Skull Session: Eric Weddle Unimpressed with Michigan QB Bryce Underwood, a Wolverines Beat Reporter Argues The Game Should Move to October if the CFP Expands to 24 Teams

Welcome to the Skull Session.

Ohio State is pulling out all the stops to land five-star defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou.

Five-Star DL Marcus Fakatou on his official visit to Ohio State
Marcus_Fakatou (Instagram) pic.twitter.com/kWBZBIgNV3
— Swish (@swishxvibes) May 31, 2026

Have a good Monday.

BUCKEYES FOR LIFE. Here’s a picture that makes me smile:

Buckeye roots run deep pic.twitter.com/RqocNTtuXi
— Columbus Aviators (@UFLAviators) May 31, 2026

Jim Tressel, Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis together to watch the Columbus Aviators in their regular-season finale. (I cannot identify the man to Tressel’s left for the life of me. Any guesses?)

Unfortunately, the Aviators lost to the Louisville Kings, 42-27, and fell to 3-7 in their inaugural season.

Also unfortunately, I’m not sure Ted Ginn Jr. is long for the head coaching position. He’s an Ohio State legend, but the combination of off-field drama and on-field results is a tough mix for long-term stability in the UFL.

If the Aviators ever want to get off the ground (ba-dum-tss), it might be best for them to consider a change heading into 2027.

“I DON’T THINK HE COULD THROW.” Eric Weddle doesn’t believe in Bryce Underwood, the former No. 1 overall prospect who led Michigan to a 9-4 record as a freshman.

Actually, that’s a pretty charitable interpretation of his comments.

A less generous reading would be that Weddle — a 14-year NFL veteran, Super Bowl winner and five-time All-Pro — thinks Underwood can’t play quarterback.

OK, maybe that’s too far in the other direction. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

During an appearance on the Zero 2 Sixty Podcast, Weddle shared his evaluation of Underwood after attending a Michigan spring practice with his son, Gaige Weddle, a two-way playmaker ranked as the No. 95 overall prospect in the 2028 recruiting class.

“Mark my words — I was out there for spring ball — don’t be surprised if the backup is playing early because that Underwood kid, I don’t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we’ll see,” Eric Weddle said.

Gaige plays quarterback and defensive back for Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego. Eric has taught his son a lot about both positions, passing along the knowledge that helped him become an elite safety against the world’s greatest signal callers.

Eric Weddle is not a fan of Bryce Underwood

I dont think he can throw or play quarterback pic.twitter.com/nrKzQ5T6oQ
— SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) May 31, 2026

“I don’t understand, like, it’s just quarterbacks in general, but I don’t understand how the position is not being taught from the pocket. Like, I try to teach and coach Gaige, you are a quarterback first who can be an athlete. You’re not an athlete who plays quarterback,” Weddle said. “I’ve taught him from the ground up that from pocket awareness to timing to footwork. All that stuff matters because, at the end of the day, your athleticism can only take over so much. You get to the next level, everyone’s as fast as you, everyone’s as strong as you. Your mind, processing, pocket awareness, feel and getting the ball out on time is what I’ve stressed to him most as a quarterback.”

In what could generously be viewed as a compliment for Underwood, Weddle said he didn’t see many great quarterbacks during roughly half of the nine spring visits he made with Gaige. One of those stops was Ohio State, which I’m sure isn’t one of the programs he’s talking about.

“You very rarely see it nowadays. It’s just shocking to see the lack of good QB play is really kind of hard to understand,” Weddle said. “But (Gaige is) gonna be playing DB at the next level, so it’s not really an issue. But I know quarterback play, and I know good play. … I went to nine schools in spring ball, and I was like, dude, you’re better than half these guys. You’d be a backup here fighting (to be) the starter.”

Underwood looked lost in Ohio State’s 27-9 win over Michigan last season, completing eight of 18 passes for 63 yards and one interception. Caden Curry revealed after The Game that Matt Patricia’s game plan was to keep Underwood contained and “make him play quarterback.”

Unless Underwood took a massive step forward this offseason — and based on Weddle’s account, it doesn’t sound like he did — maybe Michigan’s $10 million quarterback really isn’t that good.

Oh, no!

What a shame!

THE GAME IN OCTOBER? Speaking of The Game, The Athletic’s Austin Meek published a column this weekend that I suspect would earn a 0% approval rating among Skull Session readers. His take was right there in the headline: “Why Michigan-Ohio State should move to October if the Playoff expands to 24 teams.”

I’ll give you a few seconds to process that.

One...

Two...

Three...

I know you hate it, but I’ll at least let the man make his case.

I realize this proposal will be wildly unpopular with fans. You know what else is wildly unpopular with fans? The 24-team CFP. Allow me to explain why my unpopular idea is a good one. I, too, love the Michigan-Ohio State game exactly as it is, but I worry the greatness of The Game will be wasted if it’s played after most of the 24-team Playoff field is set.

The goal should be to play The Game when the stakes are highest. For most of the rivalry’s history, that meant playing it on the final Saturday of the regular season. Part of the rivalry’s greatness is watching tension build throughout the season, leading up to the crescendo in late November.

If the CFP expands, my prediction is that the crescendo of the regular season will hit earlier. Probably sometime in October, when we’ve seen enough to know who’s good, yet not enough to have the whole CFP bracket figured out. The final Saturday of the regular season will feel more like Week 18 in the NFL — extremely relevant for a few teams, anticlimactic for everyone else.

In October, everybody will have something to play for. Teams will be warmed up but not as beaten up as they’ll be in late November. We’ll know enough to identify the most important games, but nobody will be locked into a particular CFP track. Also, fans won’t yet have Bracket Fatigue from analyzing the same handful of scenarios again and again.

…

My main concern is that Michigan-Ohio State won’t feel as big. The games that matter in late November will be the ones involving teams on the CFP fringe. That could be a good thing for USC-UCLA, Iowa-Nebraska, Illinois-Northwestern and other Big Ten rivalry games that tend to get buried on the last weekend of the regular season. It’s not such a good thing for Ohio State-Michigan.

I have a lot of respect for Meek, but this article should have remained in the drafts, especially after Ryan Day told his co-worker Scott Dochterman a week earlier that an expanded playoff could make The Game even more meaningful.

“You’re playing for either a chance to get into the Playoff or a chance to get seeded high to get a first-round bye,” Day told The Athletic. “Or, if you are already maybe predicted to be one of the top eight schools, then you’re fighting for a high seed. So, all those are critically important to your success in the Playoff.

“I think with the elimination of the championship game, it keeps that rivalry as fierce as it’s ever been, the stakes just as high.”

In the NIL era, neither Ohio State nor Michigan should ever bottom out. (I originally wrote "will never bottom out," but you never know with those Wolverines.) That means both programs should find themselves in exactly the position Day described most seasons: fighting for a first-round bye, better seeding and a clearer path to the national championship.

Now, if the CFP expands to 24 teams, will The Game ever produce another Ten Year War?

Maybe not.

Will it continue to deliver instant classics fueled by two bitter rivals who hate everything about each other?

Absolutely.

After enduring more than five years without watching Ohio State beat That Team Up North, I've built up enough hatred to last a lifetime, regardless of when the teams play or what the postseason format looks like. But please, keep The Game at the end of November. College football is changing enough as it is. We don't need to mess with this, too.

99 OVERALL JJ. Jeremiah Smith is the only 99 overall player in EA Sports College Football 27, according to a post from MUTLeaks.

CFB 27 Pregame Ratings Sneak Peek

These are WIP/non-final ratings, meant to give a general sense of direction and tuning. Well drop an update if and when final data becomes available.

All 90+ OVR:
Firstname Lastname OVR pic.twitter.com/8sVWQyHsw1
— MUTLeaks (@MUTLeaksXXVII) May 29, 2026

While we’ll have to wait for the official release of EA CFB 27 to confirm the report, it’s safe to assume it’s accurate. Smith was a 99 overall in the 2026 version of the game, where he was featured on the cover alongside Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams.

MUTLeaks’ post also included ratings for four other Buckeyes: Julian Sayin at 94 overall (the second-highest-rated quarterback behind Oregon’s Dante Moore), Luke Montgomery at 92 overall, and both Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Austin Siereveld at 90 overall.

That’s pretty good.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

SONG OF THE DAY. "Outlaw" - The Figs.