December 24, 2025 • 20 mins
Buckeye Weekly: Cotton Bowl Preview & Listener Q&A
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr answer listener questions and provide an in-depth preview of the upcoming Cotton Bowl matchup between Ohio State and Miami. Topics include the offensive strategies of Ohio State, the potential changes in play calling with Ryan Day taking over from Brian Hartline, and the key battles in the trenches that could decide the game. They also discuss the state of Ohio State's offensive line and the health of key players like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. Tune in for a comprehensive analysis and some lighthearted banter as the hosts get ready for the big game.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:42 Listener Question: Ohio State's Offensive Strategy
02:42 Ryan Day's Analytical Approach
05:03 Injury Updates and Player Expectations
06:05 Listener Question: Right Guard Starter
08:05 Listener Question: Glasses and Intelligence
09:26 Listener Question: Offensive Line vs. Miami's Defense
13:12 Listener Question: Brian Hartline's Future
17:30 Listener Question: Michael Irvin's Prediction
18:56 Conclusion and Viewer Engagement
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr answer listener questions and provide an in-depth preview of the upcoming Cotton Bowl matchup between Ohio State and Miami. Topics include the offensive strategies of Ohio State, the potential changes in play calling with Ryan Day taking over from Brian Hartline, and the key battles in the trenches that could decide the game. They also discuss the state of Ohio State's offensive line and the health of key players like Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. Tune in for a comprehensive analysis and some lighthearted banter as the hosts get ready for the big game.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:42 Listener Question: Ohio State's Offensive Strategy
02:42 Ryan Day's Analytical Approach
05:03 Injury Updates and Player Expectations
06:05 Listener Question: Right Guard Starter
08:05 Listener Question: Glasses and Intelligence
09:26 Listener Question: Offensive Line vs. Miami's Defense
13:12 Listener Question: Brian Hartline's Future
17:30 Listener Question: Michael Irvin's Prediction
18:56 Conclusion and Viewer Engagement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
How's it going, Tony? We've been trapped in this room
for three to four days right now, so I tell
supplies running low? Uh, morale poor?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
How is it going for you?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Even worse? Even worse than that job? No, thank you
all for you to get We are happy to be here.
We are here to answer questions from you, for you,
by you, without you, but you're here in spirit.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So Tom all right for the first time from at
Buckeye Kids zero nine. The Ohio State continues to play
offense the way they've played all year, slowing in a
phone booth. Can they win that way?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Well, you could call collect it's Bill, that's Jill a
fashion way of doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yes, Hi one eight Hender collect what's your name? Putting
in the thirteen personnel in the red zone.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
That's that's for the uh.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's for all you gen xers out there.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Then for nobody else because you want to understand, except
for the parents of the gen xers. It might be
tuned in as well, So thank you. Dynamic that might
drop in Manti. Yeah, they can't because they almost beat Indiana,
And if you could almost beat somebody, that means you
could beat them playing the same way, I'm not expecting
the same thing. I think they've a lot of what
(01:27):
we've heard is learning your lessons and improving from the
things that didn't work, and like why work?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Why why was the offense bad?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You look at it and it's like, well, maybe it
was this, maybe it was that, So let's avoid doing that.
What what typically typically works for this offense, Well, let's
explore that. And in terms of winning explosive plays, I
don't know how many explosive plays you get out of
thirteen personnel.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Probably not a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So and one of the issues with the Indiana game
is like they're trying to dial some stuff up, but
they couldn't pass protect. So whether you got thirteen or
eleven or twelve, like even when they had like max protect,
they still had some issues.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So I do expect them to open it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Up more and spread them out, and then does that
allow them to run the ball better because there is
a more spread out defense. Miami's got a ton of
defensive backs, so they've got talent there.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
But I do think they will play differently offensively.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I still think there's gonna be some stuff that you
continue to recognize, like this is still gonna be as
we've said all week, Ryan Day's offense, John, do you
expect the slowest to still be there?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think this conversation sort of has to start with
Ryan Day in terms of how he approaches football. He's
got a pretty analytical mind, and I think when you
look at this from a sort of analytical perspective, if
you feel like you have a little bit of a
talent advantage, the plays you have, the more that talent
advantage shows up. You know, when you're when you are
(03:04):
a big underdog, what are you trying to do. You're
trying to run the ball, You're trying to keep the
clock moving, You're trying to keep the opposing offense off
the field. You're trying to play basically play service academy football. Right, Well,
if you're not the underdog, what do you want to do?
You want more plays because your slight talent advantage that
accumulates over the more plays you have, the more that accumulates,
and more that shows up, and the more if you
(03:25):
have a slightly better chance of making a big play
on any individual play. The more plays they are, the
better chance that you're going to have an advantage in
terms of big plays. So I expect Ryan Day too.
You know, there still is the you've got to look at.
You know, hey, there are still a couple of games
after this one if if you win it, there's still
a couple of games after this one that you got
(03:45):
to worry about. But also, you've got thirteen of the
sixteen potential games in your rearview mirror at this point. So, Okay,
you saw change in approach during the playoffs last year.
I don't really see any reason to expect there to
not be a change of approach here because I think
you saw the same sort of mistakes towards the end
of this season in terms of you lost a game
(04:08):
last year by a thirteen to ten score, you lost
a game this year by an identical thirteen to ten score.
The talent on the opposing sideline was a little different
in those two games, but some of the lessons were
probably the same, and so I would expect sort of
a similar change to approach that what we saw last year.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, I also think you can run more tempo because
now you're to the point where you're protecting yourself. You
spent off season protecting yourself so that you could be
good to go into the playoffs. Now that you're good
to go, go and you can't worry about the next
game necessarily. It's like the Mayague baseball where all hands
on deck for a decisive game.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And that's what this is.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And so I don't know that you need to hold
something back for like, well, let's save the tempo for
Georgia or whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It's like, well, okay, good luck.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well if you can get up three scores, then you can't.
But I think the other piece of this is that
Jeremiah Smith and Carneal Tate were clearly not one hundred
percent for Michigan. They were clearly still not one hundred
percent for Indiana. They've then had three more weeks to recover,
so you know, Jeremiah Smith didn't exactly say he was
one hundred percent, but he said he was feeling a
(05:17):
lot better when we talk to him on Monday. I'm
expecting them to be able to Carnal Tate to play
more plays than he did, because Arnold Tate hadn't played
in like a month basically before that. Michigan game and
then didn't play. I think that was part of why
you saw him getting taken off the field at times
in that Indiana game. I don't think there's gonna I
(05:37):
don't think you're gonna see Carneal Tate getting taken off
the field in the red zone in this one. And
so I think all of that sort of goes to
the same conclusion for me, which is it's going to
be a little more different, a little bit of a
different approach, and it's going to be a more aggressive one.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, more twelves and thirteen more, maybe more eleved more
eleved to thirteen as well, but I think a lot
of Jeremiah Smith Cardal say on the field for as
much as they can handle and.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Go from there. Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Next one from at Tony Underscore Lisa thirteen, who starts
at right guard. We know there are two possible answers
to this question. We know that the guy who has
started at right guard all year, Tager Shabola, is not
one of the answers there. I know who I'm expecting
to start there, but it's you know, I think there
are two real genuine possibilities, depending on how things go
in practice.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I am expecting it to be Gabe Van Sickle,
who I assume has been going with the ones in practice,
which should get him ready for a life of the
Big city as a Hawaii state starter. But before it
was Gabe Van Sickle as the second right guard, it
was Josh Padilla. And then Josh Padilla went down, got hurt?
Can he get back into that thing where you know
(06:49):
he is? And when I say he was the second
right guard, like he was the sixth guy, like they were.
Basically they wanted to reward him with playing time, but
didn't want to do that at center because of all
that entails. So it's like, well, what's the one position
that we can always rotate move somebody out?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, what's right guard? And it's like your junk drawer.
You just put whatever in there and then you're fined.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And so now you've got your Scotch tape and you know,
your utility scissors with this random deck of cards with
the seven of clubs missaying, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We all have the same junk drawer.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I have a friend who grew up in the country
not far from where you grew up, yeah, and said,
growing up they had a dynamite drawer. In their kitchen
for you know what general, the general what have you on?
The on the farm?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Wow? See I was not. I was a city boy
who moved to the farm.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
When I say city, see you like eight ten thousand
people in the city that moved to the farm.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I would in New York City.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It was a county seat and it had a courthouse.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
At one point a kfcat Wow. All right.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So next one from at J. Gillen five six seven,
And do you want to do the exposition for this
one in advanced or do you want to do ask
the question and then do the explanation.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Let's let's ask the questions and we'll explore the room.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I need to know if the guy without the glass
is going to start wearing them to sound smarter like
the guy with the glasses.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, thank you for that question. And this was a
come from I don't know if it's a Miami fan.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I see it was a Miami fan.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Basically said something like the guy with the glasses is
smarter than the guy without the glasses, and the guy
without classes is you know, a dumb idiot or something.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I don't I forget a terrible dumb idiot. I forget
the exact.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I forget what Tony's burner was for. UNI asked that question, but.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Think I said, uh, but yes, Tom, are you going
to start wearing glasses to sound smarter like me?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I've been carrying these around for three years, just waiting
for a moment when I needed to sound smarter than you,
and it finally, after five thousand podcasts, has happened. I
would take them off because I am old and have
trouble reading my computer stream with them on. But yes, so.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You're not gonna saything smarter in k oh here we go.
Beware Tom with your Southern accent.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Now that would just that would just can'tl it out.
No no, So yes, well I did. I absolutely howled
at that comment that came across. That was tremendous. So
we love, we love making friends with all of our
Miami my new Miami fan friends. Next one from at
mark fifty four, seven thirty nine, I'll throw out the obvious.
(09:27):
Will our offensive line be able to hold up against
the Hurricane defensive line? Yep, boy, you answer that question.
I feel like you've answered the question. Who's going to
get the free trip to Fiesta Bowl? And the handsome
set of luggage that goes with it. It's the if
Ohio States offensive line can handle the Miami defensive line.
And by handle, I mean you give up one sack
(09:49):
and you rush for four yards to carry, you know,
two sacks and you rush for four yards of carry,
you can run the ball. Okay, And Julian say, has
enough time. If they can do that, they're gonna win
the game. Now can they do that?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Boy?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Isn't that the sixty four thousand dollars question here?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah? And it's with those sacks.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
If you get sacked three times, make two of them
come in the same drive where you know you're sacked
on second down. Now you're like third and eighteen, and
he is sacked again just because.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It's a passing down or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Like, have them come with bunches as opposed to like
over the course of the begin because any sack kind
to drive. And whether it's a third down or it's
a first down, now you're second and sixteen or whatever,
it's like a false start, except you know the down
counts and so you've got to overcome that. And you know,
will they be able to hold up against the hurricane
(10:41):
defensive line? These are really good defensive players, you know,
not just at the ends, also a tackle and then
they will rotate their tackles. You know, I assume they
rotate their ends. We haven't seen I haven't seen it
as much. Maybe are they with Ohio State where it's
just Jack Sawyer or JC two A Marlowhile. Yeah, like
it's just a kid Messador and Ed Ruben baying out there.
(11:04):
But I'm sure they have guys that they can also
plug in when they need to. But it's those four
guys that you need to really be concerned about and
can they hold up. I mean, you can ask the
same thing for to Miami's offensive line hold up against
the higher States defensive line, and you know, there it
lies the winner of the game, I guess overall.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well, yeah, that that feels like of anything that might
be that you know that those two matchups. You know,
this is the old, crusty, old college football coach thing.
The game is won and lost in the trenches. And
there's a reason that college football coaches since the days
of New Rockney have been saying the game is won
and lost in the trenches. And it's not just because
it's commitment to the bit, it's like, well, it's actually
(11:43):
because if your quarterback is perpetually running for his life,
he cannot throw the ball very effectively. And you can
have wide receivers as good as you want to have.
If Miami can get consistent pressure with their front four,
that's going to really limit a the Ohio States ability
to find open receivers. It allows Miami to potentially bracket
a Jeremiah Smith and try and take him away if
they don't have to dedicate more than four guys to
(12:05):
pass rush to getting home. That's a big problem for
our housetake.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And we know they'll try to dial up some big
hits and when you do that, you've got to protect
a longer amount of time. K ohis they do that
and they weren't able to do that against Indiana. Can
they do that against maaybe? If they don't, then this
is going to be a check down game. And Julian
say saying set it on Monday. He held the ball
too long against Indiana, and so now you wonder is
(12:31):
it going to be getting rid of the ball quicker?
And it's like, oh, you know, you could have let
us one develop a love it or and of course
as Ryan Day says that that's the art of playing quarterback,
where you just have to how the feel of you know,
no one to hold up, no one to walk away.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
No one to run. Tom. It's Kenny Rogers thing. You
wouldn't understand.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I think folding him head was in there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, but we don't fold here. This is you play
the cards your dog. You'd just go down swing it.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
You can't fold are a snap base question.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Should I count my money at the table?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Oh, there's time enough for count the deal? It's done?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Okay, what about my rods and cone? That's a different
Kenny Rodgers saying okay, sorry, all right, next time at
Kale Buckeye. Does Brian Hartline already have one foot out
the door hoping we don't see a repeat of bad
play calling. Well, so let's split these two questions into
or two sentences into two separate pieces. Since this question
was sent, we were obviously cleared it cleared it clued
(13:27):
in by Ryan Day on Monday that Ryan Day will
be the one calling the place, so that will Brian
Hartline will not have any direct impact on the play
calling during the game, so you can kind of take
that off off the table. Does he already have one
foot out the door? You know, I think the answer is,
how do you mean that? Like, does Brian Hartline not
care anymore? You know, this is Brian Hartline is a
(13:48):
college senior and he's gotten into the college of his choice,
and so he doesn't really care. And every day is
skipped day if you're living a living life, right kind
of thing. No, not like that. Is Brian Hartline trying
to do two jobs at once. Yeah, that's how every
coach is when they're you know, so I don't know
does that constitute having one foot out the door. He's
unquestionably trying to do the you know, he's he's handled
(14:12):
he's started hiring a USF staff. They have started offering
players that they hadn't offered before. You know, his starting
quarterback went into the transfer portal earlier in the week.
So you know, he's got a lot of stuff that
he's got to sort of handle on that side of things.
And Ryan Day talked about the fact that he recognized
that Brian Hartlin had a bunch of stuff on the
us F side that he's got to handle, and that's
one why Ryan Day is making the change in terms
(14:34):
of who's calling plays, because it's not fair to you know,
if this is this is not a nine to five
job being a college football coach in season. So if
you're you know, if you're working a twelve hour day
normally and you're trying to work a twelve hour day
for two separate jobs, well you're don't. That doesn't leave
a lot of time for sleep and eating and whatever
else you have to do. So I think that that
(14:57):
the answer is yes, in a way, he's kind of
monitoring stuff in another spot and probably can't focus on
Ohio State in the way that he did before, but
he's still invested in the outcome here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, he's he doesn't have one foot out the door.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
He's got both of his feet and separate doors.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You know, he got his right foot in one door
and his left foot to another door.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And I am guessing that Ryan Day talks with Brian
Harlan before before the DA game.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You good, could you handle this? You think? Do you
feel like you can handle this? Of course I can.
I'm good. I could do all of this.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And then after the game and things happened and it's
like Ryan A Cups shows like we're taking play calling.
I'm sure Brian Harland was not happy about it in
terms of like, no, I want to I want you
to do this, I want to finish this out.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It's like two points.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, right, Well, as you're about to find out as
a head coach, you're the one who gets to make
this decision. Now that's true in Tampa, that's not true
in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah. So yeah, I'm sure he's disappointed. I do wonder
how much time more time he has now for USSS
because there are things that he does not have to
worry about now that you know now he could do
all of these. So I do think he's got his
feet two separate doors, because you have to that's the
nature of the business, right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And there's also a real distinction here to me between
what's happening with Brian Hartline at Ohio State and what
happened with Lane Kiffen when he was at Alabama, where
Lane Kiffen was the offensive coordinator at Alabama and before
the National Championship game. Was that the one against Georgia.
It was one of the national championship games. It must
(16:34):
have been twenty eighteen, maybe it was the one against Clemson,
but it was Bright. Lane Kiffen was the offensive coordinator
for the semi final game, and then between the semi
final game and the National championship game, Nick Saban said
your services are longer required, and then lane Kiffn went
off to Florida Atlantic when he got that head coaching job.
(16:56):
So that was actually Florida Atlantic. Was that the twenty
eighteen season, I think, so that would have actually been
twenty seventeen. I think that might have been a Clemson one.
But either way, turns out Alabama was in a bunch
of National championship games and they only got rid of
their offensive coordinator once, and it was in that case.
You know, Brian Hartline, this is not Brian Day saying
get out and don't let the door hitch in the
(17:16):
bottom the way out. It's just saying, you know, look,
I recognize hours. You have an hours in the day problem.
And so this is the this is the change that
probably benefits everyone to a certain degrade. All right, last
one from at mattmu one two, three, four, five six.
That's a combination I have on my luggage. Here's a
prediction for you for the Cotton Bowl if Ohiostate loses.
(17:37):
Michael Irvin will use his belt to beat a gray
sweater vest in a trash can to honor his view
of the two thousand and two cheft that Miami got.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
That does not sound like a bold prediction or an
outrageous prediction. I could see this happening now. The problem
with a trash can, with the arms, the sweater vest
is just gonna look like a sweater because there's no
no vesting a trash can per se. Now, unless you have,
like the arms, the sleeves of the undershirt hanging out,
then you can see those, but really then the shirt
(18:07):
is doing all of the work.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So I don't know if that's here. Were there probably
either place.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
But again, as we've talked about on the previous show,
you're gonna see a lot of Michael erving.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
If he does, rest asshured, you will see it on TV.
Whatever he does, you will see it on TV.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yes, And he may bring several belts with him, And
I'm sure Miami will have belts. We've seen Jamaie Mathews
and Ohio State have belts. Well, I don't where eybody's
getting these belts. There's belts out the Wazzie now coming
to hear everybody's like, you know, it used to be
in the turnover chain. He used to be this used
to be that, like I need, I need, we need
eight belts on the sideline.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
We need the gatorade. We've got the belts. We've got
the gatorade. We got the belts. Miami will need the
heated benches because we know Dallas can be in the seventies,
it could be in the sixties.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So you might need that. And of course, yes, more belts.
So top I think we've done it. We're episode or this.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Episode at least. Yeah, don't worry. There's more questions left.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And really, if you want to throw some questions, we
will try to take a look at the comments on
these videos and we can we can attack some more throughout.
We've got a lot of time. We've got time between
now and the game. I just saying we don't have
a lot of time to do this stuff, but there
is hours before now and the game where we can
fill some time. Always enjoy answering listener questions, and not
(19:24):
just because it's stuff we don't have to come up with,
not just because thank you all fortuneing a in hit
that thumbs up. If you could continue to find us
out buckeheaddle dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I'd love to see you there. Thank you all for
tuning in, and we'll talk to you all later
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
How's it going, Tony? We've been trapped in this room
for three to four days right now, so I tell
supplies running low? Uh, morale poor?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
How is it going for you?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Even worse? Even worse than that job? No, thank you
all for you to get We are happy to be here.
We are here to answer questions from you, for you,
by you, without you, but you're here in spirit.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So Tom all right for the first time from at
Buckeye Kids zero nine. The Ohio State continues to play
offense the way they've played all year, slowing in a
phone booth. Can they win that way?
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Well, you could call collect it's Bill, that's Jill a
fashion way of doing it.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yes, Hi one eight Hender collect what's your name? Putting
in the thirteen personnel in the red zone.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
That's that's for the uh.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's for all you gen xers out there.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Then for nobody else because you want to understand, except
for the parents of the gen xers. It might be
tuned in as well, So thank you. Dynamic that might
drop in Manti. Yeah, they can't because they almost beat Indiana,
And if you could almost beat somebody, that means you
could beat them playing the same way, I'm not expecting
the same thing. I think they've a lot of what
(01:27):
we've heard is learning your lessons and improving from the
things that didn't work, and like why work?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Why why was the offense bad?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You look at it and it's like, well, maybe it
was this, maybe it was that, So let's avoid doing that.
What what typically typically works for this offense, Well, let's
explore that. And in terms of winning explosive plays, I
don't know how many explosive plays you get out of
thirteen personnel.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Probably not a lot.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
So and one of the issues with the Indiana game
is like they're trying to dial some stuff up, but
they couldn't pass protect. So whether you got thirteen or
eleven or twelve, like even when they had like max protect,
they still had some issues.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So I do expect them to open it.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Up more and spread them out, and then does that
allow them to run the ball better because there is
a more spread out defense. Miami's got a ton of
defensive backs, so they've got talent there.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
But I do think they will play differently offensively.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I still think there's gonna be some stuff that you
continue to recognize, like this is still gonna be as
we've said all week, Ryan Day's offense, John, do you
expect the slowest to still be there?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think this conversation sort of has to start with
Ryan Day in terms of how he approaches football. He's
got a pretty analytical mind, and I think when you
look at this from a sort of analytical perspective, if
you feel like you have a little bit of a
talent advantage, the plays you have, the more that talent
advantage shows up. You know, when you're when you are
(03:04):
a big underdog, what are you trying to do. You're
trying to run the ball, You're trying to keep the
clock moving, You're trying to keep the opposing offense off
the field. You're trying to play basically play service academy football. Right, Well,
if you're not the underdog, what do you want to do?
You want more plays because your slight talent advantage that
accumulates over the more plays you have, the more that accumulates,
and more that shows up, and the more if you
(03:25):
have a slightly better chance of making a big play
on any individual play. The more plays they are, the
better chance that you're going to have an advantage in
terms of big plays. So I expect Ryan Day too.
You know, there still is the you've got to look at.
You know, hey, there are still a couple of games
after this one if if you win it, there's still
a couple of games after this one that you got
(03:45):
to worry about. But also, you've got thirteen of the
sixteen potential games in your rearview mirror at this point. So, Okay,
you saw change in approach during the playoffs last year.
I don't really see any reason to expect there to
not be a change of approach here because I think
you saw the same sort of mistakes towards the end
of this season in terms of you lost a game
(04:08):
last year by a thirteen to ten score, you lost
a game this year by an identical thirteen to ten score.
The talent on the opposing sideline was a little different
in those two games, but some of the lessons were
probably the same, and so I would expect sort of
a similar change to approach that what we saw last year.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, I also think you can run more tempo because
now you're to the point where you're protecting yourself. You
spent off season protecting yourself so that you could be
good to go into the playoffs. Now that you're good
to go, go and you can't worry about the next
game necessarily. It's like the Mayague baseball where all hands
on deck for a decisive game.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
And that's what this is.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And so I don't know that you need to hold
something back for like, well, let's save the tempo for
Georgia or whatever.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
It's like, well, okay, good luck.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Well if you can get up three scores, then you can't.
But I think the other piece of this is that
Jeremiah Smith and Carneal Tate were clearly not one hundred
percent for Michigan. They were clearly still not one hundred
percent for Indiana. They've then had three more weeks to recover,
so you know, Jeremiah Smith didn't exactly say he was
one hundred percent, but he said he was feeling a
(05:17):
lot better when we talk to him on Monday. I'm
expecting them to be able to Carnal Tate to play
more plays than he did, because Arnold Tate hadn't played
in like a month basically before that. Michigan game and
then didn't play. I think that was part of why
you saw him getting taken off the field at times
in that Indiana game. I don't think there's gonna I
(05:37):
don't think you're gonna see Carneal Tate getting taken off
the field in the red zone in this one. And
so I think all of that sort of goes to
the same conclusion for me, which is it's going to
be a little more different, a little bit of a
different approach, and it's going to be a more aggressive one.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Yeah, more twelves and thirteen more, maybe more eleved more
eleved to thirteen as well, but I think a lot
of Jeremiah Smith Cardal say on the field for as
much as they can handle and.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Go from there. Yep.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Next one from at Tony Underscore Lisa thirteen, who starts
at right guard. We know there are two possible answers
to this question. We know that the guy who has
started at right guard all year, Tager Shabola, is not
one of the answers there. I know who I'm expecting
to start there, but it's you know, I think there
are two real genuine possibilities, depending on how things go
in practice.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I am expecting it to be Gabe Van Sickle,
who I assume has been going with the ones in practice,
which should get him ready for a life of the
Big city as a Hawaii state starter. But before it
was Gabe Van Sickle as the second right guard, it
was Josh Padilla. And then Josh Padilla went down, got hurt?
Can he get back into that thing where you know
(06:49):
he is? And when I say he was the second
right guard, like he was the sixth guy, like they were.
Basically they wanted to reward him with playing time, but
didn't want to do that at center because of all
that entails. So it's like, well, what's the one position
that we can always rotate move somebody out?
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, what's right guard? And it's like your junk drawer.
You just put whatever in there and then you're fined.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
And so now you've got your Scotch tape and you know,
your utility scissors with this random deck of cards with
the seven of clubs missaying, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
We all have the same junk drawer.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I have a friend who grew up in the country
not far from where you grew up, yeah, and said,
growing up they had a dynamite drawer. In their kitchen
for you know what general, the general what have you on?
The on the farm?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Wow? See I was not. I was a city boy
who moved to the farm.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
When I say city, see you like eight ten thousand
people in the city that moved to the farm.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
I would in New York City.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
It was a county seat and it had a courthouse.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
At one point a kfcat Wow. All right.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
So next one from at J. Gillen five six seven,
And do you want to do the exposition for this
one in advanced or do you want to do ask
the question and then do the explanation.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
Let's let's ask the questions and we'll explore the room.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I need to know if the guy without the glass
is going to start wearing them to sound smarter like
the guy with the glasses.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, thank you for that question. And this was a
come from I don't know if it's a Miami fan.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I see it was a Miami fan.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Basically said something like the guy with the glasses is
smarter than the guy without the glasses, and the guy
without classes is you know, a dumb idiot or something.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
I don't I forget a terrible dumb idiot. I forget
the exact.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I forget what Tony's burner was for. UNI asked that question, but.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Think I said, uh, but yes, Tom, are you going
to start wearing glasses to sound smarter like me?
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I've been carrying these around for three years, just waiting
for a moment when I needed to sound smarter than you,
and it finally, after five thousand podcasts, has happened. I
would take them off because I am old and have
trouble reading my computer stream with them on. But yes, so.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You're not gonna saything smarter in k oh here we go.
Beware Tom with your Southern accent.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Now that would just that would just can'tl it out.
No no, So yes, well I did. I absolutely howled
at that comment that came across. That was tremendous. So
we love, we love making friends with all of our
Miami my new Miami fan friends. Next one from at
mark fifty four, seven thirty nine, I'll throw out the obvious.
(09:27):
Will our offensive line be able to hold up against
the Hurricane defensive line? Yep, boy, you answer that question.
I feel like you've answered the question. Who's going to
get the free trip to Fiesta Bowl? And the handsome
set of luggage that goes with it. It's the if
Ohio States offensive line can handle the Miami defensive line.
And by handle, I mean you give up one sack
(09:49):
and you rush for four yards to carry, you know,
two sacks and you rush for four yards of carry,
you can run the ball. Okay, And Julian say, has
enough time. If they can do that, they're gonna win
the game. Now can they do that?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Boy?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Isn't that the sixty four thousand dollars question here?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yeah? And it's with those sacks.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
If you get sacked three times, make two of them
come in the same drive where you know you're sacked
on second down. Now you're like third and eighteen, and
he is sacked again just because.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It's a passing down or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Like, have them come with bunches as opposed to like
over the course of the begin because any sack kind
to drive. And whether it's a third down or it's
a first down, now you're second and sixteen or whatever,
it's like a false start, except you know the down
counts and so you've got to overcome that. And you know,
will they be able to hold up against the hurricane
(10:41):
defensive line? These are really good defensive players, you know,
not just at the ends, also a tackle and then
they will rotate their tackles. You know, I assume they
rotate their ends. We haven't seen I haven't seen it
as much. Maybe are they with Ohio State where it's
just Jack Sawyer or JC two A Marlowhile. Yeah, like
it's just a kid Messador and Ed Ruben baying out there.
(11:04):
But I'm sure they have guys that they can also
plug in when they need to. But it's those four
guys that you need to really be concerned about and
can they hold up. I mean, you can ask the
same thing for to Miami's offensive line hold up against
the higher States defensive line, and you know, there it
lies the winner of the game, I guess overall.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Well, yeah, that that feels like of anything that might
be that you know that those two matchups. You know,
this is the old, crusty, old college football coach thing.
The game is won and lost in the trenches. And
there's a reason that college football coaches since the days
of New Rockney have been saying the game is won
and lost in the trenches. And it's not just because
it's commitment to the bit, it's like, well, it's actually
(11:43):
because if your quarterback is perpetually running for his life,
he cannot throw the ball very effectively. And you can
have wide receivers as good as you want to have.
If Miami can get consistent pressure with their front four,
that's going to really limit a the Ohio States ability
to find open receivers. It allows Miami to potentially bracket
a Jeremiah Smith and try and take him away if
they don't have to dedicate more than four guys to
(12:05):
pass rush to getting home. That's a big problem for
our housetake.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And we know they'll try to dial up some big
hits and when you do that, you've got to protect
a longer amount of time. K ohis they do that
and they weren't able to do that against Indiana. Can
they do that against maaybe? If they don't, then this
is going to be a check down game. And Julian
say saying set it on Monday. He held the ball
too long against Indiana, and so now you wonder is
(12:31):
it going to be getting rid of the ball quicker?
And it's like, oh, you know, you could have let
us one develop a love it or and of course
as Ryan Day says that that's the art of playing quarterback,
where you just have to how the feel of you know,
no one to hold up, no one to walk away.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
No one to run. Tom. It's Kenny Rogers thing. You
wouldn't understand.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I think folding him head was in there somewhere.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Yeah, but we don't fold here. This is you play
the cards your dog. You'd just go down swing it.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
You can't fold are a snap base question.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Should I count my money at the table?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Oh, there's time enough for count the deal? It's done?
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Okay, what about my rods and cone? That's a different
Kenny Rodgers saying okay, sorry, all right, next time at
Kale Buckeye. Does Brian Hartline already have one foot out
the door hoping we don't see a repeat of bad
play calling. Well, so let's split these two questions into
or two sentences into two separate pieces. Since this question
was sent, we were obviously cleared it cleared it clued
(13:27):
in by Ryan Day on Monday that Ryan Day will
be the one calling the place, so that will Brian
Hartline will not have any direct impact on the play
calling during the game, so you can kind of take
that off off the table. Does he already have one
foot out the door? You know, I think the answer is,
how do you mean that? Like, does Brian Hartline not
care anymore? You know, this is Brian Hartline is a
(13:48):
college senior and he's gotten into the college of his choice,
and so he doesn't really care. And every day is
skipped day if you're living a living life, right kind
of thing. No, not like that. Is Brian Hartline trying
to do two jobs at once. Yeah, that's how every
coach is when they're you know, so I don't know
does that constitute having one foot out the door. He's
unquestionably trying to do the you know, he's he's handled
(14:12):
he's started hiring a USF staff. They have started offering
players that they hadn't offered before. You know, his starting
quarterback went into the transfer portal earlier in the week.
So you know, he's got a lot of stuff that
he's got to sort of handle on that side of things.
And Ryan Day talked about the fact that he recognized
that Brian Hartlin had a bunch of stuff on the
us F side that he's got to handle, and that's
one why Ryan Day is making the change in terms
(14:34):
of who's calling plays, because it's not fair to you know,
if this is this is not a nine to five
job being a college football coach in season. So if
you're you know, if you're working a twelve hour day
normally and you're trying to work a twelve hour day
for two separate jobs, well you're don't. That doesn't leave
a lot of time for sleep and eating and whatever
else you have to do. So I think that that
(14:57):
the answer is yes, in a way, he's kind of
monitoring stuff in another spot and probably can't focus on
Ohio State in the way that he did before, but
he's still invested in the outcome here.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah, he's he doesn't have one foot out the door.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
He's got both of his feet and separate doors.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
You know, he got his right foot in one door
and his left foot to another door.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
And I am guessing that Ryan Day talks with Brian
Harlan before before the DA game.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
You good, could you handle this? You think? Do you
feel like you can handle this? Of course I can.
I'm good. I could do all of this.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And then after the game and things happened and it's
like Ryan A Cups shows like we're taking play calling.
I'm sure Brian Harland was not happy about it in
terms of like, no, I want to I want you
to do this, I want to finish this out.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
It's like two points.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah, right, Well, as you're about to find out as
a head coach, you're the one who gets to make
this decision. Now that's true in Tampa, that's not true
in Columbus.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah. So yeah, I'm sure he's disappointed. I do wonder
how much time more time he has now for USSS
because there are things that he does not have to
worry about now that you know now he could do
all of these. So I do think he's got his
feet two separate doors, because you have to that's the
nature of the business, right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
And there's also a real distinction here to me between
what's happening with Brian Hartline at Ohio State and what
happened with Lane Kiffen when he was at Alabama, where
Lane Kiffen was the offensive coordinator at Alabama and before
the National Championship game. Was that the one against Georgia.
It was one of the national championship games. It must
(16:34):
have been twenty eighteen, maybe it was the one against Clemson,
but it was Bright. Lane Kiffen was the offensive coordinator
for the semi final game, and then between the semi
final game and the National championship game, Nick Saban said
your services are longer required, and then lane Kiffn went
off to Florida Atlantic when he got that head coaching job.
(16:56):
So that was actually Florida Atlantic. Was that the twenty
eighteen season, I think, so that would have actually been
twenty seventeen. I think that might have been a Clemson one.
But either way, turns out Alabama was in a bunch
of National championship games and they only got rid of
their offensive coordinator once, and it was in that case.
You know, Brian Hartline, this is not Brian Day saying
get out and don't let the door hitch in the
(17:16):
bottom the way out. It's just saying, you know, look,
I recognize hours. You have an hours in the day problem.
And so this is the this is the change that
probably benefits everyone to a certain degrade. All right, last
one from at mattmu one two, three, four, five six.
That's a combination I have on my luggage. Here's a
prediction for you for the Cotton Bowl if Ohiostate loses.
(17:37):
Michael Irvin will use his belt to beat a gray
sweater vest in a trash can to honor his view
of the two thousand and two cheft that Miami got.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
That does not sound like a bold prediction or an
outrageous prediction. I could see this happening now. The problem
with a trash can, with the arms, the sweater vest
is just gonna look like a sweater because there's no
no vesting a trash can per se. Now, unless you have,
like the arms, the sleeves of the undershirt hanging out,
then you can see those, but really then the shirt
(18:07):
is doing all of the work.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
So I don't know if that's here. Were there probably
either place.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
But again, as we've talked about on the previous show,
you're gonna see a lot of Michael erving.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
If he does, rest asshured, you will see it on TV.
Whatever he does, you will see it on TV.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Yes, And he may bring several belts with him, And
I'm sure Miami will have belts. We've seen Jamaie Mathews
and Ohio State have belts. Well, I don't where eybody's
getting these belts. There's belts out the Wazzie now coming
to hear everybody's like, you know, it used to be
in the turnover chain. He used to be this used
to be that, like I need, I need, we need
eight belts on the sideline.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
We need the gatorade. We've got the belts. We've got
the gatorade. We got the belts. Miami will need the
heated benches because we know Dallas can be in the seventies,
it could be in the sixties.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
So you might need that. And of course, yes, more belts.
So top I think we've done it. We're episode or this.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Episode at least. Yeah, don't worry. There's more questions left.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And really, if you want to throw some questions, we
will try to take a look at the comments on
these videos and we can we can attack some more throughout.
We've got a lot of time. We've got time between
now and the game. I just saying we don't have
a lot of time to do this stuff, but there
is hours before now and the game where we can
fill some time. Always enjoy answering listener questions, and not
(19:24):
just because it's stuff we don't have to come up with,
not just because thank you all fortuneing a in hit
that thumbs up. If you could continue to find us
out buckeheaddle dot com.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
I'd love to see you there. Thank you all for
tuning in, and we'll talk to you all later
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