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Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning for Thursday, November 5th. I'm
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your host, Tom Moore. The Oregon game in two days,
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the game against Michigan in 23 days. Today's episode presented
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by our friends at Jeff Ruby's Columbus, proudly offering nationally
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acclaimed USDA prime steaks, seafood and sushi, impeccable service, live entertainment,
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and an attention to detail that is simply unmatched. Just
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go to jeffruby.com slash Columbus to check out the menu
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and make a reservation today.
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All right, on today's show, we're going to welcome in
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Michael Pettit.
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He's one of our scheme insiders specializing on the defensive
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side of the ball. We're looking at the Ohio State
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defense and their performance today. Against USC. And man, that
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was really a mixed bag because.
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For long chunks of that, it was like, all right,
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not too bad.
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And then you give a couple of huge plays and
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all of a sudden you're giving up 30 points. So
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we're going to, what are we going to try to
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make of all that? We're going to try and sort
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that out for you. And Michael, we're going to start
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with a coverage concept. A lot of these we've seen
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before and they've been executed well or not well before.
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So we're going to be looking at how they did
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it with, with familiar concepts that we're going to start
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with one. It's a new one as far as I
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can remember. Cover 3 Cloud.
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Yeah. The first few plays we talk about here, I
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kind of just want to talk neutrally about some scheme stuff,
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just some little observations because I always want these videos
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to have some of that element and not just be
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a bunch of criticism or a bunch of praise. The
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defensive performance was kind of weird, and I know a
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lot of people probably don't want to hear this, but
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I thought it was absolutely awful watching live. And then
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on a rewatch, I was like, okay, it wasn't like
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as a whole, the performance was not terrible. Like it
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wasn't good, but it was, it was okay. They, but
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they gave up, you know, two explosive plays, the third
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and 18 debacle where they should have called a timeout.
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And then, you know, there's some sporadic tackling issues throughout
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the day, but like, Considering USC is a talented offense,
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you were never going to hold them to 150 yards
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or anything like that. I think the defense was fine.
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I want to just talk neutrally about a few plays first.
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Don't worry, we will move into some criticisms of what's
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going on in defense after that. As Tom said, this
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first play is cover three cloud. I want to talk
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about this because this is the first time I've seen
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Patricia call this. He called it a couple of times
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on Saturday. Cover three cloud, like any cover three concept,
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is a zone defense where you've got four underneath defenders
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and three deep defenders responsible for the deep thirds of
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the field. What makes this different than your typical cover
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three or cover three buzz is on most cover threes,
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the two corners are responsible for the outside thirds of
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the field and then one safety for the middle third.
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On cover three cloud, though, One of the corners actually
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stays down as a curl flat defender. You can call
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them the cloud corner. And then a safety will rotate
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over to that deep third. In this case, it's the
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deep third to the boundary that you're having a safety
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roll to. The field safety is going to roll to
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the middle deep third. And then your field corner back
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to the bottom of the screen is going to roll
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to the other deep third to the field. Yeah, this
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is just a different style of cover three than what
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we're used to seeing. I'm not really sure why Patricia
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wanted to incorporate this on Saturday, but it was just
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an observation, something new. All right.
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Next up, we're going to
Load full transcript
see a concept we definitely
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have seen before, Cover 3 Buzz, and then something we've
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talked about, you and I, a bunch on these shows, Creepers.
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We know you love the Creepers and Sim Pressures, so
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let's get to Cover 3.
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Buzz with some Creepers. Yeah, so... we've got a three
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buzz creeper here. So cover three buzz again, it's a
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cover three concept. So you've got three, uh, deep third defenders,
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four underneath defenders, because the creeper, as we, as we know,
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we're bringing it back seven defender. In this case, it's
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going to be that, uh, we'll line back or to
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the boundary. He's blitzing the a gap, reading the center
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to decide which a gap insert, but you're going to
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drop a defensive end and coverage in place of them.
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So it's still just a four man rush. That's what
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a creeper is. Um, And what makes this cover three
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buzz is when you have a safety who's buzzing down
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into one of the hook zones, which here is what
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the boundary safety does, that's cover three buzz. So you've
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got the boundary defensive end standing up. He's going to
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be your curl flat player to the boundary. The boundary
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safety will be the hook player to the boundary. Peyton Pierce,
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your Mike linebacker, he's going to be the hook player
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to the field. The nickel is going to be the
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curl flat player to the field. And then you've got
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your two corners. and field safety as the deep third defender. So,
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you know, I like creepers a lot because, uh, you
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can run them kind of on any down, like a
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lot of, it's very common to call creepers on like
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first and 10 or second and six, you know, more
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neutral downs like that because, uh, they often are very
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good against, um, against runs in particular against zone runs. So, yeah,
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I mean, just, uh, nice to see that these are
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part of the scheme and, you know, definitely something to
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help with changing the picture post snap.
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Next up, this is a concept we talked about on
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last week's show and it was successful then a line
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reduction and it is successful here again against USC. Yeah.
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I wanted to talk about this again because like, I
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know people were probably sick of hearing this talking point
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at this point, but you know, Indiana, the stunts, the movements,
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the twists up front, like that's how they create havoc. Um,
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The fact of the matter is stunts and movement, it's
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almost like they literally always work, essentially. I know Ohio
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State's offensive line gets a lot of criticism for not
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picking up stunts well, but I don't see really any
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offensive line that does. Here, again, you've got a line reduction,
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which as I discussed on the last video, a line
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reduction is when you're using movement to get from one
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type of spacing in the pre-snap to a different type
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of spacing in the post-snap. So here they're an odd
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spacing pre-snap. What makes it odd spacing is that you've
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got defensive tackles in each of the B gaps in
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those four eye techniques inside shoulder of the offensive tackles.
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When the B gaps are closed like that with defensive tackles,
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that's odd spacing. And then of course, you've got your
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zero tech nose head up over the center. They're all
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going to slant towards the running back here, which will
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create even spacing post-snap. Even spacing is when one of
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the B gaps is open. So like Kenyatta Jackson here,
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he's the defensive tackle who's on the right side of
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the screen. And he's going to spike over to the
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C gap outside of USC's right tackle. And this is
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a huge play also because this was a third and
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two and USC tries to run inside zone to get
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the first down. This line reduction, you'll see Kenyatta Jackson,
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Edrick Houston get into the backfield for a really massive
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tackle for loss here to force a punt. This was
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just an example. The defense did force a fair amount
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of punts and obviously even forced USC to kick a
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ridiculously long field goal. The defense had success here and there.
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It wasn't like it was all bad, just some strange
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decisions and a couple of explosives, which we're going to
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cover one of those explosives here later on.
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We'll get to that in a little bit, but next
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we're going to get to something that I know has
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been something you've been harping on a little bit. Some
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weird run fits, and this one they're going up against
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a counter play, and again, there's just some kind of
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weird fits here that ends up leading to a huge run,
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but substantial run.
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Yeah, this was not a devastating play. It was about
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a six-yard gain, so not ideal, of course, either, but
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So USC, Lincoln Riley, the book on him since his
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Oklahoma days, he loves to run counter in the run game.
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You know, he's a very gap scheme heavy guy. So
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here he's running G-Y counter, which as we've discussed before,
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that's when the guard, the G and the tight end,
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who we call the Y, are the two pullers on
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a gap scheme run. And that guard, his job on
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this is to kick that defensive end out. That's Kenyatta
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Jackson in this case. So, but when you defend counter,
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when you defend any of these plays like this, you know,
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gap plays, when you've got a pulling lineman coming at you,
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there's two ways you can defend it. You can either
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box it, which means you're attacking the outside shoulder to
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force the ball back inside, or you can spill it,
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which means you're going to attack that guard's inside shoulder
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to force the ball carrier to bounce outside.
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All right.
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Like the conventional wisdom on counter has often been that
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spilling the first polar is the best way to defend counter.
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That's not what Ohio State does here. And they often
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what they don't do against counter. And I don't know why.
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--> 00:09:17.789
I mean, we've seen this before. Like, I don't think
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this is Kenyatta Jackson making a mistake. I believe this
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is what their coach to do. But, you know, like
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if you look at this play, particularly from the wide view,
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it's kind of a good view at, when you attack
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that guard's outside shoulder, it really just creates a giant
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lane for the tight end to then come through and
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easily climb up to the linebacker. But if you're attacking
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the inside shoulder, you're closing that lane down. The tight
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end then has to hesitate and go around that block
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and it just kind of muddies everything up back there
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and slows everything down and allows the linebackers and safety
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to flow over the top. So like, yeah, I mean,
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I just, I don't know why they're boxing on counter
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i really think that spilling counter is the better way
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to defend it that's um i've seen you know a
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lot of uh coaches and stuff and people like that
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who have said the same thing So, yeah, this is
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just one of those like weird problems schematically that's existed
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for a while that I don't really know why it's happening.
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I mean, I wish I had a better answer, but
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I just don't. So this is a problem that I
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hope gets fixed soon, because if I were an offensive
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coordinator playing in Ohio State, I would run counter every
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time I ran the ball.
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Next up, we're going to be looking at a going
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from the run to the pass game. And this is
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a fire zone. And this is one where, before we
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hit record on this, we were talking and I said,
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you know, man, it feels like they're dropping Kenyatta Jackson
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into coverage a ton. And I don't know how often
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that's really happening. This play is an example of where
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it happens. And I know you want to disguise coverages,
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but you wonder, you're also kind of putting guys in
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a position where they're not necessarily doing what they're best at.
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Yeah, I mean, this is a fire zone. We've talked
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about a fire zone before as well. It's a five-man
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zone pressure where you've got your three deep defenders and
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then you've got your three underneath zone defenders. So what's
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the problem here? We're supposed to be happy that they're
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running fire zones and mixing things up. Well, the problem is,
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look where Kenyatta Jackson is. USC is an 11 personnel.
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They've got a tight end of the boundary, three receivers
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to the field. And Kenyatta Jackson, your 6'5, 265-pound, strong
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side defensive end, who sometimes even plays defensive tackle, is
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flexed out to the field as a cover down player
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over receivers. That is just extremely strange structure to me.
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I mean, usually in general, when Kenyatta Jackson's playing defensive end,
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he's kind of playing like a traditional Jack linebacker position,
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which is to the boundary. So I don't even know
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why he's to the field.
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But....
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As Tom said, this is the one drawback with creepers
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that I've talked about before. When you drop defensive linemen
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into coverage, you are dropping someone who's not quite as
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good in a coverage situation like that. This is especially
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bizarre to me just because of where Kenyatta Jackson has
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lined up pre-snap. I don't understand how you land on
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any sort of defensive structure that has Kenyatta Jackson playing
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to the field as a cover down player over wide receivers.
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It is, it's very strange. I don't think this is
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in any way setting your defense up for success. All right,
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next up.
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This is another one that I know we've talked about
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before to roll. And this is a blitz look that
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they showed against a, a run.
241
00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:56.820
Yeah. So normally I would love a two row blitz.
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If it were third and eight, I would love this
243
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play call. Uh, The problem here is this is second
244
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and eight. This is like a really big pet
peeve
245
00:13:07.720 --> 00:13:10.659
of mine. So they're in a blitz formation, like a
246
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pressure look here. I'm not talking about the play call.
247
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I'm talking about, you know, they've got the two linebackers
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00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:18.789
mugged up in the A gaps. So you've got six
249
00:13:18.830 --> 00:13:21.830
men on the line of scrimmage. And I really can't
250
00:13:21.870 --> 00:13:24.889
stand when defensive coordinators do this stuff, like mug their
251
00:13:24.929 --> 00:13:28.440
linebackers on standard downs, like second and eight work. either
252
00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:31.960
a run or a pass is very possible because as
253
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.399
a linebacker, it is really hard to defend the run
254
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from that position. So the call here is a two-roll blitz,
255
00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:41.970
which again, so two-roll, you kind of start out with
256
00:13:42.070 --> 00:13:44.830
one single high safety. When the ball is snapped, he's
257
00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:47.690
going to bail to one of the deep halves. So
258
00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:50.870
that high safety bails to the deep half to the field.
259
00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:54.070
Then your corner is going to roll back to the
260
00:13:54.129 --> 00:13:56.409
other deep half. So the boundary corner here rolls to
261
00:13:56.450 --> 00:13:59.970
the boundary's deep half. And it's a five man pressure.
262
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You're bringing the nickel. So you've got your four underneath defenders,
263
00:14:03.250 --> 00:14:07.529
but like, again, this was not a disastrous play because
264
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it was like a six yard gain instead of a
265
00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:13.519
20 yard gain. But I just find this to be
266
00:14:13.559 --> 00:14:15.759
a very strange play call on second and eight. Like
267
00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.500
this really reeks to me of doing something just for
268
00:14:18.539 --> 00:14:20.779
the sake of doing. If you want to call this
269
00:14:20.870 --> 00:14:23.990
on third and seven, I would be thrilled. I wouldn't,
270
00:14:24.090 --> 00:14:26.009
if you call this on third and seven, I would
271
00:14:26.049 --> 00:14:29.399
not even care if the offense converted, like, Obviously, I would.
272
00:14:29.450 --> 00:14:31.230
But you know what I mean. It's a reasonable play
273
00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:34.909
call in that situation. Whereas, I don't know. There's just
274
00:14:34.929 --> 00:14:38.690
a lot of very strange choices happening on defense still.
275
00:14:40.190 --> 00:14:45.889
I've had questions about it all year. After the Indiana game,
276
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I felt like I had a little bit more of
277
00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:51.009
a grasp on the scheme. And I don't know. I
278
00:14:51.049 --> 00:14:52.860
just feel like there's a lot of doing stuff just
279
00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.460
for the sake of doing it. And this is a
280
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perfect example of that.
281
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Well, and this next play is kind of a different
282
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.419
example of that, where it's a look that we haven't
283
00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.450
seen before, and it's the last play we're talking about.
284
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And they're dropping eight, which is one of those things,
285
00:15:05.909 --> 00:15:08.230
you drop eight, it's like, well, that's the way you
286
00:15:08.269 --> 00:15:10.509
make sure you don't give up a big play. Now,
287
00:15:11.009 --> 00:15:14.190
keen-eared listeners will note that Michael has promised that we're
288
00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.129
going to have a big play on this show, and
289
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this is the last play. So they're dropping eight, and
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00:15:18.029 --> 00:15:19.210
they're giving up a big play.
291
00:15:19.730 --> 00:15:23.230
What went wrong here? Yeah, so this is just another
292
00:15:23.330 --> 00:15:28.519
very weird choice from a play calling structure perspective so
293
00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:30.639
mind you this is first down it was it was
294
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:33.220
first and 15 but it's first down that you know
295
00:15:34.500 --> 00:15:38.230
um what they do here is usc is in a
296
00:15:38.269 --> 00:15:41.269
two tight end set as you can see ohio state
297
00:15:41.490 --> 00:15:44.250
rolls out a package we have not seen once this
298
00:15:44.309 --> 00:15:48.240
year it's a three three personnel look you know ohio
299
00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:51.259
state's usually either in like a four two or as
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00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:53.929
personnel wise they're in a four two or you know,
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00:15:53.950 --> 00:15:59.970
a 4-3 sometimes against bigger personnel. But here they go 3-3. And, like,
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00:15:59.990 --> 00:16:02.870
if that's not weird enough, they don't even have a
303
00:16:02.950 --> 00:16:05.490
nose tackle on the field. Like, that's Edrick Houston playing
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00:16:05.549 --> 00:16:08.929
nose over the center. And they've got Kenyatta Jackson and
305
00:16:08.950 --> 00:16:11.769
Quay Rousaw at edge. And then they've got three linebackers.
306
00:16:11.820 --> 00:16:17.440
They've got Pettijohn as the will linebacker down to the boundary.
307
00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:25.570
Christian Allegro is kind of like your Mike. in the middle.
308
00:16:26.029 --> 00:16:28.429
Peyton Pierce is almost more like a Sam linebacker in
309
00:16:28.450 --> 00:16:31.919
this case. He's a little more to the field. Again,
310
00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:35.840
we've never seen this set before. It just seemed like
311
00:16:35.899 --> 00:16:38.779
doing something just for the sake of doing it. To
312
00:16:38.820 --> 00:16:42.049
make matters worse, they didn't even do anything cool with it.
313
00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:45.429
You see this and you're kind of expecting, okay, there
314
00:16:45.450 --> 00:16:47.649
might be
some sort of blitz or something. Are they
315
00:16:47.669 --> 00:16:51.539
going to let Riley Pettijohn rush the passer here? But No,
316
00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:54.000
it's a drop eight Tampa two. So you've got your
317
00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:57.639
safeties failing to the deep halves of the field. And
318
00:16:57.659 --> 00:17:01.230
then you've got, you know, the corners and the flats, um,
319
00:17:01.690 --> 00:17:06.250
Pettijohn and the nickel are kind of seam defenders. Allegro
320
00:17:06.289 --> 00:17:08.990
is your low hole defender. And Peyton Pierce is your
321
00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:14.670
high hole pole runner defender, which also is kind of strange, but, um, like,
322
00:17:14.750 --> 00:17:16.089
I don't know that I, I think this is just
323
00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:20.190
a very strange personnel choice in this situation. Um, I
324
00:17:20.210 --> 00:17:22.690
don't think this is a great rep from Allegro either.
325
00:17:22.829 --> 00:17:25.490
Like I don't, I just don't believe that no one
326
00:17:25.930 --> 00:17:28.789
is tasked with carrying Mark Bowman's route a little more.
327
00:17:29.650 --> 00:17:32.039
And then obviously like the end of this play is
328
00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.500
really ugly. I mean, guys were trying to strip the
329
00:17:35.539 --> 00:17:37.299
ball instead of make the tackle, which is one of
330
00:17:37.339 --> 00:17:40.259
those things. It's like, you know, if it works, it's great.
331
00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:43.880
If it doesn't, it's awful. I personally just am always
332
00:17:44.269 --> 00:17:46.589
the type of person who prefers to just make the
333
00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:49.269
tackle rather than take the risk of trying to strip.
334
00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:51.210
But like, And I'm not just saying that because it
335
00:17:51.259 --> 00:17:54.900
didn't work here. Like, that's just my philosophy. But again,
336
00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:58.339
this is a very strange choice. And I just feel
337
00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:01.539
like we're seeing that. We've seen that a lot this year.
338
00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:04.970
And I don't I just don't remember ever feeling this
339
00:18:05.029 --> 00:18:08.190
way after watching the film last year. Like last year,
340
00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:10.569
there was like little things like, oh, I wish Patricia
341
00:18:10.589 --> 00:18:13.210
would be a touch more aggressive or like. I feel
342
00:18:13.230 --> 00:18:15.529
like he's leaning a little too much on cover three
343
00:18:15.569 --> 00:18:19.599
at time, but there wasn't just weird structural choices and
344
00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:23.319
weird personnel choices, and I never got the sense that
345
00:18:23.339 --> 00:18:26.759
he was doing things just to do them. And I
346
00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:34.160
don't know. I feel like after every... you know, subpar
347
00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:37.700
defensive performance this year or less than good defensive performance
348
00:18:37.740 --> 00:18:39.759
this
year, all the players kind of come out and
349
00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:44.470
take blame, take ownership. And that's very commendable, but I don't,
350
00:18:44.630 --> 00:18:46.490
I just don't always feel like they're really put in
351
00:18:46.509 --> 00:18:49.230
the best positions. Like I don't think the players should
352
00:18:49.250 --> 00:18:51.750
be taking, I don't know what's going on internally, of course,
353
00:18:51.769 --> 00:18:54.519
but I'm just saying, I don't, I don't know that
354
00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:57.160
the players should even be taking as much blame as
355
00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:00.500
they are. I don't, I don't, the, the, the scheme
356
00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:03.390
and the structure, this is, a little unusual to me.
357
00:19:03.869 --> 00:19:05.549
I don't know what else to say, but yeah, between
358
00:19:05.589 --> 00:19:09.009
this play with Mark Bowman and then, uh, you know,
359
00:19:09.029 --> 00:19:12.470
the other two plays that I consider the true daggers
360
00:19:13.289 --> 00:19:17.130
in this game, we're obviously the second play of the game, which, um,
361
00:19:17.420 --> 00:19:20.619
I believe we, um, at Buckeye insiders, we'll be talking
362
00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:23.960
about in a later video this week. And then also, uh,
363
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:27.640
you know, we, Ohio state got USC into a third
364
00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.940
and 18 and, uh, It was very apparent that Ohio
365
00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:35.140
State's defense did not have the call. Everyone on TV
366
00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:37.990
was watching it. I remember watching it thinking, okay, let's
367
00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:41.150
call a timeout here. Let's not risk anything. USC was
368
00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:44.349
content to just run the ball and punt or hope
369
00:19:44.390 --> 00:19:48.630
something broke out and punt if not, but they didn't
370
00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:51.099
call a timeout. The players weren't aligned. They obviously didn't
371
00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:54.769
have the call or whatever. And no timeout was called.
372
00:19:54.849 --> 00:19:58.829
And USC pops off a 20, 20 yard run on
373
00:19:58.910 --> 00:20:02.130
third and 18, like those types of things you just
374
00:20:02.150 --> 00:20:06.289
can't have happen. And again, they were in kind of
375
00:20:06.329 --> 00:20:08.390
like a blitz formation. And that's kind of what I
376
00:20:08.430 --> 00:20:11.440
was saying earlier. We're like, I don't, now look being
377
00:20:11.460 --> 00:20:13.480
in a blitz formation on third and 18 is fine
378
00:20:14.069 --> 00:20:16.430
but like it is hard to defend the run out
379
00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:18.730
of those formations and obviously they didn't have the call
380
00:20:18.769 --> 00:20:20.390
so it's a little different but it kind of goes
381
00:20:20.410 --> 00:20:22.230
to what i was saying earlier which is that like
382
00:20:22.750 --> 00:20:25.869
on second and eight being in like a blitz formation
383
00:20:25.910 --> 00:20:27.970
with both your linebackers mugged up on the line of
384
00:20:27.990 --> 00:20:30.950
sternages is very strange so yeah just a lot of
385
00:20:31.170 --> 00:20:35.569
uh interesting things to say the least but You know,
386
00:20:36.710 --> 00:20:39.549
weirdly enough, like it wasn't all bad from the defense.
387
00:20:40.329 --> 00:20:43.250
I just there's just some certain structural things that I
388
00:20:43.269 --> 00:20:45.650
feel like have just lingered on and on all year.
389
00:20:46.789 --> 00:20:50.369
So moving forward, we know now as of Tuesday night
390
00:20:50.390 --> 00:20:53.029
that the Buckeyes are almost certainly in a you need
391
00:20:53.049 --> 00:20:55.230
to win the rest of your games kind of situation
392
00:20:55.759 --> 00:20:57.799
if they want to make the college football playoffs. So
393
00:20:58.619 --> 00:21:02.140
the offense, you figure the offense should be better in
394
00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.079
some ways. You figure they should put a few more
395
00:21:04.140 --> 00:21:06.180
points on the board. you would think in some of
396
00:21:06.200 --> 00:21:08.920
these games but the defense it feels like that's where
397
00:21:08.940 --> 00:21:11.599
there's really an area for up you know an opportunity
398
00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:14.660
for improvement against some of these upcoming teams and you're
399
00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:16.599
going to get challenged by Oregon you're probably going to
400
00:21:16.619 --> 00:21:18.859
get challenged in a very different way by Chip Kelly
401
00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:21.660
who is doing all sorts of crazy stuff this year
402
00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.730
is this a defense that you think can rebound from
403
00:21:27.430 --> 00:21:29.890
generally when you see it Ohio State defense or an
404
00:21:29.950 --> 00:21:33.349
Ohio State team have like an uncharacteristically bad performance, they
405
00:21:33.450 --> 00:21:35.990
tend to rebound pretty well the next week. Are you
406
00:21:36.029 --> 00:21:38.359
expecting them to be able to sort of get things
407
00:21:38.420 --> 00:21:40.900
turned around and, and put together a much better performance
408
00:21:40.980 --> 00:21:42.279
against Oregon this week?
409
00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:46.849
Yeah, I am. I mean, you know, it was, uh,
410
00:21:47.480 --> 00:21:51.200
First of all, I don't think long layoffs are good.
411
00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:53.680
Ohio State needed that bye because of the injuries and
412
00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.799
stuff to help get Fahey prepped, but I don't feel
413
00:21:56.819 --> 00:21:58.579
like they usually play well after a bye. I feel
414
00:21:58.599 --> 00:22:00.740
like a lot of teams don't. So it was a bye.
415
00:22:00.779 --> 00:22:06.160
You were three time zones away. But the questions on
416
00:22:06.200 --> 00:22:08.660
defense right now, a lot of it also boils down
417
00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:13.900
to health. We've now seen that Jay Timmons, whether or
418
00:22:13.940 --> 00:22:18.079
not he's available, is a massive... key to this defense
419
00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.890
which is understandable to some extent um the counterpoint is
420
00:22:22.950 --> 00:22:25.970
like as good as he is i don't think that
421
00:22:26.089 --> 00:22:28.769
a true freshman who plays the nickel position should be
422
00:22:28.869 --> 00:22:31.589
literally the key to whether you're a top three defense
423
00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:36.730
or a top 30 defense like um and you know
424
00:22:36.869 --> 00:22:38.809
i don't know what edgar houston status is going to
425
00:22:38.829 --> 00:22:42.049
be uh i'd still like them to incorporate some more
426
00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:45.359
line movement up front like the reductions and the stunts
427
00:22:45.410 --> 00:22:49.450
and stuff like that And then, you know, I think
428
00:22:49.490 --> 00:22:53.019
kind of in some ways just getting back to basics and, like,
429
00:22:53.720 --> 00:22:56.720
just making sure the structure makes sense. Like, no doing
430
00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:59.660
things just for the sake of doing them. And, you know, just,
431
00:23:00.660 --> 00:23:02.039
you know, players just need to be put in a
432
00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:04.960
position where they're set up to succeed. I mean, I
433
00:23:04.980 --> 00:23:07.700
think the defense is talented. Like, if you want me
434
00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:11.460
to talk about some of the good I saw on Saturday, like,
435
00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:15.319
I actually thought the corners played very well. And... at
436
00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:17.440
times this year, I think the fan base has been
437
00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:21.460
pretty concerned about the corners. They played well and USC
438
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:29.230
has got good receivers. I thought, you know, I still
439
00:23:29.269 --> 00:23:32.089
think we're seeing some good play from the defensive tackles
440
00:23:32.710 --> 00:23:35.650
like Edgar Houston and Kenyatta Jackson when they use them
441
00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:38.650
as the four eye technique and as a defensive tackle.
442
00:23:39.970 --> 00:23:43.250
The defense is, is, is solid. Like they have the
443
00:23:43.309 --> 00:23:45.950
potential to be solid. I just think there's stuff that
444
00:23:45.970 --> 00:23:48.869
needs to be cleaned up. And I feel like it's
445
00:23:48.910 --> 00:23:51.259
too late in the season to still be using the,
446
00:23:51.569 --> 00:23:54.599
like any excuses that Patricia is like figuring out the
447
00:23:54.630 --> 00:23:56.799
personnel and stuff like that. I just, I think that,
448
00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:58.900
I think there needs to be some stuff that's settled on.
449
00:23:58.940 --> 00:24:00.779
And for some reason it just still appears to be
450
00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:03.599
not settled on. All right.
451
00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:05.880
Well, we will be watching that and talking about that
452
00:24:06.019 --> 00:24:09.119
all week long at Buckeye insiders.com. We got our whole
453
00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:13.309
team of scheme insiders there. answering your questions, talking about
454
00:24:13.410 --> 00:24:16.269
what they're seeing and helping you understand what you're seeing.
455
00:24:16.289 --> 00:24:18.470
That is one of the great benefits of being a
456
00:24:18.490 --> 00:24:21.490
member at Buckeye insiders.com. Get access to all of that
457
00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:24.279
and more on our insiders board. Also, you want to
458
00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:26.359
talk to those guys. You want to talk to some
459
00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:29.559
of us as well. We've got a member only tailgate
460
00:24:29.619 --> 00:24:32.900
coming up this Saturday before the Oregon game. A whole
461
00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:35.279
bunch of our staff will be there. We would love
462
00:24:35.299 --> 00:24:36.980
to see you there as well. If you want to
463
00:24:37.009 --> 00:24:38.430
be a member, you want to be a part of
464
00:24:38.470 --> 00:24:41.130
that tailgate, you can be a member at BuckeyeInsiders.com. This
465
00:24:41.150 --> 00:24:42.869
would be a great time to take a second to
466
00:24:42.890 --> 00:24:46.390
go to BuckeyeInsiders.com, click on subscribe, go through that sign-up process,
467
00:24:47.009 --> 00:24:49.789
and get on that Insiders board. Check out all the.
468
00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:50.920
Great information we got there.
469
00:24:50.940 --> 00:24:54.440
Plus get access to all of our fun Member Appreciation
470
00:24:54.460 --> 00:24:56.859
Month events. We got the tailgate coming up this week.
471
00:24:57.299 --> 00:25:00.359
We're giving away pregame field access for the Northwestern game
472
00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:03.619
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473
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to do is sign up today at BuckeyeInsiders.com.
474
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That'll do it for today.
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Thank you guys all for joining us.
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Have a great day. We'll talk to you tomorrow.