December 5, 2025 • 24 mins
How Indiana Can Upset Ohio State: Buckeye Weekly Podcast Preview
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr delve into the upcoming Big Ten Championship game between Ohio State and Indiana. They break down how Indiana can potentially upset Ohio State, emphasizing keys to victory such as Indiana's strong mentality, quarterback Fernando Mendoza's resilience, the critical role of Indiana's defense, especially in the third down and red zone situations, and the significant emotional and home crowd advantage for Indiana. They also discuss Ohio State's red zone performance and the importance for the Buckeyes to avoid settling for field goals. Gerdeman and Orr examine Indiana’s aggressive strategy, particularly in employing fourth-down plays, and highlight the potential psychological and motivational factors at play. Tune in for a comprehensive analysis of what could be a historic game for Indiana and the challenges that Ohio State will face.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:10 Setting the Stage: Indiana vs. Ohio State
00:44 Indiana's Key to Victory: Fernando Mendoza
02:12 Indiana's Resilience in the Fourth Quarter
04:19 Indiana's Defensive Strengths
06:10 The Importance of Third Downs
07:24 Aggressive Play Calling and Halftime Strategies
12:17 Red Zone Defense: A Deciding Factor
19:23 The Emotional and Historical Stakes
23:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr delve into the upcoming Big Ten Championship game between Ohio State and Indiana. They break down how Indiana can potentially upset Ohio State, emphasizing keys to victory such as Indiana's strong mentality, quarterback Fernando Mendoza's resilience, the critical role of Indiana's defense, especially in the third down and red zone situations, and the significant emotional and home crowd advantage for Indiana. They also discuss Ohio State's red zone performance and the importance for the Buckeyes to avoid settling for field goals. Gerdeman and Orr examine Indiana’s aggressive strategy, particularly in employing fourth-down plays, and highlight the potential psychological and motivational factors at play. Tune in for a comprehensive analysis of what could be a historic game for Indiana and the challenges that Ohio State will face.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:10 Setting the Stage: Indiana vs. Ohio State
00:44 Indiana's Key to Victory: Fernando Mendoza
02:12 Indiana's Resilience in the Fourth Quarter
04:19 Indiana's Defensive Strengths
06:10 The Importance of Third Downs
07:24 Aggressive Play Calling and Halftime Strategies
12:17 Red Zone Defense: A Deciding Factor
19:23 The Emotional and Historical Stakes
23:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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 with Tom or Tom. How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Last time we were on, we made Indiana fans mad.
Now we get to make Ohio State fans mad. Because
when you were in a downtown area full of super excited,
emotional people who maybe have hit the bars, what you
want is everyone equally angry at you, all at once.
So we're going to do equal time here. Why Indiana
(00:31):
or how Indiana wins the Big Ten championship game this week?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, why it's because our high state's coaches are screwing
it up. Tom, They're screwing it.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Up the old John Houtsmith campit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
How is another story, and we will I think we
can start with Fernanda Mendoza, Indiana quarterback, who is just
about as accurate as anybody in the nation. I think
seventy two percent completions. Has essentially even though he's played
at Cal and Indiana has seen everything, has been able
to be a fourth quarter guy. My favorite thing about
(01:05):
him is he can throw a devastating pick and then
on the very next drive march right down the field.
And so how does Indiana win keeping that mentality where
the next play is the most important, the last play
is long gone. You're playing on the Ohio State defense
that is really pretty good, so you're not gonna go
(01:25):
swimming leave the entire time. But I think he understands that.
So I think one of the ways that Indiana can
win this is just by having that mentality that things
aren't gonna go great all the time, but it doesn't
matter because this is gonna be a fourth quarter fight.
And if it does get into the fourth quarter and
all things you're with an arms reach, then this becomes
a situation where Indiana feels comfortable, they feel like they
(01:48):
have the advantage. This is a situation Ohio State has
not been in, so this is what they want. I'm
sure they're saying if we get Ohio State into the
fourth quarter, When we get Ohio State in the fourth quarter,
you're going to see two different things. Where one where
Indiana is this is they like this kind of party
and Ohio State has never been to this kind of party,
(02:09):
and you'll see who's best out there on a dance
for tom.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, this is an Indiana team that we have watched
for their games and three of them in the fourth quarter,
even knowing the result, It's like, how are they going
to win this one?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You know?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
They the against or uh what Iowa was the first one.
Iowa had the ball after Mendoza threw a pick. Iowa
had the ball in Indiana Territory with about two minutes
left and the score is tied, and it's like, well,
how are they going to get out of this one?
And then Iowa misses a field goal. They hit a
(02:42):
quick slant to Elijah Surat with cover zero coverage and
boom bing bang boom, touchdown and the game's over. Against
against Oregon, they're tied or they know they're up late
in the fourth quarter, and Mendoza throws a bad pick
and that set that gets run back for a touchdown,
and all of a sudden it's tied, and everyone in
Austin has gone crazy, and they just kind of shrug
(03:04):
their shoulders and go all right, and then go right
down the field and score a touchdown and then get
a pick and then get another pick, and it they
ended up winning by ten. And then at Penn State,
I mean, you probably remember the Penn State game again,
pick by Fernando Mendoza in the fourth quarter, and they
just kind of shrug their shoulder and go, yeah, all right,
that's fine, and they go right down the field. In
the final minutes, the defense gets off the field and
(03:26):
in a you have to get off the field right
now kind of situation, and the offense goes bum bom
mobile bum and right down the field and it passed
to Omar Cooper and they everyone goes home safely, and
everyone is cheering for Fernando Mendoza to win the Heisman. So, yeah,
this is this is not an Indiana team that's gonna
get remotely rattled. I don't think this is a you know,
Ohio State has pretty much all season just sort of
(03:47):
been able to out talent everyone. And then once people
kind of figure out that Ohio State is able to
out talent them, they sort of throw up their arms
and go, well, we made a good effort. There's still
ten minutes left in the second quarter. But you know, hey,
mid a heck of a run at it. We'll see
you next week. That's not going to be this weekend.
Indiana is going to try. You know, Indiana should be
able to keep it close and should be able to
get it into the fourth quarter. And once you're in
(04:08):
the fourth quarter, Indiana is feeling pretty good about their chances.
At that point in Ohio State's going, we haven't been
here before, so yeah, that for sure is a big factor.
Another big factor Indiana's passed defense. And this is this
is really a all three levels of the defense thing,
because they get a lot of pressure from the defensive
front and the linebackers are very good in coverage and
(04:29):
also good at getting pressure, and also the secondary has
been really good at making plays. The safeties. To think
of nine combined interceptions this year, Ohio State has seven.
Just the team itself has full period, full stop, seven interceptions.
Ohio State after giving up five yards per attempt, so
they're not easy to pass on Indiana five point nine
yards per attempt. That is, there's a very very very
(04:51):
good number. Only six passing touchdowns allowed all season for Indiana,
sixteen interceptions. That's one of those things where you know,
go back and find me a quarterback who has six
touchdowns and sixteen interceptions, and that's going to be a
guy who's like a legendary meme quarterback for how bad
he is. And that's what they have turned every opposing
(05:12):
quarterback into Now. This is a better, obviously Ohio State
offense than anyone they've played this year, but they've played decent,
decent teams. They made Dante more look like a mean quarterback.
At the end of that game where Mendoza throws the interception,
it gets run back for a pick six to tie
the score. India, I just sort of shards the shoulders,
(05:32):
goes down the field's course a touchdown, get an interception,
kick a field goal to go ten, immediately get another interceptions.
It was interceptions on back to back plays, and that
was Dante Moore, who is a pretty good quarterback, and
in Oregon, which is a pretty good and dynamic offense.
So this is an Indiana defense that can create turnovers
and it doesn't take much. This is not a game
(05:53):
where Ohio State's gonna win by thirty points. This is
a game where you're working with some relatively fine margins
and you just you get the right interception at the
right time. And this is an Indiana defense that has
shown they can do it. You get the right interception
at the right time that can swing the game.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, these two of the best third down defenses as well.
Ohio State does very, very well on third downs. So
if you can limit the basically you got to limit
first and second down to give yourself a fighting chance
on third down with how accurate and protected Julian saying is.
So the longer you can make those third downs, the better,
(06:30):
and then you'll hold up. And it's that's I think
that maybe winning first down then leads to winning a
third down and second down. Who knows, but basically, if
Ohio State's going to run the ball on first down,
stop them for one or two yards, and then who
knows what second down is going to be, but that
(06:51):
third down is going to be huge all game long.
And if Ohio State is four or fifteen or something
like that, then that's a number for Indiana. That's a
number that they can take into the fourth quarter with
a lead or with a real shot to win this game.
So I think, how does Indiana win this game? Win
third down? But that also starts by winning first down.
(07:12):
You might want to try and win second down as well.
Since we're here, we're talking about it, go ahead and
do what you can on all three of those downs.
But if there's one down you can win, I'm gonna
choose third down for Indiana.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, And this is also a game where I think
Kurt Signetti might treat this as a lot of four
down territory. He is not a super aggressive guy on
fourth down normally. I think they went for fifteen times
during the regular season, which is just you know, basically
once a game. This is one where I think he
knows this is going to be a fine margin game.
(07:46):
And Ohio State and Indiana have both been kind of
iffy in for you know, third and short fourth and
short running the ball situations. So I think you're gonna
see this is this is one where neither team has
had to really really dig too deep into its into
its bag of tricks over the last month, So you
probably have a lot of stuff sort of saved up
(08:06):
and at and not a lot of new looks and
a lot of a lot of everything. I think you're
gonna see Indiana really kind of push the limits and
try and just find little advantages and that's something that
can add up over the course of the game. And
one of the areas that I think we've been very
impressed with Signetti, well, I think you've been impressed with
I think we've been very impressed with literally everything Signetti
(08:27):
has done since he got off the plane in Bloomington.
But one thing, one area where they do find a
lot of those fine margins is right before halftime. There've
been a couple times when they've gotten the ball deep
in their own territory and there's twenty something seconds left,
and you know, maybe they got a timeout or two,
but it is the point on the field where you
sort of assume, Okay, you're gonna run the ball, You're
gonna run a little fullback dive or something and pick
(08:49):
up three yards and get into the locker room. And
multiple times they have gone down the field and set
themselves up to kick a field goal right before halftime
and done it. And they did that against Oregon, did
that against was it against Iowa? I think they did it.
It has been it is. They are very very aggressive there.
They're very aggressive everywhere. And if you go into the
(09:10):
game knowing we're going to be aggressive on fourth down,
then that changes how you call plays on third down
and second down, and that completely changes the calculus on
your you know, your whole your whole series of plays.
As Tony said, four down's pretty important, but if you
know you're playing with four downs, that really changes the
calculus on what you're going to do and what you
(09:30):
can do, and then you know. On the Ohio State Show,
we talked about the fact we're not expecting Indiana, but
we're able to run the ball that well. But if
you can run, you know, if it's third and four
and you know you're going forward on fourth down, if
you pick up three yards on third and fourth, that's okay,
that's not a bad result. Yeah, you want to pick
it up, but then you're putting yourself in a position
where you do have another crack at it. And you know,
(09:52):
I don't I don't expect them to go forward on
you know, this is not going to be like a
Dan Landing game plan where they're going forward on fourth
and four at their own thirty hardline in the first
half or anything like that. But I think Sagetti's going
to be aggressive enough because he's going to be just
looking for all of these small advantages and he's great
at finding them, and I think this is a game
where something like that could end up swinging things.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Well, if it's third and four and Ohio State's going
to view that as a passing down, they're going to
have their nickel out there, and so if you run
it and then you've run it again and keep the
nickel out there, then you've got you've kind of got
an advantage knowing that we're going to go for it
on fourth down. Both teams have attempted fifteen fourth downs
this year. Indianas hit seven of them, Ohio State has
it eleven. I think, yeah, that's going to be a
(10:38):
key play fourth down as well. I'm going you know what,
first down, second down, and third down, fourth down win them.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
All got nineteen ninety Colorado on the phone, they have
a question about fifth down win.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
It's so the the aggressiveness at the half or towards
going towards the half, that's the only acceptable aggressive attack
for a field goal. And we've seen we saw Ryan
Day the buck guys do it a few games ago
where it's like you knew that there's really only time
to get to the thirty and so they operated well
(11:10):
and they were able to do that. If you're settling
for field goals outside of that though, that's to me,
that's a four point play for the opponent. Where Indiana,
if they're settling, that's not good. If Indiana is going
to win this, it's because Ohio State is kicking more
field goals than Indiana. I think where you end up
with just an odd number, twenty six points might be
(11:33):
enough to win, but it would be a very frustrating
afternoon for Ohio State to have all of those field
goals or you know, like a sixteen point game is
is that's a losing number for Ohio State. If they've
got sixteen points because of three field goals. That's what
you want to see if you're Indiana and just hold
up in the red zone and maybe maybe try to
(11:54):
find some emotional edge. And maybe Michigan was trying to
do that against Ohio State and it kind of worked
but kind of didn't. Can they can Indiana win the
penalty battle in this one? If so, I think that
helps them a great deal as well, because against these
two defenses, one holding call is probably going to kill
your drive.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, And I wanted to go back to the red
zone thing because that was something that I had kind
of highlighted on my list, which is Ohio State has
allowed thirty five percent touchdowns in opponent red zone trips.
Opponents have gotten into the red zone twenty times all season.
That's less than twice a game and they've scored seven touchdowns.
That is remarkable, Tony. There's only one team in America
(12:35):
better than Ohio State in terms of red zone touchdowns allowed,
and that is the Indiana Hoosiers. Eighteen times in the
opponent red zone, so that fewer in case you're scoring
at home five touchdowns allowed twenty seven point seven to
eight percent. That is incredible. And Ohio State, you saw
in the Ohio State last weekend struggle to punch it
in against Michigan in the red zone. And that's something
(12:58):
I think you probably will see here. This is a
very stout and very solid Indiana defense, especially the defensive front.
I love the front seven for this Indiana defense, like
it is the defensive line. The linebackers are phenomenal. You
can you can see why. You can see exactly why
this Indiana defense is so good in the red zone
because everything just gets compacted and everyone's in tighter spaces
(13:19):
and then it's just can you win your one on
one battles and man, oh Man, Indiana has a lot
of guys on that defense who win their one on
one battles. Stephen Day has had an increasing number of
tackles for loss the last three games. I think it
was like two and a half and then three, and
like four and a half. You get a tackle for
loss in the red zone and then all of a sudden,
it's like boom, Well now you're behind the sticks.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Now you're really in.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Trouble because there's now you have to throw it in
a really compacted area. Doesn't mean they can they can't
do it. But if I think the way Indiana wins
this game is if Ohio State kicks three field goals
in this game, I think Indiana has a pretty good
chance of winning this game because I think Ohio It's
going to move the ball enough to get it down
(13:59):
in the red zone enough to put points on the board.
And I don't know that Indiana's scoring more than twenty
one points, maybe on offense something like that. If Indiana
can force a turnover and get some cheap points there.
If Indiana can force Ohio State, you know you've got Hey,
you got five red zone trips, but you only scored
two touchdowns and you kick three field goals. Now instead
(14:19):
of thirty five points, you got twenty three points. And
then all you gotta do is do that and get
it into the fourth quarter and then all the stuff
we just talked about. If the if Ohio State is
kicking field goals, this turns into a four quarter game,
and if this turns into a four quarter game, you
know that place first of all, to Honey, I think
there's gonna be a whole lot of cream and crimson
in that place on Saturday night for lots of reasons.
(14:42):
But I think this is this is going to be
functionally a road game for Ohio State in terms of
crowd makeup, which is a little unusual for them, And
I think that place, if it is a four quarter game,
I think that is going to be very difficult atmosphere
for Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
This Ohio State season ticket ticket holder is a been
turned away, not all of them certainly, but many of
them have been turned away saying the the demand has
exceeded what they can provide, and so there's a lot
of people now looking to the secondary market, of which
it is a very expensive secondary market. As you can imagine,
if if Ohio State, if Indiana can get to Julian
(15:21):
say and just turn him into a sixty five percent
completion guy instead of a seventy five or eighty percent
completion guy, again, these are all just these little things.
You don't if you can just you don't have to
turn him into a fifty percent completion guy. But if
you can, you know, sixty five percent, and then you're
you're if Indiana's defense is like fifty percent of third
(15:41):
downs or you know, sixty percent, where you just you
accumulate all of these little things to then make it
a game in the fourth quarter. That's what we're talking about.
Because the one thing I don't necessarily see like a
seventeen point win for Indiana. I think Indiana's path to
victory and I think we've said this is it's narrower
(16:02):
than Ohio States, but it's still very much there because
all of these things that if they can we talk
about if they do just do this and this and this,
these are all possible things. At some point, it might
sound like a parlay, but it's not. It's these are
all things that a talented defense can do against a
talented offense. And one of the things that the Indiana defense,
if playing those three linebackers, if they can hold up
(16:26):
in coverage, then that's another avenue that will help them
win it. If if and what will help with that
is the pass rush, that's where it all starts. And
so if Julian saying can't be as pinpoint as he
would like down the seam to Max Claire when he's
got Isaiah Jones and coverage, or Aiden Fisher on coverage,
or or Elijah tom Hardy party, thank you one of
(16:51):
those guys in coverage, Like if it's just a little
bit off or a little bit high and the passes
you can't come down with it, Like, these are things
that are very, very possible. And so I think if
if Indiana is sticking with thirty three linebackers, which they love,
those guys have to hold up in coverage if Indiana's
gonna win this. So that's that's I'm saying. If Indiana
(17:12):
is gonna win this, those guys are holding up in coverage.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, and you know, again we've said this all week.
These are very impressive Indiana linebackers. I really really like
the front seven for Indiana's defense, and I think this
is a this is a front seven that could hold
up against this Ohio State defense or others Ohio State offense.
So I think I think that's all. You know, it
sounds like a tall task, but I think it's it's
well within the role of possibility that they do end
(17:36):
up holding up here. The you know, I talked about
the crowd a minute ago in terms of like sort
of soft factors that could make a big difference here.
You know. I I think that Indiana at number one,
their fans had a multiple day head start on things
in terms of they beat They beat Purdue on Friday night,
and probably knew before they beat Friday Night Perdue Friday
(17:57):
night that they were going to be in Indianapolis, because
we've all seen Purdue Ohio State fans were probably not
rushing out to buy tickets after the last couple of
years before the game went completely final and an arbor,
So they had a little bit of a head start.
Obviously it's in Indiana. So and then, like as you said,
by the time it went final, there just were not
very many tickets left in the secondary market. It was
(18:17):
like six hundred pairs of tickets left on a stub
hub when I looked relatively soon after the Michigan game.
There just are not very many tickets available and they
are not cheap. The other thing that I think is
a little bit of a potential factor here, and I
want to be super clear that I am not saying
Ohio State does not care about this game. I am
not saying that if Indiana wins just because Ohio State
didn't want it, Like, I'm not saying that Indiana beat
(18:40):
Purdue in a game that was like, yeah, they played
for the old look and bucket, it's a rivalry, YadA, YadA, YadA.
That was that was never going to be a game
that was never even you know, that was not a
that was a game that was you know, went analytically
final on like Monday afternoon. Ohio State spent a lot
of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of
emotion going up to inn next week. It is difficult
(19:01):
to do that two weeks in a row. That is,
you know, it is possible. This is a very mature
Ohio State team. This is a very disciplined Ohio State team.
This is a very focused Ohio State team. This is
an Ohio State team that has seen what it takes
to go one game and then another game in another
game and play at very very high levels. A lot
of them they didn't also play last year, but most
of them were there for that College Football playoff run.
(19:23):
It still is a difficult thing to do. And this
is also this is the biggest game in Indiana football
history and period, full stop. Like I'm not even going
to entertain a conversation biggest game in Indiana football history.
This isn't a chance for Indiana to like officially enter
the college football Playoff as a number one team in
the nation, win these Big Ten championship for the first
(19:43):
time since nineteen sixty seven, do it in Indianapolis in
front of a largely home crowd. This would be the
greatest moment in Indiana football history. Like I don't I
don't know what second place is, but it hasn't happened
for a long, long, long, long long time. This is
a game where Indiana has absolut everything to play for
and Ohio State is coming off of a very emotional win.
(20:04):
They were very excited. I think they've done a very
good job attorney in the page. But I think you
got to just you got to take this sort of
soft factor stuff like that into a little bit of
consideration in terms of, you know, if Indiana comes out
really flying and can jump out to a lead early
in this game, I don't think this is a game
where Ohio State' scoring forty points. So if Indiana can
jump out and just jump out to an early lead
(20:26):
and make Ohio State play from behind and get the
crowd really going, that could be enough to just sort
of hang on and win the game in the end.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, we've talked about this before where this if you
don't match in Indiana's energy in this game, you have
a very good chance of getting run over. As Indiana
just continues to like they want this. Because I'll go
back to last year Ohio State beat them thirty eight fifteen,
Chris Signetti has said that they were overmatched and probably
(20:57):
weren't as prepared as they should have been, or just
they knew they were in trouble pretty early on, and
you know, now they've had that thought of over a year.
Dealing with that reminds me of Ohio State losing to
Clemson in twenty nineteen and the focus in twenty twenty
in the off season. It was as much Clemson or
(21:18):
more Clemson than it was Michigan. And there was no
guarantee that they were going to see Clemson again, but
they sure were going to be prepared if they did.
There was no guarantee that Ohio State in Indiana, we're
going to see each other this year. Indiana, I'm guessing
is sure prepared, you know, prepared as if they were
going to so again, this is like the Don Draper
(21:39):
I don't think about you at all. Like if Ohio
State is Don Draper in, this might not go well
for them because Indiana has been pointing and thinking about
this and as you said, like this is the biggest
thing to Indiana since John Cougar, Mellencamp and little Pink Houses.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
This.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
If Ohio State is not ready for this, then they've
not been Like the coaching staff, Ryan Day, has not
prepared them adequately to realize that this is a very,
very big thing and if you're not up to that standard,
then things can go well. This is more than just
a football game. You know, this is a football game,
(22:14):
but it's a little bit more than that as well.
If you just came here to play football, it might
not go well for you.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
No. No, And here's the other thing that's kind of
an interesting dynamic to this. And I don't know that
this is something that's going to meaningfully change how either
team approaches a game, but I think there's a pretty
decent chance these two teams play each other again later
in the year or early next year probably is a
more likely scenario. I mean over under one and a
half Ohio State versus Indiana games this year, Tony, what
(22:41):
do you got?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I think we went over one and a half
last year for Oregon and the other line may have
been two and a half at some point. So I'm
you know, we'll see where they are in the bracket.
But yeah, it's not going to surprise me to see
them play twice this year. I think they've shown that
they can handle whatever is put in front of them.
I'll go under, just be different because you're gonna go
(23:05):
over probably, But I say, if you want to, if
you want to get the win against either team, do
it here where it's guaranteed, because you don't know what's
gonna happen after that. But I'm looking forward to I
can't wait to get there. We've been looking forward to
this one for over a month just because of all
of the stakes and the fun. And I'm not talking
about the steakhouses. I'm talking about football stakes. So anything
(23:29):
else before we go, you got, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I think the st st a k e s are
going to be the only thing I think it's going
to be hard to get into Saint Elmo over the
weekend because during the Indiana basketball game on Saturday at two,
in the Indiana football game at eight on Saturday night,
I'm going to guess there's going to be a few
people in a celebratory mood in Indianapolis this weekend. So yeah,
I can't wait. I think this is going to be
(23:52):
the best atmosphere inside that stadium probably ever for a
conference championship game. I think I think it is going
to be phenomenal and I cannot wait for it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, this is o high state fans are gonna have
to bring it just as much as the higher state
football players are as well. So that will do it
from here. If you're watching on YouTube, please give us
a thumbs up. I would appreciate that. Continue to find
us at Buckeyhuddle dot com, Buckeye Weekly Podcast. You can
find it in all of your feeds. Tom's Buckeyes Tomorrow
Morning you can find it in all of your podcast feeds.
Subscribe to both of those shows. We will have more
(24:28):
coverage of this one, more coverage after and well beyond that,
as you guys know, So thank you all. For tuning
in and we will talk to you all later
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom. How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Last time we were on, we made Indiana fans mad.
Now we get to make Ohio State fans mad. Because
when you were in a downtown area full of super excited,
emotional people who maybe have hit the bars, what you
want is everyone equally angry at you, all at once.
So we're going to do equal time here. Why Indiana
(00:31):
or how Indiana wins the Big Ten championship game this week?
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, why it's because our high state's coaches are screwing
it up. Tom, They're screwing it.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Up the old John Houtsmith campit.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
How is another story, and we will I think we
can start with Fernanda Mendoza, Indiana quarterback, who is just
about as accurate as anybody in the nation. I think
seventy two percent completions. Has essentially even though he's played
at Cal and Indiana has seen everything, has been able
to be a fourth quarter guy. My favorite thing about
(01:05):
him is he can throw a devastating pick and then
on the very next drive march right down the field.
And so how does Indiana win keeping that mentality where
the next play is the most important, the last play
is long gone. You're playing on the Ohio State defense
that is really pretty good, so you're not gonna go
(01:25):
swimming leave the entire time. But I think he understands that.
So I think one of the ways that Indiana can
win this is just by having that mentality that things
aren't gonna go great all the time, but it doesn't
matter because this is gonna be a fourth quarter fight.
And if it does get into the fourth quarter and
all things you're with an arms reach, then this becomes
a situation where Indiana feels comfortable, they feel like they
(01:48):
have the advantage. This is a situation Ohio State has
not been in, so this is what they want. I'm
sure they're saying if we get Ohio State into the
fourth quarter, When we get Ohio State in the fourth quarter,
you're going to see two different things. Where one where
Indiana is this is they like this kind of party
and Ohio State has never been to this kind of party,
(02:09):
and you'll see who's best out there on a dance
for tom.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, this is an Indiana team that we have watched
for their games and three of them in the fourth quarter,
even knowing the result, It's like, how are they going
to win this one?
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You know?
Speaker 2 (02:21):
They the against or uh what Iowa was the first one.
Iowa had the ball after Mendoza threw a pick. Iowa
had the ball in Indiana Territory with about two minutes
left and the score is tied, and it's like, well,
how are they going to get out of this one?
And then Iowa misses a field goal. They hit a
(02:42):
quick slant to Elijah Surat with cover zero coverage and
boom bing bang boom, touchdown and the game's over. Against
against Oregon, they're tied or they know they're up late
in the fourth quarter, and Mendoza throws a bad pick
and that set that gets run back for a touchdown,
and all of a sudden it's tied, and everyone in
Austin has gone crazy, and they just kind of shrug
(03:04):
their shoulders and go all right, and then go right
down the field and score a touchdown and then get
a pick and then get another pick, and it they
ended up winning by ten. And then at Penn State,
I mean, you probably remember the Penn State game again,
pick by Fernando Mendoza in the fourth quarter, and they
just kind of shrug their shoulder and go, yeah, all right,
that's fine, and they go right down the field. In
the final minutes, the defense gets off the field and
(03:26):
in a you have to get off the field right
now kind of situation, and the offense goes bum bom
mobile bum and right down the field and it passed
to Omar Cooper and they everyone goes home safely, and
everyone is cheering for Fernando Mendoza to win the Heisman. So, yeah,
this is this is not an Indiana team that's gonna
get remotely rattled. I don't think this is a you know,
Ohio State has pretty much all season just sort of
(03:47):
been able to out talent everyone. And then once people
kind of figure out that Ohio State is able to
out talent them, they sort of throw up their arms
and go, well, we made a good effort. There's still
ten minutes left in the second quarter. But you know, hey,
mid a heck of a run at it. We'll see
you next week. That's not going to be this weekend.
Indiana is going to try. You know, Indiana should be
able to keep it close and should be able to
get it into the fourth quarter. And once you're in
(04:08):
the fourth quarter, Indiana is feeling pretty good about their chances.
At that point in Ohio State's going, we haven't been
here before, so yeah, that for sure is a big factor.
Another big factor Indiana's passed defense. And this is this
is really a all three levels of the defense thing,
because they get a lot of pressure from the defensive
front and the linebackers are very good in coverage and
(04:29):
also good at getting pressure, and also the secondary has
been really good at making plays. The safeties. To think
of nine combined interceptions this year, Ohio State has seven.
Just the team itself has full period, full stop, seven interceptions.
Ohio State after giving up five yards per attempt, so
they're not easy to pass on Indiana five point nine
yards per attempt. That is, there's a very very very
(04:51):
good number. Only six passing touchdowns allowed all season for Indiana,
sixteen interceptions. That's one of those things where you know,
go back and find me a quarterback who has six
touchdowns and sixteen interceptions, and that's going to be a
guy who's like a legendary meme quarterback for how bad
he is. And that's what they have turned every opposing
(05:12):
quarterback into Now. This is a better, obviously Ohio State
offense than anyone they've played this year, but they've played decent,
decent teams. They made Dante more look like a mean quarterback.
At the end of that game where Mendoza throws the interception,
it gets run back for a pick six to tie
the score. India, I just sort of shards the shoulders,
(05:32):
goes down the field's course a touchdown, get an interception,
kick a field goal to go ten, immediately get another interceptions.
It was interceptions on back to back plays, and that
was Dante Moore, who is a pretty good quarterback, and
in Oregon, which is a pretty good and dynamic offense.
So this is an Indiana defense that can create turnovers
and it doesn't take much. This is not a game
(05:53):
where Ohio State's gonna win by thirty points. This is
a game where you're working with some relatively fine margins
and you just you get the right interception at the
right time. And this is an Indiana defense that has
shown they can do it. You get the right interception
at the right time that can swing the game.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, these two of the best third down defenses as well.
Ohio State does very, very well on third downs. So
if you can limit the basically you got to limit
first and second down to give yourself a fighting chance
on third down with how accurate and protected Julian saying is.
So the longer you can make those third downs, the better,
(06:30):
and then you'll hold up. And it's that's I think
that maybe winning first down then leads to winning a
third down and second down. Who knows, but basically, if
Ohio State's going to run the ball on first down,
stop them for one or two yards, and then who
knows what second down is going to be, but that
(06:51):
third down is going to be huge all game long.
And if Ohio State is four or fifteen or something
like that, then that's a number for Indiana. That's a
number that they can take into the fourth quarter with
a lead or with a real shot to win this game.
So I think, how does Indiana win this game? Win
third down? But that also starts by winning first down.
(07:12):
You might want to try and win second down as well.
Since we're here, we're talking about it, go ahead and
do what you can on all three of those downs.
But if there's one down you can win, I'm gonna
choose third down for Indiana.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, And this is also a game where I think
Kurt Signetti might treat this as a lot of four
down territory. He is not a super aggressive guy on
fourth down normally. I think they went for fifteen times
during the regular season, which is just you know, basically
once a game. This is one where I think he
knows this is going to be a fine margin game.
(07:46):
And Ohio State and Indiana have both been kind of
iffy in for you know, third and short fourth and
short running the ball situations. So I think you're gonna
see this is this is one where neither team has
had to really really dig too deep into its into
its bag of tricks over the last month, So you
probably have a lot of stuff sort of saved up
(08:06):
and at and not a lot of new looks and
a lot of a lot of everything. I think you're
gonna see Indiana really kind of push the limits and
try and just find little advantages and that's something that
can add up over the course of the game. And
one of the areas that I think we've been very
impressed with Signetti, well, I think you've been impressed with
I think we've been very impressed with literally everything Signetti
(08:27):
has done since he got off the plane in Bloomington.
But one thing, one area where they do find a
lot of those fine margins is right before halftime. There've
been a couple times when they've gotten the ball deep
in their own territory and there's twenty something seconds left,
and you know, maybe they got a timeout or two,
but it is the point on the field where you
sort of assume, Okay, you're gonna run the ball, You're
gonna run a little fullback dive or something and pick
(08:49):
up three yards and get into the locker room. And
multiple times they have gone down the field and set
themselves up to kick a field goal right before halftime
and done it. And they did that against Oregon, did
that against was it against Iowa? I think they did it.
It has been it is. They are very very aggressive there.
They're very aggressive everywhere. And if you go into the
(09:10):
game knowing we're going to be aggressive on fourth down,
then that changes how you call plays on third down
and second down, and that completely changes the calculus on
your you know, your whole your whole series of plays.
As Tony said, four down's pretty important, but if you
know you're playing with four downs, that really changes the
calculus on what you're going to do and what you
(09:30):
can do, and then you know. On the Ohio State Show,
we talked about the fact we're not expecting Indiana, but
we're able to run the ball that well. But if
you can run, you know, if it's third and four
and you know you're going forward on fourth down, if
you pick up three yards on third and fourth, that's okay,
that's not a bad result. Yeah, you want to pick
it up, but then you're putting yourself in a position
where you do have another crack at it. And you know,
(09:52):
I don't I don't expect them to go forward on
you know, this is not going to be like a
Dan Landing game plan where they're going forward on fourth
and four at their own thirty hardline in the first
half or anything like that. But I think Sagetti's going
to be aggressive enough because he's going to be just
looking for all of these small advantages and he's great
at finding them, and I think this is a game
where something like that could end up swinging things.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Well, if it's third and four and Ohio State's going
to view that as a passing down, they're going to
have their nickel out there, and so if you run
it and then you've run it again and keep the
nickel out there, then you've got you've kind of got
an advantage knowing that we're going to go for it
on fourth down. Both teams have attempted fifteen fourth downs
this year. Indianas hit seven of them, Ohio State has
it eleven. I think, yeah, that's going to be a
(10:38):
key play fourth down as well. I'm going you know what,
first down, second down, and third down, fourth down win them.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
All got nineteen ninety Colorado on the phone, they have
a question about fifth down win.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
It's so the the aggressiveness at the half or towards
going towards the half, that's the only acceptable aggressive attack
for a field goal. And we've seen we saw Ryan
Day the buck guys do it a few games ago
where it's like you knew that there's really only time
to get to the thirty and so they operated well
(11:10):
and they were able to do that. If you're settling
for field goals outside of that though, that's to me,
that's a four point play for the opponent. Where Indiana,
if they're settling, that's not good. If Indiana is going
to win this, it's because Ohio State is kicking more
field goals than Indiana. I think where you end up
with just an odd number, twenty six points might be
(11:33):
enough to win, but it would be a very frustrating
afternoon for Ohio State to have all of those field
goals or you know, like a sixteen point game is
is that's a losing number for Ohio State. If they've
got sixteen points because of three field goals. That's what
you want to see if you're Indiana and just hold
up in the red zone and maybe maybe try to
(11:54):
find some emotional edge. And maybe Michigan was trying to
do that against Ohio State and it kind of worked
but kind of didn't. Can they can Indiana win the
penalty battle in this one? If so, I think that
helps them a great deal as well, because against these
two defenses, one holding call is probably going to kill
your drive.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, And I wanted to go back to the red
zone thing because that was something that I had kind
of highlighted on my list, which is Ohio State has
allowed thirty five percent touchdowns in opponent red zone trips.
Opponents have gotten into the red zone twenty times all season.
That's less than twice a game and they've scored seven touchdowns.
That is remarkable, Tony. There's only one team in America
(12:35):
better than Ohio State in terms of red zone touchdowns allowed,
and that is the Indiana Hoosiers. Eighteen times in the
opponent red zone, so that fewer in case you're scoring
at home five touchdowns allowed twenty seven point seven to
eight percent. That is incredible. And Ohio State, you saw
in the Ohio State last weekend struggle to punch it
in against Michigan in the red zone. And that's something
(12:58):
I think you probably will see here. This is a
very stout and very solid Indiana defense, especially the defensive front.
I love the front seven for this Indiana defense, like
it is the defensive line. The linebackers are phenomenal. You
can you can see why. You can see exactly why
this Indiana defense is so good in the red zone
because everything just gets compacted and everyone's in tighter spaces
(13:19):
and then it's just can you win your one on
one battles and man, oh Man, Indiana has a lot
of guys on that defense who win their one on
one battles. Stephen Day has had an increasing number of
tackles for loss the last three games. I think it
was like two and a half and then three, and
like four and a half. You get a tackle for
loss in the red zone and then all of a sudden,
it's like boom, Well now you're behind the sticks.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Now you're really in.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Trouble because there's now you have to throw it in
a really compacted area. Doesn't mean they can they can't
do it. But if I think the way Indiana wins
this game is if Ohio State kicks three field goals
in this game, I think Indiana has a pretty good
chance of winning this game because I think Ohio It's
going to move the ball enough to get it down
(13:59):
in the red zone enough to put points on the board.
And I don't know that Indiana's scoring more than twenty
one points, maybe on offense something like that. If Indiana
can force a turnover and get some cheap points there.
If Indiana can force Ohio State, you know you've got Hey,
you got five red zone trips, but you only scored
two touchdowns and you kick three field goals. Now instead
(14:19):
of thirty five points, you got twenty three points. And
then all you gotta do is do that and get
it into the fourth quarter and then all the stuff
we just talked about. If the if Ohio State is
kicking field goals, this turns into a four quarter game,
and if this turns into a four quarter game, you
know that place first of all, to Honey, I think
there's gonna be a whole lot of cream and crimson
in that place on Saturday night for lots of reasons.
(14:42):
But I think this is this is going to be
functionally a road game for Ohio State in terms of
crowd makeup, which is a little unusual for them, And
I think that place, if it is a four quarter game,
I think that is going to be very difficult atmosphere
for Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
This Ohio State season ticket ticket holder is a been
turned away, not all of them certainly, but many of
them have been turned away saying the the demand has
exceeded what they can provide, and so there's a lot
of people now looking to the secondary market, of which
it is a very expensive secondary market. As you can imagine,
if if Ohio State, if Indiana can get to Julian
(15:21):
say and just turn him into a sixty five percent
completion guy instead of a seventy five or eighty percent
completion guy, again, these are all just these little things.
You don't if you can just you don't have to
turn him into a fifty percent completion guy. But if
you can, you know, sixty five percent, and then you're
you're if Indiana's defense is like fifty percent of third
(15:41):
downs or you know, sixty percent, where you just you
accumulate all of these little things to then make it
a game in the fourth quarter. That's what we're talking about.
Because the one thing I don't necessarily see like a
seventeen point win for Indiana. I think Indiana's path to
victory and I think we've said this is it's narrower
(16:02):
than Ohio States, but it's still very much there because
all of these things that if they can we talk
about if they do just do this and this and this,
these are all possible things. At some point, it might
sound like a parlay, but it's not. It's these are
all things that a talented defense can do against a
talented offense. And one of the things that the Indiana defense,
if playing those three linebackers, if they can hold up
(16:26):
in coverage, then that's another avenue that will help them
win it. If if and what will help with that
is the pass rush, that's where it all starts. And
so if Julian saying can't be as pinpoint as he
would like down the seam to Max Claire when he's
got Isaiah Jones and coverage, or Aiden Fisher on coverage,
or or Elijah tom Hardy party, thank you one of
(16:51):
those guys in coverage, Like if it's just a little
bit off or a little bit high and the passes
you can't come down with it, Like, these are things
that are very, very possible. And so I think if
if Indiana is sticking with thirty three linebackers, which they love,
those guys have to hold up in coverage if Indiana's
gonna win this. So that's that's I'm saying. If Indiana
(17:12):
is gonna win this, those guys are holding up in coverage.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah, and you know, again we've said this all week.
These are very impressive Indiana linebackers. I really really like
the front seven for Indiana's defense, and I think this
is a this is a front seven that could hold
up against this Ohio State defense or others Ohio State offense.
So I think I think that's all. You know, it
sounds like a tall task, but I think it's it's
well within the role of possibility that they do end
(17:36):
up holding up here. The you know, I talked about
the crowd a minute ago in terms of like sort
of soft factors that could make a big difference here.
You know. I I think that Indiana at number one,
their fans had a multiple day head start on things
in terms of they beat They beat Purdue on Friday night,
and probably knew before they beat Friday Night Perdue Friday
(17:57):
night that they were going to be in Indianapolis, because
we've all seen Purdue Ohio State fans were probably not
rushing out to buy tickets after the last couple of
years before the game went completely final and an arbor,
So they had a little bit of a head start.
Obviously it's in Indiana. So and then, like as you said,
by the time it went final, there just were not
very many tickets left in the secondary market. It was
(18:17):
like six hundred pairs of tickets left on a stub
hub when I looked relatively soon after the Michigan game.
There just are not very many tickets available and they
are not cheap. The other thing that I think is
a little bit of a potential factor here, and I
want to be super clear that I am not saying
Ohio State does not care about this game. I am
not saying that if Indiana wins just because Ohio State
didn't want it, Like, I'm not saying that Indiana beat
(18:40):
Purdue in a game that was like, yeah, they played
for the old look and bucket, it's a rivalry, YadA, YadA, YadA.
That was that was never going to be a game
that was never even you know, that was not a
that was a game that was you know, went analytically
final on like Monday afternoon. Ohio State spent a lot
of time, a lot of energy, and a lot of
emotion going up to inn next week. It is difficult
(19:01):
to do that two weeks in a row. That is,
you know, it is possible. This is a very mature
Ohio State team. This is a very disciplined Ohio State team.
This is a very focused Ohio State team. This is
an Ohio State team that has seen what it takes
to go one game and then another game in another
game and play at very very high levels. A lot
of them they didn't also play last year, but most
of them were there for that College Football playoff run.
(19:23):
It still is a difficult thing to do. And this
is also this is the biggest game in Indiana football
history and period, full stop. Like I'm not even going
to entertain a conversation biggest game in Indiana football history.
This isn't a chance for Indiana to like officially enter
the college football Playoff as a number one team in
the nation, win these Big Ten championship for the first
(19:43):
time since nineteen sixty seven, do it in Indianapolis in
front of a largely home crowd. This would be the
greatest moment in Indiana football history. Like I don't I
don't know what second place is, but it hasn't happened
for a long, long, long, long long time. This is
a game where Indiana has absolut everything to play for
and Ohio State is coming off of a very emotional win.
(20:04):
They were very excited. I think they've done a very
good job attorney in the page. But I think you
got to just you got to take this sort of
soft factor stuff like that into a little bit of
consideration in terms of, you know, if Indiana comes out
really flying and can jump out to a lead early
in this game, I don't think this is a game
where Ohio State' scoring forty points. So if Indiana can
jump out and just jump out to an early lead
(20:26):
and make Ohio State play from behind and get the
crowd really going, that could be enough to just sort
of hang on and win the game in the end.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, we've talked about this before where this if you
don't match in Indiana's energy in this game, you have
a very good chance of getting run over. As Indiana
just continues to like they want this. Because I'll go
back to last year Ohio State beat them thirty eight fifteen,
Chris Signetti has said that they were overmatched and probably
(20:57):
weren't as prepared as they should have been, or just
they knew they were in trouble pretty early on, and
you know, now they've had that thought of over a year.
Dealing with that reminds me of Ohio State losing to
Clemson in twenty nineteen and the focus in twenty twenty
in the off season. It was as much Clemson or
(21:18):
more Clemson than it was Michigan. And there was no
guarantee that they were going to see Clemson again, but
they sure were going to be prepared if they did.
There was no guarantee that Ohio State in Indiana, we're
going to see each other this year. Indiana, I'm guessing
is sure prepared, you know, prepared as if they were
going to so again, this is like the Don Draper
(21:39):
I don't think about you at all. Like if Ohio
State is Don Draper in, this might not go well
for them because Indiana has been pointing and thinking about
this and as you said, like this is the biggest
thing to Indiana since John Cougar, Mellencamp and little Pink Houses.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
This.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
If Ohio State is not ready for this, then they've
not been Like the coaching staff, Ryan Day, has not
prepared them adequately to realize that this is a very,
very big thing and if you're not up to that standard,
then things can go well. This is more than just
a football game. You know, this is a football game,
(22:14):
but it's a little bit more than that as well.
If you just came here to play football, it might
not go well for you.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
No. No, And here's the other thing that's kind of
an interesting dynamic to this. And I don't know that
this is something that's going to meaningfully change how either
team approaches a game, but I think there's a pretty
decent chance these two teams play each other again later
in the year or early next year probably is a
more likely scenario. I mean over under one and a
half Ohio State versus Indiana games this year, Tony, what
(22:41):
do you got?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Well, I think we went over one and a half
last year for Oregon and the other line may have
been two and a half at some point. So I'm
you know, we'll see where they are in the bracket.
But yeah, it's not going to surprise me to see
them play twice this year. I think they've shown that
they can handle whatever is put in front of them.
I'll go under, just be different because you're gonna go
(23:05):
over probably, But I say, if you want to, if
you want to get the win against either team, do
it here where it's guaranteed, because you don't know what's
gonna happen after that. But I'm looking forward to I
can't wait to get there. We've been looking forward to
this one for over a month just because of all
of the stakes and the fun. And I'm not talking
about the steakhouses. I'm talking about football stakes. So anything
(23:29):
else before we go, you got, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
I think the st st a k e s are
going to be the only thing I think it's going
to be hard to get into Saint Elmo over the
weekend because during the Indiana basketball game on Saturday at two,
in the Indiana football game at eight on Saturday night,
I'm going to guess there's going to be a few
people in a celebratory mood in Indianapolis this weekend. So yeah,
I can't wait. I think this is going to be
(23:52):
the best atmosphere inside that stadium probably ever for a
conference championship game. I think I think it is going
to be phenomenal and I cannot wait for it.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, this is o high state fans are gonna have
to bring it just as much as the higher state
football players are as well. So that will do it
from here. If you're watching on YouTube, please give us
a thumbs up. I would appreciate that. Continue to find
us at Buckeyhuddle dot com, Buckeye Weekly Podcast. You can
find it in all of your feeds. Tom's Buckeyes Tomorrow
Morning you can find it in all of your podcast feeds.
Subscribe to both of those shows. We will have more
(24:28):
coverage of this one, more coverage after and well beyond that,
as you guys know, So thank you all. For tuning
in and we will talk to you all later
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Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.