Skull Session: Fun Is Kicking Ass

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Game 13 is around the corner.

Next Stop Indy

8:00 PM
Lucas Oil Stadium
FOX
Indiana pic.twitter.com/6Vt5px0pKI
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 1, 2025

Have a good Tuesday.

ABSOLUTE CINEMA. Ohio State’s creative team cooked with this.

Best thing about being 12-0 pic.twitter.com/jfGpEnTXVu
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 1, 2025

That’s the good stuff.

FUN IS KICKING ASS. Tuesday is usually Moving Day for me — the point in the week when I move on from Ohio State’s last win and look ahead to the next opponent. But even with the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday, this isn’t one of those weeks. The Buckeyes just beat the Wolverines for the first time in six years, and there’s still so much to discuss. Let’s unpack all of it with this in mind: Fun is kicking ass, the line Ryan Day dropped before his team traveled to Ann Arbor last week.

“Fun is kicking ass,” Day said. “We’re preparing to do that, and that’s it. The fun part is winning. We’ll save the fun for being in the locker room and celebrating after the game.”

That’s exactly what the Buckeyes did, thanks to a commanding run game and a dominating defense.

THE RUN GAME. Ohio State ran the ball 47 times for 186 yards in the Big House. Bo Jackson led the team with 22 carries for 117 yards — that’s 46% of the carries and 63% of the yardage from a freshman! — while CJ Donaldson, Isaiah West and Julian Sayin combined for the remaining 25 carries and 69 yards.

While some of that success belongs to Jackson, the heroic efforts of Ohio State’s offensive line deserve the most praise. Austin Siereveld, Luke Montgomery, Carson Hinzman, Tegra Tshabola and Phillip Daniels didn’t allow a single pressure (not just zero sacks — zero pressures), and the offensive line bullied Michigan’s defensive front. The Slobs took their souls.

“You watch our film, the O-line in this past game was as good as I’ve seen,” Day said on Sunday. “The physicality, the way that they played, you know, it was pretty amazing. I think there was 43 knockdowns between all five of them, which I’ve never heard of before. They just played their tail off. And I’m just proud of the physicality, the mindset, and the confidence they played with in this past game.”

You know where I’m headed next: the 20-play, 81-yard drive that drained 11:56 off the clock in the second half.

Ohio States full 20 play 11:56 drive to seal the game pic.twitter.com/tWFHUCX28p
— Brodie (@SadOSUhoopsFan) December 1, 2025

With enough snow on the field for Brutus to cross out the M in the south end zone and sketch a Script Ohio at the goal line, Ohio State beat Michigan at its own game. In 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the Wolverines wore the Buckeyes down after halftime. Hassan Haskins, Donovan Edwards, Blake Corum and Kalel Mullings are names I’ll remember forever because Ohio State could never stop them in the final 30 minutes. But in 2025? Jackson (and maybe Donaldson and West) will live in Michigan’s head rent-free due in large part to this:

Donaldson 8-yard run
West 2-yard run
Jackson 2-yard run
Donaldson 6-yard run
Sayin 2-yard run
Donaldson 7-yard run
Sayin pass incomplete
Sayin 3-yard run
Donaldson -1-yard run
Sayin 9-yard completion to Max Klare
Jackson 13-yard run
West -1-yard run
West 14-yard run
Jackson 9-yard run
Jackson 0-yard run
Sayin 2-yard run
Donaldson 5-yard run
Donaldson 1-yard run
Sayin pass incomplete
Jayden Fielding 23-yard field goal

Would a touchdown have been sweeter? Of course. But it didn’t matter. Fielding’s kick made it a three-score game with 8:10 left. Bryce Underwood and Michigan’s offense against that Ohio State defense? Ha. The Wolverines stood no chance.

THE DEFENSE. The Silver Bullets have been historically good all season. That continued on Saturday, as Ohio State held Michigan to nine points, becoming the first team in 50 years to hold its first 12 opponents to under 17 points (1975 Florida). Oh, and the Buckeyes also limited the Wolverines to 163 total yards, 100 rushing yards, 63 passing yards, nine first downs, 1-of-9 on third down and 0-for-1 on fourth down.

That’s diabolical.

Similar to the run game, the defense made its presence felt in the second half.

Leading 17-9 at halftime, Ohio State received the kickoff, but its drive stalled near midfield. Following a Joe McGuire punt that bounced into the end zone for a touchdown, Michigan took the ball at its own 20, and Bryce Underwood opened the drive with a 26-yard strike to Donaven McCulley. However, the defense never flinched. Instead, the Buckeyes stuffed back-to-back plays and forced an Underwood incompletion, leading to a Michigan punt. On the ensuing drive, Julian Sayin delivered a 50-yard bomb to Carnell Tate to give Ohio State a 24-9 lead.

Game, blouses.

From that moment forward, Ohio State’s defense was as good as it's been this season. Kenyatta Jackson Jr. looked like a man possessed, Sonny Styles like a freight train and Caleb Downs like a heat-seeking missile, leading to second-half numbers like this for Michigan:

6:20 times of possession
39 total yards
3 first downs
2.2 yards per play
5 carries for -8 yards
5-of-13 passing for 47 yards and one interception
0-for-4 on third down
0-for-1 on fourth down
13 total yards on the final 17 plays

The Buckeyes, as Styles said after the game, whooped the Wolverines.

“Before this game, we talked about not caring what happened in the past, saying this team’s different, and going out there to play for the love of your brother, not for the hate of the other team. And I thought we did that today — just a bunch of band of brothers playing for each other,” Styles said. “And we talked about it before the game, we got to win the second half. We had a few games the past few years, we lost the second half. That was a big thing. We came out in the second half and whooped ‘em.”

Styles credited his teammates and Matt Patricia for the performance.

“I think a lot has to do with Coach Patricia,” Styles said. “I think he’s a great coach, great teacher. He’s making us a smarter defense. He does a good job teaching fundamentals. … He’s done an amazing job.”

Ryan Day echoed Styles’ sentiment on Sunday.

“It’s pretty clear to anyone close to the program that he’s done a great job,” Day said. “He’s a very likable guy who just has a great personality, cares about his players. He’s very intentional, meshes well with the staff. … We had a defensive staff already intact, and these guys just came off a national championship, and I felt like they were the best defensive coaching staff in the country. But we needed to bring in someone to work with them and work with our players. And Matt turned out to be a great fit.”

No kidding.

Ohio State’s defense dominated in its biggest game of the year — and it will be just as critical against Indiana and in the College Football Playoff. Defense wins championships, and the Silver Bullets could be (read: will be) the difference as the Buckeyes chase (read: win) a second straight national title.

“THE MOST RELAXED TEAM ON THE PLANET.” ESPN’s Bill Connelly called Ohio State “the most relaxed team on the planet” following its win over Michigan.

I like that description.

I like it a lot.

Here’s some of what he wrote about the Buckeyes this week:

Those things were certainly true enough, but Saturday in Michigan, in the face of increasingly Michigan weather, Ohio State was relaxed, sound and just as good as it has been all season.

…

The Wolverines were never going to be able to keep up, and unlike last year, the Buckeyes were never going to panic. Instead, they treated Michigan like any other opponent in this machine-like run to 12-0.

Mmm, that line about panic is so true. Down 3-0, a Julian Sayin interception, down 6-0, a drive that ends in three points despite several goal-line attempts, a narrow lead into the third quarter — the Buckeyes never panicked. Ryan Day said as much on Saturday.

“We knew there was gonna be adversity and we weren’t gonna let it phase us. Adversity came on the second play of the game (his interception), so we have to keep battling. As an offense, that is our whole mindset, just keep battling.”

Caden Curry said the defense has the same mindset.

“We always come out knowing that we can be the best defense in college football and we want to play the right way and play our game,” Curry said. “We knew our offense would come out swinging, so we knew whatever (Michigan) brought us, we would have to stop it. I feel like we came out there and played as hard and as fast as we could. We were just on top of it all day.”

Curry added,” We know what we have done and know what we can continue to do. We have to keep having that mentality, keep fighting every day and just get better every day.”

Connelly closed his section on the Buckeyes with this:

Damn, it is hard to pick anyone but Ohio State as the clear title favorite.

I agree!

DAILY DUBCAST. Today's Eleven Dubcast welcomes back Kyle Jones to preview the upcoming episode of Film Study that will review how Ohio State dominated Michigan on both sides of the ball after the Buckeyes overcame a slow start to The Game.