The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Klatt’s Way-Too-Early Top 10 Rankings for the 2024 Season

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reveals his Way-Too-Early Top 10 Rankings for the upcoming 2024 Season. Following Nick Saban’s surprise retirement, he answers the question of where to rank Alabama heading into next year. He breaks down where he ranks teams such as Texas and Georgia and reminds folks that the sky is not falling at Ohio State as the Buckeyes will be loaded next season. Klatt also discusses how Ohio State and Michigan can expect a serious challenge from Big Ten newcomer Oregon next season and to watch out for a dark-horse contender in the new Big 12. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's here. I have it. The way too early, definitive, top 10 for 2024. It happens right now. 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 just one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Okay, here we go. Welcome in to the Joel Clat Show. I'm. Joel Plaid. I'm really excited for this. Full disclosure, this is the way too early top 10, 2.0. You will never see 1.0 because we recorded a way too early top 10, not long after the national championship game when Michigan beat Washington. And then, you know, all hell broke loose in terms of Nick Sabin, a lot of decisions. So there's been some jockeying and some change. No one

will ever see 1.0. In fact, if someone sees 1.0, then somebody's fired. And I say that as much for everyone listening on our staff as anybody. Hey, make sure to subscribe to the show, wherever you're listening to your podcasts, rate, review us, all those fun things. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and definitely leave a comment. I will be in the comments during the course of the weeks, chatting it up with you guys. So I'm going to make it a priority to be in there and doing that on YouTube.

So make sure to go and subscribe. Can't wait for this show. We will chop this up and put it out on social media as well. So if there's something that you like that you hear, it's probably going to end up on social media. And then you can share it with your friends. So follow me on social media wherever you like to social media at Joel Clat Show. And you can get all of that content out there as well. Okay, here we go.

Top 10, way too early, 2024. we're entering a new era. It's the 12-team playoff era. I'm going to go 10 to 1 at the end. I'm going to give you a bunch of teams that I was debating right here at number 10. I had to land on 1. And even though they did not finish great in terms of their bowl performance, and I know some might roll their eyes at this a little bit,

but with what they've got coming back, with what they did on their coaching staff and what they did in the transfer portal, I'm a big believer in Penn State at number 10. This is a really talented team. And for a lot of years now, at least for two years now, I've been talking about this class that was sophomores now is going to be true juniors that is going to be formidable to say the least. This was one of James Franklin's best recruiting classes that are about to be juniors. And so here we go. And this is a team that maybe more so than any other throughout the country is excited for the 12 team format. You see, they never made the four team playoff. As you know, But in a hypothetical, if you go back and basically overlay the 12 team format over what just happened the last decade in college football, Penn State would have made six playoffs if we would have that 12 team set up. That's the most of any team that didn't make a playoff. That talented class, as I was talking about in 2022, they're all going to be true juniors, Drew Aller, the quarterback, Nick Singleton and Ketron Allen,

Abdul Carter, the linebacker. these guys are really good players, really good players. There was some things that they had to go address, and one of them was their offense. Their offense just wasn't good enough, in particular with as talented as they were. They're going to lose maybe the best offensive tackle in this year's draft this spring, Olu Fascheneu.

They had two, you know, really good running backs, a former five-star quarterback. They should have been better on offense, okay? Now they're going to go out and get a new coordinator. and I really like this higher. It's just hard to pronounce his name. Andy Kodalnicki, who was the coordinator at Kansas. And then they also got a new coordinator on defense.

That wasn't necessarily because they wanted to, but because they had to. Mani Diaz, he got a head job, goes down to Duke. So they bring in a new coordinator. And you know what? Really like this move. Really like this move. Now, is it long term?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's long term. But they went out and got Tom Allen, the former head coach, Indiana. He's got a defensive background. And he comes in and this dude has a lot of energy, a lot of positive energy. And now he's going to be the coordinator on the defensive side. And that'll be aggressive. Cotal Nicky is known for his creative and efficient offenses. Think about what Kansas has done over the last couple of years. It's been 11 years with Lance

Lipold all the way back to Wisconsin Whitewater. You know how I feel about these guys that cut their teeth and have success and know how to win regardless of level. I think that that translates. I think that success will translate for Andy Coddlenicki. I think that the offense would be pretty good. Would it surprise people to guess who was the top of the country and yards per play over the last two seasons? I think that this would surprise a lot of people. Number one, Oregon. That's maybe not a surprise. LSU number two, that's how good their offense was. USC, everyone would assume that Lincoln Riley's offense is going to be up there. Georgia is number four. And guess who's number five, Kansas.

Despite, by the way, Jalen Daniels, not playing basically half the games. That's how good Andy Codlnicki is as a coordinator. I'm a big believer that he's going to improve that offense, get the best out of Drew Aller, those running backs. And now they're going to have some transfers coming in, namely Julian Fleming. Former number one wide receiver in the country left Pennsylvania and went to Ohio State. Now he's transferring from the Buckeyes and he's going to be at Pistman. State, they desperately need an outside threat. Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator now, new defensive coordinator at Penn State, he's going to be the next in a line now, Brent Pry,

excellent, Manny Diaz, excellent, Tom Allen, going to need to be excellent. That defense has been really good for the last couple of years, and I would assume that they would continue to be that way. With Abdul Carter in there, they get A.J. Harris, the transfer. He comes in from Georgia. J. in Kimber. He comes from Florida, started his career at Georgia. So then you start looking at the schedule. I know I've talked a lot about Penn State, but again, this is a team that I think could make some noise. They've got a tough five-game stretch right in the middle of the year. They're home to UCLA at USC, at Wisconsin, home to Ohio State, home to Washington. That's their difficult stretch. If they can manage it, then I would assume, and this is why I've put them at number 10,

that this would be a team with a legitimate playoff chance, if not outright, definitely in the playoff next year. Let's go to number nine. This was a little bit tough for me. To be candid, I wanted to put Penn State at nine, but the way that they finished, it just didn't allow me to do this. So at number nine, I'm going to go with Notre Dame. A lot of this just is this sense that I believe in what Marcus Freeman is doing. Now, it's been a bit of a rocky road in this off season. They lose some guys that are hard to replace. Joe Old left tackle, Adrick Estime out of the backfield,

Hartman, obviously, at quarterback, Fisher, the other tackle. But I really believe in what they're doing offensively because they bring in Mike Denbrock to be their new OC. Now, he was at Notre Dame with Brian Kelly, then went down there was the OC at LSU. I just told you the success that LSU has been having over the last couple of years,

number two in the country in yards per play. over the last two years. So like this guy can coordinate. There's no doubt. He was a Broil's finalist, led LSU to the number one offense in the country. Jaden Daniels wins the Heisman Trophy. So he's going to come in and replace Gerard Parker.

He left to be the head coach at Troy. Riley Leonard, Duke transfer comes in to be the quarterback. I think Riley's a good player. They got wide receiver Chris Mitchell from FIU. They needed that because they lost some of, of their wide receiver depth to the portal. But this this team really should be defensive lead and very good on the defensive side.

Again, you would expect that from a Marcus Freeman team. They get a big boost when Xavier Watts decided to come back. They've got Howard Cross. He's back for another year. And then as you know, and I think USC proved this out this last year, it really is about the schedule. They've got a tricky opener. They've got to go to Texas A&M. This is going to be A&M's first game with Mike Elko.

You can imagine that that's going to be one hot, two, hostile, three, lots of energy. If they get through that, then there's a real path for them to be eight and no when they host Florida State. They'll finish the season at USC. Technically only three true road games at A&M, at Purdue, and at USC. They've got two neutral games. They've got Georgia Tech and Atlanta, and then Navy. That one's at MetLife. So what am I trying?

Manageable. Manageable. I think Notre Dame at 9 is going to have a really good opportunity to be in 12-team playoff. Number 8. God, I wanted to put this team higher. I should have, too. You know what? I'm going to start number 8 with an apology.

I believe I'm selling this team short. I really do. I think that this is, you know what, this could be bulletin board for this material. Bulletin board for this team. Not material. Bullet board material. You get what I'm trying to say. Number eight, Utah.

That's right. They're back. Death taxes in Utah football. If this team doesn't get decimated by injuries, I mean decimated. Now, every team out there is going to like, Joe, we had injuries too. Look up Utah this year. They got just crushed. by injury.

If you go back to the years that they didn't get crushed, even though they dealt with injuries when they didn't get crushed by injuries, double digit wins each of their last full, each of their last three full seasons. Okay. They still won eight a year ago, but then here's the kicker. They get Cam Rising back.

They get Keithy back. Like the defense you know is going to be good. That's a plug and play defense. It's always tough. they're always good at the line of scrimmage. Tam Rising is going to be in his seventh season in college football, won the PAC 12 in each of his last two healthy years. You think this is not going to be a good team?

This team is going to be excellent. They don't have to go through the gauntlet that was the PAC 12 a year ago. They're now moving into the Big 12. They should be the preseason favorite. And remember, they've got a legit path to get one of those top four seeds. Because the top four seeds go to a team. team that wins their conference. So the Big 12 champ is likely going to be a top four seat and a buy and beat into that quarter final round in the new playoff. Good chance that's Utah, folks.

Good chance that that's Utah. I love this idea of experienced quarterbacks of the last couple of years, really running things. Look at Pennix. McCarthy had a bunch of starts under his belt. Bo Nicks had a bunch of starts under his belt. These guys, I mean, Quinn Ewers had a bunch of starts under his belt. Rising's going to have a million starts under his belt. 20 months out from that bad knee, so I don't think the injury status is going to be a thing at all. They just added Dorian Singer. I know he had a down year at USC, but he was terrific at Arizona the year before. I look at this as easily one of the best teams in the country, as easily a top four team in next year's playoff. That's why I think eight might be too low. I think it's a much more manageable

schedule. You look at their toughest road games are going to be at Oklahoma State, at Colorado, which could be interesting based on what Colorado is going to do at the line of scrimmage, and then at UCF. I mean, you look at Utah's schedule versus like Michigan's schedule or Texas's schedule and you're like, oh, well, yeah, clearly. Utah is going to be damn good. Now, they lose Sione Vaca, Devon Vele, Cole Bishop, but again, like this, this team replaces those style players. They develop as good as anybody. Maybe the best development program right now in college football is Michigan. You'd have to say that in the conversation for the second best development program in the country is Utah.

They're just so good. I love Utah next year. I really do. Again, I'm just going to say it right now in my way too early. Unless something drastic happens, there's no way that Utah is going to start as low as eight in my actual preseason poll. I think in this offseason through spring football, through whatever coaching news we might get at teams above them, teaser. I think Utah will be higher than that as I get into this preseason. Next up, number seven.

And a lot of this is just because they've earned it because they're going to lose a lot of players. A lot of their core players, but this has been, along with Georgia, the best program in college football over the last couple of years, the defending national champion, Michigan Wolverines at number seven. And I know that this is low, but again, they're going to lose a lot of players. As of recording this, we do not have Jim Harbaugh news. I have said this before. I don't have any inside source, but I do believe if I had to bet my own money, my gut is telling me that Harbaugh is going to go to the National Football League. If that's the case, I would expect Michigan to hire Sharon Moore,

who was basically the head coach for the bulk of that stretch run as Harbaugh served the three-game suspension at the end of the year. Sharon is 1-0 against Ohio State. Now, if he doesn't leave, great. I would love if Jim Harbaugh stayed at Michigan. I hope that he does. But in the event that he doesn't, Michigan is going to have to replace their quarterback, their head coach and several key pieces, not only on the offensive line, but throughout the

offense and even on the defensive side. They're going to have a very different group, in particular on offense a year from now. J.J. McCarthy's moving on. Blake Corum, moving on. Roman Wilson, moving on. Cornelius Johnson, moving on. The entire starting five on the offensive line, they're going to be gone. They had great depth, and I'm not suggesting that they're not going to have great players, but they're going to be unproven. Is it going to be Alex Orgy or somebody else at quarterback. We don't know. That's a lot of leadership to lose. That being said, Michigan is, along with Utah, but is the definitively best development team in college football. You don't win a national championship the way that they want it without being the best

developmental team in the country. And they are certainly that. So they're going to be fine on the offensive line. And then if you actually play it out in your head, what could the offense look like? Well, you would expect them to be at least better than serviceable on the offensive line. Again, they're great in terms of development, toughness. They're going to be pretty good on the offensive line. Now, are they going to be great? I'm not sure, but they're going to be pretty good. Donovan Edwards is coming back at running back. Collell Mullings, did you see those rushes that he had in the playoff? I know he didn't get used a lot, but man, Mullings is a guy that if he gets more carries, he could be a real factor. And then Alex Orgy, did you see him carry the football?

They're going to run the football really well. I mean, to think that they won't and they'll fall off the cliff, I think is totally short-sighted. They develop too well. Their identity is such, along with, again, no sources. But if Harbaugh moves on, I do believe it'll be Sharon Moore and that identity will remain in a lot of ways. I think that's a big boost that Donovan Edwards came back. The defense should be really good again. I know that they lose a lot of pieces, but remember, they basically had too deep at the defensive line. A lot of those young tackles are going to be back. Kenneth Grant, Mason, Graham. They're going to be really good. You get Will Johnson in the secondary, Rod Moore, McCari Page, Isaiah Stewart, Derek Moore. Their defense is going to be really good.

So this is going to be a team that's going to have their identity intact. It's just a matter of can they play at the top end? And we'll see. So I give them that number seven ranking. They got J. Sean Barham out of the transfer portal, huge pickup, linebacker from Maryland, really good player. And so Michigan right now is going to be at number seven as of right now. And we'll see that news on Jim Harbaugh.

As far as their schedule, I've referenced it before, by the way. they've got a home game against Texas, USC, Oregon. Then they've got road games against Ohio State and Washington. Okay, then. That's a tough schedule. Somebody's going to be USC. The schedule just crushed USC this year. Crushed them.

That'll happen again. As these two super conferences grow, somebody's losing three games. The difference is, that team, as long as they win the right ones or prove that they can play at the top end, probably still gets in the playoff. Probably. Now, we don't know that to be absolute, but probably.

Coming into number six, the Portal Kings, not talking about Colorado. I'm talking about Ole Miss. Ole Miss got some significant talent in the transfer portal. Jackson Dart, not a transfer, but back at quarterback. And this is what I'll reiterate, as I did with Cam Rising. These experienced quarterbacks, they pay off in a big way. Look at how he played in the bowl game. He's going to be a third year starter.

He has now 28 starts over his last two years. And he's going to be in the middle of, surrounded by a lot of talent. Now, they lost Judkins, which shocked a lot of people when he transferred. they got Bentley, what is it, Ulysses Bentley. He'll likely be the primary back next year. He's backed up Judkins the last two years after he transferred in from SMU. He's averaged nearly six yards per carry in those two years. So you would imagine, while they might not be as explosive as they were with Judkins,

like they still should be pretty good. Their leading receiver, Trey Harris, he's coming back. He's going to be paired with South Carolina transfer, Juice Wells. That's a big time wide receiver duo. They are, Lane's got something going. Lane's got something going. You look at the losses that they had this year,

and you're like, okay, I can see it. I can see them building. I think Lane Kiffin is a hell of a football coach. He's not just a great troller on Twitter, although he's like unbelievable at that. Like he's built something that, again, I'm going to be very surprised if this team is not in the playoff.

and along with Penn State, this is the perfect type of team that you look at and you're like, the expanded playoff is perfect for them. They don't have to go win their division. They don't have to go win the SEC. And good thing that that's not a thing for them anymore. They don't have to deal with the division. They just got to go out there and take care of business.

And if they do that, they should be in line for a playoff berth. Schedule, as far as an SEC schedule, not terrible. They do have to play Georgia, but they get them at home. They've got Oklahoma, but they also get them at home. And then they've got LSU on the road. It is backloaded. That's one thing is like you're going to have these certain schedules that get tough in stretches for teams. And they're going to have to play really well during those stretches.

So if you looked at Ole Miss's schedule, you would see that they're likely going to be 6 and O to start things off. And then they play LSU in October and it kind of ramps up from there. So we'll see how that they how they finish. the season, but again, they don't have to be perfect. If I'm an LSU, or excuse me, an old Miss fan, if I'm a Penn State fan, I am psyched for this season and this new era of college football. All right, number five. And full disclosure, they got this out of reputation. This was a nod to what they have been. Will they be this moving forward? I'm not sure. They hired an unbelievable coach. Is he going to be allowed to be himself? I'm not sure.

There's a lot of unknowns with Alabama, but Alabama is going to be at number five right now in my way too early top 10. So shockwaves clearly when Saban decided to walk away. I have said this multiple times now on shows right here. I do believe he was trying to set Sarkesian up when Sark was at Alabama to have the succession type of model that you saw. at Oklahoma and Ohio State. Didn't happen. So now they've got to go outside. I love the fact that Greg Byrne, their athletic director, did not follow the prototypical SEC

search. Like, I have to have an SEC guy. I've always said this in any walk of life for any job opening, anywhere forever and ever. True meritocracy. Best person for the job, period. I don't care where they came from. I don't care what they look like at all. Kalyn DeBore was the best person for the job.

He was the best man for the job in college football. He was 104 and 12 in his coaching career as a head coach. Look what he did at Washington. Look what he did at Fresno. He has been everywhere. If he is allowed to just be himself, he can have a run of high quality success at Alabama. Is it going to look exactly like Nick Saban?

No, but let him be himself. And for the first time since 06, it's going to be someone other than Sabin patrolling those sidelines. Now, he's losing key players. Dallas Turner's not going to be there. They lose their corners who might both be first round picks, Koolaid McKinstree and Terry and Arnold. The offense is going to lose their best offensive lineman, J.C. Latham.

He's probably going to be a first rounder. Yeah, guess what? It's called the NFL draft. I mean, Alabama is always going to have first rounders. My biggest question for DeBoer is going to be the way that he can recruit. That was obviously a strength for Sabin and his staff throughout. He always recruited in the top one, two, or three in college football. Can DeBoer do that?

Well, that remains to be seen. If he's able to do that and continue this tradition, then that roster is going to be loaded with talent, and it will be loaded with talent from what is left in the cupboard. In a lot of ways, it's as good as any rogues. roster in the country. That's not a problem. They, I believe they hired Kane Womack to be the coordinator on defense. He's bringing Grub to be the coordinator on offense. These are good coaches. These are very good coaches. My next biggest question is Jalen Milrow, Kaylon DeBore. What does that

marriage look like? What does that offense look like? What does that structure look like? Milrow should enter next season as one of the favorites for the Heisman Trophy. This guy is ultra talented. He proved that both with his legs and his arm at moments. Didn't play his best game against Michigan, but guess what? Nobody did. Ask Michael Pennix how that went. Milrow is going to be just fine. And in fact, I'm really interested to see how he plays in a more DeBoer style system. I think he could really take off. I think he could really take off. That wide receiver room, which has not been what it was over the last two years. DeBoer is a guy that can build that into a real strength.

Look at what he had at Washington. That wide receiver room was incredible. Schedule. Bama. Interesting game in the non-conference. They head up to Camp Randall and face Wisconsin. That's a non-conference game. They have road games at LSU, Oklahoma, and Tennessee,

plus a home game against Georgia. Tough schedule. Tough schedule for the first. year. But again, Bama fans need to understand that this is not the 14 playoff era and it's not the Sabin era. He might lose a couple of games. He might lose three games, but guess what? Probably going to be good enough to still get in the playoff. So it's a different animal. And I think all of us need to, in particular Bama fans, really understand the nuance with which to watch view, route for your team this next season in college football. Number four, here we go. What do

got number four is we get to kind of the best teams in the country here number four i've got texas give texas a lot of credit they outperformed expectations this last year for the first time at a long time everybody kind of like slowly dipped their toe in the water when it came to texas last year you remember last year at about this time and throughout the off season what did i say texas is going to earn it i'm not going to do anything with texas until they earn it and guess what they did sark got his new contract he had one of the best seasons in all the college football they only lose two games. They finish right up there in the top five. And this is a team that should be based on where they've recruited over the last couple of years should be right back in that position.

I would be very surprised if they didn't have a good year. Now, stop me if you've heard that before when it comes to Texas. But Quinn Ewers back for another season. That's an interesting one. The way Ewers played against Washington is not going to inspire a ton of hope for the fan base. Now, is he really good? Yes. Did he have great talent around him? Obviously. Will the next quarterback have great talent around him?

Yes, and he'll have Steve Sarkesian designing and calling plays and all of that is going to be remaining the same. And the offensive line should continue to still be a real strength for them. The difference is that Arch Manning is going to be sitting over there. And I tell you what, if there's one guy that I would not want sitting behind me, it would be Arch Manning. So we're going to see everything we need to see about the. mental toughness of Quinn Ewers. If this guy comes out here and plays really well, good for him. I think it's going to be very difficult to do that because every single throw that he makes next year is going to be poured over and evaluated to no end. It will not stop. They've got C.J. Baxter,

love him. Jaden Blue, fast out of the backfield. Sark's tradition of running backs, that'll continue. The defense is going to have to replace those tackles, Murphy and Sweat, along with Jalen Ford in the middle. This is not just a shoe in, okay? This is not a team that's like, oh, they're all back. They're definitely going to be good. But we believe in them because they've recruited at a high level. And I believe in Sark, they've got their quarterback back with a lot of starts. What does their schedule look like?

Big time early non-conference game against Michigan, which we've talked about. They get Georgia at home. That's the week after Red River, by the way. So a tough two-week stretch. and then they end the season at Texas A&M. That's going to be the first meeting since, what is it, 2011. So you think that place won't be charged up? My goodness.

They'll be whoop and hollering and everything that they do down there in Aggie land. Next up, number three, if there was a team that I wanted to buy stock in right now, that I just don't feel like they're, I don't feel like many are giving them their due for what they, one have done over the last couple of years, but what their roster really looks like going into next season is Oregon.

Oregon's at number three. I've seen a couple way too early top tens that have them up there. But man, Oregon, folks, heading into year three with landing, he stays since that epic tweet out, him smoking the cigar at the end, staying in Eugene.

I love that he stayed in Eugene because I believe Oregon moving into the Big Ten, the new era of college football, after what we just saw, after we saw the last three of four national finalists be TCU, Michigan and Washington, you can do it at Oregon. You don't have to go to the SEC. Dan Lannin didn't have to go to Alabama in order to win at the top end. Dan Lannin can win a national championship at Oregon. I'm convinced of it. He's the right guy to do that. I love this guy's energy. Love his energy. If you look at their board, so I did the game against Utah this last year, and as I'm looking through the board,

and Steve, who's with me on the podcast as well, Steve and I are looking at the board on Friday night, and I just started counting up all the underclassmen. And I'm like, dude, they're going to be really good next year. This is as they're making a run this year. And I thought to myself, oh, wow, best is yet to come for Oregon.

at all the underclassmen that are in the two deep on defense and on offense and really good players, by the way. Great players on the offensive line. Great players on the defensive line, in particular at pass rusher. They've got talent. Then they dipped into the portal and did a great job in the portal. They do have to replace Bo Nix, who started 61 games, and they replace them with a guy that I actually think is perfectly suited for what they do offensively, Dylan Gabriel.

If you're going to ask me, what's the style, the template for you. a quarterback to go in and have success at Oklahoma. I would say a guy that is one athletic can do it with his legs. Yeah, but that's not the whole thing because more so he's got to be a point guard. He's got to stay calm in that pocket and distribute quickly and accurately to guys that can make plays. That's Gabriel to a T. In some ways, Gabriel was not suited for what Oklahoma was built to do. Now, he was playing for a coordinator that he always played for in Jeff Fleby, but that Oklahoma team, their best strength should have been throwing the football down the field. The guys like Nick Anderson and Jolil Farooke, like those those dudes can go get it now.

And yet he's a little bit more of a point guard. Fits perfectly for Oregon and Will Stein, their offensive coordinator. By the way, Nick started 61 games. Right now, Dylan Gabriel has started 49 games, which means that if Dylan Gabriel stays healthy, he will surpass the record just set by Bo Nix for starts in college football history, he'll pass him and get to that 62 mark. Nix had 47 going into that last year at Oregon. Talented roster. I know that they lose Troy Franklin, Bucky Irving, Jackson Powers Johnson on offense, but Tess Johnson is coming back.

Transfer portal, here they go. Five star wide receiver from A&M. Evan Stewart, boom. Jordan James, likely taking over his primary running back. He could be a breakout star. I think he averaged around like seven yards per carry last season. The offensive line returns three starters, plus they've recruited really well. And then you get to the schedule.

And relatively speaking, for as difficult as a schedule could be in the new Big Ten, it's manageable. It's manageable. They get Ohio State and Washington, but both of those teams are in Eugene. They do have to go to the big house to play Michigan, but at least it's a year in which Michigan is not at least on paper primed to make a run at the national championship. So while some might say like, oh, wow, they get Ohio State and Michigan,

you would rather have Ohio State in your building, and you'd rather play Michigan this year than last year. So in that respect, it's somewhat manageable that Michigan game is going to be in November. So we'll have to see how they deal with the cold weather. All right, top two. Here we go. At number two, and another team that I just don't, I don't sense that people are understanding what this team is bringing

back. Don't sense what this team clearly is doing from a chemistry and culture standpoint. When you get a lot of guys that pound the table and say, we're coming back for one goal, watch out. Watch out for that team. That's Ohio State. That's Ohio State. In so many ways, they remind me at this point last year of Michigan, Michigan, disappointing into their season, get beat by TCU, and everybody came back. And it was this unfinished business type of mentality. Blake Corum has talked about that. And as uncomfortable as it might be for those at Ohio State or even those fans,

you Buckeye fans, that's the comparison. Because that's what Michigan did. They brought back a ton of guys that were older, which provided an enormous amount of depth on both sides of the ball. They were very good at the line of scrimmage. And then that depth, maturity, culture, all of it. it paid off and they won a national championship. That's the type of run that I see out of Ohio State.

Think about how many players passed up on the NFL draft to come back for unfinished business with the Buckeyes. Three on offense that all could have gone. And candidly, I thought all of them would be gone. A mecca, Abuka on the outside at wide receiver. Travion Henderson, excellent running back. And Donovan Jackson, their best offensive linemen at guard. So now you pair them with some of the transfers that came in.

Junkins, best SEC running back, comes in from Ole Miss. Now he's at Ohio State to share carries with Henderson. That's immediately the best backfield in college football. Best backfield in college football. Hands down. There's not one that's close. So again, look at what this team is going to be. Will Howard, their quarterback.

He's won a Big 12 championship, won it over TCU. He's another one of these guys that have a lot of starts under his belt. So Will Howard comes in and he gives you that experience. We know that they're replacing Marvin Harrison, Jr. But guess what? They're going to be really talented on the outside. So if I'm Will Howard, obviously they've got the athleticism. And that's an upgrade athletically and the ability to run from the quarterback position

from what they had, even the last three years. CJ Stroud was not going to run the football. Last year, McCord was not going to be a runner. Now Howard, he can run it. And he can run it in a physical fashion. And we saw that at Kansas State. He doesn't have to be a dynamic passer, but he will turn into a highly productive passer because of all the talent that they've got on the outside. Yes, Harrison Jr. is not going to be there, but Abuka is coming back.

Carnell Tate. Everyone talks about him being as good as anybody. They've got the five-star Brandon Innes. He's going to be a sophomore. They got the number one overall player in last year's recruiting class, a guy that everyone thinks can come in and plug and play right away, even at Ohio State, Jeremiah Smith. So there's going to be a ton of talent out there. and Will Howard has started 27 games in his career. So there's a little bit of that Jackson Dart in him,

different style of player, but from an experience standpoint, certainly a guy that understands how to win. And remember, I'll say it again, he won the Big 12th title. Now we go to the defensive side. And this is where it gets interesting because we would expect that Ryan Day,

and we'll see what he does with the offensive staff. And who knows, you know, he dabbled last year and like, Heartline's going to be the coordinator. We'll see. I don't know what's going to happen from an offensive staff perspective at Ohio State, but you would assume that they would be fine on offense,

in particular with all the talent that I just talked about. Then you get to the defensive side, and here's where all those guys, delaying their entry into the NFL draft is really going to pay off. Eight guys on defense, eight, all coming back. JT. Tuimoloow, Denzel Burke, Jack Sawyer, Ty Leake Williams, Lathen Ransom, Jordan Hancock, Ty Hamilton, and Cody Simon.

Okay, then. This team's going to be really, really good. biggest question for me is going to be offensive line. Okay? That's where Michigan was so good and dominant this last year. And it remains to be seen what they're going to be like. Matt Jones did declare for the draft, Jonathan Jackson, he is back.

I think that they're going to be able to run it really well. I think adding the quarterback element to the run game is going to help them schematically a ton. And if you're wondering, like, why did Judkins and Henderson both want to play together? it's really easy. Load management. They don't want to carry the football 300 times.

They're trying to get to the NFL. So one, you've got to showcase yourself and two, you've got to protect yourself. Well, now Henderson doesn't have to touch it 100, or excuse me, 200 times. And Junkins doesn't have to touch it 200 times. If you're looking at Judkins, he had 545 carries the last two seasons. Most of any player in college football in the FBS. So it's like, what's he trying to do? Save some tread.

this makes a ton of sense. Now each of them, they could run the ball 170 times each, stay fresh, and become a dominant run team. Sprinkle in 80 to 90 carries from Will Howard. Watch out. Watch out. They get Michigan in the shoe.

They are going to have road games at Penn State and Oregon. Those are two really tough places to play. I just really, like, I get it. They've got to replace Mike Hall, Tommy Eichenberg. But that defense was number two in the country in scoring defense. They get eight guys that shun the NFL and they're going to come back. Get your mind's right because Ohio State is going to be freaking good next year. And number one is Georgia.

You can't recruit like they have. You can't be 29 and 1 in your last 30 games and not be number one in the country. Beck is back for his second year as a starter, fifth year in the program. Talent's never been a question. Think about their last five recruiting classes at Georgia. They finished nationally. two, three, four, and one. Hello. This program is still 46 and two over the last 48. I know that they lose Bowers and McConkey, but you've got to at least assume that they're going to reload and develop. Remember, this is a team that we don't worry about losses. Why? Because they've recruited at the top end. They're going to be able to move the football. I like Beck a lot. The defense is going to lose some starters in the secondary, but listen, they're going to be leaning on what could be the best front seven in college football.

They return almost everybody in their front seven. That's a scary proposition for the rest of the SEC and quite frankly for the rest of the country. Their schedule, yeah, there's a lot more difficult than what they have been over the last couple of years and namely more difficult than last year. They do have Clemson in an opener that's in Atlanta. They've got to go to Alabama and Texas and Ole Miss. That sucks for them. I would say those are the three other best teams in the SEC, and then they've got their home game against Tennessee.

Work cut out for them, but again, in a lot of ways, they are the standard from a talent perspective, and you know that they're going to be hungry. You know they're going to be hungry. After this last year, not making the playoff, after one loss, two-time defending national champion, they go 29 and 1. Come on.

They are going to be right back in the mix. There's no doubt about it. Kirby Smart is too good of a coach. Okay. Now it's about the teams that did not make the cut. Here is the group of teams that I considered right there at number 10, number 9. These are the teams that would make up basically like 10 to 20 in my way too early top 20 for next year. And these are in no particular order.

Missouri. I debated Missouri. They were right there. Razor thin edge. And I get it. They beat Ohio State in their bowl game. But like, come on. Like, come on. Confetti Angels. They didn't even play well against the decimated Ohio State. Whatever. I digress. Brady Cook, third year in the starter. Again, experience at quarterback. Playmaker on the outside with Luther Burden. They do lose Cody Schrader and they lose their defensive coordinator. he's heading to LSU. Missouri should be good. That's a team that should battle for and probably will have a playoff spot at the end of the year. Tennessee, here we go. Nico time.

I'll get his pronunciation of his last name by next year. Right now he's Nico. And Nico's going to have to play well. It's going to have to play well. We saw exactly what Tennessee has to be in order to have success. That was a couple of years ago.

They've got to have a quarterback that's dynamic, making post-snap decisions on downfield read routes. If Nico can do that, then they'll be pretty good. I considered Arizona until everything that happened, and now all of a sudden, that's totally in flux. In fact, in a lot of ways, and in 1.0, maybe they were in my top 10, huh? But in 2.0, I just couldn't do it. Not with fish heading to Washington.

I don't know who is all going to stay there or not. that's a team that I considered. I considered Oklahoma. Jackson Arnold era, that starts very high leading into that Alamo Bowl against Arizona. Didn't pan out with all the turnovers, but that's still a program that's recruited really well. Seth Littrell now is going to be running the offense. Leby left for Mississippi State. He's going to be the head coach there. And the SEC era starts with OU. I could see them getting into the playoff. LSU is still going to be good. at least you would assume, although, man, they're just so inconsistent. Clemson, I'm not sure what to do with Clemson.

I considered them in my top 10. I did not put them in my top 10. It really, you know, if this is 2016, this is a great program, clearly, one of the best in college football. They just have not adapted like other programs as the sport has changed. I considered Florida State, but man, they're losing a ton. Is DJU really going to be that guy that kind of brings them together? they just lose so much talent that they did not make my top 10.

I considered Miami, in particular after the Cam Ward commitment, transfer quarterback commits to Miami. Miami has a very manageable schedule. There is a path to 10 wins. There is a path to a potential playoff berth, but it's still Miami. It's still Mario Cristobal. Mario Cristobal is an excellent recruiter,

really good recruiter. I love meeting with him. I think he's process-oriented. but his teams generally execute lower than where their talent level is. Generally speaking, and listen, you can bring up singular examples of that not happening, like when he took that team in and beat Ohio State. Great, you know, and they did. And that was Stroud's second start, I believe.

But then I can point to several examples where they clearly underperformed to their talent level, Pact 12 championship games, game management issues from the coaching staff. So I considered Miami. I just couldn't put them in the top 10. I considered USC, saw him in the holiday bowl, Miller Moss plus Lincoln should be fine on the offensive side. Always comes down to defense. Always. So now they've got Danton Lynn. And Danton Lynn is a really good coordinator. Can they fix that side of the football in one off season? Not sure. Can they fix that side of the football in particular going into a conference in which they're going to have to play a really physical style of football sometimes in cold weather at the line of scrimmage.

Remains to be seen. So that's why they didn't get into the top 10. And roll your eyes if you want. I considered Colorado. If you protect Shadur Sanders, he will lead the country in passing. They're talented enough on the outside. And he is as good of a passer as we will have in college football next year. So if this team can protect him average,

then watch out for Colorado. He was sacked 52 times last year, most by any Power 5 quarterback in the last 10 years. Think about it from a reference standpoint. Michael Pinnock's was sacked 11 times. Let's just say sake of argument that Chodor at the end of next year has been sacked 15 times. Now, can they fix it to that extent?

I'm not sure. I'm not sure. They've tried to out of the portal. But if they fix it to that extent and Sanders has only been sacked 15 times, then that's a nine-win team, probably 10 wins. team. And again, moving into the Big 12, who knows? Who knows? Maybe it comes down to that matchup with Utah at the end of the year for a potential birth in the Big 12 title game. I think crazier things have happened in college football. So those are the teams that I considered there at the back end of my ranking.

So that'll do it. That's the Joel Klatt show way too early. Top 10 for 2024. Remember to follow the show. we are going to take a little bit of a break, enjoy the NFL playoffs. But you should note, if any news happens with Jim Harbaugh or any other big name coaches, come right back here because we will be here for emergency podcasts if that does happen over the course of the next couple of weeks. So we will have that news and my reaction to it. Outside of that, though, post Super Bowl, I will be back. And one of the next times you hear from me, it will be for my first.

mock draft of the draft season that's happening post Super Bowl. But remember to follow the show. Subscribe wherever you're listening or watching on YouTube. Get in the comments. I will be there. Follow on social media. And you know what, folks? We still have football.

It might not be college football, but it's still going to be good as the NFL comes down the stretch in the playoffs. Have a great week, everybody. And I hope you enjoy your family as much as I've been enjoying my family over the last couple of days. Have a good one.