In partnership with
Vo. 2, No. 1
Hello and welcome to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
This is the first edition of This Week in Ohio State Football for the 2026 season.
To recap: It’s a weekly roundup of what is happening with the Buckeyes and one of multiple at least semi-regular feature of my newsletter.
I also have the Tressel Tales, which recaps Jim Tressel’s first year as head coach at Ohio State, and I’ll soon be launching a weekly edition devoted to Ohio State sports history.
I’ll also continue to publish other things when the mood strikes me, including my brilliant observations on the Cincinnati Bengals, Reds and whatever else. Right now, everyone is signed up to get every edition, but I should be able to allow you to get only the topics that interest you in the near future. The option exists via my host, beehiiv, but I have to figure out how to set it up — so stay tuned!
Now, without further ado, let’s get on with this edition…
Ohio State plays football at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Ball State.
It’s a real game that counts in the standings and everything.
Are you fired up for it?
Getting focused on this one is a little different than the Texas game a year ago, isn’t it?
I’m finding that to be the case more than I expected, especially with another Texas game set for a week from now.
Yes, I love college football and each team is only guaranteed 12 of these per years, so I’m looking forward to being at Ohio Stadium in the press box for the 24th year (counting my two as a student for the sports information department), but I’m also having a hard time figuring out what to focus on.
Then again, maybe that’s not a bad thing.
As usual with a season-opener, there will be lots to see even if the opponent isn’t much to write home (or to subscribers) about.
The unveiling of Arthur Smith’s version of the Ohio State offense, Matt Patricia’s Ohio State defense 2.0, the evolution of Julian Sayin, the transfers, the freshmen…
Jim Tressel will be honored with his name going on the stadium facade along with Paul Brown and Woody Hayes, Maurice Clarett will ring the victory bell before the game, and it’s Senior Day for some reason.
What are you most looking forward to seeing?
I’m always looking to hear from you, so feel free to drop me a line!
No follow-up questions required
Every sales leader knows the feeling. You walk into a pipeline review with a number you believe in, and twenty minutes later, you're defending every line item to a CEO who just wants to know what's actually going to close.
HubSpot Sales Hub ends that conversation. Every deal, every rep's activity, and every buyer signal are all in one place and updated automatically. So your forecast is built on what's actually happening. And when you present that number, you can stand behind it.
This is yet another season with much promise
They’re all unique, but I think the feeling going into this one is heavily influenced by the last two.
In 2024, it was natty or bust. That’s an easy narrative to follow from start to finish even if they had to overcome some adversity along the way. It was also the culmination of a four-year journey for all those seniors who were suddenly staring at the possibility of going 0-for-12 in their stated team goals (they ended up 1/12 in the oddest way imaginable).
Last year, the preseason was dominated by two questions: Can they repeat? Can they beat Texas to start the season?
Well, taking down the Longhorns the way they did accelerated the expectations for the season. Multiple national analysts wondered aloud if the 2025 Buckeyes were better than the ’24 team, but Indiana and Miami quickly disabused everyone of that notion.
Now it’s almost time to start another journey with legitimate hopes of ending in the ultimate winner’s circle.
Can they get there?
Here are a few things that caught my eye this week:
At BuckeyeInsiders.com, where I am a contributor, scheme guru Ross Fulton revealed what he is most looking forward to seeing Saturday.
On offense, the idea is to be simpler to a certain extent — to try less in hopes of being able to do more, or at least to make it look like they aren’t doing as much so that what they are doing is more effective: More under center, more plays that resemble each other and more quick game.
Defensively, the opposite might be true: Patricia was able to lean hard on a handful of veteran, elite talents last season. This year there is plenty to work with, but he might need to be more resourceful and creative to have the same type of success with a different type of player.
More packages, more creepers and sim pressures and more of the penny front.
Click on through to see why Ross is looking for those things, and feel free to sign up for the site if you want to get more insight like that along with lots more information every day!
Early in the week, Ryan Day not only all-but-confirmed Austin Siereveld will be the starting right guard (which would mean Ian Moore replaces him at left tackle) but also expressed his excitement for seeing an interior line of three seniors who have been through a lot: Siereveld, Luke Montgomery and Carson Hinzman.
I found that to be an interesting window into how Day views this offense, so I wrote about it for Buckeye Insiders. In short, while many of us on the outside were worried about the left tackle, Day was more focused on the potential to have a powerful center of the line to drive the (hoped-for) resurgence of the running game.
Defensive line and tight end are also under the microscope since two of the former and two of the latter were picked by NFL teams last spring. Day raved about the depth at both position groups this week, but are there real difference-makers?
Lastly, with any team leadership is always important. This year, Ohio State has named seven captains, and Jeff Gilbert took a closer look at the group for a piece at PressProsMagazine.com:
Certainly this is a unique group. You’ve got the quarterback from California, the star receiver from Florida, the new middle linebacker from Texas, an offensive lineman from right here in Southwest Ohio, another receiver from Florida who has become a major glue guy and a safety hoping to step out from the shadow of Caleb Downs and a pass rusher from Florida looking to really blossom as a senior.
Chef-Crafted, Dietitian-Designed Meals Ready in 2 Minutes
Try Factor, America's #1 ready-to-eat meal delivery service.
Made from ingredients you recognize. Whole food. Nothing unnecessary. Let’s eat real.
Get 50% off your first Factor box + Free Breakfast for a year *1 free breakfast item per box for 1 year while subscription active.
What about Ball State?
Typically we will spend more time on the opponent than we have this week, but in the case of the Cardinals, what is there to tell?
The nature of college football these days makes the unknowns much more prevalent than the knowns, but here are a few things to keep in mind:
Ohio State is 39-1 all-time against the current members of the MAC with 36 consecutive victories. The only loss was to the school now known as the University of Akron in 1896 at the Ohio State Fairgrounds.
This will be the first meeting between Ohio State and Ball State, who went 4-8 last season.
The Cardinals were 130th in the nation in scoring last season and 132nd in total offense. The defense was better statistically, but not much: 102nd overall and 102nd in scoring.
Mike Uremovich is in his second season as head coach at BSU after a successful run at Butler in the FCS.
He’s named Keldric Luster, a Texas State transfer who began his career at SMU, the starting quarterback. Luster is in his fourth college season, but he doesn’t have much experience.
Here’s more about the Cardinals from Tony Gerdeman at BuckeyeInsiders.com:
Also of note:
Senior Diante Griffin is a transfer from Ohio State who spent the past four seasons with the Buckeyes as a walk-on.
The Lima Senior grad is the son of Andre Griffin and the grandson of Archie Griffin, and he has both a degree and a national championship ring from Ohio State.
Other Ohioans on the Ball State roster include Will Yates, a third-year defensive back from Springboro who is a returning starter in the Cardinals secondary, along with Ace Cooper, a freshman receiver from Middletown, and Mason Holbrook, a freshman defensive tackle from Hamilton. Ben Marsh, a senior from Hilliard Darby, is projected to start on the defensive line.
That’s all for This Week in Ohio State Football. Thanks for reading!
Please sign up for a free subscription if you don’t already have one, and please share the newsletter if you do!
Overall, CusWordsSports.com is a free, ad-supported newsletter I started last year after deciding to leave the Dayton Daily News. (Yes, ad-supported means I benefit if you patronize the advertisers, so feel free to do that if you see an ad that you find interesting.)
Like what you see? Please share by forwarding this email, sharing the link on social media or sending someone this link.
BONUS CONTENT!
Aside from this newsletter, I’m also sharing my thoughts on the premium messages board BuckeyeInsiders.com and BuckeyeSports.com.
Beyond that, I’m writing for multiple sites, including primarily PressProsMagazine.com, The Associated Press and MensJournal.com.
This week for MJ I had pieces on the computer simulation that snubbed the South in favor of mostly Big Ten teams when handicapping the 2026 college football season and Nielsen’s view of the most passionate cities for CFB. (Ohio is well-represented.)
Interested in starting your own newsletter? I’m using Beehiiv, and I highly recommend it.
Click here to learn more (and if you end up subscribing, I would get a commission, but it is free to try and to maintain a newsletter).