The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Harbaugh vs NCAA, Marvin Harrison Jr’s path to the Heisman & Klatt’s ACTUAL Top 5 QB’s

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

It’s finally game week in CFB and FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt dives into what he wants to see from the marquee programs playing this weekend, Notre Dame and USC. He then gives his thoughts on the self-imposed suspension by Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and why he feels that the NCAA is an outdated organization that is no longer helping the sport. Next, he sets the record straight with his ACTUAL Top 5 QBs heading into the season. Then he goes into the mailbag to answer listener-submitted questions and gets into topics like Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr’s potential path to a Heisman and if a Georgia 3-peat would put Kirby Smart above Nick Saban. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up on today's show, we have actual football games to talk about. College football is back. I tell you why the NCAA needs to die right now. And my actual top five quarterbacks, not what the Internet says. That's coming straight up. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football.

It was an epic day of college football. It was just one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all, over again. Hey, what is going on? Welcome into the program. It is the Joel Clashio. I am Joel Clat. We are in Game Week.

We've got games this Saturday. I cannot wait for them. Before we get started today, and we've got a lot of good stuff on the show, including mailbag. I'm going to get into the mailbag at the end of the show. Make sure to follow us across social media at Joel Clashio, wherever you participate in social media.

You can follow me on Twitter at Joel Clat. Big push. we got the new YouTube channel. So go subscribe to the new YouTube channel, the Joel Clatio on YouTube. And we will have some exclusive content just for YouTube during the course of the year. So you're going to want to make it over there

and subscribe if you're just an audio listener. We love you. Subscribe to the show on audio and rate and review us. That always helps as well. Okay. Let's get into it. I love this week.

We actually get to see football this weekend. College football is back. and it has taken what seems like an eternity for it to get to this place. So here we go and we've got a couple of huge brands playing games here in week zero, which why do we call it week zero? I'm tired. Like can we just, let's just start the season, right? Like I don't, whatever.

I digress. I digress. I'm not going to complain because it's game week. Notre Dame and Navy in Dublin and USC and San Jose State are the games that I'm, I'm raring to see. Let me just quickly talk about. what I'm excited about, about these games. Now, are they the best games in the world?

No. Okay, but who cares? We actually have football. We can stop talking about conference realignment. We can stop talking about transfer portal. We can just talk about games. And these two teams are quite interesting, Notre Dame and USC, for a lot of different reasons. Let me start with the Notre Dame angle. So as they travel over to Ireland to take on Navy, first of all, Notre Dame and Navy is just like an awesome game and a historic game.

So I'm going to love watching that. And then from the Irish's perspective, are they going to avoid what was a slow start from a year ago? Okay, so last year early in the season, and I think to their own accord, maybe it was that they had a brand new head coach who had never been a head coach before. Maybe it was a lot of different things,

but they played down to their level of competition. That hurt them, obviously, and they lost some games that they shouldn't have lost. They were better than a few of those. teams and and they got off to a really slow start. So my question is, is that just chalked up to the first year under a new coach who had never been a head coach before? Or is that symptoms of something bigger? We're going to find out this week when they take on Navy. And then the other part is just this offense. This this offense for Notre Dame, it was, I don't want to say like terrible,

but it wasn't great last year, relied heavily on Michael Mayer. He's no longer there. Did not have quality quarterback play. Now they bring in Sam Hartman. I'm really interested to see what the Notre Dame offense looks like. They don't have Tommy Reese, their offensive coordinator. So this is going to be a wait and see. And I can't wait to see because this guy Sam Hartman can play. Over 100 touchdowns. ACC record holder. Can't talk. I just had coffee in the ACC. And they need that desperately. I think they're going to have a really solid offensive line. But those are the things that I'm really interested in when it comes to Notre Dame. And then this USC San Jose State game.

Now, do I think that this is a game that can threaten the Trojans? No, no, I don't. But there's some things in this game that are going to tell us a lot about USC, regardless of who the opponent is. Let's go into him. First and foremost, it's going to tell us nothing about Caleb Williams. Fine. I just want to see him play.

He has become appointment television because of his style plays very similar to Patrick Mahomes with the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL. The way he plays, the plays he makes, his style, you never know what's going to happen. Any given play can turn into a highlight reel that could be the best

play that you've seen, you know, in the entire season. But the actual questions that I have, I do think could be in some ways answered about USC against San Jose State. Let me start with on the offensive side. What is the

running back situation look like. Are they going to be able to run the ball effectively? Now, history would suggest that they will be able to. And they're going to have to replace Travis Die. You know how I feel about Lincoln Riley's offense. When they can run it, they are really good. And that's where this offense wants to sit. It's really a run first offense, in particular if you talk to Lincoln Riley, I know that they can throw it. But their ability to run that GT scheme, open up the RPO's, open up the advantage throws, open up the leverage It just makes it, it makes it sing. And it's really beautiful when that offense is in rhythm.

And it starts with that run game. So I'm interested to see what the run game looks like early in this season. And then obviously the defense. Now, again, do I think that USC is going to get beat by San Jose State? No, obviously not. Will the defense look better? Yes. But there are metrics that you can, you can look.

to and you can look at and say like are they actually better? One is just the eye test. Do they look bigger, faster and stronger? Two is like, do they actually tackle? It was a clinic last year and how not to tackle the ball carrier when they face UCLA, when they face Utah, when they face Tulane. They were allergic to tackling. They couldn't do it.

Is that improved? We'll see against San Jose State. And then some of the metrics that I'll be looking at. at yards per carry, yards per play. Can they produce any pressure? I'm interested to see what that looks like because the track record under Lincoln Riley has not been great defensively, even with Alex Grinch.

They played a little bit better towards the end of his tenure at Oklahoma, but not a lot. And this has been the one thing holding back any Lincoln Riley team as it relates to the top end of the sport. You can't tell me that that Baker Mayfield team couldn't have won a national championship just with an average defense. I mean, Georgia running the wild cat offense with Sony Michelle and Chubb scored 50, what, 2, 53, 54 in the Rose Bowl?

Like, what are we doing? So that's the question for USC and that's an obvious one. Football is back. Let's celebrate it. And I can't wait to watch those games for those reasons. Now let's get into kind of the more serious topics for the pod today. big news out about Michigan and Jim Harbaugh where Michigan will self-impose a three-game suspension

for Jim Harbaugh beginning this season. Now, their schedule is not good in the vein of like they're going to walk over these teams early. When I saw this, and the first I saw it, it was on Twitter, I think Bruce tweeted it out. I know he didn't like report it, but he tweeted it out. And the first thing that I remember thinking to myself is like, oh my gosh, who cares? What are we doing?

I don't know if you have that thought like I did, but that's immediately what I thought. And then it made me sit there and I think to myself like, well, who would care, right? Well, let's talk about this. Does it mean anything? And I'm thinking about all this. And I come to the conclusion. that if you're worried about this particular infraction, if you're worried about the fairness of the number of games

or who imposes the suspension or whether the NCAA will take into account this suspension in the first place, I think that your eyes are in the wrong direction. I don't think that's a diversion. It's a diversion. And you're probably a Michigan fan or an Ohio State fan. Right? If you're sitting there like, No, Harbaub, he should have more games.

He lied. Or you're a Michigan fan. You're like, it was a cheeseburger. Somewhere in the middle. Somewhere in the middle. But that's not what this is all about for me. Let's talk about what this is all about. To me, this is a symptom of a completely broken institution. And that institution is obviously the NCAA. The NCAA is archaic.

They are slow. They are inept. And they're inconsistent. Not good descriptors for an organization that's the so-called governing body of intercollegiate athletics. And if you actually take a step back and you start to view this Harbaugh situation in that vein, then you start to kind of see the bigger picture. First of all, this was a COVID time period where the NCAA had no leadership whatsoever.

So there wasn't standards across the country of what you could do and what you couldn't do or how many fans you were going to let in or whether you had to have a vaccine or a mandate or a mask or all this stuff. It's like everyone, it's just Katie bar at the door, everyone does their own. So it's like on the hard things where it's difficult to lead,

guess what the NCAA does? They throw up their hands, and they totally like abjugate the throne. Nope, sorry. We're not going to do that. We're, that's too hard for us. When it comes to NIL and transfer portal, they only, they never lead.

Everything is in response to. And in large part, the reason we're in the chaotic situation that we are in currently, when it relates to the transfer portal, and when it relates to NIL, name image and likeness is because of the ineptitude of the NCAA. I had conversations with people at the NCAA almost a decade ago,

six, seven, eight years ago. And they would ask me about NIL. And they'd be like, well, what do you think about players being paid? And I'm like, well, that's one, that's the wrong question. Because earning what your name image and likeness value is, is not, quote, being paid. all right, that's being compensated for your value.

Now, what do I think about a school directly paying an employee of a player? That's dicey. I don't love that scenario. But we have an Olympic model where you're technically an amateur and you can enter into name, image, and likeness deals. And if you have value in your name, image, and likeness, that's yours. And so I told them this and they were like, well, what should we do about it? And I said, you know what?

I don't know exactly what you should do about it. But here's what I will tell you. You can take two steps now that are probably uncomfortable for you and you might not know exactly how to take them. Or you'll be forced to take 10 steps in five years and those 10 steps are going to ruin you. And they thought, well, no. And guess what's happened?

Look at what's happened. That's exactly what happened. They lose case after case in terms of litigation that's gone on out there, the abandoned case and so on and so forth. and they've been forced into a situation where they lost total control. And so, like, if you take a look at the way they, the way that they govern and dole out punishments, it's completely inconsistent. One school gets hammered, another school gets let off with like a slap on the wrist.

And you're like, wait, hold on. Weren't those the same infractions? It's a maddening institution. they don't lead and they don't serve the best interests of the exact persons that they're trying to serve. They're there to help support the student athlete. And yet they've created a scenario because of their ineptitude and lack of action through NIL and transfer portal that those kids are operating in a space where they don't know if seats are available in the portal, where they're getting taken advantage of by agents that don't have to register with any entity

in an NIL deal. And now all of a sudden, like, the exact people that they're supposed to protect, the NCAA, they're not protecting. So like, what are we doing? So, Joel, why are you going on this rant about the NCAA when we're talking about Jim Harbaugh's self-imposed three-game suspension? Because it's all the same thing. It's all the same thing.

It's born out of who's governing. How are we doling out suspensions? Is there consistency? And the answer is there is none. So let's just talk about it from this standpoint. You've heard me say on this show that the Pac-12's demise to now just four teams was a long time in the making. 12 years, some would say, over a decade. And that the dominoes that we saw fall two and three weeks ago were actually the latest dominoes in a long line of dominoes that started falling over a decade ago.

Well, that's the analogy. And now if you just place that analogy on the NCAA, I believe that the dominoes started to fall a long. time ago for the NCAA. And what we're seeing today with the Harbaugh stuff, the self-imposed ban, these rules, impermissible benefits and impermissible coaching and so on and so forth, that is just a domino in the line of dominoes that will eventually run out and the NCAA will cease to exist. I would bet a lot of money on that. We are just waiting for that string of dominoes to end. And they can't end soon enough for me.

Look what the NCAA said about it. I want you, I'm going to put this up. If you're watching YouTube, you can read it. I'll read it aloud as well. The NCAA statement about the Jim Harbaugh situation is, it's so tone deaf and egregiously bad. So this is this guy Derek Crawford, and he's the vice president of hearing operations at the NCAA.

he says, quote, the Michigan infractions case is related to impermissible on and off campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities, not a cheeseburger. A couple of thoughts on this. Number one, this is so petty. So a narrative begins out there that it was because a recruit showed up at the building and then he was fed and then that's why the infractions took place. The NCAA is like, it wasn't just a cheeseburger. Like all high and mighty. Like they're thumbing their nose at that story when that's part of the story. And then secondly, Michigan's not even allowed to respond.

So why are you out there in a PR campaign putting out statements about this, trying to get like a narrative built against a school that has joined your organization when they can't even talk about it? It doesn't make any sense. This is why, again, like, the NCAA just needs to go away. This is why I don't mind when the SEC and the Big Ten garner more power and more revenue, because then hopefully that power is going to lead them to start to agree, almost in an alliance fashion or a treaty fashion, on the rules that govern the sport.

And that agreement will govern the sport. And it will govern how punishments are doled out. And then they can say to the NCAA, pound sand, we don't need you to crown our champion, and we don't need you for governance and they're going to leave. What that means for the other sports, I don't know. But as it relates to college football,

all of us should be cheering on the imminent demise of the NCAA, which has had a large hand in ruining what was a great institution in college football. Let's move on. Okay, so this last week, let's get into a lighter topic now, because when we talk about the NCAA,

I can get a little angry. I go on, so I, I went on a family trip to Zion. If you follow me on Twitter, you saw a picture. I posted a picture of me and my family. We went to Zion National Park. It was awesome, by the way. I would highly recommend it.

And this is not something that I grew up doing. I wasn't an outdoorsy kid or family. We didn't do that much. In fact, my dad, people always ask me, you grew up in Colorado. How did you never like fish, hike, hunt camp? Easy. My dad is, first of all, an amazing human.

I love you, dad. Gary Clatt was my high school football coach. He coached for 30 years. Before that, he was a Marine, and he's a veteran of the Vietnam War. And unbeknownst to me, during my childhood, my dad had made an explicit vow to himself. When he was on the back of the Navy ship leaving Danang in Vietnam, and the lights were fading into the distance, he said to himself, I'm never going to sleep outside again.

And I'm like, yeah, totally get it. So we didn't go camping as a kid. But now I'd like to take my kids out and like enjoy some of that. I'm a fish out of water, folks. So I don't really know what I'm doing. I don't know the gear I'm supposed to have. I'm hiking around air quotes because to me it's always been just like walking on dirt. I'm just in like my jogging shoes.

And then I'm realizing like, oh, wait, there's some elevation here. and like, I'm slipping around. And now I get it why everyone like buys, again, air quotes, hiking shoes. So anyways, went to Zion with the family. It was awesome. Really enjoyed it. Boys loved it. They did some repelling, which that's another story for another day.

But I digress because the story, the moral of this, I get home and I'm checking social media because I don't check social media on family vacations. And I, and I, there's this tweet that says, top 10 quarterbacks in college football, according to Joel Klapp. And I was like, well, that's funny. I don't remember producing a list. And sure enough,

I was like, definitely not my list. Definitely not my list. So I don't know what you've seen online, but I'm here to give you my actual top five quarterbacks going into the 20, 23 college football season. So here we go.

I'm going to go five to one, even though I don't think that there's a lot of suspense at number one. But you know what? That's okay. Let's go with number five to begin with. Jordan Travis, Florida State. I really like Jordan Travis a lot. Dual threat guy. He's experienced. I really like the way he played late last season, the momentum that they garnered. Now, if you've listened to this show at all, you will have also heard me say like, wasn't against the greatest competition, which is true. So there's a bit of a wait and see for, me with this Florida State team, but not necessarily with their quarterback. I really believe in

Jordan Travis. He's a good player. He has a strong arm, like his mobility. They're going to need him to play his best right away, right away. And if he's at his best right away, then he's going to have a chance at a Heisman trophy. And Florida State is going to have a chance to be knocking on the door for a college football playoff spot because their toughest two games are two of the first four games of the season. They opened with LSU. That's a team that I think is better in Florida State. And then in week four, they have to go to Clemson. And Clemson has owned Florida State for the better part of the last almost decade in the ACC. And that's a tough place to win. I think Florida State loses both of those games, but I could be wrong. And the only way that

I would be wrong is if this guy, my fifth quarterback in the nation, plays lights out early in the year and he's going to need to for them to be at their best. Number four, I'm going up to the Northwest and going Bo Nix. I, you can hear the hesitation. I like Bo Nix a lot. At the beginning of last year, I would not have put Bo Nix in this spot, but he just played so well last year.

Oregon, in large part offensively, even though they were a running team, it was Bo that was putting them in the right position, making big plays down the field. His experience in that offense was huge for that team. His maturity as a leader was huge for that team. For this year, I do think that he can have a similar year. But the question for me is, can he replicate what was essentially a fabulous season from a year ago

without his offensive coordinator and without four of the five starters on the offensive line in front of him? that's a question. Kenny Dillingham, his offensive coordinator, went to Arizona State as the head coach. If you know the history of Bo Nix at all, you'll know that his best two years as a college quarterback, one at Auburn in his first year, and then this is first year at Oregon,

both were with Kenny Dillingham as his coach on that offensive side. So now he doesn't have him. So what does it look like? Now the experience, at least in my estimation, suggests that he should be fine. and then he's got to worry about the four guys up front that are brand new starters. Now, they've gotten some transfers, they've developed, they've recruited really well at Oregon.

I think that they're going to be all right. But Bo Nix, that's the question for me. He's my number four quarterback. These top three, these top three are really good players. And my number three guy, I really like, I think he's, if I had to bet on anyone not named Caleb Williams to win the Heisman Trophy, it would be this guy. And that's Michael Pennix of Washington. Really good player. I've been watching Michael Pinnix ever since he was a young quarterback at Indiana,

did a couple of those games way back. I remember the COVID season. He took an Indiana team into the shoe and played that Ohio State team that eventually played for the national championship of my memory serves me correctly and played them really tough, like good player. The knock for Pinnock has always been his health. He's had a couple of different knee injuries. It's been hard for him to stay on the field.

but when he's on the field, this guy is an exquisite talent. He's got a great wide receiver core around him. When he's in rhythm, that offense, by the way, with Kail and DeBore, by the way, another guy that was kind of in a DeBore offense at Indiana, now he's linked back up with him, kind of similar to what Bo Nix did with Dillingham at Auburn and then now at Oregon, but DeBore is still there as the head coach in Washington. This offense is going to be really good. I have them as the number six team in the country going into the season.

Obviously, we'll see how healthy they can stay. a bunch of that for me is pinnicks. The health question is the biggest one. But this guy, when he's in rhythm, he's really good. And he's played himself into a position where I think he's going to have a lot of value in the NFL draft next spring. Two and one, to me, are actually really easy. Number two is Drake May. Number one's going to be Caleb Williams.

I'll go over both of them. Drake May, I love watching this guy play. Drake May, to me, is a mini-john. Josh Allen. Now, he doesn't have a great team around him. So whatever North Carolina is able to do is going to be on the back of Drake May. And what I saw last year in the bowl game watching him live, like, well, let's just put it to you this way. There's only so much you can garner from tape. And I was really impressed off of the tape. And then I did his game live. It was that throw right there if you're watching on YouTube. He steps away. If you're listening, he steps away in the pocket, climbs the pocket. pocket and then delivers kind of a three-quarter throw right across the middle into a tight window. He made some throws in that game against Oregon. Now, they lost. It was a great game.

It was a phenomenal football game. May was incredible. I remember talking with Dan Lanning after the game right before the trophy presentation. I'm about to present him the trophy. And I was like, what a great game. And he was like, man, how good was number 10? I was like, yeah, you're exactly right. guy is special.

jaw dropping throws every single game. Can't wait to watch him play this year. Number one is Caleb Williams. He's the closest thing that we have in football any level to Patrick Mahomes, who's the best football player on the planet right now. Caleb Williams does things that aren't supposed to happen in a football game. He does things that you would never coach in 8 million years if you were a quarterback coach, but he can make them happen because this dude.

is a competitor. He's an athlete playing the position. He's got great touch and arm strength. He's, he's an absolute savage when it comes to his desire to make a play when he's scrambling around. And that's when he's at his best, by the way. Similar to Mahomes, when he actually breaks the pocket, listen, he's great in rhythm. We all know that. But when he actually gets out on the run, he becomes almost more accurate. The throws have almost more velocity. and they can come from every single angle. Love Williams, closest thing to Mahomes that we have in football. Can't wait to watch him play this Saturday.

And any quarterback list that doesn't have him number one going into the season is not a real list. So there is my real list. If you're wondering, like, who are the guys that I was debating on to go on the list? There were a few names. I want to shout out Michael Pratt, the Tulane quarterback. I think he's a really good quarterback. I think he's probably the best group of five quarterback out there. I considered guys like Cam Rising at Utah.

I think he's an underrated player that has led them to really good top end success, winning the conference, going to two straight Rose Bowls. I hope that he comes back healthy from that knee injury that he suffered against Penn State. And remember, Utah averaged 38 points per game last year. So that was pretty impressive. J.J. McCarthy, I considered J.J. McCarthy in this. I considered a guy like Drew Aller, Jaden Daniels. there was a lot of guys that I considered, and that's the five that I dropped.

So that's my official top five quarterbacks. Now what the internet suggests, by the way, like, if you see anything on the internet that doesn't say Joel Klatte show or from my Twitter, it's not from me. Because this is where, like, this is where you get all of my thoughts. The other, like, if it doesn't say that, if it just says according to Joel Klat, not from me. it's a lie. Okay? So there it is. Let's get into the mailbag.

First mailbag edition of the year. I love the mailbag. Send your emails into the show, the Joel Clats show mailbag at gmail.com. Send football questions in, life questions in, all of them. I'll get to them.

And I really like this because it allows me to get into different topics and different ways to get into different topics. And it also gives me a good peek into like what people are actually curious about. out there. So let's get into it. Number one, the question about Marvin Harrison and the Heisman trophies. So this is Alex S. He says, how realistic is it that Marvin Harrison wins the Heisman this season? He is clearly one of the best players in college football heading of this season, but it's no secret that the QBs tend to dominate this award. Devante Smith was able to capture the Heisman a couple of years ago. Can Harrison do the same? There is a ton of good QB talent this year,

not to mention the reigning winner of the award. Keep up the good work. Thanks, Alex. He says, Alex, thanks for your question. And let's get into it right away. Current odds for Marvin Harrison are about 20 to 1. I think it's right there like wherever you look. It's like 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th best odds right around 12.

Favorites are obviously Caleb Williams, guys like Jordan, Travis, Jaden Daniels, Quinn Uers. I already brought up my dark horse, which was Michael Pinnock's, all guys that are quarterbacks. And we would be remiss if we didn't say, like, if one of these quarterbacks has a great year, they're going to win the Heisman trophy. As one of these quarterbacks leads their team to an undefeated regular season and into the CFP, they're probably going to win the Heisman trophy.

So a lot has to go right for Marvin Harrison, but I'll get into that in just a moment. Let's talk about like the elements of how does that? this happen? How does a wide receiver actually win the award? How does a non-quarterback actually win the award this year specifically? Well, in Marvin's case in particular, I think that it's probably good for him that he's going to be working with a new quarterback because it's unlikely that he will be fighting for votes with his quarterback, even if the Ohio State quarterback, whoever it is, is having an unbelievable season. To me, like, Marvin is still He's the focal point.

He's the star. So he's who they will promote. The offense is going to roll through him. Like he's the one that's going to garner the attention, even if the quarterback is having a great year. So not battling his own QB is important. By the way, not all that dissimilar to Devante Smith. Although Mac was generating some buzz for the Heisman,

one, it was a weird year for COVID. Some teams played four games. Some teams played 10 games. It was very weird. and then Mac was a one-year starter. So Devante, who had been, I believe, Alabama's leading receiver the previous season was kind of duplicating that after Waddle got hurt.

And that's one of the reasons why you saw Devante Smith win the Heisman that year. So let's get back to Marvin. What's his like Avenue for winning this award? So one is that he doesn't have to compete with his own quarterback. I think that that's a good thing for him. And then it comes to what every Heisman trophy winner needs, which is stages and performances on those stages.

You've got to play your best when everybody is watching. Well, I think Ohio State's going to have the biggest stages in college football this year. If you look at their schedule and then you look around at the schedules of the other kind of contenders, here's what you'll see. You're going to see Notre Dame Penn State and Michigan and the Big Ten championship game. Those are all games that have a chance. chance to be over 10 million,

8 million viewers. There's not many 8 million viewer games in college football. In fact, if you take a look at just last year, Ohio State's games against Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan and the Big Ten championship games,

those four games were four of the 10 highest rated regular season games in the country. No other team does that. Ohio State is the Dallas Cowboys of television rating for college football. Now, yeah, the SEC are going to have great ratings as well, but Georgia's schedule is not going to afford Brock Bowers

the opportunity to have four games that could top 10 million viewers. I don't even think Alabama's schedule is going to do that, although it might get close with the addition of that Texas non-conference game. No one else is doing that. Heck, USC and UCLA last year in an epic game in primetime on Fox. Gus and I were there in the Rose Bowl calling that game. it was the most watch game in the PAC 12 all season long, didn't even get to 5 million viewers.

So like he's going to have the stages and some of the biggest stages in all of college football. In fact, you can make an argument that of the Heisman contenders, he will play in front of more eyeballs than any of them. Then he needs performances on those stages. Okay, Alex? So he was in the 75, 75 club last year. We just made that up, by the way, on this show,

which I really love. at least 75 catches with 75% of them going for first downs. He was 77 catches, 60 of them first downs. That's crazy. That's the first Power 5 player to do that since all the way back in 2018. So it's not just that he puts up numbers, but those numbers are really important. You see, we've seen receivers put up monster numbers

as it relates to number of catches. But generally speaking, I can think of like some of those USC wide receivers in particular when like Kiffin and Sark were there. Guys like not to knock him, but like Robert Woods and Marquise Lee, they would have 100 catches. They were all on bubble screens.

Like this is not a bubble screen team necessarily. Like his catches go for first downs. He's working down the field. In fact, if you go to the Penn State game last year, I believe he had 10 catches. All 10 of them went for first downs against a first round corner in Joey Porter Jr. So like he's going to have the stages and he needs to produce. The offense is going to go through him.

They need to be big catches. They will be big catches. So I think he'll have those things. So Alex, you see I'm starting to build the case here of exactly how this can happen. Outside of that, it's going to be outside of his control. And from in the standpoint of he's going to need some things. things to happen to the quarterbacks because everyone's going to be looking to give the award to a quarterback. So let's just briefly talk about kind of the perfect storm. Well, he's going to need

some of those quarterbacks in the Pac-12 to kind of eat themselves, right? USC, he needs them to go down the gauntlet of their back half of their season and lose a couple of times. So that Caleb Williams starts to fall off. He needs Michael Pinnock's to lose a couple of times. He needs Bo Nix to lose. That would help him. You look at Jordan Travis would be a competitor. He needs him to lose to LSU and maybe lose to Clemson. You got to beat Michigan and be undefeated and kind of take out

J.J. McCarthy and Blake Corum and even Donovan Edwards. Like that's kind of how this happens. One that I think is interesting and a little under the radar that he would have to avoid. If Harrison was to win the Heisman trophy, I think that it would be in part because Alabama beats Texas

early in the year. If Texas rolls into Tuscaloosa and beats Alabama, you're going to have a Mansell effect for Quinn Uers moving forward to quarterback at Texas. That obviously would hurt Harrison's chance at the award. So the first question, how does Harrison win the award? Well, there's your answer, Alex, and painted in pretty vivid picture. Let's move on. This one comes from Judy.

Judy, appreciate you listening to the show. And here we go. Lady emails, we love them, by the way. So bring them in. Our producer, Kat, basically I get a list of all the emails that she likes and our other producer, Steve. And I get a list,

but Kat puts all the ladies' emails at the top. And she's just like, you're choosing one of these. So Judy, congratulations. And here we go. Says, hi, Joel, huge fan of the show. Love the big new conversations. Thank you. Great hearing from the best coaches

and the different conferences and the commissioners as well. I think working for coach Sabin should, be a bucket list item for you. Yes, Coach Saban did offer me a job. I don't know if he was serious. We here at the Joel Clashel believe he was serious and I declined. Sorry, coach. Can't afford me. My question, Judy says, all the talk is beginning to circle around the Alabama Texas game. Happening in Tuscaloosa in a few short weeks, which of the potential Bama QBs do you feel would be the correct matchup for this Texas team? Do you believe it will be a close matchup that comes from Judy, girl, mom, two women in sports

broadcasting. By the way, congratulations. Judy, well done, and good luck to your daughters who are in sports broadcasting. Okay, let's get into this. A little bit different than do I think it's going to be a close one or who is the guy? Judy, I believe that it comes down to the fact that

Bama has been blessed over the course of the last five, six, seven years with really great quarterback play. Great quarterback play. From Jalen Hertz to Tuotung of Ialoa to Mac Jones to Bryce Young. They have had guys that they could rely on in big situations. They've had guys that don't turn the ball over, that the offense can run through. If you go back to the game in Austin a year ago, Alabama was

able to beat Texas because of Bryce Young, because he went above the X's and O's and pulled, willed his team to victory on the road in Austin. This is going to be a different team than that. This Alabama team is going to be a bit different. They don't have that quarterback on the roster. How do we know that? Because they brought in a transfer after Spring Bowl. They brought in Tyler Buckner from Notre Dame who had played for Tommy Reese at Notre Dame to re, you know, I don't know, rekindle that relationship, although I don't know if it is. They've got Milro there who started against Texas A&M. They've got a young player. It comes down to this. I believe that Alabama is going to revert a little bit back in style to what they were

previous to this great quarterback run. Now, not a lot because a lot of those elements in this game have to be there in the modern college football in order to compete and to win. But this competition between these guys at Alabama is really going to boil down to one thing. And that is turnovers. Nick Saban is going to play the guy he trusts the most to not put the ball in harm's way. And the problem is, is that in that vein specifically, he does. doesn't really have a great choice yet, at least based on what has happened previously

in games in college football. Let's go over those. Here's the three options. Tyler Buckner, transfers in. He has six touchdowns and eight interceptions in his college career. Four of those interceptions were pick sixes. So he's thrown four pick sixes and only six touchdowns. Plus two in that category is like day. Notre Dame fans, by the way, all over and nodding and they're just like, I know. He's thrown in I&T every 15 passes in college. He's only attempted a little over 100 passes. He has trouble staying healthy.

These are things like, if I'm asking myself, let's say I'm Coach Saban and I'm asking myself, can I trust this guy? Well, he turns the ball over a lot and he's not healthy all the time. It's hard. That's hard. Buckner was 174th in pass attempts last year, but managed to be number two in,

pick sixes. That's, that's not good. Okay, what's another option? Jalen Milro. Well, if you look at the game that Milro actually played, not practice, not spring ball, but actually played, he had three turnovers in that, that start against Texas A&M. A&M was not a very good football team and they rolled into Tuscaloosa and played Bama right down to the wire. Why? Turnovers. Turnovers. Because Millrow turned the ball over. The only reason A&M was even in that game were those turnovers, led basically to 14 points for them in that game. Ty Simpson. There's another guy that he could go with. He's a young guy.

Red shirt freshman. He's thrown five passes in college football. I know Ewers was a young player and basically a freshman last year. And Sark trusted him and he played well in the first quarter until he got injured. But do you really think Nick Saban is going to trust a red shirt freshman? Maybe. Maybe it is Ty Simpson. But that's who he has to choose from. And that's why it's going to be a difficult decision. He's going to go with the guy that he feels.

is going to protect the ball the best. Because if they turn it over three times, they'll lose to that Texas team. So who's it going to be? I'm not sure. And as far as which quarterback is the correct matchup, the one that doesn't turn the ball over. Thanks for the email, Judy.

Appreciate you. Let's move on. All right, here this one says, Joel, big fan of the show. As a Georgia fan, love Georgia fans, by the way. our boss here at Fox Sports Digital. He's a big, big Georgia fan.

Super annoying. It's been a fun couple of years, but it got me thinking about if Kirby can pull off three straight titles. Yeah, I think we're all thinking about that, not just you. He'd have to be considered the best coach in college football over Sabin, right? But my real question is, if you think three straight titles, something that hasn't been done in the modern day of college football, would be more impressive than what Sabin has done at Bama.

Go dogs. Tony S. Tony, it's a good question. Overruled. To take a line from, what was that movie? I forget the name of the movie. Sabin's smart discussion is interesting, but three years doesn't make a Sabin.

Just doesn't. Let me start with this premise. What Kirby Smart is doing is unprecedented. And really special. so I don't want to take anything away from Georgia or Kirby because what they're doing right now is awesome. And you know what? I'm here for it. I am never going to sit here and try to chip away at greatness.

When Jordan was around, I didn't try to chip away at Jordan. You know, like I just don't be a hater of greatness. What's smart is doing at Georgia is greatness. But it's not Sabin. Three years does not make a Sabin, okay? I just, do you understand what Nick Saban is actually doing to win six titles in a 12-year span, starting in 2009, last title in 2020? So that's over multiple cycles of recruits, multiple assistant coaching staffs and coordinators. He didn't do this in like a small pocket.

and in the modern day of college football when there are multiple programs with the budget and brand to go recruit on a national basis. It's never been harder to do what Nick Sabin is doing than right now and he's done it. Six titles in 12 years.

Three years doesn't make a Sabin. It just doesn't. I mean, think about it from this perspective. We've had teams get really close. I mean really close. Within a breath, within a hair of three titles. USC was a failed fourth down attempt by Lindell White away from winning a third title. Nebraska was a random September loss at Arizona State away from winning four straight titles.

I mean, they lost like one game in four years it felt like in the Osborne 90s. Like we've seen this happen. Alabama with Nick Sabin, they were within a kick six. of a potential three-peat. We've seen people get within a breath of what Georgia's trying to achieve. And in fact, those teams got closer than what Georgia has even gotten to. Like, Georgia still has to run through what granted is a cake schedule

and potentially get to that point. And I think that they will. I don't know if they'll win a third straight, but like they're going to have that chance. And we've seen teams have that chance. We haven't seen the level of dominance over a 12-year stretch that we've seen from Nick Sabin at Alabama. ever. Not even within a breath, not within a hair. We have never seen it, in particular when

you're talking about cycles of recruits and cycles of assistant coaching staffs. It just hasn't happened. Now, some could argue that over the course of history, Bear Bryant won six titles. Well, the first was in 1961. The last was in 1979. Right. So it was even over a longer stretch and five of the six were shared in a day and age when college football was just totally different, totally different. Woody Hayes won five. First and 54, last in 1970. Four of the five were shared.

Sabah doesn't get to share any of these. He has to go out and actually win these games. He doesn't get to play the sixth ranked team in the Sugar Bowl and then went out in a UPI vote. Like, that doesn't happen. He's had to win these on the field. I think that the closest thing to Nick Sabin is what Bobby Bowden did at Florida State.

14 straight years in the top four of the final. LAP poll with two titles. And by the way, those were, what were they? 93 and 99. So two different cycles of recruits. So you get what I'm trying to say. There's no perspective that you can even give that comes close to what Nick Saban has done at Alabama.

So Kirby can win this one and guess what? He's going to have to put together another stretch four years from now where he's winning two and three years. And he's going to have to do this for about 10 more years. years in order for me to put him in the same breath as Nick Sabin. Now, if you were to ask me, like, who's the best college coach right now? Who's the best program right now? Maybe it is Kirby Smart.

But it does not overtake what Nick Saban has built in becoming what I think is the greatest college football coach in the history of the sport. Thanks for listening, Tony. There we go. All right. Last one. This one's away from football. And this is some of my favorite stuff to do.

This is a long email. So bear with me. It says, hello, Mr. Clat. I'm a huge fan of the show, so I currently have a nearly four-year-old son and a one-year-old daughter. Congratulations. With plans for one more child in the near future, I currently work a wonderful job in security with really good pay. My job requires me to work 14 out of every 28 days. It seems great having all that time off.

And it is, but I have to work two weekends per cycle and 13-hour shifts. My wife is fortunate enough to have all her weekends and holidays off. my question is, should I be grateful to have this job that supports our family with plenty of breathing room and pays for everything we need? Or should I be more concerned with finding something else that will keep me from missing future football games and other big events that my kids will one day be a part of? I feel like I'm doing good supporting the family, but I also worry that I'm missing out on too many moments on the home front. And that worry will only grow once the kids are in school. thanks so much for considering my issue all the best Alex D Alex man this

there couldn't be an email that is closer to my heart than this one so this is my predicament and I think a lot of people's predicament because life is not what it used to be in 1950 and 60 where everyone just like went to work and came home and you had weekends like it's just a, it's a different space. There are so many different ways to support your family, build a life. So let me walk through this and let me give you like at least some advice of what I try to do.

First of all, it sounds like you love your job and you love what your job provides. You are in rarefied air because not everyone is in that scenario. I try to remind myself of that all the time. and there are people that that have jobs that they have to go to and still miss events, only because they feel trapped and it's the only job that they feel like they can get and they just need that paycheck, even though they think that paycheck is too small. So the fact that you can acknowledge that, one, it's a great career, and two, it provides a solid life for you, like, you're winning.

Right there, Alex, you're winning in a lot of respects. Now, having the concern for your family that goes above the materialistic, you know, nature of our country is so commendable. Alex, not many people would be worried about their family. And frankly, when I'm talking to guys out there, I see far too many guys that put their career and the almighty dollar ahead of the concerns of their family. Your family and the concerns for your children should always be at the forefront. always. And so the fact that you're even wrestling with this means that you are in such a good space. So this email, although you seem like this is a, you see this as a big conflict, I'm seeing huge bright spots throughout your email, those being a couple of them.

Now let's get into the actual nuts and bolts of the issue, which is your home sometimes, not all the time, which means that you would miss kind of the conventional issues like maybe a Friday night football game, even though your kid is only four. four years old and one, maybe one on the way. A couple of words of advice. And this is what my wife and I always talk about because I miss things. When it comes to the fall season, I travel, obviously, and my kids play flag football. Their flag football games are on Friday night.

I have an 11, 9, and 6 year old, and I've never seen them play flag football on a Friday night in the fall. It kills me. I'll have a hard time here. I might get choked up. It kills me. Now, I see the other dads and they're there and they're enjoying that time. But guess what? Those dads are not there on Wednesday morning getting to drive their kids to school

and getting to have pancake morning on Tuesday morning, which I'm able to do. Okay? So while they're at work, I can sit there and spend time with my children in times when they can't. Basically, what I'm trying to tell you is be where your feet are. That's the best thing that you can do for your children because you're going to be able to provide experiences that other parents are not going to be able to provide in terms of your downtime and times when you can be around them that other parents can't. The fact that you can afford, based on this quality living, things for your family and provide experiences for your family, be where your feet are. So in the moments when you're at home, don't worry about work or don't worry about your next shift. Be with your kids.

Enjoy them. Look them in the eye. Get down on the ground with them. Restle them. Tell them that you love them. Those are the moments that they're going to remember. When they look back on their life, yeah, they might say my dad had to work weekends here and there. But guess what?

When he was home with us, it was the best. We spent so many times laughing and spending time together and building memories together. and that's what I would encourage you to do is be where your feet are. I talk about this with my wife all the time. In the springtime, I'm trying to coach every single sport. I try to pick the kids up from school. I try to do all these things that other dads can't. Why?

Because I can't. Because my career affords me that ability. While I can't be there for flag football on Friday, I can be there at other times. And that's when I try to be there. So be intentional with that time. When you're working, you're working, Alex. And when you're at home, be at home.

be at home and be present with your children. Because, again, they're going to remember that a whole lot more than anything else. All right. Thanks for listening today. Football Saturday, here we go. I can't wait for the season. Remember, subscribe to the YouTube channel, subscribe to the podcast, do all that good stuff. Remember to share it with a friend because college football is always better with friends. You can follow us on social media.

Whatever social media you're into, which there are a plethora. now at Joel Clatt show there you can follow me on Twitter at Joel Clatt and I can't wait to get this thing started thanks for watching have a great week enjoy the games