The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - College Football Playoff Party Crashers: Who could be this year’s surprise Playoff teams?

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt makes his picks for the teams that could be this season’s Indiana, Arizona State or SMU and surprise everyone by making the College Football Playoff. Klatt lists candidates from the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC and picks a team from each conference. In the Big Ten, he considers the cases for teams like Nebraska, USC and Washington to make a deep run this season. He details which SEC team he believes could take advantage of a favorable schedule to reach the CFP before making his pick out of a Big 12 Conference that has proven to be ripe for surprises. Klatt also explains why his ACC pick has a huge opportunity to gain momentum in Week 1 against a high-profile opponent. Klatt also recaps his Big Noon Conversation with the GOAT Tom Brady with some behind-the-scenes stories from their sit-down. 0:00-1:39 Intro1:40-4:39 Teams that can crash the 2025 cfp party4:40-12:28 Big ten cfp party crashers12:29-19:53 SEC cfp party crashers19:54-28:02 Big 12 party crashers28:03-34:29 ACC party crashers34:30-40:14 Reflecting on Tom Brady’s Big Noon Conversation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The product on the field has never been better. The parody has never been greater. Washington's got something cooking with Jed Fish. They hit the schedule lottery in the SEC. When nobody is talking about them, that is when they're at their most dangerous. Michigan builds from within. Ohio State built from within. Someone's going to the playoff that we're not talking about.

Hey, welcome into the program. This is Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt, and this show, as always, is brought to you by graduate, Hilton. We thank them for their support as always, and we cannot wait to get the season started. It's been a great month so far. And by the way, just if you didn't go watch it, you got to go watch it. Just earlier this week, we dropped our Tom Brady Big Noon conversation. It was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been obviously a huge fan of Tom for a long time. And ever since he came over to Fox as our lead NFL analyst, I've wanted to have an opportunity to sit down and chat with

him right here on this program for you, and we got that chance. So if you have not watched that episode, go back on the YouTube channel and check that out. It was really good. He gave some incredible answers about college football. It's structure, how he feels about it. And then there were some good stories as well. At the end of this show, I will be telling some of those stories about our time together a couple of weeks ago. For today's show, however, I wanted to get into the college football playoff. And here's the deal. We've talked. We talked about this summer the structure of the playoff. I gave you a list of teams that were most likely to make their first playoff that have not ever been to the party.

Later this month, I'm going to actually go into the playoff and give you my bracket and the predictions. That's actually next Monday. So mark your calendars for that. So a lot of playoff talk. But here's what we haven't really looked at. Last year in 2024, I thought it was remarkable that we got so much new blood into the college football playoff. It was fantastic. It's one of the reasons why I continually remain optimistic about the sport as it's currently constituted.

Even with all this structure in the wild, wild west of NIL and the transfer portal, I still remain optimistic because what we're seeing is that the product on the field has never been better. The parity has never been greater. And we saw that. The evidence was last season. Once we expanded to 12, what did we see? We saw four teams, four of the 12 that went to the party that were not ranked in the preseason. So you had Indiana, famously, SMU, Arizona State, who was picked to finish last in the Big 12, which is wild, and Boise State. Not to mention a fifth team that went to the playoff, Tennessee, while they were 15th in the preseason, we all knew that they were a very good football team. team, they were picked to finish seventh in the SEC. So a bit of a jump for them, you could say,

at least within their conference, they kind of came from nowhere. So that's really five teams. So let's take just the power four versions of those five. So you had Tennessee, Arizona State, SMU, and Indiana. Those teams kind of came from nowhere. Let's face it, maybe less so Tennessee, but you get the drift. Pick to finish seventh. They level up. They go to the playoff. They made a great run. Dylan Samson was tremendous. You had Arizona State, you had SMU, and you had Indiana. I believe, I firmly believe, there will be examples of that this season. Teams that we haven't talked about. Maybe they aren't in the top 25 of the coaches poll or the AP poll or even my poll to begin the season. And yet, they've got the right roster, coach, continuity,

more importantly, schedule to make a push to the college football playoff. So let's locate those teams. Let's talk about who is this year's Indiana, who's this year's Arizona State? So I want to go by conference, and I want to talk about a team that's maybe in the middle of the pack. We haven't talked a lot about in this preseason and give you an argument of why they could actually make a push and go to the college football playoffs. So it's the party Crashers Edition right here.

Who's leveling up and going to make the party who we are not talk about? Let's start in the Big Ten. I want to talk about a handful of teams and then I'll land on my pick. A team I considered here was Nebraska. Okay? Things that I love about Nebraska, number one, it's year three with Matt Rule, and we know that in year three with Matt Rule, every other place that he's been, Temple and Baylor, they've taken a jump.

And maybe that could be this year for the Cornhuskers in year three with Rule and Lincoln. I really like what they did on the offensive side, bringing in Dana Holgerson, last season as the offense coordinator, then retaining him. I believe that the offense, in a lot of respects, can be fixed. He's specifically talked about, Dana has, simplifying the system so that the players can go and play fast. He felt like there was too much on the players from a mental standpoint, and that bogged them down and they didn't play fast enough.

And he has even more specifically called that out in relation to the young quarterback last year, Dylan Riola, who had a lot on his plate as a true freshman. So he feels like Dana, who's had great success as an offensive coach throughout his career, whether he's been a head coach or an offensive coordinator. He's had success in particular with quarterbacks. Can he have that success with Dylan Raola? Possibly. And so listen, I remain optimistic. What do I not like about what's coming back for Nebraska? Well, I didn't pick them because I don't love the fact that they lost Tony White, their defensive coordinator.

He's very good. So they promoted from within with John Butler. They lose those two defensive tackles. And if you wanted to talk about why their defense was so good last year, it was because of the defensive tackles. Huttmaker and Ty Robinson, they lose both of those guys, so they had to hit the portal. Why did I not pick them? It's because of that. That was the heart and soul of their defense.

And so I question whether their defense will be as strong this year as it was a year ago. Can they be 7 and 1 going into November? No doubt about it. Their first eight games, Home versus Michigan in September and at Minnesota on a Friday night, those are really the only two difficult games that they have in their first eight. There's an opportunity there to have a quality season going into November. And November looks like this. Host USC at UCLA, at Penn State, and Iowa.

So that's what Nebraska has in front of them. Not my pick, but reasons for and against. USC could be that team. Maybe not going to be my pick, but here are reasons why I considered them. They have a quarterback that played really well late in the season. Now, I hear a lot of fan base of the fans in particular with where I live. I live down here in Southern California, and they talk about, oh, I don't know, I don't know if I like this quarterback. And the bottom line is, is like, they played decent last year late.

They also showed the ability to beat LSU early and beat Texas A&M late. So, hey, if you're talking about momentum and the ability to play at the top level, they have that. Now, what they did not do is play great situationally. They turned the football over far too many times in crucial situations in one-score games. You know that if you're a fan. They were in nine one-score games, which is bananas last season. They blew a fourth quarter lead for five of their six losses. And I think that they can turn that around.

They can flip that. Now, what do I not love? I think that the schedule is very tough for USC. I think that's a bar that's a bit too high for them to get over to that 10 win mark, 11 win mark. They have games at Illinois. They host Michigan. they have to go to Notre Dame, they've got to go to Nebraska, they host Iowa, they've got to go to Oregon.

If you just look at Illinois, at Notre Dame, at Oregon, those are teams that I have all ranked in the top 15 in the preseason. So that's going to be very difficult. Two of those ranked inside of the top. What is it, six? The schedule is why I didn't pick them. So who did I land on in the Big Ten? This year's Indiana in the Big Ten is Washington. Nobody's talking about Washington.

And Washington's got something cooking with Jed Fish. They went to a bowl game in his first season, and he basically had to start from scratch after Kaelin DeBoer left after that national championship year with Pinnix and company. They might have, and no one talks about them, the best quarterback running back wide receiver combo, that trifecta, in the Big Ten. Demand Williams was terrific last year.

Jonah Coleman is an excellent player, and Denzel Boston is an excellent wide receiver on the outside. Williams flashed in the bowl game late over 400 total yards and five touchdowns against Louisville. Coleman is one of the best backs in the league, and Boston is a guy who would end up being, I think, one of the top three or four wide receivers in all of the Big Ten. If you take Ohio State out of the equation, he would be in the mix with a, as one of the best wide receivers in the big 10. You kind of have to take Carnal Tate and Jeremiah Smith and put them off on the other side. Here's another thing that I really love about Washington.

Ryan Walters is their new defensive coordinator. Now, remember, he famously had that great defense against, or excuse me, for Illinois and Brett Bilema. And that was a team that almost beat Michigan late in the season. Then he goes to Purdue, and he's the head coach at Purdue. They didn't really support him enough. He had a couple of really good young players, Dylan Thineman and Max Clem.

player last year, but they moved on from Ryan Walters, and now he's back as a defensive coordinator at Washington. He was an excellent defensive coordinator, one of the best in the country. And so I think Washington could be in good hands there on that side of the ball. What is it about their season that could trip them up? It's protection. And twofold, twofold. One, protecting the quarterback. They've got to do a better job protecting the quarterback. They gave up the most sacks in the league last year. Williams was sacked 15 times. and his two starts at the end of the year, that can't happen again. So whether it's a combination of him getting the ball out or the offensive line improvement,

that needs to happen. And then they've got to protect their home field. And they've been excellent at that. We talked about this at some point during the offseason. If you were to ask a casual college football or, you know, any of the fans watching this show and you say, who's got the best home field advantage or the current longest home winning streak in college football, everyone would generally know that they'll, like,

that's Georgia. Now, if you say, like, who's got the second best home field advantage over the last four or five years? Who is that? And everyone probably would say something like Oregon or, you know, Alabama or so on and so forth. It's not. It's Washington. Washington's got one of the best home field advantages in the country. 20 straight wins.

That's the second longest behind Georgia. And they get three of their four toughest games of the season at home in Husky Stadium. So the more I looked at Washington, the more I thought to myself, Hold on a second. If they get any momentum whatsoever, if they protect their quarterback whatsoever, if they protect their home field whatsoever, this is a team that could absolutely, absolutely be a nine and two team hosting Oregon the last week of the season. If they're in that boat, they could absolutely claim that if they win that game,

they would go to the college football playoff. This is a team that I'm bullish on. I think that it's a schedule, it's a roster, it's a continuity that is right. They've got the right games in the right locations. Four toughest games, Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, and Oregon, like you just saw, three of those are at home, only Michigan on the road. If they split those games, those four games, if they go two and two in those games, I think they can take care of business elsewhere, and I think they can be a playoff team. So watch out for the Washington Huskies. They're my pick for the Dark Horse and the Big Ten.

SEC, let's go to the SEC. It's a little bit harder to do this because everybody in the SEC is ranked. Right? So I've got one ranked team on here. There's a few others that have, you know, people have dabbled with ranking them at one point or another. So here's the three teams that I'm going to talk about. I want to talk about Auburn, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Let me start with Auburn.

Let me tell you why I considered Auburn. Auburn, did you know that last year they had the most starts by freshmen of anybody in the power four? So this five and seven season was in a large context, a learning year and a building year and a development year for Auburn. Can they and will they improve on that? Well, absolutely they can. And will they? Probably. Probably.

Now, five and seven to end to the playoffs is a huge jump. They bring in the quarterback Jackson Arnold from Oklahoma. Can he be better in Hugh Freeze's offense than he was last year in Oklahoma's offense? He'll have two really good weapons in wide receiver Cam Coleman and Eric Singleton. So I like those things. They've got a fun game against Baylor to start at Baylor. And Baylor is an excellent team. They might even jump into this conversation a little bit later.

The SEC schedule for them is manageable. They get Georgia and Alabama at home. So you look at their schedule, you look at their roster, you look at what they've been able to develop. I think that there's some pressure on Auburn. Now, why do I not like Auburn? Because that is a huge jump. And in particular in that conference, it's hard to make a jump because I think that the margin between the great teams in the SEC and the teams in the middle of the pack of the SEC are bigger than in most conferences.

Okay? So for them to jump, I think it's going to be tougher, much tougher. Do they need to get to 10 and 2 to get in? Probably. Why? Because 9 and 3 is likely not going to cut it. Can they be 9 or excuse me 10 and 2 with their schedule? Don't love that. Don't love that. I also considered Oklahoma. This is a team that's kind of the back end of most preseason rankings.

I love the additions on offense. John Mateer is a guy I'm very impressed with. I've talked about him at length this offseason. Our buckle, his offensive coordinator at Washington State also joins him in Norman there and their offense should be better. It was bad last year. The film was some of the worst that I've ever seen, to be honest with you. Defense improved.

The defense has steadily improved. Venables called the defense last year. He will remain the play caller on the defensive side for OU this year. I like that. I really like that. He's entering his fourth season. We've seen them have a double-digit win season under Venerables. So can it happen?

Absolutely. Here's the problem. If they had a more favorable schedule, like Auburns, I think I would probably pick them right here. But I can't, in good conscience, pick them with what their schedule is. They've had a losing record two of their first three years, and now they face a schedule where their last seven games looks like this. Texas, that's a neutral site, at South Carolina, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri and LSU. Come on.

They went two and six in SEC play in their first year last year with largely the same type of schedule. And I think this one might even be more difficult. They're not making this jump. Best case, best case is that they go into the Texas game, undefeated, and then they have to still find, what, three or four more wins after that. I don't like it. I don't like it.

So while I think they can improve, I don't think they'll make enough of an improvement as it relates to their schedule, which we don't talk about enough, to go to the playoffs. So who's my pick? My pick in the SEC to come from nowhere and go is Missouri. It's Missouri. They have been highly successful over the last couple of years. They've recruited well. Drinkowitz has a culture at Missouri. I'm a fan of Bo Probula.

I know that they haven't settled on a quarterback yet, but I'm a fan of, I don't. I saw him at Penn State last year. Hard for them to keep him off the field at Penn State. He had to make that ridiculously difficult decision last year to leave Penn State during the postseason because of the stupid transfer rules. Again, the adults in college football ruin everything for the kids. Having a transfer portal open during the season is about the dumbest thing that you can possibly do. And he was thrown into the blender of that. Now he goes down there.

Drinkowitz has won 10 games in back-to-back seasons. I love that. The defense should be pretty good. They, in terms of their best trait, I can't even point to a great trait like I can with OU or Auburn. Here's what I can in terms of on the field. It's off the field. It's off the field.

They hit the schedule lottery in the SEC. This is the problem with the SEC only playing eight conference games, is that the disparity between schedules is far greater than in other conferences. They hit the schedule lottery. Missouri Tigers teams not on their schedule from the SEC. These are teams not on Missouri schedule. Texas, Georgia, LSU, Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee. Hello?

The only school in the country to have six home games to start the year? Missouri. Toughest games are going to be Alabama and South Carolina. Those fall into that first, half of the season, all at home. And A&M, they're all at home. A&M is later in the year. That's at home as well. Their road games are like at Oklahoma. It's like, okay, well, Oklahoma is good. Oklahoma's likely a four-loss team at that point. And with that turmoil, Missouri likely has more momentum. Guys, watch out for Missouri this year. Again, the biggest part of this is the schedule lottery. If Pribula hits or their quarterback, like, if it hits,

they're probably going to play quality defense, and then all they have to do is, like, protect their home field. Can you beat either Alabama or South Carolina and then definitely beat A&M on your home field? If you can do that, then I think Missouri has a great chance to be a party crasher. I think they can be seven and one, by the way, going into November if they just split those South Carolina and Bama games. Let's put it to you this way. Do I think Missouri is better than Florida? No.

Who would I pick of the two to go to the playoff? Missouri. Because their schedule is just far easier, far easier. Florida's chances to go to the playoff are like 1 in 20. Missouri's chance to go to the playoff are like 1 in 20. Missouri's chance to go to the playoff for like one in five. Just because of the schedule. So watch out.

Watch out for the Tigers. Let's move on to the Big 12. Ah, that team I just mentioned earlier. Let's start with Baylor. I thought about picking Baylor here. A lot of people have them ranked in kind of that back end of the top 25. And the reason is they won their last six games. It's a good team.

Not total games, regular season games. I should, don't want to, unless. You did beat them in the bowl game. So they did not win their last six, but they won their last six of the regular season. So in the Big 12, this is a team that found momentum late in the year. I really like their quarterback Sawyer-Robertson. I really do. He broke out last year, 3,000 yards passing the football.

They've got a really good running back in Bryson, Washington. They may have the best quarterback running back combo with Washington and Robertson in the Big 12. That means something. That means something. Washington ran for over 1,000 yards last year as a freshman. Their defense, and this surprises me and most people, in particular with Dave Aranda as their defensive coordinator, their defense wasn't really up to par and needs to improve. I believe that this is a team that can and will improve with Aranda as their play caller on the defensive side. I expect them now in the second year with him kind of calling it on the defensive side to improve there.

it's a team that was carried by their offense a year ago. So just a little improvement with their quarterback back, with their running back in the back field, a little improvement on the defensive side will mean a drastic improvement in the conference. So then you look at that and it's like, well, what do they need to do? Improve a little bit, win one score games

and take care of business and their opener against Auburn. And if they do that, watch out. If they beat Auburn at home in week one on Fox, watch out, then Baylor's going to have a path, and then it'll come down to those one-score games with your experienced quarterback and a defense that's hopefully slightly improved from a year ago, and can you win those one-score games

in a league in which nine or ten teams can potentially win the league. If you do that, then you can go and you can play for a Big 12 title, and you can be this year's Arizona State. So watch out for Baylor. Now, I'm going to pick them? No, not necessarily, and I'll tell you why in a moment. I considered Colorado here. I know that everyone wants to just throw dirt on Colorado.

One, they've had a tremendously difficult offseason with the news coming out about Coach Prime and his health prognosis. So I want to do, I want to take a moment and just say, I am so grateful and thankful that coach is through those health issues. I continue to pray for him in his ongoing recovery from the bladder cancer and hope that he can, remain not only effective but consequential with those young men at Colorado. Because I know specifically how much he has meant, not just to that program, but to that city and that university. And I hope that it remains. And certainly thankful that he's doing better and continue to pray for him. So coach praying for you and hope that you continue to get well. Now on the field, two straight years that they've improved in the wind column pretty drastically.

They went, what was it like? I think it was like plus three and then plus five in the win column the last two years, nine and four a year ago. But now you've got to replace your quarterback, Shador Sanders, who Coach Prime has never been the head coach of a team that didn't have Shudor Sanders as their quarterback. How does that work out? Not totally sure.

Have to replace the do everything Heisman trophy winner, Travis Hunter. Do you have someone that can do that? No, obviously not. But I do know that Colorado has gotten better in the foundation. foundational areas of their program that those two players masked over the last couple of years. They got much better on the offensive and defensive line. They were first in sacks defensively a year ago. Unfortunately, they were last in sacks given up on the offensive side.

I think that will improve because Shadur held the ball quite a bit. His belief in himself led him to hold the football. But there is a standard at Colorado. They improved from 124th rank scoring defense in 2023 to 42nd in 2024. Rob Livingston has done an excellent job as their defense coordinator. They're going to have to replace too many players, though. Cameron Silman Craig, he's a guy that I look at, have to replay him. Nakai Hill Green have to replace him, have to replace Travis Hunter, have to replace

Shador Sanders. So that's why I did not pick them. And I think that they've got a bit of a tough schedule. Tough opener against Georgia Tech, road games at Kansas State and Utah, and the second half is tough. So do I land on them? No. Thought about TCU in the Big 12. Love Josh Hoover. He had a really quality finish to the season a year ago. He threw for over 300 yards per game last season. They won six of their last seven. The defense got better under Andy Avalos. And if you look at not just this last year, but over the course of the last four years, they've gotten better and better and better and

better on defense. Now Avalos in his second year looks to take the next step. The reason I didn't pick TCU is that they've got a really tough seven-game stretch right in the middle of the season. And I know that everybody in the Big 12 is going to have a tough schedule. I understand that. I'm totally aware, and I've been talking about it all off season. But this one in particular, they're going to have to face SMU. That's a non-league game. They've got to go to Arizona State just went to the playoff. They host Colorado. They're a wild card, in particular with those New York quarterbacks, Juju Lewis and Caden Salter. They've got to host, or excuse me, go to Kansas State, not an easy place to play. They have to host Baylor. I love Baylor. They got to go to West Virginia,

not an easy place to play, and they host Iowa State. I think it's just too much to overcome. They would have to take a substantial step forward on the defensive side, and Hoover would have to play out of his mind. So while I like TCU and I understand the optimism that some have with TCU, I didn't pick them here. Thought about Kansas. Jalen Daniels is back. It's like the new 18th year quarterback in college football.

It feels like he's been there forever. High Shaw is a really good running back. They were a team that was snakebid and close games early last season and it went off the rails. If those close games early in the season this year turn into wins, maybe they develop momentum. Remember, this is a team that late in the season, they beat all the big boys in the Big 12. They beat BYU. They beat Colorado.

They were beating everybody, knocking them out of the Big 12 championship game. And it's what allowed Arizona State to creep up, creep up and ultimately play for and win the Big 12 and go to the college football playoff. What I don't love about Kansas is that I think they're totally dependent on Daniels. And even in the past, they have faltered when he got injured. And even when he was out there last year, there were too many turnovers in their one-score games. so I didn't pick them. So who did I pick? Who's the unranked team that I think could go or will go to the playoff out of the Big 12?

It's Utah. Utah. Death taxes, Utah football. I put them into my top 25 right at the end at number 25 because of this. When nobody is talking about them, that is when they're at their most dangerous. Coming off a season, they went five and seven. That was all injury related for Kyle Whittingham, in particular at the quarterback position. They had to start four different quarterbacks during the – entirety of the year, and then they upgraded significantly at that position with the New Mexico

transfer, Devin Dampier. He was first team all conference in the Mountain West a year ago. I think there'll be a little bit more of an RPO style team which will help their offensive line and run game, which I don't think needs a ton of help. Defense should be solid. And Utah is the team with a lot of games at home on their schedule. They're my pick to be this year's Arizona State. Not many teams are people talking about. Utah, but watch out for Utah to make a playoff push. All right, let's go to the ACC. In the ACC, there's a few teams that I want to talk about.

A lot of people upbeat and optimistic about Louisville, and rightly so. Jeff Brom's done an incredible job at Louisville. 10 wins, nine wins. You know, this guy is right up there. Now they get a quarterback, Miller Moss out of the transfer portal. They should be pretty good. They have shown the ability to beat quality, teams in their league in particular at home. That needs to continue. The problem for me is,

I don't love their schedule. If you were to ask me, like, who are the other three or four best teams in the ACC? Well, three of them would clearly be Miami, Clemson, and SMU. They have to play all of those teams. So in this day and age of conference schedule roulette, Louisville gets the bad end of the draw. They play at Miami and at SMU, and they've got to host Clemson. Clemson is one of my favorites in the entire country. So I just don't love that schedule. And candidly, I don't know if a 10-2 ACC team is going to cut it, because I don't know if they're going to have any quality wins.

I know there will be a 10-2 SEC team. I know there will be a 10-2 Big 10 team. Those teams will not be playing for their conference championships, and they will get the benefit of the doubt over a 10-and-2 Louisville. So do I think they're going to go 11-1? the answer is no. Not when you play at Miami, at SMU, and you have to host Clemson. Thought about Duke here. Duke's the team we haven't talked a lot about during the course of the offseason. 9 and 4 last season. I like Mani Diaz. liked them as a coordinator a lot. This is a second stint as a head coach,

so you know that he's going to implement all the things that he's learned. Sneaky good at home. Duke is very good at home. Did you know they were 16 and 3 over the last three seasons? Pretty good. right? Get the Darien Minsa, the transfer from Tulane. I don't mind Duke here and I considered them as my dark horse but did not pick them. Thought about Florida State. I know that's crazy and it's like, hold on. Isn't, aren't they going to revert back to like the upper echelon team? That was my mindset. And then you just start doing any bit of research about Florida State and you realize that the 10 win seasons are actually the anomaly. The sub-500 seasons are actually the rule. That's problematic. So while I considered Florida State, I look at the five seasons under Mike Norville, I see

two 10-win seasons. I see three losing seasons. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. I look up, they lost last year. I believe it was nine games by 10 or more. So this is not a team that was like, snake bit, close games. They were getting their doors blown off. And it was a top 10 team to start the year. I don't love the thought of them jumping back in. Plus, I don't think that they've got the level of player that people believe that they have. Everyone thinks that, oh, you know, they've been, no, actually, they've just lived in the transfer portal, which I don't think makes you a contender. And that's been proven out by the last two national championships. Michigan builds from within. Ohio State built from within.

Doesn't mean they didn't have transfers. It's just not where they built. And Florida State has leaned all the way into the transfer portal. Why have they had to do that? Because their high school recruiting has not been very good and not been very good at all. If you look at where they have been over the last few years in terms of their recruiting rankings,

19th, 12th, 20th, 20th, 23rd, that doesn't scream upper echelon. or elite at all. So if you're wondering why Mike Norvell has had to live in the transfer portal, it's because of that. The expectations are outpacing

their recruiting. That's a problem. So I did not pick them here. Who is the team from the ACC that I did pick as my dark horse? It's Georgia Tech. First and foremost, I really love Haynes King. I thought deeply

and for a long time about putting them in my top 25, and I just couldn't. I liked the other teams there more. It's not that I didn't like Georgia Tech. Haynes King and Jamal Haynes, the running back, that's a really good combination. I love the fact that they can play with the best teams in the country. The way they played in Athens against Georgia last year is going to just always resonate in my mind. the play of King that night, the play of their defense, even though they have to get better on defense,

they fought, they scrapped, they had a big lead in that game. They've got an opportunity to put themselves on the radar. Why? Well, because they open at Colorado. A lot of people watch Colorado, a lot of people still interested in Colorado, in particular now with everything that Dion has dealt with and battled in the offseason with his health

and the fact that they are no longer featuring Shador Sanders at quarterback and don't have Travis Hunter. So a lot of people interested like, well, what's Colorado right now? Well, they host Georgia Tech to start the year. That's an incredible opportunity for Georgia Tech to go out and potentially get a big road win and put themselves on the map in the first week of the season. You know, they did that in some ways last year. And then you look at the rest of their schedule. they get Clemson at home, Georgia on a neutral field.

That's a team that could easily go 10 and 2. And a 10 and 2 Georgia Tech team in particular with the way that they played Georgia last year, the opportunity to still play Georgia this year, they still play Clemson this year, how they playing those games are going to matter. So my Dark Horse ACC pick to go to the playoff is going to be Georgia Tech. There you have it. Those are my power four teams. Someone's going to the playoff that we're not talking about.

And again, my picks Washington, Missouri, Georgia Tech, and Utah from the Power 4 teams that not a lot of people are talking about, but I think could possibly go. Now, I want to give just a quick recap. Like I said, you can go back from Monday's show and listen to and watch the Big Noon conversation that I had with Tom Brady. It was such a treat. I wish I would have had more time, obviously. just he's he's a busy guy and I'm so grateful for the time that he gave and he was so engaged in the time that we had. That's my first, I think my first reflection on sitting down for that conversation is that he was fully engaged. He did not sit down and blow off any answer.

He listened to my questions. He gave thoughtful answers. And in particular when he was talking about college football, the passion that started coming through about the road, that young men have to travel to become men, and in particular to become men of fortitude in this sport of football and preparing them for the NFL. Nobody knows that better than Tom Brady. And what I wish we could have gotten into

and just didn't have a lot more time were two aspects. I am a guy that the road that I traveled in college football and then into briefly the NFL and then into this career path is not available anymore. The road he traveled is probably not available anymore. Let's face it. He starts at 7th on the depth chart. He's never finishing his career at Michigan. I know he didn't outwardly say that, and I asked him directly,

do you think you would have finished at Michigan? And he gave a thoughtful answer, although didn't necessarily answer the question. And I don't believe that his. road is available anymore in the current structure of college football. And it's not just the money. I know he gave a really good answer about the money and what that does. And it can't be all about the money. And I agree with all of that. Where I wish we could have gone and I wanted to follow up and just say, I wanted to ask the question, do you think that we should limit transfers and movement? And I believe that the answer would have been yes. It was off camera when we were talking about it.

when I said, do you think they should limit movement? He said, absolutely. And I couldn't agree with him more. The problem is not NIL. The problem is not the revenue share. It's not the money. The problem is that they can pick up their ball and leave. And I agree with him about that.

I thought that that answer was terrific. And in particular, when he starts calling out like, hey, that's called coaching. That's called developing. That's called parenting. I was like, yes, yes. More of that in college football. I love talking to him about broadcasting, although that was going to get real nerdy real quick. So I moved on.

But when those of us that call games start talking about our process, where our eyes are, what we think about, our philosophy of how we start a game, so on and so forth, I could have talked to him about that for an hour. And obviously, that would have been much more boring and not what you guys wanted to hear about. So that's something that I really enjoyed talking to him about. And then there was one story that happened off camera. And it just, it was a reminder of like, okay, this is why you are who you are. So we take a picture at the end of the interview. And I posted it. Well, that was one of several pictures.

And we're sitting in the chairs, which you saw in the video. And we had a, there was a camera guy in the room. And he's kind of behind that camera. And he goes, all right, guys, just like, look over here. And he took a picture. And Tom immediately was like, let me see that. And I was like, I was like, wait. And he was like, no, no, no, that's no good.

He's like, the lighting's all wrong. We got to switch. So now he's orchestrating. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And it just hits me in the face. I'm like, this is why this guy was and continues to be so successful. Is because nothing that he does can be average. he is going to, as he put it, make sure that he's not the broken wheel.

So whatever he can control, he will control. And so he moves the camera guy. We move a couple of lights and we snap the photo that then I posted on Twitter and on Instagram. And that's the picture. And I'm looking at it and he shows me and I'm like, well, yeah, that's way better. And he's like, exactly. And I just got to tell you, it's one of those glimpses with something small that you realize that greatness is realized through the attention to detail.

Tom's the most detailed guy that I've been around my maybe entire life. And that was just a quick example of the detail that he puts in to just about everything. Really appreciate him. So thank you again, Tom, for sitting down with me. Appreciate everybody at Fox for not only allowing that, but kind of making it happen. A lot of people were involved trying to get that together and make schedules work. And so I very much appreciate that. Specifically, Michael Buckland, Brad Zager, appreciate your hard work on everything.

that you did for that interview is something that I'll cherish forever and hopefully you guys loved it. Remember, go back and check it out. Now, next week, I cannot wait for Monday's episode of the Joel Clatch Show and you should tune in. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow us on social media because Monday, my bracket predictions are in. I will be telling you who I think is going to the playoff and how the playoff is going to pan out and be picking my national champion. That is next Monday right here on the Joel Clad Show. Enjoy your week, everybody.