\n Welcome to the Skull Session. <\/p>\n
\n\tIntroducing THE\u00a0patch.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\tJersey Patch @Chase<\/a> #GoBucks<\/a> | #ChasePartner<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wNdo95LBXC<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Thursday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIGGER CITY. Big Ten Media Days are a lot of fun. Every team is as confident as ever, fast as ever and healthy as ever. Every coach can\u2019t wait to get the season started and win a conference championship and a national title \u2014 even the Big Ten bottom feeders!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tThe Buckeye(s) Stripes on the \ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/rWBaeiO3AD<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tGood news: When Ryan Day expressed confidence in Ohio State, I believe him. He traveled to Chicago with Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith and Jaylen McClain on Wednesday, and the head coach and his three stars looked calm, cool and collected as the team prepares for a gauntlet of a 2026 schedule with annual goals to beat Michigan, win its first Big Ten championship since 2020 and its second national title in three years.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u270c\ufe0f Chicago \t\u2014 Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) July 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tDan Hope and I are still in the Windy City on Thursday to cover all the comments and quotes from Michigan head coach Kyle Whittingham and players Bryce Underwood, Jordan Marshall and Trey Pierce. Same goes for Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and players Isaiah Jones, Carter Smith and Tyrique Tucker.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWe\u2019ll see if any of them slip up and give Ohio State some bulletin board material entering 2026. Not that the Buckeyes need any more motivation to succeed after their disappointing end to 2025, but it never hurts to have material that makes the chips on their shoulders a little bigger.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0MONEY, MONEY, MONEY, MONEY\u2026 MONEY! This week, The Athletic\u2019s Matt Baker<\/a> completed a fun exercise: What if college football teams could be sold? How much would each Power 4 program be worth? Then\u00a0he did the math.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to Baker, college football\u2019s most valuable program is Texas at $2.46 billion. While the Longhorns did not report the most football revenue during the 2024-25 fiscal year, their three-year average of $190 million ranks No. 1 nationally. As a result, Baker\u2019s calculations put Texas\u2019 valuation on par with the 2020 sale of the New York Mets ($2.4 billion, not adjusted for inflation \u2014 that\u2019s 2,011 payments to Bobby Bonilla!).\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State ranks No. 2 on Baker\u2019s list with a valuation of $2.3 billion, a $400 million increase from The Athletic\u2019s 2025 edition of this exercise.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tRevenue alone would put the Buckeyes seventh or eighth, but their average figures are weighed down by a 2023 season that featured only six home games. We put more stock in the fact that Ohio State\u2019s football revenue jumped almost $50 million during the 2024 national-title run and the fact that the program is recession-proof (still only two losing seasons since 1967). The Buckeyes\u2019 power isn\u2019t tied to one coach or one era, which makes them a safer investment than some other programs in this tier. It also helps explain why Ohio State\u2019s figure grew the most of any other team.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tRounding out the top five are Notre Dame ($2.1 billion), Michigan ($2 billion) and Georgia ($1.95 billion), while Alabama ($1.8 billion), Oklahoma ($1.6 billion), USC ($1.6 billion), Tennessee ($1.57 billion) and Penn State ($1.4 billion) complete the top 10.\n<\/p>\n \n\tFeel free to take Ohio State\u2019s valuation and flex on fans of those programs. Michigan, Notre Dame and Tennessee are especially fun targets. The Wolverines are obvious, the Irish because of their more expensive jersey patch sponsorship, and the Volunteers because \u2014 well, a lot has happened recently.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe Big Ten is well represented near the top of Baker\u2019s list, with two programs in the top five and seven in the top 15. Here\u2019s where all 18 Big Ten teams rank:\n<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 2 – Ohio State ($2.3 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 4 – Michigan ($2 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 7 (tie) – USC ($1.6 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 10 – Penn State ($1.4 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 13 – Oregon ($1.13 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 15 (tie) – Nebraska ($1.06 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 15 (tie) – Washington ($1.06 billion)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 19 – Wisconsin ($922 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 21 – Iowa ($806 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 22 – Indiana ($696 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 24 – Michigan State ($686 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 28 – Minnesota ($629 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 30 – Illinois ($568 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 36 – Northwestern ($498 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 39 – Purdue ($450 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 45 – UCLA ($363 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 46 – Maryland ($359 million)<\/p>\n \t\tNo. 52 – Rutgers ($314 million)<\/p>\n \n\tThe biggest takeaway? Ohio State is not simply one of the biggest brands in college football \u2014 it is one of the sport\u2019s most valuable assets. The Buckeyes\u2019 $2.3 billion valuation reflects decades of success, stability and a fan base that continues to make Ohio State one of the safest bets in the sport.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0HE DID WHAT NOW? I love Matt Patricia.\n<\/p>\n \n\tOn the latest episode of the Downs 2 Business podcast, Caleb Downs revealed that Patricia had an interesting way of introducing himself to Ohio State\u2019s players after Ryan Day hired him as the Buckeyes\u2019 defensive coordinator in 2025.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFirst day, he got in the meeting, he was like, \u2018Hey guys, we\u2019re going to hand out these sheets of paper. I want you to write down the best five players on this defense and the worst five players on this defense,\u2019\u201d Downs said.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe\u2019s like, \u2018If you say yourself, and a coach doesn\u2019t say you, you\u2019re lying.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWorst five is crazy,\u201d said Josh Downs, Caleb\u2019s brother.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt is crazy.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBut it\u2019s also why I love Patricia.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIt takes a certain level of confidence to walk into a room and demand an activity that could immediately create division within a team. It helps when that confidence comes from winning three Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and spending three seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Lions.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t“Write down the five worst players on defense.” \u200d<\/p>\n Caleb Downs shares the story of the first time Matt Patricia led an Ohio State defensive meeting and challenged the players with some tough questions. pic.twitter.com\/IUhHqLb183<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Downs 2 Business (@downs2business) July 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tAfter his tenure with the Lions, Patricia returned to New England, where he spent two seasons as a senior football advisor. During that time, he worked with 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton, who was the Patriots\u2019 quarterback in 2020 and a guest on the Downs\u2019 podcast last week.\n<\/p>\n \n\tNewton understood why Patricia had his players complete the exercise.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMatt Patricia comes from the cloth of accountability,\u201d Newton said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re seeing how or why they win, that\u2019s the reason. … You don\u2019t have no ability to backtalk what\u2019s wrong. Man, pipe down, you wrong, bro!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tOhio State\u2019s defense was already elite during its national championship run in 2024. Somehow, Patricia elevated the unit even further in 2025 despite losing key contributors like Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams, Ty Hamilton, JT Tuimoloau, Cody Simon, Denzel Burke, Jordan Hancock and Lathan Ransom from the year before.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLast fall, Ohio State ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense (219.1 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (9.3 points allowed per game). The Buckeyes never allowed more than 17 points to an opposing offense, with Miami\u2019s 24 points in the Cotton Bowl coming in part because of a Keionte Scott pick-six.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter Ohio State sent another haul of defensive players to the NFL \u2014 including three top-11 picks in Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs \u2014 Patricia will have a difficult task trying to match what he accomplished in 2025. But if there\u2019s one thing his career has shown, it\u2019s that Patricia knows how to get the most out of talented players. And at Ohio State, talented players are never in short supply.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0THEY DID WHAT NOW? Ohio State hit Front Office Sports with what might be the fastest Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) response of all-time.\n<\/p>\n \n\tAfter Ohio State announced Chase Bank as its jersey patch sponsor on Tuesday, Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich filed a public records request for a copy of the university’s agreement with JPMorganChase. Within minutes, she received a response stating Ohio State does not have a copy of the contract.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhy?\n<\/p>\n \n\tBecause the agreement is technically between Chase Bank and Learfield, the college sports marketing company that represents Ohio State.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tI filed a public records request for a copy of Ohio State’s jersey patch deal contract with JPMorganChase.<\/p>\n Within minutes of filing my request, I received the following rejection, stating the university does not have a copy of the contract: pic.twitter.com\/3NZh1yoCOi<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThat’s quite the loophole.\n<\/p>\n \n\tUnless Learfield decides to open its books, Ohio State’s exact payday will remain a mystery. At least we have a pretty good idea of the ballpark, as ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel<\/a> reported Tuesday that the Buckeyes should yield $17 million annually from the black and white patches.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY.\u00a0“Chicago” – Michael Jackson.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0Rotten fish sauce that has long stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed<\/a>…\u00a0Private mission to rescue NASA\u2019s aging telescope runs into its own trouble<\/a>…\u00a0Blue Jackets to simulcast games on TV and radio beginning with 2026-27 season<\/a>…\u00a0CBS NFL analyst Tony Romo arrested on suspicion of OWI<\/a>…\u00a0\u00a0Nebraska football players to receive $7.5M from NIL deals that were once denied by CSC<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
#GoBucks<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ROva3q7HQW<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n