The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Colorado & Coach Prime take down Nebraska, Texas rolls the Tide and rises in Klatt’s Top 10 Rankings

Episode Date: September 11, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt marvels at the atmosphere in Boulder as Coach Prime won his home debut over Nebraska. Klatt breaks down what impressed him about their win while also considering how incredible it is that a team that was 1-11 last season is captivating the country right now. Next, he shifts to Texas’ huge win over Alabama and why it shows that the Longhorns are legitimate national championship contenders this year. He also reveals how far the win in Tuscaloosa launched Texas up his Top 10 rankings. Klatt states whether that game was a sign that Alabama under Saban is set for a fall from the sport’s elite programs. He then discusses how scary USC is this year and why he believes this team is different than last year’s group. He also goes in on how Texas A&M continues to fall short in the Jimbo Fisher era after their loss in Miami. Finally, Klatt reacts to the news of Michigan State HC Mel Tucker being suspended without pay due to an investigation into sexual harassment allegations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Glad Show, Coach Prime has doubled Colorado's win total in two games. And Texas is... Wait, are they really? 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 one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again.

What is going on? Welcome to a Monday of the Joel Clats show. presented by Hampton by Hilton. We've got a lot to get into, and I can't wait for this one. I got to tell you, that was a great day of college football. I mean, and it's been a little bit busy. You know, yeah, I'm in a T-shirt and a hat. Why?

I've been traveling all day, getting back, took my family back to see my folks and grandparents on both sides, cousins on both sides. My kids got to go to the game on Saturday. That was very cool. If you don't know, I was in Colorado, calling the Colorado. and Nebraska game. And I'm pretty sure all of you know that because we saw the ratings

and they were massive. Before we get into the game, we will, remember, go follow us Joel Klatt show, any of the social media is out there at Joel Klatt show. You can follow me on X at Joel Klatt. You can get my top 10 every Saturday night,

usually right there, my new top 10 for the week. And you need to subscribe to the show. wherever you listen to your podcast, subscribe, rate, review the show. You know, click the like button if there is a like button. I don't know if there is on podcast, but there is on the YouTube page. So if you're watching on YouTube, make sure to subscribe. If you're not watching on YouTube, that's all right.

Go to YouTube and subscribe anyways because there's going to be some exclusive content through the year right there on YouTube. Like, review it, all that different stuff. Let's get into it. This was a phenomenal day of football. I loved it. First of all, first and foremost, I grew up in Colorado, played at the University of Colorado. I have not seen Folsom Field like that, save for maybe twice.

Yeah, yeah, probably just twice in its history. I go back to 2001 when Colorado beat Nebraska. This, of course, was Thanksgiving week. It put Colorado in the Big 12 championship game. They beat them 62, 36 when Nebraska was ranked number one. That's probably the greatest environment. in the history of Folsom Field. Having said that, the day at Colorado on Saturday was electric.

And it was epic from start to finish. Big Noon kickoff, of course, was there. Kids were out there at six, five in the morning, six in the morning, seven in the morning. They were getting breakfast. It was unbelievable. By the way, Big Noon Kickoff, Colorado students coming back. I know Game Day is going to be there as well.

But Big Noon Kickoff, just remember, we're the OG of the year. We were there first. We put you on the air first. We put you on the air. Second, we brought our studio show there first. Make sure to go there and check out the big noon kickoff guys on Saturday morning. The environment was incredible. You could feel it.

It was like Colorado was ready to erupt. The fan base was ready to erupt, in particular because of this offseason, all the hype surrounding Coach Prime. and then the home debut and coming off the win over TCU. And it was electric. Now we get to the game. And the game was not electric. Let's face it, it was sloppy and poorly played early in the game from both teams.

Both teams. Nebraska clearly, all the turnovers on the offensive side, they need a lot of help on the offensive side. And it starts with like just getting the snap. Colorado, sloppy offensively. Now, they win 3614. And here's what's so remarkable about the performance from Colorado on Saturday, is they didn't even play well at all in one going away.

Really should have been like 427. You know, that's really what the game was. It was like 42, 45, 7, something along those lines. Colorado was not great in the red zone. They were not disciplined, had far too many penalties. Now, they did capitalize on some turnovers, and I don't want to suggest that like every single time they play, they would be able and be the beneficiary of some of those turnovers.

Because those turnovers were unforced errors for the most part on Nebraska and their quarterback Jeff Sims. But here we are sitting two games into the season, and Coach Prime has doubled the win total from a year ago. Not hard, obviously they were 1 and 11. I've told you countless times how bad Colorado was last year. And it's still staggering to me. I say these numbers all the time, and it's still staggering to me because they lost by an average of 29.

They're 1 and 11. They faced seven ranked opponents, lost those games by an average of 36. Their last four, when it's like, oh, you know, like no hope, they lost by an average of 41.5. Deion Sanders comes in, retools the roster their 2-0 and ranked 18th in the country. They welcome Nebraska in with their heralded new coach, Matt Ruhl, and handled them not even playing well. Not even playing well. The mark of a really good team is a team that can win handily when they don't even come close to playing their best. And that wasn't even close to what Colorado showed the week before, in particular on the offensive side against TCU.

So, at least in my estimation, like, there's still room for growth. We didn't see a complete game against TCU. They beat the defending national runner up on the road to open the season. See a really poorly executed game against a Power 5 opponent and a rival in Nebraska when going away. This is a really good team. They're ranked 18th and they should be. This is not a gimmick. Those of you waiting for this to crash and the slipper to not fit or whatever you want to call it, right?

The Cinderella story, this is not going away because Colorado is a very good team. The evidence is you play that poorly and when going away against Nebraska. Colorado was held without a point in their first four drives. Didn't score until the 420 mark of the second quarter. And then they end up scoring 36 points. So, like, that's pretty explosive after that. Think of what they did after those first four drives. They end up scoring and then at least if you eliminate mop-up duty, right?

The starters played about those last eight series that the starters played, at least when Shador was still in, Shador Sanders. What did they do? Oh, you know, they just scored seven of eight times. So, like, the offense found a rhythm. They found a little bit of a run game after halftime. Shudor calmed down a little bit. found some completions and Xavier Weaver's going off for over 100 yards and all of a sudden it's

like, oh yeah, here we go. You know, Colorado's offense is right up there about to score 40 points again. They need to be better in the red zone. That obviously was an issue for them. They only scored three touchdowns and six red zone trips. That's not going to cut it. They still don't have the margin that the top echelon teams in college football have. So they still need to take care of business when it comes to things like scoring touchdowns in the red zone three touchdowns and six red zones red zone trips is not going to cut it by the way one of those field goals they had first and goal from the one and settled for a field goal can't you can't have that shodore at times was was taking sacks that he shouldn't have happened on that series by the way first and goal from the one they

throw the ball it's incomplete they run it they get stuffed then they try to throw it again and I'm thinking to myself like this might be four down territory like why wouldn't you go for it on fourth and one go back to the run game on fourth down. He takes a big sack, forces his coach's hand, happens to be his dad into kicking that field goal. Things like that will get better. It wasn't even his best game almost through for 400 yards. Shador Sanders at this point in the season has put himself, I think squarely within the top three conservatively in the Heisman Trophy conversation. You have to start with Caleb Williams and we'll get to that in the moment because we're going to talk about USC in this show. But Shurdo

Sanders is in that conversation. There's no doubt about it. You think of the numbers that he's put up, the fact that he has not turned the ball over. He's playing remarkably well. I mentioned the penalties earlier, and that was part of this, this lack of discipline, frankly, from Colorado. And listen, Dion, the whole week was talking about, this is personal, this is personal, this is personal. Nebraska goes out there, they stand on the 50. Shudor's out there. He's showing him his watch. Nobody played disciplined. You can't have nine penalties for 80 yards, four false starts, four unsportsman-like conducts. One was offsetting, so, you know, kind of mitigates that, an unnecessary roughness. Stuff like that, those type of penalties are not what I would call effort penalties. Those are

controllable penalties. You can't, unsportsman like conduct is a controllable penalty. That's a discipline deal. You've got to be willing as a player to not react. That's all it is. You've got to have a stronger will than the opponent. You've got to be willing to not react for the sake of your team. Even if you feel like affronted as a man, doesn't matter. You can't react. False starts totally in their control. So all of these penalties are fixable issues. All right. If you go out there and you just have like eight holding calls. It's like, well, that's kind of tough. We'll try not to hold, but obviously, like, that goes against you at time. This is not PI, which is just kind of pop up. Those are effort penalties. Guys are trying hard. They get a hold. You get a DPI and OPI, something along

those lines. Four fall starts for unsportsmanlike penalties. Like, you can correct that in a week, and they need to, and they need to if they're going to go through the rest of their schedule and more on that in the moment. The only other part that was a bit alarming, and I touched on it for a moment was the sacks. They're going to have to protect the quarterback better. As poorly as Nebraska played on the offensive side, they played really well on the defensive side. I'm a big fan of defensive coordinator Tony White at Nebraska and what he's doing with that side of the ball. I know they gave up 36. I know they gave up scores and seven of the last eight drives, but their game plan initially before they started getting worn out was very good. They were

stopping the run with the defensive front seven and six at times. They were getting pressure with that six-man front and sometimes just a four-man and three-man rush. Those are things that are going to give Colorado a lot of problems. And you saw Shudor, this is when I know a quarterback is uncomfortable. His feet started to move faster than they were

against TCU, and he started to pat the ball. I know exactly how comfortable a quarterback is based on how many times he's patting the ball. He doesn't see it. It's all muddy. And Nebraska did a

great job of that. They were mixing coverage and pressure and it forced you to hold the ball and he took too many sacks. They're going to have to clean that up for Colorado. And all that being said, they win 3614. They are a really good team, absolutely a top 20 team, which is remarkable. You think a while about where this program is. Why were there 10 million people close to 10 million people watching that game on Saturday? By the way, just more people watch the Colorado. Nebraska game, then Bama, Texas, you think people aren't interested in Dion Sanders and Colorado and this story? This story is transcending all of sports. That's probably why you're listening to this right now. You see like the title and it's like, oh, he's going to talk about Prime and in Colorado.

Of course I'm going to listen to it. You should see the numbers from the podcast last week. You see the numbers on the game. It's staggering how interested people are and watching what's going on. And it's because of the level of ineptitude that Colorado was displaying a year ago and where they're at now. They're 2 and O, a bona fide top 20 team just handled Nebraska not even playing well, 3614, and they are in the mix for the best recruits in the country. It's not, this is wild. This is wild. Bryce Underwood, number one player in the country, quarterback from the state of Michigan in the class of

2025 visiting Colorado when they play USC. Like, when was the last time the number one player in the country visited Colorado? I think it was probably either like Darnell Scott in like 2007 or Marcus Houston. Was Marcus Houston? I mean, he was like the number one running back. This is in the class of 2000. This hasn't happened at Colorado. They used to have studs.

Colorado in the late 80s. and 90s, they were right up there with anybody in the country as far as placing talent in the NFL. That's obviously not been the case over the last two decades. Now, here we are. It's 2023. Dion Sanders is the head coach of the University of Colorado. They're 2 and 0. They're number 18 in the country.

And they've got the best players in the country walking in, calling them to take visits to Folsom Field and to visit Boulder, Colorado. a year ago today, basically this week, they're coming off a 31 point loss to Air Force, team in their own state. And now you're getting the number one player in the country in 2025 to come visit your school, you're too annoyed. That's why 10 million people are watching,

because we've never seen this. We've never seen anything like this. And it's not a Cinderella because, like I said, they played bad in one big. never I'm losing the ability to try to contextualize this we just have to start facing up to the fact all of us everybody it's like we got to start we got to stop I should say talking about the roster flip and like is this going to work what's going to happen they're just a really good team they're just a really good team. Really good quarterback. He's in the top three of the Heisman trophy race.

Gonna be tough though. I'll just say like people have asked me already that are Colorado fans like, hey, are we going to win 10 games? I don't know about that. Why? Six of the remaining 10 games are against ranked opponents because the Pack 12 just became the toughest conference in college football. Maybe they don't have the best team in college football, but this is hands down. And I've been saying it for weeks, basically since the preseason, this is the deepest conference in college football. And now you look at the remaining opponents for Colorado. They're going to have to go travel to Austin Stadium and face 13th ranked Oregon. Then they host USC. Later in the year, they've got to go to UCLA. They host Oregon State. UCLA is now ranked 24. Oregon State's ranked 16.

They're going to host them. They got to travel to Washington State who just beat Wisconsin on their home field before hosting Utah, who's ranked 12th and the defending two-time Pac-12 champion to end the season. That's a ridiculous schedule. Ridiculous schedule. If I was handicapping it right now, I would put them at like over under seven and a half. I'm going over that. I think that they're kind of like that eight right now. Don't tell Dion. By the way, he might play this for the team because he's using anything and everything as motivation to fight complacency within that program, which is having a lot of success now early. But you look at that schedule, man, that's going to be really, really tough. Really, really tough. And they're making everybody

else's schedule really, really tough. Imagine Oregon and you're like, oh, okay, we just barely beat Texas Tech on the road. And yeah, you could see that one being a struggle. And now we're going to host Colorado with a guy who's in the Heisman conversation. and a defense that just obliterated Nebraska, but of course it's not a great Nebraska offense, but you get what I'm saying. They just made everybody's schedule very, very tough. All right, let's move on.

Because who would have thought in the offseason, really for the last 10 off seasons, who would have thought that there would be a story bigger than Texas beating Alabama and Tuscaloosa? Granted, we found it. like I said, more people watched Colorado beat Nebraska than watched Texas beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. But here we are Texas beating Bama on the road. I told you all the numbers, and this is what really gave me pause.

And I'll be honest. So like, I have a guy, he's a producer on this show, and then he's like my brain. I don't say anything to you, whether it's on a game or this show, that I haven't talked with Steve about. Steve and I in the summer talking about the season made a pact. Because we both in July, we're both like, hey, Texas is really good. And we were both like, no, no, we can't do it. We can't do it. We can't do this again.

this is a trap. This feels like a trap. You know, remember last year when I was given those picks and I would be like, this feels like a trap. So when like your wife just doesn't give you anything other than like, do you like this shirt on me? And you're like, I don't know what the answer is. Right. We didn't want to get, Steve and I did not want to get sucked back into Texas. So we made a pact. We're not talking about Texas until they do something. Well, guess what? Texas, you just did something. You just did something that basically nobody does. In fact, the only team that has in the last 54 games in Tuscaloosa is the Joe Burrow LSU Tigers who went on to win the national championship. And that's beating Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

There's so much to get into in this game. But I'm going to start with this. I have thought Texas is really good since the summer. Didn't want to talk about it. Really didn't. Why? Because they constantly play to the level of their competition. And candidly, we've seen that both of the games this season.

In their sloppy and sluggish performance against Rice, in particular on the offensive line. And then their incredible performance on the road against Alabama. Everyone's going to wonder like, is Texas back? We've got to stop with that because back is so long ago. They were great in 2005. They were great in 2008 and 9. And they were winning 10 ball games, you know, every single year. Like, good on them.

There's awesome. It's a great program. They're so far removed from that. So many coaches removed from that. This whole slogan and question of Is Texas Back has hampered and hindered this program for years. For years. they've had this standard and they've been trying to skip steps of how to build a program for so many years rather than just doing it right. Okay.

That being said, Texas is an elite team this year. That's the question we should ask ourselves every year. Not as Texas back. Is Texas elite this year? Yes, they're elite this year. That's why I put them at, what did I put them? Three in my rankings? I know our guys have our rankings.

Yeah, they're up. Three. Boom. Texas. Couldn't really put them over UGA. Thought about putting them over Michigan. I really did. Probably should have. But I didn't. Texas and number three, Florida State,

four, Ohio State 5, Penn State 6, USC 7. Don't like that ranking by me. If I was shading me, I would shade me on the USC ranking. Then I've got Washington 8, Bama 9, Utah 10. Okay, let's get into this. We are officially allowed to start talking about Texas as a college football playoff,

not only contender, but favorite to get into that spot. At this point, their path to the playoff, it's pretty easy. as much as you want to say that, in particular in the Big 12, when you always get a lot of tight games. If I look at Georgia and Texas, those are the two paths that I would consider the easiest of all of those teams in the top 10.

Now, Bama's got a loss. They still have to play Ole Miss and LSU and then possibly Georgia in the SEC championship game. Utah's got to go through the PAC 12. USC's got to go through the PAC 12. Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State all have to play each other and Florida State still has to play Clemson. So maybe it's like Georgia, Texas and Florida State are probably the three easiest

paths to the playoff here in the last year of the 14th playoffs. That's how good Texas was. Let's get into the game now. The reason that this is not just like Ole Miss beating, beating Alabama in a one-off or Texas A&M with Johnny Mansell beating them in a one-off, it's because it wasn't just like some crazy play or a lot of turnovers, even. even though they got turnovers. This was a team that was just better than Alabama.

They were just better. They win by 10 in Tuscaloosa, and candidly, it could have been more. They didn't execute inside the 10-yard line a couple of times, or else it could have been more. It was real because of what happened in the second half. And what happened in the second half is what gives me belief that Texas not only can, but probably will go to, the college football playoff.

And that is the fact that they owned the line of scrimmage against Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the second half. That wasn't a fluke. That was not a fluke. Both sides of the ball laid in the game, Alabama was getting it handed to them by Texas. Let's walk through it. Okay, Texas D-Line, 14 quarterback pressures, five sacks on Milro. Five.

They won that battle. completely. Okay? Texas, in the last seven minutes of the game, didn't leave the field with their offense, ended the game on the field. They take the field with 7.14 left. It's a 10 point game, two possessions.

In my mind, I'm thinking to myself, okay, Alabama's thinking about getting the ball back, they have three timeouts left. If they can get the ball back with five minutes, that means you stop them. if you go three and out right there if you're Texas, you're going to punt the ball away and give the ball to Alabama in a 10-point game, and they're going to have three timeouts and about 505-5-10 left in the game.

You can do that. You can do that. You can get two possessions out of five minutes. What did Texas do with 714 left? Steve Sarkeesian didn't get cute with a trick play to, you know, find a first down. they handed the ball off three straight times and got a first down. Bam, bam, bam, bam, first down. That's when I was like, oh, oh, okay.

This is different. This is very different. On the subsequent series, now there's five minutes to go, and Alabama begins to do what? Use their timeouts. Texas then still gets a first down. And on the crucial play of the game, it's third down, Bama's got to have it. They're out of timeouts.

This is it. Texas hands the ball off again. And he goes right up the middle for a first down. The offensive line for Texas rolled out there and handled business. their running game in the second half was way better. Their ability to protect the passer was far superior to what Alabama's was. Quinn Ewers had time on all those deep shots to get the ball down the field. Worthy caught a big deep shot.

This was a team that was just flat better all around than Alabama. And that's what gives me belief that this was not a fluke. They probably should have won last year. definitely handled them this year. And now if you're Texas, you better hold a high standard for yourself because it's real now. Now it's like this,

it's real at Texas finally. It's not, is Texas back? It's more, is Texas elite and is it real? Yeah, it's real. This is real. This is a team. I can't believe I'm saying this. This is a team that can play for a national championship.

Look at the talent on that team. If you looked at the talent that Texas has compared to the rest of the Big 12, it's like not even close. It's not even close. They should win their conference and they should be in the college football playoff with a chance to compete for a national championship. It's how good this team is. And that's what Saturday proved.

They're number four in the country right now. I've got them three. That's the highest they've been ranked, by the way, since they played for a national championship back in 2009. they just controlled the line of scrimmage. They controlled the line of scrimmage. Bama didn't have a real shot. I thought it was, Bama was lucky that they were in the game to a large extent

because in particular in the second quarter, Texas was not capitalizing on a bunch of opportunities, and it was only 13 to 9 at one point. And then all of a sudden Alabama gets a score and it's 16, 13, and then it was just like, boom, boom, boom. Texas kind of took control of the game. That leads us to the question about Alabama, suffering their first double-digit home loss of the Sabin era.

I can just imagine right now, I just remember what I did on Colin Cowherd a few years ago. It was after one of those old missed losses. And I went on Colin Coward and I was like, Alabama's got a Nick Sabin problem. it's the dumbest thing I've said in my career. I hope you're like, if you're listening to this, I hope you're seeing,

or excuse me, not seeing, hearing the regret in my voice over that comment. If you're watching, you know that like, I had to put my hat backwards because it's just like, you got to face the adversity.

That was the adversity of my career. Was the dumbest take of my career. I will not repeat it, period. Period. Alabama is not going anywhere. Period. Okay.

Those of you that want to bury Alabama, let's be very honest. If you look at a team like Clemson and the way that they struggled with Duke on the road and what they looked like, and what Alabama looked like against an elite Texas team, then we need to be honest with ourselves and say, like, those are two different things. Those teams five years ago, they were the preeminent programs in the country.

Those who we were, we were constantly asking ourselves, are we ever going to have a national championship game that's not Bama Clemson? Oh, Bama, Clemson fatigue, this or that. These two programs are not on the same trajectory. Clemson's trajectory is headed down, period. Alabama may be flat, but they're not going anywhere. Okay. Let's take this and be real honest with ourselves for a moment. How many teams could actually do what Texas did to Alabama even this year?

And there's not many. There's not many. What Texas did is they owned the line of scrimmage and then they forced Bama to play a game that they were going to be completely, I don't want to say unprepared, uncomfortable with playing. With Jalen Milrow as their starting quarterback, they need to play with the lead. This is no longer the Bryce Young and Mack Jones and Tua and Jalen Hertz. They've had an elite quarterback for a long time. They don't have that anymore. So they have to go back to the drawing board in terms of the style of game that they're not only comfortable playing,

but the style of game that they have to play in order to win. They need to have the lead. Okay? The first quarter is vital. The opening series, vital. The fact that they've got to hold on to the football early in games. Because if they can play from the lead, then they can throw the ball when they want to, not when they have to.

Because you saw exactly what happens when they had to throw the ball when they had to. They couldn't protect Milro trying to develop some of those offensive linemen. And Milrow is not a guy that's just going to drop back and control the game from the pocket. He stared down a couple of receivers. He turned the ball over. And quite frankly, that's not a game that he's best suited to play. He's best suited when he is in a two-dimensional offense that can run, throw, use RPO's, use his legs as a weapon.

That's where Alabama is going to be good. So you have to ask yourself like, well, how many teams can actually put Alabama into that box? All right? Into that locker. Who can stuff Alabama in? into a locker. Not many. I don't even, I would have said like, well, maybe LSU, maybe. But like after what we saw against Florida State, I don't even know if they can. So like, let's let's not, the sky is not falling for Alabama.

They still have the number one roster in college football as it, according to 24-7 talent. The composite, they're the best roster in college football. this is going to continue. They just had the number one class. They're going to continue to recruit at that level. Here's the composite. You can see it on YouTube. Alabama is one.

Georgia is two. Ohio State is three. Texas A and M is four. Clemson is five. Those two definitely going in the wrong direction. Texas might be one of the best teams in the country. And they are unique in the sense that they were good enough on the line of scrimmage to make Bama uncomfortable. I just don't see the teams on Bama's scrimmish.

schedule that's going to be able to replicate that game plan that Texas had this weekend in Tuscaloosa. I will say this. They do, I've been saying since the offseason, I'm concerned about Alabama at quarterback. We all should have seen and read, you know, kind of between the lines when they brought in Buckner after spring. And this is my post-spring podcast. I remember saying like, this is not.

a good sign. When Nick Saban brought in a transfer and that transfer had a close relationship with the new OC, that means that that guy thought that it was a real competition. So Buckner comes in for a real competition. Why? Because Milrow didn't look great in Spring Ball. That's the only reason he was there. And now you're seeing that play out on the field. So they do have a quarterback issue. But in this era of transfer portal and recruiting like Alabama can recruit, you really think that they can't fix this in the blink of an eye? I just got done telling you that Dion Sanders turned a one and 11 team that lost by an average of infinity and now they're 2 and 0 and ranked 18th in the country. You really think Nick Sabin can't fix this in a matter of a blink of an eye? Of course he

can and he probably will. So is, is, is, is, is, is trending down? No. Are they done? No. And anybody that suggests that out there doesn't know what they're talking about. I won't repeat it. I will not repeat that air. Hey, it is my favorite time of year. It is the football season. And as you know, I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't risk calling the wrong play with where I stay.

So wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable rooms, their warm and friendly service, and their free hot breakfast is a game changer. Trust me, the waffles are great. Whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win. And we're always looking for that win. All right, let's continue because there's a couple of other things that I get to,

and I know I've talked for a long time already, but there were some great performances. And by the way, Wednesday's show is going to be great. Because we had to cut a lot out of this show just to fit everything in. But man, when you've got Bama losing at home, Texas being elite again, and Dion Sanders doing what he's doing, like that's going to lead the week. And it should. Um, quietly, quietly, the team that I think is actually like, okay, USC is damn good.

Did anybody watch that Saturday night? They played in that late window. And so I know it's hard on the East Coast. But now they're three and oh, they played in week zero, as you know. And, you know, you probably woke up in the morning and you're like, okay, USC beat Stanford 56 to send. at 56 to 10, excuse me. And you're probably like, yeah, yeah, that makes sense. It was more than that.

If you didn't see it, it was more than that. If you just take a look at what they're doing on the year, USC is averaging almost 60 points per game this season. They've scored 56 in every single game. They were up 49 to 3 at half. 493 at half, scratching my head. Because that's like, I can't even fath it. them that. This team is averaging five points per drive when Caleb Williams is on the field

and averaging over nine yards per play. That's the best in the country. This team is a lot better than last year's team. I see and talk with a lot of USC fans and they constantly ask me the same question. It's like, well, are we better than last year? Yep. You sure are. You sure are. I don't know if the offensive line is better, but that's the only area that I would question. That's the only area. Caleb is better than last year, because he will stay in the pocket longer,

which makes his ability to scramble even more dangerous. And not to scramble, I shouldn't say scramble, throw on the run. This guy is, as soon as he breaks contain, as soon as he's running around, you know a big play is going to happen. You know a big play is going to happen. Caleb is averaging over 300 total yards. He's got 13 total TDs, no turnovers.

And they have got some serious speed on this team. If you haven't seen Zachariah Branch play, go, maybe you're watching on YouTube, Zachariah Branch after this show. Watch his two return touchdowns this season. This guy is an absolute rocket ship. I love watching him play. He's one of the few players, one of the few.

I can remember, like, Reggie was this way, Percy was this way. It's only been a few. McCaffrey was this way for me a little bit. But it's like as soon as the ball touches their hands, I just start holding my breath. That's what Zachariah Branch does. Like, he's so fast. But it's not just that. It's his short area quickness.

It's his long straight speed. It's his ability to make defenders miss. It's his decisiveness as a runner and a returner. It's his ability to catch. Like, man, this dude is an elite player. And you give an elite player like that with that skill set to a play caller and a play designer like Lincoln Riley. And the sky's the limit. And then here's the other part because you know we can't talk about USC without at least evaluating their defense.

Bottom line, USC's defense is better than last year. I have told you and I will remain consistent that if USC just plays okay on defense, that they're an elite team, that they can probably win their conference and go to the college football playoff. Guess what? They're playing better than okay on defense. I would venture into the good territory. Have they played anybody that's going to really threaten them? No.

Will they eventually? Absolutely look at their conference. We've already talked about this. is the deepest conference in college football. In fact, they're going to have to travel to Boulder, Colorado, and deal with Chodor Sanders and Travis Hunter and Xavier Weaver and Dylan Edwards. That's going to be quite the show, quite the show. But this defense feels better than what they were a year ago.

They're more physical upfront. They cause more disruption up front and not just because they're using that movement that Alex Grinch likes to move. They're winning up there, one-on-one battles. just because they're better, and they're not completely reliant on turnovers like they were a year ago in order to get extra possessions. Those are all positives. Those are all positives. Lincoln told me last year, Lincoln Riley, that last year's USC team would be his worst roster that he was going to have at USC. And now watching this team, I believe him, because USC is better than they were a year ago.

They are better. they're ahead and their defense is actually trending towards good. That's scary for the rest of the Pac-12. That should be scary for the rest of the country. Because we know, and we've said this for how many years, basically a decade, if Lincoln Riley's teams ever actually got a good defense, watch out. Sky's the limit.

Sky's the limit. All right. Speaking of not skies the limit, A&M gave up 48 in a loss to Miami. What is going on at Texas A&M? This is like, this doesn't make any sense. This is a head scratcher right here. Okay.

Now, I will talk more about Miami on Wednesday. All right. This is a little bit more about A&M though. And the reason being is A&M has a 17-7 lead in that game. And then they get outscored 41-16. When you hear that, you're like, wait, hold on a second. I thought, Joel, you just showed me on the YouTube show, the talent composite. I did.

And I'm going to put it up again. Because this team is far too talented to have a 41-16 run put on them by Miami. They're the fourth most talented roster in college football. I've had people come up to me and say, like, yeah, I know they've recruited, but they lost a lot of transfers. No, no, no. The talent composite is what they are right now. Right now. What are the players on their team right now currently?

Okay, not the guys that left. None of that. This is a snapshot. They're the fourth most talented roster in the sport. And just gave up 48 to Miami? Listen, Miami. I told people to take the points and bet Miami before the week. Glad I did.

I don't know if I believe in Miami yet. but I can tell you what I don't believe in, Texas A&M. That's a terrible loss. Texas A&M is now one and seven in their last eight games against Power 5 teams. I didn't say ranked teams. No, no, no, no. Let me repeat what I just said. Texas A&M is one and seven in their last five Power 5 games.

That's staggering. They're the fourth most talented roster in college football. Folks, this is not working. This is not working. They've lost seven straight road games going back to 2021. And the only teams that can say they have more talent than Texas A&M are Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State. What are we doing in College Station? And I'm sure if you're listening to this, if you're an Aggie fan, you are echoing my sentiments.

This is not working. I still can't believe. I still can't believe that Jimbo Fisher has the contract he has listen to what I'm about to tell you these are the buyout numbers for Jimbo Fisher this actually makes me a little bit nauseous

not in a selfish way but in a way of like we have a conference that's dying that is a storied conference in college football based on like revenue sharing because all these schools feel like they have to have millions and millions of dollars. Jimbo Fisher's buyout totals, $2023, $76.8 million dollars.

Goes down to $67.6 million in 2024. goes down to $58.2 million in 2025. So that means that if Jimbo Fisher continues on for three more years, they're one in seven and their last eight against Power 5 opponents. And if he coaches for three more years, they would still owe him $58.2 million. What are we doing? What are we doing?

Oh my goodness. They could wait until 2030 and still have to pay him $10 million to not coach. Staggering. Staggering. I can give you all the evaluation that you want. Here's a bottom line for you. The Jimbo Fisher experiment at Texas A&M is not working. That's a failed experience.

government. And I don't know what you're going to do. It costs you $76.8 million. By the way, this was all on the back of the opening at LSU. Unbelievable. Another guy that got a contract on the back of that opening was Mel Tucker at Michigan State. Mel Tucker over the weekend was suspended without pay after a university investigation into sexual harassment allegations became public. That report will conclude, I believe, October 5th. And at that time, we'll know Mel Tucker's future. In the meantime, Harlan Barnett is going to step in and be the head coach for Michigan

State. And Mark D'Antonio will step back in in some sort of role as an associate head coach and we'll kind of jump back in there. So that's what's going to happen there. that's obviously not a good scenario. I feel bad for those players at Michigan State because they didn't sign up for that. And now their season has been thrown into turmoil.

And hopefully Harlan Barnett and Mark D'Antonio and the rest of the staff members can kind of circle the wagons and provide them with the level of urgency and focus and attention to detail and discipline to have a positive year. That's my hope for Michigan State and all those Spartan players. That's going to do it for our show today. Listen, you can follow us at Joel Klatshow on any social media. You can also email us, and we will continue to bring you the mailbag throughout the season.

So you can email us the Joel Klatshow mailbag at gmail.mail.com. You can send us any questions. You can send me questions about life, fathering, whatever. I'm school, baseball, if you want. I played minor league baseball. You can do that. Wherever I got this hat, because I think this hat is really cool. It's a Rose Bowl hat, by the way.

Or questions about the sport, because I'll answer those as well. Remember to subscribe to the show wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can subscribe on YouTube. That would really help out. And this show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. We thank them very much for all that they do for us. And we will be back with another episode on Wednesday. So enjoy your next couple days of the week, everybody.

College football in full swing. Thank you.