The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Defining what a Successful Season looks like for Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama & More

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Does Penn St need to win it all? How far does Alabama need to go this season in Year 2 post-Saban? FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt considers those questions and more as he defines what a successful season looks like for the most interesting teams in the sport. He discusses what Texas needs to do after two deep Playoff runs and Arch Manning now taking the snaps under center. He considers what Ohio State needs to do off their title-winning season and what Georgia must do to prove they are still one of the elite programs in the sport. Klatt also explains what Michigan’s expectations should be as they continue to build off last year’s strong finish, how far Texas Tech needs to go in the Big 12 to justify their offseason spending spree in the Transfer Portal and more! RSVP for the Live show on Thursday, August 28th at the Browning Amphitheatre in Columbus ahead of the Texas-Ohio State matchup. The event is FREE but make sure to RSVP. The first 300 guests to RSVP receive 2 free drinks, food, and other perks: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/joel-klatt-show-live-in-columbus-tickets-1554998204489?aff=oddtdtcreator Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount. 0:00 Intro 3:50 Alabama 5:49 Michigan 8:16 Ohio State 10:19 Texas 12:00 LSU 14:22 Georgia 17:20 Penn State 20:50 USC 22:59 Oregon 24:11 Miami 26:28 Texas Tech 28:13 Announcement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year is going to be quickly forgotten. If Sharon Moore can get them right back into the mix, everyone's going to be like, yeah, we're good. The Ohio State Buckeyes. You got to be Michigan. The fact that the place he left just played for the national championship only ratchets up the pressure on Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge. Miami has never made a college football playoff. That needs to change. Hey, like today is why we love college football.

Hey, welcome into the Joel Clad Show. I am Joel. glad this show is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support as always. Hey, remember, go follow the show, subscribe on YouTube, follow us wherever you like to show social media. We've got your back. We've got everything out there,

including your opportunity to RSVP for those 300 spots at our live show in Columbus. That's right. Remember, I told you about that last week. We are doing a live show, August 28th, at the Browning Amphitheater right there on the campus in Columbus. the 28th, two days before that Texas Ohio State matchup, live Joel Clat Show.

First 300 RSVPs. You can, by the way, RSVP in the show notes below or find us on social media. You can find the RSVP link there. First 300 are going to get two free drinks, food, perks, prizes, all the things. So make sure to do that because we need to make sure we've got that RSVP from you. Okay, let's get going. I want to define success for teams here today. So as we think about the season and some of these teams and coaches maybe more specifically,

we start thinking about like what they need to do for us, the fan bases, college football at large, to kind of deem them as successful season. So let's define success for the next 11 teams. To do that, I needed categories. So we got to like, well, what are the categories here? What are we trying to achieve? And here's the defining success in 2025 hierarchy. Nine wins in the CFP mix.

Don't have to go, but you've got to be in the mix. Next one is college football playoff, have to be in. The next category is final four. And the final one, play for the national championship game. So those five categories are where we're going to fall. Not everyone can go win the national championship. And just to be fair, I do, I've thought this for a long time about the NFL, and I'm starting to feel this way about college football as well, which is, like, if you are good enough to be in the semifinal or in the NFL case, the championship game weekend, AFC, NFC championship game, or here, Final Four, you're probably good enough to win the whole thing. gone are the days, or at least for now,

where we have teams that are just like substantially better. Like if you can get to that point, it's a turnover, execution, something, maybe injuries, where like you're right there. So those final two categories, those teams are playing at the top of college football. Now, you don't have to be in that category to get to the college football playoff or be in the mix.

Remember last year we had Ole Miss, and South Carolina, everyone was in the mix right there. Like, we still think they had successful seasons, right? Even though they didn't go to the college football playoff. Now, maybe if you're a Ole Miss fan, you disagree with that, that's fine, but you kind of get the gist of where I'm going. So let's get into it here, and we're going to start with Alabama. So for Alabama, what do they have to do this year for us to feel like they had a successful season?

I'm going to start with this. They've never missed the playoff two years in a row. and Kalyn DeBoard does not want that on his record in just his second season as the head coach at Alabama. This team has to go to the college football playoff. Like that is bare minimum. Now, I'm going to put them inching towards the final four here as if that's a ladder or a timeline because I really think they probably need to win a game in the college football playoff, but they absolutely have to go to the college football playoff.

Ryan Grubb being back for them as their offensive course. I think is huge. And it's not back for Alabama. It's back for Kalin DeBoer. This is a program that is used to being the pinnacle of the sport. We've never, ever seen what Nick Saban was able to do. He was the best coach in the history of the sport. They had a sustained level of success that we're never going to see again. winning national championships over cycles of recruits, but they're right on the back of that. They went out and hired Kailen DeBore, who we all think is a very good coach

and the right hire for them, but he has to prove it by at least getting back to the college football playoff. Again, I think that they probably need to win a game, and we'll see if they're able to do that. Getting Ryan Grub back, attached to Kailen DeBore, like he has been eight years previous across different stops is a big part of this.

And I think that they're going that direction. And do I think they'll win a game in the college football playoff? You'll have to wait and see my bracket prediction episode that's coming up later in August. Let's move on to Michigan. Oh, what do we do with Michigan? Okay. Last year was clearly a bump in the road. Nobody cared because they just came off an undefeated 15 and 0 season in which they won the national championship.

So Michigan fans were flying high. They were flying high. But in year two under Sharon Moore, maybe not the urgency that there is at Alabama trying to replicate what Nick Saban was able to do, but this fan base is used to being at the top echelon at the elite level of college football. You cannot be an elite program

and not be in the mix for the college football playoff. So this is not a team that can go, you know, seven and five or eight and four, and feel like that's a successful year. They've got to be in the mix, in the mix. If they're in the mix, I think people look at them and say, okay, we've got something going.

It's a young quarterback and Bryce Underwood. We continue with a young coach and Sharon Moore. Obviously dealing with all the issues that he's having to deal with, the self-imposed suspension. We'll see what happens outside of that. They were eight and five a year ago. They need to take a step forward.

If they win nine games and they're nine and three before the bowl game, obviously, they'll be in the mix. If they're 10 and two, I think they'll go. And again, bracket prediction time, we'll see where I actually have them at the end. Last year is going to be quickly forgotten. If Sharon Moore can get them right back into the mix, right back into the double-digit win category, everyone's going to be like, yeah, we're good, we are good. That 15 and 0 national championship season is going to go a long way. Plus, it's not like they went out and got their doors blown off by Ohio State.

No, no, no. This is a program that just beat Ohio State for the fourth straight time. They beat Alabama in the bowl game. So they've got a lot going for them. This is, let's just say, I think more has more going for him than even DeBore does at Alabama. Like, DeBore has more to prove. Sharon was there as the play caller for the national championship. He was the head coach of the team that now beat Ohio State two years straight

because he was the interim coach for the Ohio State game in their championship year. So, like, he's got more, he's got more equity with that fan base. So they need to be in the mix. I think that would be a successful season for them right back in there and kind of that top 10 style of play. Now, what do we do with their rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes? It's very simple, and I've talked to Ryan Day about this a lot. You have to win every game, which means that they should be all the way at the end. but, let's be honest here, after finally getting over that hump and winning the national

championship and now having to replace 14 guys that were drafted, don't we feel like it would be a really successful season in Columbus if they went to the final four? That's kind of how I feel. I don't know if they have to go to the championship game. Now, Ryan Day will disagree with me and everybody at Ohio State would probably disagree with me because he would say, no, no, no, no, you're required to win every game as the head coach of the of the Buckeyes. And that's fine. That's fair. But I think this is more honest. I think a successful year would be getting back to the final four playing for a big 10 title.

You know, like it would show that they're not going anywhere, that they're going to be in the mix every single year. And once they get their quarterback, some more reps, some more experience, they get a little bit more experience on that roster. You would have Smith coming back. You would have Sayan coming back if he's your quarterback. Like you'd have a lot going for the next season in which you could make a run at another title. So I don't think they've got to win it again. I don't think they have to play for it again. I think they need to go to the final four.

Probably have to play for the Big Ten championship. And then, oh, yeah, by the way, you got to beat Michigan. Right? Like, four in a row, got to beat Michigan. I'm still, I'll be honest. Like, I've watched last year's game back. And I'm like, did that really happen? the pressure is going to be on this time in Ann Arbor.

Successful season would be beating Michigan, playing for a Big Ten title, and going to the final four. If those three things happen, I think Ohio State fans will be happy. What about Texas? Back to back, semi-final appearances for the Texas Longhorns. Sarkeesian has come in. We no longer have to ask, like, is Texas back? Yes, they're back. In a lot of ways, like, I think that.

they're the best team in the SEC. That's how I had them in my top 25. We'll see where I have them going in my bracket prediction. But the fact that they've been to the semi in back-to-back years means they can't end there again and they can't end somewhere earlier than that. They've got to go play for the title. They've got to go play for the title. Archmania.

I mean, when Archmanning committed to Texas, this was the goal. this was the expectation in a lot of ways. And not only do they have Arch, but they have a defense that could be the best in college football. They've got stars all over that defense, all over that defense. Sark has a team that can win a national championship. So they've got to play for it. Two straight years, a loss to Michael Pinnockson and Washington. Last year, a loss to Ohio State.

Listen, those are two really good teams, and they played well in those games. In fact, a lot of people, myself included, think that they acquitted themselves better than I thought they would against Ohio State a year ago. They did really well against Jeremiah Smith. And it was just Trevionn Henderson, that little screen pass before half, they kind of broke their back. They've got to get over that hump. They've got to go and they've got to play for the national title. It would be their first title game appearance since Colt McCoy went and played that Alabama team back in, what was that, 08, 09, right there. All right, how about LSU?

How about LSU? LSU is a really good one because I do think that there's not just a bar that they have to measure themselves against, but another team in the country. Brian Kelly has to make the jump. The fact that the place he left just played for the national championship only ratchets up the pressure on Brian Kelly in Baton Rouge. This is a team that has to go to the college football.

playoff. I mean, that's the floor. They have to go to the college football playoff. And then here's the thing. In so many ways, aren't we judging Brian Kelly and LSU against Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame? For LSU to really say, yeah, we had a great year. Doesn't LSU have to go further than Notre Dame to feel like, no, no, no, no, we got the guy that was responsible for it. Because see, like, let me go back in time. And this is not a knock against him. Dan Hawkins at Boise State did an incredible job and was hired to come to Colorado in 2006

after Gary Barnett was fired. I was very close to all this because I finished my career in 2005. But it was very striking how, like, Colorado did not have any success. And Boise kept having success and actually elevated under Chris Peterson. And it made everyone just stop and pause and think like, oh, man, you know, like Chris Peterson's a hell of a coach.

Maybe he was the coach that was making all the things go. Not suggesting that's the case with Brian Kelly and Marcus Freeman, but it would make you think, right? If LSU fans are sitting there thinking to themselves, we just gave this guy over $100 million to come to Baton Rouge, he wanted to come here because he feels like he had to be here in order to win a national channel. Well, then is the ceiling Notre Dame or is the ceiling Brian Kelly? That's the question. So they have to advance further than Notre Dame, which means you've got to be in the college football playoff

and you might have to win a game. And we'll see where that game is and who they would play in that bracket reveal here later in the month. Let's talk about Georgia. Georgia's an interesting one, isn't it? Because we've just, after their back-to-back championship years, a lot of us, including me, we just think to ourselves like,

well, Georgia's one of the four best teams in college football, clearly. You know, and every year we kind of put them up there. Can we say that still? Like, is that still true? You saw in my top 25, I did not have them in the top four. Are they still the dominant force? Here's an interesting thought exercise. Like, let's say Georgia does the same,

thing they did a year ago, except they don't win the SEC. So let's say they play for the SEC title. Texas beats them, which would be a rung lower than what happened last year. And then let's say they don't get to the national semifinal. Well, then that would be the third straight year that they did not play in the national semifinal. They did not go to the playoff the year Michigan won the championship. Last year, they get beat by Notre Dame in a quarter final. And then if they don't play it for it this year, that's three straight years. Which means, that there would be a cycle of elite recruits that have entered, played through their eligibility in college football, and then now are going to the NFL, and all of that has happened since Georgia

won the national championship. So to me, that's a problem. So Georgia feels, I'm sure, like they're a top echelon team in the country, program in the country. But to do that, you've got to be in the national semi-final. Remember what I said at the beginning of the show. If you can be in the national semifinal, then you can win the national championship. Those are spots reserved for elite programs. And they feel like they're an elite program. So Kirby Smart has got to get back to that bar. He's got to get back to there. This is a big year for them, a huge year for them. They're trying to replace quarterback, other things on the roster. You know, like whether they can get back there,

I don't know. The schedule sets up beautifully for them. So Georgia is, and you heard me talk about this in the top 25 episode, 47 and 1 in their last 48 games at home. They happen to be playing a schedule this year where they only go on the road three times for true road games, two neutral sites. But again, like, other tough games are at home. Like, this is a year where they need to get back to that and reestablish them. themselves up there. I know they're the reigning SEC champions, but this is

two straight years. They have not been in the national semi-final. They need to get back to that spot, so Georgia has to be in the final four. Let's talk about Penn State. Penn State's an interesting one, right? So in a lot of ways, last year was a breakout year, and yet they didn't do

some of the things that we've wanted them to do like win in a matchup game. What's a matchup game? A matchup game is when you've got a similar team across from or a team that's better than you, right? Penn State has majored in and done an incredible job beating all the teams that they're supposed to beat.

They've got to get over the hump. Well, some of that means that you've got to get further than you did last year. Last year they were in the Final Four and the National Semifinal, so this year they got to play for a championship. I think for people to really feel like James Franklin had a really successful year, exceeded expectations, they would have to play for a national championship. Whether they win that game or not, who knows? Who knows?

But winning those games, you would consider to be a match-up game, top-five opponent, opponent that you are similar to or maybe even not quite as good as. You've got to beat a blue blood in a match-up game. They're going to have chances in the regular season. They're going to host Oregon. They're going to go to Ohio State. I think this is a team that can play for the Big Ten Tides. they would have another opportunity in a game like that.

Here's what's interesting for me, though, it's like there's a scenario where you could win against Oregon. Like, let's just say hypothetically you beat Oregon if you're Penn State, but you lose to Ohio State. Well, then, like, people will still sit there and say, hey, you still need to beat one of the traditional Big Ten powers like Ohio State. Could be in that scenario. I'm not totally bought in until they can prove that they can do that.

Penn State got to play for a national championship with all those returning guys, Drew Aller, the backs, Nick Singleton, Ketron Allen, denied Dennis Sutton, four starters on the offensive line. They should. They should get back there. Hey, you know what? It's time to get out and do something fun, Whether it's catching a game or surprising someone with tickets to live events, they are back.

Live events are always back in a big way, which is why I want to give the sponsor of today's episode, Seat Geek, a huge shoutout. With over 28 million downloads, Seatkeek is the number one rated ticketing app with more than 70,000 events listed, 70,000. College football season, it's here, NFL right on the horizon, Major League Baseball, full swing here down the stretch. Our team at Joel Clashio, use Seatgeek to grab tickets for all of it. It's quick, it's easy, and you know you're getting a good deal. This is my favorite part. Every single ticket is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, so you can see the value at a glance. Green dots mean great deals. Red means keep looking. Every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And here's the kicker. You can use code Clat 10 for 10% off your next

seat geek purchase. That's 10% off any ticket with promo code Clat 10. Just click the link in the show description to download the app, the code will be automatically put into your account for you, and you're going to get that 10%. Remember, Clat 10 is the code. Thanks to Seatgeek for sponsoring today's show. All right, let's move to USC. USC is an interesting one, right? Because USC, you would say since Lincoln Riley has gotten there, has disappointed. They've gotten worse, at least record-wise, every single year. And now is a year in which they lost a lot in the poor. but then there's some level of optimism. I'm a little optimistic about USC to be quite honest with you.

I know, like, I had a small conversation with Lincoln Riley at the spring meetings, and he was like, hey, you know, like, I think we're going to be really good. Now, take that for what it's worth, but they're coming off of that seven wins season. They had all of those close losses. If you're looking at this team from a fan base perspective, you would also look ahead to the 26 recruiting rankings in which, which USC has the number one ranked recruiting class, at least as of right now, in the country. So you'd be saying to yourself like, okay, okay, you might not have to blow us out of the water this year,

but you can't regress. And in fact, we'd like you to take a step forward. So from seven wins, I think this team needs to get to nine wins. If you gave me nine wins for USC with that recruiting class that they've got coming up, with the way that they've invested in the portal, and how they could build for the future, I think I would be into it. A lot of services has them as the number one ranked recruiting class. Some of them have them as the number two ranked recruiting class. It's going to finish right there in the top two, three, four.

Lincoln Riley has done an excellent job. And this is what we thought he would do. And I'm talking about recruiting. Now, it wasn't always this way. I feel like they whiffed on a couple of classes, but this is a class that I feel like they've done a much better job at. If he can get back to running the football, having a solid offensive line.

This is certainly a team that I feel like could, could get to that nine win mark. And if they're at nine wins, you know, maybe they're in the mix. Maybe they're playing a game late in the season in which you would say to yourself like, hey, this is playoff implications on the line. They need to get that nine wins. They can show that they're on their way back.

It would be development from last season. They can build into the offseason with that potential recruiting class. Let's go with Oregon now. Dan Lending has won. the Big Ten championship now. He was number one in the country going into the playoff last year until they ran into the buzzsaw of Ohio State. They're turning into kind of like this perennial power in college football.

What do perennial powers do? They go to the final four. So I think Oregon needs to take a step forward and not just go to a quarter final, which they just were in last year in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State, but they need to win a game in the playoff. Not just go to the playoff, but potentially win a game. Can they grab a top four Cs?

again? I don't know. We'll see in my bracket prediction. But I do think regardless of if they get a buy or not, they need to win one or two games and get themselves into that mix where they're in the final four. To me, this is where they belong. Dan Lannning feels like an elite coach. It feels like an elite program. It feels like a program that every single year perpetually is going to recruit the players necessary to put them in this position. And they should be in the final four. Again, progress, progress. This is what we're going to. We're going to recruit the players necessary. We're going to recruit the players. This is what we're going to. We're going to recruit the players. This is what we want to see. We don't want to see regression. We want to see progress. So Oregon, into the final four, I think that would be a successful year. What do we think about Miami? Miami is an interesting one. So I think people would, I think people would say Miami had a successful year last year until the end. 9 and 0 felt like they were going to the playoff. And then they didn't. The game at Syracuse was just like a kick in the teeth for Miami fans.

kicking the teeth. Now they get Carson Beck behind a really good offensive line. They've done a nice job on the offensive line. They've hit the portal. They made a change at defensive coordinator with Corey Heatherman coming in. Like Miami's got to go to the CFP. They can't fall just short again. Mario Cristobal has put them in the conversation for almost every

elite recruit in the country. But the elite recruits in the country, not all of them, but a lot of them pick other places. Why? Because those other places have proven that they can go further on the timeline. They can get to the playoff. They can go far in the playoff. They can win championships be developed for the National Football League. They've got to do that.

Miami has never made a college football playoff. That needs to change. Needs to change this year. I think that they're good enough to do it. It's not a very tough conference. folks. This is the other part, right? Like, this is not, Miami is not having to navigate the SEC or the Big Ten. If you put this Miami team in either of those conferences, I would have them where USC is. And I would say equality years, nine wins. But they're not. They're in the ACC,

which means they should get to 10, maybe 11, which means that they should probably play for the ACC championship game, which means that they probably should have a chance to go to the college football playoff. So Miami has to do that. If they don't, I think you call into question if it's going to work with Mario Cristobal. I think that that's because you can't continue to put yourself in position to get the recruits that they're trying to get with no track record of playing in the games that the recruits want to play in. You can't do that.

All right. Last team I want to talk about Texas Tech. Texas Tech. Now this one's, you know, we don't normally get into Texas Tech. But I think they're fascinating this year. Joey McGuire has some serious expectations right now. They come in after this offseason and they've infused a ton of talent onto this roster with a lot of cash, okay?

And they've got the number two ranked portal class to LSU. They've got a quarterback that's back. It's a conference where if you improve yourself, just a little bit, you're going to take a substantial step forward because everyone is mixed together. That's what happened last year with Colorado. Colorado took a little bit of a step forward, and all of a sudden they went from, what was it, four wins to nine wins. Well, Texas Tech could do something similar, in particular if they can get any fix on their defense whatsoever. Offense, fine. Defense, bring those portal guys in, play a little bit better on defense,

and all of the sudden you're going to take a huge jump, probably be in the mix to play for a Big 12 title, which would mean that you're in the mix for the CFP. I think a successful year for Texas Tech, after what they've done in the offseason, all the hype that they've had surrounding Joe McGuire when they hired Joey McGuire, their expectations of what he could be, what they could be in the Big 12. After Oklahoma left and after Texas left and what they think that they can do, they need to be in the CFP mix. If they're not in the CFP mix, I think you start to wonder like, will it ever happen?

Almost similar to Miami. If you can't go to the college football playoff this year, if you're Miami, when's it ever going to happen? Well, the same for Texas Tech. If you can't be in the mix with an experienced quarterback infusing all of this cash, then when's it going to happen? Then when is it going to happen? I think they can be in that mix, though.

I really do. All right. And lastly, I want to talk about big noon conversations because we haven't done a lot of them this year. I wanted to stick to off-season content, but I also wanted to bring you guys some like premium stuff that you have never seen before. That's why we went and got Marcus Freeman.

Tony Petiti wanted to talk about the playoff. I absolutely wanted to give him that platform. and then we've got one that I'm like really excited for, not only because I'm a giant fan, but because I think he's one of the smartest football men on the planet. We are going to have a sit-down conversation with Tom Brady, our lead NFL analyst right here at Fox Sports. I can't wait.

That's coming up next Monday. Tom Brady and I are going to sit down. I'm going to get into college football, what he thinks of it, the development, what he thought about his year, last year in the booth. I'm sure there's a lot to get into there. so I can't wait for that. Tom Brady is going to join us next week on Monday on Big Noon conversations. Have a great day, everybody, and we'll see you soon.