\n Welcome to the Skull Session. <\/p>\n
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\n\t\tYou know what to do Buckeye Nation https:\/\/t.co\/b6CPhORW9e<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/yfdJNrmMnO<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) November 5, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Thursday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0REF, DO SOMETHING! The last time referees called a holding penalty on one of Ohio State\u2019s Big Ten opponents was Nov. 4, 2023, when Rutgers offensive lineman Curtis Dunlap Jr. held Tyleik Williams in the Buckeyes\u2019 35-16 win over the Scarlet Knights.\n<\/p>\n \n\tYes, that\u2019s correct.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt hasn\u2019t been 84 years<\/a>, but it\u2019s felt like it!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tFun fact: Today is the two-year anniversary of the last time a Big Ten opponent was called for holding against Ohio State.<\/p>\n The Buckeyes have played 17 Big Ten games since in which their opponents apparently havent held a single time. pic.twitter.com\/ryZE5jUwBX<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 The Silver Bulletin (@tSilverBulletin) November 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThe lack of holding calls against Ohio State\u2019s opponents \u2014 both in and out of the Big Ten \u2014 has been a point of conversation since the 2024 postseason, when Buckeye Huddle\u2019s Tony Gerdeman<\/a> reported that the Buckeyes\u2019 opponents had been flagged for holding three times in 13 games. Gerdeman shared that statistic with Williams<\/a> before the Cotton Bowl.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think our whole D-line group gets held every game,\u201d Williams responded. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the refs are saying or what\u2019s going on with that. But you turn on the tape and really look at it, we\u2019re held almost every play.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Gerdeman asked him how Ohio State\u2019s defensive line could draw more holding calls, Williams didn\u2019t have an answer.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe can be actors, but we don\u2019t really teach nothing like that,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because we\u2019re Ohio State they\u2019re letting things go or what it is, but it\u2019s been pretty bad. I know y\u2019all see it, too. It\u2019s every play, almost every game.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State didn\u2019t draw a holding call in the Cotton Bowl, but it finally did in the national championship game, breaking a streak of 728 consecutive snaps without an opponent being flagged for holding.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tStill, the streak for Big Ten opponents has continued \u2014 even though I can think of at least two examples when it should have ended on Saturday, with the first being a blatant hold on Lorenzo Styles Jr. during Penn State\u2019s first scoring drive, then this blatant hold on Kenyatta Jackson Jr.:\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tIt’s not talked about enough in the National Media just how dominate this DL is. Filthy rep from Kenyatta and Kayden McDonald.<\/p>\n Kenyatta’s vertical penetration forces the cut-back into Kayden McDonald who ends up in a lag fit and is able to play lock-peek-shed off the ball.<\/p>\n For pic.twitter.com\/pqmLjG0dQg<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 The Ballmanac (@The_Ballmanac) November 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThe lack of holding calls is an Ohio State problem, but the lack of overall penalties is a Big Ten problem.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to TeamRankings,\u00a010 Big Ten schools are among the top 25 least penalized teams<\/a> in college football: No. 1 Iowa (2.4), No. 3 Minnesota (3.1), No. 5 Penn State (3.4), No. 5 Northwestern (3.4), No. 7 Indiana (3.8), No. 8 Wisconsin (3.9), No. 9 Rutgers (4.1), No. 12 Ohio State (4.3), No. 17 Michigan (4.3) and No. 23 Nebraska (4.8).\n<\/p>\n \n\tMeanwhile, 11 Big Ten schools rank among the bottom 25 in opponent penalties per game<\/a>: No. 135 Iowa (3.3), No. 135 Penn State (3.3), No. 134 Ohio State (3.6), No. 131 Purdue (4.1), No. 129 Michigan (4.2), No. 123 Nebraska (4.5), No. 123 Rutgers (4.5), No. 123 Wisconsin (4.5), No. 117 Washington (4.9), No. 115 USC (4.9), No. 115 UCLA (4.9).\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat said, I\u2019m not confident that Big Ten officials will all of a sudden call holding penalties each time Purdue snaps this football this weekend, but I hope to see at least one piece of yellow laundry hit the field when a Boilermaker offensive lineman inevitably holds Arvell Reese as he flies off the edge!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0LIVING LIKE LARRY.\u00a0Larry Johnson has coached football for a long, long time<\/a>, but in his 29 years as a college football assistant, he\u2019s had to answer one question more than any other: When do you plan to retire?\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe question felt fair and unfair at different times, but it was the former this past offseason. Ohio State just won a national championship, and Johnson was about to turn 73 \u2014 why not ride off into the sunset?\n<\/p>\n \n\tJohnson answered that question in an interview with The Athletic\u2019s Cameron Teague Robinson<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBecause what do you do? Like, I\u2019ve done this for so long, (retiring) scares me a little bit,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI get up in the morning, like, what am I going to do?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tRobinson\u2019s article continued:\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tFor the first time in his career, he watched all four of his starters get picked in the same NFL Draft. It would have been a fitting way to go out as he faced the challenge of replacing them.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cCan I do it again?\u201d Johnson said. \u201cCan I bring the same energy of passion I had all those years? Do you still have it, Larry?\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tAs he thought about returning to Ohio State, he realized the answer to that last question was yes. It would just take some sacrifices.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tIt led to an offseason of intentional work by Johnson. He lost around 50 pounds to get in better shape and skipped a week of vacation to work with his players, all in an effort to get them up to speed and also make sure a new group of players knew he was committed.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tThe efforts have paid off: Even with so many new players in starting roles, all Ohio State has done is rank first in the FBS in yards per play and points allowed heading into Saturday\u2019s game against former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and Penn State.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cI would have felt bad because I kind of let them down, even though I\u2019ve got a personal life and I enjoy what I do in my off time,\u201d Johnson said of returning. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a tough decision. I will know when the time comes, but right now I\u2019m having fun.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tGood for Larry. He\u2019s the greatest defensive line coach in college football history, so if he wants to be here, I want him to be here \u2014 and if he\u2019s having fun, I\u2019m having fun!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u201cTHEY HAVE A LOT OF PRIDE.\u201d Ryan Day was Ohio State\u2019s offensive coordinator on one of the darkest days in program history \u2014 a 49-20 loss to Purdue<\/a> on Oct. 20, 2018. When asked about his team\u2019s trip to West Lafayette this Saturday, Day said he\u2019s not taking the Boilermakers lightly because he remembers how that night felt.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI was part of the 2018 team, so I know what that was like,\u201d Day said. \u201cThey have a lot of pride in that (Purdue) program. I think Barry Odom is a very, very good coach. These guys are well-coached, and he is a good man and a good football coach. And I know he has a good staff there. Put the film on and watch them play last week (against Michigan). We know we have to continue to get better this week. We have to bring it at 1 p.m. on Saturday. \u2026 They have a lot of pride, and that\u2019s not gonna be any different when we play them on Saturday.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tDay didn\u2019t use his trademark \u201cIt\u2019s about us\u201d line when he discussed Purdue, but I know he wanted to. As he looked ahead to this weekend, Day said the Buckeyes have to avoid distractions like conversations surrounding individual awards and the College Football Playoff rankings.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJust win the game. That\u2019s it. We gotta get better and win the game,\u201d Day said. \u201cIf individual honors show up at the end of the season, they do, but that\u2019s not the No. 1 goal. That\u2019s part of the unselfishness of all of this. I\u2019ve mentioned it before, and it\u2019s the same thing right now: our goal has to be winning as a team, and when we do, you can see that guys start getting attention, which is well-deserved.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut we have to make sure we stay focused on what matters, and that\u2019s winning games. So we\u2019ll do what\u2019s best for the team in those moments, but it\u2019s all about getting the first first down and focusing on Purdue on the road. That\u2019s it. Any time we get focused on anything other than that, it becomes a distraction, and we can\u2019t do that. We have to continue to work to play our best game and master our process.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tAnd what is Ohio State\u2019s process?\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s the process, of course!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe got to keep the process the process,\u201d Day said. \u201cYou probably get tired of hearing me say that, just like some of the guys in the program do. But I keep telling them not to get tired of me saying it, because that\u2019s what really matters. In today\u2019s age, it\u2019s like, \u2018What\u2019s new about this week? What\u2019s different about this week?\u2019 We can try to find ways to make it a little fresh, but at the end of the day, we have to be OK with doing the same mundane, boring things over and over again \u2014 chopping wood and carrying water, that\u2019s the book we read this summer. We\u2019re chopping wood every day, we\u2019re carrying water every day, and that has to do with our routine. The minute we try to tempt fate, we\u2019re gonna get it. We can\u2019t do that. We have to continue to fight.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s the little things that will get you in the end. There was a reflection recently about David vs. Goliath, and what was the thing that got Goliath? It was the stone. It was a little thing. Goliath didn\u2019t wake up that day and think it was the stone that was gonna get him, but it was. What are the things we\u2019re doing on a daily basis that can get us? What are the issues? The issues are always there, and we have to continue to address them. And if we think that we\u2019ve got it, we\u2019re about to get it. That has to be the mindset every week.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tCoach Day is locked in!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0NO MIRAGE HERE. Ohio State has made a believer out of The Athletic\u2019s Stewart Mandel<\/a>, who just three weeks ago wanted to \u201cslow everybody\u2019s roll about the 2025 Buckeyes.\u201d In his latest column, Mandel said there\u2019s \u201cnothing to suggest the 2025 Buckeyes are in any way fraudulent.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tI took a lot of flak from Buckeyes fans a couple of weeks ago for daring to suggest that maybe, possibly, you shouldn\u2019t go ahead and start engraving their trophy already, for exactly that reason: I\u2019ve seen many supposedly unbeatable teams get exposed over the years when they got to the biggest stage.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tBut as of this moment, there is nothing to suggest the 2025 Buckeyes are in any way fraudulent. Their quarterback, Julian Sayin, is completing 80 percent of his passes. He has arguably the two best receivers in the country in Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate. His offensive line has allowed three sacks all season. And Ohio State\u2019s defense, which is allowing the fewest yards per play (3.75) of any team in the last decade, is an NFL scout\u2019s dream with Caleb Downs, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Co.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tBut no, we have not seen the Buckeyes tested by a fellow national championship contender, and we won\u2019t until the Big Ten championship game, presumably against Indiana. Texas may still get into the CFP, but the Longhorns weren\u2019t playing at nearly that level at the time they met. Michigan will be a big challenge, as always, but the Wolverines probably aren\u2019t getting to the Playoff. The Buckeyes will enter the CFP having been battle-tested far less frequently than the top SEC teams.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tBut neither the Big Ten nor the SEC is in the same place they were in 2006-07. Ohio State was the class of the conference under Jim Tressel, but at that time, it was still largely an in-state\/regional recruiting school, as was the rest of the conference. Urban Meyer changed that. And while the SEC is clearly deeper than the Big Ten, Michigan in 2023 and Ohio State in \u201924 proved on the field they were better than the best the SEC had to offer in those seasons.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tIf they get exposed in the postseason, it would have to be by a team with a dominant defensive front that can get after Sayin like no one has to this point. And of course, any great defense can get exposed on a given day by an elite QB \u2014 see Bryce Young against Georgia\u2019s otherwise impenetrable 2021 defense. Someone like Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson or Texas A&M\u2019s Marcel Reed, both of whom have great receivers as well.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tSlowly but surely, Mandel is becoming a believer. Give him a few more weeks and he’ll be all in!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0DAILY DUBCAST.\u00a0Today’s Eleven Dubcast brings on lead basketball beat writer Andy Anders to discuss the regular season tip-off for Ohio State basketball in which the Buckeyes won while setting a new school offensive record but also conceded over 100 points to IU Indy.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY.\u00a0“Long Long Time” –\u00a0Linda Ronstadt.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0A newly discovered Dr. Seuss manuscript will celebrate America\u2019s 250th anniversary<\/a>…\u00a0Game 7 of the 2025 World Series averaged 51 million viewers combined across the United States, Canada, and Japan<\/a>…\u00a0NFL teams flock to Berlin as the league eyes more games in Germany<\/a>…\u00a0Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin first NHL player to score 900 goals<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
#WESAYINHEISMAN<\/a> x #JJ4HEISMAN<\/a><\/p>\n