Welcome to the Skull Session.
Curt Cignetti wants to retire as an Indiana Hoosier.
A Hoosier through & through.
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) October 16, 2025
Our coach, @CCignettiIU. pic.twitter.com/DFo7n6Ke1w
Also... boooooom!
#BOOM Ohio States second commitment for the 2028 recruiting class is a five-star defensive lineman.https://t.co/5hF08c2G6C pic.twitter.com/mZHyOIYaBU
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) October 16, 2025
Have a good Friday.
TEN YEARS AGO… Michigan had trouble with the snap.
The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode released an oral history of this moment on Thursday. It includes quotes from Mark Dantonio, Tom Izzo, Jake Butt, Sean McDonough and more. It’s fantastic.
“WE HAVE TO MATCH THEIR INTENSITY.” Wisconsin (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) is tied with Michigan State, Penn State, Rutgers and Purdue for last place in the conference. Still, Ryan Day knows Ohio State must be prepared for the Badgers to give it their all when the Buckeyes visit Camp Randall Stadium this weekend.
“Luke Fickell is a very good coach. He knows winning football, and his team plays hard. They play sound football,” Day said on Wednesday. “Now, I know the season hasn’t gone the way that they’ve expected it to go. But at the same time, put the film on. They’re one of the better defenses in the country. And all it takes is a few big plays and get into the offensive rhythm, and they’re going to be in these games, and we know that. We know going into any game on the road is a challenge in this league. We know what we’re gonna get.
“For us, we want to just continually focus on our process and how we do things. But I think the other thing is — there are a lot of ways to look at it — but I’m sure they feel like their backs are against the wall a little bit, fighting for this season, which I can understand. When you get that, you’re going to get a team that’s gonna come out with their hair on fire. We have to match that intensity and then some, there’s no question.”
Wisconsin’s back is against the wall, and the Badgers will come out with their hair on fire. When asked about his team’s mindset entering a matchup with the No. 1 team in the nation, Fickell said the Badgers have “nothing to lose.”
“I think sometimes some of the things that hold us back are ourselves in a way that — look, we’re trying to be perfect, and the recognition that if you’re gonna go out there and do anything against the No. 1 team in the country, you can’t be held back by being perfect, because being perfect is not gonna get us what we need to get,” Fickell said.
“I think it’s two-fold. It’s being up for the challenge, it’s understanding the challenge, but then being willing to understand this is a game of imperfection, and the only way to get better at the game is to play it faster. When you’re in the perfect mindset, it doesn’t allow you to do that. Against a team like this, that you can’t be perfect, I think it’s gonna give us a level of spark. That’s what I believe.”
Not only does Ohio State’s talent and execution pose a challenge, but the Buckeyes’ growing confidence does, too, Fickell said.
“You see a confidence building — not that, people would say, ‘They’re the national champs, how don’t they have confidence?’ But I think when you have a new quarterback, you have some new pieces, you can see growth. What you see is even a growth from Game 1 to where they are now. It’s hard to get past some of the talent level they have and the ability to make plays both offensively and defensively. But I do think you see a uniqueness of complementary football that, maybe at the start of the season, I’m not sure they thought they would have. Obviously, we all want it, but you’re really seeing that kind of grow as you watch them and evaluate them through the season.”
How do you put out a fire? You smother it. That’s Ohio State’s plan for Saturday in Madison.
“We got to come in and certainly get a fast start,” Day said on The Ryan Day Radio Show. “Go get this win, man. Let’s go. Everything we got.”
“THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL.” How good is Caleb Downs?
“He’s the best defensive player in college football,” Day said on Wednesday.
Indeed, he is.
Even without spectacular stats — Downs has 28 tackles, two tackles for loss and one interception this season — the third-year defensive back has earned midseason All-American honors from The Associated Press, The Athletic, CBS Sports and more. That’s because we all can recognize that, stats or no stats, Downs’ is integral to Ohio State’s defense, or as Day calls him, “the man that makes it all happen.”
“We all see what Caleb does on the field. But a big part of the success that we have is Caleb’s presence on the field and communicating and getting everybody on the same page and building confidence around him,” Day said. “That’s probably one of the things that maybe has gone unrecognized a little bit, maybe not to everybody.”
Certainly not to Fickell, who named Caleb Downs among the many “really good football players” on Ohio State’s defense.
“They can do a lot of different things with Caleb Downs, and he gives you an opportunity to line him up anywhere and know he’s gonna put himself in a position that makes it harder for you to read and recognize those things,” Day said. “The disguise is something that’s really good, but I don’t think that overshadows the ability of the guys that line up up front and really across the board.”
How good is @OhioStateFB's Caleb Downs?
— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 11, 2025
: FOX pic.twitter.com/ECFB5ff4sj
The bottom line, Day said, is that Downs makes everyone around him better.
“Going into the season, we had some guys on the team that were a little inexperienced and hadn’t played a lot of football,” Day said. “When you take somebody like Caleb and somebody like Sonny (Styles) who have played and can lead and can communicate and can build confidence with the guys around them, those are the things you don’t see.
“To me, that’s why Caleb is such a special player. He’s the best defensive player in the country, especially in the secondary. His impact is felt not just with his play, but also the impact he has on those around him. And that’s what a great player does. They make the others around him better.”
Thank you for retiring, Nick Saban. We are eternally grateful.
“WE’RE DICTATING THE TEMPO.” In Thursday’s Skull Session, I highlighted some statistics on Ohio State’s pace of play — the Buckeyes have averaged 60 plays per game, ranking No. 132 in the FBS, just ahead of Cincinnati (59.2), Miami (Ohio) (57.4), North Carolina (57.3) and UL Monroe (56.4) — and wondered whether that tempo is controlled and methodical.
Day’s comments on his radio show suggest that it is.
“The first thing is when you huddle, it’s a different approach. You get everybody together. You can get everybody on the same page. You can call multiple things. You can get alerts. There are a lot of things that, with the huddle, allow us to do things,” Day said. “We do feel strong about the huddle. We think it helps us. You’ve seen us use tempo at times. There are plus and minuses to everything. When we need to speed up the game, we have the ability to do that, and we will do that. But we want to be efficient.”
Day said Ohio State’s roster health and depth have factored into the decision to play at a slower pace. Still, if the team can score quickly, he wouldn’t be upset.
“In our last two drives (against Illinois), we went three-and-out twice. We’re not trying to do that. So feel free to get first downs and keep that thing moving,” Day said with a laugh. “But we’re gonna try to make sure that we’re dictating the tempo the way that we feel best. But ultimately, it comes down to efficiency in the game. We want to be explosive, and we certainly always want to score points when we’re on the field. We’ll continue to work different tempos and make sure that we’re being efficient. But that’s the most important thing.”
In Day we trust, folks. In Day we trust.
DAILY DUBCAST. The final Eleven Dubcast of the week previews the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin game with Dan Hope and ponders the future of current Badgers and former Buckeyes head coach Luke Fickell should OSU win in resounding fashion.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Luxury" - Jon Bellion.
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