The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Georgia does it to Texas again, Michigan survives, Oklahoma exposes Alabama’s flaw & Klatt’s Top 15

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to a great Saturday of College Football as Georgia continued their recent dominance over Texas. Klatt explains why Kirby Smart and Georgia remind him so much of Dave Roberts and the World Series Champion L.A. Dodgers. He also weighs in on Texas’ Playoff hopes even if they are able to upset Texas A&M in two weeks and finish at 9-3. He then discusses Michigan’s wild win over Northwestern at Wrigley Field and how Wolverine fans should feel after the up-and-down performance. Klatt explains why he was so impressed by Oklahoma to go to Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama with Defense and Special Teams while exposing the Crimson Tide’s fatal flaw. He also gives credit to USC for finding a way to beat Iowa after facing a 14-point deficit in an Iowa-style game to continue the program's upward trajectory and push for a Playoff spot. Klatt then reveals his Top 15 instead of a Top 10 this week to show which teams he believes should be on the bubble for the College Football Playoff. He also explains his new ranking of Texas A&M following their 27-point comeback against South Carolina. 0:00-2:20 Intro2:21-17:13 Georgia beats Texas17:14-32:58 Michigan wins with a last minute field goal32:59-38:52 Oklahoma exposes Alabama’s flaw38:53-42:40 USC makes impressive comeback42:41-52:40 Klatt’s top 15 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I thought it was an amazing day at Wrigley Field. And I was trying to hit it out so badly. And then he goes for an onside kick. Georgia goes down and they score and the game is over. Brent, why are you going back to call him the defense? And he's like, well, because I'm good at it. You're riding the Incredica coaster at California Adventure. And you know what you can do?

Nothing. All you can do is not throw up. Day like today is why we love college football. Hey, what's up everybody? Welcome to the Joel Clat Show. I'm Joel Clout. The show is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support, as always. We got a lot to get into. There were some great games on Saturday night, and I cannot wait to break these down. We had a great game in Riggly between Michigan and Northwestern. I'll get into

that. Georgia and Texas was phenomenal. OU. goes to Tuscaloosa. They get a win. USC beats Iowa and a storm in L.A. Who'd ever thought, by the way, in late November, middle of November, if you will, that we would go and do a game in Wrigley Field, and the weather in Wrigley Field in Chicago would be better than the Coliseum in Los Angeles. And that's what we got on Saturday. So it was a great day of college football, as they usually are.

And we'll try to get into all of that. Plus, a little bit of a special addition. As we start getting closer to these final rankings in the end of the season, I just like, 10 doesn't do it for me anymore because we've got to know exactly where all of these teams stand. So instead of a top 10, I'm going to give you a top 15. So my top 15 this week in college football, because it's really about the bubble and where the teams are at right on the bubble.

So I'll go all the way to 15 in this week's rankings. And we'll get to that in a moment right after I talk about some of these games. First, if you have not subscribed to the show, please do so. If you have not followed us on social media, please do so. You can do that wherever you like to social media. at Joel Clashio is where you can find us. You can subscribe to the program below. Hit the notification button, jump in the comments.

I'll try to jump down there at some point this next week. All right, here we go. Lots to get into. Let's start with the Georgia Bulldogs, taken down Texas in an emphatic way, 35 to 10. They outscore them 21-0 in the fourth quarter, and it was all Georgia late in that ballgame,

in particular, after this sequence in, that second half where Texas got close and they stole the momentum back and their defense even put themselves in a position to win. But in the end, it's Georgia. And it really comes down to their culture. It comes down to the way they played. They all of a sudden played great on the defensive line, putting a lot of pressure on Archmanning. And, you know, Kirby after the game basically talked about that type of mentality from his team. Here it was. It's what we do in the all season. It's what we build our core culture around us being the more physical team.

You have to recruit physical players, and they have to buy into that process. I don't know that a lot of these kids nowadays, they want to check. They don't want physicality. And if you have the check and no physicality, you end up with nothing. So we're not just getting checks at our place. We're hitting people. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

and they did on Saturday, and they did a heck of a job. I'd love to sit for a moment on Georgia because this Georgia team, like I said, that sequence was such a monster sequence because I think it encapsulates exactly why this program is so good under Kirby Smart and why they have so many guys on this team that I'll be honest, just like show up in the biggest moments. And Gunner Stockton clearly one of those guys. We saw it at Tennessee earlier in the year with that. fourth down throw. Then he's got a couple of fourth downs on that drive after Texas drew within

a score. So let me go to that. And I don't like to rehash games, but I just, that sequence was so vital. So Texas scores, it's 1410. They kind of steal the momentum back. The Georgia offense had been stagnant for a large portion of that game because Texas's defense has done a nice job, right, in the last few series. And then sure enough, Texas basically does their job. So they produce, defense a fourth down, fourth in anything, right? So it's on the minus 35 yard line. So George is on their side of the 50 and Texas gets the stop. They do everything right. They've scored. They've gotten the stop. It's fourth and one. It's the 35 yard line. 99 times out of 100. That's a punt. That's a punt. Because why in the world would you give a team like Texas

the ball at the 35 going in in a four-point game. You would never do that. The call to go for a fourth down right there was unbelievable from Kirby Smart. Unreal. Unreal. It reminded me a lot of the timeout he called in the semifinal game in 2022 against Ohio State right before the fake punt. It's like, how did he know to do that? That was wild.

He saves games for Georgia with his management. And this was another example of that. And it looked crazy to me. When he goes for it, I'm like, oh, no. Like, if that's not successful, Texas probably not only scores, but probably wins the game. But it is successful. Then he goes for it again on fourth down later in that exact drive. Then they're able to punch it in.

And then he goes for an onside kick. So he gets the onside kick. Georgia goes down and they score. And the game is over. The game is over. Arch Manning had not touched the football, had not touched the football since the 527 point in the third quarter when he threw a touchdown pass. They throw a touchdown pass into the end zone. It's a beautiful drive and he doesn't touch the ball again until it's 28 to 10. That was an incredible sequence and it was Kirby. It was Kirby and it was his boldness. But it's also something and we heard a lot about this in the World Series with the L.A. Dodgers.

run to the world championship in the World Series. It was Kirby's trust in his players. He trusts Gunner Stockton on 4th and 1 from the 35 to make the play. He trusts his special teams to go out there and make the play. Like that's what it is. It's about trust. Every one of those Dodgers that talked after the World Series, and every one of them was asked about all those critical moves that Dave Roberts

had made against the Blue Jays in game 6 and game 7, Dodgers backs against the wall on the road, have to win both of those games. And they did. And they did so in an unlikely fashion and with some unlikely players. And I'm not saying that Georgia won in an unlikely fashion with unlikely players, but it was kind of an unlikely fashion. I should back up like it was because of that sequence.

But every one of those players for the Dodgers talked about the fact that Dave Roberts trust them and they trust Dave Roberts. And that's exactly what happens with Georgia. Because those players have an enormous amount of grit and perseverance and endurance and physicality. And they play hard. They fight. They fight on the field. Why is Georgia so hard to kill?

Because they fight. They fight. Every one of us has seen, you know, whether it's a UFC match or, you know, a great boxing match. Where it's like both of these guys have a will and they will fight. They are going to fight for themselves. And that's what Georgia does. So it's hard to kill them. It's hard to beat them because they will fight.

And guess why? I am convinced to this. Georgia fights on the field as hard as anybody in the country because they know their coaches also fighting for them. He's fighting for them. Now, it can be an unconventional way. And it's not always, you know, oh, I love these guys and it's lovey-dovey and everything.

No, no, no, no. They understand that Kirby is driving and striving and straining. for every inch every single week. So they know he's fighting. He's fighting for them. He's fighting for greatness. He's fighting for a standard. And that's the way that they play.

And Gunner Stockton was outstanding. The entire team was outstanding. They played better in that game than I think that they have played all season long, which is scary for everybody else. Because Georgia now, to me, is the best team in the SEC. They might not get to the SEC championship game. That's fine. They're playing the best football of anybody in the SEC.

Nobody wants to see that team. Nobody wants to see that. coach right now. And maybe more importantly, nobody wants to see that quarterback. Tip of the cap to Gunner Stockton. That guy is a warrior, man. He is a war daddy. I love watching him play. I think that I would love to be his teammate. That's the highest compliment I can pay is a guy is going to go out there and totally lay it on the line. You know, a bit of Max dug into him. He's got that Baker Mayfield quality. It's like, boy, if the game is on the line, if there's a big moment, who do I want taking the snap this year in college football?

Gunner Stockton's probably pretty high on the list. You know, Fernando Mendoza has been pretty clutch in huge moments. There's no doubt. And guess what? Gunner Stockton has as well. He has as well. And that's what makes them, you know, so, so difficult. They fight so hard on the field because they know their coach is fighting also.

I'm convinced of it. I'm convinced of it. The last thing that I would say just about Kirby is that Kirby is a guy. that is not just a volume coach. He can look like he's just going berserk over there and he can just be screaming and, you know, headsets off and his hair is kind of, you know, all over the place. But there are two different types of coaches,

coaches that coach with volume or coaches that coach with information. And here's the deal is that only coaches that coach with information are effective and it doesn't matter the volume with which they do it. See, that's the key to a great coach is that you have to coach with information. You've got to be great with specificity and detail. And the detail is where greatness is realized through. Greatness is realized through the attention to details in football. And he's a guy that coaches with information.

Now, it can look like wild at times, but it's still information, not just a volume guy. Like I said, you think about some of his in-game coaching things. The fake punt, Ohio State, and the national semifinal in 22 was wild. They wound up winning the national championship. That's a game that they lose if he doesn't take a time out. So they don't get their second national championship. And then Saturday night against Texas, that was Kirby, man. Now, as great as Gunner was, it's 1410.

Texas has stolen the entire momentum. It's fourth and one at the 35. Everybody punts right there. Kirby Smart doesn't punt. Kirby Smart doesn't punt. Real quick on Texas, more of the same from Texas. I know this was probably highly disappointing if you were a Texas fan. They have not played a full game all season long.

They have not put together that game. Even the Oklahoma game, you know, there were lulls here and there, and they had to get bailed out by special teams. They go to overtime against Kentucky. They need the punt return against Mississippi State. You know, they've pieced it together okay, and I'm not saying it's a bad team, but they certainly haven't played a real solid four-quarter

game yet at any point this year. Maybe against one of the lower level teams that they played, lower competition non-league, but certainly not an SEC play. Their biggest issue is pretty clearly the offensive line because they can't run the football and they didn't protect Arch very well at all. And it's not a Georgia pass rush that you would categorize as like a dominant pass rush. Now, they were able to on Saturday, and at times they were dominant. there's no doubt. But it's not a pass rush that you would look at and you're like, oh, that's one of the best in college football.

And yet they were able to be against Texas, which is now a theme, these three matchups over the last, what is it, 13 months now that we've seen Georgia, three and O against Texas in the last 13 months. This offensive line couldn't run the football. That's always been the key to Sark's offense. Always. Texas is 103rd in the country in rushing this season.

And if they're not running the football, Sark's offense, I'm not going to say it doesn't work, but it's not nearly as efficient. Not nearly as efficient. He's had a great running back his whole career, his whole career. You go back to him at Washington. I had a guy named Bishop Sanky. It was awesome, awesome.

You know, I think he was, gosh, I want to say he was with Naji Harris at Alabama. I might be wrong there because there were so many backs in sequence at Alabama. And I'm hoping I'm matching those. It's like puzzle pieces at Alabama with coordinator. and backs and players because there were so many coordinators that won championships and so many players that won championships under Nick Sabin, you kind of have to fit them together. I believe it was nausea there with Sark when they were so good.

So Texas, are they out of the playoff? Are they in the playoff? What are we going to do? And, you know, I get it. Listen, the discussion to me is quite nauseating because we'll see. At the same time, there's going to be a big push from you know who for the rest of this season to kind of push this idea that if Texas beats Texas A&M, that they would have a shot at the playoff.

And I know I was setting that up, that the committee was kind of setting that up over the last couple of weeks with these playoff rankings. But here's the thing now. When you get beat 35 to 10, that's a different story, right? We've got to at least watch and look and evaluate how the game's played out. And so for Texas, that's clearly the case here. And their resume is not great. They've got three losses and two OT wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State.

They have a combined three wins in conference, those other two teams, Kentucky and Mississippi State. They have a win over Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, and those are good. But let's just take a comparison really quick to a team that actually finished nine and three. So I'm just going to say, like, even if they finish nine and three, is it really good enough to get in? Probably not.

I would argue probably not after the way that they just lost that Georgia game. 35, 10 is hard to come back from. And a team that should know all about this is last year's Alabama team. They were left at home in 2024. And these resumes are so eerily similar. This year's Texas team, last year's Alabama team. So last year's Alabama team also finished 9 and 3. They had a big win against Georgia, which is exactly, you know, well, I shouldn't say.

They each had big wins. Let me go through it like this. Bama last year had a big win against Georgia. This year, Texas has a big win against OU. They each each had respectable road losses. Bama last year had a road loss at Tennessee. This year, Texas, a respectable road loss at Ohio State. They had an upset loss last year that was unexpected, both on the road,

at Vandy for last year's Bama team, at Florida for this year's Texas team. And then they each had a blowout loss late in the season on the road in the SEC. Bama got beat badly by Oklahoma late last year, and now Texas has been beat badly by Georgia this year. Those are identical resumes. And so say what you want, and I understand that there's going to be a push in college football to try to reward teams that schedule hard non-league games, but I'm not seeing the push to reward Michigan for scheduling Oklahoma like I'm seeing

that push for Texas who scheduled Ohio State. So if you play it out and everybody gets that bump, then let's play that game. We can't be selective with that game of who gets credit for scheduling what non-conference game in what location. Because obviously Michigan and now Texas would be in a very similar boat if that came up because of those road games that they lost in the non-conference. I'm just telling you their resume, not great. Not great. And there's going to be several other 10 and two teams that are probably more deserving. I think Texas is most likely, even with a win over A&M, as great as that momentum could be right before the final rankings or a week before.

the final rankings. I just, I don't think that they've got enough, nor should they at this point with the amount of teams. Now, listen, if they're in the top 10 because everybody loses, obviously a different story, and I'll be the first to say that. But it looks like, again, it looks like there's going to be enough 10 and two teams with resumes that will be, I think, more impressive than Texas. Let's move on to the game I was at at Wrigley Field. Michigan beats Northwestern, 2422 in what was a bit of a classic. Our memorable moment, let's take a trip down memory lane real quick. Presented by graduate by Hilton, nostalgic stays in your favorite college towns. You know that I love them. You know that they're nostalgic. They give you these awesome

key cards and they always are like a playing card from somebody in the past at that university. It's really cool. It's very cool. So go stay at a graduate. I thought it was an amazing day at Wrigley Field. I really did. So just a quick trip down memorably, and I'll just tell you, I have only been to one game, a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. So it was still kind of a new experience. And obviously, it's more complete when you get to do it as a broadcaster because we get to go in all the places in the stadium. And it started on Friday, just showing up and getting to go out there and actually take BP with the Big Noon guys, which was an absolute dream come true. It was awesome.

And I got to tell you guys, like, listening to hearing the ball hit the wood bat in a stadium, in particular in a stadium like Wrigley, is so much fun. And I was trying to hit it out so badly. I wanted to hit the ball out of the park. You know, I played minor league baseball if you listen to this. I thought I was going to. I got to tell you, I know I'm 43, but I was like, oh, yeah, I can get one out of here. And I hit one, you know, pretty good to like basically center field.

and short hopped the fence. And that's when I was like, oh, uh-oh, because I felt like I got all of that one. And then I was just swinging as hard as I possibly could, and my midsection is quite sore ever since then here, recording this on Sunday night. But that was an amazing experience. And huge shout-out and thank you to the Chicago Cubs for that experience.

That was awesome. The game then was phenomenal. I thought that that environment was electric. Now, obviously, there was a lot of Michigan fans there. So it was loud most of the game. I thought that the actual game itself was tremendous. The shadows are in different angles than you normally see on a football field because most football fields, almost every football field in America runs north and south

and not east and west so that the sun goes like, you know, from one sideline to the other sideline rather than from end zone to end zone. Listen, I get it. AT&T Stadium is not that way, but that's a dome. Most regular stadiums go north and south. well, that's not how it was situated for Wrigley Field. So you got some opportunities that were missed because the ball is in the sun. You know, Griffin Wildy lost the ball in the sun.

Anyways, it was a really cool experience. And I thought, you know, it was fantastic. And Gus and I very much enjoyed it. Ginny enjoyed it. She did a hit from the bleachers and the scoreboard. And we tried to really lean in. And it was a very cool day. Now we get to the game.

Michigan survives. after losing the turnover margin by five. By the way, they also missed two field goals. Now, can we just say, I immediately, you know, I'm thinking to myself, have I ever called a game where a team lost the turnover battle by five and one? So they were a minus five and one. And no, that's never happened.

So this is the first time that I've ever seen it live, period. Then I was reminded, hey, they also missed two field goals. And I was like, oh my gosh, no way. Well, has that ever happened in college football? And here's what I can tell you. Going back 25 years, we can only find one other game in which the team that won lost the turnover battle by five and missed two field goals. That was Boise State beating BYU in 2016.

that's it. In a quarter century, that's how rare it was to see Michigan win that game on Saturday. So there's two ways you can look at this. There's two ways you can look at this. You can say, man, that's a young team that's finding a way to win even in an impossible situation. You can be up on it.

You can be like, that's incredible. They won even though they made all those mistakes. Or you can say, gross. I don't know which way. And listen, there's going to be Michigan fans on both sides of that. Both sides of that. And I think I kind of understand both sides. I lean a little bit more towards the optimistic version.

Because, listen, they can't play that way and beat good, you know, like a great team. Like Ohio State, they can't play that way against Ohio State the last week of the year and think that they're going to get a win. There's no chance. No chance. And yet, I look at this team. It is the youngest team in the Big Ten, by a wide margin, by the way. And they win that game, and it takes a lot of grit and resolve.

It takes a lot of bounce back, you know, from a lot of different people on that team, including the coaching staff. And here's the thing. With youth, and they had freshmen everywhere. six starting on offense. You've got a third string running back coming in late because Jordan Marshall goes down. You've got Jordan Young and true freshman playing safety in a crucial moment, batting the ball away. You've got Andrew Marsh being the target on offense.

He's a true freshman. There is youth everywhere, everywhere. And with youth is inexperience. With an experience, you're going to ride the roller coaster. There's going to be peaks, and there's going to be peaks, and there's going to be valleys. And when you've got more youth, if it's just one freshman on the field, you can kind of weather the storm and you're not going to ride the roller coaster as much. But when all the players on the field are this young and this inexperience, you are going to ride the roller

coaster, period. And there's nothing you can do about it. The shoulder straps come down and they lock in and it's like, hey, three, two, one. And you're riding the Incredic coaster at California Adventure. And you know what? you can do nothing because you're on the roller coaster and you're going to be up and you're going to be down and you know what all you can do is not throw up so good luck good luck because that's what it's going to be that's what it's going to be until they develop consistency through experience so a game like that is exactly what they need and you would much rather win a game like that than lose a game like that okay because even in a win there are going to be learning opportunities

in particular for a young quarterback. And I think that Bryce is going to get the focal point of everybody's analysis and talk and maybe even criticism from that game because of what happened late in the fourth quarter. He did not play well in the fourth quarter. After, after, and this is what's wild, playing his best game of the season.

So Bryce was a microcosm of this roller coaster I'm talking to you about. For two and a half quarters, he played the best football of his career, and he's only 18. True freshman came in there. He had developed, I think, multiple different, I would call paces on the ball. You see, to throw the ball effectively, or I should say, and forgive me, to pass the football effectively, you've got to be able to throw three distinct styles of pitch, I want to call it.

You've got to be able to have a fastball and drive the football, and you're seeing examples of that on your screen. You've also got to have the ability to layer the football over linebackers and in front of safeties. And then you've also got to have the ability to throw down the field with touch. Okay. And he did not have that early in the year. And he showed all three of those in the game against Northwestern.

And by the way, after he made all those mistakes, you're seeing right now the throw he made to Andrew Marsh on the game-winning drive for Marsh to keep his feet in. These are kids that are just out of high school for goodness sake. That play and throw was incredible. And that was after the mistakes. See, trajectory. That's why I choose to be a little bit more optimistic about the way that they won versus the pessimistic view of just saying like,

gross, five turnovers, two missed field goals. I can't believe it. I think at that point, it comes down to your expectation. And with Bryce, I'm going to give you a couple of specifics that he needs to do to clean up some of the mistakes late, because the mistakes late were costly and almost cost them the game. A couple of interceptions, a fumble. Young players have a tendency to predetermine what they want to do with the football.

And you can't do that. You just can't. You cannot take anything for granted. And Bryce will learn that. I thought the placement of the mesh when they fumbled on fourth down, and I don't think he was going to get the fourth down anyways. So that turnover might have been a moot point that might have been a fourth down anyways. but that ball was way too high.

You know, he's got to understand that the quarterback is responsible for the mesh point. So the quarterback has to put that ball in the stomach of the running back and then ride him down. You can't put that up in his chin like you're seeing on YouTube right now. Then when you get to these interceptions, you can tell that he just kind of locked in on a wide receiver and he was like, I'm going to throw that route regardless. And it was double covered and Northwestern steps in front of it and picks it off. Okay, so again, predetermined. and you can learn from that.

But the key is that you learn from that and that you don't do it again. And then the last interception was something that I got to tell you, we have the fix for, which is go to Understanding Football on our YouTube page because I talk in depth about the RPO and this was an RPO. And it was just misread.

And again, he predetermined where he wanted to go with the football. So go to the YouTube channel. I can tell you everything that you need to know about the RPO. Here's what it is. he's got to make a decision based on the safety on that weak side. If the safety flies down into the run area, he's going to throw the ball. If the safety stays and sits, as I would say, flat like you just saw on YouTube right there, you've got to hand the football off.

If you predetermined, then he can beat you, which he did. And by the way, Fitzgerald played the game of his life. He was incredible. 12 plus tackles. He was hitting. He got that pick. He was phenomenal for Northwestern. So go to the YouTube channel.

I break down all of that RPO stuff right there. You can watch that video and you'll know exactly what he needed to do during or exactly what he needs to do moving forward in that type of experience. Real quick about Michigan, I think life in a lot of ways is about expectation and expectation management. I'm not telling Michigan fans to lower their expectation. but I am saying that I think that this team is getting a bit of an unfair rap because, in particular on offense, everyone like, why isn't the offense? says, why isn't it the office? Relax. Relax. Okay. Michigan's offense is vastly better than what they were a year ago. Okay? And I understand that they were bad. They were, I think, 129th in college football, but like vastly better.

are averaging over 400 yards of offense. They almost had 500 yards of offense against Northwestern, which is not a bad defense. Okay, the quarterback is getting better. Two and a half quarters, he played his best football of his life. They've got three red shirt freshman on the offensive line. Relax. Okay, the offense is fine. Now, they're battling some injuries now, which we'll see how that happens or we'll see

what they do with that moving forward. But the problem with those, there are some of you as Michigan fans, I'm just telling you right now, all you can, all you do with this group is view them through the lens of the 22, 23 Michigan team. Like, come on. You can't, you can't do that. That team had like 500 plus total starts. That's how much experience they had on that 23 team that won the national championship about at this point in that 23 year, they had like 500 plus starts on their offense and defense.

Do you think this team has that? this team has like a total of like a hundred. You know, I don't know the exact number. I'll try to get that at some point, but it ain't 500 plus, I can tell you that. You know, so that's an unfair comparison. And then the other thing that happens, and it happens for Ohio State as well,

is that every game that Michigan plays, they're compared to Ohio State. And Ohio State happens to be the number one team of the country. So this young team, youngest team in the Big Ten, Sharon Moore in his second year, got an 18-year-old quarterback, and some Michigan fans want to just compare them to the best Michigan team that they've had ever,

a 15-0 team that won a national championship and the number one team in the country this year. Now, that's fine. I get it. You want to have high standards. More power to you. I'm all in on all of that. But like, you understand that that's a little off, right? Right?

Okay. Let's move on. Actually, really quick. Gosh, dang it. I'm going really long, but that's okay. That's okay. Northwestern, no moral victories. They could have won the game, should have won the game.

You're plus five. You get two missed field goals on the other side. Got to win the football game. Their defense was rugged. I thought their defense was outstanding. I love their head coach. David Braun is an absolutely great head coach. Remember I was telling you about Kirby Smart.

His players play hard for him because he fights for them. Well, this is the type of answer. and the mentality that starts to turn your culture into that type of culture that I was speaking of earlier. This is David Braun after the game and the loss to Michigan. None of us want to hear, hey, good effort, guys. He gave Michigan a run for their money. That was a great effort. Came here to win a football game.

And that was the expectation. And, you know, my commitment that I made to those guys, I'm going to get right back to work, I'm going to battle my butt off for every single guy. that room and I expect the same out of them. But as we, you know, flip over this new leaf, couple more games this year, get ourselves to the postseason, finish this group's story off the right way and move into a new Ryan field, like this program isn't like, hey, we're going to give it our best and see what happens. The expectation is to go win a Big Ten championship. Yes. All of that. Yes. David Braun, man, love that guy. Really do. Really good staff at Northwestern.

And man, that defense, who they were hitting, man. They were hitting. Very few times, very few times. Have I called a Michigan game where I thought that the more physical team was the other team? I can't remember it almost ever. I felt that way Saturday. I felt that way Saturday. And Michigan will disagree with me, but boy, that Northwestern team was hitting.

And I like their future. really liked. If I had a son who could play college football, I'd want him to play for David Braun. Really like that guy. Oh, you, that was a monster win. Woo! Tell you what, OU beats Alabama, 2321. Played out very similar to how we thought it would play out, you know, from the preview show. That was a great matchup for OU. They defensively are very good.

They are elite in a lot of ways. Now, I know that they gave up over 400 yards, but I tell you, that OU defense was the reason that they won the football game. They get the defensive score. They set up their offense for short fields. If you combine them with special teams, it was like, oh, you all of a sudden turned into the Kirk Farron's Iowa Hawkeyes. It's like they went in there and just won with defense and special teams in Tuscaloosa. That's tough to do. So a huge tip of the cap to Brent Venables and that OU team, that was out.

I'm just telling you that front seven, which is exactly what we talked about last week in the preview episode, is that this idea that Bama is one-dimensional. They cannot run the football. They just cannot. So it makes it extremely difficult to be an elite passing team because a defense can sit there and just focus on trying to disrupt some element of your passing game, which not all the time, but Oklahoma at some points was able to do. Got the stop late when they needed to.

They presented a short field to their offense when they were down 21-20. Like they made the plays necessary. That was fantastic. They walked into Tuscaloosa, one with defense, one with special teams. Tate Sandel, seven for seven from 50 yards this season, made another one against Bama. He's like the new Dominic Zvada. Tate Sandel was phenomenal and has been all year long.

So he's nails. The defense is nails. And now the offense doesn't have to be great. So they've never gotten back to that point that they were at when they played Michigan. They just haven't. The hand injury to John Mateer has been an impactful point of that season and the way that they play on offense. We all know that. We all know that. And yet they find a way to win. They find a way to win. See, from the Alabama perspective, if Ty Simpson is not great, if the passing game is not elite, in a big matchup, they'll lose. This is exactly what I was talking about on part of my take. I went on with the guys, Big Cat, PFT Comments, and I tell you, like, guys were awesome.

And they were a little surprised when I said, they asked me who I thought could win the national championship. And I left Alabama on the off the list. Well, this is why, guys. They're one-dimensional. You run into the wrong matchup on the wrong day or you have a bad day throwing the football. Where are the answers? Alabama doesn't have the answers. OU at least had two answers.

Now, their offense wasn't great, but their defense was and their special teams were. And Bama has one elite thing that they do. And if you disrupt that at all, which Oklahoma was able to do a few times, the pick six, the sack fumble, boom, you win. So there's 10 points the defense has created. and they win it 23-21. That's highly, highly impressive. And now OU looks like they're staring down a 10-2 season,

which, by the way, if you go back to August and you take a look at some of those preview episodes, this schedule did not look like a schedule that OU could go 10-2 against. Now, I know that the schedule has softened a little bit, the injuries at Missouri and LSU being as bad as they are. So now these last two games don't look like what they did at the beginning of the year. but still, if OU can go 10 and 2 with this schedule, that would be so impressive. Their final two games, like I said, Missouri and LSU, both at home, and give Vinnables a lot of credit, man. Like, this guy can coach.

He won a national championship as a coordinator in multiple places, including at Clemson. And earlier in the year, I remember this comment, he was asked, hey, like, Brent, why are you going back to call him the defense? And he's like, well, because I'm good at it. you watch that game against Alabama, and it's like, yep, yep, you sure are, Brent. You sure are, dare I say, elite at it. There's no doubt. From Bama's perspective, you know, this is exactly why I don't view them as a national championship contender, even if they're able to go and win the SEC.

They're not going to be able to get through a playoff and win a national championship because of that. They have flaws, and they will run into a matchup while they will lose again in this season. They are not going to line up and win the rest of their games. I shouldn't have said it that definitive, because that's just setting it up. That's just a freezing cold takes exposed written all over it. Now Bama is going to rattle off a national championship. You know what? If they do, I'd be really happy for them. That would be awesome if they were able to. Because at this point, it doesn't look like they have the team to do that. Okay? Like they have the flaws. They're two one dimensional. Again, hope that they can rattle off these victories. Doesn't look like they'll be able to do that.

And by the way, no one will put that entire comment out there. It'll just be the first bit. It'll just be that sound bite and everyone will run with it and Bama fans will be so upset. This guy hates us. No, I don't actually. I love Alabama. Alabama is so good for the sport. I love Kalin DeBoer. Ty Simpson is amazing. I love. watching them. I love everything about Alabama. I love the dominance of Alabama. I don't hate Alabama at all, at all. USC beats Iowa after trailing by 14. That's a big win for USC, folks. Huge win. And I've been telling you all year that you watch out for USC. I've been saying it. I've been saying it. One of the reasons I've been saying it is that Lincoln Riley is much more committed

to the run game. And when he's more committed to the run game, they are a more dangerous team. They're also following the upward trajectory that most programs have taken when they're digging themselves out of a hole. Now, it's taking them a little bit longer than they anticipated and longer than the fan base has wanted. And I understand that. But I keep saying Bobby Bowden used to talk about this. Others have talked about this. You're going to lose big at some point. and then you lose small, which was last year. They lost so many one possession games, man, so many one possession games. Then you're going to win small.

And guess what we're seeing this year? Then win those games. Now, they didn't do it against Illinois, but then they've been able to in other areas, like they come back and they beat Michigan. I know that wasn't a close game, but it was an important game from the physicality standpoint. Then they lose to Notre Dame.

What do they do? They come back, they go on the road, and they beat Nebraska with their quarterback. with their quarterback playing terrible. That was such a vital game. That is a culture shifting, program shifting win at Nebraska. Not because of the quality of the opponent, but because of what it proves to your team internally from a culture perspective.

Now you know you can win small games. That's important. That is vital, I would say. And it doesn't always have to be pretty. It doesn't always have to be 350 yards throwing the football. And now they come out in a, a game that looked like an Iowa style of game, it's raining. Iowa takes a big lead.

They're trailing 14-0-0. 21-7 at the half, the rain is a real issue. And they come out and played great in that second half. When it's 21-7, that's about culture at that point. Because you're looking around on the locker room, you're looking around on the sideline. And you're thinking to yourself, like, there's only two ways to go. Here we go again and screw it, let's go.

And like, they played amazing. Mackay Lemon is an absolute monster. The USC defense was awesome. No points, barely over 100 yards in that second half. Mackay Lemon, 10 grabs 153 in the touchdown. I tell you, man, he leads the power for and receiving now almost 110 a game. and like this this team has shown us something at home. I know I picked against them.

Trojan fans are so upset. I understand, but the culture is forged when it's 21-7. That's when you find out everything you need to find out about your team. You want to know why Lincoln Riley was so excited on the sideline? Because he found out about his culture. And that culture, that's a culture that could potentially go win this week at Oregon. And now they're setting themselves up for a little bit of a run here. Now they've got Oregon.

Now they can get themselves potentially to a 10 and 2. And if they were to do that, I venture a guess that USC would be in. And that's where we get to this top 15 because there's other games that I'm probably going to mention really quickly. But now you start to mention Texas. You start to mention USC. Now you've got this Michigan. You've got all these different teams and you're like, where do they land? So let's go 15 to 1.

I'm going to give you my 15 to 11 first, then we'll get into the top 10. At number 15 in the country, after eking out a victory, like I said, I'm a little more optimistic than others about this team, even though they cannot play this way and feel like they're going to win the rest of their games and namely the game at the end of the year. Michigan's number 15. So they didn't jump up really anything. They were around there for me last week. So this is not me like passing anybody.

I've never given you a 15 to 11. This is about where they were last week, and this is where they are this week. At number 14, I've got Texas just ahead of them. Even with the three losses, I still think Texas is just ahead of Michigan because of that youth on the Michigan team. At 13, though, I've got Utah.

They beat Baylor 55-28. They've won their last three games by 46, 31, and 27. That's a good football team right there. Not a lot of teams want to face this Utah team right now. I don't know if they're going to have enough to get themselves all the way in the playoff, but man, that would be a dangerous playoff team. It really would be. I wouldn't want to see them.

They run it too well. USC after that big win, they're at number 12. Love what they're doing. They're set up perfectly because now they've got the ammunition in front of them with that Oregon game. If they were 10 and 2, I think they would go. At 11, I've got BYU. Really impressive response after losing to Texas Tech. They came out there and hammered TCU.

That first half, they had like 300. almost 50 yards in that first half. I was watching that game Saturday night, and they could run it, they were throwing it. It was very, very impressive. Bachmire is a heck of a player. L.J. Morton, that guy can absolutely get it done. They can throw it.

Like I said, that's a good football team. Kalani Satake is as good as anybody in America. Really? He's really, really good. All right, now my top 10. At number 10, after the loss, I go Alabama. talked about them already. Don't think they're a huge threat to win the national championship, but almost certainly they're going to be in the college football

playoff if they make that SEC championship game. Even if they were to suffer a third loss, they would have the 10 wins to offset that. So I think that Bama just needs to take care of business. They should be fine, finding themselves in the CFP. At number nine, Notre Dame. What did you expect from Notre Dame and Pitt when the opposing coach, Pat Narduzzi says, we don't care if we win or lose

or if Notre Dame scores 110? What a dumb comment. Like, I'm sorry. I know that that sounds personal. It's not meant to be personal, but you can't say that as a coach. What are you doing? You can't infuse an excuse into your locker room.

What? So Notre Dame took care of business, and rightly so. They're at number nine. Number eight. OU goes up to number eight. Big win. There's OU with that defense. Now, I will say this about OU.

My one concern is that they are, going to have to play better on offense to be a real threat to contend for a national championship. I mean, I love the defense. I love the special teams. But like Bama, you get in a matchup that's not great for you and it could go the other direction because there's not a ton of answers there, at least right now offensively. Maybe material will get a little bit better and healthier with that hand as the playoffs were to roll on. I don't know. At number seven, I've got Old Miss. Hard for me to believe in this Old Miss team as a national title contender right now,

but certainly, certainly a playoff team. Not a great performance against Florida. They were in a dog fight against Florida. They were sloppy. They got bailed out by their run game. And Shambliss made a couple of really bad throws. But Old Miss is a really good football. team, you know, obviously. They made plays when they needed to, when they needed to. For the most

part, though, like, it was a bit of a distracted team. And that was one of the things that I warned everyone about with this idea that Lane has not committed to Ole Miss yet. Everybody else is taking extensions. Elko now has an extension. You've got, who was it, ASU, Kenny Dillingham, not an extension, but kind of this idea of promising that he's going to be around. You know, the longer this goes, the more Ole Miss is going to be distracted. I know I keep saying that, but because it's true. Oregon at number six, I got Oregon right there after Ole Miss. So Oregon wins it on Friday night.

Now they host USC. Watch out for Oregon. That's a team I still feel like, now listen, USC could go up there and beat them. But Oregon is one of those teams that has answers. They have won multiple different ways. They don't have to play great in a specific area in order to win, which is why I think they can make some noise. And number five, I've got Texas Tech.

That is a complete team. They absolutely buried UCF, 48 to 9, holding another Big 10, or excuse me, Big 12 team under 10 points. They did it against BYU and now UCF. Sheel Wood is their defensive coordinator. He is absolutely a candidate for the Broils Award as the top assistant in America. Matt Patricia is going to be a candidate for the Broils Award as the top assistant in America. But Sheel Wood, you talk about a drastic improvement on defense.

They've always been good on offense, Texas Tech. But what he's done on that defensive side is remarkable, obviously with the infusement of all those new players. At number four, a little change up. Okay, here we go. I want to present some drama here because it's late in the show, but there is some drama here. I moved A&M undefeated down. I moved A&M down because that first half was awful.

It was awful. And they come back and I will give them credit for that because like Michigan, you can look at it two ways. Was it gross or was it resilient? And I always try to lean optimistic and I'm going to with Texas A&M as well. As bad as they were in the first half, you could chalk that up to not be in focus and not being ready.

But as I think it's as tough, as anything to turn that on midgame, and they were able to do that. And Reed went from playing very poorly in the first half to playing great in the second half. They didn't panic. They didn't. And I mean, it was barely the start of the fourth quarter by the time. They were all the way back in that game. And it was like, oh, you see where this is headed. There's no doubt.

South Carolina is not a good football team. And they weren't focused early. And it looked like, oh, Mike Elko gets his money. And then they're, no, no, no. Don't worry. They bailed themselves out. they got to win. And again, I will say when you need it most, can you play great? And they did. And they did. For me, Georgia goes up to three. Georgia is the best team in the SEC right now. They're hard to kill.

I don't want to see their quarterback. I don't want to see their coach. They got too much guts. They got too much physicality. I know they're dealing with injuries. Everybody's dealing with injuries. Every single team is dealing with injuries to a very important person on their team. Michigan is. OU is dealing with injuries. Georgia's dealing with injuries on the defensive side. Indiana's got a wide receiver out. Now Ohio State's got both wide receivers that are banged up like everybody. Michigan's got their backs out.

Everybody's dealing with injuries. So it's not an excuse. No one can use it solely for their own benefit. So Georgia's number three. I think Georgia is really good. I don't want to see them in the playoff if I'm anybody. Number two is Indiana. They beat Wisconsin 317.

Now they've got a buy. They can get healthy before they finish up their regular season. I believe against Purdue, and then likely the Big Ten championship game. And Ohio State is number one. Even without Cardinal Tate on the field and no Jeremiah Smith late in the game, what did they do? Oh, they just decided to run the football for 6.7 precarry, which is the most precarry UCLA has given up since 2019. And, I mean, yes, they've had some great run defenses and everything. But I'm just say that stat to tell you, everyone's been lamenting this idea that Ohio State can't run the football.

they run it better against UCLA than anybody has this entire season, including Utah. Right? So like, hey, maybe Ohio State can run the football pretty well. They've certainly been efforting that over the last few weeks. And it's not like they've just been sitting there throwing the ball. They also had a nice kick return. I believe that was Lorenzo Stiles taking that one back all the way. UCLA was totally overmatched. Nico I. I. Maliava wasn't on the field.

It did not look like that game was in, in any suspense whatsoever at any point. The starters on defense gave up nothing. Their defense overall gives up 10, barely any yards. Ohio State is number one. My first team's out so far, and this is now out of the top 15. My first teams out are Vanderbilt, Miami, and Georgia Tech. And there you have it.

That'll do it for the Joel Klatch show here on a Monday. again, please go check out Understanding Football. All you Michigan fans, you see the RPO that Bryce Underwood struggled with and threw a pick on against Northwestern. I break down that exact play, type of play, not the exact play, but the exact type of play on Understanding Football, you will have a firm grasp and knowledge of the RPO. If you go check that out on the YouTube channel,

you go to Understanding Football. It's right there at the RPO. Follow us on social media at Joel Clat Show. subscribe to the show, get down in the comments, and we will be back on Wednesday with our reaction to this week's college football playoff rankings. That's coming up on Wednesday. Have a great week,