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Bonus Preview: Buckeyes Planning For Fast Start Against Western Michigan · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes Tomorrow morning for Saturday, September seventh.
0:05
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Tom Moore.
0:06
Speaker 1: The Western Michigan game is today, the game against Michigan
0:10
Speaker 1: in eighty four days.
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Speaker 2: Let's be honest, what do you guys want to hear
0:14
Speaker 2: about today?
0:15
Speaker 1: Of course you want to hear about the Ohio State
0:17
Speaker 1: Western Michigan game. Well, great news. Kenny Gerdaman and I
0:21
Speaker 1: just did an in depth preview about that exact thing
0:25
Speaker 1: on the Buckeye Weekly Podcast feed. So rather than just
0:29
Speaker 1: reinvent the wheel, we're just gonna let you hear it
0:31
Speaker 1: it here as well. So here's Tony Gurdham to me
0:34
Speaker 1: breaking down today's Ohio State Western Michigan game for.
0:37
Speaker 2: You on the Buckeye Weekly Podcast Feed.
0:40
Speaker 1: Nature you are subscribed to our YouTube channel, We're gonna
0:43
Speaker 1: have plenty of pregame and postgame coverage coming up for
0:45
Speaker 1: you before and after today's game, as well as some
0:48
Speaker 1: other fun features around the stadium and around campus. It's
0:51
Speaker 1: all at YouTube dot com slash Buckeyehuddle. We hope to
0:54
Speaker 1: see you there.
0:57
Speaker 3: Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I am
1:00
Speaker 3: Tony Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom, how's
1:06
Speaker 3: it going, Tony?
1:09
Speaker 2: Have you looked at the forecast for this weekend?
1:12
Speaker 3: In fact I have, yes, I've thought, you know what,
1:15
Speaker 3: maybe pants this week.
1:17
Speaker 2: Well I never think that. But it is going to
1:20
Speaker 2: be actual, honest to goodness football weather in Columbus, Ohio
1:24
Speaker 2: for a primetime game. It is going to get down
1:27
Speaker 2: into potentially the high forties by the end of the
1:30
Speaker 2: game on Saturday night. It's going to be sunny during
1:33
Speaker 2: the day, Tony, this is ideal. It is sweatshirt weather
1:37
Speaker 2: for football already, the second week of the season. This
1:41
Speaker 2: is we are trending towards greatest season in history already,
1:45
Speaker 2: just based solely on.
1:46
Speaker 3: This, just the number of football weather games for a
1:49
Speaker 3: football season starts in September. You know this is going
1:53
Speaker 3: to be special. Yes, I'm with you, Tom. It's perfect
1:58
Speaker 3: grilling weather, just being outside, being in the stadium. You're
2:00
Speaker 3: not hot, you're not cooking, You're just yeah, like I said, Tom,
2:04
Speaker 3: you're grilling, you're not cooking. Like you just get to
2:06
Speaker 3: enjoy being outside and however you want to do it,
2:10
Speaker 3: whatever mode of clothes that you need, it's gonna be.
2:14
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a little chilly, at times, So just
2:16
Speaker 3: be prepared and enjoy it. That's what I say.
2:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you are not allowed to complain. If you
2:21
Speaker 2: were complaining about being too hot last week, you do
2:23
Speaker 2: not have to complain about being too cold this week.
2:26
Speaker 2: That is That is a rule I always established with
2:28
Speaker 2: my softball teams. You at the beginning of season, you
2:30
Speaker 2: can pick you can either can complain about being cold
2:32
Speaker 2: or caught, but you have to decide the group and
2:34
Speaker 2: that's it. You only get to pick one. And then
2:36
Speaker 2: Evere at the beginning of the spring season always complains
2:38
Speaker 2: about being cold, and they say, well, that's it. That's fine.
2:41
Speaker 2: When it's ninety degrees in June. You don't get to complain.
2:43
Speaker 2: And hey, listen, this is I'm going to hold our
2:46
Speaker 2: listeners to the same standards that I hold. You know,
2:49
Speaker 2: eight year olds, ten year olds playing softball. So oh,
2:52
Speaker 2: if you complained last week, that's it. You're done. You know,
2:54
Speaker 2: get to complain about being cold, and I have bad
2:56
Speaker 2: news about what the end of November might feel like.
2:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, do not complain about the heat in June. Now,
3:02
Speaker 3: let's get ready for this five hour practice. Anyway, Tom,
3:07
Speaker 3: we got a game to preview Ohio State hosting Western
3:09
Speaker 3: Michigan seven thirty kick on the Big Ten Network. This
3:14
Speaker 3: is going to be Western Michigan second consecutive Big Ten opponent.
3:17
Speaker 3: It's going to be a the Ohio State second consecutive
3:21
Speaker 3: MAC opponent. And I don't know which one of these
3:24
Speaker 3: games was because the Washington game got canceled enough as
3:27
Speaker 3: Akron or whatever, but here you go two MAC opponents.
3:31
Speaker 3: This one, though, I think is interesting for Ohio State
3:34
Speaker 3: because they just watched Western Michigan take Wisconsin to the
3:38
Speaker 3: brink and had a fourth quarter lead. In this one,
3:42
Speaker 3: there was a situation where Western Michigan scores to take
3:45
Speaker 3: the fourteen to thirteen lead. They forced a punt on
3:49
Speaker 3: a Wisconsin punt. Wisconsin punts, it goes off of a
3:52
Speaker 3: Western Michigan player's leg, badger's recovered at the Western Michigan
3:56
Speaker 3: twenty and then punch it in for a touchdown to
3:58
Speaker 3: go up twenty fourteen, including a two point conversion. Then
4:02
Speaker 3: next possession, Western Michigan has it fourth and two or
4:05
Speaker 3: fourth and one from midfield. They get stuffed. Wisconsin gets
4:08
Speaker 3: it at the fifty. They go fifty yards for their touchdown.
4:12
Speaker 3: Like Wisconsin did not have an easy day of this one.
4:14
Speaker 3: If Western Michigan wouldn't have given them the game, Western
4:18
Speaker 3: Michigan may have taken the game. And so I think
4:20
Speaker 3: this is something where this will be. This is all
4:23
Speaker 3: week has been shoved down Ohio State sproats from the coaches,
4:27
Speaker 3: from everybody, trying to make sure that they're mentally ready
4:31
Speaker 3: for this one, and that look what they've done to Wisconsin.
4:35
Speaker 3: If you don't take this seriously, we're going to be
4:37
Speaker 3: in a dogfight, and anything can happen when you're in
4:39
Speaker 3: a dogfight. A punt can bounce off of a leg
4:42
Speaker 3: and essentially cost you a game if you're not prepared
4:45
Speaker 3: and paying attention.
4:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, that this is goes directly to Ryan Day's motto
4:51
Speaker 2: of leave no doubt. That's the whole thing. That's the
4:54
Speaker 2: whole goal for the Buckeyes this year is don't leave
4:57
Speaker 2: yourself in a spot where the game is close enough
4:59
Speaker 2: that the one stupid play can coust you the game.
5:02
Speaker 2: And you've seen that at times. In the twenty nineteen
5:07
Speaker 2: Fiesta Bowl. They had a bunch of different stuff that
5:10
Speaker 2: all went wrong, and if any one of those things
5:12
Speaker 2: had gone right, they would have won. But they all
5:14
Speaker 2: went wrong. And then they lost, and you had that
5:16
Speaker 2: again the Peach Bowl against Georgia where the injury to
5:19
Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison, and then you come down to do you
5:22
Speaker 2: make a fifty yard field goal or not. You want
5:24
Speaker 2: to just avoid that and have the last five minutes
5:27
Speaker 2: of the game be sort of relaxed, running the clock
5:30
Speaker 2: out kind of stuff in those games. You want the
5:32
Speaker 2: whole second half to be like that in a game
5:34
Speaker 2: like this, So they have to come out and be
5:37
Speaker 2: much more efficient, much more just consistent than they were
5:42
Speaker 2: last week, where the running game was sort of herky
5:45
Speaker 2: jerky in the first half. Will Howard got off to
5:47
Speaker 2: a little bit of a slow start and they punted
5:50
Speaker 2: on one drive they had. They lost the ball on
5:53
Speaker 2: downs in western Akron territory in the first half last
5:57
Speaker 2: year or last week. They have to just put up points.
6:01
Speaker 2: You have to turn the zero point drives into at
6:04
Speaker 2: least three point drives and the three point drives into
6:06
Speaker 2: seven point drives. It doesn't take that much to pull
6:08
Speaker 2: away like this. Leftter Michigan team is not incredible. They
6:11
Speaker 2: were not incredibly efficient. They just took advantage of Wisconsin
6:16
Speaker 2: not being particularly efficient or effective last week either. And
6:20
Speaker 2: you know, if you have Tyler Vandyke as your quarterback,
6:23
Speaker 2: sometimes you're going to have some herky jerky offensive performances.
6:27
Speaker 2: Ohio State needs to just come out smooth, effective, stay
6:32
Speaker 2: on schedule. If they do that, they'll be fine. If
6:35
Speaker 2: they come out herky jerky again, it's going to be
6:37
Speaker 2: a little bit of an awkward, uncomfortable first half. Again.
6:41
Speaker 3: A little bit more on Western Michigan. That game last
6:44
Speaker 3: week there were It was a twenty eight to fourteen
6:47
Speaker 3: win for Wisconsin. There were only three punts in the
6:50
Speaker 3: entire game, which is pretty crazy. Western Michigan had only
6:54
Speaker 3: seven possessions in that game. I think Wisconsin had nine.
6:58
Speaker 3: But if you're only getting seven possess that also tells
7:00
Speaker 3: me one. Wisconsin their first drive like like three straight
7:05
Speaker 3: drives of like fifteen or sixteen plays and just really
7:08
Speaker 3: really eating up the clock, but they couldn't do anything
7:11
Speaker 3: with it. The mister field goal in there as well.
7:14
Speaker 3: They were Wisconsin was ten of sixteen on third downs,
7:18
Speaker 3: which if Ohio State can do that one, I expect
7:20
Speaker 3: more than twenty eight points put on the board. And
7:23
Speaker 3: I know the focus offensively this week has been get
7:27
Speaker 3: off to a fast start and when there has been
7:30
Speaker 3: so much focus on it. I expect to see them
7:32
Speaker 3: do that, and I think once you get that, then
7:36
Speaker 3: everything else is just going to feed off of that.
7:37
Speaker 3: So I am expecting a fast start. I would like
7:42
Speaker 3: to see them Tom go right back to the tunnel
7:44
Speaker 3: screen to Jeremiah Smith. I feel like Western Michigan is
7:48
Speaker 3: probably looking for that, and they're going to look for
7:50
Speaker 3: that look. But if they can, if why I was
7:53
Speaker 3: taken draw it up with maybe a little bit of
7:55
Speaker 3: a different alignment because they had it blocked. You know,
7:58
Speaker 3: he wants that one back, and I think I think
8:01
Speaker 3: we're gonna see them continue to attack with him because
8:04
Speaker 3: it's been productive. I'm interested to see what Western Michigan
8:07
Speaker 3: does to counter that. Like, are they already at the
8:09
Speaker 3: point where you're trying to take away this freshman wide receiver.
8:13
Speaker 2: I don't think you can completely focus on taking him
8:16
Speaker 2: away just because Carnel Taate it's also pretty good at football,
8:19
Speaker 2: and Mecca Puka also pretty good at football. They've got
8:21
Speaker 2: some running backs that are pretty good with the ball
8:23
Speaker 2: in their hands. You can't just look at Hey, it's
8:27
Speaker 2: Larry Fitzgerald on Pitt and everyone else is kind of
8:30
Speaker 2: nh and so you can just focus on this one guy.
8:33
Speaker 2: This is this is an offense that's too balanced around
8:36
Speaker 2: that you can't really do that, which means you're probably
8:40
Speaker 2: gonna be able to go with the Jeremiah Smith tunnel
8:44
Speaker 2: spring again or go you know you're gonna see Jeremiah
8:46
Speaker 2: Smith in single coverage, even when everyone knows that's probably
8:49
Speaker 2: not great. And until teams see it enough that they
8:55
Speaker 2: feel they have to take it away, I don't think
8:57
Speaker 2: you're gonna see you know, see him consistently double. You're
9:00
Speaker 2: not playing boxing one on Jeremiah Smith. I don't think. So.
9:04
Speaker 2: We'll see how long it takes to get to that point,
9:06
Speaker 2: if people get to that point. But I think the
9:09
Speaker 2: supporting cast for Ohio State, and you know, I'm not
9:12
Speaker 2: sure it's fair to characterize at Mecho Buca, Travion Henderson
9:15
Speaker 2: as the supporting cast for Jeremiah Smith. But if you're
9:18
Speaker 2: looking at it from the Jeremiah Smith centric standpoint, the
9:21
Speaker 2: supporting cast, he is just too good to just focus
9:25
Speaker 2: solely on taking the one guy away.
9:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I don't know if it was Will Howard
9:30
Speaker 3: or one of the bucket offensive players that we're talking
9:33
Speaker 3: about talking to you this week. It was asked for
9:37
Speaker 3: a scouting report on Western Michigan, and he's like, well,
9:39
Speaker 3: they got they got a good corner, they've got a
9:42
Speaker 3: good this, they got that. Like it wasn't like they
9:45
Speaker 3: do this well. It's like they've got this one good person.
9:47
Speaker 3: They've got this other good guy right here. So your
9:51
Speaker 3: best quarter sounds like he's decent, and that maybe blal Cohne,
9:56
Speaker 3: who had ten tackles last week, two pass breakup breakups
10:00
Speaker 3: and a tackle for loss. So maybe that's the guy
10:03
Speaker 3: that will be Yeah, I don't know who. You can't
10:07
Speaker 3: really just chase somebody. You might just keep it. If
10:10
Speaker 3: he's the boundary corner, then whatever happens happens and you
10:12
Speaker 3: go from there. But I am I AMAGTD to see
10:16
Speaker 3: if again there is an intentional focus on getting Jeremiah
10:22
Speaker 3: Smith the football and nine targets last week. I believe
10:29
Speaker 3: eight or nine targets last week, that seems like I
10:32
Speaker 3: think they didn't. They weren't forcing him the ball, not
10:36
Speaker 3: like last year. Sometimes you could tell they're forcing the
10:38
Speaker 3: ball to Marvin Harrison. Everything that happened offensively last week
10:42
Speaker 3: felt like it was the flow of the offense. Credit
10:45
Speaker 3: Will Howard for that also credit the game plan where like, yes,
10:50
Speaker 3: they want to get Jeremiah Smith the ball, but it's
10:53
Speaker 3: like it never got to the point where you're like,
10:56
Speaker 3: you know, other people are open, you need to stop
10:58
Speaker 3: locking onto this guy. I thought Will Howard did a
11:01
Speaker 3: good job progressing finding other people and also getting more
11:05
Speaker 3: people involved. That was one of the questions I wanted
11:07
Speaker 3: to ask Chip Kelly this week about how you remember
11:09
Speaker 3: how like Erbin would talk about, We've got a list
11:12
Speaker 3: of these ten guys, we want to get them involved,
11:14
Speaker 3: we want them to you know, we got to get
11:15
Speaker 3: them the ball. Like how do they balance How does
11:18
Speaker 3: Chip Kelly and Rune Day how do they balance getting
11:20
Speaker 3: those players the ball but also not letting it impact
11:24
Speaker 3: the scheme? And I think they did a really good
11:27
Speaker 3: job of everything just seemed very natural last week. I
11:29
Speaker 3: expect the same thing to happen this week. In the
11:32
Speaker 3: passing game.
11:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the difference there is you can go
11:36
Speaker 2: in with that list and you can have we want
11:39
Speaker 2: to get the ball to this guy this many times,
11:41
Speaker 2: or we got to get the ball these five guys
11:43
Speaker 2: this many times. You can do that. You can't necessarily
11:47
Speaker 2: go into a passing play and say we're going to
11:49
Speaker 2: get to this guy and come hell or high water,
11:52
Speaker 2: the balls go into this guy. This play that doesn't work,
11:56
Speaker 2: you've got to, you know, And this is the better
11:58
Speaker 2: benefit of having a veteran quarterback Will Howard, who's going
12:01
Speaker 2: to sure the first raid might be Jeremiah Smith on
12:04
Speaker 2: this play, or the first raid might be Carnel Tait
12:06
Speaker 2: on this play. But if that guy's not open, he
12:09
Speaker 2: knows how to stand back there and go through his progressions.
12:12
Speaker 2: The offensive line was not tremendous in terms of the
12:15
Speaker 2: run game last week, but the pass blocking was pretty good.
12:18
Speaker 2: He had time back there to kind of go through
12:20
Speaker 2: his progressions. If the first guy wasn't open, take his
12:23
Speaker 2: time and just make the safe, you know, the safe
12:26
Speaker 2: throw that you're not throwing into double coverage. As the
12:30
Speaker 2: coaches said this week, he really only made the one mistake,
12:33
Speaker 2: which was that kind of crazy you know, falling down
12:36
Speaker 2: throwing it backwards to Trevon Henderson, which he I think
12:39
Speaker 2: learned his lesson on it seemed like and is probably
12:41
Speaker 2: not going to do again. But if you go into
12:43
Speaker 2: the game with an overall plan of hey, you got
12:46
Speaker 2: to get the ball distributed to a bunch of different
12:48
Speaker 2: guys over the course of the game. You can do
12:50
Speaker 2: that in any order you want to do that, and
12:52
Speaker 2: you can sort of spread the ball around and you're
12:55
Speaker 2: going to have with the offensive line, with the offense
12:57
Speaker 2: and the wide receivers and the running backs as good
13:00
Speaker 2: as they are, someone's going to be open, especially against
13:03
Speaker 2: a MAC caliber defense on just about every play. It was.
13:06
Speaker 2: This was last week that a case where Western Michigan
13:10
Speaker 2: just completely shut Wisconsin down. Wisconsin their success rate was
13:14
Speaker 2: fifty one percent. That's a ninetieth percentile outcome. So you
13:17
Speaker 2: their success rate, which is just basically you're getting about
13:20
Speaker 2: half of what you need or better on every play
13:23
Speaker 2: in terms of down and distances. Their success rate fifty
13:27
Speaker 2: one percent, very very high. They just they had no
13:30
Speaker 2: explosiveness at all. That's where Wisconsin really struggled. I'm pulling
13:34
Speaker 2: these numbers from Game on paper dot com, which is
13:36
Speaker 2: the site I've talked about before on here. It's just
13:38
Speaker 2: sort of an advanced stats breakdown of all these different games,
13:41
Speaker 2: which generally is a great way to sort of if
13:43
Speaker 2: you watch the game, sort of sanity check yourself in
13:45
Speaker 2: terms of was the issue really what I thought the
13:48
Speaker 2: issue was because Wisconsin had eighty something plays. Western Michigan
13:53
Speaker 2: ran fifty something like fifty two or fifty three. Wisconsin
13:56
Speaker 2: had the ball a ton, they just didn't do anything
13:58
Speaker 2: with it because while they were ah, they just kept
14:01
Speaker 2: they didn't have anyone who could really stretch the field.
14:04
Speaker 2: That I don't think will be a problem for Ohio
14:05
Speaker 2: State this week.
14:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, eighty two plays for Wisconsin. I don't see that
14:08
Speaker 3: happening for Ohio State because it shouldn't. It shouldn't need
14:11
Speaker 3: to happen now. If it's because with Western Michigan keeps
14:14
Speaker 3: going three and out and you just have the ball
14:16
Speaker 3: all that time, that's one thing. But I would expect
14:18
Speaker 3: Ohio State to do more with their nine or ten
14:21
Speaker 3: possessions that they have, and I would expect the running
14:25
Speaker 3: game to again progress. What Ohires to have like one
14:28
Speaker 3: hundred and seventy yards last week, like five point two
14:31
Speaker 3: yards per carry, which which is pretty good. They probably
14:34
Speaker 3: want to be more towards the five point seven and
14:36
Speaker 3: six if they can get there, and I think they will.
14:39
Speaker 3: This might be the start of that Wisconsin rush for
14:41
Speaker 3: our one hundred and ninety six yards last week but
14:43
Speaker 3: only like four point three yards per carry. I expect
14:46
Speaker 3: Owaii State to do better, and I this might be
14:48
Speaker 3: where the more of the focus is this week is
14:51
Speaker 3: getting the running game right and heading into the bye
14:55
Speaker 3: week with confidence that the running game is quote unquote fixed.
14:59
Speaker 3: So run for two hundred and fifty yards and it's like, hey,
15:01
Speaker 3: we can, We've got we've got some confidence we can
15:04
Speaker 3: still build on that. I don't think they want to
15:06
Speaker 3: go into this one and it's like one hundred and
15:08
Speaker 3: sixty yards on forty carries and they're just trying and
15:12
Speaker 3: trying and trying to get it going and it never happens.
15:15
Speaker 3: I think, sure that would give them plenty to work on,
15:17
Speaker 3: but they also want to start building some confidence in
15:19
Speaker 3: this running game. And I do wonder if we see
15:23
Speaker 3: not that you need you, but we didn't necessarily need
15:25
Speaker 3: to see will Howard run the ball last week? But
15:27
Speaker 3: he still did. They had a couple of called plays
15:28
Speaker 3: for him, you know, or at least one called play,
15:31
Speaker 3: and then also a scramble in there. Maybe maybe rather
15:35
Speaker 3: than just the QB power that they ran, maybe there'll
15:37
Speaker 3: be some keepers on some reads that he does this week.
15:41
Speaker 3: But I'm expecting a better running game performance. I'm still
15:47
Speaker 3: expecting Austin Sierravel to be starting it left guard. Is
15:51
Speaker 3: that is that where you are as well?
15:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it just makes too much sense for
15:55
Speaker 2: them to give Donovan Jackson one more week off, because
15:58
Speaker 2: if you give him this week off, you really give
16:00
Speaker 2: him two weeks off because they're off next week, so
16:02
Speaker 2: you don't have Oregon looming in two weeks either. You've
16:06
Speaker 2: got Marshall looming in two weeks, which is not really looming,
16:09
Speaker 2: it's just sort of they're there. So you give him
16:12
Speaker 2: another week this weekend, you give Austin Seerveldt another game
16:15
Speaker 2: full of reps, and then Donovan Jackson has another week
16:19
Speaker 2: off during the off week, and then you bring him
16:21
Speaker 2: back against Marshall, and then it's Marshall and Michigan State
16:24
Speaker 2: and Iowa before you get to the Oregon game. So
16:27
Speaker 2: I think it just makes too much sense. I'm sure
16:29
Speaker 2: he probably could go if they needed him to. I
16:33
Speaker 2: just they don't think they need him to, and I
16:35
Speaker 2: think it just makes too much sense for him to
16:37
Speaker 2: sit out one more week and just make sure make
16:41
Speaker 2: sure you're one hundred percent before you're coming back. There's
16:44
Speaker 2: no reason to risk it this early in the season
16:46
Speaker 2: against this kind of an opponent.
16:48
Speaker 3: And we can move to the defense and for Ohio
16:50
Speaker 3: State and say the same thing about Cody Simon at
16:52
Speaker 3: middle linebacker. Ryan Day said that both he and Donovan
16:56
Speaker 3: Jackson practiced down Wednesday, still day to day, and as
16:59
Speaker 3: long as their day to day may may keep them,
17:01
Speaker 3: may as well keep them out, and I don't. I
17:05
Speaker 3: think the bigger question, maybe the more interesting question, is
17:08
Speaker 3: if Cody Simon doesn't play, does r vel Reese get
17:11
Speaker 3: the start this week next to Sunny Styles? And I
17:15
Speaker 3: think that will also depend on how r vel Reeves
17:17
Speaker 3: prepares this week because he Rian Day talked about the
17:21
Speaker 3: first week, first half of the week last week, he
17:23
Speaker 3: did he wasn't preparing well enough. Rvel Reese wasn't, but
17:26
Speaker 3: then he closed it well. I wonder if he prepares
17:30
Speaker 3: the entire week the way he did towards the end
17:32
Speaker 3: of last week, if he had does that all week long,
17:34
Speaker 3: If he's done that all week long, does he get
17:37
Speaker 3: that green dot from the start? Does he start at
17:39
Speaker 3: middle linebacker with Sunny Styles next to him, knowing that
17:42
Speaker 3: they will still rotate CJ. Hicks in there. I think
17:46
Speaker 3: that's going to be something interesting to watch. I don't
17:48
Speaker 3: know if they want to necessarily do that right now,
17:52
Speaker 3: even though rvel Rees started the second half, If they
17:55
Speaker 3: go with r vl Rees instead of c J. Hicks,
17:58
Speaker 3: does that create any kind of tension or does that
18:01
Speaker 3: create an unnecessary issue within the team or within the
18:06
Speaker 3: linebacker room.
18:07
Speaker 2: I don't know that you have to I don't know
18:11
Speaker 2: that that's the primary concern right now. I think there's
18:13
Speaker 2: a certain amount of if they feel that arvel Reese
18:16
Speaker 2: is the best option, I think rvel Reese is going
18:18
Speaker 2: to be out there, and I don't I think you
18:20
Speaker 2: might be at the point during the week where on
18:24
Speaker 2: Wednesday or Thursday, they don't really know or they didn't
18:27
Speaker 2: really know who they were going to start, whether or
18:29
Speaker 2: not Cody Simon starts. We'll see if Cody Simon is
18:32
Speaker 2: back this week. He maybe you may be in the
18:35
Speaker 2: situation where it's the same kind of view that you
18:39
Speaker 2: had with Donovan Jackson, where it maybe just makes sense
18:41
Speaker 2: to sit him for another week. So we'll see how
18:44
Speaker 2: that shakes out. I think the thing that's a little
18:47
Speaker 2: different to me here is if rvel Reese has been
18:51
Speaker 2: wrapping at the mic linebacker for the whole season, the
18:55
Speaker 2: whole year, and Sunny Styles has only been there for
18:59
Speaker 2: a few weeks here and there. You might be better
19:02
Speaker 2: at two different positions if you have If you feel
19:06
Speaker 2: like Sunny Stalls is better than c. J. Hicks at
19:08
Speaker 2: the will spot, which you know they pretty openly have
19:11
Speaker 2: discussed the fact that they feel he is a little
19:12
Speaker 2: bit of ahead of CJ. Hicks there, then if you
19:16
Speaker 2: put r val Ree at the mic spot, he's just
19:19
Speaker 2: probably got more reps, more actual reps in practice, more
19:22
Speaker 2: mental reps in practice thinking about what he's doing as
19:25
Speaker 2: a mic backer, as opposed to see Sunny Styles, who's
19:28
Speaker 2: really been learning the will position most of the year
19:30
Speaker 2: and then sort of got thrown into that mic spot.
19:32
Speaker 2: If they feel like Arvel Reese is at a point
19:35
Speaker 2: where he can be trusted to be the guy with
19:38
Speaker 2: the green dot on his helmet and and you know,
19:40
Speaker 2: sort of call the defense out on the field and
19:43
Speaker 2: communicate that to the guys and be in charge of
19:45
Speaker 2: all of that stuff and also be able to handle
19:47
Speaker 2: his responsibilities, I think there's a lot of stuff they
19:50
Speaker 2: like about him. I think they like his really aggressive
19:52
Speaker 2: attacking approach. You saw him flying around out there against Achron.
19:56
Speaker 2: I think that's something that as long as he's not
19:58
Speaker 2: flying around into the gap or he's start flying around,
20:02
Speaker 2: you know, chasing stuff all around the field, I think
20:05
Speaker 2: there's a decent argument to put r Vo Reese and
20:08
Speaker 2: they're absolutely CJ. Hicks should should play as well. This
20:11
Speaker 2: is not you know, bench CJ. Hicks or anything like that,
20:14
Speaker 2: but if you can give yourself, if you can have
20:16
Speaker 2: r Vel Reese and Sunny Styles, if they feel that
20:18
Speaker 2: those two guys maybe you know, make themselves stronger at
20:21
Speaker 2: a couple of different spots. I think that's what they're
20:23
Speaker 2: going to go with, and then C J. Hicks is
20:25
Speaker 2: going to certainly have a role as well. And you
20:27
Speaker 2: may see Sunny Styles and CG. Hicks out there again
20:30
Speaker 2: together as well, because I think that worked fine when
20:33
Speaker 2: they were out there last week.
20:35
Speaker 3: I know CJ. Hicks got a lot of grief online
20:39
Speaker 3: for some of his plays. I went back and watched
20:42
Speaker 3: he he had back to back misstackles. Those are really
20:45
Speaker 3: his only errors of the game that I saw, and
20:47
Speaker 3: he was making plays as well, not just as sack,
20:50
Speaker 3: but he one of his blitz has caused the Jermaine
20:53
Speaker 3: Matthews tackle for Laws because it created a quick throw
20:56
Speaker 3: and that wasn't the only time he created a fast row,
20:59
Speaker 3: so he did some good things in there. He had
21:01
Speaker 3: those two plays where he missed the quarterback on one,
21:05
Speaker 3: the mobile quarterback Bullock, and then missed the running back
21:08
Speaker 3: on another like right after that one. So not great
21:11
Speaker 3: right there, But I think overall he did just fine.
21:14
Speaker 3: But our vellerries also stood out, and so that's something
21:18
Speaker 3: that I don't think it's a coincidence that he started
21:20
Speaker 3: the second half. CJ. Hicks knows that Sonny Styles is
21:23
Speaker 3: the starting will so I think he's already not that
21:28
Speaker 3: it's you've accepted your position, like he they all have
21:30
Speaker 3: a role to play. He believes he still has a
21:32
Speaker 3: role in his defense and he saw what it was
21:34
Speaker 3: last week, and I think if he can have that
21:37
Speaker 3: kind of impact every every week, he's that's that's a
21:40
Speaker 3: sizable role for any linebacker to be involved like that.
21:44
Speaker 3: I mean Cody Simon last year was came off the
21:47
Speaker 3: bench and he owned that and then he was starting
21:49
Speaker 3: at the end of the season because of injury. And
21:51
Speaker 3: just just prepare, be ready when you're out there, make
21:55
Speaker 3: plays and and just do your job and you'll get
22:00
Speaker 3: more opportunity. So I think I don't. I won't be
22:03
Speaker 3: surprised if it's our Vella Reice and Sunny Styles out
22:05
Speaker 3: there and and two big linebackers out there standing side
22:10
Speaker 3: by side dealing with one of the best running backs
22:13
Speaker 3: in the Mid American Conference in Jalen Buckley. Last year
22:16
Speaker 3: a thousand yard brush here as a true freshman. Last week,
22:19
Speaker 3: sixty four yards brushing against the the Badgers. I think
22:22
Speaker 3: he had two touchdowns in that one as well. Just
22:25
Speaker 3: a very good running back. Kind of a surprised maybe
22:29
Speaker 3: that he stayed in the MAC and maybe this might
22:31
Speaker 3: be you know, when when's the when's the Power five
22:35
Speaker 3: the Power four going to call him up to the show?
22:37
Speaker 3: And after this season, can they can make the call?
22:39
Speaker 2: Is at time?
22:41
Speaker 3: Probably the last year you'll see him at Western Michigan.
22:44
Speaker 3: But you know their quarterback is Hayden Wolf. And I
22:48
Speaker 3: was like, didn't Hayden Wolf start at Wisconsin? Like didn't
22:50
Speaker 3: didn't he begin his career at Wisconsin? But time that
22:53
Speaker 3: was Chase Wolf, Chase Wolf, not Hayden Chase. So now
22:57
Speaker 3: Chaydon Hayes Chase Hayden was running back at Illinois, Is
23:02
Speaker 3: that correct?
23:03
Speaker 2: Is it?
23:03
Speaker 3: Or quarterback at Illinois.
23:06
Speaker 2: Who's on first.
23:08
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. You are correct, So Hayden Wolf
23:11
Speaker 3: a veteran quarterback. I don't There's not a ton of
23:15
Speaker 3: concern for the Ohio State defense. They should be able
23:18
Speaker 3: to do what they want. But Jalen Buckley is a
23:20
Speaker 3: legit good running back. So it's a good test again,
23:24
Speaker 3: a good test for those linebackers and also a good
23:27
Speaker 3: test for the safeties. I'm Caleb Down's probably pretty angry
23:32
Speaker 3: with himself for some of his play last week. I
23:35
Speaker 3: would expect things to be much more cohesive and secure
23:41
Speaker 3: this week from the Buckeyes.
23:43
Speaker 2: I think this is a you know, this is a
23:45
Speaker 2: challenge for them in a certain way, but it's a
23:49
Speaker 2: challenge where they you know, there's they're not hitting you with,
23:54
Speaker 2: you know, a knife or a big sword like you're fencing.
23:59
Speaker 2: This is like the American Gladiators where they have the
24:02
Speaker 2: big sticks with like they look like the huge Q
24:04
Speaker 2: tips with the big pads on the end. You're not
24:07
Speaker 2: actually going to get hurt here. You're going to get
24:10
Speaker 2: you know, you could get hit in the face. That's
24:12
Speaker 2: a certain certainly a possibility. This is just not a
24:14
Speaker 2: team that feels like they're likely to hit a ton
24:17
Speaker 2: of big plays or be able to sustain a ton
24:19
Speaker 2: of drives. I just I think this is a talented
24:23
Speaker 2: ish offense that is just going to not be able
24:28
Speaker 2: to hold up, you know, just on a man to
24:31
Speaker 2: man basis with this Ohio State defense, which is not
24:33
Speaker 2: exactly bold that was yesterday. The bold Show is yesterday, Tony.
24:36
Speaker 2: This is this is just like regular takes Western Michigan
24:40
Speaker 2: not as talented on offense as Ohio State does on defense.
24:43
Speaker 2: That is probably just a regular take of very lukewarm temperature.
24:46
Speaker 2: So there's enough talent there that they're going to hit
24:49
Speaker 2: some plays here and there, but I don't expect them
24:52
Speaker 2: to be able to sustain a fourteen play drive against
24:55
Speaker 2: this defense or anything like that, especially in the first
24:59
Speaker 2: you know, when when the st orders are in there,
25:01
Speaker 2: outside of maybe you get a good first drive when
25:04
Speaker 2: you're kind of running the script and stuff, and sometimes
25:06
Speaker 2: you can you can have a good first drive, but
25:08
Speaker 2: I don't think they'll be able to do that consistently
25:10
Speaker 2: throughout the game. So this is a I think nice
25:14
Speaker 2: sort of safe test where they you know, the mother
25:18
Speaker 2: the mother Tiger has brought some kind of prey back
25:21
Speaker 2: for the little the little tiger cubs to you know,
25:24
Speaker 2: sort of learn how to complete the process. It feels
25:28
Speaker 2: like it may be a situation kind of like that.
25:33
Speaker 3: Yes, uh, Western Michigan. A sickly goat brought to the
25:37
Speaker 3: lair from the mother lion, and we all get to
25:40
Speaker 3: witness the uh, the coming of age of these young
25:46
Speaker 3: lions as they devour a sickly goat. Tom, thank you
25:50
Speaker 3: for that image. One interesting note, special teams, it's gotta
25:55
Speaker 3: be wary of those, Tom, you boldly predicted a Brandon
25:59
Speaker 3: Innis punt return to down. This week, Western Michigan ran
26:03
Speaker 3: the less miles fake field goal, tossed it over the
26:06
Speaker 3: over the over their head to the to the kicker
26:09
Speaker 3: running perfectly for our first down about a twenty five
26:12
Speaker 3: yard gain, to keep momentum and to just make the
26:18
Speaker 3: game closer than probably ever needed to be. So just
26:21
Speaker 3: keep an eye on the special team's craziness. You've got
26:25
Speaker 3: a coach that is aggressive enough to know that, hey,
26:28
Speaker 3: we can do whatever we want. Also enough aware enough
26:32
Speaker 3: to know like we're not we're not expected to win this,
26:34
Speaker 3: we're not supposed to winness, so we can do some
26:36
Speaker 3: things Like I felt bad for Joe Morehead last week,
26:38
Speaker 3: like he knew what that was about. And you could
26:40
Speaker 3: just see on the sidelines and after the game, he's like,
26:44
Speaker 3: what do you want me to.
26:45
Speaker 2: Do about it? You know?
26:46
Speaker 3: And did you see Rich Rodriguez talking about like the
26:49
Speaker 3: I think Jacksonville State maybe is playing Alabama And he's like,
26:53
Speaker 3: you can get you can pay us two million dollars
26:55
Speaker 3: to beat our brains in. That's fine, Like we'll do that.
26:57
Speaker 3: We'll do that all day long. And that's not what
27:02
Speaker 3: I think is going to happen here. But when you
27:05
Speaker 3: know the situation and know the score, quote unquote, you
27:09
Speaker 3: do whatever you want. You know, like you can you
27:11
Speaker 3: can pull some crazy things out. You don't have to
27:13
Speaker 3: go full Chiano, but there may be some Chiano tendencies
27:17
Speaker 3: in this one.
27:18
Speaker 2: Well, you can get some attention, you can get some
27:21
Speaker 2: positive attention for your program. Western Michigan is not a
27:23
Speaker 2: program that gets a ton of attention nationally and really
27:25
Speaker 2: hasn't since PJ. Fleck left. They had that twenty fifteen
27:29
Speaker 2: I think season where they went unbeaten and ended up
27:32
Speaker 2: playing Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. Since then, it has
27:36
Speaker 2: been a very anonymous program for the most part. And
27:39
Speaker 2: that's true for a lot of the programs in the MAC.
27:41
Speaker 2: And last week they got some national attention like, oh, look, hey,
27:45
Speaker 2: look at Western Michigan. They hung in there against against
27:47
Speaker 2: Wisconsin and had to lead in the fourth quarter. Good
27:50
Speaker 2: for them that, you know, boy, maybe maybe there's something
27:52
Speaker 2: going on there. If they can keep this close for
27:55
Speaker 2: a half, if it's seventeen to ten or twenty to
27:59
Speaker 2: ten going into the half, something like that, that's going
28:02
Speaker 2: to be you know, you'll have the the folks on
28:05
Speaker 2: the national you know, halftime shows, and when they're doing
28:09
Speaker 2: the score cut in, it's like, oh, Western Michigan hanging around,
28:11
Speaker 2: look at that, And that gets you some attention as
28:14
Speaker 2: a program and probably buys you some goodwill with your
28:17
Speaker 2: boosters and all that kind of stuff. So I think
28:20
Speaker 2: that that's a reasonable goal for Western Michigan. They're not
28:22
Speaker 2: going to win this game, and that's okay. They probably
28:24
Speaker 2: are not coming in with the mindset that they're going
28:26
Speaker 2: to win this game. But if they can come in
28:28
Speaker 2: and keep it interesting, that's probably pretty good. Tody, I
28:31
Speaker 2: remember just thinking about the two thousand, I guess it was,
28:35
Speaker 2: was it fifteen? I think it was twenty fifteen. The
28:37
Speaker 2: Western Michigan game at Ohio State where they came in
28:42
Speaker 2: and they televised PJ flex pregame speech and he was talking.
28:47
Speaker 2: He was trying to make some point about how horseshoes,
28:50
Speaker 2: which is the Ohio State Stadium, Tony, how what does
28:54
Speaker 2: a Broncos foot do it stomps on the horseshoe. It
28:56
Speaker 2: was something like that. It was like, well that, I
28:59
Speaker 2: don't think that really addresses anything directly that's going to
29:02
Speaker 2: happen today, but I mean it's you know, it's a thing.
29:05
Speaker 2: And so anyway, PJ Flag.
29:08
Speaker 3: I think Harry call O High State started out twenty
29:10
Speaker 3: eight nothing or something that game and one thirty eight
29:12
Speaker 3: twelve and coasted the rest of the way. But yeah,
29:14
Speaker 3: so there you go. I I went fifty two to ten, Yes,
29:20
Speaker 3: fifty two ten time, What did you do?
29:22
Speaker 2: I don't remember what I said on our Wednesday night
29:25
Speaker 2: live show, and I have not yet sent in my
29:26
Speaker 2: score prediction, So I'm going to say forty two to
29:34
Speaker 2: six Ohio State.
29:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, the ball control aspect of college football right now,
29:41
Speaker 3: I'm still trying to grasp and dial down my score predictions,
29:44
Speaker 3: but fifty two to one last week. I'll try to
29:47
Speaker 3: get in this week, so thank you all for tuning in.
29:49
Speaker 3: Hit that thumbs up before you go, We would appreciate that.
29:51
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29:53
Speaker 3: done yet, done that yet, and enjoy the second week
29:56
Speaker 3: of college football because it will be week eight, week
29:59
Speaker 3: nine before you even know it, so soak it all in,
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30:04
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