The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - College Football Playoff Sleeper Teams and Klatt’s Heisman Rankings

Episode Date: October 11, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt gives his list of teams currently outside the Top 10 that could crash the College Football Playoff. Among his list is a team with very similar characteristics to TCU from a year ago, a college football blue blood that was dismissed too soon and a Pac-12 squad that is lurking behind the favorites in that conference. Then, he ranks his midseason Heisman contenders including Caleb Williams and Michael Penix Jr with one surprising inclusion in his list that he is buying stock in now. Finally, he finishes up with a question from the listener-submitted mailbag. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the show, who's this year's TCU? I'm going to tell you. Plus, we're halfway through the season. I got six guys that could take home the Heisman trophy. I'll run them down. Later. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was just one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. What's up, everybody? This is the Joel Clatio. I am Joel Clatt. And welcome to a Wednesday edition of the program. Remember, later in the year, these Wednesdays, you're going to want to make sure you're in on these Wednesdays because that's when we'll be reacting to college football playoff rankings. So you want to be in on that. This show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. Thank you to all the good people over there at Hampton by Hilton. And remember, share this show with a friend because college football is better with a friend. So get on social media wherever you like to social media and follow us at Joel Clat Show and then subscribe to the program wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube because watching the show is also really cool. So subscribe on YouTube. You can like the show. You can review the show wherever you're consuming this great product and there we have it. Okay, today on the show,

as I just said, I'm going to run down who I think are four sleeper teams, TCU-esque teams that could make a run here in the back half of the season and potentially, potentially make a run at a college football playoff berth. Halfway through the year, where are we in the Heisman trophy race? And do we have a guy that could potentially take it home for the second time? Because I got to tell you, if anybody could do it, it might be Caleb Williams. We're also going to visit the mailbag later today. So I've got some life advice in the mailbag. We're going to get some wisdom, some clat wisdom. It's a clat chat. Ooh, I like that. Maybe we'll have clat chats for mailbag. Just stumbled on that. That was just live stumbling on something right there. But as we

stand right now, let's get to some sleepers. And our sleeper picks is sponsored by Hampton by Hilton. Hilton for the stay. I want to look at four teams right now that I think have a chance as we roll through this back half of the season based on their schedule, based on the way that they've looked so far, some of the things that they've already achieved on their resume, and then what could be in front of them, like, we could have some of these teams that are making noise as it relates to a playoff birth. I think that we know, and I want to caveat this, there's a lot of teams that could go to the playoff and are still alive for the playoff. This is not a list of like, who's alive for the playoff. This is a list of teams that maybe you haven't quite thought of or maybe we have

written them off and it's like, well, hold on for a second. So I've got four teams that here at the halfway point, we want to just take a closer look and say, hey, they've got a legitimate path. One might be fairly obvious, but we do need to revisit them. This one is not the obvious one. but after last week, boy, it's hard not to see at least a path for Louisville. So Louisville is my number one sleeper team so far this year. Unranked to start the year and you got a first year head coach. By the way, eerily reminiscent to what we had last year with TCU,

with Sunny Dykes coming over from SMU. Lots of transfers and an experienced quarterback. I think that's really a resume that we're all. all starting to see and stumble upon that really works in terms of turning something around right away. I also love this element of Jeff Brom going home, right? So Coach Brom goes back to Louisville. He knows it. He understands it. He knows what can be successful there. And I think more specifically, alums of programs have a unique understanding of what the fan base wants, in particular ex-quarterbacks. Okay, I can tell you exactly when I heard murmurs in the stands at Colorado.

Brom can do the same at Louisville. He can tell you exactly what the sentiment was and the ebb and flow of the season and who you have to beat and who do they think is a great win. Those things shouldn't be overlooked in terms of just intimate, deep knowledge of a program and an institution and a place in a community and a fan base. Brom clearly has that at Louisville. I thought you saw that come to fruition last week. That stadium was incredible, electric.

But it's not just all of those intangible things. You've also got a team that's playing at a pretty high level. I think the experienced quarterback helps, obviously. They had five takeaways. You've got to have those games in which you play over your head. TCU did that a year ago. I think we all remember some of those comebacks late in games, Oklahoma State, they came back in a game.

Now you've got this Louisville team that welcomes Notre Dame in. and they get in Notre Dame at a good point because Notre Dame just played two highly emotional games, won a loss at home to Ohio State. Then they go out and they beat Duke on basically the last play of the game. And so you've got this Notre Dame team that walks in and then they just lock the gates behind them. And that was an outstanding performance. They did everything right. They used the momentum of the crowd.

They used everything that was there at their disposal. to win the game. They sack Hartman five times. They have eight TFLs. They were aggressive. Several of those, by the way, on key short yardage plays. They held Notre Dame to 50 yards rushing. And this is a team that needs to run the football, wants to run the football. You look at this team in totality, 14 takeaways in six games. That's fourth most in the country. So they're opportunistic. And their quarterback, Jack Plummer, yeah, he's a transferer, but was at Purdue to start his college career with Brom. And he was there for four years. He knows the system. started at Cal last year, so then he gets experienced on the field. And now he's in his sixth year and he started 31 games. And it's like he's flown totally under the radar. But think about that. You've got familiarity with the coach and the system that you're about to use. And you've got experience under your belt.

Plus, they can back him up on that offense with a quality run game. Jordan, I think I'm saying this right, Jahar Jordan is a really good back. Total home run threat. Saw that in that game. He's the leading rusher in the ACC. He's got over 100 yards per game and he's averaging a little over, you know, almost seven and a half yards per carry. So all of this to tell you, this team is very good.

Now it comes down to their schedule. You look at the rest of their year. And to me, their schedule is favorable to be a sleeper. They've got at Pitt. They got Duke. By the way, Riley Leonard still has that high ankle sprain. It's unclear when he's going to return. That's their toughest game remaining because then they got Virginie.

Virginia Tech, Virginia, and then at Miami. Now, Miami's ranking of 25, that might be a little bit flawed. They've also got Kentucky, which Kentucky and Miami could pose a bit of a threat. But you can see the path. You can see the path to them getting into that ACC championship game. And at that point, you're the ACC champion in a year in which the ACC has played really well. And in the year in which the ACC has six pretty good teams right now ranked. then you've got a chance to go to the playoff.

Louisville, good sleeper pick right now halfway for the college football playoff. All right. Next sleeper pick for me. Also out of the ACC, watch out for North Carolina, okay? Because North Carolina is a team that at the beginning of the year, a lot of us, me included, just thought like, well, it's just not great. It's not a great team, but they've got a great quarterback. Well, let's be honest.

Like, they're pretty good. I think their defense is decent. They only have to be average because they have Drake May. The more I watch Drake May, the more I'm impressed. You know, like I see this team and it's hard for me not to just immediately think to myself, this quarterback can take them a long way. He's really good. So on this week's breaking the huddle, check it out.

It's on FS1. It's a show that I do every single week. Check your local listings. It kind of bounces around. It's usually shoulder programming for some of those weeknight games on FS1. Check around for breaking the huddle. Because on breaking the huddle, I'm going to do a breakdown of Drake May. And by the way, later in the program, I'll do a little bit more of this.

Drake is like the quintessential NFL quarterback. He's as good of a player as there is in the country. If Caleb Williams is not in a college uniform right now, Drake May is the clear number one pick in next spring's draft. He's that good. So he can carry, listen, if Caleb Williams is carrying USC, Drake May can carry North Carolina or any of the supposed weaknesses of Carolina.

He can help them out. Now, they do have a Morion Hampton. He's averaging over five yards per carry on that offensive side. He had a 200-yard game, I'll be it against App State, but had a 200-yard game. The defense, like I said, all they need to be is kind of average mid-defense, if you will. So far, the answer is, yes, they can play to that level. They're fourth in scoring defense in the ACC. They're sixth in yards.

They don't need to be a top three defense because they have Drake May. This is the point. The offense got Tess Walker back from that, you know, and by the way, the NCAA did the right thing, but then they immediately like NCAA themselves by saying like, well, it was the institution's fault. They did not give us all the information. The NCAA is terrible. I mean, faster the NCAA goes away, the better for everybody in college football. And really in all intercollegiate athletics, it was formed to protect the student athlete.

Now all it does is hinder the student athlete. So anyways, Tess Walker back. Good for Drake, May and North Carolina. And he's, you know, he's going to come back and don't look for him to make. a huge splash right away, but incrementally he's going to get better and better, get more in game shape, and then be more of an impact. Now, along with Louisville, they also do not play Florida State down the stretch. And by the way, Louisville doesn't play North Carolina.

And guess what? North Carolina misses Florida State and Louisville. So these three undefeateds in the ACC are going to miss each other. So here's what North Carolina has. Big game against Miami coming up. Virginia, Georgia Tech Campbell, there we go. Duke Clemson, that's going to be a tough one at Clemson and North Carolina State. This is probably the toughest road in the ACC, but if they can get through this,

even if they were to lose at Clemson and still go to the ACC championship game and win, like they would have enough. So again, a good sleeper team. Remember, TCU made it to the playoffs last year as a non-champ with a loss. Now, remember, they went undefeated and then Kansas State beat them, but like these teams can do that. Sleeper teams for the college football playoff, Louisville and North Carolina, nobody is talking about them right now, except us, except us.

Now let's get to the obvious one. The obvious one, and the reason I call this a sleeper team is because the way that they played in two weeks during September, everyone wrote them off. I'm talking about Alabama. Now, you can roll your eyes if you want, but Alabama is at this point going to be in my sleeper teams because of the fact I just mentioned. everybody wrote them off. Texas beats them.

They play terrible against South Florida, and everyone's like, well, they're not going to go to the playoff. And now you look up, they've found a bit of a rhythm, if you will. They've won games now with two starkly different styles, a game in which they basically completed like seven passes and just ran the ball to death against Ole Miss.

And then a game in which they can't run it, and have to throw it in order to beat Texas A&M. Watch out. Watch out. It's not a great division. We know that. It's not a great division. But one thing I do know is that Nick Saban will find a way to win.

Remember, this is not a guy that has to play a very specific style in order to be successful. He's one of the only head coaches that I can remember in this sport that has one national championships, one at the top end of the sport with multiple different styles, multiple different assistant coaching staffs, multiple different recruiting cycles, this guy understands how to coach the game. He's out there to win. He's going to do whatever he can to win, whatever style and philosophy to win. And this is one of the reasons why I liked him. They're outside of the top 10. That's to me makes him a sleeper. Fourth straight week there outside of the top 10. No one believes in this team because they don't have a high ceiling. They don't have that quarterback that they've had in the last four or five years. The offense is a concern. I'll give you

that. It's a concern. They're ninth in the SEC and scoring and more than that in just a little bit. But to me, games like last week are not where they are going to find a lot of success. Against A&M, they didn't run it very well. And they're going to need to run it well down the stretch. Because Milrow is still not the quarterback that you can just leave out there on an island and say, okay, buddy, well, we're not going to give you the play action. You're not going to, you just have to win it with your arm. I just don't think that that's going to be a winning formula for Alabama moving forward. Germain Burton, by the way, finally, they find a wide receiver. I felt like they were weak at wide receiver a year ago. And kind of finally, they find a wide receiver to break out.

They've been waiting for that for really two years since he transferred from Georgia. But Germain Burton looked really good. So Milrow found at least a consistent threat or hopefully a consistent threat on the outside. The defense has played well. Okay. And this is one of the marks of why I like Bama is because they're going to be in every game. They're second in the SEC and scoring behind Georgia. And basically they can win out, beat Georgia and they're in. Like of all these sleepers, they all these teams control their own destiny. They get in as they're undefeated. But even with a loss, this Bama team, they're going if they went out. That would be a win over Georgia, I went over LSU.

Like, they're going to go if they went out. So then it becomes basically the LSU game. You look at what they've got remaining on their schedule. They've got Arkansas, Tennessee, an off week, LSU, Kentucky, Chattanooga, and Auburn. To me, none of those teams scare me with the way that they're playing right now and the way that they're built this year, except for LSU. I think it's a great thing that they've got LSU at home. But the bottom line is LSU is not going to stop Alabama. But with a limited offense, can they go score 45 or more in order to beat LSU?

Because LSU might score 45. That's the only one that makes me nervous for Alabama because of the style of game in which they're going to have to play in order to win. I don't know if they can hold them under 40 points, even with a really good defense. And Bama's defense is pretty good. They played well against Texas for the most part, held them into that game until the end when they couldn't get off the field. LSU is a little bit different though. Like Daniels is playing at such a high level, such a high level.

And that one's going to, that's one that one's going to be nerve-wracking for Tide fans. Okay, so that's the third sleeper team. Here's the last one. I'm going to take a little drink. All right. Folks, this one's way out of left field. I don't believe anybody has contemplated this team. However, they're going to play, they do play, I should say,

in a conference that is getting a lot of attention. The narrative right now is that the Pac-12 champ is going to go to the playoff or should go to the playoff. I agree with that. I'll be one of the first ones to kind of champion that narrative. Okay. and there's a team out there. Like when you look at everybody's schedule down the stretch,

it's pretty clearly the easiest road. And then you start to think to yourself like, wow, like, is their best football in front of them? Yes. Yes, it is because I'm talking about UCLA. UCLA is going to be my fourth sleeper team. And here's the deal. is it likely? Probably not. But it's a team that just beat Washington State and handled Washington State.

And Washington State is a good football team with an experienced quarterback in Cam Ward. The defense just held Washington State to 10 offensive points. They were averaging 45 coming in. They scored a little bit more than that because they got to pick six. Speaking of the Cougars. If you guys haven't seen Dante Moore play, you need to see him play. He's a very talented true freshman. learning on the job at quarterback.

It did provide and has provided some growing pains, which you would expect from a true freshman quarterback. He threw a pick six against Utah. That was basically the difference in the game. They lose 14 to 7. He throws a pick six against Washington State. By the way, like they were driving before the half in order to really kind of cement their control of the game.

And he throws a pick six and it changes the entire game. And now they're kind of a bit. in a struggle. And yet the defense, their ability to run the football, allowed them to continue to have success. They've got a really, really good defense. And this is the one thing that all of these offenses in the PAC 12, how are they going to react if they don't go out there and score 40 points?

They're the number one defense in the country and yards per play allowed, the UCLA Bruins. That might even be a better metric than total defense. And in fact, I think it is because it's just a metric of like snap the football and play. And who's the best on any given snap? Well, right now, the numbers suggest that it's UCLA. Number one of the country, yards per plate allowed and they're a top 10 scoring defense right now. And by the way, that top 10 scoring defense is even with their quarterback giving up two touchdowns to the opposition.

They lead the power five in takeaways per game. They lead the power five in rushing yards per carry allowed. This defense is legit. And so now I'm thinking to myself, okay, well, what if Washington, you know, has a bad day at the wrong time? What if Oregon has a bad day at the wrong time? Oh, this is interesting. They also run the ball. They run the heck out of the ball.

And that will not be something that those other teams want to see in a championship game environment. If they can get past Oregon State this week in Corvallis, all of a sudden, their schedule, like, is way easier. than the rest of the pack 12. This is what they have in front of them. They've got Oregon State and Corvallis this weekend. Really tough game, in particular for a young quarterback. That's going to be a knockdown dragout. Might be done in like an hour and 55 minutes if they run the ball as much as I think that they're going to run.

Then they're going to be at Stanford. They've got Colorado. They're at Arizona. They host Arizona State at USC, which, you know, like it's in L.A. So, and I get it like it's, but then they've got Cal. One is a rivalry game that can go either way. Like the SC, you can't just say like, well, they're not going to beat SC. It's a rivalry game.

They could absolutely beat SC. I think that the toughest remaining game for UCLA is this weekend. If UCLA wins this weekend, watch out. Because now you're talking about a team that if they run the table and they win the PAC 12 with just one loss, they get through this, they beat Oregon State. They would have a Washington State win. They would have an SC win. They would beat whomever they face in the Pac-12 championship game. If they go to Vegas and beat, like this week's winner, Oregon, Washington, let's say one of those teams goes, and they go in there and beat them, UCLA's going to the playoff.

So now it's about can your quarterback get better? Can your run game continue to get better? Chip Kelly has quietly built something very good. Last year, they were a tremendous football team. Everyone said, well, yeah, they've got, they had veterans, right? You've got DTR and you had Zach Charbonnet and they were all veterans. Well, now you're bringing a transfer at running back, and you've got a true freshman at quarterback, and the defense is legit.

I like UCLA. Watch out for UCLA. If you're looking at a team that is like off the map, nobody talking about them, UCLA, because that schedule is by far the easiest to navigate of any of the Pack 12 contenders. So if you're looking for maybe some long shot odds to get. into the playoff look no further than the UCLA Bruins. U C. But anyways, a little late clap.

Hey, it's my favorite time of year, football season. And as you know, I take it very seriously. So I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams. I can't risk the wrong play with where I stay. Wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable rooms and their warm, friendly service. And their free hot breakfast, by the way, is a total game changer. I, for one, have to have breakfast.

I have to have coffee. And I don't want to spend $80 on room service because that's what it costs these days. I would rather go downstairs, get a free hot breakfast, a waffle, a coffee, and then I'm good to go. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win. All right. Let's move on here. We go from sleepers.

And we've got to talk about Midway Point kind of Heisman conversation. Where are we with the most prestigious award award in sports? And I'd still, by the way, maintain that it's the most prestigious award in sports. If some of you are wondering, yes, I do use the 40 ounce Stanley. I had kidney stones. Remember I told you about that? So now I do like the lemon water in the Stanley. I try to drink like two or three of those.

It's hard. It's hard to stay hydrated. I'm going to be 42 soon, and it's just like doing stuff like this is a reminder that I'm getting older. But that's why you see me drinking some water. It's lemon water. Thank you very much. Let's talk about Heisman contenders. I am going to first tell you a couple of names that aren't on the list.

And I just wanted to mention them. So these are going to be my honorable mention Heisman contenders at the Midway Point. And they didn't make the list. And it's really not a fault of their own. and I know that this is a frustrating aspect of this award, but it's still a combination for me, and I know that this is not in the definition, but let's face it, this is what it has become.

It is a combination of team success and player success. So there's a couple of teams that have played okay, one way above expectations, one below expectations, but not on a level where you would expect the Heisman trophy to come from that team. Here are those two names. Jaden Daniels from LSU and Shepard. Sodor Sanders from Colorado.

These two guys are having excellent seasons. In large part, they're the reason that their teams are succeeding because they don't have very good defenses. And in Colorado's case, they barely have an offensive line. And yet, here they are still succeeding. Guess what? Same thing with Jaden Daniels. That defense is horrific.

If Jaden Daniels had a defense at all, he would be one or two in this Heisman race right now, but he's not. And in large part because the LSU Tigers, don't play any defense. So I just wanted to give you kind of that shout out to Shudor and to Jaden. Those guys are balling out, playing really, really well. All right, now I'm going to go six to one in my Heisman rankings. These are official, by the way. These are Joel Clasho official Heisman rankings at the midway point. Number six, Jordan Travis from

Florida State. Okay, so Jordan is playing really well. And, He's got some wins and those notches in the belt. And what I love about watching him, though, when I turn on the film of Florida State, I see a guy that is in real command of what he has around him and what he sees on the other side of the ball. He's a smart player. Now, aside from all the other things that he does, he's experienced, he can run, he can threaten the defense, all these things. He's accurate. But what I really love is that when I'm watching their tape,

and I see the schematics where I see Keon Coleman in a one-on-one situation, I'm like, he's getting the ball. Jordan does a great job of not overlooking his greatest asset, in particular down in the red zone. I think you saw that against Clemson and overtime. You certainly saw that against LSU. And the biggest moments against the best teams, When he gets one-on-one, he goes to Keon-Colman.

But that's not enough to just go to Keon-Colman. You've got to then throw a ball that I would say is a competent, catchable 50-50 ball. You don't want to drive it on his back shoulder to make the adjustment too tough. You don't want to bring him inside toward the defender, and you certainly don't want to throw it too far where they've got to stretch out and they might not catch it. The competent 50-50 throw is like a free throw on top of the helmet of the wide receiver. when you've got a guy that is physically more gifted and will win the battle in a 50-50 situation,

you're essentially shooting a free throw onto the top of his helmet. That gives him the best chance to adjust and win. And that's what he does, Jordan Travis. I think it's one of his greatest strengths. He knows his personnel. He doesn't pass it up. Okay. He doesn't be like, oh, he's one-on-one.

I'm going to go play the foundation or the concept over here. No, no, no. He's getting the ball because that guy's really good. and then he gives him a competent, catchable 50-50 ball. Again, a free throw onto the top of his helmet. I really love it. Okay, next in my Heisman rankings.

Again, official. Official Heisman rankings. Bo Nix Oregon. Bo Nicks from Oregon is next up on my Heisman rankings. Bo right now very quietly, even though they played Colorado and they had 10 million people watching that game, quietly leading the country in completion percentage. And he's in complete control.

of that offense. When I watch Oregon, I see a guy that is oozing experience. The old moniker, and I hate this because it's used too much, be like, oh, he's a coach on the field. It just means that the guy puts the ball in the right spot based on the look all the time. When I'm watching Oregon, the ball is out quickly. it's going to the right spot. It is generally an accurate throw.

He can use his legs when needed, when the play breaks down. The guy is just playing, I think, his best football. We thought he played really great last year. I think he's playing even better this year. The athleticism allows him to make those plays, but it's more than that. It's his mind. He's making great decisions that allow the offense to be at its best. I think there's a misconception out there.

that no quarterback wants to be called a game manager. I totally disagree with that. In fact, I think that the best quarterbacks in the world are also game managers. It just so happens that some game managers can take their game above the X's and O's at times. You can't do that all the time or else it's reckless. But when needed, can you go above the X's and O's? Right now, he's an excellent game manager. And then there are times when needed he can scramble and he can make throws and decisions

that take him above the X's and O's. All right, back to the rankings. That's 6 and 5, Jordan Travis and Bo Nix. Now we go to number four. And I think a lot of those, a lot of people would have those two a little bit higher. But here's a guy that has burst on the scene in the last couple of weeks.

I like Dylan Gabriel at number four from Oklahoma. Dylan played so well against the Texas Longhorns in the biggest stage, certainly in Oklahoma's season. And really, when you're thinking about that game, that's one of the marquee games in all of college football. That is, as Toby Rowland, the play-by-play of the Oklahoma Sooners broadcast on radio put it, that was a legacy drive at the end for Dylan Gabriel. It's more than a legacy drive.

That's a Heisman caliber drive, what he did at the end. Now, Dylan's game is built around efficiency. It's built around being a, what I would consider a point guard, out there rather than, you know, the true quarterback. He's a point guard. When I watched the film of Oklahoma, the ball is out of his hands so quickly. He's making such quick decisions. And you saw that on the last drive, even if he was throwing the ball down the field, even if he was having to scramble out of the pocket. As soon as he had a win, the ball was out, the last play, he doesn't freak out, he doesn't panic, rush is collapsing around him. And he just throws the ball up to the corner of the end zone,

because he knew he had Nick Anderson right there for the touchdown. I am bummed for him that Andrew L. Anthony is going to be out. If you haven't heard that news, Andrew L Anthony, the outside receiver for OU, he's banged up and he's got a knee issue. But Gabriel, I'll tell you, man, nearly 400 total yards against UT, the 75-yard drive with a minute 17 left. That's Heisman caliber stuff. Love his quick decisions, a point guard out there, ball out of his hands, and I love watching him play. And he deserves to be on this list, and he's at number four. Now, here's another guy that I might have higher than others, but this one just falls into the category of like, hey, most outstanding team doing well, most outstanding player in the country.

Yep. I'm a buyer of this guy. If he's a stock right now, Drake May from North Carolina. Drake May is number three on my official Heisman ranking right now. He's fourth in the country in passing at a little over 325 yards per game. He's completed 70% in every single game this year. And even though he got off to a bit of a slow start with four interceptions in his first three games, he's coming off of a game that they had Syracuse and he went off, 497, four touchdowns.

The guy is uber talented. And like I said earlier, if Caleb Williams wasn't wearing a college football uniform right now, Drake May would be the runaway number one pick. Everyone's talking about like, hey, these NFL teams, they're going to tank for Caleb Williams. two teams are getting great quarterbacks. Two teams. Dreg May, his game translates so well to the NFL. The windows that he sees on the field,

when most college quarterbacks would see a guy that's covered, he sees a guy that's open. He's got the talent then to throw them open. He's got the confidence to throw them open. He's also way more athletic than you would expect. And what I love about his athleticism is that he doesn't run out and around the pocket, he moves up in the pocket. That's NFL stuff. When you protect the ball and you get back up into the pocket, first of all, you can then run through the A and B gaps of the rush

and get more positive yards, or you can really threaten the entire field because as good as some of these guys are outside of the pocket, as soon as you leave the pocket one direction or another, the field effectively shrinks. It goes from 53 and a half down to 40, down to 30, down to 20, down to 15, the longer you run. And so the area that the defense has to cover shrinks. Now, when you're Caleb Williams and you've got a halter on the, you know, attached to your right shoulder, it doesn't matter quite as much. But when you're Drake May and you can escape moving forward, now you maintain the 53 and a half. That's why quarterbacks, if you're a young quarterback, stop backing up.

Stop running out of the pocket one direction out and around the tackle. Get yourself up in the pocket and threaten the defense down the field that way. Drake May does that. Then he throws really accurately. He's got great touch. He can drive the ball. He can make every single throw. So Drake May is number three.

Okay, here's my last two. I think you probably know who the last two are. So at number two, I'm going to go with Michael Pennix from Washington. He's completing 75% of his passes, top five in the country. He's averaging 400 yards per game, most in college football. He's also number one in yards per attempt at over 11 per attempt. He's only thrown 14 passes in the fourth quarter and still has that volume of yardage in five games. And he's averaging 377 yards per game in the first three quarters.

By the way, that's 91 more than the next closest player, which is Drake May. this guy is a great passer of the football. There are a lot of guys in college football that can throw the ball well. They throw a pretty ball. They've got good arm talent, you know, and there are few that are terrific passers of the football. Now, let me try to explain what I'm talking about. when I watch Michael Pennix, the ball is always on the correct leverage based on the defense. So he is communicating with his ball placement at all times.

He's throwing the wide receiver away from the defender at all times. The trajectory is correct at all times. If he's throwing a slot fade versus a single safety, he knows he has one-on-one coverage. that ball is never missed inside. It's never missed inside. In fact, it's always missed on the outside shoulder. It's like Tiger Woods playing the back nine and the masters. He's never going to short side himself.

Everyone says like missing the correct spot. Michael Pinnick's misses, if you will, or leverages always to the correct spot. I love watching him play because he's a terrific passer. Again, there are guys that are great throwers and really talented throwers. and really have an immense amount of armed talent, but very few guys are really great passers of the ball. And he's a great passer of the ball. I love watching them play because of that.

I think it's a big reason why they've got such gaudy numbers at Washington. You couple that with the fact that he's got terrific wide receivers, and Michael Pennix is number two, which means you know exactly where I'm going for number one. Number one, Caleb Williams. Caleb Bowdoin's is my number one right now. I think that he's the best player in college football. They're still undefeated.

He's also the MVP, if you would call it that, because that team does not look very good on the defensive side right now. They are struggling. They need Zachariah Branch back desperately because the offense is much different without Branch on the field, the terrific true freshman. This guy is his own strike force. He is like a Navy SEAL team all in one player. He is remarkable.

This USC offense isn't great outside of him. without branch. 28 total touchdowns, though, he still has in just six games. That's 11 more than he had at this point last year when he won the award. And he finished with 52. He's got 28 total touchdowns. When things break down, he can strill be a threat with his legs. And again, no matter what is happening on the field, this guy is a threat at any moment.

Defense is perfect. He's still a threat. this is why he's a generational talent and he's still leading right now in my Heisman trophy. 28 total touchdowns. Come on. These people are like, well, I don't know. You know, it's tough to win it twice. Watch him play.

Somebody watch him play, please. Somebody. If you're a voter and you don't vote for Caleb Williams just because he already won the award, that's your problem, not his. And your vote should be stripped. Just watch. Now, if he doesn't win it, fine. If somebody else out plays him or beats him head to head, fine.

And you know what? There'll be that chance going down the stretch. But don't just say he can't win two in a row because the only person that did that is Archie. Why do we got to protect Archie so much? I love Archie. Love Archie. Love you, buddy. Hope you're a listener or subscriber, and I'm sure you are.

Please subscribe wherever you're listening to your podcast or your YouTube, just like Archie Griffin, two-time Heisman Trophy winner. But we don't have to protect Archie Griffin. It's this same notion that in any of these sports, these sports riders are like, well, I'm never going to vote for someone as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Why? That sounds like a U problem. Not a Vibn problem. Anyways, I digress. Caleb Williams is my number one in the Heisman trophy.

Let's get to the mailbag before we get out of here. It's a Wednesday. Let's get to the mailbag. You can send us a question at the mailbag. College football question, life question, whatever you want. You want wisdom. Here we go. The Joel Clashow Mailbag at gmail.com.

I got one. I got one. So Daniel G writes in and he says, Hey, Joel and Team Clat. I think he's referring to the family. My wife really isn't a football person, and that's okay. I love her anyways. I would hope you married her, Daniel.

I don't think you have to throw in the anyways. You just say, like, and I love her. But that's neither here or no there. And through communication, we've worked out a fall weekend balance that we both are happy with. However, now that my daughter is on the way, I'd love to, I'd love to over time, sorry, introduce her to college football in a healthy way and have that. as a shared bond. What are some ways I can ensure,

understanding this is a few years down the line, of course, that college football is fun for our whole families on a Saturday in a way that includes my wife. Daniel, really good question. Okay, first things first, Daniel, if you want this to be a family thing, and if you want your wife to enjoy college football, and you want your daughter to share in that,

then it can't just be the way you consume college football because they're going to consume college football. because they're going to consume college football very differently. So you can't expect them, your wife or your future daughter, to all the sudden, be just like your buddies and you're going to experience college football in the same way that you've experienced in the past. So you have a decision to make.

That's either okay with you and you're going to go down the route, excuse me, or route that I'm going to explain to you in a moment, or it's not and you need to abort this whole ambition right away. Now, I don't suggest that because why not share it with your family? Your family is going to have a much more lasting legacy than any Saturday with your buddies. What you pour into your daughter as a father is so important. It is vital to what she views moving forward in the world and what she's going to view and want in a spouse later in her life. what you're doing as a father is imperative.

So I encourage you to take the route I'm about to share, which is you have to include them and make college football theirs. Let me give you a quick analogy. I love golf, love golf. Not everybody loves golf, though. I love to play golf. I have three boys. I want nothing more than to share that sport. with my boys. I want to be able to go out when I'm older and have a foursome where it's just me and my three sons, right?

Like I dream of that. Part of it is that my dad does not golf. So like I don't have that opportunity to do it with my dad. Now we share other things, football being one of them, but not golf. I would love that to be something in my future with my boys. My wife told me, she said, because I would take them out to the golf course. And she told me, she said, just remember you're not going out for you. You're going out for them. So make sure it's fun for them. That piece of advice has burned into my mind. And that's the same advice I would give you about college football. If you're a dad out there and you have a young daughter or you have a wife that you want to share it with, a girlfriend that you want to share it with, it can't just be that you expect them to come alongside and appreciate the game for how you appreciate it and consume the game the way you consume.

it. You've got to make it fun for them. So when I go to the golf course now with my sons, they get whatever they want. Sorry, I'm bribing them. They want a candy bar. They get a candy bar. They want to run around in the bunker and make a sandcastle. Guess what they get to do. Run around the bunker and make a sand castle. And over time, guess what's happened for my 11, 9, and 6 year old? They've begun to hit a few shots. They've begun to sink a few puts. Now my 11 year old is like, hey, when can we go to the golf course? And I'm like, bam. Why? Because I let him, enjoy golf on his terms with his dad there present. And I would encourage you to do the same with college football, Daniel. So as your daughter grows and as you want your wife to come alongside,

take them to a game and be okay with leaving whenever they want to leave. If they want a shirt, get them a shirt. If they want a soda, get them a soda. You know, like figure it out. And the more that they enjoy it, the more you will enjoy it. That's my words. of wisdom or life advice for you, Daniel, as a father. And by the way, congratulations. And what I said before, I absolutely mean your greatest role in life is your fatherhood to that beautiful daughter that you're going to have. So congratulations and good luck. That'll do it for the Joel Clash Show today.

We'll be back tomorrow with preview episodes as we break down all the matchups in college football on Saturday. You can follow us at Joel Clashow wherever you like to social media. Remember to subscribe wherever you listen. Subscribe on YouTube if you're watching this program. Thanks for watching. Share it with a friend and we'll see you tomorrow.