The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Clemson, USC, Texas and Matt Leinart

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

Joel tells you why Clemson is not the second best team in the country, Matt Leinart reflects on the epic Texas vs. USC Rose Bowl, and explains why the AP Poll is ruining College Football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, what's up? It's Joel Klatte. This is Breaking the Huddle. Brought to you by Dr. Pepper. At every home gate and tailgate, it is the one that fans crave. We always appreciate their support, and it is delicious. So you should go out and get some. Okay, here we go.

Breaking the huddle this week, week three, heading into week three of the college football season. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to do a top 10 like we always do. Get your comments in there as I'm going to roll through my top 10. Matt Liner's going to join the show. And we're going to talk a little bit about that USC Texas game that I've got on Saturday, as well as a look back into what I believe was one of the, if not the greatest college football game ever played in that Rose Bowl that Matt played against Vince Young and the Texas Longhorns. We'll have some chalk talk as well. We've got a fancy new table. I cannot wait to debut it.

A big thanks to our staff for this one. And I'm going to tell you how Kyler Murray is being successful and how Lincoln Riley is using him to be successful for Oklahoma after basically taking up residence in the sooner state for the last couple of weeks. Also, look online this week because we're going to have the same features coming to you this week online. Clatback's going to be coming out. We'll have a clatt stat coming out. So just stay tuned. All those things are going to be coming out, which I know you love, including that guy who tried to hit me on Clemson. Still see yourself out.

Okay, here we go. My top 10 begins with TCU. TCU doesn't get quite the love that it should always from the AP poll for whatever reason. And I think it's because it's a small school that is in fairly recent vintage in a group of five conference. And now that they're in the Big 12, they don't get the love that they deserve. They should be a top 10 team. Cavante Turpin is the name you need to know. This guy is electric on the outside.

Great return man. I think Sean Robinson is more of an electric quarterback than people believe. His running ability, I think, is going to give Ohio State some problems this week. And then Ben Banagoo on the defensive side. Great players there. TCU in my top 10. Stanford is in at number nine. Listen, all Stanford has done is gone out there and taking a team that won 10 games last year in San Diego State beat them.

Took a team that won 11 games last year and USC beat them. So they beat the teams that combined for 21 wins and they've done it handily with very good defense, giving up only three points to USC. The defense is playing well. Bryce loves starting to get on track. And guess what? They can throw the pill. I'm telling you what, KJ Costello, J.J. Arcego, Whiteside.

Stanford's going to be someone to contend with, especially if I'm Washington, who's going to be at number eight for me. Again, even with the loss, I've got Washington inside the top 10 because I still believe in their defense. I still believe in their talent overall. Washington, Jake Browning needs to play better. Just is what it is. We need to get back to that form that we had a couple of years ago.

Way too many mistakes, way too many interceptions in the last year. Last week against, I believe it was Portland State. He played okay. It needs to be great. In order for Washington to win the Pac-12, Jake Browning is going to need to be one of the best players in the conference. And right now he's not quite playing up to that level. Do I think he should still be the quarterback? Absolutely. I hate backup quarterbacks. That comes for another week. Okay, number seven is Auburn. Obviously, with the

win over Washington, that's a huge deal. Their defense is very good. I'm going to favor them heavily against LSU this week. Here's the reason why. This team has proven over Washington. This defense is proven. LSU's offense is not. Okay? The game against my Miami. Everyone wants to say like, man, LSU hammered Miami. Statistically, it was actually pretty close in the first half. Penalties and turnovers killed Miami. LSU might be riding a little bit too high of a wave of momentum right now, whereas Auburn, that's a real deal. Their offense is starting to come around. Jared Stiddam's a very good player. They're a better team than LSU, at least in my estimation,

I think they win this week. All right, let's end the first half of this with Wisconsin. Wisconsin, easily could be in my top five. I wanted to put them in my top five. They haven't quite played the competition to be in the top five, so that's why I leave them here. Love Jonathan Taylor. And then all together when I talk about Wisconsin, who are we going to mention? Jim Leonard, the defensive coordinator. This defense is still one of the best in the country. I like Alex Hornabrook. They're going to be very tough to beat as the season goes along. At number five, and this should not be controversial at all. In fact, the only thing controversial about putting Clemson at five

is that they're actually in the top five. Very easy to put them outside of the top five if you're realistic at all, you know, football at all, and you've actually watched the games. Against Furman, they, I thought, were less than impressive. If you're going to be the clear number two team in the country with one of the best defensive lines in the history of the sport, you better go out and dominate an FCS team

to the point of like 76-0. It wasn't quite that way. In fact, Oklahoma against FAU, the very same week was much more dominant in the first half than Clemson was against Furman. By the way, that game Saturday night, while the environment was incredible, you let a career 51% pass or throw for 430 yards on you. 430 yards. The last time a player threw for over 430 yards against Clemson,

his name was James Winston. He was on the path to the Heisman Trophy and going to win the national championship. So if you're telling me that's what's going to happen with Kellyn Mond and A&M, kudos to them. I don't think that's going to happen with them. And you're showing some, I would say, Knicks in the armor, Clemson. You have not earned a higher ranking than number five. Georgia is at number four. They've been dominant. What they did against South Carolina probably should have given them a little bit higher ranking,

but they've got a couple of teams, really three teams ahead of them, that have been dominant as well. I thought South Carolina was going to give Georgia a game. And Georgia just ran out there and they outrushed them by close to, I believe, 200 yards. 2701 yards rushing to 57, somewhere around those. Don't quote me on the numbers, but it was a heavy discrepancy with what Georgia was doing on the ground. I still think the leadership that they lost at some point is going to come back and hurt them.

But in that division, folks, South Carolina was supposed to be the second best team in the SEC East. That's not a good division. Who's second best in the SEC East? Kentucky? That's a big yikes. Okay, here we go. number three, Ohio State. Ohio State has been absolutely dominant. Everyone just wants to focus

on the coaching staff and the suspension and blah, blah, blah. Guess what? DeWain Haskins has gone out there and lit it up. I've been telling you since the preseason, this team offensively was going to be better, more dangerous, and more vertical. That's exactly what they are. 64 points a game against two Power 5 opponents, albeit two teams that you would put in the bottom of the Power 5, Oregon State and Rutgers. But that's not an F, C, Cesar. C.S. opponent, let's just put it this way. Ohio State did to Oregon State and Rutgers what Clemson should have done to Furman and didn't. Therefore, how in the world do you have Clemson any voter in the AP poll above Ohio State? I don't get it. And frankly, no one should get it. And your poll sucks. Okay, here we go. At number two, it's Oklahoma.

Seen them back-to-back weeks, highly impressed with the balance of their team. Offensively, I'm very concerned with him with the injury to Rodney Anderson. If you have not hurt, the great running back, Rodney Anderson, tore up his knee. Wish him the best. He's a great young man, hard worker. I believe he's got a bright future. It's going to be in the NFL. I don't think he's going to play in an Oklahoma uniform ever again. But kudos to him for a great year last year and a great early season this year.

Now, with him out of the lineup, it's going to be Kyler Murray and his feet a little bit more prevalent in the game plan. They've got a great stable of running backs. Remember, the starter last year early in the season was Trey Sermann. He's still there. He was a true freshman last year. I think he's a better back this year. So Trey Sermon is the guy that's going to get the call and get the bulk of the carries, and they're going to be just fine.

Defensively, I've been very impressed with him. They've got a couple of true freshmen, Ronnie Perkins and outside linebacker, and Bradley Rattley Hiles. Brendan Radley Hiles, excuse me. They call him Buki. That's why I forgot his first name. Buki Radley Hiles is an unbelievable player, true freshman safety for Oklahoma. Special teams have been very good, good wide receiver play.

Kiler's been very good. Oklahoma, clearly in Ohio State, I believe, have been the next two dominant teams outside of Alabama. Alabama is going to be number one until someone proves that wrong. And candidly, it's probably not going to happen for a while. This team is the most talented. They've got great quarterback play. Defensively, they've been very good. Alabama is the number one team in the country.

Right now, I've got Oklahoma 2, Ohio State 3, Georgia, and then Clemson. And like I said, it's very easy to put Clemson on the outside of the top five. If you're an AP poll voter and you think that's... They're the second best team in the country. Your vote should be removed. And I'm not joking at all. This is not just for the Internet. Your vote should be removed.

There you go. Class top 10. TCU jumps in. That's how it's going to stand. We're going to talk a little bit about USC Texas now coming up with Matt Liner. That's coming up next. Okay. Hey, welcome back.

Matt's going to join us. We're going to talk a lot about a lot of things. We've got Heisman. We got USC Texas. Yeah. The trilogy, buddy. the trilogy we've also got

bachelor in paradise Matt and I if it was left up to us we would probably use the next five or six minutes just to talk about Bachelor and Paradise but we can't because we got to talk about football I said there was breaking news yeah hey so did all of you hear that's not

let's just say hey you guys got to check Twitter you got to go breaking news we shouldn't give it away go check reality Steve for all the breaking news It hits me hard, man, this one because this was my favorite couple. Gina cheated on Jordan. No! Yeah.

Yeah. And he knows him in his heart that he was her. He knows his heart that was her. It just makes me sick that the happiest couple was Chris and Crystal. Hi. Hi. Oh. Chris.

I'm so happy. Hi. Chris is annoying. Okay, here we go. What we got, dude. Let's go. They want to hear football. Let's get to college football.

Let's start with Heisman real quick. I want to, I'll give you four guys. You give me four, and I'll give you a few. Okay. Will Greer, Jonathan Taylor. Yep. Tua. Yep.

Dwayne Haskins. Okay. I love. Actually, I have Dwayne Haskins as my honorable mention. This is me flying around. I love Dwayne Haskins. I do too, man. I think Dwayne's sick.

The thing, and you can actually make the argument for Tua. You could really make the argument for, I had Justin Herbert as well from Oregon, who's, yeah, the first game was weird. still threw five touching, completely like 48% of his throws. But I just think I was doing my segment and I was just like projecting, you know, for the season. The fact that Oregon has a chance, I really believe in the North and with a couple big games coming up. Got me Stanford, got to be Washington. Yeah, Stanford comes up here in a couple weeks and then Washington at home. But Dwayne Haskins, listen, Robert Smith, our colleague, we used a wet blanket term because he just won't give anybody any credit because of who they play.

but Dwayne Haskins, and I know Ohio State hasn't played anyone, but I'm telling you, man, this offense, like they've thrown the ball down the field more in two games than they have in four years. That's weird. I don't know who said that before the year. And the fact that, like, he's accurate, and they're these big plays, and they're not even running him, it just is, it's really exciting to watch this offense. Yeah, right?

I'm just saying. So I'm with you on Dwayne Haskins. I think TCU this week, that's a big game. That'll be there. I like Ohio State in this one. Yeah, I just, TCU is good, but I just don't know if they have enough up front on both sides. I think Ohio State could have run away with that one. Tua, how about this?

The best player on the best team in America, would you say that about Tua? It might be a little premature, but that's what I believe. When is the last time, when is the last time you could say that about an Alabama quarterback under Sabin? Oh gosh, not under Saban. That's what I'm saying. I think it's incredible. It wasn't, I mean, they weren't, all, like, due respect to A.J. McCarron, I wouldn't put A.J. McCarran in the top eight players on some of those teams. I mean, they had some, like, remarkable players on their roster. But the fact that, and we've talked about this, and it's kind of the same old chorus, but, like, he is so dynamic of a player.

Here's what I get concerned with about Tua. They might be too good, because he's not going to, like, what if he doesn't have a close game in the fourth quarter to be like, oh, oh, my gosh, two. was amazing. He's the reason they won. Well, I mean, you could say that about the game last year. I mean, I know we're going back to last year, but the second half is the reason why they won. I mean, would you award him the Hidesman-based on him? No, no, no, no, no. I'm just saying as far as he proved in that small sample size, what he potentially what he can be. And obviously he picked up right where he left off in the first two weeks now.

Again, they haven't played anybody. They get Ole Miss this week. Better test on the road. Ole Miss can score points, and we'll see. But like you said, yeah, how he handles adversity during the first. the season week in and week out. Unfortunately, Alabama doesn't handle a lot of adversity. That's just what they are.

Bryce Love apparently is not high on my list or your list or really anybody's list at this point. He came in as the favorite. Now he's kind of falling off and Khalil Tate's completely out of the picture. Outside of Justin Herbert, I don't see a Pac-12 candidate. Yeah, I mean, who knows what Bryce will do, right? He pops off for $2.50 one week, then we'll see. That's kind of what they do.

Yeah. Absolutely right. I mean, you go down the list and, you know, I know a name that you're going to laugh, a name that's kind of been on is Manny Wilkins at Arizona State, which I think it's a long shot. How about I've got one? Go for it. Loviska Chanel. Your boy. You're a boy. And not just because it's Colorado. Dude's a monster. Yeah. A wide receiver. He's the best wide receiver in the country. If they win, you know how it is, especially as a receiver. I mean, you've got to put up monster numbers, which he is.

And Colorado, I know you're real high, but they're winning, man. They're winning games. That's right. The South, listen, the South right now. It goes through Herm Edwards and Colorado. Right? The South is wide open, so why not the Buffalo's receiver? Leave it on the grass, men. I think Will Greer and Jonathan Taylor right now, the top two, just consider.

Leave it on the grass. This channeling my inner Herm. Are you okay? Did you lose a pen this morning? I lost a pen, which is my favorite pen. And Jenna cheated on Jordan. Let's talk about the trilogy, now. Let's do. USC Texas. So Matt played in and was just a huge part of what I believe was the greatest college football game ever played.

The Rose Bowl played in 06, obviously, but like in the 2005 season, Pitt, I think the best matchup of all-time great teams that we've ever seen. And to me, that's what makes it my favorite game of all time is because you can say, you can have all these arguments. about what team is the greatest team in college football history. Well, when you have, these are the only two teams that played each other that are in that argument. You know, you can argue O-1 Miami. You can argue some of those 80s Miami teams, maybe a Florida state team here or there. But when you get to like 05 Texas and USC, like all-time great teams, take me through the

buildup into that game and really the whole season, because I was a senior that year at Colorado, and playing college football, being in that college football season, it was Texas and USC the entire year. Do you realize that USC and Texas were one and two in the poll the entire season? Yeah, it was incredible. And for us, you know, Texas just got off the Rose Bowl playing Michigan. They beat Michigan at the Rose Bowl the previous year. While you guys were dispensing.

We took it to Oklahoma. We had the share of the title, but we were, you know, back-to-back champs. We were going into our third year trying to, the three Pete, which is, I mean, you know, had never been done before. Texas obviously had their eyes on it, and Vince and I actually talked about this for great friends. They just, they had their eyes on one thing. They wanted to play USC and they wanted to show everyone that Texas could do it and

compete with the best. And the buildup for that game, you know, they had, I think Texas, they struggled against Oklahoma State that year. They were down 287. The reason why I know that is because Vince and I had just spoken about that. We, obviously, the Bush, put. game, the Fresno State game. You know how hard is Joel to win games.

You guys didn't win that many at Colorado. But it's hard every week to win games. I mean, just no matter what team you are. It's hard to win 32 straight games. And the buildup, to your point about just the two great teams, the buildup to that game was like no other. I think we've ever seen for a title game. And when you just break down the rosters of both of those teams,

they were unbelievable. It was, I mean, you're talking about Texas with Vince Young. who's one of the greatest college football players ever, Jamal Charles, Brian Iraq. He was just a freshman. Yeah, Brian Arakpo was like a freshman. You know, the whole secondary for Texas, as you know, was all drafted like the first two rounds. Two Thorpe Award winners. Yeah, two Thorpe Award winners.

One guy that knocks me out. And then you go to our side, obviously. We had, I mean, put it this way. Our freshman linebackers were Brian Cushing, Ray Maluga. I think Clay Matthews was a sophomore. Yeah. And they barely played. Cushing started in that game, but they both didn't play.

And so you can imagine the guys in front with Reggie and all of these guys. I mean, the offensive line, I mean, my center, Ryan Khalil is still playing in the NFL 12 years later, all pro. So anyway, I think the build up and the players and just two really all-time teams competing for that game. And then it lived up to the hype. It did. I know it makes you sick because there's so much history on the line, you know, with what could have been if you guys would have won that game. I mean, you were within inches, really, of winning that game. What's your biggest firsthand memory from the game itself?

You know, because all of us have a memory of that game, but what was yours? You know, like, do you remember anything inside of the game? You know what? The plays that I wish I could take back, I think are always the plays for me coming from a loss. I always think about the interception I threw just should have put more on it. I always think about a quarterback sneak that I went for. the first half and I didn't get it when we could have kicked a field goal. It was on me. So kind of, you know, we talked, kind of like the hidden plays in the game where you guys made

a lot of mistakes. We made a lot of mistakes. Reggie just like pitch the bowl. Yeah, I mean, you know, Reggie pitched the ball. Vince Young's knee was down. I mean, clearly, there's, you know, plays in the game. But for me, I always go back to, man, like, I think you always beat yourself over it. Especially again, like, God, I shouldn't, I should have called time out instead of trying to sneak it when I had no chance of getting it. Like, I knew that in the moment, but I'm like, you know, the Bush pushed. There was times in that, like, we always got a quarterback. We always got a one yard, two yards. We'll get it. And we didn't. And we could have kicked a fuel goal. You know, that was one thing that will always stick in my mind. And then, you know, an interception, just

turnovers. But it's always those few plays and just like, maybe that would have been the difference. So the play that I think most from the USC side would talk about is the fourth down. Right. You went for. One, did you agree with it? I'm sure that you did, obviously. But, like, you know, What was your feeling when you realized, okay, we're going to go for it, and this is it? That and Reggie was on the sideline is the big one. And then Reggie was on the sideline. Did you even realize that Reggie wasn't in the game? No, I didn't.

And here's the answer to that question. I think everyone wants to know. That play was a different personnel. I think it would be 21 in time, two tight ends, kind of big personnel fullback, and it was more for our power run game. We had ran that play with that personnel four or five times in that game. And all week, that was it. So, you know, short yardage situations, that was going to be what we thought we could attack them and get a yard.

We gashed them on that same play, literally four or five. We average eight yards of carry on that play. We scored a touchdown. And, you know, Lendell was 250 pounds, fall forward and get a yard and a half. So Reggie wasn't in that personnel. He wasn't in that play. And we all... It didn't.

No, it didn't because, I mean, in hindsight, you'd be like, man, we could just put them on the outside or, you know, do a little fullback dive, fake, or flip it to him and just let him. But that would have been outside of the game plan. It would have been outside of the game plan. And that play worked in that game. So I don't think we didn't even think. Do you remember walking up to the line of scrimmage? Because I remember countless times in games where you walk up to the line of scrimmage. And you know you're in a certain personnel group and coming out in a very particular set.

And it's like, I know what we're doing. And I know they know what we're doing. Did you get that sense on that play? Like here we go. Let's snap the football. And this is it. That and the quarterback sneak I got the sense, too. That's why I beat myself up over that.

But I think we all knew what was going, what play was going to be happening. They had lined up in that defense. I'm telling you, that play, if you watch the film, I could break it down. Two or three of those plays, it's the same thing. And we gashed them. And actually, we watched the film afterward, which was a worst film to watch with the coaches. We didn't watch the film. We watched that play.

And I'll never forget. I was with Steve Sarkeesian, who's now the coordinator for the Falcons. And he's like, watch this up front. we were a hair late and it's no one's fault we were a hair late with our blocking scheme or else he literally would have went 50 yards for a touchdown because they sold out it was literally a game of inches on that play and he he broke down the the block and we just didn't turn the guy enough because it was a hair laid off the ball it was like you can make that for any play but like that's how close it was and people don't know that and again it's nobody's fault but yeah I think sometimes

when you're walking up you're like oh this might not look good but we just came out of a timeout We knew exactly what we do. We felt really comfortable getting a yard and a half. When you didn't get it, did you know it was a rap? When that dude jogged onto the field? Well, he had just took him down and scored. We were driving again. We got, you know, obviously, they stopped us on fourth down.

That was the first time in that game where I felt like we're in serious trouble. We're not going to be able to stop him. No one could stop him. and I just prayed we just had a play. And I think, I mean, they're obviously at the fourth down and all that, but, like, it was just one of those where this is going to be tough. You know, and that's what, that last five minutes is brutal, man. I bet.

I bet. You've always been a great sport about talking about it. Yeah, I mean, I've gotten past it, yeah. You got your highsman, you got two national championships, so I'm not going to feel too bad. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I get it.

Listen, it's history, man. How about this year's game? Do you have a prediction? I'm sure you're going to roll with your boys. Not yet. I don't have a prediction yet. I think it's got two teams and an interesting, you know, both one-in-one. I think they're desperate.

I think both teams are desperate for a win. They're both desperate. It makes it actually, that's the interesting part of the game, is the desperation on both sides because they have not played all that great of football coming in. They haven't played great. You know, they're both one-in-one. They're both getting ready to, you know, high expectations for both teams this year. And, yeah, they just, it's one of those, I thought for USC,

Stanford last week in Texas, back-to-back road games is tough. Stanford, obviously, they lose. I think the word around there is you can be two and one after these first three games. You're looking pretty, you know. But now that you lost that first game, I mean, this is tough. I'm going on in a hostile environment, still with a true freshman quarterback. It's going to be hot. I think Texas will, I don't know if there's revenge from last year, but, you know, they're going to be up for this game.

They'll be desperate. Exactly. And desperate is sometimes those are the most dangerous teams. And I think USC is desperate as well, too. So, you know, J.T. Daniels, both young quarterbacks, both offenses kind of struggling defensively. I think USC's actually played pretty well. You know, they shut down Stanford from the most part. But it's one of those games that I think it's almost a pick-um.

You know, anyone can win that game. Sure. You know I'm calling it. I'm calling it. I cannot wait to get down there. It's going to be a fun environment. It's going to be very fun. I can't wait to see J.T. Daniels play.

And, yeah, we'll see how it all panes. out. I've got a sense that it's going to come down to mistakes. The quarterback that avoids the mistake is going to win. I don't think it's going to be a lot of big plays, but I could be wrong. I was wrong last year. So appreciate it, my man. All right, buddy. Always good. All right. There's something that's been bothering me this week about college football, and I just wanted to get it off my chest because I think it's the proper time to do so. I think that the AP poll should go away. I think it should not exist. Ever. Not in the preseason, not ever.

And I've got two really good reasons why I arrived at that conclusion. Let's start with the first, confirmation bias. It's pretty clear that the AP poll is constantly using confirmation bias. The voters in that poll refuse to move teams based on the games that are actually being played just because of the end result, a win or a loss, when all wins and all losses are not equal. I think a very clear example of this is Clemson this year. Now, Clemson's very good, and we all know that they're very talented, but we just had them at number two to start the year, and a lot of voters did. Some voters are even ranking them number one in the country and have not changed their vote even based on what's happened on the field.

If you watch Clemson and evaluate their games, you can see that, one, they're very talented, and two, they have not been as dominant as some of the other teams around the country. First and foremost, against Furman, I understand they were using a two-quarterback system, but they only were. scored 27 points in the first half. Did you know Oklahoma ran up 42 against FAU? FAU is an 11-game conference winner in the FBSS from the previous year that had 10 starters back on defense. So in my book, one of those teams was much more dominant than the other, this time being Oklahoma over FAU versus Clemson and Furman. And then the next week, Clemson goes out to a very tough environment, but I don't want to get too carried away with the environment when they were playing a first-year head coach at his location, Jimbo,

Fisher teaching a 51% career passer, Kellyn Mon, how to go up against that defense and Mon throws for 430 yards. The last time that a quarterback threw for over 430 yards on Clemson, his name was James Winston. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy and win a national championship. If you're telling me that that's how good Texas A&M is, then we'll see because I don't see them being that good or that quality. and then it goes down to essentially a two-point conversion.

So it's pretty easy for me to see that Clemson has not earned that number two ranking or some of those number one rankings that some of you in the AP poll have given them. You need to adjust. Do not allow your confirmation bias to insert Team X into slot Y just because. All right, what you thought before the season is not as concrete as what is actually happening on the field. So that's reason number one, confirmation bias. Reason number two, utter incompetence. And there's no other way to put this.

And I tried to think of other ways to say it, but there's just not. There's a voter who voted for Florida State. Let that sink in. An actual AP voter voted for Florida State in the top 25. That's a team that has had two home games and been outscored 50 to 39. and one of those opponents was an FCS opponent in which they needed an epic comeback just to take the lead late and eventually escape with a victory. What about the first two games that Florida State has played allows you to even conceive that they're a top 25 team? I'm not saying they won't eventually be a top 25 team this year because they might be.

And you know what? That's great because if they earn it, that's where they should be. but they haven't earned it yet. Like I said, utter incompetence. Your vote should be stripped from you, voter who voted for Florida State as the 25th best team in the country. So those are the two reasons that they should go away, right? Confirmation bias, utter incompetence. Let me give you an example of another sport also plays football, just a different level, the NFL. We don't have a poll in the NFL.

Now, we don't shy away from power rankings and analysis before and predictions and all of those different things, which allow us to have these matchups so that we think, hey, these two teams are going to be very good. It doesn't hurt any of the preseason build up to not have a ranking number on the side of those teams. And guess what? Not having a number on the side of that team allows us to be more fluid and flexible in our analysis once the games have been played. See, we are so pliable with our thought, with the NFL, as soon as we see a game or two, automatically everything shifts around. We know who's in the hierarchy, who's a team that's going to struggle, and we don't allow the pre-season notions to bother what we're actually seeing on the field. That's a much better way to handle things than this AP poll that continues to have Clemson getting first place votes when they haven't earned them and some Yahoo voting for Florida State in the top 25.

That's just ridiculous. That's just utter incompetence. You can't even put words to it, how dumb that is. And it's a sport that I love dearly college football, so I want it to be fixed. And here's why it's a big deal. A lot of people will tell me, like, it's not a big deal, Joel. Yes, it is a big deal. And here's why.

Two very clear reasons. One is, if you think that that playoff committee walks into their room in October with zero bias, You're wrong. You're wrong. They have watched games the entire first half of the season with rankings in mind. Part of the strength of schedule is how many ranked teams have you beat? How many were they top 10? So on and so forth. Well, guess where they get that? A poll that's derived on confirmation bias and incompetence. Right now, it's not the only thing that they use. And I think the committee is a much better way to rank teams than the AP poll. but they arrive there with some level of bias already built into their head whether they know it or not based on that poll.

And then the second reason is jobs are affected by this. People's real lives are affected by the poll. We count what you do against ranked teams. We count what your record is. Ask Jim Harbaugh, because we bring up his stats all the time against ranked teams. And it's a poll that's derived by bias and incompetent. so it should go away. There's no other answer about this.

There's no other fix about this, right? Unless the AP poll is actually going to hold voters accountable, I want to know who voted for Clemson at number one, because I think your vote sucks. I mean, you might be a great person. You might be really smart, but I don't think you're watching the sport very well. If you voted for Florida State, your vote should be removed.

Right? Because it matters people's jobs, people's lives, and how we crown a champion is affected by your ridiculous votes.