The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - College Football Stock Watch + Could MrBeast actually buy a Title with $100 Million?

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

In this show, FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt proves it’s always a good idea to hit record during Hour 71 of a 72-hour fasting cleanse. He kicks off the show by revealing which teams he feels are trending up and which are trending down as we enter the offseason, revealing his 3 Up & 3 Down in his College Football Stock Watch – which includes two blue blood programs he believes are heading in different directions.After YouTube star MrBeast teased the idea of giving $100 Million to a school to go win a National Championship in Football, Klatt walks through the idea and considers whether a huge check would actually buy a title in today’s world of NIL and the Transfer Portal.He discusses North Dakota’s State’s jump from FCS to the Mountain West and the reported possibility of Alabama cancelling the upcoming Ohio State home-and-home series to start in 2027. Klatt wraps up the show with a rant about the now-set College Football Playoff schedule for next season. 0:00-1:51 Intro1:52-23:05 Stock watch23:06-34:21 MrBeast teases idea of giving East Carolina $100M to win a national championship34:22-36:15 North Dakota State decides its done dominating FCS and joins Mountain West36:16-38:19 Alabama may cancel their home-and-home with Ohio State for 2027/2838:20-44:59 CFP announces schedule for next season Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're going to want to be around for what I say about the CFP later in the show. When I think about their conference, I don't think about them initially. And I don't even think about them in the top three. Once you miss in the portal route, now it's like trying to get back on the marigle round once it's going really fast. It's tough to do. You can absolutely become a great program if you invest $100 million in your program. I'm miserable. I'm running out of steam.

I'm going to get a little bit loopy here in the last day. hour, and I'm just going to tell you, it could get really good here. Day like today is why we love college football. Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is the Joel Klatt show. I'm Joel Klatt. This show is presented by Graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support, as always.

We have got a really fun off-season show for you here today. Remember, we are here every single week in the off-season, so one, you're welcome. And two, make sure you go back last week. We dropped our first mock draft for this draft period, as we're getting. set for the National Football League draft in April. You know, I've been covering the draft for a number of years, and so I've got my first mock draft out. That is on the YouTube channel.

You can go there. You can subscribe to the page. You can hit the notification button. You can leave a comment, and you can get my very first mock draft of this season. So that's up there right there. If you haven't followed us on social, that's a really good spot in particular in the off season.

To just follow us, you can get some of our content, get all the updates, what's going on with the show, as we roll through some of this content during the off season. And you can do that at Joel Clashio wherever you like to social media. So we are out there. Okay, so today, here's what I want to do. As we begin the offseason here in college football, I'm sensing that I'm a bit more optimistic about a few teams out there than others are being.

And I'm a bit pessimistic about some others. So what I wanted to do is kind of a stock up, stock down type of take on six teams. So I've got three teams that I'm higher on than I think most or the consensus is around college football. And then I've got three teams that I might not think as highly of as it relates to next season. So I've got that. So three up, three down. And then some newsy stuff. We're going to get into Mr. Beast that story about like, hey, could he just dump $100 million on ECU, East Carolina, and all of a sudden they be a national champion contender.

We'll talk about that. some chatter about non-conference schedules going on, including some Blue Bloods. I'll get into that a little bit later, as well as the official declaration of the schedule for the CFP next year and moving forward, which, hint, hint, it's terrible. And you're going to want to be around for what I say about the CFP later in the show. But first, let's get into this Stockwatch, three up, three down. I'm going to jump back and forth. So let's start with an up, okay?

Here's a team that I'm a little higher on than I think most around the country. And if you really evaluate the way that they've built their roster and then what they have returning next year, I think it's time to get a little bit bullish on USC. USC is going to lead my stock up teams. And this is a team that has the experienced quarterback coming back. And we've talked a lot about that here on this show. And I think that we all now understand that that's what it takes to be successful. successful in college football. So you've got my Ava back.

And Lincoln Riley obviously lost Denton Lynn, the defense of coordinator, who I was a big fan of. But he brings in Gary Patterson. I really love the idea of having Gary Patterson here for Lincoln Riley. He built a winner at TCU. He's a defensive-oriented guy.

He's going to handle the defense. He's got high energy and a wealth of experience that Lincoln can use and bounce things off of. I think that that is a win. Now, I think Danton Lynn is great. So I'm not saying upgrade or downgrade. I'm just saying that's a win. That's a win for USC.

It's a win for Lincoln Riley to get Gary Patterson. That's one. And then here's the part that I think is actually more impactful. So we can talk about the quarterback. And certainly that's probably the most important thing. And obviously filling Denton's shoes is big. But how about getting the entire offensive line back? See, now we're talking because now you've got a quarterback and an offensive line

in the entire backfield. So King Mack who had to basically fill in after Wayman Jordan was injured, now you get both of them back there in the backfield. So you've got what I consider to be at least the potential of the best running game that Lincoln Riley has had since the OU days. You remember those old Trey Sermann and Rodney Anderson days where they were just running rough shot over everybody, 250, 260, 270 on the ground.

I think that they could be a dominant run team. And if you've paid attention to anything that I've said about USC and more specifically Lincoln Riley over the last couple of years is this. When Lincoln decides to be a run-oriented team, they are very difficult to beat. They were undefeated at home last year, undefeated at home. And so their ability to run the football will allow them to develop wide receivers and at least replace, maybe not completely, but in some aspect, Mackay Lemon on the outside. And listen, I just trust Lincoln Riley and his offer. offense for the wealth of experience that he's had every single year being able to throw the football,

they're going to have somebody to throw the football too on the outside. There are talented guys there. Plus, they had the number one recruiting class. They did a really good job in the portal. Some young players on the defense of line in particular, Tchaim Stewart, that I really like. So again, stock up. I'm going to start with USC as a team I'm a bit higher on. Schedule is difficult. There's no doubt. That's the only reason that I'm questioning this. this placement, but this is Lincoln's most talented roster. And again, it's good where he needs it to be good, that offensive line and the backfield. All right, now let's go to stock down.

How about a team that I might not be as high on as maybe others? And I think this is partly because we all just assume that this program is going to be just fine and they'll be great. But the reality is, is that they have quickly descended into a place that when I think about their conference, I don't think about them initially. And I don't even think about them in the top three. When I think about the SEC, I immediately think of Georgia and Texas. And oh, by the way, Alabama. Alabama is my stock down team.

Listen, things did not end well last season at Alabama. So not only are you going to have to replace Ty Simpson, which was really the only great part of their team last year. I know, listen, Bama fans get after me. I don't hate Alabama. I want Kailen DeBore to work out at Alabama. The sport is better when Alabama is a premier brand and program at the top. Nick Saban proved that. I want it to work out for him.

But the reality is that they are coming off back-to-back-back-for-loss years, that the best part of their job, team last year was Ty Simpson, by a wide margin, by the way, and they're losing Ty Simpson. I don't love what's going on down there. They were blown out by Georgia in the SEC championship game. They were blown out by Indiana. And it wasn't just like, oh, Indiana had a great day. No, no, no, no. Indiana did whatever they wanted to do. They ran the ball 50 times straight at Alabama. This is not the Alabama of two and three. three and four and five, and certainly not 10 years ago. So they have been trending down, and that trend, I think, is going to continue.

They've got to figure out their quarterback for next year. Is it going to be Austin Mack or Keel and Russell? Zero starts between them in an era in which experience is everything that you need at that position. They're losing starters out there. Isaiah Horton, he's gone. Will conformby, the guard, he's gone. Both of those guys to Ohio State. lost two defensive linemen to Ohio, or excuse me, to Ohio State.

I met the offensive players, Isaiah Horton and Wilkins Forme, went to A&M, both of those guys. Two defensive linemen go to Ohio State. And when you look at their portal, like, it was okay. It was okay. I didn't think it was great. So to me, it's a trajectory thing for Alabama. They are on a trajectory that is down. And I don't think that that is going to stop.

They have to level out at some point. in order to start going back up, but I don't sense that moment of them leveling out. I think that win against Georgia on the road last year was fantastic. There's no doubt. But, man, I don't see this team turning it around. Like I said, I think about the SEC. I think about Georgia and Texas. Sorry, Lane.

Don't think about LSU just yet. Man, why do I always get Lane in here? It's the offseason. It's fun. By the way, leave a comment below. Do you think, should I text Lane and do a big noon conversation with Lane? I would just love your thoughts down below. I think it would be awesome. Lane, let's do a big noon conversation.

It would be awesome. It would be great. We can yell at each other. You can yell at me. I think that would be a lot of fun. It would be right up our alley. Listen, go Tigis. Tell me what you think in the comments.

All right. team up. Stock up. I realize now I'm stuck in L.A. You know what? I didn't even realize that. UCLA. Didn't even realize that.

I like what UCLA is doing in the offseason. And again, this isn't necessarily like, oh, they're going to compete for the playoff. No, no, no, no. I'm just talking about trends, trajectories. I think UCLA is clearly pointing in the right direction and pointing up. Bob Chesney is a very good football coach. The reason I know that,

is because when Kurt Signetti left JMU, a lot of those players left. It's not like Bob Chesney was left some war chest at JMU to go continue to win. And guess what he did? Continue to win. Nine wins in his first season post-Sig. And Sig took, what was it, 13 players to Indiana. And then, of course, Chesney goes to the playoff in year two. 21 and 6 record in two seasons.

He knows what it's about. I think he is a very good football coach. And he doesn't have to start over at the most important position. He has got a two-year starting quarterback, one at Tennessee, one at UCLA, and Nico Iomaleava is 25 starts in, and he's a five-star player. And if that Penn State game taught us anything, it's that, listen, I know Tennessee fans don't like this guy, and maybe a lot of fans don't like him, because of everything that happened last off season right about now

in his exit from Tennessee and going to UCLA. I understand that. I really do. But fact remains, that was not a good football team except for him. And he was the one that would give them a chance, his ability to run it. And now you surround him with some better players. They brought in over 40 transfers, 10 of them from James Madison. Stop me if you've heard that before, including the running back Wayne Knight.

They brought in a starting safety from Utah, Teo Johnson. He's a good player, really highly recruited linebacker from Oklahoma. Malik Hartford from Ohio State, and the schedule is manageable. Like, again, trend up for the Bruins. I think UCLA is going to have a decent year next year. I think they could go to a bowl game, maybe more. Road games against Oregon and Michigan, clearly tough. But they miss in the Big Ten schedule, Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Penn State, and Washington.

Not bad. Not bad. USC to end the season at home in the Rose Bowl. UCLA, stock up. Stock down. It's hard for me not to put Florida State on this list. Florida State was down bad last year, and there really isn't any light at the end of that tunnel.

What happened after week one beating Alabama did not go well, did not go well. QB looks like it's going to be, I guess, Ashton Daniels, who has bounced around was Auburn's backup last year, played at the end of the season after starting out at Stanford. Like, is that the answer that? that you want? I don't know. And then late in the coaching carousel process, Gus Malzahn, their offensive coordinator, decides to retire. So like Mike Norville, listen, I like Mike Norville. I think Mike Norvelle is a pretty good football coach.

I think that's a challenging place. And they went the portal route. And then once you miss in the portal route, now it's like trying to get back on the marigle round once it's going really fast. It's tough to do. It's tough to do. And it hasn't worked out for them. And so now you're looking there in the last two years, they're 0 and 9 on the road. 0 and 9. Is it going to get better next year?

If you just base it on who they brought in, both from the high school level and from the transfer portal, it's like, I question it. Now, how good is the ACC going to be? I don't know. But they've been good enough to beat Florida State, in particular when Florida State is on the road. So down FSU.

You. Up, second or a third up team. My final up, stock up team is Virginia Tech. I think Virginia Tech made a great hire with James Franklin. That's a good football coach who just kind of like capped out ceiling type of deal at Penn State. But listen, you can't argue with what he was able to accomplish at Penn State. The guy was successful. Very successful. And, you know, he didn't win some of the bigger games. And they ran him out. fine. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have. And candidly, I think he probably would have admitted like it was time for a change. But he's a very good coach. And he goes to Virginia Tech, which is, I think, a place where he can fit. He's recruited that area very well over

his career. And he got Brent Pry, which is weird because Brent Pry was just their head coach, but he gets him to stay on his defensive coordinator. So they're putting the band back together. When Brent Pry was the defensive coordinator at Penn State for James Franklin, they were outstanding. Outstanding. And when I would talk with offensive coaches around the Big Ten, a lot of the times I would ask them these types of questions, in particular in the offseason, I would just say something like, hey, who is the most difficult defense to face? Not personnel, but schematics game plan-wise. And more often than not, the answer was Brent Pry, when he was in that position at Penn State. So now he's back in that position for James

Reglin at Virginia Tech. I like it. I like it. They got over 20 transfers, 12 of them from Penn State, including Ethan Grunkumeyer. And another anecdotal story here, and hopefully he won't be upset with me for talking about this. Grunklemyer played really well against Indiana, the undefeated national champ. And Penn State had him dead to rights in that game before Mendoza and Cooper go down the field and break Gus's vocal cords. But Grunkomier played really well.

And after the game, I'm texting with Brian Haynes in preparation for some of the future games. Brian Haynes, the defensive coordinator at Indiana. And I was like, I was like, man, I was like, credit that offensive line. They ran the ball well. And he texted back, I was so impressed by their quarterback. And Grunkumeyer was obviously playing for Aller at the time. And now he's leaving and he's going to follow James Franklin down to Virginia Tech.

I got to tell you, I think the guy I respect one of the two or three defense of coordinators I respect the most in college football. One of those would be Bryant Haynes from Indiana. when he tells me that that guy is unbelievable and he was hard to stop, that tells you something, that tells you something. So Virginia Tech, stock up. I like what James Franklin can do down there with the Hokies. And last one, stock down pains me to do this because you know,

you know how I feel, you know if you've watched this show for any length of time, you know how I feel about this program. I love this program. I really do. I really like the guy that's taking over, but Utah. Utah is going to go on my stock down teams. Listen, last year, they were just outside of that playoff discussion. Lost to tech at home.

It's a game that Gus and I and Jenny called. Lost to BYU. That was a tough one, obviously. And it felt like last year was really a year for them to break through and get to that level, possibly win the Big 12 and possibly go to the college football playoff. They had the line up front. It seemed to get the quarterback right and the offensive coordinator right, which they did, which they did.

did. And then it just didn't work out in those two specific games. They did everything right. Then I got to tell you, over the course of the last two, three, four years, they've also done everything right for a succession plan post Kyle Whittingham. They've been setting this up for a number of years. And that might be what hurt them, by the way, in this whole carousel. But they've been setting this up for Morgan Scali, the defensive coordinator, to take over for Kyle Wittingham. at the right time. And it was going to be the Bob Stoops to Lincoln Riley and the Urban Meyer to Ryan Day handoff.

And then it wasn't. And I got to tell you, like, it concerns me for Utah. It concerns me for Utah. So not only did Kyle Whittingham jump back into the coaching ranks, but he did so at a blue blood, where it was going to be incredibly enticing for others that were loyal to Kyle, that were at Utah, to join him and take a run at this thing. And that's exactly what happened.

So Jason Beck, who was outstanding for them as the offensive coordinator, he leaves. And now he's at Michigan. A couple of their best players, John Henry Daley, defensive lineman, excellent player, gone, going to Michigan. Smith Snowden, maybe their best overall player. A guy that they played on both sides of the football was excellent in the nickelback. He's gone. He goes to Michigan. Tide in J.J. Buchanan, gone to Michigan. Their five-star recruit in this year's class,

athlete, Celessi Moa. Sorry. Jim Harding, the offensive line coach. Kyle Whittingham, the head coach. Like, yikes. Yikes. So now all of a sudden this succession plan that was so, I think, I think, well thought out. and certainly could have kept them on the tracks for what Utah is,

death taxes, Utah football. Now it's like, are they going to be that? I don't know. I don't know. So I would point them a little bit down. I would point them a little bit down. And again, that hurts me. But Utah, everything that just happened with Kyle going to Michigan and then kind of the exits and what they got and everything, I don't know.

I don't know what's going to go on there. Real quick, I wanted to give you guys some like next up candidates because there were lot of teams that I considered in those three spots for stock up. I thought about Kentucky with what Will Stein is doing in this offseason and what he's building at Kentucky. I thought about what Rat Lashley is doing at SMU because he's got a lot of veteran guys back, including his quarterback. I like what Rett Lashley is doing at SMU.

They almost made my top three stock up. Cal with Tosh Lippoy. They've done a really good job. I love their young quarterback. And if you look at their transfer class, it's pretty good. remember the ACC is not a very good conference. And so you can make a big jump like that. So Cal, watch out for Cal.

Most know how I feel about Kyle Whittingham. And I just talked to you all about the reason I think Utah is stocked down is partly because I think Michigan is stock up. They almost made my list at Michigan. Indiana could have made it. But candidly, I can't put them on stock up because they're undefeated national champions. But Indiana had a great offseason. So those were all kind of candidates of teams that I was.

thinking of for potentially stock up. Notre Dame was on there. LSU. LSU is one of those teams I was thinking about, huh? Come on, Lane. Come on, Lane. It'll be fun. We'll have a great time. We'll have a great time. So, truth be told, I'm going to get to this Mr. B story in a moment. Truth be told, I am running out of gas right now. And you might be wondering, like, what do you mean? it's the off-season, Joel, aren't you getting a lot of rest? Yeah, that would be the case until my amazing wife decided that she wanted to do a 72-hour water fast. Guys, I am an hour 70 and a half. No, 71, no, 71.

It is Wednesday, what is it? Wednesday, February 11th currently. It is 538 p.m. when I am currently doing this right now. And I am in the last hour of a 72-hour water fat. I haven't eaten since Super Bowl Sunday. Again, it's Wednesday, February 11th. And I have not had a calorie since the Super Bowl, 6 p.m. of Super Bowl night. Now, granted, I ate a lot Super Bowl night, so I didn't feel like.

I got to tell you, I know, you guys have seen this all over, like online. There's all these, you know, all these people doing it. I think Rogan talks about it. I think Dana White did this at one point. But, you know, it's all over. And it's, she saw me like, yeah, your cells are going to eat all the bad cells. The last 24 hours is going to be the best.

No, it's not. I'm miserable. I'm running out of steam. I'm going to get a little bit loopy here in the last hour. Right when I'm done with this show, I'm going to eat my first calories since Super Bowl Sunday. And I'm just going to tell you, it could get really good here in this last 20, 20, 25 minutes.

It could get amazing. So buckle up. Have any of you done the water fast, by the way? 72 hours is a long time. It's a long time. Leave a comment down below. me how you felt afterwards. I mean, I feel, I guess, fine.

I guess I'm just a very lightheaded. I might even pass out right here. You have to watch the rest of the video. I may go forehead into the microphone at any moment. And it's going to be awesome. And it's going to be awesome. Okay. So there was this idea thrown out there that Mr. Beast,

if you don't know Mr. Beast, he's like a huge YouTube influencer, huge. He's got like 300 plus million subscribers. And he's worth a lot of money. People have offered him billions of dollars for his channel. and he has turned it down. So I got a lot of money. And he's from kind of that East Carolina area,

ECU, East Carolina, the Pirates. And someone threw out the idea of Mr. Beast donating $100 million to ECU. Because now what's happening in college football, and really college athletics in general, but everyone's just thinking about alumni from all these different schools. You know, it's like, what's your wealthiest alumni? And will he give millions of dollars? or she, sorry, sorry.

That was, guys, 71st hour of a waterfass. Person is the richest alumni willing to just throw millions of dollars at the football program. And so the idea of like, could he just throw ECU $100 million and make them a national champion? Interesting thought. I thought to myself, we should do that little thought experiment right here on the program. Why not? So can ECU go win a national championship? And he, by the way, responded, I believe his name is,

Jimmy. He responded with, should I do this? Jimmy, we're on YouTube. You should absolutely do this. I think it would be amazing. And we will celebrate that to no end. Because every program that commits to winning, I'm here for. It makes the sport better. The more programs that are all in, the better for college football. So, Mr. Beast, do it. Do it. I feel like that, yeah, that, you know, that, that meme. What was it, Starsky and Hutch? When Ben Stiller's a do it. Come on. Open up that trunk. Let's smell that new car smell. Come on. Do it. Jimmy, donate the $100 million. I think it would be amazing. He responded, should I do this with a crying emoji? He's from the area of ECU. I think it would be amazing. But it brings up the question,

can you just buy a championship in college football? Okay. Let's take it down from a championship, just a notch and just say, can you level up? Can you be elite? Can you go to the college football playoff if you have invested $100 million into your program? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. You can absolutely become a great program if you invest $100 million in your program. There is no doubt you can build a roster that can compete at the highest level. Absolutely. Now, I want to pause right there because I think what's, What's happening in college football is that there are soft narratives being built around our sport by a lot of different people. You know, people like me that just talk about the sport, former coaches, even coaches themselves.

And these soft narratives have started to creep in. And here are a couple. Here are a couple narratives. One is like, well, the Big Ten just has more money. And so that's why they're winning national championships. It's like, hmm, okay. That's interesting. Or Indiana just transferred in a great team and bought a team and bought a championship.

You see, I think both of those soft narratives are actually soft excuses. Because here's also what happens in college football. Is that no one actually wants to internalize failure because fan bases, booster clubs, administrators won't tolerate it. And so they'll move on quickly and we can see the cycle of coaches that just are in and out. So what ends up happening is that coaches typically become a bit protective and they will give excuses. Well, here are our challenges at our place that don't allow us to win at that level. Okay, so when Michigan's winning and Ohio State's winning and Georgia is winning, it's all fine and good because everybody can point to those programs and say, well, they're the blue bloods.

All right. And you know our issues here. You know, like we don't have X, Y, or Z, or we don't have a training table. We don't have, you know, enough NIL budget, so on and so forth. Every coach can traffic in excuses. Some of them soft, some of them more ornate. But that's kind of college football. And it's a bit of a woe is me type of deal, but it's a self-preservation type of deal.

And coaches operate in that. Here's the problem. Here's the problem. It's not true anymore because Indiana. Indiana. You see, the narrative being built that the Big Ten is winning these championships just because they spend more money than the SEC is wrong. Those that peddle that narrative are peddling a false narrative.

It's just false. Now, they might get more money in their revenue. share, but that doesn't mean that every program in the Big Ten is spending more money than teams in the SEC. That's absurd. That's an absurdity. And we know it. We know it on its face. I personally think, because it's hard to get this actual information, there are floating information out there, this and that. And you can see rankings of what rosters cost. I think Texas was the most expensive roster in college football last year. I believe that's the case. Educated guests there. Okay. I believe that's the case. And here's the thing.

There are a lot of expensive rosters and some of the most expensive rosters in the entire sport in the SEC. There are some expensive rosters in the Big Ten as well. Those two conferences have the most money. There is no doubt. But this idea that the Big Ten somehow has outlandish resources compared to the SEC is false. And in particular when you point at Indiana, because that's not the way that Indiana won their national championship. In fact, this is what really strikes a nerve with everybody

is that Indiana won a national championship with less. Because when you look at their last four opponents, they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. They beat Alabama in the Rose Bowl. They beat, well, who is it? Oregon in the national semifinal, and then they beat Miami in the national championship game. There is no way.

And again, I don't. don't know the numbers to be exact, but I am just telling you, based on what I know in the conversations that I have, which are extensive within this sport, there is no possible way that Indiana spent more on their roster than any of those programs. Do you hear what I'm saying? So when you hear this idea of like, well, they, you know, they just have more money. They have a billionaire. Mark Cuban. No, that's a false narrative. So let's go. back to the premise. Like, can ECU just spend $100 million? Not necessarily. You can level up. Obviously, that's true. We're seeing that with Texas Tech and we see that with several other

programs. You can see that with Oregon. They've leveled up over the last two and three decades to the point where they're a perennial power. But to say that in regards to Indiana's championship and to pass this championship off as just, you know, a bot championship is wrong. Here's what actually happened. Indiana went out there and they found the right coach and he was the right fit. Now, did they invest in the sport? Absolutely. Did they invest at the level that even the programs that they beat invested? I don't think that they did. The evidence of that, by the way, is that Kurt Signetti was the lowest paid coach of those four that they beat at the beginning of the year. Now he's not after the extensions, but he was at the beginning of the year. And their roster was also such.

Remember, if you look at the talent composite, which is a flawed metric because it just rates based on the high school rankings and ratings, their talent composite was 72nd in the country, which is wild. Here's a better apples to apples comparison, right? Let's look at the transfer portal from a year ago and the players that Indiana brought out of the transfer portal. Do you know how many transfer players Indiana brought into their team that were in the top 100 transfers in all of college football? one. One. And his name was Fernando Mendoza. And by the way, if Miami wanted Fernando Mendoza, they could have had Fernando Mendoza. He was from there. He's a fan of Miami. That's all he wanted was to go to Miami. Indiana, unfortunately, and I don't know if he would admit it now, was his second choice. They all had their crack at these guys. A hundred percent. So the idea

that they bought this and that, oh, you know, woe is us in the SEC in particular, like, oh, you know, poor us. We can't compete with Mark Cuban. That is absolutely wrong. Indiana winning was bad for all of those programs. That's why you're seeing and hearing these soft narratives peddled by people all over about money this and money that. It's not really about that.

They had a better coach than everybody else. They found the right players to be in the right scheme. They paid their assistance the right amount of money to keep them where they were at. They had experience in the right spots, and they evaluated players appropriately. That was their secret sauce. Listen, the excuse machine is working hard, but Indiana did it with coaching, evaluation, fit, and experience. That's the truth.

And that's what it made me think of when this idea gets thrown out there about, like, well, Mr. Beasts could just go buy a national championship. In the back of that, the soft narrative behind a sentiment like that is that anybody can do what Indiana just did. I don't think that that's the case. I really don't. And I think that it's selling short their championship. They were 16 and 0. They went out there and with the 72nd ranked roster and college football,

won 16 straight games beat Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, and Miami in succession to finish the year and win a national championship. Let's not sell that short. Let's not sell that short. And I don't think that we should. I don't think we should. By the way, the teams that we beat that they beat in the talent composite, Alabama was two, Ohio State was three, Oregon was five, Miami was 15. They were 70 second.

If you look at high school ratings in 2024, Georgia was number one, Alabama was number two, Texas was six, LSU was seven, OU was eight. You think they're not spending money to get those rosters? Come on. Come on. Like we can't honestly sit there and take anyone serious. They're like, well, the Big Ten just has more money. Pound sand.

What is that? That's false. And I'll call it out when I see it. All right, we move on. I told you it'd get a little spicy. I'm almost done. I've got like 20 minutes before I can eat. North Dakota State is coming to the FBS.

Love this. The Bison joining the FBS. They're joining the Mountain West for 2026. They've won 10 of the last 15. National Championships. I think they're going to come in and do really well in the FBS, in particular in the Mountain West. They were the number one seed last year.

They did get upset by Illinois State in last year's playoffs. Their record against FBS opponents since they went to the FCS, because they used to be like the old Division 2 and then now they were FCS. Their record against FBS opponents is nine and five. And four of those five losses were by five points or less. They've beaten Minnesota, Kansas, Kansas State. Iowa State and Iowa. By the way, Iowa was 13th in the time. That was back in 2016. So now they're going to be in the Mountain West, and that's going to look a lot different.

Boise State's now out. There's some conference realignment happening there. So here's what the Mountain West looks like. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it. If you're just listening to this, Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, now North Dakota State, the Bison, Northern Illinois, San Jose State, UNLV, U-TEP, and Wyoming. So that's what it's going to look like. With the PAC 12 coming back and Boise State moving over, it's going to look a little bit different. But love this move.

Now, they are appealing. Remember how JMU couldn't go to the postseason, couldn't be ranked for a little bit when they jumped up. NDSU, they're going to have that same issue. They're appealing to try to get postseason eligibility earlier. I don't know why we wouldn't. If you're leveling up, why wouldn't we allow that? Stupid NCAA.

Let's hope that they can get in there. Because again, I think that this is a team that could wind up in the college football playoff in the next five years. Next five years. There we go. So North Dakota State, congratulations. I once took a recruiting trip there, by the way. It was awesome.

The Fargo Dome. A couple of stories here to end on in this week's edition. Alabama, reportedly, is considering getting rid of their home and home series with Ohio State. That series is going to be in 2027 and 28. That's what Paul thinks is going to happen. Paul Feinbaum. So the SEC is going to nine conference games.

We all know that. Plus, there's a requirement that they've got to play a Power 4 team in the non-conference. And you might think to yourself like, well, that's great. Doesn't Ohio State fit that bill? But the problem is that they've also got other opponents for those years in the Power 4. So the thought is, with the way that the CFP is constructed, and they haven't fixed themselves, and it's still a selection-based product. And now we still have the committee just select.

based on record at the end of the year, because the CFP is so faulty and won't fix itself and is so poor, we're going to lose games like this. I would not be surprised if this game is canceled by Alabama. In 2028, they have Oklahoma State on the schedule. In 2009, they're supposed to play Notre Dame, but they also have Oklahoma State on the schedule. In 2030, they have Notre Dame on the schedule, but also Georgia Tech. So to me, I think that they're going to get out of those big games add a power four opponent that they feel like they're superior to. Because as we've seen, as we've seen, with this model of postseason, a loss in the non-conference, even in a giant game, is way worse for you than scheduling

nobody and winning that game. That is obvious. This is where things are headed. This is why I think that we need a change in format. I've talked about this at length. Go back to those episodes. We've got them all in the library there on the YouTube page. teams are going to be afraid of what happened to Texas this past year.

Loss versus Ohio State, I think probably cost them that playoff spot. So they're going to be looking at that and getting out of that. Good job, college football. Way to build structures that incentivize teams not to do what the fans want them to do. Speaking of what the fans want them to do, last story, CFP, way to go. You're on a heater. announces that the CFP schedule for next season. And guess what?

It's awful. So the title game is going to be even later next year. That's right. Six days later than what we had this last year. It was on, I believe, the 19th next year. The 25th of January, because that's what all of us were just clamoring for. Yes, because that's what fans want is more breaks in the college football playoff. Here's what the schedule looks like.

First round, December 18th and 19th. That's a Friday and Saturday. So again, we can't play right after a conference championship game weekend. For what reason? I don't know. But we don't. And we drag this thing out. Then we're going to play the quarterfinals.

But problem. NFL is going to play on Thursday, December 31st, New Year's Eve. So we can't go up against the NFL, big bad NFL. So what are we going to do rather than completing our playoff through the month of December and finishing on January 1? No, no, no, no. What should we do? let's throw out random awful dates that avoid the NFL.

It's a great idea. Quarterfinals, December 30th, day off, then January 1st. So Wednesday and Friday. But because they go Wednesday, Friday, they can't just hop into the next week because now you've got an extra day of rest for the winners of the Wednesday game. Well, that can't happen.

So what should we do? More time off. Yeah, you bet. So the semifinals are going to be January 14th and 15th. That's a Thursday Friday, Wildcard round is that weekend. So they'll get drowned out by that noise. And then we can't just play, you know, the next Monday because now we don't have enough time because we had to avoid the NFL.

So the champ game goes to Monday the 25th. Oh, painfully stupid is what that is. This format is awful. It does not help the fans, does not help college football. it does not help coaches. It does not help the transfer portal. It does not help the calendar. It doesn't help anything. We're going to continue to have coaches fired early and have to make decisions about the playoff because our playoff is stupid. We won't play a championship until 50 days, 50 days after Selection Sunday and the title game. Seven weeks to play four rounds. What are we doing? What are we doing?

I don't understand it. Here's what the comments were from Rich Clark, the executive director of the CFP. He says, we want to, quote, maximize the fan experience, end quote. What are you talking about? That doesn't maximize the fan experience at all, at all. In fact, the only thing that would maximize the fan experience in the CFP is playing the CFP through the month of December on campus so that you're not taxing the fan base every single year with multiple neutral site, boring, stale environments. Why are we doing that? Please stop. It's terrible for the fans, maximizing the fan experience. He goes on to say these dates allow us to maintain competitive balance. Remember I was talking to you about that weird off day in the quarterfinals where you got

December 30th and then January 1st because you got to avoid Thursday, December 31st because the NFL plays there. So we got to maintain competitive balance, maximize the fan experience. what is that about? That doesn't make any sense at all. Provide consistency for everyone involved in the playoff. He goes on to say, I also want to thank our bowl partners and their local communities for the incredible work, collaboration, and commitment they've shown throughout the first two years of the expanded playoff. The bowl games and the people behind them embraced change, delivered at the highest level,

and helped ensure the expanded format was a success for student athletes, fans, and the sport. No, it wasn't. What are you talking about? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. The bowl system, while I love the people involved in the bowl system, okay, and I think bulls should exist for teams outside of the college football playoff, I think they should, absolutely. But the bowl system in the playoff is oil and water.

Do you know what it is? It's like Netflix having an idea that's going to modernize the way that we consume movies, content, whatever it is. And them being concerned about, well, what are we going to do about Blockbuster? You put Blockbuster out of business. The college football playoff has put the bowl games out of business. We don't need them in the playoff. I don't know how more clearly I can state that.

there is no reason to do this because doing this creates barriers to the decision-making process and the structure process. I think that that's pretty clear. I think that that's pretty clear. By the way, no help the following year, National Championship is going to be the same structure with the championship game in what will that be, 2008 on January 24th. All we talk about, all we talk about, and all coaches want is the calendar fixed.

And the one entity in our sport, the one entity that actually has a little bit of power and could look over the whole sport and not just one silo. They're not representing just one conference or one program or one region. The CFP is really the only umbrella over the entire country. and yet it's the one entity that will not move in a fashion that improves the sport for the future. It's wildly frustrating. Wildly frustrating. Our next show is going to be next Monday, and I'm about to eat.

Like I said, I knew it was going to get a little crabby right there. And thankfully, I hope that I hope that wasn't too harsh. I don't think it was because I do think that that, That calendar is really bad. It's really bad. And now I'm going to go eat. Come back next Monday. We will have another Joel Platts show.

Subscribe to the channel. Go check out the mock draft if you would. And enjoy your week, everybody.