Skull Session: Penn State Interim Coach Terry Smith Calls Ohio State “Very Talented,” and the Buckeyes Continue to Dominate Despite Revealing Just Half of Their Offensive Playbook

Welcome to the Skull Session.

This video is hilarious.

In honor of @Brutus_Buckeye s birthday WEEK

Any guesses how old hes turning #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/r58oryTUfb
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) October 27, 2025

Do you know how old Brutus will be? I'll leave the answer at the bottom of the Skull Session.

Have a good Tuesday.

“THIS IS WHY YOU COME TO PENN STATE.” Penn State interim coach Terry Smith borrowed — and slightly tweaked — a familiar Ryan Day line, one the Ohio State head coach has repeated countless times since I started covering the Buckeyes in 2021: This is why you come to Ohio State → This is why you come to Penn State.

Smith used the line during his Monday press conference, where he praised Day for the culture he’s built at Ohio State and the depth of talent throughout the Buckeyes’ roster.

“They’re a very well-coached team, very talented. Coach Day’s done an amazing job with those guys,” Smith said of Ohio State.

His praise continued when he turned his attention to Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate.

“This week will be an extreme challenge. Ohio State has a long history of great receivers. Arguably, these two are two of the better ones in that list,” he said. “Jeremiah Smith is as good as they come. We were hoping he would go through the sophomore slump, but obviously, he’s not…”

Terry Smith didn’t crack a smile when he said it, but the “sophomore slump” comment sounded tongue-in-cheek.

“... He’s just got everything. He’s big, strong, fast, runs great routes, competes. We have our hands full. Our job on the backend is to make those guys earn it. We have to limit explosive plays, keep the ball in front of us, make them earn their way down the field and not give up one-play scores.”

Smith also lauded Ohio State’s defense, calling it “elite” and recognizing it as the top-ranked unit in college football.

“They’ve got a lot of elite talent. They’re big up front. They’re fast in the middle, and they can cover on the backend,” Smith said.

While Smith acknowledged Ohio State’s greatness, the interim coach expressed confidence that the Nittany Lions can beat the Buckeyes — so long as the team performs with maximum effort.

“This is why you come to Penn State, for this big stage, you know, to play in games like this and to be able to compete against the No. 1 team in the country and have an opportunity to beat those guys,” Smith said. “This staff has confidence in the way we’ve prepared so far. We had a really good week last week. We’re looking forward to having a good week this week. Everyone’s positive and ready to go.”

Later, he added, “We’re going to work our tails off. It’s my job to make sure that the staff doesn’t come up short. We’re going to demand excellence as we always have here. I promised that when we went to Iowa, we were gonna play hard. You know, I’m gonna double down on that when we go up here to Ohio State. Effort will never be an issue for any team that I coach. This week, we’re gonna try to figure out how to give that maximum effort with victory.”

With Ohio State marked as a 20.5-point favorite over Penn State, the Nittany Lions will need a lot more than effort to beat the Buckeyes on Saturday. Losers of four straight, methinks Smith and the Nittany Lions are about to fall to 3–5 on the year — just in time for No. 2 Indiana to visit Beaver Stadium on Nov. 8!

“WE'RE JUST WAITING ON THE BIG PLAYS.” ESPN’s Bill Connelly shared an article over the weekend naming four teams “playing like national champs” through Week 9: Indiana, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Alabama.

Here’s what Connelly wrote about the Buckeyes:

We're just waiting on the big plays. Ohio State currently ranks ninth nationally in points scored per drive and first in offensive success rate; the defense ranks first in points allowed per drive and has forced more turnovers (nine) than it has given up gains of 25-plus yards (six). The Buckeyes given up only 4.0 yards per dropback (first) and have given up touchdowns on only two of 12 opponent red zone trips (16.7%, also first).

Because of Texas' generally mediocre showing in 2025, the Buckeyes' season-opening win over the Longhorns doesn't carry as much weight as expected, but they played two other SP+ top-30 opponents on the road (Washington and Illinois) and beat them by a combined 58-22.

They've done that while barely even trying to get aggressive on offense. Julian Sayin's 80% completion rate leads the nation (no one else is even above 75%), but despite having two otherworldly deep threats in Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, the Buckeyes' average pass is just 7.6 yards downfield (105th), and only 12.9% of completions have gained 20-plus yards (109th). It feels as if they aren't even showing us half the playbook, and they've reached November having barely broken a sweat. Indiana shows us it's one of the best teams in the nation every week; Ohio State just drops us reminders of what it will probably do when the games really matter.

A team that has Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate ranks No. 105 in ADOT (7.6 yards) and No. 109 in percentage of completions for 20+ yards (12.9%). Surely, that has cost them some games.

Oh, that team has the No. 1 defense in the nation? One that has allowed 41 total points, ranks No. 1 in opponent yards per dropback (4) and No. 1 in red zone touchdown percentage (16.7%)?

Nevermind.

I agree with Connelly. It feels like Ryan Day and Brian Hartline haven’t even shown us half of their playbook, and yet the Buckeyes have reached November “without breaking a sweat” — or, as FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt put it earlier this season, they look like Usain Bolt running the 100m and 200m dash.

“HE’S ONE OF THE TOP QUARTERBACKS IN AMERICA.” Part of the reason Ohio State has limited its playbook through two months of the season is that Julian Sayin is a first-year starter at quarterback.

The Buckeyes have put more and more on Sayin’s plate in recent weeks, and he’s responded well. He threw for a career-high 393 yards and four touchdowns against Wisconsin, bumping his season totals to an FBS-best 80% completion rate with 1,872 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and three interceptions.

In the latest Urban Analysis for Big Ten Network, Urban Meyer said he’s loved how Ryan Day and Brian Hartline (and Billy Fessler) have developed Sayin to this point in the season. The former Ohio State head coach explained what Sayin has done well — and where he’ll become more comfortable as the year continues.

“I think head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline have done a terrific job developing this young quarterback, Julian Sayin,” Meyer said at the start of the video. “Let’s go back a little bit. Game 1 against Texas, I thought they played it perfectly. Playing great defense, you know what they did? They only let him throw the ball 20 times. He was 13 of 20 for 126 yards. But he was a young quarterback making his first start. Now, he’s a veteran quarterback, and they’re letting him play the game. And by the way, he’s one of the top quarterbacks in America.”

At the end of the video, Meyer added, “His development is right on point, and there’s no two better people to develop the quarterback than Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline.”

“His upside is so much with those guys coaching him,” DiNardo continued.

I agree!

TREY ANASTASIO LOVED NICK MANGOLD. Following Nick Mangold’s death, NFL Films redistributed a 10-minute feature on an unlikely meeting between Trey Anastasio and Nick Mangold at a Phish concert in 2021.

The feature shows how much Anastasio loved Mangold, as the Phish co-founder said Mangold was, at the time, “symbolic of what a New York Jet should be like” and “represents everything I love about football and about being on a team.”

I highly recommend taking some time to watch it today (or sometime this week):

Full feature on Mangold's love of music and unlikely meeting with @treyanastasio at a @phish concert. @Finkerton | @espnbob | @WeaverNFLF | @RachelMicali pic.twitter.com/as82GwJJys
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) October 26, 2025

DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back Kyle Jones to discuss the likelihood of Ohio State continuing to lean on Julian Sayin down the stretch of the regular season and if the Buckeyes' defense can make similar late-season improvements to those it did a year ago.