Skull Session: Ryan Day Says the Buckeyes “Expect to Win All the Time,” Arvell Reese’s Breakout Season Continues and Caleb Downs is College Football’s Best Defensive Player

By Chase Brown on October 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
Caleb Downs
Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Boooooom!

Have a good Tuesday.

 “THEY WANT TO BE GREAT.” I talked about culture a lot in the Monday Skull Session. I’ll discuss it again here because, despite losing 14 players selected in the NFL draft, Ohio State’s culture is off the charts for the second straight season.

Entering 2025, Ryan Day believed Ohio State had some maturing to do. Through seven weeks, he says his players have matured, and that the Buckeyes are starting to learn “what it takes” to become a championship-caliber team.

“We keep pushing them about being consistent in their approach. So far, we’ve got that, but it’s a long road,” Day said after Ohio State beat Illinois. “We’re only halfway through the season. The guys we didn’t know about going into the season, they’ve now proven they belong. What do we want this team to look like as we continue to build? They’re competitive. They’re edgy. They like these types of environments. They want to be great and expect to be great. They expect to win all the time. As much as I was on them about growing up and maturing, you are seeing a pretty mature group.”

Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs and Sonny Styles were among the well-established, well-known Buckeyes entering the fall. The trio — which represented Ohio State at Big Ten Media Days this past summer despite being 19, 20 and 20 years old at the time — has been excellent this season. They were again on Saturday, when Smith collected five catches for 42 yards and one touchdown, Downs recorded seven solo stops and Styles paced the Buckeyes with 10 tackles. 

Jermaine Mathews Jr., Kayden McDonald and Arvell Reese are among those who have proven they belong behind Smith, Downs and Styles this year. They were, in my opinion, the top standouts in Ohio State’s second-ranked win of the season.

Mathews played a part in two of the Buckeyes’ three takeaways against Illinois, deflecting a pass that turned into Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer’s first interception of the season and later recording a strip-sack.

McDonald forced the other turnover, knocking the ball free from Illinois running back Ca’Lil Valentine.

And Reese collected eight solo stops and 1.5 sacks.

Ohio State’s defense allowed an average of five points per game entering the Illinois game. The most points the Buckeyes had allowed in a single game was nine (Ohio). They allowed 16 points to the Illini, but Day attributed part of that to the Buckeyes losing some focus after building a 34-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we played well there in toward the end of the third, into the fourth, and then we took our foot off the pedal a little bit and lost our focus," Day said. "But it’s a good sign when you have to go into a locker room after a win like this and make sure everyone understands what a great win it was because I think we all felt like we left a little bit on the field.”

Julian Sayin, who completed 19 of 27 passes (70%) for 166 yards and two touchdowns against Illinois, echoed his coach’s sentiment.

“It’s a great win,” Sayin said. “There’s definitely stuff we want to clean up. Every game, you have stuff to clean up. I feel like we left a couple of things out there. But, you know, the good plays that we made were awesome to see. And I think we’re gonna keep building off this.”

Matthews agreed, sharing that Ohio State's confidence continues to increase week after week.

“It's scary. Watch out. It’s scary,” Mathews said of the Buckeyes' mindset. “A lot of confidence. A lot of confidence.”

That confidence — built on culture, consistency and a growing edge — is exactly what Ryan Day wants to see, and exactly what makes the Buckeyes a national title favorite halfway through the season.

 ALL-AMERICAN KIDS. National outlets will distribute their midseason All-American awards this week. CBS Sports kicked it off on Monday, selecting a midseason All-American team that featured Caleb Downs and Arvell Reese. 

Interestingly (or not-so-interestingly, considering it will create attention and sweet, sweet clicks), CBS Sports’ midseason All-American team did not include Jeremiah Smith, as 16 “experts” picked USC’s Makai Lemon and Texas A&M’s Mario Craver over the Ohio State superstar. I’m fine with Lemon, but Craver? Come on. Smith has 50 catches for 505 yards and eight total touchdowns, while Craver has 32 catches for 634 yards and five total scores. What are we doing here?

Downs and Reese’s selections are, of course, well-earned. We all knew how good Downs was before the season, but Reese? I’m not sure I could have predicted he would be an All-American caliber linebacker in 2025, but here we are. 

If Reese continues to perform at this level for the rest of the season, he won’t just be an All-American, he’ll be a top-10 pick in the NFL draft.

“I can’t get over how great Arvell Reese has been this year. He’s playing like a top 10 pick and has quickly overshadowed teammate Sonny Styles and Texas’ Anthony Hill Jr. as the top ‘backer in the nation,” ESPN’s Matt Miller posted on X this week. “Reese’s style, build and athletic ability are going to make the conversation about playing him off the edge in the pros really interesting. Not to turn every LB into a Micah Parsons project, but he fits the mold.”

 THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS. It’s not a midseason All-American award, but it could be! This week, ESPN’s Bill Connelly ranked Caleb Downs the No. 1 defensive player in college football this season. He also ranked Caden Curry No. 9.

Here’s what Connelly wrote about Downs:

It's a shame Downs doesn't play a natural, box score-filling position because this would be a pretty fun year for a defensive player to make a Heisman run — and not just a Travis Hunter-style two-way player. Downs, however, is content to simply do his job better than any player in the sport. Need an extra run defender? He'll meet you in the backfield. Lock down someone in the slot? Yep, he'll do that too. He's otherworldly. (And he should still start returning punts again and show up for some offensive snaps, Ryan Day! A Heisman run's still on the table! The lane's wide open, let's go!)

I’ve watched Downs’ solo tackle on Hudson Clement, mmmmmm, 1,000 times since Saturday. Let’s make it 1,001.

Sheesh.

I’ll admit that I was surprised to see Curry in the top 10 and not Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, Kayden McDonald or another member of the Silver Bullets. Then again, Curry leads the Ohio State defense with nine tackles for loss and six sacks, with McDonald (five tackles for loss) and Reese (4.5 sacks) being the next closest players in both categories. Curry has been a machine this season!

 MY GOODNESS, CURT CIGNETTI. College fans must appreciate what Curt Cignetti has done as Indiana’s head coach. This week, Indiana ranked No. 3 in the AP Poll, but would anyone like to guess where the Hoosiers rank in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite?

How about No. 72!

  • No. 1 Ohio State → No. 3 in the Team Talent Composite
  • No. 2 Miami → No. 15
  • No. 3 Indiana → No. 72
  • No. 4 Texas A&M → No. 8
  • No. 5 Ole Miss → No. 21
  • No. 6 Alabama → No. 2
  • No. 7 Texas Tech → No. 29
  • No. 8 Oregon → No. 5
  • No. 9 Georgia → No. 1
  • No. 10 LSU → No. 6

Cignetti has made Indiana a national championship contender with the 72nd-most talented roster in college football.

That’s wild!

 DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back Kyle Jones to preview this week's installment of Film Study and discuss if Ohio State will keep their game plans predominantly basic on both sides of the ball heading into the back half of the regular season.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Cigarette Daydreams" - Cage The Elephant.

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