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Ross Fulton Analysis: How Matt Patricia Is Mixing Fronts & Coverages For Ohio State · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Friday at number twenty fourth.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Tom or the Penn State game in
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  Speaker 1: eight days, the game against Michigan in thirty six days.
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  Speaker 1: On today's show, we're talking to our buddy Ross Fulton,
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  Speaker 1: Ex's and No's guru at bucke Huddle dot com. And
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  Speaker 1: when we have Ross in the show, we're sponsored by
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  Speaker 1: Jeff Rubies of Columbus, probably offering nationally acclaimed USDA Prime Stakes,
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  Speaker 1: seafood and sushi, and peckable service, live entertainment and in
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  Speaker 1: detail that is simply unmatched. Just go to Jeffruby dot
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  Speaker 1: com slash Columbus to check out the menu and make
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  Speaker 1: a reservation. Today all right, Today we are talking about
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  Speaker 1: the Ohio State defense and their performance against the Wisconsin
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  Speaker 1: Badgers offense. Dominant, good, excellent, you can chake your pick
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  Speaker 1: of words. We don't need you know, you probably don't
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  Speaker 1: need Ross to tell you that the Ohio State defense
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  Speaker 1: did pretty well against the Wisconsin offense. What we do
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  Speaker 1: need Ross here to do is to tell us how
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  Speaker 1: they did it and why they did it. So Ross,
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  Speaker 1: I know we've talked a ton about the fronts for
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  Speaker 1: Ohio State this, you know this season. In previous years,
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  Speaker 1: you know, over over the spin of a lot of years,
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  Speaker 1: it was just kind of we're down one gap, and
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  Speaker 1: this year it has been anything but just one thing.
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  Speaker 1: And they continue to mix things up again against Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, as we've discussed, I think that's probably the most
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  Speaker 2: noticeable area where Matt Patricia has changed from Jim Knowles
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  Speaker 2: and even defensive coordinators before them him at Ohio State,
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  Speaker 2: where they were primarily a four down overfront team. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we could discuss this more during the bye week, but
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  Speaker 2: according to Tyler Mains at Bolmanak, who have referenced his
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  Speaker 2: statistics before, you know, they're still playing those four down
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  Speaker 2: fronts about a quarter of the time, but another quarter
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  Speaker 2: of their time they're playing penny or other odd fronts
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  Speaker 2: of which this is one. So you know Penny we
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  Speaker 2: talked about our Matt Patricia refers to his diamond.
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  Speaker 3: Is that five to one? Look, I guess what's consin
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  Speaker 3: and here?
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  Speaker 2: Like you know, obviously Wisconsin was using some heavier sets,
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  Speaker 2: you know, multi tight ends trying to run the ball.
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  Speaker 2: That's actually twenty one personnel, so they got a tight
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  Speaker 2: end in a fullback. Ohio State's actually in a bear front,
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  Speaker 2: so it's all quite a bit of you know, three
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  Speaker 2: linebacker looks in response to multi tight end sets from Wisconsin.
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  Speaker 2: So here you get, you know, similarly like the head
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  Speaker 2: up nose guard. You have two four eye defensive lineman
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  Speaker 2: and but now you have the two linebackers stacked right,
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  Speaker 2: and so then the two outside edge guys in which
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  Speaker 2: r val Reese is won. So you got and then
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  Speaker 2: at the snap, Wisconsin is going to run a They
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  Speaker 2: run basically outside split zone, right, so he's going to
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  Speaker 2: kind of the backside full back is going to kind
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  Speaker 2: of try to clean up the trash. Ohio State basically
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  Speaker 2: uses a run blitz here, right, so you have you know,
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  Speaker 2: even though like they're head up, they're still generally playing
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  Speaker 2: like one gap or gap and a half technique. They're
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  Speaker 2: not really like a true two gap nose guard. And
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  Speaker 2: so Will Smith is in for Kate McDonald here, he's
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  Speaker 2: going to play the backside a gap. Sonny Styles is
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  Speaker 2: blitzing at the stap, he takes the front, and then
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  Speaker 2: Peyton Pierce has the backside a but also can sort
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  Speaker 2: of float, and you're basically like the same concept as
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  Speaker 2: the penny in the odd front right or the sixth
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  Speaker 2: one we've talked about, like against these zone schemes, you're
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  Speaker 2: just taking away any double team from an offensive line.
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  Speaker 2: Uh and you're just you know, gap a hat on
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  Speaker 2: a hat with the offensive line obviously Edwrick Houston here
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  Speaker 2: drives the Wisconsin right guard three yards in the backfield.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, putting a side scheme.
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  Speaker 2: I think that Wisconsin's offensive line was overmatched all day
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  Speaker 2: against Ohio State, which obviously makes it easier to play
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  Speaker 2: and why you get the massive discrepancy that you do.
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  Speaker 3: But still you see the concept. You know, you have
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  Speaker 3: the Jane McClain.
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  Speaker 2: There a lot of single high coverage again we talked
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  Speaker 2: about and we'll get in this in the past game
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  Speaker 2: as well of Ohio State principally been a single high
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  Speaker 2: team cover three, cover one, so getting a safety into
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  Speaker 2: the box accounting for a gap as well. So again
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  Speaker 2: just taking away canceling out gaps, cancel out double teams.
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  Speaker 2: Then you know, put Tricia has shown that he is
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  Speaker 2: more than happy to no matter how many bodies you
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  Speaker 2: want to put into block on the run inside the box.
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  Speaker 3: Like he's happy to add numbers.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, whether it's a five to two, six
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  Speaker 2: to one safety down look.
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  Speaker 1: And you mentioned how the Ohio State defense kind of
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  Speaker 1: controlled the line of scrimmage in a lot of cases.
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  Speaker 1: This next one another example. Instead of Edric Huston, this
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  Speaker 1: time it's Kad McDonald making a big play in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the defensive line. And boy, when you can
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  Speaker 1: control the middle of that offensive line, that that really
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  Speaker 1: makes a difference in the opponent's ability to run the ball.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, so, you know, I don't want to
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  Speaker 2: just suggest though that Ohio State and Patricia are just
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  Speaker 2: you know, always using just like seven eight man spacing,
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  Speaker 2: like always just trying to add an extra body, right,
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  Speaker 2: Like you're just seeing a lot of different looks. And
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  Speaker 2: so here Wisconsin, they kind of they try to throw
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  Speaker 2: high State, right, They like start with the tight bunch
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  Speaker 2: and they spread out into an open ten set. Then
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  Speaker 2: they bring this fast mauschyc Ohio State to this too,
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  Speaker 2: right at an hour and eleven. Uh, and you know Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State does not really match that, like they are there Nickel,
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  Speaker 2: Jermaine Matthews stays outside again there this is you know
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  Speaker 2: base cover three buzz like they like to play. But instead,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when you get to the back view, it
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  Speaker 2: looks like the Penny front, but it's actually an over
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  Speaker 2: but similar in the sense that you know, again Patricia
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  Speaker 2: like likes having these outside linebacker edges, defensive end whatever
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  Speaker 2: term you want to use, particularly against Stone runs, right,
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  Speaker 2: and so we've got a similar sort of five to
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  Speaker 2: one look, just without the head up nose guard. And
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  Speaker 2: you know, and then you're those edges are gonna play
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  Speaker 2: heavy techniques like we've talked about right, Like they're they're
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  Speaker 2: stepping inside there can't get canceling inside gaps, working to
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  Speaker 2: spill the ball. And so obviously, as you said, like
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  Speaker 2: again O High State's defensive line dominated, particularly the interior
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  Speaker 2: Kate McDonald continues to be a bear for anyone to
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  Speaker 2: try to block and handle inside. But like just looking
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  Speaker 2: at the bigger peam picture scheme thing again, they're just
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  Speaker 2: just a lot of different looks for an offense to
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  Speaker 2: deal with. You know, we've talked about a lot of coverage,
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  Speaker 2: but you see that up front, right, like whether they're
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  Speaker 2: stemming from over to bayar or you know, just giving
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  Speaker 2: offenses in offensive lines a lot to think about.
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  Speaker 1: And now we're gonna shift from the run game to
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  Speaker 1: the pass game, and we're going to have one where
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  Speaker 1: both the front and the coverage gives the offense a
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  Speaker 1: lot to think about. And you know this is we've
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  Speaker 1: talked alo about all those sorts of sim pressures and
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  Speaker 1: then looking like you're bringing a bunch of different guys
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  Speaker 1: and then back in some guys out.
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  Speaker 3: This is an.
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  Speaker 1: Example where it trure looks like Kenyada Jackson is going
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  Speaker 1: to be rushing the passer and then he backs out.
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  Speaker 3: And is in.
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  Speaker 1: You know it, Wi was constant ends up completing the pass.
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  Speaker 1: But you could very easily see Kenyada Jackson being in
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  Speaker 1: a passing lane the throwing lane here if the receiver
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  Speaker 1: took one more step exactly.
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  Speaker 2: So we talked a lot about obviously, Matt Patricia's like
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  Speaker 2: sim pressures, right, a lot of four man pressures where
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  Speaker 2: you don't know where the rush is coming from, and
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  Speaker 2: usually that's paired with zone covers behind it. But this
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  Speaker 2: is actually a cover one man sent pressure, right. And
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  Speaker 2: so as you said, bringing both linebackers and dropping both
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  Speaker 2: defensive ends and they're acting as robbers. Like we've talked
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  Speaker 2: about how teams have somewhat targeted them and kind of
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  Speaker 2: the like underneath routes like particularly Minnesota that first drive
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  Speaker 2: had some success with that, and so as we talked
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  Speaker 2: about last week, like one of his responses is to
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  Speaker 2: drop these two rats in the hole, and obviously you're
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  Speaker 2: playing Cover one with it, and so you know, this
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  Speaker 2: is a game.
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  Speaker 3: You got a lot of this like Cover one with.
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  Speaker 2: Some underneath like a robber one or two of them,
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  Speaker 2: and you're, you know, then you're you're trying to basically
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  Speaker 2: by showing as you said, Ken Johnny Jackson, getting the
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  Speaker 2: trying to get you know, an offensive lineman to commit
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  Speaker 2: to him to free up you know, RVL rees coming
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  Speaker 2: off the edge or sunny styles attacking the eight gap.
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  Speaker 2: So they you know, again like probably you know accordingat
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  Speaker 2: Tyler Mains, you know, again, I highly recommend his stuff.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the High State's playing Cover three like a
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  Speaker 2: little bit over forty percent of the time and the
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  Speaker 2: next closest is Cover one at like twenty six percent
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  Speaker 2: at the time. And actually seen more of it probably
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  Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks, particularly you know against Wisconsin,
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  Speaker 2: a team that not particularly threatened by the passing game,
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  Speaker 2: want to stop the run and you know, take away
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  Speaker 2: some of these underneath throws all.
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  Speaker 1: Right next up is this is you're gonna if you were,
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  Speaker 1: if you were were just watching the game, if you're
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  Speaker 1: listening and you're running rich probably talking about this is
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  Speaker 1: the one where the running back catches a pass out
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  Speaker 1: to flat and just very clearly makes a business decision.
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  Speaker 1: He sees sunny styles coming and either he has bad
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  Speaker 1: footing or he just says no, thank you and goes down.
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  Speaker 1: So that was kind of the amusing part of the play.
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  Speaker 1: The really interesting part of this play, though, is downfield,
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  Speaker 1: because Wisconsin runs a switch route here and it is
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  Speaker 1: it's one of those things where you have seen teams
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  Speaker 1: screw this up all sorts of times, which jumped out
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  Speaker 1: to me Ross is. I mean, yeah, they're they're in
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  Speaker 1: like a zone, so it's okay sense, but it just
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  Speaker 1: looks so effortless, and so there's there's no miscommunication, there's
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  Speaker 1: no drama, there's no anything. It's just no no, no chance,
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  Speaker 1: there's nothing nothing open down here.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, even in zone or man, I would say, Ohio
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  Speaker 2: State has done a really good job all year trading
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  Speaker 2: off routes, you know, like even as I said, like
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  Speaker 2: in cover one, if it's a deep over route, the
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  Speaker 2: free safety pick up the route and that the person
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  Speaker 2: who's man that was will drop back here. Ohio State's
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  Speaker 2: playing quarter quarter half. Nick Saban talked about this the
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  Speaker 2: other week with Matt Patricia, using this kind of split
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  Speaker 2: coverage concept where you're playing cover four to one side
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  Speaker 2: or amand cover four and playing cover two to the
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  Speaker 2: opposite side. Again, so like Ohio State, as I said,
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  Speaker 2: principally a single high coverage team, right, so like sixty
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  Speaker 2: five percent of the time, give or take, they're you know,
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  Speaker 2: having a middle of the field safety. This is like
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  Speaker 2: an early down change up for them right to play
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  Speaker 2: this quarter quarter half. So you're still getting like the
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  Speaker 2: three deep defenders, but as I said, split the fel
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  Speaker 2: one side you're playing quarters, the other side you're playing
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  Speaker 2: cover two. They trade off their rout so like this
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  Speaker 2: is sort of how you would design it up right,
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  Speaker 2: where the corner is going to take number one vertical,
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  Speaker 2: safety is going to take number two vertical, and then
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  Speaker 2: the flat defender styles if once he sees those vertical routes,
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  Speaker 2: he's now responsible for the flat and so he cleans
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  Speaker 2: it up. So again just to change up, you know,
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  Speaker 2: seeing a little bit more of this sprinkled in you
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  Speaker 2: know both this and then you know, half quarter quarter
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  Speaker 2: we talked about where you're playing cover two to the
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  Speaker 2: field cover for the battery, so you know, just seeing
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  Speaker 2: a little bit of change ups and you know again,
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  Speaker 2: so it's like, you know, compare to the Jeff Haffley
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  Speaker 2: air for example, when like Ohio State was a single
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  Speaker 2: high team and like just like wore it out right
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  Speaker 2: and teams offenses could by the end of the year.
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  Speaker 2: We're sort of picking on it because it's like, if
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  Speaker 2: you know you're getting covered three all the time, you
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  Speaker 2: can obviously use cover three beaters and here you're getting
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  Speaker 2: change ups. You know, the other thirty five percent of
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  Speaker 2: the time, this cover two Tampa that you know can
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  Speaker 2: make it make it so the offense can't just predict
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  Speaker 2: we know, here comes single high coverages.
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  Speaker 1: And the last thing that makes them a little unpredictable
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  Speaker 1: is sometimes they bring a bunch of pressure they hate.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if you've looked at the
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  Speaker 1: Tayler mainstats. I have not checked them on how often
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  Speaker 1: they're bringing pressure, but it feels like it's not they're
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  Speaker 1: not bringing you know, six guys all that often, five
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  Speaker 1: six guys all that often. This year. This is an
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  Speaker 1: example where they do, but they bring it from an
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  Speaker 1: unpredictable places. You get a corner coming off the edge,
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  Speaker 1: but then you look downfield they're running four verts. It's like, well,
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  Speaker 1: you're bringing all sorts of pressure. There should be someone open.
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  Speaker 1: You look at downfield and it's like nope, there is
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  Speaker 1: also no one open, and there's also a bunch of
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  Speaker 1: pressure in the quarterbacks.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say it's very rare.
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  Speaker 2: As I said, I mean much more app to sim
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  Speaker 2: pressures for four man pressures right where you don't quite
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  Speaker 2: know bringing a linebacker dropping a d end or like
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  Speaker 2: two like we saw.
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  Speaker 3: This is.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, I'd say it's pretty rare for a
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  Speaker 2: zone blitz like this. So by zone blitz, I just
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  Speaker 2: mean you're bringing five and playing zone behind it. But
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  Speaker 2: you're like, typical zone blitz is like three deep three under,
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  Speaker 2: or even like a cover two too deep four under.
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  Speaker 2: This is actually like a quarters pressure. So they're playing
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  Speaker 2: cover four and with only two underneath defenders. Works out
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  Speaker 2: really well here for for a hostake, because as you said,
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  Speaker 2: with the four vertals, post concept like cover fource perfect
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  Speaker 2: for that.
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  Speaker 3: Each guy's picking up a.
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  Speaker 2: Vertical route and then you just have the two underneath
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  Speaker 2: guys who are sort of like again similar to that
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  Speaker 2: cover one pressure, they're kind of like rats in the
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  Speaker 2: hole trying to take away the quick underneath throws. So
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  Speaker 2: again seeing this a few times for Patricia, this these
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  Speaker 2: quarter pressures bringing the pressure off the edge.
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  Speaker 3: Obviously this eventually results in a sack.
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  Speaker 2: But again you're just you know, every week there's sort
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  Speaker 2: of like a little bit different changeups, you know, different
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  Speaker 2: pressure like odd fronts, pressures and the like, and so
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  Speaker 2: you kind of have you know, the base concepts, if
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  Speaker 2: you will, but then things sprinkled in on top of
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  Speaker 2: it to keep offenses off balance.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you've heard Ross talk a bunch about Tyler Mains
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  Speaker 1: and his work and some of the statistical stuff that
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  Speaker 1: he's done. Next week, without a game to review, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to have a time to take a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of a deeper dive into some of that stuff and
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: looking at how much they're using different coverages and said earlier,
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  Speaker 1: how much are they blitzing. So you're going to get
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: into a little bit more of that kind of stuff
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  Speaker 1: next week, and then if you guys have other specific
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: questions for us, the best place to ask those is
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: that on the huddle board presigned by Jeff Rubies, Columbus,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: we always have a very lively conversation when around these shows.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: On the huddle board, we also get this show a
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: little bit earlier than the general public does. If you're
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: a remember of bucke huddle dot com, so you can
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: join us there. And also if you have questions you
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: want to leave them in the comments on YouTube, you
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: can do that as well. We'll try and get to
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: some of those questions for next week because we will
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: have a little bit of extra time next week to
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: talk about stuff because as I said, there will not
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: be a game to break down. So all right, and
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: when when Ross is back next week, we will once
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: again be presented by Jeff Rubies of Columbus, the award
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: winning Upso Scale Steakhouse in downtown Columbus, name one of
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the top fifty steakhouses in America by Food Network. Just
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: go to Jeffrey dot com slash Columbus to check out
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the menu and make a reservation today. That will do
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: it for today. Thank you guys all for joining us.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Have a great day. We will talk to you tomorrow.