Latest / Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning / Ross Fulton Analysis: How Texas Took Away Jeremiah Smith, Can Notre Dame Do It Too?

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Ross Fulton Analysis: How Texas Took Away Jeremiah Smith, Can Notre Dame Do It Too? · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to buck Eyes tomorrow morning for Tuesday, January fourteenth.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom Moore. The National Championship game against
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Speaker 1: Notre Dame is in six days. The game against Michigan
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Speaker 1: in three hundred and nineteen days. Can be taking a
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Speaker 1: little bit of a look back at the Cotton Bowl
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Speaker 1: win over Texas for the Buckeyes. Can be looking at
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Speaker 1: the offensive side of the ball today with our buddy
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Speaker 1: Ross Fulton, the ex's and noseguru at Buckeheddle dot com.
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Speaker 1: And when we have Ross on the show, We're sponsored
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Speaker 1: by Jeff Rubies of Columbus, proudly offering nationally acclaimed USDA
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Speaker 1: Prams stakes, seafood and sushi, and peckable service, live entertainment,
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Speaker 1: and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just
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Speaker 1: go to Jeffreuby dot com slash Columbus to check out
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Speaker 1: the menu and make a reservation today. All right, Ross,
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Speaker 1: So this was a game where the Ohio State offense
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Speaker 1: did enough to win, and they did win, and they're
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Speaker 1: playing in the National Championship Game. But I think everyone's
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Speaker 1: question is, Okay, one catch for three yards for Jeremiah Smith,
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Speaker 1: what the heck? What did Texas do to really effect
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Speaker 1: effectively take Jeremiah Smith away from the Buckeyes. And I'm
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Speaker 1: sure the follow up questions, which we'll probably get into later,
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Speaker 1: is ken no name do the same thing. Let's let's
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Speaker 1: start with what Texas did.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Texas did a lot. They we talked
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Speaker 2: about coming into the game. They've been principally like a
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Speaker 2: Cover three team, mixing some Cover four. They ran a
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Speaker 2: lot of variety and through a lot of stuff at
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Speaker 2: Ohio State, a lot of split safety stuff, a lot
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Speaker 2: of cover too, a lot of Tampa mixing in, you know,
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Speaker 2: rolling coverage, clouding covers to Smith. The focus for sure
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Speaker 2: from UH Texas we'll talk about upfront also, but like
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Speaker 2: in the back end was like capping everything, don't give
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Speaker 2: it explicit plays, forcing the football underneath it, with a
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Speaker 2: particular emphasis on making sure you got thrown multiple bodies
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Speaker 2: at Smith. And you could see that and like you know,
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Speaker 2: as you said, Ohio State did move the football enough.
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Speaker 2: I mean, I think you know, Ryan Day talked about it.
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Speaker 2: I think a big chunk of some of the inefficiency
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Speaker 2: can be chalked up to some untimely penalties that put
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Speaker 2: them behind the chains. But I also think there's like,
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Speaker 2: you know, some missed opportunities, like yes, they were able
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Speaker 2: to remove the ball. They you know, first of Mecha Buca,
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Speaker 2: then Colonel Tate somewhat the tight ends running backs as
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Speaker 2: well were beneficiaries of like Will Howard getting the ball
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Speaker 2: out underneath, like the deep drops, you know, particularly to
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Speaker 2: like the short side of the field taking what was there.
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Speaker 2: But I do think that there's like some mischances, and
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Speaker 2: I do think there needs to be more of an
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Speaker 2: emphasis on like you can't let teams take away Jeremiah
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Speaker 2: Smith and take away your explosiveness to that extent. And
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Speaker 2: so anyways, so yeah, this is the first play of
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Speaker 2: the game, and you saw it right away.
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Speaker 3: A lot of Texas's strategy in the secondary.
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Speaker 2: Our high State here runs a one back power, So
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Speaker 2: that just means you're blocking down on the front side,
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Speaker 2: pulling the backside guard around. Who's Luca Montgomery who played
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Speaker 2: every snap at left guard. He's gonna lead on the
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Speaker 2: place side linebacker. And then it's a it's connected to
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Speaker 2: an RPO, right, so you can see your you're running
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Speaker 2: to the Jeremiah Smith a Mecca Bukas I they're running
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Speaker 2: like a slant with a flat route and then a
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Speaker 2: backside slant as well. Right away though, you see like
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Speaker 2: Texas is running a cone essentially, which is just a
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Speaker 2: term for like the corners playing Smith with outside leverage
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Speaker 2: and then the safety's turning his shoulders and picking up
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Speaker 2: on inside leverage on Smith, so you're getting two bodies
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Speaker 2: on him right away, and then up front they're doing
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Speaker 2: this sort of. They threw a lot of different looks
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Speaker 2: up front also, but this was like something you saw
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Speaker 2: frequently a can see, especially from like the tight view.
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Speaker 2: They're playing with two three techniques, so on no one
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Speaker 2: in the A gaps and both guys outside of the guards,
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Speaker 2: you know, particularly for like pass rushing, they were trying
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Speaker 2: to get like one on one matchups on the guards.
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Speaker 1: Uh.
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Speaker 2: This one back power for I State was a pretty
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Speaker 2: successful play, one of the few in the run game
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Speaker 2: and also set up like the Colonel Tate drop in
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Speaker 2: the end zone was an RPO off of one back
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Speaker 2: power that was there too, so has some success. This
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Speaker 2: is a good run by Quinn Shawn Junkins right. This
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Speaker 2: is not blocked up perfectly. Luke Montgomery gets to the
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Speaker 2: front side backer, but like the double team of Tiger
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Speaker 2: Shabola and Josh Friar does not get onto the middle linebacker,
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Speaker 2: but Quinchahn Junkins bounces outside beats the safety. I thought
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Speaker 2: he ran very well for the most part, other than
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Speaker 2: that third down run, which is like, do not bounce
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Speaker 2: that play. That's like the third time that's happened Ohio
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Speaker 2: State this year. Like, do not bounce that play. Do
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Speaker 2: not bounce the third one, regardless of the call. Like
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Speaker 2: he sticks his nose in there, that's a first down,
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Speaker 2: that's a drive killer. But when he got got himself
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Speaker 2: going north and south here or you know, especially on
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Speaker 2: the goal line, like he had a couple of great
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Speaker 2: cuts that led to some big touchdown runs and in
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Speaker 2: those like sort of tight situations.
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Speaker 3: So good run.
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Speaker 2: But again right away you see like see what Texas
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Speaker 2: had planned and ship with some more of it here.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this the next one is going to be
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Speaker 1: another cone coverage from Texas. This is one that where
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Speaker 1: Will Howard did make throw and he had to throw
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Speaker 1: it into a fairly tight window and did make the throw.
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Speaker 1: It ended up being a nice game, but it was
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Speaker 1: you know, there was a lot of stuff that did
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Speaker 1: not seem like it came easy for Ohouse date in
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Speaker 1: the pass game.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, Like this is a really nice job on
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Speaker 2: Will Howard. You know, he's very good at getting the
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Speaker 2: ball out quickly. So it's like it's again like a
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Speaker 2: split safety you're getting, as you said, like this cone
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Speaker 2: kind of coverage.
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Speaker 3: The corner ends up zoning.
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Speaker 2: Him off for the safety to drive down on this
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Speaker 2: slant route. But you've got like a snag concept to
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Speaker 2: the boundary to the top of the screen, so you
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Speaker 2: know you're getting that sort of like pitch corner flat
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Speaker 2: combination we've talked about before, and then the double slants
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Speaker 2: to the bottom so it can split safeties. You can
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Speaker 2: see like Will Howard starts out working to the snag
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Speaker 2: side of the field, but he quickly comes back to
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Speaker 2: a Mecca Buca who's got this man coverage.
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Speaker 3: And so.
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Speaker 2: There are some echo again of like what Michigan did
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Speaker 2: against Ohio State, particularly with the doubles.
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Speaker 3: I think Ohio State did a better job.
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Speaker 2: In this game of getting the ball to a Mecca
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Speaker 2: Buca in the middle and Carnel Tate and taking some
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Speaker 2: of what was there not perfectly. I think there's some
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Speaker 2: some like opportunities to attack the scene that they missed.
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Speaker 2: But as you said, it was a little difficult, I think,
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Speaker 2: and we could talk about this more going forward, But
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Speaker 2: like I think that there was some reversion to losing
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Speaker 2: some of the motioning of Smith, losing some of placing him,
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Speaker 2: Like I think they should motion him more. I think
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Speaker 2: they should line him up, like particularly in trips as
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Speaker 2: the inside or like number three receiver, or like make
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Speaker 2: him the single receiver to the boundary to like run
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Speaker 2: a quick rpo hitch.
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Speaker 3: Like again, you've.
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Speaker 2: Got to you got to keep him involved, right, Like
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Speaker 2: you can't let the team teams take him away. And
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Speaker 2: I'll show some examples here. As the game went on,
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Speaker 2: I do think they moved him around some and I
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Speaker 2: think Will Howard missed him a few times. Like they're
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Speaker 2: Texas a threat and a lot at them, right, so
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Speaker 2: there's a lot of diagnosing going on. That's also where
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Speaker 2: motion could have probably helped, trying to diagnose what Texas
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Speaker 2: was doing. So a lot of it was like we're
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Speaker 2: getting this ball out quickly here obviously, like Texas has
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Speaker 2: a good pass rush too, getting it out to the
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Speaker 2: you know, short side of the field, quick hitches or
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Speaker 2: whatever to Carnel Tate or the tight end running back
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Speaker 2: like take the yards and go. But so, yes, Texas
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Speaker 2: was doing a lot. This was a very good play
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Speaker 2: and response to it. But I do think that there was,
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Speaker 2: as I said, some meat left on the bone there
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Speaker 2: in terms of how you can overcome this if a
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Speaker 2: team's trying to take away your dynamic wide receiver.
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Speaker 1: Next up, we're going back to the ground and this
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Speaker 1: is a play that we've talked about. I think they've
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Speaker 1: ran this a bunch against Oregon this year, especially including
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Speaker 1: in the Rose Bull windback, and when we've talked about
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Speaker 1: it in the past, it feels like it has generally
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Speaker 1: worked for them, and this is one example where it
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Speaker 1: really didn't work against Texas.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I included this you know less about the concept
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Speaker 2: per se more just I do think there were too
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Speaker 2: many dead first down run plays still in this game
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Speaker 2: that put them behind the chains. Like obviously their penalty,
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Speaker 2: the penalties were a bigger deal. You know, too many
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Speaker 2: second and twenties or second and twenty fives, But there
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Speaker 2: were just some dead plays, like particularly in the middle
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Speaker 2: part of the game. This is this is an example,
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Speaker 2: like you can see it from the tight view where
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Speaker 2: like you know, this play is essentially duo, so you're
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Speaker 2: trying to get double teams, but you're left with Carson
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Speaker 2: Hinsman on a single block on this backside a gap
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Speaker 2: nose guard and like there's just no movement. You know,
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Speaker 2: he gets penetration and he makes the tackle. I don't
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Speaker 2: think this is the greatest cut either, but like this
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Speaker 2: is an example where like it wasn't all just because
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Speaker 2: they were like triple teaming Jeremiah Smith. Like I'm going
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Speaker 2: to show the opposite example. So it wasn't like just
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Speaker 2: like Will Howard should have pulled the RPO more, but
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Speaker 2: like this is one where like even though it's under center,
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Speaker 2: like they're giving him a ten yeard cushion, Like this
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Speaker 2: should be one step in throw to Jeremi Smith. Here,
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Speaker 2: take your five or six yards that happened a few times.
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Speaker 2: It's like take your five yards off the run play
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Speaker 2: and be like happy with it again. Like I think
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Speaker 2: they were to their credit, like they used a lot
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Speaker 2: of volume of concepts. As I said, they ran it
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Speaker 2: pretty effectively. It wasn't like we weren't seeing like the
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Speaker 2: bus like that they got against Oregon at least like
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Speaker 2: major bus and you know, so they they sort of
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Speaker 2: they threw, as I said, a lot at Will Howard,
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Speaker 2: so he had a.
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Speaker 3: Lot to to process.
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Speaker 2: But I just think, again, like take the opportunities when
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Speaker 2: they're there, particularly like just get him the ball, keep
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Speaker 2: Jeremi Smith involved in the game, and just you can't
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Speaker 2: have these like dead run plays on first down, Like
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Speaker 2: it's just putting you too much in I know you
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Speaker 2: have a lead, but it's like too many second and
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Speaker 2: ten they're just tough to overcome, Like you just I'm
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Speaker 2: not sure what they thought they were getting here out
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Speaker 2: of this run play, but it wasn't. It was there,
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Speaker 2: and there were just too many of those.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, running when you're up thirty four nothing is very
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Speaker 1: different than running when you're up fourteen to seven or
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Speaker 1: twenty one to fourteen or something like that. That's a
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Speaker 1: very different thing. This next one is one that they
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Speaker 1: talked about on the broadcast as a real missed opportunity
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Speaker 1: for the Buckeyes. If you're just listening and not watching,
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Speaker 1: this is the one where they it looked like if
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Speaker 1: Will Howard had handed the ball to Quinnchohn Judkins, he
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Speaker 1: might have gone for ten or twenty or all the
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Speaker 1: way to the end zone, and instead he kept it
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Speaker 1: and they ended up taking a loss on the play.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I included this in part because like as a
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Speaker 2: counter to my last the last clip. I don't want
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Speaker 2: to say it was just so simple as like Will
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Speaker 2: Howard wasn't pulling RPOs enough and throwing them, because this
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Speaker 2: is one where he pulls it and probably should not have.
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Speaker 2: This is a trap play, and as you said, like
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Speaker 2: you could see it on the broadcast, you can see
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Speaker 2: from the tight sound view and here this is actually
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Speaker 2: when they also ran successfully against Michigan ironically, but this
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Speaker 2: is blocked up very well.
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Speaker 3: I don't quite understand.
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Speaker 2: I guess I can see why numbers wise, he wants
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Speaker 2: to throw this this slide rut right like it's an
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Speaker 2: unbalanced four over three, and so theory of the numbers
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Speaker 2: to block, but the defensive ends just sitting there. I'm
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Speaker 2: still not entirely sure why. I know it's going to
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Speaker 2: his left, so he has to get his shoulders turned around,
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Speaker 2: but why Howard's kind of running out with it, Like
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Speaker 2: if it was a slide like Smith's looking for the ball,
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Speaker 2: he should have just turned it sort of tried to
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Speaker 2: loft it over the defensive Hen's head again, So like,
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Speaker 2: I think Will Howard had a lot of good moments
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Speaker 2: in this game. He made a lot of big third
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Speaker 2: down plays. He diagnosed quickly, he threw accurately, got the
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Speaker 2: ball out. But I do think that some of these
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Speaker 2: reads were off, and I'm sure in part that's just
11:44
Speaker 2: because this said Texas is throwing a lot at him.
11:47
Speaker 2: Later in the third quarter, they ran this exact same
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Speaker 2: play again, going the opposite way, and he handed off
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Speaker 2: on the trap and it wasn't blocked all that well,
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Speaker 2: and Trey Von Henderson made the wrong cut again similar
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Speaker 2: to like he did against Michigan, and but jeremih Smith
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Speaker 2: was there. So it's like that one should have been
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Speaker 2: this one should have been given, that one should.
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Speaker 3: Have been pulled.
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Speaker 2: You know, obviously you're processing all of these in the moment,
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Speaker 2: but so you know, again, just a lot, just these
12:13
Speaker 2: are the sort of things that kept like why you
12:16
Speaker 2: had a less efficient offensive performance than you have the
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Speaker 2: last few weeks, Like you're just a few more you know,
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Speaker 2: more misopportunities, a tougher game plan you're going against on defense,
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Speaker 2: and you know obviously then and getting not to beat
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Speaker 2: a dead horse, but like you add the penalties into
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Speaker 2: that and you're setting yourself backwards.
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Speaker 1: Well, one thing that set them forwards quite a bit
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Speaker 1: was that screenplay that's seventy five yard touchdown to Crivion
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Speaker 1: Henderson right before the half. This is one where it
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Speaker 1: just felt like they knew exactly what Texas had coming,
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Speaker 1: and they had the absolute perfect play call and the
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Speaker 1: line blocked it reasonably well and Trevian Henderson looked like
12:53
Speaker 1: he was shot out of a cannon. It just this
12:55
Speaker 1: felt like everything came together absolutely perfectly at an enormous
12:59
Speaker 1: moment in the for the Buckeyes.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, there was like a lot of clip criticism of
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Speaker 2: Texas's call here, but this is just pretty much part
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Speaker 2: and personal of what they were doing all game.
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Speaker 3: Like this is just a.
13:11
Speaker 2: Simulated pressure Tampa two like again like bringing someone from
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Speaker 2: the field, dropping a guy to the boundary, Like they
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Speaker 2: did this a lot, and that was why, like you
13:19
Speaker 2: kept seeing Will Howard like throw a quick you know,
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Speaker 2: quick hitch or whatever to cardinal tape because it's just
13:25
Speaker 2: like getting the ball out where the dropper was going to.
13:29
Speaker 2: But like I guess, if anything, you're going to criticize
13:31
Speaker 2: because of the situation, like Texas gets so much depth
13:35
Speaker 2: it basically almost turns into a kick return right where
13:37
Speaker 2: you've got like three blockers out in front of like
13:39
Speaker 2: a huge running start and then as you said, like
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Speaker 2: Carson hintsman ends up being able to catch two people
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Speaker 2: with the block and it's like and it's off to
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Speaker 2: the races. So great call in that situation, Like you know,
13:52
Speaker 2: when you call those kind of plays, you're just trying
13:53
Speaker 2: to get a first down so you can you can
13:55
Speaker 2: have enough to get a field goal and turns into
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Speaker 2: a big play. But uh, this is a situation where
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Speaker 2: I would say was able to use some of what
14:03
Speaker 2: Texas was doing with all the variety of Tampa looks
14:07
Speaker 2: against them.
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Speaker 1: And they were pretty successful at times. In the second half.
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Speaker 1: They had some drive the real long extended drives that
14:16
Speaker 1: were a huge part of getting the lead back after
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Speaker 1: Texas had tied the score again at fourteen. This was
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Speaker 1: a third and eight play. This next one that was
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Speaker 1: a big pickup down to Carnell Tait. It just felt
14:27
Speaker 1: like they had some really really big plays while Texas
14:30
Speaker 1: was certainly trying to take away Jeremiah Smith. As you said,
14:34
Speaker 1: there were there were times when stuff was open to
14:36
Speaker 1: Carnel Tait that you know, he has not had that
14:39
Speaker 1: big of a role in some of the previous games.
14:41
Speaker 1: He had a very big role in the passing game
14:43
Speaker 1: this time.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, this is actually, to me maybe like the unheralded
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Speaker 2: play of the game.
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Speaker 3: It's third and eight.
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Speaker 2: This without this play, obviously, that drive isn't going anywhere.
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Speaker 2: And this is one where as I said, like most
14:57
Speaker 2: of what Texas was doing was like four and five
15:00
Speaker 2: man simulated pressures to the extent they were bringing, you know,
15:03
Speaker 2: bring someone from the field and drop someone to the boundary.
15:06
Speaker 2: This is one where they actually bring pressure. It was
15:08
Speaker 2: like this one, and there was like a hot concept
15:10
Speaker 2: they ran where Howard missed, actually missed Jeremi Smith open
15:15
Speaker 2: or maybe it was a bank of Buka took a sack.
15:17
Speaker 2: But like this one, they're bringing a six man pressure
15:19
Speaker 2: and it's Cover one. This might be their only man
15:22
Speaker 2: coverage snap of the entire game, at least the only
15:24
Speaker 2: one I can recall.
15:26
Speaker 3: And Ohio State's running.
15:27
Speaker 2: A flood concept, which isn't great against Cover one. That's
15:31
Speaker 2: more of like a Cover three beater. But we've talked
15:33
Speaker 2: about like this is a Howard throws this play really well.
15:37
Speaker 2: This like deep sale route this was there quite a
15:41
Speaker 2: bit for them during this game. They ran off a
15:43
Speaker 2: bootleg a few times, and here, like he does a
15:46
Speaker 2: great job, you know, getting himself depth. You're basically like
15:50
Speaker 2: blocking this by you're manning up to the right side.
15:53
Speaker 2: So Josh Fryer Tiger Shabola are both both half sliding
15:57
Speaker 2: to the right. They both have those two defensive ends.
16:00
Speaker 2: Everyone on the left side of the line is taking
16:02
Speaker 2: a half a step and picking up to their outside gap,
16:04
Speaker 2: and then Travon Henderson has to pick up the interior
16:07
Speaker 2: a pressure. And again, like as you can see here,
16:12
Speaker 2: I said, it's cover one, but really like the it's
16:15
Speaker 2: really more like I cover one cheat. Like that deep
16:17
Speaker 2: safety is Jeremiah Smith is the single receiver to the top,
16:21
Speaker 2: and you can see he sort of starts drifting to
16:23
Speaker 2: him to take away his dig route and that basically
16:26
Speaker 2: like leaves single coverage to the field. And so you
16:29
Speaker 2: know a mecha Buka runs the corner Cornel Tate runs
16:32
Speaker 2: that deep sale route and Will Howard's able to hit
16:34
Speaker 2: him for a first out.
16:35
Speaker 3: So well executed.
16:37
Speaker 2: They said, like Will Howard threws this ball really accurately
16:40
Speaker 2: on these out these flood concepts and again, so this
16:44
Speaker 2: is a situation where.
16:47
Speaker 3: They did, particularly on.
16:49
Speaker 2: This last drive or last touchdown drive, started moving Smith around,
16:54
Speaker 2: and I do think they started taking advantage of knowing
16:57
Speaker 2: that Texas was going to shade coverage to him. You know,
17:02
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised if Texas caught them off guard
17:05
Speaker 2: somewhat with all the split safety looks they were giving them, Like,
17:08
Speaker 2: as I said, that's not what Texas has really shown
17:10
Speaker 2: on film, particularly like all the cover two looks. But
17:14
Speaker 2: then as the game progressed, you know, they started being
17:16
Speaker 2: able to use it to their benefit, even if it
17:19
Speaker 2: was more of a decoy role.
17:22
Speaker 1: All Right, So you called that one of the most
17:24
Speaker 1: unherlded plays of the game. This next one was one
17:26
Speaker 1: that I thought watching the game and right after the game, like, oh,
17:29
Speaker 1: this is gonna be one that really is unheralded, and
17:31
Speaker 1: a lot of people have talked about it. But it
17:33
Speaker 1: was an enormous play that helped set up an enormous
17:36
Speaker 1: play on what turned out to be the third touchdown
17:39
Speaker 1: drive for Ohio State. This is the the like third
17:42
Speaker 1: and eight kind of play the g Scott where it
17:46
Speaker 1: looks like he's going to get stopped for little to
17:48
Speaker 1: no gain and they're going to maybe have to be
17:50
Speaker 1: punt the ball instead. Just a great effort to get
17:53
Speaker 1: it down to a fourth and two. And we'll get
17:55
Speaker 1: to that fourth and two play in a minute. But
17:57
Speaker 1: this was this was that drag route to g Scott
17:59
Speaker 1: where he really put together a just an incredible effort
18:03
Speaker 1: to get them in a position where they could go
18:05
Speaker 1: for it on fourth down.
18:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so yeah, those yards were critical. And again
18:11
Speaker 2: here's an example of them. I think on this drive
18:14
Speaker 2: they did a better job of moving Smith around. So
18:17
Speaker 2: like here they have him as the number two receiver
18:19
Speaker 2: on the and this is like this unconventional trip set
18:23
Speaker 2: we've we talked about, particularly against Tennessee, where they put
18:26
Speaker 2: g Scott as the single receiver and opposite the three
18:30
Speaker 2: wide receivers together as trips, but they basically like run
18:34
Speaker 2: off the coverage here on the drag Now, like it's
18:37
Speaker 2: basically like three post routes or three you know, a
18:40
Speaker 2: post and two digs and then the drag rat coming
18:43
Speaker 2: under yourneath. Now I will say, like there's a couple
18:46
Speaker 2: of these. As this game went on, I think Howard
18:49
Speaker 2: got pretty comfortable throwing these like underneath quick routes. This one,
18:54
Speaker 2: I'm like, maybe could have hit Jeremi Smith here like
18:58
Speaker 2: the apex or like the defender over Jeremi Smith falls
19:03
Speaker 2: off to play this drag round and you got Jeremi
19:06
Speaker 2: Smith to the to the middle post.
19:10
Speaker 3: And you know, but who knows.
19:12
Speaker 2: But anyways, like I'm sure the play was designed thinking
19:15
Speaker 2: that again, like Texas was pushing every coverage so deep,
19:19
Speaker 2: like when they are linebackers where like carry routes in
19:21
Speaker 2: cover three or any kind of zone, like they'd carry
19:24
Speaker 2: pretty far vertically and that opened up some of those
19:27
Speaker 2: like you know, tight end or running back drop offs
19:30
Speaker 2: or like that passed Abuca. You know, they just would
19:33
Speaker 2: push such vertical and take away some of the underneath coverage.
19:35
Speaker 2: And so I think this is designed to take advantage
19:38
Speaker 2: of that. Right, So you're basically like pushing everything deep,
19:40
Speaker 2: getting g Scott on a drag underneath. Texas plays it
19:44
Speaker 2: pretty well all things considered. So it obviously took the
19:47
Speaker 2: effort from g Scott that you mentioned is to get
19:49
Speaker 2: it into a fourth down situation. But so these are
19:53
Speaker 2: you know, as I said, started sort of playing with
19:56
Speaker 2: Smith's positioning and what they were doing with him just
20:00
Speaker 2: to open up some things for other guys because they
20:03
Speaker 2: knew that that was such a focus for Texas.
20:06
Speaker 1: And then the last play is the very next play
20:08
Speaker 1: of the game on offense for the Buckeyes. After g
20:12
Speaker 1: Scott has gotten it to fourth and two, Ohio State
20:15
Speaker 1: is in a do or die kind of play and
20:18
Speaker 1: Will Howard picks it up, and this is one I
20:20
Speaker 1: don't know if you circled where the turf monster got
20:22
Speaker 1: him exactly. This was a wonderfully designed play, great call,
20:27
Speaker 1: and boy, it's a good thing they scored a touchdown
20:30
Speaker 1: because otherwise this would have gone down in history as
20:32
Speaker 1: one of the great like, oh no, what are you
20:34
Speaker 1: doing kind of place in Ohio State history.
20:38
Speaker 3: Yeah.
20:38
Speaker 2: I have to admit when I saw this, when I
20:40
Speaker 2: saw him trip live, I just started dying laughing because
20:44
Speaker 2: maybe like in a macav sense, because he's just he's
20:47
Speaker 2: tripped so many times this year. It's like, I don't
20:49
Speaker 2: know if it's his shoes or what's going on. But anyways,
20:52
Speaker 2: this is a great call. I thought that quarterback run
20:55
Speaker 2: at this point was a good idea prior to the play,
20:59
Speaker 2: and it paid off. So the first thing you'll notice
21:01
Speaker 2: they're getting like this unbalanced look right this four bite
21:04
Speaker 2: zero and in fact, like Trey Henderson's to that side,
21:06
Speaker 2: so all five are all receiving threats or you know,
21:11
Speaker 2: non linement are to the one side of the field.
21:15
Speaker 2: This is the exact formation they've used to run sprint
21:18
Speaker 2: out in these fourth down situations like they did against Nebraska.
21:22
Speaker 2: Right where you were Will Howard to roll, Trayvon Henderson
21:25
Speaker 2: will take out the end in a meco google run
21:27
Speaker 2: a little flat wrap from the inside right, and so
21:29
Speaker 2: that's exactly what they show here. So it's a power play.
21:33
Speaker 2: So but Trayvon Henderson's basically just coming to take out
21:36
Speaker 2: the end on the line of scrimmage, and so Texas
21:39
Speaker 2: is thinking that sprint out play. But they pull and
21:42
Speaker 2: they're so down numbers, you know, the way they're aligned
21:45
Speaker 2: is either clearly either thinking it's either going to be
21:47
Speaker 2: the sprint out or Henderson's going to run back towards
21:50
Speaker 2: the boundary because they got three guys to the left
21:54
Speaker 2: of the center and there's just there's not even anyone
21:56
Speaker 2: for Luke Montgomery to block. Really pulling like if you
21:59
Speaker 2: would have picked up that safe out for sure led
22:01
Speaker 2: to a touchdown, but just great call, you know, strategic
22:06
Speaker 2: use of his legs in this situation. They actually called
22:09
Speaker 2: it again at the goal line right before Quijn Jumpkins's
22:13
Speaker 2: touchdown on this drive too, and it just got just
22:15
Speaker 2: stopped short. And so you know, it's that's just still
22:19
Speaker 2: a good element that I don't think has been used
22:22
Speaker 2: as much as anyone as expected this year, but critical
22:27
Speaker 2: call in a timely situation, and good use as I said,
22:29
Speaker 2: of formation ing and like giving the sense of like
22:33
Speaker 2: I'm sure Texas has seen in Ohio State in these
22:35
Speaker 2: high leverage situations run that sprint out pass to a
22:38
Speaker 2: Mecca Buca and had that on their mind, all right.
22:41
Speaker 1: And before I let you go, did want to ask
22:43
Speaker 1: I think everyone is probably the question everyone is probably
22:46
Speaker 1: asking right now. Okay, we talked a little bit earlier
22:48
Speaker 1: about what Texas did to take Jeremiah Smith away. Is
22:52
Speaker 1: that something that Notre Dame already does, that Notre Dame
22:55
Speaker 1: already kind of has in its toolbox, or is that
22:58
Speaker 1: something that they can you add to their toolbox some
23:01
Speaker 1: of those techniques, some of those coverages that you talked
23:03
Speaker 1: about earlier, or is this something where they only have
23:07
Speaker 1: nine to ten days between games and that's not something
23:10
Speaker 1: they normally do, and it's gonna be hard for them
23:12
Speaker 1: to do and they're going to have to try and
23:13
Speaker 1: attack Ohio State in a different way.
23:16
Speaker 2: A million dollar question because so, like Cody Alexander's had
23:21
Speaker 2: a breakdown basically all the coverage percentages for each playoff team,
23:26
Speaker 2: and Notre Dame is such a middle of the field,
23:29
Speaker 2: closed heavy team. It's it's like something like they fifty
23:33
Speaker 2: percent of their snaps almost they play Cover one, like
23:35
Speaker 2: another thirty twenty five, thirty percent they play Cover three,
23:39
Speaker 2: and then like everything else is like five or six percent.
23:41
Speaker 3: So they're very much not a split safety team.
23:46
Speaker 2: However, I just I guess if I had guess, like
23:49
Speaker 2: I think Ohio Sate, it's got to be prepared for
23:51
Speaker 2: them suddenly pulling out a bunch of Tampa and Cover
23:54
Speaker 2: two against them, Like it's the you know, that's what
23:57
Speaker 2: teams have done to at least limit explosive plays against
24:01
Speaker 2: Ohio State to some extent. If they can do it
24:04
Speaker 2: six correctly, I mean, that's that's the trade off, right,
24:07
Speaker 2: Like Tennessee was a Cover three team and they tried
24:10
Speaker 2: to play a bunch of Cover two early against High
24:12
Speaker 2: State and they got burned. So it depends on what
24:15
Speaker 2: you can execute too. But I also just so you know,
24:19
Speaker 2: you got to be prepared for it. I'm sure they'll
24:21
Speaker 2: also try to do things within their scheme, you know.
24:26
Speaker 2: I mean there are times where Texas just ran cover three,
24:28
Speaker 2: Like Ryan Date talked about that interception, right, that was
24:31
Speaker 2: just cover three linebacker dropped into the zone off the
24:34
Speaker 2: hash mark and got the pick. So it's not like
24:37
Speaker 2: they're every play was cover two. I wouldn't be surprised if,
24:41
Speaker 2: like they run some man coverage but rolled that deep
24:44
Speaker 2: safety to Smith like we showed. But I just again,
24:47
Speaker 2: I think it's like incumbent on Ohio State to do
24:50
Speaker 2: a better job this game with moving like I think
24:54
Speaker 2: they need to motion Jeremi Smith Moore, you know, get
24:57
Speaker 2: back to like like we talked about against Tennessee, like
24:59
Speaker 2: some crosses, some over routes, like don't fall into the
25:04
Speaker 2: trap of like making him the single receiver to one
25:06
Speaker 2: side of the field of trips or the outside receiver
25:09
Speaker 2: like put him to the boundary. Some try to force
25:11
Speaker 2: some of those RPO hitches to him, like get him
25:14
Speaker 2: involved early. And then you know, I just think obviously
25:19
Speaker 2: and if if Notre Dame is I'm sure they will
25:22
Speaker 2: play more Cover one than Texas did, right, Like Oregon
25:25
Speaker 2: played still quite a bit of Cover one against our stake,
25:28
Speaker 2: because like you, you don't totally change your stripes. You
25:30
Speaker 2: try to do things probably within at least somewhat semblance
25:33
Speaker 2: of what you do. And then you know you's got
25:36
Speaker 2: to be ready to take advantage of opportunities. And obviously
25:40
Speaker 2: you know that that's a mecha book and cardinal take two.
25:42
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not totally just like force the football.
25:45
Speaker 2: I do think there are times, even against Texas where
25:49
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, this is like single coverage,
25:53
Speaker 2: like yes, there's a safety deep over the top, but
25:55
Speaker 2: like throw it to Smith's back shoulder and let's see
25:57
Speaker 2: what happens. So that's always a bounty too, right, Like
26:00
Speaker 2: we talked about that with Oregon and Tennessee, like the
26:03
Speaker 2: opposite of like sometimes well Howard fits them in there
26:05
Speaker 2: to Smith where that probably wasn't like necessarily the right
26:08
Speaker 2: read and Carnel Tate was open, but like you know,
26:11
Speaker 2: you're feeling it and it's Jeremi Smith. So everything has
26:14
Speaker 2: trade offs, you know. I just think I think you
26:16
Speaker 2: want to obviously got to limit the penalties and then
26:20
Speaker 2: just avoid those dead run plays up front like Notre
26:22
Speaker 2: Dame will slant, you know, move their front around a lot,
26:26
Speaker 2: They'll bring pressures, you know, so you're gonna have to
26:28
Speaker 2: deal with a lot of movement upfront. And so I
26:31
Speaker 2: just whether that's gap scheme blocking things up correctly. They
26:35
Speaker 2: need a good run game plan that isn't leading to
26:37
Speaker 2: a bunch of you know, second and tents.
26:40
Speaker 1: All right, well, we will have plenty more to talk
26:42
Speaker 1: about when we talk about the Ohio State defense with
26:44
Speaker 1: Ross a little later on in the week. They had
26:46
Speaker 1: a memorable play or two in that game. We'll break
26:48
Speaker 1: that down for you coming up a little later on
26:51
Speaker 1: in the week. And then of course down in Atlanta
26:54
Speaker 1: starting on Friday to cover the National Championship game.
26:57
Speaker 3: Could be an.
26:58
Speaker 1: Eventful Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then of course yes Monday
27:01
Speaker 1: as well down in Atlanta for the Buckeyes and the
27:04
Speaker 1: Fighting Irish. It'll be a ton of coverage this week
27:07
Speaker 1: at Buckeheudle dot com and YouTube dot com, slash Bucket Huddle.
27:10
Speaker 1: Make sure you were subscribed at both of those places
27:13
Speaker 1: so you don't miss out. Should be an incredible game,
27:15
Speaker 1: incredible atmosphere. We will be there to capture it all
27:18
Speaker 1: for you at bucke huddle dot com and YouTube dot
27:20
Speaker 1: com slash bucke Huddle. Thanks once again to Jeff Ruby
27:23
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27:26
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27:28
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27:34
Speaker 1: That will do it for today. Thank you guys all
27:36
Speaker 1: for joining us. Have a great day. We'll talk to
27:38
Speaker 1: you tomorrow.