Welcome to the Skull Session.
Jeremiah Smith — good at football.
Heres an early look at my 2027 NFL Draft big board after talking to some college scouts and evaluators: pic.twitter.com/wOjzXAaGyH
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) May 27, 2026
Have a good Thursday.
KICKOFF TIMES! Ohio State’s season opener isn’t at noon…
At least three of Ohio States home games this season will kick off at either noon or 12:30 p.m.https://t.co/gshBVEx7YH pic.twitter.com/fbm4Kbjy1c
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) May 27, 2026
NO. 3 TO CBS, NO. 1 IN OUR HEARTS. This week, CBS Sports released its 11th annual ranking of the top 25 Power Four coaches in college football. Using what the outlet called “inexact science in an inexact world,” 10 voters compiled the list. One year after ranking No. 2 behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Ryan Day enters 2026 at No. 3, trailing Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Smart.
No. 1 - Curt Cignetti, Indiana
Google him, and you'll now see "CBSSports.com's No. 1 coach" come up in the results. Well, assuming Google still even shows search results anymore, anyway. Curt Cignetti has taken college football by storm. He's done the seemingly impossible by turning Indiana into a national champion in only two seasons. It's not simply that he did it, either, but how he did it. He went on the road and beat Oregon during the regular season. He beat No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. He crushed Alabama by 35 in the Rose Bowl and followed it up with a 34-point win over Oregon in the Peach Bowl. Then he took down a Miami team that was peaking at the right time in the postseason. Cignetti and the Hoosiers overcame every obstacle in their path, often obliterating it beyond recognition and did something nobody could've dreamed of only three seasons ago. If he can do that, how can any of us be surprised to see him No. 1 here too?
No. 2 - Kirby Smart, Georgia
Kirby Smart is in a similar boat to Day right now. He's one of the most accomplished coaches in the country. He's won two national titles, and every year his program is expected to compete for another. But last year ended on a sour note. The Dawgs won the SEC again but failed to win a playoff game. They have not won a playoff game since winning the national title in 2022. I don't think that's why Smart fell out of the No. 1 spot (it's more about the accomplishments of the man who usurped him), but it probably played a role. Smart still received four first-place votes (one from me), but it wasn't enough to hold onto No. 1.
No. 3 - Ryan Day, Ohio State
Ohio State was unable to follow up its national title with another in 2025. The Buckeyes finished 12-2 overall and went 9-0 in conference play before falling to eventual national champion Indiana in the conference title game. They were also upset in their lone playoff game by the Miami team that would also lose to Indiana. So while Day finally got over that Michigan hump, nobody at Ohio State will ever be happy about finishing the season on a two-game losing streak. Given what he's accomplished through his entire career, though, nobody on our panel even thought about ranking him lower than third. That said, Day didn't garner a single first-place vote after picking some up last year.
After Ohio State beat Michigan last season to complete an undefeated regular season, I wrote that Day had surpassed Smart as the best coach in college football. He promptly lost back-to-back games to Indiana and Miami, which made that take age like milk.
It also makes it easy to understand why he falls behind Cignetti — who beat him head-to-head in 2026 en route to a national title — and Smart, who has already beaten him in the CFP and owns two championships.
Could you argue Ohio State should’ve beaten both Indiana and Georgia? Absolutely. The Buckeyes had two trips inside Indiana’s 10-yard line and came away empty, and there are plenty of ways to revisit how the Peach Bowl slipped away.
But that’s a game of coulda, woulda, shoulda that I don’t love living in.
What matters more is what comes next — and that Day enters this season with a chip on his shoulder, just like his quarterback, Julian Sayin.
GOT REINFORCEMENTS? Also this week, The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr. ranked college football’s top 100 transfers entering 2026. Among the headliners were Texas wide receiver Cam Coleman, LSU left tackle Jordan Seaton and Miami quarterback Darian Mensah. But there were Buckeyes in the mix, too — four of them, to be exact.
Ohio State’s group included safety Earl Little Jr. (Florida State), defensive tackle James Smith (Alabama), safety Terry Moore (Duke) and linebacker Christian Alliegro (Wisconsin). They ranged from No. 24 to No. 86 on the list.
No. 24 - S Earl Little Jr.
Little, a second-team All-ACC pick, led the Seminoles in tackles (76) and interceptions (four) and added two forced fumbles. He’s aggressive and physical in run support but comfortable in coverage and displays good ball skills. His combination of instincts and physical traits should make him a natural fit for Matt Patricia’s defense.
No. 60 - DT James Smith
Smith packs a punch. He has the strength to hold the point of attack in the running game and moves well enough at his size (6-2, 314) to be a factor as a rusher. He’s versatile enough to line up at different spots along the D-line and remain impactful.
No. 69 - S Terry Moore
Moore was a second-team All-ACC pick in 2024 but suffered a torn ACL in the Gator Bowl at the end of that season and subsequently missed the 2025 season. In 2024, he stuffed the stat sheet with 71 tackles, seven tackles for loss, six pass breakups, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and a sack. The good news for the Buckeyes: Moore was practicing without restrictions this spring.
No. 86 - LB Christian Alliegro
Alliegro is an experienced, productive, versatile linebacker. He can cover, he can run and hit, and he showed a knack for getting into the backfield last season, with solid production despite being limited to 10 games. He quickly diagnoses plays and has the strength to beat blockers when attacking the line of scrimmage. The Buckeyes needed reinforcements at linebacker after losing two first-rounders, and Alliegro acclimated quickly this spring and stands to play a lot of snaps this fall.
An Old Friend appeared on the list, too:
No. 96 - OG Tegra Tshabola, Kentucky
Tshabola started 29 games at right guard over the last two seasons at Ohio State but found himself rotating in and out of the lineup at times. Still, he allowed just one sack in 706 pass-blocking snaps in that span and was a starter on a national championship squad. He’ll get a fresh start with the Wildcats, who will welcome his size (6-6, 329) and experience to their rebuilt offensive front.
There’s no replacing Caleb Downs, Kayden McDonald, Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles, but if Ohio State wants to compete for another title this season, it needs Little, Smith, Moore and Alliegro to be their best all year long. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the Buckeyes to navigate a gauntlet of a schedule and still make a deep run into January.
“LET ‘EM BREAK AWAY.” As the Big Ten promoted its 24-team College Football Playoff last week, Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard made some pointed comments about the conference and its powerful counterpart, the SEC.
“Let ‘em break away,” he said.
Pollard continued, “I would turn it around and say we should break away from them,” he said. “Let them go, but they have to go in all their sports and see how fun it is to play baseball and softball when it’s just the 20 of you. … That’s probably a little more draconian, but that’s how I feel about it. Let’s quit talking about it, quit threatening, go do it.”
A significant source of Pollard’s frustration is what he views as the Big Ten and SEC’s unwillingness to fully adhere to the College Sports Commission’s rulings.
“The four commissioners spent a lot of money creating the CSC,” Pollard said. “Then to have two of the conferences not want to adhere to it is perplexing to me, because then why did we spend the money? If you didn’t want rules, then why did you create this entity? That’s what’s frustrating to me, the same people that say they want rules only want rules if they don’t apply to them.”
Pollard’s remarks may have taken on new relevance Wednesday when Georgia coach Kirby Smart suggested that, if agreement cannot be reached on issues like playoff expansion and NIL governance, the SEC may need to consider going its own way.
Jamie Pollard expresses his frustration with the Big Ten and SEC for not adhering to the rules of the College Sports Commission. He adds he would be okay with the two conferences splitting from the NCAA.
— Cyclone Fanatic (@cyclonefanatic) May 19, 2026
"The four commissioners spent a lot of money creating the CSC. Then to have pic.twitter.com/99sxDi89oQ
"I've said this for a long time to our president," Smart said on Tuesday. "I've been a huge advocate that if we can't find rules that everybody plays by, then we should play our own. I'm not afraid of that. I'm not afraid to break away and say that our conference is strong enough to go out and play.”
Smart’s comments align with Georgia president Jere Morehead, who told On3 last week that if federal legislation fails to curb what he called “anarchy” in the sport, he would be open to “creating an SEC mechanism and SEC rules.”
"I mean, if we could actually function, and it financially would make our programs more stable and we could support things financially — I'm talking about all the sports — and do by our own rules, I'd be all for that," Smart said. "I mean, I've been to this meeting now 10, 11 times, and it's frustrating at times to say, 'Well, we can't do this because of litigation, we can't do this because of litigation, we can't do this because we'll get sued, we can't do that.'"
The escalation in rhetoric from both sides underscores how fractured college football’s governance has become, with even league leaders and top coaches now openly entertaining the idea that separation may be preferable to compromise. I don’t know what comes next, but it’s difficult to view any of this as a positive step for the sport.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Dynamite" - The Figs.
CUT TO THE CHASE. Tennessee defensive end Chaz Coleman has yet to report to Knoxville for summer workouts... NASA lays out moon base plans with landers, buggies and drones at the top of the list... Independent bookstores are multiplying, although many people still think they're dying out... Ex-CIA official arrested after $40 million in gold bars allegedly found inside his home.
