The Scarlet and Gray

[djp73]

you hate to see it.

[toysoldier00]

Bayou Billy’s days are numbered

thanks for those two dubs, sun belt billy

your job here is done

Murderers' row on that schedule for Napier. Looks like we'll have a repeat of real life with him getting the boot.

Done and dusted for ole Billy, I'm afraid.

Just got shooters all over the roster

Must be so satisfying playing with such a dominant squad.

It is, genuinely, pretty fun. Basically my only trepidation at Ohio State was that it would always be a reload, but I also think there's a way to make that fun too.

Bo killed me in the Big Ten Championship, he’s going to be a stud.

I certainly hope so. Early indications are mixed.

you hate to see it.

[toysoldier00]

Editor's Note: I wanted to get out ahead of this for a bit, just to let it breathe and flesh things out. I expect the pace of this to jump start, starting, well, now.

[toysoldier00]

Week 4 Preview: Big Ten fireworks in Bloomington, SEC stress tests in Norman and Columbia

Marissa Bleday
September 18, 2025


College football doesn’t always hand you a September weekend that feels like an inflection point, but Week 4 is quietly built like one. The headliner sits in the heart of the Big Ten, where unbeaten Indiana welcomes unbeaten Illinois with College GameDay in town and two offenses that want to play at a pace most defenses can’t survive. Down south, Oklahoma’s early-season credibility gets its first true pressure test against an Auburn team that has been explosive and unafraid. And in the SEC, South Carolina and Missouri meet in a game that will either validate a bounce-back narrative or confirm that one of these teams is headed for a season of “almost.”

It’s not a weekend with a dozen top-five matchups. It’s a weekend with consequences.

The game of the week is in Bloomington: No. 7 Illinois at No. 13 Indiana, a matchup that’s as much about identity as it is about ranking. Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers have looked like a complete team through three weeks, humming on offense and playing a brand of defense that doesn’t feel fluky.

“We’ve built this to travel, to hold up when the lights are bright,” Cignetti said earlier this week. “Now we get to see what it looks like against a real Big Ten roster.” The engine is transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who has played with rhythm and confidence early (952 yards, 11 touchdowns), distributing to Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. while leaning on Roman Hemby as the red-zone hammer. Indiana’s numbers jump off the page, first in the Big Ten in yards per game (492.3) and second in scoring (44.0), but the key detail is how clean it’s been: explosive plays without constant chaos.

Illinois arrives unbeaten too, but with a different vibe. The Illini have survived, not surged, a gritty road win at Duke, a tighter-than-expected home result against Western Michigan, and yet they remain the kind of veteran-heavy team that can win ugly and still be dangerous. Luke Altmyer has been productive (707 yards, eight touchdowns, 65% completions), but Illinois hasn’t looked like a team operating at full throttle yet. “We haven’t played our best football,” Bret Bielema said this week. “But there’s value in being 3-0 while you’re still learning who you are.” The matchup within the matchup is Indiana’s tempo and spacing against an Illinois defense allowing 303.7 yards per game, and whether linebacker Gabe Jacas can disrupt the timing enough to force Mendoza into the kind of long-yardage situations Indiana hasn’t lived in much so far.

If Bloomington is the Big Ten’s statement stage, Norman is the SEC’s pressure chamber. No. 19 Auburn at No. 12 Oklahoma is the kind of game that can make a quarterback a national name or turn a hot start into “well, it was September.” Auburn has been electric offensively, averaging 42 points per game with a real vertical element through quarterback Ashton Daniels (1,101 yards, nine passing touchdowns, three picks, plus three rushing scores). Receivers Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton Jr. have given the Tigers consistent separation and big-play potential, while Keldric Faulk (five sacks) has been the defensive tone-setter. “We’ve got speed, we’ve got confidence, and we’ve got things we can clean up,” Hugh Freeze said this week. “The question on Saturday is: can you play fast when the other team hits back?”

Oklahoma, so far, has done the hitting. The Sooners are scoring 46.3 points per game, but the more meaningful number is on the other side: just 6.3 points allowed per game, with a +5 turnover margin and a defense that looks organized, violent, and connected. Brent Venables finally appears to have the quarterback he’s been chasing, with John Mateeraccounting for touchdowns through the air (nine) and on the ground (four) while limiting mistakes (one interception). “We’re playing with purpose,” Venables said this week, “but this is the first time we’ve faced an offense that can stress you at every level.” Auburn can do that, the question is whether it can do it for four quarters against a unit that has made elite quarterbacks look uncomfortable already.

In Columbia, No. 17 South Carolina travels to No. 21 Missouri in a game that feels like a referendum on response. South Carolina’s season changed quickly with the upset loss to Vanderbilt, and now the Gamecocks have to prove they can rebound without spiraling. Shane Beamer kept his message blunt this week: “We didn’t meet our standard. We own it, we fix it, and we go play.” The defense still looks playoff-caliber by the numbers, first in the SEC in yards allowed (256.7) and the conference’s most efficient third-down offense (72% conversion rate), but quarterback LaNorris Sellers has had uneven moments (1,024 yards, eight touchdowns, three interceptions) and needs to settle back into the controlled aggression that made him a Heisman talking point in August. Vandrevius Jacobs (354 yards, three scores) has been his most consistent weapon, and pass rusher Dylan Stewart (4.5 sacks) remains the kind of defender who can wreck a game plan by himself.

Missouri, meanwhile, has been the sport’s early-season fireworks show. The Tigers are first in the SEC in points (50.3) and yards (538.7), with Penn State transfer Beau Pribula playing like he’s been in the system for years (15 total touchdowns, two interceptions). “He’s decisive,” Eli Drinkwitz said this week. “He’s playing on time, and when you do that, everybody looks faster.” Add in running back Ahmad Hardy (442 yards, two touchdowns on 63 carries), and Missouri has a balanced, ruthless offense, the kind that can force even elite defenses to pick their poison. This game will be about which identity wins: South Carolina’s speed-and-pressure defense, or Missouri’s tempo and efficiency.

Elsewhere, Week 4 carries high-profile subplot games that could reshape the next month. Florida at No. 5 Miami is the kind of matchup that can either start a salvage arc or deepen a crisis. Billy Napier, facing the kind of schedule that doesn’t allow patience, framed it simply this week: “We’ve got to play cleaner football, and we’ve got to do it now.” Miami, with Carson Beck playing like a Heisman co-favorite, isn’t exactly a soft landing. Mario Cristobal’s tone was what you’d expect: “We respect them, but we’re not changing who we are.”

In the Big 12 spotlight, No. 18 Texas Tech at Utah is the league’s first major measuring stick, a clash of styles and toughness, with Utah’s physical identity against a Texas Tech team trying to prove it can win in the margins. And in Lincoln, No. 14 Michigan at Nebraska is a litmus test for Bryce Underwood’s development against a Nebraska program desperate to put a national win on its resume. “We’re not asking him to be perfect,” Michigan’s Sherrone Moore said this week. “We’re asking him to keep growing, and to respond when it’s hard.”

That’s what Week 4 really is: a weekend for responses. Indiana and Illinois trying to prove they belong in the same sentence as the Big Ten’s heavyweights. Oklahoma trying to validate a fast start with a win that matters. South Carolina and Missouri trying to define whether their seasons are stable or volatile. And a handful of blue-bloods, under pressure, trying to keep September from turning into a long fall.




[djp73]

Michigan’s Sherrone Moore said this week. “We’re asking him to keep growing, and to respond when it’s hard.”

[Captain Canada]

Fuck, that outline is pretty. Just seems so professional.

[toysoldier00]

Michigan’s Sherrone Moore said this week. “We’re asking him to keep growing, and to respond when it’s hard.”

you know I have to make light of what happened with that school lol

Fuck, that outline is pretty. Just seems so professional.

appreciate it as always!

[toysoldier00]

Bye Week Bits: Onianwa Locks It In, Ohio State Sorts The DT Rotation, And Sayin Settles In
By Zachary Anderson on September 19, 2025


After not winning a starting job out of camp, Ethan Onianwa has locked down Right Guard after Tegra Tshabola's Injury



Ohio State's first three games provided a quick tour of what September can be: a heavyweight opener against No. 1 Texas that demanded real execution, followed by two weeks that doubled as a reps-and-rotation lab. The bye week is the ideal checkpoint, because the most important developments aren’t the final margins. They’re the roles that have stabilized, the rooms that are still being sorted, and the way the offense is growing around a first-year starting quarterback before Big Ten play starts turning routine drives into survival tests.

The most stabilizing decision sits at right guard. When Tegra Tshabola’s season ended in the opener, Ohio State could’ve spent weeks auditioning replacements. Instead, the Buckeyes picked a lane. Ethan Onianwa played one snap against Texas, then logged 57 snaps against Grambling State and 42 against Ohio. That’s starter volume, and it’s about more than plugging a leak. For a young quarterback, the interior is where a play either stays on schedule or becomes scramble-drill football. The snap counts already say the staff trusts Onianwa to be part of the solution, not a temporary patch, and the bye week is where the communication and consistency between him, center Carson Hinzman, and right tackle Phillip Daniels can get tightened into something repeatable.

Defensive tackle is the opposite storyline: not one guy settling in, but a rotation searching for its cleanest answers after Eddrick Houston’s injury. Through three games, a three-man core has emerged. Jason Moore has been the constant presence (49 snaps vs. Texas, 34 vs. Grambling, 31 vs. Ohio). Kayden McDonald has been the other steady piece (35, 26, 23). Tywone Malone Jr. has been the smaller-but-real third leg (16, 11, 9) as the staff mixes and matches based on down, distance, and game flow. Kenyatta Jackson has also seen work inside. The bye week is when those numbers can become a hierarchy: who anchors early downs, who is trusted most when the offense goes tempo, and who gets the “we need a stop right now” snaps late in drives.

The running back room is shifting in a way that matters, too. CJ Donaldson no longer looks like the tone-setter, as his workload has been managed: 36 snaps against Texas, then only 10 against Grambling and 12 against Ohio. James Peoples has been the steadiest weekly presence, playing 37 snaps in the opener, then 35 and 26. That usage paints Peoples as the “keep us on time” back, with Donaldson deployed when Ohio State wants to lean into physicality or flip momentum with a statement series. It’s a pairing that makes sense, and it’s also a pairing that now has to share oxygen.

Because Bo Jackson isn’t a future conversation anymore. After playing one snap against Texas, the true freshman jumped to 19 snaps against Grambling and 18 against Ohio. Ohio State doesn’t hand out that kind of playing time to a freshman back unless he’s earning it in practice and the staff believes his skill set changes what the offense can do. Those reps aren’t just “late game” carries when everyone’s ready to go home; they’re meaningful snaps while the plan still matters. The bye week gives the staff a chance to define what Jackson’s role becomes: a true third-back package, a matchup piece, or simply a weekly split that changes based on opponent.

All of this feeds the biggest September takeaway: Julian Sayin looks increasingly comfortable running the offense because the production keeps matching the moment. In the opener against Texas, he wasn’t asked to be a superhero, he was asked to be steady, and he delivered with a 29-of-41 day for 229 yards and a touchdown, weathering an early interception and settling into rhythm as the game tightened. Against Grambling State, the training wheels came off: Sayin was surgical at 26-of-32 for 294 yards and three touchdowns, repeatedly finding Jeremiah Smith and turning a sluggish start into a blowout once the explosives showed up. And then against Ohio, with the game quickly tilting Ohio State’s way, he still made the most of his time, finishing 12-of-19 for 181 yards while the rushing attack did the heavy lifting.

Through three games, the arc is clear, fewer “what is he going to do?” moments, more “this is the offense” possessions, and the bye week becomes less about correcting panic and more about sharpening details: cleaner footwork under pressure, faster answers versus post-snap movement, and the kind of timing that turns drives into touchdowns instead of “good punts.”

Ohio State is 3–0, and the headline is obvious. The more useful truth is that the Buckeyes have specific things to organize before the season gets sharper at the edges. Onianwa is turning right guard into a non-story. The defensive tackles are forming a clearer pecking order. The backfield is evolving into a three-name conversation. And Sayin is growing into the keys with the kind of calm that makes everything else easier. If those details hold, the bye week won’t feel like an interruption, it’ll feel like the moment Ohio State turns early-season flashes into something sturdier.

[djp73]

Got to be fun with all those weapons

though

[Soapy]

see y'all boys Dec 31st