The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - CFP Rankings Reaction: Washington into the Top 4, Tennessee is still ranked (!?!) & why that matters

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the latest College Football Playoff Rankings as Washington makes the jump into the Top 4 in place of Florida State. He breaks down a very difficult scenario that the Committee could be looking at when they have to make their final selections in two weeks. He questions the continued higher ranking of a couple of SEC teams and points out why those rankings will have a massive impact on the resumes of the teams fighting for Playoff spots. Klatt then shows what the Playoff chase would look like right now if we had the 12-team format this season and how many more teams would have a legitimate shot at the Playoff entering the final week of the regular season. He wraps up the show by taking mailbag questions including telling the story of the time his younger self said the wrong thing to the wrong Cowboy in a bar in Montana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clash show, we break down college football playoff rankings, and we've got a new team in the top four. Washington jumps in, my thoughts on that, and Tennessee is still ranked. 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. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Welcome into the program. I'm Joel Clyde. This is the Joel Clatt show. This show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. Lots to get into. And man, I am, if you've noticed I've got a little grin on my face, it's game week. It's the V game. And as I prepare and get ready for Michigan and Ohio State, noon, Saturday on Fox, I've never prepared for a bigger game. And I don't know, I mean, there's, there's been massive,

ones, but this one is going to be as as big as this game has ever been. It's going to be as big as last year's, obviously. It's going to be as big as the 2016 game, which was a tremendous game, the 06 game, 97. Those are just in recent vintage of just like incredible giant games in this rivalry and we're up for another one because of everything on the line. So that is in the backdrop of everything that I talk about today because that's where my mind is at this week. It is already in Ann Arbor for that game, Michigan and Ohio State again, noon on Fox. And Big Noon kickoff, by the way, three hours, three hours of Big Noon kickoff. So that starts nine Eastern time live there from Ann Arbor.

Okay, college football playoff rankings we've got to get to. I'm going to talk about why a 12-team playoff is going to be so amazing next year. and we're going to break down exactly what that would look like, not just a 12-team bracket, because you see a lot of those, but I'm going to break down every team in the country that would be in the hunt, still alive, as they say.

Okay, so we're going to break that down, and then we're going to go out to the mailbag, and I guess I'm going to tell the story of the exchange I had in a Montana establishment when I was playing minor league baseball. So that story is coming up. All right, let's get into it. CFP rankings. Washington, let's start with that. Washington moves into the top four. So really no

change up at the top. Georgia's up there. Ohio state's up there. Michigan is up there. We knew that they would stay there. What we didn't know, though, is what was going to happen with Florida State after the Jordan Travis injury and what was going to happen with Washington after another impressive win. I talked about this on Monday, and I still firmly believe this. I believe that if any team in the SEC in particular, but if any team, even in the Big Ten or in other conferences, but Big Ten and mainly the SEC, if any of those teams that were really good, that was vying for a spot in the playout, that was an undefeated, that was, you know, favorable, but Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, if they would have gone into the 11th ranked

team in the country and gone on the road to face the 11th ranked team, if this team was a pass first offense and it was raining. If that 11th ranked team had won 16 of the last 17 games in their building and the only game that they lost was to a historically great Heisman trophy winner,

then that win would have carried more weight. We would have been singing, like I said on Monday, the praises of Washington from on high and rightly so. And that team is, I got to tell you, like I just continue to be impressed with Washington.

I continue to see a team that even though they might be a bit one-dimensional at times, they win with toughness. They've run it well when they've needed to. They have defended when they've needed to. I am reminded of that

game, a weird one way back in the regular season, middle of the regular season, I should say, against Arizona State when they needed a pick six. Couldn't do anything offensively. And they needed a pick six. So here they are, 11 and O, their best wins are now Oregon State on the road. That's the one I was talking about from last week. They have beaten Oregon. They have beaten Arizona. That's a hell of a resume.

And you can make the argument, it's a better resume than Michigan. It's a better resume than Georgia. If you actually look at what Washington has done, they've got the number one strength of record in America. Okay. So no team has a better strength of record. And when you look at their strength of schedule. 35th, it's actually the toughest strength of schedule, the best strength of schedule of any of the top six teams in the country. So they not only have excellent wins, including a team in Oregon that everybody believes is a top six, seven team, but they also have played in terms of its width and depth

a better and tougher schedule than anybody else in the top six. So you can make a strong argument that Washington, even at four, is underrated. You know, Michigan doesn't have the resume that Washington does. Now, has Michigan been consistent and dominant over the course of the year? Yeah, yeah, they have. And Washington continued to win games by one score and within one score. And so they're at four. But listen, I've argued and did on Monday that this team should be in the top four.

Now they are. I believe that the committee did the right thing. there with Washington, but that means that unfortunately Florida State had to move out. Now, Florida State's resume is not as strong as Washington's resume. Florida State's strength of record is number four in America. Their strength of schedule is 62nd. All right. That's just, that's, it's not as strong as Washington.

This was a no-brainer. And I don't think that there was any real talk in that room, in the committee room. I don't think there was any real discussion about changing the top. three. Georgia, Ohio State, and Michigan, I believe, were totally solidified. Even if the resumes, in particular in the Georgia case and in the Michigan case, don't measure up to what Washington brings to the table, I don't think that Washington ever was in the discussion for the three spot. I believe that the discussion was between four and five. And when you're having a discussion between Washington's resume and Florida

State's resume, then it's really not in question. Washington has the better resume, and they got the nod and they are they are in the four spot and rightly so rightly so i'm still torn up for jordan travis um gosh man kid deserves better than that i really sucks it really sucks now having said that you know florida state still has a path they still have a chance just like in 2014 ohio state still had a chance and still had a path when j t barrett went down late in that season. If you remember, the catalyst to Ohio State being included in that first playoff was their dominant win over Wisconsin. Now, that was in a conference championship game and the Big Ten championship game. I believe that this week is a huge week for Florida State.

And it's a huge week because, as you're going to see, Florida is littered all over this college football playoff rankings. They have a hand in so many spots. on this ranking that we see. And to be quite candid with you, like there's not a ton of consistency, but a Florida team that is not very good, other teams that are not ranked, have handled them, namely Utah,

get to that in a little bit. I just think Florida State's got to go handle Florida. If they do that, then I think that there's a chance that even the injury is going to be overlooked. And remember, the committee is supposed to look at injuries. You might not like that, but that's part of what they look at. And so Florida State moves to five, hard to argue with that. So that's the top of the playoff rankings.

Now we get to the more interesting part because the more interesting part for me is going to be the recipe and the books, if you will, in the back end for what could be. a giant debate in a couple of weeks. So there's the top 25 if you're watching on YouTube. If you're listening to this program, you'll know that Georgia's one, Ohio states, two, Michigan's three, Washington, four, Florida State, five, and then it goes Oregon, Texas, Alabama, then at nine, it's Missouri, 10, it's Louisville,

Penn State is 11, then Ole Miss, Oklahoma, so on and so on and so on. Okay. Now, Let's just for a moment, before I get into my issues with some of the places that teams are ranked, let me just tell you like why it matters. Okay. In two weeks, there's a chance that we get an undefeated Big Ten team, potentially an undefeated Florida State team, okay, which let's just say those two would be in,

in particular if the following happens. Oregon beats Washington. Bama beats Georgia. Texas wins out, and then there would be a loser of this week's game, Ohio State and Michigan. That would be six really good one-loss teams. All right, three of those teams would be a conference champion. That would be Oregon, Alabama, and Texas. Now, you have to take, of those six, two teams.

to the playoff in this scenario. Now it starts to really matter, and I'm talking about really matter, what those teams resume look like. It starts to really matter who they beat, when they beat them, what their rank is, how the committee views that team that day.

And we're starting to see the way that the committee views some of these teams that will be intricate to the back end of these resumes if these six teams all have one. loss. That's why I'm interested in this. This is why I care what happens after six. You see, the TV show, and even we do this, by the way, even on YouTube, like when we give it, it's like we just put up the top six. It's like, here's the four, and then here's the first two that

are out. And everyone's like, well, do you agree? Do you not agree? Oh, what do you think, this resume, that resume? And I just did it for five minutes, for 10 minutes, whatever it was. And, and, but it lulls us in because the books, how you got there, how you got to the top four happens from 7 to 25. Okay, there are five teams that I think are pivotal in terms of the way the committee views them and how they rank them when it comes to these six teams up top. Here's the five teams that I think are pivotal moving forward.

Missouri, Penn State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. And the reason is, is because those teams end up being or could be either quality or the best win for any of those teams that have one loss. So then it becomes imperative that for you, if you're trying to use one of those five teams, that the committee views that team properly. okay, and now you get where I'm headed, which is Missouri is overranked. Penn State's probably a little overranked as it relates to Oklahoma. Tennessee, what are we doing with Tennessee still in the top 25 and Utah is nowhere to be found? That's going to be huge.

If we get down to a point where we're starting to debate between Oregon, Washington, Bama, Georgia, Texas, and the loser of Ohio State, Michigan, all is one lost teams, three of them with championships. Two of them have to go. Six of them have to stay at home. And all of a sudden, we're sitting here with Tennessee still ranked number 21? What are we doing? Was this an oversight?

Did you quit? Committee, like, did you take a break and someone slide Tennessee in there and then no one caught it? What are, like, you can't. you cannot be serious. Tennessee at 21, Tennessee is awful. Tennessee hasn't played well against one quality opponent all year. In fact, if you look at their, really their only good opponents that they've faced,

their quality opponents, their last 10 quarters against quality opponents, They've been outscored by 84 points. 84. It's wild to me. The last two, they've lost by 57. And here's Tennessee still in the top 25. Meanwhile, Utah is nowhere to be found. Nowhere to be found. Can we just for a moment, just for a moment,

did no one bring up Florida? Ah, there's the Gators. I told you they would come back. I told you they would come back. And here's Florida. and Florida makes their return. Why? Because they're not very good.

They went to Utah early in the season, got beat by 13. Oh, but wait a second. That 13 number looks familiar, Joel. You're right. Aha. Eh, ha. Guess why?

Tennessee got beat by Florida by 13. That's a 26 point swing. What are we doing? What are we doing? Who are the people in the room that see that, list and they think to themselves like, that's it. That's the one. Go ahead. Deliver that. That's the hotness. Just maddening. It is just maddening to like be in the sport. Cover it. I do this

for a living. I'm not an administrator that also worries about basketball and softball and lacrosse and water polo and all the other sports. Okay? I'm not worrying about NCAA investigations in my school. I'm not worried about anything else. all I, this is all I do. This is all I do. And yet, and yet, we're going to have 12 Yahoo's in there that have all this other responsibility who are also financially tied to the college football playoff. And we're going to have them, have them give us a top 25.

Come on. Come on. Can we please, can we just stop with a charade? Can we stop? Can we stop? I'm going to get a headache. I'm going to get a headache. Okay.

So Tennessee is ranked 21. As you can tell, like, that's a joke. They lost to Florida by 13. They lost to Alabama by 14, but got outscored by 27 in the second half. So basically, Tennessee is getting credit. They are getting credit for playing one quality half against Alabama. That's what they're doing. Okay.

Do you remember, do you remember, like, being in high school or college, and you would be like with your group of friends, and then you would be like, hey, you know, like, let's call up that group of girls. and let's all go hang out. And generally speaking, like, let's just say this way. I think Tennessee is getting a bump in attractiveness by hanging out with very attractive teams.

You know what I'm saying? Kind of get where I'm going with that. So it's like, good for you, Tennessee. You played really good teams, and you didn't do it very well, but we're going to just rank you, even though that happened. Meanwhile, Utah, who beat Florida by 13,

while Tennessee lost by 13. They also can sit there and they can say, well, we've got better wins than any of the wins that Tennessee has. They beat UCLA and USC. Tennessee's best win is Kentucky, I guess, maybe A&M by 7. I mean, A&M, we're talking about A&M being your best win. A&M fired their coach, if you're not mistaken.

And by the way, A&M hasn't won a road game in like two years. See, that's happening again. I'm going to get a headache. I'm going to get a headache again. That's one. And that matters. That matters. OU has a better win than either Missouri or Penn State. If you look at their losses, they're all close. Penn State, their best win is Iowa.

I think Missouri's best win is probably Kansas State. And it's like they're getting credit because they lost to LSU and Georgia. It's like anyone that gets to play Georgia, you step on the field with Georgia, you get a bump. The committee's like, well done. You guys played Georgia. Not well. not well, just played them. Just played them. Way to go. Way to go. Even though you didn't actually schedule them, the league did for you. But you know what? Well done. Well, you had to line up against Georgia.

You should probably be ranked 21. So Missouri, Penn State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah, it matters. Why? Because there's a scenario where we've got six one-loss teams, all vying for two spots, and then it's going to come down to resume. It's going to come down to who you beat. Who's your best win? Who's not your best win? Does Georgia get in in that sense? Well, everyone's going to be saying like, well, they beat Missouri. Does Texas get in at that point?

What if they were to avenge a loss to Oklahoma, if Oklahoma were to get back into the Big 12 championship game? Well, then Oklahoma just gets another loss, probably gets moved down and Missouri gets moved up, even though they didn't qualify for a conference championship game. It's broken. It's broken. We need more committees.

We need more people. need more variables into this equation because this doesn't work. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I've said it, I don't know how many times, but I digress. There we go, right there. Let me move on before I get either myself in trouble or I give myself even a further headache. Before I move on, though, I do want to cheer myself up by reminding myself that I'm about to go stay in a Hampton Inn. So Hampton by Hilton takes care of me, and they take care of me in my time of need, which is my favorite time of year, which is football season because I'm constantly on the go. And I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. Wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton.

I can depend on their comfortable rooms, their warm, friendly service, and their free hot breakfast is an absolute game changer. pretty sure the committee did not get a free hot breakfast before they gave us these rankings because the rankings were hot garbage, but a free hot breakfast would get your mind working and you'd probably be better at your job. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton, will always give you that win. Let's move on to what I think is going to be incredibly exciting. And that is when we, when we get into the era of the 12-team playoff format. I think that this will be good for college football.

And I think it'll be good for college football because in this format, you can still incentivize and play meaningful games at the top of college football, like we're doing this weekend next with some of the best teams in the country. And you can also expand the meaningful games to include more teams and fan bases, which means more interest. Remember, this sport has never been more popular. The ratings have never been as high as they've been this year. College football overall is up, and it's up a pretty significant amount. I think that that's a great thing, and we need to continue to capitalize on that.

Part of capitalizing on that is the expanded playoffs. So next year, when we go to 12 teams, this is what it could look like. Now, I will tell you, it's not just like, let's first. fill in a 12-team bracket and, oh, isn't that cool? Because it's more than that. It's about access to that 12-team playoff. It's about being alive. It's about playing meaningful games, Thanksgiving week for more teams in college football. Because let's face it, right now, we don't really have that. We've got some spoilers and then about eight teams that have a legitimate shot at going to the college football playoff. So we go from eight to,

this is what it would look like, if we had a 12-team playoff. I believe that there are 25 teams in the country that would still be alive and in the playoff hunt right now going into the last week of the regular season. I think that would be incredible. And I want to show them to you right now. First of all, you would basically say, if you win your conference, you're going to have a really good chance to go. So here are the teams that would be in their conference championship race.

And the Big Ten, you've got Ohio State, Michigan, and Iowa. And the PAC 12, you've got Washington, Oregon. Arizona, the SEC, just the two, Georgia and Alabama. In the ACC, it's Florida State and Louisville. And in the Big 12, you've got Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State. So there's 14 teams just there in the Power 5 that would feel like they still have a legitimate chance to go to the college football playoff if it was a 12-team playoff because you would get a spot. Remember, we're taking the six-spex champions and as we maybe go down in conference, as the five best champions.

That's going to be really good for the sport. Okay? So everybody there is going to be vying for, we win, we're in. Then you've got the at-large teams that don't have a chance to play for their conference championship, but certainly with a win would be viable in the top 12. That's Penn State, Missouri, Ole Miss, LSU, Oregon State, and Notre Dame. That's six more teams. now we're up to 20.

I love this. Now we've got meaningful football all over the country. It's not just meaningful because it's senior day. It's not just that, oh, hey, you know, like Billy's playing his last game at home. I want to go support him. No, no, no. Billy's got a chance to actually go to the playoffs, which is outstanding. And then the group of five, I think there would be five teams still alive for basically the one spot.

Now it would be Tulane, Toledo, Liberty, UNLV and SMU. So there you have it. Twenty-five teams would be playing what I would categorize as meaningful football. Now, there's a big caveat here, okay? Not even a caveat. Maybe just like kind of an extension. So I've heard people say, well, we're just moving and transitioning from all the important games happening with the best teams in the country at the end of the regular season. And we're just sliding that down to, you know, the very good teams would be playing meaningful games, but not the great teams. See, I totally disagree. In fact, I think we are expanding how many games are good, quality, meaningful games at the end of the season because you incentivize winning at the top. this is why, and I will continue to pound the drum for this,

when we start the new playoff format in 2026, because remember in the next two years, we're just going to be playing within the existing bowl contracts. So the second round is going to be played at bowl sites. You know, the New Year 6 have television contracts. We're expanding within the current television deal. So the only new games are actually first round games. Those will be at home next year for home sites.

Then we're going to neutrals. We're going to bowl games. That happens for two years. And then in 2026, this thing gets rebuilt, if you will, reimagined. And the new television contract will come with a new structure. Now, I believe that it is vital that these administrators and ADs don't screw it up because they have a chance to because they don't think it through. and it drives me nuts.

They think that it's best if we go to neutral sites in the quarterfinal week. That's a huge miss, massive miss. And the reason is, is because you've got to incentivize at the top of college football

those teams to play hard through their conference championship games. You want to incentivize them. You want to give them opportunities. You want to give them advantages, just like we see in the national football, You win, you're going to maybe be home field or host a playoff game. Well, you should not only have a buy if you're one of the top four teams in the country,

but you should host and play a quarterfinal game at home. Then you've got something really to play for. So then when you've got Alabama and Georgia playing the SEC championship game in a couple of years, the winner knows that they're going to be home the next week because they're going to be on and off week. They're going to have a buy in the first round, and then they're going to host in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, the loser is going to have to go play right away. Now, they might host in the first round, but they're going to have to play in the first round. So now they're going to play four games to win the title versus just three if they get a buy. That's all very important.

So let me back this up. When we expand to 12, we're going to have more meaningful games at the end of the regular season, which is good for the sport and it's good for fan bases. Every one of those fan bases would want that. Iowa, Arizona, Louisville, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Penn State, Missouri, Ole Miss, LSU, Oregon State, Notre Dame, Tulane, Toledo, Liberty, UNLV, SMU, all teams that aren't really playing for a chance to get into the college football playoff in any genuine sense this year, but would be in a 12-team playoff. Now, I still want Ohio State, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Georgia, Alabama, Florida State to be playing. playing hard. So what do you do? You incentivize them to continue to win by giving them a buy and then

giving them the ability to host a quarter final game in the second round of the playoffs. There we go. Now we're talking. That was just a little bit of a clap because I needed it, to be honest with you. I was getting a little upset at the committee. Powers of B. you know, I don't want neutral sites. They keep telling me, a lot of these guys keep telling me. And I just like, it gets me so frustrated. I've had these conversations and these guys will be like, well, we don't know if these sites can host quarterfinal game.

What? And what? What? I'm sorry? I think that that's crazy. I think that if you win, if you are a top four team, you deserve. a buy and you deserve to host. Because home field and college football is important.

We've talked about it on this show. Do you know how rare it is to go and beat a top four team in their stadium? It's incredibly rare. Incredibly rare. It doesn't happen. It just doesn't. Now, play that same game on a neutral site. I don't know.

Coin flip. Whose fans are willing to travel more? Now we're asking teams to, like, have a conference championship game and then, and then three different neutrals. We're going to have, what, four neutrals during the course of a month and a half? Come on. That's not good for anybody. Let's make it better for the fans. Let's let them have a home game.

I think that we should. Let's get into the mailbag, shall we? Because I got some good stuff in the mailbag. It's time for the mailbag. Let's sponsor this one up. Hampton by Hilton. You're our guys. Hampton by Hilton.

Hilton for the stay. Okay. Ryan M. right to and he says, hey, Joel, do we think this is the last year of great rivalry games? As an Ohio State fan, this game against, he says team up north, but Michigan, feels like it will be the last true big game that we will have before moving into the 12 team playoff. After this year, I feel like the game moving forward will have less implications. And reasons being if both teams are in the top eight or so, I feel like more times than not,

both will be in the 12 team playoff format. Outside of seating, I feel that the only thing that this game will have, have moving forward is playing spoiler so the opponent doesn't get in. Do you think this expansion of the playoff delutes the importance of these rivalry games this week? Unfortunately, yes, there will be a little bit of that because there would be a chance in the new format in the Big Ten, Ryan, that Ohio State of Michigan would have to turn around and just play each other again in the conference championship game because we're going

to do away with divisions in the Big Ten. So does it dilute this game? Yeah, it does in some sense, a little bit, a little bit. I would say that it makes this game even bigger. So in some ways, I'm more excited about this year. This is truly kind of an end of an era game because I don't know if everything will be on the line in the future like it is this year. Now, you can incentivize that game in later years, like I just talked about, home playoff games, buys, those types of things. That's how you incentivize the game and you make it matter.

But playing back-to-back weeks, that would be an interesting one. I don't know how I feel about that. We'll see if that happens next year. We're going to have a lot of different tiebreaking scenarios. You're seeing that go on in the Big 12 right now. But I will say this. Like when you don't have divisions, then you at least allow for a team to play themselves back into a point

where they can go win a championship. And the case and point is what the PAC 12 is doing this year versus the Big Ten. Okay, so in the Big Ten, let's say Michigan or Ohio State would have played or play with no divisions and they would play again in the conference championship game, just like Oregon's going to have a chance to avenge the loss. If we would have been in the North-South edition of the PAC 12, like we were just a couple of years ago, then it would already be settled.

And Washington would basically be in, Arizona would be in, and that would be your conference championship game. And Oregon would basically be out of the playoff because they would be sitting there at 11-1 and just hoping someone would put them in, which I just doubt that they would. So that's the scenario that the Big Ten is in.

So to your point and to your question, Ryan, will it dilute some of these rivalries? Yeah, maybe a little bit. But this is what's great about college football. It doesn't matter. I believe still, if Ohio State and Michigan play in a parking lot, it's still going to matter. And that's why I think it'll still matter moving forward. All right. We move on.

Steve R, he writes in. He says, hey, Joel, I have five children. Dang, Steve, my man. He says, my oldest is eight. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. Am I reading that right? I have five children and my oldest is eight.

What? Steve, are you okay? You need a prize. I can't even imagine how hectic Steve's life is. I have five children and my oldest is eight. All right. Steve. He's about that business.

He's played. Flag football. My oldest is eight and has played flag football the last several years and has excelled on the field. He now is asking to play tackle football as a third grader. I played growing up and absolutely loved it, but struggling to figure out what the right age to start my kids and tackle football. This is a good question. I like this. Physically is probably mature enough, but I also do not want to start too early and burn him out or risk potential injuries. When I talk to other parents, you get a mixed bag. Some kids love it. Some kids struggle.

Do you have a rule with your boys on when they can start tackle football? Yes, I actually do. This is a great question. Steve, well done. Okay, first and foremost, football is not like baseball. It's not like basketball. It's not like, I don't know, tennis, golf. You know, those, those, and let's just take baseball for an example.

Baseball is the way I would categorize it. It's a minimum skill sport. There is a minimum skill level that you have to play in order to become a high school baseball player or a college baseball player or a pro baseball player. And it is a skill-specific sport. Football is not necessarily that way. It is a traits sport. And it's a traits and it's an effort sport as well.

you can become a very good football player through learning the game, trying hard, right, just playing hard. And then it's also like a trait sport in that it helps if you're fast and big and strong, which is not always controllable. Like some people are just not those things. Okay. So what I'm trying to say is it's not as important that you play tackle football or even football period at a young age because you're not even close to what you will be

or what you will need to be to play if you want to play in the high school level. So for instance, my dad was a high school football coach, and he didn't let us play until we were in eighth grade, my brother and I. My brother was older than me. And like, that was just the rule. And I didn't even get to play flag football. So I didn't play organized football until I was, what was that, 13? 13 years old. I wanted to. I begged him. I was always the ball boy for his high school football teams. I was around the sport.

But what I quickly realized, and then what I realized even as I began moving forward is two things happened. One, I didn't lose out on anything whatsoever. Because again, football is a schematic sport about effort. It's about knowledge, all of those different things. And once you gain that stuff and you can lift and you can develop physically, you can become a very good football player. Does not matter at all if you play it at a young age. That's not the case in baseball. I see this all the time when I'm covering college football games. It'll say like, oh, didn't play football until his junior year in high school.

And here he is playing in Division I college football. You never see that in baseball, ever. Why? It's a minimum skill sport. So you've got to be developing those skills from a young age in order to become very good. Now, last thing that I'll say about just sports in general, I believe that sports, in particular for kids, should be used as a development ground for competitiveness and sportsmanship and fun. They should be having fun. And the reason is, is that if you want them to play at a high level, even a high level in high school, or certainly if you want them to play past high school and go to college, what you have no idea of is the amount of,

time and commitment that it will take to get to that level in that sport, whatever sport it is, but certainly a sport like football or baseball or any of them. You've got to love it. You've got to love it. And so burnout is real. Steve, if you're worried about your son getting burned out on football, then don't let him play. Because you holding him out is not hindering his development in the sport at all, at all. And yet it's probably ignited. a little passion because he's going to, if he's anything like I was, dream of the day that he can finally go out there and play. He's going to fall in love with the sport, develop a passion for the sport because it's going to be withheld from him. Okay. It's that delayed gratitude type of

training that I think is really beneficial. It was beneficial for me. I always loved football more than I loved baseball. I was just a better baseball player. So that's why I went out and did that. after high school. I hope that that makes sense. And I know that you brought up the potential injuries thing. Here's the thing that, and you can take this for what it's worth. I don't believe the way that the sport is played now and the way that the equipment is built now, I don't, I don't generally, and I know that there's always, you know, this is not an always or a never, but generally speaking, you're not going to get hurt to the point where it's going to be debilitating or be with you for the rest of your life until it's worth it.

Meaning like you've got to play really high level high school football or in college. And at that point, you're probably playing to get college paid for or nowadays go to college and make some NIL money, like until it's worth it. That's always my answer as far as potential injuries go. I liked that. Steve, excellent question. All right, last one. And I know, you know, some people have been waiting for this one. Kyle, he writes in. He says, nice meeting you at Penn State. Kyle, we met at Penn State. So I enjoyed meeting you as well. At Fox Kickoff, apparently. Okay, I love it. He says two questions. What's the story about the fight in Montana? That's number one. And would you ever consider coaching college football. I've considered coaching college football a lot. I doubt that I would, actually do it. I've had a couple of different opportunities to get in, but the bottom line is, is that you've got to make a choice. And I told this to Coach Sabin, by the way, you've got to make a choice.

My choice was for my kids. I didn't want to be away from my kids as much as I would have to be away in order to be a good quality college football coach. And so mine was a family choice. That's point blank and period. And now we get to the fight in Montana. Okay. Here's what happened. First of all, I'm not proud of this and certainly not condoning the behavior. Full disclosure. So I was playing minor league baseball. And I was in, I think it was short season, a single A ball in Idaho Falls, Idaho. And I was in the Pioneer League. And part of the Pioneer League was down in Utah. So we played in Provo and Ogden. and then we would go up into Montana and playing Great Falls and Butte and Missoula. Really pretty, like, it was really an awesome league, really an awesome league.

And we were in Great Falls, Montana, and the Dodgers were there. I think it was at the time the oldest minor league baseball field in the country. And the Great Falls Dodgers. And we go up there. I don't even remember if we won or anything that day because in minor leagues, you don't even keep track of it if you won. you just keep track of it if you got hits. It's like an individual sport playing within a team structure, which is really wild. Okay. So we go out. And like, you know, I dress kind of like I dress

now. Like I grew up in the suburbs just north of Denver, Colorado, a place called Arvada. I went to a school called Pomona High School. And like everyone thinks that you're tough in high school, right? but like we weren't we weren't tough like I saw like one fight two fights in my like all of high school right like we were just kind of a it was a blue collar place you know and and people worked hard and but it's like we weren't fighting everybody I was like like I said there was one kid that got in two fights he knocked a couple of kids out and I was everyone's like oh yeah yeah you know but every fight when I was was in high school was always like, oh, wait, no, man, bro, dude, you know, and everyone would, like,

break it up. It's like, it's suburban Denver, Colorado. Like, what, come on? So, so now I'm in Montana. And I'm, I'm dressed like, you know, at the time, I probably had, oh, yeah, I probably had like an Abercrombie shirt on. You know, that was, that was hot back then. You remember that? Okay. So something like that, a polo, something like that. And that makes you stick out. when you're in an establishment in Montana, right? Especially in a place like Great Falls. Okay. So there is a cowboy at the end of the bar.

And he looked like he weighed like 165. I weigh about 190 at the time. Basically, I'm my size now. Okay, I gained some weight to play football, but like this is the way I played baseball. I was about 190 pounds. Okay. And he started like, hey, get out of here. Amen. And they called us city slickers, which I thought was so lame at the time. And I was, and I kind of like mocked him. I was like, pah. I was like, nice one, broza. I didn't say brozo. That hadn't entered my vernacular. But that's basically what I did. I was like, yeah, okay, okay, bro. And he wasn't happy that I mocked.

him very sternly telling us to get out of his place. And so sure enough, he like stands up and he walks around or like around the bar towards me. And a couple of things go through my mind. But here's the first thing was one, I was like, oh man, that's a big belt buckle. And I mean, like it was it was a big belt. It was bigger than your iPhone. right? And I was like, huh. And then that's kind of when it hit me. I was like, oh, he's probably like a rodeo guy. And I was like, this might not be very good. All right. So that's number one.

Really three thoughts. One was the belt buckle. Two, he was skinnier than I even imagined him when he was sitting behind the bar. Because when he walked around the bar, his jeans were so tight. And I just like, remember, I was like, man, this guy is all balls in those jeans. Right. Like, I was like, oh, my gosh. So it's just belt, buckle and jeans. And then the third thought is we're probably going to, like, shove and then just get thrown out. Right.

So I kind of like stand up and I'm kind of posturing in my Abercrombie. And Homeboy just is like. and hits me dead in the face. Just no, no talking. Just walked around, hat, all balls, belt buckle, boom. I'm on the ground and just like out. And sure enough, the next thing I know is just his boot. Just hit like this across.

And I'm trying to like roll like this. I haven't done anything. I'm, you know, I'm sitting here like in an abercrown. be shirt rolling around on a Great Falls Montana bar floor and my teammates finally like kind of get him off of me just so enough I kind of like roll out and then sure not like crawl and I get up to my feet and we just like run out and I that's that's it that was the whole that was the whole thing brozif drilled me in the face so hard oh I learned a valuable lesson that day valuable lesson you know what that lesson is?

Don't get in the fight. This is the dumbest thing I've ever done in my entire life. Like, what was I going to do? Guy probably rides bulls. You know, like, he's looking to me like, who's this guy? And this is Abercrombie's shirt. Watch this. He probably did this to his friend.

He's probably like, hey, watch this. Hey, get out of here. And then snarking me. I was like, oh, okay, dude. So that's it. That's the story. I'm pretty sure I need to voice a disclaimer. This show does not condone any of the behavior just discussed that happened well over 20 years ago.

I believe that was 22 years ago, 22 years ago. Learned a valuable lesson, though. Learned a very valuable lesson. Number one, don't get in a fight. Certainly don't fight a guy with a belt buckle. the size of his head. Oh, my gosh. That'll do it for today.

I got great game previews coming up. Can't believe I had to revisit that story on this week. Like, it's Thanksgiving week. I'm thankful I got out of that establishment as, you know, thankful for my teammates. They're kind of like pushed him off enough for me to roll out of there. And I'm thankful for the game this week. Ohio State, Michigan, again, noon on Fox.

We'll be back tomorrow. we've got previews coming up. I'll preview the game. I'm going to spend a lot of time on it, and then we'll get to some others as well. That's coming up tomorrow on the Joel Clash show.