The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Is this Michigan team legit?

Episode Date: October 28, 2020

Urban Meyer joins Joel Klatt to discuss their first impressions of the Big Ten's return in Week 8, including how Penn State can move forward after a huge loss to Indiana. Plus, Joel breaks down what made Michigan stand out in their debut performance against Minnesota, and ranks his Top 10 teams in college football. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome into the program. This is Breaking the Huddle. I'm Joel Clad. The show is brought to you by Dr. Pepper. It is the official drink of Fansville. We are ready to celebrate college football with you. And we're going to get a lot of reaction today. Urban Myers is going to be on the show. I'm going to break down Michigan, their performance against Minnesota last week. We're going to get to your social media reaction. That's coming up later. But first, it's my top 10. Here are the top 10 teams in college football. And let's get right to it. At number 10, I I've got Cincinnati, the Bearcats in there. Luke Fickle has done a heck of a job. He's 26 and 5 in the last two and a half years. And I got to tell you, they are playing really good football, back-to-back 11 win seasons. And this is a team that's got Memphis this week. Remember, they lost twice to Memphis late last year,

trying to avenge those losses. At number nine, I'm going with BYU, the Cougars. They've got four games left, folks. That's it. Only four games left. If they go undefeated, I think they should go to the New Year 6. That's my personal opinion. Zach Wilson continues to impress 78%, 321 yards per game, 16 touchdowns, and only one interception.

Good on you, Zach Wilson. Michigan is at number eight for me. That's how much they impress me, and I will get into all of those reasons later in the show. Big breakdown on film. Stay tuned for what Michigan did well in that win against Minnesota. At number seven, I've got Texas A&M. Folks, Texas A&M has some real opportunity to put pressure on Alabama. I know that they didn't beat Alabama,

but I think they're going to force Alabama to win the rest of their games in order to win that division or at least not slip up too bad. And we'll see what Jalen Waddle's injury does to Alabama. But here's why. Jimbo Fisher is 20 and 10 in his tenure as the Aggie head coach. But if you look closer, he's 18 and 2 against teams that are not in the top 10 in the country.

18 and 2 in his tenure with the Aggies. That's pretty good. And guess what? There's not a ranked team left on their. their schedule. So watch out for the Aggies going down the stretch. Number six, I've got Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State, that's a big win against Iowa State a week ago. I love what they were able to do. Chuba Hubbard got loose a little bit. Their defense is playing well, giving up only 12 points per game. Now, they will be tested. They have not faced a very good offense as of yet. They face

Texas this week. Texas is averaging 45 points per game. I've got Georgia at number five. Obviously, they're lost to Alabama, knocked them down a little bit. They got to solve that quarterback issue with and Bennett, but this is a really talented team. And now we get down to business here in the next couple of weeks. They've got Kentucky and Florida, who I think are their biggest competition in the east. Notre Dame, for me, is the fourth ranked team in the country after that 45 to 3 beat down. And I know I put them on upset alert, if you will. We'll get to that a little bit later in the program.

My fault, guys, my fault. Pitt clearly wasn't ready. I've got BAM at number three. A lot of Bama people are apoplectic that I've got Bama at number three. but for the sole reason that Jalen Waddle, who's a big part of your offense, is out, I'm a little worried for Alabama, although I don't know how worried. I don't know if anyone's going to be able to stop them. Just really quickly, Slade Bolden will be the guy stepping in for Jalen Wadle.

And this is a guy that was a quarterback in high school. He was the Gatorade player of the year in the state of Louisiana. And he went for six catches for 94 yards last week stepping in for Waddle. Being a former quarterback, look for them to use him in creative ways. Wildcat, kind of Edelman-like. with the New England Patriots. And two and one is Ohio State and Clemson. Not a lot of people will be surprised with that.

Clemson, listen, are you not entertained? Dabo is like, what do you want for me, right? Like, why we're having a press conference like we lost? What do you want? Are you not entertained? And Ohio State, there's only one concern for me for Ohio State. And that's the fact that their run game was not anywhere close to what it was a year ago. They're trying to replace J.K. Dobbins.

That's going to be very tough. Trey Sermon, the transfer from Oklahoma and Master Tieg, who was the backup to Dobbins a year. ago, they only averaged a little over four yards per carry against Nebraska. Dobbins on the year average 6.6 yards per carry. So there's a delta there that they're going to have to make up and they certainly are going to want to run the football a little bit more effectively. So there you have it.

There's my top 10 teams in the country as I see it here going into Halloween. Pleased to be joined now by our colleague here, Big Noon Kickoff's own coach Urban Meyer. Coach, what's going on, man? Great to see it, Joel. Yeah, listen, I got to tell you, it was so good. good to be back in the Big Ten watching the Big Ten games whether it was on TV or we were there live in the shoe. And that's where I want to start because clearly Ohio State's the favorite in the Big Ten, and rightly so. They're so talented. From what you saw on Saturday from their

performance against Nebraska, what were your thoughts? It only legitimizes our thoughts about the Ohio State offense. That's an NFL offense. That's arguably, you know, Trevor Lawrence and Justin field. You know, who's better? I don't know. They're, they both bring incredible qualities. They're both going to be, I think, pick one and pick two of the NFL draft. What I, what you did find out is some incredible receivers. You know, you worry about the run game a little bit. You didn't see the explosiveness out of the tailback. The problem is going to be on defense. You're just not sure. However, you look at Ohio State schedule and when will they be challenged. They'll be challenged in state college this week, but will they really be? And then after that, they go on a run that

the talent's differential is just going to be overwhelming. The team that's going to be challenging is that was in Ann Arbor. I mean, that was a much improved looking team than last year. Yeah, listen, those Ohio State defenders, huge shoes to fill. We know that. And we knew that going into this game. But I will tell you, they adjusted really quick after that first series. When Nebraska got them on a few different runs,

and we saw McCaffrey with the long run, I was impressed with the way that the linebackers specifically adjusted and adjusted quickly. They're experienced players. They were flying around. And after that first series, that defense played a lot better than certainly they did early. So that's something to watch moving forward. But you brought up the team that I wanted to go to next because I felt like Michigan was flying under the radar a little bit this year, right?

They were going to have a new quarterback. We had several opt-outs. They were missing a bunch of their really talented wide receivers. And yet, coach, they came out. that was the best Michigan looked, at least for me, offensively, maybe since, you know, the year you guys had to beat him in overtime. I mean, I mean, they looked really good. I think even better than that, you know, you have a quarterback now, my gosh, it's so early and I don't want to fall in the trap. Everybody starts anointing people as a savior. But I remember watching him two years

ago and thinking, my gosh, look at this talent. And he didn't have a great high school career. You know, I don't know the whole story there. I'm sure that will come out. some point. But I'll tell you what, and Josh Gatt is calling a hell of a game. I mean, I went back and watched it. A good majority, and we talked about this the other day on the phone, as they threw for, I think, 240 or something like that. I'm saying 180 of it was on RPO's and screens and getting the ball out fast. And the viewer needs to understand, that's not, that's not easy. When I hear people say easy throws, that's not true. That's got to come out. Matter of fact, you don't even get the laces sometimes. They've got to come out so fast.

So very impressive play calling and execution by the offense. It would be interesting to see how their defense continues to play because they're missing some of the talent in the back end. Daxton Hill got banged up at safety. So we'll see if he's back this week as they take on Michigan State. But they've got a good pass rush, which I know you've leaned on for years at Ohio State with those great pass rushers.

And I'm not saying that they're in the class of the bosses of the Youngs, but Aidan Hutchinson and Quitty Pay can get after it on the outside. And I think that pays huge dividends. and Don Brown's defense. But Joe Milton is the X factor as a quarterback. He is really good. He's got a huge arm, as good of an arm as I've seen in college football in quite some time.

So we'll see how that manifests itself here moving forward for Michigan. Coach, the team that most thought was going to be the biggest challenger to Ohio State, Penn State goes on the road and loses to Indiana. Now, in one sense, Tom Allen's been doing a great job there at Indiana trying to build that program, and this is certainly a wonderful win for them.

However, Penn State did a lot to lose that game late, and that's something that James Franklin's going to be frustrated about for a long time. I went back and watched it and reviewed it. Penn State really dominated the game statistically. I want to say 500 to 200 yards, but just really bad, you know, some bad things happen. And I've been in those games, you've been in those games, and I've called games like that.

So if it was a domination by Indiana as far as talent, statistics, et cetera, then you can say right off, Penn State, say they're done. Because, you know, I'll do respect to Indiana. That's not going to, you know, talent-wise I'm talking about. I'm not talking about energy, all the things that Tom Allen brains, the game management was an A-plus by Tom Allen.

The fact that they took advantage of some miscues by Penn State A-plus, talent-wise, they just don't recruit the same player. So if you were going to tell me that Indiana, to statistically dominated or at least was equated to Penn State, they're in trouble. They're not in trouble. They dominated the game. They just screwed it up. So now they have to come back and utilize that talent they have.

And this is a tall task this week. Yeah, it certainly is in particular with the way they're coming off of that loss. The fact that Micah Parsons is not there. The fact that Journey Brown is not there, they're talented running back. And maybe more importantly, the fact that they're not going to have that environment of the whiteout. coached in it, how big of a deal is it that Penn State's going to be out there with no fans hosting Ohio State in what would have been a night game wide out environment, which is one of

the toughest in college football? Yeah, every year I would, you know, in my mind, you know, getting ready in summers, I would, and I'd see that thing coming and I knew it two years. It was a little bit like when I was at Florida and knowing that you had to go to LSU every other year. And it really, a lot of times you get used to it and I'm not going to give the names of certain stadiums, but it's okay. It's a good home environment.

This is one that really impacts the game and impacts the pass rush impacts just a whole week of practice because you're just, you have to practice it. You know, or, you know, the good thing about it, well, they're not playing at it, but it's a seven to ten point differential that right now is zero. It's a zero differential because it's a scrimmage atmosphere. Well, that's certainly going to help Ohio State, and I'm not sure if they

need it on that offensive side, in particular with the way. that Justin Fields played and Ryan Day, you know his game plans are always going to be on point. So coach, we appreciate your insight on all things, Big Ten. And can't wait to see this weekend. We've got Michigan, Michigan State, big noon, kickoff noon right there, 10 Eastern. Check it out as coach and the guys will break everything down. Appreciate your time, my man. Thanks, Joel.

Listen, Michigan impressed last week against Minnesota. I don't think there's any doubt about that. And this is a team that was flying under the radar a little bit, right? replacing their quarterback, replacing some pieces on the outside, like we just talked about. But I got to tell you, they impressed me thoroughly in a few different areas. And I want to break them down because these are areas that I think are going to sustain for the majority of the season. First and foremost, our quarterback, Joe Milton, I thought was tremendous. His arm talent and his ability to run the football were really good.

This is just a little bit of his arm talent. Folks, this is just a drop back pass on third down. It's like, oh, that looks like nong descriptive pass. But look at the window. It's tight. Over the linebacker in front of the safety, that's a tough throw. And he throws it so hard, the linebacker has no chance to get his hand up. Here he's got a little play auction fake, and then he's going to throw an out route.

This is an absolute laser beam. Watch as the wide receiver actually has to go up. This is Mike Sandor still, and he's got to basically like grab it before it goes over his head because he's throwing that ball so hard. It's accurately thrown. Great job getting the foot down. And it's there. And then he also has the ability to hurt you with his.

his feet. I think this is the element that's going to pay huge dividends for Michigan. Watch here is they're going to pull the center and the tackle. This is Andrew Vastardis, the center, and Jalen Mayfield, the right tackle. They're going to pull around. Milton just stays patient, stays patient. Bang, the blocks happen, and he takes off and he gets down the sideline. But they didn't just do it once. That was a nice little conversion. They did it again here. Look at that. Same thing. They're going to pull the linemen around and allow Milton to find the hole and run. they do it here inside the five yard line. Great short yardage play,

letting the quarterback be his own blocker, and he's in there. Another element of their game that I love is their ability to get after the passer. Don Brown loves to bring the blitz, and he does it right here with Cameron McGrone. He comes around the pressure. That's a sack early in the game.

That's great. Well, how'd they do it? Well, they did it with two different stunts. This one on the right side of the offense. They're going to slam down the defensive linemen. They're going to slam them down on the guard and the center. And on the other side, they're going to bring a defensive end inside and loop the defensive tackle around.

So there's a lot to go there and to cover for the offensive line. They're unable to do it and they get the sack. Here's an overload on the left side. Guys, I love this. Check this out. Overload on the left side of the defense. And what that does is it prevents the offensive line from kicking out and covering the corner blitz. Here, Don Brown's going to bring the corner on a blitz.

But because of that overload on the left side, there's nobody there to block them. Watch this as now the defensive line is going to line up outside, and they're going to slam down. Here's the corner blitz profile, safety right on top. Here comes the corner. Boom. Big hit, turnover. And it's a touchdown for Michigan going the other way.

And there was no chance for Minnesota because of the alignment there of Michigan. Now late in the game, what do you need? You need a great individual pass rusher, and they've got that with Quitty Pay. He almost gets there. Then Carlo Kim cleans it up. That's on first down. What happens on second down? This is the fourth quarter, folks.

Now he moves around, right? Now he's going to work on a guard. Look at that move. He's just going to club his hands down. Perfect pass rushing ability. And he gets to the quarterback. That's on second down with this. Boom, just clubs his hands down and he's right in Tanner Morgan's face.

Now on third down, this is all the same series. Third down, what happens? Well, they move him out to left defensive end. And what does he do? The same move on a tackle. Watch this from a different angle. Pay is going to come up and bam, slap the arms down. He gets around, flips his hip, and gets to the quarterback.

So they set up the game early in the game with great stunts and pressures in order to pressure Tanner Morgan and then late in the game, an individual pass rusher is there to close things out. So they've got a great quarterback with good arm talent, the ability to run, and a really good pass rush. Those are elements of their game that I think are going to sustain them for the long haul. But it's not my favorite part about what happened against Minnesota. Michigan, when Jim Harbaugh first came there to Ann Arbor,

they were as good as anybody in the country in the power running. in-game, all right, pulling the guard, leading with a fullback. It was old-school football, as I like to say, and they were so good at it. They bludgeoned people. And by the way, he did this with the 49ers, and he did this with Stanford. I mean, they were as good as anybody or just running the football, regardless of what defense was in. But you can only do that if you've got great tight-ins and more specifically, a great h-back

or full-back. This is a terrific story. Ben Mason from Michigan last year when Josh Gattis came to install the spread, he had to move from fullback to defensive tackle because it was like, hey, we're running the spread. There's no spot for a fullback. Well, this year, they've adjusted. And they said, we're going to run power schemes in the run game out of the spread. So they bring Ben Mason back from defensive tackle. Now he's a fullback again. Let's see how they use him. How are they getting big and being powerful during the game? Here's the former defensive tackle. Lined up as a wide receiver, very creative from Josh Gattis. They're going to bring up. bring him in motion. Now all of a sudden, what happens? Big, old school power running game. Ben Mason slams down the defensive end. Guard pulls around, gets a great block, and boom, it's gone. Zach Charbonnet runs for a touchdown. If you look at this from the back angle, check out the Chuck Filiaga. He's going to come from left guard. That's the block that ends up creating a huge hole, and Charbonnet is gone. Power football, down, down, kickout big hole. Now Mason's a fullback. What's he going to do? Check out this.

out of the offensive line, guard pulls, boom, kicks out the end. And guess what Ben Mason does? Watch this block, guys. Here he is. And he's just going to lead up and he's just like, wham. He just destroys the linebacker. How would you like to run behind an offensive line and a fullback that's able to do that? Hassan Haskins, nice little gain, second and short.

Now you can't just have him in there to block, right? The defense is going to be like, hey, he's not getting the ball. No, no, he is. Here's the former defensive tackle over the top for a touchdown. I love it, a little slide concept. Here he is, a little play action pass. He slides to the left, and boom, he's there. He catches the ball well, and he gets into the end zone.

Folks, Michigan is for real, and in large part because they can throw it, they can spread you out and run the RPO's with Milton and some of those fast wide receivers, and they can get big and go back to the roots of Jim Harbaugh and run that big power gap scheme oriented running attack that was so successful for them early in his tenure there in Ann Arbor. So lots to like for Michigan. If you're a Michigan fan, all of those elements are something that you should be looking for now as they play Michigan State and onward in their season and hoping that it can sustain.

And I think that it can. I'm starting to get a little bullish on Michigan after what I saw last week against Minnesota. All right, time for a little clad back. Our favorite segment of the day, kind of. Let's get into the interaction now on social media. This one says, well, from waiting for 2021, aren't we all? Pat, Pat, Pat, yo. This is going to go swimmingly.

I already love your handle. So it says, can't understand ranking a team third that has beaten your number five team while your number one has no top ten wins. Your number two has played one game. Completely emotional ranking. And super unprofessional,

but it's Joel Klats, a shocker. I mean, I believe that unprofessional would be ranking Georgia ahead of Alabama. Right? Like, accusing me of being unprofessional for a subjective opinion, I think it's a touch overboard. But it is 2020, and we all are waiting for 2021.

So I get it. Now, the completely emotional side of things, I don't believe it's completely emotional, but here's why. All right, Pat, Pat, Pat, you know, I don't think it's completely emotional because Clemson hasn't suffered a huge injury. Now, Ohio State has proven that they are easily at the top end of college football. And so you've got these three teams that are incredible. One of them just suffered a really important.

injury. And by the way, my heart breaks for Jalen Wattle, breaks for Jalen Waddle. But now without Waddle, we'll see what Alabama is. I think it's very reasonable to rank Alabama third. I know all the RTRs on Twitter. I halfway expected a Pat Pat Pat, Pat, Pat, you RTR, but it's not. I don't think it's completely emotional. And I don't think it's unprofessional. So good luck in 2021, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, Pat, you. And we move on. Scott says, I kind of wish I hated Joel Claude, GD, he's good. I think I love him. What is that, Scott? Listen, guy, this is social media. This is Twitter. All right, pal. We don't have time for your niceties. All right? We don't have time for your reasonable approach. We don't have time for that type of courtesy. This is Twitter. What do you think it's for? I need someone coming at me for some sort of terrible opinion. Do we have one like that? Do we have? And we've got it. Alden says, Agile Clad, any idea what the Pitt, Notre Dame score is asking for a friend. Oh, Alden, you talk about just like a swing and a miss.

I feel like I'm back playing minor league baseball, walking back to the dugout after swinging over my fourth slider of the day where I strike out. Unbelievable, this was a huge strikeout from me. I thought Pitt was going to make this close. Their run defense was really good coming into the game. And guess what? They held Notre Dame down running the football. But credit Notre Dame, even without a sustained running. attack. They were able to go out there and just throttle pit. 45-3? I mean, wow, that defense for

Notre Dame looked very good. The only thing I'd be worried about is a look ahead. They've got Clemson in two weeks, Georgia Tech this week. So let's hope that Notre Dame is not looking ahead to that huge Clemson matchup as they've got Trevor Lawrence on the horizon. So Alden, there you go. Well done. You did it. Hey, Big Noon Saturday is coming up on Saturday. Michigan hosting Michigan State. Gus Denny and I are going to be there. Cannot wait for that. 9 a.m. Pacific, noon Eastern on Fox. And you have been watching Breaking the Huddle. I'm Joel Klatte. This is the show brought to you by Dr. Pepper.

It is the official drink of Fansville. Have a good week, everyone.