Full Transcript for Scheme Insider: Breaking Down Ohio State's Defensive Collapse Vs. Oregon

I've really struggled to try to understand 70 00:03:45.949 --> 00:03:49.229 what it is Patricia is trying to accomplish. Like, I 71 00:03:49.250 --> 00:03:51.650 don't know what he wants this defense to look like 72 00:03:52.210 --> 00:03:56.250 from a structural or a schematic point. Again, I talked 73 00:03:56.289 --> 00:03:58.629 about this last week. I feel like this is a 74 00:03:58.729 --> 00:04:00.939 lot of just doing stuff just for the heck of it, 75 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:04.479 just for the sake of doing it. Like here, you know, 76 00:04:04.539 --> 00:04:07.159 Quay Rousseau, he's kind of like your typical like weak 77 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:10.919 side defensive end, Jack linebacker type of player. And you 78 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:13.969 usually play that guy to the boundary. But like they're 79 00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:16.310 playing him to the field and they're having him as 80 00:04:16.370 --> 00:04:20.290 like an apex player or a cover down player over 81 00:04:20.370 --> 00:04:24.810 top of receivers flexed way out. Like this is just 82 00:04:24.910 --> 00:04:27.730 strange that they keep doing this. And again, like as 83 00:04:27.790 --> 00:04:29.810 Tom said, we see it, them do it with Kenyatta 84 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:33.370 Jackson too. And then like even the defensive line, the 85 00:04:33.410 --> 00:04:36.670 alignment here, and you'll get a better view from the 86 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:39.850 end zone view, but like they've got one defensive tackle 87 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:42.149 and a four eye one and a three tack. And 88 00:04:42.170 --> 00:04:45.410 then they've got Zion Grady who's in a standup nine technique. Like, 89 00:04:46.129 --> 00:04:51.300 That's just really strange. I mean, it's just strange. I'm 90 00:04:51.339 --> 00:04:55.600 not understanding the goal of some of the structural stuff. Like, again, 91 00:04:55.639 --> 00:04:59.500 it's really easy to say, like, it's really easy to 92 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:03.439 blame the talent level on this defense because you're thinking, well, 93 00:05:03.459 --> 00:05:05.550 this defense was great last year when they had all 94 00:05:05.569 --> 00:05:08.930 this talent. But, like, Matt Patricia is not doing a 95 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:11.129 lot of the same things he did last year. It's 96 00:05:11.170 --> 00:05:15.870 completely different, both from an overall structural standpoint and and 97 00:05:16.209 --> 00:05:19.689 from a down-to-down play calling standpoint it's very strange this 98 00:05:19.730 --> 00:05:21.069 is just another example. 99 00:05:22.490 --> 00:05:24.649 Well we got a different example coming up next this 100 00:05:24.709 --> 00:05:26.939 is a third and three playing you third and three 101 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:29.839 you normally think okay they're probably gonna line up they're 102 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:33.019 gonna probably try and run the ball sure absolutely so 103 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.199 you're gonna you're gonna be maybe packing the box a 104 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.579 little bit in this case not at all and it 105 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.009 ends up being an extremely easy conversion for oregon. 106 00:05:43.509 --> 00:05:48.379 Yeah, so my issue here is, like, it's third and three, 107 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:51.360 and you're in a too high safety set where both 108 00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:56.220 of your safeties are about 15 yards off the ball. And, like, 109 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:59.060 I don't really mind being in a too high safety set, 110 00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:02.389 particularly to start out here, because Oregon's in, like, an 111 00:06:02.569 --> 00:06:07.769 open two-by-two look. But, you know, eventually they motion their 112 00:06:07.810 --> 00:06:09.970 tight end in to create more of a traditional 11 113 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:12.500 personnel look. And again, it's like if you're going to 114 00:06:12.519 --> 00:06:14.399 be in two-eye safety, it's like, why are you this 115 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.720 far back on third and three? It just seems like, again, 116 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:19.920 like a common theme we've seen is you're giving a 117 00:06:20.019 --> 00:06:23.310 lot of room here. And of course, Oregon motions to 118 00:06:23.370 --> 00:06:26.290 Wildcat here and just picks up a very, very easy 119 00:06:26.449 --> 00:06:26.910 first down. 120 00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:30.730 Next up, we're going to be in second and 12. 121 00:06:30.730 --> 00:06:32.430 And so it seems like, OK, this is a spot 122 00:06:32.449 --> 00:06:35.100 where the defense can maybe get off the field. And 123 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.879 they do technically get off the field after this play, 124 00:06:38.939 --> 00:06:40.199 but not in the way you would. 125 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:40.519 Want them to. 126 00:06:41.420 --> 00:06:44.220 Yeah, you know what? When I saw this play live, 127 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:48.459 before this play even happened, I'm sitting there yelling at 128 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.939 my TV, what are you doing? Why are we aligned 129 00:06:51.980 --> 00:06:56.120 like this? It is second down. And I don't know 130 00:06:56.199 --> 00:07:00.199 if anyone remembers last week, for anyone who watched the 131 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.480 video Tom and I did last week where I reviewed 132 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:06.100 the defense against USC, there was a play in there. 133 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.439 It was second and eight, and Matt Patricia lined up 134 00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:11.519 in this double when the linebackers are walked up to 135 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:13.699 the line of scrimmage like this, like in the a gap, 136 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:16.240 you call it a double a gap mug. Like the 137 00:07:16.259 --> 00:07:19.100 linebackers are mugged up there. And there's a play last 138 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:21.600 week we went over where he did this on second 139 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:24.519 and eight. And like when defensive coordinators do

this on 140 00:07:24.620 --> 00:07:27.720 standard downs, like first and 10, second and seven, second 141 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.639 and 10, like it really drives me crazy because it 142 00:07:30.699 --> 00:07:33.060 is really hard as a linebacker to defend the run 143 00:07:33.110 --> 00:07:36.470 properly from that mug position. And you don't want to 144 00:07:36.490 --> 00:07:39.259 be in that position if there's a, legitimate chance that 145 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.120 the ball will be ran. So here to make matters worse, 146 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:47.069 they get back into this double agate mug look. But again, 147 00:07:47.129 --> 00:07:49.889 they don't have Kenyatta Jackson on the line of scrimmage 148 00:07:49.930 --> 00:07:51.990 as an edge player, because why would you do that 149 00:07:52.449 --> 00:07:54.829 when you could play him as an apex player, splitting 150 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:58.339 the difference between a slot receiver and the offensive tackle, 151 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.420 which again, theme of the season, it's been strange. Like 152 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:05.519 not to get too far off track here, but I 153 00:08:05.540 --> 00:08:07.819 just want to make the point that A lot of 154 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:12.259 people are disappointed in Kenyatta Jackson this year. And some 155 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.779 people I've seen just say he's not good. He can't 156 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:17.810 get after the passer. My counter to that is this. 157 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.529 I watched Kenyatta Jackson last year when they actually did 158 00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:24.569 play him at defensive end. And even in the few 159 00:08:24.629 --> 00:08:28.430 opportunities he's gotten this year, he's not a terrible pass rusher. 160 00:08:28.470 --> 00:08:31.610 He's not phenomenal, but he is a good enough pass rusher. 161 00:08:32.149 --> 00:08:34.029 But they don't ever let him do it. I mean, 162 00:08:34.070 --> 00:08:37.610 they're playing him. He's 265 pounds. They're playing him. as 163 00:08:37.669 --> 00:08:40.309 an apex player or a cover down player to the 164 00:08:40.450 --> 00:08:43.690 field in a look like this, like that's insane to me. 165 00:08:43.809 --> 00:08:48.100 I don't get the thought process and why Matt Patricia 166 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:50.909 thinks that this is how the personnel should be, you know, 167 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:55.220 being used. So again, here, the problem is it's second 168 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:58.940 and 12. You get into this mug linebacker look that are, 169 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.620 that even that makes even less sense because of where 170 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:05.159 Kenyatta Jackson's lined up. And of course, Oregon's able to 171 00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:11.029 run the ball and, You know, obviously some uninspiring play 172 00:09:12.190 --> 00:09:15.149 transpires from the moment the ball is snapped. But like, 173 00:09:15.509 --> 00:09:17.450 I don't think the players are

being put in a 174 00:09:17.490 --> 00:09:20.870 position to be successful. This is just another example of 175 00:09:20.909 --> 00:09:23.350 a defensive coordinator doing something just for the sake of 176 00:09:23.409 --> 00:09:25.559 doing it. And this is the result. 177 00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:29.539 Well, and the next play feels like it slides very 178 00:09:29.620 --> 00:09:31.820 neatly in right behind that, because this is one where 179 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:34.759 you've got both Quay Rousaw and Kenyatta Jackson out there 180 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:36.350 lined up. 181 00:09:36.299 --> 00:09:38.440 Kind of over slot receivers in space. 182 00:09:38.539 --> 00:09:40.919 And this is a little different from last time because 183 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:43.460 this time Kenyatta Jackson is over the guy to the boundary, 184 00:09:43.500 --> 00:09:44.799 so not the guy to the field. 185 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:46.750 So a different look here, I guess, sort of. 186 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:50.570 Yeah. I mean, if you look at this whole clip 187 00:09:50.610 --> 00:09:56.889 that we'll show, Oregon motions into an empty look. And 188 00:09:56.990 --> 00:09:58.909 that's why this is so interesting to me because they 189 00:09:58.970 --> 00:10:02.500 motion into empty. and that shows you that the way 190 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:06.000 Ohio State's defense adjusts to empty is not by moving 191 00:10:06.039 --> 00:10:09.019 on the back end like you would think someone would. 192 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:11.639 It's not by moving the safeties or by bumping the 193 00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:15.899 linebackers a little bit. No, they have their defensive ends 194 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:20.710 Kenyatta Jackson and Quay Russo bump out to be cover 195 00:10:20.730 --> 00:10:25.669 down players over top of slot receivers. Again, very strange. 196 00:10:26.470 --> 00:10:28.289 I guess obviously what they're trying to do here is 197 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:32.669 maintain this Tampa two look, but it's like, yeah, you're 198 00:10:32.690 --> 00:10:35.730 bumping your defensive ends out to be cover down players 199 00:10:35.789 --> 00:10:38.809 and play in space. And in turn, you're blitzing your 200 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:41.889 two linebackers. You've only got two defensive linemen on the 201 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:45.330 line of scrimmage. Once again, this is just very bizarre. 202 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:47.509 I don't understand the thought process behind this. 203 00:10:49.570 --> 00:10:51.529 All right, next up, this is one that I think 204 00:10:51.629 --> 00:10:54.590 probably everyone who is thinking, well, if they're going through 205 00:10:54.610 --> 00:10:56.490 a bunch of bad plays for the defense, I bet 206 00:10:56.509 --> 00:10:58.429 they're going to get to this one soon. Yeah, Michael, 207 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:03.360 it is third and 15. This was one that I 208 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.340 can't see that much from the field, and I have 209 00:11:06.399

--> 00:11:09.000 a terrible angle to view everything, but this was also 210 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:11.899 one where I can see from the field there's not 211 00:11:11.970 --> 00:11:14.629 a pass rush, and also there's a guy wide open 212 00:11:14.669 --> 00:11:16.509 in the middle of the field. How could that possibly 213 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:17.570 happen on the same play? 214 00:11:19.289 --> 00:11:21.450 Yeah, I mean, we don't need to even spend too 215 00:11:21.490 --> 00:11:26.009 much time on this one. To cover three play, and 216 00:11:26.409 --> 00:11:31.120 the drops are just egregiously long, which has been another 217 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.720 problem all year. So I don't know why that is. 218 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:38.539 I don't know if the linebackers had a tendency to 219 00:11:38.580 --> 00:11:40.779 drop too far. I don't know if James Laurinaitis is 220 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.610 teaching them to do that, or I don't know if 221 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:45.730 Matt Patricia is teaching them to do that. But yeah, 222 00:11:45.809 --> 00:11:48.700 it's third and 15, and These deep drops have been 223 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:52.549 a problem that's shown up multiple times throughout the year. 224 00:11:52.570 --> 00:11:56.690 And I think this was the play that probably brought 225 00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:59.289 it to light for a lot of people. But yeah, like, 226 00:11:59.309 --> 00:12:00.789 I don't know, there's really not much to say. This 227 00:12:00.809 --> 00:12:04.789 is just an extremely poor execution and just extremely over 228 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:07.000 the top to think you need to be getting this 229 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:07.539 much space. 230 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:11.970 All right. We got to talk about their alignment versus 231 00:12:12.149 --> 00:12:14.570 unbalanced formations. And I know this is something that we've 232 00:12:14.610 --> 00:12:16.870 talked about a little bit this year, but it seems 233 00:12:16.929 --> 00:12:19.250 like this is an issue that has sort of continued 234 00:12:19.289 --> 00:12:20.570 to pop up from time to time. 235 00:12:22.149 --> 00:12:27.580 And really it started last year. Like if I remember correctly, 236 00:12:28.100 --> 00:12:32.500 Michigan even had some success running unbalanced looks against Matt Patricia, 237 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:35.080 but it's been really bad this year. I mean, it 238 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:38.279 started with Texas and, They had trouble lining up properly 239 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:41.820 to unbalance looks. And then, you know, they had a 240 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:44.840 little bit of trouble again in the Illinois game. And 241 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:47.659 on Saturday, it was probably the worst it's been yet. 242 00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.960 I mean, like right here, you've got just to this, 243 00:12:52.519 --> 00:12:57.250 Oregon has all four of their non-QB, non-O-lineman, or excuse me, 244 00:12:57.309 --> 00:13:02.049 all five of their

non-QB, non-O-lineman players to one side 245 00:13:02.070 --> 00:13:05.450 of the formation. And Ohio State's only got three guys 246 00:13:05.549 --> 00:13:09.960 over there. So once again, to the defense's left, the 247 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:13.059 offense's right, you've got way too many guys over there 248 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.799 for the amount of actual threats that way. There aren't 249 00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:19.710 that many gaps over there. There aren't any receivers over there. 250 00:13:20.309 --> 00:13:23.450 And you do not have enough guys to deal with 251 00:13:23.590 --> 00:13:28.350 the number of eligible receivers and gaps to the offense's 252 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:31.649 left side and your right side of the formation. I 253 00:13:31.690 --> 00:13:34.690 don't know why Matt Patricia can't get a defense to 254 00:13:34.769 --> 00:13:40.100 properly line up to unbalanced formations. Like we're in week, 255 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:42.820 what was that? The ninth game of the year. And 256 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:45.840 it's still been this big of a problem. Like, I'm sorry, 257 00:13:45.860 --> 00:13:48.159 but this falls on coaching. That's just my view on it. 258 00:13:50.940 --> 00:13:53.350 It's been an, also a sort of an interesting mix 259 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:58.470 of they're playing very conservatively, very, very conservatively, very conservatively. 260 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:00.029 And then all of a sudden they get very aggressive 261 00:14:00.190 --> 00:14:03.960 and the strange thing against Oregon was it felt like 262 00:14:04.259 --> 00:14:07.340 Oregon knew when they were going to get aggressive and 263 00:14:07.379 --> 00:14:10.230 they just constantly hit them with screens in that moment. 264 00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:12.090 It was just kind of like the perfect play at 265 00:14:12.129 --> 00:14:16.590 the perfect time, several times in that game. This is 266 00:14:16.629 --> 00:14:19.879 an example of that, where you bring a bunch of pressure, 267 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:22.320 you give it, you get a, give up a screen 268 00:14:22.340 --> 00:14:23.240 and you get got. 269 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.059 Yeah. This has been another frustrating theme throughout the course 270 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:32.360 of the year. Uh, Trisha has often struggled to find 271 00:14:32.379 --> 00:14:38.759 the balance between doing nothing to generate pressure and doing 272 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:42.429 way too much to generate pressure. And I'm not saying 273 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:45.350 a nice cover zero blitz here and there is an issue, 274 00:14:45.409 --> 00:14:48.570 but this is just, just seeing them get burned on 275 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:52.269 cover zero here is just kind of like, it's just 276 00:14:52.330 --> 00:14:55.549 so symbolic of the way this season's been in terms 277 00:14:55.590 --> 00:15:00.289 of generating pressure. I mean, we just never see, pressure 278 00:15:00.330 --> 00:15:04.769 gets schemed open for this team and uh you know 279 00:15:04.830 --> 00:15:07.220 it's a problem there's there's got to be some middle 280 00:15:07.250 --> 00:15:13.279 ground answers between cage rushing three guys and a seven 281 00:15:13.299 --> 00:15:17.179 man cover zero blitz like that's not an unreasonable stance 282 00:15:17.220 --> 00:15:20.379 to have that's not that's there's just got to be 283 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:22.779 a middle ground and for some reason this deep into 284 00:15:22.820 --> 00:15:24.879 the season there still isn't and that's kind of what 285 00:15:24.899 --> 00:15:28.440 makes this so frustrating is you're hoping can you just 286 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:31.190 run like a cover uh I'll cover two steel blitz 287 00:15:31.250 --> 00:15:34.029 or something like that. But no, it just seems like 288 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:36.200 there's too much all or nothing when it comes to 289 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:37.419 scheming up pass rush. 290 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.340 And one more thing, promised this is the last one 291 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:45.000 on this good vibes edition of Scheme Insiders. This has 292 00:15:45.059 --> 00:15:46.980 been another thing that we've talked about a bunch this 293 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:48.379 year where it has felt like there have been a 294 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:50.639 bunch of times when they've had trouble getting lined up. 295 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:54.210 And this was another one where You just, you watch 296 00:15:54.330 --> 00:15:57.350 right at the start, right as Oregon snaps the ball, 297 00:15:57.389 --> 00:15:59.830 there's still guys kind of moving around and figuring out 298 00:15:59.870 --> 00:16:01.690 where they need to be. And they kind of get 299 00:16:01.769 --> 00:16:05.620 caught flat footed. And it's just an absolute walk in 300 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.039 touchdown from about seven, eight yards out. Yeah. 301 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:11.580 And once again, Oregon is in an unbalanced look here, 302 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:16.490 of course. But yeah, you know, you saw this multiple 303 00:16:16.529 --> 00:16:18.649 times throughout the game. You've seen it multiple times throughout 304 00:16:18.690 --> 00:16:21.779 the year. This team has a lot of trouble getting 305 00:16:21.820 --> 00:16:24.299 lined up properly. There's often a lot of confusion before 306 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.000 the snap. You know, we saw it bite them on 307 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.409 that big third and 18 play against USC. The team 308 00:16:30.450 --> 00:16:32.629 struggles getting lined up versus tempo. That's a problem that 309 00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:36.009 goes back to last year. So, yeah, like, I'm sorry, 310 00:16:36.029 --> 00:16:38.110 but a lot of this falls on coaching. That's just 311 00:16:38.169 --> 00:16:42.879 my view on it as to why guys are having 312 00:16:42.909 --> 00:16:45.320 so much trouble getting lined up. I don't know if 313 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:50.389 their responsibilities

are being communicated to them clearly enough. And 314 00:16:50.409 --> 00:16:55.919 I'll just now ease in to my overall view of 315 00:16:55.960 --> 00:17:02.659 this defense now. This defense just schematically and structurally and 316 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:07.200 the way personnel are used just doesn't really make sense 317 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:11.349 to me. I think there's just a lot of structural 318 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.549 things that don't make sense, such as having Kenyatta Jackson 319 00:17:14.569 --> 00:17:18.750 play in the role he's playing where he's like an 320 00:17:18.829 --> 00:17:24.380 apex to the field half the time is strange. We 321 00:17:24.430 --> 00:17:26.880 used to talk about it a lot earlier in the year, 322 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:28.819 but there's been so many times where it's looked like 323 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:34.200 the defense was not properly gapped out. So there's been 324 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:38.589 all sorts of structural problems. And what makes it worse 325 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:41.210 is that we're now kind of seeing like the down 326 00:17:41.250 --> 00:17:46.289 to down defensive play calling get really weird too. Again, 327 00:17:46.329 --> 00:17:49.269 I said this last week, and I maintain that the 328 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:52.490 defense against USC was not good, but they weren't awful. 329 00:17:53.150 --> 00:17:57.279 But my big criticism of last week's defense against USC 330 00:17:57.339 --> 00:18:01.380 was there's a lot of calls that really make it 331 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:04.140 seem like the defensive coordinator is just doing things for 332 00:18:04.180 --> 00:18:07.039 the sake of doing them, and that very much continued 333 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:10.089 on to Oregon. In a lot of ways, that's been 334 00:18:10.430 --> 00:18:12.190 kind of the theme of the year. It just sometimes 335 00:18:12.210 --> 00:18:15.690 seems like Matt Patricia is– throwing stuff at the wall 336 00:18:15.730 --> 00:18:18.359 and hoping something sticks. And the first time you saw 337 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:24.920 that was against Illinois. Illinois absolutely shredded this structure, this scheme, 338 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:29.259 all day. But later in the game, Patricia just started 339 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.460 throwing the house at them, and it still didn't work. 340 00:18:31.509 --> 00:18:34.329 He was just trying to hope something could work, but 341 00:18:35.009 --> 00:18:37.470 he couldn't get anything to work. I mean, so I 342 00:18:37.490 --> 00:18:40.380 don't know. I don't really... I don't have a lot 343 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:42.599 of faith in this defense right now, and it's not 344 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:44.900 because I think the talent isn't good enough, to be honest. 345 00:18:45.019 --> 00:18:49.589 I don't think the structure and the play calling on 346 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:53.009 defense are anywhere near where they need to be, and 347 00:18:53.029 --> 00:18:54.549 I feel

like it's a little late in the year 348 00:18:54.630 --> 00:18:57.769 for some sort of mass reset. So, yeah, I mean, 349 00:18:58.730 --> 00:19:02.130 the future of the Ohio State defense right now, both 350 00:19:02.170 --> 00:19:05.470 short-term and long-term, is just a little concerning to me. 351 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:07.700 That's kind of the best way I'd put it. 352 00:19:09.089 --> 00:19:10.609 Well, and I did want to ask you about the 353 00:19:10.690 --> 00:19:15.869 very short term, the very immediate term this weekend against Northwestern. 354 00:19:15.890 --> 00:19:20.250 I feel like there's always lots of conversation about, oh, 355 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:24.660 NFL guys versus college guys and the adjustments to the 356 00:19:24.700 --> 00:19:27.980 hash marks and all that kind of stuff. This weekend 357 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:33.950 feels like a NFL guy versus college offense kind of 358 00:19:34.009 --> 00:19:37.069 thing where I would bet that Matt Patricia has not 359 00:19:37.109 --> 00:19:40.509 had to deal with at least some of the specifics 360 00:19:40.549 --> 00:19:41.990 of some of this stuff, some of the, you know, 361 00:19:42.029 --> 00:19:45.329 some of the fundamental stuff, like, yeah, it's similar throughout 362 00:19:45.430 --> 00:19:48.670 every level of college, every level of football, but you know, when, 363 00:19:48.789 --> 00:19:51.480 when Chip Kelly is like, digging way into the 1943 364 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:55.920 Iowa pre-flight playbook, like he is this year, like that 365 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:59.259 feels like Matt Patricia is going to be facing stuff. 366 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:04.640 He's not seen in years or decades coming up against 367 00:20:04.700 --> 00:20:08.259 his defense. Like, does that, Does that seem like a 368 00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:08.900 little bit of. 369 00:20:08.859 --> 00:20:09.839 A concern to you? 370 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.579 And we don't know if Aiden Childs, the Northwestern quarterback, 371 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:16.880 is going to play, but it just feels like schematically 372 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:19.599 you're going to face some weird stuff that you have 373 00:20:19.660 --> 00:20:21.559 not necessarily had to deal with before. 374 00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:25.660 Yeah, I mean, you've got to think about it. Matt 375 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:28.329 Patricia's entire career as a defensive coordinator has been in 376 00:20:28.349 --> 00:20:31.230 the NFL, and then he's got about a season and 377 00:20:32.410 --> 00:20:36.400 three-fourths in college. I don't know that he's ever had 378 00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:38.759 to prepare for Flexbone. I don't know that he's ever 379 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.380 had to prepare for Wing T. We've seen Chip Kelly 380 00:20:42.500 --> 00:20:45.190 use both of those things this year. In addition to 381 00:20:45.250 --> 00:20:47.690 all sorts of other wonky stuff that you just wouldn't 382 00:20:47.769 --> 00:20:51.269 see in the NFL, people often talk about the college 383 00:20:51.309 --> 00:20:54.869 versus NFL guys. Every now and again, you'll hear people 384 00:20:54.890 --> 00:20:58.029 think that the NFL guys have this schematic advantage over 385 00:20:58.089 --> 00:21:01.190 college coordinators. I've actually never really been on that train. 386 00:21:01.509 --> 00:21:05.740 I think they're two completely different games. If anything, The 387 00:21:05.779 --> 00:21:13.950 college coordinators have more experience preparing for less typical stuff, 388 00:21:14.150 --> 00:21:18.630 you would say. So, yeah, I mean, I'm very, very 389 00:21:18.670 --> 00:21:20.789 concerned about what the defense is going to look like 390 00:21:21.470 --> 00:21:26.369 against Chip Kelly's scheme this Saturday. I don't– I think– 391 00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:28.559 I mean, I've been concerned about this for weeks, and 392 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.180 now it's finally here, and I'm just thinking, like, I 393 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:35.640 don't know what they're going to do. I mean, because– 394 00:21:36.420 --> 00:21:39.069 you know, again, it's not something that Matt Patricia has 395 00:21:39.109 --> 00:21:42.160 ever had to prepare for. So definitely something to look for, 396 00:21:43.089 --> 00:21:46.670 see how they do once Northwestern starts getting into their 397 00:21:46.750 --> 00:21:49.349 flex bone stuff. But yeah, it'll be interesting. 398 00:21:50.890 --> 00:21:52.789 All right. Well, we'll one way or the other, we'll 399 00:21:52.829 --> 00:21:56.089 be back next week to talk about that with Michael. 400 00:21:56.309 --> 00:21:58.670 You want to talk about things with Michael and Ross 401 00:21:58.730 --> 00:22:01.509 and Justin before then you can do that at Buckeye insiders. 402 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:04.470 Our insiders board has been buzzing this week. There's been 403 00:22:04.490 --> 00:22:06.769 a whole lot to talk about. We would love to 404 00:22:06.829 --> 00:22:08.769 talk about it with you as well. You can join 405 00:22:08.829 --> 00:22:13.640 us there at buckeyeinsiders.com. Just click on subscribe, get access 406 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.980 to our whole team of insiders, our really fun community, 407 00:22:16.180 --> 00:22:19.779 and lots of great events this month. You've already missed 408 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:22.799 our tailgate, our member tailgate. 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