Skull Session: Ohio State’s 2025 Schedule Could Include a Friday Game, Luke Fickell’s Hardship at Wisconsin “Eats at Him” and Netflix’s “Full Swing” Features Neal Shipley

By Chase Brown on February 24, 2025 at 5:00 am
Carnell Tate
Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Spring Showcase #Loading...

Have a good Monday.

 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS? Under the Big Ten’s new multi-billion-dollar media contract with FOX, CBS and NBC, four schools – Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa – have allowances to avoid Friday home football games.

NOTE: home football games… not road football games.

Ruh-roh, Raggy.

Over the weekend, Scott Dochterman of The Athletic predicted the Big Ten’s 2025 College Football Friday Night schedule. One Ohio State game appeared on the list: At Illinois on Oct. 10.

This choice might invite double-takes. Both teams enter the season CFP contenders, which typically would vault this into Fox’s noon window. So why is it here? This week’s slate has two West Coast games Fox cannot air in that time slot: Michigan at USC and Indiana at Oregon. Iowa at Wisconsin would fit in perfectly on Friday night, but it’s one of three homecoming games throughout the Big Ten. So, Fox could maximize its choices by drafting the 104th edition of Ohio State-Illinois into Friday prime time and then air the 99th installment of the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry on Big Noon. Ohio State-Illinois would have the potential to set a Friday ratings record for Fox; last year’s high was 4.21 million viewers for Illinois-Nebraska.

** sighs **

Six consecutive noon games to end the 2024 season, then a Friday game in the middle of the 2025 season?!

I don’t think I could handle that.

Please, please, please let Dochterman’s prediction become a Freezing Cold Take.

 “IT EATS AT HIM.” When Luke Fickell became the head football coach at Wisconsin, I think we all had the same reaction:

What?!

Wisconsin?!

Fickell had been a standout defensive lineman and assistant coach for Ohio State in the 90s, 2000s and 2010s. He went on to become an AAC Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year at Cincinnati, where he led the Bearcats to a 57-18 record and a College Football Playoff appearance in 2021.

That CFP appearance made Fickell one of the hottest names in the profession, with schools like USC and Notre Dame pursuing him before landing Lincoln Riley and Marcus Freeman as their coaches of the future. (Heck, some Ohio State fans wanted the Buckeyes to seek him after Ryan Day failed to beat Michigan in 2021 and 2022.)

Yet, after the 2022 regular season ended, Fickell landed at Wisconsin, a program coming off some … mid?... seasons under Paul Chryst, who went a combined 15-12 in his final two-and-a-half years as head coach of the Badgers.

Now Fickell, almost two-and-a-half years into his tenure, finds himself in a similar position: 12-13 as head coach (13-13 if one includes his win in the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bowl). How has Fickell handled the most difficult stretch of his career? Colten Bartholomew of the Wisconsin State Journal shared some information last week:

“When you lose, it’s either you quit, you start making excuses (or) you start pointing fingers,” Fickell said. “There’s a lot of things that fall into losing. And then there are times when you don’t win. Unfortunately, at the end of the year this past year, we lost. And as you start to evaluate it, because you have a little bit more of those than you’ve maybe had in your career, it starts to be evident of the difference. If you don’t win, there’s a lot of growth in it, and I think you have to be able to use that growth to make you better. When you lose, there’s a lot that is crumbling from within that you have to find a way to recognize and understand.

“I’m not sure that I understood it quite as much. I don’t think our guys did as well as they got into it. If it went to an L, it was an L, you know? And I don’t know, maybe just moved on. But there’s a distinct difference. And I hope and believe that that’s the part of our ability to be honest with each other as a program and our way to use that stuff to grow. It’s not being negative because sometimes you don’t want to harp on the negatives, but that’s what I try to tell them. Not harping on the negative, but there’s a difference between losing and not winning. We need to recognize what that is.”

I had a hard time deciphering that word salad at first. However, as I reflected on it more, I think (?) I understand Fickell’s intent. 

There’s a difference between being beaten and losing. Being beaten means the other team was better than you; they were harder, better, faster, stronger. On the other hand, losing means falling short in the essentials; it’s a lack of discipline, self-inflicted wounds and falling short in other crucial areas.

Fickell explained it better in a later quote.

“We were 5-2 (last year), s— hit the fan, and we didn’t recover,” Fickell said. “That’s when you have to really internally look, regardless of whatever else happened. I mean, we weren’t in a place where we were built to sustain and grow and play our best ball at the end of the year for different reasons. It starts schematically, I think, and then it goes into the roster you have. And so, in many ways, you have to adjust and make the changes you need to make. And it’s not just one, it’s a lot of them.”

To his credit, Fickell has made several changes this offseason to improve the program, hiring offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes from Kansas and bringing in former Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. from the transfer portal. In all, Fickell added 18 transfers to the roster this winter.

We will see whether or not those moves lead to success for Wisconsin. If they don’t, Fickell could look for an exit ramp out of Madison. Either that or the Badgers will make him look for it.

 FULL SWING. Former Ohio State golfer Neal Shipley experienced 15 minutes of fame in 2024 following a series of impressive performances on the PGA Tour, including one that landed him in Butler Cabin as The Masters' top amateur and led to his sideways stare becoming a viral (and hilarious) meme on social media.

This week, Shipley’s 15 minutes could become 30 as he appears on the latest season of "Full Swing," a Netflix golf series.

This season’s Full Swing follows professional golfers like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy on the PGA Tour. It will also document Shipley’s experience at The Masters, which included Saturday and Sunday rounds with Tiger Woods.

A 24-year-old from Pittsburgh, Shipley has a conditional membership on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025 after missing out on earning his PGA Tour card in December. He has one top-10 finish in four KFT events, placing ninth at the Panama Championship. Shipley will return to Columbus and the Ohio State University Golf Club from Sept. 15-21 for the Nationwide Children’s Championship.

 THIS AND THAT. Another Skull Session, another This and That™.

You know the drill.

With the NFL Combine around the corner, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic returned to his 2024 Freaks List to predict who could stand out athletically in Indianapolis. Two Buckeyes made the list: Tyleik Williams and Donovan Jackson.

No. 11 - Tyleik Williams

The Buckeyes had a terrific D-line, and the 6-3, 327-pound Williams was its anchor. He had eight TFLs and 46 tackles for the national champions and should excel at the combine. Despite his massive frame, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him run the 40 in the 4.8s and clock a 10-yard split under 1.65.

No. 19 - Donovan Jackson

One of the leaders for the national champions, Jackson shifted from guard to left tackle when Josh Simmons was lost for the year with an injury. The 6-4, 320-pound Jackson is super strong, but his agility is even more impressive. He timed a 1.59 10-yard split last offseason, vertical jumped 30 inches and went 9-7 in the broad jump.

Can confirm, those dudes are Freaks.

The Arizona Cardinals hired Justin Frye as their offensive line coach last month. In his first press conference with the organization, Frye discussed his relationship with former Ohio State left tackle Paris Johnson Jr.

Arizona has the No. 16 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. With Frye now on staff, could the Cardinals be in the market for Josh Simmons or Jackson? If Arizona chooses to go another route with the pick, could the Cardinals scoop up Seth McLaughlin at No. 114 or No. 153? I think it’s possible!

In a Skull Session last week, I wrote that Carnell Tate and Caleb Downs would be Match Ignitors for the Columbus Crew’s home opener against the Chicago Fire. As it turns out, Tate alone set the tone for the contest. The Crew documented Tate’s experience in a social media post on Saturday.

You’ll notice a lack of Ohio State men’s basketball #content in this Skull Session. While I have thoughts about the Basketbucks, I don’t have them organized coming out of the weekend. Maybe I’ll share them at a later date — but then again, maybe I won’t. Who knows?!

That’s all, folks!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Fairly Local" - Twenty One Pilots.

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