December 23, 2025 • 36 mins
Buckeye Weekly: Insights from Miami's Win Over Notre Dame for the Upcoming Cotton Bowl
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr recap what they learned from rewatching Miami's 27-24 season-opening win over Notre Dame. They discuss the key takeaways from the game, focusing on performances by Carson Beck, the Miami defense, and notable players like CJ Daniels and Malachi Toney. The hosts also analyze how this game can provide insights into Miami's strengths and weaknesses for their upcoming Cotton Bowl matchup against the Buckeyes. Tune in for an in-depth breakdown and strategic insights for Ohio State fans. Don't forget to leave your comments and questions for a possible listener Q&A episode!
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:49 Miami vs. Notre Dame: Game Recap
01:08 Carson Beck's Performance Analysis
02:23 Miami's Offensive Struggles and Key Plays
10:02 Miami's Running Game Breakdown
17:05 Miami's Offensive Line and Future Challenges
18:44 Transition to Defensive Analysis
18:48 Miami's Defensive Dominance
19:18 Ohio State's Offensive Challenges
20:13 Miami's Defensive Line Tactics
21:22 Key Defensive Players and Their Impact
23:25 Miami's Secondary and Defensive Depth
26:21 Notre Dame's Offensive Struggles
30:44 Special Teams Performance
34:39 Final Thoughts and Viewer Engagement
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr recap what they learned from rewatching Miami's 27-24 season-opening win over Notre Dame. They discuss the key takeaways from the game, focusing on performances by Carson Beck, the Miami defense, and notable players like CJ Daniels and Malachi Toney. The hosts also analyze how this game can provide insights into Miami's strengths and weaknesses for their upcoming Cotton Bowl matchup against the Buckeyes. Tune in for an in-depth breakdown and strategic insights for Ohio State fans. Don't forget to leave your comments and questions for a possible listener Q&A episode!
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:49 Miami vs. Notre Dame: Game Recap
01:08 Carson Beck's Performance Analysis
02:23 Miami's Offensive Struggles and Key Plays
10:02 Miami's Running Game Breakdown
17:05 Miami's Offensive Line and Future Challenges
18:44 Transition to Defensive Analysis
18:48 Miami's Defensive Dominance
19:18 Ohio State's Offensive Challenges
20:13 Miami's Defensive Line Tactics
21:22 Key Defensive Players and Their Impact
23:25 Miami's Secondary and Defensive Depth
26:21 Notre Dame's Offensive Struggles
30:44 Special Teams Performance
34:39 Final Thoughts and Viewer Engagement
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It is another Miami rewatch show, which means we're gonna
spend at least half of the show explaining to people
we're having a conversation about one game. These are a
takeaways from watching one game. We're gonna watch other games,
but these are conversations from one game. And then the
comments we filled with people saying, yeah, but what about
what he did in this game. It's like, well, we
(00:31):
have a rewatched that game yet, so we'll get there.
Don't worry. Just know that if you comment that in
the comments, everyone's going to go. They talked about this
off the top dummy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah yeah, and we know that you're watching the start
of this, so understand the start of it.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
We will talk more about other games.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This is This is Miami Notre Dame season opener, and Tom,
as I was rewatching this game, it's like, oh, I
remember that play, I remember that play. I remember this
because afraid of what everybody watched this game on a
Sunday and enjoyed it, and even though.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was a pretty slow start. So ton, let's talk
about what.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We took away from this, and I just want to
go ahead and start with Carson Beck.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And because if you talk about CJ.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Carr that was this first start, of course, it's gonna
be difficult, Juliet saying, first start, of course, it's gonna
be difficult. This was not Carson Beck's first start. It
was first start with the Hurricanes. But of course, very
experienced guy twenty for thirty one, two hundred five yards,
two touchdowns, and so much of this was just short
passing and not accurate short passing. And some of those
quick short passes, guys are having to reach down to
(01:37):
their ankles to catch.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so I was not all that impressed by Carson
Beck in this one.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And when you look at where you're throwing the ball,
he was, you know, a lot of short passes right
so behind a line of scrimmage. He was four to
seven in this game between the one to five yards downfield.
Nine of nine, half of his throws went five yards
(02:05):
or under. And then the stat broadcast here has it
broken down mid range passing, which is five to fourteen yards,
which is a pretty wide range. He was six of
seven and I'm wondering how many of those were closer
to the five than the fourteen. Also, you should never
have numbers that overlap, like shouldn't be one to five,
five to fourteen, just so you know, I learned at college.
(02:25):
But on his deep passing of fifteen yards or more
one of seven time we talked about the Miami Texas
A A and M game about the wind and the
impact that.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
They had on the passing, I don't know that that
was the issue here.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
This is just not a very accurate Carson back overall,
and then twenty for thirty one two thirds completions, but
even some of the completions were tough catches.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, And I mean the one completion downfield was that
could have very easily been zero for seven with an interception,
because the one completion downfield was the catch by CJ.
Daniels that was the you know, one of the catches
of the year sort of candidates. And the Indiana the
Omar Cooper catch at the end of Penn State of
the Penn State game, those are the two that kind
of jump to mind in terms of the like, how
(03:08):
did he do that kind of catches because there was
a notre Dame safety right there expecting to have the
ball fall into his arms, and C. J. Daniels really
saved the day with a heck of a throw there.
But one of the things earlier in that play I
ever remember the catch, what you don't remember is earlier
in the play, Carson Beck is unloading it with a defenser,
(03:30):
a defender right in his face, like grabbing him and
twisting him, and he's just kind of like getting rid
of it. And I think that was probably a third
down that was right before halftime. Certainly, I think it
was a third down play where you just go to
kind of get rid of it. You can't take a sack.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
A fortunate throw in some ways, but it was also
an impressive play in some ways. So it was like
so much of the Carson Deck experience as like, well,
he got away with it. I'm not sure it was
great process. It was a great result, but he got
away with it. So and he gets away with it
often enough that you kind of go, yeah, okay, maybe
(04:10):
maybe this is you know, at some point it becomes
a skill. So I the other touchdown pass he had
was kind of similar, where there was pressure coming at
him and he rolled left and he threw it to
Malachai Tony and he had a nice you know, he's
not Michael Vick out there, but he can avoid the
rush and he can you know, he can sometimes make
(04:33):
good decisions with rush in his face, but not always,
and sometimes he gets rattled, and sometimes he gets confused
by coverage, but often enough it does. You know, it
works out that you kind of go, well, I guess
I just I look at Carson Beck, and I think
he could have a really good game against Ohaousa. Now
grading on the curve of what a really good game
(04:56):
against this Ohio State defense looks like, which you know,
if he's throwing for six and a half yards in
attempt and throws you know, as many touchdowns as interceptions,
that's not a you know that that's a reasonably successful
day against this Ohio State defense. But I still also,
you see the good Carson back and you see the
(05:16):
bad Carson back, and it's like, how are these two
entities living in the same body.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Well, and we're talking about the inaccuracy, and he's the
second most accurate quarterback in the nation, pleading seventy four
point five percent of US passes. So what we're what
we do here is we did pick because we are perfect,
and so then we find flaws and other people because
if we don't point them out, nobody will. But there's
there are several times in this game where you're starting off,
he's just throwing it up. Even there they're calling him
(05:45):
fadeaway throwers on the broadcast, right, yeah, yeah itself and
the one in touchdown he mentioned to Malik I Tony
Tony is a scramble and Tony had a flat his
route out to get to the.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Ball and sleep. There's there's a lot to be desired,
but then also there's a lot that is desirable. And
you know, threw for two.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Hundred yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions, And thinking back,
were there really any opportunities for interceptions in this game?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
That?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And I don't have any blaring. I don't think it was.
Here's just there's.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Just some inaccuracy, some inaccurate throws down field. But I
don't remember anywhere like, oh, Christian Gray should have had
that one or that one.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, No, there wasn't anything that jumped out as oh man,
he really got Honestly the biggest he got away with
that one with the touchdown to Daniel's right before halftime.
That was and that was really the play that swung
the game, because it was seven to seven at that
moment when he released that ball. It was seven to
seven going into halftime. And they score the touchdown there
(06:52):
and then they score, they get the ball to start
the second half and they score again. You get fourteen
points in the middle eight in a game that you
win by three points. So that was that was really
the play that won the game. And you know, I
know that there's been a lot of narrative around this
particular game because there has been such a central piece
of the conversation around a college football playoff. This is
(07:13):
one of those games where are you the type of
person and there were, like, you know, inside of you.
There are two wolves, and one of the wolves says,
if you end the game with more points than the
other team, it doesn't matter how you got there, basically,
and then the other one says, well, that game was
basically a coin flip because it was tied with a
minute or whatever left in the game, and Miami really
got out played for long stretches of the second half.
(07:35):
When you look at the drive chart and this one,
it's notre Dame had in the second half Notre Dames
drives after Miami took the twenty one to seven lead.
After that Notre Dames drives, they had won three and out,
but then had an eleven play sixty four yard touchdown.
They had a drive where they had the ball that
(07:56):
deflected three times and ruben Bain ended up coming down
with it, which is you know, that's one of those
like great play, Not sure you can bank on that
happening in the future. Then ten plays fifty four yards
and three plays seventy five yards and they scored seventeen
points on the three drives, so they didn't where they
didn't get have that interception. Miami, on the other hand,
had four straight drives were three plays nine yards punt,
(08:19):
three plays negative four yards punt, four place eight yards.
After that interception, they got the ball in field goal
range and did nothing with it, kicked a field goal,
and then three plays two yards punt, and then after
that ten plays forty six yards to kind of run
the game out. Miami got out played quite a bit
in that second half, and I think it's very easy.
You know, if you're on a Miami fan, you're going
(08:40):
scoreboard nothing else matters. You look at a lot of
the down to down stuff. Miami outgained the money yards
for play basis five point two to five, but four
to four point seven. I think I have not gone
back and looked at the Parker Fleming how bad did
we get beat? I would guess that Miami probably won
the you know, the wanted on it down to down
(09:00):
on basis, so you know, you can you can point
and say scoreboard. But also I did not come away
from that game thinking if these two teams played ten times,
Miami would win all ten. It was like, if these
two teams played ten times, Miami maybe wins five maybe,
but you know they the one they won, the one
that happened.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, where's the game played? Right? Yeah, field exactly. Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That that interception, the ball was kicked, and I just
think it isn't that supposed to.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Be a dead ball at that point because the Nebraska
Missouri thing, right, Yeah, Matt Davidson one, yeah, thirty years ago.
Now that was an intentional kick. I know that it
was an intentional kiss was not.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, I mean I think it's probably like the NHL
where the buck can go into the goal off your
skate but if if there's a kicking motion then it
doesn't count. It's probably kind of kind of that. That
was definitely that was, you know, some fortunate bounces, but.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I didn't I didn't remember that interception when I was
looking at the box score before I started watching the game.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Ruben Bates an interception and then.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're watching the ball just come, you know, bouncing up
and down, and credit will played by the Miami defense
as a whole other shar for even Bay just come
bareing and catching the ball, and.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We will talk about him, I'm sure eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
But so let's talk a little bit of the run
game because I forgot. Jordan Lyle started this game from
Miami and he's been banged up this year. He's Mark
Fletcher and Jordan Lyle are both names that Ohio State
fans will know from recruiting, and both of them ended
up signing with Miami. Lyle has been banged up a
bunch this year. He's averaged three point one yards per carry,
hasn't played since November eight, so not someone who has
(10:34):
had the year that he would have expected. But this
was another one where Mark Fletcher looked pretty solid. I mean,
he's fifteen carries sixty six yards. Nothing amazing, what kind
of just kept kept the ball moving. They ran for
three point one yards per carry in this one, which
is not fantastic by any means, but it was also
you know, this is a pretty good defense. I think
(10:56):
this is a game. This is much more in line
with what I would expect from Miami in terms of
being able to run the ball. Then what you saw
against Texas A and M. Texas A and M. Mark
Fletcher went sevent keen carries for one hundred and seventy
two yards. It's fifteen carries for sixty six yards. If
you can average four and a half yards of carry
against Ohio State, that's a very good that's a very
(11:17):
good outcome if they can average that much with their
running back. I just you know, I know every the
last thing everyone saw was Mark Fletcher just absolutely tearing
up Texas A and M. Like I would encourage you
to find where Texas A and M is on the
yards per carry allowed leader board this year, because you're
gonna have to do You're gonna have to control f
Texas and then you're gonna have to hit next a
couple times to get down there to find Texas A
(11:39):
and m They were like sixty six at entering that
game and probably lower than that now. But you know,
I thought that that looking at where how well Miami
was able to run the ball. And Marty Brown, who
was he was the other one who was involved, and
he he averaged three point six yards to carry. He
(12:01):
had a touchdown on the ground long of just eight yards.
But it was just kind of it was enough between
the two. It was thirty carries for one hundred and
fifteen yards. If Miami can do that against Ohio State,
miam has got a decent chance to win the game
because then you can kind of control control the ball,
keep the ball out of Ohio State's hands, and also
keep Ohio State from being able to just ready for
(12:24):
your football fliche pins in yours back, Tony and rush
Carson back. That's the kind of stuff. If Miami can
keep Ohio State honest with the run like they did
against Notre Dame, that I think would be a pretty
big factor.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Right now, Miami would take thirty for one to twenty
from their top two running backs in this game and
shoot twenty five of those. Maybe Mark Fletcher basically getting
things going his lug was just fifteen yards, but it
was just solid, solid. He wasn't really starting to slow
down or get stopped until the end when they knew
they were running the clock out. So the road was
a little bit tough for traveling. You mentioned four and
(12:58):
a half carry or four and a half yards per If
Miami can do that. Texas did that against Ohio State,
led to seven points, So that's a great you would
take that. You would take four in a field because
that's the that's the only team that has done that
against Ohio State. Michigan was four point two, produce four
point two Indiana's three point five. So yeah, I will
(13:20):
take the season high if you can get it, and
then go from there because that was a game that
was it ended up being a seven point game.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you can have a one.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Score game in the fourth quarter, I think Miami would
take that. Now, Miami fans, are you know considering like, well,
you don't think they could be up by multiple scored.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Why would they want to go.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Ahead and just go ahead and make this a one
score game right off the bat when we know that
they could make it a free score game in the
fourth quarter. I don't know that Miami's coaches are talking
like that, They're going to talk about how this is
going to be a fourth quarter game, and if you
could guarantee this be a one score game in the
fourth quarter, whichever way, yeah, they would take that, right.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I think I think Miami would be happy to have
this be a one score game in the fourth quarter
because you could see Miami. We'll get into the specifics
of the matchup, but we've said a bunch of times
already in terms of just matchups. Like you're looking at
the NCAA tournament and it's like, Okay, yeah, this team's
a five seed and this team's a twelve seed, but
(14:17):
you know, hey, the twelve seed does these things that
could make it a difficult matchup for the five. That's
kind of where I am on this one, where yeah,
iisted to two Miami's at ten. But Ohio State, if
you can pressure Julian saying we saw you know it's
the Indiana game plan. Can you pressure Julian saying, get
him off his spot, get him to take his eyes
(14:38):
off of the downfield and focus on the past, you know,
the past pro and can you hold the Ohio State's run
game in check and you know, all that kind of stuff.
All that adds up to turning this into a rock fight.
Miami doesn't want to play this game in the thirties
because no one has scored seventeen points against Ohio State
this year, and I don't expect Miami to be the
(14:58):
first team to put thirty points high State's defense. So
you know, the plan to beat Ohio State this year
is beat them seventeen thirteen, beat them thirteen ten. This
is not a team you're going to beat forty two
forty one like the Georgia Peach Bowl a couple of
years ago. That's that's not going to be what this
game is, especially if Miami's going to win. And just
(15:18):
to sort of put some stats in perspective here, Ohio
State fifth in the nation allowing two point eight three
yards per carry, Miami ninth in the nation allowing two
point eight seven yards per carry. Notre Dame eleventh in
the nation, allowing two point nine to six yards per carry.
Indiana is tenth. They're the only team between Miami and
Notre Dame. So just sort of I mean, we're talking
about very very very good run defenses. I just I'm
(15:43):
not expecting either team to be able to run the
ball particularly well, particularly consistency, can kiss consistently. If one
of these teams can do it, that goes a long
way towards having that team be the one that advances
to the Fiesta Bowl.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, definitely agree there. Malkay Tony. This is his first
career start for the Hurricane. Six catches eighty two yards,
one touchdown. The offense has not yet been unleashed into
the full Malachay Tony offense. This was just some feeling out.
Ten there's still ten targets and like right away they know, like, okay,
he's one of.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Our top weapons. Are going to have to use him. Daniels.
You mentioned with the touchdown catch. Pivecatch is forty six yards.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And again, these are some of the things that we
talked about with the Texas A and m rewatch, where
it's like.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Clearly if CJ.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Daniels can do that, and again there was a one
ANDed catch like behind him and incredible, and so that's
what he's capable of.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
And we know what all of these guys are capable of.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's just another matter of going out and doing it
and putting it up there against the best defenses that
she'll face, and that's a tough order. But the capability
is there for so many of these guys, this is Miami.
They're talented, They'll always be talented. It's just a matter
of putting it all together, being cohesive, being disciplined.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And doing it and beating the guys across from you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So that's one thing, and then the last thing on
the I was just gonna touch on the Miami offensive line,
which I could still consider it to be very very good.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Notre Dame. Two tackles for lost in this game, one sack.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
There were some penalties and a couple of penalties, but overall,
again impressed with the Miami offensive line and the ability
to just grind it out. I know there's talk about
how when they moved to the pistol against Texas A
and M, they were able to run the ball better,
and this was never There's no pistol in this that
I can recall.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
This is all just running out of the shotgun basically,
and it's okay, but it's not great.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
And I don't know again that Texas A and M
is a one game sample size. I don't know that
you can just plug that in.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, well you do have to consider Yeah, well I
gave you all the all the numbers about where you know,
all these other teams are talking about placed in terms
of yards per curry allowed at Texas A and m
sixty eighth in the nation, which is not in the
same stratosphere as pretty much any of the teams that
Miami's going to be facing moving forward, because Ohio State
(18:07):
is fifth in the nation, Georgia is seventh in the nation,
Ole miss feels like probably doesn't not relevant to this conversation.
But on the other half of that bracket, Texas Tech, Indiana.
I mean, these are all teams Oregon is Oregon is
the the you know, the weakest of the teams that
we'd potentially be talking about, and they're nineteenth in the
nation in terms of run defense. So you know, this
(18:28):
is this is not going to be an easy playoff
for anyone to run the ball. I don't think among
the teams that I'd sort of expect to be playing
beyond New Year's Day, no lots.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Of low scores, and I think I think people are
expecting that do you want to move to the de.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Show or you're sure, let's move the defense, And I
think we have to start up front because right away,
like right away in this game, it was I think
it might have been a key Messidor and bourbon Bain
sharing a sack, but they bane finished with half a sack,
a keen Messidor had a sack and alf and it's
just it's not fancy. They're just they are just whooping dudes.
(19:05):
It is not oh, look, they're doing twists and they're
doing stunts and they play all sorts of games up front.
It is just nope, I'm gonna whoop the dude in
front of me and then I'm going to sack the quarterback.
That is good news and bad news, depending on how
you want to look at because because Ohio State, where
Ohio States been vulnerable in terms of the offensive line,
a lot this year has been when teams are doing twists,
(19:27):
when teams are running stunts up front, and they have
not always done a great job of picking those up. Well,
this is a come right at you kind of team.
And that's you know, Indiana had a lot of sort
of creative games up front that helped them get the
five sacks that they got against Ohio State. That's not
Miami's game and This is not the time of year
when it's going to be like, well, we're gonna install
(19:48):
all sorts of new stuff up front, all you know,
new defense, new defensive line, uploading like in the matrix
where it's just you know, I know, kung fu like
that's not you. You can't do that with the defensive line.
So you know, now it's going to be can your
dudes beat you know? Can your dudes beat my dudes? Basically,
rather than some of the stuff that has not worked
particularly well or that has not worked particularly well for
(20:10):
Ohio State that has worked particularly well against Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
There is a third and four in this game where
Miami just rushed three and two of the three are Messing,
Door and pain and they got there. And that's that's
an unstoppable defense. If you can rush three on third
and four intermediate down and dropping coverage and sack the
quarterback or influenced the quarterback, that's hard to stop. In
(20:33):
terms of the games that they played, the one thing
that I saw was a little bit unfair is when
they would rush them from the same side. And we're
talking about the two Miami Defense defensive ends and the
key Messen door and Reuben Bay, and it's like, well,
that's kind of I are we supposed to be sporting here.
Let's let's be uh, let's be nice about it. But
those two guys, as you said, they're they're just brutes
(20:54):
and athletic and Ohio State will I think they'd rather
see that though higher. They would rather see what Miami
shows than a lot of what Indiana shows. Now, the
difference is the talent that comes with it. I think
Miami has the more talent up front, especially now with
the Indiana injury to Stephen Daily, But it's a more
(21:16):
you know what you're going to get. Now, you know
what you're gonna get is gonna be very good, but
you just get you've got to be ready for it.
And then even early on defensive tackles, you had Justin
Scott reading a screen and blowing it up for forced
fumble on a wide receiver like, well, there's no, it's
not fair for a receiver to you have to catch
a screen and then turn back and get hit by
(21:37):
a three hundred and ten pound defensive tackle.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And so he did.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Well. David Blade blew up a quarterback draw in this
one number eleven, another defensive tackle so it was the
interior was also making plays in this one, especially early on.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Well, and what I had written down was that play
played by Justin Scott, the Ruben Bain interception. Those were
both plays that were made outside the numbers. Those are
defensive linemen going so lined the sideline. That is not
something you see all the time. And you know, the
Bain ball was batted up in the air a couple
of times. He had a little extra time to get
out there, but he also was, you know, he was
(22:11):
hustling out there. The Scott one, he's you know, he's
dropping in the cupboage, so that but still like to
get out there that quickly. Was was really impressive. I'm
an Ahmed Mouten, the defensive tackle. He had a couple
of nice little plays in this one. He was injured
at the end of that Texas A and M game.
Murray Cristobal had an update on I think Monday and
(22:33):
said that they were sort of hopeful to get Mohammed Torre,
the linebacker, Ahmed Moten, and safety Zacharav Poyser. He was
sort of, you know, hopeful that all three of those
guys would get back, which you know, that's one of
those updates where it's like that sounds like an update,
but yeah, of course you're hoping those guys get back.
I don't know if that's actually an update, but you
know that if they get Moten back, that's just you know,
(22:57):
the interro that defensive line is really solid. Like the
get a lot of the hype, but the intur that
defensive lines a lot like last year's Ohio State defensive
line where you spent all the time hearing about Jack
Sawyer and JT Twy Molowell and those guys were fantastic,
but Telly Williams, Ty Hamilton, those guys are the inside
of the defensive line were a really key part of
(23:18):
why they were so good, especially against the run. And
that's uh. I think that's gonna be true for Miami
this year as well.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, and when we do these games, it's like, what
are the other players that flash?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
For me? Again?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
It's sorry, can't a Scott nickel Back who Jeremia Smith
was asked about on Monday and Jared and the question
from from Zooms like, Jeremiah, can you talk about quarnerback?
Can'tday Scott is like, well, actually he's a nickelback, So
clearly Jeremiah Smith can't talk about it, and the first
player of this game can't, can't, Can'ty Scott is blitzing
(23:55):
right off the edge, and he's involved in so many
different things. And I think which game was it where
he was not playing? Was it the way Pitt might
have been Pitt where he was not playing? And so
it's like then you watch Texas A and M, you
watch this and like, who is it?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
You know this guy is good?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
And they have so many defensive backs and so many
and they and it seems like they rotate them. They'll
put different quarters in their different safeties. Because even what
freshman Bryce Fitzgerald is like your backup free safety over
rotates and has five interceptions on the season, had two
interceptions against saying them. And they've got so many guys
involved in the secondary, and I think, being Wami, I'm.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Sure they're all pretty good.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I don't know how much Notre Day really attacked the
tack downfield a little bit, not much, but it's like
you've got a freshman quarter retro freshman quarterback. We saw
Ohio State it was very conservative with their retro freshman
quarterback in the season open and going downfield maybe like once.
And so you're still waiting to see a a attacking
(24:56):
offense that isn't limited by the conditions though.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Right, Yeah, we spent a lot of that Texas A
and m Miami game saying, listen, you can't hold this
against the Miami passing game. It was incredibly windy, that's
all true. Guess what, you can't give the Miami secondary
that much credit because it was also windy when Texas
A and M at the mall. This is not the
old Metrodome where they turned the air conditioner on when
the opposing team.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Is on off.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now, that's not that's not. Uh, you got you gotta
pick one. And either Miami's offense really couldn't throw the
ball at all, or Texas A and M's offense was
hampered by the same way. And so I am interested
to see. I don't know what the weather conditions were
in like the SMU game. I know we watched the
Louisville game already, you know, when it first happened. I
(25:42):
would like to see if we can find the SMU
game because that's one where you know, SMU has a
pretty good passing offense. If the weather conditions were decent
that day. I'm interested to see what that looks like
against this Miami secondary. But you know that the secondary
on the whole is really solid and they do have
pretty good depth there where you know, if someone does
go down there is another guy to put in. Bryce Fitzgerald.
(26:03):
I did not realize he showed up in the summer.
He was not an early and Rolye. He was a
summer in Rolye. So to go out and be out
there as early as he was, that's a you know,
that is a officially a you know, capital N name
to know in terms of in terms of the future
of Miami football, for sure. The other one, the one
(26:23):
thing that I thought was notable, you know, not necessarily
a great way, my note of Dame was not able
to run the ball too well most of the game.
But on their first touchdown drive they found something in
that in that in Miami defense where they had they
hit a couple like fifteen twenty yard kind of runs.
They looked running the ball against Miami just in that
(26:45):
one drive like Miami did at times on that sort
of last drive against Texas A and M. But they didn't.
Miami didn't notre Dame didn't stick with the run. It
was amazing that, like they were calling it out on
the broadcast that there was it was almost halftime and
Jeremiah Love, oh sorry, past halftime. Jeremiah Love had four
rushes through like forty minutes of the game. And that's
(27:06):
someone who ended up as a Heisman finalist. So they
weren't throwing the ball down field. They're being very conservative
with the passing game, but also they weren't giving it
to their future Heisman finalists running back. And it was like, boy,
I don't I don't agree with a lot of the
foot but I don't know. There are choices being made
here and I don't particularly love them.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, that's one of my notes here is Tom, do
you think bo Jacks will have more than four carries
with seven nineteen left in the third quarter?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Because that's what Jeremiah Love had in there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And it's Daried Price who also had just recently announced
he's turning pro six for forty five with the long
of thirty eight, and they they're just the passing game
is an extension of the run game with the short
stuff that they were done because they came out throwing
christ screens and it's like, yeah, that's great, but ten
carries for thirty three yards for Jeremiah Love, Like, hey,
(27:52):
that's that's a little bit. That's a lot less of frankly,
what everybody was expecting when CJ. Carr has eleven now
you know, yeah, two or three sacks. But frankly, Carr
was pretty good effective running the ball. I don't think
that has anything to do with what we're gonna see.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
From Julian Saying now.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But Carr was doing a pretty good Riley Skinner Riley
Leonard impersonation for a while at times in this one.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
But yeah, it's not a lot of plays fifty eight
plays overall offense for that.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah. And I watched CJ. Carr run the ball, and
there were a couple of times when he handed it
and there was something there on the keep. I wonder,
you know, I wonder if you're at the point of
the season where now Julian Saying is going to hang
on to one or two of those you only have
to pull it once or twice to keep them keep
the defense honest, because I think right now the defense
(28:42):
is going well. If he's either going to hand the
ball op or he's gonna throw it. He's like, well
there is a secret option, see there or have it,
It's just not chosen that very often. You need to
make sure you keep him away from Mohammed Torre because
he will adomize you if he hits.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
You, but he'll adamize himself.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but that's this is one of these
games where you're watching and it's like, well, I don't
know how much to take away from the Miami or
from the Notre Dame offensive performance here, because it's a
young quarterback in his first start, and it's a team
that doesn't have Ohio State caliber wide receivers, but it
does have a running quarterback. And it's just there's not
(29:18):
a ton of overlap there between what you saw there
and what you know, what you're going to see out
of Ohio State against this Miami defense. The one thing
that I did think was really impressive out of Miami
was the goal line run defense was really good. You know,
Notre Dame would get down there and Cja Carr had
to run one in himself, which again, not sure how
much that applies to what Ohio State is going to do,
(29:39):
but you know, just when Notre Dame tried to line
up and run the ball. Notre Dame's got a good offense.
Why Notre Dame's got good running backs and they couldn't
punche the ball in and ended up having to throw
one it maybe had a play action passed, like a
tight end or something for the touchdown. You know, we've
been saying this for weeks, two months, two years for
this Ohio State offense. If you have a Jeremiah Smith,
(30:00):
if you have a carneal Taite, you need to split
them out wide. You need number one, keep them on
the field. Number two, split them out wide, and number three,
if there's one guy on them, you need to throw
them in the football. And it doesn't matter if it's
first and goal of the one or first and goal
at the five. You need to throw them in the football.
And the points count the same. You get six points
for throwing it in, you get six points for running
it in. I don't think running it in is going
(30:20):
to be particularly easy against this Miami defense, So I
would take the road less traveled, and you know, consider
throwing the ball.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You know, and when you throw the ball into the
end zone against Miami, three things could happen to Two
of them are good touchdown incompletion or a flag.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So oh, he can come up with one example of that.
Come on, But the Miski, the Miami kickers got a leg.
He was good from thirty eight to forty seven. Weve
for forty seven could have been much longer. Put her
Joyce five puts forty two point six yard average, nothing
into twenty, nothing over fifty ry. Oh how do I
(31:01):
say this, Joe mcguireian.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, well he's he's Australian, so that's but but yeah,
just kind of it was unremarkable. It wasn't bad, it
wasn't good, It just was fine. I did think the
the kicker Davis was very impressive based on the fact
that at the beginning of the seat of the broadcaster talking
(31:25):
about the fact that he was an FAU transfers like, oh,
was he amazing at FAU four for eleven So no, no,
he was not. But this year he was really good
and he had obviously all of the he had all
of the missed kicks against Texas A and M, which
again I kind of chalk up to the Yeah, I
(31:46):
chalk up to the weather there because he on the
year is fifteen of twenty. But he missed what three
field goals? You know, So he missed five field goals
all year, and three of them were against were Texas
A and M. So you know that that to me
says that's probably a lot more wind than it is
(32:06):
anything else because he had missed the only other field
goal he missed all year was against Stanford. Every every
other kick he made field goal he made this year
and NC State, Yeah, he did miss one more. You're right,
you're right.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
But the win in that game, you saw it like
there is one kick where the wind is blowing it
right then that's like, nah, I'm gonna blow it left.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
What are you supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Yeah? Yeah, So he's someone who you know coming off
that game. If if the first time you watched Notre
Dame or for the first time you watched Miami all season,
was that that Texas A and M game, You're looking
at that and going, oh boy, they can't kick a
field goal at all, Like, no, that this will be indoors,
there won't be any wind. They the place kicking should
be fine.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
And with this game and then we'll talk about it more.
But field goals aren't necessarily losses in these low scoring
games that we're going to see and I do believe
he is a weapon for them in this game because
the conditions are going to be perfect. So that's something
to consider for Miami. Anything else, I.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Think we covered most of the big takeaways there and
then we'll we'll see if we can find one of
those kind of more interesting games from mid season and
see see where what we can learn from that.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
The last thing for me is like the Melochi Tony
whip routes where he starts looks like it's gonna be
a messure out and he's like, no, I'm gonna back outside.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Those are so tough too hand on.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
That's going to be interesting to see what Ohio State
chooses to do to defend him and how many players.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
They used to do it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
So I lied one more things. Yeah, last drive of
the game that I thought was very interesting takeaway in
terms of when Miami knows you have to throw the
ball you are in deep trouble. That was because that
was that was the first time all game that that
Notre Dame was really had to throw the ball. There's
(33:51):
no threat of a run at all, and they completed
one pass for a first down, and then I think
it went intentional grounding to avoid a sack, and then
a sack and then a sack, and it was just
it was just absolutely teeing off on TJ.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Carr.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And it wasn't like they were bringing the house. It
was just, Okay, here are the three defensive you know,
defensive linemen or four defensive linemen and they are just
going to get back there and they're you're not gonna
have time to do anything. If if you were in
predictable passing situations, you are not in for a good
time against this Miami defense.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, and they don't need the blitz to make it
a bad time. Nope, they can just get it with
their front four. So there's a lot for Julian Saying
and Carshon Hinsman Center to to communicate about it in
terms of keeping everybody on the same page with their
with the with the protection.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So that will do it. This is what we've.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Learned about Miami and how it applies to Ohio State.
And go ahead and leave your comments for the Miami
fans if you're listening, if you're watching, we don't mind
doing like a listener questions episode from the opposing fan base.
So if you've got some questions that you want us
to answer about your team, about Ohio State, and we'll
(35:01):
do that. Go ahead and throw them into comments. We'll
have to fine tooth come them to figure out the
good stuff from the bad stuff in terms of some
of the interactions we have with the Miami fans. But
if you want to go throw in some comments, questions
in on this video, try to pull them and maybe
do a show later in the week or before the game.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Certainly we'd appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And of course, if you're watching you want to hit
the thumbs up, we'd appreciate that as well. You find
this Buckeye Weekly podcast on all of your podcast platforms,
Tom's Daily Buck Guys Tomorrow Morning.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Search that up.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
You can find that as well. That will do it
from here. 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.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
It is another Miami rewatch show, which means we're gonna
spend at least half of the show explaining to people
we're having a conversation about one game. These are a
takeaways from watching one game. We're gonna watch other games,
but these are conversations from one game. And then the
comments we filled with people saying, yeah, but what about
what he did in this game. It's like, well, we
(00:31):
have a rewatched that game yet, so we'll get there.
Don't worry. Just know that if you comment that in
the comments, everyone's going to go. They talked about this
off the top dummy.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah yeah, and we know that you're watching the start
of this, so understand the start of it.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
We will talk more about other games.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
This is This is Miami Notre Dame season opener, and Tom,
as I was rewatching this game, it's like, oh, I
remember that play, I remember that play. I remember this
because afraid of what everybody watched this game on a
Sunday and enjoyed it, and even though.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
It was a pretty slow start. So ton, let's talk
about what.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
We took away from this, and I just want to
go ahead and start with Carson Beck.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
And because if you talk about CJ.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Carr that was this first start, of course, it's gonna
be difficult, Juliet saying, first start, of course, it's gonna
be difficult. This was not Carson Beck's first start. It
was first start with the Hurricanes. But of course, very
experienced guy twenty for thirty one, two hundred five yards,
two touchdowns, and so much of this was just short
passing and not accurate short passing. And some of those
quick short passes, guys are having to reach down to
(01:37):
their ankles to catch.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so I was not all that impressed by Carson
Beck in this one.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And when you look at where you're throwing the ball,
he was, you know, a lot of short passes right
so behind a line of scrimmage. He was four to
seven in this game between the one to five yards downfield.
Nine of nine, half of his throws went five yards
(02:05):
or under. And then the stat broadcast here has it
broken down mid range passing, which is five to fourteen yards,
which is a pretty wide range. He was six of
seven and I'm wondering how many of those were closer
to the five than the fourteen. Also, you should never
have numbers that overlap, like shouldn't be one to five,
five to fourteen, just so you know, I learned at college.
(02:25):
But on his deep passing of fifteen yards or more
one of seven time we talked about the Miami Texas
A A and M game about the wind and the
impact that.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
They had on the passing, I don't know that that
was the issue here.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
This is just not a very accurate Carson back overall,
and then twenty for thirty one two thirds completions, but
even some of the completions were tough catches.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, And I mean the one completion downfield was that
could have very easily been zero for seven with an interception,
because the one completion downfield was the catch by CJ.
Daniels that was the you know, one of the catches
of the year sort of candidates. And the Indiana the
Omar Cooper catch at the end of Penn State of
the Penn State game, those are the two that kind
of jump to mind in terms of the like, how
(03:08):
did he do that kind of catches because there was
a notre Dame safety right there expecting to have the
ball fall into his arms, and C. J. Daniels really
saved the day with a heck of a throw there.
But one of the things earlier in that play I
ever remember the catch, what you don't remember is earlier
in the play, Carson Beck is unloading it with a defenser,
(03:30):
a defender right in his face, like grabbing him and
twisting him, and he's just kind of like getting rid
of it. And I think that was probably a third
down that was right before halftime. Certainly, I think it
was a third down play where you just go to
kind of get rid of it. You can't take a sack.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It was.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
A fortunate throw in some ways, but it was also
an impressive play in some ways. So it was like
so much of the Carson Deck experience as like, well,
he got away with it. I'm not sure it was
great process. It was a great result, but he got
away with it. So and he gets away with it
often enough that you kind of go, yeah, okay, maybe
(04:10):
maybe this is you know, at some point it becomes
a skill. So I the other touchdown pass he had
was kind of similar, where there was pressure coming at
him and he rolled left and he threw it to
Malachai Tony and he had a nice you know, he's
not Michael Vick out there, but he can avoid the
rush and he can you know, he can sometimes make
(04:33):
good decisions with rush in his face, but not always,
and sometimes he gets rattled, and sometimes he gets confused
by coverage, but often enough it does. You know, it
works out that you kind of go, well, I guess
I just I look at Carson Beck, and I think
he could have a really good game against Ohaousa. Now
grading on the curve of what a really good game
(04:56):
against this Ohio State defense looks like, which you know,
if he's throwing for six and a half yards in
attempt and throws you know, as many touchdowns as interceptions,
that's not a you know that that's a reasonably successful
day against this Ohio State defense. But I still also,
you see the good Carson back and you see the
(05:16):
bad Carson back, and it's like, how are these two
entities living in the same body.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Well, and we're talking about the inaccuracy, and he's the
second most accurate quarterback in the nation, pleading seventy four
point five percent of US passes. So what we're what
we do here is we did pick because we are perfect,
and so then we find flaws and other people because
if we don't point them out, nobody will. But there's
there are several times in this game where you're starting off,
he's just throwing it up. Even there they're calling him
(05:45):
fadeaway throwers on the broadcast, right, yeah, yeah itself and
the one in touchdown he mentioned to Malik I Tony
Tony is a scramble and Tony had a flat his
route out to get to the.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Ball and sleep. There's there's a lot to be desired,
but then also there's a lot that is desirable. And
you know, threw for two.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Hundred yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions, And thinking back,
were there really any opportunities for interceptions in this game?
Speaker 4 (06:16):
That?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
And I don't have any blaring. I don't think it was.
Here's just there's.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Just some inaccuracy, some inaccurate throws down field. But I
don't remember anywhere like, oh, Christian Gray should have had
that one or that one.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Yeah, No, there wasn't anything that jumped out as oh man,
he really got Honestly the biggest he got away with
that one with the touchdown to Daniel's right before halftime.
That was and that was really the play that swung
the game, because it was seven to seven at that
moment when he released that ball. It was seven to
seven going into halftime. And they score the touchdown there
(06:52):
and then they score, they get the ball to start
the second half and they score again. You get fourteen
points in the middle eight in a game that you
win by three points. So that was that was really
the play that won the game. And you know, I
know that there's been a lot of narrative around this
particular game because there has been such a central piece
of the conversation around a college football playoff. This is
(07:13):
one of those games where are you the type of
person and there were, like, you know, inside of you.
There are two wolves, and one of the wolves says,
if you end the game with more points than the
other team, it doesn't matter how you got there, basically,
and then the other one says, well, that game was
basically a coin flip because it was tied with a
minute or whatever left in the game, and Miami really
got out played for long stretches of the second half.
(07:35):
When you look at the drive chart and this one,
it's notre Dame had in the second half Notre Dames
drives after Miami took the twenty one to seven lead.
After that Notre Dames drives, they had won three and out,
but then had an eleven play sixty four yard touchdown.
They had a drive where they had the ball that
(07:56):
deflected three times and ruben Bain ended up coming down
with it, which is you know, that's one of those
like great play, Not sure you can bank on that
happening in the future. Then ten plays fifty four yards
and three plays seventy five yards and they scored seventeen
points on the three drives, so they didn't where they
didn't get have that interception. Miami, on the other hand,
had four straight drives were three plays nine yards punt,
(08:19):
three plays negative four yards punt, four place eight yards.
After that interception, they got the ball in field goal
range and did nothing with it, kicked a field goal,
and then three plays two yards punt, and then after
that ten plays forty six yards to kind of run
the game out. Miami got out played quite a bit
in that second half, and I think it's very easy.
You know, if you're on a Miami fan, you're going
(08:40):
scoreboard nothing else matters. You look at a lot of
the down to down stuff. Miami outgained the money yards
for play basis five point two to five, but four
to four point seven. I think I have not gone
back and looked at the Parker Fleming how bad did
we get beat? I would guess that Miami probably won
the you know, the wanted on it down to down
(09:00):
on basis, so you know, you can you can point
and say scoreboard. But also I did not come away
from that game thinking if these two teams played ten times,
Miami would win all ten. It was like, if these
two teams played ten times, Miami maybe wins five maybe,
but you know they the one they won, the one
that happened.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Yeah, where's the game played? Right? Yeah, field exactly. Yep.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
That that interception, the ball was kicked, and I just
think it isn't that supposed to.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Be a dead ball at that point because the Nebraska
Missouri thing, right, Yeah, Matt Davidson one, yeah, thirty years ago.
Now that was an intentional kick. I know that it
was an intentional kiss was not.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Yeah, I mean I think it's probably like the NHL
where the buck can go into the goal off your
skate but if if there's a kicking motion then it
doesn't count. It's probably kind of kind of that. That
was definitely that was, you know, some fortunate bounces, but.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
I didn't I didn't remember that interception when I was
looking at the box score before I started watching the game.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Ruben Bates an interception and then.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
You're watching the ball just come, you know, bouncing up
and down, and credit will played by the Miami defense
as a whole other shar for even Bay just come
bareing and catching the ball, and.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
We will talk about him, I'm sure eventually.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
But so let's talk a little bit of the run
game because I forgot. Jordan Lyle started this game from
Miami and he's been banged up this year. He's Mark
Fletcher and Jordan Lyle are both names that Ohio State
fans will know from recruiting, and both of them ended
up signing with Miami. Lyle has been banged up a
bunch this year. He's averaged three point one yards per carry,
hasn't played since November eight, so not someone who has
(10:34):
had the year that he would have expected. But this
was another one where Mark Fletcher looked pretty solid. I mean,
he's fifteen carries sixty six yards. Nothing amazing, what kind
of just kept kept the ball moving. They ran for
three point one yards per carry in this one, which
is not fantastic by any means, but it was also
you know, this is a pretty good defense. I think
(10:56):
this is a game. This is much more in line
with what I would expect from Miami in terms of
being able to run the ball. Then what you saw
against Texas A and M. Texas A and M. Mark
Fletcher went sevent keen carries for one hundred and seventy
two yards. It's fifteen carries for sixty six yards. If
you can average four and a half yards of carry
against Ohio State, that's a very good that's a very
(11:17):
good outcome if they can average that much with their
running back. I just you know, I know every the
last thing everyone saw was Mark Fletcher just absolutely tearing
up Texas A and M. Like I would encourage you
to find where Texas A and M is on the
yards per carry allowed leader board this year, because you're
gonna have to do You're gonna have to control f
Texas and then you're gonna have to hit next a
couple times to get down there to find Texas A
(11:39):
and m They were like sixty six at entering that
game and probably lower than that now. But you know,
I thought that that looking at where how well Miami
was able to run the ball. And Marty Brown, who
was he was the other one who was involved, and
he he averaged three point six yards to carry. He
(12:01):
had a touchdown on the ground long of just eight yards.
But it was just kind of it was enough between
the two. It was thirty carries for one hundred and
fifteen yards. If Miami can do that against Ohio State,
miam has got a decent chance to win the game
because then you can kind of control control the ball,
keep the ball out of Ohio State's hands, and also
keep Ohio State from being able to just ready for
(12:24):
your football fliche pins in yours back, Tony and rush
Carson back. That's the kind of stuff. If Miami can
keep Ohio State honest with the run like they did
against Notre Dame, that I think would be a pretty
big factor.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Right now, Miami would take thirty for one to twenty
from their top two running backs in this game and
shoot twenty five of those. Maybe Mark Fletcher basically getting
things going his lug was just fifteen yards, but it
was just solid, solid. He wasn't really starting to slow
down or get stopped until the end when they knew
they were running the clock out. So the road was
a little bit tough for traveling. You mentioned four and
(12:58):
a half carry or four and a half yards per If
Miami can do that. Texas did that against Ohio State,
led to seven points, So that's a great you would
take that. You would take four in a field because
that's the that's the only team that has done that
against Ohio State. Michigan was four point two, produce four
point two Indiana's three point five. So yeah, I will
(13:20):
take the season high if you can get it, and
then go from there because that was a game that
was it ended up being a seven point game.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
If you can have a one.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Score game in the fourth quarter, I think Miami would
take that. Now, Miami fans, are you know considering like, well,
you don't think they could be up by multiple scored.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Why would they want to go.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Ahead and just go ahead and make this a one
score game right off the bat when we know that
they could make it a free score game in the
fourth quarter. I don't know that Miami's coaches are talking
like that, They're going to talk about how this is
going to be a fourth quarter game, and if you
could guarantee this be a one score game in the
fourth quarter, whichever way, yeah, they would take that, right.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I think I think Miami would be happy to have
this be a one score game in the fourth quarter
because you could see Miami. We'll get into the specifics
of the matchup, but we've said a bunch of times
already in terms of just matchups. Like you're looking at
the NCAA tournament and it's like, Okay, yeah, this team's
a five seed and this team's a twelve seed, but
(14:17):
you know, hey, the twelve seed does these things that
could make it a difficult matchup for the five. That's
kind of where I am on this one, where yeah,
iisted to two Miami's at ten. But Ohio State, if
you can pressure Julian saying we saw you know it's
the Indiana game plan. Can you pressure Julian saying, get
him off his spot, get him to take his eyes
(14:38):
off of the downfield and focus on the past, you know,
the past pro and can you hold the Ohio State's run
game in check and you know, all that kind of stuff.
All that adds up to turning this into a rock fight.
Miami doesn't want to play this game in the thirties
because no one has scored seventeen points against Ohio State
this year, and I don't expect Miami to be the
(14:58):
first team to put thirty points high State's defense. So
you know, the plan to beat Ohio State this year
is beat them seventeen thirteen, beat them thirteen ten. This
is not a team you're going to beat forty two
forty one like the Georgia Peach Bowl a couple of
years ago. That's that's not going to be what this
game is, especially if Miami's going to win. And just
(15:18):
to sort of put some stats in perspective here, Ohio
State fifth in the nation allowing two point eight three
yards per carry, Miami ninth in the nation allowing two
point eight seven yards per carry. Notre Dame eleventh in
the nation, allowing two point nine to six yards per carry.
Indiana is tenth. They're the only team between Miami and
Notre Dame. So just sort of I mean, we're talking
about very very very good run defenses. I just I'm
(15:43):
not expecting either team to be able to run the
ball particularly well, particularly consistency, can kiss consistently. If one
of these teams can do it, that goes a long
way towards having that team be the one that advances
to the Fiesta Bowl.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, definitely agree there. Malkay Tony. This is his first
career start for the Hurricane. Six catches eighty two yards,
one touchdown. The offense has not yet been unleashed into
the full Malachay Tony offense. This was just some feeling out.
Ten there's still ten targets and like right away they know, like, okay,
he's one of.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Our top weapons. Are going to have to use him. Daniels.
You mentioned with the touchdown catch. Pivecatch is forty six yards.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
And again, these are some of the things that we
talked about with the Texas A and m rewatch, where
it's like.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Clearly if CJ.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Daniels can do that, and again there was a one
ANDed catch like behind him and incredible, and so that's
what he's capable of.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
And we know what all of these guys are capable of.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's just another matter of going out and doing it
and putting it up there against the best defenses that
she'll face, and that's a tough order. But the capability
is there for so many of these guys, this is Miami.
They're talented, They'll always be talented. It's just a matter
of putting it all together, being cohesive, being disciplined.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And doing it and beating the guys across from you.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So that's one thing, and then the last thing on
the I was just gonna touch on the Miami offensive line,
which I could still consider it to be very very good.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Notre Dame. Two tackles for lost in this game, one sack.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
There were some penalties and a couple of penalties, but overall,
again impressed with the Miami offensive line and the ability
to just grind it out. I know there's talk about
how when they moved to the pistol against Texas A
and M, they were able to run the ball better,
and this was never There's no pistol in this that
I can recall.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
This is all just running out of the shotgun basically,
and it's okay, but it's not great.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
And I don't know again that Texas A and M
is a one game sample size. I don't know that
you can just plug that in.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Yeah, well you do have to consider Yeah, well I
gave you all the all the numbers about where you know,
all these other teams are talking about placed in terms
of yards per curry allowed at Texas A and m
sixty eighth in the nation, which is not in the
same stratosphere as pretty much any of the teams that
Miami's going to be facing moving forward, because Ohio State
(18:07):
is fifth in the nation, Georgia is seventh in the nation,
Ole miss feels like probably doesn't not relevant to this conversation.
But on the other half of that bracket, Texas Tech, Indiana.
I mean, these are all teams Oregon is Oregon is
the the you know, the weakest of the teams that
we'd potentially be talking about, and they're nineteenth in the
nation in terms of run defense. So you know, this
(18:28):
is this is not going to be an easy playoff
for anyone to run the ball. I don't think among
the teams that I'd sort of expect to be playing
beyond New Year's Day, no lots.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Of low scores, and I think I think people are
expecting that do you want to move to the de.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Show or you're sure, let's move the defense, And I
think we have to start up front because right away,
like right away in this game, it was I think
it might have been a key Messidor and bourbon Bain
sharing a sack, but they bane finished with half a sack,
a keen Messidor had a sack and alf and it's
just it's not fancy. They're just they are just whooping dudes.
(19:05):
It is not oh, look, they're doing twists and they're
doing stunts and they play all sorts of games up front.
It is just nope, I'm gonna whoop the dude in
front of me and then I'm going to sack the quarterback.
That is good news and bad news, depending on how
you want to look at because because Ohio State, where
Ohio States been vulnerable in terms of the offensive line,
a lot this year has been when teams are doing twists,
(19:27):
when teams are running stunts up front, and they have
not always done a great job of picking those up. Well,
this is a come right at you kind of team.
And that's you know, Indiana had a lot of sort
of creative games up front that helped them get the
five sacks that they got against Ohio State. That's not
Miami's game and This is not the time of year
when it's going to be like, well, we're gonna install
(19:48):
all sorts of new stuff up front, all you know,
new defense, new defensive line, uploading like in the matrix
where it's just you know, I know, kung fu like
that's not you. You can't do that with the defensive line.
So you know, now it's going to be can your
dudes beat you know? Can your dudes beat my dudes? Basically,
rather than some of the stuff that has not worked
particularly well or that has not worked particularly well for
(20:10):
Ohio State that has worked particularly well against Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
There is a third and four in this game where
Miami just rushed three and two of the three are Messing,
Door and pain and they got there. And that's that's
an unstoppable defense. If you can rush three on third
and four intermediate down and dropping coverage and sack the
quarterback or influenced the quarterback, that's hard to stop. In
(20:33):
terms of the games that they played, the one thing
that I saw was a little bit unfair is when
they would rush them from the same side. And we're
talking about the two Miami Defense defensive ends and the
key Messen door and Reuben Bay, and it's like, well,
that's kind of I are we supposed to be sporting here.
Let's let's be uh, let's be nice about it. But
those two guys, as you said, they're they're just brutes
(20:54):
and athletic and Ohio State will I think they'd rather
see that though higher. They would rather see what Miami
shows than a lot of what Indiana shows. Now, the
difference is the talent that comes with it. I think
Miami has the more talent up front, especially now with
the Indiana injury to Stephen Daily, But it's a more
(21:16):
you know what you're going to get. Now, you know
what you're gonna get is gonna be very good, but
you just get you've got to be ready for it.
And then even early on defensive tackles, you had Justin
Scott reading a screen and blowing it up for forced
fumble on a wide receiver like, well, there's no, it's
not fair for a receiver to you have to catch
a screen and then turn back and get hit by
(21:37):
a three hundred and ten pound defensive tackle.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And so he did.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Well. David Blade blew up a quarterback draw in this
one number eleven, another defensive tackle so it was the
interior was also making plays in this one, especially early on.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Well, and what I had written down was that play
played by Justin Scott, the Ruben Bain interception. Those were
both plays that were made outside the numbers. Those are
defensive linemen going so lined the sideline. That is not
something you see all the time. And you know, the
Bain ball was batted up in the air a couple
of times. He had a little extra time to get
out there, but he also was, you know, he was
(22:11):
hustling out there. The Scott one, he's you know, he's
dropping in the cupboage, so that but still like to
get out there that quickly. Was was really impressive. I'm
an Ahmed Mouten, the defensive tackle. He had a couple
of nice little plays in this one. He was injured
at the end of that Texas A and M game.
Murray Cristobal had an update on I think Monday and
(22:33):
said that they were sort of hopeful to get Mohammed Torre,
the linebacker, Ahmed Moten, and safety Zacharav Poyser. He was
sort of, you know, hopeful that all three of those
guys would get back, which you know, that's one of
those updates where it's like that sounds like an update,
but yeah, of course you're hoping those guys get back.
I don't know if that's actually an update, but you
know that if they get Moten back, that's just you know,
(22:57):
the interro that defensive line is really solid. Like the
get a lot of the hype, but the intur that
defensive lines a lot like last year's Ohio State defensive
line where you spent all the time hearing about Jack
Sawyer and JT Twy Molowell and those guys were fantastic,
but Telly Williams, Ty Hamilton, those guys are the inside
of the defensive line were a really key part of
(23:18):
why they were so good, especially against the run. And
that's uh. I think that's gonna be true for Miami
this year as well.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
Yeah, and when we do these games, it's like, what
are the other players that flash?
Speaker 2 (23:29):
For me? Again?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
It's sorry, can't a Scott nickel Back who Jeremia Smith
was asked about on Monday and Jared and the question
from from Zooms like, Jeremiah, can you talk about quarnerback?
Can'tday Scott is like, well, actually he's a nickelback, So
clearly Jeremiah Smith can't talk about it, and the first
player of this game can't, can't, Can'ty Scott is blitzing
(23:55):
right off the edge, and he's involved in so many
different things. And I think which game was it where
he was not playing? Was it the way Pitt might
have been Pitt where he was not playing? And so
it's like then you watch Texas A and M, you
watch this and like, who is it?
Speaker 2 (24:08):
You know this guy is good?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
And they have so many defensive backs and so many
and they and it seems like they rotate them. They'll
put different quarters in their different safeties. Because even what
freshman Bryce Fitzgerald is like your backup free safety over
rotates and has five interceptions on the season, had two
interceptions against saying them. And they've got so many guys
involved in the secondary, and I think, being Wami, I'm.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
Sure they're all pretty good.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Now.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I don't know how much Notre Day really attacked the
tack downfield a little bit, not much, but it's like
you've got a freshman quarter retro freshman quarterback. We saw
Ohio State it was very conservative with their retro freshman
quarterback in the season open and going downfield maybe like once.
And so you're still waiting to see a a attacking
(24:56):
offense that isn't limited by the conditions though.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Right, Yeah, we spent a lot of that Texas A
and m Miami game saying, listen, you can't hold this
against the Miami passing game. It was incredibly windy, that's
all true. Guess what, you can't give the Miami secondary
that much credit because it was also windy when Texas
A and M at the mall. This is not the
old Metrodome where they turned the air conditioner on when
the opposing team.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Is on off.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now, that's not that's not. Uh, you got you gotta
pick one. And either Miami's offense really couldn't throw the
ball at all, or Texas A and M's offense was
hampered by the same way. And so I am interested
to see. I don't know what the weather conditions were
in like the SMU game. I know we watched the
Louisville game already, you know, when it first happened. I
(25:42):
would like to see if we can find the SMU
game because that's one where you know, SMU has a
pretty good passing offense. If the weather conditions were decent
that day. I'm interested to see what that looks like
against this Miami secondary. But you know that the secondary
on the whole is really solid and they do have
pretty good depth there where you know, if someone does
go down there is another guy to put in. Bryce Fitzgerald.
(26:03):
I did not realize he showed up in the summer.
He was not an early and Rolye. He was a
summer in Rolye. So to go out and be out
there as early as he was, that's a you know,
that is a officially a you know, capital N name
to know in terms of in terms of the future
of Miami football, for sure. The other one, the one
(26:23):
thing that I thought was notable, you know, not necessarily
a great way, my note of Dame was not able
to run the ball too well most of the game.
But on their first touchdown drive they found something in
that in that in Miami defense where they had they
hit a couple like fifteen twenty yard kind of runs.
They looked running the ball against Miami just in that
(26:45):
one drive like Miami did at times on that sort
of last drive against Texas A and M. But they didn't.
Miami didn't notre Dame didn't stick with the run. It
was amazing that, like they were calling it out on
the broadcast that there was it was almost halftime and
Jeremiah Love, oh sorry, past halftime. Jeremiah Love had four
rushes through like forty minutes of the game. And that's
(27:06):
someone who ended up as a Heisman finalist. So they
weren't throwing the ball down field. They're being very conservative
with the passing game, but also they weren't giving it
to their future Heisman finalists running back. And it was like, boy,
I don't I don't agree with a lot of the
foot but I don't know. There are choices being made
here and I don't particularly love them.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Yeah, that's one of my notes here is Tom, do
you think bo Jacks will have more than four carries
with seven nineteen left in the third quarter?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Because that's what Jeremiah Love had in there.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
And it's Daried Price who also had just recently announced
he's turning pro six for forty five with the long
of thirty eight, and they they're just the passing game
is an extension of the run game with the short
stuff that they were done because they came out throwing
christ screens and it's like, yeah, that's great, but ten
carries for thirty three yards for Jeremiah Love, Like, hey,
(27:52):
that's that's a little bit. That's a lot less of frankly,
what everybody was expecting when CJ. Carr has eleven now
you know, yeah, two or three sacks. But frankly, Carr
was pretty good effective running the ball. I don't think
that has anything to do with what we're gonna see.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
From Julian Saying now.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But Carr was doing a pretty good Riley Skinner Riley
Leonard impersonation for a while at times in this one.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
But yeah, it's not a lot of plays fifty eight
plays overall offense for that.
Speaker 3 (28:22):
Yeah. And I watched CJ. Carr run the ball, and
there were a couple of times when he handed it
and there was something there on the keep. I wonder,
you know, I wonder if you're at the point of
the season where now Julian Saying is going to hang
on to one or two of those you only have
to pull it once or twice to keep them keep
the defense honest, because I think right now the defense
(28:42):
is going well. If he's either going to hand the
ball op or he's gonna throw it. He's like, well
there is a secret option, see there or have it,
It's just not chosen that very often. You need to
make sure you keep him away from Mohammed Torre because
he will adomize you if he hits.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
You, but he'll adamize himself.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but that's this is one of these
games where you're watching and it's like, well, I don't
know how much to take away from the Miami or
from the Notre Dame offensive performance here, because it's a
young quarterback in his first start, and it's a team
that doesn't have Ohio State caliber wide receivers, but it
does have a running quarterback. And it's just there's not
(29:18):
a ton of overlap there between what you saw there
and what you know, what you're going to see out
of Ohio State against this Miami defense. The one thing
that I did think was really impressive out of Miami
was the goal line run defense was really good. You know,
Notre Dame would get down there and Cja Carr had
to run one in himself, which again, not sure how
much that applies to what Ohio State is going to do,
(29:39):
but you know, just when Notre Dame tried to line
up and run the ball. Notre Dame's got a good offense.
Why Notre Dame's got good running backs and they couldn't
punche the ball in and ended up having to throw
one it maybe had a play action passed, like a
tight end or something for the touchdown. You know, we've
been saying this for weeks, two months, two years for
this Ohio State offense. If you have a Jeremiah Smith,
(30:00):
if you have a carneal Taite, you need to split
them out wide. You need number one, keep them on
the field. Number two, split them out wide, and number three,
if there's one guy on them, you need to throw
them in the football. And it doesn't matter if it's
first and goal of the one or first and goal
at the five. You need to throw them in the football.
And the points count the same. You get six points
for throwing it in, you get six points for running
it in. I don't think running it in is going
(30:20):
to be particularly easy against this Miami defense, So I
would take the road less traveled, and you know, consider
throwing the ball.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
You know, and when you throw the ball into the
end zone against Miami, three things could happen to Two
of them are good touchdown incompletion or a flag.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
So oh, he can come up with one example of that.
Come on, But the Miski, the Miami kickers got a leg.
He was good from thirty eight to forty seven. Weve
for forty seven could have been much longer. Put her
Joyce five puts forty two point six yard average, nothing
into twenty, nothing over fifty ry. Oh how do I
(31:01):
say this, Joe mcguireian.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, well he's he's Australian, so that's but but yeah,
just kind of it was unremarkable. It wasn't bad, it
wasn't good, It just was fine. I did think the
the kicker Davis was very impressive based on the fact
that at the beginning of the seat of the broadcaster talking
(31:25):
about the fact that he was an FAU transfers like, oh,
was he amazing at FAU four for eleven So no, no,
he was not. But this year he was really good
and he had obviously all of the he had all
of the missed kicks against Texas A and M, which
again I kind of chalk up to the Yeah, I
(31:46):
chalk up to the weather there because he on the
year is fifteen of twenty. But he missed what three
field goals? You know, So he missed five field goals
all year, and three of them were against were Texas
A and M. So you know that that to me
says that's probably a lot more wind than it is
(32:06):
anything else because he had missed the only other field
goal he missed all year was against Stanford. Every every
other kick he made field goal he made this year
and NC State, Yeah, he did miss one more. You're right,
you're right.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
But the win in that game, you saw it like
there is one kick where the wind is blowing it
right then that's like, nah, I'm gonna blow it left.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
What are you supposed to do?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Yeah? Yeah, So he's someone who you know coming off
that game. If if the first time you watched Notre
Dame or for the first time you watched Miami all season,
was that that Texas A and M game, You're looking
at that and going, oh boy, they can't kick a
field goal at all, Like, no, that this will be indoors,
there won't be any wind. They the place kicking should
be fine.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
And with this game and then we'll talk about it more.
But field goals aren't necessarily losses in these low scoring
games that we're going to see and I do believe
he is a weapon for them in this game because
the conditions are going to be perfect. So that's something
to consider for Miami. Anything else, I.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Think we covered most of the big takeaways there and
then we'll we'll see if we can find one of
those kind of more interesting games from mid season and
see see where what we can learn from that.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
The last thing for me is like the Melochi Tony
whip routes where he starts looks like it's gonna be
a messure out and he's like, no, I'm gonna back outside.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
Those are so tough too hand on.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
That's going to be interesting to see what Ohio State
chooses to do to defend him and how many players.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
They used to do it.
Speaker 3 (33:30):
So I lied one more things. Yeah, last drive of
the game that I thought was very interesting takeaway in
terms of when Miami knows you have to throw the
ball you are in deep trouble. That was because that
was that was the first time all game that that
Notre Dame was really had to throw the ball. There's
(33:51):
no threat of a run at all, and they completed
one pass for a first down, and then I think
it went intentional grounding to avoid a sack, and then
a sack and then a sack, and it was just
it was just absolutely teeing off on TJ.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Carr.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
And it wasn't like they were bringing the house. It
was just, Okay, here are the three defensive you know,
defensive linemen or four defensive linemen and they are just
going to get back there and they're you're not gonna
have time to do anything. If if you were in
predictable passing situations, you are not in for a good
time against this Miami defense.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Yeah, and they don't need the blitz to make it
a bad time. Nope, they can just get it with
their front four. So there's a lot for Julian Saying
and Carshon Hinsman Center to to communicate about it in
terms of keeping everybody on the same page with their
with the with the protection.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
So that will do it. This is what we've.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Learned about Miami and how it applies to Ohio State.
And go ahead and leave your comments for the Miami
fans if you're listening, if you're watching, we don't mind
doing like a listener questions episode from the opposing fan base.
So if you've got some questions that you want us
to answer about your team, about Ohio State, and we'll
(35:01):
do that. Go ahead and throw them into comments. We'll
have to fine tooth come them to figure out the
good stuff from the bad stuff in terms of some
of the interactions we have with the Miami fans. But
if you want to go throw in some comments, questions
in on this video, try to pull them and maybe
do a show later in the week or before the game.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
Certainly we'd appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And of course, if you're watching you want to hit
the thumbs up, we'd appreciate that as well. You find
this Buckeye Weekly podcast on all of your podcast platforms,
Tom's Daily Buck Guys Tomorrow Morning.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Search that up.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
You can find that as well. That will do it
from here. Thank you all for tuning in, and we
will talk to you all later
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