The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Indiana stuns Penn State, Oregon is starting to feel like Georgia, Alabama’s flaw & Klatt’s Top 10

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to a wild day in college football as Indiana and Oregon pull off stunning finishes on the road. He breaks down how Indiana grabbed a win at Penn State and what to make of the Hoosiers after narrowly beating the Nittany Lions. He explains why Oregon’s last second win at Kinnick was so impressive and a great sign of things to come for the Ducks. Klatt also gives Texas Tech their flowers after handling BYU and points out why we should expect the Red Raiders to make a run in the Playoff. Klatt reveals his latest Top 10 where explains how he separates teams like Georgia and Oregon from an Alabama team that is showing some cracks despite picking up wins. He also breaks down the battle for the top 3 spots between Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M.Interested in learning more about football? Check out the new episode of “Understanding Football with Joel Klatt” that will drop on Tuesday on the show’s YouTube page as Joel explains a term that we’ve all heard but may not fully understand: the RPO. 0:00-2:15 Intro2:16-13:33 Indiana stuns Penn State on Omar Cooper’s rec TD with 36 seconds left13:34-22:34 Oregon beats Iowa on late field goal22:35-28:13 Texas tech takes control of Big 1228:14-42:41 Joel Klatt’s new top 10 Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I got to be honest, guys. I did not see that coming at Penn State. I had no analysis for you. That was just pure emotion. Omar Cooper, greatness was demanded of him, and he delivered greatness. Oh yeah, QM for this one too. They hate it when I do this. I'm starting to really love this idea of penalizing teams for ridiculous opponents, in particular in November. I have a brand new video coming out tomorrow on Tuesday. I cannot wait. is why we love college football. What's up, everybody? Welcome in to the show. This is the Joel Clatt show.

I'm Joel Clatt, and this show is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support. What a weekend. I mean, slow clap for college football. I mean, I love it. I love this sport so much.

I had nothing to say other than that. At the end of the game, as Indiana topped Penn State, as Gus and I had the call of that one with Jenny on the sideline. That was incredible, an incredible game. Oregon. Iowa was phenomenal. I just, this sport continues to deliver. It continues to be great.

And I can't wait to get to all of that here today. Hey, before I do, though, just remember, subscribe to the show. If you haven't already, come on, what are you waiting for? You can invite a friend. You can get into the comments. I'll try to get down into the comments as well. I did officially change the handle to my account. So you will see me as Joel Cloud underscore CFB on Fox. That is actually me. I'm at times snarky down in the comments. I can't help myself because of the dumb questions, and then I try to answer the thoughtful ones in a more thoughtful way.

It's just fun. So get down there if you would, and you can follow us on social media. If you would like, wherever you like to social media, at Joel Clat Show, we're there. All of our content lives in a short form out there all year long. And in particular, as we go down the stretch here in November, and it's going to be a phenomenal November. What a day.

I mean, I got to be honest, guys, I didn't see that coming. I did not see that coming at Penn State. That was such a great game. It really was. It goes up there. We were talking about it as we left the booth, Gus and I and some of the other folks that are always with us in the booth. And we were talking about where that game landed and that finish landed in the higher.

of all the years we've been together. This is the 11th season of games now that Gus and I have been together. And that's easily a top three, four game that I've ever called with Gus. That was sensational. His call, obviously, we'll get to that in a little bit. But that's where I want to start because it started off the day, obviously, with the noon game. And Indiana looks like they're going to handle Penn State. You know, they're getting the turnovers. They're converting them into points. This is something that they have done all season long, and they do it at a really, really efficient clip. It's what makes them so good. So they get a couple more turnovers. They turn them into 10 points. They're growing this lead. It's 27 at one point. Then it's 20 to 10. And you're

thinking to yourself, like, at any moment, this Indiana team has the ability to turn it on and they're just going to kind of run away and hide in this game. And who knows the type of mojo and emotion that is going on on the sideline for Penn State? How much are they going to have left? And then all the sudden, all of the sudden, I keep seeing this in the comments, by the way, that I say all the sudden, all of the sudden, I'm sorry that I shorten it. It's like saying y'all, all the sudden, all of the sudden, since you want me to pronounce every single word, all of the sudden, Penn State just starts to claw back into that game. The defense started getting a little momentum, and they did a great job of holding the run game of Indiana at bay, allowing the past

pass rush to get after Fernando Mendoza and some obvious passing scenarios. And then the offense in the second half started getting chunk plays down the field, throwing the football down the field. And lo and behold, here come the Nittany Lions. And they take the lead until the moment. I tell you what. That final drive, when Penn State scored, I generally have a feeling to myself about, okay, this offense is going to come back.

And like when USC scored against Illinois earlier this year and there was too much time on the clock, I said it. There's too much time on the clock. I know Illinois is going to go down. They're going to kick a field going to win, and they did. I did not have a great feeling for Indiana because they hadn't done anything really in the second half against Penn State's defense. That defense was outstanding. You know, in a lot of ways, it mimicked what Iowa was able to do against Indiana. They were outstanding.

And here you go, Fernando Mendoza gets sacked on first down. there's a minute 30 left. They're on the 13 yard line, and he goes nine plays, 87 yards in 54 seconds. I mean, a mind-blowing drive. And the throws that he makes on that drive, Noakowski down the seam, Cooper down the seam, Becker on the edge, who was tremendous, by the way,

and then ultimately with Omar Cooper. And that's where we've got to go with a trip down memory lane, presented by graduate by Hilton, nostalgic stays in your favorite college, We know there's only one choice this week. Here you go. Control. Oh my goodness. It's a touchdown. Oh my gosh. He caught it. That is crazy. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Wow. That's the best catch I have seen all season long.

I mean, it was, it was, I had no analysis for you. That was just pure emotion. I was reacting to what was, in my mind, one of the great catches that I've ever seen in a moment that needed it. You know, the occasion there, Omar Cooper, greatness was demanded of him. And he delivered greatness. And from our vantage point, you have to understand from the booth,

you know, you're up a little ways. You're at the 50 yard line. I'm looking down and left, and you have to understand from my vantage point, when I see the play live, there's no chance it's a catch. It looks like he's hitting his head on the field goal post. And I'm like, no, there's no way. And I see the officials' hands go up and I was like, oh, they're going to replay this. So my immediate reaction was to go to the monitor, which is why I didn't say much after Gus, you know,

he gets the touchdown call and he goes to Mars. And what an iconic and incredible call. from Gus Johnson, and that's why we love him. He reacts with all of himself. He's cracking. He's losing his voice. It's amazing, right? And I didn't say much because I'm going to the replay monitor

because I'm thinking to myself, surely this is not actually a catch. Because, again, from my angle, there's no chance that he's bringing that ball in. And sure enough, on the replay, we've got an amazing crew. Our camera guys and our entire crew are phenomenal, led by Chuck McDonald and Rich Dewey, our producer and director. And they had the shot. They had the replay angle. And it's right there.

First angle. Bang, there's the freeze as you're getting down there. And boom, the left foot is in. I losing my mind. Omar Cooper. Well done, my friend. Well done, my friend. Oh, my goodness.

He had a wristband on that said, Jeremiah 29, 11. And for those of you that don't know, it's the verses. I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord plans to prosper you. and I'm just thinking to myself, I'm seeing that shot. And I was like, hey, man, how are those plans treating you out?

Oh, my, Cooper, this guy, he goes up the ladder and then he has, he's looking down after controlling the pass. And you can tell that he is, he's specifically reaching that left foot to tap and in bounds. That was wild, man. That was wild. Okay, so now we have to get to the fallout from, I just had to react with all the exuberance that I still maintain here. as we're recording this on Sunday, because I think all of you felt kind of what we were feeling in the stadium. But now you get to just, now let's get to the fallout of the game.

All right. So now where does that leave us? Indiana is still undefeated. Penn State is 3 and 6. And here's the thing. You can fall into two camps with Indiana, and I don't think anybody is going to change camps after Saturday's game. Okay?

There were a sector of people that think to themselves, Indiana is not a great team. And they, you know, they were, I don't want to say, they were a bit overmatched in big moments a year ago against Ohio State and Notre Dame. And there are a sector of people, mainly from the South, but I'll just say, that feel like Indiana is still that team. And we'll get taken advantage of at some point.

And they don't think they're a great team. Now, there's others that see Indiana as maybe, having one of the better resumes in the entire country. And more specifically, one of the teams that have done the best job on the road. Think about the road wins that they have at Oregon, at Iowa, now at Penn State. And I know some will say, and if you're going to fall into that first category, you're going to say, like, listen, Penn State's a three and six football team. They've got an interim head coach. They've got a backup quarterback. Like, what are we talking about? And then there are others, and I probably fall more in this camp where it's like, no, no, no, no. That is a roster that

outside of the quarterback is still a top three, four, five roster in college football. They started the season, excuse me, rated number two in the country. And we saw it. Like they played better in this game than they have played dating all the way back to the Oregon game at home, which they lost in double overtime to a really good Oregon team that only has one loss. They played better defensively in this game than they have really all season long. They found some things in that second half.

with Ethan Grunkemeyer and their run game with Singleton and Allen. The crowd was alive. I've got to tell you, I've called a lot of games in Beaver Stadium. And normally, they're really big games with great opponents. And I hate to say it this way, but I've yet to see Beaver Stadium really rock. Now, the pick six early against Will Howard and Ohio State last year, it was going. There's no doubt. It was very loud that day.

But yesterday, for me, again, I'm recording this on Sunday. So yesterday on Saturday, that place was on fire. When Kobe King gets that interception, no, Kaelin, King, sorry, King gets that interception at safety and he races across the field. They take it in and score. Their defense is going. They're causing the offensive Indiana have false starts.

Like, they're going. So again, I fall more in this other camp, which is that is a really, really good win for Indiana, in particular for a team that didn't have their best wide receiver on the field. So he had to do all of that, speaking of Fernando Mendoza without Elijah Surat. That tells me that they've got some serious medal. Charlie Becker steps up. Now, the run game, I think, can get better, but let's not forget that they were down to

their third left guard. Drew Evans was out up front for them. So they are winning despite some really serious injuries to some very key people and contributors on this team. They're winning tough tests, and they're doing it in consistent fashion. I look at this as a springboard for them and moving forward to where they can hang their hat on this and say, yes, we are better than last year.

We are outstanding when it comes to finding ways to win. Late against Oregon, pick six for Oregon, they come back and win. Tide, minute 50 left, minute 45 left against Iowa, find a way to win. Down against Penn State, have to put the ball in the end zone. And they do it.

All of these things are going to pay huge dividends. for Indiana. There's no doubt. Penn State, they are not a three and six football team to me. I know your record is what your record is, but the way that they played, if you just use your eyeballs, you know that that was a very good win for Indiana. That's as loud as I've ever heard, Beaver Stadium. Let's face it, if this was another league, all anyone would talk about is how hard it is to win on the road, which it is everywhere in college football, as we see every single week. And so to sustain that late, that drive, Mendoza, get into the end zone, that's huge. Outside of the loss to Penn State, or excuse me, outside of the loss to Ohio State,

Penn State's looking at margins of defeat of 5-1-1-3 double overtime. Like, geez, that, you talk about a team that snake bit. I was, I felt bad for him, but you know what? like Indiana made the place. Another game that was outstanding and right down to the end came on right after us. It was the CBS game. And Oregon and Iowa, Tangle and what became a classic Oregon Big Ten matchup, even with Oregon in there. And what an impressive win that was from the Ducks to go in there and win maybe the most Iowa game possible and still come out with the W.

everything that needed to happen for Iowa to win ended up happening in that game. You have to feel for Iowa to some extent, very similar to Penn State. 93-yard drive with the game on the line that took up almost seven minutes of game time, and then they couldn't hold it. The question more for everybody with Iowa

isn't that can you hold a lead, it would be can you have a seven-minute drive to go over 90 yards to score? And they were able to do it. Grinowski takes them down the field. And yet their defense is the war. that gives it up. Why? Because Dante Moore goes out there and he clutches up just like Fernando Mendoza did. Their days were so similar to one another. You've got more coming back and making

just giant throws in that two-minute drill. Leading that two-minute drill, by the way, without three of his best pass catchers on the field, DeCoreen Moore, not on the field. Kenyon Sadiq, the tied in, not on the field. Gary Bryant left that game early. And he's finding guys down the field. that throw that he's making right here on YouTube, like that is unreal, that throw that he made down the right side, and he puts it right in the only area that you can put it for a completion. That completion gives them field goal range. They end up kicking the field goal and winning the game. And I said that those days mirrored each other because Mendoza was not great for most of the

day against Penn State. And candidly, Dante Moore was not great either for most of the day against Iowa. So what happens? What happens? I want to try to describe this, you know, from my point of view, because I think fans, I think you would be, I think everyone asks themselves like, well, why does this happen? Why does all of the sudden, see, I just want to say all the sudden.

Can I just say y'all, everybody, would you stop getting on me for saying all of the sudden? All of the sudden, stupid. The quarterbacks jump into rhythm. the offense jumps into rhythm and they start moving the football and it generally is surrounded by or in confluence with a two-minute drill. So what happens? Well, a few things happen. Number one is that you can cut it loose from first down rather than trying to have your

offensive coordinator with the run game and personnel grouping and try to build into success. if you're just going out there and trying to run base offense, there's a good chance if your offense is struggling that you're going to be in a obvious passing situation really quick, second and a long, third and long in your first couple of snaps. Well, when that happens, that's just so much more difficult to go out there and throw the ball well. So a lot of times what happens when a defense is dominating for the first half or for the majority of the game, what is happening is that all of your pass attempts are generally occurring when you have to throw the football. And that's really tough. And the defense can tee off on you and the pass

rush starts to get going. That can be really difficult. Then all of a sudden you get into a two-minute drill and you just come out there and you spread them out and you immediately from first down just start to like ping, ping, ping, okay? And the concepts in a two-minute drill, generally speaking, are things that you work on a lot. Okay, so they are more a part of you than specific to any one game plan. And you can come come out and they are generally, because of the quick tempo of a two-minute drill, they are what I would call black and white decisions. You as a quarterback, you know, you have a foundation of what your personnel group is that you're going to operate that series with. You also have generally a structure that sometimes three by one, it's two by two.

And you're going to go out there and it's generally like, okay, do I have one safety or do I have two safeties? I got one safety. Okay, I'm going to play the boundary. If I got two safeties, I'm going to play the field. and then you're just going to read those areas. And it's just like, one, two, three, progression reading, rip it out, let's go. So the rhythm is a little bit different than, let's say, base offense, when you're out there and you're trying to orchestrate shifts and motions

and get people in the right position and then run the football and maybe try to play action here. And you're doing a lot of other things versus just let it rip in black and white style of conceptual reading or progression reading for the game. That helps a quarterback. He can establish a rhythm at that point. Another thing happens once you get the drive established is that generally speaking on offense, you don't substitute. And you're using quick tempo and getting up to the line of scrimmage.

Well, what does that do? That creates vanilla looks on defense. So the entirety of the game, you're getting all the mixture of what that defense is trying to do. You're getting all the creativity from that defensive play caller. And that can be difficult to face. And then you get into a two-minute drill. You're not substituting. they've got to keep their 11 on the field that started the drive.

You're tempoing, and so what you get is base vanilla looks. You've got base black and white progression style reeds on your end, and guess what? There's a lot of freedom in that for a quarterback, and I think you saw both of that, or you saw that in both of these cases where Dante Moore and Fernando Mendoza started playing really well at the end of the game. Oregon also, by the way, did a great job on the line of scrimmage. Their front is very impressive right now. 261 rushing yards.

That's 7.3 per carry yesterday against Iowa. They did not allow a sack. They only allowed one TFL. And this Iowa defense is very, very good. Very good. I'm starting to really believe in this Oregon team. I know some people are waiting and seeing, you know, they didn't love the Indiana loss.

And I understand that. And because Penn State has fallen off and they're three and six, that wind doesn't look like it quite did. but if you really look at this team, they do the things necessary to go out there and win and win in the playoffs. Namely, they're really great at the line of scrimmage. Oregon is number two in the country and yards per carry at 6.4, only behind Navy. And they're also top 20 in yards per carry allowed. You see, I think that's going to travel. To me, Oregon and Georgia are similar in that. They have shown that they can win in several different ways. They've win blowing

people out. They've won in tight ball games. They've also lost a game. You know, so yes, there's a large delta of where they could potentially land and they do have to play well. They can't just roll the helmets out there. But they've got this ability to call on other areas of their team and win games in different fashions. And I think that's going to pay huge dividends. I'm starting to really like Oregon. I'm starting to really like Georgia over some teams that maybe we think are above them because of the one-dimensional nature above them. More on that, when I get to my top 10 that's coming up later in this show, I'll go 10 to 1. And I do have a bit of a shake-up here, even for a team that won what was considered a big game.

Georgia finally took care of business. We've been waiting for them to kind of go out there and mall somebody. They did that. They ran for 300 yards and beating Mississippi State. That was solid to see after we had seen them just play around and constantly being a definitely being a deficit in these SEC games. And now finally they went out there and just boom, now granted, I know it was an early deficit.

But after that, it was over. Georgia started playing well. And nobody in the country wants to see George all of a sudden establish a rhythm as we get close to the college football playoff. They might not even go to the SEC championship game. And you're sitting there and you're like, I don't want to play that team. Guess who that reminds me of? Ohio State last year.

I know they didn't take momentum into the playoff, but no one wanted to see that. them in the playoff. And Georgia's starting to resemble that for me a little bit. And Oregon is also starting to resemble that for me a little bit. And again, you go in there, you better buckle it up against Oregon because that's one of the most physical teams and most line of scrimmage-based teams that we have in college football. So that was a big old win, 1816 on the late field goal over Iowa on the road. Another big one, Texas Tech. Hello. Beets you, Utah, or excuse me, Utah.

Guys, by the way, the travel issues are real out there. I didn't land until, like, 1 a.m. I tried to get home. So I drove three hours to D.C., flew home. Because I like to wake up here with the family and do church with my boys and do those things. I think that's important. And I want them to know that they're important,

and they're the most important thing in my life. That's important to me. And so I do everything that I can to try to get home on Saturday night. But I got to tell you, I woke up to this morning, and I was like, oh, boy, that was, you know, landing at 1 and getting home and then you're to bed at 2.30. And I'm like, I've never felt more 43 in my life.

Just letting you know. Okay, so Texas Tech beats BYU, not Utah, obviously. They beat Utah previously. This one was 297. I've been saying this all season, in particular since I saw them live in that Utah game. I really like Texas Tech. I know that people will not give them the credit

because they don't want to respect the Big 12. There's three really good teams in the Big 12. There's a couple other really good teams in the Big 12. There's like five really good teams in the Big 12. And this team is dominant. They dominate BYU on Saturday. Now we've seen them dominate Utah and dominate BYU. you. And those to me are the other two great teams in the Big 12, really good teams in the

big 12. Now, their loss at Arizona State, one, it's on the road, two, they don't have their starting quarterback. If the committee is actually paying attention to that, which they're supposed to, then tech is going to rise pretty dramatically. We could see them in the top six or seven in this week's college football playoff rankings, and rightly so. And when I look at them, I look at that defense. And I think to myself, this is what makes them real. And you also back up that defense with the fact that they run the football. This is not your grandfather's Texas Tech or, you know, your Mike Leach, Texas Tech. They're not just chucking it around the yard. They can at times, and they've scored a lot of points in some games. But this defense is sensational. We've got the

nation's sack leader on the outside defensive end. They've got Jacob Rodriguez, a linebacker, Jacob Rodriguez right now is going to be a finalist for the Buckus Award. And they're starting to push him as potentially getting to New York. I think that might be a bit of a stretch. But listen, more power to him. He's certainly going to be a finalist for the Buckcase. It's going to be like him and Arvell Reese and Aden Fischer. Like these three guys are really, really impactful players.

And Tech has answers. They can throw it. They can run it. They play defense. I think what I look at this team, I look at the position that they've put themselves in to not only go to the Big 12 championship, but if they win the Big 12 championship, they will be a 12 and 1 football team. And there is a really good shot with wins over Utah and

BYU and who knows in the Big 12 championship game, there's a really good shot that they could grab that four seed. Now, if they don't, they will almost certainly have a buy as a five seed or a six seed. And I don't want to go to Lubbock and face that team. Who wants to go to Lubbock? That's an incredible crowd, great home field advantage, they will be on fire too, like on fire. That will be the biggest game in West Texas since, I don't know, Bud Kilmer, you know what I'm talking about. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know what I'm talking about. So this team, I think at a minimum is going to be in a quarter final and maybe could go to a semi-final. Like I'm starting to really look at this and think to myself, they're going to host at worst,

if they're able to take care of business in the Big 12 or just have an outright buy, I love what I'm seeing right now. BYU, by the way, they still control their own destiny to get to the Big 12 championship game. They've got a massive game at Cincinnati in two weeks. If you look at those Big 12 standings, Texas Tech now stands at the top at 6 and 1. BYU and Cincinnati are next at 5 and 1 apiece. Then you've got Houston, Utah, Arizona State at 5 and 2, 4 and 2, 4 and 2. So that's kind of where it shakes out right now.

and it's starting to look like that winner of Cincinnati, BYU is going to end up facing Texas Tech for the Big 12 title. Hey, Clatio fans, it's time to get out and do something fun, whether it's catching a game, seeing a concert, or attending another live event. So I want to give the sponsor of today's episode, Seat Geek, a massive shoutout. With over 35 million downloads, Seat Geek is the number one rated ticketing app. They've got more than 70,000 events listed, everything from sports and concerts to festivals and much more. We're in the thick of college football, the NFL season, MLB playoffs, all are going on. Our team at Joel Clat Show, we use Seatgeek for all of it. It's quick, it's easy, and you know you're getting a good deal.

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Just click in the link in the show description below, and you can download the app. That code is going to be automatically added to your account for later. Big shout out and thanks to Seatgeek for sponsoring today's show. Let's get to the top 10, shall we? We shall. My voice and, you know, it's just that time of year, so I'm grabbing a drink of water. All right. All right, here's what we got.

New top 10. Here we go. I'm going to get a lot of crap for this. That's okay. Number 10. Texas. I know. I know.

Q everybody in the comments. I don't want to see Texas. That is a talented bunch that's playing quality defense. If Art starts playing like he has in the last couple of weeks on offense, and they figure it out, you know, they took a decent Vandy team and drilled them. Again, that game was not anywhere close as. close to indicative of the score, the final score. I mean, drilled that Vandy team.

There were some questionable officiating decisions that allowed Vandy to even put together the drives that they did. So Texas at 10. I'm just saying, I'm just saying, I know it's a really tough road. They may end up eight and four now to this thing. I might have overlooked this the entire time. And all of you in the comments are going to love it if that happens.

It's like there's a sector of people that love it when I go one and three in my picks versus the four and oh that I went on Saturday. I'm not going to hear anything from those people then. And then there are some people like as soon as Texas loses a game, they're just going to get all over me. But I'm going to keep Texas in my top 10. At number nine, oh yeah, Q them for this one too. They hate it when I do this. Notre Dame. Oh, especially you OU fans.

Oh, man. And I've loved OU. entire life. I've been so supportive of OU forever. Oh my gosh. And all you OU fans, you can't even handle the truth. I've got Notre Dame at 9. They took care of Navy 4910. Jeremiah Love continues to be really good. At number eight, I've got Ole Miss. Now, I actually moved them down a spot. I'm starting to really love this idea of penalizing teams for ridiculous opponents, in particular in November. I mean, the Citadel, stupid. Now, Lane was cool.

He jumped in and he photo bombed the selfie. Did you see that? There was a couple that got engaged on the field and Lane jumped in. And it's like, listen, of course he did. Lane jumps into everything, including your engagement photo. Way to go, Lane. It was fun. It was fun.

They'll probably love it. They'll love it forever. Part and parcel. Number seven, I've got Texas Tech. at number seven. I really, again, I'm going to just, I'm just going to reiterate. This is a team that's easily going to be in the quarterfinals, maybe a national semifinal.

And what a year. Gosh, I'm happy for them. You know why? Because they went after it. They invested. And this is what I can't stand about people out there that are like, I can't believe what Texas Tech is doing. Texas Tech wants to win.

The rules allow them to do what they're doing. So it's like, if you don't like it, it's probably because you're not as committed as Texas Tech. Love what Texas Tech is doing. They're number seven. And then here's how I see the next three spots. And I see them as kind of like clumped together, the 654 area. I'm going to give you the three teams and then how I'm going to separate them out.

I'm in no particular order of thinking about Georgia, Oregon, and Alabama. And, you know, as I take a look and it's like I really want to. honor the head-to-head with Georgia and Alabama. But when I group them in this grouping, and I've got all three of them together, it's very clear to me that Alabama is actually the third of the three. And the reason is, is because of what I said earlier in this show about answers, Oregon and Georgia have more answers, and they've shown me that they can answer the bell in more in different ways than just their best thing that they do.

And because of that, I've got Alabama at 6. So Bama, they have that answer with the passing game, and that passing game is sensational when it's on. First half against Georgia, it was on, first half against LSU this last weekend. It was on. But then there are moments that it turns off. That's the problem.

and when it turns off, man, it turns off for Alabama. Think of week one against Florida State. Think of second half against Georgia. Think of second half against LSU. Now, the defense showed up and they did a lot of great things against LSU. And granted, LSU, who knows what's going on there. That's a bit of a dumpster fire. And I don't think they were playing very good,

even though they did some nice things on the defensive side. That was, I don't think that they played as well. in this game as what Penn State did under an interim coach now in the third week of the interim coach against Indiana. Now, having said that, I do think that that's still a talented football team, so I don't want to minimize what Alabama has done. That's why I still have them at number six. This is not about me hating Alabama. I think their passing game is elite, and it's really difficult to even slow it down. And most teams won't be able to slow it down. So that means I think Alabama can beat most teams, almost every team in the country. The problem is, is that when that

goes away, Alabama doesn't have something else to go to. You know, the run game still hasn't just, it hasn't quite got there for Alabama. And I think that that could be a problem. The defense played well against LSU. That offense is a bit of a mess. They benched Garrett Nussmile for Michael Van Buren. So, you know, they were having problems on that side. Okay, so now in this, this group of three, now I've got Oregon and Georgia. How do I parse them out? I'm going to go Georgia four and Oregon five. Okay. So Oregon is going to be at number five. I just talked them a lot and I'd lump them in with Georgia and now you know why. They remind me of each other. These are teams that do a lot of great things. They're physically built to win tough football

games. They can win nasty football games. They can win in shootouts. They can win on the road. They remind me a lot of each other and I don't want to play them in the playoff. I'll be honest. If I'm anybody else, I don't really want to see one of these two teams. These coaches obviously cut from the same cloth are coaches that will have their team ready to go, and they will be prepared. There's no doubt. All right, and then now we get into this this three and two range. This was tough for me as well. So one is going to be one. And I've got these two teams sitting here. I don't love having to rank one over the other because I love both of these teams. And inevitably, you get pinned into these corners where someone will

this is because it's the conference affiliation and others will say, you know, other things, which I guess I shouldn't care about that. I'm going to go Texas A&M 3 and Indiana 2. And guys, that is a total flip of the coin. It could go either way for me. What can't go either way is Ohio State at 1. That is the clear best team in the country, more on them in a moment. But this 2-3, A&M was fantastic against me. Missouri. Really good. And I love the fact that they have balance and that they've won different styles of games. I said that with Georgia and Oregon. And I can say that confidently about Texas A&M. I'm a big fan of Marcel Reed. I'm a huge fan of Mike Elko. I've been saying this since

the summer, that this is a good fit, that this is a good team, and that they could make some, they could create some damage this year and they're doing more than that. I feel great about Indiana. I'm one of those guys that sits in the camp. That was a great win on Saturday. That that was a difficult win on Saturday. And you've got to win without your A game at times in difficult places under difficult situations and they were able to do that. So again, I really like both of these teams. I think there are a couple of concerns. My concern for A&M, their run defense, they gave up over 200 yards again. A&M is 132 out of 136 and yards per carry allowed. when you strip out those sacks.

I don't love that sack numbers are in rushing totals. So when it comes to sack, or excuse me, rush defense, I always strip out sacks because that gives me a more clear picture of the way you defend when the opponent turns around and just hands the football off. Okay? And so when you strip out sacks, they're allowing 5.8 yards per carry. That's a concern. That's a concern.

And there are teams that could or will be able to exploit that. Now, it's interesting because the matchup in the SEC championship game won't exploit that if they play Alabama. Now, if they were to play Oregon in the playoff, then they could be exploited in that. Texas Tech can run the football. Notre Dame can run the football. You know, you know, who doesn't run the football great? Ohio State, you know, who does? Indiana. So it's like, what matchup are you going to get if you're Texas A&M?

Indiana, what concerns me about Indiana is depth. You see that they're a different football team without Elijah Surat out there, without Drew Evans, their left guard out there. They didn't have Aiden Fisher the week prior. So there's some, there's some issues right now from a health standpoint. They don't have the depth. They have not been recruiting at a top 10 level over the last three, four, and five cycles to have the depth necessary to survive injuries. We saw Ohio State survive injuries last year to their offensive line. They shifted things up and they won the national championship. If that happens at Indiana, they will not win a national championship. That's my concern for them, is the

depth. They need everybody healthy. That's the biggest thing. And then number one is Ohio State. They're the best team in the country. Kind of period into story. I know some people want to argue that. And if you're arguing resumes, then I will absolutely agree with you. They do not have the best resume in the country. They do have the best. Turn the game on, watch them, tell me what you think about them, resume, which is I test. When you watch Ohio State, that's different. They're players. They're are different. Now talking to a lot of different coaches that have played Ohio State during the course of the year and every single one of them, in particular the ones that saw them last year, the national championship year, they'll start saying things like, yeah, that's a better team than they were a year ago. And it's like, whoa, a lot of people point to the quarterback and then everybody points to the defense. Now, Will Howard was solid, but he wasn't Julian saying. And that defense was number one in the country, but they had to rebuild themselves during the year. they gave up a lot of points to Oregon and didn't play well in some other games as well

and still ended up being number one in the country, but this defense is suffocating. They are toying with people right now. They will be well rested. They rested, by the way, Cardinal Tate on Saturday. That was precautionary. Jeremiah Smith, guess who they still have on the outside? Jeremiah Smith, by the way, last two games,

16 targets, 16 catches, 260 yards, three touchdowns. I'm like, what? What? What are we doing, man? This guy is, this guy is insane, and that's without even Tate on the other side. Purdue tried just tackling him a couple of times.

It didn't matter. He was still able to catch it. He had that tipped ball against Penn State. Now, they ran the football quite often. They wanted to work on running the football and get those young backs, a lot of carries against Purdue, and they were able to do that. But, man, Smith is just turning into,

to the supernova that we always thought he was, was and is and was going to be. Julian Sand now has six 300-yard games in his last eight. So remember that slow start? Yep, that's no longer there. And then just real quick, if you're watching on YouTube, we've got this incredible graphic up right now about Jeremiah Smith. He now has 25 touchdowns in his career in 25 games, in his first 25 games. And he's the fastest to do that in Ohio State.

state history by six games. The next closest is David Boston, who did it in 31 games. Excuse me. Man, that is wild. So there you go. Ohio State at number one. My almost list, I thought about Oklahoma. Obviously, you can't put them over Texas. I thought about USC, didn't want to do that. Thought about Utah. Couldn't do that because I couldn't put BYU in there and I didn't want to put BYU in there. So those were the four teams that I was thinking of at the end. All right, before my voice gives out here, huge news tomorrow. You guys love that Understanding Football series that we did. We did three videos in the past, Understanding Football. It's on the YouTube channel. Just go there and it's got its own little section. I teach the passing game.

I teach defense and coverages in there. They're really good videos and our team does an amazing job producing those videos. I have a brand new video coming out tomorrow on Tuesday. I cannot wait in the Understanding Football series. I'm breaking down the RPO. You've heard about the RPO. What is it? Run pass option. What is it?

Why do you use it? Why is it different from other things in football? I think you're really going to love this. There's a lot of video breakdown in there so I can really show you what it is after defining what it is as well. So get to the YouTube channel right now, subscribe. And tomorrow on Tuesday, Understanding Football is coming out with that episode on RPO's. That'll do it for me.

understanding football tomorrow, playoff rankings reaction on Wednesday and pick some previews on Thursdays. It will be a huge week of Joel Klatcho as we barrel down November heading to the college football playoffs. Have a great week, everybody.