Welcome to the Skull Session.
Three more sleeps.
Regular Season Finale
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) November 25, 2025
12:00 P
ichigan Stadiu
FOX
TUN pic.twitter.com/xZHOMC5I3B
Have a good Wednesday.
THE COMPUTERS! I am a simple man. If Ohio State keeps its routine the week of The Game, I'll keep mine the same.
For the fourth straight week, Ohio State is the unanimous No. 1 team in college football. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 1 in the CFP, AP Poll and Coaches Poll. They are also No. 1 in both the College Football Power Index and SP+.
College Football Power Index
| TEAM | RECORD | FPI | WIN OUT | WIN CONF | MAKE CFP | WIN CFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE | 11-0 | 28.1 | 51% | 51.1% | 100% | 27.1% |
| INDIANA | 11-0 | 26.6 | 42.5% | 43.3% | 99.8% | 24.2% |
| NOTRE DAME | 9-2 | 24.9 | 95.6% | N/A | 73.1% | 5.7% |
| OREGON | 10-1 | 24.4 | 64.5% | 4.8% | 97.5% | 10.7% |
| ALABAMA | 9-2 | 21.8 | 40.7% | 40.7% | 60.4% | 3.3% |
Ohio State's future opponent in the College Football Power Index: That Team Up North (18)
SP+
| TEAM | RECORD | RATING | OFFENSE | DEFENSE | SPECIAL TEAMS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE | 11-0 | 32.4 | 40.4 (6) | 8.3 (1) | 0.3 (41) |
| INDIANA | 11-0 | 29.9 | 40.6 (5) | 11.2 (2) | 0.4 (27) |
| TEXAS TECH | 10-1 | 28.7 | 41.1 (3) | 12.8 (4) | 0.4 (31) |
| OREGON | 10-1 | 26.6 | 39.2 (11) | 12.9 (5) | 0.3 (45) |
| NOTRE DAME | 9-2 | 24.3 | 40 (7) | 15.9 (11) | 0.2 (57) |
Ohio State's future opponent in the SP+: That Team Up North (22)
Matchup Predictor
| OPPONENT | DATE | LOCATION | PREDICTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| THAT TEAM UP NORTH | 11/29 | ANN ARBOR, MI | OHIO STATE 78.2% |
Movements from Week 13 to Week 14
- That Team Up North: 80.7% → 78.2%
The Computers’ confidence in Ohio State is decreasing (a little), but mine is increasing! Rage against the machine.
JUST ONE STOP. For the first time in three weeks, there's a new top three in stop rate: Texas Tech, San Diego State and Ohio State. The Aztecs took the Buckeyes' spot at No. 2 after beating San Jose State 25-3 this past weekend.
| TEAM | GAMES* | STOP RATE | PTS/DRIVE |
|---|---|---|---|
| TEXAS TECH | 10 | 83.5% | 0.95 |
| SAN DIEGO STATE | 10 | 82.1% | 1.00 |
| OHIO STATE | 10 | 81.9% | 0.89 |
| TOLEDO | 10 | 80% | 1.19 |
| INDIANA | 10 | 77.1% | 1.09 |
| OKLAHOMA | 10 | 75% | 1.22 |
| MIAMI | 10 | 74.5% | 1.42 |
| OREGON | 10 | 74.5% | 1.42 |
| OLD DOMINION | 10 | 74% | 1.63 |
| JAMES MADISON | 10 | 73.5% | 1.41 |
| *GAMES VS. FBS OPPONENTS | |||
ESPN's Max Olson created stop rate to measure the percentage of a defense's drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs for all 136 FBS teams.
Texas Tech, San Diego State and Ohio State lead a top five that also features Home of the Mudhens Toledo (80%) and Home of the Hickory Huskers Indiana (77.1%). The rest of the top 10 includes Oklahoma (75%), Miami (74.5%), Oregon (74.5%), Old Dominion (74%) and James Madison (73.5%).
One of Ohio State’s problems in The Game over the past four years is that the defense couldn’t get stops when it mattered most. But that stretch featured one year of Kerry Coombs (well… Matt Barnes) and three years of Jim Knowles. Now, Matt Patricia is in charge — and he’s pretty good… pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good!
My confidence in Patricia starts with the numbers: Ohio State ranks No. 1 nationally in total defense (206.6 YPG) and scoring defense (7.6 PPG) — 43.3 yards and four points better than the next-best teams in those categories, Toledo and Indiana. The Buckeyes are also No. 4 in opponent third-down conversion percentage (28.5%), trailing only Texas A&M, Indiana and Virginia. If Patricia’s group can continue to win on third down and keep Michigan’s offense off the field, Ohio State’s path to a win in Ann Arbor becomes much clearer.
"FUN IS KICKING ASS." In his Tuesday press conference, Ryan Day sounded confident in his team as it prepares for The Game — so confident, in fact, that the often-reserved coach who avoids bold declarations essentially called his shot on behalf of the Buckeyes.
When asked if it's fun to be Ohio State's head coach this week, Day cracked a smile.
"Fun is kicking ass. That's what we want to do on Saturday. We're preparing to do that, and that's it," Day said. "The fun part is winning. We'll save the fun for being in the locker room and celebrating after the game."
First: 10-out-of-10 response. No notes.
Second: Day delivered several more standout quotes on Tuesday, starting with an explanation of where emotion fits into The Game.
"You have to play with emotion, but you can't let it play with you," he said. "You have to learn to use it as a nitrous, not as a primary fuel source."
Maybe nitrous explains the different look in Day’s eyes since November 2024 — a look one of Ohio State’s captains, Brandon Inniss, noted after the Buckeyes beat UCLA.
"We're all the sum of our experiences," Day said when asked about Inniss' comments. "You learn from things, and you grow from things, and you try to do everything you can, again, to put your guys in a situation to be successful. That's it. We're gonna rely on our experiences going into this week. ... We all grow. We do things well. We have our failures, but you have to grow from them. That's it. This team right here is a different team. They have a great look in their eye. That's the most important thing here. That's the focus."
The focus. That can be boiled down to two words: Just win. Those are the words Day said when he shared his message for Julian Sayin this week — yet that message applies to the entire program.
"Just win. That's it. Just lead the team to victory. Whatever that looks like and however that is, that's the No.1 goal," Day said. "These guys are going to prepare all week, and we're going to put together a great game plan for them to be successful, and that's it. They got to go put it on the field.
"But it's not just the quarterback. It's everybody involved. That's what we all need to understand. I think sometimes we look back, we want to point the finger at one thing or another, but it's everybody, and that's why when we play matchup games like this, it can come down to one play. So everybody in the entire building has got to be on point this week, and that's special teams, offense and defense, and everybody involved with it. Certainly, the quarterback gets a lot of attention, but we need everybody."
I love that Day didn’t posture or perform on Tuesday. He just laid it out: prepare, execute and win. Now it’s on the Buckeyes to finish the job.
"NOT IN THE HEMISPHERE." Fox Sports' Joel Klatt defended The Game to a bunch of Iron Bowl truthers this week, and I couldn't be happier.
In an appearance on The Next Round with Jim Dunaway, Ryan Brown and Lance Taylor, Klatt told the hosts — based in Birmingham, Alabama — that the Iron Bowl is "not in the hemisphere" as The Game.
"The Iron Bowl is not in the hemisphere of Ohio State vs. Michigan." - @joelklatt pic.twitter.com/EhYU4JQCB8
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) November 24, 2025
"It is Michigan-Ohio State," Taylor said. "If there is a rivalry that approaches the hate of Alabama and Auburn, it is this one —"
"Approaches?" a bewildered Klatt interrupted.
"Oh, come on, Klatt. You haven't lived in this state. (Michigan and Ohio State) live in separate states —"
"You guys haven't lived in that rivalry."
"Klatt, they live in separate states. These are the same state. Same state here, Klatt. Smaller territory."
"Guys, I love you," Klatt said. "The Iron Bowl is not in the hemisphere of Ohio State-Michigan. ... I don't want to discount it. I think it's phenomenal. I love rivalries. I discounted it compared to the greatest rivalry in sports."
Klatt's correct! The Iron Bowl doesn't hold a torch to The Game! It never will!
DAILY DUBCAST. The Thanksgiving Eve episode of the Eleven Dubcast enlists Dan Hope to discuss the possibility of Chip Kelly returning to Ohio State in an analyst capacity prior to the College Football Playoff after his dismissal from the Las Vegas Raiders.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Love Me" - JMSN.
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