Welcome to the Skull Session.
I have an inkling about who will win the Broyles Award this year.
Man with the Plan
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 2, 2025
Matt Patricia has been named a @BroylesAward Semifinalist pic.twitter.com/GyCwQGyxqV
Have a good Wednesday.
THE COMPUTERS! Wednesdays are about The Computers! and the Stop Rate. That's how it's been all season. That's how it will be all postseason. The routine is the routine, the groove is the groove — and I never want to throw off the groove.
For the fifth 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 | 12-0 | 32.4 | 51% | 51.1% | 100% | 27.1% |
| INDIANA | 12-0 | 31.5 | 42.5% | 43.3% | 99.8% | 24.2% |
| TEXAS TECH | 11-1 | 29.9 | 95.6% | N/A | 73.1% | 5.7% |
| OREGON | 11-1 | 27.1 | 64.5% | 4.8% | 97.5% | 10.7% |
| NOTRE DAME | 10-2 | 24.3 | 40.7% | 40.7% | 60.4% | 3.3% |
SP+
| TEAM | RECORD | RATING | OFFENSE | DEFENSE | SPECIAL TEAMS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OHIO STATE | 12-0 | 32.4 | 40.3 (5) | 8.0 (1) | 0.0 (68) |
| INDIANA | 12-0 | 31.5 | 41.7 (3) | 10.6 (2) | 0.5 (30) |
| TEXAS TECH | 11-1 | 29.9 | 41.8 (2) | 12.3 (4) | 0.5 (32) |
| OREGON | 11-1 | 27.1 | 39.1 (13) | 12.4 (5) | 0.4 (40) |
| NOTRE DAME | 10-2 | 24.3 | 40.1 (7) | 16.1 (11) | 0.3 (51) |
Matchup Predictor
| OPPONENT | DATE | LOCATION | PREDICTION |
|---|---|---|---|
| INDIANA | 12/6 | INDIANAPOLIS, IN | INDIANA 50.6% |
The Matchup Predictor likes Indiana?!
You know nothing, Matchup Predictor.
JUST ONE STOP. Oh, noooooo! Ohio State! Keeps falling!
This week, Matt Patricia's defense dropped to No. 4 in stop rate behind Texas Tech, San Diego State and Toledo.
| TEAM | GAMES* | STOP RATE | PTS/DRIVE |
|---|---|---|---|
| TEXAS TECH | 11 | 84.8% | 0.87 |
| SAN DIEGO STATE | 11 | 82.1% | 1.07 |
| TOLEDO | 11 | 80.9% | 1.11 |
| OHIO STATE | 11 | 80.4% | 0.91 |
| INDIANA | 11 | 78.7% | 1.00 |
| MIAMI | 11 | 75.8% | 1.36 |
| OKLAHOMA | 11 | 75.4% | 1.19 |
| OREGON | 11 | 75.2% | 1.41 |
| OLD DOMINION | 11 | 75% | 1.55 |
| JAMES MADISON | 11 | 74.6% | 1.34 |
| *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.
Behind Ohio State in the top 10 are: the team the Buckeyes will face in the Big Ten Championship Game, Indiana (78.7%); the team the Buckeyes broke in 2002, Miami (75.8%); the team the Buckeyes... well, the last time these teams played Baker Mayfield planted a flag so I can't really talk trash, Oklahoma (75.4%); the team the Buckeyes led 34-0 in the second quarter of the Rose Bowl, Oregon (75.2%); and two teams the Buckeyes have never played, Old Dominion (75%) and James Madison (74.6%).
While Ohio State continues to fall in the stop rate rankings, there should be no debate about the Buckeyes' reputation as the No. 1 defense in college football. Following its win over Michigan, Ohio State became the first team in 50 years to hold its first 12 opponents to under 17 points. The Silver Bullets also rank No. 1 in scoring defense (7.8 PPG), total defense (203 YPG) and passing defense (121.3 YPG). Oh, and they also rank No. 3 in opponent third-down conversion percentage (27.5%), No. 4 in rushing defense (68.9 YPG) and No. 7 in opponent fourth-down conversion percentage (34.6%).
That's not just good.
That's historically good.
WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE. Former Michigan offensive lineman Taylor Lewan apologized to Ryan Day on Monday — really, he begged for forgiveness — when Day joined Bussin’ With The Boys after the Buckeyes dominated the Wolverines.
“Before we start, I have said a lot of nasty things. Even after the Spring Tour, I’ve used the third base comment, I’ve said (you’re) not a leader of men. My opinion shouldn’t and does not matter to you. However, I will say, I was wrong,” Lewan said. “You truly beat our ass, and you did it with humility. You did it the way Ohio State probably should have done it last year. You’ve proven me wrong, and I want to formally apologize for that. It’s one thing to make comments about the rivalry and stuff like that, and things that I did believe at the time, but for you to go 16-0 since the game that happened in Columbus last year, it shows how much of a leader you are in that locker room, and it’s very impressive.”
“No, I appreciate it, Taylor. I got a lot of respect for you, and so no, it means a lot,” Day responded. “It’s a tribute to these guys, the program and these kids. A lot of great life lessons over the last year of just life. This is life, right? This is the world we live in. This is the stage we play on. You get what comes with losing games. The only way to get it right is to get it fixed. We certainly have got it fixed the past 12 months, but we got to move on because we got Indiana this week and have a lot ahead of us.”
Neat moment.
I wonder if Lewan means what he said. It could be genuine, or it could be because he finally had to speak to Day face-to-face (albeit virtually) after criticizing him — you decide.
Here’s the rest of the stuff Day discussed with Lewan and Will Compton:
On whether the Big Ten Championship Game still matters
“I think they got to look at it, for sure. But we’re in it, and we want to be the No. 1 seed (in the College Football Playoff), and I think everything matters down the stretch. If you’re playing the numbers, you’re playing the trends, you want to be in a situation where you’re the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs. There’s also a lot to momentum. I feel like when you have momentum, you got to keep it. When you don’t, you got to go get it. I feel like we have momentum. I want to keep momentum iwith the team. These guys are just competitive dudes that just love to win and winning a Big Ten championship does matter. It was one of the things that was on our list of goals. It will be a great environment. It’s in Indianapolis. They’ll have a great crowd, we’ll have a great crowd. We want to win. We want to be undefeated. We want to be the No. 1 seed. That’s what is motivating us.”
On Indiana and Coach Curt Cignetti
“I think they’re well-coached. I think they don’t make mistakes. In all three phases, they play hard. They have good fundamentals. Like I said, they don’t beat themselves. They have a plan on how they’re gonna attack. They play fast. When you watch them on the film, they’re playing fast, playing downhill. They’re anticipating as opposed to reacting. Certainly, having Mendoza there has really just taken them to the next level. This is gonna be a helluva game and really good opponent.
On Matt Patricia
“Matt really separated himself (in the hiring process). One, because of his background of winning Super Bowls and what he did in the NFL, he’s a former head coach in the NFL and he’s brilliant in so many different areas. You know, I knew Matt. He’s from the northeast, like me. We were acquaintances before. But the more time I spent with him, I realized how personable he is. He’s a family guy, and I felt like he would fit our team and our culture really, really well. It’s amazing to me that when all of that was going on, I got a lot of pushback publicly, and I just think so many people are realizing what a special person he is. He’s done a great job from the minute he got here in building trust, building relationships. … He loves ball, but he’s done a good job building relationships.”
On Brian Hartline
“He’s a competitive dude who really maximized every ounce of what God gave him as a player. He had a great career here at Ohio State and then played for a long time in the NFL. The only way you do that is by really understanding the game, how to find edges, and that’s him. He’s done that with the wide receiver group, and now the next progression for him was being a coordinator. I think a lot of guys think being a coordinator is calling plays — that’s a big part of it — but so much of it is just the organization of the staff, the motivation, the organization of practice, the messaging, the focus and everything that comes with that. It’s been great to be around that and watch it with him. … I think he’s getting better and better at it every day. Certainly, we’ll have to be at our best down the stretch.”
Before I continue, I must share a hilarious moment between Lewan and Day about Julian Sayin’s interception.
“Was there a piece of you — had to be — that was like, ‘Oh, f—, it’s happening again.’”
“Of course there was,” Day said with a laugh. “Of course there was.”
He continued: “The thing that never happened, though, was I just never panicked and neither did anybody on the sideline. There was a certain level of confidence we had going into this game. … The composure of the team. It’s just the way these guys are, the way they’re wired — nothing gets them rattled. But I think that goes back to our training and the confidence we had going into the game.
And he ended with another laugh: “But to say I wasn’t like, ‘You got to be s— me,’ that wouldn’t be accurate.”
On how it felt to win The Game
“The first thing that came to mind was, why didn’t we do this last year? I mean, that’s how crazy my mind works. That’s what I was thinking. I mean, how the hell did this happen last year? I mean, just the way we took the field and played (this year’s) game was really how we’ve done it the past 12 months. But you know what? That’s life. Life comes at you sideways at times, and it’s all about how you respond. … I often thought about how I wanted to respond after the game, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do is just handle it with humility and celebrate with our team in the locker room. Man, it was a memorable day in the locker room with that team.”
On silencing critics with Ohio State’s win
“In today’s day and age, there are a lot of things that get said, and what you give energy to, you control. At the end of the day, you can listen to narratives and people want to run with narratives and when you’re at Ohio State it certainly gets a lot of clicks and a lot of attention, but when you know deep down in your heart what’s real and what isn’t you got to fight like hell to make sure you get out there and prove the people that care about you right and the ones who don’t wrong. That’s every day. That will be the same thing this week. Every game is an opportunity to prove people right and prove people wrong.”
Coach Day is elite — just so, so elite.
I am thankful he’s Ohio State’s head coach!
ABSOLUTE CINEMA. Who is feeding Ohio State's creative team this week?! What are those people eating?! They continue to deliver hit after hit — and that includes the Week 12 Recap!
Come on now!
Fire me up!
SONG OF THE DAY. "Eruption" - Van Halen.
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