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Mitchell Paige on Indiana Football vs. Ohio State, the College Football Playoff, & more
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Nov 28, 2024
From Monday's show: Mitchell Paige talks about Indiana's chances against Ohio State, the College Football Playoff, and more. #iufb Subscribe, comment, and leave a like if you enjoyed this clip.
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0:00
joining us now Mr Mitchell pagee but
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he's not from his usual place of
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dwelling he's also not in his vehicle
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either he is joining us from the
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friendly confines of of Arizona I don't
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know what town you're in or what city
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you're in but I do know you're out in
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that particular West Coast State welcome
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in to in touch with Indiana Sports my
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friend yeah happy to be here it's nice
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to have a little bye uh I'm in Scottdale
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I'm playing in a golf tournament this
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week so IU schedule
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lined up for them lined up for me as
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well to be able to be out here and not
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have to miss anything I like I can't
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really tell what kind of building you're
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at but it looks very tranquil kind of
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like a little Oasis I don't know why I'm
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getting that vibe from where you're
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sitting but I can kind of tell it's
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pretty nice yeah we it's uh it's my
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partner for the tournament it's his
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birthday tomorrow so we got a little
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nicer house got a little Turf area we're
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in Arizona so there's desert there not
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going to be no grass but little Turf
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area for cor hole or whatever got a nice
1:01
pool got a hot tub it's nice living it
1:04
up enjoying the by we in style we're
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trying we're absolutely trying I didn't
1:10
like what happened uh in the college
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football World yesterday I I'm gonna
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lead right into it because of the
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Georgia result specifically I just think
1:18
there's a lot of with Indiana not
1:21
playing it's like out of sight out of
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mind you get all these people that think
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the SEC is so good even though they just
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beat each other they don't play anyone
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and they beat up on Mercer every year uh
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but they have this reputation that
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they've earned over the past couple
1:39
years that they're going to be uh kind
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of cream of the crop conference
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and I don't know if you're getting beat
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a bunch of
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times it's hard for me to to
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justify putting you above a team that
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has gotten beat zero times well I'll say
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this I don't particularly think that
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Georgia is going to to jump into Indiana
2:00
after their win over Tennessee
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especially when you consider the fact
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that Tennessee was already considered
2:06
one spot lower than Indiana in last
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week's college football playoff ranking
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so it wouldn't surprise me if maybe you
2:13
see them switch spots potentially or at
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least you know inch them up a little bit
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closer but I don't think any two- lost
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team at this point in the season is
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going to jump an unbeaten team from a
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power four conference agree and I don't
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think it'll happen this week but
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because of the the things that I just
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mentioned the the margin for error for
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Indiana got almost infinitely smaller um
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I'm kind of starting to believe that
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Indiana might have to win uh for the
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committee to
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not put five or six SEC
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teams in the 12 team playoff and I don't
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know why I feel like that I I just I do
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I I I think the game at least has to be
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ultra competitive there's no handle
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business lose by 10 and still make it in
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my for whatever reason that's what I
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feel in my heart so you have to and I
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don't know why I said that with a little
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southern accent in my heart but um I I
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think that
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it's Oregon Oregon get it was such a
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funny like four hours because you're
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watching Oregon
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and they should have lost they played
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terrible if Wisconsin had a pulse on
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offense they go down and at least get a
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field goal tie the game and they just
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couldn't do it couldn't get out of their
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own way you're feeling like holy crap
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we're gonna make the big 10
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Championship with
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ease and then now you're sitting here
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Oregon pulls it out you got a Georgia
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win kind of a dominant win over
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Tennessee who people are think are
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pretty good finally Carson Beck throws
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it to his own team for the first time in
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six weeks and now you start getting the
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the SEC so good I I ju it just worries
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me about the perception of a committee
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that's shown a lot of those biases in
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the past yeah and and and again the the
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committee does shift around every year I
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think there are some that shuffle in out
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of the committee and there's some that
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return and that type of that that type
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of stuff so you do get some fresh faces
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and voices and I do think it does help
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that the the Big 10 has been seen at
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least when it comes to the you know the
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top teams of the conference really the
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the top four they do respect all four of
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them and I'm including Indiana and all
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this I know Indiana is not a brand but I
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mean Indiana or excuse me the Big 10 has
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the four highest ranked teams from many
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conference now where things get a little
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bit fishy is the fact that the rest of
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the conference if we're being honest is
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pretty mid I mean who who's who's below
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Indiana when it comes to who's the fifth
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best team is it Illinois is it Iowa is
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it probably Iowa and
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Iowa is up and down they've had some
5:00
good games some bad games U maybe
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Wisconsin Wisconsin that's true I mean
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Wisconsin I mean their quarterback is
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kind of stinky at least he played stinky
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at the end of the game last night but I
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know that's that's not the quarterback
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that they've been going with all season
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long he's their backup but yeah I mean I
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had a friend of mine who is a Wisconsin
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fan and I can't remember if it was him
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or if this was somebody on Twitter but
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he had mentioned that he thinks that
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Wisconsin's quarterback would be a good
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FCS QB he has no business being power
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four level quarterback and maybe you
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disagree with that we're not here to you
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know evaluate Wisconsin football yeah
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but are you aware of what would have
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changed when it comes to the Big 10 Race
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if Oregon would have lo I mean I know
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that there's a scenario where you would
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have had 11-1 Oregon 11 And1 Penn State
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I guess 11- one Ohio State Anon would
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you have potentially had a four-way tie
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at 11- one if Oregon lost last night
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yeah I mean I don't know it it just got
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more interesting yeah I think Oregon
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kind of has
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the the inside track I'm not really sure
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what it really
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changed when you talk about the actual
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tiebreakers themselves but as it stands
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Oregon kind of has that spot locked up
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and the other three teams are kind of
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battling right Indiana's got to go to
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Ohio State and win to lock that spot up
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as because of the tiebreakers currently
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um and I just think it added more
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confusion
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maybe Indiana was still on the outside
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looking in if they all were for or all
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were 11 and one but it added more
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confusion gives you a little more hope
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and I think what the big thing would
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have been is Oregon may have dropped a
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little maybe to like six and Indiana
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moves up to four or five yeah and that
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makes the drop let's I I believe
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Indiana's gonna go to Ohio State and win
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and that's going to fix all of this then
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we don't have to talk about anything now
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we're all of a sudden talking about a
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first round Buy
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instead of just making it but and I'm
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gonna say this too to to cut you off for
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a second I think we've got at least for
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me I've gotten to the point to where and
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and Mitchell you know that I'm not the
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kind of person that argues back and
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forth with people on Twitter well a
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buddy of mine so the other I guess
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earlier tonight whenever I was before we
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started recording this I saw a a tweet
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put up and it was it was a tweet that
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had a video of Kirby Smart basically
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talking about why the SC is so good you
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may or may not have seen him make it's
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the classic crap yeah and so I quote
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tweeted with that saying something along
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the lines of it'd be nice if the SEC
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played nine conference game something
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like that and a buddy of mine who is a
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Kentucky fan uh decided to rebuttal and
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again I wasn't even talking about
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Kentucky I was just talking about the
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SEC in general but seeing his response
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and basically just whining because his
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Kentucky team is not goodness to play in
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a difficult SEC Conference SEC teams
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love to talk about how Mighty the
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conference is until and and it's not
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necessarily until they're not doing good
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but they love to resort to bitching
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about not being as successful as they
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are because they're in a quote unquote
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difficult league and I'm not trying to
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say that it's not difficult I'm just
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tired of that being the same narrative
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for teams that aren't having the level
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of success that they want to have yeah
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it's unlike really anything else in
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sports and I I kind of wish that the Big
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10 was more like this it's like we're
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all allowed to fight each other but it's
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like your brother like I'm allowed to
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beat him up but as soon as someone else
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tries to beat him up then we all come to
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rescue him right like it doesn't matter
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if you're talking
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about any team in the pick any team
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Florida Georgia Missouri whoever it
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is they're allowed to fights amongst
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themselves but as soon as someone set
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from Indiana says wait we have zero
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losses those teams have two
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losses shouldn't wins count for
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something and then it's all about the
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SEC and it's the same thing as like your
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brother on the playground saying
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something whatever he says and then the
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all of his other brothers come and
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protect him it's I wish that the Big 10
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was more like that I think that you have
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to be
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especially uh as college football
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continues to evolve they're going to
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have to take on some of that mindset of
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we protect each other because it's going
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to be
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kind of a revolving door as you start to
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see the conferences get more power the
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big 10's going to have to keep up with
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the SEC the secc already does that for
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each other they've got a lot of power
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and I I think I'm
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worried that that's going to be on
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display as we one thing I would love to
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see is when we get to this 12 team
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playoff no matter how many SEC teams get
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in or you know what position seating
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they end up getting I would love to see
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all of them just
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lose out and that I think at that point
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you can kind of shift the conversation
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to well oh yeah the sec's a good
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conference but maybe they're not as
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unbeatable as they've been in the past
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with that you know I mean that's
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probably if you're not an SEC fan that's
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probably best case scenario because
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without that you're never going to
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change that narrative I feel like yeah
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it's a good conference they've had the
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best teams in the country however many
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years out of however many years it feels
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like they've just dominated college
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football for the last 10 years um but it
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wasn't that way before that and it is
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funny I do watch those games hoping both
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teams will
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lose last thing uh I want to mention
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before we wrap this up because I know
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that this is a different scenario for
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for this week as you know where you're
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at and coming off we're on bye we're
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we're gonna turn our Focus to the
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Buckeyes what I want to talk little
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Buckeyes after that and that's what I
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want to do here so okay if Indiana's
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going to win Saturday I'm sure there's a
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number of things that have to go right
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but what's the one thing that you want
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to see from Indiana to have success
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against Ohio State in the shoe this
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weekend yeah I I think it's and this is
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so cliche but if you're gonna compete at
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the level that I think Indiana is
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capable of competing and wants to
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compete at you're gonna have to be good
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on the offensive and defensive line um
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Ohio
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state has struggled especially
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offensively blocking people Indiana's
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got one of the most defensive pass or
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disruptive pass rushes in the country
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based on pure statistics it's you can't
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argue it you can't refute it um and
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they're gonna have to cause a lot of
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Havoc you got I think will Howard is
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Curtis rores in the way that I don't
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think he's the most talented guy I don't
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his numbers aren't quite as good but
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they're still solid uh he controls the
11:50
game he may he's got athletes all over
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the field and he doesn't have to go out
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and win the game in some of the ways
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that old Ohio State quarterbacks would
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go out and do right uh so it's a little
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bit different style of offense but if
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you can disrupt a guy like that I mean
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think about what Michigan did to Indiana
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Indiana was a better team so they found
12:10
a way to win but when you disrupt the
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timing especially when you're as
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explosive as you are on the outside
12:19
those routes take a long time to develop
12:20
so if you can create pressure get them
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off their timing and get them on kind of
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the back foot that creates a lot of
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plays for your pass rush and if you can
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stay disciplined which they've done all
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year in the secondary you create
12:35
pressure up front it creates
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opportunities in the back so um you're
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you're gonna have to really control the
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line of scrimmage especially on defense
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and on offense you you've got to play
12:47
discipline drop the ball a bunch against
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Michigan Drive killing drops you're
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gonna have to make those plays this is
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this is a real deal ball team now and
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you have to if you're gonna make plays
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or if you're going to say like we're
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talking we're talking about SEC bias Big
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10 if you're going to talk the talk this
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is the time to really walk the walk
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because that's a national championship
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caliber team that sits in Columbus uh
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and if you're gonna win a game like that
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you got to go punch him right in the
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face immediately this isn't going to be
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a four quarter slog like it was against
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Michigan you can't play that game when
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they have that much talent not that
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Indiana doesn't have the same talent but
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in their building game day big noon
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kickoff 110 10,000
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people you got to get after them
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early and punch them hard and that you
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kind of set the in the I mean the
13:38
pressure is already on Ohio State
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because they have to win this game they
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lose their out the playoff probably I
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don't know about out of the playoff but
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definitely out of the Big 10
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Championship out of the Big 10
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championship and probably having to go
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to somebody now is that a problem who
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knows but
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it their kind of aspirations for where
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they want to go kind of rely on this and
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Indiana's just played free all year the
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pressure definitely is in their locker
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room love to go out and see them play
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free you know you have two weeks to
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prepare I'm sure they'll come up with a
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good plan and hopefully it starts fast
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one thing that was a little bit alarming
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at points for Indiana last or two I
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guess it was a weekend whenever it was
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when they played Michigan was the
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offensive line and of course they had
14:24
the injury I can't remember which
14:26
offensive lineman it was that got hurt
14:27
but they they tried to break in somebody
14:29
knew and you really didn't see kind of
14:32
the growing paints of that until the
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second half when Michigan kind of
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realized that they had the talent
14:37
Advantage at that point and you know
14:39
they were trying to make their comeback
14:40
and that type of stuff do you think that
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could potentially be another issue
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against you know it team that's probably
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going to have a similar Talent level to
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Michigan yeah I'm not sure that they
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have a similar Talent level I think
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they're good Michigan's got one of the
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best pass rushes they stink literally
14:56
everywhere else but their pass rush is
14:59
is Elite they showed it it's similar to
15:03
the guys they had last I mean these are
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guys now and yeah you're gonna have
15:08
problems that's just the way it is when
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you have that much talent on the other
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side of the ball you're gonna have
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problems now do I think Ohio state is as
15:15
disruptive as those guys no but they're
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going to be close so yeah you're gonna
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have to be very
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sound it's going to be loud pre- snap
15:24
penalties when you talk about
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discipline can't start first and 15 have
15:29
a second and eight make it second and
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13 you can't have silly nonsensical
15:36
penalties you start doing that you're
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playing from behind and Ohio State loves
15:40
that game um I'm excited to see it man
15:43
it's it's gonna have to be the most
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disciplined performance you don't have
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to do anything
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special You Got Talent you've made the
15:51
plays you've shown you're
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capable but maintaining an elite level
15:58
of discipline is what separates the best
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teams in the country versus the worst
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you just can't win when you have preent
16:05
penalties and drop balls and don't
16:07
maintain Gap responsibility on the D
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line and we'll find out later not I was
16:12
to say later this week but after next
16:14
weekend whether or not Indiana truly
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belongs with the elite of the elite
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we've thought so pretty much all year
16:20
long I'm sure Mitchell it does seem like
16:22
you had the inkling before that I did I
16:24
can absolutely admit that because I
16:26
remember you were you were pulling the
16:27
fbii prediction on me before I even had
16:30
a chance to really kind of buy into that
16:32
and at that point I don't think
16:34
everybody thought it was complete
16:36
nonsense but I mean when it was that
16:39
early in the season because I believe it
16:40
was pretty much after the UCLA win when
16:43
those metrics really started to kind of
16:46
realize what Indiana could potentially
16:49
have and I mean to the fp's credit
16:52
however that formula works I mean
16:54
they've been pretty much right on the
16:56
money ever since so uh and props you for
17:01
you you know buying into that as quickly
17:04
as you did and you know again I can't
17:07
believe we're here and again I know
17:08
sometimes I know we talk about this a
17:09
lot like the pinch me type of moments
17:11
like Indiana is really in this position
17:12
I'm excited that they're going to be
17:14
playing a meaningful football game on
17:16
the road against a blue blood football
17:18
program with a chance to solidify your
17:20
college football playoff appearance
17:22
you'll you'll do that for sure if you
17:23
win and then potentially solidify I mean
17:27
all but solidify your big Championship
17:29
Game appearance because you do
17:30
technically have to take care of Purdue
17:32
I would say to to guarantee that but
17:35
that's we'll get there after get there
17:38
when we get there yeah yeah you go out
17:40
get you go out in Beetle House State in
17:42
their
17:42
building now things start to really
17:44
change and I I think it's a possibility
17:46
man I can't wait for next week it's h
17:49
State week hate week let's go will you
17:51
be there will you I remember you talked
17:53
before will you be in Columbus no I
17:55
needed a night game okay I needed a
17:58
night game so I'll still be uh traveling
18:00
I won't be in the air so I'll be able to
18:02
watch it on the ground but I'm not going
18:04
to be able to make it sucks Mitchell
18:05
pige I appreciate your time as always
18:07
good luck at the bar stool classic thank
18:10
you sir we're gonna try to go win it
18:12
we'll see go win it and we'll hopefully
18:14
we'll have two good wins to talk about
18:15
next Monday
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