2: goal line, other areas of the field in the past game.
18:21
Speaker 2: And boy, this was another one that Bo Jackson is
18:24
Speaker 2: probably still seeing this one in his nightmares. It is
18:28
Speaker 2: a wheel route, which as we all know, undefeated, but
18:32
Speaker 2: you got to catch the ball for it to be undefeated.
18:33
Speaker 2: And man, this is like, this is a really good design.
18:36
Speaker 2: It was, it was very clever. I am shooting behind
18:40
Speaker 2: the end zone and I see Bo Jackson out of
18:43
Speaker 2: the corner of my eye.
18:43
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh man, he might score on this one.
18:45
Speaker 1: And then nope.
18:47
Speaker 2: And boy, that was, his reaction was one that was
18:50
Speaker 2: a guy who knew, man, oh man, that could have
18:53
Speaker 2: been a real big play. Yeah.
18:55
Speaker 3: I mean, I think one undercurrent you hear sometimes is
18:58
Speaker 3: like Ryan Day never does trick plays. And I do
19:01
Speaker 3: think like, of any game Saturday was sort of like
19:04
Speaker 3: the opportunity for that when you're behind or like, or
19:07
Speaker 3: on the two point conversion, for instance. But it's not
19:11
Speaker 3: that they're like not doing things. It's just sometimes more subtle.
19:15
Speaker 3: And so, as I mentioned, like they did a lot
19:17
Speaker 3: of things to sort of test USC's discipline, particularly like
19:20
Speaker 3: using Jeremiah Smith to run off the coverage. And then through,
19:24
Speaker 3: like they tried an out and up to Nate Roberts,
19:26
Speaker 3: as I said, he was covered, but they do this
19:28
Speaker 3: with this hard play action and Bo Jackson sort of
19:30
Speaker 3: delays and runs the wheel. And, As you said, it's
19:32
Speaker 3: wide open and, you know, it was just kind of cliche,
19:35
Speaker 3: but they all needed to pick up a true freshman
19:38
Speaker 3: quarterback starting on the road.
19:39
Speaker 4: And they obviously didn't.
19:41
Speaker 3: I mean, I can't remember a game where Ohio State
19:43
Speaker 3: had so many drop passes, but this two-play sequence, obviously,
19:47
Speaker 3: particularly because they didn't score on the subsequent goal line
19:49
Speaker 3: plays we were just discussing, like between the Luke Fahey
19:52
Speaker 3: overthrow of a wide open Devin McEwen and then this
19:55
Speaker 3: drop were obviously killer.
19:57
Speaker 4: And so, you know, this is a good design.
19:59
Speaker 3: As I said, they really put a lot of effort
20:02
Speaker 3: into coming up with designer shot plays, as I would
20:06
Speaker 3: like to call them, like to create explosives. I think
20:09
Speaker 3: maybe it's sometimes too much emphasis on that. I'm going
20:13
Speaker 3: to talk about that here in a second, but, you know,
20:16
Speaker 3: missed opportunities from the execution standpoint. But I do think
20:19
Speaker 3: the scheme, as I said, like on a down to
20:21
Speaker 3: down basis, I get what they're doing. They're trying to
20:24
Speaker 3: protect the young quarterback while trying to scheme some stuff up. And,
20:28
Speaker 3: you know, I think the heavier personnel usage was probably
20:31
Speaker 3: a little overboard to do so and sort of protect
20:35
Speaker 3: the flanks. But I think going forward, you know, they,
20:39
Speaker 3: they're going to have to, especially like, you know, other
20:43
Speaker 3: than Jeremiah Smith, like, as we just talked about the
20:44
Speaker 3: run game, like they kind of struggled to create explosives.
20:48
Speaker 3: I'd like to see him get the ball to Devin
20:50
Speaker 3: McKeown more under underneath. I think he shown some stuff
20:53
Speaker 3: running after the catch, but you know, they obviously the,
20:57
Speaker 3: the difference in the game wasn't the success rate. It
20:59
Speaker 3: was the massive explosives for USC. So they were, they
21:02
Speaker 3: were shooting for him, but didn't, didn't succeed.
21:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, this next one is one where they're definitely shooting
21:07
Speaker 2: for an explosive and it's there with a good throw.
21:10
Speaker 2: And you mentioned he overshot McEwen at one point in
21:12
Speaker 2: the game. And this one, it's a little it's he
21:15
Speaker 2: could have led Jeremiah Smith a little more, but, you know,
21:17
Speaker 2: there was some pressure on his face. And it's like
21:20
Speaker 2: the ball is kind of there. And just just I
21:22
Speaker 2: think Jeremiah kind of lost his footing on what is
21:25
Speaker 2: was kind of a slippery field, but didn't end up
21:28
Speaker 2: bringing it in.
21:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't believe USC did this and played cover
21:32
Speaker 3: zero on him, on this play, actually, and got away
21:36
Speaker 3: with it.
21:38
Speaker 4: So there was a lot of talk.
21:39
Speaker 3: I think they had Ohio State for giving up pressures
21:42
Speaker 3: on 48% of the snaps. It didn't quite feel that
21:46
Speaker 3: dire to me, but obviously there was a lot of pressure.
21:51
Speaker 3: And I think that there would have been a lot
21:54
Speaker 3: of things that Julian Sane could have done in that
21:56
Speaker 3: game that Luke Fahey didn't accomplish. But I do think
22:00
Speaker 3: Julian Sane probably would have been sacked five or six times.
22:03
Speaker 3: Luke Fay does have a little bit more mobility in
22:06
Speaker 3: the pocket as we talked about going into the game.
22:08
Speaker 3: But the one thing that he struggled with, and you
22:11
Speaker 3: saw it repeatedly, is throwing off platform, particularly vertically down
22:16
Speaker 3: the field. And maybe it was the pressure getting to him,
22:19
Speaker 3: as you say. And this is basic stuff. Your fifth-year
22:24
Speaker 3: center who started 40-some games at this point, just getting beat. Um,
22:29
Speaker 3: and it's hard when it, when pressure's right in the
22:30
Speaker 3: quarterback's face, like when the tackles gave a pressure, which
22:33
Speaker 3: we all saw, like Fahey needed to do a better
22:35
Speaker 3: job stepping up in the pocket. Some of that, the
22:38
Speaker 3: pressure was caused by him drifting like this, but like
22:41
Speaker 3: he also, you can't fall, your mechanics can't fail you
22:44
Speaker 3: like this and you're, you're fading away.
22:46
Speaker 4: Right.
22:46
Speaker 3: Um, uh, like I actually think he has pretty good
22:49
Speaker 3: arm strength to like get as much on it as
22:50
Speaker 3: he did the way he's throwing it. Cause he's not
22:52
Speaker 3: using his lower body at all, but you saw this
22:55
Speaker 3: like sort of when we're talking about like Fahey's performance again,
22:57
Speaker 3: like you know, you can call it great on a curve. I,
23:00
Speaker 3: I just would call it reality. Like your expectations could
23:04
Speaker 3: only be so much for like, that's about as tough
23:07
Speaker 3: of a situation to start your first game in, um,
23:10
Speaker 3: on the road and, you know, across the country in
23:12
Speaker 3: the rain, um, against a good team and you're behind the,
23:15
Speaker 3: from the jump.
23:17
Speaker 4: Uh, and so I, I thought he did a lot
23:18
Speaker 4: of good things.
23:19
Speaker 3: Uh, but obviously this is where I'm sure they're, they're
23:22
Speaker 3: on him and like, he's got to have better mechanics.
23:24
Speaker 3: Cause it's just going to be harder to be, uh,
23:27
Speaker 3: accurate downfield, but like, there's lots of ways to get
23:30
Speaker 3: Jeremiah Smith the ball, but they still need to be
23:33
Speaker 3: able to hit these when they're there.
23:35
Speaker 1: All right.
23:38
Speaker 2: Next up is the very next play in the game.
23:40
Speaker 2: And this is one where it felt like re-watching the
23:43
Speaker 2: game after we got home from LA, it felt like
23:48
Speaker 2: he found some success in that sort of intermediate passing game.
23:51
Speaker 2: The long shots weren't necessarily there, but kind of in
23:54
Speaker 2: that 15 ish yard range. He had some nice balls.
23:58
Speaker 2: He had a good one to fill up bell earlier,
23:59
Speaker 2: and this is one to Mason Williams.
24:01
Speaker 4: Yeah.
24:02
Speaker 3: And I mean, I think this is probably what he
24:03
Speaker 3: did the best, right?
24:04
Speaker 4: Like again, like pressure's right in his face.
24:07
Speaker 3: You know, Ian Moore oversets gets, gets beat inside. And
24:12
Speaker 3: you know, the offensive line situation there, what they're going
24:15
Speaker 3: to have to do is I just figure out who
24:17
Speaker 3: the five are going to be now. And like, because
24:19
Speaker 3: I don't think Austin Sarahville looked fully healthy, but I
24:22
Speaker 3: assume he'll be back the last drive of the game.
24:24
Speaker 3: He was at left tackle. I don't know if even,
24:26
Speaker 3: I think some people said maybe they saw Ian Moore
24:29
Speaker 3: dinged up. Ian Moore has, did not play well. Hasn't
24:32
Speaker 3: really played well. Gabe Van Sickle did not play well. Um, yeah,
24:36
Speaker 3: I think Philip Daniels actually played pretty well in his snaps. Um,
24:39
Speaker 3: I would, didn't like it preseason when they moved Austin Saraville,
24:43
Speaker 3: who was a good left tackle last year out of
24:45
Speaker 3: the most important position on the offensive line. And I
24:48
Speaker 3: would personally put him back there and roll with it. Um, But,
24:53
Speaker 3: you know, Fahey, as I said, he like, he did
24:54
Speaker 3: a good job escaping and he threw pretty well in
24:56
Speaker 3: the run. And I agree, like the offense has become
24:59
Speaker 3: way too dependent overall on the vertical pass plays. You know,
25:05
Speaker 3: like four verticals, wide cross, like sort of the designer
25:08
Speaker 3: shot plays I was talking about. Like it's, their teams
25:12
Speaker 3: are like adjusting to that and they're just like getting
25:15
Speaker 3: such depth in their drops. It's leaving the intermediate and
25:19
Speaker 3: underneath routes open. And also like, you know, if you
25:22
Speaker 3: can't protect it, it, it doesn't really matter like how
25:25
Speaker 3: great it, the design is. And so I think the
25:28
Speaker 3: offensive line, like is obviously taking a lot of heat
25:31
Speaker 3: and yes, deservedly so in some cases, but I also
25:35
Speaker 3: think like any offensive line is going to struggle when
25:37
Speaker 3: you're consistently like trying to use super deep drops with
25:40
Speaker 3: like 18 to 20 yard vertical concepts before you even have,
25:44
Speaker 3: have like a break and nothing underneath. And so, I
25:47
Speaker 3: do think, especially now as they're getting more man coverage too,
25:49
Speaker 3: they're going to need more of go back to the
25:51
Speaker 3: crossing routes and stuff. This is one here. They run
25:55
Speaker 3: a drive concept. Jeremiah Smith comes underneath. The tight end
25:59
Speaker 3: runs a dig. Arthur Smith does do this nice little
26:02
Speaker 3: thing with the running back where he basically creates a
26:04
Speaker 3: mesh pick on these crossers coming the other way. Fahey
26:10
Speaker 3: settles down. They ran this a couple times. They ran
26:13
Speaker 3: mesh near the goal line. And actually Devin McCune came
26:16
Speaker 3: wide open, but Fahey threw the wheel route to Bo
26:19
Speaker 3: Jackson and overthrew him. And so you do see these
26:22
Speaker 3: plays and I just think they're going to have to
26:24
Speaker 3: become more and more of the game plan, particularly with
26:27
Speaker 3: Fahey and to help out the offensive line, to be honest.
26:31
Speaker 2: All right. And you mentioned that sometimes you can get
26:34
Speaker 2: some stuff underneath right now with the way defenses are
26:36
Speaker 2: playing against them. And this last one, Going to get
26:39
Speaker 2: a look at that. They're in the red zone, not
26:41
Speaker 2: quite at the goal line yet, but this is an
26:43
Speaker 2: opportunity for Jeremiah Smith to get his hands on the
26:45
Speaker 2: ball with a chance to maybe get it in.
26:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, they ran three plays in this game where Jeremiah
26:50
Speaker 3: Smith was in the slot like this, and they're spread
26:53
Speaker 3: out again. And basically, as I said, the last few weeks,
26:57
Speaker 3: everyone's just getting such depth against them.
26:58
Speaker 4: Indiana did it. We talked about that.
27:01
Speaker 3: They basically just kind of ran these little sit routes
27:03
Speaker 3: with Smith, option routes or a slant.
27:05
Speaker 4: And he, I mean, he's just wide open, right?
27:07
Speaker 3: Like that, that happened earlier in the game where he
27:09
Speaker 3: sort of bobbled that one and, and ran with it.
27:12
Speaker 3: But again, like they just need more of this stuff. Like,
27:15
Speaker 3: you know, it takes pressure off the offensive line. It
27:17
Speaker 3: takes pressure off Fahey. I just think it's been missing.
27:21
Speaker 3: I said it with Julian saying for weeks, like they
27:24
Speaker 3: just need more quick game and, or, and, or intermediate
27:27
Speaker 3: plays and, and, you know, moving the pocket for Fahey
27:30
Speaker 3: and not just asking him to like sort of stand
27:32
Speaker 3: in there and deliver a you know, 20 plus yard
27:35
Speaker 3: throws repeatedly. Like obviously, again, you need to create explosives.
27:39
Speaker 3: So you need it in some small amounts, but I
27:42
Speaker 3: just think they've gone way too far to the other extreme.
27:45
Speaker 3: You know, as I, I joked like Bill Walsh would
27:47
Speaker 3: be rolling over his grave because there's just not enough
27:49
Speaker 3: like ball control passing that gets, gets people in a rhythm.
27:53
Speaker 1: All right, there you go.
27:54
Speaker 2: Nine plays looking at Ohio State's offense against the USC Trojans.
27:59
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