Ohio State vs Minnesota Pregame Report
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00:00 We've got the whole crew together as we cover Ohio State with our instant analysis from
00:07 Ohio State.
00:08 There's something that doesn't feel right.
00:10 Unbelievable effort from him today.
00:12 Is EJ Liddell going to crack the first team on Big Ten?
00:14 I think he can be the guy.
00:16 I'm not trying to start a quarterback controversy.
00:19 He seems to have the durability.
00:20 He certainly has the toughness is the question on a lot of people's minds here.
00:25 Welcome to Buckeye Breakdown.
00:27 Well, happy Saturday afternoon everybody and welcome to Columbus.
00:34 We're at Ohio Stadium for Senior Day.
00:37 It's the final home game of the regular season and most importantly, it's the final tune
00:43 up before the game one week from today up in Ann Arbor.
00:46 Brendan Gulick, Anthony Meglin with you.
00:49 Buckeyes and the Golden Gophers getting ready to square off today.
00:52 And Anthony, I don't know if there's ever been a more overlooked game by a fan base
00:56 in Ohio State history than what we've got here today.
00:58 But the reality is Minnesota at least has one good win on its resume this year.
01:03 Even if it was a game where you could argue Iowa could have, would have, should have won
01:07 the game.
01:08 They beat the team that looks like they may win the West and the Buckeyes need to make
01:12 sure that they are focused when they come out here today.
01:14 And Brendan, I would also add it's also being overlooked just by everybody.
01:18 It was the lead store.
01:19 One of the stories on game day this morning was not even Ohio State versus Minnesota or
01:24 Michigan versus Michigan versus Maryland.
01:27 It was Ohio State versus Michigan next week.
01:30 You know, so everyone's kind of looking past that.
01:32 It's so important for Ohio State to just be locked in today because guess what?
01:37 If today goes awry, next week means nothing.
01:39 So and I have no reason to believe that Ohio State would be looking forward to it, especially
01:43 after last week's performance against Michigan State.
01:47 But this will be a fun one today.
01:49 And that's maybe where it's challenging to talk about a game like this.
01:54 The Buckeyes are four touchdown favorites.
01:56 They should kill Minnesota today.
02:00 I frankly kind of expect this game to look quite a bit like it did last week when the
02:05 Buckeyes in the first half absolutely annihilated Michigan State and then basically put it on
02:10 cruise control and got a lot of their starters out of the game in the second half.
02:15 You know, college football is fun because anything can happen.
02:18 And every single week, wild stuff that you don't anticipate actually happens.
02:23 So you cannot take any opportunity for granted.
02:28 But I can understand why everybody in the fan base here right now, I mean, walking from
02:31 the parking lot over to the stadium, there is a pretty relaxed, let's have some fun,
02:36 hey, it's a beautiful mid-November day kind of atmosphere.
02:40 Not a whole lot of people worried about today.
02:42 And it's a weird thing to feel that way because you got to respect your opponent.
02:47 You got to go out and execute.
02:49 And the good news is right now, Ohio State offensively looks like they're about as healthy
02:53 as they've been in these last couple of weeks.
02:56 They've basically been as healthy as they've been at any point this year.
03:00 And so the offense needs to try to capitalize on that and go out and play well because you
03:05 got to take some momentum with you to next week.
03:07 You need to.
03:08 And I was really encouraged last week with just how they started the game against Michigan
03:13 State.
03:14 And I have every reason to believe that that's how they're going to approach this game this
03:17 afternoon because if the offense just gets out quickly, that takes either whoever's out
03:23 on the field first, whether if it's the defense, a three and out's perfect, or if it's the
03:26 offense, a nice sustained drive right down the field.
03:29 And then it's like, all right, here we go.
03:30 We look good, feel good.
03:31 And then you just take care of business the rest of the way.
03:33 You obviously are rooting for no injuries.
03:35 And at this point in the year, we talked earlier in the year and I would always say, hey, you're
03:40 not going against your opponent.
03:42 You're going against, you have your own certain internal goals and you're not playing the
03:45 scoreboard in a game like this.
03:47 But where you're at in the season, it's get out healthy and get out with a win because
03:50 we know where this team is.
03:52 We know what they are and they just need to get through this one healthy and come out
03:56 with more points than Minnesota, no matter how it looks this afternoon.
04:02 So the game day status report was released a little bit earlier today than normal.
04:07 So we can share with you live here a couple hours before kick that Tommy Eichenberg and
04:11 Devin Brown are both questionable today.
04:14 We don't anticipate that you'd see a ton of Devin, but if he is able to go, maybe he's
04:19 the second quarterback if Kyle gets pulled at some point in the second half.
04:23 And again, that's best case scenario, right?
04:26 Otherwise you want your quarterback out there all the time.
04:28 But Eichenberg is questionable today, continues to be week to week with a shoulder injury.
04:34 The Buckeyes are going to be without two starters defensively today, but they are different
04:38 from last week, Latham Ransom out and will likely miss next week as well.
04:45 Ryan Day would not rule out Lathan returning for potentially in the college football playoff
04:50 if the Buckeyes can qualify for that.
04:53 The maybe more surprising addition to the status report is that Mike Hall is out today.
05:00 Now Mike Hall only played a handful of snaps last week, kind of an unknown with what he's
05:05 dealing with.
05:07 Hopefully he's okay.
05:08 You sure want Mike Hall on the field in Ann Arbor a week from today.
05:11 The good news, Josh Proctor, who missed last week's game after he got shaken up on that
05:16 pick six interception at Rutgers two weeks ago, Josh Proctor is back.
05:21 So you're still missing two starters on defense in Lathan Ransom and in one other starter,
05:26 but this week it's Mike Hall out instead of Josh Proctor.
05:29 Yeah, you don't love either of those, especially Mike Hall with what Michigan's going to bring
05:34 to the table next week.
05:36 You're going to need to be stout, especially in that defensive line and in that interior.
05:40 But hey, you're hoping, fingers crossed, that it's something that he can get over and maybe
05:44 just taking this week as a precaution.
05:46 You're hoping, you're hoping, you're hoping that's the case because he'll be important
05:49 next week and weeks to come for the Buckeyes.
05:53 So you try to sit here and think to yourself, okay, how can Minnesota do something a little
06:00 different?
06:01 How can they be a little creative?
06:03 What do they have that makes a Golden Gophers fan think, all right, hey, we got a shot,
06:09 like this could really happen?
06:11 First of all, you have a chance because you're here, so give it your all.
06:15 But if you're a four touchdown underdog on the road, you're going to have to do something
06:19 pretty spectacular to pull off an upset.
06:22 One area that catches my attention with Minnesota is frankly a pretty high success rate on fourth
06:28 downs when they've chosen to go for it this year.
06:31 They're 12 for 14.
06:32 It's the, they're the best in the country, both in terms of number of conversions and
06:37 highest percentage.
06:40 They've converted a couple of fourth and short scenarios when they've played big power five
06:45 teams before.
06:46 I would imagine that P.J.
06:48 Fleck's going to come out here and coach this game not to lose.
06:51 I'm sorry, going to coach this game to win, not coach this game not to lose.
06:55 So I wouldn't be surprised at all if Minnesota tries to get aggressive in some spots.
07:01 Maybe that's an area where they might have a little bit of an edge.
07:04 Yeah, absolutely.
07:05 And you're going to see from Minnesota, if you're a Minnesota fan, like you want the
07:08 team to come out and just stay attached.
07:11 You know, if you can make this game into the, your first goal is to get through the first
07:15 quarter and it not be a blowout and then get through the second quarter and you're within
07:18 a score or two.
07:20 And then when you get to the second half, if that's the case, then you're just like, hey,
07:23 let's go do it and let's just go figure it out.
07:25 You want to stay ahead of the sticks.
07:27 Don't turn it over.
07:28 Right.
07:29 So, you know, in advantageous situations where you can convert on third down and you can
07:32 get it into fourth and manageable where you can go for it.
07:35 It's one where you just roll the ball out there and say, hey, boys, hey, we're going
07:37 to, we're just going to go for it today.
07:38 We got nothing to lose and why not try and knock off one of the best teams in the country.
07:43 So yeah, I think from PJ Fleck, you'll see an aggressive afternoon from a play calling
07:47 perspective.
07:48 I don't know that I would call it a key to the game, but maybe the area that I am most
07:52 interested in watching today are Ohio State's special teams.
07:57 You know, you feel like you've seen enough from the offense the last few weeks in particular.
08:01 They're starting to click.
08:02 They played their best game last week.
08:04 Defensively, you got a huge body of work.
08:07 Ohio State, number one pass efficiency defense in the country, number two in scoring, number
08:12 four in total defense.
08:13 These guys are legit.
08:15 You know what you've got in those two areas.
08:17 Last year, against Michigan and against Georgia, a couple of special teams mistakes.
08:23 And throughout this season, too many instances where the special teams have tripped on themselves.
08:28 So I am interested today, especially after Parker Fleming spoke with the media this week
08:34 for about 10 minutes, I am interested to see if that group can perform well, frankly, under
08:39 a magnifying glass because everybody's paying attention to whether or not they can clean
08:43 things up.
08:44 It hasn't cost them yet.
08:46 Ohio State's been the better team when they've played every week.
08:50 But ultimately, in big games, man, you can't make mistakes on special teams and expect
08:54 to win.
08:55 And I think Ohio State needs to be really locked in there today.
08:57 Yeah, when teams are even, when teams are evenly matched, special teams oftentimes are
09:01 the difference.
09:02 You know, it's a blocked punt or it's a bad punt, a shank, or it's a missed field goal
09:05 or some kind of bad thing that happened in the really good teams.
09:10 You know, turn those around and use special teams to their advantage.
09:13 So love to see it be really clean today.
09:15 And again, just like you referenced at the front, use today as a tune-up and be very
09:19 focused, be very intent on playing a clean game and looking good and using this as a
09:25 final tune-up before heading up to Ann Arbor next week.
09:29 Can't wait to see how these Buckeyes look.
09:30 You got any final thoughts here?
09:32 Any final thoughts for me?
09:33 Get out healthy.
09:35 Get out healthy.
09:36 That's got to be priority number one.
09:37 I'd love to see the offense come out, score right away, you know, look clean on the first
09:42 drive, get the ball back after a three and out score again, and Marvin Harrison just
09:46 done, end the day.
09:47 Tre'Veon as well.
09:49 Just get the guys out.
09:51 Get out healthy.
09:52 And yeah, it's crazy.
09:53 You said it and I knew it, but it was weird to hear you say it's senior day and it's the
09:57 last home game of the season, which is insane to think and crazy to say.
10:02 But for a mid-November afternoon, looking like you're going to need your sunscreen this
10:05 afternoon because it looks beautiful and just a great day for some Buckeye football.
10:10 Yeah, it's actually warm in the sun.
10:12 It's a little cool in the shade.
10:13 The temperature right now is about 50 degrees and we're expecting this all afternoon, which
10:17 is a nice change because 24 hours ago it was absolutely gross.
10:21 Basically rain from start to finish all day, but it is going to be just like this all afternoon.
10:27 So looking forward to that.
10:28 All right, we've got plenty of coverage coming for you on BuckeyesNow.com.
10:31 We certainly hope you'll join us there.
10:32 Throughout the game, we'll have live updates posted if anything breaks and plenty of postgame
10:36 content coming your way too.
10:38 We will certainly jump on a live video stream just like this after we have the press conferences
10:41 and give you our reaction to what we hope will be a fun day for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
10:46 I know everybody's looking forward to seven days from now.
10:49 So are we.
10:50 So is everybody across Buckeye Nation.
10:53 But focus on today.
10:54 Enjoy the moment.
10:55 Ohio State's going to try to send some seniors out on the right note and try to take some
10:58 momentum going up to Ann Arbor next week.
11:00 For Anthony Meglin, I'm Brendan Gulick.
11:02 Enjoy the day, everybody.
11:03 Have fun if you're at the SHU or if you're watching from home.
11:06 I know the game's on Big Ten Network kicking off at 4 o'clock.
11:09 We look forward to you joining us postgame here when we react on Buckeye Breakdown.
11:13 Bye.
11:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]