← The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
4 things Ohio State needs to improve, according to Ryan Day
00:34:06
The Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Texas Longhorns 14-7 on Saturday and became the new No. 1 team in the country this week.
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- [00:00]
A
The NFL season is back and so is NFL Survivor, the most fun way to ride every week of the season. And this season, you can turn your love of football into cold, hard cash with Splash Sports. Splash Sports, which owns Run youn Pool and Office Football Pool, is giving away over $5 million in prizes this season, including the Big Splash, a $2.5 million guaranteed NFL Survivor contest. It's simple. Pick one team a week to win, survive and advance. Last year it was a $1 million prize pool and this year it's more than doubled. Entries are $150 for the big Splash and if you join now and use code BLUE25, you'll get $25 back on your entry. Splash has something for everyone with contest entries starting at $5 and going all the way up to $5,000. And if Survivor isn't your thing, Splash also has pick em contests every week so you can test your skill spread and quick picks, which lets you get up to 50 times multipliers for choosing more or less on up to six players. Join the Big Splash and other NFL contests on Splash sports. Now that's splashsports.com bluewire and use code blue25 when signing up. Splash Sports, the home of Survivor this NFL season.
- [01:26]
B
Welcome back to the Bill and Doug show talking about what Ryan Day said on Tuesday as Ohio State gets ready for Grambling after its win over Texas. Bill felt like Ryan Day last week was sort of saying, we just got to win, we just got to win, we just got to win. And then they won. And then I, he came in on Tuesday was sort of like, okay, now here's what we want to get better at, which sort of feels like exactly how a coach should handle a schedule that starts with the number one team in the country and then moves into an FCS school.
- [01:54]
C
Yeah, it's pretty unique. Although I guess Ohio State has dealt with this before. Right. There's so much urgency for the first game that like, clearly you're working on fundamentals and you're in some ways discovering like, you know, your identity or, or kind of what you want to hang your hat on. But you really need to simplify things and, and really hone in on what it takes to, to win a game like it, like the one that Ohio State just played against Texas. And then you can sort of like expand your view again and figure out exactly what, what those things are that you might be best at in areas where you might be deficient that requirements more focused. So Ohio State now has kind of three weeks to figure all that out with scrambling this week, Ohio next week, and then a week off before they go to Washington at the end of the month.
- [02:37]
B
It's funny to me how sometimes these games do get scheduled in week one, because I can remember in 2022, talking to Gene Smith after Ohio State opened with Notre Dame, and he was like, he did not like playing that game first, right? And so then the next year, in 2023, Ohio State did open with a conference game at Indiana, but Notre Dame wasn't until week four. And now with this Texas thing, Texas this year was week one. Next year, Ohio State opens with Ball State before it's at Texas in week two. I don't know the specifics of how you wind up with a banger in the opener. I'm sure it's not what Ryan Day wants. I bet you it's not even what Steve Sarkeesian wants. I don't know if it's just TV saying we won at week one, but it is. This was a great week one of college football. We had three top 10 matchups, but it. It does make sense a little bit to, like, ease into things, right?
- [03:33]
C
Well, only one of those top 10 matchups, like, had had more than two touchdowns or three touchdowns in it, right? So that is. I mean, there's a trade off there, and I think there always will be because everyone knows college football doesn't have a preseason. So you're just gonna, like, kind of roll your teams out there and see what happens. And usually they're not quite ready to be firing on all cylinders against an opponent of. Of that caliber. So you get 14 to 7 and 17 to 10, and even Miami, Notre Dame wasn't super high scoring, but was at least high scoring compared to Ohio State, Texas and lsu, Clemson. But I don't know, like, you raise an interesting point. Like, what is. What is more preferable? Just having those banger matchups to, like, really get you into the season and fire up, fire you up. Or would you rather those games happen in week, like two, week three, so those teams have a better idea of what they are, and maybe it's a more entertaining game. Not to say that Ohio State, Texas wasn't entertaining. I thought that it was. It was just low scoring. And I understand that people like points, so I don't know. I don't have an issue with it being week one, but I definitely understand from a coach's standpoint why you wouldn't want that game to be in week one.
- [04:37]
B
All right, so I think it sounds like maybe four things that Ryan Day thought he would like to see get better. He kind of had an answer on Tuesday where he went through, we need to do this. We need to do this. So I think that this feels like there's a thing on each side of the ball, and then there's two drives that he singled out that are kind of like the third thing and the fourth thing, and you and I both came home, and we're like, oh, let's rewatch those drives, so we'll get to those in a second. But let's deal with the other two things. First, on defense, he said they need to attack the ball on defense and create more turnovers. Jermaine Matthews attacked the ball and had the only turnover in the Ohio State Texas game with that interception. I do think when you're playing a great opponent, it's like, hey, let's make make sure we get these guys on the ground. But are we punching the ball out? Are we trying to make hits to jar the ball loose? I assume that's the kind of thing he's talking about.
- [05:32]
C
Yeah, I think so. I'm trying to recall. So there was the Jermaine Matthews interception, and then there was the play where Jermaine Matthews made an incredible break on the ball in the fourth quarter, and it popped in the air and Sunny Styles nearly picked it off. There was one other play, I think, in the first half where it felt like Caleb Downs had baited Arch Manning into a throw. And actually had the throw been accurate, he would have just thrown it right in the Caleb Downs belly, but he actually kind of missed his target. So then Caleb Downs, who was in the right position provided the throw was correct, couldn't quite get his hands on it for the. For the takeaway there, like, the only message.
- [06:06]
B
Great miss. Great.
- [06:07]
C
Yeah, great miss. For real. I don't know that there were a ton of, like, opportunities to maybe, like, strip sack arts. They only sacked them one time.
- [06:14]
B
Yeah.
- [06:15]
C
And there weren't a lot of close calls. Maybe there was one or two where, like, a defender was, like, right there with his handout, but Arch got the pass away. So I get what Ryan Day is saying. I think you. You do want to be a defense that makes more or as many splash plays as you can, I guess. But they got one, they nearly got two. And I. I don't know, for. For, like, that kind of game against that caliber opponent, that feels fine, but, you know, they're missing guys like Lathan Ransom who, like, used to punch the ball to everyone's hands. Right. Like, maybe you're looking for a guy who like on any given play is a forced fumble waiting to happen just because of the way that he attacks the ball.
- [06:52]
B
Yeah. Hey Ron, you guys lost Lathan who who's your best ball puncher this year? Jordan Hancock was kind of a good ball puncher too, wasn't he? Like they just had some guys.
- [07:02]
C
Yeah.
- [07:02]
B
Who would get after it. Ryan they also kind of said and this was something we've talked about in our three shows re watching the game Saturday post game Sunday sound off where we take the the sub stack subscribers questions and comments and then Monday where you just sit down and you bear yourself and film. So why not make this our fourth re watch of the Texas game. Ryan Day on Tuesday did say he felt like because I think we sort of thought hey, I don't know if we saw a lot of defensive linemen for Ohio State winning and, and getting pressures on Arch Manning, but didn't he say something Tuesday basically about having integrity in your rush lanes and being unselfish and, and doing your job there and if you play team defense with 11 guys, man, you're going to be great. That maybe sort of that that was the plan, he said. Which also you still can win in those situations but maybe explained a little bit of that.
- [07:57]
C
Yeah, I think they weren't more often than not they were not putting their four defensive linemen in positions to like pin their ears back and go after Arch. Those guys were being pretty disciplined because Arch can scramble, right. And we saw that on a couple places you have to. That's, that's how you play any quarterback who's capable of doing that. You know, my first blush watching it, like just like my initial reaction after watching it live, I kind of felt like I don't know if they bothered Arch enough and then re watching it now, I actually think it was okay. There were more like twists and stunts and games and stuff up front than I had realized watching it live. And a couple of them, while not getting home got pretty close to getting home in a way that I thought affected Arch. So true that you didn't see like Kenyatta Jackson, right. Like you know, ripping a guy's arms off and then go sacking Arch Manning or nor the really any of the other defensive linemen. But I thought those guys kind of did what they had to do to make sure Arvell Reese got one on ones and Arvell Reese had five pressures and the game's only sack. And you know, Taiwan Malone on one play. I think actually on the play that was almost an interception that the ball that got tipped by Jermaine and almost picked off by Sonny Tyler Malone like looped around and like ran over Arch Manning and I think in a way that like did not let him get all of his arm into the throw. So it was, it was a better defensive line game on, on rewatch than I initially thought.
- [09:17]
B
Second thing that Ryan Day mentioned is being more explosive on offense. And I want to give you a little quiz, Landis. Do you many offensive plays are 20 of 20 yards or more Ohio State.
- [09:29]
C
Had on Saturday 20 yards or more? 1.
- [09:33]
B
20 yards or more. 1. So it's the touchdown to Carnell Tate that ties Ohio State after the first week of the season for 123rd in the nation. There are only two of the 136 schools in the FBS who have zero plays of 20 yards or more. It's Akron and Middle Tennessee State. And then Ohio State with one is tied with Buffalo, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Georgia, Southern, Miami, Ohio, Ohio, Nebraska, Rice, Stanford, ucla, UTEP and Washington State. What is wrong with the Buckeyes?
- [10:04]
C
How many did Texas have?
- [10:05]
B
Texas had? Let me search for the word Texas. Texas had.
- [10:15]
C
Three.
- [10:15]
B
No, two. No, three. Three of 20 yards or more for Texas. So we know what he's saying there. I mean it's just factual. And, and you even asked Ryan Day about the shot that on the, on the first fourth down drop by Max Claire that Julian saying didn't take the shot maybe could have, which we'll let you talk about. But he also then mentioned trying to get some explosive plays in the run game. We get it. I mean they have capability of being explosive but again, win the game was the only desire in this one and they did that. What what do you. Let's talk about. Let's talk about your question and Ryan Day's answer about why Julian saying didn't throw that ball to Jeremiah Smith on fourth down. Because they talked about it a lot on the broadcast and I thought Ryan Day had an interesting explanation.
- [11:04]
C
Yeah, I'm interested in just like in the, in the back and forth between Ryan Day and Julian saying. Like what, what information is Julian saying providing to Ryan Day and Billy Fessler, the quarterback's coach when he comes to the sideline and do those guys agree with, with what Julian feels like he was seeing and feeling in those moments? And that play in particular, Ryan Day said that Julian saying told him he felt like there was a safety kind of rolling over the top to perhaps cut off Jeremiah Smith and that he thought like that Max Claire just Had more space available to him. So he went, he went with that throw. And I think if you watch it like on. Just on, even on the TV copy, you see Ryan Day, like, immediately go to Julian saying, and I'm assuming, ask him, like, why didn't you throw the ball at Jeremiah? But then Ryan, they said, like, they looked at the iPads, they had these iPads with the video, like, on them. They can watch instantly once they get to the sideline. And they said, you know, hearing Julian's explanation, watching how the play unfolded on the iPad from the all 22 view, he thought that Julian's explanation for why he threw it to Max Claire made sense. Which I thought was like, I was like a. Alarm bells in my head a little bit. It's like, okay, this guy who's making his first start didn't do a thing that I'm sure everyone, at least in hindsight, thinks like, man, you should have threw that ball. But Ryan Day thought to himself, like, you know what? Maybe, maybe a better decision because it wasn't. Like I said this on the Sunday show we did for our Substack subscribers, like, he had three options. It was a running back in the flat, it was Max Claire in a deep over route, and it was Jeremiah Smith 40 yards down the field. And he didn't throw the check down. He still threw it. He still threw it 15 to 20 yards on the sideline for what should have been a first down. And it was a good throw. So, you know, that's, that's a missed opportunity for an explosive play. Sure. But I, I think in terms of, like, process and why the ball went where it went. Ryan Day seemed satisfied with Julian Sane's decision making.
- [12:58]
B
The other part of the explosive plays on offense, we need to be more explosive. We've got to get to the second level and make guys miss or get to the second level and block them. So in the run game, we talked about this, they didn't have a, a rush of more than 8 yards. Nobody put the name Bo Jackson in a question on Tuesday, as the number three running back, Dave Biddle of Buck Nuts did ask about, hey, maybe we thought that James Peoples would get the start. C.J. donaldson did, and Ryan Day's answer was, basically, they're going to split it. They're going to split it. They're equal. They're 50, 50 right now. But within his call for more explosive plays in the run game, there's an opening for the thing that, that I think a lot of people are wondering about you and I Have talked about a little bit is okay. If you're saying we need to be more explosive in the run game, somebody's got to do it. And maybe they'll keep searching until somebody does it. Now, maybe it will be CJ Donaldson or James Peoples, but sure, I think we agree. I think everybody who watched that game would agree. Right. That a little more. It's just interesting. He's re. I think he confirmed what a lot of people watching this and the two of us thought with the run game.
- [14:09]
C
Yeah, I, I, you know, there's. There's a lot there, I think, because I think part of it is. Is like James, people's pressing right in his first kind of big spot. I want to see what that looks like moving forward when, you know, he can learn from that. And there is just, like, less pressure of the moment kind of kind of thing. Texas's defense is really fast. Texas was doing some different stuff up front. Ryan Day said that they weren't really. Excuse me.
- [14:32]
B
Expect.
- [14:34]
C
It's not merely just like a personnel thing. Do they have the right guys doing it? That's definitely part of it. I'm not being dismissive of it, but there are other things there, too. But I fully expect to see Bo Jackson get. Get some opportunities. I'm not saying he'll be the leading rusher against Grambling necessarily, although maybe it'll be such a blowout that. That he is. It's all about what's it look like the next time they get on the field in a. In a bigger game, which is the Washington game, like, what. What do we think the pecking order and the touches might look like once Ohio State gets to that point? And my guess right now would still be that it's C.J. donaldson and James Peoples leading the way. But if Ohio State gets the momentum with a guy like Bo Jackson or Isaiah west, one of those two freshmen over these next two weeks, then maybe that looks different. But you can't. If they go through these next couple of games and it's just like the run game's not hitting because these guys aren't seeing it, and it's not explosive, I think they will adjust. But I. I think it's also fair to give those guys some opportunities to show that they can do it these next couple of weeks.
- [15:35]
B
I do think I might put this at the top of my list of things I'm gonna be watching on Saturday against Scrambling.
- [15:42]
C
Yeah, I would, too. It's just like, you can't. You can't make too much of it. Like if it doesn't, if it looks the same against Graham Blank, that's a problem. If it looks drastically different and those guys are popping 30 and 40 yard runs all over the place, you still have to take that with a grain of salt too. But, but I'm with you. I think that on offense at least, that's the thing that I'm most keyed in on.
- [16:01]
B
I mean, obviously there were not a lot of questions about the opponent on Saturday. There's just going to be a talent discrepancy. But still, you know, they're going to run the same run plays and are they seeing it? Are they getting to the second level? Even if there's a talent advantage, is that individual running back making a guy missing the hole, breaking a tackle in the hole, are they getting to the second level with their blocks? Like you can learn a little bit about that. Again, it doesn't mean it's automatically solved when they play a Big Ten opponent. But, but I do think, I think a lot of us, a lot of you guys are going to be watching that.
- [16:29]
A
The NFL season is back and so is NFL Survivor, the most fun way to ride every week of the season. And this season you can turn your love of football into cold, hard cash with Splash Sports. Splash Sports, which owns run year pool and office football pool, is giving away over $5 million in prizes this season, including the Big Splash, a $2.5 million guaranteed NFL Survivor contest. It's simple. Pick one team a week to win, survive and advance. Last year it was a $1 million prize pool and this year it's more than doubled. Entries are $150 for the big Splash and if you join now and use code BLUE25, you'll get $25 back on your entry. Splash has something for everyone with contest entries starting at $5 and going all the way up to $5,000. And if Survivor isn't your thing, Splash also has pick em contests every week so you can test your skills against the spread and quick picks, which lets you get up to 50 times multipliers for choosing more or less on up to six players. Join the Big Splash and other NFL contests on Splash Sports. Now that's splashsports.com bluewire and use code blue25 when signing up. Splash Sports, the home of Survivor this NFL season.
- [17:51]
B
All right, let's get to the drives. Ryan Day mentioned two drives. It's the one. He loves the middle eight. Everybody loves the middle eight. Miami, Notre Dame. People are going crazy because Miami scored at the end of the first half and then got the ball back and scored at the beginning of the second half against Notre Dame. And that was the key to that game. Every coach knows this. Ryan Day loves to talk about it. Last four minutes of the first half, first four minutes of the second half. He was not happy with the first drive of the second half, and because it only lasted a minute and 26 seconds was three plays for six yards. Let's dive into it. We both re. Watched it. First and 10 from the 25. They're in 11 personnel. They throw, like, a little short pass to Jeremiah Smith for six yards, and that seems pretty good.
- [18:32]
C
Six yards on first down is, by definition a successful play.
- [18:36]
B
Yeah, look at you. Don't. Don't. Don't turn it into homework. Don't be like, according to the algorithm, six yards. Okay, so that was good. But that's good. So that's like the one we're gonna talk about. Two drives. That's the one good play. The other five plays we're going to talk about. These two drives were not good. Second and four from the 31. They're in 12 personnel. They motioned Max, Claire. What did you see what happened next?
- [18:59]
C
I actually like the play. So they motioned Max, Claire, and when they did it, they kind of pulled a guy out of the box a little bit, and then they ran counter with Philip Daniels and Tega Shabola pulling from the right side over to the left. I thought they actually blocked it. Well, I did not realize. So I pulled this play out and wrote about it a little bit in the rewatch piece that I wrote on. On Substack on Monday. And I had not put two and two together. That was on the same drive that Ryan Day was talking about. James Peoples cut the run inside when he should have bounced it outside, and if he bounces it outside, he might get a first down.
- [19:31]
B
So. But also they asked Carson Hinsman to sort of reach and get to the defensive tackle to his right, because the right guard and the right tackle pull and Hinsman doesn't get to him and kind of misses the block. And that defensive tackle, number 97, I don't know who that is. I don't cover Texas is the guy who, like, sort of slid down the line and then made the tackle on People's in the hole. I actually thought, now there were also two linebackers kind of waiting there. But. But I got the cutback inside a little bit because if. If Hinsman blocks his guy, then I feel like he's got a shot there. Did you Definitively think he should have bounced it.
- [20:09]
C
Yeah. I don't know why he, like. He, like, stuck his hand out and felt Tiger Shabola, and then Tiger's a big guy. Maybe he couldn't see around him, but, like, the. The bodies were on the inside, and he's still, like, cut inside of Tegar's block. I don't. I don't really know why he did that. It was just like another. I didn't think James. People saw things well at all in that game.
- [20:27]
B
Okay.
- [20:27]
C
And I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to rag the kid, but I just thought that was maybe the. The best example of him not seeing things. Great. And I'm not saying it was blocked perfectly, but it was blocked to get something, and he chose the wrong path.
- [20:39]
B
Alex January. Props to Alex 1-97-97, who made the tackle. Yeah, it can be a frustrating thing for. For play callers, and it's one of those things, and. And they don't really mean it, but every now and then, a play caller can get into a. We called it. Right. It was there, and it didn't work. It should have worked. Right. And I do think young running back vision can be a point of frustration for play callers, even though they understand it's part of the process. So James Peoples is in the process. He's never played when it mattered before, and he played against the number one team in the country with an excellent defense. But maybe is this like one of those where, as you're saying, the play caller, Brian Hartline, Ryan Day, everybody who worked on it during the week would say it was right. It was a good matchup. We didn't execute it.
- [21:30]
C
Yeah, I think so. And. And the thing. I don't. I think I thought it was blocked. Okay. There were. There were plenty of. Of those pole plays where the pullers, like, didn't do the right thing. And on that play. On that play, I felt like they did. So, like, I guess you can take that slice of it and say that that was encouraging. And then hopefully, the next time you do it in that situation, James Peoples just reads it a little better.
- [21:56]
B
So then third and four, because that play got 0 third and four from the 3111 personnel. They wind up with a pass to Jeremiah Smith. They block it up pretty well, I thought. And this is where Manny Muhammad's in coverage. And did you think it was like a. Should have been a. A holder, a pass interference?
- [22:12]
C
Yeah, he was all over him. Yeah.
- [22:14]
B
Well, he. First he grabbed Jeremiah Smith's helmet with two hands. And then he put his right hand around his waist. I'm just asking. I didn't know if that was.
- [22:21]
C
Yeah, no, I think I thought so. Texas blitzed on that play was picked up pretty well. The one linebacker leaf out came like roaring down and Luke Montgomery kind of stonewalled him, which was nice. Like it was five rushers, five offensive linemen. Everybody blocked 101 and Julian saying had time and even threw the ball on the outside shoulder of Jeremiah Smith, but he was just getting rag dolled by Malik Muhammad and it was incomplete.
- [22:47]
B
To be fair, as Ryan Day was saying these two drives weren't good enough. And I didn't like the first drive of the second half. He didn't say, well, we, we should have had a first down because they missed the penalty. He didn't go anywhere near that.
- [23:00]
C
No. So because I think he's coming up on the second down play, he thinks they shouldn't have been in third down to begin with.
- [23:06]
B
Okay, okay. But sometimes even if you don't want to get fined with the officials, you could say enough to make it clear like, I thought we did what we needed to do. We got JJ in a, in a one on one matchup and then we drew a penalty. They didn't, they didn't throw the flag. He, he didn't, he didn't go anywhere near there. So just as much as maybe Ryan Day doesn't think that a defensive back grabbing a receiver's helmet with two hands is a flag, I don't know. All right, let's get to the second drive. This is after Texas has scored to cut it to 14 to 7. This one also was a three and out and this is one. Like this is the kind of thing, this is winning time, right, Landis? Like this is, this could have been. Ohio State got the ball with 328 left in the game after a four play, 60 yard Texas scoring drive. The defense held up to prevent this from happening. But if Arch Manning had engineered a game tying drive after Ohio State was forced to punt here we would be talking about this drive even more. Right. The defense bailed him out.
- [24:13]
C
Yeah, the defense did bail them out. It just, it was off, off kilter from the jump because they, they ran on what, like I understand running on first down. You want to make Texas try to burn some timeouts. They just didn't block it well and it went nowhere. They ran. It looked to me like it's called wind back. It's like a zone run, but you kind of bring a. Usually it's A receiver. This time they use a tight end. They use Max Claire. You, like, bring him back across the formation, and he kind of leads the running back to the edge. But the gap where you would have liked C.J. donaldson to go just, like, was a. Was a pile up. There were a bunch of bodies there, and he, like, hit the line with choppy steps. Wasn't sure where to go. If he had been. And this is a big ask, I suppose if he had been like the slicer from the jump and just took it outside, he might still be running. But I. Because there was nobody there. There was one player on that side, and Claire kind of blocked him. But Donaldson went where the play was designed to go, and there was just nothing there for him, and it was a run for no yards.
- [25:10]
B
So, like, three things here, I think. One is that sort of indecision by the running back that we've already talked about. He did chop his steps two yards behind the line of scrimmage. And even if you understand maybe why he did it, it just wasn't decisive. Right. It was not a decisive run on first down. Second of all, they're in 13 personnel. They have three tight ends on the field again. And we talk. We've. We've talked about this. Jeremiah Smith, the only receiver, and you said often that play, you bring a receiver in motion. Well, Max Claire is in motion because he's really playing receiver on that play. Yeah, right. And. And. And Bennett Christian and Will Kazmark are the tight ends, so that's just a choice. And we'll talk more about 13 personnel like that. Money's like, the game's on the line, it's go time, it's winning time, and Carnell Tate's not on the field, and you're going with 13 personnel. And I just, I. I wonder about that. And then Trey Moore, who's like an edge guy who had played linebacker in the past, he made, like, kind of a spin move on Bennett Christian and helped make the tackle. That was kind of like a nice defensive play. So. And then I think the real issue here is. So that stopped for zero, second and 10 from the 25. They're still in 13 personnel, and they wind up in empty. But why are they going 13 personnel on first and second down there, Landis?
- [26:26]
C
Well, because they want to run it first. And then I guess the thought process is if you stay in 13 personnel. And I actually didn't take note of what Texas had on the field to respond to that, but I'd imagine it took a defensive back or two off the field to match the three tight ends, and then you expand and spread those guys out. You'd like to think you could get a favorable matchup somewhere, but there was pressure on the play from the left side, right?
- [26:51]
B
I don't think there was a ton.
- [26:54]
C
Enough to make Julian saying, move.
- [26:56]
B
I. I thought so that they wind up. So they're empty. There's five guys wide, and it's Jeremiah Smith, three tight ends, and C.J. donaldson.
- [27:05]
C
Yeah.
- [27:06]
B
And. And. And Ryan. They mentioned this. Texas played, man. They're against. Man. And you can. You can freeze this. The. The play. As Julian's saying, right when he's getting ready to escape the. Nobody wins, including Jeremiah.
- [27:20]
C
Jeremiah open. Yeah. No one was. Well, Jeremiah Smith is, like, still running his route, and then it turns into a scramble drill. And Jeremiah, actually, I thought, did a nice job of, like, getting away from the guy who was defending him and start, like, starts booking it to the sideline, but then he turns up field a little bit. Like, there's a. There's a very brief moment where Julian Saint is rolling out with his eyes down the field, and Jeremiah Smith is running towards the sideline with space, looking at Julian, saying. But it's. It's incredibly brief. And then Jeremiah, like, turns up field and turns his back to Julian, saying. And he was the only guy that Julian could have possibly thrown the ball to in that situation. And then he has nobody to throw the ball to, so he just throws it in the ground, and then the clock stops.
- [28:03]
B
I just find it. I understand you're trying to get matchups there, but you wind up in a situation where the best receiver school in the country is empty with five guys running routes, and four of them are not receivers, and none of those guys win their battles. And that. And then when there's pressure, there's nowhere to go, and I just.
- [28:22]
C
Yeah, that's a weird choice. Yeah, it's.
- [28:23]
B
It's a. It's a. Like, is. Why are you doing that? All right, third and 10 now from the 25, they go back to 11 personnel. And what did you think about what happened here?
- [28:33]
C
I thought they got exactly what they wanted on that play. Okay. They kind of cleared it out, and they ran a shallow cross for Brandon Innis, who was matched up with a true freshman, Grayson Littleson. Littleton in the slot. And Littleton was playing even with outside leverage to, like, allow the release to run the shallow route. And Littleton was just faster than Brandon in this because it was a good throw, and I thought it was thrown in the spot where Ennis did not have to slow down and he caught the ball and he got tackled like immediately.
- [29:03]
B
Now Jeremiah Smith is running a route from the opposite side of the field across her behind Brandon Innis. And I think like, as he's releasing it to Brandon Innis, if saying can wait another half second, Jeremiah Smith is coming even more open maybe than Innis was. And they also. Carnell Tate had Max Claire out wide to his right. So Tate's kind of like in the slot. And I thought he beat his guy right off the line inside and now there was safety help there, but I almost thought there would have been an opportunity to just put it up and let Carnell Tate do something there. So I'm not saying, I'm not disagreeing there, but I think this is the.
- [29:43]
C
First read and he was open immediately.
- [29:46]
B
But then is this a situation? And this is again, this is like Brandon Innis is like not his first opportunity, but he's a starter now. Are you just putting it on that guy to win? He's got to break that tackle. He's got to run away from the D basically in a one on one situation against a true freshman.
- [30:01]
C
Yeah, I mean, you could if you want to criticize, like, why are you drawing up a target short of the sticks like that? That's fair. But I think you. It's also not unreasonable for Ohio State to expect its slot receiver to win that race anything.
- [30:15]
B
And it's. It's early. Do you think if that's a Mecca book, it's a first down?
- [30:19]
C
Yeah, I think a Mecca's got a little more juice than Brandon, so.
- [30:23]
B
Which is not, I mean. Oh.
- [30:25]
C
But also, if that's the concept you want to draw up, I would rather you draw it up for Jeremiah Smith.
- [30:31]
B
So that's the thing. And I don't. Right. It's just a work in progress. We're only talking about this because Ryan Day. Listen, we're two guys shouting to a microphone when the coach says something. I didn't like this. It's like, okay, let's talk about what he said he didn't like. So he didn't like that drive. We just went through it. But the thing that he seemed to not like the most was he said they need to be more aggressive off the bat on that drive. And it feels like maybe he didn't like the run call on first down. Maybe he didn't like the 13 personnel grouping. And I thought he sort of like went down the road of like, man, I don't know why we did that, but I was involved in that too. And it's also on me. It's not a listen, it's just how this is going to work out. We're not trying to drum up controversy, but I thought it was maybe a tiny bit. Did you think this of Ryan Day as the head coach but not the primary play caller, maybe disagreeing with what they decided to do there?
- [31:23]
C
Yeah, a little bit. Not in like a way that is problematic but, but just like he's gotta let Brian Hartline learn, like learn some stuff, right? And, and that's probably a moment to do so. I, I, I said this in the, the post game show immediately like that to me. First and 10, 328, left winger, own 25. In the past, I think would have been a throw situation. Get the first, first down and kind of put the defense on its heels a little bit and they ran, which is fine. A lot of teams would have run in that situation, but Ohio State's not a lot of teams and Ohio State is built to throw in that situation normally and I think it's built to throw in that situation this year. Maybe they just didn't want to put the young QB in that in that spot. Part of me wonders if the, if when Ryan Day is like expressing a little bit of regret after the game about not letting Julian say and do more how much like that particular play might be on his mind because Ohio State is not going to run the ball as often on first down as it did in that game. But there were a couple of times where it just like maybe didn't feel right for the moment. And, and that was, I, I think that was one of them running the ball that way on, on first down, although they had been running better in the two drives before it. So I also, I want to take that into consideration too, but I would rather just see like if you can't get a slant to Jeremiah or something quick to Carnell Tate and let those guys run after the catch and see what happens there. Like you keep the clock running and maybe you get a bigger play. It's easy to second guess this stuff. I understand that, but no, he, yeah, I think I, I think it's, I think it is, it would have been like truer to Ohio State's identity of late to throw the ball on first down there and not run it.
- [33:07]
B
So help me here. So in 22, right, they open with Notre Dame and Ohio State puts that game away and wins that game with a run the ball drive in the fourth quarter. Right. Didn't they just pound Notre Dame? And C.J. stroud had the one play where he scrambled and hit Mine Williams on the sideline with the pass. But otherwise Ohio State marched down the field running the ball. But then last year in the semi final against Texas in a very similar situation, although Ohio State wasn't up seven, it was tied to the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter where Ohio State went ahead. They threw the ball the first nine times on that drive, including the first play that was a double move by a Mecca Buca that drew a pass interference call. And then they marched down the field throwing the ball. So the idea of like, you're going to establish your identity. We've seen Ohio State and they want to do that sometimes. We want to put the game away with the ball on the ground. And then we saw last year, we're going to throw, we're going to take advantage of our guys and they're just, they're working it out. What do you think in the end, this team, if they play, if this happens against Penn State later in the season, a similar situation, would you guess they will be a let's pound the rock, run the ball in the fourth quarter to win, or will they come out and throw it the first time? Times of a drive, I don't think.
- [34:18]
C
They'Ll throw the first nine times, but they might throw it on the first play. Ryan Day always talks about the first. First down.
- [34:24]
B
Right.
- [34:27]
C
And at least right now, I don't know that they're built to like have the mentality to do that on the ground.
- [34:34]
B
Okay.
- [34:35]
C
I think they're. But you know, they could with time develop into that. I'm looking back at that Notre Dame game, 2022. Ohio State is up 14 to 10 with. Oh, that's pretty. It was like a seven minute drive. It was, it was pretty early in the fourth quarter. It wasn't quite the same situation. They got, they got the ball.
- [34:55]
B
It's winning time. It's winning time.
- [34:57]
C
Fourth quarter, it's winning time. They're up 14:10, but there's like, there's like 12 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Like the fourth quarter had like just started.
- [35:04]
B
But I would say, but Ryan Day would say, like, we need to go out here and control this. We need to put the game away here. Right. Because you have a chance to go up two scores. And that was a situation Ohio State was in against Texas here. I agree with you, the time does matter, but it's. We can go put the game away right now in the fourth quarter. So Anyway, what happened? Did they run out of ball?
- [35:22]
C
Run the ball off on that drive? They ran the first two, got a first down, and then threw it. They went run, run, pass, run pass, run pass penalty run, pass, run, run, run, run, run to end the drive.
- [35:38]
B
Yeah. Okay. All right. So I thought it was interesting. I. I mean, it's certainly. I mean, they. They beat number one. But this is what the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes on Tuesday focused on as they try to get better the next two weeks before their bye week, before they go play their first road game against Washington.
- [35:55]
C
So that's where we are.
- [35:56]
B
Thanks to you guys for being here. Check out our substack. What's it called? The substack.
- [36:02]
C
Billanddugosu.substack.com so you can go find us.
- [36:06]
B
There if you want. Premium audio, premium video, premium written content, get to interact with us, we take questions, that kind of thing. We certainly appreciate you guys being here on the YouTube channel. The podcast feed is live, but we can't put stuff in it yet. That will be soon, right, Landis? That'll be on Apple and Spotify and everywhere else.
- [36:23]
C
Yeah. Hopefully resolved this week. I'm not. I'm not quite sure. I can't do it yet. But hopefully this week that stuff will start showing up there.
- [36:31]
B
All right, we're gonna keep pumping stuff out, man. That's what we do. That's what Ryan Day was focused on on Tuesday for now. He's Bill Andis. I'm Doug Lemurice. That was the Bill of Duck show.