Skull Session: Ryan Day Says Wins Aren’t “Pre-Ordained” at Ohio State, Jeff Moody Shares the Untold Story of Crossing Out the 'M' in the Big House As Brutus

By Chase Brown on May 19, 2026 at 4:55 am
Jeff Moody
Adam Cairns / Columbus Dispatch
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

John Mobley Jr. will return.

Have a good Tuesday.

 “THAT HAS TO BE THE MINDSET.” Last week, Ryan Day appeared on Josh Pate’s College Football Show and discussed a two-year commitment in college football, The Game and documentaries. He also explained the mindset he carries into every season — keep your head down, attack the work in front of you and avoid looking too far down the road.

“To me, every year, the focus is to win every game and go as hard as you possibly can,” Day said. “To start taking a step back and looking at all that, to me, it’s not something I’ve done. It’s go, go, go, go, go and win every game. Start with the opener. We’ve got to go to Texas. That’s the focus.”

Day said one of the few areas he looks to the horizon is in recruiting. He wants Ohio State primed for future success and knows the Buckeyes “can’t just live year to year.”

“But that has to be the mindset,” he continued. “It’s too competitive. There’s too much at stake in every single game. To me, that is it right there. At some point, you come up for air. Every year you learn. I look at pictures even where I was three to five years ago, and I am much different than I was back then, just because you learn from some of your experiences. Had some success, had some failures, but you got to learn from those, you got to grow from those. Hopefully that experience is gonna pay off because you’ve been through this before.”

Day said he wants his coaching staff and players to share that same perspective. Recruits, too.

“It all comes down to our identity, man — who we are as a team and what we’re gonna grab on to. We talk about that a lot here,” he said. “I think we have the right people in place, but every year is its own journey. Just because we’ve had success in the past, it means nothing. Winning is not just something that’s pre-ordained around here. We got to grind for everything that we get.”

Day knows his comments about Ohio State recruiting only first- and second-round draft picks made waves last month. He clarified that the remarks were more about mindset than production (though he welcomes the production, too).

“When you walk into this place — I’ve said this before — you’re coming to be a first or second-round draft pick. We know not everyone is gonna be that way, but it’s the mindset,” Day said. “When you’re a coach, you’re coming here to win the rivalry game and win national championships. That’s the expectation. 

“It’s easy to say, but take Arthur Smith, for example, or Matt Patricia. Like, they’ve never won a national championship before. When you’re in the NFL, winning 10 games is a great year and winning a couple of games in the playoffs is great, but that’s not good enough around here. We got to win them all. That mindset is something that’s important that everybody has to understand. As the head coach, I have to make sure everybody embraces that and doesn’t just say it.”

Ryan Day sounds a lot like Eleven Warriors readers and commenters right now.

Just one game at a time.

Win every game and go as hard as you possibly can.

Ball State doesn’t know what’s about to hit ’em.

 “THIS WILL BE AMAZING.” This month, The Columbus Dispatch’s Sheridan Hendrix and Adam Cairns have produced a great behind-the-scenes series on what it takes to be Brutus Buckeye.

Over the weekend, they revisited one of the mascot’s best moments: crossing out the M during Ohio State’s 27-9 win in the Big House last season. Senior Jeff Moody, the man inside the Brutus costume that day, shared the untold story behind the moment with The Dispatch.

“That morning, we woke up, and I was buzzing. Like, this is the dream — to go to the Team Up North game, see Ohio State win and get to be Brutus for it. I was stoked,” Moody said.

Moody said there were “a lot of people” concerned for the safety of him and Ohio State’s cheer squad. The athletic department and coaching staff made sure he and the cheerleaders felt protected in and around Michigan Stadium.

“We were all like, ‘Holy cow. Are we gonna get attacked? Are people that crazy?’” Moody recalled. “We drove to the stadium, and it was cool. For like a mile out from the stadium, there were people lining the roads. Half of them were in scarlet and gray, cheering us on. The other half were wearing maize and blue, booing us, giving us all the fingers and saying some crazy things. We were just eating it up.”

Moody remembers feeling like he was “getting ready for battle” while putting on the Brutus costume in the locker room.

Hours later, he committed an act of war.

“In the third quarter, I saw snow starting to cover the ground, and I was trying to think, ‘What can I do here? Maybe I can make a little snowman or snow angel or something,’” Moody said. “And then I saw some footprints right behind the end zone in the snow, and it clicked. My favorite Ohio State tradition is going around and crossing out M’s. I think that’s the coolest thing ever. I was like, ‘Wait, I can cross out the M in the Big House. This will be amazing.’”

Moody admitted he weighed the consequences of the action.

“I was like, ‘Wait, if I do this, if this goes poorly, I could get kicked off the team.’ So I ran over to Coach Ray (Sharp), whispered in his ear and said, ‘Can I cross out the M in the end zone?’ And he went, ‘Yeah, go do it.’ Talking to him yesterday, I found out that he didn’t hear what I said. So thankfully, he didn’t hear me, because he would have told me no.”

Thinking he was in the clear, Moody crossed the point of no return — and crossed out the M.

“I ran out on the field, and it was like, ‘Alright, here’s my time. I’m gonna make this thing good.’ I looked down at the opposite corner of the M because it’s a big block. I looked down at the opposite corner — that was my target. I shuffled my feet, didn’t press them into the ground real hard, but knew I was making a mark. Went to the opposite corner, went back across, came across the other way. I was shocked that while I did that, I didn’t get any beer cans thrown at me. I didn’t hear anyone say anything. To me, I didn’t think anyone even noticed I did it.”

Oh, we noticed.

Moody’s action went viral on social media. It remains one of Eleven Warriors’ most popular Facebook posts ever, with almost 50,000 likes and 3,000 comments.

He also dotted the ‘i’ in a Script Ohio. And crossed out the M again.

“A minute or two after that, two Team Up North staffers came over, got on their hands and knees and wiped off the Script Ohio. They were furious with Coach Ray. They were like, ‘If he does anything like that again, we’re kicking him out of here.’ They were in his face yelling.”

Sharp didn’t care.

“The funniest part about that was they scrubbed off the Script Ohio and left the 'M,'” he said.

Moody took pride in his accomplishment.

“You couldn’t see because I had the head on, but I was grinning ear to ear,” he said. “I was so happy. That was one of the best moments. I was able to do something that got some Team Up North people riled up.”

 I AGREE, GO CAVS. Speaking of crossing out an 'M,' the Cleveland Cavaliers had a muah muah chef’s kiss social media post after beating the Detroit Pistons in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals:

Well done, admin.

Well done.

It is always Beat Michigan.

 BRAND-NEW THREADS. From Ohio State’s Tunnel Vision uniforms to its Sub Zero sets, there’s been plenty of uniform talk over the past week. Don’t worry — I’m not here to add more fuel to the fire. At least not about the Buckeyes.

Instead, I’ll just leave these photos of Ohio State’s first-round picks in their new threads, as Carnell Tate, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs were in Los Angeles for the NFLPA Rookie Premiere this past weekend.

I’m not even a Titans fan, and I’m tempted to purchase one of those powder blue uniforms with Tate’s No. 14. Those are too clean.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "This Is The Day" - Mamas Gun.

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