Previewing Ohio State's Road Match-up with Purdue
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00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:10 Well, hi everybody and welcome to West Lafayette, Indiana.
00:15 It's a big day for the Ohio State Buckeyes who are literally arriving as we speak.
00:20 You can see the buses over my shoulder coming into Ross-Ade Stadium getting ready
00:24 for frankly what's probably gonna be a tough day.
00:28 We've got some breaking news for Ohio State.
00:31 And it's not the kind of news that should make you shaking your boots,
00:36 but it is at least notable.
00:38 Ohio State is gonna be without Emeka Igbuka today, which we knew yesterday.
00:43 But also Mayan Williams is unavailable today.
00:47 Tre'Bion Henderson is questionable.
00:49 Jaden McKenzie is questionable, among some other players that we anticipated
00:53 would be on the availability report.
00:55 So Anthony, as we get ready for a day that right now thankfully is dry, but
01:00 temperatures in the mid 50s with a little breeze and rain expected.
01:04 And a place the Buckeyes have had some frustrating moments historically.
01:08 This game all of a sudden I think has a lot of people's attention.
01:11 >> Yeah, it feels like an old school Big Ten game, right?
01:14 Like it feels like a weird afternoon, like the sky behind you is gray,
01:18 you know, got rain in the forecast, it's a little cold.
01:21 Like this is one that feels like, hey, we're gonna run the ball and
01:24 it's gonna be low scoring game and that kind of a feel to it.
01:26 And then you get the injury report and it's like, uh-oh,
01:29 this isn't, it's just not what you wanna see.
01:31 Especially for a team that, you know, is trying to hit their stride.
01:34 And we talked about it all week, like it's really important for this unit and
01:38 especially on offense to start showing, you know, what they're capable of doing.
01:44 And like we said, start fast and finish drives and all these things.
01:47 And then you come in today and you're gonna be missing two of your top three
01:50 running backs, and you're gonna be missing Emeka Igbuka.
01:53 Now, I'm sure none of it is a surprise to the team.
01:56 It's sure breaking news to us, so
01:58 you hope that they were able to prepare for it throughout the week, Emeka especially.
02:03 But it's still not what you wanna see, you know, going into today.
02:06 And yeah, they're gonna have to make some adjustments.
02:09 And hey, what a great week to ask the Dallas Hayden question,
02:13 because he'll get some tick today, I'm sure, with Chip Traynham being the number
02:17 one guy, and then you're gonna have someone to give him a spell.
02:20 >> Yeah, I mean, Dallin definitely, I would think, is gonna get some touches today.
02:24 Wouldn't surprise me if we see Evan Pryor.
02:27 You know, Chip Traynham should be the guy you're gonna feature.
02:30 And just to be clear, Travion hasn't been ruled out, he's questionable.
02:33 But I would think that if he's questionable, that means he's not 100%.
02:39 So I don't know that we're gonna see a full, normal Travion Henderson.
02:43 And I think there is value in making sure you have him healthy for
02:48 your biggest game of the year, well,
02:50 your next two biggest games of the year with Penn State and Michigan.
02:55 But I think we've also made it clear, man, you can't look past this Purdue team.
02:59 Because while there are so many reasons why Ohio State shouldn't lose this game,
03:03 there have been lots of reasons why the Buckeyes shouldn't lose games that they've
03:08 ultimately lost over the years when they've tripped up.
03:11 This team is proving that they're really, really good.
03:15 And they are also human.
03:18 And I think we're seeing that around a lot of college football right now.
03:21 At Ohio State, I'm sure as a team,
03:24 they're not looking past Purdue toward Penn State next weekend.
03:27 They can't afford it.
03:28 They've got to come out today and execute on a day that could be challenging.
03:33 >> And Brennan, you mentioned that in the past,
03:36 there's been examples of Ohio State slipping up when they shouldn't.
03:39 And there's been examples at that stadium that's right behind you,
03:42 where they've come in and gotten beat.
03:45 And you just don't want that to happen.
03:46 And I'm sure every one of our fans is waking up this morning seeing
03:50 the score of last night's game, right?
03:52 Colorado had that thing locked up at halftime.
03:54 And then they let off the gas and get beat by a horrible Stanford team in a game that
03:58 shouldn't happen.
03:59 So you don't want that to happen today to our Buckeyes.
04:03 Because this would be one that, if they do let it get away from them,
04:06 is gonna be very disappointing.
04:08 And they just can't.
04:09 I don't think that they will.
04:10 But it's just another emphasis of, hey, this is a very, very important game.
04:15 Let's take care of business today.
04:17 And then we'll move on to the Nittany Lions next week.
04:21 >> And it sounds like Purdue is also not totally at full strength either, but
04:24 I wanna keep things more focused on Ohio State.
04:26 Look, I think we need to see a little bit better day from Ohio State's linebackers,
04:33 which is a sentence I never thought I would say all season.
04:37 But hopefully this can be a little bit of a get right day for
04:40 Tommy Eikenberg and Steel Chambers.
04:42 Who I think people are unfairly, totally ripping on.
04:47 They just haven't played last week.
04:49 They didn't play up to the level that I think we're accustomed to seeing.
04:52 They weren't a liability.
04:53 They didn't play terrible, but they weren't unbelievable.
04:58 And I think we often get caught as a fan base and
05:00 some of the hyperbole around how this stuff all plays out.
05:04 So look, Tommy did have 13 tackles last week.
05:07 He was still effective.
05:08 This is the kind of day I think you wanna lean on your defensive front.
05:14 And you need your offensive line to block well in the run game today.
05:18 Because I don't know how well conditions are gonna be later as the game goes on.
05:24 And as we are anticipating some rain in West Lafayette, I don't know if it's gonna
05:28 be the kind of day that you see Kyle McCord wanna just chuck it all over the place.
05:33 >> Yeah, no, it's gonna be like I said at the jump,
05:35 like it's gonna be a kind of an old school feel.
05:37 And to it this afternoon, which will just be different.
05:41 And it'll be another different challenge for these Buckeyes.
05:44 But I think some things still remain.
05:46 I think in my head that it's super important that this team comes out and
05:51 it looks right early.
05:52 Maybe that doesn't mean, initially earlier in the week,
05:54 I was hoping we could get a big scoring day.
05:57 Maybe throw it all around the yard, get comfortable doing that.
05:59 But it's not gonna be the case today.
06:01 It doesn't mean you can't start fast.
06:02 That doesn't mean you can take a nap in the first quarter.
06:07 I think it's really important that if you do get two drives in the first quarter or
06:10 the first four drives in the first half, that they end in scores.
06:14 Or you push the ball down the field and you have sustained drives.
06:17 I think that that still has to be an emphasis today.
06:20 Start fast and then continue on the offensive side of the ball,
06:24 continue to build throughout the game.
06:25 You can't have, it can't be like this.
06:27 It's gotta be a steady incline throughout the game.
06:31 >> Let's start fast, I think is the biggest key after especially what we saw
06:34 last week, which maybe was a little bit anticipated because of the coming out of
06:39 the by but still it needs to be a faster start for the Buckeyes today.
06:42 They've got to play with urgency early in the game.
06:45 And we'll be following that all along the way.
06:46 But in case you're just joining us as we wrap up here,
06:50 the news today, Mayan Williams is out.
06:52 Meka Igbuka is out.
06:54 In fact, I know for sure a Meka did not even make the trip.
06:57 Ryan Day said that to some local media last night.
07:00 And TraeDion Henderson is questionable.
07:02 Jaden McKenzie is a game time decision as well.
07:05 So hopefully those guys are able to play.
07:07 That's the big news pregame here for the Buckeyes.
07:09 And hopefully mother nature cooperates and that we don't have to have any sort of
07:13 thoughts about a repeat from what happened back in 2018.
07:17 By the way, there's only two guys on the roster that are still here,
07:20 that were here when that debacle happened back in 2018.
07:24 That's starting right guard Matt Jones and starting safety Josh Proctor,
07:28 who's coming off of I thought his best game of his career.
07:31 >> That's still crazy to me.
07:32 >> It is.
07:32 >> I was in college, I was playing that day.
07:35 >> [LAUGH] >> It's true, that's true.
07:38 So it was a long time ago.
07:40 It's been a while since the Bucs have been here.
07:42 And hopefully today ends up being a day where we've got much happier memories.
07:47 We are still kind of learning our way around the press facility here when we get
07:51 in the stadium, but it's our anticipation that we're gonna stream
07:54 the postgame press conference live as we always do after games.
07:58 If we can't do it live, we'll certainly have it posted right after it's done, but
08:01 know that we're certainly intending to stream that live.
08:04 Then we'll have our normal postgame reaction show the same way we always do.
08:08 Talking about what we hope is gonna be a big Ohio State win and
08:11 setting the table for a huge noon kickoff next week.
08:15 In the meantime, I'm sure everybody knows by now, but in case you don't,
08:19 you need to subscribe to Peacock to see this game because it is not available on
08:22 broadcast TV or any other streaming service.
08:25 It's an exclusive game on Peacock.
08:27 Watch the Buckeyes and the Boilermakers at 12 noon.
08:30 For Anthony Meglin, I'm Brendan Gulick.
08:32 We'll see you in a little bit.
08:33 For all the latest news and info all day long here in West Lafayette,
08:37 check out buckeyesnow.com.
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