The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Coach Prime’s not wasting time, fixing the expanded CFP schedule & should we be worried about Alabama?

Episode Date: May 8, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt gives his thoughts on Deion Sanders’ unprecedented roster flip at Colorado and whether Coach Prime has anything to apologize for.  He then discusses the transfer of Notre Dame QB Tyler Buchner to Alabama and whether this is a sign that we should be worried about the Crimson Tide next season.  Joel also reacts to the expanded College Football Playoff schedule and makes his proposal for how to improve it in the future. Finally, Joel gives Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark credit for continuing to think outside the box with his reported interest in playing games in Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome into the Joel Clad Show. I am Joel Clat. Thank you for joining us. As always, we ask you to subscribe to the show. Right. Review us before you get going. That always helps us out. And as always, you can follow us on social media. You can follow the show at Joel Clatt show, any of the social media platforms. You can follow me on Twitter at Joel Clatt on Instagram. At Joel underscore Clat. Okay, lots to get into today. First of all, we're kind of past the draft now. So let's start wrapping up spring football because a lot went on over the last few months in college football. And we kind of need to get our arms around it here before the summer. And in particular, the summer series in which we'll be sitting down with some of the most influential college football voices out there, coaches, commissioners. And we're going to be doing some interviews for you here on the program starting later in June. But today, again, you would think like, well, you know, it's a little bit slow. Not slow in college football. There's a lot to talk about, not even going to get to all of it, because there's some things we've got to touch on. Colorado,

turning over the roster. There's been a lot written about and a lot talked about Colorado, Dion Sanders, and turning over the roster. We need to talk about Alabama, obviously. They bring in, and by the way, it happened kind of slides in right there around the NFL draft. So it went a little bit under the radar. but Tyler Buckner is transferring from Notre Dame and following his offensive coordinator there to Alabama. So we've got to talk about that. Really two questions. Am I concerned? And what does this tell us?

So I'll answer those later in the program. The CFP schedule for the next couple of years has been released, in particular next year, after those meetings. So we'll dive into that schedule and why it's so important. And then some innovators, and really one, namely the big two, maybe going south of the border for some contests. Thoughts on all of that right now. Let's start with Colorado. So Colorado is in the news, and they're in the news constantly right now.

The roster is turning over at a rate that is unprecedented, quite honestly. And what that has done is it has caused the news around Colorado and the coverage of Colorado to be, a 10 always. Okay, that means that if someone wants to paint what's happening at Colorado in a negative light, then it's a negative times 10. If someone wants to paint what's happening with Colorado in a positive light, then it's a positive time times 10. That's the prime effect. This is what's happening at Colorado is that they are legitimate for the first time in two decades. They are relevant for the first time in two decades. In part, you have to realize that this was kind of the point with hiring Deon Sanders at Colorado. He comes into Boulder to do a lot of things, but one of them is to make

the program relevant. You're seeing Colorado show up on recruiting lists that we haven't seen Colorado show up on in a long time, five-star, four-star players that Colorado is on the final list of five. The official visits list is better than it ever has been at the University of Colorado. So in a large respect, this is working. It's working. We saw what happened at the spring game. It wasn't just about the attendance at the spring game, although that was impressive. It was also about the fact that ESPN came out and said that was the most watched spring game they've had since I believe, I want to say, 2016, well over half a million viewers. people are interested in Deion Sanders, in Coach Prime, what he's doing at Colorado, which makes Colorado

relevant. And when you hear some of the numbers that I'm about to go through, that in and of itself is somewhat of a miracle. It's somewhat of a miracle. So again, let me backtrack for a moment. If someone wants to paint Colorado and Dion Sanders in a negative light, it's going to be that times 10 because of the prime effect. If someone wants to paint him in a positive light, it's going to be that times 10 because of the prime effect. So that's what we're living through right now. Okay, let's start with my thoughts on this roster turnover. Let's start with this. And listen, you all weren't born under a rock. You know that as an alum, that I have some information. information that you all probably don't, and that a lot of the writers don't. Okay, so having said that,

I just want to tell you, flat out, this was always the plan. Hell, Dion said it. What do you think Louis is? In the first meeting he had with these players, he laid out exactly what was going to happen over the next few months. Now, if you want to say that that's not right and that you don't like it, that is your prerogative. And I'm not to hear and I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong because that's that's your opinion. It's your prerogative. You can say it's not good for the sport. It's bad for those kids. I totally understand that. I am someone that said several times over the last couple of years that I think firing coaches early in October is bad. Late in September, early October is bad because you can lose the locker room.

Texas tech fans still can't get over the fact that I didn't love the way it went down with Matt Wells. Even though I can love the Joey McGuire hire, they can say like, well, you didn't think that was fair. Some people don't think this is fair to the kids that are at work that are at Colorado. And you know what? That's totally within your purview to have that opinion. But you can't say that they were blindsided. Okay, so this was the plan. It was the plan behind the scenes. It was the plan to the kids' face. I mean, he said it in a colorful way. What did you think he meant when he said, I'm bringing my luggage and it's Louis.

I mean, he wasn't referring to literal luggage, right? So this was the plan. And the next point that I'm going to make here, and then we'll go and to some data. What did you think he was going to do? So those that are upset right now, again, you can feel that way. Number one, I don't feel like he was being disingenuous to the players. Now, you can feel like they've got a raw deal. Okay, listen, that's fine. That's totally fine. And I understand that. However, what was he supposed to do? Keep them? See, because I actually think that that would be like suicide, coaching suicide for Dion Sanders. Let's just go through the data.

Dion Sanders gets hired at Colorado. And just like every new head coach, he's going to go in there and evaluate what's on the team, whether it's prior to spring ball or during spring ball. You have to evaluate what's on the team. Guess what he evaluated? Guess what he saw? Guess what he looked at when he turned on the film. He saw a 1-11 team, but it wasn't just a 1-11 team because we've seen teams go winless and be a one-win team before.

He saw a team that lost 10 games by at least 23 points. 23, 10 games, not 5, not 4, 10. 10 of the 11 losses by 23. They had one of their losses, losses, I'm sorry, that was a single. digit margin. One of the 11 was a single digit margin. Arizona, they lost by 8. Did you know that in the Arizona game, Colorado trailed by 22 going into the fourth quarter? That means that their point differential was the worst in the FBS and certainly in the Power 5, worse in the FBS, but just in the power 5, by double the next closest team. Their point differential was 29.9.

They lost by an average of 29 points. The next closest team was Northwestern. They lost by an average of 14.6. That's basically double. That's crazy. Basically double. So, again, like, I'll just go back to this. What was he supposed to do?

You see, he's got one of two paths, go in there and say, I'm just going to coach those players better. Impossible. I'm just telling you impossible. Look at that. 29. An average is 29 point differential. Or you can turn over the roster, which is totally within his purview and within the rules. Just like a lot of other coaches have gone in and turned over rosters. Guess what? They haven't had to turn over a roster that was 1 in 11 that lost 10 games by 23 points or more and lost all their 11 games by an average of 29 points. We've never seen anything like that. In fact, by the way, that 29, That's the fourth worst-worst point differential for any Power 5 school this century.

This century. So what was he supposed to do? You see, because if you're going to go the one road and turn over the roster, you've got to turn over the whole roster. Because there was nothing left. There was nothing left. And people could say that that's rude to say about those players, but it's accurate. You look at where they're transferring and it's accurate. Okay, so let's just go back and revisit.

This was always the plan. totally up front and there's been a lot of transparency. And if players feel like they've been like blindsided, come on. Like you can't be that naive. You can't be on a team that loses 11 games by an average of 29 points and then feel blindsided when the coach wants to go in a different direction. You can't feel that way. And then he's got two roads.

He's got two paths to pick once he's the head coach. You can coach up the players that are there. Can't do it. Or you can turn over the roster, which is totally within the rules for a first year coach. he's choosing to turn over the roster. Now, whether they're going to have 85 scholarship players or not, you know what? I highly doubt it. I don't think that that bothers Coach Prime because I think, let's say they get to 60 or 65

scholarship players next year. I'm going to guarantee you that those 65 are the better than the 85 that they had on scholarship last year, right? I mean, the numbers bear that out. The numbers bear that out. So am I concerned about what's going on at Colorado? No, this was always the plan. What was he supposed to do?

Can't coach up a roster that lost by an average of 29, which is over double the next closest on the point differential, which is Northwestern and lost by an average of 14. You can't do that. He had to turn over the roster. He had to do it in a drastic way, and that's exactly what's happening. All right, let's move on.

So Alabama gets a new quarterback in the transfer portal. it went a little bit under the radar, a little bit, only because it was smack dab right in the middle of those opening rounds for the NFL draft. So Tyler Buckner, last year's season opener starting quarterback for Notre Dame. And there, by the way, often's coordinator, Tommy Reese, who's now at Alabama, transfers to Alabama. Now he does so basically, you know, after spring ball. reunites with his offensive coordinator after spring ball this brings up two questions two questions number one am i concerned number two what does that tell us let me start with what

does this tell us well the first thing that this transfer communicates is that nobody took control of that job in the spring so when you're looking at tie simpson and jalen milrow who were in the spring for Alabama, there were clearly some concerns within the program about the direction or the play of those quarterbacks during spring. They would not have taken this transfer if they felt really good. Again, maybe if they just felt okay or decent or good, would they take a transfer? Yeah, maybe. Now, if they felt really good, would they take a transfer? Probably not.

And the reason is is because that transfer probably wouldn't come. You see? Because this is a two-way street. Tyler Buckner is not just sitting there with his bag, knocking on the porch, like, please let me in. He's wanting to go to a place where there's opportunity. He also has an inside agent, if you will, and his former offensive coordinator, Tommy Reese. It's not just familiarity. It's also a trust factor. You really think Tommy Reese and Tyler Buckner are not going to talk about his opportunity. to potentially be the starting quarterback? Well, of course. So Buckner would not have been a transfer to Alabama if they were really happy with their quarterbacks coming out of spring. That's what that tells us. And that's not a knock. It just is what it is. So what else does that tell us? Well, Alabama probably is not going to start in a position this year where they're accustomed to starting.

Where are they accustomed to starting? Well, for the last 13 straight seasons, Alabama has been a preseason top three team. That's not going to happen this year. They're not going to be in the top three this year and in large part because of not this transfer specifically, but what this transfer tells us, what it communicates to us, that they are unsettled at the most important position on the field. 13 straight years they've been in the AP top three. They are at this point a mainstay, even in the top five, I believe it's 14 straight years. in the top five in the AP preseason. Now, will they be in the top five?

Probably. They're going to be in my top five. More on that in a moment. But this does tell us that there is some concern within the program about who was going to be the starting quarterback. Because of that concern, at least enough was communicated to a guy who was looking for an opportunity to come and take that opportunity and take that chance at Alabama. This is a team, by the way, that last year, one football game specifically

because of their quarterback. That hasn't always been the case at Alabama. Increasingly so in the last few years, obviously, as they've moved to a more modern offense and an offense that can go and get into a shootout and win. So that transition has happened. And is it concerning? There's some concern only because of the way they won some games last year. I mean, Bryce was the reason that they won against Texas. He's, the reason that they're in the game against Tennessee and LSU. In the game that he did not play, and we saw Jalen Milro, there was some concern. Listen, they barely is a strong word, but they didn't look great in a win at home over Texas A&M. And Texas A&M was terrible last year. Right? I mean,

like, let's call a spade a spade. I mean, A&M was not great and they barely beat them at home. Okay. They've enjoyed this great run of quarterbacks where they've been increasingly reliant on that quarterback in order to produce what Bama is accustomed to producing. It started with Jalen Hertz and then obviously moved to Tua and Mack Jones had that great year in a national championship. And then obviously the last couple of years with Bryce Young. You know, without Bryce, last year would have been a different year. I think that they probably lose at least three games, maybe even four games, without Bryce Young in the starting lineup. that's what it tells me, all of those things. Now let's go back to, am I concerned?

No. The answer is an emphatic, no. Am I concerned about Alabama? No. This is coming from the same moron, me, two thumbs me, who, what was it, six years ago, Bama fans, went on with Colin Coward, and said, Alabama's got a Nick Saban problem. Idiot. Right? I mean, obviously I've learned my

am I concerned? No. Are they going to start in my top five? Yes. Why? Because they're Alabama. Because Nick Saban is still there. Because they've recruited as good as anybody, including Georgia, over the last five years. Right. So like, when you look at the composite of what the roster is, they're going to be just fine. Look what it took to beat them last year. With a team that I will be the first to say it wasn't quite what Alabama had been used to, in particular at wide receiver and in particular on the offensive line. And still, look what it took to beat them. Historic performances at home in a crazy environment from Tennessee and historic performances in a crazy environment at home for LSU. So am I concerned? No, Alabama is still Alabama. This is not

the moment to panic. Look at the recruiting class that they just had. Will they figure the quarterback position out? Yes. If there's one guy in the country that I trust to work around a quarterback that he maybe doesn't have complete faith in, who is it? Nick Saban, because he's done it time and time again. He's won championships with quarterbacks that are just kind of okay, and he's won championships with quarterbacks that are really good and highly talented. I'm not concerned for Alabama. Now, does it tell us that they might, be a little concerned about a particular position, yes, but it's not time to be panicked about Alabama. I do think that that was interesting news, though, and I wanted to just kind of share

with you those two answers to those two questions. All right, let's talk about the CFP schedule. So that came out, and again, kind of a news dumpy time. The CFP schedule comes out and Alabama gets a transfer quarterback and it all happens while the NFL draft is happening. And I'm like, well, of course. Or at least while we're all talking about the NFL draft. So let's talk about this CFP schedule. First things first, I am not going to sit here and get all angry at the CFP schedule because they were in a complete bind. These next two years, they are trying to build this schedule handcuffed.

They're working with existing contracts. This is the last two years of the initial television contract, the initial bowl contract. And quite frankly, there's just not a lot that they can do. So this is patchwork. The next two years of the college football playoffs, I think, are going to be bumpy from a schedule standpoint. But it's bumpy because it has to be. Because you're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This was not supposed to happen.

We're doing this early. And so because of that, is it going to be perfect? No. So what is that schedule? Well, the first round is going to be Friday, December 20th and 21st, Friday and Saturday. That's fine. You know, you're going to have, I believe they're saying the first round would be Friday night and then a triple head around Saturday. But then the quarterfinals are going to go and they're going to be New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, December 31st and Jan 1. and then you get into some more concerning aspects of this. First of all, I think that that's way too late. That being said, they are totally handcuffed. So it's not their fault. If we wanted this expansion, this is how we have to do it. Let me reiterate.

Those that built this schedule did the best that they possibly could with what they were dealt, the hand they were dealt. Was it a good hand? No. It's a bad hand. The semifinals are going to be on a Thursday and Friday, January 9th and 10 of Wild Card weekend in the NFL. Barf.

Yikes. I mean, again, that is a terrible hand to be dealt. Are they doing the best that they can? Yes. And then the championship game, again, this horrid idea of playing the championship. game on a Monday is going to continue. It's going to be January 20th after the divisional round of the NFL playoffs. So let's just back up for a moment. So we're going to play conference championships the first week of December, have this stupid break that we always have to have in

college football for finals, which is the dumbest thing in the world. And we're not going to play the first round until December 20th and 21st. Okay, fine. Then we're going to play the quarterfinals on the traditional college football weekend day, if you want to call it that, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Then we have to play our two most important rounds against the most powerful sports entity on the planet, the NFL playoffs. Slow clap. Thursday and Friday, Friday, wildcard weekend, which means that that week is going to be a lot of different things, including Black Monday in the NFL and leading into wildcard weekend of the NFL playoffs. So depending on the matchups, you could be looking at the college football semifinals being

the third best news story of the week. That's a problem. That's a problem. Again, that's a huge problem. And then you're looking at a championship game on a Monday after the divisional round. So we're going to play the divisional playoffs, the best weekend in all of football, the divisional round, right? I mean, that's, people love the divisional round, and rightly so. And we're going to have conference championship games set and then come back on Monday night and play the national championship game. Oh, I mean, terrible. Could they do any better? I don't know. Probably not. Because these first. two years have to be fit. They've got to be square peg, round hole. Like, is it going to be perfect? No.

So did they do the best that they possibly could? Yes. Is this awful? Absolutely. This is terrible. This is terrible. And it speaks to the importance of why the playoff in 26 and beyond has got to be fixed. And not just fixed. That's probably the wrong word. It needs to be constructed way better. And we need to start thinking outside of the box. This playoff needs to be pulled closer to the regular season, not further into the NFL playoffs. We need to avoid the NFL playoffs. That is the most powerful sports entity on the planet. Why in the world compete with that? You shouldn't. You shouldn't. You know what you end up having to do? Play valuable inventory on Thursday and Friday night. Come on. Like, we can't do that. That's not a thing. That's not a thing.

So in the future, this speaks to the importance of having to construct the playoff properly. And the first thing they need to do is pull it closer to the regular season. Start playing. Let's go. In fact, I personally believe that we shouldn't extend the championship game past New Year's. We should be playing the national championship game on New Year's Day. Why? Because that is synonymous with college football. Go back to doing what you do best. You own Saturdays, you own New Year's. Go back to it. Go back to it. It'll do a lot of different things, but I've got five in particular. If we move the playoff closer to the regular season and stop with this stupid break for academics and we start playing these games, preferably on Saturdays, and there's a lot of different ideas I have for that, but we culminate in a championship game on a a New Year's Eve if it's, you know, competing with a Sunday on the, on the New Year's Day. New Year's Day. New Year's Day is when we should be playing these. Here's the five things that it would do. Number one, avoid the NFL playoffs. Avoid it like the plague. Why? Because it will crush you.

It will crush you. And they don't care if they crush you. They will crush everything in their wake. Avoid it. Number two, it helps you fix the calendar in college football. It helps you avoid you avoid this stupid notion that we need an early signing day in December while the transfer portal opens up while coaches are being hired and fired. That is a disaster. December is a disaster for college football coaches. The calendar needs to be fixed in a major way. Part of a fix could be play games. Don't take a big break. Pull the playoff towards the regular season. Number three, it'll allow you to own Saturdays and New Year's Day again. That is, From a traditional standpoint, that is college football.

Go back to owning those things. Number four, it'll give your players more time and more of a break between the end of their season and their NFL decisions, whether to enter the NFL draft, and once they do, more time to heal up before the combine. More time. More time. 20 days is a long time. So play it on New Year's Day. And then last but not least, I think that playing the playoff immediately starts.

and conference championship games and going week after week maintains momentum. Why are the playoffs so great in other sports? They maintain momentum during the playoffs. The NFL does this. By the way, lower levels of college football do this. We don't have to stop for academics and lower levels of college football because academics apparently aren't important for those kids, even though, by the way, they don't have the budgets or support staff.

Like the biggest, I digress. I digress. Maintaining momentum is a big reason. So the five things. Avoid the NFL playoffs. Fix the college football calendar. Own Saturdays and New Year's Day. Give players more time for their NFL decisions and getting healthy for their NFL prep. And you maintain momentum for your playoff. All of these things are no-brainer.

So while this playoff schedule is horrendous for the next two years, it's just what we have to live with if we want expansion, which we do, which is good for the sport. But what we want in 2026 and moving forward is a playoff that is more sustainable and benefits college football and its fans more so than just extending on into the bowl season. Okay. Last thing I want to touch on before we get out of here. And that is the fact that the Big 12 is thinking with some real forward thinking and an innovative commissioner. Brett Yormark, the new commissioner, and he's been there now for about nine months. The new commissioner for the Big 12 is talking about playing football games and potentially basketball games south of the border in Mexico.

Mexico City, Monterey. Do I love this? Yeah, I love this for a lot of different reasons. Now, is it great for those fans that maybe miss a home game? No, not necessarily. But here's what I know. I know that the major brands in college football are the SEC and the Big Ten. And I know that if you're not one of those major brands, you better do everything in your power.

to create value for your institutions, to set yourself apart in terms of interest and platform, and he's trying to do that. He's thinking outside of the box. He's not this normal academic that has grown up in the institution of intercollegiate athletics that is just going to go and do the same things over and over again and be dogmatic in his thinking about what you can and cannot do. He is thinking outside of the box and he's doing that in order to benefit his conference. That's why I love it. It's why I love it. And that's why it makes me hopeful that guys like Brett or Tony Petiti, the new commissioner of the Big Ten, because of the fact that they're outside of the box, because the fact that they're innovative, I hope that they will have a significant seat at the

table when constructing the new college football playoff for 2026 and beyond. Because we need guys that will think along the lines of Brett and what he's doing for the big 12 for the college football playoff. Not just sit there and say, well, this is the way we've always done it. We need to protect the bowls and so on and so forth. No, you don't. No, you don't. You need to make a playoff that is best for college football.

And we'll leave it at that. ranting and raving. I got to tell you, I love doing this show, and I love talking about topics like today. You know, the Colorado stuff with the roster, Alabama, why are we concerned or not concerned? And then obviously college football, the playoff and everything going along with that. These are important subjects that I hope we continue to debate for a long time. And hopefully this will give a little bit of influence on those that listen and then go on and make those decisions. Okay, remember, rate and review us, follow us, subscribe. You can follow us on social media, at Joel Clatt show.

You can follow me at Joel Clatt. I really appreciate you listening and watching. And over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'm going to continue my post-spring wrap-up. I'll have my top 25 teams post-spring as we go into the summer, amongst a lot of other things. So thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Hope you have a great week.