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Ross Fulton Analysis: How The Buckeyes' Offense Got Back On Track At Penn State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, November seventh.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The Perdue game in two days,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the game against Michigan in twenty three days. Okay, it
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  Speaker 1: is the show you have all been waiting for. Ross
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  Speaker 1: Fulton here to break down the Ohio State offense against
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  Speaker 1: Penn State. Lots of good news here, a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of bad news. We will get to give you a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of the vegetables before we get to the
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  Speaker 1: dessert when we Ross is here. Speaking of vegetables and dessert.
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  Speaker 1: and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just
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  Speaker 1: go to Jeff ruby dot com slash Columbus today. All right, Ross.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as this first play happened, I thought, I
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  Speaker 1: can't wait to talk to Ross because I think I
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  Speaker 1: think I was this is the pick six, we'll start with.
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  Speaker 1: This is the pick six. And it was third and four,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm just looking through a camera lens. I generally
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  Speaker 1: can't tell anything that's going on. I looked and I
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  Speaker 1: saw a stack formation and Jeremiah Smith in the back,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, I know where this ball's going
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  Speaker 1: on third and four, And then it kind of felt
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  Speaker 1: to me like State knew where the ball was going
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  Speaker 1: because they jumped the route and turned into a pick six.
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  Speaker 1: So am I crazy? Or was that kind of a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a tip off as to, hey, you
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  Speaker 1: might want to look over here.
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  Speaker 2: No, I think that was certainly the design of the
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  Speaker 2: play was to go to Jeremiah Smith, right, and so
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  Speaker 2: by using that stack formation and then motioning them out,
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  Speaker 2: they're trying to get a man down. Tells pre snap
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  Speaker 2: reads for Will Howard, I think that they expected probably
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  Speaker 2: man coverage there. Penn State and someone will continue to
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  Speaker 2: discuss this. Did a nice job, particularly on passing downs,
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  Speaker 2: of mixing and matching cover one man with cover two,
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  Speaker 2: but not like really giving it away like with their
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  Speaker 2: pre snap shell, like keeping a lot of like too
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  Speaker 2: high and rout haating down or vice versa, like showing
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  Speaker 2: one high rotating it too high, and that threw off.
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  Speaker 2: I think both Will Howard and sometimes the play calling
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  Speaker 2: to some extent. But yeah, so like you know he
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  Speaker 2: sees I mean the corner widen right with Jeremiah Smith,
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  Speaker 2: and this is like a Ryan Day staple play. This
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  Speaker 2: is like a slant with a fade, you know against man.
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  Speaker 2: It's supposed to obviously open up that underneath slant route,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in that curl flat zone. But like the
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  Speaker 2: indicator for Howard is that curl flat defender and he
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  Speaker 2: never he never gets out over a buca and he's
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  Speaker 2: gotten too much depth. I mean, it should have been
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  Speaker 2: a tell for Howard that this is cover two or
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  Speaker 2: some type of zone and not cover one. But he obviously,
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  Speaker 2: as I said, this is a Ryan Day stable play
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  Speaker 2: or has long been. And so I think Penn State
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  Speaker 2: probably scouted this out and I thought they might get
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  Speaker 2: this and they wanted to jump the slant route here
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  Speaker 2: they do so successfully. You know, if Howard just said,
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  Speaker 2: you got to kind of work your your progressions right,
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  Speaker 2: like you get your pre snap indications and you look
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  Speaker 2: at your post snap indicator and go through that. If
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  Speaker 2: he you know, comes off of that, he has Colonel
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  Speaker 2: Tate coming open on a backside dig. That happened a
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  Speaker 2: few times in the game where it's like if he
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  Speaker 2: could just get off the front side read come back
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  Speaker 2: and work to the backside.
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  Speaker 3: He had something coming open.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he might have been a little sped up
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  Speaker 2: for this game, worrying about Abduall Carter, but nevertheless, like
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  Speaker 2: you can't also be seeing ghosts, right Like, he didn't
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  Speaker 2: have the Yes, Penn State runs sort of a stunt
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  Speaker 2: here inside on this, but he had time to work
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  Speaker 2: back to the to the backside dig and so he
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  Speaker 2: just you know, it's basically making a decision based off
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  Speaker 2: pre snap and what the play they think they're getting in,
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  Speaker 2: what the play design is for, and not confirming at
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  Speaker 2: post snap.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Well, speaking of Penn State and that pass
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  Speaker 1: rush and Abduall Carter, this next one is one of
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  Speaker 1: the ones where Penn State did get home with their pressure.
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  Speaker 1: It felt like if John Donovan Jackson got a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of help, he was fine. And when Donovan Jackson
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  Speaker 1: got into obvious passing situations and did not get any help,
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  Speaker 1: that was where the trouble came. This is one of
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  Speaker 1: the examples where the trouble came.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and there's there's a few things to note about that.
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  Speaker 2: And I agree with your assessment. I mean, I think
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  Speaker 2: they did a nice job by the day. I mean
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  Speaker 2: Chip Kelly and right day, changing up the pass protection
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  Speaker 2: schemes throughout the game, like we're going to talk about
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  Speaker 2: like changing the launch points, changing the number of people
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  Speaker 2: in the protection to keep Penn State off balance.
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  Speaker 3: This one though, as you said, like he got a abduel.
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  Speaker 2: Carter gets a great jump here for first he's out
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  Speaker 2: of his stance before Donovan Jackson is. I mean, you
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  Speaker 2: have to also keep in mind that like first game,
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  Speaker 2: starting a left tackle on the road in a lot
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  Speaker 2: of environment, they're using a silent snap count, right, so
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  Speaker 2: car Carson Hinsman is the left guard. Once Will he
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  Speaker 2: looks back to Will Howard once he says he's ready,
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  Speaker 2: then he taps Seth McLachlan on the hip and he
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  Speaker 2: snaps the ball. So you're not able to gain You
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  Speaker 2: lose that advantage as an offense. The other thing that
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  Speaker 2: I would note here is what Ohios did a few
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  Speaker 2: times in the second half that I don't entirely understand,
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  Speaker 2: is that they would check and move the protection, you
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  Speaker 2: know from the running back here, Trey Henderson. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we can talk about with the run game, they change
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  Speaker 2: up how they were using the running backs with quinch
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  Speaker 2: On Jukins more of like the standard down lead back
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  Speaker 2: and Trey Henderson more of the third down change a
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  Speaker 2: pace back, and so Henderson would come in for his
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  Speaker 2: pass protection, which is really good at. But what they're
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  Speaker 2: doing here is they are sliding to the to the
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  Speaker 2: left and then having Henderson help Chip on the backside.
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  Speaker 2: I'm wondering if the theory after Nebraska was like that.
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  Speaker 2: They had Nebraska had used formation on defense to get
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  Speaker 2: them to slide away from Zen Mohawski, and they didn't
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  Speaker 2: want to have that situation where a guy had a
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  Speaker 2: two a go. But even so, now you've just got
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  Speaker 2: Jackson essentially on an eisland and against a Bill Carter right,
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  Speaker 2: Like it's not like the situation against Nebraska where they
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  Speaker 2: were using inside moves against him, oversetting, like he's just
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  Speaker 2: getting beat with a speed rush.
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  Speaker 3: That happened a couple of times.
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  Speaker 2: The last thing I would note, and this maybe would
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  Speaker 2: have been a mood point on this play, but it
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  Speaker 2: came up and other circumstances, like again, you're getting a
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  Speaker 2: situation where you know Penn State's giving a two high
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  Speaker 2: look here pre snap rate. It's obviously they're showing pressure,
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  Speaker 2: but they are going to roll out of it into
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  Speaker 2: Cover one robber just means they got one deep safety,
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  Speaker 2: the other safety drops down in sort of the middle,
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  Speaker 2: and this is not a good pass play call versus
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  Speaker 2: cover one. Like they're running curl routes which are like
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  Speaker 2: just your city.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you got to run away from man.
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  Speaker 2: Coverage trade is like what Ryan Dag always likes to say,
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  Speaker 2: like you run away from man and you find the
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  Speaker 2: holes in his.
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  Speaker 3: Own They're not doing that here.
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  Speaker 2: I guess you do have Jeremiah Smith on a vertical
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  Speaker 2: route and maybe if you have time, you just take
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  Speaker 2: that one on one shot. I still said they could
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  Speaker 2: probably do a little bit more of that, but the
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  Speaker 2: just they don't have the right pass play here.
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  Speaker 3: And that happened a couple of times.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, like you're playing a good team, they
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  Speaker 2: have a good scheme, like you're not going to be perfect,
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  Speaker 2: but this play was pretty much dead.
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  Speaker 3: And so yeah, they had a couple of plays. You know.
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  Speaker 2: The good news for has State, just in terms of
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  Speaker 2: the pass protection issues is I don't think it gets
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  Speaker 2: much harder after that situation for Donovan Jackson as the
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  Speaker 2: left tackle. Right, you're playing a speed rusher at home
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  Speaker 2: and allowed stadium in your first start, So I think that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I think in hindsight, I would have probably
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  Speaker 2: wanted to set the back to that side and help
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  Speaker 2: on that and let everyone take my chances with everyone else.
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  Speaker 2: But as we'll see, like they also have plenty of
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  Speaker 2: success on third down, and we'll get to here when
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  Speaker 2: they get the right call for the right situation against
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  Speaker 2: Penn State.
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  Speaker 1: All right, there you go, So you can stop looking,
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  Speaker 1: you know, squinting through your fingers, you can, you could,
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  Speaker 1: It is safe to look. Now we have nothing but
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  Speaker 1: good news. Now moving on next one is I believe
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  Speaker 1: this was a third down pickup. Really nice pass to
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  Speaker 1: Joe Amia Smith to pick up a first down.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Ohio State had a lot more success
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  Speaker 2: in the passing game with these sort of you know,
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  Speaker 2: man coverage beater concepts. Now, this is actually what Penn
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  Speaker 2: State does here is bring a six man pressure and
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  Speaker 2: run hot coverage, which is three deep, two under. It's
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  Speaker 2: like a Pat nardoozy uh staple from his you know,
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  Speaker 2: in his time at Michigan State. And you can see
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  Speaker 2: from the back behind the offensive line, it's sort of
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  Speaker 2: like you're trying to get a two for one coming
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  Speaker 2: through the B gap. The good news is Ohio State
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  Speaker 2: handles this pressure really well. Like this is a play
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  Speaker 2: where Donovan Jaskson successfully handles a Bill Carter Seth McLachlan
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  Speaker 2: does a great job stepping to his left, picking up
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  Speaker 2: the stunting nose guard coming around to the opposite a gap,
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  Speaker 2: a nice pickup by punch On Jenkins, and Howard throws
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  Speaker 2: hot right right away, so good good execution there. The
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  Speaker 2: double slants are there pretty frequently. Ohio State had another
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  Speaker 2: chance to hit the double slants on the last right
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  Speaker 2: before the last field goal against like cover zero, and
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  Speaker 2: unfortunately g Scott dropped it. It might have been maybe it
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  Speaker 2: would have been fourth and one, but they would have
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  Speaker 2: had a chance to go for it there. But that
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  Speaker 2: was that was there. Also, you know, they hit some
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  Speaker 2: cross some shallow crossers, a rail route off of follow pivots.
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  Speaker 2: So like these man beaters were more consistently there for them,
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  Speaker 2: and in the passing game, especially as I said, like
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  Speaker 2: you know, occasionally they called a man beater and Penn
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  Speaker 2: State dropped to cover two and like you know, I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to throw the pick, but schematically that was
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  Speaker 2: a win for Penn State. But I do think when
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  Speaker 2: Ohigh state was able to get themselves in the correct
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  Speaker 2: call and Howard was able to diagnose it.
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  Speaker 3: They were had success in the what I.
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  Speaker 2: Would consider you know, second down, third long like must
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  Speaker 2: pass situations.
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  Speaker 1: All right, Next up is the Imechabuka touchdown. This is
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  Speaker 1: one they they It felt like they kind of got
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  Speaker 1: the action going one way and then went back the
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  Speaker 1: other way a couple times for touchdowns to the Brinton
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  Speaker 1: And this one was kind of like that as well.
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  Speaker 1: But this was this felt like this is one watching live,
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  Speaker 1: I thought, oh, that felt like that was probably a
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  Speaker 1: pretty good play design and worked out pretty well.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they really got Chip Kelly really had
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  Speaker 2: some good things schemed up in this game, particularly as
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  Speaker 2: you said, off of misdirection throwback and so you know,
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  Speaker 2: like we talked about last week, Like the first thing
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  Speaker 2: about this is they get under center, which gives you
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  Speaker 2: a hard play action look quarterback turns its back. They
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  Speaker 2: then also with all these condensed sets, they use a
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  Speaker 2: lot of condensed sets both to help in the run
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  Speaker 2: game but also in the past game. So not just
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  Speaker 2: this one. You'll so on this one, for instance, you'll
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  Speaker 2: see Carnel Tate stays into block. There's another similar situation
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  Speaker 2: on the pass play where Jeremiah Smith kind of slowed
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  Speaker 2: down and lost the ball in the in the sun
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  Speaker 2: but was open.
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  Speaker 3: That was also a two man pass route.
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  Speaker 2: Where he had Smith on a deep you know, fly
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  Speaker 2: route and Colonel Tate on a sale route and you
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  Speaker 2: had Abuca helping to Carter side. So again, as I said,
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  Speaker 2: like really changing up the pass protection. They role Howard
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  Speaker 2: out and it looks like the play John Gruden made
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  Speaker 2: famous you know Spider too, Why Banana. They ran that
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  Speaker 2: quite a bit in this game too, where they're they're
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  Speaker 2: leaking the guy in the flat, but they're set up
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  Speaker 2: a throwback and this is this is just leak like
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  Speaker 2: they Ryan Days loved this play at about this yard
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  Speaker 2: line they ran against Clemson UH in twenty twenty. But
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  Speaker 2: here they do it with instead of a tight end,
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  Speaker 2: they do it with the Meca Buca since he's the
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  Speaker 2: top man on the on the bune and so you
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  Speaker 2: know he sells the block for one second. Again you're
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  Speaker 2: getting man coverage and so people's eyes getting the backfield
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  Speaker 2: and he's able to run the wheel route behind Smith
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  Speaker 2: for a touchdown. And so as you said, like between
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  Speaker 2: this one and then the shallow cross throwback to Brandon
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  Speaker 2: Innis where they brought in their backup wide receivers and
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure Penn State when they saw that was thinking,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they're gonna run block like they've done that
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  Speaker 2: in the past, right, Like we talked about that one
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  Speaker 2: super counter where they brought in you know, Innis and
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  Speaker 2: a walk on wide receiver, you know, to run counter
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  Speaker 2: to have them as lead blockers, so human nature that
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: you're expecting, well, they're going to run it here and
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  Speaker 2: they fake the crack toss one way, hit Innos on
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  Speaker 2: the shallow cross or back. As I said, and we'll
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  Speaker 2: talk about the run game diversity too, but had some
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: nice concepts drawn up out of these like sort of
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  Speaker 2: tight run heavy focus formations.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let's get right into that run diversity right now.
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  Speaker 1: This is a little bit of an iteration on something.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen them run a bunch of speed option that's
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  Speaker 1: been a staple for me in college football going back
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  Speaker 1: to when I was probably literally in college. But this
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  Speaker 1: is a little bit of an iteration off of it
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  Speaker 1: where just you just pause a second, just like that
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  Speaker 1: you just talked about with a mecha abuka and just
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: pausing the second to sort of sell the block before
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  Speaker 1: you go. Just a second of a pause here really
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  Speaker 1: just feels like it kind of changes the picture for
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  Speaker 1: Penn State exactly.
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  Speaker 2: The concept is right like Will Howard, if you watch
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  Speaker 2: his ball handling here, he's selling that he's reading that
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: backside defensive end for a zone replay, and you're just
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: hoping to get the linebackers just to take one step
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  Speaker 2: towards the play side thinking that it's a zone play
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  Speaker 2: coming their way to set up the down blocks. So
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: by Josh Fire and Seth McLaughlin here, but this is
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  Speaker 2: all set up by the formation to begin with. You
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: know they on this one they run a four by
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  Speaker 2: zero on balanced We've shown that before how Chip Kelly
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  Speaker 2: likes to do that.
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  Speaker 3: They had the big hit early.
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  Speaker 2: In the season off that and Penn State again with
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: like all the cover one right, this is the problem
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  Speaker 2: like with single high against unbalanced formations. They have three
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  Speaker 2: over three, they have a deep safety and they have
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  Speaker 2: no one to account for the boundary edge and so
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: this this is a big hit. They hit it one
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  Speaker 2: more time again later in the game where they went
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  Speaker 2: to open trips, and you get the same principle right,
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  Speaker 2: like that play the Jeremiah Smith as a blocker out
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  Speaker 2: on the corner who was responsible for him, but they
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  Speaker 2: again did not have an alley player for the option.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: This is a play I've been hoping to make a comeback.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: You'll remember, like quin Chawn Jenkins had the eighty two
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: yard touchdown run that got called back on the G
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Scott hold earlier this season. On this play, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I was hoping to see it against Oregon to try
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  Speaker 2: to get the ball outside. They're not an option team,
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  Speaker 2: so I you know, you worry about the ball handling
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and getting your quarterback hit. But they probably could have
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: gone back to this one or two more times. Like
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: my rule of thumb is that, like if you had
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: two plays for explosives, like you should keep running it
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: until the opponent stops you. So, you know, again, but
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: nice job with the you know, field boundary mix here.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about that more and again, just
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  Speaker 2: like the run game diversity generally, you know, and using
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  Speaker 2: obviously using Howard the run game, like the ball that
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  Speaker 2: he bubbled off his his uh you know, thigh pad
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  Speaker 2: was unfortunate, but like that was also a great design
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  Speaker 2: into the boundary. There's a lead down g play, so
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  Speaker 2: you're like you're pulling Carson Hinsman as the lead side
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  Speaker 2: guard and then you know have quick chun chuckins kick
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  Speaker 2: out the corner. And so you just saw, you know,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of the complaints I had post Nebraska running
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  Speaker 2: inside zone fifteen times.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously we're not an issue in this game. You got
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: inside zone.
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  Speaker 2: Mid zone, they ran a bunch of counter particularly back
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  Speaker 2: to the field. So a lot of those issues were
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  Speaker 2: you know, again, I think as we suspected the time,
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  Speaker 2: maybe trying to loll Penn State into a false sense
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  Speaker 2: of security.
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  Speaker 1: In terms of the run game, I like that Russ Fulton,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a devotee of the Lane kiff In school of play,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: calling run it till they stop it. I like that
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  Speaker 1: a lot. Something they were able to do that was
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: on that last drive was run it until they stopped it.
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  Speaker 1: And they ran it until the clock stopped because Penn
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: State never stopped it. Let's go to that final drive.
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  Speaker 1: One of the one of the runs that worked out
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  Speaker 1: really well for Ohios date is they were trying to
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  Speaker 1: run out that clock.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and again, there was like lots of little things
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: in the run game that were just enough of a
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: change up that you know, takes really focusing on it
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: to notice.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: So a couple of things.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: One thing they did is this is mid zone, and
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: so they're in pistol, right, and so we talked about
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: like whether it's Iowa Nebraska last week they've liked to
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: run tight zone from pistol where Will Howard opens up
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: opposite the run play. And so here you're you're running
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: zone to the left, so he would open up to
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: the right and you're you're trying to get the ball
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: back up the backside a gap. This is actually a
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: run to this side of the formation.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Right. This is mids.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: I say it's mid zone because quin Shawn Jenkins is
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: basically aiming for the outside leg of the left guard,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Carson Hinsman, and so it is it's more of like
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: a forty five degree step from the offensive line.
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: So you're you're.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: Changing up just alone in Uh, you know, you cannot
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: expect based on which side the quarterback opens up, where
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: the ball is necessarily going, or which side the run
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: play is going to.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: It could be coming to that side or away from it.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: That's one thing, right. Uh.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: The second thing that and they messed also with like
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: just even in the in the zone game, like how
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: they were blocking things, Like there were a few plays
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: where they have at Bennett Christian lineup is basically an
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: offset full back and he would block back or not
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: even block back, he would just take out the backside
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: defensive end to run mid zone or inside zone, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: so like instead of having a split block come back
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: across the formation, you're just like taking it taking care
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: of it that way. And then they also really changed
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: up running between running to the wide field and running
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to the boundary.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: So you can't see it on this play, but they're
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: in a trip.
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: This is so they're on the right hash mark and
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: they're in a trip's formation to the field. Uh. And
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: it's actually a trip's nub because then you have the
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: tight end back to the boundary. Obviously we talked about
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: in Nebraska, Chip Kelly and Ryan Day really both really
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: like to run the football to the boundary and throw
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: to the field right, especially when you're like you put
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: your run strength to the short side and you're passing
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: strang to the opposite. But here they obviously are running
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: to the trips side of the field. So you could
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: see several times on that last drive where Penstate really
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: loaded up to the boundary. They bring run blitzes to
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: the boundary expecting that that's where Ohio State was going
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: to run the football, and they ran it to the
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: field like they had success running that sort of counterplay
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: we've talked about before where it kind of looks like
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Will Howard sprinting out before ending it up back off
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: to Traveon Henderson. They ran that to the field. So
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: all this is to say they were doing little things
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: within the scheme to help the run game. And then obviously,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: like the execution was was excellent as well, you know,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: not not to take away from that. Like on this play,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: you get great combo between McLachlan and Carson Hinsman. Hinsman
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: climbs to the play side inside linebacker, you know, Tegler
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Shabola comes off at the last second for the backside linebacker.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: The you know, I mean at seth McLachlan had a
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: great game, like he's he's just been excellent. You know,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: there were times I think, you know, I guess I
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: would say much has been made of the fact that
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: for the five offensive linemen, where the players of the
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: game other than Tiger Shabola. I'm a assuming that's you know,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: sitting here not knowing why that he did not grate
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: out a champion. And I think some of that continues
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: to be, like he sometimes locks onto a man rather
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: than sticking with his zone steps and like coming off
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to combo onto linebackers, Like there were a few plays
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: earlier in the game where like everything was blocked up
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: except there was an unblocked linebacker because he just didn't
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: come off his block to get him. I thought he
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: did a much better job on this last series. He
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: had a couple of times where he got to the
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: second level, which made a big difference. And then you
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: put Sean Juckkins obviously running hard and finishing runs. The
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: play before this he ran over safety. Here he runs
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: through an arm tackle for another couple of yards. So
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: you know, you put together like a nice mix up
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: and scheme with the execution within the run game, and
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: you know, that's how you're able to possess the ball
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: for the last five and a half minutes.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Well, and by possessing the ball for the last five
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: and a half minutes, it came down to one play.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: It was a third down. Will Howard, This is one
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: that just looks so simple. It's just will Howard run
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: to the corner, get to the corner slightly faster than
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: Penn State can and get around and get the first down.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Probably a little more involved than that, but this was
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the play. If you're just listening to the podcast, the
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: player we're talking about is whehere. He slides at the
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: end and gets up and does a real enthusiastic first
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: down signal. This was the one that kind of clinched
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: the game for them, exactly.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: So back to back third and threes, give or take
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: right the first one, and they turned to Howard both times.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: The first one was a lead outside zone to the
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: boundary where you're you're adding a plus one. That's just
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: a designed run Urban Meyer staple favorite, perhaps the most
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: famously when Broxon Miller was stopped into twenty thirteen against
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Michigan State on that exact same play. Obviously, Ohio State
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: under Dan Kelly does not rely on that kind of
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: stuff as much, so the defense is less expecting it,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and you know, so you got a on that one.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Penn State basically a line and a goal line, sort
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: of like pinch defense, Like they had their four guys
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: in the in tier gaps expecting his inside zone run.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So you're able to get outside keep. You get great
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: blocks there by Chuck Kins.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: And Gee Scott on the edge.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: The next time they get back into third down, right,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: so they run zone raid here, And I remember my
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: thought rushing watching live is like I can't believe of
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: all the times like Penn State didn't account for the quarterback,
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: but it actually again we're getting into like the minutia
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: here of what Chip Kelly was doing with the blocking schemes.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: They took away the read player.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: So what Penn State wants to do here is like
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: again they're in cover zero at this point, this is
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: a goal line. Look right obestly, it has two tight
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: ends in the field. Penn State is number six, the
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: backside safety or nickel. He is not the read player, right,
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: he's not responsible for the quarterback. Instead, the backside defensive
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: end is fifteen. But what they do is they block him.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: So six commits to the quarterback. Fifteen is the is
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: the quote unquote read player who's been assigning the defense
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: for accounting for the quarterback.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: But he's blocked.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: And like it's a nice block here by She's got
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: a nice block on the edge by Jeremi Smith. And
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: so again they're just like little thing in the run
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: game that you're doing to be successful because now they
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: don't Penn State does not have someone to account for
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: the quarterback. And so you know, again we saw probably
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: more use of Howard again in the run game than
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: we've seen at any time since. I guess maybe that
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: you could throw the Iowa game in there. You know,
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I think they're going to have to do more and
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: more of this. I think this group, uh, you know,
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: the offensive line played well obviously, I think when you're
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: looking at this five like definitely the way they have
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: to go going forward. But I think they're going to
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: be compared to having Josh Simmons in there obviously, who's
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: more of a prototypical left tackle, this is going to
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: be much a more of a run heavy group than
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: they had with with Simmons. You know, again, there's only
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: so many obdual carters out there, right, But like they
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: do exist, They're going to have to continue to help Jackson.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I'm sure he'll get more comfortable and either they don't
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: have to play in an environment like Penn State again presumably,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: so they uh, you know, I have sent I guess
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: a first round road playoff game but the I just
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: think that they're going to have to lean more on
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: the run game. And so the good news is though
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: they they ran blocked, run blocked really well, right, Like,
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: you know, I think they've definitely found something in Hinsman
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: playing left guard. As I said, McLachlan has just continued
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to be stellar. You know, probably you know, the most
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: technically proficient offensive line playoffs seeing at Ohio State lineman
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: uh in a while. So I think that that they're
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: gonna have to lean a little bit more, which is ironically,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I think coming into the season like what people kind
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: of more expected. And you know that's not to say
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: that I don't think that they can. They no longer
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: have the ability to utilize their weapons outside.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: You know, obviously this is sort of.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: A game of what apps, right, like if they you
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: know Howard missing Colonel Tait open uh Jeremiah Smith as
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: I said on whether it was a sun or whatever,
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: like stopping his route. You know, they're the the obviously
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: the fumble off the thigh path, it's like a one
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: in a million kind of thing with that rule. So
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: you know, they had chances to open up the game,
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: and I you know, I do think that it's going
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: to sort of be all right.
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: Now, it's time to.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: Get a mega Bouka and Jeremih Smith going early, going
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: forward and get him some touches to get especially Smith
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: to get in the flow, like you know, he's still
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: a freshman, Like I think you got to kind of
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: get him going. And he did have a really nice
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: route on that last third down before the final field goal.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: But I do think you're gonna have to see more
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: and more, you know, leaning into the run game. And
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: the good news is the execution up front is just
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: much better than it's been in terms of running these
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: types of particularly just even like their bread and butter
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: zone plays.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: All right, before I let you go, do you want
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: to just sort of get ahead of something here. Ross.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: If they're real boring on offense this weekend, or they
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: run inside zone fifteen times, is it a sign that
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: the coaches have forgotten how to coach football, or is
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: it maybe not time.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: To jump off the roof?
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Thanks all tanging up and listen.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I'm sure If they are running inside zone against Purdue
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: and not succeeding, I mean, that's maybe a problem for
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: different reasons. As I said, I sort of have a
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: thought in my head that they this might be a
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: game where they try to get some had some stats
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: for Smith and a booker early and even Colonel Tate,
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: like Colonel Tate's a great route runner, and like I saw,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: there were probably like at least five or six times
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: when you see that on on the ALL twenty two
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: where he's like waving his hands up and down to
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: Will Howard like I'm wide open, please look my way.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: And so you know, as I said, this might be
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: a game to sort of try to light up the
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: scoreboard early. But yes, I would not get overly concerned
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: if it's like, well, why isn't why aren't we using
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: all those cool concepts in the run game that we
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: used against Penn State particularly, this is not a game
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: where you want to be running Will Howard a bunch.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, back in my day we called that Staturday
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: when you're playing a lesser team and you can maybe
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: run up some numbers. Maybe maybe you'll see some excited
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: in the passing game this Saturday. Wouldn't that be fun?
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: So thanks again to Ross, Thanks again to Jeff Ruby Steakhouse,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the award winning upscale steakhouse in downtown Columbus In one
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of the top fifty steakhouses in America by Food Network.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Just go to Jeff Ruby dot com slash Columbus to
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: check out the menu and make a reservation today. That
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: will do it for today. Thank you guys all for
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.