Welcome to the Skull Session.
Ohio State is Wide Receiver U.
The highest-graded wide receivers in Week 3 pic.twitter.com/IY84JIfXUU
— PFF (@PFF) September 23, 2025
Have a good Thursday.
“THEY HAVE A FANTASTIC FOOTBALL TEAM.” In a press conference this week, Jedd Fisch called on Washington fans to create one of the best environments Husky Stadium has seen when top-ranked Ohio State visits Seattle this weekend. The second-year head coach also praised the Buckeyes on several occasions, namely sharing his admiration for the program Ryan Day has stewarded since 2019.
“Excited for what should be an amazing atmosphere here. The Purple Rain Game, Purple Out, we will see how much purple we can fill in. Whatever the capacity is, hopefully we go over it — I probably just got in trouble — but whatever the capacity is, we want to pack that place and have as many thousands and thousands of people as we can,” Fisch said. “Talked to the students (on Monday) and told them we wanted every one of them to come to the student section and get that thing to overflow and see how loud we can be.
“By 12 o’clock, let’s have the place packed, then we can just see the type of environment and let the country know with ‘The Greatest Setting in College Football’ looks like. We are excited about the game. We have a fantastic opponent coming in, the No. 1 team in the country. I think this has happened five times in the history of Washington football, hosting the No. 1 team in the country. It has not happened in the last 18 years. We recognize it will be an incredible challenge.”
When asked about the health of Tacario Davis, who suffered an upper-body injury while making an interception against UC Davis and missed the Apple Cup, Fisch said he wasn’t sure if the Huskies’ top cornerback would be good to go against Ohio State.
“I don’t know that about Tacario yet,” Fisch said before transitioning his answer into a series of compliments for Day and the Buckeyes. “They have a fantastic football team. You don’t win the national championship and be the No. 1 team in the country, average 11 to 12 wins every year, for I can’t even remember how long. I know in 2016, they were the No. 1 team in the country when we played them when I was at Michigan. It was a great team then; it is a great team now.
“Coach Day has done an incredible job. He recruits at the highest level. Their team prepares at the highest level. The coaching staff is on the highest level. Every part of it will be a great challenge. It’s not just Jeremiah Smith, but he’s certainly one of the best wide receivers in the country.”
** coughs **
The best.
Smith is the best wide receiver in the country..
Before I move on, Fisch added later in his press conference that he “would love to see” Davis make it back in the lineup against the Buckeyes. If he can’t, Fisch said three players — Leroy Bryant, Dylan Robinson or Rashawn Clark — could start opposite Ephesians Prysock. This season, Bryant has earned 83 snaps, while Robinson and Clark have earned 42 and 85 apiece.
Somewhere in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, Carnell Tate is smiling and throwing that wham in a circle while thinking about his matchups with any of those three musketeers.
The last item to address from Fisch’s press conference is his adoration for Matt Patricia, whom he called “a fantastic defensive coach,” and Ohio State’s defense.
“They have a great staff. They will prepare. They will be very well-coached. They will have a good game plan,” Fisch said. “We will have to match that the best we can. And with their players and their personnel, we will have to match that with our players and our personnel. We will do the best we can to go out there and play our best game and continue to play at a very high level.”
Later, Fisch added, “They do a great job of setting the edge. They do a great job of tackling. They do a great job of disguising their coverages, lining up in a two-high shell and dropping their safeties down late, lining up in a one-high look and getting back to two-high. They’re very disciplined. They know their assignments. They are well executed. That’s, you know, what I think Ohio State’s defense is.
“A year ago, their defense was fantastic, too, with a different coordinator, but Coach (Jim) Knowles did an amazing job there as well. It’s Ohio State. They’re always gonna have a great defense. They’re always gonna have a great offense and a great kicking game. That’s why they win as much as they win.”
Fisch clearly respects what Day and Ohio State have built — and he should. But the more he talked about the Buckeyes’ talent and discipline, the more it felt like an acknowledgment of the gap his Huskies will have to overcome. Hearing it all laid out only strengthens my conviction that Ohio State will walk out of Seattle with a win, perhaps one much bigger than oddsmakers have predicted, given the current spread of 7.5 points.
“I’M GONNA TAKE THE DOGS.” While I — and I am most certain you — believe Ohio State leaves Seattle this weekend with a win, CBS Sports college football analyst Rick Neuheisel sees a different outcome. The former Washington head coach thinks the Huskies beat the Buckeyes on Saturday, citing Julian Sayin’s inexperience as the reason he picked the upset.
"Here comes Julian Sayin in his FIRST game on the road."@CoachNeuheisel is taking WASHINGTON to upset No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday pic.twitter.com/3vb54C9TJL
— CBS Sports College Football (@CBSSportsCFB) September 24, 2025
“Demond Williams is a helluva player, a really good player, and I think he’s gonna prove that against this team, not only with his arm but with his legs. I don’t worry about the Husky offense; I worry about their defense. Can they hold up against a big-time offensive line, a big-time offensive group?” Neuheisel said. “But here’s the key: (Washington) won that Miami game (in 2000) because Ken Dorsey was a freshman quarterback for Miami. All the other pieces were in place, but he wasn’t ready for that kind of scene, that kind of crowd involvement, and here comes Julian Sayin for his first game on the road. He’s been marvelous, almost 80 percent as a passer, but I’m gonna take the dogs in a big-time upset.”
MEETING EXPECTATIONS. This week, Eleven Warriors obtained Ross Bjork’s annual performance review for Jake Diebler. In the document, Bjork wrote that Diebler met expectations in his first season and that Ohio State “will support (Diebler) with all the tools to compete as we move forward.”
“Coach Diebler continues to provide great leadership and energy for our basketball program while continuing to learn and grow in his role as a head coach,” Bjork wrote. “We all understand what he inherited and have worked with Coach on making sure we have the right resources and support to get our program back in contention for (Big Ten) titles and long runs in the NCAA tournament. Coach Diebler has put together the right staff for success and all of the investments will continue to pay off in recruiting, style of play, and success on the court.
“Focusing on high level recruiting, player development, roster retention, revenue share cap management, academic success, and having good young men in the program will be keys to success. As Coach continues to grow in his role and adapts to the evolution of college athletics, he will continue to garner all the necessary attributes of being a great head coach and what it takes to compete at this level.”
We all understand what he inherited...
... ooooooooof.
We do nothing in this program out of fear. #GoBucks | #FightToTheEnd pic.twitter.com/XkN6TMO90o
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) September 23, 2025
Diebler, who took over as Ohio State’s interim head coach in 2023-24 when then-athletic director Gene Smith fired Chris Holtmann amid his seventh year as leader of the program, led the Buckeyes to an 8-3 finish with a run to the NIT quarterfinals that season. Bjork hired him as Ohio State’s full-time coach, signing him to a five-year contract worth $2.5 million annually.
In 2024-25, Diebler led Ohio State to a 17-15 record with a 9-11 mark in Big Ten competition. The Buckeyes missed the NCAA Tournament, extending the program’s streak to three years without an appearance in the Big Dance.
Although Ohio State fell short of its goals in Diebler’s first season, the 38-year-old wrote that the Buckeyes made strides that should lead the program back to prominence in 2025-26.
“It was important for us to take a step forward in year one of our program and we did,” Diebler wrote in his review. “This year provided growth for me and our program as we navigated a great deal of adversity throughout. Improvements in offensive and defensive efficiency, pace of play, and NET rankings were achieved and position us to be better next season in a significant way. We were able to set the foundational culture this year in a way that provides a pathway for a real jump in years to come. That same culture and this staff were the reasons we positioned ourselves at the end of the year to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Disappointed we did not reach that goal, but we were able to have a great off-season regarding roster management and player development.
“Retention was critical moving forward and was a huge success for our program this spring. That same culture also helped our program achieve one of the best GPAs in recent program memory with a cumulative score of 3.23. My commitment and our program’s commitment to return Ohio State Basketball to the level of our tradition’s peak remains the mission. Year one was a positive step but we will still have work to do.”
Connecting generations of our programs past and present because than just a word . #GoBucks | #FightToTheEnd pic.twitter.com/AYrDEceJwk
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) September 10, 2025
Ohio State describes its “meets expectations” rating as one that “most employees can expect to receive.” The performance review notes that Ohio State is “an organization of high expectations and this rating should be celebrated.”
I will not celebrate Diebler’s performance as Ohio State’s head coach until the Buckeyes return to the NCAA Tournament. That feels like a low bar for a program that has reached five Sweet 16s, two Final Fours and one national championship game in my lifetime, but that’s the highest bar I can set for them at the moment, which makes me sad.
Still, I am hopeful Diebler can turn the Basketbucks around!
** laughs nervously **
NAME RECOGNITION. The final section in a Skull Session gone long is about a Youngstown State wide receiver named Max Tomczak. You probably recognize the last name; Max is the nephew of Mike Tomczak, who played quarterback for Ohio State and was a member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.
Max Tomczak’s name appeared in a recent article from ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., Matt Miller and Jordan Reid, in which Kiper named him as one of the “risers to watch” in the 2026 NFL draft.
Tomczak is a nuanced route runner, and he recognizes different coverages well. He adjusts on the ball in the air and then has the hands to secure it. And I see the versatility to play outside or inside -- and return punts. I'm hoping to see him at an all-star event against better competition after the season, but he's the type of player who will fight his way onto an NFL roster.
Through four games, Tomczak has 21 catches for 306 yards and one touchdown. The 6-foot, 195-pounder from Frankfort, Illinois, posted seven catches for 116 yards against Towson last weekend.
I wish him the best of luck the rest of this season on what should be a competitive Youngstown State team. The Penguins are 3-1 with wins over Mercyhurst, Robert Morris and Towson and a 41-24 loss to Michigan State. Following a bye week, they face South Dakota State at home on Oct. 4.
DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back beat writer Andy Anders to provide some perspective on the performance reviews Ohio State Athletic Director Ross Bjork released yesterday regarding Buckeye football and basketball head coaches Ryan Day and Jake Diebler.
SONG OF THE DAY. "I Think I Like When It Rains" - WILLIS.
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