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Western Kentucky will test Ohio State’s biggest defensive unknown — and it’s not the pass rush

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Western Kentucky will test Ohio State’s biggest defensive unknown — and it’s not the pass rush


COLUMBUS, Ohio — Many are eager for Ohio State football’s defensive line to unleash itself via the four-man pass rush.

Both coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said they expect more opportunities to attack the quarterback against Western Kentucky. That’s technically true, because the Hilltoppers rank third in pass attempts per game over the past two seasons.

Yet in over 700 pass attempts in that span, they’ve allowed only 14 sacks. Quarterback Austin Reed is an RPO savant, freezing ends and drawing in linebackers with potential handoffs, then snapping up to throw darts to receivers.

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Whether J.T. Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer, Mike Hall Jr. and others will have time to take Reed down in the backfield remains to be seen. Western Kentucky, though, will almost certainly target OSU’s biggest vulnerabilities from last season.

Knowles called them “eye violations.” Do the Buckeyes play with discipline in the back end and avoid the kinds of explosive touchdowns that marred the end of their 2022 season?

“You have to be able to keep the ball in front of you,” Knowles said. “I call it ‘smart swarm.’ We’ve got to go chase with proper leverage. You can’t just chase randomly on the screens. Everybody’s got to be at the right place.”

Two teams tied for the national lead in plays of 20-plus yards last season. One was Georgia, which used several to beat Ohio State and TCU while winning its second straight national championship.

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The other was Western Kentucky, which also ranked in the top three in plays of 30-plus yards and the top 10 in plays of 40-plus yards.

Ohio State has allowed only one play of 30-plus yards in the first two games. A year ago, though, they were an epidemic — especially since so many of them resulted in touchdowns in crucial games.

Some of those explosives allowed coincided with moments of aggression. Knowles had great success in the Big 12 — especially in 2021 — with a willingness to sell out with blitzes. His first season at Ohio State, though, prompted him to reflect on that philosophy.

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“If you live in that world, against teams where you have a skill advantage, it can look really nice,” Knowles said. “But when you get into the matchup games, I found that it can hurt you. So you need to be able to adjust.”

The question, especially when considering playing style, is which of Knowles’ two descriptions applies to Western Kentucky? No one in college football threw for more yards than Reed’s 4,744 last season. His favorite receiver, Malachi Corley, turned 101 catches in 1,295 yards and 11 touchdowns. He missed last week’s win over Houston Christian with bruised ribs but is expected back Saturday.

To disrupt this offense, Knowles may need to bring pressure, forcing Reed to make decisions on the Buckeyes’ terms. Knowles blitzed a lot last week against Youngstown State. He also felt the defense lost leverage regularly by “trying to do too much” and overreaching their responsibilities.

Ohio State has not really played a team comparable to WKU during the current players’ tenures. Knowles has seen this before, though. Plenty of teams in the Big 12 used these philosophies when he served as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator.

“We built it over the years for the RPO,” Knowles said. “I think sometimes you can get lulled to sleep or lose your eyes. A lot of it is about eye discipline.

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“But the answers are there. They’re in the system. I feel good about what we have. It’s just continued training.”

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Cleveland, OH

Fatal shooting on east side after reports of large fight: Cleveland Police

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Fatal shooting on east side after reports of large fight: Cleveland Police


CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – One man is dead after a shooting following reports of a large fight on the east side, according to Cleveland Police.

Police got reports of a large fight around 2:50 a.m. on Saturday in the 1000 block of East 71st Street.

While officers were en route, they learned that two people were shot.

Police located a 22-year-old man and a 24-year-old man who were both shot, according to a release.

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Both of the men were taken to the hospital by EMS.

The 22-year-old man later died at the hospital.

The condition of the 24-year-old is unknown.

Cleveland Police homicide unit is investigating, according to police.

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Cleveland, OH

WWE SummerSlam 2024 Results: Winners And Grades On August 3, 2024

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WWE SummerSlam 2024 Results: Winners And Grades On August 3, 2024


WWE SummerSlam 2024 from Cleveland, Ohio advertised six championship matches. Among them was Solo Sikoa challenging Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Championship, LA Knight challenging Logan Paul for the WWE United States Championship, Sami Zayn defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Bron Breakker and GUNTHER challenging Damian Priest for the WWE World Championship.

This week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.412 million viewers on SyFy after being preempted by the Olympics.

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WWE SummerSlam Results | August 3, 2024

  • Liv Morgan def. Rhea Ripley | WWE Women’s World Championship
  • Bron Breakker def. Sami Zayn | WWE Intercontinental Championship
  • LA Knight def. Logan Paul | WWE United States Championship
  • Nia Jax def. Bayley | WWE Women’s Championship
  • Drew McIntyre def. CM Punk
  • GUNTHER def. Damian Priest | WWE World Heavyweight Championship
  • Cody Rhodes def. Solo Sikoa | WWE Undisputed Championship

WWE SummerSlam 2024 Ticket Sales

  • WWE SummerSlam 2024 Venue: Cleveland Browns Stadium (Cleveland, OH)
  • WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Distributed: 55,858
  • WWE SummerSlam 2024 Tickets Available: 807

WWE Money In The Bank 2024 Winners And Grades

Liv Morgan Def. Rhea Ripley

Despite all the talk of The Judgment Day competing by themselves, Dominik Mysterio accompanied Rhea Ripley to the ring.

Michael Cole noted the last time Rhea Ripley lost a singles match was 26 months ago. To Liv Morgan.

This match started as a cat-and-mouse as Liv ran away from Ripley. Fans became frustrated and booed Liv loudly.

Rhea dominated this match until Liv Morgan dodged a charging Ripley and followed up by throwing her, shoulder-first, into the turnbuckle. Ripley could be heard (kayfabe) saying “it’s out, it’s out!”

Fans were split as they made dueling chants of “let’s go Rhea/let’s go Liv!”

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Liv Morgan (kayfabe) popped her shoulder back into place by running herself into the announce table and fans went crazy.

Ripley hit the riptide, but did not pin Morgan. Instead, she grabbed a steel chair that Morgan brought into the ring. Mysterio grabbed the chair from her, which was the wise decision because she would have gotten herself disqualified. This led to an Oblivion for a nearfall and “holy s—t” chants.

Dom distracted the ref, leading to an Oblivion on the steel chair for the win. After the match, Dominik Mysterio kissed Liv Morgan and they left together.

Backstage, Damian Priest was furious with Dominik Mysterio for his actions. Finn and the rest of the Judgment Day vowed to go find him. I don’t trust them.

Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan Grade: A-

Bron Breakker Def. Sami Zayn

Bron Breakker hit his always impressive Breakkensteiner early on, then he proceeded to scream “quit!” at Sami Zayn.

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Bron Breakker cut Sami Zayn off with a Spear, then he hit ayn with another Spear for the win. This wasn’t necessarily a squash match, but it was definitely a dominant win for Breakker.

Bron Breakker vs. Sami Zayn Grade: B

LA Knight Def. Logan Paul

Logan Paul wore a Cleveland-inspired American Flag vest and greeted two security guards on his way to the ring. One of hte security guards turned out to be Cleveland’s own MGK.

LA Knight shattered the glass on Logan Paul’s Prime vehicle before making his way to the ring.

Paul cleared the table, but LA Knight got the better of him with a modified TKO, though the table didn’t break.

Paul won these people over with a springboard moonsault on LA Knight. Though they cheered the spot, they eventually came to their senses and chanted “you still suck!”

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After jumping up on the top rope, LA Knight hit a scary looking superplex. Fans chanted “this is awesome” after a nearfall.

Logan Paul borrowed brass knuckles from MGK. After a shot to LA Knight, Knight countered with a BFT.

Logan Paul vs. LA Knight Grade: A-

Nia Jax Def. Bayley

Bayley relentlessly knocked Nia Jax off her feet early in the match.

Nia Jax took control of the match, to the point where she hit the Annihilator, but Bayley kicked out.

Jax called herself “reckless” and “clumsy” while trash-talking Bayley on offense.

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Bayley hit an awesome power bomb on Nia Jax from the top rope. The fans were fervently into a match that struggled to follow Logan Paul vs. LA Knight.

A Tiffany Stratton cash-in was thwarted by Bayley, but the distraction led to two power bombs and two Annihilators for the win.

Nia Jax vs. Bayley Grade: A-

Drew McIntyre Def. CM Punk

Seth Rollins walked out in a long cloak, and what was under the jacket was certain to be even wilder.

WWE used ref cameras on the referee’s ear, and there were never more ref cam shots than during Seth Rollins’ entrance.

Rollins’ referee outfit were baggy, bedazzled pants and a cutoff shirt similar to Shawn Michaels.

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Fans chanted “CM Punk” to start the match as punk donned pink gear in homage to Bret Hart.

Rollins did a great job working the fans into a frenzy before ringing the bell. When the bell rang, Punk and McIntyre brawled like crazy.

Instead of counting to 10 while Punk and McIntyre were outside of the ring, Rollins instead chose to tie his shoes. Rollins also took immense pleasure in seeing Punk and Rollins beat the hell out of one another.

During an Anaconda Vice on McIntyre, Punk secured his friendship bracelet and the entire stadium celebrated.

Punk stopped his GTS on McIntyre dead in its tracks and confronted Rollins about wearing his bracelet, which Rollins picked up off the ground did wear, but out of no malice.

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After a ref bump and a nearfall (followed by a second visual pinfall), Punk and Rollins got into a heated argument. Punk hit a Go To Sleep on Rollins and took his bracelet back, but it cost him the match.

Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk Grade: B+

GUNTHER Def. Damian Priest

Finn Balor wished Damian Priest luck before the match. Famous last words.

GUNTHER already had chop marks on his chest before the match even started.

GUNTHER and Priest chopped the hell out of one another to the point where GUNTHER was bleeding from the chest.

Finn Balor hit the ring, presumably to save Priest, but he ended up costing Priest the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by putting GUNTHER’s leg on the bottom rope.

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After this match, Jelly Roll, The Miz and R-Truth took out A-Town Down Under.

GUNTHER vs. Damian Priest Grade: B+

Cody Rhodes Def. Solo Sikoa

Cody Rhodes ran into Arn Anderson backstage, and Anderson said he called in a few favors to a few allies of Cody Rhodes. Some of whom he knows, some he doesn’t.

For a full recap of Cody vs. Solo Sikoa in Bloodline Rules, click here.



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Cleveland, OH

Ohio State loses out to Oregon for in-state five-star safety

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Ohio State loses out to Oregon for in-state five-star safety


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