The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - 10 Teams Most Likely to Make their First College Football Playoff in 2025

Episode Date: July 7, 2025

After last season’s expanded Playoff saw 6 teams make their first College Football Playoff appearance, FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt ranks the 10 teams most likely to make their first CFP appearance in this upcoming season – including a surprise team at #1. He evaluates which teams have the pieces to get through difficult schedules in the SEC like Florida and South Carolina. He also makes the case why this could be the year for Lincoln Riley and USC to make a breakthrough after a couple up-and-down seasons. Klatt also includes a Nebraska team returning their QB and looking to make a jump in Year 3 under Matt Rhule. 0:00-1:40 Intro1:41-2:52 Which teams are most likely to make their first CFP appearance in 2025?2:53-6:33 Nebraska Cornhuskers6:34-9:16 Florida Gators9:17-11:49 Kansas State Wildcats11:50-15:20 USC Trojans15:21-18:27 Missouri Tigers18:28-21:26 Iowa Hawkeyes21:27-23:55 Miami Hurricanes23:56-26:39 South Carolina Gamecocks26:40-29:59 Ole Miss Rebels30:00-34:11 Illinois Fighting Ilini Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People love to hate on Lane, but everywhere he's been, he's done an excellent job. I personally believe that Riley has maybe come under some criticism that might not be fair. Because he's going to have to win this year. You can't go 7 and 5 again. They should be in the ACC championship game. Then you are right in the mix for the playoff spot. This year's Indiana is Illinois. College football has never been better.

Interest has never been higher. I believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clad. This show, as always, is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them for their support as we roll on here in the offseason, another summer right before college football. Can't wait for it to get here. Oh, my gosh. Can't get here soon enough. Can't wait to get to Columbus for that Texas Ohio State game. Obviously, that's going to be a monster. Hey, remember, we've got all sorts of offseason content. So if you have not been here every single week, make sure to go check out what we've been delivering over the course. of the summer. We had an interview with Tony Petiti. We had an interview with Marcus Freeman. You can check that out, among some other things that we talked about, both in the structure of college football and then previewing next season. So if you have not checked out everything that we've got, go to the YouTube page. Subscribe to the channel. There's all of our content there. You can subscribe and you'll know exactly when our content drops. And then on social media, go follow us on social

media. Wherever you like to social media, doesn't matter, you know, young, old, wherever you're there at Joel Clat Shios where you can find us. Today, really fun kind of offseason type content. But I wanted to talk about what we had last year. And it's got me thinking about this year. So last year we expanded to the 12-team playoff. And because of that, we went from a very exclusionary four-team playoff. Not many teams had been to the playoff in the history of that 10-year 14 playoff.

And all of a sudden, we had six new teams that had never been to a playoff before. And bang, here they are. So we had Penn State, Tennessee, Indiana, SMU, Arizona State, Boise State, all make a playoff. And those new teams got me thinking, like, who are the teams, who are the programs that have never been to a playoff that could be crashing the party this year? So we're going to have a little list here, the 10 most likely teams, in my estimation, to make their very first college football playoff. And I'm actually going to rank these 10 to 1. Okay, so who's next? We had six last year.

Who's possibly next? I did it. I didn't want to, but I did it. I included this team at number 10. We're going 10 to 1. 10 would be the least likely of the 10. Number 1 would be the most likely of the 10 to actually make their first playoff in their program's history.

At number 10, I had to do it. I just had to partly because of the schedule, and you can see the pain on my face because, again, I want to play this game with this particular program, which is until you do something, I'm done, right? Because I've been such a supporter for so long, even though I was a rival as a player. So that's Nebraska, of course.

Nebraska is going to check in at number 10. They were right there in a bunch of games last year. They went two and five and one score games. Can they turn it around? Yeah, they probably can. They're going to have a returning quarterback in Dylan Rayola, who was just a true freshman. So, yeah, you could say he made a lot of mistakes last year.

But remember, you get some experience going and you get the continuity. of having your coach back now for Matt Rule. I think that they can probably take a little bit of a jump. You know, you look at their year last year, it was progress. Year 2 with Rule was almost really good, except for those one score games, which I know you could be saying forever for Nebraska, but they snapped that seven-year streak without a bowl.

That's progress. And then historically for Matt Rule, year three has been a jump. You look at what he did at Temple, at Baylor. He won at least 10 in year three at both locations. So is that a possible jump this year? You know, he's got an experienced quarterback. They upgraded at the wide receiver position from last year. Dane Key in from Kentucky, Hunter from Cal. They got some O-line help amongst their transfers. And then on defense, the front seven has to replace some really good players, whom I was very impressed with a year ago. They played really well in particular, even in a loss against Ohio

state in the middle of that defensive line. But there's a lot of experience in that secondary still. So to me, now comes down to schedule. They've got a real shot to be seven and one in their first eight games going into November. Now, will they be? I'm not sure. They're going to have to win some of those close games, which historically has been a real issue for Nebraska. But their first four games, Cincinnati and Kansas City, Akron, Houston Christian, you know, like they're going to be right there in terms of moving into the middle of their schedule, moving into the back into their schedule before they really hit some what I would consider to be turmoil in their schedule. They've got Michigan State. They've got at Maryland, at Minnesota.

And then November doesn't seem that difficult. USC, probably their most difficult. At UCLA, by week at Penn State, clearly their toughest game. And then an Iowa game, which is obviously going to be huge. for them late in the year. The key game for me is that USC game. You know, they have, they have that Michigan game early. Do they have to win that one? Probably not. Do they have to beat Penn State? Probably not. But then you look at that November 1st SC game, and that's the one that I'll be kind of looking at. The game's there. And then you look at the

ending of their schedule. If they can get past USC, even if Michigan were to beat them, even if Penn State were to beat them, now you look at that Iowa game. And now you're like, okay, you know, do we have a chance at 10 and 2? I think 10 and 2, Nebraska probably goes. So as long as they don't stub their toe, they could be playing some meaningful games in November. So they're going to check in at number 10. All right, here's number 9. Truth be told, just by the quality of this team, I would probably put them higher.

But the ridiculous nature of their schedule, I can't put them any higher than nine, and that's Florida. Okay, so Florida is at nine. There's a lot to like about this Florida team. They could be a top 15 team to start the year. DJ Lagway, he looks like a potential star, has some weapons on the outside, five-star true freshman, Dallas Wilson. I think he could be a real factor early in the year. They've got quality running backs, so I like their backfield. They've been good and I think will be good on the line of scrimmage.

Four starters back on the offensive line, including Jake Slaughter. Jake Slaughter was an All-American at Center. Their defense, they still have guys like Tyreek Sapp, really good player. Caleb Banks on the defensive line. The defense, I thought, improved under Ron Roberts. That's a good team. Look what they did. late last year. I think Billy Napier has done an excellent job. You look at how hot his seat was at the

beginning of the season and then what they were able to do and now with so momentum moving forward. So why aren't they higher on the list? Well, their schedule is brutal. They've got, I mean, just look at September alone at LSU at Miami. That's brutal. Then in October, They've got Texas coming to town. They've got to go to Texas A&M. Then in November, they've got Georgia. They've got to go to Ole Miss. Like, hello, hello, what are we doing?

Florida, that's going to be brutal. If Florida can somehow go 9 and 3, that means that they've got wins over really quality opponents, and they can go to the playoff. Oh, man. They also have Tennessee. They also have Florida State. I just, I want to put them higher.

And that schedule, let's just put it to you this way. if Florida were to go nine and three, I know last year, nine and three was the barrier and and teams did not get in at nine and three. With this schedule, if Florida were to go nine and three, because remember, if you look at this, okay, so if they're going nine and three, let's just say Georgia beats them and Texas beats them. And let's just say at LSU, that's a loss. Okay, so those will be the three losses, which means they would have wins at Miami,

at Texas A&M, at Ole Miss, against Tennessee, and against Florida State. So at 9 and 3, Florida would be in. But that's still a Herculean task for them to possibly get to 9 and 3. Love their team, love their roster. I like what Billy Napier is done. To me, that's just a really scheduled difficulty of why they're only at 9. All right, let's move on. Number 8, my number 8 team that would be the most likely to make their first playoff,

appearance would be Kansas State. So Kansas State has a lot of things that I like. Continuity at their head coach. They're going to have quarterback back. The Big 12 should be crazy, which is why I don't have them higher than this. Because do we really know who's going to win the Big 12? No. Do I think there's going to be multiple Big 12 teams go to the playoff? Probably not because of the parity in the conference. I don't think that they're going to get the benefit of the doubt at the end in order to get a nine and three team in. And so then you look at all the schedules and you're like, like, well, who's, you know, who's finishing second at 11 and 2? Because I think that's what it would take.

Go to the championship game, lose that game. You would be 11 and 2 at that point. Who's doing that? I don't know if there's a lot of teams that can get through that schedule. Everybody is so equally matched. I think I was looking at some of the over-unders in the Big 12. I believe that the worst over-under in the Big 12 is 5.5. and the best over under in the Big 12, I think, is eight and a half.

So that's how, that's the whole league. I mean, that's just wild. So I look at Kansas State, it's a narrow path. But if someone could do it, again, I'm a Chris Clyman fan. They've got Avery Johnson. He had his ups and downs last year. But I love his talent. He's a guy that can do a lot with his legs and in that dual threat mode, you know,

I think that they've got something at the quarterback position. They lose Giddens, the running back, but they're going to have that dynamic weapon in Dylan Edwards, who you know I love. On defense, K-State should be really good in the front seven. That helps you get through a schedule because defense generally can travel and they're generally consistent, in particular in the front seven. Chris Kleiman just knows how to build, he knows how to win. Eight to ten wins in every non-COVID season at Kansas State. Every schedule in the Big 12 looks the same, so it's not some sort of schedule this or that. I just, I like Kansas State.

Big opportunity week zero. They face Iowa State in Dublin. If they were able to get that win, man, that sets them up pretty well for the rest of the year. And in particular with where that game sets on the schedule, getting that one early. You could make an argument that might be their toughest game. You know, they've got to travel to Baylor on October 4th. That could be a tough one. They've got to go to Utah.

Always a difficult place to play on November 22nd. So we'll see what Kansas State can do. All right, moving on. Number seven. Number seven team most likely to make their very first playoff appearance in college football is USC. They started last season with a win over LSU, and I thought that that was going to propel them to a potential playoff season last year. In Lincoln Riley's first year, they were a game away from going to the playoffs. So I personally believe that Riley has maybe come under some criticism that might not be fair.

But I could be wrong. I could be wrong because he's going to have to win this year. You can't go seven and five again. You just can't. So you look at last year, you start with a win over LSU, you end with a win over Texas A&M. They showed they're capable. They took Penn State to overtime. You know, they really probably should have won that Michigan game.

There were some late execution issues that, that, forced them into the record that they had. The offense wasn't quite a normal Lincoln Riley offense. I still think that they need to get back to running the football like they were able to do in his first year at USC and like he was able to do for the majority of his time at OU, which means that the O line needs to play well. That's still a question. I don't know exactly how that's going to go. Wide receiver. They lost a lot of wide receiver due to the portal.

Two really good ones, Mackay Lemon and Jacoby Lane. I want to see them get back to running the football and I want to see them get back to spreading the football out on the outside. I thought that that was a real marquee of what Lincoln Riley was at Oklahoma. Good news, though, your one with Dent and Lynn went really well. There was a real improvement on the defensive side of the ball. They brought in Rob Ryan as an assistant this offseason. Defensive line is actually looking like a strength now,

which hasn't been the case for them. in the past, they're building momentum on the recruiting trail. So, you know, you look up and you start looking at if they were able to turn some of those close losses into wins. You've got Jade Maiva back. He started the last four. He led the comeback against A&M. Now he's had an entire offseason as the starter. Turnovers killed them at the quarterback position.

If you limit turnovers, then you're going to be in it. You're going to have a chance to win nine or ten games. You talk about it on the 10 games that will shape the season. We talked about it on the 10 games that will shape the season. I think that the key game is USC Illinois. September 27th, that's huge. Both teams could be undefeated going into that one. If they were able to get that one, now you've got something because then you've got basically Michigan, Notre Dame, or excuse me, yeah, Michigan, Notre Dame and Iowa.

You've got Nebraska on the road, depending on how Nebraska was able to do. So let's say you're. can get through that stretch going like three and one, Illinois, Michigan, Notre Dame, and Nebraska. Can they do that? Maybe. Maybe. And now you're, you're in it. You know, they've got tough games against Oregon on the road. Don't think that they're going to win that one. So now you're just talking about, like, can you steal a victory here or there? At Notre Dame is going to be difficult. But again, those close losses could turn into close wins this year. And if they do, they could be a team making their very first playoff appearance.

All right. Let's go to number six. At number six, I've got Missouri. They have questions on offense. They've got to replace Brady Cook. They've got to replace Luther Burden. But they did add a top 10 portal class. So I like what they did there.

The expected starter, Bo Perbula, after transferring from Penn State, I liked what he was at Penn State. Elikewitz has done an excellent job with that program. They've recruited well. They play well. And they've taken advantage of a schedule that doesn't look like, let's say, Florida or Oklahoma in the SEC. They brought in a transfer at running back,

Ahmad Hardy from Louisiana Monroe. He ran for 1,350 yards as a true freshman last year. He led all freshmen in rushing last season. good sign for Missouri. Defense should be good. I feel like they're always raising the talent on the defensive side. They added freshman All-American Josiah Trotter from West Virginia. They added Damon Wilson from Georgia.

He was a former top 50 recruit. And then they hit the SEC Schedule Lottery. If Florida loses that lottery and Oklahoma, by the way, then Missouri wins us. This is the easiest path to the playoff in the SEC. Again, not a knock. You start saying that and people get, you. You know, all been out of shape. They do play Kansas, which is fun because that's one of my favorite rivalries.

Not that that's like a make or break game, but it's just a game that I think is fun on their schedule. Six straight home games to start the season. Six straight. South Carolina and Alabama, the two hardest SEC games in that stretch, both at home. They face five of the bottom six in the SEC standings from last year. So again, lottery gold. The only team of the SEC not to have an opponent on the schedule, that made last season's CFP.

So I want to give you this. This is the SEC teams that Missouri avoids this year on the schedule. These are all the teams that they do not have to play. Texas, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Florida, and Tennessee. Hello? So if you're telling me there's a program that has constantly improved itself under Eli Drinkowitz, that I feel like has a quarterback in the transfer portal that can do something to replace a three-year starter and cook. Defense should be good.

And then you look at that schedule from a league that gets the benefit of the doubt because you know that all the people over there are going to be arguing for anybody from that league because that's all they do. So, boom, here we go. Now you've got a schedule that works out. Missouri may not be one of the four best teams in the SEC, but they might have one of the four best records. It's a team that could go 10 and 2. They might need 10 and 2 versus like Florida's 9 and 3, but it's certainly doable with the way that that program has manifested itself over the last few years. So love their schedule, love what they've been doing.

That's why they're in number 6. All right, let's move into the top 5. At number 5, most likely teams to make their very first playoff appearance. I'm looking at Iowa. Iowa went 8 and 5 last season, but went 1 and 3 in games decided by 3 points or less. So again, you can turn those into wins. They have proven under Kirk Farrants that they can win. They can win close games.

They can have great seasons. They can play above their head. They bring in the best quarterback from the FCC, Mark Grinowski, from South Dakota State. And I think he might be, might be. I know there's going to be impact transfers everywhere. But at the quarterback position, I'm looking at like John Mateer going to Oklahoma and Mark Grinowski going from South Dakota State to Iowa. I mean, like these are going.

going to be huge. I know that like I Amaya Lava is going to get a lot of headlines going to UCLA and so on and so forth. There's and there's others. But, but, Grinowski is a hell of a player. He won two national championships. It was the Walter Payton winner two years ago, has been a four-year starter that started 55 games in his career and 149 of them at South Dakota State. He's a big guy. He brings a run threat. He's six, three, 230 pounds. He's got 37 rush touchdowns in his career. And so, like, I think this is Iowa's best quarterback option that they've had in years. Grinowski will be behind one of the better offensive lines in the country.

A knock for this is like they've got to replace Caleb Johnson. And I loved Caleb Johnson. You knew that from the draft season. The offense will likely share carries between Moulton, Patterson. I think those two guys are going to be kind of sharing some carries. But the offense made strides under Tim Lester. I think a lot of people would roll their eyes at this one, but they were 72nd in scoring last year, which is a nice improvement, right? Normally, 72nd is not that great, but when you're constantly virtually dead last, 72nd is not bad. Not bad. They have some replacing to do on defense, but I trust Phil Parker. That's a system that constantly churns out great defenses. And so I believe they'll be in close games. I believe in Mark Grinowski, and I think they'll win those close games. So now let's go to the schedule. Can they go 10 and 2? Can they? Can they go 10 and 2?

They've got a road game at Iowa State and a home game versus Indiana in the first half of the season. I think those are really imperative games. I believe that they need to win both of those. Two tough games, which I can't give them the benefit of the doubt, even if they're at home, Penn State and Oregon, again, they play at Kinnick. Maybe they can upset one of those. Remember, this is, Kenick used to be where teams top five teams in particular go to die. Does that happen again with Penn State or Oregon? and then two road games in November that I think will be tough, USC and Nebraska.

Can they go 10 and 2? Maybe. Maybe. I look at this team, and again, Mark Grinowski, I think he's going to be excellent. I really do. Can this team go 10 and 2? The answer is yes. That's why they're my number 5 team most likely to make their first playoff.

All right, number 4. Miami, Miami, coming off a season where they were up 21, the final regular season game at Syracuse in a game that would have put them in the ACC championship game and likely the playoff. So they were right there. Up 21! I know Miami fans are like, don't remind us. They hired a new defensive coordinator this offseason, Corey Heatherman from Minnesota,

a guy that I've covered and I really respect. I think he's a really good defensive coordinator. I think he fits what Christobal wants to do. The biggest question for Miami, at least in my estimation, is Carson Beck. This elbow situation is concerning. He didn't throw in the spring but began throwing in May. Now you can tell me all you want like, oh, I've seen him throw or, you know, he's throwing fine in shorts and a t-shirt. But does he cut it loose?

Can he cut it loose off platform? I'm concerned about that elbow. Offense coordinator Shannon Dawson was number one in the country last year. Chris Ball has built them up on the offensive line. Beck will have to, I think, elevate the wild. receivers, basically a totally new group. A lot of them transfers, but they should be able to balance that with the run game. Mark Fletcher is a guy that I'm paying attention to.

They hit the portal to, I think, address some deficiencies in the secondary, and then we look at the schedule. All right. You win either of the non-conference home games, either of them. Notre Dame or Florida, and then they're going to be in really good shape. The ACC is not great. They should be in the ACC championship game. Then you are right in the mix for the playoff spot, right?

So it does come down in a lot of ways to those non-conference games, Notre Dame and Florida. Can they split those? If they split those, now we're talking. Because again, I do believe that they're one of the two best teams in the ACC and should, should be in the ACC championship game. Now, historically, Christobal has underperformed expectations. Hopefully that doesn't happen again for them. Big three game stretch starting in week four of the year, but they have two buys in the

middle of it. Florida by week, Florida State, buy a week, home to Louisville. That's a Friday night game. Don't have to play Clemson. Toughest test in conference is likely going to be the road game at on November 1st. Again, should be in the ACC championship game. And if they take care of business and just split in the non-conference with Florida and Notre Dame, then they're going to be right there. All right, let's move into the top five, excuse me, top three now. Top three teams most likely to make their first playoff. Number three, South Carolina. Love Lenora Sellers, breakout star in the second half of last season, as South Carolina won their last six in the regular season.

Does need to cut down on turnovers, but I think that's going to come with experience. At least I felt like it did when I was playing. 13 last year, he needs to be certainly under 10. They do have a new offense coordinator this year with Mike Schuller replacing Dowell Loggins, who went to App State. on defense, they've got to replace seven starters, including Kyle Kinnard, Nogerski Award winner on the edge. That's going to be difficult.

But they have one of the best pass rushers in the country. Dylan Stewart is coming off of freshman All-American season. And so Shane Beamer feels like I would certainly assume like they're going to be quality on defense. They're going to be quality on offense. They've hit the portal to fill some holes. They've got some real stars. And then the issue becomes the schedule.

They've got a real good shot at starting 5-0. Toughest game is at Missouri. But then it gets real when the calendar turns to October. Check this out. Four straight weeks at LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, at Ole Miss, then a by week, then at A&M. Hello. Hello.

They still have Clemson left in the back end of that schedule. The schedule's brutal. I'm just going to say that again. four straight weeks of football at LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, at Ole Miss, then a bye week, then at A&M. And after that, Coastal Carolina and Clemson, man, I think they're probably in the same boat as Florida, which means like nine and three, it's going to be difficult to keep them out. Because again, remember now, let's just say hypothetically, they're nine and three. That means, I'll just look at their most difficult games. Let's say their most difficult games are like at LSU, Bama at home,

and I would say Clemson, or you could argue at Ole Miss. Well, if they're 9 and 3, that means that they would still have a win at Missouri. They would have a win over Oklahoma. They would have a win at Texas A&M and either over Ole Miss on the road or Clemson at home. So 9 and 3 for South Carolina looks very good, very good, similar to Florida in terms of the difficulty of their schedule and how the committee might view them at the end of the year. So 9 and 3 could be the bar for South Carolina, and that's why they're at number 3. And number 2 is Ole Miss. Now, they've got to replace a ton of talent.

But I trust Lane Kiffin. He's not only great at tweeting. he whines a lot about the playoff, which we know. But a guy can coach. Lane's an excellent coach. He's one of the best coaches in America. I think that people love to hate on Lane, but everywhere he's been, he's done an excellent job.

He's grown. He's matured. I find him to be hilarious on Twitter. I love to taking a jab at him at the end of last year, which he took in stride. By the way, we've texted and talked. Great dude. Love Lane. They are replacing 18 starters, including eight draft picks, five on defense.

How do they replace them? The number four transfer class with 30 transfers wild. They have to replace Jackson Dart, Austin Simmons. This is also a bet on Kiffin's offense, right? I mean, Kiffin is going to be able to score points. I just believe that. It's a QB-friendly offense. It's a QB-friendly situation.

Simmons has been in the system for two years, showed what he can do when he came in for a short time during that first half of the win over Georgia, leading him down the field for a touchdown. So he's got some success in his back pocket. Pete Golding's defense last season was awesome. They were the number two scoring defense in the country. They led the nation in sacks, TFLs per game, but that's a lot to replace. Not saying that they can repeat what they did, but I don't think they're going to take a giant

step backwards. All right, schedule. Why is Ole Miss higher on the list than South Carolina? Because I actually, I like South Carolina's roster better than Ole Miss right now, in particular with the 30 transfers. But I've got Ole Miss higher on this list than South Carolina. Why? It's because of the schedule. The schedule is easier and they get South Carolina at home.

They should be 4 and 0 when LSU comes to Oxford in late September. They're backloaded in the schedule, which gives Austin Simmons time to mature in that offense, which is quarterback friendly. five of his first six games are at home. They're only four road games on the schedule. Two are versus Kentucky and Mississippi State, both projected to be, what, two of the bottom teams in the SEC. Their toughest games, can they go three and two in them with three being at home? Okay, so let's look at this.

Toughest games. Home against LSU, at Georgia, at Oklahoma, home against South Carolina, home against Florida. I believe that if they go three and two in these five games, three of which are at home, that they can. can go to the playoff. So do I think they can beat Oklahoma? Yes. Do I think they could beat one of the three LSU, South Carolina, or Florida? Yes. What's the most likely one? Probably South Carolina, in my estimation. Those are some good quarterbacks you got to play. Those are some really good

quarterbacks. You know, at Georgia is just tough. And then you're going to have Nussmeyer at LSU, sellers of South Carolina, Lagway of Florida, and maybe. tiered Oklahoma. So three and two in those five, and Ole Miss is going to have a great shot to go to the playoff, which leads us to the number one team most likely to make a playoff for the first time in their program's history, and that is Illinois. Brett Bilema has built this team into what he wants. Physical tough, they win against South Carolina in the bowl game. They show the level that they can get to. And that team that won that day is essentially all back. 16 starters are back.

Nine on offense, seven on defense. Luke Altmeyer is back for his third season. We've seen what returning production, returning experience does, in particular at the quarterback position. Altmeier being back is huge. The entire offensive line is back in front of them. The question is that wide receiver. They've got to replace their top two wide receivers from last year,

Pat Bryant and Franklin. They added Hustin Clement from West Virginia. He had 11 for 166 and two touchdowns in his last game for West Virginia last year in the bowl game against Memphis so the guy can play. The defense should be solid. Third year under Aaron Henry, who was, let's see, he was an assistant there when Ryan Walters was a defensive coordinator. I've met in production meetings with Aaron Henry.

I think he is a star. I really like him. The entire secondary is back along with two starting linebackers, including their star pass rusher. Gabe Accus, they've hit the porter, replaced guys. on the defensive line. They won their close games last year. Five and one and one score games, okay?

That was not the case with Nebraska and USC, Illinois, was able to win those games. Do those grow? Here's the schedule. They don't have to play Penn State, Oregon, or Michigan, and they get Ohio State at home. So of Big Ten schedules, they've got kind of like the Missouri-esque Big Ten schedule. I think they've hit the lottery in the Big Ten. Their first two big games at Indiana and then Home, against USC. Those are back-to-back weeks in September. So we're going to know a lot about Illinois

early. Now, here's what benefits them is that they're so experienced. So they can handle early games, big games. Both USC and Indiana, maybe less so USC, but both are kind of breaking in new quarterbacks. I know Maya have got some time late last year, but new quarterbacks. Meanwhile, Art Meyer's in his third year as a starter and gets to play in September as an experienced player in those big games. That's gigantic. Even if they don't beat Ohio. Ohio State, their next biggest game is probably Washington on the road, not saying that that's easy, but you can take an experienced team and win that game potentially. And even if they don't win that one at 10 and 2, I think that Illinois probably goes. This year's Indiana is Illinois,

a team that their schedule is perfect, their roster is perfect, there is experience in the right places, and there is a guy at the helm. This case, Brett Bilemo, knows exactly what he's doing. So I like Illinois as my number one team to make their very first playoff appearance. They've got the roster, they've got the schedule, all things aligned for Illinois this year, which generally means teams underperform because a lot of people pumping their tires this offseason, including me. And I actually saw Brett at the spring, at the, yeah, the spring meetings for the Big Ten. And he said the same thing.

He was like, hopefully our guys aren't listening to all the publicity. And I was like, yeah, you should institute a phone ban over the summer. Because the last thing they need is to hear things like what I'm saying. The bottom line, though, is with experience generally comes perspective. That perspective generally comes in the form of knowing that nothing is given to you in college football. And you've got to go earn it. You've got to go work hard. You've got to get into the process.

You're not going to get too high on the highs or low on the lows. So you get some stability and level-headedness, which is what comes with as much as you can in college football, comes with experience. And they have that. They have that at the key positions. All right. So that'll do it. That's the top 10 most likely teams to make their first playoff this year in the college football playoff.

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