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00:00To the more key matchup, our college football today, game of
00:08the week, which is number five, Indiana, and number two, Ohio
00:12State. Coach Bowden, you were sharing with us just in the
00:14commercial break, you know, the guy leading the Hoosiers to this
00:17generational and historic season personally, and very well.
00:21That's Kurt Cignetti.
00:24Yeah, that's right. That's why this this season just isn't
00:26something that just popped up there. He is an outstanding
00:29coach. His father, Frank Cignetti, was my dad's offensive
00:33coordinator at West Virginia. When I played there, and then I
00:37played, then his father became the head coach, and he was my
00:40head coach. I've known Kurt Cignetti since he was five years
00:43old. But I'm telling you, his father was a genius offensive
00:46coach. Kurt has been prepared to coach all his life. In this
00:49game, I would imagine, I think he's the better field coach on
00:53the field today in this football game. He's been doing it a long
00:56time. He's 63 years old, and he knows what he's doing with that
01:00football team. On the other hand, I look at the talent
01:03level. You know, Kurt went out there and got his NIL money and
01:06got a bunch of G5 players that are really, really good. But
01:10Ohio State took about 20 million and got the best players in the
01:13country. And that's the other thing, too.
01:16Yeah. So, Coach, as we look at the key matchups in this game,
01:20and we see it here, a double-digit spread in favor of
01:23Ohio State at home in Columbus. Some have poked holes in the
01:27resume of Indiana based on how easy the slate has been this
01:31season. But you know Coach Cignetti very well. As they
01:35enter this game as a double-digit dog, how will Coach
01:38Sig have his Hoosiers ready to play today?
01:42Well, let me tell you what he'll do. He knows he's the
01:44underdog. He knows he's got to pull something off. He had a
01:47week off. You watched him to put a wrinkle in here. Change of
01:50tendency. Do something that they're not expecting him to do.
01:54And if he can get seven to 10 points out of just playing
01:57differently, he'll try to get that. Whereas Ohio State says,
02:00hey, we're the better team. Let's just play our game. They
02:03better not do that, but they better have their own wrinkles.
02:05But I think Cignetti will take advantage of the off week and
02:09try to grab a couple of points. Then he's got to win the
02:11turnover battle to have a chance here because the bottom line is
02:14Ohio State still has more talent and they'll still probably do
02:18enough. But I'm taking Indiana with the points right now.
02:21Coach, when you look at Ohio State, they're all American
02:24center. McLaughlin went down one in the Achilles tear. They're
02:27going to have a backup does have experience. How much pressure
02:31does that put on the center, obviously in the offensive line
02:34to have continuity in this matchup? They have had an extra
02:37week of preparation. Looking, heading into this, they did
02:41play Northwestern, but how much pressure is on this offensive
02:44line today?
02:45Joe, I think that's a good point because next to the quarterback,
02:48the center is the most important position on the offense. He
02:51makes all the calls of where the pressure is coming from what the
02:54lineman have to do. Everything's on his shoulders up front. And
02:58when you lose your center, that's next to losing your
03:01quarterback. So that's why I'm picking the under. I think the
03:03talent will overcome it. But you got to remember, I think
03:06Indiana, I think is the number one rush defense in the country.
03:09They play great defense, not just great offense. And so
03:13that's going to keep the score down. But like I said, overall
03:16talent, there'll be a big play too many playmakers on the team
03:19at Ohio State. And Indiana has still had a tough had had a
03:23easier schedule. But it's not their fault that Washington
03:26wasn't very good. Michigan wasn't very good at Nebraska
03:29wasn't big wasn't their fault that these teams that are
03:31usually really good weren't that good.
03:33It's also the quality of how Indiana has been steamrolling
03:37past that inferior competition this year, coach.