Skull Session: Ohio State Dominates During a Weekend When Most Teams Didn’t, Mickey Joseph Calls the Buckeyes “A Really Good Football Team” and Oregon Stomps Oklahoma State

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Is @OhioStateFB WRU? pic.twitter.com/DMMSUDD8zB
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 7, 2025

Yes.

Have a good Monday.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS. Grambling State was a cupcake, but Ohio State devoured its cupcake — something few of college football’s best programs can claim coming out of Week 2. Here are the scores from last week's AP top 10 on Saturday, with spreads included:

No. 1 Ohio State 70, Grambling State 0 (Ohio State -55.5)
No. 2 Penn State 34, Florida International 0 (Penn State -42.5)
No. 3 LSU 23, Louisiana Tech 7 (LSU -37.5)
No. 4 Georgia 28, Austin Peay 6 (Georgia -46.5)
No. 5 Miami 45, Bethune-Cookman 5 (Miami -50.5)
No. 6 Oregon 69, Oklahoma State 3 (Oregon -27.5)
No. 7 Texas 38, San Jose State 7 (Texas -37.5)
No. 8 Clemson 27, Troy 16 (Clemson -31.5)
No. 9 Notre Dame IDLE
No. 10 South Carolina 38, South Carolina State 10 (South Carolina -42.5)

Good teams win, great teams cover.

In a weekend where most teams were good — if you can even call them that — only Ohio State and Oregon were great. (Yes, it was one weekend in a season with 14, but watching the Buckeyes and Ducks demolish their opponents, the two Big Ten schools sure look like the class of college football right now.)

Ryan Day seemed to think his team looked great against Grambling. When asked if he thought Ohio State “could be overconfident” and “come out a little flat” on Saturday — you know, the way all the other top-10 teams besides Oregon did — Day shook his head.

“I was looking to see if we would have a letdown in practice,” he said. I think Tuesday there was a general exhale…”

General Exhale.

“... I was a little concerned about. But I think it was more the physicality of the (Texas) game than it was guys feeling like we’ve arrived. I think they know that this is a long, long season. I think our guys look at last year and know that it’s a long road to December and January. We’re nowhere near where we need to be. I thought Wednesday we came back in (and had) an excellent practice. There was good crispness to it. There was energy to it.

Day continued: “Then, I thought the 48 hours leading up to the game were pretty businesslike. That was a good sign. But you’ve got to put it on the field. Regardless of your opponent, you can see good execution, whether it’s penalties or assignments, spacing, timing — I mean, there’s a crispness to anybody you play. I thought it looked right on the field.”

I know, it was Grambling State. I know, I know, I know. But Ohio State took care of business Saturday like a championship team takes care of business. That excites me — a lot. I can’t wait to see them do it again this weekend against an Ohio team coming off a 17-10 win over Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia.

“I KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE.” Unlike Lou Holtz, Grambling State coach Mickey Joseph thinks Ohio State is a great football team.

“They’re a really good football team over there,” Joseph said after his team’s loss to the Buckeyes. “I’m sure they’re going to be playing after January. I know what they look like — I won (a national championship) at LSU, so I know what they look like.”

Grambling State coach Mickey Joseph compares Jeremiah Smith to Ja'Marr Chase but a little longer, and says Ohio State has what it takes to win back-to-back national championships.https://t.co/1WgpHzZln9 pic.twitter.com/0JkR7sjZgy
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) September 7, 2025

Joseph knows what greatness looks like. He won a national title with LSU in 2019 — a team often considered one of the best in college football history (because it didn’t have to face Ohio State in the championship). He also played quarterback at Nebraska in the early 1990s, when the Cornhuskers faced three eventual national champions: Colorado in 1991, Georgia Tech in 1991 and Miami in 1992.

In short, Joseph has seen greatness up close — and he sees it in Ohio State. Or, to borrow a line from Farmer’s Insurance: he knows a thing or two because he’s seen a thing or two.

THAT’S NOT JULIAN SAYIN, THAT’S J-COOL. The Downs 2 Business podcast is still brand new, but its two episodes have been GOLD, JERRY, GOLD!

In the second episode, Caleb Downs and Josh Downs had Ohio State national champion quarterback Will Howard on the podcast to break down Julian Sayin’s performance against Texas (and more).

While the three of them discussed Sayin’s efforts, Caleb Downs shared this about the sophomore signal caller: “A couple of us started calling him J-Cool at practice. He’s actin’ so calm and fearless.”

Sayin certainly looked calm and fearless against Grambling State.

In one half of action, Sayin didn’t have a throw hit the ground… *slaps knee*.

Seriously, though, Sayin completed 18 of 19 passes for 306 yards and four touchdowns. His only mistake was an interception near the goal line, as Tyrell Raby intercepted his pass intended for Carnell Tate.

After the game, Sayin said he “had a lot of fun” at the Horseshoe on Saturday.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the receiving room, the running backs and the offensive line — just enough doing their part in making the offense move.”

I didn’t have the chance to ask him during the press conference, but I imagine part of the fun Sayin had involved a moment late in the fourth quarter when Ohio State blasted Maroon 5 on the Ohio Stadium speakers and put this tweet on the scoreboard:

Julian Sayin plays football like he is listening to Maroon 5 in his AirPods
— Hamp (@Ron_Hamp) August 30, 2025

Too accurate and too funny.

QUACK QUACK. I need to discuss Oregon’s win over Oklahoma State.

Wow, wow, wow… wow.

In the week leading up to the game, Mike Gundy and Dan Lanning beefed about NIL spending. Those who read the Grambling State Skull Session know how much that made me loveeeeee the Ducks in this matchup. A four-touchdown favorite over Oklahoma State, Oregon won by… *counting on fingers* … nine and a half touchdowns.

“It never requires extra motivation for an opportunity to go out and kick ass,” Lanning said after the game. “But it never hurts when somebody pours gasoline on the fire.”

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, who completed 16 of 21 passes for 266 yards and three scores against the Cowboys, said after the game that Gundy’s comments hit “close to home” for him and the rest of the team and that the Ducks used them as motivation entering the matchup.

“For him to attack (Nike co-founder and Oregon graduate) Phil (Knight), Coach Lanning and our team was personal,” Moore said. “We were going to keep the foot on the neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard.”

Ha, they broke the scoreboard alright.

69 points?!

Gundy is down bad.

How bad?

Your son tweets about your accomplishment bad.

“Mike Gundy IS Oklahoma State football. Period,” Gavin Gundy tweeted. “As QB, he set records in the Barry Sanders era. As coach, he stacked 160+ wins, 19 straight bowls, a Big 12 title, two Fiesta Bowls, multiple top-10 finishes, and sent dudes to the NFL year after year. He’s the winningest coach in OSU history and the most important name this program has EVER had. Without him, you’d have nothing to brag about, nothing to watch, nothing to cry about.”

Oof.

That’s bad!

DAILY DUBCAST. The first Eleven Dubcast of the week discusses Michigan losing to Oklahoma in last weekend's most high-profile matchup after Wolverine-friendly media anointed Bryce Underwood as "the best freshman player ever in college football."