Skull Session: College Football’s Week 1 Looks Incredible, C.J. Stroud Picks Ohio State to “Go All the Way” This Season and Cam Ward Shares He Tried to Recruit Jeremiah Smith to Miami

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Two more sleeps.

Head Coach Ryan Day on their season opener against Texas this Saturday:

I think it is great for college football, great for our fans, great for our team. Again, no expectations other than to win. It is going to be a great environment, like I mentioned before. The louder we pic.twitter.com/htaDflEFNl
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) August 28, 2025

Have a good Thursday.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK! I have a question: Is this about to be college football’s best Week 1 ever?

This weekend features three matchups between teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP preseason poll:

No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State (FOX, noon)
No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson (ABC, 7:30 p.m.)
No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 10 Miami (ABC, 7:30 p.m. on Sunday)

It also features three ranked teams against Power Four opponents:

No. 8 Alabama at Florida State (ABC, 3:30 p.m.)
Virginia Tech at No. 13 South Carolina (ESPN, 3 p.m. on Sunday)
Syracuse at No. 25 Tennessee (ABC, noon)

And (!) it features five more matchups between Power Four teams:

Nebraska vs. Cincinnati, in Kansas City (ESPN, 9 p.m. on Thursday)
Georgia Tech at Colorado (ESPN, 8 p.m. on Friday)
Auburn at Baylor (FOX, 8 p.m. on Friday)
Utah at UCLA (FOX, 11 p.m.)
TCU at North Carolina (ESPN, 8 p.m. on Monday)

This might be as good as it gets.

It just might be!

“I THOUGHT HE LOOKED GREAT.” Former Ohio State and current Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud appeared on ESPN’s First Take this week to… promote his new partnership with Applebee’s?

When Stroud wasn’t discussing the place he makes sure to hit up to “get some good grub,” he shared his desires for Ohio State to win back-to-back national titles.

“I say we go all the way,” Stroud said of the 2025 team.

He admitted, however, that the Buckeyes’ chances to repeat as national champions could depend on how Julian Sayin performs at quarterback. As Ohio State prepares for its top-three showdown with Texas in the season opener, Stroud is confident that Sayin will lead the offense — and the team — well this fall.

“I went up to practice last year and I got to see Julian Sayin and I thought he looked great. You know, he’s a Cali kid, and we produce the best quarterbacks,” said Stroud, a native of Rancho Cucamonga, California. “I’m excited to see him play. He may be rusty at first or have some nervousness, but I think once he gets warmed up, Coach (Ryan) Day is gonna be calling it great, O-line is going to be blocking, running backs are gonna be doing their thing, defense is gonna be balling.”

I am a simple man.

If Stroud believes in Sayin, I believe in Sayin.

If Stroud believes in the offensive line, I believe in the offensive line.

If Stroud believes in the running backs, I believe in the running backs.

If Stroud believes in the defense, I believe in the defense.

I like Ohio State’s chances this weekend!

I really do!

“THAT BOY A BALLER.” In an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Bussin’ with the Boys this week, former Miami and current Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward shared something wild.

Following a standout season at Washington State in 2023, Ward entered the transfer portal and immediately became one of the top prospects available, with Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oregon and USC emerging as names to watch throughout Ward’s recruitment. Soon after Ward silently committed to Miami, the program asked him to sell Jeremiah Smith on the Hurricanes and convince Smith to follow him to Coral Gables.

“When I was going to Miami, they wanted Jeremiah Smith,” Ward told Taylor Lewan and Will Compton. “At the time, I didn’t know who he was because he was young and I’m trying to get me a place to play. They told me to just look him up, watch him a little bit — and that boy a baller.

“They gave me his phone number, I called him, and I had told him, ‘I’m going to Miami.’ This is before it had went out because I had told him this maybe a week earlier before (I committed to Miami). I told him I knew where I was going to go, but I’m always gonna do everything on my time. I called him, you know, we chopped it up.”

At Big Ten Media Days this summer, Smith shared that he talked with Ward before he submitted his National Letter of Intent to Ohio State in December 2023. Smith admitted the conversation was part of the reason it took so long for the Buckeyes to officially announce he had signed.

“What went into that, me taking a long period of time to send my NLI in, is just people were — you know, the business side of things.” Smith said. “That night, I definitely talked to Cam Ward. Thought about something, but I didn’t really tell him (anything). We just got on the phone and he was like, ‘What are you going to do?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’ Then, a couple of hours later, I sent the NLI in. I haven’t spoken to him since.”

Ward corroborated Smith’s account on the podcast.

“He ended up going to Ohio State,” Ward said. “I was kind of salty, but I’m glad he went to Ohio State.”

Me too, Cam!

Me too!

CHIPOTLE IS MY LIFE. This week, Chipotle announced a partnership with athletes at Ohio State, Florida and Georgia, providing each of them with access to free Chipotle during their respective athletic seasons.

Learfield is excited to help @ChipotleTweets expand its partnerships in college athletics to two more schools for 2025-26! Chipotle is now teaming up with three elite college athletic programs - @FloridaGators, @UGAAthletics and @OhioStAthletics - to fuel student-athletes with pic.twitter.com/I5iZOE6d6g
— LEARFIELD (@Learfield) August 27, 2025

Here’s how it works:

During the 2025-26 school year, every scholarship and walk-on athlete across the three universities will receive a customized Chipotle card that grants them one free entree per week for 15 weeks.

You may be thinking, Chase, this sounds familiar!

It should!

Chipotle debuted this program with Ohio State last year before expanding it to Florida and Georgia in 2025-26. As the OG participants in this Chipotle campaign, the Buckeyes are prominently featured in the marketing for this partnership, with Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles and Carnell Tate at the forefront. Women’s basketball guard Chance Gray and women’s volleyball setter Mia Tuman also appear in some of the marketing materials.

We celebrated with Chipotleuntil the confetti hit the ground. Now its back to work. @ChipotleTweets Chipotle Partner pic.twitter.com/otrHE0nC9Z
— Caleb Downs (@caleb_downs2) August 26, 2025

You think Chipotle has an extra card to spare for a writer at Eleven Warriors?

DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast enlists the help of Andy Anders to make sense of comments made by current Michigan and former Ohio State running backs coach Tony Alford yesterday in which he went out of his way to talk down the Buckeyes.