The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt’s Post-Spring Top 25 for the 2024 Season

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Now that Spring Football has finished, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt ranks his Top 25 teams heading into next season. He reveals his #1 team and discusses how he decided between programs like Texas, Oregon, Ohio State and Georgia. Also included in his Top 25 is a Big Ten team that was below .500 last season but he sees making a big leap this upcoming year. He also places several of the top teams in the Big 12 in his rankings including one team inside his Top 10. Klatt also answers the questions of where to rank defending champion Michigan after losing so much talent to the Draft and how to evaluate Alabama in the post-Saban era. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might disagree with me because I think that my next two selections above Alabama are probably going to be the two most controversial selections in my top 25. 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, hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clatt show.

I am Joel Clatt. and we are here in a post-spring top-25 edition of the program. I can't wait to do this. I love creating these lists, and here we go. It's my first top 25 of the year. This is the Post-Spring Post-Spring Portal edition. Before we jump into it, just a reminder, wherever you're listening, go ahead and follow the show.

Why don't you? And by the way, share it with a friend because college football is always better with a friend. You can do that wherever you're listening to this podcast. subscribe on YouTube, please. And I've got all sorts of YouTube exclusive content there on the YouTube channel. So make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel. And then you can find us wherever you like to social media. If you are a TikToker, we're there.

Yeah, that's right. We have a TikTok account. We got all the accounts. Go follow us at Joel Clat Show. That's where we're at. You can follow me. Personally, I use Twitter. I don't like you be, this is why you can't say X.

Like, I use X. Can't say that. Can't say that. Or at least I don't think you can say that. At Joel Clatt there on Twitter. Let's get into the top 25 right away. Before we get started, you should know that I really had, I would say four blocks of teams that got all grouped together for me in kind of my head.

And then I thought to myself, okay, these teams are going to be in this block. And then I would rank those teams out. And there was a bit of separation between the next group of teams, which then I would rank. rank out. So while it looks just like a cohesive one to 25, it's really kind of four different blocks of teams. And I'll start with this, the, the block that was at the end from 25 to 19 here. And teams that you're not going to hear, but that I wrestled with and thought about are teams like NC State, South Carolina, Votech, West Virginia, Wisconsin. I thought about Colorado in the top

25 because I'm actually more bullish than most on Colorado. But they, those teams did not make it. Who did make it? Well, let's start with number 25, Texas A&M. Now, I get accused a lot of hating on Texas A&M. I don't feel like I do. I feel like I have been very fair to Texas A&M over the years because Texas A&M has been basically the same program for a long time.

Outside of a couple of outlier years, like the Mansell year, they've been basically a middle-of-the-road team in their conference dating back until, you know, 1999, right after the Sir Parker or winning the Big 12 championship game. And then ever since then, they've been a bit of a middle of their conference team. We've been told that they should be better. They've been ranked a lot higher than that.

But to me, it's a wait and see, even with the new coach and Mike Elko in his first year, the roster is going to have to rebuild after they lost a ton of those guys that were highly recruited, but didn't really pan out to the transfer portal. We'll see how Elko does. They do have Connor Wickman back as their quarterback.

When he's been healthy, he's been pretty good. They've got a fun opening game against Notre Dame. All right, I'll go a little bit quicker through some of these. Iowa at 24. If they play offense, they're going to be good. Iowa won 10 games last year with the worst offense in the country. Can you imagine if they just had an average offense? It's basically the same conversation that we have with USC.

USC, imagine if they just had an average defense. What would they be? Well, it's basically the same with Iowa. Cade McNamara back at QB. In their schedule, by the way, they do avoid Oregon, Michigan, Penn State, and USC. So Iowa, they're not going anywhere. Twenty-three, I got Kansas. I like Kansas. It's also a bit of a wait and see because when they have their quarterback Jalen Daniels, they're very good. And I would rank them higher than this, but he can't stay healthy. And when he's not healthy, then they wouldn't

be ranked right here. So this is a bit of a middle of the pack, if you will, or middle ground with me. Devin Neil is back. He was a 1,200-yard rusher. They do miss their offensive coordinator or could miss him. Andy Koldenicki is now the O.C. at Penn State. So we'll see how that affects Kansas. At 22, Nebraska. That's right. Nebraska. I think Nebraska is going to be a pretty darn good football team. They won five games a year ago in year number one for Matt Rule. And yet, they should have been a lot better. Their defense was a top 20 defense in the country,

scoring and yards. And granted, you could say that about a lot of Big Ten West teams, but they were, those were the numbers. They lost four games by exactly three points. And in those games, they had 15 turnovers. Folks, 15 turnovers, 13 of those 15 were by the quarterbacks. They were minus 17 in the turnover margin last year, which was the second worst in the country.

So they lost, they won five and they lost four all by exactly three points with those turnover numbers. It does not take a rocket scientist to know that if Dylan Royola is just a little bit better at quarterback, which I think he can be in particular from a turnover standpoint, this could easily be a team that wins eight or nine football games. Nebraska is a good program. And I think Matt Rule is a heck of a coach. He's worked everywhere that he's been. Temple, Baylor, they don't have to play Oregon,

they don't have to play Michigan, and they don't have to play Penn State. To me, they could be 7 and O, headed into that Ohio State game. I think their toughest game before that game is probably Colorado. We'll see if they can beat Colorado, and that's in the eighth game of the year, that Ohio State game.

I think Nebraska is an interesting one. They could wind up a lot higher than this. Watch out for Nebraska. 21, I've got Arizona. This is a belief in Noah Fafita. It's a belief in what they were able to do a year ago. Great job holding on to Fafita. They got Teteroa McMillan, obviously, a standout wide receiver.

They stay in Tucson, even after Jed Fish departs there to Washington. They also had a talented corner leave, so a lot of this is just the Fafita effect. Because I do think Arizona may take a bit of a step back after Fish left for Washington. At 20, I've got Kansas State. Chris Climman is a guy that I really believe in, and I know that they lost their quarterback, Will Howard to Ohio State and the transfer portal, but that's because of Avery Johnson,

Sunshine, as they call them. Avery Johnson was going to be the quarterback, so Will Howard kind of had to leave. All right. Now, it was an amicable exit. The reason I know that, Will Howard's younger brother enrolled in is going to be on the Kansas State team.

He's going to be part of the program. So this was not an exit that got nasty. I think that the Howard family still likes Chris Climman, wants to be a part of that program. Climman has won eight games in every non-COVID year that he's had at K State. He went nine and four, of course, won the Big 12 a couple of years ago. Another Big 12 team, a lot of Big 12 in here. We've got Kansas. We've got Kansas State, and now we've got Oklahoma State. They lost in the big championship game two years ago, or last season to Texas, excuse me. Alan Bowman got his seventh year of eligibility, so he's going to start

his 1,059th game. Obviously, that's an exaggeration. He's started 29 in his career, to be exact. They've got Doke Walker award winner, Ollie Gordon, back. And they're going to be a veteran team. Very similar to that 21 team that

made it to the Big 12 championship game with Spencer Sanders as their quarterback. They lost that game to Baylor. Mike Gundy is one of the best coaches in America. He's one of the longest tenured coaches in America. He's a guy that I highly respect. So I think Oklahoma's is a team that could be dangerous.

This is a team that I think could win the Big 12. Now, they get the best team in the Big 12 at home, I believe, which is Utah. And to me, that's kind of the best game of the league, at least in the regular season. At number 18, we've got Miami. Miami and A&M to me are a little bit synonymous just because of the fact that We're constantly told how much better they're going to be based on their recruiting, but then we don't see that on the field. And I think that that's fair.

That is fair. They have done really well on the transfer portal. Mario Cristobal can recruit. They get QB Cam Ward from Washington State. Damien Martinez from Oregon State. He had over 2,000 yards the last couple of years. Restrepo is back at wide receiver for what feels like his 10th season. We're getting a lot of that in college football.

And their schedule is one of the easiest in the country. So they very easily could be higher than this. But again, this is a bit of a wait and see. Remember last year when I talked about Texas as in like, hey, let's not talk about Texas until Texas does something. That's a bit how I feel about Miami. I'm bullish on Miami, but it's still a cautious bullishness. If that's a word, is that, can I,

does that even work or is that like a double negative? A cautious bullishness? You know what? We're going to go with it because that's kind of Miami. It's like one step forward, one step back, two steps forward. Let's take a knee. well, that's not taking knee. Let's lose the game.

Let's have the season fall apart. That's kind of been Miami. And you look at their schedule, their toughest games at Florida opener. Gators are only five and seven. At Louisville, that's the seventh game. And home against Florida State, that's the eighth game. They've got to prove it.

They've got to prove it. We go to 17. And that's where this new grouping starts. So I said 19. It was actually 18. So that was my first grouping. what you see on the board, 25 to 18, A&M all the way to Miami. Now I start another group, and this is a group that I put all together,

and I thought to myself, okay, they are separate from this group that's ranked, 25 to 18. Now how do they fall? And this is going to take us all the way to the top 10. So this is going to be 11 to 17 right here in this grouping. Let's start at 17. I've got Oklahoma. So they fall in the back end of this grouping, but they're still at 17.

Jackson Arnold is going to be their quarterback. He takes over at QB. Of course, their wide receiver group, Nick Anderson, Jallo Feroke, Andrew L. Anthony, Jaden Gibson. They're all back. And they fit Jackson Arnold a lot more so than they did Dylan Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel is going to have an offense and a system that fits him and his skill set a little bit better when he's the quarterback at Oregon.

Jackson Arnold with his strong arm, I think it fits the, these guys, which are a bit more of the downfield threat. Jeff Leby took the head coaching job at Mississippi State. They did turn internal with their OC job. So Seth Latrell is going to be their offensive coordinator. Big transfer pickup in the spring window. TCU's defensive tackle Dominic Williams. They also have Danny Stutzman back.

He did that whole, felt like an 80s mullet commercial that he was going to be back. I mean, I'm not mad at it. I thought it was really good. Oklahoma there at 17. By the way, the reason. they're at 17, and I wanted to just pause on this for a moment, their schedule is brutal. I would have had them higher because of all the things that I mentioned, but their schedule is brutal. Four of my top 10 teams that you'll see coming up, they play them. Six of my top

16 teams, they play them, and they do that all in the last nine games. Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, there, at Missouri, Bama, LSU, brutal. It's a brutal schedule. It's one of, if not the toughest schedule in the country. Them, Michigan, those two schedules are really difficult. Not to mention they've got games at Auburn, which I think is going to be an improved team. That's a team that I also considered in the top 25.

Home against South Carolina, again, team that I considered in the top 25. And that's a game that you know Shane Beamer is going to be all jacked up about, being back at OU, which is where he came from. So OU's got a tough schedule. At 16, one of those teams that I just mentioned, it's Tennessee. Nico time in Knoxville. Here we go. I'm going to try to get that as best as I can. I'm not good at his name yet. I will get there.

It's the spring edition of the top 25. Don't you dare send your hate mail, Tennessee. I will get his name as best I can. And I'll wait until he gets on the field and then I'll nail it. and then I'll nail it. Yeah, my lava. I believe that's it. Say it quickly.

I think that's it. Nico time in Knoxville. Squirrel White on the outside in that hypo system, I think he's perfect for that. On defense, they have the potential number one pick in the draft in James Pierce. He's an excellent player. The secondary is a bit of a question mark. Their schedule they get Alabama at home.

We remember what happened last time. They threw the goalposts in the river. They've got road games at Oklahoma and Georgia. So their schedule doesn't do many favors. They fall at the tail end there of this grouping that I said 11 to 17. At 15, I've got USC. I'm a little bit more bullish on USC than most. I do believe that Dan and Lynn is going to work on defense.

And remember, as I just said with Iowa, they just need to be okay on defense with Lincoln Riley. And I don't really care who the quarterback is. It hasn't mattered who the quarterback is in Lincoln. Riley's system or Mike Leach's system or Garrett Riley's. It has not mattered. So this is Miller Moss. I think he's going to be the quarterback.

I saw him live in that holiday bowl and he's a guy that that program believes in. Miller Moss is expected to be that quarterback. I think that I trust Lincoln Riley enough to make the proper decision at quarterback. Hasn't he earned that? I believe that he has. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Jalen Hertz, Caleb Williams, even the first great year with Spencer Rattler. He's never had a quarterback that hasn't been really good.

I think the same can be said for Miller Moss. They still have Zachariah Branch, Deuce Robinson. They need improvement on the offensive line. There's no question about that. The schedule is not very easy, but they do avoid a whole. Ohio State, and they do avoid Oregon. I think both of those teams could be considered the best teams in the Big Ten. They are a bit front-loaded.

They've got LSU and Vegas, which is going to be a monster, Michigan Game 3, home games against Penn State at Washington. They finish with a home game against Notre Dame. LSU is at 14. This is a bit of Brian Kelly Trust. They have to replace a lot of skill, a ton of talent in Jaden Daniels, Malik Neighbors, Brian Thomas. Garrett Nussmeier is going to be at QB.

They lost their OC, Mike Denbrock, to Notre Dame. So we'll see how that goes. and again, Brian Kelly has been good everywhere he's been, and this is a bit of trust in Brian Kelly at LSU at 14. At 13, also some trust, although they didn't inspire much last year, but Clemson. I'm going to go with Clemson at 13. Kate Klubnick and year 2 with Garrett Riley should take a step forward.

The skill positions and the O line were a total disappointment. Tigers did win their last five games to finish with nine wins, and so they're coming off a bit of most. momentum out of last year. The defense is going to be good at Clemson, and that should carry them. They do have a tough opener. They've got Georgia and Atlanta. Not great. They've got to play Florida State there in Tallahassee, but remember, you win the ACC, you're going to be in the playoff. So I think Clemson's going to have a chance to do that. At number 12, Florida State. FSU at 12. Okay, so Florida State is interesting because I believe that we need to be

to look in the last couple of years and learn the lessons of what we saw in college football and apply them to what we might see this year in college football. And here's what I mean by that. In the last few years, we have seen quarterbacks that have underwhelmed in some spots, been injured in some spots, transfer, some of them to their second, third location, and have a lot of success. We've seen this going back to Mayfield and Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow, these quarterbacks that explode late in their career, experienced guys.

Now, I know Murray hadn't started a lot of games, but experienced guys that all of a sudden are in the right system at the right time and they have enough experience to play really well. I think we should apply those lessons to DJU. DJU Yongulele. I think he could have his best season. And if he does, Florida State's going to be really a tough out in the ACC and probably the team to beat in the ACC.

That's, to me, this is the team that I look at. And I think DJU has started 40 games in college football. Normally when we see experience guys, Sam Hartman played really well last year for Notre Dame. I think that Riley Leonard can be in this category as he transfers now to Notre Dame. DJU should play his best football. I think it's a big advantage to have that experience at quarterback and guys that have taken their lumps early in their career, which he has. I just mentioned this team, and they're going to be at number 11,

and that's Notre Dame. So DJU and Riley Leonard both are the reason why I'm putting these two teams at the top end of the second grouping of teams that I have in the top 25. So this grouping went from Oklahoma now to Notre Dame. Notre Dame has recruited well. Riley Leonard has started the last two seasons at Duke, nearly beat Notre Dame last year, remember in that game that he ended up getting hurt.

The defense gets a huge boost when Nogerski winning safety, Xavier Watts, decided to come back. Defensive lineman Howard Cross is also back for another year, so this defense should be good. They open at Texas A&M, I mentioned that a little bit ago. That should be difficult, but when they get past that,

they should easily get to 8-0 when they play Florida. to state. This is not a difficult schedule for Notre Dame, not in the least. They only have three true road games in a true road environment. So Notre Dame is at the top of that second grouping. And we move to the third grouping, which takes us inside of the top 10. This is going to take us all the way inside of the top five. So this is five through 10 is the next group of teams. I think that there's an elite group of four. I'll get to those in a little bit. But right now it's going to be five through 10. And we're going to start that with number 10. And that's Missouri. Missouri's coming off that 11-win year, and I don't think that they'll slow down,

although they do lose a lot of players. They lost a lot of draft picks in night one and night two in the NFL draft. They do have Brady Cook. He's entering his, what is it, third year as a starter. And listen, Luther Burden is maybe the best wide receiver in all of college football. So they've got an experienced quarterback and a great target on the outside. This is a team that should be pretty dangerous. They did lose their defense coordinator, Blake Baker. He's now at LSU. The schedule is about as good as you could hope for in the SEC. Remember, the big 10 in the SEC schedules are not going to be easy, but there are going to be some that are better or easier than others. They avoid Georgia, Texas, and Ole Miss. You might be seeing those teams here in the next

nine slots. Number nine is Penn State. Abdul Carter moving to the edge to be more of a pass rusher could spell doom for a lot of quarterbacks in the Big Ten. They get a new offensive coordinator. Remember now, and I know they lost Mani Diaz and they lose Mani Diaz and that's a problem. But whether it was Brent Pry or Mani Diaz, they play quality defense under James Franklin. And all they need to do is fix their offense a little bit. So now Tom Allen, the former head coach at Indiana, comes in to run the defense as the coordinator and Andy Coddlenicki comes from Kansas. as the offensive coordinator.

I like that a lot. I think Coltel Nicky is a really good coach. This was the year that Penn State has circled for a long time. Drew Aller, third year. Nick Singleton, third year. Ketron Allen, third year. Abdul Carter, third year. This was a recruiting class that they felt like could get them back to the

playoff. Now, that was a playoff that they thought was going to be four teams. Now it's 12, and I think most assuredly, they are a playoff contending team. And then you look at the schedule and you're like, my goodness, this sets up so favorably for Penn State. They could find themselves in the Big Ten championship game, in particular with no divisions. Because Michigan's schedule is insanely difficult as a Big Ten schedule goes. And here's Penn State.

They don't have to play Oregon and they don't have to play Michigan. They have really struggled with Michigan and Ohio State. Everybody else they've handled just fine. And so you can look at their schedule and you could easily put them as potentially an 11 and 1 team and vying for a spot in that Big Ten championship game. At number eight, Michigan, and they get the benefit of the doubt over Penn State because they have handled Penn State physically over the last couple of years. The defense is going to be incredibly good. Again, they are so good up front. It's the best defensive tackle core in America. Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant, they've got good players

on the outside. Will Johnson's probably the best corner in the country, arguably. That defense is going to be stout. There's no doubt. They've got Donovan Edwards back at running back. They've got to figure out what's going on at quarterback. But let's remember, and I said this a bunch when I talked about Michigan after their spring game, it doesn't feel all that different. Everything is the same and yet everybody is different. I get it. New head coach, new coordinator, new strength coach, new quarterback, all these things. And yet it's just kind of business as usual because all of those people are promoted from within, running the same systems. So if you're a player at Michigan, you're speaking the same

language, you're doing the same things, your structure is the same, and the standard is the same. Nothing has changed for the players, and us on the outside, we look in and say everything is different. So it's a little bit of an interesting dichotomy, if you will. That schedule I've mentioned it a couple of times doesn't do them any favors. There's no doubt. They've got Texas and week two. We will be there. Big noon Saturday. Big noon kickoff is going to be live in Ann Arbor for that game. Texas week two. USC in week four. Then they've got a travel in a national championship game rematch and face Washington in October. They've got Oregon in November in the big house, and then they've got to face Ohio State

in the shoe to finish the year. That's ridiculously difficult. The only one that's maybe more difficult is OU. So Michigan has a lot to prove. Is it going to be Alex Orgy, Davis Warren, maybe Jack Tuttle at quarterback? They're going to have to figure that out as they move forward. This is an interesting one is Alabama. Alabama is a seven.

Truth be told, this was a bit of a yo-yo placement with Alabama. I felt like this was the hardest placement of any team in the top 25. Everybody else I could make an argument for. They made sense in my head. You might not agree with them, but I think that you can make an argument for everything that I'm talking about. Alabama was more difficult, though. In one case, a program loses Nick Saban,

and then they have the exits in the transfer portal that they did, and you think to yourself, no way. No way. You can't maintain that standard. My brain is telling me that there's no possible way that you can replace the greatest coach that our sport has ever seen and just continue on as usual. That's going to be insanely difficult.

So there was a big part of me that wanted to move Alabama outside of the top 10. They're missing Nick Sabin. They don't have a lot of experience in the secondary, which was his MO. How is this system under Kalin DeBoer going to react with their quarterback? Jalen Milro. I don't know. These are giant question marks, folks.

And then I yo-yoed them right back inside the top 10. Why? Because Kalin DeBore is a home run. The guy has won everywhere that he's been. I would be saying this. Listen, if any other program would have hired Kalin DeBore, I would have been like, oh, they're going to be better right away. Because Kalin-Dabor does that, whether it was Fresno or Washington.

Washington was ridiculously good each of the last two years. They just played for the national championship game. His winning percentage is off the charts, dating back to his small school days. If he's the head coach of your team, you win football games. If there was any other program that he took. over literally any other one. I would say, oh, home run, they're going to be better. But it's Nick Sabin and it's Alabama. It's hard to get better when you've been the standard in college football for the better part of a decade. It's just hard. It's just hard. But I did yo-yo them

right back inside the top 10 and they landed at 7. They're outside of my top grouping of four. They're outside of these next couple of teams, which I thought just had too much. And you might disagree with me because I think that my next two selections above Alabama are probably going to be the two most controversial selections in my top 25. Number six, Utah. Death taxes, Utah football. Folks, Utah is the most overlooked program in America. That's fine by Kyle Whittingham. He doesn't care. He does not care if anyone talks about him. He doesn't care if anyone talks about his program. are just tough, hard-nosed, good football players. They had a horrendous year of injuries last

year, horrendous. They couldn't keep anybody healthy. And now here we go, Cam Rising back. Literally his 82nd year in college football, obviously that's an exaggeration, but you have to look at the history of Cam Rising at Utah. The last two years that he was the quarterback at the University of Utah. What did they do? They won the PAC 12 and went to the Rose Bowl. That's what his standard is. Utah is going to be an elite football team. This team is the class of the Big 12. They got killed by injuries, including Brandt Keithy, the wide receiver group. They had guys playing out of position. Kyle Whittingham is going to be back. They'll be healthier. Rising will be at quarterback. And their schedule sets up for

success. Their hardest games at Oklahoma State. They've got home against Arizona in a back-to-back. That's, I think, late September in that one. And then they've got to go to Colorado and to UCF. Utah should win the Big 12, and they'll be in the playoff. And they'll have a top four seed in the playoff. So, like, wrap your heads around that. Utah most likely at the end of the year is going to have a buy and a top four seed in the college football playoff. They're the best team in the Big 12. Cam rising back, Kyle Whittingham. I don't know how much longer Kyle Wittingham is going to go, but immediately now that they're in the Big 12, the toughest place to play in the Big 12, Salt Lake City. All due respect to Stillwater, because Oklahoma

State and Mike Gundy, I love you. You guys have been fantastic for a long time. Utah is immediately the toughest place to play in the Big 12. Utah is number six. Number five, Ole Miss. Jackson Dart back for his third year under Kiffin as starting quarterback. Kiffin he's become a bit of the portal king, if you will. He loaded up. Trey Harris will pair with South Carolina transferred juice wells out at wide receiver. The schedule is backloaded. I know that they miss Quinchon Judkins, who's going to be on a team up in the top four,

but it's back located and it's not that bad of a schedule. OU and Georgia both at home and a road game at LSU. So like they don't get, they don't have to run through the SEC gauntlet like let's say Oklahoma does. So their schedule, I think, is beneficial. That's a really talented team. They've recruited at a high level. They're coming off a big season last year. I've got Ole Miss in my top five. And number four. And now we go to our elite teams. This is, I have a line now. Here we go. Top grouping of teams. I got four teams left to rank. You know who they are. And now it's just a matter of where they land. These teams, I feel like, are separate from

everybody else in the country. These are the best four teams in the country. I'll be really surprised if one of these four teams doesn't win the national championship. Start at number four, Oregon. Oregon with Dylan Gabriel is a real good fit in Will Stein, the offensive coordinator system. He's got 49 starts in his career already, which means by the end of this thing, if he stays healthy, he's going to beat Bo Nix's record of 61 starts by a quarterback in college football. Lannin is building a powerhouse. Dan Lannning, if I had to buy stock in one coach in America, it would be Dan Lannin. He's young.

He's going to win. He clearly likes where he's at because he had opportunities to go to some of the biggest places in the country, i.e. Alabama, and he didn't. He stayed in Eugene, which means he likes it there. His family likes it there. and he has the resources to win. Every coach is dying to be at a place where they've got resources to acquire talent.

That's the new day and age in college football. And Dan Laining has that at Oregon. And he feels like he can win there. And you know what? I'm going to trust that. If I had to buy a stock and a coach, it would be Dan Lannning. Recruiting off the charts, high school, as well as transfer portal. Number three high school class, number two transfer class in 2024.

They added the A&M wide receiver, Evan Stewart, to replace Troy Franklin. Tess Johnson may be the best slot receiver in the country. Running back Jordan James, he could be a breakout star next season. Oregon's going to be a problem. They're going to be a problem, and I believe that they're at this point the second best team in the Big Ten. Number three, Texas.

Texas is going to be damn good, folks. Quinn Ewer's back for his third season as a starter, so he's going to be more developed. I think, and I was there in the spring, Big noon conversation with Steve Sarkesian coming up this summer, and I got to see them practice. Quinn Ewers is firmly entrenched as their starting quarterback. I know from the outside, people are going to talk about Arch Manning.

Quinn Ewers, he in a large sense is the reason and the epitome of this resurgence back to the top of college football. And I think he's going to have a big year. In fact, I think he's your odds on favorite for the, Heisman Trophy in a lot of ways. I think he and Carson Beck at Georgia will start the year as kind of that. They have to replenish that wide receiver group through the portal. So Isaiah Bond from Alabama, Matthew Golden from Houston, Silas Bolden from Oregon State,

all really good players, two five-star young players, Jonte Cook, Ryan Wingo, Baxter is back in the backfield, Jaden Blue. Their offensive line is likely the best offensive line in the country. they were good on defense. Like Texas is going to be good. They're going to have to replace Byron Murphy and Devonre Sweat. And they've got to improve in the secondary. Those are your areas of concern with Texas,

but that's no doubt a top four team in the country. At number two is, there's only two left, Georgia. I'm going to go Georgia. And I debated this at the top a lot. So you know who number one is going to be. Just go ahead and put them up and I'll talk about them both. Ohio State's going to be number one for me. Georgia is going to be number two.

here's how I landed on this. I wanted to go with the incumbent quarterback, Carson Beck. I really did. And I couldn't argue, I couldn't make up for the fact that Ohio State's roster is the best roster in the sport. What they did this offseason in a lot of ways is unprecedented, keeping the talent that they had off of their own roster, acquiring talent not only through high school recruiting,

but also through the portal. the biggest question is going to be their quarterback situation, and I get it. Like, how do you put them number one? But to me, they can be number one. So let's start with Georgia really quickly at number two. Carson Beck, I think he's going to be a Heisman front runner along with Quinn yours like I just talked about. There's never going to be a question at Georgia with talent.

Their last five recruiting classes have all been in the top four with a couple of those as being number one. The front seven is going to be great. It's always great. Mikel Williams is terrific off of the edge. likely a first round pick next year. Malachi Stark's at safety. He's maybe along with Will Johnson, one of the best defensive backs in the country. They're 46 and 2 in their last 48 games. That's ridiculous. Them in Michigan have just dominated the sport of the last couple of years.

Their schedule, though, is tough. Okay, so Georgia doesn't get any favors because they've got to open with Clemson, who's in my top 15. That's in Atlanta. Road game against Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss, and a home game against Tennessee. So they've got to face Texas, Alabama, and Ole Miss. So the two other best teams in the SEC, three other best teams in the SEC, all top 10 teams, they've got to go on the road. Bama, Texas, Ole Miss.

That ain't easy. So George is up against it. They've had a lot of kids transfer out. So I'm looking at that schedule. I get it. Their quarterback is back. I get it the way that they've recruited. And you know what?

Kirby Smart has a couple of. rings on the mantle and they no doubt will be there in the end. There's not a doubt in my mind. But the offseason that Ohio State had and the roster that they're going to put on the field, to me, makes them number one. I'm going to start with Ohio State not on the offensive side, but the defensive side. The defense for Ohio State is what makes them the number one team in the country because they will be the best defense in the country. I think that Ohio State is going to have as good of a defense as we've seen in a long time. Maybe all the way back to the 2021 Georgia team.

This has draft picks littered all over it in the next two drafts. They all come back. They worked really hard to maintain this roster and this defense is going to be an elite defense. It might not be a team that scores the amount of points that we're used to seeing a Buckeyes team score, but the defense is going to be incredible. And when you've got a defense like that, it's going to allow some growing pains for a quarterback, whether it's Will Howard or somebody else in that offense. It's going to allow growing pains on the offensive line,

which they kind of have to rebuild. It allows Chip Kelly to get their feet settled as an offense, settle on a run game. And now all of a sudden, you're going to look up in the middle of the year. You're going to be like, dang, this is going to be tough to beat this team because they don't give up any points. The defense is going to be incredible. They had 11 key players decide to pass on the NFL.

11 to pass on the NFL and come back and make a run at a title. Eight of those players are on defense. Chip Kelly's effect on the run game cannot be overlooked. It's one thing that I feel like they've, I don't want to say they've struggled, but they have not reached their potential in terms of a run game over the last couple of years, maybe since Trey Sermon ran wild in the COVID year. And Chip Kelly will fix that. They're going to be a better run team.

He runs the ball effectively everywhere that he's been. He's happier than he's been in a long time. Love spending time with him when I did that spring game up in Columbus. And he's got the best backfield in the country. Travion Henderson, Quinshon Judkins. I know there's question marks on the offensive line. Chip Kelly has run the ball with question marks on the offensive line before, and he's done it with less talent than Trayvionn Henderson and Quinchon Judkins.

These two guys are elite. It means the quarterback does not have to be elite. So whether it's Will Howard or Devin Brown or one of the young guys, the quarterback's not going to have to go out there and be the centerpiece of this team or this offense. And that's an important part of trying to break in a quarterback in particular in Columbus, where expectations can weigh heavy, in particular on the head coach and on the quarterback. So there is my top 25. Ohio State, number one, Texas A&M, number 25.

I had those teams that just missed out. Man, I love looking at this. I cannot wait for the season. There's a lot of time until they, but you know what? There's not a lot of time. So that's why we had to get a post-spring top 25. We've seen this portal open and close in the spring. And now we can start looking ahead to the season

and start really talking about things that we might see on the field next fall in college football, our first year with the 12-team playoff. Thank you for listening. Make sure to subscribe wherever you are. Make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel wherever you are. And also make sure to throw in a mailbag question. We're going to hit those over the course of the next. couple of weeks. Email us at the Joel Clatshow mailbag at gmail.com and we will get those questions

in your hats for those of you that bench 225. They are coming. Stop emailing Catherine. She's a lovely person who's going on her honeymoon soon. So stop bothering her. Your hats are coming. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll see you next week.