The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - 10/11/17 - Clemson vs. Alabama & CFB Playoff locks

Episode Date: October 12, 2017

Auburn's ascension into Klatt's Top 10, why Washington State's may surprise some people, Ohio State's potential, Wisconsin up to their old tricks, why Washington should not have a beef with television contracts, Penn State's resume vs. TCU, why Georgia is surprising everyone, Clemson's easy route to end season and what could haunt Alabama. Plus, Joel takes on Twitter and Leinart reveals his Heisman Top 5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

That's right, that's right, that's right. Welcome into Breaking the Huddle. I'm Joel Klatte. Thank you very much. This show is brought to you by Dr. Pepper. That's right. At every home gate and tailgate, it's the one's fan craved because it's delicious. By the way, I wanted to drink out of a mug today,

but then this was the mug that they gave to me, and they just beat Colorado. So you're gone. All right. So let's start out with the, yeah, boo that you obey. Let you run for. 8,000 yards. Here's what we got today. New top 10 that I will reveal right here, but that's not really what the show is about.

The show is about your comments because your comments make it, it makes it better, your interaction makes it better, so here's what you gotta do. Bring the snark. I don't want to hear your opinion because frankly I don't care. What I do want to hear is some snark, right? Like come at me a little bit. If you don't like something, tell me why, all right? And invite your friends.

Invite your friends on Facebook. We appreciate you watching because the show is better than more. interaction that we have. I'll get to some questions right after, not really questions, comments, then I'll try to do my best to fight them down after I reveal my top 10. We're going to have a little Heisman discussion with Matt Liner, and yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. So here we go. Top 10 in the country, what is this? Week, what week is it? Seven already, week seven, we're halfway through. That's a little bit depressing. Auburn is making an appearance into the top 10. Now, I fought against this for a long time. Why? Because I think,

I think Auburn's perpetually overrated, in particular in the preseason, but this Auburn team has earned their way into the top 10. Let me tell you why. Defensively, they've been great. Last week was a bit of an aberration. Remember, Ole Miss threw it for over 300 yards. That's the first time they've given up 300 yards passing in the game. So I give them a little bit of a pass, right?

I mean, Ole Miss can sling it around a little bit. What I'm most impressed with, though, with Auburn is the fact that their offense continues to progress. I didn't think Stedham was great early. Remember when they got sacked? what was it, eight times against Clemson in that matchup. They didn't gain many yards. Stidham did not look like this quarterback that he was built up to be as a transfer

coming in under Gus Malzahn's offense. Now middle of the season, guess what? Stidham's playing very well. 74%. He's thrown for, what, 13 and a half, 13 and a quarter yards per attempt, which is down the field, a lot better than what Malzano has been in the last couple of years. Five touchdowns, zero interceptions, all in the SEC in SEC games with a rating over 200. I'm impressed with Auburn.

That's why they go up to number 10. Alabama is going to have their hands totally full, by the way, in that Iron Bowl. We'll get to Alabama in a little bit. Number nine, also making another fresh appearance, brand new appearance. Washington State, the Palouse. That's right. Washington State at number nine. So there's a lot of things you can say about Washington State.

There's a lot of things you could say about Mike Leach. one of the things that I never thought I'd actually say about Mike Leach is that, hey, the defense might even be better than the offense. Now, it's not quite to that point, but did you know that Washington State has the 11th ranked total defense in the country? I bet you didn't. Did you know that their defensive coordinator is named Alex Grinch and he was a little known safeties coach at Missouri before Mike Leach hired him as the defensive coordinator at Washington State? I bet you didn't. I bet you also didn't know that Alex Grinch is going to get a lot of people talking about job openings, namely at Oregon State, but you didn't hear it from me. Washington State's a really good team. Luke Falk, certainly in the Heisman discussion, you wouldn't be in my top five. We'll see if he's in Linerd's top five a little bit later. He's got 19 touchdowns that leads the country. Washington State is plus six in the turnover margin. And when you're holding teams under 20 points per game and you have that offense and that quarterback, you're going to win a lot of games. They have their 6-0 for the first time since 2,000. 2001. By the way, their last Rose Bowl appearance was 2002. Shout out to Jason Gesser. I know he's a fan. Jason, what's up? Jason was their quarterback. Learn your history. If you're asking yourself who's

Jason Gessor, you Google it right now. Jason Gessor. He was awesome. Number eight, Ohio State. Ohio State kind of jumps all the way back in, partly, and you have to understand, like, announcers, can we be biased? I don't think we're necessarily biased. as much as our opinions can be changed quicker if we see you live, right? Like, that's the best way to change my opinion is to dominate in a game in which I'm calling. Because I've prepared all week for this game. I understand what your challenges are. I understand what the other team brings to the table.

And then when you go out there and you answer a lot of those questions, like Ohio State did last week, it's pretty impressive to me. So I was sitting with Urban Meyer last week, and we were talking about how, good this team can be, right? Like, what is the level that this team can play at? I was drinking a Dr. Pepper. He wasn't, but whatever. Irvin said something interesting to me. So he said, listen, our past defense is coming along. It's hard to know exactly how good they are because the teams in which we put up great past defense numbers against are like Army, UNLV, Rutgers, and Maryland. I understand that. But think about this for just a moment. The past defense has given up

less than 100 yards in four straight games. That's the first time that's ever happened under Urban Meyer. That's the first time it's happened since dating back to all the way to 1996. That's how I far I went back into game logs to see that. Ohio State's past defense is really good. They gave up a what, 16 yards to Maryland? That was a huge question coming into the week and really coming into the year, and it's coming to fruition that that can be a dominant point of the game.

So that's one of the reasons I'm really high on the Buckeyes. The other reason is the offense. This offense finally goes down the field. It's just different than it was a year ago. Kevin Wilson and that maturation and that mixture with Irvin's offense is finally paying off. If you don't think I'm right, just go turn on the games, right? Like, I understand a lot of you in particular in SEC country are just going to be like, Duh, J.T. Barrett, 31-0, blah, blah, blah.

Well, you're wrong. Watch the games because they're actually really good on offense. They run the ball great. they throw the ball down the field. They lead the Big Ten in passing, past touchdowns, touchdown interception ratio, rating, scoring offense, total offense. What more do you want from Ohio State? They're doing really well. That's why they're number eight for me.

Okay, let's move on. Wisconsin, boom. Some Big Ten love here. The Badgers. So Badgers. Here's what I love about what you did Saturday. You guys had like the most Wisconsin win ever. Like, ever.

You all, I can just imagine. Can you all imagine it with me for just a second? So there's like a family, prototypical Wisconsin family, sitting in their house, maybe there's a fire on. I don't know. But they certainly have like a pot of cheese on. And there's probably a cheese plate somewhere. And there's probably some cheese whiz around

because cheese whiz on Ritz is delicious. This team ran the ball 22 consecutive times. in the fourth quarter to beat Nebraska. By the way, they held the ball in that fourth quarter 13 minutes. That's crazy. I mean, I know Nebraska is not the greatest team of all time, but we certainly thought they were, what, second, third best team in the West Division?

And Wisconsin goes in there and does that? That's incredible. In fact, on their last three possessions, which all were 10 plays or more that ended in touchdowns, guess how many times they threw the ball? Twice! Crazy. Wisconsin, telling you what, that's a good team.

That's a damn good team. Number six, Washington. Mr. Nobody Watches Our Games is sitting up there at number six in the country. Mr. Oh, no one talks about us. Oh, this and that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. We talk about you plenty. You know why?

Because you got a really good football team. I really love Washington's defense personally. They're the number three defense in the country as far as scoring defense goes. They're scoring over 40 points a game. When you look at the teams in the country that are in the top 10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense, there's only three. Ohio State, Washington, and Alabama. Washington's really good. Jake Browning is quietly having one of the best quarterback seasons in the entire country.

Remember he was in the Heisman conversation last year. He's not so much this year for whatever reason. I think it's mainly because of how he played at the end of last year, but he's playing great. Dante Pettis, I love their defense. And just a quick note on the whole issue, right, with Washington, about. no one watches us. First of all, you almost had 2 million viewers last week, which was one of the more higher rated games anywhere. Secondly, keep in mind, keep in mind, the Pact 12 television contract before this current television contract literally just had Pact 12 games on regional television.

Remember the ABC regional game? There'd be like a UCLA game on the West Coast and a Colorado, Oklahoma State game in the Midwest, and then there was another game on the East Coast, you know, whatever it was, some ACC game, Florida State would be playing Syracuse, whatever it was. It was regional television, right? So the PAC 12 didn't get the exposure that it needed. And by the way, their cable deal, which was their nighttime, prime time deal, was on regional Fox Sports Net, which meant that a game that you were playing Washington, let's say against Oregon, like in Husky Stadium, the old Husky Stadium with the track around the field that was on FSN might have been seen by 30% of the country. Why? Because the professional local.

contracts took precedent over the regional sports network that was doing the game. So now the television deal for Washington is like not just better. It's like exponentially better than what it used to be. Not to mention the fact that the money that's flowing into these schools is incredible. What is that money from? Television networks. So I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you should thank us because I think that's a little bit, you know, we all know. But I will tell you that Chris Peterson, if you like your salary and if you like being seen by 1.6 million people,

even when you're kicking off at 10 p.m. Eastern, then you need to be okay with these television contracts. This is also the school, by the way, and Chris, I love you. I really do. I think you're one of the best coaches in America, but you're one of the guys that's toughest to work with. You don't give us access to your players. We don't get great access, and now you're arguing that you don't get talked about enough. It seems a little bit like a double-edged sword there, so we've got to figure that out. I think you're a great team. You're getting a lot of love, as you all should. You're a great coach. Let's move on. TCU at number five. Number five, TCU.

So TCU is a team that has played a few of their toughest games already. And I think down the stretch, you could say, oh, those are tough games. But if you actually look at some Power 5 teams that have the easiest remaining schedules, as far as opponent win percentage, TCU is on there. TCU has gotten over some of those hurdles. A big one was against West Virginia. I think Kenny Hill is playing well enough. Remember, he's improved in every statistical category from a year ago, which he needed to, in particular in the turnovers.

But really, this is about Gary Patterson and how he develops his teams. Crazy stat here. Frogs fans, if you want to impress yourself or if not yourself, but your friends. Or if you're just a college football fan, you want a really great nugget. Check this out. After losing seasons, Gary Patterson, the following year, 28 and 2. It's incredible. Incredible.

Here's another one. He's 18 and 0 at home as a top 10 team. Incredible. So Gary Patterson and the Frogs, tusha. A lot of good love being sent your way and rightly so. Okay, at number four, so we're getting into the playoff four here. I've got Penn State and at number four, so they moved up for me after that Oklahoma loss. Penn State, I've got to be candid here.

They have not done more resume-wise than TCU. it's a little difficult. They haven't done more resume-wise than Washington State. So I know I'm more of a deserving guy, and I don't want to just put you up there because you were a preseason highly ranked team or because you have a Heisman trophy candidate. I do believe, though, and this might be like my heir, kind of like Florida State a few years ago with James Winston after they won the national championship.

I get the sense that Penn State's going to break out of the funk and play well. They're playing really well on defense. Their quarterback has been hot and cold. Saquan is an amazing player. Their offensive line is really bad. If they don't figure that out, this could be a tough year. I mean, quite simply, they won't beat Ohio State if their offensive line is playing as poorly as they're playing right now.

Because Ohio State's defensive line, best in the country, or at least that I've seen rushing the passer. Clemson's certainly going to give them a run for their money. So that's interesting. So Penn State, be wary of that fourth ranking. It's a little bit precarious for me, but I'm going to stay with it. I'm going to stay with it. TCU certainly with that Oklahoma State win, the West Virginia win,

could have been a team that I threw there in the top four. I just talked myself into it. You have not beaten anyone Penn State. See what happens. I get all sauced up on Dr. Pepper, and I just change things around. I think that looks better. Penn State fans, you guys hate me already because I was arguing for Bryce Love. which is all factual.

You're a great team. Destiny in your own hands. Really like James Franklin. They've earned it, though. Number four. All right, number three, let's get into it. Number three, Georgia, yeah, dogs. Georgia fans are beside themselves.

Calm down, first of all. You're panting at your computer, which is a little bit strange. I can hear it coming through your monitor. It's a little bit strange there. Love what Georgia is doing because they're doing it with a balanced attack. I thought their defense would be great. Their defense is great. I didn't

think their offense was going to be great, and I think their offense has been not only great, but it's been balanced. Think about what Fromm has been doing as their true freshman quarterback. Ten touchdowns, only two interceptions. They ran the ball for over 400 and what, 20 yards against Vanderbilt. This team can score points now. 40 points plus in three different games this year. They didn't score 40 points in any game a year ago. Kirby Smart has got themselves a team down there. is steamrolling towards an East Division crown and a date with likely Bama, maybe Auburn, but likely Bama and the Mercedes-Benz dome in the SEC championship game. In fact, save for maybe the Vandy performance, which is kind of gone by the wayside now for Alabama,

Georgia, to me, has been the most impressive team in the country. I hate to, I mean, they've been ridiculous, ridiculous. The defense that they've put up, they're doing some incredible things. They have the number two rushing offense in the SEC. Georgia is the number one defense, by the way, in the SEC. You hear that, Tide fans? Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Number one defense in the SEC. Number two is Clemson. Clemson's got those ranked wins. I'm a little concerned for Clemson just because of Kelly Bryant's injury to his ankle. Dabo has said he'll probably play. Remember they've got the weeknight game. They play Friday night game. Syracuse this week. The thing is that Bryant's not a guy that's like, okay, my ankle's banged up,

so I'm just going to kind of hurt you from the pocket this week. He's not a guy that has really stood in the pocket and hurt the opposition. He needs his legs. So his ankle injury is a lot different than other ankle injuries, if you get my drift. I think they'll be fine. They should be fine against Syracuse. They should be fine the rest of the way. I think Clemson's probably route to a playoff appearance of anybody up here. The next easiest is probably Washington, with what's going on with what's going on in the PAC 12. So these two teams right here, although Washington's at number six for me, Clemson is number two,

I would be shocked if we don't see Clemson and Washington in the playoff, to be quite honest with you with what the road is ahead of them. But Clemson, I understand you've been impressive, and a lot of you guys are going to argue this, but I've got Bama at number one. Gosh, I'm doing a lot of things that I just like, I said I would never do. I switched one down here.

Bama, to me, I mean, you know, that's kind of, where they were before. They didn't do anything to hurt that argument. I think Hertz is better than people think he is. He's their leading rusher. He's throwing the ball better. He doesn't turn it over, hasn't thrown an interception. They did put the ball on the ground for the first time in forever, over 30 quarters. They turned it over against Texas A&M. That was their first turnover since the Iron Bowl a year ago. There is an element of Alabama where I just wonder about complacency. Now, Nick Saban should fight against that, but they've been told that they're the B's knees for so long. Does that catch up with them in any one of these games?

It really shouldn't during the heart of their SEC schedule. If you look at their schedule the next few weeks, it's not very good. It's not very good at all. By the way, they're plus 12 in the turnover margin. So Alabama up there at number one. Let's get to some comments. Did you have them? Did you keep them coming?

I want some snarky comments. Let's go. I got a couple of them ready to rock. I'm going to have to... Someone yell it out. The rest of your top ten sucks, but at least the tide are number one. Hashtag RDT from Chet. Oh, hashtag RDT.

Oh, Bama fans. Really? Roll damn tied. You're going to hashtag me on Facebook Live. Chet. Of course your name is Chet. You probably have one of those ridiculous John Parker, Wilson hair waves that all of you have in the South.

Weird. Your mom probably monograms everything that you own. That's a southern thing. Trust me. I get it. Listen, I just told you that Alabama has a really good team. Now you're going to come after me. What's wrong with my top 10?

I don't see much wrong with my top 10. In fact, I can make you an argument that you shouldn't even be number one. RDT. I'm going to do something you hate. You know, because I wanted to do this anyways, Chet, and now you just forced me into doing it. All you Vama fans, you know how? close you are at the top, yeah, you're not the overwhelming favorite that you think. How about that? Because you might well get beat in Georgia's backyard. What if I did that? Because I've very well

thought about it. They've been the most impressive team to me all year. I know they've got the ranked wins, but Louisville, who are they really? I mean, look at what Georgia has done, even with freshman quarterback. By the way, Bama, I'm just going to see, now you got me upset, Chet. Now you got me upset. Did you know that between Auburn, Georgia, and Bama, they've played nine conference games, and your 2719 win against Texas A&M was the only one of those nine games that was within three touchdowns? So Georgia's been more dominant than you in the SEC. Chet. I didn't think I was going to get upset with Chet, but I did. Here we go. What do we have next? How do you have the Buckeyes and not Oklahoma? I hate the how question. Why? Please

say why? First of all, stop with the hows. It's why. Why? Why do you have Ohio State and not how? How is I just did it. Like, what do you mean? How? Jeff, I hate being grammar police. And I say this every single week. Hit me with a how and you're going to get slapped in the face. Here's the thing, Jeff. Ohio State didn't lose at home as a 31 point favorite to a team that they had an all-time record of 75, 5, and 2 against that was starting their third team quarterback that was also rolling in their middle linebacker to get some meaningful quarterback snaps. How do you like me now, Jeff? I don't even like snapping back at Sooners because I like your program, but you forced it.

Jeff, how with your hows? Okay, what do we got here? Joe is a Penn State Gator. Ohio State isn't a perfect team either from Larry. I hate Joe so much. Oh, is it that hard? Is it that hard to pronounce the L or realize that there's an L at the end of my first name? It's Joel.

Read it again because I shut off after Joe. Larry. Larry, I hate you. First off, let me just say that. Lara, Lara, I hate you. What do you mean? What do you want me to do with Penn State? What do you want me to do with Penn State?

You show me what's on your resume that deserves being up here, and I'll put you up there, Lera. I can't stand that. What do you mean? So now you're going to drag Ohio State into this. Ohio State just scored 50 plus points in three straight games. They held four straight opponents under 100 yards passing. Like, what do you want from Ohio State? They played one of the most atrocious games on special teams that I've ever seen and still won 62 to 14.

You want them? You're going to start chanting, we want the Buckeyes? I know you beat them last year, but you got to go to the shoe this year. I'm just saying, I'm just saying with your offensive line against Nick Bosa, careful, Lara, careful. I like you. I like your team. I like your coach.

Just be okay with being in number five. All right. Stop comparing yourself to a team that's behind you at number eight. Why are you comparing yourself down? Why don't you compare yourself up? Right? It's like, what? Are you one of those guys in high school?

It's like, oh, at least I'm not the ugliest guy. What? Stupid. Way to go, Larry. All right, that's going to do it. Got me all worked up there. We've got Heisman talk right now. We've got Heisman talk with Matt Leinert.

We'll see who's on his top five list right after this. Heisman time. Don't look at my list already. Whoa, easy, easy. It's my show. Look at whatever list I want to. All right, to your show. I'm out of here.

I even wore white tube socks for you today. Why is that for me? I don't understand. I don't know. I just felt like I was nervous coming in here. I'm like, man, they might see my white socks. Sox, not a good look, but Legends. I want to give shout out to Legends.

Legend socks. And it's only socks I had at the gym locker this morning. We have available sponsorships, legends, or legends, whatever. All right, Heisman time. You want one. You know what it takes. I do. This is a weird year, man.

We thought it was going to be all about quarterbacks. Through like three weeks, we thought it was going to be all about quarterbacks. And now, all of a sudden, it's like, where have the quarterbacks gone? They've all fallen off. They've fallen off. It could be the year of the running back. There's a lot of, I think every year, with exception to last year, Lamar Jackson just took everybody by storm. There was no one else, really.

There was no one else. But this year, I mean, there's people having great seasons. There's guys that are right on the cusp, you know, that suffered a loss, but still great players, have opportunities to kind of get themselves back in the race. But like you said, there's just a bunch of really good players, and there's not one right now that just is head over heels above the other. You know what I mean? Well, I would make an argument on that. Just real quick. I think if the guy who I think is going to be at least high on your board,

if his team hadn't lost a couple of games at this point, he would be kind of running away with it. But let's get to the list. We'll start with number five. But he did lose a couple of games. But they did lose a couple of games. And I'm assuming that's your whole West Coast thing where there's no one we've been watching him. But we can get into that later.

That's right. So number five. This may shock everybody. But you know what? I respect these guys. I respect what they do on the field. Jonathan Taylor for Wisconsin. Oh, the freshman running back.

He's got probably no shot of winning this. I get it. But he deserves to be on this list. He does. True freshman. You talk about the great running backs of Wisconsin. He is the next great running back. Two 200-yard games already in a short career so far.

And the reason why is just you talk about Wisconsin. It's a lot like Stanford, a physical run game. They lean on him so much and they're going to lean on him throughout the season. Wisconsin, in my opinion, is our, arguably the best team in the Big Ten. They're really good, and it's a big reason because of him. Just a quick follow-up note on Wisconsin and Jonathan Taylor. He didn't get every one of these carries. They ran the ball 22 straight times in the fourth quarter at Nebraska and ate up 13 minutes of game clock in the fourth quarter at Nebraska. What black shirts?

This is a kid over the next couple years that's going to... I don't see you black shirts. Neither did Jonathan Taylor. Are we talking about Nebraska? Sorry, I know. Let's go. 22 straight rushes, man. That's crazy. Yeah, you've got to throw the ball in there every once in one.

No, I'm just kidding. Number four, Washington State Luke Falk and quarterback Luke Falk, and I see that he's not on your list. This is not about my list. This is your list. This is your time to shine. I like Luke Falk a lot. If you go the last two games, home, or excuse me, home against USC, on the road at Oregon, which is a tough place to play. Still a very difficult place to play.

What he's done, and I know the high school. is not about a career thing, but what he's done in his career, he'll go down as one of the best quarterbacks to play under Mike Leach team, 16 and 4 in his last 20 conference games, leading the country in touchdowns. And Washington State, they, they, I don't, I can't see them beating the Clemson and Alabama, but they are a legit Pac-12 contender. I think they're good enough to win the Pac-12, and they're good enough to get into the college football playoff and a big reason is because of him.

If not, the playoff, that would likely mean Washington would go to the playoff, and you're looking at Washington State in the Rose Bowl, which, well, I guess that's not. And he has, and the thing, too, this year, and this is the defense for Washington State's really good. The run game is, you know, every once in a while they try to run the football, but he's got the components this year around him to really make a run.

I really like this year. The defense has been great. The defense has been outstanding. This one, I'm so so on that one. I mean, that's a good one. I like, I just like, I want to give him some love. Again, you talk about the whole West Coast. bias. I mean, people don't stay up until

2 in the morning to watch him play, but it's fine. Baker Mayfield, number 3. Oh, so he didn't fall too far? He took him from what, 2 to 3? Listen, from 2 to 3. I mean, they lost as a 30 and a 1 half point. I was going to say, they lost at home to a 30. And that's not good for anybody's resume, but he still played, I mean, his

numbers were still pretty good. The one thing... The fumble was bad. The fumble was bad, and then there were multiple plays for the first time this season where I thought, and he ran more in this game than he's run all season. that there were guys open. He just dumped the ball off, and he tried to do too much. I thought this was the first game where he pressed and tried to do too much,

and then got him in trouble. Even on the fourth downplay to end the game, I mean, he's back there dancing. I mean, it's four yards. You can get four yards running the football. There were lanes, and he tried to do too much. So, again, I still think he's having a gray year. Oklahoma is still very much in the thick of everything.

They have Oklahoma State. They have all these games that he can kind of get back on track. But when you lose, as a 30-point favorite, home, it's not good. I don't know if they win this week. Yeah. You know, I mean, the way that their defense has been terrible in Big 12 played, Baylor and Iowa State have combined to throw for over 400 yards per game.

So unless Mayfield's incredible against a very good Texas defense, they might lose back to back games. I know. Actually, this is my upset alert this week as Texas beating them. All right, number two, Sequan Barkley, Penn State. I wish we had Kool-Lade here because I'm drinking your Kool-Lade a little bit on this one. I still believe he's the best all-around running back in college football. I think no one could argue against that.

You can't argue the best all-around running back in all of college football. My number one guy, I'm not sure he has one catch on the season. I don't care because running backs run. And Sequin Barclay ran for negative one yards in the first half last week. You said this is my segment. That's true. That's true. You look at the best running backs in the NFL right now.

What do they do? Right now you have Levi-on-Bell. You have David Johnson, who's hurt. You got Kareem Hunt. You got all these guys. And I play fantasy football. That's why I know this. I'm sure you do. And all of these guys, what do they do better than some of them? They can catch the ball out of the backfield. That's what makes them so valuable. Sequin Barclay is valuable for that reason. But I said I'm drinking your Kool-A. I know. If you take away one long run he has every game, his rushing yards are horrid. Horrid. Horrid. So I'm with you. I mean, he didn't even get to 100 yards last week. And if you take away one great performance this year, the performances aren't very good. Iowa, he was great. He was great against him. So, listen, he's still very good, but he has to have big games against Ohio State and Michigan.

If he has big games against those two teams, would you say, okay. Of course. Of course. I'm an equal opportunity hater. Yeah, you're a hater. Whoa. Whoa. Okay, number one, Joel, do it with me. This is what I do. Bryce Love Stanford's running back Because it should be The kid is really good And I know that's not great analysis

But the kid is really good And the one thing And you'll appreciate this When you play Stanford And you know them offensively They are going to run the ball Between the tackles You know exactly what they're going to do

They don't really threaten you Throw in the football Often throughout a game So he faces Unlike Barclay He faces 7, 8, 9 man boxes sometimes And he continues to run

Through guys past guys, over guys. He is really, really good, and that's what sets him apart. And I pray that people watch him play. They don't. You know who you are. You go to bed. He is a really special player, especially given replacing a guy like Christian McCaffrey, who is fantastic.

This kid is really good. He's going to go to New York if he just continues this, but he deserves a shot at winning the thing. Six straight, 150-yard games. in every game this season and an eight consecutive going back to last year, he's had a run of 50 or more yards. That's insane. In particular, against the defenses that you're talking about, they are geared to stop him, and he's still ripping off these long runs. Yeah, and like you said earlier, two losses are tough, but they're playing better. And they're a team, you know, they're going to win nine games, maybe 10 games, so if they can continue to win games, and who knows, maybe get themselves in a Pact-12 change.

Hampshire game might be tough, but then people will start noticing. But this guy, I mean, he deserves all the credit. He's going to have to play really well against Washington and Notre Dame. That's exactly. He might not have to beat Washington, but they'll probably have to beat Notre Dame for him. But if they beat Notre Dame and he rushes, I mean, if he rushes for 200 against both those teams, you talk about two, I mean, especially Washington defensively. So there you got it.

There you have it, bud. I like it. I think it was okay. Rudolph, I know you got, Rashad Penny is still really good. I would have Rashad Penny at number three. So my top three are all running backs. I go Bryce loves, Sequin Barclay and Rashad Penny. Rudolph.

Penny is second in the country and for total rushing yards. And I've got Mason Rudolph still up there. 16 touchdowns. Dude is third in the nation and passer efficiency rating. I know that they lost at home, but it was TCU. Mayfield lost at home to Iowa State. I know. And again, I got Mayfield fifth.

J.T. Barrett is making a run quietly. People don't want, people almost like don't want that. I know. Yeah, no, I get it. I think the first couple games, it's just almost like you're really. rooting against the kid or Ohio State, but he's been really good. And Rudolph, obviously, there's a lot. That's why this.

Jalen hurts. Jalen hurts. That's why this race is, it's funny. Jake Browning is having a really good year. And he was, and no one's talking about it, too. So there's a lot of guys. It's still early. This is where it starts to, you know, people start to distance themselves.

So. Appreciate you, brother. That was a good one. That was very good of us. Appreciate you watching. And we'll be back next Wednesday with Breaking the Huddle. And a big shout out and a thank you to Dr. Pepper. Remember at every home gate and tailgate, it is the one that fans crave.