Welcome to Skull Session.
Your beloved Skull Session captain, Chase, is taking some well-earned rest and relaxation before Ohio State's College Football Playoff journey begins, so your friendly neighborhood Andy is here to fill in. Hope everyone is having a stupendous Christmas season!
In the spirit of the holidays, I thought I'd review three of the greatest gifts that Ohio State football has delivered to Buckeye Nation – and the community at large in the 2025 calendar year.
THE GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL STORY EVER TOLD. Yesterday, in our Christmas Skull Session, we revisited Ohio State's run through the 2024-25 College Football Playoff briefly, sharing the football creative team's 25-minute documentary of the ride.
Throughout the CFP gauntlet and especially during the week of the national championship game, Ryan Day made it clear that one of his biggest sources of motivation was to tell the stories of the players who made it possible. There were many worth recounting:
- The full story of leading up to one of the greatest plays in Ohio State history, Jack Sawyer's 83-yard strip-sack, scoop-and-score of Quinn Ewers to send the Buckeyes to a national championship, is far too long to so much as summarize here. It's one of the articles I'm most proud of in my three seasons working for Eleven Warriors. Give it another spin if you feel so inclined. And remember, they were roommates.
- Speaking of Sawyer, he and fellow defensive end JT Tuimoloau lived up to their five-star recruiting billing and went down as one of the greatest edge tandems in school history after combining for 36 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 11 sacks, 10 pass breakups, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery that went for a touchdown in the four-game gauntlet.
- A national championship ring proved that former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and Ohio State were a perfect pairing in 2024. He completed a school-record 73% of his pass attempts for 4,010 yards and 35 touchdowns with seven rushing scores on the year.
- Ohio State's offensive line overcame more adversity than any other position group to deliver on the sport's biggest stages, bouncing back from season-ending injuries to two All-American caliber players, moving left guard Donovan Jackson out to left tackle and paving the way for a championship climb.
- Right tackle Josh Fryar, in particular, battled through a maligned 2023 season, social media harassment and on-field heartbreak to become the true stalwart of the 2024 offensive line. He gutted out lower-body injuries during the CFP, too.
- Cody Simon cemented himself among Ohio State's long line of legends at linebacker with an incredible final season. He took things to another level in the CFP, collecting a combined 38 tackles with four tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass breakups.
- Nickel Jordan Hancock added new tools to his kit, playing deep safety starting in the second half of the year to enable Ohio State's best defense, with Caleb Downs playing closer to the line of scrimmage. His versatility and elite play at a difficult position made him one of the unsung heroes of the CFP gauntlet.
- Defensive tackles Tyleik Williams and Ty Hamilton lived up to the preseason nickname they created for themselves, "TNT," with dynamite play throughout the title run.
- Lathan Ransom closed his career as a famed Buckeye enforcer at the strong safety position despite multiple catastrophic injuries in his career.
- Above all else, Ohio State's seniors told a four-year tale of brotherhood by paying off more than three years of heartbreak with a CFP national championship trophy.
Here's to many more great stories being written by the Buckeyes in their 2025 CFP gauntlet.
GIVING BACK. In terms of gifts Ohio State's football players have given Buckeye Nation, how about some literal ones for the less fortunate?
Strong safety Jaylen McClain partnered with the Salvation Army through his and his family's new foundation, Everyday Legends, to distribute toys and essentials to more than 4,000 central Ohio families in need earlier this month. He's one of many Buckeyes using the earnings and platform that Name, Image and Likeness has provided him to give back to the community.
“I just know that, especially with me living out here in Columbus, Ohio now, and being aware of where I'm from, Rockleigh, New Jersey, and just people in general, that not everybody has (the means) to be able to feel the same holiday spirit as the kid next to them,” McClain told Eleven Warriors. “So I just want to make everybody feel the same (joy) in times like this.”
Other Buckeyes have their own foundations and charitable causes to spread good into the community. Fellow safety Caleb Downs, who took time to volunteer with McClain at the Salvation Army's event, is partnered with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective through his Trust Downs foundation to fight food insecurity in central Ohio. Downs also hosted a charity event at Topgolf Columbus to benefit the city's homeless community.
Defensive end Caden Curry partnered with UnitedHealthcare to distribute hundreds of new warm winter coats and gloves to children at Duxberry Park Arts Impact Elementary School last week.
There are certainly other causes and charities that Ohio State players are using their platform for good on that I've missed here. It's incredible to see these young men pay their success forward.
DISHES SERVED COLD. Charity, that's the feel-good gift everyone can get behind. Spiritual nourishment, regardless of any religious affiliation or lack thereof. The Game? That's a religion unto itself. And Ohio State baptized Michigan this year.
Not only did the Buckeyes walk into Ann Arbor and hand the Wolverines a 27-9 loss on their home turf, but they also broke the very spirit of what Michigan football has prided itself on this decade. Ohio State snapped Michigan like two-year-old twigs in the trenches. It outrushed its rival 110 to -8 in the second half. It assembled a nearly 12-minute drive to ice the game. Twelve minutes!
Now, Michigan's program is roasting like chestnuts on an open fire. Head coach Sherrone Moore has been fired for an inappropriate relationship with a staff member and faces charges of home invasion and stalking against that same staffer. It's the latest of many scandals to rock the Wolverines, who have been plagued with them for the last four years. The Cesspool of the West.
Ohio State ended the two-year Moore era with an ass-kicking prime Mike Tyson envies. What a gift, indeed.
NEW DUBCAST. The final Eleven Dubcast of the week brings on Kyle Jones to discuss comments Ryan Day made prior to Christmas in which he stated his intent to take over a greater share of play calling responsibility from Brian Hartline as Ohio State prepares for the College Football Playoff.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Run Rudolph Run" - Chuck Berry.
AROUND THE WEB WITH ANDY. A resident of Arkansas received this year's biggest Christmas gift in monetary value, probably, winning a $1.82 billion Powerball jackpot... An Illinois teen builds the largest-ever toothpick Eiffel Tower... A drunk raccoon that ransacked a liquor store is suspected of other "break-ins"... Gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee serves as a guest photographer for her hometown Minnesota Vikings.
