The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Is Oregon the best team in the country? Alabama’s Path, Big 12 Contenders & Coach Prime’s new QB

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt evaluates the state of the Big 12 including which teams he thinks will emerge at the top of the conference and whether it’ll be a two-bid league in the College Football Playoff. He then discusses how much can be made of Alabama’s blowout win on Saturday following the loss to Florida State and examines the Crimson Tide’s uphill path to the Playoff. Klatt reacts to the report that Colorado is making a big change at QB. He also looks at teams and players that aren’t getting the attention they deserve including Oregon – who he thinks is the most impressive team in the country so far.  Klatt also singles out USC's quietly impressive start to the season and points out a similarity to Lincoln Riley's Oklahoma teams that should give Trojan fans hope for the rest of the season. 0:00-2:55 Intro2:56-16:36 The state of the Big 1216:37-24:37 Alabama bounces back and what does it mean?24:38-30:06 Colorado making a QB change?30:07-47:36 Nobody is talking about…. Use my code for 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/KLATT10 Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They are built exactly how you would build a team to win the national championship. This was always going to be a really important year for the Big 12 conference. You have to provide ample evidence to your coaching staff that you are the best option and you elevate the play of the players around you. Alabama did exactly what they needed to do. They still have zero margin for air now. That week one just put them totally behind the eight ball. A day like today is why we love college football.

Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is the Joel Clad show. I am Joel Clad. This show is brought to you by the graduate by Hilton. Put simply, guys, when I'm in college towns, it's my favorite place to stay. So check them out. They are awesome.

And they're most college towns that you want to go to, certainly in the Big Ten kind of footprint. So lots to get into today on this addition of the program. Kind of a midweek. We've got to check in on the Big 12. There's some teams that I think that we might be sleeping on, maybe some players that we might be sleeping on in college football that haven't gotten their due yet. So we'll get into that a little bit.

And we got to touch on that Alabama game. It was one of those games I wanted to touch on in Monday's show. And we didn't get a chance to do that. And I know that they blew out Louisiana Monroe, but I've got some thoughts about Alabama as they kind of bounced back. So we'll get into all of that, including maybe a little Colorado discussion as well as they're dancing around from a quarterback perspective. But before we get into that, hey, just remember, go subscribe to the show. I actually did get a chance to dive into the comments a little bit as myself, not as the, you know, the show. So this is not just some like backroom, you know, some producer or something like that, who, by the way, would happen to be Kat who's lovely and fantastic.

So if you get a comment from the show, it's Kat, don't be mean to her. If you get a comment from me, like, that's fine. You can be mean to me and we can have a good discourse. But I did get into the comments. So make sure to subscribe to the show, jump in the comments on the YouTube channel. wherever you like to social media, we are there. So it doesn't matter if you're Gen Z and you like TikTok. Yep, we're there.

And maybe even older than Gen Z. I don't want to put labels on it. Wherever you like to social media, where our content lives there and it'll be there all fall. All right, let's get into it. So as we know in college football, and in particular, because of playoff structure as it's grown to 12, and then maybe what it might grow to here down the road in the next couple of years,

conference narrative and conference strength matters. We talk about it a lot. I think people probably talk about it too much, and I think that there's probably too much focus on conference strength as a whole, rather than individual team and program strength. That being said, that is where we're at in college football. Saturday was a big day for the Big 12. There were a lot of games for the Big 12 that they had a chance to really make a statement.

and it looked like early in the day, certainly as I was calling the Iowa Iowa State game, I felt like the Big 12 was headed for a really positive statement and the ability to build not only a narrative, but a perception of strength or the truth of strength in their conference that would allow them to potentially get multiple spots in this year's college football playoff. We've already seen that with the ACC, by the way. and we have a sense now that between Florida State, Miami, and maybe even Clemson, if they continue to develop and get better, that like, that's probably a multiple birth league. I think that we all, we all have an idea that that's probably the case.

We know that's the case in the SEC and the Big Ten. It's just a matter of how many are they going to get four? Are they going to get five? So on and so forth. It is a question, though, about the Big 12. And so it matters what the Big 12 does in non-conference play. And like I said, early in the day on Saturday, it looked really good for the Big 12. And by the way, I'm a huge Big 12 fan.

I played in the conference. I think their leadership is tremendous under Brett Yormark. I think he is the perfect guy to lead that conference in particular right now with all the change that's happening in college athletics. So there's a lot of things I love about the conference. And early on Saturday, you have Iowa State beating on. Iowa at home. You're like, that's a really good win, in particular for a cyclone team that now has two straight wins over Iowa. They beat Kansas State. You see this path for Iowa State. I talked about it on Monday, and it's an exciting day. It's an exciting day for their fan base, for Rocco Beck,

for Matt Campbell, and it's like, okay, I see it. That's good for them. They're going to be in the mix and good for the Big 12 because of it. You had Baylor beating SMU. That's a nice win. SMU was a playoff team a year ago. They played for the 8th.5. ACC championship game. They've got their quarterback. They've got their head coach. And Baylor goes in there, even after that loss to Auburn, and they played really well. So, Your Robertson played tremendous. What was it, over 400 yards throwing the football, and they get the win. And then Kansas jumps out to a lead against Missouri. And I started thinking to myself, okay, like, watch out for the Big 12 today, because later in the day, you're going to have Arizona State going to Mississippi State. That's a game

that I thought the Big 12 would win. But Kansas, it was a precarious spot. I picked Missouri to win. I picked Kansas to cover, if you remember the picks and previews from last week. And then Jalen Daniels and the Jayhawks jump out in the border war on the road and take a nice lead. And it looked really good for Kansas. And then all of a sudden, Bo Perbula and the Missouri Tigers come roaring back. What a fourth quarter it was, Prubula made a lot of strong plays in that game.

And Missouri ends up winning the game. and then they get that late score, which covered the margin. So we lost the pick. Missouri won the game. And all of a sudden, the wheels came off for the Big 12 for the rest of the day. And that's disappointing. West Virginia loses to Ohio. Oklahoma State rolls out to Eugene and gets hammered or thumped.

You know what I mean? Dumped. Oklahoma State got killed by Oregon. Army beats Kansas State. Yikes. And then the one that I thought was like, oh boy, that's not good. Arizona State, the champion, last year's playoff team with their quarterback back, with all the momentum that they had going into this season, they go to what is the, I hate to say it this way, but the worst team in the SEC and get beat by Mississippi State. That is not a good look for the conference. So what started

it out on Saturday to be a day that could have been really a banner day for the Big 12 and propel them towards a year in which they could argue for sensibly multiple spots in the playoff turns into a day in which you're sitting there and you're like, man, we lost to Ohio. We lost to Army. We got beat by Mississippi State with our champion. Oklahoma State got drilled by Oregon. And it just turns into a day that is like, oh, boy, it puts the Big 12 as a conference

behind the eight ball. So now what do we do from this? Where do we go from here? Well, just remember where we're at now in the greater conversation of college football, which is it's not just that we're always going to be in this 12-team playoff where your champion gets in and then you're searching for at-large bids. There is constant discussion about what the format of the playoff is going to be moving forward. Some conferences like the Big Ten are arguing for more access. Some conferences like the SEC are arguing for more at-large births. So a selection based model. And the hard part is, is that let's just say, for the sake of argument, we're going to move to some sort of hybrid between the two, at large spots and more, at large, or excuse me, at large spots

and more access spots or automatic spots. This is a big year for the Big 12 in order to argue that, hey, we need multiple spots as automatics. This was always going to be a really important year for the Big 12 conference. Brett Yormark, I, think knows that. And that's why Saturday was, I mean, to put it honestly, like, that's a bad Saturday for the Big 12. And it's going to put an immense amount of pressure on the teams now that will be carrying the banner for the conference. Because now those teams can't get eaten up through the schedule like they did a year ago with this league that has a lot of parity, which has a lot of teams that are similar to one another. And we always anticipate a lot of these games in

this conference that are going to come down to one score. Well, then if you start knocking off the upper echelon teams and they grab a loss here or a second loss there, now all of a sudden, you just are not going to have multiple teams that have a real argument to get access to the college football playoff. That's why it's so important. I think they need at least two teams to separate themselves so that they can get in the mix for those two bids for the playoff. They only got one team last year, as we know, it was Arizona State, their champion. ended up getting the buy, but that format is no longer allowed for them because it's not the four best champions that get buys. It's just the four best teams in college football, the four best seeds in college football.

So if you actually just seeded the tournament a year ago, Arizona State would have been the 11th seed, only ahead of Clemson. So we're headed towards that exact type of scenario. And if they only get one again, they're not going to have a huge amount of leverage in the arguments and in the conversations about what the college football playoff is going to look like moving forward. So again, that's why it's so big. Now, let's talk about some of those teams that now I think are under a lot of pressure. Let's look at the team like I just talked about Iowa State. How about Texas Tech? How about Utah? Maybe even include TCU in this mix. Now you're looking at those two, those four teams, if you will, and you're thinking to yourself, okay, those four teams are probably the class of the Big 12, but again, an immense amount of

pressure because if they start stumbling along the way, then you're not going to be. going to get two auto bids or two bids overall. I know that everyone's going to throw cold water on like Texas Tech because of their schedule, but let's not forget that last week, we saw a lot of teams that are inside of the top 10 struggle with lesser opponents. I'm looking at you, Clemson, down 16-0 to Troy. I'm looking at you, Georgia, in a slug fest, if you will, even though the game's in hand, but certainly didn't look good against FCS Austin P. Penn State did not look great against FIU in a 10-0 game at halftime. LSU didn't look great. They all played poorly against lesser schedules. So let's just, for the sake of argument, say, okay, you play someone

less than you, what should you do exactly what Texas Tech has done? So they've taken care of business. They were the talk of the town in the spring with the money that they spent in the transfer portal to bolster their roster under Joey McGuire. And it looks like it has worked. I think that's a really good football team. So Texas Tech, they're under some pressure now in terms of the way that they move forward through the Big 12 schedule and so on. I think that you could also include Utah on this. I've been a big believer in Utah. You know this. I was a believer in them in the preseason. Now you include their new quarterback, Devin Dampier, with his offensive coordinator from New Mexico, which, by the way, is the exact same boat that John Mateer is in with

R. Buckle coming from Washington State. I talked about on Monday what an advantage that is for your offense and more specifically for your quarterback to bring his coordinator in in the transfer. You're seeing that play out with Utah. I think Dampier is a hell of a player. His short area quickness is very dangerous. But it's not just the fact that they have a quarterback at Utah. We know they're going to play solid defense. And I think they've got one

of the better offensive lines than the entire country. So now Kyle Whittingham gets to play his style of football with a quarterback that I think is not only competent, but can go out there and make a lot of plays. So watch out for Utah. Iowa State just got done talking about them. That is a really sound team under Matt Campbell. And a talk

team to beat in particular with their quarterback, Rocco Beck. I'm such a believer in Rocko Beck. Now, the plays that he is able to make give that entire program a ton of confidence, and he makes them, generally speaking, at the most important times. They don't have a ton of skill on the outside, but you know what? They get it done. They play really hard. They're good at the line of scrimmage. They develop as well as anybody in the country. They're going to have NFL players from that defense come in this spring's NFL draft. I thought that interception that you're watching on YouTube right now, that's just such a great play. Man coverage, that's a great play.

I think that was Cooper, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, I believe that was Cooper. And I think he's got like five plus interceptions in the last couple of years. He's a really good player. So now you've got those three teams, maybe even throw in TCU. Josh Hoover looked good against North Carolina. So you're looking at those four teams, and I bring those four up because now they've got to separate. They have got to separate.

And hopefully for the Big 12, two of those teams separate. Because what you want now for that conference is that two of those teams can reach the Big 12 championship game with no more than one loss. And what you would really hope for is an undefeated team against a team with maybe at most one loss. That's what they're hoping for. And it's going to be tough because all of those teams that even underperformed and got beat, maybe save for Oklahoma State, Kansas State's not going to be the easiest out. Arizona State is not going to be the easiest out.

I don't want to play Kansas with Jalen Daniels. Look at what Kansas did late last year to all of the contenders. Started just knocking them off one at a time. BYU, Colorado. They all got the same fate from Kansas. So a big discussion on the Big 12 to tell you like, it's going to be important that those four teams maintain their discipline, maintain their level of play.

And I will tell you, I can't wait because next week we have, on Big No, Saturday, Texas Tech at Utah. Now, if you're asking me right now, I think those are the two best teams in the Big 12. And I can't wait to watch that game. I think Utah is one of the tougher places to play in America. No one talks about it, but Salt Lake City is a really tough place to play. Utah's great.

Got an incredible fan base. It's loud in that stadium. It's not a lot of people, but they're right on top of you. And I can't wait for that game. So Texas Tech at Utah next Saturday, Gus, Ginny and I will be there. in Salt Lake to cover that game. I think the winner of that game,

that's going to be your leader in the clubhouse, and that's going to be the team that the Big 12 is going to hope carries the flag for the rest of the year and can maybe get to that Big 12 championship game as an undefeated. So that's where we're at with the Big 12. Everybody else right now looking pretty good. Obviously deep in the Big 10, obviously deep in the SEC,

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All right, let's move on to Alabama. A lot of discussion last week on Alabama. And I told you that I was panicked for Alabama, judging by the way that they They played against Florida State, the lack of effort, the lack of urgency. And I stand by that. And their response this last week was, I thought, pretty good. I think if you look at what Alabama could do last week, that's all they could do. There's an old saying in coaching that the only thing that you have complete control over,

and this goes for all of us, by the way, so this is a life lesson. but the only thing that you have 100% control over is your own effort level. That was questioned in week one against Florida State, and I think rightly so for Alabama. But they went back to the drawing board and gave great effort in week two. I get it. I get it. It's Louisiana Monroe. But in a week that we saw teams struggle with lesser opponents and not play their best, Alabama did exactly what they needed to do.

Now, does it answer all of the questions? Nah. Probably not. Probably not. Does it help? Absolutely. They did the one thing that I thought could give them some hope, which was control their own effort level,

come out and play with a real sense of urgency. So they beat Louisiana Monroe, 73 nothing. and Ty Simpson comes out after not looking very good. Not entirely his fault, by the way. The offensive line was atrocious against Florida State. They really were. And Ty Simpson comes out against LaMunro, 17 for 17, a perfect day. Can I just tell you that's hard to do in Skelly?

What's Skelly, Joel, stopped using these terms that I don't understand. Skelly is like seven on seven. sometimes you can throw like routes on air. Routes on air means no defense. It's almost like a glorified walkthrough but at a faster pace. It's hard to do it there just because of the notion of timing and spacing. And you've got to be on top of that. So to go 17 for 17 in a live football game for five touchdowns is not easy to do.

Now, am I going to say like, oh, Alabama is bad. back. No concerns. Here they go. Roll tied. Not quite. Not quite. I think you've got to go out there and prove it. There's going to be games that they can go out there and prove it, but they controlled what they could control. And 73-0 is a nice outcome for a team with all of the questions and all the negativity surrounding that program and even their coach during the course of the week, they responded. I will be very interested to see how they decide to use Ryan Williams. their star-wide receiver. Once he's back from the concussion protocol,

I did not love the way that they used him in week one. He was 90% lined up in the slot. He is not big enough to be a slot receiver, nor does he possess the short area quickness that the great slot receivers use. He is a fluid, moving outside target, and he's best when he's outside. He's almost uncoverable.

You know, like I know he's probably not the size of the, these guys, but there is a Chris Olavé, Justin Jefferson-type smoothness to the way he plays on the outside. That doesn't necessarily work in the slot. And even if it did work in the slot for catches, you're exposing him to too many hits, which is exactly what happened against Florida State. No safeties beat him up to the point where he had a concussion and couldn't play in week two. So I'm interested. That's just something to pay attention to Tide fans. As Ryan Williams gets back healthy and we see how they decide to use him moving forward. Here's the scary part for Alabama, though.

For all the positive sentiment that you could potentially garner from coming out and answering the critics and playing well and controlling your own effort level, they still have zero margin for error now. That week one just put them totally behind the eight ball. Zero margin for air, both in their play on the field and in the sentiment surrounding the program. Okay, they're going to get no benefit of the doubt whatsoever the rest of the year, in particular with the sentiment off the field.

Their fan base is already chomping at the bit. You know, this isn't good enough. This isn't Alabama. Did you guys hear the, see the lady? Remember, Powerball was up to like $1.8 billion. And she's like, if I win Powerball, I'm buying out Kalin DeBore. I don't know why I used that voice. Maybe that was wrong of me, but whatever.

Like, it is what it is. And I'm like, hey, those fans are invested down there. And they clearly don't like what they saw against Florida State. Maybe you get some of them back on your side against Law Monroe, but it's not going to last for long. So there's no margin for error as it comes to sentiment. They go out there and don't play well again. Don't give great effort again. And boom, forks are out again.

So no margin for error in the sentiment, nor do they have any margin for error in their play on the field. Think about it. Think about it. Just for a moment. Let's just say sake of argument, they don't beat Georgia on the road in a couple of weeks, few weeks. They will be two and two with seven SEC games remaining and not an easy schedule. Let's remember now, Georgia, for as poorly as they played against Austin P, you still have to give them some benefit of the doubt because they've earned it under Kirby Smart. They've also won 33 straight games between the hedges dating back to 2019.

You know, like that's a tall order for an Alabama team that looked that bad against Florida State, regardless of how they played against Louisiana Monroe. So if we don't think that three losses is getting in the playoffs, which I don't, even from the SEC, then all of a sudden if you're two and two, you would have to run the table the rest of the, of the schedule with a schedule that includes Vandy, which you lost to last year, at Missouri, just beat Kansas, Tennessee, which looks very good, even though they don't want compliments from me, I'll continue to compliment them if I want to, at South Carolina with a quality quarterback,

LSU that beat Clemson in week one, Oklahoma that just beat Michigan and looks like John Mateer could be, if he continues to play that way, a Heisman candidate. and then you still have Auburn. So this is why they have no margin for error in their play is because their schedule doesn't afford it. The way that they played doesn't offer them any margin for error in the sentiment surrounding the program. So they've put themselves behind the eight ball.

So no matter how well they played against ULM, no matter how much you like the way that Ty Simpson looked going 17 of 17, no matter how much you could say, they controlled what they could control. They came out with urgency and did what they needed to do as opposed to other teams around the country with lesser opponents that didn't do that. All of that might be true. There's still no margin for error for Alabama.

So that's the concerning part. And that's the part that I'm very concerned with. I'll be really interested to see that Tennessee, Georgia game because that'll tell us a lot about what Alabama is going to face when they go between the hedges and face the dogs here on September 27. So that's Alabama. I did want to touch on a little bit of news out of Colorado. Coach Prime is toying around with quarterback and who's going to be the quarterback.

Remember, in the offseason, they were able to flip Juju Luis from USC and the five-star quarterback committed to Colorado. Now, he's only 17. And so I think that they've been trying to be patient with Juju-Lewis and rightly so. So they brought in a veteran transfer, Caden Salters. He was at Liberty just a couple of years ago. He led them to a New Year 6 bowl game. And let's be honest, Caden Salter did not look great against Georgia Tech. He missed several wide open wide receivers and they lose the game.

So then Dion decides to play all three quarterbacks against Delaware. And lo and behold, guess who plays the best? The guy no one's talking about, Ryan Stob. So Ryan Stob comes out there and played tremendous. led them to a victory. I get it. It's just Delaware. And that's awesome. But 7 of 10 for 157 yards and two touchdowns off the bench. And here's why I wanted to talk about this. One, there are some reports that Deon's going to go with Stobb moving forward. Now, those are not confirmed and it's not official whether he's going to start the game or not. I anticipate that he will. And the reason is

is because it is clear he has forced the coach's hand. And this is exactly what you have to do if you're an under-recruited guy, he was just a three-star guy, or if you're a walk-on guy, or if you're a third stringer, is that you have to provide ample evidence to your coaching staff that you are the best option and you elevate the play of the players around you. When you do that, they can't take you off the field. And so from that position, Stobb should get the start for Colorado this next week. I know that Deon doesn't want to be rotating quarterbacks and he's going to try to go with one. Stobb has gotten majority of the number one reps, excuse me, reps this week. I think he's going to be the starter, but again, unofficial.

Let's just talk about then like this idea. And by the way, this is life advice. I really believe that this is life advice. We can all learn from an under-recruited player that goes out there and achieves at a high level in college football. I love this. Or an undrafted player in the NFL. You know, it can go at every level. He took advantage of his opportunity.

and here's what you have to know if you're not a highly recruited guy or if you're not the number one person in your company as a sales rep. Here's what you have to understand. Your opportunities will be limited. You should never feel like you deserve the same amount of opportunities that someone else has. Your opportunities are what you get. So you've got to take advantage of them. You have to. And you can't be worried about what other people have.

I was fortunate enough that I had failed at baseball before I came back to the University of Colorado and walked on. So I had a good understanding of that already. It's like, listen, it's up to me. It's not up to the coaches. And so when I did get rare opportunities as a walk-on, I knew it's like, time to shine. And that's exactly what Stobb has been able to do. The offense was better when he was on the field last week. And when it comes down right to it, what's the mentality that you have to have?

I think that you have to have a self-belief and a confidence that maybe others don't share in you. That's what it takes to overachieve in any walk of life, any career, anything. You have to have a self-belief and confidence in yourself that others don't share, and it has to be okay with you. Too many times, I think, as we go around in this world, I shudder at the amount that we allow others to define us by. Don't do that. Don't do that. If you're on social media, don't allow someone else to define you. Don't allow someone else to steal your confidence. That's yours. That's God-given. You were created in the image of God. So have that self-belief and confidence. And as a walk-on or a three-star guy or a third stringer or, you know, the low man on the total. pull at your job or the, you know, whatever it is. You're striving for something. Have self-confidence that is uncommon to those around you.

Others don't have to share it. That's fine. You don't need a lot of pats on the back. There are way too many pats on the back in our society. We don't need them. It's okay. Believe in yourself. And that's what Stob did.

This would be if he was able to get the starting nod and start. It would be his second career start. He started the season finale a couple of years ago when Choudoir got hurt at Utah. Played pretty well, by the way. He was 17 to 2395 yards and a touchdown in that game, and it was a close game. 2317, Colorado ended up losing that game.

So I'll be interested to see what happens. That's a Friday night game, four and a half point underdog. The buffs are. Houston's quarterback is Connor Wegman. I always pronounce that wrong, so I probably pronounced that wrong. He's the transfer from A&M.

And if I pronounce it wrong, I'm sorry. You can let me know in the comments. And guess what? I'm not going to let it define me. Ah, see what I did there? Let's move on. I want to talk about things that I don't think enough people in our sport or my business are talking about. Because there are some things. Like so, for instance, what are we very aware of in college football?

We're very aware of the SEC. Good night. We get it shoved down our throat by you know who. And 11 teams ranked. Okay, that's fine. And you know what? It's a great league. There's no doubt.

it's a deep league. You can't convince me that some of those teams at the end of the rankings are for sure teams that should be in the top 25 over some of these teams that I might be talking about right now, which are teams that are under the radar. So there are things that I think that we are too focused on and get shoved on us. And then there are things that I don't think anybody realize these things are happening. And we need to just have our eyes opened. Now, the first thing that I would say is everybody knows this team is great. And generally speaking, they get their flowers. But do they really?

I'm talking about Oregon. And Oregon, folks, is a legitimate national title contender. How do I put this? So I'm doing Oregon Northwestern this week. It's given me a lot of time here. I'll show you right here. So I've got my little iPad. I'm leaning over.

So I watch game film on my iPad all week long. And it's one of my favorite things to do. I watch games for teams that I'm not going to cover. I watch obviously the games of the teams that I am going to cover. The big games from the last weekend, I like to see like, what did Ohio State do on offense? Hey, how did LSU beat Clems? It's awesome. Okay, so I watch all the film on my iPad.

And as I'm starting to prep for this week's game, I'm like, all right, let me just start watching all the Oregon film. And it was pretty obvious very early to me that I was like, they are built exactly how you would build a team to win the national championship. This is a better version of Oregon from a year ago. This is a version of Oregon that reminds me a lot of Michigan two years ago and Ohio State last year. This is absolutely a team that can win it all. Dan Landing is going to be pissed that I'm saying this. I'm sorry, Dan. I call balls and strikes.

This is what I believe. They are built with power on the line of scrimmage, both sides, speed on the outside, and Dante Moore, ladies and gentlemen, is a team that I think, or a quarterback that I think could be better than the quarterbacks that landing has had at Oregon in the last few years. And I loved Bo Nix and I loved Dylan Gabriel. So that's saying a lot. His ceiling is going to be higher than those guys. And he's already been there now. Remember, he transferred and sat last year behind Dylan Gabriel. So he's got enough of the offense and enough of a grasp of the office. under Willstein, the offensive coordinator, that they're already doing things that Dylan Gabriel

never got to because Gabriel had to come in and learn the offense so fast for his first year. So this is more of what they ran schematically under Bow Nix. And yet, this is not a knock against Nix, who I think is doing a hell of a job. I know he didn't play great last Sunday against the Titans, but Denver won. This guy started as a rookie. He was a first round draft pick, and Dante Moore has more talent than he does. He just does. His arm talent jumps off the tape. His ceiling is higher. They've got a stable of running backs. And what I really love, what I really love about Oregon is how they're built defensively. All right. So if you've listened to this show at all during the course of the preseason, you know that I'm big on blueprints and you've got to have experienced guys at the right spots. And then you better have a defense that can finish in the top, really three in the country in Total defense and scoring defense.

And to do that, you have to have a unique combination of power in the middle to stop the run, ferocity on the edge to rush the quarterback, speed at the second level to be hybrid against everything in offense does, and then enough in the back end where you can be multiple in your coverage, which is what we saw from Ohio State against Texas. That's really the blueprint, all right? It's what Michigan had. It's what Georgia had a couple of years ago. If you actually look at the last four champions, in three of those years, that defense that won the national championship finished first overall in the country.

The other year, I believe, was George's second year. They finished third in the country in defense. So again, your defense matters. No one wants to talk about it because we always talk about quarterback play and offensive play and so on and so forth. But your defense better be great. And it better be built correctly and more specifically on the defensive line. Let me just tell you this right now. First of all, they've got eight guys that can rotate throughout the defensive line.

Really, four guys in the internal part of that defensive line. Amari Washington, number 52. Tion Gray, number 50, Bear Alexander, the transfer from USC in Georgia. Number one, Terrence Green, number 99. Listen to the weights of those players. Amari Washington, 6-3, 330 pounds, defensive tackle. Tion Gray, 6-6-3-336. Hello. Terrence Green, 6.5, 330. Bear Alexander, smallest of the group, 63302. Good luck running the football against Oregon. Like, what? That reminds me of Michigan a couple of years ago, a rotation of guys that were terrific. Terrific. Jenkins and Grant and all of these guys, like they could just roll guys through on the outside. They've got pass rushers. I'm a big fan of Dylan Thineman, the transfer.

from Purdue, the safety that they've got on the offensive line. They rebuilt the offensive line. Three transfers on the offensive line. And I watched that offensive line. I'm like, that's the best offensive line I've seen on film so far. Isaiah World, transfer from Nevada at left tackle. Pregnon, transfer from USC at left guard. Harky, the transfer from Texas State at right tackle. He's 6-6-327. I'm just telling you guys, I'm just telling you guys right now. Oregon might win at all. and I don't think anybody is talking about that. All due respect to Ohio State who beat Texas, all due respect to Texas,

who's developing and getting better, obviously, after their loss to Ohio State. Of the teams that I've watched on film, that's the best team I've seen on film. I've watched the Clemson LSU game. I've watched the Florida State Alabama game. I've watched Georgia on film. I watch Notre Dame Miami on film.

That's the best team I've seen on film. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. How about another team that no one, talking about that maybe we should be talking about. I'm going to go with USC. Nobody talking about USC. They're sitting at 30th in the AP poll. So not even really close to the top 25. They would have to pass four other teams who are getting votes. First and foremost, no drama at USC. And I think that that's a big deal for Lincoln Riley over the first two games. Granted, lesser opponents,

I understand that. But again, let's go back to the fact that some people are taking care of business against lesser opponents. some people aren't. So if we're going to give credit where it's due, they've taken care of lesser opponents. But it's really how they're doing it. If you've listened to this show for any amount of time and listen to my opinion of Lincoln Riley as a head coach and his tenure at USC, you will know that my biggest knock against USC under Riley is that they have not run the football well enough to be what he was at Oklahoma. It has not looked the same. And it's been more of the the passing side of the Riley offense rather than the running side. Now, small differences, small differences, but they pop up in the numbers.

Let's take a look at the numbers. They've run it really well this year, 8.6 yards per carry. That's number one in the country. So per rush, USC is right now number one in the country. Did you know that Oklahoma, during the Lincoln Riley tenure, when he was the head coach, over that span was number one in the country, an average. yards per rush. That's a big, big bullet point. I think that we need to be paying attention to that. They've got the number one ranked Juko running back back there. Wayman Jordan. He ran for 167 last

week. He's got 10 per carry this season. He won the Juko offensive player of the year last year when he was at Hutchinson Community College. That's a good offense. It also has to be coupled with the ability to throw the ball. In Maiava right now, third in the country throwing the football. Guess where OU generally was all of those quarterbacks when they were winning guys like Baker and Kiler and Jalen Hertz. Around third in the country throwing the football. In fact, that's exactly where Baker Mayfield was when they went on that run and lost in the semifinal to Georgia. They've got Mackay Limon on the outside. These guys are still really good. I know that there were some transfers, but nobody's talking about them. And I think that that's just fine for them.

I know it hasn't been great competition. I understand that. But the blueprint, for how Lincoln Riley succeeds in this sport is there. A quarterback that can play at the top end, throwing the football, and a running game that is dominant. Not just good, but is dominant. Again, they are aligning from a statistical perspective to what they did at Oklahoma during the quality run. They get Purdue on the road this week.

They host Michigan State before they go on the road to number nine, Illinois. Good chance of being four and O going into that one. And that's a game that I think we've got a good chance of, calling. So I'm excited about that. How about some players that are floating under the radar? How about Bo Pribula at Missouri? Transfer from Penn State. He goes down there. What a big win he gets. How about that for like a real coming up part? So Pabula transfers in. What's the best way to get the fan base on your side? Play great against arrival. And in come back fashion in the second half, in particular in the fourth quarter. Oh, Surrey, why don't you understand? Did you guys hear that?

My watch just yelled at me. I hate electronics. But that, That's fine. I don't like when Surrey listens to me. How did you guys, would you guys leave a comment below? Should I be as freaked out about that as most? Like, is it ever creepy to you when your watch just starts talking to you? Or like when you're talking about some subject, like, hey, hey, babe, we need to order more toothpaste or whatever. And then all of a sudden, you're online checking news or whatever. And the ad on your phone is for toothpaste.

I'm like, stop it. Stop it. Anyways, I digress. I digress. Bo Pribula. Big comeback win over the rival in the Border War, Kansas. They hadn't played in 14 years. Good comeback thrown for over 300 yards and three touchdowns and a fourth quarter comeback to boot. I really love that. I don't think enough people are talking about Bo Prabula and Missouri. That was my dark horse pick with their schedule in the SEC to potentially be a team that could wind up 10 and 2. Maybe not go to the SEC championship game, but be right there. you know, 13th, 12th, 11th, 10th in the country and maybe grab one of those at large spots. How about Aidan Childs at Michigan State? Did anyone see that game late Saturday night? I did. That was an awesome game. Michigan State and two overtimes beat Boston College, Bill O'Brien's Boston College Group.

And it was an excellent game. And I know that Aiden Childs did not play well last year as a young freshman quarterback who had transferred with his coach, came from Oregon State, came with Jonathan Smith, and he was a turnover machine. But I tell you what, man, he played great on Saturday night against Boston College. And if he does that, then Jonathan Smith is going to be able to turn them around. I think Smith is one of the better coaches in the country. He reminds me a lot of these guys that always know how to build and succeed, the Matt Campbell's of the world.

And Smith is one of those guys. So if Childs is able to play like he did on Saturday night, five total touchdowns in the double OT win, then Michigan State's going to be more dangerous in the Big Ten. No one's talking about Michigan State. No one's talking about Aden Childs. And I think that they should. I liked him a lot.

How about a running back out at Washington? I mentioned Jonah Coleman in the preseason as one of the reasons why I thought Washington could be an interesting pick as a sleeper team in the Big Ten to maybe get in a position like Missouri to be a 10-win team potentially and be knocking on the door of the playoff. Jonah Coleman, their back already has seven touchdowns in two games. He's averaging 144 rush yards per game. And if they can run it like that, then it's something special.

Could be brewing in Seattle. They're great at home. They're the second best home team in college football only to Georgia as it relates to winning street perspective. I know they didn't play great in week one against Colorado State, but last week they were really solid. Remember, they still have Denzel Boston on the outside, the wide receiver. DeMond Williams, their quarterback is a really good player.

And Jed Fish has history of turning places around and succeeding as a coach. So it should stand to reason that that could be the trajectory that Washington is on behind Jonah Coleman. A couple of wide receivers throughout the country, nobody is talking about, but they should be. How about Mario Craver and Casey Concepcion? A couple of transfers at A&M who have come in and really worked out for the Aggies. Aggies flying under the radar in the SEC, I still think there's something about Mike Elko,

Texas A&M, the support they get, the talent they have, the ability to run the football, and now these guys on the outside, these wide receivers, there's something about them that's going to be a tough out in the SEC. I look up, Craver and Concepcion have done

exactly what you would hope really highly touted transfer receivers could do. Craver from Mississippi State, back-to-back 100-yard games, three touchdowns. Concepcion, three receiving touchdowns, also had a punt return touchdown in the opener. So they're doing what they need to do. And then the last guy that I don't think is getting enough love.

And we had him in week one, and I really liked him in week one. Parker Livingston is becoming kind of the number one target at Texas. Livingston, I think he can get lost and maybe rightly so with all the talented players and the speed that they have on the outside, the wingoes of the world, and so on and so forth. But Livingstone is a guy that the coaches raved about before in the week leading up to the Ohio State game. They said that he was the most consistent wide receiver in their preseason, in their fall camp, comes to work every day and is always in the right spot, which is exactly what you want in a wide receiver. You really want three things from a wide receiver.

Can I rely on you to be in your proper spacing, number one, and on time? Okay, that's part of number one. Can you get there by creating separation? And now can you be relied upon to catch the football once I throw it? Those are the three attributes of every great wide receiver. And even if you're not a great wide receiver, if you do those three things consistently, the ball will find you. I will guarantee you as a quarterback if you're Archmanning

and you have a strong rapport with any receiver. But let's say it's Parker Livingstone. Livingstone. And you know where he's going to be in what timing he's going to have separation, and you can trust him to catch the football, then the ball's going to go there. And that's why I think he's been so big for them in the first couple of games, 128 yards, a couple of touchdowns versus San Jose State last week. He had that touchdown against Ohio State, averaging 29 yards on his six catches through two games. So some explosiveness there for Livingstone. That's some people under the race.

I absolutely love this sport. There's still probably topics that I could have been talking about, and I'm just not going to have time. I know Nebraska fans want my thoughts on Nebraska. Hopefully we can get to that over the next couple of weeks. Minnesota looked great last week. They didn't look great in week one. It's why I didn't get them in this week because I still want to wait and see, but Minnesota looks like a team that's going to be very tough. There's a lot going on. I love this sport. Absolutely love this sport. We'll be back tomorrow with Pick, and previews. We've got some really great games to pick and preview. I'll be in Northwestern, Oregon at Northwestern on Saturday for Big Noon Saturday. Gus, Jeannie and I will be there.

Big Noon kickoff will be there. So I can't wait for that. But again, tune in tomorrow. I'll have picks and previews three and two last week. We're clawing back up to the slow start. So three and two last week, we're going to continue to gather information about these teams and give you really solid informed picks. That's coming up tomorrow on the Joel Clash show. Have a great night, everybody.