The Monday After: Taking closer look at Buckeyes easy win over Akron | Ohio State football

welcome inside the Horseshoe ladies and gentlemen for the Monday after Ohio State 52 akan 6 a season opening victory for the Buckey in the books Andy Backstrom Spencer Holbrook um no Tim May today he's hosting uh 971 the fans uh nine to a noon program so he'll join us next week he'll join us on Tuesday just know Tim May uh on for your Monday I apologize but we'll give Tim the day off here at letter Monroe he can go help out over at the fan Andy how you doing man I'm doing well football's back although there's another game tonight Boston College Eagles playing Florida state but I think it was a pretty good opening slate for college football yeah and it was a good uh second half of the opening game for Ohio State I thought they looked much better in the second half we get paid to cover Ohio State so we're going to talk about that Ohio city akan game not the best matchup of the weekend obviously there were plenty of story lines to take away you know you've got your overreactions to Georgia to Miami Florida to Penn State but we're here to talk about the Buckey man and what a what a cathedral for it so let's to it um what do you think second watch big takeaway I just general thoughts we're not going to usually this video is probably going to be 30 to 45 minutes sometimes uh with the help of of the 41-year vet it brushes up on that hour mark but that's okay we love talking about them in this building but it's akan yeah um and so we might be a little shorter here what did your first take on the rewatch yeah I think that will Howard played a really good game that was my initial takeaway watching the game the first time around but I think I was even more impressed the second time around there's some throws even in the first half where they only scored 17 points where he kind of showed you everything you'd be looking for from a graduate transfer quarterback who started 27 games won a conference title in the Big 12 look he was actually seven of 10 on passes traveling 10 or more yards through the air I think downfield passing was a bit of a concern for everyone coming in looking at his statistics at Kansas State there were a little up and down obviously he could do it it was a matter of consistency and I think yes it's akan but he was pretty consistent downfield it was actually those short passes and even the ones behind the line of scrimmage namely the backwards pass of Henderson that just could never happen again those were definitely where more of the incompletions came and then he was actually pretty darn accurate down the field which I think has got to be encouraging for Ohio State fans yeah I had uh a fan and I wish I remembered who it was so I apologize if you're watching this and and I don't give you the proper credit tweet at me when I I tweeted a video of will running a a a boot action I guess or a play action pass a 19 yard pass to a mecha abuka uh when they were down three nothing on I think it was the first touchdown Drive I could be wrong um and he said that's one of those doesn't matter the opponent throws okay yeah you're on to something there fan thank you um I thought it looked really good I did obviously like you said like the the throw behind the line I think he's just trying to make a little bit of a superhero play I think he's still getting used to not having to do everything um and again like he always says no knock on his Kansas State teammates I'm sure he loves them dearly I'm sure they'll be invited to his wedding but like it's different here and he's used to trying to make different plays happen at Kansas state that he doesn't have to make happen at Ohio State well I always talked about how Ohio state with CJ strad made third and 12 look like third- two well this offense with these receivers I think can get to that point where you make third and eight pretty easy you make third and 10 look like a a third and medium so like he doesn't have to be a superhero on second and eight you know if he he just wants to eat a play he doesn't have be you know a superhero on on First and 10 when he's trying to get more yards like and I think that feel for the game is going to come to him more and I think that's what you saw over time you know that throw to to Carnell Tate for the touchdown where he kind of you know weaved his way through traffic after catching it like that's a layer that's a good throw like in the middle of the field a strike that showed some confidence I don't know if he's making that throw the you know in the first quarter but but he showed some confidence down the stretch and I thought he looked pretty good uh in his debut yeah gradual growth we saw that all through training camp I think that was maybe the biggest sign of confidence if you're an Ohio State fan just watching the quarterback development last year comic cor just never kind of hit that stride and and really developed you know he made some small steps forward but never the big ones and I feel like continually will Howard is getting better and better I think we saw that even in game I do think that we'll see him run a little bit more in the coming weeks there were some quarterback design runs quarterback keeper we saw in the first half a quarterback sneak kind of a tush push I'm sure we'll see that again throughout the season that's a luxury of having a 6'4 quarterback 233 lbs to kind of push him forward in the short yarded situations which we've seen Ohio State struggle in over the years now you got a big quarterback to push forward but I do think that he will run a little bit more and not just in those quarterback design runs but also in passing situations I think he was a little hard on himself after the game saying he could probably could have tucked it and ran and man coverage situations where down the field guys were covered up but he had a lane to run I think we're going to see him be more willing to do that in coming weeks but again he's got some legs he got he's got some speed and he certainly has a size credit to Jeremy Birmingham for saying that it's called The Willpower tush push I really like that shout out to burm um and then you know the the designed run where quinan Judkins it's a I think it was a fake handoff and then Judkins LED through the hole like that's a quarterback power wrinkle that we've never seen in Ohio State uh you know except for maybe with JT Barrett but I'd have to go back and watch the tape on those old JT Barrett games um but that's that's obviously something that they'll explore I would imagine and you know maybe we'll get some insight from Chip Kelly and Ryan Day keeping the hits off of will Howard's body against akan and and Western Michigan and and uh Marshall I know that you still want to go win the game and run your offense but like if you don't have to run will Howard uh you know outside the the numbers or you know get him in the open field again in these games just don't do it like you don't have to and so maybe keep some of those quarterback run wrinkles in your back pocket um which takes me to the offensive line because I think will Howard at times showed equating numbers in the Run game and then I thought at times um the offensive line just didn't do a good enough job I want to start with this though and I said it I think on the Letterman Lounge Message Board go there at Letterman road.com and get that go go to the message board come hang out with us um we have a great time in there but I I think I made the point Andy it's like the Run game is extremely close and if you watch you know you made a point that I'll let you get to here in a second before before we hit recort here but if you watch the second watch I was much more confident in the offensive line than I was on the first watch where I'm like wow this is a mess like they've got a long way to go I really don't think they have a long way to go I think it is close to looking like a Chip Kelly offensive line that's going to have a lot of moving pieces u a little bit of confusion but it runs the dang ball and I think you're getting pretty close to that yeah you just mentioned the two words right it's the confusement the the movement confusement that's what we heard him talking about in those coaches clinics back in the spring and that kind of shows up with this scheme and I think that's got to be really encouraging if you're an Ohio State fan yes you're looking for more Connection in the Run game those more explosive plays although trayon Henderson slipped at one point and I think he might have been gone if he did so I think yes that that's granted it's a concern still I think for the offensive line until it's completely fixed it's not going to be like off the board as far as concerns go but at the same time I think the scheme you're starting to see that actually be fleshed out and it's a lot of that movement a lot of pulling guards I think for this Ohio State offense we saw just a lot of Zone blocking more than the man-to-man blocking over the course of the last couple of years in the Ryan Day offense and I think you're going to maybe see a little bit more of the manto man the polling just more movement in general I think that takes some time for offensive lineman to make that adjustment in game it's one thing to do it in practice another thing to do it in game especially with defenses that are showing you different looks and maybe you expected to see even a team like akan look they had nine months to prepare or eight months to prepare for Ohio State they showed some different looks it's going to be hard to connect on all your blocks but I do think that Ohio State needs to show immediate growth and immediate development in that and part of that's getting their guys back Donovan Jackson of course at left guard Austin serel got some valuable reps at left guard in this game I think that's going to be super crucial for depth again Ohio State's been very lucky with not having long-term injuries in the offensive line building that depth in a week one game I think was critical also I think another part of the blocking it needs to be better and we talked about this before the show wide receivers and tight ends probably could clean up on the perimeter a little bit on some of those runs that's how you spring forward a run look Julian Fleming plays for Penn State now but he was you know maybe not the best receiver at Ohio State but he was a really good perimeter blocker at Ohio State and I think that that just gets overlooked a lot of the time these receivers probably need to work outside of AA abuka who I think we both agree was pretty good in that department on Saturday I think there just is room for growth for the other guys on the perimeter yeah I agree I thought AA was really good on the perimeter but you know like you the highlights are always easy to see the the blocking but you know down to down it might have been better but like there was a play where G Scott was out on the perimeter didn't attack or initiate a block and the guy just comes right under him and and makes a play on trivan Henderson that's probably a touchdown like I'm I'm looking back there it's at least a 10 yard game 15 yard game like those are the things in the Run game that are going to add up for Ohio State if you're going to pound the ball and and try to get eight nine yards a pop against these these overmatched opponents like you got to be able to do that and you know that was a little disappointing but I'm sure that there were reps that that were G perform well but there's also you know that one just stands out because it gets clipped on Twitter and sent out and obviously even we see it you know there's clips of you know Carson Hinman not going through a a hole and or going through a hole snapping his head around looking for a linebacker and instead he should have been looking you know on his outside uh shoulder because if he blocks that up guy cuts right behind his his tail and and cuts down trevan Henderson on a play where if hinsman blocks him up they've got guys through the hole and you might be talking about another run rushing touchdown those are the things I'm talking about like I thought on the inside when you're not trying to Spring one loose it looked pretty good when you get out from like guard to tackle you know the the three the five hole the seven hole the nine hole you know on the outside stuff it just wasn't good enough but I think that it was all like it it was concerning but I don't think it was concerning the way last year was concerning its Indiana where like it just didn't looked like it was good this looked like okay like this very small correctable mistake might lead to a 30 yard gain this very small issue on this specific play might lead to them getting 10 instead of six I thought that that's when I when I say that it's closer I'm not excusing the offensive line and I'll still be critical of the offensive line um but I have high expectations for this line Justin fry Chip Kelly Ryan Day all believe it should be a lot better you know Austin cil's start Saturday kind of reminded me of Malik hartford's against Youngtown State last year where he just looked timid at times and and maybe not ready for that just yet but overall you know I again I don't want to excuse and I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for him I just think that it it is much closer than we thought it's much closer at 8 a.m. on Monday standing here than it was at 4:30 or at 8:00 p.m. when we were standing out here Saturday night you know breaking down the game for the first time after we hadn't done the rewatch yeah I think so I agree with that I also think a big picture concern maybe for similarity between last year and this year is it was a slow start overall for Ohio State we saw a lot of slow starts last year starting at Indiana in the opener for the 2023 season I think if you're Iowa State like Ryan Day said you can't be uptight to start these games you got to play loose the entire time you got to play free got to start to have some fun a little bit he talked about that starting to just play looser while you're having fun and then things start to really click for this offense the defense brought it from the jump but I think offensively you have to start seeing those faster starts and that doesn't matter which opponent you're playing yes against akan you got some time to figure things out but you know know on October 12th or even the week before that against Iowa you can't really afford too much of a slow start and I think that for this offense that's got to be the standard in the expectation going forward that you can't have a three and out to start the game will Howard was 0 four to start that wasn't really all on him there were two drops in the mix there there were some procedural penalties along the way but overall for this offense you need to be better and I think you need to start faster yeah I think the timing was off on the AA throw on Third and five or whatever uh you know to to open the game they could have moved the sticks there I think if it was a a quicker throw um you talk about Carell Tate dropping his first Target of the game obviously Jeremiah Smith dropping his first Target of the game you I can't believe we made it this far in the video without saying Jeremiah's name but I guess we're talking concerns right now we'll get to the good the good Jeremiah dropped his first Target so those were three of the first four um you know there's a couple other things that I thought just just weren't well executed early I believed that Chip Kelly would have a a script ready to marchel H it down the field on drive one set the tone for the season I was wrong but I also don't think I was wrong because like if Jeremiah Smith just catches a screen Yeah the more I watched it the more I was like oh the rewatch the film room in the Woody is going to be rough on that one because you know that they designed that they installed that they put that in okay we're going to get Jeremiah's feet wet with a a real easy catch screen pass and he might take it to the house and folks he was going to take it to the house yeah I he still had two touchdowns so like I'm not going to nitpick true freshman five star guy who's might be one of the top 10 receivers in the country already after one game but like it's hard to say like they started slow but also not acknowledge like they would have had seven two plays into the season had had the Freshman just caught the pass and and ran with it because there were not one not two not three but four on offensive lineman right there in front of him ready to lead him into the end zone they could have carried him there I think yeah I just think that look this defense wants to be able to win games if they need to for Ohio State and it just felt like in the first half okay here's the defense doing it again they were beating up Ben Finley and Todd F uh they were making things really hard for this akan offense and credit to Joe Morehead who really schemed up some pretty impressive stuff with a two quarterback package little option Wrinkle in there and that fourth down conversion that they had tough stuff to guard But ultimately overmatch skill-wise and this defense just brought it and it just felt like okay here we go again with this defense really carrying its weight and some and the offense taking some time to kind of get things together and I think you know as we just pointed out I think that going forward they need to be better in that category but overall I we can we can start going through some of the good stuff uh the special team I was about to let's just start with special teams cuz we might forget to hit on it later okay punt return yards 60 total by by Brandon inis all of last year the punt returners combined for 75 yards returning punts so Brandon inis might just break one loose this season and return a touchdown but also outside of that potential touchdown a lot to be liked about the way he runs this ball back on punts and he just looks aggressive with it like he's going to catch it and run no offense to Jaden Ballard or mechuka was Brandon inis like doing something wrong last year I understand he was a true freshman I understand he didn't care until summer and I understand fully that you have to trust guys before you put them on the field as freshman but if that's the result of a guy who did it routinely in high school and made it look easy in part return has a knack for finding the football and getting upfield you know he probably should have called fair catch right here on the 5 yard line instead catches it makes a guy Miss immediately like we see it you know Alabama and Georgia punt returners do just to get those extra yards and get a little bit momentum you know even for a crowd and stuff like that like those things matter and like there were times that this offense could have used a special team spark last year we don't need to get into a special teams talk about last year at all yeah but Brandon inis if this is what he brought on Saturday I don't see why he wasn't bringing that last year and like he started the cotton bow didn't return punts what are we doing there like I like that's a spark and I know it got called back but like the one return was fantastic and if you get just don't hit somebody in the back who wasn't even going to make the tackle you have a 40 yard less to to work with you know offensively and that's that changes the script of the drive that changes the play calls that changes everything Brandon inis can change everything for this team on special teams he's fantastic and you know I I think it's again I'll say it again it's more of a when than an if he's going to return a punt for a touchdown um it just yeah he he kind of changes things for me changes the calculus like all of a sudden you have a guy back there for the first time since Jaylen Marshall in 2014 at Ohio State that you really don't want to punt to yeah I think overall special teams were executed pretty well which I think sigh of relief for maybe everyone in this building to see that after last year as you mentioned also worth noting that Joe Maguire was the starting punter even after we were told that Nick mccardy would be the starting punter but hey things Chang and also you know hat tip to Rob keys and gunar Daniel and the rest of the Special Teams people who kind of make that call because Joe McGuire was pretty good yeah almost 45 yards upon I think 44.7 one traveled more than 50 yards yeah yeah good for him did his job uh before we get over to the defense we will go through some some good stuff from the offense I thought trevan Henderson was fantastic he looks like he's got everything back you know there's no he's he's healthy right now he looks focused he's a team captain um oh no by the way he's a really really good running back like he's hitting holes he's bursting into the open field I know there wasn't a lot of running Lanes thanks to what we talked about where the off the offensive line you know was missing a couple assignments on the pulling I think the pulling still has them a little confused on what they're supposed to do but one guy who's not confused is trayon put the ball in his hands he was great out of the back field two catches for 18 yards but they looked really good and effective um I'm I'm really impressed man trayan looks really good and that's not a knock on Quin Shan Judkins I think he's got to settle in a little bit I think he was pressing and Ryan Day said as much after the game I think the rewatch kind of confirmed that but I thought trayon was really good and I expect quinan to be really good this Saturday against Western Michigan if you get both those guys playing really well you know heading into the back part of September you're going to be on to something yeah both of them ran for more than 50 yards trayon had the higher yards per carry as you kind of alluded to but I also thought my favorite Drive was in the second half where both of them were involved trayan Henderson sprung a run he also had a reception on the drive then quinshon got in converted a third in short and then down the line you have James peoples with his first Carry who scores and I think that was fitting and showing yeah okay they only have four scholarship running backs but they're top three and you can even put Sam Williams Dixon in the conversation that their top four backs are pretty darn good and James peoples I think is going to get a lot of attention this year early in the season especially and I think that he made the most of his opportunities especially his first one rumbling into the end zone there he felt like he was ready to just plow through whoever he had to he only had to really break one arm tackle but that was good blocking on that play well down there his his sixth carry his final carry uh put it on the turf and got yanked Sam Williams Dixon goes in there obviously there's some stuff that we don't see from the Press Box that we see on the TV I'm watching the I'm rewatching the game yesterday and all of a sudden I see James peoples bumbling over the sidelines and there's Carlos Lin there to to greet him and I just thought to myself man that's the last person I would want to see at a time like that um don't fumble the football you know I I said it in uh I think the game grades on Sunday at letter monro.com like you cannot fumble the football it's inexcusable you know the thing that they always talked about with d Hayden his freshman year it's like oh we want to get him in the game we have to be able to trust him with the ball ball security ball security ball security and we never saw a fumble from D but Ryan Day continued to harp on ball security is like a big thing when when it comes to can D ha play for this team as a true freshman James peoples obviously can he's got the skills but you're putting the ball on the turf against akan in the fourth quarter like you cannot do that because if that's in the second quarter you know in Eugene that's a game-changing play and I I just I thought he looked really good yeah but you can't put the ball in the CH you're right absolutely all right defensively unless you got anything else offensively the receivers were fantastic once they stopped dropping passes the offensive line was eh we'll we'll talk about that more with Tim on Tuesday I'm sure running backs thought were good will Howard we talked about him I think there's one more note for offense uh tight ends it felt like uh that rotation was interesting we they were all going r g Scott got the start but will played the most snaps just by one he played G Scott played 19 I believe gelani Thurman played 18 so those top three were right around the same range of snaps and then benett Christian played a handful of snaps nine and Patrick G played around five snaps so they were all involved those five um I thought it was interesting that will C Merck was the only tight end targeted on a passing play um no catches for the group is that going be a trend that continues again it's easy to overreact on things do the tight ends need to be part of the passing game like a huge part I don't think so I don't think that's like an alarm you need to sound Kate Stover was great for this team I don't think we were ever going to see the same kind of receiver production maybe from the entire group combined doesn't mean they can't do that it just means with this offense and the amount of Ms you have to feed with the running backs and with the wide receivers and the quarterback himself who can run the ball and of course throw it I wasn't surprised to see the lack of receiving production I was a little bit surprised that there was just one target for the entire group though yeah I it might just be a game planning thing to um give akran linebackers some credit I thought they were pretty athletic and so you know if the tight ends are covered up things like that you know it's just it is what it is we'll see uh how that progresses but I agree one target was a little uh interesting considering what Chip Kelly did did with his tight ends at UCLA on to the defense Andy we we're going to spend a lot more time on the offense today than we will the defense just because like this defense is really damn good and we knew it was really good and I guess all of our priors were kind of confirmed and I mean I don't know how much we have to say about the defensive line I'll run through a couple standouts from you know just the rewatch kinata Jackson looks like a guy who is just absolutely ready to kill quarterbacks um Jack Sawyer is a guy who does kill quarterbacks and poor Ben Finley I really hope that he's okay because Jack Sawyer was doing some some pretty unlawful things um out there on the field to Ben Finley jt2 that looked good uh Kaden McDonald in his limited run I thought looked good in the second half but Kaden Curry kinata Jackson kind of standouts for me um on the defensive line Mitchell mton played a good game had had a tackle for loss Ty Williams got credited with a incredible sack um where he just basically touched Ben Finley as he was running out of bounds on a fourth down and hey that's a sack I told him after the game on the field that he got credited with a sack and I thought I I told him that he got a new PS5 for Christmas like his eyes just absolutely lit up I got a sack like yeah man he got credited with one I don't think actually I know because he was there too Jack sler was not happy about that yeah he was like I gotta we got to figure this out that's not a sack that league so I thought the defensive line was fantastic you know just absolutely wrecking akan so yeah Jack SW was really close and he he led the team with four pressures which I know he's not satisfied with and and Ryan Day talked about you know the difference between disruption and and domination on the defensive line the disruptions more of those pressures which state a lot had a lot of them last year and then the domination is more of those sacks the tfls the force fumbles all that stuff and so I'm sure jack sler is not satisfied with a team high four pressures but it is worth noting to your point that he really made life hard for for Ben Finley especially but also for Taj Bullock and I think that has an effect on an offense especially the quarterback and so that can't be lost either but I yeah I agree the whole defensive line edrick Houston by the way got a shot Hing out for you know the Freshman making a great play creating that takeaway for G powers native who scores in the instate matchup shout out to him um but that was also a great job by great P gay Powers Fielding that ball fluttering in the air and then just taking off and scoring 29 yards out so defensively you know we we kind of hit on those defens of linemen but there was a lot to like on Saturday I think they just didn't skip a beat and I think the depth that we had heard about for eight months was on full display I love the aggression um you send CJ Hicks on a blitz so there I think there was three straight passing plays I noted it on the the Letterman LOD board and I made sure also to mention that I wasn't like picking on CJ Hicks I'm just pointing out you know what was going on akan was targeting him as you know he was defending the running back they were getting the ball out to the running back I don't know if it was because CJ was on him or if it was just getting the ball out of Ben Finley and and Taj Bullock's hand because they needed to um but they were picking on him a little bit in man in when he was defending running backs out of the backfield so you know after three plays of that Jim N says okay Bet and send C J Hicks on a blitz up the a gap he gets home really easily because you can't really cut down cut block a guy who's that athletic he gets to the quarterback and has his first sack of the year he says he wants to lead the team in sacks that's a way to do it he looked good in pressure situations he really I think he really needs to take a step forward on reading the keys reading react getting sideline to sideline like he's too athletic to be making some of those mistakes and I think he knows that I think he'll correct those on the other side of that coin I thought arvo ree was really good um I thought Sunny Styles was really good at times uh a lot to clean up there but that's his first action ever at linebacker after you know playing exclusively at safety the last couple years linebacker group I think I gave a a b or a c on on the Letterman Row game grades but I didn't think it was bad I just think that there's like a lot of correctable things almost like linebackers kind of remind me of offensive line I thought they were close thought it looked good at times thought there was there's a lot that they can clean up obviously those are not Apples to Apples comparisons but there's a lot to clean up but there's also lot to like athletically from what this linebacker group showed and they were missing Cody Simon who's kind of the heart and soul of absolutely the entire defense but especially those linebackers and he's the middle linebacker the guy the helmet comes and and he wasn't playing and it sounds like he'll be back playing next week and if not you know after the buy but when you're missing your middle linebacker Sunny Styles had to step in and Not only was he playing his first game at linebacker period but he was playing at middle linebacker where he's mostly played at the will spot alongside Cody Simon this summer and this spring so that was definitely an adjustment and you know look with a crowd this was the first time they were using those helmet coms it'd be interested to talk to Sunny and ask how that went yeah it's got to be different for the defense than it is for the offense with the play call uh the play clock shutting off at 15 seconds making those adjustments and when the stadium gets allowed on third downs we talked about that and that was potentially with Cody Simon handling that who's a fifth year player who's played a lot of middle linebacker a lot of linebacker in general Sunny Styles doing it after playing all safety last year's is definitely an adjustment so I think he definitely handled that pretty well I agree with you though that R V's stuck out and you just have to wonder how much more he is he going to play even when Cody Simon comes back and is that going to be a little competition there with him and CJ Hicks for some playing time but I feel like James Lait is going to try to play all these guys as long as he can as long as they all deserve to play I think they did a good job of all coexisting on Saturday like CJ Hicks was out there a lot and again in pressure situations when you're asking him to just go you know in the Run game thought he was was pretty okay um you know Sunny Styles arvo ree showed a lot that you really really like thought even Gabe Powers showed some stuff that you would like that you like um in his limited action um obviously didn't get to play very much because of the pick six that he had so like maybe if they he has an entire full drive there to show some linebacker stuff you might feel a little differently about him but I thought he looked okay just a lot to like there and I think arll CJ Cody and sunny can coexist and all play roles on this team and I think that's something I take away um speaking of takeaways though like you want turnovers you got turnovers you got a Kaden Curry Pursuit turnover that's literally just an effort play Nothing Else Kaden Curry get you know he sustains his guy you know holds him up pursues the Football turns around decks a guy balls loose six for the bucks like that's an effort play Ryan Day talks about W to be the hardest working team in college football wants to be the hardest uh playing team in the country Kaden Curry gold star for the day that was great uh you know lean Ransom being in the right spot to scoop and score Denzel Burke fighting with a receiver and just taking the ball away from him that's an effort play just as much as it is you know a talent play so I thought that was great Gabe Powers leaping up into the air so gracefully grabbing the ball that was tipped up he looked like he was back to playing offense at Maryville High School like I thought all of the turnovers were that extra effort that maybe you didn't see in the past from this defense and I think you're seeing the the coaching points the talking points come to fruition you know already in game one yeah and that's again where the opponent doesn't matter as much like you're M you're taking the ball away it's not the other team turning it over per se if you understand what I'm saying like it's not just a careless pass or a pass that's to Nowhere miscommunication with the receiver like they were going and taking it hey I don't mean to interrupt you but like if they got a turnover on the bad snap in the first quarter when akan just it got snapped over his head and then they repl the center because he was bad like I'm not going to be like oh great effort there like you know you really caused the turnover there you know you just ran back there and there was a loose ball balls out and you jumped on it no these were all effort plays and I think that's what is interesting about these turnovers is they were all just extra that little extra effort from Denzel Burke to not just tackle the guy but to strip it from it yeah like to Kaden Curry to not just hold his block hold the blocker up not let him get to the second level but to you know hit the guy hard enough to strip the ball out like that's effort right I do think that we have to just continue to monitor this because as we talked about aded nauseum 11 total takeaways last year which was the fewest they've had in the entire Century we just kind of beat that drum the entire offseason especially me but look last year against Western Kentucky they also had two defensive touchdowns they had a ton of takeaways in that game jimy Matthews Jr had a pick six in his coming out party Ty Williams recovered a fumble for a touchdown oh I forgot about and so that feels a little similar to this and can they continue it can they can they bottle up that momentum and and keep going I think that's what I'm going to be watching because yes takeaways can build momentum in that category and it can be kind of infectious in a way but it wasn't necessarily so last year and at a certain point they just stopped coming all together I'm curious to see if it continues this time yeah the good news is instead of playing Notre Dame next week after Western Kentucky yeah you know they played a Notre Dame team that just takes good care of the football this week they're going to play a western Michigan team that I'm not sure is going to take care of the football in the same vein as as Notre Dame did last year so you can build that moment momentum is what I'm saying like you know it's it's not easy to to get all that momentum and then all of a sudden go to a game where it's going to be low possessions no turnovers you know taking good care of the ball um because then you kind of lose it all there because you're playing a top 10 matchup whereas now you can start to really get that ball rolling turnovers are contagious it's a momentum thing I think you're going to see Ohio State try to continue that against Western Michigan um before we get out of here Andy I I know we weren't going to do a lot on the defense but six points looks really good Caleb DS missed two tackles early and then was really good the corners were good Davis osen now that he isn't playing in the first game of the year on the first series might not get another targeting because that's a weird Trend yeah um there's just they were just really dominant um but anything else before we get out of here well anything else and then we'll preview Western Michigan a hair and then we'll get out of here did you see uh Lorenzo Styles hit the end of the game I did not actually um so truth and advertising transparency is King here at this program um I recorded the game on YouTube TV because I wanted to watch the full game and then I get home and for some reason it recorded it through the Cincinnati CBS channel instead of the Columbus one and then when I went to play the YouTube TV rewind it wouldn't show it because I wasn't in the Cincinnati Market I was in the 10 TV Market shout out to Adam King and so it wouldn't let me watch the game so I had to do it on Big 10 10 uh Replay in 60 okay and so they just completely cut off like part of the fourth quarter um and I just it's not the biggest deal it's acan but like I want to watch these young guys and I didn't get to because of YouTube TV um messing up the recording I will be better it was week one we've got a lot to work on we got to we got to get it we got it on tape we actually didn't get it on tape um you know a lot to like from what we saw but I I'll be better folks and I'll uh I'll get those mistakes corrected for week two well since you missed it Lorenzo styles came off from the the nickel spot and just completely reads a run play and just comes in and smacks the running back and all the teammates you can hear just like yelling like let's Go ZO you know like you just like to see those moments for a guy that transferred in from Notre Dame playing wide receiver switches to cornerback getting some time uh D Matthews Jr also had a good tackle the second half um I think those defensive backs depth there is is so strong yeah you know Aaron Scott was in there when gay Powers had pick six so again some playing time cut short maybe with that takeaway turn touchdown but again I think the depth there is just so ever present at cornerback um and you know I'm curious to see safety continuing J uh jayen mlan had a tackle late in the game we've talked a lot about him this offseason he was also immediately in special teams y um so that was as we predicted and you know it's going to be fun to watch him continue to grow in this defense as well but I agree dominant performance six points allowed I'm sure they're not satisfied with that they they want a shut out still looking for the first shut out since 2019 but maybe they'll get that next week uh I think they've got a good chance to I watched almost the entire Western Michigan Wisconsin game because I'm a sicko um but Western Michigan had the lead in the fourth quarter 14 minutes to go Western Michigan scores a touchdown it's 1413 um Wisconsin punts the ball back to Western Michigan and it randomly bounces off a western Michigan player's back if you remember the Julian Fleming fumble versus State last year where it's just a fluky play where they didn't yell loud enough so it hits off of his leg and then Penn State jumps on it that that happened in the western Michigan Wisconsin game so Wisconsin gets the ball back goes down and scores and then to take the lead and wins the game if that doesn't happen Western Michigan might be walking out of Camp Randle with a win because they were controlling that game they had all the momentum they just forced the three and out after scoring a touchdown it was 1413 early in the fourth quarter all of that is to say like they just took a a a decent depending on what how you feel about Wisconsin where they at in the power rankings they have 11 right now okay well in the 18 team Big 10 that seems like middle of the pack to me so they took a middle of the- pack Big 10 team to the brink in the fourth quarter um I don't have much else but like it's just something to monitor like they're they're not going to come in here and roll over but also I think they understood that if they were going to beat one of the two big 10 teams on their schedule was probably last week so they threw a lot at Wisconsin and I wonder if you know that energy level is going to be down a little little bit after after a tough loss um you know over the weekend well yeah in Ohio state has tape now on Western Michigan which always helps after week one and look they'll have them in tape on themselves too that's true tape on themselves they'll have them here in this building at night there going to be good energy there I'm sure the recruits will pile out for that one and to watch Ohio State again but yeah I mean who knows week one right you get some weird results Oregon didn't play too well that was a 244 win against Idaho Michigan only beat Fresno State 30 to1 and that game was a lot closer than the score suggested qu 16 to 10 in the fourth quarter with less than 10 minutes to go so look there's performances that that aren't so uh straight and and linear as you expect But ultimately every team in the Big 10 W except for Minnesota so you know 17 of the 18 go one and0 in week one and uh sometimes it wasn't pretty but Ohio state was more in that category of prettier than not I think the second half made up for a lot especially offensively yeah and as Urban Meer likes to say the best thing about going 1 and0 is chance to go 2 and0 Ohio state will look to go 2 and0 I think good chance that they'll end up doing that 7:30 on Saturday here in the hes on big or on bigton network if you can't make it but try to get here like it's I think it's going to be a lot of fun I know it's Western Michigan at night it's not Iowa at night or you know uh even Oregon at night here in the building but or Penn State but I think it's going to be a lot of fun and I think fans are going to be able to enjoy it's going to be a little chilly down in the 60s or even 50s like it's going to feel like football here in Columbus Ohio on Saturday night it's going to be a lot of fun um but we can't get there before we get to Tuesday Ryan day's press conference Wednesday we're going to have uh player availability in the Woody uh letter Monroe will be there every step of the way with Andy Backstrom with the 41-year vet Tim May who uh you know we we'll see tomorrow didn't get his his second thoughts his rewatch thoughts but that's okay it's just akine um and it's just week one we got a lot to clean up here at lman Ro Ohio state has a lot to clean up over at the Woody haes athletic center this week before it takes on Western Michigan again let Monroe be here but first to letter monro.com get all of our weeks full week full of coverage in the buildup to Ohio State Western Michigan for now we're just breaking down akaran this is the Monday after Ohio State 52 akan 6 that's Andy B I'm Spencer hobber thanks for watching thanks for listening we'll see you guys over in the Woody on Tuesday for Ryan day's press conference