Welcome to the Skull Session.
Emeka Egbuka is the only player in NFL history with 25+ receptions, 400+ receiving yards and 5+ receiving touchdowns in his first five career games.
Is that good?
History noted: Emeka Egbuka. pic.twitter.com/TDgWuMBfBU
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) October 6, 2025
Yeah, it's good.
Have a good Wednesday.
THE COMPUTERS! It's Wednesday. You know what that means. This week, The Computers view Ohio State as one of the best teams in college football, as the Buckeyes ranked No. 1 in the College Football Power Index and No. 2 in SP+.
College Football Power Index
| TEAM | RECORD | FPI | WIN OUT | WIN CONF | MAKE CFP | WIN CFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE | 5-0 | 24.9 | 22.8% | 38.8% | 88.6% | 19.9% |
| OREGON | 5-0 | 24.2 | 15.3% | 32.6% | 86.1% | 15.6% |
| ALABAMA | 4-1 | 23.5 | 11.4% | 43.6% | 78.4% | 14% |
| INDIANA | 5-0 | 21.4 | 6.6% | 16.3% | 71.8% | 8.4% |
| NOTRE DAME | 3-2 | 21.1 | 41.1% | N/A | 16.4% | 0.9% |
Ohio State's future opponents in the College Football Power Index: Illinois (28), Wisconsin (54), Penn State (11), Purdue (70), UCLA (78), Rutgers (51), Michigan (12)
SP+
| TEAM | RECORD | RATING | OFFENSE | DEFENSE | SPECIAL TEAMS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OREGON | 5-0 | 30.8 | 42.5 (2) | 11.9 (3) | 0.2 (21) |
| OHIO STATE | 5-0 | 30.6 | 39.3 (8) | 8.8 (1) | 0.1 (39) |
| INDIANA | 5-0 | 27.1 | 39.4 (7) | 12.6 (6) | 0.3 (12) |
| OKLAHOMA | 5-0 | 25.8 | 35.9 (23) | 10.4 (2) | 0.2 (13) |
| TEXAS TECH | 5-0 | 25.7 | 41.2 (4) | 15.6 (11) | 0.2 (26) |
Ohio State's future opponents in the SP+: Illinois (29), Wisconsin (66), Penn State (18), Purdue (80), UCLA (86), Rutgers (50), Michigan (64)
Matchup Predictor
| OPPONENT | DATE | LOCATION | PREDICTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| ILLINOIS | 10/11 | CHAMPAIGN, IL | OHIO STATE 82.3% |
| WISCONSIN | 10/18 | MADISON, WI | OHIO STATE 91% |
| PENN STATE | 11/1 | COLUMBUS, OH | OHIO STATE 80.9% |
| PURDUE | 11/8 | WEST LAFAYETTE, IN | OHIO STATE 95.5% |
| UCLA | 11/15 | COLUMBUS, OH | OHIO STATE 98.2% |
| RUTGERS | 11/22 | COLUMBUS, OH | OHIO STATE 93.3% |
| MICHIGAN | 11/29 | ANN ARBOR, MI | OHIO STATE 66.2% |
Movements from Week 4 to Week 5
- Illinois: 81% → 82.3%
- Wisconsin: 90.2% → 91%
- Penn State: 71.2% → 80.9%
- Purdue: 94.9% → 95.5%
- UCLA: 98.6% → 98.2%
- Rutgers: 91.8% → 93.3%
- Michigan: 60.1% → 66.2%
Oh, how I love to see the percentages for Penn State and Michigan move in Ohio State's favor. Oh, how I love it!
STOP, COLLABORATE AND LISTEN. Ohio State ranks No. 1 in scoring defense (5 PPG), No. 3 in total defense (215.8 YPG), No. 4 in passing defense (124.4 YPG), No. 21 in rushing defense (91.4 YPG), but No. 3 in stop rate?
| TEAM | GAMES* | STOP RATE | PTS/DRIVE |
|---|---|---|---|
| TEXAS TECH | 4 | 85.5% | 0.89 |
| OKLAHOMA | 4 | 85.1% | 0.70 |
| OHIO STATE | 4 | 84.2% | 0.66 |
| TEXAS | 5 | 83.1% | 0.98 |
| MARYLAND | 4 | 82% | 1.00 |
| OREGON | 4 | 81.4% | 1.12 |
| TOLEDO | 4 | 79.2% | 1.29 |
| LSU | 4 | 79.1% | 1.19 |
| OLD DOMINION | 4 | 78.7% | 1.28 |
| INDIANA | 4 | 78.3% | 1.19 |
| *GAMES VS. FBS OPPONENTS | |||
Heh?
ESPN's Max Olson revealed the stop rate — the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs — for all 136 FBS teams. The Buckeyes (84.2%) ranked No. 3 behind Texas Tech (85.5%) and Oklahoma (85.1%) in the metric.
Given the statistics I mentioned above, the math ain't mathin' for me.
The Red Raiders have the No. 4 scoring defense, No. 9 total defense, No. 28 passing defense and No. 3 rushing defense, while the Sooners rank No. 2, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 5 in those same categories. OK, wait. Oklahoma ahead of Ohio State makes sense. But Texas Tech? That's still a head-scratcher. Perhaps the Red Raiders epitomize "bend, don't break," allowing opponents to march down the field before the defense stiffens and makes a stop.
Regardless of where Ohio State falls among Texas Tech and Oklahoma, it's clear that Matt Patricia's defense is one of the best in America. This metric provides even more evidence to that conclusion.
FWIW, $3.1 million coordinator Jim Knowles and his Penn State defense rank No. 33 in stop rate at 68.2%. The Nittany Lions are allowing 1.89 points per drive.
RYAN DAY IS MOVING DIFFERENT, PART THREE. Be advised: I have another example of Ryan Day moving different this season. It has to do with what seven-time national champion head coach Nick Saban once called rat poison.
When asked about the praise his team has received amid its 5-0 start to the season, Day's answer lasted about two-and-a-half minutes.
“Every time I hear somebody say, ‘You guys are doing great,’ or anything like that, I feel like we’re getting set up. That’s just the way that I look at it as a coach. Because I just feel like it’s our job as coaches and leaders to make sure guys understand — we say ignore the noise,” Day said. “All of a sudden, everyone thinks you’re the No. 1 team in the country, and you’ve done all these things. We haven’t done anything yet. We haven’t accomplished a thing. The only thing that’s gonna matter is who gets better week in and week out.
“And it’s just easy nowadays because of the media, because of their phones, because of everything that comes with it, you can start reading your press clippings and start feeling pretty good about yourself. And then all of a sudden, you get knocked out, and you don’t realize it. We cannot let that happen. And the coaches, and the leaders and all of those guys are determined not to let that happen. But that’s because it’s not about the score. It’s not about the opponent. It’s about us, our training and our foundation. That’s got to be the focus. It’s the process over the results.
“But the tricky thing is you’ve got to bring it every week. But these are still 18. 19. 20-year-old men. They’re young men. But they’re not pros yet. Although the world’s changing, we have to make sure they understand that, and when you haven’t been through that before — I talk to guys all the time, there’s wisdom, and if you can just listen to the people that have been through it before, we have a lot of great coaches with great wisdom. I suggest to our players all the time, ask them what it’s like because they’ve been through the ups and the downs and everything in between.
“This is gonna be a long season, and we have to bring it. Every single team we play, including this team, which is a very good team, can knock you off if you’re not on your game. And this has to be the best game we’ve played all season. And that’s the other part. It can’t just be like what we did last week. The team we were last week is not gonna be good enough. We’ve got to be better in a lot of areas. And if that’s the approach, we’re gonna have a chance. To say that we haven’t had that approach up to this point would not be true. I think we have, but we’ve got to keep pushing. The minute we think we’ve got this figured out, we’re about to get it, and we can’t be that way. Now, I have not seen that, so that’s good, but we’ve got to stay on it at all times.”
I don't know if Woody Hayes said it, but I've seen people attribute this quote to him: "If anyone pays you a compliment, kick 'em in the shins, unless it's a lady over 80."
It looks like Ryan Day has adopted that philosophy this season.
Keep that rat poison away from him!
"GOTTA TALK ABOUT STRAIGHT FACTS." Former Ohio State quarterback and 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith shared this on X this week:
Gotta talk about straight facts. If the kid at Texas wouldve had the start that @juliansayin2 is having here for our @OhioStateFB, hed be 1st in @Heisman votes, @daveyobrien talks, and any other major Awards at the end of the season, put some respect on what hes doin..
— Troy Smith (@yn_TroySmith) October 7, 2025
He's correct!
DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast brings on Dan Hope to examine the latest edition of his Big Ten Power Rankings, explore which of the top teams currently poses the greatest threat to beat Ohio State and if Penn State can dig itself out of the gutter.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Lady May" - Tyler Childers.
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