Welcome to the Skull Session.
I need it to be Saturday already. I want to see some fans packed inside Ohio Stadium!
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) September 6, 2023
Alas, we must wait two more days.
Let's have a good Thursday, shall we?
THE OHIO STATE EFFECT. Remember the "Four Million Club" I referenced a few weeks back? The list of college football teams with matchups that attracted more than 4 million viewers since 2015?
Well, Ohio State added to its impressive total (46) on Saturday, as an average of 4.65 million people – and a peak audience of 5.71 million people – watched the Buckeyes defeat the Indiana Hoosiers.
But wait, there's more!
According to a press release from CBS Sports, the 4.65 million people who watched Ohio State's season opener against Indiana was the company's most-watched Week 1 matchup in 25 years.
BIG TEN ON CBS debuts at 3:30 PM, ET with record viewership for Ohio State-Indiana across platforms: pic.twitter.com/uHaBXtxXhl
— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) September 6, 2023
Sports Media Watch, a website that collects television statistics, reported that Ohio State-Indiana received the third-largest audience in Week 1 behind Florida State-LSU (9.17 million on Sunday) and Colorado-TCU (7.26 million). West Virginia-Penn State (3.5 million) and Nebraska-Minnesota (3.49 million on Thursday) rounded out the top five.
Ohio State's appearance in the top five proves once more that the Buckeyes are must-see TV in college football. No matter who the team faces week-to-week, the people will watch. Why? Because the people love The World Famous Ohio State Buckeyes.
"THIS TEAM CAN BE SCARY." Cardale Jones recently shared his opinion of Ohio State's performance in Week 1. In step with Kirk Herbstreit and Josh Pate's comments featured in the Wednesday Skull Session, Jones implored fans to “be patient” with the current roster of Buckeyes.
Reading some of these tweets about OSU offense and the QB situation reminds me of 2 years ago, OSU opened up @ Minnesota and it wasnt the high flying offense we were used to seeing as first year starter CJ Stroud took over.. be patient, this team can be scary!!!
— Cardale Jones (@CJ1two) September 2, 2023
In 2021, C.J. Stroud completed 13 of 22 passes for 294 yards, four touchdowns and one interception as Ohio State defeated Minnesota 45-31 in its season opener. Stroud's touchdown passes were to Chris Olave (twice), Garrett Wilson and TreVeyon Henderson, with those pass-catchers doing most of the work to reach the end zone.
In his next 12 appearances, Stroud recorded fewer than 300 passing yards once – Ohio State's 41-20 win over Tulsa, where he threw for 185 yards. He finished the season with 4,435 yards and 44 touchdowns, capped off with a 573-yard, six-touchdown performance in the Rose Bowl.
For another point of reference, in 2019, Justin Fields completed 18 of 25 passes for 234 yards and four touchdowns as Ohio State defeated Florida Atlantic 45-21 in its season opener. He also added 61 yards and a touchdown as a runner.
In his next 13 starts, Fields shined as the Buckeyes’ lead signal-caller, collecting 3,273 yards and 41 touchdowns as a passer and 484 yards and 10 scores as a runner. He also took incredible care of the football, throwing only three interceptions across 14 appearances that season.
Ohio State performed fine in its previous two season openers with new quarterbacks under center. One quarterback played well (Fields), and one played fine (Stroud). But after both season openers, Buckeye Nation had no idea how either quarterback would pan out or how either team would pan out. Both quarterbacks turned out great, earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors and invitations to the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
The bottom line is – be patient. Ohio State's 2023 team "can be scary," but we will have to wait and see!
ACCORDING TO MY CALCULATIONS. Humans may have a wide range of opinions on the Buckeyes following Week 1 of college football, but the computers over at the Worldwide Leader in Sports do not.
After Ohio State's win over Indiana, the Buckeyes fell from first to second in ESPN's College Football Power Index. Yet, the machines still love what the future could hold for Ohio State in 2023 – albeit a little less than the Nick Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide.
| RANK | TEAM | FPI | MAKE CFP% | MAKE NC% | WIN NC% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 30.2 | 62.9 | 42.0 | 26.3 |
| 2 | Ohio State | 29.3 | 62.8 | 40.9 | 23.8 |
| 3 | Georgia | 24.7 | 36.8 | 19.7 | 10.1 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 23.0 | 35.1 | 17.7 | 8.4 |
| 5 | USC | 20.8 | 24.0 | 10.6 | 4.4 |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 20.5 | 18.1 | 8.1 | 3.6 |
| 7 | Michigan | 20.5 | 19.4 | 8.8 | 3.7 |
| 8 | Florida State | 19.8 | 25.6 | 10.5 | 4.4 |
| 9 | Texas | 19.7 | 17.1 | 7.5 | 3.4 |
| 10 | Penn State | 19.4 | 15.9 | 6.7 | 2.7 |
ESPN projects an 11-1 record as most likely for the Buckeyes but offers Ohio State an FBS-best 24.8% chance to be undefeated. The Buckeyes possess a 65.3% chance to win their division and a 59.5% chance to win the Big Ten Championship Game, per the FPI.
ESPN also shares a week-to-week breakdown of Ohio State's win probabilities in 2023:
- Youngstown State: 99%
- Western Kentucky: 98%
- @ Notre Dame: 67%
- Maryland: 95%
- @ Purdue: 96%
- Penn State: 79%
- @ Wisconsin: 86%
- @ Rutgers: 95%
- Michigan State: 93%
- Minnesota: 95%
- @ Michigan: 68%
Of note: Notre Dame, not Michigan, currently stands as Ohio State's hardest matchup in 2023, per the Power Index. That tells me we will learn a lot about this year's Buckeyes when they travel to South Bend, Indiana, on Sept. 23. Hopefully, what we learn is all good and well and comes after a nice W.
OLYMPIC VILLAGE. It's been many moons since I included an Olympic Village section in the Skull Session and provided an update on Ohio State's non-revenue sports. Let me do that now.
Every Wednesday, the Ohio State athletic department sends out a press release that features student-athletes who have performed well in competition, in the classroom or in the community. This week, there were Buckeyes from women's soccer, women's volleyball, and field hockey, among other sports.
Here are some of the names of those athletes and what they accomplished:
Kailyn Dudukovich, Women's Soccer
Dudukovich scored twice and added an assist in Ohio State's 6-0 win over Oakland on Aug. 31. The West Chester, Ohio, native leads the team with five goals and two assists as the Buckeyes are off to a 2-2-1 start to the season. Ohio State will host Ohio University at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
GOAL!!!
— The Ohio State Womens Soccer (@OhioStateWSOC) August 31, 2023
Kailyn Dudukovich gets her second goal of the night off a nice pass from Schlueter.
Buckeyes lead 5-0 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/nNXh8333Oz
Sydney Taylor, Women's Volleyball
A team captain and Ohio State's No. 1 libero, Taylor led the Buckeyes' back row defense in a pair of losses to No. 11 Georgia Tech last weekend. She averaged 4.13 digs per set (33 total) to pace the team and also led non-setters in assists with nine. Ohio State is 3-2 this season and will face No. 5 Stanford (Sept. 8, 10 p.m.) and No. 6 Oregon (Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m.) in Stanford, California, this weekend.
Keep up the hype, Buckeye Nation!!#Team54 #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/C2YcmOiaI0
— Ohio State Women's Volleyball (@OhioStateWVB) September 2, 2023
Brenna Bough, Field Hockey
Bough was instrumental to Ohio State's wins over New Hampshire, Bucknell and UC Davis last weekend, as the Whitney Point, New York, native and true freshman scored two goals and added two assists in the contests. The Buckeyes are off to a 5-0 start this season thanks to the efforts of Bough and Makenna Webster, who has a team-best 17 points from seven goals and three assists after five games.
Brenna Bough may be a freshman but this is a veteran move.
— Ohio State Field Hockey (@OhioStateFH) September 4, 2023
Ohio State 2, UC Davis 0 | 8:24 2nd qtr. | #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/CQgJGMXdwb
SONG OF THE DAY. “Down Under” by Men At Work.
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