The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Joel Klatt’s Way-Too-Early Top 10 for 2025 Season

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt turns the page on the 2024 season and ranks his Way-Too-Early Top 10 teams going in to next year. He evaluates where to place Ohio State as they begin their quest for repeat National Championships and explains why another Big Ten team looks set to follow their blueprint for success. It’s officially Arch Manning’s team at Texas as the Longhorns crack Klatt’s list along with the defending SEC champ Georgia Bulldogs. Klatt makes the tough calls on who makes the cut and who gets left out of the Top 10 from a group of teams including Alabama, Michigan, LSU and Tennessee. 0:00-1:25 Intro 1:26-2:23 Understanding football coming to YouTube next week 2:24-5:54 Way too early top 10 for 2025 season 5:55-8:39 Michigan 8:40-10:22 LSU 10:23-13:27 Miami 13:28-16:19 Clemson 16:20-19:24 Notre Dame 19:25-21:53 Oregon 21:54-24:05 Georgia 24:06-27:46 Ohio State 27:47-30:40 Texas 30:41-36:41 Penn State 36:42-37:55 Outro Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

But that's what Beck should have been saying to his Georgia wide receivers. What are you like, I'm sorry, where do you want it next time? In your hands or your hands? College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again.

Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is the Joel Klatt show and I am Joel Klatt. We bring you into our studio here. We thank Hampton by Hilton. The show is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton, and we appreciate them for their support. And we have got the way too early top 10 for next season, 2025, and we've got it right here.

Hot up the presses, right here. I've got it. Now, a couple of things that I want to get to before we jump into our 10-to-1 top 10 for next season. Number one is, wherever you're listening, please go rate and review us. And also, if you're not on YouTube, you really need to get over there. and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thank you for those of you that have done that over the last week or so.

We are now over 200,000. So that's a testament to all of you. All the college football fans love to be in here and have enjoyed our show. I appreciate you. All of us appreciate you for consuming our product. Now, you're going to want to be over at YouTube because next week, we have a full week of YouTube exclusives. We will not be on audio.

We will not be releasing an audio podcast next week. We're going to give the team a little bit of a break here after the season has finished up. And we're going to be releasing our three YouTube exclusive episodes of Understanding Football. Our schematic series drops on the 27th. Now, we've got three videos ready for you. We're going to start with our defensive coverages video. And then we're going to have a two-part video of passing concepts, how to attack those coverages. And all of those are going to be released next week on YouTube.

So you've got to get over there, subscribe, hit the notification button. and you'll be there. So 27th, the coverages video, the 29th passing concepts number one, and the 30th passing concepts number two. So that's all coming up. Now, if you miss any of that, you can always go over to social media and follow us on social media wherever you like to social media at Joel Clat Show is where we're at. Okay, let's get into this top 10, way too early top 10 for next season in 2025. I'm going to start by saying, this is, a very different operation than it has been in the last couple of years. Because for a long time in college football, you could basically just say like,

oh, you know, Pencilin, it's Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and maybe Clemson, you know, and those were the teams. And then you throw some other teams in there. Texas is starting to get into that mix. And then there was a big drop off. And you could kind of say like, you know, and then between five and nine, it's kind of anybody's game. I think it's totally different now in college football. And I think it's a result of the transfer portal, yes,

but more so and more specifically, it's a result of name image and likeness. I think that more teams have invested in building out their roster. So what I see now is that you've got a lot of teams that are very similar. Now, there are some teams that I'm going to put up at the top, but I don't think it's a drastic margin. It's not a huge margin between those teams and the teams that are going to be, you know, six through 10.

but here's the kicker. The difference between the teams that are like, let's say, 7 through 10 and 7 through 18, there's like no separation in those teams. I found this to be an incredibly difficult exercise because there are a ton of teams that I left off of this top 10 that very easily could be on the top 10. I get it. It's way too early. It's hard to tell.

We still have another transfer portal window to go, so we don't even know the exact rosters that we're trying to evaluate here. But I just want that to frame the way that you're listening to the rest of this show and watching the rest of this show is that we have more parity. We've had more parity this season than we've ever had. And next season, I think it's going to be even more so a great amount of parity. So here are some teams that did not make my top 10 that I really struggled with and wanted to include but didn't get a chance. BYU is one of those teams. Didn't make it.

They could fall easily between that like 7 to 18 range. Arizona State didn't make it. But again, they're sitting there. I love what Kenny Dillingham is doing so they could easily fall in the top 10. Florida, the way that they finished their season, the hype surrounding DJ Lagway and the way that he played late, I like Florida a lot. And they're not going to have that gauntlet that they technically had this last season.

Tennessee with Iamaleava back. This is a really good football team. Absolutely could wind up in the top 10. Illinois. You know, I look at this Illinois team, excuse me, just hit the microphone. I look at this Illinois team with Brett Bilema, and they're going to be very good. Next year's Indiana likely is Illinois,

and they've got a favorable schedule. So they didn't quite make my top 10, but very easily could. South Carolina is on that list. Alabama, I don't know what to do with Alabama right now. Who's their quarterback? What's the standard going to be under Kaelin DeBore? So all of those teams didn't quite make it, but very easily could have. And I can just hear and see some of the comments like, how in the world?

All of them were close. All of them were close. I think any of them could have been included and I would have not had a problem with it whatsoever. So those are the teams that didn't quite make it. So who did make are way too early top 10 for next season? Number 10, going to go with Michigan. Michigan built as much momentum as any team in college football over the last month of the season. Think about what they did from the moment that they were able to flip Bryce Underwood,

the number one recruit in the country. Thank you, Larry Ellison. Then they beat Ohio State. Then they beat Alabama. So in this era where nobody gets to win their last game except for the national champion, maybe the only other team in the country that has real positive sentiment moving forward and into the offseason is Michigan. That to me is just kind of a bonkers thought.

Now, are they losing some big names? Absolutely. And everyone's going to be losing some big names next year. Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, Will Johnson, Colston, Loveland, like all those are great players. And in a lot of ways, are irreplaceable. However, what we saw against Alabama in that bowl game is without all of their main contributors, even on the defensive side, they were still excellent. This culture at Michigan remains,

and it feels like Sharon Moore has leaned into that even more. Think about it. Their defense next year is essentially the defense that we just saw really shut down Alabama and Jalen Milrow. They didn't have Will Johnson, Mason, Graham, Kenneth, Grant, Josiah Stewart, McCarie Page in that game, and yet they were able to go out there and be totally dominant. Wink Martindale figured it out.

Now, whether he gets a job moving forward into the National Football League or not, that system is going to remain the same. Remember, this is the third straight defensive coordinator that has run the same exact system that has dominated their opponents. So I trust that that defensive structure will maintain. They've been good in the portal on the defensive line. They get Mikey Keene to transfer in at quarterback from Fresno State. He could bridge to Bryce Underwood. That could be interesting.

He's got a lot of experience at 34 starts. And the offense can't be worse, folks. I mean, they were 129th in college football and offense. Like, that was their problem. That was their issue. and if they fix that at all, some of these close losses that they had could turn into close wins.

They get Justice Haynes, the running back from Alabama to go with Jordan Marshall, who they really love at running back. Jordan Marshall is a guy that they're very high on. They get Donovan McCulley, who's a guy that at Indiana didn't really make it through into the Signetti era, but he's a really good player,

and I've liked him. And then they avoid Oregon and Penn State next year. Then they get Ohio State in unarbor. They do have a really solid trip to Oklahoma in the non-conference. And that's another team probably lands right there like 19 or 20 in the country. And they're going to have one of the better quarterbacks in the country in Mateer. I like what Michigan is doing. I like what Sharon Moore is doing.

They're number 10. Okay. We go on to number nine. I've got LSU at number nine. I think this is a critical year, obviously, for Brian Kelly. They've got to show a, I don't want to call it dramatic. I would call it significant. They need to show a significant step in the right direction.

And I don't think that that's out of the question because they have been active, certainly in the portal, the number one portal class in college football up to this point. They have replenished their wide receiver group and their offensive line through the portal. And then more so than anything, they get Nussmeyer back. And you know how I feel, how I feel about experienced quarterbacks, whether they're transferring in or they're staying,

put like Nussmeyer at LSU, experienced quarterbacks are running college football. We're seeing that time and time again. We saw it with Pinnix and J.J. McCarthy two years ago in the National Championship. We saw it on Monday night with Will Howard

and Riley Leonard. These experienced quarterbacks are the ones having all the success. And now LSU is going to have that. So that's huge for them. Fifth year in the program. I think the defense has got to be improved and it should improve. Blake Baker had a good first year as defensive coordinator still needs to continue to grow.

They get Harold Perkins back. He's had an up and down career after being really good as a true freshman. And then he dealt with kind of the position issue and an ACL injury. Witt Weeks. He's a tackling machine. He's back. Their injury bug, if they can stay healthy, which they didn't largely last year, then that's going to help. And then they've hit the portal really hard. And I think that their portal additions are going to be huge for LSU. So LSU is in my top 10, big year for Brian Kelly. They're at number nine. Next up is a team that I was high on early last year, and that panned out. And now they've dipped into the same playbook. Miami has gone and gotten a very experienced

quarterback. Carson Beck going to head to Miami, and he's going to be there with the canes, and I've got them at number eight. He's going to come in to try to replicate in a lot of ways what Cam Ward was able to do this last year. Now, is Beck going to be as good as Cam Ward? I don't know. Ward was sensational in so many ways. ways. Is he going to be a really good option? Maybe not quite Cam Ward, but a very good option? Yes. Yes. And I kept saying this last year with Beck at Georgia is I never felt like it was completely his fault. The skill position group for Georgia led the country in drops. As a quarterback, like, what are you supposed to do? Put handles on the ball? That's what I used to say to my wide receivers. I think in hindsight, I

probably need to issue like apologies for some of the things that I said to my wide receivers. I love you guys. I love you guys. And there were times when, you know, you'd come back to the huddle and it's like, hey, next time I'll put handles on it. And it's like, that's probably mean. That's probably mean. But that's what Beck should have been saying to his Georgia wide receivers. What are you like, I'm sorry.

Where do you want it next time in your hands or your hands? You know, so is his play going to improve? probably, probably. He's not going to have to force it as much, and he's going to be playing behind, I think, one of the better offensive lines in the country. That's what Mario Cristobal has done really well, is stockpile talent up front at the line of scrimmage.

So that depth should pay off for the quarterback and the offense overall. The defense was a clear and obvious weakness last year, and they went out and they hired Corey Heatherman from Minnesota. I have liked Corey Heatherman a lot. lot. I know that he hasn't been at like the top of college football, but I tell you what, man, Minnesota has been a very good defense for a long time. And Corey Heatherman has been one of those guys along with Joe Rossi and others that built that defense and did an excellent job for

PJ Flack. And here he comes to Miami. And they've also hit the portal to address the defense as well. They brought in several players in the secondary, which they needed. Ruben Bain on the edge. He can be a force. He was banged up this past year. Looked great as a true freshman in 2020. I think they'll be strong in the backfield. This is a good team, you know, and they've got two really tough non-conference games in September.

We're going to find out everything we need to know about Miami early in the season. They're going to host Notre Dame in the opener, and Notre Dame is a team that you'll be seeing upwards in my top 10. And they also host Florida as well. And that's a team that, of course, I just told you, I considered in the top 10. So a tough first month for Miami, and Beck is going to have to hit the ground running there in South Florida.

Number seven, I've got Clemson. Now, to be fair, this was one of the harder ones because I love Clemson and what they're doing. I love the fact that Klubnik is back for his third year as the starter. In the same offense, Davosweeney is finally, wait for it. dabbling in the portal? Huh? Okay, here we go. Clemson starting to dabble in the portal a little bit,

so I think that their roster could be a little bit better. And yet, they lost to South Carolina, who I did not include, and Sellers is back for South Carolina. You see the issue. You know, you can go from seven. So Clemson I put at the top of this entire list, and to be very fair,

someone could have talked to me into Clemson being 15th. That's how close, I think, 7 to about 18 are all the teams that I mentioned before I got into the top 10 all of them could be sprinkled into these four spots now all the teams in the top six I don't think they're drastically better but they're certainly in the top in the top six oh say okay so club nick is there four of five offensive linemen back look what they did against Texas even on the road and I know they got to the playoff they they won the ACC the defense was not up to Clemson standard, and now they're going to go out, and I think they'll be improved.

Tom Allen comes in. He was the coordinator for Penn State this last year. He was, of course, the former head coach at Indiana, and Tom Holland is a very good football coach. I've enjoyed covering Tom Allen, both from his time as a head coach at Indiana and then last year as a coordinator. He's really good, and he will improve Clemson's defense. I don't think that there's any question in my mind. despite I think a disappointment as a group, there are some pieces there on the defensive side. You've got T.J. Parker, he had 11 sacks this last year. Peter Woods in the interior, he's a good player.

Sammy Brown, freshman All-American this last season. So Tom Allen's going to have some pieces. They get Will help the defensive end from Purdue. There was a couple of players for Purdue, all transferred, unfortunately, for Purdue. But they were the real foundation. pieces that Ryan Walters was trying to build on. One of those is Will Help. Max Claire, you're going to see. He's a tied-in transferred away from Purdue. He's going to be in this top

10. Ryan Thineman, he was a safety for Purdue. He's going to be in this top 10. So a lot of these really quality teams looked at that Purdue roster and went and poached some of that young talent. Their schedule, speaking of Clemson, they open with a home game against LSU. That's going to be great. They're both in my top 10. They don't play Miami in the ACC. They get SMU at home. So I like what Clemson is doing. That's why I've got them at number seven. Okay, let's get into the top six. Team we saw on Monday night,

if they would have won and come back and actually won that game, I would have put them higher. But Notre Dame is at number six. I love what Marcus Freeman is building. If you listened to the show on Tuesday morning, that post-national championship game recap, you know that I was incredibly high on Marcus Freeman and what he was able to do.

Listen, that team was overmatched on Monday night. And yet they battled and they battled. and they battled, the culture at Notre Dame is excellent. And the team, I believe, is elite. I will be absolutely shocked if Notre Dame is not back in the college football playoff next year. That's the level that Marcus Freeman is now kind of competing at. He's building something very special. It's not going to surprise me at all if Marcus Freeman is able to win a national championship at Notre Dame

if he decides to stay there. I think it's great if he decides to stay there. I would love to see him stay in college football, but I do know that the NFL, maybe not this go round because he just signed that solid extension. But at some point, if he keeps winning, the NFL is going to come knocking, there's no doubt. And then the other thing that they're going to have to pay attention to,

and I don't want to put this in anybody's head because Notre Dame fans are going to scream at me, but he did play at Ohio State. If and when Ryan Day decides that he wants to move on, that's the first call that any athletic director, it's Ross Bjork, Burek right now, the AD at Ohio State. But when there's an opening, their first call is going to be to Marcus Freeman. Riley Leonard is going to move on from the Irish, obviously. Looks like it could be Stephen Gelly,

maybe C.J. Carr. C.J. Carr is the grandson of Lloyd Carr, the legendary Michigan coach, who won a national championship in the late 90s. C.J., his grandson was the top 50 overall recruit this past season, so he'll be in there. This is, I think Miami is going to have a really good offensive line. I think Notre Dame's probably going to have the best offensive line in college football. And they get Jeremiah Love, generity, and Price back. So their ability to run the football is going to be there. Now, will Angelie be able to run the football like Riley Leonard? I don't know. Will C.J. Carr be able to run the football like Riley Leonard? I don't know. But I do know that putting two backs on the field at the same time, which you see this a lot now. We saw it with Michigan

last year. We're seeing it with Ohio State this year and en route to an national championship. We could see that with price and love. The defense certainly loses some pieces. There's no doubt. But didn't you just get the feeling that the culture and what they're building from a depth perspective was able to weather a lot of storms when it comes to the roster. I mean, this is a team that lost a lot of guys to injury and yet they were able to still go out there and have a hell of a season. They lose Watts, Cross, Mills, Morrison, Kaiser. A lot of losses. I get it. I'm trusting Marcus Freeman right here. Great houses back on the outside offensively.

They get that Miami game to start the season. They're going to host Texas A&M. That's the third week of the season. They get a buy in between those two games. So a tough first month for the Irish. They're at number six. Now we get into the top five. I'm going to go with Oregon right here.

You know how I feel about Dan Laning and the Oregon Ducks. I think, candidly, they could go a lot higher than this. It wouldn't... I wouldn't argue if someone could talk me into them at 2. someone could talk to me into them at three. Someone could probably talk to me, talk me into, I keep messing that up, talk me into Oregon at one, to be candidly. They were the number one team of the country this year.

They had the best regular season this year. They beat Ohio State at home before running into the, you know, the Death Star version of Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. They got to replace Dylan Gabriel, but remember, they got his replacement last year in the portal when they got Dante Moore to transfer from UCLA up to Eugene. So now Dante Moore, who has started a bunch of football games as a true freshman for the Bruins. Now he's going to be the quarterback, so he's got the experience,

and he was able to sit for a year and watch Dylan Gabriel, who started more football games than anybody in the history of college football, and he was able to study under Will Stein, the offensive coordinator. So this could be a really easy, smooth transition. Now, does he have that elite level of experience that I love in quarterbacks? no, not quite, but he's got some, and some is better than none, obviously. Landing has built this thing the right way. He knows how to win.

It's in the trenches. Uiunga Lele, he's had 10 sacks this last year. The defensive line should be excellent. Yes, Tess Johnson is not going to be back, but Evan Stewart will. He passes on the draft and comes back to Eugene. They did really well in the portal. They're doing great in recruiting. They got the running back from Tulane, Mackay Hughes.

He has the fifth most rush yards in college football over the last two years. years. Purdue safety, Dylan Thineman. He's in there. So there's another Purdue transfer that I was just mentioning earlier. They added three offensive linemen that could all start next season. They added Bear Alexander from USC. They get Decorian Moore, the five-star freshman wide receiver. Oregon's going to be very good, folks. They're going to be very good. From a schedule perspective, they avoid Ohio State and Michigan. So favorable schedule for Ohio State. tough game at Beaver Stadium against Penn State. That one's going to be their Big Ten opener in September.

And then they get teams like Indiana, USC at home. Their road tests are going to be like Iowa and Washington. Getting teams at home, that's huge. They're 38 and 1 in their last 39 games in Otson Stadium. So Oregon, and they're at 5. Georgia is going to be at 4. Georgia and what they have done from a roster building standpoint is impressive. and that's why they will continue to be in here at number four.

I felt like it was just a down year for Georgia, and yet they navigated the hardest schedule in the country, won the SEC, and they were sitting there in the college football playoff, quarterfinals with a backup quarterback. So like, if we think Georgia is going anywhere that this is some sort of a trend in the wrong direction, I think that we would all be sorely mistaken. Kirby Smart is far too driven.

Let's face it, Bama is on a worse trajectory than Georgia at this point, because there's more questions surrounding Alabama and their culture, the new staff, who's going to be their quarterback, than there is questions about Georgia. I don't have a lot of questions for a team that their last four recruiting classes were second, first, second, and third in the country. I know that they're loaded with talent. Even if they lose a few guys to the transfer portal, this is going to be an incredible team. Gunner Stockton comes in at QB now with Carson Beck gone.

Stockton wasn't the reason they lost to Notre Dame. He wasn't. He wasn't at all. They need to upgrade on the outside, and I think that they can. And then they've got to become a better and more dominant run team, which they were in their two years winning the national championship, and they were not last year. They need to get back to that. That standard in Athens needs to increase certainly.

Running back, Nate Frazier, he's back. He looked good as a true freshman. And then they did get better on the outside. Wide receiver help is needed. I told you earlier, it's like, where did Beck need to hit him? Like led the country and drops. Can't have that. So Zachariah Branch comes in from USC.

Noah Thomas comes in from Texas A&M. He's a 6-6 player. So now you got speed. You got height. I like those additions. And to an already loaded roster, this is a team that is not going anywhere. Tide-in Oscar Delp.

He's a really quality player at Tide-end. So they're going to be right there. It's not quite as tough as schedule. It's still very tough, but it's not quite as tough, mostly because of location. They get a lot of their tough opponents at home. So Georgia at number four. Number three is Ohio State.

The national champs will look a lot different next year. There's no doubt, but they're still going to be an elite team, and they still got two players specifically that I think could be the two best players on each side of the ball in the sport. I think that they've got the best defender in the sport next year, and Caleb Downs, and I think they've got the best offensive player in the sport in Jeremiah Smith. Hard to take a huge step back when you've got

the best player in the sport on each side of the ball. The defense, however, around Downs is going to look dramatically different. Now, they were able to play a lot of depth, so Downs will have guys that have seen the field, but certainly

weren't starters. They have to rebuild up front on the defensive line, which was a huge strength for them this last season, and Downs is going to have to break in some new safeties around him. And the safeties in that three safety defense for Jim Knowles was a huge key to their success. Unclear for me at this point, if they're going to be able to play the structure which allows Downs to be at his best. Part of the reason that they were so good defensively is that they had so much experience around

Downs with Ransom and Hancock out there at safeties that they were able to manipulate their structure at times to allow downs to be the free player near the line of scrimmage. That was huge for their defensive structure and overall philosophy. Are they going to have that? Probably not, at least early in the year. So that's something to at least pay attention to. Jeremiah Smith, Cornell Tate, and they added the Purdue transfer Max Clare, who I was talking about a little bit earlier.

Listen, every single game and every game plan every week next year has to go through Jeremiah Smith has to. They cannot go through periods of the game where he disappears. They cannot do that because they're not going to be quite as dynamic around Smith as what they were this last year with experienced players like Henderson and Judkins and Emeka Abuka. Now, they're going to be very good players. I'm not saying that these are substantial steps down, but it has to go through Smith not just for his production, which is going to have to be there, but also his impact on the defense. You've got to, you've got to, use Jeremiah Smith to impact the defense in order to open up other areas for all of those less

experienced players on the outside. The offensive line is going to return all that interior. They added the two tackles in the portal. They could very well start. They've got a monster game early. The opener against Texas is going to be huge. And yet you don't see Texas yet on this way too early top 10. So you know exactly where they're headed. They get Penn State at home, road games against Illinois, who I think is going to be very good, probably this year's Indiana. and Washington, and of course, they're going to have Michigan. Projected starters up there, probably Julian San. I'm not totally sure.

You know, Tevian St. Clair is a really good-looking prospect, and they're going to have quite a battle there for quarterback. James Peoples, the existing running back, they got C.J. Donaldson, a really good player from West Virginia. You got Smith, Carnell Tate, probably Brandon Innes. You got Max Clare, the tied end, along with Jelani Thurman. So, like, they're going to be fine, folks. I know a lot of guys are walking out the door,

but they're walking out of a building that's loaded with talent. It was the best roster in college football. Not every one of those pieces is walking out the door. The defense will look a lot different, and I can't wait to see what their spring looks like to really get an idea of what that defensive lineup could look like. Number two, only two teams left, okay? Only two teams left.

At number two, I'm going Texas. I've got Texas at number two. It's officially Archmanning time in Austin. This is so rare in college football. And Steve Sarkesian is going to be the benefactor of an incredible amount of patience from a young player in his family. Now, granted, this family has such a unique perspective and the benefit of seeing everything from MVP's and Super Bowls down to college success. So the urgency from the family is there, yes, but it's not a panicked urgency like you would get with most players and families. So what that has led to is patience.

Patience. And Archmanning sat for a couple of years. Even when some of us thought, hey, it might be the better option. He was able to sit and develop and learn for two years under Steve Sarkesian. And now that offense is going to look a little bit different because, of his skill set running the football. I'm not saying that they're going to dive into like the Vince Young's Zone Reed offense of Texas past.

No. But I am going to tell you, though, when he can take off and affect the defense, scrambling, that's huge. That's huge. And that's something that they did not have with Quinn Ewers. This is a team that continues to build their roster with elite level recruiting. You know they're going to do well in the transfer portal. The offense is going to look a lot different.

The major question I have, this is a lot. a big belief in arch right now, but the major question I have is that their offensive line was so good. Who's going to be up front? They've got to replace four of the five offensive line starters. That's going to be the most difficult part. Now, they lose Golden and Bond, Gunner Helm, but Ryan Wingo, he could be a star, he'll be back. They get C.J. Baxter. Remember, they did all of this this year without their best running back who got hurt in the offseason. You know, so Baxter being back is going to help an inexperienced offensive line. Let's just, let's not forget that in the tool bag for Steve Sarkesian,

he was able to produce on the ground with what was an ineffective and young offensive line when Bejohn Robinson was at Texas. So that's there, and I don't think it's going to be quite as big of an issue when your quarterback can run, when you've got an elite level running back. I don't think it's going to be quite as big of an impact losing some of those offensive linemen as maybe some look at. But I look at this Texas team and I think that they're going to be fantastic. The semi-final rematch in Columbus against Ohio State, they've got to go to Georgia,

they've got to go to Florida, Red River. They end with A&M in Austin. Difficult schedule, certainly, but they're going to be right there. I'll be surprised if that's not one of the better teams in the country. And number one, and this is going to be the number one team for the reason that I described before even saying who the team is. there is a clear blueprint in college football that has been now established over the last two years. Everything runs in cycles, and right now the cycle is about veteran experienced players.

You've got to have them. And it's even more valuable when they come from your own program, when you can bring guys back to your program. And they know the drill and they know the culture. And the culture of the team rests in those core players. You've got something special. That's exactly what happened with Michigan. Two years ago and they won the national championship.

Think of all of those experienced older players that came back, could have gone to the National Football League, didn't, and won a national championship because of that. Same thing happened with Ohio State. They all committed to a cause bigger than themselves. Double-digit guys on that team spurred the draft, said, no, I'm not going to go be a professional. I'm not going to go to the National Football League.

I'm going to stay here and I want to achieve something really special. And something similar to that is happening right now in State College. Penn State is going to be my number one team in my way too early, top 10 for 2025. Penn State has gotten better every single year for the past three or four years. And James Franklin, their team, man, they had every opportunity to win that game against Notre Dame. They are knocking on the door of a national championship. And now they're bringing all of those key pieces back to their team. This is the blueprint.

Everybody thinks that it's about the transfer portal because of Judkins and Will Howard and Caleb Downs, but no, the core of the Ohio State Buckeyes were Buckeyes. There's a reason why they were able to weather the storm of adversity of losing to Oregon and Michigan their rival and yet still roll through the playoffs and beat four straight top 10 teams all by double digits. There's a reason. What was the reason?

Culture, togetherness, chemistry, whatever you want to call it, and however you want to define it, it has to be held with guys that committed there and are Buckeyes or Nittney Lions or Wolverines or they are there. That's where your culture has to be held. And that's what Penn State is going to have. Drew Aller comes back.

Nick Singleton comes back. Ketron Allen comes back. Denied Dennis Sutton comes back. You start getting those announcements and I immediately thought to myself, there's your blueprint. There's your blueprint. Now, are they head and shoulders the best roster in college football like maybe Ohio State was in the offseason last year?

No, not quite. And I do think that this is going to be a grind because you could talk me into Penn State at 6. You could talk me into Clemson at 18. Like, college football is in an incredible spot right now. I keep saying this. This is the golden age. I think Penn State in my way too early is going to be number one for the following reasons. Drew Aller has started 29 games now, so he's going to be one of the more experienced quarterbacks in college football.

Singleton and Allen have started together since their freshman year. They're now going to be in their fourth year. Four of five starters on the offensive line are back and they have depth, so they will be able to run the football to death. Year two with Andy Kodalnicki, everything that he learned as first year offensive coordinator for Penn State and operating with those specific players is going to pay dividends moving forward. They've got to replace Tyler Warren, certainly, but they've got a former five-star sophomore, Luke Reynolds. He's a pass-catching tight end. I think he will maybe not replace Tyler Warren, but certainly be a serviceable option. The wide receiver group has held them back drastically. They did not have a catch against Notre Dame in the national semifinal.

That can't happen again. So you've got to increase your level of productivity at the wide receiver position. They got, what is it, Kyron Hudson, they got Devante Ross, a deep threat from the Sun Belt, Hudson comes in from USC, those are upgrades, upgrades. Trey Wallace and Amari Evans both hit the portal, so they're not going to be there and they're going to need to upgrade. I think they need to go and grab another wide receiver potentially in the offseason. And then this defense is a question mark.

They've got to replace Tom Allen, their defense coordinator. Abdul Carter, their best player up front. Kobe King, the linebacker, Jalen Reed, KJ. Winston, who was hurt most of the last year. So that, I mean, that's maybe a little bit, neither here nor are there. But a huge boost when denied Dennis Sutton, who's going to be one of the best pass rushers in the country, decides to come back. Zane Durant, he passed on the draft as well. So he'll be solid in the middle of that defensive line. The secondary is going to have Zaki Wheatley.

He's back. He's going to have a few spots to fill. But what do we know about Penn State defensively? They're always elite. And I know and trust that James Franklin is going to make the right higher because he has continued to make the right higher. You know, you think about now for what, three straight Brent Price. and then Manny Diaz and then Tom Allen, they have succeeded through a series of different

defensive coordinators and nothing suggests, at least to me, that they're going to take a step back. Penn State, they still have to prove one thing to me, and they didn't get a chance to prove that this year. Even in a run to the national semifinal, they never beat a team that they were even with. That was their big chance against Notre Dame, and they didn't do it.

They've got to get over that hump. That's going to be the tipping point for James Franklin and Penn State is getting over that hump of beating someone that they maybe quote-unquote shouldn't or that they're on equal footing with. And if they do that, then watch out. They're going to have a huge chance to do that early in the year in the Big Ten opener as Oregon's going to come to down and be there in state college. They're going to go to Ohio State. That's not going to be an easy one. But home games against Indiana, Nebraska, road game at Iowa. It's a favorable schedule for Penn State. I like a lot of things about the Nittney Lions. And so for those reasons, the Nittany Lions are going to be my number one team in my way too early. 10 for 2025.

All right, just a quick reminder, I already went through this, but next week is a YouTube exclusive, so no audio episodes of the Joel Clash show. Get to YouTube immediately. Subscribe to the channel and then go over there because we've got some great product coming out for you. Our Understanding Football series is dropping next week three different video-only, YouTube-only episodes of Understanding Football. We've got the 27th, the 29th, and the 30th.

All of those episodes are dropping if you want to understand football at a deeper level, please go over there and watch those videos. And then also in the comments, would you leave us comments about what you would like me to talk about moving forward? What are the things you want to learn? What are the things that you want to know more about in our sport that we all love? We'll be back with an audio episode of the show on February 3rd. Happens to be my wife's birthday that day. So happy early birthday to Sarah. And then my first mock draft, that's coming, folks. That's coming. And that'll be February 12th. February 12th will be my first mock draft.

So that's what's going on from a scheduled perspective right here with the Joel Class show. Thank you for listening. Thank you for making this our biggest year ever. And here's to an even bigger 2025 with our way too early top 10. Have a great week, everybody.