Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ross Fulton Analysis: Concerns For The Ohio State Defense vs. Illinois?

Transcript

Ross Fulton Analysis: Concerns For The Ohio State Defense vs. Illinois? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow Morning for Wednesday, September 30th. I'm
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: your host, Tom Moore. The Iowa game in three days,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in 59 days. Today's episode presented
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: by Jeff Rubies of Columbus, proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service, live entertainment, and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just go
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to check out the menu and
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: make a reservation today. All right, we're going to welcome
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: back Ross Fulton. He is one of our scheme insiders
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at buckeyeinsiders.com. He had a very, very popular video earlier
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: in the week talking about the Ohio State offense. I'm
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: going to guess this is going to be a little
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: bit more of a mixed reaction video about the Ohio
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: State defense. Ross, we got to talk about some of
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the issues that we saw from the Buckeyes on Saturday
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: against Illinois. Sometimes it seemed like it was responsibility. Sometimes
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it was just getting lined up right, gap issues. I mean,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: we saw and heard a little bit of everything coming
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: out of that game. Let's start with just some of
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: the issues that we saw on just basic run plays.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: It felt like they had issues just being in the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: right spot and giving up bigger plays than they probably
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: should have.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I group issues in a few buckets.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: The first one would be issues in executing both really
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: run and pass responsibilities in cover one. And specifically, I'd
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: say the issue was when you play man and you're
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: chasing people, you can get in some bad position positions.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: And so you need to be able to trade off
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: responsibilities and they just didn't do it. You know, Texas
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: had a good game plan. And so they picked up
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: or Texas, I should say, excuse me, Illinois did picking
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: up some of the stuff. Texas did well against Ohio
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: state and the defense. One of those on the Illinois
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: first touchdown was this putting, you know, 21 personnel or
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: having two backs in the backfield and, Texas did some
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: of that against Ohio state. And so Illinois does too.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: And so here, Ohio state's in cover one, right? And
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: so you see, they're going to run, Illinois is going
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: to run this, you know, fake sweep GT counter. And
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: so you can see like our diagram at Peyton Pierce
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: has that tailback, right?
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: So he, he just has to fly out of the play.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: So now you've lost your Mike linebacker because he's in
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: cover one on that guy.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: When they blocked down Earl Little.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Is then follows that tight end blocking down because that's
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: who he, he has. And so that basically cuts off
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: then rally Petit John from scraping over the top. And
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: so again, like you can kind of see them like
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in the, um, from behind the line of scrimmage, like
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: sort of pointing and sort of, that's what you need
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: to do. Like you can see Petit John particular, like
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: they need to trade off responsibilities. Like, you know, Allegra
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: needs to pick up the, the, which then frees Pierce
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: to play the running back and then Little, same thing,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: he needs to trade off if someone goes away from him.
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: The last thing I would note, which contributes also to
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the touchdown, is Jalen McClain as the deep safety is
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: way over towards the twin side.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: We saw this all game.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it was just like a game
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: plan decision that Matt Patricia was just worried about Illinois'
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: passing game or their wide receivers. Cause like when they
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: were single high like this, they tended to have McLean
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: push way over towards the twins and it just left
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of room opposite that.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: And so if you get to the second level, you're
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: just missing your last line of defense, which, which contributes
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: to these turning into explosives.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That was one play that I watched live and
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: I thought, Oh, I hope Ross talks about this in
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: the upcoming week. And good news. You did this next one.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: This was another one where I couldn't see this one
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: live really, but watching on the replay, it was like,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: oh man. And this is one of these things where
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Ohio State has done this to opposing teams forever. It
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: seems like mesh is one of those concepts we've seen
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Ryan Day run for years and years and years. And
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: this is one where, you know, poor Peyton Pierce is
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: getting put in some impossible situations here on the last one.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And then also on this one where he's going to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: just sort of get picked off and it turns into
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: a very easy completion.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, again, like, so, you know, Every coverage has its
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: strengths and weaknesses. Mesh is obviously a great call against man.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: If you're getting caught in man against mesh, that means
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: you're being too probably predictable in your tendencies to begin with.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: But again, I would put this under the need to
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: trade off receivers and man. You have to be more
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: adaptable in running cover one than Ohio State's currently being.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: And so when you get this motion, and again, like Pierce,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: you can see him again.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: He tries to point.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: So it's like you got to trade. So like he
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: would pick up one of the in breaking routes and
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: then Devin Sanchez would fall off and take the wheel
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: or Christian Allegro.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Like it depends. You know, there'd be different ways you
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: can do that. Right.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: But like instead what happens is you just allow Peyton
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Pierce to get completely picked. I mean, that's just as
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: easy of a throw and catch as you can. And
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: so this is not on Peyton Pierce. This is on
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the scheme and the structure, whether it's either in the
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: fact that like they don't have the rules in place
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: and cover one to trade or just on lack of communication.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I do think there's a lot of communication issues going on.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And I do think some of that's like people like
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: to talk about rotation and, you know, like all these different,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: you know, situational groupings. And I just think they're, they're
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: playing so many guys in the backend, you know, sort
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of like rotating through the linebackers at different spots, different
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: guy has the green dot every series. I just think
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: we're seeing like, a lot of communication breakdowns, both in alignment,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: like pre and post happened. I'll show you another one
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: here next, but like, I do, I do think, you know,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: some of these like situational groups, I'm just sort of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: not sure what it's accomplishing. Like, you know, on third
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: and long, like why are they bringing in Leroy Roker
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: and Simeon Caldwell and taking off like one of their
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: better defenders and are a little like, I'm not really
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: sure like what that's accomplishing other than just like letting
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: guys get snaps to get snaps.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Next up, this is another one. This is not exactly
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: something that Ohio State has done a ton, but this
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: is sort of reminiscent of one of the things we
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: talked about on the offense show where it's just set
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: yourself up to take the easy gain and put the
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: defense in a spot where the defense is not, you know,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: not covering your guys and you can just sort of
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: take the candy from the baby. This is one where
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Illinois is in 4x0 and they are able to just
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: sort of take the nice easy gain here.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, this is the next set of issues. Again,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Ohio State had problems against Texas with unbalanced looks as well.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: They had problems against Illinois last year with unbalanced looks,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: to be honest. And so we saw this a lot
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: on Saturday. Illinois sort of used the muddle huddle to
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: get up to the line quickly, and Ohio State couldn't adjust.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: It hurt them in the run game here. It's like
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: pass play. They're just not getting receivers covered up. We
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: talked about how Matt Patricia likes to use the penny front,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: which is sort of like a even a balanced look
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: in the sense that like, you're kind of putting equal
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: number of players on each side of the center.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: And so unbalanced is going to mess with the rules
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: on that.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: And again, you see Peyton Pierce, like they're trying to
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: get lined up. Obviously like you have to adjust either
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: one of those two deep safeties needs to rotate over.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Because I mean, the thing about unbalanced, right. Is that
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: tight end is no longer a pass threat in line.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: He's covered up. So like, you need to either like
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: rotate the coverage down or like Jay Timmons, or excuse me,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Earl Little needs to be out over that third defender.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: You can't just like leave an immediate receiving threat completely unblocked.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: And so again, like just, this is again, a basic
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: alignment issue, which in theory should be a solvable problem. Unfortunately,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: like it kind of continues to be an issue for
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Ohio State handling these unbalanced looks, particularly out of the
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: penny front, whether that's either you're like, have to push
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the whole front, you know, one gap over. So now
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: you're treating the guard to the unbalanced side, basically as
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: a center, or you get out of it and play
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: a four down look.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: And then this next one, they're also in the penny front.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And this is an example where it just, the math,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the math ain't math. And on this one, where you
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: look at TJ Alford and where he is and what
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: he's being asked to do here, it seems like, and it,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: it feels like you're, you're not putting a player in
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a position to succeed necessarily.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I think that sums it up well. I mean, I.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: Will not dispute anyone that Ohio State does not have
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: the same players in the front seven, front six, obviously,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: as last year. But it's also not fair to say
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: you need better defensive line play or linebacker play where
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: it's almost an impossible task.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: This, I cannot... I don't have a strong.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I do not necessarily know the right answer of how
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: they're supposed to be gaps out on like this. So
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: this would, I guess my third bucket of things is
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: there just, there's situations where Ohio State does not have
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: every gap covered in the run game. And that makes
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: it obviously impossible. So they're in a cover two here. Again,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: you got the one safety way out over the twins.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: You're playing, then you have six in the box. They
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: have seven versus six, really eight if you count the
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: quarterback run game, which they have to account for. And so,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: you know, like in looking at this, it's like, Is
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Payne Pierce responsible for both that A-gap and C-gap?
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's probably the case.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: I think there's a possibility that TJ Alford's supposed to
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: use what's called a pop-stump technique, where he reads that
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: offensive tackle, and if he blocks towards Alfred, he then
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: fills the a gap to that side. And so now,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: but even if that, if that's the case, then that
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the running back could, you know, bounce it back out
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: where Alfred just left. And you don't have any force
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: support to that side because you're in cover too. And
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: it doesn't really fit with this even penny front. So,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, this would be a great, I would love
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: to get an explanation, you know, from the staff. Like I,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: you know, I know Kenyatta Jackson basically said like the
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: coaches were honest about our run assignments and you know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: we're going to, we fixed it. I don't, but I
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: just don't know how they're, how they're supposed to be
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: gap sound against this, you know, basic inside sound play
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: to this, to the side of the running back. Um,
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're two gapping it like with the
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: nose guard. And if they are, again, I don't think
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: they have the nose guard to play a two gap
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: like that. I mean, he tries to make a play,
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: but he can't get off the block. But it's just,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: as you said, it's an almost impossible task. All right.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Next up, this is a situation where they are in
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: nickel and they're going up against 12 personnel, which means
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: you've got a safety coming down to try and fit
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: one of the gaps. And you know, he ends up
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: making the play here, but it's, you know, again, is
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: this a winning situation to put him in?
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, this is like, the other thing I
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: can't quite make heads or tails of is when versus
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: multiple tight end sets, they're playing base looks versus nickel.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: And I don't really see a rhyme or reason to it.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And this sort of falls into this category, you know,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: like you can play nickel against 12 personnel.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Like I'm all for it.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: But I think this gets back to like some of
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: the discussions we had following Oregon in 2024 with Jim Knowles.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Like when you're asking DBs to play like interior run gaps,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: that's really difficult.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: And I think Earl Little, like Caleb Downs can do it.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Earl Little does a pretty decent job of it. But
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: like ideally you would in some ways, you know, like
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: some people like to use the term junk the front
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: or like pinch the Ohio State under Knowles really started
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to do a ton of that after that Oregon game
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: where you're like, okay, yes, Kenyatta Jackson is lined up
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: to play the C-gap outside the tight end, but action away,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: he would basically shoot inside of that Y off there,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: and he takes the C-gap and then Little has the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: D-gap and you're spilling the football outside. Similar to what
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: you actually see them do to the front side of
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: this play where Alfred comes in between the tight end
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: and the tackle. And then, you know, Jermaine Matthews is
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: the nickel there is responsible for the, for outside of that.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Cause then you can spill the football, get the guys
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: going laterally instead of having DBs fill interior gaps. And so,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: you know, again, this was, I'd sort of put as
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: the last thing, you know, I'd say probably not being
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: able to get like having being gapped out is my
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: like biggest concern. Cause I'm just not sure like in
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: that previous example, what they're trying to do there, you know,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: particularly cause it was like, Illinois is on the six-yard line,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: so it's like, why are you playing this cover two
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: when they're on their own six on first down? But
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: be that as it may, I think there are things
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: they could do within these schemes just to muddy the
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: waters and spill the football outside instead of having DBs
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: and even linebackers trying to have to play multiple interior gaps.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: And so there you go. Ross is sort of making
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the turn for you right there. Not all is lost.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: They have already started to show some potential solutions here.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: So let's look at one of those potential solutions where
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: this is going to be cover three here. And it
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: feels like they have addressed some of the issues we've
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: been talking about earlier. Yeah.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And so I guess my sort of overarching is.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: There's ways I think they just kind of have to
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: simplify things for lack of a better term. I'm like
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: some of the stuff they're trying to do. I'm just
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: not entirely sure what it is, but like when in doubt,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, I kind of just go back to like
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: the Ryan day tried and true, like gap everything out
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: and play cover three, which they do here.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: So you have an under front. And so now you're got,
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: you know, they, here they are in a four, three.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: So you got every gap accounted for. I'm not saying
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: they have to be in a four, three, but, you
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: do with the, you know, you have your Mike, your will,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: your Sam, and then they're just going to play cover three.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: And so again, Illinois goes back to mesh pretty quickly
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: after that one I showed. Um, but they're able to
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: handle it. Cause like, you know, they drop out, uh,
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Christian Lager does a nice job here. They carry the
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: wheel route. Uh, and so they're able to make a play.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Like obviously again, everything has its weaknesses. Um, you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: cover three is no different, but at least I think
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: that puts them in like a more sound position. You know,
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: I think that, the ceiling for this defense isn't obviously
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: as high as it has been the last couple of seasons,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: but I like, you know, I, they, they should be
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: good enough to force teams to sort of drive the football,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: which they have been doing and combined with the offense. Like,
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you know, if you can hold people in the, you know,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: even the 18 to 21 point range, like 24 points,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: like this offense should be able to score four touchdowns.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: So I think it's really about like, working cohesively and
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: and off of what they can do and so I
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: you know at some level I guess I get sort
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: of the playing pretty passive and not giving up explosive
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: plays to Illinois deep down the field in the passing
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: game but I just think you know they're making things
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: really difficult on themselves in the run game in particular.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: Well this next play is an example where they are
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: not too passive in the run game and they make
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: pretty different things pretty difficult for Illinois in the run
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: game This is a play where Riley Pettijohn comes on
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: a run blitz and completely blows up a play. This
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: is one that I'm guessing the center did not have
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a great time watching in the film room on Sunday.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: And, you know, I mean, I think all these linebackers
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: sort of have their strengths and weaknesses. I think, you know,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Illinois' first big run was a good example of, you know,
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Pettijohn as a read and react inside linebacker is still,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I would say, up and down or inconsistent.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: But he's obviously a great athlete. And so when you
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: send him, you can make good things happen. But I
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: think like even taking a step back, like this sort
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: of build a bear, if you will, stunt, we talked
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: about it last week has been pretty successful for them
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: because again, you're like, you're getting all the gaps covered.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: And so you're sending him at the center. So now
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: you've got your a gap, your B gaps covered, your
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: C gaps. And now like TJ Alford can flow to
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: the football and make a play. Now, It works out
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: even better that Petitjean makes the center miss and makes
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: the play himself. But he is, I just think again, like,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: you know, let's think they need to go back to
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: basics and start with the fact of like making sure
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: their gaps sound and they're not asking people to do
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: too many things up front. You know, whether it's like
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: multiple gaps or like, you know, these read, some of
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: these read stunts that people aren't in a position to execute.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: All right, we're going to wrap up quickly with our
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: final play. And this is one where the Buckeyes are
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: in cover five. And this is one where it feels
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: like Jalen McClain kind of runs in to save the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: day with a hit right as the ball arrives.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: So I had to point out that they are doing
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: different things. They are trying different things. So it's not
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: like they're just doing the same thing over and over again.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: We did see some cover five from them. So cover
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: five is too deep, man under. I thought it was
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: pretty successful. They did give up one scramble, a long
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: scramble to Caden Hauser when they were in cover five.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: And that's the weakness of the coverage because you've obviously
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: got guys turning their backs to play man and two
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: deep safeties.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: So you have less support against the quarterback.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: But, you know, Jalen McClain, you know, I thought he
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: took some kind of poor angles as a deep safety
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: in the run game, but obviously had a really impactful
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: game in terms of playing as a deep safety with
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: and breaking up potential, you know, passes with this. I
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: think Ohio State had like 12 pass breakups. So again,
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: I do think they have, to your point, like they've
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: upped the pressure a little bit compared to Texas. They're
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: doing some different stuff in the back end. And so
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: it's not without trying. I just think that they kind
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: of have to, and you know, and Illinois is a
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: good offense. Like I thought Kate Hauser played well. They
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: have some good, they have some threats of wide receiver.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: So it's not like, you know, they're certainly in the
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: upper half you know, top four or five offenses Ohio
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: State will face this year. So Ohio State gave up
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: 19 points. Not all is lost, but I do think
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: they sort of need to, you know, as I said,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: kind of go back to the drawing board, for lack
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: of a better word, in the sense of like simplifying
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: things and like, let's pare things down. Let's make sure
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: like we're playing soundly and then we can build once
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: we are like executing in a sound manner, not giving
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: up easy free yards. Like some of these plays I
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: show are just like, there's no defense against what, you know,
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Illinois is doing in response.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: All right, there you go. A little bit of a
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: breakdown of the Ohio state defense, what didn't work for
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the Buckeyes, where they can certainly look to improve this
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: week and in the future and some ideas on some
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: stuff that they're doing. That seems to be working just fine.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed that one, you would love being a
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: member at Buckeye insiders.com. Ross is just one of three
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: scheme insiders that we have on our staff, breaking down film,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: giving you the all 22 look and explaining what exactly
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: they're seeing, make you a smarter football fan. That is
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: all at Buckeye insiders.com. If you join the site, you
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: get access to these videos early. Plus you get access
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: to our whole team of scheme insiders on the board.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: They are there to answer your questions, have conversations with you.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: It is really, it has been an incredible, valuable resource
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: for me as well as I think everyone else on staff,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: as well as of course, our members as well. We
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: would love to see you there. If you enjoy these shows,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: you would really love being a member at BuckeyeInsiders.com. So
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: just go there right now. Go to BuckeyeInsiders.com. Scan the
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: QR code on your screen right now if you're watching
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: and get access to our whole team of insiders. Just $ 11. 99
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: for a month. where you can get a discount for
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: an annual membership. We would love to see you there
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: at BuckeyeInsiders.com. And thanks again to our friends at Jeffrey
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Rizzo Columbus, the award-winning upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus. Name
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: one of the top 50 steakhouses in America by Food Network.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Just go to JeffreyRizzo.com slash Columbus to check out the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: menu and make a reservation today. That will do it
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: for today. Thank you guys all for joining us. Have
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.