The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - CFP Quarterfinals Reaction: Ohio St & Georgia stunned, Indiana & Oregon advance

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal matchups as #1 Indiana dismantled Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Ohio State was upset by Miami, ending the Buckeyes shot at back-to-back National Championships. He explains why Indiana is the best team in the country and why issues that Ohio State masked during the regular season came back to bite them vs the Hurricanes. He also reacts to the incredible Ole Miss-Georgia game and gives Pete Golding and the coaching staff their flowers for navigating the turmoil of Lane Kiffin’s exit to knock the Bulldogs out of the Playoff. Klatt also explains why Oregon looks like a team that is on a mission after their demolition of Texas Tech. Klatt wraps up the show by agreeing with Dan Lanning and explaining the fixes that could improve the Playoff and why College Football thinks like renters rather than owners – to the detriment of the sport. 0:00-2:38 Intro2:39-10:41 Indiana blows out Alabama 38-3 in Rose Bowl10:42-24:28 Miami upsets Ohio State 24-14 to advance to CFP semifinals24:29-30:10 Ole Miss stuns Georgia 39-34 to move onto CFP semifinals30:11-35:03 Oregon shuts out Texas Tech 23-0 to advance to CFP semifinals35:04-44:03 What college football gets wrong with the playoff Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10  Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Indiana was the better team in every single area. Hey, the other shoe's not going to drop. This is not Cinderella. Indiana is the best team in college football. Miami and what they did to Ohio State was incredible. Lane left, and this team led by Pete Golding, and the guys there just decided, you know what, we don't care. They played their butts off against Georgia.

A day like today is why we love college football. Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is Joel Klatt show. I am Joel Klatte. This show is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support as always. Hey, if you have not done so, go subscribe to the YouTube channel. We would very much appreciate that.

You can follow us on social media. You can get all the clips all week long, all year long, all playoffs long. You can do that at Joel Klat Show wherever you like to social media. And then you can rate and review us wherever you are listening to this. you're listening to this as an audio product as a podcast. Okay, let's get into it. CFP, we've got reaction to all of these quarterfinal games because there were some great games, obviously. Listen, that nightcap with Georgia and Ole Miss, that was an incredible game. We got some incredible performances, even in non-competitive games. Let's get to all of it,

including a little bit of a discussion at the end about this CFP. What we think of it at this point now that we're, well, let's just say it, like one and a half. We've seen one and a half versions of the 12 team playoff. What did they get right? What did they not get right so far as we are sitting here about to head into the national semifinals? Let me start with the game that I was at. You guys know that I'm partial of the Rose Bowl. Part of the reason I'm partial of the Rose Bowl are the hats. Yes, they send me the hats. You can't buy them. Everyone asks me where you get the hats. Listen, you can't buy them. They send these to me and I, that's why I rep them so heart. But also, I get to take my boys and my family to the Rose Bowl every single year. And it's the only

football game that I get to go and be a fan and just take my boys. And so I love to go to this game. It's one of my favorite things that I get to do all year long because I love college football. I obviously love my family. So to go and do that and share that experience with them is fantastic every single year. So I'm going to start with the game that I was at. I was up in Pasadena earlier today. Listen, we watched Indiana absolutely beat down Alabama. That was a total beat down, 38 to 3. And it was thorough and it was convincing and it was every single facet of the game. Every single facet.

Indiana was the better team in every single area in a playoff game over Alabama. At some point, you kind of have to sit back and think about that, absorb that comment, it's absolutely true. And by the way, not even subjectively. Like, that's an objective truth today. Indiana hammered the Crimson Tide. Was not close. Statistically ran them out of the building. Every single area. And I look at this team and I immediately see every time I see them play, the most sound team in the country. The Hoosiers are the most sound team in the country. They're undefeated. 14 and 0, they're the number one seed for a reason. This team has gone on the road and they've played Oregon, which by the way is in the national semifinal. They beat Ohio State.

They beat Penn State. They beat Iowa. Now they've beat Alabama. Like, hey, the other shoe's not going to drop. This is not Cinderella. Indiana is the best team in college football. Period. Period. Period. And they showed it again in the Rose Bowl against Alabama. It was not a close game. Bama was not even close to that team. And they do it in every single area. They don't make mistakes in any area whatsoever. That is probably the best coach team in college football. Might not be the most talented team, but they certainly are the most sound. You look around and I sit there and it's like, okay, well, what do they do well? Everything. Everything. Okay. They block well. They tackle well. Their discipline is outstanding. Only one penalty today. Perimeter block.

and toughness from their wide receivers when they're trying to run the football. Their timing and spacing in the passing game, exquisite. The decision making of their quarterback, fantastic. Their routes and the discipline and the detail in their routes. Perfect. Special teams, a strength. Their discipline in their zone coverage on defense. Outstanding.

Nobody gets loose. There's never a wide receiver just running loose through the secondary. Their effort, always top-notch. It's an intelligent team. You can go on and on and on. Everything that you bring up, Indiana does it well. They've got veteran players all over the place. And listen, there was some question about whether that defense

was going to be able to hold up against the passing game of Alabama, in particular without Stephen Daley, who got hurt in the celebration after the Big Ten championship game. And they didn't just hold up. They totally dominated Alabama. Alabama couldn't even throw the first. football. They couldn't run the football again, more on that a little bit. But, you know, offensively, they're dominant on the line of scrimmage, defensively, they're dominant

on the line of scrimmage. You can't get loose. Again, it's just a team that doesn't make any mistakes. And in a sport, and in particular in an environment, these playoff games, where a lot of these games are lost and not won throughout college football. By the way, this happens on the NFL level as well. Bill Belichick used to always talk about this. Most games are lost, not one. Indiana doesn't beat themselves. They don't make mistakes. They are so sound, and it's really fun to watch them play because of that. If you love football, it's easy to love Indiana. It really is. Eighth game so far this year that they run it for over 215 yards. They go for 215 against Obama. 50 rushing attempts, 50, 16 pass attempts. It's like, what is this

Navy? Like, what are we doing? Fernando Mendoza, almost through for 200 yards on just 16 attempts because he completed 14 of them. Efficient in the passing game. Anytime they got behind the chains for whatever reason, you know, maybe it was a sack, maybe it was a TFL, first and 20 on the one penalty that they had all day long. What happened? Boom, run, play, get the first down. A seem to know a Kowski.

Charlie Becker in the end zone on a post. Sarat, a beautiful ball in the corner of the end zone. Every time they needed it, they had it. They had it. That was thoroughly dominant performance from Indiana. This is the best team in the country. And Mendoza was fantastic. We didn't even talk about the Heisman Trophy winner.

The defense is phenomenal. Everything. Signetti, really hard not to just rave and rave and rave about the Indiana Hoosiers and the way that they played in the Rose Bowl. Meanwhile, on the other side, Alabama. That's a problem. That's a problem. the opposing team can line up in the second half in a 17-0-0 game because they did a nice job in the second quarter, Indiana built up a 17-0 lead.

And in the second half, Indiana rolls out there. And they run the football 26 times and only have to throw it four times. Something's wrong with the line of scrimmage at Alabama. And we've known this really all year long, but Indiana did whatever they wanted to do. And Bama couldn't do anything about it. They cannot run the football. They can't run the football at all. They're 126th in yards per carry.

That's not going to cut it. And the hard part is that you've got to look at the style that they play. And listen, Kalin-Dabor plays a very specific style. And it's a successful one because he wins everywhere that he goes. But you're starting to wonder now, from the outside looking in, This is an 11 and 4 football team, I believe, now at all said and done, four losses. And in some of those losses, they got dominated at the line of scrimmage. And you have to wonder, like, well, can you actually go to the top?

Can you actually win a national championship without being sound at the line of scrimmage? I believe that you can't. So Bama has to fix their offensive line. If you can't run the football, you can't win. And I'm not saying that you have to be great at running it, but you just can't be bad. Listen, in their last three games, Georgia and the SEC championship game, OU in the first round of the college football playoff, and now Indiana in the quarterfinals of the college football playoff, nothing on the ground. Under 35 yards in every one of these

games. Like, that's not going to cut it. Under 40 yards in every one of these games. I don't know exactly how many they had against Georgia, but it was low. You know, they didn't have any against Oklahoma, couldn't run the football against Indiana, and now you expose your quarterback. And Ty Simpson gets banged up. He's got to leave the game. You know, Michigan exposed that Washington team, even with Michael Pinnix. And that Washington team, granted, they're going to throw the football because of style. But even that team under Kalin DeBore, I believe they were like, I want to say like 70th in the country, something along those lines, running the football when Washington went to the national championship and lost to Michigan.

So Bama's got to figure themselves out. And there's going to be a lot of pressure on Kalin DeBore. and I think it's because of that, is because deep down, you have to understand, and most of us do in this sport, that you cannot win at the top level unless you're solid on the line of scrimmage. And right now, Alabama is not.

Because in the matchup games, in the Georgia games, and in the Oklahoma games, and in this Indiana game, they got dominated, in particular Georgia and Indiana. Now, they overcame against Oklahoma because Oklahoma had a lot of shortcomings themselves. But Georgia didn't really.

especially that day. And Indiana surely didn't. That's the best team in the country right now. It's the most sound team in the country. You can't win that way moving forward. So a lot of pressure on Kailin DeBore. Let's go to that quarter final in Dallas. And I don't know if it was shocking, but let's face it.

Like Miami and what they did to Ohio State was incredible. I am so impressed with the physicality, the toughness, the violence, with which Miami played in that cotton bowl against Ohio State. That team was outstanding in the trenches. Both sides, offensively and defensively, they get the win 14, or excuse me, 2414. And they did that because they won up front. They won up front both sides of the ball,

and they controlled the line of scrimmage. You know, similar to what I was just talking about with this Indiana team, but you look at what Miami was able to do. Look at their defensive line, led by Bain and Mesdor, who were outstanding. Ohio State had 18 rushes from their backs for only 86 yards. So no sustained running game from Ohio State. Julian Sane was sacked five times after he was under a lot of pressure against Indiana,

again under a lot of pressure against Miami. It affected him. He played his worst game of the season in this game against Miami. You could tell he was jittery. He was not patient. He missed some big plays at really critical times in this game. But it was because of what Miami was doing with that defensive line. They were winning.

And the offensive line for Ohio State was a concern most of the year, and it ended up being the thing that did them in because the offensive line was the weakest part of that team. And Miami exposed it. And they did it in a big way. They did a great job there. But it wasn't just the defensive side, which was fantastic from Miami. It was the way their offensive line controlled the line of scrimmon. and did not allow guys like Arvel Reese and some of those other defensive stars for Ohio State to get loose.

So offensively, they run the football for 37 attempts, 153 yards. So they were committed to the run game. And because of that, what they were able to do was they were able to stay on schedule. And because of that, they were able to stay on the field. And because of that, they did a great job on third down. Listen, 7 of 14 on third down. I felt like that was most attributed to the offensive line. Because it's not like Beck was asked to do a ton, even though I thought he played well.

He really did. And his experience showed up for Miami. His experience definitely showed up. But they were on schedule. What I mean by on schedule is they were second and sixth, then third and four, third and three. It was constantly third and manageable or short. And then they were able to convert. Now, there were a few times Ohio State was able to get off the field.

But that's, you know, that's a good defense. number one defense in the country for a reason. And Miami did exactly what they needed to do, though. They ran it better than I expected them to with Mark Fletcher. I think better than Ohio State expected them to as well. But the line of scrimmage was ultimately won in a big way by Miami. And that's why they ended up winning the game. Experience a quarterback.

They played clean, which is something that they've, well, let's just say struggled with in the past. I think when you look at Miami coming into November this year, there was some question of whether they were going to be able to overcome themselves. And I know that that sounds harsh, but I think you know what I mean. I mean, in the past in November, they would always play poorly and lose a game that they shouldn't lose, in particular on the road. Too many penalties, so on and so forth.

They actually did that against SMU. in that game at SMU. And I was looking at Miami, and it's like, okay, like, are they really going to get through Pitt and are they really going to go on the road against A&M? And surely this is going to end against Ohio State. But here's the thing. And every one of those games, they played fairly clean,

not perfect, but fairly clean. All right, they didn't go out there and make the big mistake. Mario Cristobald managed quality games from a game management perspective, which has been a problem in the past. passed. So they turned a corner and then allowed the offensive line and defensive line to own the game. Because of that, this team is a really tough out. They've got, again, an experienced quarterback, which we've seen over the last few playoffs is a huge advantage. They've got a run game right now

that they're confident in an offensive line that can win the line of scrimmage. They've got a defensive line that can create havoc. They can create negative plays. So this team is going to be an incredibly tough out as they prepare to face Old Miss and more on Old Miss in a little bit. Virtually impossible to win if you're Ohio State and you play that way on the line of scrimmage. And yet, and yet, the Buckeyes are still a good enough team to where it came down to really the pick six. That pick six that Julian San through in the first half really was the difference in the game, even with how well Miami played. And the issue with that whole sequence is that some things started to creep up in that game

that you saw on film every once in a while from Ohio State. Like, listen, nobody covered Ohio State more than me. I watched every single play that they had all year on film, most of them twice. And a few things popped up on film. And I mentioned these during broadcasts. You can go back and you can check these out. I talked about the struggle that they've had on the right side of their offensive line, and that popped up again.

And they were trying to shuffle around and they had some injuries, and the offensive line became an issue. I mentioned at one point during the course of this season that these backs, this running back room, doesn't make people miss. And so in particular, when things are blocked clean, and there's one guy left, and that guy is the running back's responsibility, rarely were these backs from Ohio State making a guy miss

and creating an explosive play. Well, that showed up against Miami. And then the other thing that I also talked about during some of those games is that Julian can miss a throw here or there. And they never wanted to coach that out of him because he was always careful with the football. So he would check things down and he would get to a successful throw and they would gain six or seven or eight.

But almost every game, there would be a play where they're trying to take a shot and it's there and he wouldn't take it and he wouldn't pull the trigger. Well, that happened on the play prior to the pick six because he had an open wide receiver, wide open, didn't take it, was jittery in the pocket. You could tell he was shaken by the pass rush for Miami. And because of that, he doesn't take it. And then they try to throw the little bubble screen on the outside and then we get the pick six. All right, what goes wrong on the pick six if you're Ohio? State. Well, first and foremost, Jeremiah Smith has got to make that block. That's number one. He takes

a heavy outside set, and I understand why. I certainly understand why. This is not a total width, okay, because Julian Sane is going to share in this criticism as well. But he takes a heavy outside step because the ball is supposed to go outside. And by the way, they have the look. It's wide open. You have to credit Miami because they do a lot of film study, and they understand that when Ohio State is in a bunch set on the outside, which they were, I believe it was in a sort of Tate with Jeremiah Smith, and then when they motioned a tight end towards the bunch, whether it's across the whole formation or just from the same side

and motion them out away from the core, as you call it in football, away from the football, out towards that bunch. A lot of times that was screened, a lot of times. And so when you've got a month to prepare and you've got all this extra time to prepare, we saw this in a lot of different games. Those bubble screens were getting eaten up by the defense because you can prepare for the looks. And there are tells. There are tells in the formations and the movements and everything that goes on down and distance.

And so that tight end comes out. And you can tell Miami's like, we know exactly what's coming. And boom, they took their shot, high risk, high reward. Because if he doesn't catch that ball and take it back for six, it's going to go to the outside and it's probably going to go for at least a first down, maybe more for Ohio State. So shoots his shot, risk reward, bang, get it, and it's six. So what goes on? Well, first and foremost, if you're responsible for that guy, you've got to go block him. You can't just take a heavy outside set. The tight end was motioning out and he's taking off.

He's going to block the corner. And then the quarterback responsibility comes in as well. Because if that ball is supposed to go on the outside and there's nobody on the outside, then the only defender that you've got to be worried about is that defender that's on the slot that can take off and get a low throw. So you can't drive the football. That ball has got to be thrown with air because there's no other defender out there. The corner was way off if you're watching that film. He's way off giving a lot of cushion.

So as soon as the slot defender shoots the gap, you've got to throw that with air. So Smith missed the block, Sane missed the throw, it's six going the other direction. And it's a game that's basically a 17-14 game early in the fourth quarter, and they've had to pick six. You know, so that becomes the game right there. But it becomes the game because Miami was able to be dominant at the line of scrimmage.

And they forced Ohio State to be perfect. And because of that, they make a mistake and they lose. So where does Miami go with this? Well, with an experienced QB and the ability to beat people up up front, that's going to be a tough out. I think that Ole Miss is going to have problems with Miami. But Miami fans, rest assured, I may just for you pick against you because I've already done that twice and you got to respect the streak.

Like, I might go Nucla Lush just for you, Kane fans, because this team is very good and that team's good enough to win a national championship. If they continue to play like that at the line of scrimmage, pending how the other teams play because I do think Indiana is still the best team in the country. Now for Ohio State moving forward. For Ohio State moving forward, the issue this year wasn't the fact that they weren't talented enough. It was that they didn't have the running backs that they had last year. Because if you're not going to be dominant on the line of scrimmage, and if your offensive

line is not going to be a really good to great or elite offensive line, then you have to have backs that can make up for it. Last year, they had that. For an offensive line that was banged up and makeshift at the end, they had two backs that did two things. One, create explosives, make people miss, take it the distance, and two, showed up in past protection. And that's something that this running back room has really struggled with. They struggled against Indiana in past protection, and now they struggled against Miami in past protection. And we consistently see them not be able to make one miss. So they've got to do a couple of things now moving forward. I think Ohio State has got to do a better job rebuilding their

offensive line. They made a couple of signings last year in the transfer portal that really didn't pan out. That can't happen again. So they can't miss as they're trying to rebuild the offensive line in the next month in the transfer portal. And then I think that they need to add somebody at running back. Because even Bo Jackson, as talented as he is, a thousand-yard rusher, continues to not be able to create the explosive because he doesn't make one miss. That was specifically. That was supposed to be kind of a C.J. Donaldson and James People's year. And then all of a sudden, Jackson shows up and it's like, okay. And every, you know, you started to see maybe late in the season, you're like, maybe it's getting a little bit better. Maybe it's get a little bit

better. But then once they got to the better competition like Michigan, Indiana, and, certainly against Miami, wasn't there. It wasn't there running the football. Maybe it was running, they ran it well against Michigan. I shouldn't say that. But if you're not going to have a mobile rugged QB and you're not going to have a mobile rugged QB and you're not going to have an elite quarterback or running back room like they did a year ago, then the offensive line, those failures up front are going to be exposed. They were against Miami. And so Ohio State has got to fix those issues moving forward. What's up, Clatch Show fans? If you're looking for a great gift idea or something fun to do with your friends and family, look no further than

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That's 10% off any tickets with promo code Clat 10. Make sure you click the link in the description to download the app and have the code automatically added to your account so you can use it later. A huge thank you to Seat Geek for sponsoring today's show. Let's go to that incredible Sugar Bowl, Georgia Ole Miss. Wow, that was a phenomenal game. Can I just say that? So we drive home, my family and I, you know, I get there, I get home probably middle of the first quarter.

We drove fairly quickly. And, you know, it's going on. And I'm just continuing to think to myself, you know what? Ole Miss is just making too many mistakes, too many penalties, drops, you know, things like that. You know, they, it's not really working. And then Georgia gets a touchdown and then they get another, you know, like, okay, Georgia's going to win this game. But no, but no, turns into a phenomenal college football game because Old Miss just would not quit. I've got to give this coaching staff, Pete Golding in particular, a ton of credit.

Now, obviously, Charlie Wise Jr. did a nice job with the offensive plan, but in the middle of chaos, I mean, this team got dumped by their coach. There's no other way to say it. Lane left before the playoff. And this team led by Pete Golding, and the guys there just decided, you know what, we don't care, and went out there and played pretty well against Tulane and then they played their butts off against Georgia. That was awesome. That was awesome.

What a great game. They trailed by nine at half. They come back and they beat Georgia, this team that is hard to kill that was trying to come back late. Got to give that staff a ton of credit. Lucas Carnaro, by the way. how about Lucas Carnaro, the kicker? Listen, kicking has been an abject disaster in the college football playoff for almost every team. And yet, Ole Miss, with a guy that hits a winner from 47, he hit from 55,

he hit from 56. I'm like, all right. Like, give, that guy has some stones, man. Like, let's go. Lucas Carnaro. Come on. I was super impressed with him. I was super impressed with Trinidad Chamblis. He's a dude. He's a dude, man. 30 of 46 for 362 and two touchdowns in the win. And they overcame some mistakes. Let's be honest. They overcame some mistakes. That defense did a great job. I thought they did a great job. No, granted, it's a high scoring affair. But they got some stops when they needed it. They got that stop late and forced Georgia. I mean, George is driving. The officiating is horrendous at the end of the game. The past interference and the holding call, I'm like, are we serious? Like, it's the inside of two minutes, but I digress. They end up holding them, force the field goal. They're able to go back down the field. I mean, the

third down call, the throw on the fade, like, let's go. Trey Wallace was incredible. He was really good on the outside. I think Penn State fans have got to be thinking to themselves like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wasn't he on the field when the wide receivers as a group got zero catches against Notre Dame? And I'm like, yeah, I believe that's the case. He went nine for 156 and a tutty over Georgia in this win. Georgia loses now in a quarter final for the second straight year after getting a buy. More on that in a little bit. But, man, Chamblis. Chambliss, you can tell is a great leader. That locker room is not going to just follow a coach's voice, right? Because they probably distrust coach's voices right now, and rightly so, after being dumped by their head coach.

So Lane Kiffin leaves. And, like, I'm sure that they love Pete Golding, but that, that camaraderie, that chemistry and that culture has to be held from within. And, I mean, I hate to be an elitist and a quarterback elitist, if you will, but it has to be held with the quarterback. The quarterback always has to be the strongest leader on a really good team. It's just the case. It's just the truth. So them playing this way tells you everything you need to know about Trinidad Champlis, the way that they believe in him, his voice, the strength of his voice in that locker room, because I guarantee you there's not a ton of trust in any coach's voice on that team. And why should they? And rightly so.

So Chamblis is outstanding. I'll tell you well, man, that was a great game. It really was. Georgia moving forward. This is a team that's gotten more inconsistent over the years. We've seen them now defensively be great and then defensively be really poor. And both times against Ole Miss, they were defensively questionable at best, could not get a stop late against this Ole Miss team, even after they got the stops when they needed them in the fourth quarter in their first matchup in Athens.

They struggled defensively against Tennessee early in the year. they struggled defensively against Alabama. This has not been the most consistent Georgia team, and we kept waiting like, are they going to turn into Georgia? And it looked like they were starting to turn into Georgia when they beat down Alabama. Maybe Alabama was just not that great.

I don't know. I don't know. Indiana sure seemed to beat Alabama almost, if not, definitely more thoroughly than Georgia did. So Georgia moving forward, I think consistency is the key. And Ole Miss, why not? Why not Ole Miss, man? Like at this point, they're becoming America's darling right now

as they got dumped by their coach right before the playoff. Unbelievable. I still, okay, whatever, whatever. And the last game, Oregon beats Texas Tech in a thoroughly dominant fashion, totally dominant on defense. Remember now Dan Lannning was not happy with his team after their performance against JMU because they jumped out to a big lead.

It was a dominant performance going on at home in Austin. You know, they're beating them up. And then all of a sudden, JMU starts, like, moving the football. And they ended up gaining a bunch of yards and scoring a bunch of points. First thing Dan Lannings says when he gets to the podium is he's like, well, I'm not happy about that, you know. And so he refocuses. And it's not just about the win, but it's about how we played.

And so Oregon thoroughly dominated Texas Tech with their defense. Now, with some help from Baron Morton, Baron Morton turns it over four times, kind of like Ohio State. You're not going to win when you lose the line of scrimmage in a big game. Well, you're definitely not going to win in a big game when you turn the football over four times. It's just not going to happen.

And Baron Morton played his worst game at the wrong time. And I know that that's frustrating for Texas Tech, but that's the truth. And it's unfortunate for him, but that's exactly what happened. Oregon was a totally different speed of team than what Texas Tech has faced all year long. and we said that before the game.

We said that each of these teams would look across the field and they would see their opponent. And Oregon would see a team like, yeah, we've seen someone like this, maybe even better. We played Indiana. And Tech was going to look across the field and they were going to say to themselves, haven't seen that before.

Not this year we haven't. And that's kind of how the game played out. Now, I don't want to take anything away from the front seven of Texas Tech because they were as advertised, led by Jacob Rodriguez and Ramello Hyde and those guys up front, the front seven for Tech was outstanding. This very potent rushing attack for Oregon didn't do much. In fact, their three main running backs all ran for under three yards per carry.

So the front seven for Tech was outstanding. They really were, and they held their own. The difference in this game, though, was that one quarterback was panicking and turning the football over, and the other quarterback decided that he was going to be patient and just take what the defense gave him. not try to go out there and search big plays out, but just take what the defense gave him.

And Dante Moore played an incredibly patient and efficient game. 11 different ducks caught a pass. 11. Now, it wasn't the most explosive day throwing the football. They didn't throw the football for over 300 yards, but boy, it was efficient. And he was able to just be patient enough and make the quality decision in order to move the football down the field.

And once he realized that, one, they weren't going to be able to run the football with all that much consistency. And two, that his defense was going to be dominant. Dante Moore did exactly what he needed to do. They threw it, had to throw it 33 times, and he threw it for 234. 26 of 33. Granny had the I&T. But in a win, he spread the football around and just took what the defense gave. Because that's a good defense.

It's a very good defense. And the front seven showed up. There's no doubt. But that experience for more paid off. It really did. I thought he was very good. And this team, and this is the last point on this game, this team looked like a team that was on a mission that started in the quarterfinals.

Because of the way last year ended, and this is another thing that we talked about on that preview show, is in this matchup, you were going to get a game between teams that maybe feel differently about the way that they, arrive at that point. Oregon was going to arrive at this point and think to themselves like, finally we're back and now we get to write the wrong from a year ago when we lost the Rose Bowl to Ohio State. Meanwhile, tech, man, you get 20 plus days off. It's hard to fight complacency at that point. They achieved what they wanted to achieve, which was create a

playoff team in Lubbock. You know, and so like one team, their season was starting, and the other, it felt like a culmination. And we talked about in the preview, and that's kind of how it played out. That defense for Oregon, man, I'm telling you, they're very good. And now that sets up that incredible rematch with Indiana. Oregon, Indiana, again, sign me up for that one. Miami Ole Miss on the other side, sign me up for that one. And if you would have had these four teams, other than Oregon,

who I think a lot of teams would have put in their top five or six, to begin the year. Maybe people would have talked about Miami in that way. But, I mean, Oregon, Indiana, Ole Miss Miami, and the national semi-final, in the quarters, Bama goes down, Georgia goes down, Ohio State goes down. I will say, though, like, you look up,

and now I told you we're one and a half playoffs in to this format. Okay, and we've got this 12-team format, what generally has been a success. I think that we would all say that. Generally, it's been a success. And yet, and yet, there are still some big problems. Like, for instance, the top seeds, the top four seeds in last year's playoff and this year's playoff are a combined one and seven so far in this playoff.

One and seven. Now, there are a lot of reasons to that, but I think the main reason is that, is that we continue to play the quarterfinals on neutral sites. And Dan Laning, after the Orange Bowl, went right in on that exact point. Here was Dan Lannning after the game. What do you think of not having a first round by this season? I guess it works, right? You know, I've been a proponent for games to be happening much quicker for a long time.

I think that's best for college football. Again, I felt like this game. The Orange Bowl, first off, was unbelievable. I should have, you know, really gave him kudos to the Orange. Orange Bowl because it's been a great experience, but it's not the same bull experience anymore when you talk about playoffs, right? You know, our guys didn't leave the hotel. They had a mindset, you know, that we can celebrate when this thing's all over with, and they were really focused. But the hospitality here was unbelievable. But we're trying to serve two different purposes here.

And this is a playoff. Playoff, in my opinion, should have been played in Lubbock, Texas. I said that before. That's not because we wanted to go play in Lubbock. I certainly didn't. I'm glad we played here in Miami, and it was good prep for us. But, you know, last year, very similar situation. for us. I feel like that game should have been played in Eugene. And there's a lot of people who do playoffs. You know, I feel like the playoffs have looked a certain way for a long time. We're trying to serve two purposes here. And the amount of time in between games, obviously, it's tough for teams. You know, we experienced it last year. Yes, yes. Yes. Everything he said is right. Everything that he said is dead on. We are trying to serve two purposes here. We can't we can't serve the purpose of

bowl season and do a playoff at the same time. That's like, that's not a thing. It's just not, it's not a thing. You know how I feel about that. I'm, I am exactly where Dan landing is, is we should play the playoff through December and we should be ending by January 1st. We should be ending with the Rose Bowl. That should be the tent pole event for college football. I've said it for a long time. It's, it's the quintessential college football event. Own it. Own January 1st. Like, I don't understand why it's that difficult. And then I start to realize to myself, like, okay, hold on, Joel.

Like, where are we at with this playoff? And is it really that difficult to consider that, like, this isn't being run very well? And the answer is like, oh, it's actually not that difficult. Because, because this version of the college football playoff and everybody that has made the decisions necessary to create what we have right now, they have made the wrong decision at almost every single turn. Almost every turn. You can look at the way it's constructed, the schedule, the location, the presentation.

This extends beyond the playoff, just in college football, the transfer portal, the timing of the transfer portal. they always make the wrong decision every turn. Let me give you examples. In this college football playoff, they had a choice of how we're going to construct the playoff. They chose a selection-based model with a committee in a room versus an access-based model with a defined path where we're going to settle it on a field. Wrong decision. Absolutely wrong decision. which could lead to the regular season being devalued,

not only devalued, but also lead to a lack of great matchups in non-conference play. And we're already seeing that. Look at the USC Notre Dame thing. That's absolutely everything to do with selection-based process versus a defined path-based process. They made the wrong decision when it comes to the schedule. They decided to drag it out and play the finals on January 19th versus just play immediately

because they're trying to serve all sorts of different masks, and they're trying to serve Army, Navy, and the Bull season and all these different things. It's like, no, no, no, no, you're creating a playoff, build a playoff. Made the wrong decision there. They made the wrong decision when it comes to location of these games. They wanted to serve the purpose of bull season versus run a playoff, so we've got neutral sites in the quarter of finals and not on campus. Like, that's not beneficial to anybody.

They chose the wrong path when it comes to the presentation of this playoff. There is no playoff that should be a single television partner. It just shouldn't. It just shouldn't. Because the presentation is important, in particular when you're down to this point in the sport, where you're trying to showcase games. And like, let's face it, it'd be better if every network was giving an A-level broadcast versus a-level presenter. In particular when that single presenter has a deep relationship with just one conference within college football.

That's how you know this is not like a Fox ESPN thing for me, because I don't think it would be great if we at Fox solely had the college football playoff. That wouldn't be good for the sport. And it's not good the way that it is right now. It just isn't. So every single, listen, right now future schedules are on the line with the way that we construct the playoff. The way we construct the playoffs is a tax on fan bases because we constantly try to get them to these neutral site. The best teams are not rewarded. They don't get a home playoff game, so that's about $3 to $4 million that they don't get

because they don't get to sell tickets in their home stadium. And then they've got to wait longer than the other teams and play on a neutral site. So it's competitively a disadvantage. The presentation, like I said, we're competing with the NFL and the NFL playoffs that are week 18 and everything that goes on into the playoffs by dragging out. We make the wrong decision at every single turn in college football. And then I realized, oh, now I know exactly why we do that. Because in the National Football League, there's 31 owners and the Green Bay Packers.

And owners do one thing. They think about the future. They think about value. They think about the future as in 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Meanwhile, in college football, all we have is a bunch of rent. because they're not going to be in their position much longer than four or five years, and they don't own any of these properties. So when you've got a bunch of renters in positions to make decisions,

nobody's going to think about the long-term health of the sport or value of the sport or quality of the sport. So we end up getting decisions that are only good for renters in the short term. Give me that check with the single television partner. Let's throw them in bowl games and get more corporate sponsors. Let's have a selection-based committee so that we can really orchestrate exactly which conferences are going to be in. Well, obviously none of this is going to work, and we've got to change all of this. And I think the only way that that happens is if you get somebody in the room that will look out for the entirety of the sport moving forward into the future. Because right now, we've got a bunch of renters making decisions, and we need only.

owners in there. We need owners in college football. I also wanted to give a huge shout out to Ben. Ben won our ticket giveaway last week and went to the Rose Bowl. Ben sent us a picture and a video and I know he had a great time. So Ben, congratulations. I hope you enjoyed the Rose Bowl, bud. Thank you for listening. I tell you, I cannot wait for these semifinals. And we're coming back with a preview of these semifinals on Monday, January 5th. That'll be the next show, January 5th. On Monday, we're going to have a preview of both of these semifinals as we've got the Big Ten matchup, Indiana and Oregon. We've got the SEC-ACC matchup with Miami and Ole Miss,

and we'll have some winners, and they'll play for a national championship. Again, thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Go subscribe to the podcast over on the YouTube channel, and then follow us on social media at Joel Klash. Hope you have a great weekend, everybody, and we'll be back on Monday.