December 25, 2025 • 24 mins
Buckeye Weekly Podcast: In-depth Preview of Ohio State vs. Miami Cotton Bowl Showdown
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr answer listener questions surrounding the much-anticipated Cotton Bowl matchup between Ohio State and Miami. They dive into detailed comparisons of Miami's and Indiana's defenses, from linebacker configurations to defensive line strategies. The duo discusses key players on both teams, including the impact of Bryce Fitzgerald on Miami's defense and the quarterback duel between Carson Beck and Julian SayIn. They also address Miami's offensive strategies, the potential for success in the run game, and how weather conditions might influence gameplay. Tune in for comprehensive insights and expert analysis on what to expect in this exciting bowl game.
00:00 Introduction and Listener Questions Overview
01:12 Comparing Miami and Indiana Defenses
02:47 Miami's Defensive Line and Key Players
04:12 Miami's Secondary and Defensive Performance
10:10 Miami's Offensive Challenges Against Ohio State
16:43 Quarterback Comparison: Carson Beck vs. Julian SayIn
23:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr answer listener questions surrounding the much-anticipated Cotton Bowl matchup between Ohio State and Miami. They dive into detailed comparisons of Miami's and Indiana's defenses, from linebacker configurations to defensive line strategies. The duo discusses key players on both teams, including the impact of Bryce Fitzgerald on Miami's defense and the quarterback duel between Carson Beck and Julian SayIn. They also address Miami's offensive strategies, the potential for success in the run game, and how weather conditions might influence gameplay. Tune in for comprehensive insights and expert analysis on what to expect in this exciting bowl game.
00:00 Introduction and Listener Questions Overview
01:12 Comparing Miami and Indiana Defenses
02:47 Miami's Defensive Line and Key Players
04:12 Miami's Secondary and Defensive Performance
10:10 Miami's Offensive Challenges Against Ohio State
16:43 Quarterback Comparison: Carson Beck vs. Julian SayIn
23:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
We are finally on what is probably at least for now.
The last one of the listener question shows we got
pages and pages of listener questions and we are truly
grateful to you guys for all of that. This one, though, man,
this feels like we have reached the essay portion of
the test, Like we've gotten through the multiple choice where
there's a bunch of shorter answers.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
This is like, oh boy, I only.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Have five pages to fill and it has to be
double space.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I can?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I can I do like space and a half because I
feel like these are some more involved questions.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is definitely the blue book portion of the test,
and I always got annoyed at the people who could
fill that thing out so quickly and then just turn
it back in and I'm like, I'm on page two.
Maybe I just write slowly and no, we will. We
are definitely in the yes the portion where not that
we don't have thoughtful answers before, but now we've really
(01:04):
got to show our work, and so let's Tom let
us begin.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Let us begin with this one from warpug. How does
Miami's defense differ from Indiana's defense and how are they
the same?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I think the thing for me, and let's talk about
where they're different. Indiana loved to play three linebackers, even
against the past. They would keep their linebackers out and
it works for them. Miami is almost always in a
nickel and that works for them, and that nickel is
Keante Scott, who we talked about recently on the smu
(01:37):
rewatch about his effectiveness and he's got over a dozen
tackles for loss, so he's just as effective as the
Indiana linebackers that we loved watching. And he can do
all of that, but he can also cover and he's
around the ball. He's like he's like those Indiana linebackers
and that they find the ball, they're around the ball.
(01:59):
And he's not the only one, so I think. But
the difference, Yes, you're not gonna see a ton of
three linebackers, Tom, I don't know, not that I know
the team well enough, the Miami numbers and defense enough,
I don't know that we saw a bunch of three linebackers.
Since I'm assuming they're out there in short yardage and
things of that nature. But it's night and day in
(02:21):
terms of three linebacker versus nickel between those two defenses.
And that's the first thing for me. The second thing is,
and you can talk about this if you want, the
defensive line usage. It's more straight up for Miami as
opposed to twists and stuntson games for Indiana. So I
think that's the major Those are two of the major
(02:43):
differences as we look at these two defenses.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, I think Miami's defensive line tends to win just
by being better than you at football and Indiana's for
Indiana's team, I mean, this is kind of the whole
Kurt Signetty thing is tait guys who are maybe a
little bit overlooked and then turn them into better players.
You know, the whole is greater than the sum of
the parts, just because of some of the schematic stuff
(03:07):
that they do. And I mean you just have laid
out exactly how that applies to the defensive line. A
key Mesidor and ruben Bain are going to be the
two top defensive ends off of the board in the
NFL draft.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
According to one of the ESPN people.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I think and that's not true of Indiana, Like this
is just this is just guys who can't beat you,
and they are going to beat you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And that's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This is you know that that I think is the
single biggest thing up front. I don't know that I
look at this and say Miami's defensive front is better
than Indiana's or worse than Indiana's. I think they're similar
in quality and they get there in different ways. The
linebackers for Indiana. You know, we spent lots of time
(03:49):
talking about all three linebackers from Indiana because those are
really where a lot of the a lot of the
success comes from on the defense. Mo Torre is the
you know, the linebacker I think we've talked the most
about for Miami, and he is.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
By the way, supposed to be good to go.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
He had a you know, got kod at the end
of that at the end of the Texas A and
m game. But looks like he should be good to
go number one.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
There.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It just it feels like the secondaries are somewhat similar.
I mean, obviously you're playing a lot more nickel with Miami,
and we've talked about some of the some of the guys,
we look there, look like there. I think Miami's outside
corners are probably better than Indiana's, So, you.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Know, maybe a little bit of an advantage.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
There for the Hurricanes, but it's you know, they're not
in terms of quality of defense, They're pretty similar Indiana statistically,
a little bit better in some areas. And we've seen
we've seen Miami's defense get beat in ways that we
have not really seen Indiana's get beat. Indiana just ends
up playing a bunch of twenty to fifteen games that
(04:50):
they win. And you know, Miami, Miami will sometimes give up,
you know, give up points into the twenties into the
you know, and and that's not a that's still a
pretty good defense. But I think my concern from the
Miami perspective is, if you can get into the twenties
against Miami, how does Miami get into the twenties against
Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, and now I'm trying to compare Indiana's schedule to see, like,
how would Miami fair. Is Miami holding Oregon to twenty
points in Oregon? Because I feel like Miami's a better
defense talent wise, but yes, is Miami holding Oregon to
twenty points? I don't think so is Miami holding Ohio
(05:34):
State to ten points? Well, we will see is is Miami?
But is Miami scoring more than twenty against Iowa or
I think when you look at these because I also
I also like Miami's interior defense Justin Scott and a
couple of the other guys there, Blay Andy, they make
(05:57):
plays as well individually and have the ability that they
don't need to twist and stunt they can and we've
seen a Messa Door and Reuben Bay be effective next
to each other as well, which feels like an unfair
game at times. So Indiana does not necessarily have any
(06:18):
individual guy like that now, especially with Stephen Daily injured
and Stephen Daily frankly got thrust into more action when
they lost one of their other starting defensive ends. And
so Indiana has shown a remarkable amount of depth, but
also the scheme that they've run has made life very
good for them. It'll be interesting to see how Alabama
(06:39):
does with so much time to prepare for that and
what to do, and frankly, how good are they against that?
Is that maybe that's what they prefer to see and
that's not what Ohio State preferred to see. With the
motion with their offensive line. What Miami does is more
of what Ohio State prefers to see. However, what you're
going to be seeing is more talented players doing it.
So this is a be careful what you wish for
(07:01):
type of thing. But like when you watch Mesadora and Bane,
they're big, they're strong, they're not necessarily the fastest guys,
and they're quick and they're fast for their size. But
I feel like Ohio State is more equipped, better equipped
to handle what Miami does. If it was somebody other
(07:22):
than Miami, maybe and maybe they're better. They're able to
equip they're they're equipped enough to handle how Miami does
or you know, Miami itself. So that's I think those
are the main difference is how are they the same?
I think they're effective in that they they all do
their one to eleventh type of thing. Like they're just
solid defenses. They don't give up a ton of hits,
(07:44):
a ton of big plays. We don't see a lot
of big runs. I can bring up the number of
forty yard thirty yard rushes that they've given up. I'm
guessing it's not a lot for either one of those
teams and they're there are not a lot of just
weak spots in either one of these defenses. And when
(08:05):
we watched the Indiana thing is like, well, attacked them
with the pass, attack them with the pass, and like, well,
that's nice. But they didn't have enough time to throw
the ball to attack them with the pass. So they
were able to They're able to make up for maybe
some of their their weaker spots, and I think Miami
will see if they can do the same.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, And one name that we should mention real quickly
is Bryce Fitzgerald, who is a true freshman defensive back.
I was just pulling up his recruiting rankings. He showed
up over the summer, so showed up late true freshmens,
did not enroll early, and is already making an incredible
impact on this team. He had both of the interceptions
in the Texas A and M game. I'm just going
to read his recruiting rankings from his bio in.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
The Miami site.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Rated the number seventy four overall player in the nation
by Rivals right number one oh two player regardless of
position by on three checked in at the one twenty
nine player and the two four to seven composite rankings
cracked ESPN three at number two forty two. Tony, You're
not gonna believe that ESPN may have missed on an
evaluation and recruiting. I'm shocked. I know you are as well.
He number thirteen. He's someone who is really a guy
(09:11):
to know because he really didn't play a whole heck
of a lot earlier in the season, which makes sense
he's a true freshman. But when you see a true
freshman come in and then end up taking on a
bigger role in the middle of the season and like
continuing to grow, Like I go back to Chris a
Lave at Ohio State, whe Chris a Lave really didn't
play much until about Halloween and then all of a
sudden after how in November he starts taking on a
(09:32):
bigger role and then Boomy has two touchdowns on a
block punt in the Michigan game that year. Bryce Fitzgerald
feels like he's kind of on that trajectory where he's
going to be someone who is a little bit of
a wild card here because he's taken on a bigger
role with.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That Miami defense.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
He is definitely someone you're gonna want to keep an
eye on you know, not you know, not a Thorpe
Award winner yet this year, but someone who is like
on his on his way to bigger things, and just
even over the last month has probably been improved quite
a bit as well. All Right, So next one from
at Ricky Spanish. Any reason to think of Miami team
that scored ten on Texas A and m can do
(10:08):
better than.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That on Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So I feel like this conversation has to start with, well,
it's not going to be windy in the indoor stadium,
so that's going to change things a little bit for
the passing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Game for Miami.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And I think, you know, Indiana may have sort of
shown you potential arias to hit Ohio State for big plays.
They hit Ohio State downfield for some big plays. They
went after Lorenzo Styles junior, who's the nickel for Ohio State.
Guess what Miami's slot receiver, Malachai Tony. You may have
heard us mention him once or twice that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That is probably going to be, you know, if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
A one on one matchup, that's maybe going to be
what it is more often than not. I do wonder
how Ohio State defends Malachai Tony. There's lots of different
ways you could try and give Lorenzo styles some help.
The outside receivers from Miami are fine, but they're not
you know, Tony is the guy who kind of is
the one who makes the offense go.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
And so that I think.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Is if you're going to look at a reason that
Miami could score more, I think that's probably to me
where the conversation starts.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, and when you look at Malick I Tony, he's
got four catches of forty yards or more of this season.
I would be interested to know how many of those
were actually downfield throws and how far downfield they were,
because when we've seen them, the amount of downfield throws time,
so we watched I think four games now there may
(11:33):
be like legitimately four times, four or five times I
threw to him beyond twenty yards downfield, and it's not
something that we saw a lot of. And so you'd
be changing up much of what you're some of what
you do to try to attack downfield. I would be
shocked if they use CJ. Daniels or or somebody else
(11:54):
to try to attack downfield with Lorenzo styles and keep Malick.
I tone doing what he does because I just wonder,
not being the biggest guy, how comfortable he is he
battling for those one on one throws and frankly Indiana's
Indiana's receivers. Big strong can go up and get it.
(12:15):
We saw that with both Sarat and Baker and and
Porter right out of Porter Cooper Cooper, like Omar Cooper,
like all these guys, they're they're strong. They can go
up and battle a Lorenzo Styles junior who is six
foe and ninety pounds himself. I think he can get
pushed around by a guy that is as strong and
(12:43):
a veteran as Lorenzo Styles. So there's some things there
that maybe somebody else is better equipped to go deep.
I just don't know how how comfortable he is doing that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, and you know the other piece with Miami trying
to throw the ball deep is how well does the
pass pro hold up?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Because we have.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Seen them generally do a pretty good job of protecting
Carson Beck. But Ohio State has not been super super
aggressive in terms of pass rush the last couple of
weeks just because they've been concerned about the running thread
at the quarterback position. Well, if you don't have to
worry about that, then that maybe frees someone up to
bring a little bit of additional pressure, and you've got
to be able to as Ohio State learned the hard
(13:23):
way in the Big Ten Championship game. You can want
to throw the ball deep, you can have a plan
to throw the ball deep, but if your quarterback doesn't
have enough time to do it well, you can't do it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So that's going to be a.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Little bit of a challenge for Miami in terms of
holding up against what could be a pretty aggressive Ohio
State pass rush.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's one thing that makes me wonder.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
My assumption is you're going to see a lot more
of those sort of short to intermediate range throws from Miami.
Get the ball out of Carson Back's hands, try to
get it into one of your playmaker's hands and let
him try to make someone miss in space, or at
least just stay on schedule, pick up, be happy with
a six yard gain, and stay on schedule and keep
the chain moving. It's going to be a challenge to
(14:03):
do that consistently, to put together a twelve or fourteen
play drive against his Ohio State defense, because you have
to win consistently win these one on one battles so
consistently where that may get you thirty yards, that may
get you a couple first downs, but you can't do
that all the way down the field, so then you
need to start with a short field or you need
(14:23):
to just be able to win those one on one consistently.
So and you know they are going to take their shots.
I'm certain they're going to take their shots, but they're
going to have to really just sort of pick their
moments and try and find the times when they're pretty
sure Ohio State's not going to be bringing pressure.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And then you try and win your one on one downfield.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Because I feel like Ohio State's going to tackle the
screen game pretty well. This is a very good tackling team,
especially when Miami doesn't necessarily block it all that well
in the games that we've seen, So they can throw
the quick stuff that may lead to second and eleven
more than leads to second and two for Miami. If
they want to go ahead and do that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, that that's gonna be. And we haven't talked about.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The run game really at all in this question, and
that that's another thing that if Miami can run the
ball for four yards of carry, and Mark Fletcher can
run the ball between the tackles, then yeah, that that
really changes things.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Will they be able to I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We have seen him be able to do it somewhat
consistently the SMU game. The SMU defense was pretty good
against the run and they were able to run for five.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yards of carry.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Will they be able to do that against a better
defense here?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Maybe we'll see.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I think that, you know, those those linebackers being freed
up to maybe be a little more aggressive. May you
may see some run blitzes there as well, So that
that is is definitely one of those matchups that could
go a long way towards determining whether Miami gets above ten.
I think that's probably I may pick Miami to score
more than ten, but I'm not picking to Miami to
(15:52):
score twenty. So you know it's gonna be it's gonna
be a challenge, I think for Miami to score unless
they can get it. You know, they may be able
to hit one on special teams to be able to
get a turnover.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
On defense.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We've seen a higher state turn the ball over in
its own end plenty this year, So that's you know,
you get a short field and then all of a
sudden boom, it's you convert that into a quick touchdown
and that goes a long way till it's getting past
ten points.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yep, I convert all of your red zones into touchdowns
and you might be amazed at what can happen to you.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Now, on the on the flip side, we have seen
Miami struggle in short yardage in the run game. And
if you can't you know, if you're not converting, if
you're kicking field goals, if Miami's kicking field goals in
the first half, Miami's not gonna get to seventeen twenty points.
That's going to be you know, without without a defensive
or special teams like at least strong assist last one
from Langdon Alger. Who has the quarterback advantage? And this
(16:44):
is this is a fascinating question because I can kind
of talk myself into either guy where one guy's a
veteran and one guy's seen it all over the years, and.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
The quarterback advantage.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Could come down to who pass blocks best, Like I
feel like who has the quarterback advantage? The answer is
whose offensive line protects him better? Because either one of
these guys could potentially pick the opponent apart. You know,
I think it's probably safe to say that Ohio State
has an advantage at wide receiver. So you know, if
the quarterbacks are even, Ohio State is probably winning this game.
(17:19):
So this is a game where Carson Beck probably needs
to win the game for Miami and his his accuracy,
Julian Saying is constantly hitting eighty percent of his passes
in a game. Carson Beck is constantly in like the
high sixties in the games that we've watched, and people will,
you know, say, well, Julian Saying is a checkdown merchant.
(17:39):
Like we've watched where Carson Beck is throwing the ball.
There's a whole lot of balls thrown within five yards
or ten yards of the line of scrimmage, and he's
still converted to me, sixty eight percent of his passes. Now,
how much of that is all the stuff we've talked
about this week. Passes getting deflected at the line, wide
receivers dropping the ball, you know, passes maybe being a
little behind it behind someone, or he's getting pressured and
(17:59):
he has the rid of it too soon or whatever.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like all those little things.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, the difference between eighty percent and sixty eight
percent or sixty five percent, it's not that much. It's
like three or four completions over the course of a game.
But those three or four completions if it's third and seven, boy,
that completion versus the incompletion sure does make a big
difference in terms of whether your offense gets a stand
on the seal.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Well, thank you for the question, langdon alg are a tremendous question,
well thought out, and it's a great job by you.
I would also add, this is how I'm viewing it, Tom.
Do you think Miami's offense would be better served with
Julian Saying as their quarterback than Carson Beck? Because to me,
that's a guy who is more accurate who is and
(18:42):
not just accurate he gets How many times have we
seen Carson Beck throw these quick passes into a player's hip,
back hip or down at the ankles. We rarely see
that with Justin with Julian saying, So, if you're gonna
have this quick passing game, doesn't it make more sense
when you're trying to get the ball to Malock I
(19:02):
Toni in the position to do something with it afterwards,
To get it to him where he can run forward
or continue going towards the sideline rather than having to
turn his body and then build up momentum. Again, would
you rather have if you're Ohio State, would you rather
have Carson Beck as your quarterback or Julian Saying as
your quarterback? Because Brian Day wants to know what's going
(19:25):
to happen with his quarterback. He wants to know are
you going to do the routine things routinely? He wants
to know what do things look like when they break down?
And what we've seen from Carson Beck at this point
when things break down, interceptions happen, and I maybe with
(19:45):
Ryan Day's coaching, Carson Beck could do better. Also Carson Beck,
this is time. One of the criticisms that we received
rightfully so after the Notre Dame rewatch, as we did
not mention in fact that Carson Beck was coming off
off of an injury and this is his first game
and this was you know what game six, seven, eight,
something like that, and yet you know, over the course
(20:06):
of the time, even against we've seen it now enough,
over the course of the season, he is what he
is at this point. I feel like there's more there
would be more comfort with Julian saying based on the
amount of games you've seen from him this year than
Carson Beck having all of that experience. You just see
sometimes he throws the ball and it's like, I don't
think Ryan Day would be happy with that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Well, I think you've got one piece we haven't talked
about yet with this is that Carson Beck seems to
be a little bit more of a willing runner.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Than Julian saying.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And that doesn't mean that he's going to pick up
you know, fifteen yards at anytime the defense drops eight
or anything like that, but it does mean he's going
to pick up four yards. He's going to pick up
six yards. That can be something that's an impactful saying.
And we've seen that more from Carson Beck than from
Julian saying. But it's not that's not you know, that's
something that's a check mark in his favor.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I think I am.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You know, I could see if you offered Mario cristaball
right now, you can you know, just right now, you
can go back in time to January and trade quarterbacks.
Would you trade quarterbacks? I think there's an argument to
me made that he would trade for Julian saying, I
think some a lot of the stuff that you outline there,
it would be interesting to see these Miami wide receivers
(21:20):
with Julian Saying in front of them. It would be
interesting to see Julian Saying going up against some some
of the acc defenses that that Carson Beck has the
last few weeks. But I think you also, if you
flip it and you ask Ryan Day, I think it's
one of the fastest knows you're ever going to get.
I think I think that's a I think that's an
easy no for Ryan Day, and I think it's at
(21:41):
least an open question if you ask Mario Christabaal. So yeah,
I think you're probably this is sort of trending towards
Julian saying. But you know, there's a lot of other
factors here where you know, you give if you're trading
the passing game, are you trading the Ohian Ohio state
passing game?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Would Miami like to have Jeremiah Smith Tony, I don't know.
Did they ever express an interest in Jeremiah Smith? I
can't remember off the top.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Of my head.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
No, which is weird because it's a Miami kid, which
is strange, but yeah, I'm if you trade the wide
receivers with it, then that's an extremely easy yes, Like
an extremely easy yes for Miami. Julian Sant has some advantages,
some built in advantages where the talent for Ohio State
is probably a little better than the talent for Miami
on offense, but you know, on the whole, just purely
(22:31):
in the spirit of this question, I'm going to say
Julian's saying slight edge for all the stuff we just listed,
But there are certainly arguments to be made for Carson Beck.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, and I'm sure at the start of the season,
not knowing anything, most coaches are going to choose Carson
back because you know, they're they're the experience there, knowing
what we know now. I just wonder what the decision,
what the decision would be with a time machine, although
the one maybe one of the groups of people you
don't want to give act as two time machines. Are
as would be like college football coaches, you think the
(23:04):
transfer portal is bad, now just bringing into the time
machine and just wait, so hey, wow, we've done it.
We've done it all all of the questions and I'm
sure we'll you know some more, some may know, a
few more may pop up here and there, But we
do want to thank everybody for all of the questions
and lots to talk about, good stuff, good conversation, outstanding
(23:27):
thought processes by us as well through all of this,
and thank you for all of the feedback. And of course,
if you're watching a YouTube five star writing review, timbs
up or just subscribe to the channel and hit to
be able to be notified. You can continue to find
us at Buckeye Huddle dot com. If you want to
talk about this game and all the other playoffs to come,
you can do that at the Bucket Help message board
(23:48):
presented by Jeffruby's Columbus would love to see you there,
so 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 (00:08):
How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
We are finally on what is probably at least for now.
The last one of the listener question shows we got
pages and pages of listener questions and we are truly
grateful to you guys for all of that. This one, though, man,
this feels like we have reached the essay portion of
the test, Like we've gotten through the multiple choice where
there's a bunch of shorter answers.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
This is like, oh boy, I only.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Have five pages to fill and it has to be
double space.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I can?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I can I do like space and a half because I
feel like these are some more involved questions.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
This is definitely the blue book portion of the test,
and I always got annoyed at the people who could
fill that thing out so quickly and then just turn
it back in and I'm like, I'm on page two.
Maybe I just write slowly and no, we will. We
are definitely in the yes the portion where not that
we don't have thoughtful answers before, but now we've really
(01:04):
got to show our work, and so let's Tom let
us begin.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Let us begin with this one from warpug. How does
Miami's defense differ from Indiana's defense and how are they
the same?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I think the thing for me, and let's talk about
where they're different. Indiana loved to play three linebackers, even
against the past. They would keep their linebackers out and
it works for them. Miami is almost always in a
nickel and that works for them, and that nickel is
Keante Scott, who we talked about recently on the smu
(01:37):
rewatch about his effectiveness and he's got over a dozen
tackles for loss, so he's just as effective as the
Indiana linebackers that we loved watching. And he can do
all of that, but he can also cover and he's
around the ball. He's like he's like those Indiana linebackers
and that they find the ball, they're around the ball.
(01:59):
And he's not the only one, so I think. But
the difference, Yes, you're not gonna see a ton of
three linebackers, Tom, I don't know, not that I know
the team well enough, the Miami numbers and defense enough,
I don't know that we saw a bunch of three linebackers.
Since I'm assuming they're out there in short yardage and
things of that nature. But it's night and day in
(02:21):
terms of three linebacker versus nickel between those two defenses.
And that's the first thing for me. The second thing is,
and you can talk about this if you want, the
defensive line usage. It's more straight up for Miami as
opposed to twists and stuntson games for Indiana. So I
think that's the major Those are two of the major
(02:43):
differences as we look at these two defenses.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yeah, I think Miami's defensive line tends to win just
by being better than you at football and Indiana's for
Indiana's team, I mean, this is kind of the whole
Kurt Signetty thing is tait guys who are maybe a
little bit overlooked and then turn them into better players.
You know, the whole is greater than the sum of
the parts, just because of some of the schematic stuff
(03:07):
that they do. And I mean you just have laid
out exactly how that applies to the defensive line. A
key Mesidor and ruben Bain are going to be the
two top defensive ends off of the board in the
NFL draft.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
According to one of the ESPN people.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I think and that's not true of Indiana, Like this
is just this is just guys who can't beat you,
and they are going to beat you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
And that's just how it is.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
This is you know that that I think is the
single biggest thing up front. I don't know that I
look at this and say Miami's defensive front is better
than Indiana's or worse than Indiana's. I think they're similar
in quality and they get there in different ways. The
linebackers for Indiana. You know, we spent lots of time
(03:49):
talking about all three linebackers from Indiana because those are
really where a lot of the a lot of the
success comes from on the defense. Mo Torre is the
you know, the linebacker I think we've talked the most
about for Miami, and he is.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
By the way, supposed to be good to go.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
He had a you know, got kod at the end
of that at the end of the Texas A and
m game. But looks like he should be good to
go number one.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
There.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
It just it feels like the secondaries are somewhat similar.
I mean, obviously you're playing a lot more nickel with Miami,
and we've talked about some of the some of the guys,
we look there, look like there. I think Miami's outside
corners are probably better than Indiana's, So, you.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Know, maybe a little bit of an advantage.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
There for the Hurricanes, but it's you know, they're not
in terms of quality of defense, They're pretty similar Indiana statistically,
a little bit better in some areas. And we've seen
we've seen Miami's defense get beat in ways that we
have not really seen Indiana's get beat. Indiana just ends
up playing a bunch of twenty to fifteen games that
(04:50):
they win. And you know, Miami, Miami will sometimes give up,
you know, give up points into the twenties into the
you know, and and that's not a that's still a
pretty good defense. But I think my concern from the
Miami perspective is, if you can get into the twenties
against Miami, how does Miami get into the twenties against
Ohio State.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Yeah, and now I'm trying to compare Indiana's schedule to see, like,
how would Miami fair. Is Miami holding Oregon to twenty
points in Oregon? Because I feel like Miami's a better
defense talent wise, but yes, is Miami holding Oregon to
twenty points? I don't think so is Miami holding Ohio
(05:34):
State to ten points? Well, we will see is is Miami?
But is Miami scoring more than twenty against Iowa or
I think when you look at these because I also
I also like Miami's interior defense Justin Scott and a
couple of the other guys there, Blay Andy, they make
(05:57):
plays as well individually and have the ability that they
don't need to twist and stunt they can and we've
seen a Messa Door and Reuben Bay be effective next
to each other as well, which feels like an unfair
game at times. So Indiana does not necessarily have any
(06:18):
individual guy like that now, especially with Stephen Daily injured
and Stephen Daily frankly got thrust into more action when
they lost one of their other starting defensive ends. And
so Indiana has shown a remarkable amount of depth, but
also the scheme that they've run has made life very
good for them. It'll be interesting to see how Alabama
(06:39):
does with so much time to prepare for that and
what to do, and frankly, how good are they against that?
Is that maybe that's what they prefer to see and
that's not what Ohio State preferred to see. With the
motion with their offensive line. What Miami does is more
of what Ohio State prefers to see. However, what you're
going to be seeing is more talented players doing it.
So this is a be careful what you wish for
(07:01):
type of thing. But like when you watch Mesadora and Bane,
they're big, they're strong, they're not necessarily the fastest guys,
and they're quick and they're fast for their size. But
I feel like Ohio State is more equipped, better equipped
to handle what Miami does. If it was somebody other
(07:22):
than Miami, maybe and maybe they're better. They're able to
equip they're they're equipped enough to handle how Miami does
or you know, Miami itself. So that's I think those
are the main difference is how are they the same?
I think they're effective in that they they all do
their one to eleventh type of thing. Like they're just
solid defenses. They don't give up a ton of hits,
(07:44):
a ton of big plays. We don't see a lot
of big runs. I can bring up the number of
forty yard thirty yard rushes that they've given up. I'm
guessing it's not a lot for either one of those
teams and they're there are not a lot of just
weak spots in either one of these defenses. And when
(08:05):
we watched the Indiana thing is like, well, attacked them
with the pass, attack them with the pass, and like, well,
that's nice. But they didn't have enough time to throw
the ball to attack them with the pass. So they
were able to They're able to make up for maybe
some of their their weaker spots, and I think Miami
will see if they can do the same.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, And one name that we should mention real quickly
is Bryce Fitzgerald, who is a true freshman defensive back.
I was just pulling up his recruiting rankings. He showed
up over the summer, so showed up late true freshmens,
did not enroll early, and is already making an incredible
impact on this team. He had both of the interceptions
in the Texas A and M game. I'm just going
to read his recruiting rankings from his bio in.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
The Miami site.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Rated the number seventy four overall player in the nation
by Rivals right number one oh two player regardless of
position by on three checked in at the one twenty
nine player and the two four to seven composite rankings
cracked ESPN three at number two forty two. Tony, You're
not gonna believe that ESPN may have missed on an
evaluation and recruiting. I'm shocked. I know you are as well.
He number thirteen. He's someone who is really a guy
(09:11):
to know because he really didn't play a whole heck
of a lot earlier in the season, which makes sense
he's a true freshman. But when you see a true
freshman come in and then end up taking on a
bigger role in the middle of the season and like
continuing to grow, Like I go back to Chris a
Lave at Ohio State, whe Chris a Lave really didn't
play much until about Halloween and then all of a
sudden after how in November he starts taking on a
(09:32):
bigger role and then Boomy has two touchdowns on a
block punt in the Michigan game that year. Bryce Fitzgerald
feels like he's kind of on that trajectory where he's
going to be someone who is a little bit of
a wild card here because he's taken on a bigger
role with.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That Miami defense.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
He is definitely someone you're gonna want to keep an
eye on you know, not you know, not a Thorpe
Award winner yet this year, but someone who is like
on his on his way to bigger things, and just
even over the last month has probably been improved quite
a bit as well. All Right, So next one from
at Ricky Spanish. Any reason to think of Miami team
that scored ten on Texas A and m can do
(10:08):
better than.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That on Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
So I feel like this conversation has to start with, well,
it's not going to be windy in the indoor stadium,
so that's going to change things a little bit for
the passing.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Game for Miami.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And I think, you know, Indiana may have sort of
shown you potential arias to hit Ohio State for big plays.
They hit Ohio State downfield for some big plays. They
went after Lorenzo Styles junior, who's the nickel for Ohio State.
Guess what Miami's slot receiver, Malachai Tony. You may have
heard us mention him once or twice that.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
That is probably going to be, you know, if it's.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
A one on one matchup, that's maybe going to be
what it is more often than not. I do wonder
how Ohio State defends Malachai Tony. There's lots of different
ways you could try and give Lorenzo styles some help.
The outside receivers from Miami are fine, but they're not
you know, Tony is the guy who kind of is
the one who makes the offense go.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
And so that I think.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Is if you're going to look at a reason that
Miami could score more, I think that's probably to me
where the conversation starts.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Yeah, and when you look at Malick I Tony, he's
got four catches of forty yards or more of this season.
I would be interested to know how many of those
were actually downfield throws and how far downfield they were,
because when we've seen them, the amount of downfield throws time,
so we watched I think four games now there may
(11:33):
be like legitimately four times, four or five times I
threw to him beyond twenty yards downfield, and it's not
something that we saw a lot of. And so you'd
be changing up much of what you're some of what
you do to try to attack downfield. I would be
shocked if they use CJ. Daniels or or somebody else
(11:54):
to try to attack downfield with Lorenzo styles and keep Malick.
I tone doing what he does because I just wonder,
not being the biggest guy, how comfortable he is he
battling for those one on one throws and frankly Indiana's
Indiana's receivers. Big strong can go up and get it.
(12:15):
We saw that with both Sarat and Baker and and
Porter right out of Porter Cooper Cooper, like Omar Cooper,
like all these guys, they're they're strong. They can go
up and battle a Lorenzo Styles junior who is six
foe and ninety pounds himself. I think he can get
pushed around by a guy that is as strong and
(12:43):
a veteran as Lorenzo Styles. So there's some things there
that maybe somebody else is better equipped to go deep.
I just don't know how how comfortable he is doing that.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, and you know the other piece with Miami trying
to throw the ball deep is how well does the
pass pro hold up?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Because we have.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Seen them generally do a pretty good job of protecting
Carson Beck. But Ohio State has not been super super
aggressive in terms of pass rush the last couple of
weeks just because they've been concerned about the running thread
at the quarterback position. Well, if you don't have to
worry about that, then that maybe frees someone up to
bring a little bit of additional pressure, and you've got
to be able to as Ohio State learned the hard
(13:23):
way in the Big Ten Championship game. You can want
to throw the ball deep, you can have a plan
to throw the ball deep, but if your quarterback doesn't
have enough time to do it well, you can't do it.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
So that's going to be a.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
Little bit of a challenge for Miami in terms of
holding up against what could be a pretty aggressive Ohio
State pass rush.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
That's one thing that makes me wonder.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
My assumption is you're going to see a lot more
of those sort of short to intermediate range throws from Miami.
Get the ball out of Carson Back's hands, try to
get it into one of your playmaker's hands and let
him try to make someone miss in space, or at
least just stay on schedule, pick up, be happy with
a six yard gain, and stay on schedule and keep
the chain moving. It's going to be a challenge to
(14:03):
do that consistently, to put together a twelve or fourteen
play drive against his Ohio State defense, because you have
to win consistently win these one on one battles so
consistently where that may get you thirty yards, that may
get you a couple first downs, but you can't do
that all the way down the field, so then you
need to start with a short field or you need
(14:23):
to just be able to win those one on one consistently.
So and you know they are going to take their shots.
I'm certain they're going to take their shots, but they're
going to have to really just sort of pick their
moments and try and find the times when they're pretty
sure Ohio State's not going to be bringing pressure.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
And then you try and win your one on one downfield.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Because I feel like Ohio State's going to tackle the
screen game pretty well. This is a very good tackling team,
especially when Miami doesn't necessarily block it all that well
in the games that we've seen, So they can throw
the quick stuff that may lead to second and eleven
more than leads to second and two for Miami. If
they want to go ahead and do that.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, that that's gonna be. And we haven't talked about.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
The run game really at all in this question, and
that that's another thing that if Miami can run the
ball for four yards of carry, and Mark Fletcher can
run the ball between the tackles, then yeah, that that
really changes things.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Will they be able to I don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
We have seen him be able to do it somewhat
consistently the SMU game. The SMU defense was pretty good
against the run and they were able to run for five.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yards of carry.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Will they be able to do that against a better
defense here?
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Maybe we'll see.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
I think that, you know, those those linebackers being freed
up to maybe be a little more aggressive. May you
may see some run blitzes there as well, So that
that is is definitely one of those matchups that could
go a long way towards determining whether Miami gets above ten.
I think that's probably I may pick Miami to score
more than ten, but I'm not picking to Miami to
(15:52):
score twenty. So you know it's gonna be it's gonna
be a challenge, I think for Miami to score unless
they can get it. You know, they may be able
to hit one on special teams to be able to
get a turnover.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
On defense.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
We've seen a higher state turn the ball over in
its own end plenty this year, So that's you know,
you get a short field and then all of a
sudden boom, it's you convert that into a quick touchdown
and that goes a long way till it's getting past
ten points.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yep, I convert all of your red zones into touchdowns
and you might be amazed at what can happen to you.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
Now, on the on the flip side, we have seen
Miami struggle in short yardage in the run game. And
if you can't you know, if you're not converting, if
you're kicking field goals, if Miami's kicking field goals in
the first half, Miami's not gonna get to seventeen twenty points.
That's going to be you know, without without a defensive
or special teams like at least strong assist last one
from Langdon Alger. Who has the quarterback advantage? And this
(16:44):
is this is a fascinating question because I can kind
of talk myself into either guy where one guy's a
veteran and one guy's seen it all over the years, and.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
The quarterback advantage.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Could come down to who pass blocks best, Like I
feel like who has the quarterback advantage? The answer is
whose offensive line protects him better? Because either one of
these guys could potentially pick the opponent apart. You know,
I think it's probably safe to say that Ohio State
has an advantage at wide receiver. So you know, if
the quarterbacks are even, Ohio State is probably winning this game.
(17:19):
So this is a game where Carson Beck probably needs
to win the game for Miami and his his accuracy,
Julian Saying is constantly hitting eighty percent of his passes
in a game. Carson Beck is constantly in like the
high sixties in the games that we've watched, and people will,
you know, say, well, Julian Saying is a checkdown merchant.
(17:39):
Like we've watched where Carson Beck is throwing the ball.
There's a whole lot of balls thrown within five yards
or ten yards of the line of scrimmage, and he's
still converted to me, sixty eight percent of his passes. Now,
how much of that is all the stuff we've talked
about this week. Passes getting deflected at the line, wide
receivers dropping the ball, you know, passes maybe being a
little behind it behind someone, or he's getting pressured and
(17:59):
he has the rid of it too soon or whatever.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like all those little things.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, the difference between eighty percent and sixty eight
percent or sixty five percent, it's not that much. It's
like three or four completions over the course of a game.
But those three or four completions if it's third and seven, boy,
that completion versus the incompletion sure does make a big
difference in terms of whether your offense gets a stand
on the seal.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Well, thank you for the question, langdon alg are a tremendous question,
well thought out, and it's a great job by you.
I would also add, this is how I'm viewing it, Tom.
Do you think Miami's offense would be better served with
Julian Saying as their quarterback than Carson Beck? Because to me,
that's a guy who is more accurate who is and
(18:42):
not just accurate he gets How many times have we
seen Carson Beck throw these quick passes into a player's hip,
back hip or down at the ankles. We rarely see
that with Justin with Julian saying, So, if you're gonna
have this quick passing game, doesn't it make more sense
when you're trying to get the ball to Malock I
(19:02):
Toni in the position to do something with it afterwards,
To get it to him where he can run forward
or continue going towards the sideline rather than having to
turn his body and then build up momentum. Again, would
you rather have if you're Ohio State, would you rather
have Carson Beck as your quarterback or Julian Saying as
your quarterback? Because Brian Day wants to know what's going
(19:25):
to happen with his quarterback. He wants to know are
you going to do the routine things routinely? He wants
to know what do things look like when they break down?
And what we've seen from Carson Beck at this point
when things break down, interceptions happen, and I maybe with
(19:45):
Ryan Day's coaching, Carson Beck could do better. Also Carson Beck,
this is time. One of the criticisms that we received
rightfully so after the Notre Dame rewatch, as we did
not mention in fact that Carson Beck was coming off
off of an injury and this is his first game
and this was you know what game six, seven, eight,
something like that, and yet you know, over the course
(20:06):
of the time, even against we've seen it now enough,
over the course of the season, he is what he
is at this point. I feel like there's more there
would be more comfort with Julian saying based on the
amount of games you've seen from him this year than
Carson Beck having all of that experience. You just see
sometimes he throws the ball and it's like, I don't
think Ryan Day would be happy with that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Well, I think you've got one piece we haven't talked
about yet with this is that Carson Beck seems to
be a little bit more of a willing runner.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Than Julian saying.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And that doesn't mean that he's going to pick up
you know, fifteen yards at anytime the defense drops eight
or anything like that, but it does mean he's going
to pick up four yards. He's going to pick up
six yards. That can be something that's an impactful saying.
And we've seen that more from Carson Beck than from
Julian saying. But it's not that's not you know, that's
something that's a check mark in his favor.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
I think I am.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
You know, I could see if you offered Mario cristaball
right now, you can you know, just right now, you
can go back in time to January and trade quarterbacks.
Would you trade quarterbacks? I think there's an argument to
me made that he would trade for Julian saying, I
think some a lot of the stuff that you outline there,
it would be interesting to see these Miami wide receivers
(21:20):
with Julian Saying in front of them. It would be
interesting to see Julian Saying going up against some some
of the acc defenses that that Carson Beck has the
last few weeks. But I think you also, if you
flip it and you ask Ryan Day, I think it's
one of the fastest knows you're ever going to get.
I think I think that's a I think that's an
easy no for Ryan Day, and I think it's at
(21:41):
least an open question if you ask Mario Christabaal. So yeah,
I think you're probably this is sort of trending towards
Julian saying. But you know, there's a lot of other
factors here where you know, you give if you're trading
the passing game, are you trading the Ohian Ohio state
passing game?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Would Miami like to have Jeremiah Smith Tony, I don't know.
Did they ever express an interest in Jeremiah Smith? I
can't remember off the top.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Of my head.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
No, which is weird because it's a Miami kid, which
is strange, but yeah, I'm if you trade the wide
receivers with it, then that's an extremely easy yes, Like
an extremely easy yes for Miami. Julian Sant has some advantages,
some built in advantages where the talent for Ohio State
is probably a little better than the talent for Miami
on offense, but you know, on the whole, just purely
(22:31):
in the spirit of this question, I'm going to say
Julian's saying slight edge for all the stuff we just listed,
But there are certainly arguments to be made for Carson Beck.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Yeah, and I'm sure at the start of the season,
not knowing anything, most coaches are going to choose Carson
back because you know, they're they're the experience there, knowing
what we know now. I just wonder what the decision,
what the decision would be with a time machine, although
the one maybe one of the groups of people you
don't want to give act as two time machines. Are
as would be like college football coaches, you think the
(23:04):
transfer portal is bad, now just bringing into the time
machine and just wait, so hey, wow, we've done it.
We've done it all all of the questions and I'm
sure we'll you know some more, some may know, a
few more may pop up here and there, But we
do want to thank everybody for all of the questions
and lots to talk about, good stuff, good conversation, outstanding
(23:27):
thought processes by us as well through all of this,
and thank you for all of the feedback. And of course,
if you're watching a YouTube five star writing review, timbs
up or just subscribe to the channel and hit to
be able to be notified. You can continue to find
us at Buckeye Huddle dot com. If you want to
talk about this game and all the other playoffs to come,
you can do that at the Bucket Help message board
(23:48):
presented by Jeffruby's Columbus would love to see you there,
so that will do it from here. Thank you all
for tuning in and we will talk to you all
later
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.