\n Welcome to the Skull Session. <\/p>\n
\n\tI hope you had a meaningful Memorial Day.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\tToday and every day we remember & honor those who sacrificed to make our freedom possible #GoBucks<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/cEofjLLEnc<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) May 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Tuesday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0THE PRINCE THAT WAS PROMISED. ICYMI: James Laurinaitis has landed another top-10 linebacker, further establishing himself as one of college football\u2019s top recruiters.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLaurinaitis\u2019 latest commitment came from Missouri four-star Prince Goldsby<\/a>, the No. 7 linebacker and No. 101 overall prospect in the 2027 class.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t#BOOM<\/a> Missouri four-star Prince Goldsby, the No. 7 linebacker and No. 101 overall prospect in the 2027 class, commits to Ohio State.https:\/\/t.co\/cSnZuVvM1v<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dKBoa2Rcor<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Eleven Warriors (@11W) May 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tLast season at Blue Springs South, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound athlete recorded 83 tackles with 22.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks in 10 games. He is Laurinaitis\u2019 third-highest-rated commitment (.9527 247Sports composite rating) behind only five-star Cincere Johnson (.9912) and four-star Riley Pettijohn (.9793).\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn other words, Goldsby is really, really good.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s no surprise Laurinaitis wanted him \u2014 and no surprise that Laurinaitis landed him!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0TIME FOR INFORMED DISCUSSIONS. The Big Ten wants a 24-team College Football Playoff. It appears the ACC and Big 12 are on board, too. But where does the SEC stand on expanding the field from 12 to 24 teams? We still don\u2019t have a clear answer, and it doesn\u2019t seem like one is coming anytime soon.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSpeaking with reporters on Monday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said not to \u201canticipate any decisions on the College Football Playoff\u201d coming out of the conference\u2019s spring meetings, though he added the league will have \u201can informed discussion\u201d about the future of postseason expansion.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tSEC commissioner Greg Sankey: “If you could over-hype a spring meeting, I think that successfully happened. … I don’t anticipate any decisions on the College Football Playoff, just so you’re clear. We’ll have an informed discussion.”\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) May 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tTo me, this feels like the SEC trying to flex whatever influence it still has after the Big Ten claimed three consecutive\u00a0national championships* (REDACTED in 2023*, Ohio State in 2024 and Indiana in 2025). The SEC has long operated as college football\u2019s power center, but the balance of power is shifting, and the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 appear increasingly willing to force the issue.\n<\/p>\n \n\tI believe Sankey when he says a decision on a 24-team playoff is not imminent. But I also suspect those \u201cinformed discussions\u201d will involve Sankey and SEC leadership making the case that a 24-team CFP would send the sport into a death spiral.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tMaybe he\u2019s right. Maybe he\u2019s wrong. Either way, Sankey will be damned if he embraces a system that dilutes the SEC\u2019s influence, and he\u2019ll likely work to unify the league\u2019s athletic directors and coaches the same way Tony Petitti did with the Big Ten\u2019s membership during meetings in California last week.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0HE SAID, SHE SAID. While Greg Sankey is expected to advocate for a united front, Rutgers athletic director Keli Zinn \u2014 who served as LSU\u2019s deputy AD a year ago \u2014 told The Athletic\u2019s Scott Dochterman <\/a>there may be more support for a 24-team College Football Playoff within the SEC than has been publicly acknowledged.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI also believe a number of them are already there,\u201d Zinn said. \u201cAs we try and kind of figure this thing out collectively, you see that a number of folks feel the same way that we do.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tAt this point, it\u2019s a classic game of he said, she said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tDoes the SEC truly want a 16-team playoff, as Sankey has suggested? Or are there enough voices within the conference pushing for further expansion, as Zinn indicated, to eventually shift the league\u2019s stance?\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tWhat we heard at Big Ten meetings: No push to mandate 10 Power 4 opponents amid CFP talks https:\/\/t.co\/PqdoDv9EvS<\/a> via @NYTimes<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) May 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tA 24-team CFP would undoubtedly benefit mid-tier Big Ten programs like Iowa, Illinois, Washington and Minnesota, along with several others. The same would be true for SEC programs such as Vanderbilt, Missouri, Auburn, South Carolina, Florida \u2014 really, every SEC school not named Georgia or Alabama should want as much expansion as possible.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBut again, as I wrote last week, this fight over expansion isn\u2019t really a battle between the Big Ten and SEC;\u00a0it\u2019s a battle between Fox and ESPN<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe television networks are fighting over November, December and January inventory (or content, the word Tony Petitti used repeatedly while speaking with reporters last week). So all this squabbling among conference leaders may ultimately be irrelevant if college football\u2019s overlords\u00a0television executives\u00a0are the ones who end up deciding the format that determines the sport\u2019s future national champions.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0IT DON\u2019T MAKE NO SENSE. Nothing about college football seems to make sense. That includes the fall sport crowning its national champion in the winter, late in January.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State won the first 12-team CFP on Jan. 20, 2025, and Indiana won the second one day earlier on Jan. 19, 2026. This year, however, the CFP final will occur on Jan. 25, 2027, in Las Vegas.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tNobody wants this (except maybe the overlords).\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe calendar keeps drifting deeper into winter, and Ryan Day wants to change it. He told The Athletic\u2019s Scott Dochterman<\/a> that he feels strongly about pushing it up.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI feel very strongly about that,\u201d Day said. \u201cTo let the season go all the way into the third or fourth week of January doesn\u2019t make sense. So, the sooner we can get the season over with, the better, so that we can get into putting our next year\u2019s roster together and bringing in our freshmen, because that all happens the first week of January.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cCan we be finished by the first week of January? I think that would be ideal, or even sooner if possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tBig Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and the conference’s 18 member schools unanimously support a 24-team CFP: “Inside our league, there is a deep commitment to 24 and the access.https:\/\/t.co\/uk0mcUroQr<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Eleven Warriors (@11W) May 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tIf the 24-team CFP is approved for the 2027 season, the first round would likely begin Dec. 3-4, with the second round set for Dec. 10-11. The quarterfinals would hinge on the NFL schedule \u2014 either taking place the weekend of Dec. 17-18 or shifting to midweek on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 22-23. The semifinals could be played on Jan. 1, with the national championship following roughly a week to 10 days later.\n<\/p>\n \n\tI could write 1,000 words on how ridiculous it is that college football allowed the NFL to take over Saturdays in December and January \u2014 and maybe I\u2019ll do that later in the offseason \u2014 but I\u2019ll leave you with something familiar: the perfect postseason calendar that, for some reason, the sport\u2019s leaders can\u2019t seem to figure out.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe regular season starts in August.\n<\/p>\n \n\tPostseason in late November.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThree weekends of CFP games on college campuses.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSemifinals at traditional bowl sites (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Sugar).\n<\/p>\n \n\tNational championship at the Rose Bowl on New Year\u2019s Day.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAnd that\u2019s in a 24-team format.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWith 12 teams, keep everything the same and just shrink the three weekends down to two.\n<\/p>\n \n\tSuper easy!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\tBarely an inconvenience!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY. “Boogie Wonderland” – Earth, Wind and Fire.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0Arthur Gea takes an emergency bathroom break during French Open debut<\/a>…\u00a0A round of a-paws for “La Perra,” winner of the Palm Dog award at Cannes<\/a>…\u00a0Tractors, ATVs and golf carts, oh my: Michigan seniors arrive at school in style on Tractor Day<\/a>…\u00a0Jason Williams says Florida coach orchestrated ejection to avoid handshake with Mia Williams<\/a>…\u00a0A World War II veteran had no one left to bury him. Then 1,500 strangers showed up<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n