The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - BONUS Mailbag Episode: Klatt’s 5 Bounce-back teams for the upcoming season

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

In this bonus mailbag episode, Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt makes his picks for 5 teams that underwhelmed in 2023 but will bounce back in a big way this upcoming season. He explains why he sees rivals, Colorado and Nebraska, taking a step forward along with a Big 12 team that he feels will grab one of the byes in the new 12-team Playoff format. Klatt wraps up by answering a request for some advice for a new father. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, welcome into a bonus edition of the Joel Clash show here, a little mailbag edition of the Joel Clash show. We've got a couple of questions. We can work through them quickly here. Kevin writes in from Colorado Springs. He says, hi, Joel. Who are your top five bounceback teams for 2024? In other words, teams that underperformed in 2023

that have the greatest chance to improve from this year. He gives some examples there and he says, always enjoy the show. Kevin, great question. By the way, love the springs. Shout out to Colorado Springs. I'm heading there later in the summer for a little vacation. Okay, let's go through them. I've got five teams that I think could be bounce back teams. The first one that I'll go through is Utah. You guys, you've seen my top 25. Utah is up there. Miami is up there. USC, Nebraska, and Colorado. And let me walk through all of these.

I'm going to start with Utah. They were eight and five last year. It's pretty good for most teams, right? but it hasn't been up to Utah's standards. So if you look at them in their recent past, that's their worst season since 2017. And yet this next year, they're going to get Cam Rising back. They're going to get Brankithy back. Kyle Winningham is one of the best coaches in America.

I think this program is one of the better programs in America. I'll be pretty surprised if they are not playing for the Big 12 championship. Winningham just knows how to win. Morgan Scally is an excellent defensive coordinator. The defense is going to be ready. I think they're my favorites to win the Big 12. I think that their ability to win that conference is quite high. And if they do that, they're probably going to have a first round buy in the college football

playoff. So number one bounce back season, I would say, is Utah. Then Miami, I think Miami is interesting. And as you guys know, and Miami fans think that like, I hate Miami. No, I don't hate Miami. I think Miami has generally underperformed over the last few years. and I think that that's fair. Seven and six a year ago, and yet here comes Cam Ward,

and they come in and they've recruited at a very high level. So that makes me want to go to the schedule. Okay, what does their schedule look like? Manageable, manageable. They could be 7 and 0 when they face FSU, in fact, likelihood that they're 7 and 0. They get Damien Martinez, the running back from Oregon State. He's a really good player, so I like that pickup.

And Chris Ball needs a bounce back. He's gone 12 and 13 in his first two years. He was more successful, than that at Oregon. I think Miami could have a bounce back next year. Brings me to USC. USC is a fascinating one because I've always said, as you know, that all Lincoln Riley needs is just an average defense, and that's going to be a really good team. They were not an average defense a year ago. They were eight and five. Now Deanton Lynn comes in as the defensive coordinator, and this is a guy that is in the vein of

kind of that Ravens-esque style of defense, the Harbaugh-esque style of defense, what's been successful for Michigan over the last couple of years. Trojans fix that defense. They should be really good because it doesn't matter who Lincoln Riley's quarterback is. He's had success with every guy that he's ever put at that position. I think that that would continue, even if it's Miller Moss. He had a great holiday bowl, and I really like the young skilled position players, namely Zachariah Branch.

I think he's one of the best in America. Nebraska is a bounce back team for me. Nebraska is a team that I think could be really good. They were five and seven a year ago, and you look at those seven losses, and I'm telling you, like, it was all quarterback turnovers, almost all of it.

They were very competitive. In fact, way more competitive in Matt Ruhl's first season than their five and seven record indicates. They get a little bit better quarterback play, and namely just protecting the football, and they're going to be much better. He's a builder, speaking of Matt Ruh, He did it at Temple.

He did it at Baylor. I believe it's going to work at Nebraska as well. The defense was really good last year, and they bring a lot of players back. Dylan Rayola at quarterback. My biggest question is going to be who's catching the ball? Because I don't think that they're strong necessarily at the skill positions, but that's going to be something that will play out. They could be, if they were to beat my fifth team on this list,

they could be undefeated 7 and 0 heading to Columbus in October for a game against Ohio State. And my last one is Colorado. Colorado was four and eight last season, and while I don't think it was necessarily underperformed, I believe that based on the way that the season started, I believe that it fell below expectations once the expectations were ratcheted up to a million in the first couple of weeks of that season under Deon Sanders. They balked up on both lines of scrimmage, and my contention would be, through the transfer portal primarily, but my contention would be that Shudor Sanders is good enough at the quarterback position, their skill position players are good enough on the outside that if you protect Shudor,

even just a bit better, that they're going to win not just four, but six, seven, eight, maybe nine games and potentially competing for that spot in the Big 12 title game. Their schedule is going to be vastly, vastly easier than it was a year ago when the PAC 12 was loaded with all those great quarterbacks. Dallin Hayden is a guy that I've seen over a number of years, and I know that they've lost some transfers. I get that. I get that. But I think CU could be a lot better this year.

I really do. Travis Hunter might be the best overall player in college football. And his impact, we might see it in even a different way this year than we did last year. So there you go. Those are my five teams that I think underperformed a year ago and could potentially perform a lot better this next season. I thought about some other teams as well. I thought like, is Florida going to be better? Look at their schedule.

It's brutal in the back half. I thought to myself, LSU. Yeah, but they still won 10 games, and I don't know if they're going to be better than a 10 win team. So LSU fell a little bit short. I thought about A&M, but A&M similarly to Miami, I don't know if, well, they've never really exceeded my expectations, almost ever. And I don't know if next year would be the time for that. Let's move on last mailbag question. He says, hey, Joel, love the show.

This is Josh. He says part of the best broadcast doing all of sports. I appreciate that, Josh. is very nice of you. I am a new father to a beautiful little girl named Adelaide. That's a beautiful name. Beautiful name. Congratulations. Would you have any advice for a first time father? And Josh, I know you emailed back to us before you were a father and you asked for advice for a future father and you said, I'm about to be a father. Do you have any advice? And now Adelaide is here and you are a father to a beautiful baby girl. So first of all, congratulations, Josh.

I remember those years fondly, in particular having your first child because you're never not going to be a father again. Something special happened when Adelaide came into this world. You became a father and you will never not be a father again. And an immense amount, an immeasurable amount of love was created out of nothing just like that. for you. You love your wife, obviously. You love your family members. And then all of a sudden, there's this new person that immediately you just love immensely and you would do anything for and you would lay down your life for that little girl if you're anything like me. Here's my advice. And I wish I had something more profound, but it really is, don't wish away time. Time is going

to pass. All right. And you will trade problems for problems. the rest of your life as a father. When your kids are little, all you want to do is for them to get through this stage. So I just want them to sleep through the night. Oh, and if we can just get them through diapers. Oh, if we can just get them to eat solid foods. And I think back to my time as a young father, and I wish I wouldn't have wished away time, hoped away time. Just sit in the present, enjoy it for what it is. Adelaide is never going to be the age that she is right now. She's never going to be at the stage that she is right now.

So enjoy it. Cherish it. Because once it's passed, it's passed. And you're going to trade problems for problems. The problems that now we deal with with our boys that are 12, 10, and 7 are just different. Now we're worried about like, well, which friend has a phone and what are the they going to be exposed to? And I long for the days that we're just like, I hope Henry sleeps through the night tonight. So don't wish away time. Be present and cherish every moment with your

child. Cherish every moment with your child. And by the way, as a father to a young girl, her entire life, she is going to be thinking about the model that you present her as her father. and that's what she will be looking for in a potential mate at some point down the line. And that's a big job, a really big job. So Josh, good luck. Thank you for listening to the show. I appreciate your kind words. And good luck, my friend, a very good luck.

That's going to do it for our bonus edition here of Joel Clatch Show. We'll be back next week with some more content. Make sure to follow the show, subscribe in particular out there on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, and like the show and leave a comment below. Thank you.