Welcome to the Skull Session.
Pro Football Focus has loved the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff.
Highest Graded Players from the College Football Playoffs pic.twitter.com/0MgyZxYNYp
— PFF College (@PFF_College) January 5, 2025
Have a good Monday.
RAT POISON! Oh, Sark.
Sark, Sark, Sark.
You’ve chosen the Rat Poison route, huh?
On Friday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian called Ohio State “the best team in college football” and attempted to make the Longhorns seem like David compared to the Buckeyes’ Goliath.
“We’re going to need everything we’ve got to try and win this game. Clearly, we’re massive underdogs. Nobody’s going to give us a shot,” he said. “This is the best team in college football, and we’re going to have to make sure we put our best foot forward to give ourselves a chance to win the game.”
Clearly?
Massive underdogs?
Nobody’s going to give you a shot?
Later, Sarkisian complimented Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka.
"They're both big physical players," Sarkisian said. "They have length. They have speed. They have playmaking ability on the ball. They have really big catch radiuses. They've got the scheme to go with it, with Coach (Chip) Kelly and Coach (Ryan) Day. They've got a quarterback who delivers on the ball. So you add all that up, these guys are impactful players that are real issues and we're going to have a hard time guarding 'em."
He complimented Will Howard, too.
“He has good speed. He has great poise and composure in the pocket,” Sarkisian said. “He throws passes where they need to be thrown, and guys make plays for him.”
On top of all of those quotes, Sarkisian chose for Texas to wear its road whites instead of its home oranges in the Cotton Bowl, which will make the Longhorns look like the away team… in Arlington… a three-hour drive from Austin…
New jersey patch just dropped #HookEm | #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/6jASYy2CRO
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) January 4, 2025
It’s Rat Poison!
All of it!
Good news: Ohio State hasn’t been consuming it.
“I don’t think any of the outside noise matters,” Sonny Styles said Sunday. “There were things being said about us before we won (the first two CFP) games, and now there are things being said about us after we won those two games. Those things might be different, but it doesn’t matter to us. We’re just focused on the opinion inside the Woody. We know how we got to bring our A-game every single week. This a really good (Texas) team. It doesn’t matter how we beat the last two teams – this is a whole completely different team.”
"COACH DAY IS THE BEST COACH IN THE NATION." I mentioned it the Monday after Ohio State demolished Tennessee, and I’ll mention it again two Mondays later: Whether Ohio State fans are for or against Ryan Day doesn’t matter; what matters is whether the players, coaches and staff are for him, and they are.
After the Tennessee game, JT Tuimoloau said he loves Day “to death,” and Jack Sawyer said he would “got to war with him any day.” On Sunday, Brandon Inniss added another endorsement of the sixth-year head coach.
“Coach Day is the best coach in the nation,” he said. “We come in here and see the work he puts in. He’s here all day, every day. To have a guy like that, you want to play for him. Coach Day is like no other coach I’ve had in my life. I appreciate him for the opportunity for me to come here.”
After watching Ohio State’s Oregon recap, I can see why Day’s players love him – even if it’s for his competitiveness and energy alone.
Good lord
— Ohio Divided (@BuckeyeNatty) January 5, 2025
Ryan Day has a different tone in his voice#OhioState | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/9fS0KXu116
Yeesh, Coach Day is dialed right now.
HE'S A FRESHMAN! Jeremiah Smith has had one of the greatest true freshman seasons of all time, according to Bill Connelly of ESPN. How great has it been? Only 10 freshmen were better – and two were Buckeyes!
Before Smith appeared at No. 11 in Connelly’s top 60 true freshman ever, he ranked: Pitt’s Hugh Green (1977), Georgia’s Herschel Walker (1980), Ohio State’s Orlando Pace (1994), Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence (2018), Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne (1996), Ohio State’s Andy Katzenmoyer (1996), Pitt’s Tony Dorsett (1973), Boston College’s Luke Kuechly (2009), Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson (2004) and Pitt’s Bill Fralic (1981).
Here’s what Connelly wrote about Pace, Katzenmoyer, Smith and Maurice Clarett, whom he ranked No. 42:
No. 3 - Orlando Pace
Take it away, Luke Fickell: "Here's a guy that's 6-foot-8, 330 pounds — 50 pounds heavier than me — and I can't even come close. I've always said, 'God is fair.' But I don't know if I believe that anymore because I'm working my butt off, and I can't even come close to running with this guy." Maybe the best offensive lineman in college football history was the best from nearly his first practice in Columbus.
No. 6 - Andy Katzenmoyer
College football had plenty of hard hitters in 1996 — Pat Fitzgerald, Peter Boulware, Chris Canty, Mike Vrabel — but Katzenmoyer was the most intimidating defender in the country from his first snap. His freshman stats were something you would expect from a video game create-a-player: 85 tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 6 pass breakups. He took an already-loaded defense to a completely different level.
No. 11 - Jeremiah Smith
Few freshmen enter college as more of a sure thing than Smith. He was the No. 4 prospect of the 2024 class, and he made an immediate impression with a series of wild (and often one-handed) catches in spring practice. And then he went out and somehow exceeded the hype. Smith had three 100-yard games (and, yes, some more one-handed grabs) in the regular season, making very difficult things look impossibly routine.
Following a frustrating 35-yard performance in a loss to Michigan, he has indeed been the best player in the 2024 CFP. In two games — maybe the two best games any team has played all season — Smith caught 13 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns as the Buckeyes romped over Tennessee and Oregon by a combined 83-38. Smith's playoff performance has just confirmed what we already knew: He's a generational talent.
No. 42 - Maurice Clarett
In his first game as a Buckeye, the blue-chipper from Warren, Ohio (and future 30 for 30 subject), rushed for 175 yards in a blowout of Texas Tech. In his last, against Miami in 2002's BCS championship game, he prevented a Sean Taylor pick-six by yanking the ball away from the Hurricanes star, then scored the national title-winning touchdown in overtime. Clarett's life has seen many twists and turns since his single collegiate season. But that season was just about perfect.
I find the timing of Conelly’s article interesting for two reasons. One, Smith’s freshman season has yet to end. Two, he has been the main focus of Ohio State’s College Football Playoff game plans, collecting 13 catches for 290 yards and four touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ wins over Tennessee and Oregon.
With a matchup against Texas around the corner, Smith could – and probably will – make a similar impact, which could – and probably should – impact his placement on the list.
Have fun re-writing your article, Bill!
OLYMPIC VILLAGE. Congratulations are in order for a Savage.
In Ohio State wrestling’s dominant 40-3 win over Oregon State on Sunday, Sammy Sasso earned his 100th career win with a 1-0 decision over Steele Starren. The 165-pound wrestler is now 6-3 this season, his first since suffering a gunshot wound in September 2023 that hospitalized him for weeks and led to a year-long recovery.
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) January 5, 2025
Sammy Sasso made his comeback & now he achieves 100 career wins to kick off 2025#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/EV9HTvhslq
A two-time Big Ten champion and four-time All-American, Sasso’s accolades and experience could prove crucial for an Ohio State squad with conference and national title aspirations in 2025.
In addition to Sasso, the Buckeyes have four returning All-Americans on their roster (five including Rocco Welsh, who is redshirting this season), including 2024 NCAA champion Jesse Mendez (141), Dylan D’Emilio (149), Carson Kharchla (174) and Nick Feldman (HWT). Several other Ohio State wrestlers have also shown promise this season, including Brendan McCrone (125), Nic Bouzakis (133), Paddy Gallagher (157) and Luke Geog (197).
According to InterMat, the 10 Buckeyes mentioned above are all top 14 wrestlers in their weight classes:
- Brendan McCrone: No. 6
- Nic Bouzakis: No. 9
- Jesse Mendez: No. 2
- Dylan D’Emilio: No. 12
- Paddy Gallagher: No. 9
- Sammy Sasso: No. 11
- Carson Kharchla: No. 11
- Ryder Rogotzke: No. 14
- Luke Geog: No. 17
- Nick Feldman: No. 7
With its win over the other OSU, Ohio State completed its non-conference schedule. It will now move into conference competition, where it will face Rutgers, Purdue, Minnesota and Penn State at home and Ilinois, Iowa, Michigan and Indiana on the road. The Buckeyes’ duals with the Scarlet Knights (Jan. 12, 6 p.m.), Hawkeyes (Jan. 25, 2 p.m.), Wolverines (Feb. 1, 2 p.m.) and Nittany Lions (Feb. 14, 7 p.m.) will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" - Dean Martin.
CUT TO THE CHASE. The heaviest snowfall in a decade is possible as a wintery blast hits the US... It’s Christmas for the elephants as unsold trees are fed to the animals at Berlin Zoo... A soccer-loving nun from Brazil is now the world’s oldest living person at nearly 117... Here are the top 50 message board posts from 2024... Do insects feel pain? ... Would you drink hot chocolate with bone broth in it?
