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BONUS: How Maryland Is Approaching The Challenge Of Ohio State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: We've got another bonus show for you. You've heard quite
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  Speaker 1: a bit from Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, some
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: of his midweek press conferences. On this one, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to get kind of the other side of the coin,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the other side of the coin in terms
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  Speaker 1: of the opposite coach in this weekend's matchup between Ohio
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  Speaker 1: State and Maryland, but also the opposite side of the
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  Speaker 1: coin in terms of how the season's going, where the
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  Speaker 1: job status is, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
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  Speaker 1: This is Maryland head coach Mike Loxley. The Terps come
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  Speaker 1: in on a three-game losing streak. Things are not going great.
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  Speaker 1: His job status is really up in the air right now.
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  Speaker 1: So he's going to start here with just sort of
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  Speaker 1: a general statement on where things stand for him and
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  Speaker 1: his program.
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  Speaker 2: I'll start by acknowledging that obviously the last three weeks
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  Speaker 2: isn't good enough, isn't the standard that we need to
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  Speaker 2: have for our program. Our players know it. We as
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  Speaker 2: coaches know it. Obviously I know it, but nobody's hanging
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  Speaker 2: their heads. We've got a lot of work to do
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  Speaker 2: and we're going to keep working through it. Some Nebraska takeaways. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: I think the goal for us, the standard has to
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  Speaker 2: be consistency. You know, for the first time against a
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  Speaker 2: really talented team, I saw I saw us look like
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  Speaker 2: a team, the team that I thought we could be,
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  Speaker 2: but only for about a half. I thought once we
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  Speaker 2: threw the pick six that the energy went out of
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  Speaker 2: our team. And so for me, that's a coaching detail
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  Speaker 2: of being able to overcome negative things that happen in
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  Speaker 2: the game. And so we've got to get that fixed,
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  Speaker 2: and the standard has to be the consistency of playing
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  Speaker 2: that way, not just for a half against a really
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  Speaker 2: good team on the road. We've got playmakers involved. It
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  Speaker 2: was great to have DeLon back last week, and it
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  Speaker 2: showed in our rush attack when we were able to
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  Speaker 2: run the football. I thought we did it efficiently. We
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  Speaker 2: had some offensive stretches that I thought it looked like
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  Speaker 2: what we could be on offense. Defensively, I thought we
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  Speaker 2: tackled better, but we still got it. figure out how
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  Speaker 2: to eliminate the explosive plays. I had a couple of
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  Speaker 2: those show up, especially the quarterback run. Going into it,
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  Speaker 2: we knew that he's an athletic guy that we want
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  Speaker 2: to do a great job of keeping in the pocket,
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  Speaker 2: and we still allowed that to happen. So Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: has our total focus going into this week. They're top
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  Speaker 2: five teams, super talented, as we all know. And so
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  Speaker 2: they'll definitely have our full attention and definitely as a
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  Speaker 2: team realized the challenge we had, but excited to be
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  Speaker 2: able to go on the road and face a good
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  Speaker 2: team like Ohio State.
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  Speaker 1: Coming in on that three game losing streak, things are
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  Speaker 1: only going to get tougher for Maryland this weekend. Here's
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  Speaker 1: Mike Loxley explaining the challenge of trying to defend Julian
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  Speaker 1: Sane and Jeremiah Smith in the Ohio State offense. And
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  Speaker 1: please note, he calls Julian Sane a dual threat. That
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  Speaker 1: is a new one this year.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, again, you know, Sane is one of
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  Speaker 2: those guys, another dual threat, but, uh, equally talented with
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  Speaker 2: his arm as he is with his legs. And again,
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  Speaker 2: keeping him contained will be key. And then obviously with
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  Speaker 2: number four, the receiver, you know, when I think of
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  Speaker 2: playing teams that have explosive playmakers like that, I think
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  Speaker 2: the thing that comes to mind for defending them is
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  Speaker 2: how do you cup it? How do you keep it
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  Speaker 2: in front of you and do a really good job
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  Speaker 2: of cupping the skilled players that they have? And that means,
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  Speaker 2: you know, playing with depth, good eyes and vision, and
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  Speaker 2: then doing a really good job of a bunch of
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  Speaker 2: guys running to the football. really the only thing you
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  Speaker 2: can do when you face talented players you've got a
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  Speaker 2: good running back they got a couple of good receivers
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  Speaker 2: some tight ends that can play so to eliminate the
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  Speaker 2: explosives we got to keep everything in front of us
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  Speaker 2: and get the ball on the ground in space.
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  Speaker 1: One of those things that happens a lot with bad
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  Speaker 1: teams and teams with bad records is a lot of
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  Speaker 1: self-inflicted issues and maryland has certainly had their share of
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  Speaker 1: those this season so what is causing all of those each.
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  Speaker 2: Week some of these same self-inflicted wounds that you refer
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  Speaker 2: to michael uh Every week, I got to go back in,
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  Speaker 2: look at them, and figure out, is it a scheme thing?
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  Speaker 2: Is it a personnel thing? Or is it a coaching issue?
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  Speaker 2: So each week, when you come and face these type
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  Speaker 2: of questions, when you don't play well, you have to
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  Speaker 2: figure out what those issues are and address them. A
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  Speaker 2: couple weeks ago, it was tackling. We tackled better the
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  Speaker 2: following week. Last week on offense, we started slow. This week,
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  Speaker 2: we got off to a fast start. So we continue
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  Speaker 2: to go back and look at what we're not doing well.
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  Speaker 2: But I'll also tell you that when I put the
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  Speaker 2: tape on this Saturday after the game, there were a
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  Speaker 2: lot more things that I thought we did well in
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  Speaker 2: the game that I was able to show that when
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  Speaker 2: we do it that way consistently, we'll get the consistent results.
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  Speaker 1: Maryland's motto is fear the turtle. No one fears the
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  Speaker 1: Maryland defense this year. They are 115th nationally, allowing 30.2
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  Speaker 1: points per game right now. So what are the issues
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  Speaker 1: on the defensive side of the ball?
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  Speaker 2: I think the explosive plays have shown up the last
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  Speaker 2: two games for us where you see the explosive runs,
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  Speaker 2: you see the explosive passes. To me, they start with
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  Speaker 2: tackling well. I thought we tackled a little better two
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  Speaker 2: games ago. I thought we got a little bit better
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  Speaker 2: this past game. The alignment issues, the eye discipline on
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  Speaker 2: some of the long runs where we don't have guys
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  Speaker 2: in gaps, those are fundamental things that we've been working
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  Speaker 2: to get fixed.
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  Speaker 1: Next up, there was sort of a bigger picture question
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  Speaker 1: about recruiting and whether that allows Maryland, sort of the
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  Speaker 1: modern recruiting system and transfer portal and NIL allows Maryland
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  Speaker 1: to compete with the top of the Big Ten. And
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  Speaker 1: his answer here, note, you will note, looks more at things,
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  Speaker 1: what they could be like if the rules change a
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  Speaker 1: little bit.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt. I think some of the rules
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  Speaker 2: and some of the things that have happened in the
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  Speaker 2: landscape becomes an advantage for Maryland. You know, obviously, there
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  Speaker 2: is a cap, if there's a number where we all
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  Speaker 2: play with the same amount of cap or money, that
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  Speaker 2: creates parity, which as we see with professional leagues like
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  Speaker 2: the NFL, where parity creates opportunities for all teams. And
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  Speaker 2: we've seen that kind of happen here the last few
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  Speaker 2: years with some of the teams that aren't traditional Blue Bloods,
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  Speaker 2: make it to national championships, make it to playoffs. And
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  Speaker 2: so there's no doubt that Maryland can compete. And that landscape.
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  Speaker 2: I think the rules to protect college sports thing that
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  Speaker 2: came up are things that benefit Maryland because now it
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  Speaker 2: creates what I call a level playing field that as
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  Speaker 2: long as we know the rules and the amount, we'll
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  Speaker 2: have a chance because there's a lot of talented players
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  Speaker 2: within a three-hour drive up here.
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  Speaker 1: This Maryland roster does have some talented players on it.
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  Speaker 1: One of them is quarterback Malik Washington. He was very,
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  Speaker 1: very good as a true freshman last year. It feels
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  Speaker 1: like he's taken a little bit of a step back
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  Speaker 1: this year. Obviously very talented, He's thrown three pick sixes
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  Speaker 1: in the last two weeks. So what's going on with
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  Speaker 1: Malik Washington this season?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll start by, one, he's our quarterback, and there's
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  Speaker 2: no doubt. When you go into a game without the
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  Speaker 2: ability to consistently run the football, it puts a lot
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  Speaker 2: of pressure on a young quarterback. And we know the
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  Speaker 2: injury bugs that we had at that position. And so
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  Speaker 2: a lot of pressure was put on Malik to throw
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  Speaker 2: the ball and to do things throwing the ball, which
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  Speaker 2: when you throw the ball as much as we have,
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  Speaker 2: You'll have some, but what you also have seen, and
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  Speaker 2: I think I said it after the game Saturday, and
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  Speaker 2: both picks, both interceptions he threw this Saturday, I call
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  Speaker 2: them 400-level reads. Those are 400-level things that people are
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  Speaker 2: doing because of the talent he has at quarterback. His
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  Speaker 2: first pick was a seven-up, seven guys at the line
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  Speaker 2: of scrimmage, and a defensive end drops out in what
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  Speaker 2: we call simulated pressures. And those are the new things
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  Speaker 2: that he now can add to a toolbox. He's the
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  Speaker 2: type of guy, once he makes a mistake like that,
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  Speaker 2: he very rarely makes the same mistake. The second one,
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  Speaker 2: bracket coverage, thought it was man underneath. It gave it
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  Speaker 2: a vision of man. So he's seeing a little more
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  Speaker 2: complicated coverages than what he maybe has seen before. And
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  Speaker 2: it's because of what he's shown he's able to do
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  Speaker 2: throwing the football.
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  Speaker 1: I've said it a couple times before, but he got
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  Speaker 1: asked about it a couple times as well. He has
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  Speaker 1: a three-game losing streak coming into this game. Now things
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  Speaker 1: are only getting tougher as you're going on the road
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  Speaker 1: to play a team as good as Ohio State. So
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  Speaker 1: how does a team like Maryland get ready for that?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, again, we try to keep it as 1-0
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  Speaker 2: every week, one-game seasons, because you can't in this day
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  Speaker 2: and age trying to clump them. And I understand why
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  Speaker 2: people like to clump games together, but for us as coaches,
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  Speaker 2: We got to stick at the 1-0 each week. And
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  Speaker 2: this week, the attention goes to a top five team
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  Speaker 2: like Ohio State, talented offense, talented defense, skilled players, special
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  Speaker 2: teams on the road again. So the attention is mostly
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  Speaker 2: focused on what do we have to do to prepare ourselves.
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  Speaker 2: And against a team like Ohio State, the goal for
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  Speaker 2: us is how do we get a game like that
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  Speaker 2: into the fourth quarter to give us any chance? And
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  Speaker 2: so to me, that means play clean on offense where
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  Speaker 2: we don't turn the ball over like we have the
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  Speaker 2: last two games. defensively eliminate these explosive plays and find
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  Speaker 2: a way to contain and cup the skilled players. And
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  Speaker 2: then on special teams, not allow our special teams to
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  Speaker 2: affect us adversely like we have the last couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, he was asked about the challenge of preparing
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  Speaker 1: to go play up against a team whose coordinators are
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  Speaker 1: both former NFL head coaches. What is that like? And
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  Speaker 1: has that sort of approach or has what he sees
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  Speaker 1: on film from Ohio State changed over the years.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he's had a couple of different guys there.
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  Speaker 2: I know this, you know, Arthur Smith is the OC now.
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  Speaker 2: A year ago, he had a different guy, but they
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  Speaker 2: run Ohio State's system, and I think that's the part
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  Speaker 2: that Ryan understands, and when you look at them, what
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  Speaker 2: they do on defense, what they do on offense hasn't
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  Speaker 2: changed with the NFL guys coming in. I think what
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  Speaker 2: they do, like most of us do as head coaches,
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  Speaker 2: they get to add value or add some things to
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  Speaker 2: a system. When you look at what they do, the
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  Speaker 2: NFL matchups typically is the big thing. They try to
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  Speaker 2: create the matchups. I know on the defensive side, they
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  Speaker 2: want to create five one-on-ones, and that's an NFL thing.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to know where they are, and it's just
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  Speaker 2: going to be a matter of You winning enough of
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  Speaker 2: your battles, you not turning the ball over, you winning
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  Speaker 2: the field position battle, which it typically comes down to.
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  Speaker 1: The Buckeyes and Maryland will kick off 4.15 p.m. Eastern
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  Speaker 1: on Big Ten Network. The team from Buckeye Insiders will
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  Speaker 1: be there. We'll have our usual pregame coverage, live postgame
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  Speaker 1: coverage from Ohio Stadium. Bucs and Terps, and then we'll
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  Speaker 1: get the chance to turn the page. to the Indiana
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  Speaker 1: Hoosiers in what should be a phenomenal game a week
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  Speaker 1: from now in Bloomington. Going to be a lot to
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  Speaker 1: talk about all weekend long and all week long at BuckeyeInsiders.com.
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  Speaker 1: We would love to see you there with us to
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: talk about the team, talk about recruiting, talk about X's
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and O's with our scheme guys. And yes, talk a
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: little basketball as well. We'll have a basketball show coming
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: for you very soon. Looking back at the Buckeyes exhibition
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: opener against Cincinnati. Lots to talk about right now. We
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: would love to see you at BuckeyeInsiders.com. That'll do it
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: for now. We'll be back with another show.