Welcome to the Skull Session.
Before my trip to Big Ten Media Days, I heard rave reviews about Portillo’s, the Chicago-born chain known for hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches and more. Unfortunately, Dan Hope and I didn’t have time to stop at one of the Chicago locations.
But on our journey home — with our old friend Garrick Hodge joining us for the voyage! — we made port in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and, lo and behold, there it was: a Portillo’s.
If you’ve never had Portillo’s, run, don’t walk, to find one.
The Italian beef sandwich was excellent. The fries and cheese dip were fresh. The Coke Zero was — well, regular Coke Zero, but still a delicious nectar.
Simply put, Portillo’s rocked.
I will be back.
Have a good Friday.
COURSE WE’LL HAVE A LOOK. Ohio State has a new playing surface in the Horseshoe.
ABC6’s Cameron Fontana shared video on Thursday showing the Buckeyes’ new turf at Ohio Stadium as it was being installed and rolled out with the sun still rising over Columbus.
Ohio State announced earlier this summer that it planned to install new turf in the Shoe before the 2026 season. The surface features Shaw Sports Turf’s Forge Series system — “a system-level product line designed to meet NFL standards, featuring Game ON technology that integrates markings directly into the turf,” according to a school news release.
That’s a lot of jargon.
Ryan Day used normal words in a statement.
“The new turf is a welcome upgrade to Ohio Stadium to maintain the safety and performance of our players on gamedays,” he said.
If it looks good, feels good and plays good — then I’m good.
I look forward to seeing it in person when Ohio State opens the season against Ball State at home on Sept. 5. We’ll get plenty of chances to see the Buckeyes break it in when they’re up 100-0 in the second half.
“APPRECIATE YOU BRINGING THIS UP.” Oh, Bert.
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema made headlines at Big Ten Media Days this week when he said college football is moving forward while the SEC is stuck looking backward.
“They kind of want to live in 2005 forever,” Bielema said.
When asked to elaborate, Bielema doubled down.
“Well, I think I just made the headline, right?” he said. “When (the transfer portal and NIL) came into college football, the whole world changed. It’s overly obvious to say that, but I think anything that predates that is just a different time in college football. It just is.”
This wasn’t Bielema’s first shot at the SEC this month. After Nick Saban said national championships don’t define a conference’s strength and instead pointed to the depth of talent across a league, Bielema reposted a clip of Saban’s comments alongside screenshots of Illinois’ bowl wins over South Carolina and Tennessee in each of the past two seasons.
I agree with you coach and appreciate you bringing this up…… #ILL #CFB https://t.co/5huAjBOcwu pic.twitter.com/C0aOrEm7MW
— Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) July 24, 2026
The common retort from SEC defenders is that Bielema went 11-29 in conference play during his time at Arkansas from 2013-17. He left Wisconsin for the Razorbacks after leading the Badgers to three consecutive Rose Bowl appearances from 2010-12. Since returning to the Big Ten in 2021, however, Bielema has rebuilt Illinois into a competitive program, posting a 37-26 overall record and a 23-22 mark in conference play.
But Bielema’s larger point isn’t about his own résumé. It’s about how much college football has changed.
The Big Ten has won the past three national titles* and enters 2026 with some of college football’s premier teams in Ohio State, Oregon and defending national champion Indiana. Meanwhile, ESPN’s College Football Power Index has all 16 SEC schools ranked among the top 20 toughest schedules this season — a metric that conveniently gives the conference plenty of opportunities to prove its own strength.
X account CougarStats summed up the circular logic behind that argument:
“Who has the strongest SOS?”
“The SEC.”
“Why?”
“Because they play a bunch of SEC teams.”
“How good are SEC teams?”
“Really good, because they play a bunch of SEC teams.”
“How do you know if SEC teams are better than teams from other conferences?”
“They are better, because they play a lot more SEC teams than teams from other conferences.”
Yeah, that about sums it up.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti also summed up the SEC (and the Big Ten) well on Thursday.
— Follow @CFBKings (@CFBKingsX) July 30, 2026
“We don’t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,” Cignetti said. “We believe everything’s earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say we fell short. We don’t cry a river, whine and complain. And that’s why we’re the best.”
“WE WANT TO LEAVE A LEGACY BEHIND.” 10TV’s Adam King interviewed Ryan Day at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday and asked the Ohio State head coach about the book he assigned to his players this offseason.
Last year, the Buckeyes read Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf. This time around, the team’s offseason reading assignment was Legacy by James Kerr.
Day explained why he selected the book and the impact he hopes it has on Ohio State’s 2026 team:
"This program, it's bigger than any one person. We want to leave a legacy"
— Adam King (@AdamKing10TV) July 29, 2026
Ohio State is reading a book called Legacy about the New Zealand Rugby team.
This 45 seconds on leaving a legacy in this NIL era of football is worth the listen from Ryan Day: pic.twitter.com/r9kRJoAMQD
“For us, we want to leave a legacy behind,” Day said. “In a day and age where it’s about NIL, it’s about me, it’s about how much money I can make, these guys need to understand they’re at Ohio State. This program means more than anything else. It’s bigger than any one person. We want to leave a legacy behind. How do you leave a legacy behind? Well, you do it by leaving a jersey in a better place than you found it, leaving something behind.
“But it also is by winning. If you want to tell your story, if you want to leave a legacy behind, leave a legacy of winning. Win the rivalry game, win the Big Ten championship, win a national championship. That’s really, really important so when you come back in 10, 20 years down the line, you can be proud of what you’ve done to uphold the tradition at Ohio State.”
Day gets it.
Ohio State football has always been about more than the players wearing the jersey at any given moment. It’s about the names that came before them, the names that will follow them and the responsibility of leaving the program better than they found it.
Championships are the ultimate measuring stick, and Day knows that. But the reason those championships matter is that they become part of something bigger — a legacy that lasts long after the players who created it leave Columbus.
JEREMIAH’S LEGACY. Want to leave a legacy?
You can do it on a college football field by catching 163 passes for 2,558 yards and 27 touchdowns. You can also do it by taking care of the people who helped you get there.
This week, Jeremiah Smith told Complex Sports that his first major purchase with NIL money was paying off the loan on his grandmother’s house.
“I think I bought my grandma’s house,” Smith said. “I bought my grandma’s house from her.”
@complex_sneakers Jeremiah Smith is a true family man
♬ original sound - Complex Sneakers
Entering his third season with the Buckeyes, Smith has built one of the most valuable brands in college football. According to On3, his NIL valuation sits at $5 million, ranking behind Miami quarterback Darian Mensah ($6.5 million), Kentucky forward Milan Momcilovic ($6 million), Louisville forward Flory Bidunga ($6 million) and Oregon quarterback Dante Moore ($5 million) for the highest valuation in college sports.
It’s possible — if not probable — that Smith’s true market value is even higher. At Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday, Smith confirmed he was offered $10 million to enter the transfer portal this offseason. Still, he never seriously considered leaving Columbus.
“I always wanted to be at Ohio State,” Smith said. “It would be dumb for me to leave Ohio State and go to another team when I have the best offensive line in the country, the best quarterback in the country, the best coaches in the country.”
Smith’s legacy at Ohio State will ultimately be defined by what he does on the field. But decisions like buying his grandmother’s house and remaining committed to the Buckeyes show why his impact extends far beyond the numbers he puts up on Saturdays.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Saturday in the Park" - Chicago.
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