The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - J.J. McCarthy & Marvin Harrison Jr set for Heisman showdown & Michigan’s Sign-Stealing Investigation

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt takes a look at the Heisman race and selects the 4 players that he can see winning the Trophy in December. He breaks down what needs to happen for each player and discusses the possibility of a Heisman showdown between Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy and Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr in Ann Arbor at the end of the season. Next, he discusses the latest reports on the Michigan sign-stealing investigation and what questions still need to be answered. He then lists the reasons why sign-stealing has not been solved and the factors that are stopping College Football from copying what the NFL has done. He closes the episode by answering a listener-submitted mailbag question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clatch Show, I'm going to break down the Heisman trophy. We're a little over halfway. It's going to be a great race. I tell you who is potentially going to win this thing and exactly how they're going to do it. More news on Michigan and that whole story. Plus, I solve sign stealing all today right here. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher.

I believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was just one of those days. where you fall in love with the sport all over again. You know, it's one of those awkward days when you're wearing the same shirt as you are in the open. So, you know, that's fine. You know, we've done like over 100 shows.

I'm going to re-wear some shirts. That's the way that goes. This show, as always, is presented by Hampton, by Hilton. Really thankful for them, great partnership. And we've got a great show for you coming up here today. We've got Heisman Talk. I think that it really, it's not about the odds. It really comes down to path and stages.

I'm going to break that down. I got four names, the four most likely names to win the trophy. And it's not based on their odds, but it's more based on their path. I'm going to break down that path and exactly how this thing might look here going down the stretch. I've got Michigan news. I haven't really touched on the Michigan story a lot. I did briefly in Monday's show, as you know, but I'm going to have a lot more to say about Michigan today. and maybe more so on how do we solve this?

Like, why are we in this situation? How do we solve it moving forward? And then we're going to get into the mailbag as well, which I'm very excited about. So we're going to get out to the mailbag. You can follow us on social media at Joel Clat Show. We're everywhere, wherever you're at. You can get our content there during the course of the week. And then, as always, wherever you're listening or watching on YouTube, subscribe.

Subscribe to the program so that you get all of our content right when it comes out. you're set and ready to go. Rate, review us. And then here's the other one. I'm going to ask you all of you. A lot of you have come up to me and said, hey, we really love your show. Now it's a second year.

Share it with a friend. Just tell a friend about us. And you know what? That's all we can ask because college football is always better with a friend. So why don't we do that? Let's get into it. Let's get into this Heisman discussion. So the Heisman discussion, like I said, is different for me than I think most.

So I don't look at the odds, okay? I look at path and stages when we're looking at the Heisman Trophy. And because of that, I view this as really a four-man race at this point coming down the stretch. We've got six weeks left in college football, which is wild. We've got six weeks until voting. If you're watching on YouTube, we've got the odds up. J.J. McCarthy, he's leading the odds right now, little above Michael Pinnock's. Jaden Daniels is up there.

Bo Nix, Jordan Travis, Dylan, Gabriel, Mark. Marvin Harrison, Carson Beck. Those are kind of your main players this year. By the way, Caleb Williams should be on there. There's still a path for Caleb Williams, but the path is really difficult. I've got four guys. And I think that their path is actually way more clear than anybody else's. Let me start with the guy who I actually think holds all the cards, all the cards. I believe that it's Michael Pinnock's from Washington. And the reason is, is because of path and stages,

Michael Pinnock still has the ability to go undefeated with Washington. If they do that, remember, because of how they're built, his numbers are going to be through the roof, through the roof. He will be impossible to catch from a numbers perspective. He's on pace for nearly 4,800 yards, over 37 touchdowns by the time that we vote in six weeks. So if they get through the Pact 12 gotlet, if they're able to have this win over Oregon under their belt, if they're able to beat USC and go on and win this thing in the Pact 12 as an undefeated, his numbers are going to be incredible. And that's going to be a clear winner at that moment because, again, of the style that they have to

play in order for them to do that. So a lot of people are like, well, no, JJ has the best odds. No, no, he doesn't. Because they could go undefeated and his numbers will be far surpassed by Michael Pinnock's if Washington also goes undefeated. So because of the style and the path that they have, all the big games that they have coming down the stretch, if Washington is unbeaten, Michael Pinnock's is likely going to win this award.

He's got games against USC, Utah. Oregon State plus a Pac-12 championship game, which could be, in theory, Oregon again or any one of these teams. If he goes through that gauntlet, there's not a doubt in my mind because of the way that they have to play, that he would win it. Because here's the thing, we saw him struggle mightily last week against Arizona State. They won't be undefeated if he continues to play like that. You see where I'm going? So people will say, like, well, he played poorly last week. I get it, but they won't be undefeated if he continues to play that way. So this whole notion starts with the fact that if they can remain unbeaten,

it will be because he plays great and then he will win the award. That's why I start with him as kind of number one. I think he's the guy that holds all the cards. If you were to put it in kind of a team reference, I feel like he controls his own destiny to a certain extent. if they play well, they're undefeated. Michael Pinnock's going to be the Heisman Trophy winner. So who's next?

Who's the next guy? Well, the next guy is the guy who's the odds on favorite currently, which is J.J. McCarthy. This is what's interesting for JJ is that if you look at his path, he's going to have two monster stages down the stretch in order to impress the voters in the next six weeks. They're going to play at Penn State in a game that will likely get over nine, nine and a half, ten weeks. million viewers. Then they're going to play Ohio State in a game that's going to get 15, 16, 17 million viewers. You don't get bigger stages than what J.J. McCarthy is going to have coming down the stretch. And if Michael Pinnock's were to falter, which let's face it, in the gauntlet of USC, Utah, Oregon State in a Pac-12 championship game, it might even be likely that Washington doesn't go undefeated.

Well, then here's J.J. McCarthy in a team that looks to be totally dominant and he looks to be playing at a level that is above everybody else because of his efficiency, because of his accuracy. Remember, he's completing 78% of his passes. He's also making great plays, plays that can be on highlight reels. He'll have the stages, and he has the path. He's second in the country right now in completion percentage and yards per attempt. If this thing keeps going the way that we all think it's going to go for Michigan, everyone's going to continue to be more and more impressed with J.J. McCarthy, sixth in the country

and passing touchdowns with 18, which you wouldn't really expect. And he's eighth, by the way, in total touchdowns because he's run for a few, so he's got 21. He's still only thrown, and this is what's so wild. He's compiling those numbers, and they're pretty good, but volume is never going to blow you away. But part of it is he's thrown four passes, four total in the fourth quarter all year. All of those were against Rutgers. that's wild. Four touchdowns last week.

JJ's going to have a really good path to this thing. He's going to have the stages. If they can remain unbeaten and Washington falters, J.J.M.C. McCarthy's going to be right there, right there. Next guy up, we go down to the SEC, Jaden Daniels. If anything happens up there with Washington or Michigan, watch out for Jaden Daniels. because Jaden Daniels right now leads the nation and touchdown passes with 25, and he's on the number one ranked scoring offense in the country,

and this is a team while they underachieved early in the year, they are clearly an offensive-oriented team that has to overcome their defense. So he's going to get a lot of benefit of the doubt if they are able to win down the stretch and he continues to play while. Everyone's going to be like, hey, he's not only the best player in college football, but he's like the MVP. Look at what he's been able to do. Plus, you have to understand that the stages are coming for them as well.

All right? Now, again, we get it. LSU has been, let's say, to this point, underachieving. And yet, in this scenario, you would have a potential of beating Alabama and potentially beating Georgia. If Jaden Daniels were to beat Alabama, run the table, beat Florida, A&M in, I believe one of their last games, and then Georgia in the SEC championship game,

Jaydon Daniel's your guy. There's one caveat to this. Ole Miss has to lose to Georgia. And the reason is, is because if they don't, for whatever reason, and they beat Georgia, now you get into some wild three-team tie-break scenarios in the SEC West.

And Jaden's going to have to be in the SEC championship game to have any shot at the Heisman Trophy. So you see how it gets a little. bit murkier as I go down the list. It's like, man, okay, so some other things have to happen for those guys to be in position. Now, are they likely to happen? Yes. Yes. Do we think Ole Miss is going to beat Georgia? Probably not. And then it comes down to Daniel's performance in those big games and those big stages down the stretch. He needs to get to Atlanta. So that Ole Miss lost to Georgia is an important piece. So that's the top three of guys that I'm looking at this. And I'm like,

Those are really the three most likely guys to win the trophy. And the reason that it's really only three is because the fourth one is fascinating. And I got to tell you, not many people have been talking about him and they probably should. My fourth guy with the most likely chance to win the Heisman Trophy is Marvin Harrison, Jr. because just look at it. Path and stage. Path and stage. Marvin Harrison Jr. has already played great on a huge stage. Almost 10 million people watched Penn State, Ohio State, and he was the best player on the field. On a day in which his quarterback didn't play well, they didn't have their best running back,

and they didn't have their number two receiver to help him out. he was the difference in a top 10 game. It didn't matter what Penn State did. They could try to tackle him. They were trying to double cover him, single cover him. It didn't matter. He produced. And as we go along in the season, you start to look at this and you're like,

okay, let's just say Washington can't get through the gauntlet. Let's just say Jaden Daniels can't do what I just described, which is beat Alabama, beat Florida, beat A&M, Ole Miss has to lose. Then he's got to beat Georgia, like so many dominoes for Jaden Daniels. Whereas the dominoes for Marvin Harrison are exactly how I put it in the preseason. I answered a mailbag question all the way back in the preseason. And I said, okay, Marvin Harrison's path to the Heisman Trophy really has to have four things. Okay, and I laid out these four things.

And these four things are still true to this point with six weeks to go. Here are the four things. By the way, I pulled it straight from, we went back to the episode, and we pulled this straight from the episode in the preseason. The reasons Marvin Harrison Jr. can win the Heisman trophy. Number one, he won't be splitting votes with his QB. Check. Because Comacord is not playing on a level that anyone's talking about him for the Heisman trophy.

And in fact, you could argue that there were times, and certainly this was the case against Penn State, that Marvin was even overcoming his quarterback. In fact, if Kyle was playing better, Marvin probably doesn't go for, for what was it, 180 or whatever it was. He probably has 15 catches for 230 yards, 235 yards. He missed him a couple of times, a few times, three times. There was a stretch in the second quarter where he had targeted him five times in a row and missed all five. So if McCord was playing better, Marvin would have even more numbers than what he had a week ago.

not going to be splitting votes with his quarterback. That's a big key. By the way, he's not going to be splitting votes with a running back now because Travion has not really been playing. So things are looking up for Marvin in that number one category. Again, from the preseason, four reasons why Marvin Harrison Jr. could win the Heisman trophy. Number two, he's going to have big stages and going to have to play well against the best teams. Well, look what he did against Penn State. And really, there are two stages and three in the preseason, Notre Dame, Penn State, and then Michigan at the end of the year. The Notre Dame, I think he's going to get a lot of credit for blocking as well as he did and getting rolled up on,

staying in the game, making a big catch late. All right? And the fact that he was on the field, I think, made a huge difference as opposed to being not on the field against Georgia a year ago. A big reason why Ameco was so open in some of those moments late in the game is because Marvin was on the field as well. They had to adjust coverage accordingly. All right. So that's number two. The big stages and then play well on those stages.

Check. Number three, reason from the preseason why Marvin Harrison Jr. could possibly win the Heisman trophy. The quarterbacks in the Pack 12 and elsewhere would have to really start eating themselves up. Well, that's exactly what's starting to happen. Caleb Williams now has lost a couple of games. Bo Nix has lost a game. Even Pennix did not look good even in a win over Arizona State and He's still got USC, Utah, Oregon State, and a potential Pac-12 championship to go. You've also got other quarterbacks around the country that are starting to kind of eat themselves. It happened with Jordan Travis beating Jaden Daniels early in the season.

Drake May just lost after getting some consideration for Heisman accolades. It's happening. The quarterbacks are starting to eat themselves up a little bit. So that's number three. Now you're like, dang, man, like these four. things are all basically happening. What's the fourth reason, Joel? The fourth reason from the preseason. Why Marvin Harrison Jr. could win the Heisman trophy. Number four is beat Michigan, which at the time could take out J.J. McCarthy in a head-to-head meeting. I mean, I'm not a psychic,

but dang. That's, I think, the most likely scenario of the back end of the season is that we're going to have Pennix potentially lose. Daniels potentially lose or one of those dominoes not go his way. And a likely scenario of JJ continuing to play well. They're undefeated. Ohio State's undefeated. And in that game, you not only have the Big Ten East on the line, but a potential playoff spot on the line,

the number one ranking in the CFP on the line and the Heisman Trophy on the line. That seems to be incredibly plausible. incredibly plausible, which is why the four guys that I think have the best chance to win are those four. Michael Pinnock's, J.J. McCarthy, Jaden Daniels, and Marvin Harrison, Jr. Everybody else needs one of those four guys to falter. And I just don't think that all of those dominoes are going to fall. The most likely scenario is that Gus Jenny and I are going to be sitting in Ann Arbor the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and we're going to be watching two teams.

and those two teams are each going to have a Heisman contender, and the winner of the game, and the guy who plays best is going to win the trophy. That's the way it's looking. That's the way it's looking right now. And I think it's maybe even the most likely scenario that we've got in college football. Those that would, you know,

will probably yell about Jordan Travis. I just don't think he has the stages down the stretch. And when you look at the way that they've beat some of these teams and the close games, I just don't think that an undefeated Michigan and an undefeated Ohio State with McCarthy and Harrison, Jordan Travis is not going to get that love. Dylan Gabriel does not have the stages. So the path and stages don't fit for those two players. The path and the stages fit for these four players that I just mentioned. And the most likely scenario, I think, is McCarthy and Harrison coming down at the end. Okay. Hey, it's my favorite time of year, as you know, it's football season. I take it seriously. So when I'm Travis,

on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. Wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable rooms and their warm, friendly service, and their free hot breakfast, as you know, is an absolute game changer. It's my favorite thing of the fall. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton, will always give you that win. Let's dive into Michigan.

Okay, so a lot of new things are coming out every single day, by the way. A report from Pete Thammel and Mark Schlebeck says that the Michigan analyst who has been under scrutiny and currently serving a suspension, Connor, not suspension, but has been suspended, Connor Stallions. It's been alleged that he purchased tickets in his own name for more than 30 games. over the past three years at 11 different Big Ten schools. So the NCAA is expected to receive video evidence this week, according to the report, of illegal technology used in scouting tied to the tickets purchased by Connor Stallions.

An opposing Big Ten school looked up in stadium surveillance video from a game earlier this year, and sources said the person in the seat of the ticket purchased by Connor Stallions held his smartphone up and appeared to film the home team's sideline the entire game. game. Takes up a lot of memory, but you know what? That's the way it goes. It's uncertain who was funding the purchases, says the report, but Stallions did make $55,000 per year, according to the University of Michigan's website, but the operation included thousands of dollars in ticket sales and the cost of travel to the stadiums. That's according to the report from Pete Thammel and Mark Schlebeck.

Okay. So where does that leave us? I think it really brings up four questions. Okay. And these are the four questions that the investigation has to answer. And they're going to have to answer them, hopefully in the near term. But honestly, I don't really care on a time frame. I just want answers to these four questions. And I think every college football fan should want answers. Number one, what was collected by the people using those tickets? So what was collected? I want to know. I want to know also. who knew within the Michigan football program and when they knew? These are answers that I want from the investigation. And then the last one, and it's kind of touched on there in the last bit of reporting by Thammel and Schlebeck, which is who funded it. Who funded it? Those are the questions that we've got to get. What was collected?

Who knew and when did they know it? And then who funded this whole operation? Okay. it's very clear advanced scouting with the use of technology is illegal per NCAA guidelines. That rule came in in the mid-90s, and you can bark and scream about why that rule came in and whether it's outdated or whether it's not outdated, it's a rule, okay? I mean, none of us like driving 15 mile an hour in a school zone, but we do it anyways. Why?

For the safety of the kids and because it's a law, right? I mean, there's the road that no one drives down that's speed limit 25 and we hate it. and guess what? That's the speed limit. So like until it's changed, that's just kind of the rule. Because of that, if that rule was broken, they should and will be punished. I don't know what that punishment would look like. Honestly, I have no idea because I don't really think that there's any precedent. There was some precedent. There was a Baylor coach that was suspended, I believe, for a game, if I'm not mistaken. And it was tied to another series of, of like allegations and investigation from the NCAA,

but part of it was in-person advanced scouting. And, you know, again, it kind of just like slid under the radar. This seems much different. It seems much more elaborate, at least in what's being alleged. And I just want to know the details before we know anything. I have no idea what any punishment would be or could be, nor do I know what the details are. What was collected by the people using those tickets,

who knew and when, And how was it funded? And until we know that, I just don't think that any of us should speculate on what a punishment could be or should be or shouldn't be for that matter. I do find it interesting, like hearing people's takes on this. I thought it was interesting to hear what Dionne Sanders said. Dionne Sanders basically said, you can mail me your game plan. I still got to stop you. I mean, that's certainly a take.

And he's not wrong in some regard. But it does bring up a different question. And this is more of where my mind goes. Rather than just sitting here and banging her heads on like this specificity of these allegations, why don't those of us who are waiting for the investigation to run its course, take a step back and start to answer questions like, why are we in this situation? How can this be prevented?

Those are questions that I'm interested in. All of us want an equal playing field. All of us want fair play, which, by the way, if you steal a sign in-game on the field, fair game, fair game. If you break a rule with advanced scouting, not fair. And certainly, there should be some punishment if that's what happened. But again, why are we in this situation? What can be done about it?

So as is the case with so many things in college football, I think that we focus far too often and too much of our energy on the specific or the specificity of the problem and not what created the problem. Okay, so let's talk about that for a moment, if you will. because coaches have been telling me for honestly a few years now about the issue of sign stealing. Coaches have been telling me for a long time, why don't we have the NFL model of audio in the helmet for the quarterback and one player on the defense? Like how is that not a thing? It came in the mid-90s.

It came basically in 94, the same year as the scouting rule for the NCAA. It came in 94 in the NFL, and we haven't adopted it. It's 2023, 29 years later and like we can't figure it out in college football. This is what some of these coaches talk about. Okay. So this has been an issue for a long time. It was very hot subject in 17 and 18 and 19. Then COVID happened.

Then transfer portal happened. Then NIL happened. Basically all hell breaking loose. And now it's finally resurfacing with these allegations against Michigan. So when you look at this, let's look at this from a problem-solving standpoint. Okay. Why don't we have audio in the helmet for players on the field? There are really four reasons.

Okay, there are four reasons. Number one is, and I think that this is the worst one, but cost. Cost has been brought up as a barrier to this type of, broadening of technology within college football. The reason that it's brought up as a barrier is because we try to govern college football via the NCAA as one entity. And I'm not just talking about FBS. I'm talking about FBS, Division 1-A, or whatever you want to call it, championship subdivision, Division 2, Division 3. And so when you're not talking about Power 5 schools in particular, the top 60 or 65

schools in the country, then yes, this is cost prohibitive for a lot of programs and schools around the country. So when we're trying to make a rule that just encompasses or blankets the entirety of college football with that width of programs across the country, then yes, cost is an issue. My question is, why in the world would we govern college football this way? I'm not going to parent my 18-year-old the same as I parent my infant. I think it would be absolutely asinine, insane and crazy, to give an 18-year-old as a parent a bottle with formula. So why in the world do we govern Colorado School of Mines like we do Ohio State and Michigan?

That doesn't make any sense. And yet, that's the model that we have. Okay, so cost, cost. That's one of the reasons. Another reason that we don't have audio in the helmets is because of litigation. The helmet manufacturers, the warranties, and who would be liable if there were head injuries with the players that wore the helmets that were modified to have audio. In an ever litigious society, this is a problem. And it's also more of a problem with college football rather than the NFL because you don't.

have an overarching entity like the NFL that gets to negotiate with a union or an association like the players union. Okay, so they can't get over that. See, in the NFL, they have specific helmet contracts. So they have specific warranties. They have specific type of protocols for audio and which helmets and how it's implemented, whereas in college football, we don't have that. So there's a lot more variety as far as manufacturers of helmets, models of helmets used in college football. And throughout all of those models, if we start modifying just to get some audio in there, all of a sudden the warranty is thrown out. And then it's who's liable? Who's liable when that kid gets a concussion? And then he wants to come back and say, I wasn't protected because

you toyed with my helmet in order to put audio in my helmet. So that's an issue. Okay. That's number two. Number three is, I think, a big one. And I think the main one, the main driver of not having having audio is the coaches themselves. Nobody wants to talk about this and no one wants to admit it, but I will. And I will tell it exactly how it is. There is a sector of coaches that have been banging the drum for audio in the helmet, a communications service, right, being able to communicate with the players for a long time. And they've been saying exactly what I said at the top. Why in the world don't we have this? And generally speaking, when all of the coaches are together, they all agree on this.

And then this is where it gets interesting. They go their separate ways. And when they're not around each other and they're not around their peers, they tell their ADs what they really think and what's really going to serve their purposes. Because I'm here to tell you, sign stealing is much more rampant than just Michigan. Now, Michigan may be doing it more illegally, allegedly, than others. And I'm not sure. I don't know. That's why I want to let this investigation run its course, and I want to find out the details. But there are a lot of programs that have been brought up to me as programs that steal signs.

I don't know the lengths that they go to. I have never seen direct evidence, but a lot of coaches will point to XYZ staff and coach and program and say, oh, yeah, they steal signs. So then backtrap again to the third reason, the coaches. The coaches don't want it because some of them are benefiting from the fact that there is no audio. They gain an advantage by sign stealing. So then they agree with their peers. They're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think we should absolutely have audio in the helmets. Then they walk out of that room and then they go, they meet with their AD. And their AD is like, hey, what do you want me to propose?

What do you want me to fight for? And they're like, do not let them do audio in the helmets. So some coaches go to their athletic director, and then the athletic director goes back to the table, and they're like, no, we, you know, I don't think that, I don't think that that's good. And then what are the athletic director's site? Cost and litigation. That's what happens. That's what happens. And then the fourth reason. And this is, this is really part and parcel to all of them, but it's really kind of the overarching reason. And that's fragmentation. And I talk about fragmentation. all the time. All the time. This sport is far too broad, and there are way too many entities serving their own interests. That's so evident in a situation like this. When you talk about conferences that have brought this up before, remember, it was the Big Ten that basically instituted instant replay by themselves because they did it first. Well, conferences have talked about this. The SEC talked about doing audio and then they didn't do it.

And the Big Ten has even floated the idea of audio and then they didn't do it. And they cite things like competitive disadvantage for playoff because we would have to call one plays one way. And then when we play a non-league game, we would have to call plays another way. How would we do this as far as rankings? Is there unfair advantage? Why fragmentation? Because they're making their own rules.

And then this entity is making their own rules. And how are they going to make rules to benefit themselves? Everybody in this sport, everybody. Every entity, every program, every conference, they do the things that serve their own best interest. And I'm not knocking them for that. That's what they should do. The problem is there's no leadership over that. None. So all we have is a bunch of people serving their own best interest. And what happens? Nothing gets done. Nothing gets done. There's never rules that come in in a proactive way that keep us from falling on. off of a cliff. So we go over cliffs in college football all the time. We went over the transfer

cliff. We've gone over the NIL cliff where we're, you know, fiddling around with the playoff issue. It's like, well, what are we going to do in playoffs? And how do we schedule non-league games? And this league has nine league games. And this league has eight league games. And we constantly are reactionary in college football. And we only make rules that serve the interest of the sport overall once something comes up. And here we are again. in a reactionary mode with one of the best teams, if not the best team in the country, under all sorts of scrutiny for a big story about cheating. And now we're talking about audio.

Reactionary. Why are we reactionary? Because everybody's looking out for their own best interests. Because we don't have an overarching governing body that is actually looking out for the sport. I believe in Tim Keller, the old CEO of Southwest Airlines, He had a principle about basically first principles. What is the one thing that you can do that makes all other things easier or better? You can apply this to yourself personally or you can apply it to your company or you can apply it more broadly to college football.

The number one thing college football needs to do is get an overarching governing body and get some leadership. If you do that, you can start to solve a lot of these problems one by one, domino after domino. You could possibly get the players to associate in order to have a better associate. where you can then govern yourselves much better in far as NIL and transfer and helmets and blah, blah, blah. You can also schedule better. You can have a better playoff. Everything would be better if we had one entity

that looked after the sport as a whole. But we don't, but we don't. So where does that leave us? It leaves us in the gray area. It leaves us in the gray area where we are beholden to a 1994 rule via the NCAA where there's a loophole, there's a loophole. And teams are out there trying to find every possible advantage that they can possibly get.

And what do you end up having? This, which is madness, which is madness. So in some regard, in some regard, the reason we're in all of these predicaments, the reason we're in a crazy environment with NIL, the reason we're in a crazy environment with the transfer portal, the reason we have such unbalanced schedules and particularly in the non-league, reason we're in a mess trying to figure out what the 12-team playoff is going to look like and how we incorporate bowl games and should we be in home fields, all of it, all of it. The reason we don't

have audio in the helmets, the reason we don't have a national officiating body. You know why? Because we don't have a national governing body of college football. It's that simple. It's that simple. We could solve every one of these problems with just that. Let's get out to the mailbag. All right. Quick mailbag time. I got one mailbag question, and I really wanted to get to this one because near and dear to my heart. So this one says, hey Joel, my name is Michael and I'm a huge fan of the show. Michael, appreciate it, bud. I'm currently serving in the Marine Corps and have been for eight years. Hey, man, thank you for your service, Michael. And before I go any further, I just want to tell you, one of the reasons I picked this question is

that my dad is, was a Marine. He was a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps. And I just, I appreciate what you do, what he did. So there's my dad. This is his, he gave this to all of us for Christmas. It's the Navy Commendation Medal for First Lieutenant Gary E. Klat, United States Marine Corps. I'm really proud of my dad. And Michael, I appreciate you for your service. So let's get back to your question. Okay. So Michael says, while I previously thought I would be doing this for about 20 years, being in the military, I assume, to earn a retirement. Recently, I have been questioning if I'm currently serving my purpose. I feel I'm truly happiest in the gym and when I get to visit my family. I've always had the dream of owning and starting a gym with my brother. I just fear the thought of

failing and not being able to provide for my family. Since there is no guarantee I'll make it, any advice would be much appreciated. Go dogs, three Pete. Best regards, Sergeant Moser. Mozer. Moser, Mosier. Anyways, Michael, it's a good question, man. And I can tell you this, I don't have a specific answer for you because only you can answer that question. Only you can answer that question of what you want. Now, I will tell you that I think clearly defining what you want out of your life and then building your life accordingly is really the way to go. Let me put it to you this way. Let's say you're in the military. Let's say you're in business. Let's say you're in my profession. Let's say you're a coach. You've got to create a priority list. What are your priorities?

And then you build your professional life to achieve those priorities. Those priorities can be a lot of different things. They don't always have to be monetary. Okay. Now, some people say, I want to make as much money as possible and they build their professional life in order to make as much money as possible. Everything else is going to fall by the wayside. If that's okay with them, then that's okay with them. Some people say, I'm going to maximize my family. And so they build their professional life or their career in order to maximize their family. Guess what? They're going to forego some professional success because of maximizing their family. Is there anything wrong with that? No. In fact, I think it's quite admirable. Some people will say,

something totally different. I'm going to build my life around being close to exterior family, living in a certain city. I just think that you really have to prioritize what you want and then build your professional life accordingly. Okay. And it seems like to me, you're stating here that like what you really want out of life is to be around your family and then share a dream with your brother. Maybe chase a passion. See, the thing is, is that I wouldn't leave the military if I were you just to start a gym because there's a good chance that that gym's not going to last forever,

nor is that gym going to give you the happiness that you're ultimately seeking. Now, it can make you happy for a certain amount of time, but it's not going to ultimately fulfill you. You've got to have the priorities straight in your life and then build your performance. professional life accordingly. I know I try to do that. Listen, I want to have as much success as I can have in this profession. And yet, and yet, I am not willing. In fact, I'm completely unwilling to forego being at flag football practices. For example, I could sit in my office and watch a lot more film than I do. I watch a lot of film. I watch a lot of film. And guess what? There's always more,

because there's never an end. But to me, I'm absolutely not missing flag football practice because I already have to miss on Fridays if I'm going to do this job and be away on Saturdays and call the game. So that's just a little example. Prioritize what you want out of life, build your professional life accordingly. And Michael, I really appreciate you, man. I appreciate your heart. I appreciate you serving this country and good luck with everything in the future. You can send a question to, our show. You can send it about anything. College football, you know, anything like a little clatch out like we did here. You can send it to the Joel Clashow Mailbag at gmail.com. That's the Joel Clashow Mailbag at gmail.com. That's going to do it for us today. This show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. We've got another show coming up tomorrow. We're going to preview games for Saturday, which is going to be exciting. You can follow us on social media, wherever you social media, at Joel Clat Show. And wherever you're listening and wherever you're watching, if it's on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe, like the show,

and leave us a comment or leave us a review. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back tomorrow.