Skull Session: Joel Klatt Calls Ohio State “Suffocatingly Good” and Its Defense “The Elite Unit in the Sport,” and Jaxon Smith-Njigba Says Jeremiah Smith is “Gonna Be a Superstar” in the NFL

By Chase Brown on October 7, 2025 at 5:00 am
Jeremiah Smith
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Beep beep.

Have a good Tuesday.

 OH, BROTHER! Yeah, I know, I know, it’s October, and the polls shouldn’t matter. But they matter to me!

This weekend, Ohio State beat Minnesota 42-3 and led the nation in net success rate — a metric that college football analyst Parker Fleming shares in his weekly “Did we really get beat that bad?” post. The Buckeyes’ 39-point win tacked on to four victories over then-No. 1 Texas, Grambling State, Ohio and Washington (in Seattle).

Still, college football analysts from across America called for Miami, which defeated then-No. 18 Florida State 28-22 in Tallahassee, to be the No. 1 team in the AP Poll. In one instance, former Georgia quarterback and current SiriusXM color commentator Aaron Murray called the Hurricanes the best team in college football, with “a distant second.”

You ever seen the Ben Affleck meme where he’s smoking a cigarette? 

That’s how I felt reading Murray’s tweet. 

I felt the same about his follow-up.

Oh, brother.

To answer his question, who has Ohio State beaten? All five of its opponents, outscoring them 187-25. Yes, that includes Texas, a team that lost to Florida, but let’s not act like the Longhorns didn’t enter the season as the national title favorite with Arch Manning at quarterback.

Now, I’ll give Murray this: Miami has a better résumé than Ohio State. But it’s not without flaws. The Hurricanes’ win over Notre Dame looks better and better as the Irish find their groove, as does their 49-12 blowout of South Florida. Still, let’s not rewrite history — Miami didn’t exactly “spank” Florida in a game where Carson Beck completed 17 of 30 passes for 160 yards and one interception (though he did bounce back with 241 yards and four touchdowns against Florida State).

And here’s something else: through five games, Miami hasn’t left the state of Florida. The Hurricanes won’t play outside the Sunshine State until next month, when they travel to SMU on Nov. 1. Between now and then, they host Louisville (Oct. 17) and Stanford (Oct. 25).

The rest of Miami’s schedule doesn’t exactly scream “battle-tested,” either. None of their remaining opponents are ranked: Louisville, Stanford, at SMU, Syracuse, NC State, at Virginia Tech, and at Pittsburgh.

So, yeah — Miami’s good. Really good. But the Hurricanes aren’t the Buckeyes. And it’s ridiculous to think otherwise. It’ll look even more ridiculous when Miami inevitably drops one of those upcoming games because Beck throws three interceptions or Cristobal botches another clock situation. (If I had to pick one team to beat the Hurricanes, it would be Fran Brown and Syracuse.)

 “THEY ARE SUFFOCATINGLY GOOD.” Where some college football analysts failed me this weekend, Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt didn’t let me down. In his latest top 10 poll, Klatt ranked Miami No. 3 behind Ohio State and Oregon.

Why did Klatt stick with the Buckeyes as his top-ranked team? Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs, the two best players in college football, and Ohio State’s defense, “the elite unit in the sport,” he said.

“They just dismantled Minnesota. It’s not very close,” Klatt said. “Here’s the bottom line for me: they are the team that has not shown a real weakness in any game. That’s why they’re No. 1. They are suffocatingly good because they have answers (for everything).”

Klatt continued: “The Ohio State defense is the elite unit in the sport, period. They are great at the line of scrimmage. Caden Curry has become a real factor at defensive end. They have the best tandem of linebackers in the country in Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese. And they have the single best defender behind all that in Caleb Downs. It is the best defense and single best unit in the country. And here’s what is scary about that, is that a lot of these guys are really smart players and Matt Patricia has taken them to another level. 

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this because they were No. 1 in the country, they won the national championship and they were the best defense in the country a year ago — Ohio State’s defense is better this year. They’re faster and more intricate, and then they can execute those intricate systems and schematics. The scary part is that Matt Patricia has elevated this defense. They are prepared, they execute, they are fundamentally better than they were early last year. That’s a scary proposition.

“So, why is Ohio State No. 1 over the other teams? It’s not that they’re bad, the other teams. It’s not that they’re wildly better. No, no, no, it’s just that they haven’t shown a weakness, they’ve got the most elite unit in the sport, they’ve got the best offensive player in the sport, they’ve got the best defensive player, Caleb Downs — like, that’s a tough out. That’s why they’re the No. 1 team in the country.”

Sanity prevails!

 “HE’S GONNA BE A SUPERSTAR.” Before Emeka Egbuka (7 catches, 163 yards, 1 TD) and Jaxon Smith-Njigba (8 catches, 132 yards, 1 TD) went band for band and M for M in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 38-35 win over the Seattle Seahawks, JSN appeared on The Rich Eisen Show last week and said that Jeremiah Smith will be better than him, Egbuka and the rest of former Ohio State wide receivers tearing up the NFL.

“Jeremiah Smith is something I’ve never really seen before, honestly, on the field at that stature as a receiver, man,” Smith-Njigba said. “A person who can create at all three levels. Just a competitor, the competitive spirit, you can see it when he’s out there. His whole team, me being on the sideline (against Washington), and his whole team coming to him and saying, ‘Four, let’s roll.’ Just to bring everybody’s confidence up on the team is really next level and shows what type of person and player he is. I’m excited to see the records he breaks and the more rings that he chases at Ohio State.”

Later, Smith-Njigba added, “I think his ceiling is further than I would say a lot of us — I would say definitely myself. Just being 6-4, running 4.3, his routes, the top of his routes, I believe that he has it all. He’s a special (player). He’s a star. He’s gonna be a superstar, and I can’t wait until he gets to the league and balls out at the highest level. But yeah, man, his ceiling is far greater than a lot that I’ve seen.”

I can’t believe we get another one-and-a-half years of JJ!

 OSU → NFLU. Through five games this season, ESPN’s Jordan Reid has five Buckeyes marked as top-50 prospects in the 2026 NFL draft: Caleb Downs, Arvell Reese, Carmell Tate, Sonny Styles and Max Klare.

Reid said he spoke with NFL scouts after Ohio State beat Washington. Those scouts told him Reese “has catapulted into the Round 1 discussion, and if he continues this rapid climb up boards, he has a chance to be the first linebacker selected and a top-20 pick.”

Reid’s ESPN co-worker, Matt Miller, tweeted late Sunday that someone needs to convince him that Reese isn’t a top-15 prospect in 2026.

Here’s my attempt: Reese isn’t a top-15 prospect; he’s a top-10 one.

Ha! Got him!

 DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back Kyle Jones to preview this week's Film Study relative to how Matt Patricia adapted Ohio State's defense after Minnesota's opening drive and what he's done differently so far compared to Jim Knowles last season.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Rock With You" - Michael Jackson.

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