Our hearts are heavy here at Eleven Warriors today.
As those of you who are regular readers of the Skull Session probably already know, our dear friend Kevin Harrish's mother was hospitalized with a serious illness for the past several weeks. Unfortunately, her valiant fight came to an end on Friday night.
Ill miss you forever, mom.
— Kevin Harrish (@Kevinish) September 25, 2021
Thank you. pic.twitter.com/BIb9GQAe7V
You all know Kevin as the Arby's-loving, always humorous writer of this Skull Session, but I know Kevin as a colleague and friend, and my heart is hurting for him and his family today. On behalf of everyone here at Eleven Warriors, we're all sending our love to the Harrish family this weekend – and we hope you will, too.
We love having Kevin as a member of our team here, and we can't wait to have him back writing these Skull Sessions every weekday morning and every game day.
For today, I'll do my best to fill his seat – though I'm admittedly not nearly as funny or clever as he is – as we count down the hours until Ohio State's unusual non-Power 5 night game against Akron.
Word of the Day: Indelible.
TODAY'S MENU. Since Ohio State's non-conference finale doesn't kick off until 7:30 p.m., you'll have plenty of time to kill until then. Led by a pair of top-18 matchups – Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin and Texas A&M vs. Arkansas – here's the full slate of games you can watch while you wait.
| Matchup | Time (ET) | TV/Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| #2 Georgia at Vanderbilt | 12:00pm | SECN |
| Villanova at #6 Penn State | 12:00pm | BTN |
| FIU at Central Michigan | 12:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Bowling Green at Minnesota | 12:00pm | ESPNU |
| New Hampshire at Pitt | 12:00pm | ACCNX/ESPN+ |
| #12 Notre Dame vs. #18 Wisconsin | 12:00pm | FOX |
| Ohio at Northwestern | 12:00pm | BTN |
| Richmond at Virginia Tech | 12:00pm | ACCN |
| SMU at TCU | 12:00pm | FS1 |
| Wagner at Temple | 12:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Missouri at Boston College | 12:00pm | ESPN2 |
| LSU at Mississippi State | 12:00pm | ESPN |
| Texas Tech at Texas | 12:00pm | ABC |
| Boise State at Utah State | 12:00pm | CBS |
| Miami (Ohio) at Army | 12:00pm | CBSSN |
| CCSU at #24 Miami (FL) | 12:30pm | RSN/ESPN3 |
| UMass at #17 Coastal Carolina | 1:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Toledo at Ball State | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| San Jose State at Western Michigan | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Texas State at Eastern Michigan | 2:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Maine at NIU | 2:30pm | ESPN3 |
| Washington State at Utah | 2:30pm | P12N |
| UTSA at Memphis | 3:30pm | ESPNU |
| Towson at San Diego State | 3:30pm | Stadium |
| Wyoming at UConn | 3:30pm | CBSSN |
| #9 Clemson at NC State | 3:30pm | ESPN |
| Rutgers at #19 Michigan | 3:30pm | ABC |
| #14 Iowa State at Baylor | 3:30pm | FOX |
| Louisville at Florida State | 3:30pm | ESPN2 |
| #7 Texas A&M vs. #16 Arkansas (in Arlington, TX) | 3:30pm | CBS |
| Colorado State at #5 Iowa | 3:30pm | FS1 |
| Illinois at Purdue | 3:30pm | BTN |
| Kent State at Maryland | 3:30pm | BTN |
| Georgia State at #23 Auburn | 4:00pm | SECN |
| Kansas at Duke | 4:00pm | ACCN |
| Arkansas State at Tulsa | 5:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Louisiana at Georgia Southern | 6:00pm | ESPN+ |
| #24 UCLA at Stanford | 6:00pm | P12N |
| Texas Southern at Rice | 6:30pm | ESPN3 |
| North Texas at Louisiana Tech | 7:00pm | Stadium |
| Navy at Houston | 7:00pm | ESPNU |
| #25 Kansas State at Oklahoma State | 7:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Tennessee at #11 Florida | 7:00pm | ESPN |
| Nebraska at #20 Michigan State | 7:00pm | FS1 |
| Kentucky at South Carolina | 7:00pm | ESPN2 |
| Akron at #10 Ohio State | 7:30pm | BTN |
| #21 North Carolina at Georgia Tech | 7:30pm | ACCN |
| Southern Miss at #1 Alabama | 7:30pm | SECN |
| West Virginia at #4 Oklahoma | 7:30pm | ABC |
| Hawaii at New Mexico State | 8:00pm | FloFootball / CW El Paso |
| Indiana at WKU | 8:00pm | CBSSN |
| UAB at Tulane | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| Florida Atlantic at Air Force | 8:00pm | FS2 |
| Troy at ULM | 8:00pm | ESPN+ |
| New Mexico at UTEP | 9:00pm | ESPN+ |
| California at Washington | 9:30pm | P12N |
| USF at #15 BYU | 10:15pm | ESPN2 |
| Arizona at #4 Oregon | 10:30pm | ESPN |
| Colorado at Arizona State | 10:30pm | ESPNU |
| Oregon State at USC | 10:30pm | FS1 |
A HEART-WARMING STORY. Since we started with some sad news today, here's a feel-good story to raise your spirits.
Sarah Sue Morbitzer has dreamed of playing volleyball at Ohio State since she was a child, but her road to becoming a Buckeye wasn't easy. She was diagnosed two days after birth with a heart condition, Tetralogy of Fallot, that has required her to undergo three surgeries to fix her heart valves.
She hasn't let that stop her, though, from achieving her dream as a defensive specialist for the Buckeyes, who are currently ranked third in the country. NBC4's Whitney Harding documented Morbitzer's story.
A BUCKEYE-ZIP CONNECTION. Former Ohio State wide receiver Devin Jordan will make his return to Ohio Stadium tonight as an offensive quality control coach for Akron.
Jordan, who played for the Buckeyes from 2003-05, talked to Lori Schmidt of The Columbus Dispatch about his journey into coaching, which can be directly attributed to his former head coach at Ohio State, Jim Tressel. After serving as a student coach at Ohio State, Jordan has gone on to coach at Wittenberg, Otterbein, Walsh, Malone and Youngstown State before landing his current position at Akron.
"I remember my senior day at Ohio State, coming out of the tunnel, running out, they announced my name, and coach (Jim Tressel) shook my hand and said, 'Stay in this game, Devin. ... You've got a bright future.' "
Beyond merely encouraging Jordan, Tressel offered him a position as a student coach. Among others, Jordan worked with a young Ohio State wide receiver named Brian Hartline.
WINNERS. Kevin's a better bettor than I am, but I'll try my hand at making a few picks nonetheless.
- Boston College +1 against Missouri. Eliah Drinkwitz isn't a fan of traveling to Massachusetts to play this game. Jeff Hafley is so excited to play Missouri, he says his team would have gone to Columbia to play this game. The game will be played in Chestnut Hill, though, and I'm rolling with the former Ohio State defensive coordinator to get the Eagles to 4-0.
- Louisville -1.5 against Florida State. The Seminoles have yet to win a game this season, and one of their games was against an FCS school (Jacksonville State), so it feels like the Cardinals should be getting more than 1.5 points here even though this game will be played in Tallahassee.
- West Virginia +17 against Oklahoma. Oklahoma has won its two games against FBS opponents this year by an average of just six points, and West Virginia is a better team than either Nebraska or Tulane.
- Indiana -9 against Western Kentucky. The Hoosiers don't have the same mojo they did last year, but both of their losses are to top-10-ranked teams (Iowa and Cincinnati). Western Kentucky should be overmatched in this one.
- Wyoming -30.5 against UConn. UConn isn't just the worst team in the Football Bowl Subdivision this year, it's looking like one of the worst teams in FBS history. The Huskies rank in the bottom five nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense and have been outscored 146-21 in three games against FBS opponents (while they've also lost to Holy Cross). Wyoming, meanwhile, is 3-0 and won by 33 points against Ball State last week. The Cowboys should win by more this week.
SONG OF THE DAY. “All My Love” by Led Zeppelin.
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