Welcome to the Skull Session.
Thursday got a little brighter with Ohio State adding Jared Sullinger to the staff as its Director of Player Development. Buckeye Nation got the announcement, and then it was on to the next bit of good news: there’s just one more sleep.
THE ALLSTATE PLAYOFF PREDICTOR. ESPN rolled out its 2026 Allstate Playoff Predictor this week, and the path for Ohio State came with 12 possible outcomes based on games at Texas, Indiana and Oregon, plus the Big Ten title game. I clicked through the Buckeyes’ chances so you don’t have to.
The computers said Ohio State can win the national championship in four of those scenarios.
If the Buckeyes beat Texas, Indiana and Oregon, and then win the Big Ten Championship Game, they get the title whether they earn a first-round bye or not.
If Ohio State beats Texas and Indiana but loses to Oregon, the Buckeyes still win it all as long as they get the bye. Without the bye, Texas takes the championship.
The other Ohio State title path is messier: a loss at Texas, wins over Indiana and Oregon, and no bye still gets the Buckeyes to the trophy.
The rest of the board belongs to somebody else. Georgia, Alabama, Notre Dame, Oregon and Texas all show up as champions in the other scenarios, depending on how the results break.
I ran my own first CFP simulation, too. In that version, Ohio State beat Texas, Indiana and Oregon, won the Big Ten Championship Game and earned a first-round bye - and Tennessee ended up winning the national championship. I didn’t like that, so I ran it again, and the Buckeyes won it all.
Computers can learn.
A SUPER ANONYMOUS SOURCE. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic asked 18 college football sources a few preseason questions, including one simple one: who should be the highest-paid player in the sport?
Two of them landed on Jeremiah Smith.
“It should be Jeremiah Smith. He’s so much better than everyone else,” a Big Ten defensive backs coach said.
“Jeremiah Smith. Generational player, even though people use that term all the time.
He actually is that. If he asked for a parcel of Ohio as his personal fiefdom, they should grant it,” an ACC analyst added.
Not everyone agreed. One SEC defensive coordinator went with Trinidad Chambliss or Dante Moore, while a Big Ten running backs coach said Smith wasn’t the answer and argued, “Not Jeremiah.
Play Cover-2 over him and you take him out of the game. I think he’s closer to DK Metcalf than Jaxon Smith-Njigba.”
That one came from a Big Ten running backs coach, huh?
A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN. Nielsen’s college football fandom rankings put Columbus at No. 3 in the country, behind Birmingham, Alabama, and Des Moines/Ames, Iowa. Omaha, Nebraska, and Knoxville, Tennessee, rounded out the top five.
Nielsen said Columbus leads in streaming and ranks in the top four for apparel, interest, social media, radio and TV viewership. The company described it as a “shows up everywhere” market, similar to Philadelphia and Cincinnati in the NFL rankings.
Columbus may not have finished first overall, but there’s a strong case that it’s the best single-school market in the country. Birmingham’s edge comes with Alabama and Auburn.
Des Moines/Ames gets Iowa and Iowa State. Columbus just has Ohio State.
And yet it still finished only 25 points off the top spot and 12 points ahead of fourth. That’s a pretty sturdy claim to being in a league of its own.
“HE’S GONNA BE THE BEST EVER.” Jeremiah Smith kept showing up in the week’s chatter, and the praise kept getting louder.
His cousin, Geno Smith, told Jordan Schultz and Keyshawn Johnson that he believed long before Jeremiah played a college snap that the receiver would be the best ever. Geno said he’d watched him since he was 9 or 10 years old and pointed to the way he carries himself on and off the field.
“I said it before he ever played a snap in college football that he was gonna be the best ever. I really believed that.
I watched him play since he was 9 or 10 years old. I watched him grow up,” his cousin Geno Smith told Jordan Schultz and Keyshawn Johnson this week.
“I just remember my grandma telling me, ‘He’s just like you. He’s determined.’
And to me, I know he’s got the physical tools and all the gifts, but his work ethic and the way he goes about his business is phenomenal, man. Just the way that he executes on the field but also off the field, I think that’s what makes him great.”
Garrett Wilson, who came through Ohio State before heading to the NFL, said Smith is the best pass-catcher he’s ever seen.
“Yeah, yeah. I mean, you come through the door ready to play, and he deserved every bit of the playing time he got, and it was inevitable, man. As soon as he got out there, it was kind of like you said, men among boys a little bit.”
And Keyshawn Johnson, the last wide receiver to go No. 1 overall in the NFL draft in 1996, called Smith “a pro’s pro.”
“When I look at Jeremiah, and I look at other receivers that have come out into the league that were high draft picks and very productive in college, I don’t worry about him,” Johnson said. “I can look at his physique, his body, his control, how he runs routes, how he uses his hands to go get the football - all of those things. He is certainly a pro’s pro.”
So, how good is Jeremiah Smith?
Really, really good.
In Other News...
Ohio State Unveiled A New Horseshoe Look Fans Will Notice Fast
Ohio Stadium will look a little different the next time Ohio State takes the field, with Buckeye Stripes now added to the end zones ahead of the 2026 season opener. It is the kind of visual tweak Buckeye fans will spot right away, but it is only part of a broader upgrade inside the Horseshoe as the program continues modernizing the venue without losing its identity.
The bigger change may be underfoot, where Ohio State has installed new turf designed to meet NFL standards. Players and coaches have already given it positive feedback, and the surface is expected to hold up well while also giving the program more room for branding and helping preserve quality when the stadium hosts events such as concerts. [Read more 🡒]
C.J. Stroud Just Made A Risky Bet On Himself
C.J. Stroud is betting on the kind of leverage that only a franchise quarterback can chase, and he is doing it at a moment when the Houston Texans would have every reason to want certainty. Reports say the 2023 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year passed on a contract extension that would have paid him around $50 million per year, choosing instead to play out the season and try to raise his value even higher.
It is a bold call for a player whose performance has dipped from his rookie standard, especially with Houston still viewing itself as a Super Bowl contender. The Texans also are dealing with a major personnel hit after losing a key receiver for the season, which puts even more pressure on Stroud to carry his side of the bargain while he waits to see how far this wager can take him. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Could Make A Rare Freshman Secondary Move Saturday
Ohio States defensive backfield may already be getting a fresh look before the season even kicks off, thanks to the rapid rise of Jay Timmons. The five-star freshman and Florida State transfer has turned heads in spring and fall practices, where coaches and teammates have pointed to his mindset, tenacity and knack for making plays as reasons he has moved quickly into the conversation.
What makes this development notable is how much it can affect the Buckeyes overall secondary picture. Timmons progress has been strong enough to push Ohio State into rethinking its projected starting lineup, a rare early shake-up for a true freshman and a sign that the staff sees more than just depth potential when it evaluates him at nickelback. [Read more 🡒]