Buckeye Weekly: Could The Buckeyes Be Relying On A Pair Of True Freshmen Against Penn State?

In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr recap Wednesday night interviews at Ohio State, featuring head coach Ryan Day, quarterback Kyle McCord, wide receiver Marvin Harrison, and many more.

They discuss a particular message that Day has for McCord, what the Buckeyes will do if Emeka Egbuka and Denzel Burke cannot play, they answer a number of questions from the viewers of the live stream, and discuss many other topics throughout the show.

You can find a full, automated (and unedited) transcript below the video player.

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Tony Gerdeman 0:00
Hello everybody. Welcome to the Buckeye weekly podcast. I am Tony Gerdeman. Here as always, with Tom Orr. Tom, please Stop fiddling. How’s it going?

Tom Orr 0:11
Oh, Tony, Kevin’s not here tonight. So we have to figure this out on our own which fiddle away. Well, if you’re listening and wondering why does it sound terrible or watching and wondering what is this look terrible? Well, Kevin’s not here for making

Tony Gerdeman 0:24
do this is a Wednesday night session we talked with I’m not going to get everybody Ryan day Concord Tyreke Williams, Marvin Harrison Davidson, Nick, Ben Olsen, Jordan Hancock, Kate Stover.

Tom Orr 0:39
Davey Johnson, Donovan Jackson. I’m

Tony Gerdeman 0:41
gonna say Donald Jackson and that is that everybody Cody Simon. I didn’t get over to Cody’s yet. Okay, it I did not see him but a big crew. This is a new thing that we’re doing on Wednesdays now with Ryan day. I don’t know if we’re going to continue to do it. But that Thursday, lightning round has been moved to Wednesday. So we got him for 10 minutes. And of course, immediately, questions were asked about the health of the guys namely Mecca. Buka. Denzel Burke. We I did see I saw treyvion Henderson and mind waves walk in look like they had been practicing. I did not get a look at I did not find Denzel. I did not find a mecca. But day was typical. On the Internet free. Yeah.

Tom Orr 1:19
And the questions were I think at this point, everyone sort of knows if you just asked, So what’s the deal with a What’s the latest on the health of fill in the blank? You’re going to get? Yeah, we’ll find out. You know, we’ll all find out together on Saturday when we released the availability report. And frankly, I think he may have more information like I don’t think he’s waiting for that. I don’t want to call anyone a wire. But so the questions were more framed as so if a mecca can’t go, would that be more of an opportunity for Cornell Tate? And if Denzel Burke isn’t able to go would that be more of an opportunity for Jermaine Matthews and of the two wife that sounded I mean, were you were there? Did you go? Did you get the sense that maybe it is more Cornell Tate than Jermaine Matthews?

Tony Gerdeman 2:05
Well, and Ryan day said cartel tape, I don’t have the exact words but cartel tape needs to be ready to go needs to go. And I’m writing this down in the notes. You can find it on Bucha huddle.com. But as I’m writing it, I realized if I don’t put more context here about the injury, it’s just gonna sound like Ryan day answers a question about a mecca Buka and says cartel take needs to be ready to go. And that’s not exactly how it was. But he did say at this point that the other point that I liked, he said, This is the time of the season where you start seeing the freshmen who are going to be really good and become great sophomores start to emerge during their freshman seasons. Garrett Wilson, Chris olave, a Jaxon Smith-Njigba never really had this because he wasn’t a COVID Freshman. So he never really had this opportunity. But we’re starting to see that. So I saw that from Cornell Tate last week. I at this point, we’ve talked about it before he is now to the point where he can they can put him in at any time. Yeah, that’s pretty good for freshmen.

Tom Orr 2:59
Yeah, he feels like someone who he could get a start with the top three wide receivers all healthy and whether that’s them, starting with full wide receiver formation, or maybe he jumped someone in line or whatever. I couldn’t see that happening. At some point this season. I’m you know, I’m not expecting him to beat Marvin Harrison out for the position or whatever. But that wouldn’t completely shocked me if, and even if that was just like, well, just for the first drive. And then whoever else comes in for the second drive. It just wouldn’t completely shocked me because it feels like he has earned his way into that mix at this point. And that’s, you go back over the years. And just thinking back to you know, when did Marvin Harrison really got on the field and first really got noticed in like the Indiana game, which was kind of like a late October kind of game in a spin move on a catch there. Garrett Wilson, you know, he scored late in the Miami game when it was 76 to five, but he really started getting on the field more late September, early to mid October crystal Ave, kind of the same basic timetable. This just this sort of feels like about the time when, if it’s going to happen, you usually start to see signs that it’s about to happen sometime around now.

Tony Gerdeman 4:11
Well, and I think it was happening. I think we’re seeing that and so it’s only natural that it continues now doesn’t mean there’s gonna be three or four catches every week. But you’re you’re gonna see him throughout the game. And it’s not just in the so called Garbage Time. The other side of the ball with Jermaine Matthews if Denzel Burke isn’t ready to go, Jermaine Matthews is basically the next man in it just depends on how much they want to put Jordan Hancock outside versus inside so you could see it wouldn’t be crazy to see Jermaine Matthew starting outside this week starting the game, putting a quarter of Denzel Burt can’t go because he played 25 snaps I think most of those outside Jordan all of those outside of Jordan Hancock came in and started played some outside when dunzo Burt was out but mostly played inside so I just President how they are preparing this week. are they preparing for Jermaine Matthews to play? Or are they preparing Jordan Hancock more on the outside? Because I also think this is a game where Jordan Hancock might be used more outside than inside with Penn State style of offense other than the third and Long’s. Yeah,

Tom Orr 5:16
you know, could you just put sunny style things inside and you put kicked Jordan Hancock outside Hancock was asked about that and said, basically, I practice plenty outside. It’s not you know, that he hasn’t forgotten how to play outside just because he’s been playing inside, in that kind of Nichols slash safety slash slot corner kind of role for most of the season. He didn’t sound like that was going to be a big concern from his end. And you know, if that makes sense, he that’s where they sort of recruited him to play. And so, you know, he’s got plenty of experience there. Jr. Brown is still I mean, was banged up last week, right? That’s

Unknown Speaker 5:50
right. Yeah. He was out. He’s

Tom Orr 5:52
out last week. Yeah. I was just kind of going through the injury list from last week in my head and trying to remember if he was on and I was pretty sure he was. So yeah, that’s why he’s not potentially in that in that conversation.

Tony Gerdeman 6:02
Everybody loves Jermaine Matthews, Marvin Harrison was asked about him said, he’s got all the confidence in the world, basically, like this is a kid who came in and has been competing from day one. And Marvin Harrison doesn’t say this. He doesn’t say like, I’m Marvin Harrison. And Miss Kitty, you know, but and I approved this message. But like, he came in and challenged Marvin Harrison challenge everybody. And that’s one of the things Jim Knowles loves about him talking to David Snigdha noson about me Sunday, like he has so much talent. And he’s continues to get better and is a was a energetic guy. That’s something that Jim Knowles also said, but they all are confident that he’s going to if he needs to play he can play he’s still just a true freshman. But at this point, I think Ryan day has said it true freshmen when you’ve been in the spring, which Jermaine Matthews was, I know he’s told some guys that you are no longer freshmen. I think he’s wonderful. Yeah, I

Tom Orr 6:55
think so for sure. And you know, this is not just us. retconning this either, if you go back to when we did the black stripe draft in the spring, who were the first two guys off the board was a titan Matthew remain Matthews and Cornell Tate. I mean, this is this has kind of been you have sort of seen this coming for months and months now. And it’s just, yeah, you’re not really freshmen anymore. But I mean, you’re still kind of freshmen, you know, you are literally still freshmen. But these are guys who have sort of, you know, it’s like Chutes and Ladders and they’ve taken a couple of ladders and all of a sudden all the rest of the classes on space eight, they’re on space 23 And then they get another one and up now they’re up at 45 and you can sort of you know, if you stay ahead of the curve, you can get on the field before other guys look Montgomery’s another guy like this where yeah, he’s just he’s not starting, but he’s in that buffalo package and was from day one as a true freshman as an offensive lineman. That is you know, that’s the my kids are outgrown chutes and ladders for a number of years but there’s a big letter somewhere from about 15 to like 84 That’s like that ladder so there are plenty of you know there are plenty guys on this team who are stepping up to fill some holes and you know some of that is hey, you need a six offensive lineman kind of guy for that package and some of it as well guys guys hurt next man up sometimes that next man up as a freshman yeah and

Tony Gerdeman 8:13
they’re they’re no longer freshmen but they’re still going through things for the first time like this is gonna be the biggest game that these guys played in Ohio Stadium. I think the atmosphere at Notre Dame the situation at Notre Dame helps all of their raises all of their experience level the bars are you no longer there. So they have that experience. But this is gonna be a new one gets to big 10 opponent a as Capcom record said arrival, so it’s going to be new even though they have some experience to build on. The last thing I want to talk about with Ryan day talking about the time of possession concerns everybody concerns Jim Knowles concerns Ryan day because Penn State will take their time they will they have been the beneficiary of some really bad quarterback play. I think they had four interceptions against Illinois opposing teams typically Yes, we’ll get to the dollar later on in the week perhaps. But the they they intercepted it I was quarterbacks they they sacked and forced fumbles. I was watching the Iowa game today and Kate McNamara throws a pass it’s way over thrown and it hits the ground before a Penn State defender can intercept and you see McNamara in the background. It’s like complete complete. Like that’s that’s never a good sign when you’ve got you get a quarterback like immediately saying that’s an incomplete pass. But these are the offenses that Penn State has faced which has given their own offense the ball to just pound and pound and just go station to station. And I’ll be interested to we’ll talk about this many more times. But how don’t even need to get into it tonight. But Jim Knowles talking about getting Penn State off schedule. We talked about that yesterday, and it’s gonna be interesting to see how they do

Tom Orr 9:52
that. Yeah, they have been such an efficient offense. They haven’t been explosive in any real way. But they’ve been efficient and it just stayed on schedule and it’s been In sec, you know, first and 10 second and 4/3 and one first intent and you’re just you’re picking up your, you know more than half of what you need to get. And that’s it, you stay on schedule, you score your you know, you keep the chains moving, you hang on to the football, keep your defense off the field. What I’m going to be interested to see is when they’re playing a team that is going to probably score, you know, I don’t want to go overboard, but I think Ohio State probably has a better offense than either UMass or Iowa, for example. Northwestern, probably, it’s going to be interesting to see, Northwestern Penn State has really not had to make the big plays. They’ve been able to just sort of go station to station play small ball. Just kind of turn the clock. Not show a whole heck of a lot. I mean, I have not you’ve watched more Penn State than I have, but I don’t get the sense that they’ve gone crazy. It’s been, you know, Jeff Franklin talked about this week. He you know, he was asked about the lack of explosive past plays. And his response was about the fact that hey, the you dream of having a quarterback who’s willing to inject doubt no one dreams of taking a check on everyone when they’re little dreams are throwing the deep ball. Chicks dig the long ball. Tony, there was a commercial back in the 90s that told me that they

Unknown Speaker 11:19
would check downs. You I’d

Tom Orr 11:21
have to ask Tom Glavine pragmatics I don’t remember. But they they have just to have a quarterback who is willing to do that. And James Franklin talked about five minutes like this is a good thing. People are talking to you and this is a bad thing. I think it’s a good thing with Ohio State’s defense being probably better able to cover better able to get pressure better able to potentially stop the run, maybe get Penn State off schedule. You wonder, are they going to have to press a little bit more does that lead to mistakes or is this Penn State’s been sandbagging a little bit all year? Because they haven’t really needed to do more than that? Yeah, that’s

Tony Gerdeman 11:54
we’re all gonna find out that together. Any What did you have?

Tom Orr 11:58
What are your run? Yeah, I was running all over the place I had to calm record was the last guy Kyle McCord obviously got asked multiple times in a six minute span about to being a Pennsylvania high school player who state he was at the 2018 Ohio State Penn State game as a recruit. He was a PE at Penn State offer at the time, not an Ohio State offer. So he you know, said he, you know, he I think he probably was wearing a white hoodie. I’m going to guess at that game and probably rooting for Penn State. And, you know, he said he watched Dwayne Haskins lead that Ohio State offense and he said, you know, he had not necessarily you know, he didn’t necessarily view Ohio State as a great fit because prior to that, it was a lot of you know, JT Barrett or Braxton Miller or guys like that, who were not necessarily Kyle McCord style pastures. Dwayne Haskins is a little more of a common court style passer so he said he watched that game it was huh. Penn State he said was the second choice. He but he said you know when he got the green light from Ryan day to commit he was not I don’t think it was a real serious debate at that point. But now he has he said he’s played high school ball for you know, with and against plenty guys on that Penn State team. So, you know, anytime you’re playing a game like that, on top of all the other reasons this game is a consequential thing. That also is going to be a little bit of extra juice for him. I’m

Tony Gerdeman 13:13
sure he mentioned that green light and I immediately thought, well, this is not going to be the last time we talked about that green light that’ll come up Michigan week. Gee, Tony, why the why is because Kyle McCarthy was given the green light to commit and Jim McCarthy was not given the green light to commit to Ohio State. And I know that may have caused some rough feelings for the McCarthy family. I don’t know I’m sure it’s water under the bridge doesn’t bother McCarthy at all anymore. He’s doing just fine. Perhaps a revenge tour. 2.0 for Michigan, we’ll see.

Tony Gerdeman 13:44
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Tony Gerdeman 14:44
But McCord was talking about the amount of blitzes that he faced against Purdue, and so they brought 567 Just about every single snap so well, Penn State plays a different defense. Just being that with that kind of pressure forces you to deal with that and that helps you along the way. So But he felt he’s done pretty well with blitzes. And I think if you looked at the advanced metrics and the stats like that, that bears out, they’re one of the better teams against the Blitz, and he’s doing a good job, it helps to just be able to, you know, you know what I’m gonna find more of, and that’s gonna help me and that’s I don’t know what that up on that one is like, 715.

Tom Orr 15:16
Yeah, I have I did that I have not looked up no stats, particularly Ohio State’s offense against the Blitz comm record against the Blitz. But he said, you know, regardless of what the stats say, he feels like they’ve done a pretty good job. And he said, That’s not just he does a good job as the receivers get off the line and get, you know, can get open and get downfield. The line, he said it very willing to stick their face in there. Give him that extra second, because a lot of times that’s the difference between the guy gets there or the guy doesn’t get there. I think about how many times over the years, Ohio State’s defensive line has almost gotten there, but not quite. And the difference between that and you do get there and you hit throwing arm and it’s a fumble, and it’s a scoop and score whatever it is that half second, that second can be the difference between a touchdown one way and a touchdown the other way. Yeah.

Tony Gerdeman 16:04
Talking to Marvin Harrison. Eventually people got around to talking about it asking about his drops. You know, it’s the D word with Marvin Harrison’s drops last week, he said that, what was it the weather was like, there’s no excuse. You know, he said, If any incompletion that is thrown to him, he considers a drop. So that’s the kind of standard that he lives up to. And he said that he’s talking about the quarters, I feel like I’m never playing up to my standard, because my standard is perfection. So like I relate, in many ways to layouts, but I also don’t ever play up to my standard. That’s the part time

Tom Orr 16:39
you don’t ever play up to my standards. But speaking of Marvin Harrison, I’m just going to pan this over there. You’re never gonna believe it. But Marvin Harrison is working on the monarch machine right over there. He and restocks Dale are out there right now, working on that.

Tony Gerdeman 16:52
He talked about how much he was bothered by those drops, because so the thing that hurt mostly because he’s prepared. He believes he’s the hardest working player in college football. And when you have something like that, he wasn’t going to blame anything on the weather or anything like that. Just disappointing, because he knows he obviously could do better just like everybody else does. But he’s also prepared to do better. And it didn’t work out.

Tom Orr 17:11
Yeah, he you know, and I think the standard for him is so high right now he was not on the mid season all American list for someone or other I don’t know who someone put out in midseason all American was this week. And Marvin Harrison, which wasn’t on there, which Yeah, okay. But I mean, that’s, you know, the standard is, well, this guy should just be making and why isn’t this guy making the one foot in bounds one foot six feet out of bounds out of bounds? gravity defying catch? Why isn’t he doing that three times again? And, you know, he’s, he has had, I think if you’ve watched him, you recognize like he lost a touchdown on a bad penalties as a big 10 said was a bad penalty. And I think theme first in Indiana game and then maybe lost another one later on another penalty, and then had another one that got overturned on replay. And so he you know, he his stat line is not what it probably could be or it’s very close to being. But you know, I when you were drawing up a defense to face this year’s Ohio State team, where does the defensive plan start?

Tony Gerdeman 18:12
Yeah, it starts with him. And that’s where I think James Franklin said exactly that it starts with Marvin Harrison when he talks about the Ohio State skill positions. And he The thing I like about James Franklin every year, or every time you listen to him, like when he previews the game held right rattle through all of these names, like, it’s not one of these coaches, like number 14, number three, like he’ll give you their names and where they’re from maybe a family member as well. And I mean, he even knew Jaden Fielding. So it’s like he’s he studies this stuff. And obviously, it starts with Marvin, talking about his body control and the way he can just do, he’s a physical guy, but he’s also quick. He compared him to like, you know, it’s kind of like John Dotson, but six feet three, right, instead of, you know, six foot or whatever. And that’s the kind of difficult matchup that he poses, especially when he’s catching the ball.

Tom Orr 18:59
Yeah, and I would not expect a big issue with catching the ball again this weekend. That seems like you know that I would be pretty surprised if that was a more than one week thing. And I saw a question in the chat earlier about like the weather for the Saturday. Last I saw the weather forecast for this weekend was basically what the weather forecast for last weekend was at this time of the week, which was, yeah, I don’t know. Maybe it’s going to rain. Maybe it’s not 40% chance of rain. 50% chance of rain in the afternoon, which is really helpful information in that either it’s going to rain or it’s not. That’s what 50% chance of rain, man. So yeah, last week, the weather forecasts got better and better throughout the week to the point that Saturday morning we were driving over to the game and went Oh, good. There’s no rain, no rain at all in the forecast. It’s great. And then it rained for basically the entire last two thirds of the game.

Tony Gerdeman 19:46
Yeah, looking right now Cloudy with occasional showers Tom so chance rain 40% cover our bases. Bring your poncho bring your umbrella. bring you anything to prepare for the weather so that the weather will Hold off. That’s usually how it goes. Yeah. Do we have questions? We want to get some questions. Do you have anything else to cut? We’ve

Tom Orr 20:04
seen it. I did not have anything else glaring. I was at Ryan day for a good chunk of it and then talked about Jordan Hancock already talked about Kyle McCord already. So if you guys have questions, feel free to leave. Leave those in the chat for us. We will go through those for you. Also, make sure to hit that thumbs up for us. We would appreciate that. JJ says hope everyone is having a good evening from Kentucky. MC chickens. Hello. Yes, there’s Frank’s question about the weather. Yes, how most heroes is supposed to be some drizzle that morning. Not sure if we’ll move out before kickoff. hemsson low to mid 50s for the game yet same sounds about

Tony Gerdeman 20:39
Yeah, like that was last week. I don’t think anybody expected like you said it to rain as much as it did last week. Again. In the press box. It was fine. But I didn’t notice there’s

Tom Orr 20:47
some sprinkles. Things like chickens is asking about the Twitter thing again. I left a comment in the YouTube a couple of weeks ago or a week or two ago. I don’t know what your YouTube your Twitter handle is. I’m blocked like five people on Twitter ever show. I thought I found someone who I thought was you and unblock them but if that was not you’ll have to leave it out there on the Sierra. You have to let me know in the comments. What your name is on Twitter. treasured the tourists is what’s up everyone hello treasure see you homeless hero wants to know was a mecca out there today. I guess let’s circle back on the injury situation again. After practice you we there kind of streaming in as we’re also trying to set up our interview. It’s hectic, it gets a little hectic. What was your What did you see?

Tony Gerdeman 21:26
I saw treyvion Henderson in mind when he was walking in with the running backs. I did not see chip with them. But I saw you know validating and scout team running back. I saw the some of the receivers come in did not see a Mecca with them. I did not see Denzel Burke with a couple of the quarters as they walked in. So the guys that probably a Mecca and Denzel Burg at this point, well, shouldn’t we’re not going to rule them out. But I’m not going to rule them in at this point, I guess is what we would say. So I would expect them to be getting ready for other people to play. Yeah, but it’s also this is Wednesday, right? It’s

Tom Orr 22:05
Wednesday. If they’re not practicing tomorrow, they’re probably not in playing would be my guess. But the Ryan day was asked about a mecca Buka. And, you know, sounds like Cardinal Tate maybe gets more of those reps if a mecca Buka doesn’t go if Denzel Burke doesn’t go. It’s maybe Jimmy Matthews outside and Jordan Hancock in the slot or maybe it’s Jordan Hancock outside and like Sonny Stiles in the slot. We’ll see. Jordan capital wants to know, what’s the status of Tommy Togiai. There is a deep cut for you. Jeremiah Yoder says, Hey, guys, I say Ohio State has an 80 plus 80% plus chance to win on Saturday. What do you all say?

Tony Gerdeman 22:41
Hey, that’s too high for me. Yeah, but I have been watching a lot of Penn State and the more I watch I for state college.com. I was doing a q&a with Ben Jones, but they’d be writing for state college.com. And, you know, he’s giving me questions. I’m giving them answers. Then the last question is, score predictions are terrible. It’s not fair to ask, but give me one. I was like I did this last night Tuesday, which is way too early, but I went 2420. And then the more I watch Penn State, I’m thinking they’re gonna need a defense, I think to Penn State will need a defense to create a short field to get to that 20. I think that’s very possible. Yeah, with the way they get after the quarterback that has nothing Kaiba corps we didn’t touch on talked about ball security and man being strong with the ball in the pocket, because he is going to get pressured. And the I’m going to have to go through and look at all the Penn State scoring drives to see how many 40 yards and under drives they have. Because as Jim Knowles and Ryan day both said Penn State leads the nation in number of plays in the redzone this year. And that’s not because they’re driving 70 yards to it. That’s because they’re driving 15 yards to it.

Tom Orr 23:44
Yeah, he talked about that in terms of being a complementary stat where it’s like, oh, that sounds like a great play a great stat for the offense. And it’s like, Well, the reason is, yeah, they don’t have to go 80 yards to get there. They’re sometimes they’re playing Iowa, and they just get handed the ball in the red zone.

Tony Gerdeman 23:58
If Ohio State doesn’t turn it over. I’m still not gonna go 80%. But, you know, I’m north of 60.

Tom Orr 24:05
Yeah, I mean, if you tell me, Ohio State, you know, Ohio State doesn’t turn the ball over, I would say yeah, north of 60% chance. I think there’s a lot that we don’t know about Penn State. I think that anytime you can make big plays, I think, you know, in a way that no one that Penn State has played yet this year, Kennedy has been able to make big plays on offense if you can make big plays in Ohio State can through the passing game especially. I think that you know, you pop one of those in what I’m expecting to be a low scoring game. That’s that’s a game changer pop one big play. I think, you know, drooler has been very solid so far. Very solid but unspectacular say he’s, he has not turned the ball over which is that’s good. I mean, that’s for a true freshman quarter. Not a true freshman a first year starting quarterback. If you’re true, if you Your first year starter quarterback has not turned the ball over an interception. That’s good as a coach, you’re going to take that. And so far he has not been asked to make bigger plays, they’ve been okay with being a little bit of a check down quarterback and being a little bit of a game manager. And, you know, we talked earlier about the fact that James Franklin sort of bristled at both of those terms and was like, No, that’s what we want him to do. We want him to be playing it safe. You dream about having a quarterback who’s willing to take the safe play, protect the football, if he has to do more than that. And he has to do that on the road. And he has to do that against the best defenses plays played. And he has to do that and it’s maybe raining a little bit and he has to do that against, you know, a secondary that has been pretty opportunistic this year. I think there’s a chance that goes pear shaped form. I I still think this is a very close, relatively low scoring game. Yeah, so

Tony Gerdeman 25:52
do I. I think if Jermaine Matthews is out there, maybe they sit, they take some shots at him, because Yep, that is their, that would be their best hope. Also, maybe take some shots at David something Minosa expecting maybe a flag or two. So you take you throw 40 yard pass for a 15 yard penalty.

Tom Orr 26:07
Yep. Jeremiah, he understands. Okay, how about a 70% plus chance of Ohio State winning this game? Who has a better defense Penn State or Maryland? We all know how the Maryland game ended up. I mean, I think there’s a I think this is a better defense in Maryland, for sure. Yeah.

Tony Gerdeman 26:23
I mean, statistically, it’s the best defense in the nation. But statistically it should, based on the number of the offensive they’ve placed. They played Chris shock

Tom Orr 26:32
says, is there an overall vibe from the folks you spoke to confident, respectful of kittens trepidation? I mean, everyone is always very respectful this time of year. I mean, James Franklin, I did if you are on the Buckeye weekly podcast feed. If you go back one show on this, I did a bonus episode today where I just went through James Franklin’s press conference because I wanted to listen to it and I always love listening to him. Talk about football. He just, you know, when when we’re dividing up you know, obviously when a cover Ryan day pick and Ed days, we’re gonna go cover Jim Harbaugh begin media days, we’re gonna go cover James Franklin at Big 10 media days. I always raised my hand you go do the Jim Franklin one because I just I loved it. And did Franklin I think people who just know him as the guy who sometimes screws up the way game clock stuff. And the guy who yelled about them not being a lead a couple of years ago, and that’s all they know about James Franklin, very thoughtful guy really like talking to very honest and we’ll just do he’ll he will give you his honest on stuff. Yeah, he will talk and he is he talks like a human being. He’s someone you talked to him and you’re like, oh, yeah, I get why kids want to come play for him. 100%. So if you go back one show in this podcast, feed it in Buckeye weekly, you can find a whole show with like 30 minutes of James Franklin talking about a bunch of different stuff. But, you know, he talks he was going through the different Ohio State players and kind of run it through to talk about how much respect they have for all these different guys. And that’s kind of the tone of this week. No one wants to say anything that ends up on the bulletin board somewhere else. So, you know, that’s kind of that’s kind of the tone. I don’t I mean, I don’t think anyone seems no height. No, I

Tony Gerdeman 27:59
think I haven’t seen too much from from the Penn State side because we’re covering Ohio State side. But I mean, they’re all in a good mood totally claims joking around, you know, calm record doesn’t seem pressed at all. I think going through as Ryan day said they have scars from last year. Going through that in this is a veteran team going through the Notre Dame game. This is not just another game, but in a sense, it is another game. It’s the next game. Yeah. So I think the it’s not bigger than it’s not too big for them and maybe playing it at noon helps.

Tom Orr 28:34
Yeah, we are and it’s going to be you know, I mean, it’s gonna be a good atmosphere. It’s not going to be a prime time white out atmosphere. I mean, the atmosphere at Penn State last year was not the prime time white out atmosphere just a noon game you just can’t quite make into a primetime game. I did forget Donovan Jackson was asked what his favorite time of game day to play games was. He said he liked free 30 Because you’re not getting up too early. But also you can get home and watch the late games. I assume he meant the Buckeye Buckeye huddle postgame show but no I mean he he had to you know, be diplomatic in front of all the other media outlets. Ohio State

Tony Gerdeman 29:11
is asking fans to get to campus and get to the game early get to your seats early Ryan day has been adamant that the fans can have an impact on this game. So if you’d rather just complain that Ohio State you know, last edit your fault get there early and try to help them win I guess is what Ohio State is saying.

Tom Orr 29:30
Yeah. And as someone who is routinely get here or from about eight o’clock or before for the noon kickoffs against like Youngstown State Your life will be better yes get in and get parked and just wander around and hang out and whatever. If you don’t have to deal with traffic and that is a good thing. So I gates your opening two hours before kickoff, which I thought was the normal time thing like that.

Tony Gerdeman 29:53
Yeah, I had somebody asked me about parking. Like I can park wherever I want to because I get here early enough. I get there early and you’re gonna be okay

Tony Gerdeman 30:00
yep

Tom Orr 30:02
Thomas for said he says our hasn’t had to make a play all season that can’t be a good thing for Penn State.

Tony Gerdeman 30:07
Well and the thing is you don’t know until they have they’re forced to do it so we found that out about kava cord we have not found that out about drew Owler yet and we may one way or the other

Tom Orr 30:18
yeah it does it does feel like this is going to be a little bit of a crucible for both of those guys. I mean, Concord obviously had to come out and win that Notre Dame game and did and you know, you go you see the throw to America but get down to the one and it’s like, wow, that was you know, that was like a Heisman caliber throw and then go back a couple plays before then it was like oh boy, and probably good for him that the Notre Dame defender dropped the pass he had two hands on because otherwise that that game ends very different human

Tony Gerdeman 30:44
defenders caught as many passes as they should have this year Common Core probably has four or five interceptions and so he’s gonna have to be careful but he can’t be so careful that you’re not aggressive.

Tom Orr 30:56
The CT Foster says is the blocking for QB run schemes like we saw with thrown easier than blocking in other situations. I mean, the thing that Tony I’m going to channel my Urban Meyer and say running with a quarterback gives you a plus one in the run game and so you do have an extra body and like for example, on the Devon brown touchdown, they that you’ll you will see this on the show I did with Ross Fulton that dropped earlier this afternoon on the buckeyes tomorrow morning feed. talked about the fact that it looks like that’s a zone replay the first touchdown the Devon brown scores. It looks like it’s a zone replay. And he keeps it it’s actually designed is almost like a fake zone replay. Now I’m forgetting what the I think it was a pop something. Ross had the Ross is a smart football. Yes, not me. So listen to that episode on the buckeyes tomorrow morning. But you sort of fakes the give to chip train him and then chip train him takes off as a lead blocker for him. So you do have an extra blocker there. If the quarterback is the one with the football, and the running back is running ahead of them, as opposed to the running backs, you know, having the ball and then the quarterback just standing there. So that does help with that numbers there on that run game. Let’s see. Lafayette says bucks 2416.

Tony Gerdeman 32:05
I think that’s very doable. Yeah, I think the redzone success is going to dictate a lot in this game,

Tom Orr 32:11
treasure the Tauruses? I never really predict score. But I have Ohio State by 14 points. I mean, that’s certainly possible. I wouldn’t feel comfortable picking Ohio State by 14 points, mostly because I think, you know, I mean, it is far from a 8020 kind of game that they win. And, you know, if you pick Ohio State to win by 14 points, I think the implied win probability there is something like 70 75%. That feels high to me. It’s probably, you know, I could certainly see there are certainly plenty scenarios where they where that happens. And there’s a scenario where Ohio State loses by 10 to but I just I think everything about this game to me, screams close and low scoring. And everyone is real stressed out at about three o’clock on their couch or in the stadium.

Tony Gerdeman 32:59
And it can turn on a turnover and talking about which defense is better Penn State of Maryland, let’s not forget how good the Maryland defense was against this Ohio State in the first half. And you’re playing a better defense this time around. So to expect too many points. I think you’re going to Ohio State like Penn State the both detail from their defense to maximize their offensive points in this world.

Tom Orr 33:19
One other interesting storyline to keep an eye on for Saturday is Ohio State has started slow in a bunch of games, you know, they have not had, I think the touchdown against Purdue was the first time they scored a touchdown in the first quarter in like three or four games. Penn State has also gotten off to some slow starts and it’s not you know, it’s not like they’re behind a half or something like that. But I think they were they might have been tied at half with Northwestern. And they just they have been more of a second half team than a first half team. So you know if someone can get off to a good start, both of these teams have been much better second half teams and first half team. So if you can get off to a good start on Saturday, you know, Ohio State’s if Ohio sets up 10 Three in the second quarter. That’s probably very good news for Ohio State because they have typically been a better second half team.

Tony Gerdeman 34:09
Yeah, and they can get out to a good start with that. With help from the environment. I know the noon starts aren’t everybody’s favorites and it’s not always the loudest atmosphere, but it is also a big recruiting weekend. So Ohio State certainly looking for a big reaction from the crowd you help both on the field and off the field with recruiting.

Tom Orr 34:27
Hamas hero says pretty much certain that Ross Fulton and Blake Shelton are twins separated at birth fross obviously has more football knowledge though. To see that

Unknown Speaker 34:35
I would like to hear what Blake Shelton thinks about football

Tom Orr 34:38
now. The CTE Foster says still need to watch the full analysis. He does a great job look forward to it. Yeah, that we post those on our board for our members to look at several days early and then you get a chance to ask Ross questions about it. Have the highlights in there, all that kind of stuff. So if you are if you find the Ross Fulton stuff interesting, I always learn a lot talking to him. That is a great reason to become a member of bunker hill.com. Because that’s all on our huddle board there. And we in Ross is not our only Exynos guy there either. We have guys who specialize in Defense. And so yeah, that is a real if you’ve been thinking, I wish I had a reason to support Tom and Tony and Kevin. Well, now you have a reason. Yeah.

Tony Gerdeman 35:16
And I’m actually editing a piece from Michael Pettit about the defensive effort from Ohio State all the different looks that they showed. So hopefully I’ll get that posted tonight as well.

Tom Orr 35:25
Murphy scervino says is this maybe the best shot Franklin is going to have it beating Ohio State since being Penn State head coach excluding the block field goal weird game in 2016? I think it’s, I think this is a for Michigan, this is a you’d better get Ohio State and win the national championship this year. Because they’re going to lose so many guys in the draft next year. Penn State. Hey, you’re probably you’re not losing both running backs after this year. No, you’re getting drew Allah has another year. I don’t remember if I remember how many guys that moves off the offensive line. But this is this is their left tackle. Who’s your left tackle? Who’s your best product NFL draft prospect. But this is a I think this may be James Franklin’s best team in a lot of ways in a number of years. But I don’t know if it’s the best shot because they have such a home field advantage in Happy Valley. Coming to Ohio to Columbus, you know, typical home field is like three in a bigger stadium, tougher home environment like Ohio State. And maybe we get three and a half points. I feel like Penn State in the whiteout is worth like five and a half, six points. That’s that is a huge win. You know, I think they know they had a real chance to win even last year, they had a lead in the fourth quarter and let it get away. And the final score was something 4225 Or something like that. That was not representative of what that game was for a long time.

Tony Gerdeman 36:53
I think this Ohio State team might be the most vulnerable. But I don’t think this Penn State team this Penn State offense is the most threatening, no. So there have been more threatening Penn State offensively that would have had a better shot coming in this weekend. Yeah, not that this Penn State team doesn’t because we have seen Ohio State’s offense struggle we have. So there is evidence that it could happen against the best defense they’ve faced. But it’s an Ohio Stadium. Like there’s some things going against Penn State here.

Tom Orr 37:21
Well, and also this is probably the best Ohio State defense we’ve seen in 2019 2019, probably four years. So you know, between you know, yeah, the Ohio State offense is not up to the standard of what you’ve come to expect from Ohio State offense the last few years. But the defense is way above where that bar has been set and the fact that it’s at home. It you know, I think this is going to be a very, you know, Penn State Ohio State had a long history of playing very stressful games. Were fans on both sides of the of the I don’t want to call it a rivalry but both sides of the series. I’m going to guess that set this Saturday probably ends up in that boat as well.

Unknown Speaker 37:59
Yep. Are we done?

Tom Orr 38:00
I think we’ve very close to listeners gotten through it. We’ll take one more quick look at the bottom. Yes. Okay. Yep. think we’ve think we’ve gotten Oh, Jeremiah Yoder says to do both. You remember, the two years ago when Ohio State won this game? At one point, this is the type of game we’ll see on Saturday. Yeah. Yeah,

Tony Gerdeman 38:19
wouldn’t shock me at all. I do expect a four quarter game I do. The fourth quarter game, the games down the stretch are terrible, because I have to leave the press box at some point. And you’re always trying to pick the right point to leave in a close game. And usually you like you wait for a score. And then you try to get down as quickly as possible. But if you wait too long, the coaches they they hold the elevators for the coaches and so you’re just stuck. So it’s very American leave like midway through just so I can have midway through the fourth quarter just so I can avoid anything like that. I

Tom Orr 38:49
remember we’ve told the story of the Ben Victor touchdown in 2018 a million times on this show. So we’re not gonna do that again. But I will tell you the beginning of the 2017 game, I stayed on the field at the beginning of the game to record Ohio State running out of the tunnel. And then I’m like running across stadium and over to the elevators, and going up the elevators and there’s a loud roar. I have no idea who’s won that kick and one of the coin toss who was kicked off what has happened, there’s a loud roar on in the elevator and was like, well, this could be literally anything. And I get out and say Quan Barkley has run back the opening kickoff for Penn State.

Tony Gerdeman 39:18
Yeah, he sure did. But I want to thank you all for joining us, as Tom said earlier, check us out at Buckeye, how to become a member tons of extra snow stuff, tons of team coverage and recruiting as well. If you’re in any of that, come find us there we would appreciate that. Also, if you’re watching this now go ahead and like and subscribe. If you are listening to the podcast version of this, go ahead and give us a five star rating and review wherever you are listening to it. And I think that’s gonna do it. Thank you all for tuning in. And we’ll talk to you guys later.

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