The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Is Ohio State in trouble? Texas A&M takes control of the SEC race & Deion Sanders deserves credit

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the week’s biggest games including Ohio State’s close win over Nebraska. He dives into the issues that the Buckeyes have right now and determines which are fixable going forward. Klatt also praises Nebraska’s effort and the direction that the program is going under Matt Rhule. He also discusses Penn State’s comeback win with their backup QB and breaks down whether Beau Pribula could be a better fit than Drew Allar for next week's matchup vs Ohio State. Texas A&M and Mike Elko made a huge statement beating LSU and now are in the driver’s seat in the SEC. Oregon is Klatt’s #1 team in the country – he breaks down why he thinks this team is just going to continue getting better and better. Finally, Joel looks at the Big 12 and gives Deion Sanders credit for the turnaround he’s pulled off at Colorado, taking over a 1-11 program and getting them to a Bowl Game in Year 2 while putting themselves in the thick of the Big 12 race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You have Trayvion Henderson and Quinchon Judkins. Donovan Jackson's probably a second round pick right in there. Like he's a high draft pick. And they can't run the football. That's a problem. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football.

It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Hey, welcome into the episode here of the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt, and this show is always presented by Hampton, by Hilton, and we thank you for being here. Remember to rate, review us wherever you're listening to podcasts, follow us on YouTube, subscribe to the channel below, like and review, and leave a comment below.

And then if you're on YouTube, make sure, make sure to turn on your notifications so that you never miss an episode. Whenever we drop anything out there on YouTube, you're subscribed, turn on the notifications so that you know exactly when we drop some content on you right here during the course of the season. You can follow us wherever you like to social media. We're at Joel Klatz Show. Like I said, wherever you like to social media. All right, lots to get into.

A good day of college football. Maybe not a great day of college football, but a good day of college football. And as we kind of like a plunge towards November, like we're starting to see things unfold and we're starting to see some of the character of these great teams in the top 10. We're starting to see some of these teams. that are making magical runs and their sustained success. We see that with obviously Indiana and others. I was at Ohio State, Nebraska,

and that turned into an incredibly good game, and that's where I'll start. So Ohio State back at home off of an off week and a loss to Oregon. So when we go into Columbus, like that's all the talk is all the coaches, all the players, talking about all they want to do is get back on the field. And you can understand why. that taste in their mouth from the Oregon loss was not a good one.

And they all felt like they let one get away. To a man, they felt like they let one get away. And it's hard to argue with them. Listen, Oregon played a tremendous game, and they were so good on the offensive side and they were explosive. And they made the plays necessary to win. They made some bold decisions on the coaching staff, the onside kick, so on and so forth.

And rather than litigate that game, I will tell you, like Ohio State felt like we have things to clean up, yes, but glasses half full, not half empty. We should have won the game. We were in position to possibly win the game. It didn't go our way. And now we just want to get back onto the field. And they had to wait two weeks to do it.

So when we got into town, like when we're meeting with them on Friday, that was the overarching thought and feeling within the football building as we're in the Woody Hayes Center, is that they just wanted to get out there and play. They wanted to go out there and fix some of the things. that had gone wrong against Oregon, and they were itching to play. Now, they were very confident, very confident. And you can see why. You can see why.

Like I said, they're taking a glass half full approach to what went on in Austin Stadium. And they just saw their opponent on Saturday, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the previous Saturday, get beat by 49 on the road in Bloomington. You know, so I don't want to say that the Buckeyes were overconfident, but I got the sense on Friday that it was like, oh, yeah. We can't wait to get out there. We can't wait to correct the wrongs. And it was a confident bunch.

I'm not going to say overconfident because I don't feel like that was the case. But then the game happens. And all of a sudden you win a four-point game 21-17 in a game in which Nebraska had the ball in the last possession to go down and win the game. And it's like, dang. I mean, they took the lead in the fourth score. This was not the way that this was not the way. They felt like it was supposed to go, speaking of the Buckeyes.

We all knew that. We all knew that watching the game. You could feel it in the stands. The offense, not even close on Saturday. Offensive line, not even close. And yet it was the defensive side of the ball that came into that game with all the questions. You know, as I'm watching that game unfold, I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, all the questions were on the defensive side.

And yet now all the questions I have are on the offensive side moving forward. So let's break it down. Let's break it down. Let's start on that defensive side of the ball. They didn't get to the quarterback against Oregon, and they gave up eight plays of 25 or more yards. So that's what everybody was talking about over the course of the last two weeks, was this defense?

And would they get it corrected? What was it going to look like? the news that Ryan Day spent the bulk of his time with the defensive coaching staff over the last two weeks and how there were, you know, tough conversations in some ways. And there were definitely some things fixed and emphasized on that side of the ball. And then everyone wanted to see what it was going to look like. Well, this is what I saw, okay? This is what I saw.

I saw a lot more creativity in the past rush. So you have to understand first and foremost, what they would do against Oregon is that a lot of times they would just rush their four down linemen. And that's been a staple for Ohio State for a long time. You know, they've always had good pass rushers, some of the more elite pass rushers in college football. And they've relied on those guys to get the pressure without manipulating the structure of their defense, whether it was adding a second level defender in a blitz and or creating a twist or a stunt up front. with the defensive line and get it moving side to side and horizontally and try to mess with the eyes of the offensive line and try to spring a rush or free in the quarterback's face.

That's not generally what they used to do. And yet, right away against Nebraska, it's like alarm bells. And we actually in the broadcast did it right away after the very first three, the first three, first, geez, the first three third downs, sorry. the first three third downs of the game, all were either blitzes or twists. So that's different. And I'm just like, okay, boom, here we go. And we showed it right there.

And for the most part, that creativity and aggressiveness, I would say continued for the duration of the game. And this was a defense that you could tell. They had a clear objective. And the objective was twofold. number one was they wanted to get their cleats in the ground and stop trying to make calls and adjustments while the ball is snapped. They felt like they got caught a lot of times against Oregon two weeks prior. And so they wanted to get there what they would call cleats in the ground, get their eyes in the backfield and let these quality athletes play. And once the ball is snapped, they wanted to be more creative and more aggressive with their defensive structure.

And they did that. They did that on Saturday. There's no doubt. the numbers bear that out. They got the three sacks of Dylan Ryola. They got 13, guys, 13 tackles for loss. Part of that is how aggressive they were being, but also part of that is the nature of Nebraska's offense. Nebraska's offense, even when they throw the ball, is going to be at or near the line of scrimmage. I was talking about that quite a bit during the course of the game. Nobody in the Big Ten throws the ball at or near the line of scrimmage more than Dylan Ryola and the Nebraska

cornhuskers. So you're just going to have more opportunity. for those tackles for loss against Nebraska than really any other team in the conference. But give Ohio State a lot of credit because they were able to capitalize and actually make those tackles. So the production on that side went way up. And a lot of that was due to the creative nature of the way that they wanted to rush the passer and as well as the aggressive nature with which they wanted to call the defense. Get lined up, be aggressive. Get lined up, be aggressive. Get lined up, be aggressive. get lined up, be aggressive. That's the mantra that started to unfold as the game played out.

And that's certainly what I was feeling in the booth. And I'm sure you felt a little bit of that watching or being in the stands. Now, I will say, like, what you're going to have to take with that if you're an Ohio State fan is that you're going to see man coverage on the outside. You're going to see single coverage on the outside, outside of the numbers. And again, we saw even Nebraska this time starting to target the corners for Ohio State. These are corners that a lot of us thought very highly of, whether it's Igbenosin on one side or Denzel Ward on the other.

Denzel Burke, excuse me. I always think of Denzel Ward just because of the famous call. But Denzel Burke on the other, these two guys are quality corners and yet they're being attacked. Why? Because they're in single coverage. And now if this is going to be a mantra that is used moving forward from Jim Knowles in this defense in terms of the aggressiveness,

that will continue. And so what you will see is teams will continue to take their shots in those one-on-one matchups. So those guys are going to be tested now every single week after what they've seen, what those opposing teams have seen on film. So that's the defensive side, you know, and listen, it was good. It was good. Was it great?

I don't know if it was great. You gave up some big runs, the long run to Ryola. That was certainly not one that you would love to give up. But it was good. It was good. Not many people would be. talking about it because now all the questions are on the opposite side of the football. You see, against Oregon, the offense played actually pretty well.

Now, it came up short at the end with some, you know, the OPI call, you had the penalty, you had the clock issue, and then Howard doesn't get down, you don't get a field goal. But it's not like people were saying to themselves like, man, that offense just didn't get it done. They didn't cut it. See, that was reserved for the defense after the Oregon loss. The offense was widely praised for how well they played, even Will Howard, even with the mistake at the end. And now, after this game against Nebraska, I think it's totally flipped. The questions and the concern, I think, more aptly put, is all on the offensive side.

And we know why. It's because of the offensive line. It's because of the offensive line. So if you watch that game on Saturday and you aren't worried as an Ohio State fan, then something's wrong. Then you've got the Buckeye color glasses on because those five guys up front were not playing very well. So we knew that this was going to be a big question coming into this game because you looked up and Josh Simmons, who is playing some incredible football over at left tackle, he gets hurt and he's out. And that left side of their offensive line, I felt like was their strong side of their offensive line with Donovan Jackson at guard and Josh Simmons out at left tackle.

that's where they were very strong. I felt like they were even more of a left-handed running team. They were more effective running the ball behind those two guys than they were on the opposite side with Shabola and Fryer, and Josh Fryer on the right side. So in-steps Zen Mahalski, and this was always going to be a question at least, and so that's exactly where my eyes were right away at the beginning of the game.

I'm watching in the booth, and we've got some of our ISO cameras on monitors that I can see in the booth, And right away, Zinn-Mahalski gets beat. And I'm like, whew. And then he gets beat on a run play. And I'm like, whew, like this is not going well. This is not going, though. And this is exactly what the coaches will be watching, too.

If you're calling plays and you're Chip Kelly, or if you're watching this as the head coach Ryan Day, that's where your eyes are. You're watching Zinn-Mahalski because that's where your questions are. What are we going to get out of this guy? Now, they said all the right things about him. He's making his first start. And they said, listen, he's a great athlete.

were confident in him. He's been in the program. He's worked hard. All the things that you would want to hear. But the fact remains is that he could not handle what Nebraska was giving him on the other side. And it wasn't even that they were putting kind of their veteran dominant players on him. He wasn't having to block Ty Robinson quite a bit. He was having to block, you know, Jamari Butler for a lot of the time.

Willis McGahey, a true freshman, got him at one point, who's their Jack player. So it wasn't going well on that side, okay, for Zen Mahal. and then he gets hurt. And then you start to realize, like, they can't run the ball today. It was staggering to me watching them force the run game as heavily as they tried to force it and just get no production out of it, no production out of it. I think that they've basically had six straight quarters where they've been largely ineffective running the football.

that's worrisome because here's what I do know is that it's not because of the backs. Those two backs are two of the best backs in the country, Travionn Henderson and Quincyon Judkins. It's not because of the scheme. Chip Kelly has run the football everywhere he's been, including the National Football League. So it is the five guys up front. And I think I mentioned something along those lines on the broadcast as well. So now the run game against Nebraska has 64 yards on 2.1 yards per carry. Yikes.

Yikes. That doesn't cut it. You have Trayvion Henderson and Quinshawn Judkins. Donovan Jackson's probably a second round pick right in there. Like he's a high draft pick. And they can't run the football. that's a problem. That's a problem. And they knew it. And the reason I knew that they knew it is because it felt like they were actively trying to fix it during the game. It's almost like Chip Kelly was calling

that game for the rest of the season than he was for that specific game. And in fact, in hindsight, that's exactly how I feel he called the game. He was trying to, to figure out and to force the square peg and the round hole of the run game because it's like, I know that we have to run the football moving forward. I don't know what I'm going to get out of this new rebuilt offensive line with Zen Mahalski. And then all of a sudden, Luke Montgomery comes into the game and Donovan Jackson's got to go out to the left tackle because Zen Mahalski gets hurt. And that doesn't look very good. And now it's a real makeshift offensive line. It's like, well, how are we going to run the football? Well, let's see. Let's see. And we've got to

fit, we've got to force it and we've got to force it and we've got to force it. And you look up at the end of the day and you're like, hold on, timeout just a second. That game was not called from an offensive perspective as if it was just Nebraska on the other side. It's almost as if it was called for the rest of the schedule. And that's not a knock. That's human nature because of what's going on up front with that lineup. The reason I know that is that I look up and the best player on the field had four total targets and only two in the second half, both of those on the first possession of the second

half, and then not one target the rest of the game, and that's Jeremiah Smith. That's crazy. That's crazy. And you know what? They're going to watch this film and they're going to say to themselves, like, that can't happen again. Because again, number four is the best player I have seen at his age in my career. Just period. And that it is what it is. He's got the potential to be one of the all-time great wide receivers, not just in college football, but just period in this sport. That is what you.

You don't have his size and speed and athleticism and tracking skills and body control and hands, all of those. He has it all. He has it all. And he got four targets, two of them in the second half. And those two both happened on the first possession of the second half. And they were in a four-point game at the end with Nebraska having the ball at the end of the game.

Just imagine for a moment that Ryola drives down and wins the game. And they lose their second straight game. And we're sitting here and you're like, hold on, you ran the football for 2.1 yards per carry and threw the ball to Jeremiah Smith four times. Whoa, wild. Can you imagine what the conversation would be like right now if Ohio State had lost the game? So that's why I say it was called for the rest of the season rather than Saturday. because if it was just called for Saturday, Smith gets more targets.

And by the way, you've got to throw a mecca in there as well because he also only had four targets on the day. These two guys are elite players. They have to get, I would say, eight to ten targets each. Each, if you're attempting 30 to 34 pass attempts, if you're really feeling like that's kind of the MO of the offense right there, about 50-50 split, you're running, you know, about 70 plays, you're going to attempt 30, 34 passing attempts. 16 to 20 of those better beat of those two players,

and they got eight total between them, four each, three catches each. Now, Carnell Tate had a nice day, and it's not like they have nobody else to get the ball to, and I understand that, but it was just bizarre to me. They threw the ball down the field twice on Saturday, Ohio State did, and both were for touchdown. Cardnell Tate had a long touchdown, and Jeremiah Smith had a long touchdown. That was the only two passes that traveled 20 or more yards down the field. Both touchdowns.

It's like, why didn't we see that more? You know why? They were trying to figure out the offensive line. That's why it's a major concern. It's a major concern. If they can't run the football, it's going to have to turn into what we've seen in the last two or three years, which is just a passing team at the end of the season. Now, do I think that they could still be like an elite team just throwing the football?

Yeah, I do because of those guys on the outside. And actually, I thought Will Howard is just continuing to develop in a pretty strong, pretty strong fashion. Pretty strong fashion. That team has major questions moving forward. And now they've got to see Penn State. And here's where I'll just sit with all of this. And then we'll move on into other games and teams. is that now Ohio State is going to take a totally rebuilt and brand new offensive line into Happy Valley to face Penn State and that pass rush.

Nobody has more sacks of the last three seasons in college football than Penn State. They rush the passer. Nobody tries to get off the line of scrimmage faster than Penn State. Now, it does two things. One, it gets them pressure on the quarterback, and two, they actually have more offside penalties than anybody in college football. but with that crowd noise, they are going to get some serious pass rush. This is why Michigan had to abandon throwing the football last year and run the ball 32 straight times because they couldn't block them in the passing game.

That's why they ran it 32 straight times. They couldn't block Chop Robinson. So now you're going to get Abdul Carter in this athletic defense and it's like, folks, this is real adversity for Ohio State. Real adversity. You thought losing to Oregon was adversity? No, no, no, that's a speed bump. This is real adversity because this is lineup issues.

This is schematic issues, and this is matchup issues moving forward in what I think will be one of their toughest games of the season. That aggressive defense, by the way, that aggressive defense, if their offense isn't going to be able to go and get into a shootout, if their offense isn't going to be able to be a balanced offense and run the football, and if this offense can't score 35 a game, then this defense might want to get less aggressive and run less man coverage and have less opportunities for explosive plays for the opposition, it's just something to feel out

moving forward because now I do feel like this entire season for the Buckeyes is, this entire season is shifting for the Buckeyes. And it's getting real in a hurry. And the coaching staff will do a great job. I'm convinced to that. I do want to give some Nebraska thoughts on the sound, but before I give more overarching thoughts on Nebraska, I thought that their head coach encapsulated the day better than I could.

So I want to start with what Matt Ruhl said after the game. Here it is. I was proud of that football team today. I was proud. They didn't back down. They had some really tough breaks. They had some things really go against them. even the way we started

and they competed it's the first time it's a first time it's a first time since I've been here that I felt a championship mindset in the locker room along with the championship mindset as those who compete know

comes utter disappointment when you lose so that part's hard it's hard for the guys but I saw a group of guys even at the very end take the field going out there to make one more play have a chance

to compete against one of the best teams in the country. I just got to give that coaching staff and that team a lot of credit because I saw them in back-to-back weeks. And yeah, both of them were losses, but boy, both of them felt a lot different, didn't they? If you're a Nebraska fan, I think that you're proud of what your guys did on Saturday in the horseshoe. I think you are. And in particular, after answering the bell of adversity from the previous week, getting beat by 49 against Indiana. And I thought that the two games encapsulated what a coaching staff really has to do. And they have to do this weekly, you know, because it's a case study, really,

in terms of a human nature. And sometimes we can get away from what our best is and we can get away from our strengths. And so many times, I firmly believe that being great at something is not about not having weaknesses. Being great at something is identifying your strengths and then and then building processes and habits that only enhance those strengths. That's how you become great. And I think that the same, that's from an individual standpoint, but I think that the same can be true in group dynamics and certainly true in terms of football teams. Every team is going to have some weaknesses.

And the teams that focus too hard on correcting their weaknesses, no, this is going to sound crazy because, yes, you've got to address your weaknesses. but if you focus too hard on trying to correct your weaknesses or trying to do something that maybe is not your strength for some, I don't know, element of surprise or something, or you get away from what your strength is or your identity is just because maybe you're not paying attention, you won't play your best.

You just won't. Okay? And in the last two weeks, we've had a case study in that with Nebraska football. Nebraska has a veteran defense that's incredibly tough at the line of scrimmage. We saw that a year ago. We saw that for the majority of this season. And you've got to understand that they've got a calling card.

They've got a fingerprint. They've got an identity on that side of the football. And I would argue, and I think they would as well, in particular after talking to them over the last couple of weeks, that their calling card is stopping the run. That's what they can do. If you were saying, like, well, what do you believe that you can? can do. We can stop the run. And against Indiana, they built a game plan that was built to stop the pass.

And then all of a sudden, Indiana's looking up and they're like, well, hold on. That structure invites us to run the football. And Indiana ran it so well against Nebraska to the tune of, what was it, almost 220 yards, something along those lines. Certainly a season high that Nebraska gave up on the ground. And Indiana torched them on the ground, torched them. And there were so many times that in passing downs, Nebraska would get really wide in their defensive line techniques and give up large bubbles in the interior of their defense just from the structure. And Indiana, alertly and very smart, by the way, took it. Take what the defense gives. And they took it and just inside handoff. So they would go for eight, nine, ten, 15 yards, not even being touched until they got to the second and third level.

And so we get back on the phone with the Nebraska coaches after that loss. And we're preparing now for the Ohio State game. And I'm talking with Tony White. And I hope I'm not giving up too much information. I think Tony is a great coordinator. There's a reason they gave him, what, one and a half million, $1.6 million, because everybody's coming after Tony White. He's really good, okay?

And he gets on the Zoom. I really appreciate and enjoy talking football with Tony White. And he gets on the Zoom and he's one of the only people that calls me Jay, but he was like, Jay, I'm really sorry, man. I was like, sorry. Don't be sorry to me. What are you talking about? And he was like, no, no.

And I can tell he's distraught. This is Wednesday, right? This is the middle of the week after that loss to Indiana now preparing for Ohio State. And he was like, that won't happen again. It will not happen again. And that's when I knew. I was like, boom, I knew it. didn't have to ask him any more questions. We actually didn't talk about what I'm about to

say to you. But I knew right then and there that their game plan for Ohio State was going to be like, listen, hell or high water, you're not running the football on us. If you want to throw it to those great wide receivers, go ahead. But hell or high water, you will not run the football on us because that's our identity. So we're going to go down with our best. That was what Nebraska wanted to do. And you know what? Kudos to them because that's exactly what happened. And Ohio State leaned into that for them. And so it became a closer game than it probably would have if Ohio State would have thrown the ball around a little bit

or tried to push the ball down the field because Nebraska was just not going to allow what happened the previous week to happen to them in this game. They were not going to give up those rink, not rinky dink, that's not the right word. those little passing down, you know, easy handoffs in the, in the middle of like kind of a bubble-oriented defense. When I say bubble, that means there was like one defensive lineman over the center, and then the next defensive lineman was like outside of the tight end. And there's just a huge bubble there.

There's no down lineman against Indiana, and Indiana would just take it. That never happened against Ohio State. They got in there. They played at times bare defense, which means they're covering up every offensive lineman. there were a lot of times when their big two defensive tackles, they were always in the interior, and they were just saying, like, you're going to have to move us to run the football. And I appreciated that about the adjustment that Nebraska made because they walked into that game and they said, we might go down, but if we go down, we are going down with our best. And that's what happened on the defensive side. Kudos to them, man, because again, 2.1 yards per carry, they did exactly what they achieved.

set out to achieve, and that is to stop the run. Now, on the flip side, if you're watching their offense, it's both tantalizing and maddening at the same time with their young quarterback Dylan Ryola. He does some things that I really love, and then he does some things that I really hate. And I know hates a strong word, but that's just the truth. There are far too many times when something is there, and I'm talking about like a big moment, like a touchdown throw, and he overthrows it. And then there are things that he does, and you're like, that's awesome. And I remember vividly this happening during the game against Ohio State.

Early in the game, Ohio State brought one more blitzer than Nebraska had pass protectors. So you've got to throw hot. You have to, at that point, as a quarterback, protect yourself. The numbers suggest that you have to get the football out. He's got an in-breaking route. That route's eyes. I believe it was Jacori Barney is all over the quarterback. So the route knows he's hot.

It's kind of a side-adjust hot right over the football. And Ryola didn't throw it. He did not see the pressure in terms of the numbers of the pressure from Ohio State and that they couldn't block it. So that happens early in the game. Then later in the game, the same exact thing happens and he backpedals and throws the hot and it ends up being kind of a touchdown call and then they reversed it but scored right away regardless. He learned from that. So I love the things he does in that respect. But then there are times when he has guys open and he overthrows him.

He had Barney open in the end zone. He overthrows him. He had the tight end open against Illinois. Overthrows him. Those things can't happen. They just can't happen. And he has got to make sure that he hits those routes. For all the skills that he has and the arm talent that he has,

he can't miss those routes. And Nebraska fans, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I personally believe that he needs to play with a more solid foundation in terms of his footwork and platform. All the off-platform throws are fabulous. I get it. He's got talent for days, and he can drop down, and he can throw off-platform and off-balance,

and he's got that talent. The problem is that you've got to give me layups as well. Okay? So, yeah, you can hit the 360 dunk. You can dunk from the foul line. You can hit it from the logo. All these things to make a basketball analogy, but you've got to make layups.

you've got to hit the 18-foot jumper. And as a quarterback, you have to understand that there are moments that you need to play with your footwork and your platform connected to the structure of your offense. And when your platform and your footwork are connected to the structure of your offense, your mind is connected to the structure of the offense. So what ends up happening is that your timing and your accuracy take a nice bump. And when that happens, then your offense is really moving efficiently. See, all the other things are for when things break down and when you need to become an eraser as a quarterback.

When you need to erase somebody else's mistake on your offense, then your ability to get off platform and get unconnected from your feet, that pays dividends. But you cannot play that way all the time. You just can't. So the fact that he misses some of those throws to me lies in this equation of like understanding when he needs. needs to be connected to the offense and when he needs to be unconnected from the offense. And only time can tell you that. And by the way, this is why I still get excited about Dylan Ryola is because not many quarterbacks can make plays off platform, unconnected, off schedule, as an eraser. Okay. Not many guys can do that. So when you have that ability,

you have the chance to be great. But the problem is, is that you've got to do the fundamentals as well. Someone needs to work with his footwork. Someone needs to work with his connectivity to the passing structure. Because too often, he's taking things that should be connected and he's trying to make them unconnected. He's a young player. I think that that that can change and I think that it will change

and I think that it'll get better. I think that it'll get better. Let me move on to some other games because there were some other really good games and some interesting ones as well. Penn State went up to Wisconsin, and Penn State gets a, I thought, a really gritty win over Wisconsin. That was a game that you look at the schedule and you know that Penn State and Ohio State are playing this next weekend. And it's pretty easy to talk yourself into like, oh, yeah, Penn State, they could struggle up there. And guess what?

For the first half, it was a struggle. It was a huge struggle. And Wisconsin was playing great football. And remember, Wisconsin under Luke Fickle, has gotten better and better and better. and over the last three games before this Penn State game, they had only given up one touchdown as a defense. So Penn State was going to have some issues in this game, and they did in the first half.

Understandably so. Understandably so. And then all of a sudden, Drew Aller gets hurt, and Beau Probula goes in the game. And Perbula has been getting a lot of time, by the way, because they deem him one of their best, you know, 12, 13, 14, best offensive players. And so the reason that he sees the field, you know, multiple times per game is because they understand that they need to get him on the field because of his athleticism and his ability

and what he provides to their run game. Because remember, when you've got a mobile quarterback and when you've got a guy at quarterback or taking a snap that is a threat with his legs, then the defense has to account for that guy with at least one player. And so when one player has to, to account for the quarterback, now you're equating numbers. And we talk about this all the time in the sport of football, but that's why it's so important to get him on the field and get him touches is because he can equate numbers. Now, as Aller goes down, Perbula goes in the game,

and now all of a sudden, guys, like, that run game took off. Penn State ran it for 127 yards on six per carry in the second half. And I'm not, like, I'll just tell you, like, there were a lot of text chains I'm on on Saturday. My phone blows up on Saturdays, and there's a lot of text chains. And a lot of those text chains were saying things like, is Perbula a better option for Penn State? Man, this offense looks like it's even better. Is Perbula a guy that could take them to the next level?

Is he going to start next week no matter what? Like, that's what's going on in the text chain. Smart people, by the way, on these text chains. Like, people in the sport. I can't argue with that. because of what I saw in the second half. Prabula definitely gave that team a spark. He definitely helped that run game.

And it's a run game that doesn't actually need a ton of help. Like, this is a really good run game with Allen and Singleton in the backfield. But now when you put him in the backfield, it kind of takes it to another level. So then the question becomes like, can he throw it down the field? Can he throw it down the field? The answer to that is maybe. it's not a resounding yes. And the reason it's not a resounding yes

is because if it was a resounding yes, he would already be the starting quarterback because he gives you the element of the run help with his athleticism. You see, it's clear he's a much better option for the run game of Penn State than Drew Aller is. But the problem is, he is not a better option from a passing perspective.

I will tell you this. When it comes to, what is the best way a quarterback can help the run game in any offense? It's actually being able to be a threat down the field throwing the ball. That's how you get safeties out of the box the quickest. Now, if you can't do that, then you better be able to run in order to equate numbers up front. But you're still not going to be able to account for the safeties, even if you've got a running quarterback.

So the best thing that any team can do for their run game is, play a guy who can throw the football down the field and he can do it well. All right. That's foremost. So the answer to the question, can Perbula throw the ball down the field is maybe? Because if it was a yes, he would absolutely be the quarterback already because he gives you that element in the run game that Drew Aller doesn't give you. That's a question moving forward. And this is, by the way, a passing game that had question marks surrounding it really for the last couple of years in terms of their wide receiver core.

did they have the guys to go out there and win a matchup style game like this? They do have some injuries now denied Dennis Sutton. He was banged up. Aller's now banged up. So there's question marks as far as what they've got going on in terms of a lineup. But here it is. Here it is. They go get a gutsy win over Wisconsin.

They've got Perbula in there. They feel good about themselves. This is a recruiting class that we've been talking about for quite some time. And now it's here. It's finally here. Penn State fans, you've been waiting for this all year long. Because you know that this, this coach that you have, James Franklin, this team that you have, this is the only game that they've been struggling in is Michigan and it's Ohio State.

These are the games that they have to win. It's great that they went out to the Coliseum and beat USC. You know what? That's great. And in particular with Alar coming back and facing adversity and turning it over and he won the game and that makes you feel great. There's no doubt. But now it's real. Penn State, you're at home. You've got an Ohio State team coming in that just ran the football against Nebraska for 2.1 yards per carry and has a completely makeshift offensive line with your crowd noise and your pass rush about ready to face them.

Now it's real. Penn State, James Franklin, here you go. This is everything that you've wanted right here. eliminate Ohio State from Big Ten conversation. You could eliminate Ohio State. You can put yourself in the driver's seat to go to Indianapolis and play for a Big Ten championship. If Penn State wins this game on Saturday in their home stadium, they are almost a guarantee for the college football playoff, and they might even get a buy as the Big Ten champion because they would certainly have a great chance to play in that game. It's all right there. Right here. You've done everything you've needed to do to this point. There can be no excuses. You can't say, hey, my quarterback's banged up. You can't say, hey, Deni Dennis Sutton is banged up. It's right here. This is it. It's never been

more real over the course of the last three years and maybe even in James Franklin's tenure than this Saturday in Happy Valley. It's right here. It's right here. right here. I personally believe that Probula is more of a threat against Ohio State than Aller. And the reason is, is because of the style of defense that now Ohio State has clearly leaned into, which is an aggressive man-oriented defense. When you play man defense, one of the riskiest things that can happen is the quarterback takes off. The evidence was the Ryola run Saturday in the horseshoe. Ryola's not a fast guy, and he torched him for an explosive play.

Why? Man defense. When you play man in the secondary, you can lose the quarterback. All of a sudden, a zone gets flooded out and the routes leave that area. So to me, I understand you would love to get Drew Aller back. I'm sure there's some people, but even with Perbula, that might even be a, a better matchup for Penn State for this Ohio State team. I wanted to get to this SEC game because the LSU A&M game,

in a lot of ways, the winner of that game was going to be in the driver's seat. As we know, they were going to be in the first place in the SEC. They were going to be the only team of the SEC to be undefeated in league play. And this was pretty impressive from A&M. I got to tell you. And by the way, you want to talk about throwing absolute haymakers. Haymakers at your postgame press conference. Mike Elko, here you go.

And this is a real program. It's not fake. It's not a politician running this program, talking fast and BS and everybody. This is a real program. And for all the recruits out there, this is a real place. And if you want to be really good at football, this is a really good place to be. Wow. Everybody listening knows everybody. We know. Mike Alco. Just, I mean, all I can think of, honestly right now is the Charlie Murphy true Hollywood story when he's like, oh, Charlie Murphy, you are cold as ice. Cold blood. That's all I can think of right now because, damn, Mike Elko just throwing absolute haymakers.

I hope Jimbo had its guard up on that one. My goodness. First question I have, is that the best $75 million ever spent in college football history? Probably? Most likely? Or absolutely yes? I would say absolutely yes. In fact, let's conduct a bit of a straw poll.

I would love for you to leave a comment below. Was the $75 million that A&M spent to buy out Jimbo Fisher, the best $75 million check ever written in college football history? Because at this point, it probably looks like it is. It probably looks like it is. And then he just threw the haymakers to prove it. Now, to be fair, I had picked LSU in this game. And for the majority of the game, that pick looked to be exactly right.

A&M's trailing by 10 in the third quarter, and Wigman had been largely ineffective, and this was a game and a style of game that I kind of saw coming. What I did not see coming are two things. I did not think Nussmeyer was going to make the critical air, number one, and two, I didn't see Marcel Reed coming. And then those things kind of collided in this game all of a sudden right there in the second half. Nussmeyer throws the terrible interception, and Marcel Reed comes. in and bang right away. Touchdown on his first play and he runs it in. And now that place is going bonkers. So LSU kind of falls apart at that point. You've got the interception. You've got the miscommunication on the field goal and the snap. Brian Kelly is losing his mind. Vains are popping out

all over the place. He's screaming at the holder. Now all of a sudden, Marcel Reed, he comes out. He throws a couple of passes down the field. They go for 70 yards. He's got three rushing touchdowns, and it's just a steam roll at that point. And you're looking up and you're like, hold on, wasn't it a 10-point game in the third quarter? Yes, yes, it was. And it got out of hand in a hurry. And you give a lot of credit to Elko and that Texas A&M team and the fan base.

And I've come back to this a lot because for a long time, I had talked about the fact that I thought A&M was just always overrated. And under Jimbo and largely before that, that was pretty true. Not with Mike Elko. And I've said this, and I'll stand by this. This is one of those fan bases and programs in America that absolutely deserve success. A&M fans have backed their program like an elite program for a long time. This is one of the great fan bases in America.

I always appreciated playing Texas A&M, got to do it a couple of different times, and was fortunate enough to do that, and playing Kyle Feast. We played a phenomenal overtime game in Kyle Field and ended up heartbreaking loss for us. We fumbled in overtime and lost the game. But like that is a great fan base. I called games in Kyle Field. I love that. I really love that place.

And what happened on the field over the course of the last decade plus was unfortunate. There were small pockets of success, but nothing sustained. And you, Aggie fans and Aggie Land, you deserved some sustained, And I hope that you get that with Mike Elko. And here you are sitting at the top of the SEC standings. And this is real. And he's exactly right. Now, moving forward, can Marcel Reed throw the football well enough to go win an SEC

championship? I'm not sure. But you look up at the standings and there's only one loss overall. It was that Notre Dame game to open the season. They're undefeated in SEC play. And they're likely to wind up in Atlanta. And at that point, they're in Atlanta. They're in the college football playoff.

I just, I just, I'm going to regret saying this. I just don't see with the way they play and the man that is their head coach, I don't see a scenario where they stub their toe to the point where they miss the college football playoff. I just don't see it. They're now 5 and 0 in the SEC. They've got at South Carolina, then that, you know, the random. SEC, New Mexico State. Then they're at Auburn, which is not a real good football team.

And then they host Texas, which all of a sudden is becoming just a monster game. If it wasn't a monster game already. Oh, my goodness. We haven't seen that game in what. I think it's 13 years. And now we're going to get it and it's going to have all of its fury right there. So kudos to Texas A&M and what Mike Elko has done. And to that fan base, like you do deserve this.

You have supported this team at the level. of the great programs in the country, and you deserve to have a great team. Aggie fans are really tremendous. They really are. Elsewhere in the SEC, Bama bounced back with a big one, although, let's face it,

Missouri has gone on the road to two real teams. They've played three true road games. They went to, what was it, UMass? I think it was UMass. Yeah, I think it was UMass. They went to Texas A&M, and now they go to Bama, and they've lost the two SEC games like 79 to 3.

So Missouri has always been overrated. They've been overrated since the beginning of the season. And with all of their injuries, this was not going to go well. You do credit Bama's defense. This was a defense that a lot of us, including myself, questioned a few weeks ago. And they came out and played incredibly well. Cook got hurt early from Missouri, hurt his hand early, didn't play in the second half. You know, how much do we take from that game?

I'm not sure because I don't think Missouri is particularly good. But you win an SEC game 34-0. That's something. A shutout in the SEC, I think is something. Elsewhere, Texas holds off Vandy, 2724, and Clark Lee just continues to impress with that Vandy bunch. I love watching them play. What do you take from Texas? I'm not totally sure. It seems to me that Coach Sark is really pressing and forcing publicly his support of Quinn Uers. It feels over the top. And I think it feels over the top because underlying, you know how quick the trigger might be.

We've already seen it. He's effusive of his praise publicly of Quinn yours. And you know what? Rightly so. I like Quinn. I think he's a really good football player. I really do. But there are times when he can just lose it for a moment and not see it.

And that happened against Georgia. I think it happened early against Oklahoma. there are times even in last year's Red River game. There were times against Washington last year. And it's just like he'll have a series or two where you're just kind of like, man, what's going on? And I think Sark knows that, which is why publicly he's so effusive in his praise, but we have seen, we have seen now how quickly he'll go to arch.

So just something to take in your back pocket. He said if he plays like that for the rest of the year, we're going to be okay. We're going to be just fine. He constantly has to talk about it. He constantly has to talk about it. Elsewhere, Oregon dominates Illinois, 38, 9, a win in Eugene. Here's all I want to say about Oregon.

Here's what I want to say about Oregon. They're getting better and better and better and better every single week. And you know what? Shame on me for not understanding how difficult it was going to be to get a transfer quarterback ready to play right away. And I talked to Dan Laining about this this summer. And he talked about how long it took. to get Bo Nix going and that Bo wasn't really, really effective until late in his first year and

into his second year. And so you could understand why it would be a little bit messy early in Dylan Gabriel's tenure, even with all of his experience, even with his track record of success. And what you see from Oregon is that every week that team gets better and more balanced and they can beat you in a number of different ways. I think their defense is quick. Their offense can run the football. Dylan Gabriel can run the football. He can throw it down the field and they've got speed for days. So right now, Oregon is absolutely the best team in the country. That's what they have proven so far right now. And I believe that we're just seeing the, we're just seeing the possibilities of what could be for Oregon because this guy and Dan Lannning knows how to continue to press his team forward.

and this team is just going to continue to develop. I think that every time that they play, we're likely to see a better version of themselves. That doesn't mean that they won't go out there and lay an egg and every college team does at some point. But up to this point, man, Gabriel feels like a perfect fit for that offense, just like we were talking about in the offseason. And then lastly, I just want to finish up on some Big 12 talk

because BYU and Iowa State continue to play well. man, that BYU team, they were fun to be around a couple of weeks ago when we did that game against Arizona. Retzloff continues to play well. Those veteran players on the defensive side continue to play well. They're going to be a tough out. And their schedule down the stretch does not look all that difficult. They stay unbeaten with that 3724 win over UCF. By the way, UCF started it as a favorite in that. That was weird. Iowa State still undefeated. Kansas State comes back in the fourth quarter to beat Kansas. They moved a four and one in the Big 12, and they are doing what I said good teams were going to have to do

to stay afloat and competitive at the top end of the Big 12, which is win one possession games. So now we've seen them win that one possession game on the road at Colorado, and we've seen them win that one possession game at home against Kansas. And in both games, they had to come back and they were down within the last three minutes of the game and won both of those games. So that's a huge feather in the cap of Chris Clyman, every Johnson, and the rest of the Wildcats. And they're going to continue to be a tough out.

And then guess who's in fourth position in the Big 12? Look up and all of a sudden who's six and two and four and one in the conference? That's the Colorado Buffaloes and now number 23 in the AP poll. I tell you what, Colorado is bowl eligible. Dion Sanders has done something that I got to be honest. I think he's done this quicker than I even anticipated. And I'm a guy that was a believer in Colorado. I was the one in the preseason telling you that I thought this team could win eight or nine games.

Well, guess what? If they continue to play like this, they might win nine or ten games in the regular season. Dion Sanders has done something that has been totally remarkable at Colorado. This was the worst, worst. Power 5 team in college football two years ago. The worst. They were one in 11 and lost those 11 games by a total of 349 points. That is 29 points per loss. Per loss. The next closest during that year in terms of average margin of defeat was Northwestern. And it was half of the 21. They had lost by about. 13 and a half per game.

29. Deon Sanders gets hired. He brings his son, Shudor Sanders, and Travis Hunter. He talked a big game about the transfer portal, and he has rebuilt that entire program. The sideline is full with energy. The stadium is full. It's a sellout.

The university is full. There are more students at the university than have ever been at the university. They're getting more applications from more spots in this country than ever before. Dion Sanders has been an unequivocal success. And I mean home run success. There is no other way to categorize it.

And all of you that want to take shots because you don't like his style, now have to sit there and watch his team play tough at the line of scrimmage, do a better job with the offensive line, running the football and take care of the ball. And now they're 6 and 2 and they're going to a bowl and they're ranked. And they're 4 and 1 in the conference and have an outside shot to actually play for a Big 12 title,

which would mean that they've got 60 minutes to go to the college football playoff. And it's two years removed from winning or excuse me, losing 11 games by 29 points per. Are you kidding me? Where are all of you now that think Dion is a joke? Where are all of you now that think Dion is only in it for himself? This guy can coach, man. And I'm glad he's doing it at Colorado. Shadur, 25 of 30 for 323 and three touchdowns.

That's your top pick in the draft. And at this point, I don't know if it's all that close. Maybe Cam Ward or Shadour Sanders. Those are your two best quarterbacks in the sport right now. Dion, congratulations, man. There's a lot of people that take a lot of shots at you. The haters are out. and you're still out there winning. Six and two going to a bowl. Colorado's ranked.

Wild. Wild. That'll do it for today. A lot coming up on Wednesday. We're going to take another dive through the playoff. We're going to project a playoff and talk about all the teams that are in the race. Legitimately in the race for the college football playoff that's coming up on Wednesday. Have a blessed day, everybody, and I'll talk to you then.