\n Welcome to the Skull Session. <\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State is pulling out all the stops to land five-star defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tFive-Star DL Marcus Fakatou on his official visit to Ohio State \t\u2014 Swish (@swishxvibes) May 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Monday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0BUCKEYES FOR LIFE. Here\u2019s a picture that makes me smile:\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tBuckeye roots run deep pic.twitter.com\/RqocNTtuXi<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Columbus Aviators (@UFLAviators) May 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tJim Tressel, Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis together to watch the Columbus Aviators in their regular-season finale. (I cannot identify the man to Tressel\u2019s left for the life of me. Any guesses?)\n<\/p>\n \n\tUnfortunately, the Aviators lost to the Louisville Kings, 42-27, and fell to 3-7 in their inaugural season.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAlso unfortunately, I\u2019m not sure Ted Ginn Jr. is long for the head coaching position. He\u2019s 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIf 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u201cI DON\u2019T THINK HE COULD THROW.\u201d Eric Weddle doesn\u2019t believe in Bryce Underwood, the former No. 1 overall prospect who led Michigan to a 9-4 record as a freshman.\n<\/p>\n \n\tActually, that\u2019s a pretty charitable interpretation of his comments.\n<\/p>\n \n\tA less generous reading would be that Weddle \u2014 a 14-year NFL veteran, Super Bowl winner and five-time All-Pro \u2014 thinks Underwood can\u2019t play quarterback.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOK, maybe that\u2019s too far in the other direction. I\u2019ll let you decide for yourself.\n<\/p>\n \n\tDuring 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>, a two-way playmaker ranked as the No. 95 overall prospect in the 2028 recruiting class.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMark my words \u2014 I was out there for spring ball \u2014 don\u2019t be surprised if the backup is playing early because that Underwood kid, I don\u2019t think he could throw or play quarterback, so we\u2019ll see,\u201d Eric Weddle said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tGaige 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\u2019s greatest signal callers.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tEric Weddle is not a fan of Bryce Underwood<\/p>\n I dont think he can throw or play quarterback pic.twitter.com\/nrKzQ5T6oQ<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) May 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI don\u2019t understand, like, it\u2019s just quarterbacks in general, but I don\u2019t 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\u2019re not an athlete who plays quarterback,\u201d Weddle said. \u201cI\u2019ve 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\u2019s as fast as you, everyone\u2019s as strong as you. Your mind, processing, pocket awareness, feel and getting the ball out on time is what I\u2019ve stressed to him most as a quarterback.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn what could generously be viewed as a compliment for Underwood, Weddle said he didn\u2019t 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\u2019m sure isn\u2019t one of the programs he\u2019s talking about.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou very rarely see it nowadays. It\u2019s just shocking to see the lack of good QB play is really kind of hard to understand,\u201d Weddle said. \u201cBut (Gaige is) gonna be playing DB at the next level, so it\u2019s not really an issue. But I know quarterback play, and I know good play. \u2026 I went to nine schools in spring ball, and I was like, dude, you\u2019re better than half these guys. You\u2019d be a backup here fighting (to be) the starter.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tUnderwood looked lost in Ohio State\u2019s 27-9 win over Michigan last season, completing eight\u00a0of 18 passes for 63 yards and one interception. Caden Curry revealed after The Game that Matt Patricia\u2019s game plan was to keep Underwood contained and \u201cmake him play quarterback.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tUnless Underwood took a massive step forward this offseason \u2014 and based on Weddle\u2019s account, it doesn\u2019t sound like he did \u2014 maybe Michigan\u2019s $10 million quarterback really isn\u2019t that good.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tOh, no!\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhat a shame!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0THE GAME IN OCTOBER? Speaking of The Game, The Athletic\u2019s Austin Meek<\/a> 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: \u201cWhy Michigan-Ohio State should move to October if the Playoff expands to 24 teams.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tI\u2019ll give you a few seconds to process that.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOne…\n<\/p>\n \n\tTwo…\n<\/p>\n \n\tThree…\n<\/p>\n \n\tI know you hate it, but I\u2019ll at least let the man make his case.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tI 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\u2019s played after most of the 24-team Playoff field is set.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tThe goal should be to play The Game when the stakes are highest. For most of the rivalry\u2019s history, that meant playing it on the final Saturday of the regular season. Part of the rivalry\u2019s greatness is watching tension build throughout the season, leading up to the crescendo in late November.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tIf the CFP expands, my prediction is that the crescendo of the regular season will hit earlier. Probably sometime in October, when we\u2019ve seen enough to know who\u2019s 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 \u2014 extremely relevant for a few teams, anticlimactic for everyone else.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tIn October, everybody will have something to play for. Teams will be warmed up but not as beaten up as they\u2019ll be in late November. We\u2019ll know enough to identify the most important games, but nobody will be locked into a particular CFP track. Also, fans won\u2019t yet have Bracket Fatigue from analyzing the same handful of scenarios again and again.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u2026\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tMy main concern is that Michigan-Ohio State won\u2019t 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\u2019s not such a good thing for Ohio State-Michigan.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tI 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou\u2019re playing for either a chance to get into the Playoff or a chance to get seeded high to get a first-round bye,\u201d Day told The Athletic. \u201cOr, if you are already maybe predicted to be one of the top eight schools, then you\u2019re fighting for a high seed. So, all those are critically important to your success in the Playoff.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think with the elimination of the championship game, it keeps that rivalry as fierce as it\u2019s ever been, the stakes just as high.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\tNow, if the CFP expands to 24 teams, will The Game ever produce another Ten Year War<\/a>?\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tMaybe not.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWill it continue to deliver instant classics fueled by two bitter rivals who hate everything about each other?\n<\/p>\n \n\tAbsolutely.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a099 OVERALL JJ. Jeremiah Smith is the only 99 overall player in EA Sports College Football 27, according to a post from MUTLeaks.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tCFB 27 Pregame Ratings Sneak Peek<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n All 90+ OVR: \t\u2014 MUTLeaks (@MUTLeaksXXVII) May 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tWhile we\u2019ll have to wait for the official release of EA CFB 27 to confirm the report, it\u2019s safe to assume it\u2019s 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.\n<\/p>\n \n\tMUTLeaks\u2019 post also included ratings for four other Buckeyes: Julian Sayin at 94 overall (the second-highest-rated quarterback behind Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore), Luke Montgomery at 92 overall, and both Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and Austin Siereveld at 90 overall.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s pretty good.\n<\/p>\n \n\tPretty, pretty, pretty good.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY. “Outlaw” – The Figs.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0Altar-ed plans: US midfielder gets 1-day leave from World Cup training for his own wedding<\/a>…\u00a0YouTuber box office boom: “Backrooms”\u00a0and “Obsession” draw Gen Z to theaters<\/a>…\u00a0How PSG bested Arsenal to win UEFA Champions League<\/a>…\u00a0Shedeur Sanders banked record $17.7 million\u00a0in NFLPA group licensing\u00a0income<\/a>…\u00a0No raise, no promotion: 1 in 4 white-collar workers are stalling out<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
Marcus_Fakatou (Instagram) pic.twitter.com\/kWBZBIgNV3<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
Firstname Lastname OVR pic.twitter.com\/8sVWQyHsw1<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n