October 1, 2025 • 19 mins
Buckeye Weekly Podcast: Analyzing Minnesota's Win Over Rutgers & Ohio State's Next Challenge
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr discuss the aftermath of Minnesota's 31-28 victory over Rutgers and what it means for their upcoming game against Ohio State. They delve into key performances, such as that of Minnesota's redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey and his impressive stats. The hosts also examine Minnesota's defensive strengths and weaknesses, focusing on players like Koi Perich and Maverick Baranowski. In addition, they explore the special teams' impact on the game. With insights on how Minnesota's strategies might unfold against Ohio State, Tony and Tom provide a comprehensive preview of the anticipated matchup.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:10 Recap of the Oregon vs. Penn State Game
00:58 Minnesota vs. Rutgers Game Analysis
04:27 Minnesota's Offensive Performance
12:54 Minnesota's Defensive Performance
17:57 Special Teams and Final Thoughts
19:17 Closing Remarks and Sign-Off
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr discuss the aftermath of Minnesota's 31-28 victory over Rutgers and what it means for their upcoming game against Ohio State. They delve into key performances, such as that of Minnesota's redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey and his impressive stats. The hosts also examine Minnesota's defensive strengths and weaknesses, focusing on players like Koi Perich and Maverick Baranowski. In addition, they explore the special teams' impact on the game. With insights on how Minnesota's strategies might unfold against Ohio State, Tony and Tom provide a comprehensive preview of the anticipated matchup.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:10 Recap of the Oregon vs. Penn State Game
00:58 Minnesota vs. Rutgers Game Analysis
04:27 Minnesota's Offensive Performance
12:54 Minnesota's Defensive Performance
17:57 Special Teams and Final Thoughts
19:17 Closing Remarks and Sign-Off
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.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
How's it going well, Tony.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
On our last episode, we reviewed the Oregon Penn State
game and what it might mean for the national Championship. Today,
another football game, Minnesota and Rutgers. Tony. I asked you earlier,
you know these two teams, Ohio State gonna play them
an over under of two and a half times this season,
Tony Minnesota and Rutgers Tony over under two and a
(00:34):
half times this year on the Ohio State schedule. Do
they meet in Indianapolis or potentially in the College Football Playoff?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You know they will play at least two times. I'm
probably taking the under on them playing three times. I
feel pretty confident about that, but especially after watching this one,
I'll say that, yes, now I think there will not
be any postseason meetings for Ohio State and these two teams.
And of course we are talking about Minneso SODA's thirty
(01:01):
one twenty eight win over Rutgers on Saturday, about you know,
talking about what we saw, what we learned from the Gophers,
who are coming up Saturday night at Ohio stadium and
time before I watched this game, I went through and
looked at the box score, and I was like, how,
how does the Minnesota win this game? Because I even
(01:21):
watched a little bit of it, and they press box
on Saturday, I believe, and you get Rutgers with twenty
nine first downs, They're running back rushes for one hundred
and sixty one yards. I'm looking like, okay, well, where
are where are the turnovers? Where are the lost possessions?
And there was an interception. Rutgers was seven to fourteen
on third downs, scored up scored touchdowns on four of
(01:44):
their five red zone possessions, and I was just a
little bit perplexed as to how they lost. And then
so I watch in the first drive they marched right
down the field and then missed a shortfield goal, and
it's like, oh, well, okay, that's that's probably how And
of course, at the end of the game for trying
(02:06):
to tie it with a fifty six yard field goal,
and that's basically the difference of the game is that
the missed field goals. But overall, there's a lot to
be concerned about if you're Minnesota this weekend.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, Minnesota, that This was the biggest comeback Minnesota had
had at home in thirty years, and it was fourteen
nothing was the deficit they faced. And you're thinking, like,
you haven't come back from a fourteen point deficit in
thirty years at home. Lord knows, they've had probably plenty
of fourteen point deficits at home over those over that span.
(02:46):
And you know, frankly, they were fortunate to only be
down fourteen points because the first three drives for Rutgers
are ten plays seventy one yards, eight play sixty two yards,
twelve play sixty eight yards, and it was a missed
field goal touchdown touchdown, and they had been completely non
competitive at that point. I mean, the yardage at that
point through three Brucker's drives and two Minnesota drives was
(03:10):
I can do math eleven two hundred and one yards
to twenty six total yardage and total yardge obviously never
a great measure, but also two hundred and one to
twenty six paints a very specific picture. So that's why
it was so impressive how Minnesota completely swung the game.
(03:32):
I mean, it was fourteen to nothing, and it looked
like they were about to run out of the Stadium.
And then it took I think it was fifty four seconds,
fifty four seconds for them to tie the game at fourteen,
because it was they scored a touchdown, they had like
a seventy eight yard pass to set up a short
touchdown run and then immediately got an interception on you know,
(03:54):
three place Rooker. They get an interception and cash it
in immediately for another touchdown, and all of a sudd
in the span of fifty four seconds, it goes from
fourteen nothing to fourteen fourteen. It was like, all right,
so now you've got to you know, now it looks
like a football game. So I guess this is one
of those like boy that if they play like they
did for the first quarter or so of this game,
(04:16):
they are going to get run out of the building
at Ohio Stadium. If they can play like they did afterwards,
they can keep it interesting potentially for a while.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So we have now watched in the span of a
couple of days, Penn State and Oregon and Minnesota and Rutgers,
and if we're drafting quarterbacks off of those four teams,
you're probably taking Dante Moore number one. Drake Lindsay for Minnesota,
Red Shirt freshman. Really really impressed me my first time
(04:50):
getting a good look at him, six five to thirty,
confident throwing the ball, will stand in there and knows
where to go with the ball. Very impress with him.
That's the guy that they can build around.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And will build around.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Also, Tom impressed with the Minnesota receivers who were making
plays and including Richard freshman Daylon Smith four catches for
one hundred three yards, including a perfect seventy eight yard
bomb downfield from Drake Lindsay who was thirty one to
forty one for three hundred and twenty four yards, three touchdowns,
(05:25):
sacked twice. But Javon Tracy's another receiver, la Mecky Brockington,
who you alluded to earlier on a play like, these
guys were making plays and I was impressed. And it's
not an offense. That's not a typical PJ. Fleck offense
where you can just assume, well, as long as you
stop the run, you're gonna be okay. Because they have
(05:47):
no skill, they have no ability to get the ball
to their one good receiver. I think they've got some
good receivers and they've got a guy in Drake Lindsay
who has the ability to get them the ball.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah, I went back and look because Drake Lindsay was
in the same quarterback class as Julian saying, so it
could be a matchup of red shirt freshman quarterbacks this
this weekend at Ohio Stadium. And Juliansane was the first
ranked quarterback in the two four to seven composite in
twenty twenty four. Drake Lindsay was the fifty sixth ranked
quarterback in the class of twenty twenty four in the
two four to seven composite. And yeah, I mean you
(06:18):
read his numbers. Three hundred twenty four yeards, three touchdowns,
no picks, and he was just he was very effective.
He was very efficient. It was the ball was on time,
the ball was in the right spot. And we watched
Drew Aller was a five star prospect, and Drew Aller
kept putting the ball behind receivers and you know, Lindsey
was just the ball was right where it needed to be.
(06:39):
Had the deep shot to Jalen Smith, seventy eight yarder,
balls right in the right spot.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
He almost got him.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
For another one later on in the game, another deep
shot down the middle. Yeah, that's something that's someone to watch.
Jalen Smith, number eight, the true freshman wide receiver. He
was He was very very solid. But yeah, Lindsay, I
came away very very impressed with one reason.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
P J.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Flick was asked on his Monday press conference, you know,
so are you like a past first team now? And
it was like, no, that's not really you know, it's
not like a philosophical shift for them. As much as
they were missing their star running back Darius Taylor, who
has missed some time with a hamstring injury. Fleck did
not want to give an update on how likely he
was to play this weekend. My guess would be not
(07:25):
that likely to play this weekend. You would make sense
maybe to give him one more week and then in
the game that year, probably like, realistically, they're probably not
going to win this weekend, but next week you get
Purdue at home, they get in Nebraska at home, and
then you're going to Iowa. Those are games that are
winnable but not guaranteed wins. If you're not likely to
beat Ohio State, you give him another week and then
(07:47):
you go try and win those three games when you're
old Big ten West games and you end up as
a nine kind of eight nine win team. So I
would guess you don't see Darius Taylor this weekend, and
if you don't, the running game's really not there. Fame
ijib itji boy it jib boy. Yeah, it's jib boy.
(08:09):
I kept I kept thinking, don't say it's your boy,
but it kind of sounds like it's your boy. It
Joe Boy is the is the backup running back, and
he twelve carries thirty seven yards, you know, three point
one yards per carry against Rutgers defense. Like that is
not going to get it done against Ohio State. Like
that's not even going to come close to getting it
done against Ohio State. What was interesting, though, Tony is
(08:31):
eighteen rushes forty one passes for Minnesota and yeah, you
didn't have Taylor, and yeah you were down by fourteen
points early, but even once they caught up, it was
still very very pass heavy for most of the game.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
For sure, And I think a lot of that is
because Darius Taylor was gone. But Darius Taylor is still not.
He's been like a three year starter essentially, but he
was injured for much of his freshman year. He was
injured to start the season last year. Now he's injured,
He's missed two games, probably miss a third. He's never
been a guy that has been productive against the best teams.
(09:05):
So I'm with you save him for the games that
you can win, because he's never really I think he
said one one hundred yard game against the ranked opponent
and that was last year against Illinois. Other than that,
it's you know, it is what it is for the Gophers.
But yeah, they're they're past first and past second right
now because that's where their skill is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And and you know, edge.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Boys said thirty seven yards rushing long of sixteen three
point one per carry. There's nothing there that scares you,
which you know you can't just you can't just throw
the ball, as we know. And really early on, the
Rutgers defensive line was dominating against the run and also
creating some issue for Lindsay in terms of the pressure.
(09:50):
So my thinking is like, if if Rutgers can do this,
perhaps Ohio State can also create some pressure with their
defensive line and make life difficult for dream Drake Lindsay.
I don't expect him to complete seventy five percent of
his passes. What I will say is there will be
throws that he makes that are very impressive. Jalen Smith,
(10:10):
the Recherd freshman wide receiver, scored two touchdowns. Well had
one taken away because he was just short, but he
was fighting like.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Heck for it.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
He's going to be a player to watch. I do
wonder how long those two guys are going to be
at Minnesota. I think Lindsey is they want to obviously
keep him around. He wants to be a gofer. But
these guys are gonna have to be locked in with
the nil because there are two very good, very young
players at Ohio State. Better be ready for, better watch
(10:40):
out for, because I think that's where the bulk of
the big plays in the offense is going to be
coming from for Minnesota. On Saturday, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was watching Lindsay and thinking, I wonder if Minnesota
can hang on to him for four years. And it's like,
it's such a bummer that that's the conversation you're kind
of having your head. But that's the conversation you're kind
of having in your head. And Minnesota is, you know,
Minnesota has access to the Big ten, TV money and
all of that, so you should be able to keep
people around. But you know it's there is some talent there,
(11:10):
but you also you look around the offense and it's
like it's not there's not talent everywhere. There's not great
talent everywhere, and you know, watching, yeah, we have seen
what Phillip Daniels has done at Ohio State this year
and how he's really come on very quickly and very
hard and won that starting right tackle job. He started
four games at Minnesota last year and was just kind
(11:32):
of okay, but has you know, obviously taken significant strides.
And that's an example of someone who Minnesota was not
able to hang on to in the transfer portal because
he was an Ohio native who wanted to come back
to Ohio State, but boy, they replaced him with Dylan Ray,
who is number seventy three right tackle. He is someone
who's on his third team West Virginia, then Kentucky, then Minnesota.
(11:55):
And we talked about this in the last show with
Bear Alexander from Oregon, where when you're on your third
team a lot of times that's not like you're moving
on up to the East side. Like every once in
a while you'll get the what incarnate word to Washington
State to Heisman winner at Miami kind of progression, but
that's not generally the three team progression. And you saw
(12:19):
some trouble on the right side of the offensive line.
There are a couple of lower snaps, like offensive line.
If offensive line is not great, this Ohio State defense
is not going to be a team that you want
to be seeing across the field.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, one of the low snaps from center Ashton Bears
cost them like a fourth and short, I think in
the red zone.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And just that's the.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That the consistency that and the excellence that you need
on every play or else you're going to lose a possession.
And that's what happened there. To the other side of
the ball. The Minnesota defense, I thought they struggled against
the RPO. Rutgers were starting that very well. Also going
downfield quite a bit on them and not you know,
like forty yards downfield, but fifteen twenty five yards, twenty yards.
(13:08):
They were attacking the Minnesota secondary downfield, particularly the quarterback
is zi Kwan Bryan who got beaten on a few plays.
When we watched these teams Tom for the first time
watch these games, we're like, Okay, who's the guy that
Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Is going to target? And he was one of them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That stood out to be number four cornerback who was
giving up some catches. They talked about they alluded to
the fact that they're kind of banged up in the
secondary and they're getting kind of deep into things, and
that's similar to what Ohio State dealt with last week.
So I guess it just depends on how Minnesota will
(13:48):
adjust to what they do, or you know, just play
as a deep zone as you can. They had success
in man and zone a little bit. But I thought
Rutgers move the ball very well on them times.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Right well, And Rutgers is a team where they're quarterback
by Ethan Kelly aikmanis who is the former Minnesota quarterback,
and he was fine, He wasn't amazing. He threw He
completed sixty two percent of his passes. Now sixty two
percent of your passes is like a disaster game for
an Ohio State quarterback at this point. If you're completing
seventy five percent and you're throwing it to the Ohio
(14:24):
State wide receiver corps, then you're going to be moving
the ball a lot more consistently, and I would expect
them to be able to run the ball probably better
than Rutgers did. So it seems like this is not
a great matchup for the Minnesota defense, especially in the secondary,
as she said, And if they have to, you know,
I would guess, based on what we've seen from a
(14:45):
lot of teams, play three deep, keep Ohio State from
beating you over the top and make them be methodical
to go down the field. That that slows you down,
but it doesn't necessarily stop you. There are some bright
spots on the on the Minnesota defense, quite pay Who's
a safety? Where's number three? He's someone who you know,
Minnesota does not beat Ohio State for recruits very often,
(15:06):
but Coy Perritch is someone who Ohio State wanted in
Minnesota got and he does a little bit of everything.
They've had him play a little bit offense, but you know,
mostly a safety. He had eleven tackles in that game.
He kind of played that Dylan Theeneman, like real deep
safety dropping out of the TV picture kind of thing
like you saw with Washington last week. But he also
(15:26):
is the kickoff returner. He also was a putt returner.
You know, he had a really really good return right
before the half that sent up a long field goal.
Attentph that they missed, but then he had right after that,
right coming out of the half, you know, two plays later,
kind of stumbled, kind of botched it and fell so
kind of a little bit of the best of times
the worst of times there for him. A couple other
(15:48):
names to know Anthony Smith defensive lineman he wears number zero,
had a sack and a half. Carter Menz he wears
number eleven, had two tackles for loss. He was kind
of flashing at times. And Devin Williams linebacker he wears
number nine, thirteen tackles for him. I mean, there are
guys there on this team that are like, okay, you
got to you got to know who these guys are.
And coy Perritch is definitely someone who is a dude
(16:10):
and you're probably having the same Can they keep him
kind of conversation with him after coming out of this
year because he's someone that the Organs of the world
and the Ohio States of the world, I'm sure would
be more than happy to bring him into their NIL programs.
So you know, we'll see what that looks like moving forward.
But you know, there are there are pieces here for Minnesota.
(16:33):
But when you're coming into a game and you're banged
up in a spot on defense and it's like, well,
you're kind of getting down there on the depth chart.
That's that's a little bit of a red flag.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Linebacker Maverick Bereanowski was a guy that you didn't mention.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
He was in there as well.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I got to always mentioned somebody named Maverick, as we
know all of those Mavericks out there always needing to
get mentioned. I was impressed with a couple of plays
made by safety slash Nicole Carrie Brown had an interception,
also had a nice pass breakup. He his interception kind
of deeked Ethan the Ethan kelliak Manison to thinking he
(17:10):
was playing man and he was in zone and just
stepped in front of a pass and nearly took it
back all the way. Paris is fun to watch and
to see the different ways they use him. I wonder
how much they'll bring him to the line of scrimmage
if they need him to be that third guy that
cover three in deep, but he needs to be around
(17:32):
the ball also, so they allowed to mix and match
what they want to do. He's also very important on
special teams. Had a nice kickoff return late in the first.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Half, that.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Forty or fifty yards, and it's like, well, we just
saw all higher state give up a big one, so
keep an eye on him. He's a part returner and
a kickoff returner and is dangerous wherever. Anything else from
this game that you wanted to.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Well, I would describe their specialties Minnesota special teams as eventful.
You know, are they good, are they bad? They're exciting?
Are they good or are they bad? They're exciting. They
blocked the field goal on Rutgers first possession. They had
the like a fifty yarder red half set, you know,
set up by that long kickoff return that they missed.
(18:21):
They nearly blocked the punt from Rutgers at one point,
they nearly got a punt blocked by Rutgers. At one point.
They had the you know, the good kickoff return, the
bad kickoff return. It was like, I don't know what
they're you know, their they're expected points per play aded
was on special teams, but I'm sure the graph was
just an enormous swing of ups and downs, Like, boy,
(18:44):
this was this was a huge play good, This was
a huge play bad. This was just back and forth.
So you know, I think that's one where our highest
it's gonna have to be mindful that they will come
after a punt if they see something on film that
they think they can exploit. But you know that Ohio
State might be able to block a punt as well,
so gonna be gonna be potentially. Don't go get the
(19:06):
peanuts or go to the get online for the bathroom
when you're lining up for a punt on fourth down,
because you never you never know what might happen.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Right, save your bathroom breaks for the Ohio State offense,
as we all know.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So there you go. That'll do it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That's a seven thirty Saturday night on NBC. We'll obviously
be talking more about this game and doing our utmost
preview and get you ready for it as we just
did here give you some names to know, so if
you're watching on YouTube, please give us the thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
We'd appreciate that of course.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
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thank you all for tuning in.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
We'll 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 well, Tony.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
On our last episode, we reviewed the Oregon Penn State
game and what it might mean for the national Championship. Today,
another football game, Minnesota and Rutgers. Tony. I asked you earlier,
you know these two teams, Ohio State gonna play them
an over under of two and a half times this season,
Tony Minnesota and Rutgers Tony over under two and a
(00:34):
half times this year on the Ohio State schedule. Do
they meet in Indianapolis or potentially in the College Football Playoff?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You know they will play at least two times. I'm
probably taking the under on them playing three times. I
feel pretty confident about that, but especially after watching this one,
I'll say that, yes, now I think there will not
be any postseason meetings for Ohio State and these two teams.
And of course we are talking about Minneso SODA's thirty
(01:01):
one twenty eight win over Rutgers on Saturday, about you know,
talking about what we saw, what we learned from the Gophers,
who are coming up Saturday night at Ohio stadium and
time before I watched this game, I went through and
looked at the box score, and I was like, how,
how does the Minnesota win this game? Because I even
(01:21):
watched a little bit of it, and they press box
on Saturday, I believe, and you get Rutgers with twenty
nine first downs, They're running back rushes for one hundred
and sixty one yards. I'm looking like, okay, well, where
are where are the turnovers? Where are the lost possessions?
And there was an interception. Rutgers was seven to fourteen
on third downs, scored up scored touchdowns on four of
(01:44):
their five red zone possessions, and I was just a
little bit perplexed as to how they lost. And then
so I watch in the first drive they marched right
down the field and then missed a shortfield goal, and
it's like, oh, well, okay, that's that's probably how And
of course, at the end of the game for trying
(02:06):
to tie it with a fifty six yard field goal,
and that's basically the difference of the game is that
the missed field goals. But overall, there's a lot to
be concerned about if you're Minnesota this weekend.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Well, Minnesota, that This was the biggest comeback Minnesota had
had at home in thirty years, and it was fourteen
nothing was the deficit they faced. And you're thinking, like,
you haven't come back from a fourteen point deficit in
thirty years at home. Lord knows, they've had probably plenty
of fourteen point deficits at home over those over that span.
(02:46):
And you know, frankly, they were fortunate to only be
down fourteen points because the first three drives for Rutgers
are ten plays seventy one yards, eight play sixty two yards,
twelve play sixty eight yards, and it was a missed
field goal touchdown touchdown, and they had been completely non
competitive at that point. I mean, the yardage at that
point through three Brucker's drives and two Minnesota drives was
(03:10):
I can do math eleven two hundred and one yards
to twenty six total yardage and total yardge obviously never
a great measure, but also two hundred and one to
twenty six paints a very specific picture. So that's why
it was so impressive how Minnesota completely swung the game.
(03:32):
I mean, it was fourteen to nothing, and it looked
like they were about to run out of the Stadium.
And then it took I think it was fifty four seconds,
fifty four seconds for them to tie the game at fourteen,
because it was they scored a touchdown, they had like
a seventy eight yard pass to set up a short
touchdown run and then immediately got an interception on you know,
(03:54):
three place Rooker. They get an interception and cash it
in immediately for another touchdown, and all of a sudd
in the span of fifty four seconds, it goes from
fourteen nothing to fourteen fourteen. It was like, all right,
so now you've got to you know, now it looks
like a football game. So I guess this is one
of those like boy that if they play like they
did for the first quarter or so of this game,
(04:16):
they are going to get run out of the building
at Ohio Stadium. If they can play like they did afterwards,
they can keep it interesting potentially for a while.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So we have now watched in the span of a
couple of days, Penn State and Oregon and Minnesota and Rutgers,
and if we're drafting quarterbacks off of those four teams,
you're probably taking Dante Moore number one. Drake Lindsay for Minnesota,
Red Shirt freshman. Really really impressed me my first time
(04:50):
getting a good look at him, six five to thirty,
confident throwing the ball, will stand in there and knows
where to go with the ball. Very impress with him.
That's the guy that they can build around.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
And will build around.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Also, Tom impressed with the Minnesota receivers who were making
plays and including Richard freshman Daylon Smith four catches for
one hundred three yards, including a perfect seventy eight yard
bomb downfield from Drake Lindsay who was thirty one to
forty one for three hundred and twenty four yards, three touchdowns,
(05:25):
sacked twice. But Javon Tracy's another receiver, la Mecky Brockington,
who you alluded to earlier on a play like, these
guys were making plays and I was impressed. And it's
not an offense. That's not a typical PJ. Fleck offense
where you can just assume, well, as long as you
stop the run, you're gonna be okay. Because they have
(05:47):
no skill, they have no ability to get the ball
to their one good receiver. I think they've got some
good receivers and they've got a guy in Drake Lindsay
who has the ability to get them the ball.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah, I went back and look because Drake Lindsay was
in the same quarterback class as Julian saying, so it
could be a matchup of red shirt freshman quarterbacks this
this weekend at Ohio Stadium. And Juliansane was the first
ranked quarterback in the two four to seven composite in
twenty twenty four. Drake Lindsay was the fifty sixth ranked
quarterback in the class of twenty twenty four in the
two four to seven composite. And yeah, I mean you
(06:18):
read his numbers. Three hundred twenty four yeards, three touchdowns,
no picks, and he was just he was very effective.
He was very efficient. It was the ball was on time,
the ball was in the right spot. And we watched
Drew Aller was a five star prospect, and Drew Aller
kept putting the ball behind receivers and you know, Lindsey
was just the ball was right where it needed to be.
(06:39):
Had the deep shot to Jalen Smith, seventy eight yarder,
balls right in the right spot.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
He almost got him.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
For another one later on in the game, another deep
shot down the middle. Yeah, that's something that's someone to watch.
Jalen Smith, number eight, the true freshman wide receiver. He
was He was very very solid. But yeah, Lindsay, I
came away very very impressed with one reason.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
P J.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Flick was asked on his Monday press conference, you know,
so are you like a past first team now? And
it was like, no, that's not really you know, it's
not like a philosophical shift for them. As much as
they were missing their star running back Darius Taylor, who
has missed some time with a hamstring injury. Fleck did
not want to give an update on how likely he
was to play this weekend. My guess would be not
(07:25):
that likely to play this weekend. You would make sense
maybe to give him one more week and then in
the game that year, probably like, realistically, they're probably not
going to win this weekend, but next week you get
Purdue at home, they get in Nebraska at home, and
then you're going to Iowa. Those are games that are
winnable but not guaranteed wins. If you're not likely to
beat Ohio State, you give him another week and then
(07:47):
you go try and win those three games when you're
old Big ten West games and you end up as
a nine kind of eight nine win team. So I
would guess you don't see Darius Taylor this weekend, and
if you don't, the running game's really not there. Fame
ijib itji boy it jib boy. Yeah, it's jib boy.
(08:09):
I kept I kept thinking, don't say it's your boy,
but it kind of sounds like it's your boy. It
Joe Boy is the is the backup running back, and
he twelve carries thirty seven yards, you know, three point
one yards per carry against Rutgers defense. Like that is
not going to get it done against Ohio State. Like
that's not even going to come close to getting it
done against Ohio State. What was interesting, though, Tony is
(08:31):
eighteen rushes forty one passes for Minnesota and yeah, you
didn't have Taylor, and yeah you were down by fourteen
points early, but even once they caught up, it was
still very very pass heavy for most of the game.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
For sure, And I think a lot of that is
because Darius Taylor was gone. But Darius Taylor is still not.
He's been like a three year starter essentially, but he
was injured for much of his freshman year. He was
injured to start the season last year. Now he's injured,
He's missed two games, probably miss a third. He's never
been a guy that has been productive against the best teams.
(09:05):
So I'm with you save him for the games that
you can win, because he's never really I think he
said one one hundred yard game against the ranked opponent
and that was last year against Illinois. Other than that,
it's you know, it is what it is for the Gophers.
But yeah, they're they're past first and past second right
now because that's where their skill is.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
And and you know, edge.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Boys said thirty seven yards rushing long of sixteen three
point one per carry. There's nothing there that scares you,
which you know you can't just you can't just throw
the ball, as we know. And really early on, the
Rutgers defensive line was dominating against the run and also
creating some issue for Lindsay in terms of the pressure.
(09:50):
So my thinking is like, if if Rutgers can do this,
perhaps Ohio State can also create some pressure with their
defensive line and make life difficult for dream Drake Lindsay.
I don't expect him to complete seventy five percent of
his passes. What I will say is there will be
throws that he makes that are very impressive. Jalen Smith,
(10:10):
the Recherd freshman wide receiver, scored two touchdowns. Well had
one taken away because he was just short, but he
was fighting like.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Heck for it.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
He's going to be a player to watch. I do
wonder how long those two guys are going to be
at Minnesota. I think Lindsey is they want to obviously
keep him around. He wants to be a gofer. But
these guys are gonna have to be locked in with
the nil because there are two very good, very young
players at Ohio State. Better be ready for, better watch
(10:40):
out for, because I think that's where the bulk of
the big plays in the offense is going to be
coming from for Minnesota. On Saturday, yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
I was watching Lindsay and thinking, I wonder if Minnesota
can hang on to him for four years. And it's like,
it's such a bummer that that's the conversation you're kind
of having your head. But that's the conversation you're kind
of having in your head. And Minnesota is, you know,
Minnesota has access to the Big ten, TV money and
all of that, so you should be able to keep
people around. But you know it's there is some talent there,
(11:10):
but you also you look around the offense and it's
like it's not there's not talent everywhere. There's not great
talent everywhere, and you know, watching, yeah, we have seen
what Phillip Daniels has done at Ohio State this year
and how he's really come on very quickly and very
hard and won that starting right tackle job. He started
four games at Minnesota last year and was just kind
(11:32):
of okay, but has you know, obviously taken significant strides.
And that's an example of someone who Minnesota was not
able to hang on to in the transfer portal because
he was an Ohio native who wanted to come back
to Ohio State, but boy, they replaced him with Dylan Ray,
who is number seventy three right tackle. He is someone
who's on his third team West Virginia, then Kentucky, then Minnesota.
(11:55):
And we talked about this in the last show with
Bear Alexander from Oregon, where when you're on your third
team a lot of times that's not like you're moving
on up to the East side. Like every once in
a while you'll get the what incarnate word to Washington
State to Heisman winner at Miami kind of progression, but
that's not generally the three team progression. And you saw
(12:19):
some trouble on the right side of the offensive line.
There are a couple of lower snaps, like offensive line.
If offensive line is not great, this Ohio State defense
is not going to be a team that you want
to be seeing across the field.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, one of the low snaps from center Ashton Bears
cost them like a fourth and short, I think in
the red zone.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
And just that's the.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
That the consistency that and the excellence that you need
on every play or else you're going to lose a possession.
And that's what happened there. To the other side of
the ball. The Minnesota defense, I thought they struggled against
the RPO. Rutgers were starting that very well. Also going
downfield quite a bit on them and not you know,
like forty yards downfield, but fifteen twenty five yards, twenty yards.
(13:08):
They were attacking the Minnesota secondary downfield, particularly the quarterback
is zi Kwan Bryan who got beaten on a few plays.
When we watched these teams Tom for the first time
watch these games, we're like, Okay, who's the guy that
Ohio State.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Is going to target? And he was one of them.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
That stood out to be number four cornerback who was
giving up some catches. They talked about they alluded to
the fact that they're kind of banged up in the
secondary and they're getting kind of deep into things, and
that's similar to what Ohio State dealt with last week.
So I guess it just depends on how Minnesota will
(13:48):
adjust to what they do, or you know, just play
as a deep zone as you can. They had success
in man and zone a little bit. But I thought
Rutgers move the ball very well on them times.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Right well, And Rutgers is a team where they're quarterback
by Ethan Kelly aikmanis who is the former Minnesota quarterback,
and he was fine, He wasn't amazing. He threw He
completed sixty two percent of his passes. Now sixty two
percent of your passes is like a disaster game for
an Ohio State quarterback at this point. If you're completing
seventy five percent and you're throwing it to the Ohio
(14:24):
State wide receiver corps, then you're going to be moving
the ball a lot more consistently, and I would expect
them to be able to run the ball probably better
than Rutgers did. So it seems like this is not
a great matchup for the Minnesota defense, especially in the secondary,
as she said, And if they have to, you know,
I would guess, based on what we've seen from a
(14:45):
lot of teams, play three deep, keep Ohio State from
beating you over the top and make them be methodical
to go down the field. That that slows you down,
but it doesn't necessarily stop you. There are some bright
spots on the on the Minnesota defense, quite pay Who's
a safety? Where's number three? He's someone who you know,
Minnesota does not beat Ohio State for recruits very often,
(15:06):
but Coy Perritch is someone who Ohio State wanted in
Minnesota got and he does a little bit of everything.
They've had him play a little bit offense, but you know,
mostly a safety. He had eleven tackles in that game.
He kind of played that Dylan Theeneman, like real deep
safety dropping out of the TV picture kind of thing
like you saw with Washington last week. But he also
(15:26):
is the kickoff returner. He also was a putt returner.
You know, he had a really really good return right
before the half that sent up a long field goal.
Attentph that they missed, but then he had right after that,
right coming out of the half, you know, two plays later,
kind of stumbled, kind of botched it and fell so
kind of a little bit of the best of times
the worst of times there for him. A couple other
(15:48):
names to know Anthony Smith defensive lineman he wears number zero,
had a sack and a half. Carter Menz he wears
number eleven, had two tackles for loss. He was kind
of flashing at times. And Devin Williams linebacker he wears
number nine, thirteen tackles for him. I mean, there are
guys there on this team that are like, okay, you
got to you got to know who these guys are.
And coy Perritch is definitely someone who is a dude
(16:10):
and you're probably having the same Can they keep him
kind of conversation with him after coming out of this
year because he's someone that the Organs of the world
and the Ohio States of the world, I'm sure would
be more than happy to bring him into their NIL programs.
So you know, we'll see what that looks like moving forward.
But you know, there are there are pieces here for Minnesota.
(16:33):
But when you're coming into a game and you're banged
up in a spot on defense and it's like, well,
you're kind of getting down there on the depth chart.
That's that's a little bit of a red flag.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Linebacker Maverick Bereanowski was a guy that you didn't mention.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
He was in there as well.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
I got to always mentioned somebody named Maverick, as we
know all of those Mavericks out there always needing to
get mentioned. I was impressed with a couple of plays
made by safety slash Nicole Carrie Brown had an interception,
also had a nice pass breakup. He his interception kind
of deeked Ethan the Ethan kelliak Manison to thinking he
(17:10):
was playing man and he was in zone and just
stepped in front of a pass and nearly took it
back all the way. Paris is fun to watch and
to see the different ways they use him. I wonder
how much they'll bring him to the line of scrimmage
if they need him to be that third guy that
cover three in deep, but he needs to be around
(17:32):
the ball also, so they allowed to mix and match
what they want to do. He's also very important on
special teams. Had a nice kickoff return late in the first.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Half, that.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Forty or fifty yards, and it's like, well, we just
saw all higher state give up a big one, so
keep an eye on him. He's a part returner and
a kickoff returner and is dangerous wherever. Anything else from
this game that you wanted to.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Well, I would describe their specialties Minnesota special teams as eventful.
You know, are they good, are they bad? They're exciting?
Are they good or are they bad? They're exciting. They
blocked the field goal on Rutgers first possession. They had
the like a fifty yarder red half set, you know,
set up by that long kickoff return that they missed.
(18:21):
They nearly blocked the punt from Rutgers at one point,
they nearly got a punt blocked by Rutgers. At one point.
They had the you know, the good kickoff return, the
bad kickoff return. It was like, I don't know what
they're you know, their they're expected points per play aded
was on special teams, but I'm sure the graph was
just an enormous swing of ups and downs, Like, boy,
(18:44):
this was this was a huge play good, This was
a huge play bad. This was just back and forth.
So you know, I think that's one where our highest
it's gonna have to be mindful that they will come
after a punt if they see something on film that
they think they can exploit. But you know that Ohio
State might be able to block a punt as well,
so gonna be gonna be potentially. Don't go get the
(19:06):
peanuts or go to the get online for the bathroom
when you're lining up for a punt on fourth down,
because you never you never know what might happen.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Right, save your bathroom breaks for the Ohio State offense,
as we all know.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So there you go. That'll do it.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
That's a seven thirty Saturday night on NBC. We'll obviously
be talking more about this game and doing our utmost
preview and get you ready for it as we just
did here give you some names to know, so if
you're watching on YouTube, please give us the thumbs up.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
We'd appreciate that of course.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Five star writing and interview on all of your podcast
platforms of choices always appreciate it as well, and you
can continue to find us at Buckeye huddle dot com.
Sign up now say hello to us there on the
Buckeye Huddle message board presented by Jeff Ruby's Columbus So
thank you all for tuning in.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
We'll talk to you all later
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