The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Look out for Alabama, USC makes a big change & what will the Big Ten do with Michigan?

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the best Saturday of the College Football season so far. He lists the teams that really impressed him this past weekend, starting with Nick Saban and Alabama after their win over LSU. He then discusses the teams that simply found a way to get through a November Saturday without a loss and keep their Playoff hopes on track – including the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs along with the Ohio State Buckeyes. He also lists teams that deserve to get more recognition for what they are doing, like Louisville and Arizona. Klatt gives his thoughts on Lincoln Riley and USC’s decision to part ways with Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch. Klatt finishes the podcast by discussing the latest in the Michigan sign-stealing investigation and gives his thoughts on what the Big Ten should do next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clatchio, probably the best Saturday of college football that we have had, I'm going to check in on a ton of teams. So stay tuned for that. Plus my full thoughts on the Michigan allegations, where we stand and where we're going. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. I believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football.

It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. What's up, everybody? Welcome into a Monday edition of the Joel Clatt show, which is, I'll be honest, my favorite, because we get to recap the actual games. And it was a great day of college football. Welcome to the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt. This show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. Thank you for joining. And if you're new to the show, I very much appreciate you joining us here as we really dive into what will become the best month of the season. November is always the best month of the season. So I'm glad you're here. You can follow us and subscribe wherever you're listening to your podcast. You can also follow us and subscribe on YouTube if you like to watch this show. We also have some exclusive content on YouTube so you can head over there if you're a listener on a podcast. You can follow us on social media wherever you like to social media. At Joel Clat Show, we're out there. You can get all of our content during the course of the week in shorter forms out there.

Okay. It was a really, really good day of football. That was entertaining. There was some great games. There were great defensive games. There were great offensive games. Obviously, we've got some movement, by the way, and the coaching ranks that we'll talk about a little bit later as news out of USC that

they are moving away from their defensive coordinator, Alex Grinch. So Lincoln Riley pulling the plug on Alex Grinch. But I wanted to touch base on a lot of the teams because there were so many good games and some separation as well in terms of how teams looked with the way that they played and so on and so forth. So that's why I wanted to check in today and check in on so many teams. So let's do a weekend check-in, shall we? Weekend check-in is sponsored by Hampton by Hilton. Hilton for this day.

Okay, let's break this into three categories. Saturday night, I'm sitting there watching my buffs late, watching Colorado. to flail around at the end of the first half and hand a touchdown to their opponent in a game that was well played up to that point. So my frustration is is like bubbling over. And it kind of dawns on me as like there were so many categories that you could just throw teams into during the course of the day on Saturday. Those that were really impressive with big wins, those. And I'm talking about like the top end of college football, those that I would say like teams that just found a way, you know, better or worse, they were able to get the job done. And then there

were some, like, quietly impressive, don't get a lot of credit, and we need to give them a lot of credit, whether it's teams or coaches or things that don't get a lot of love. So let's talk about all three categories right here. That's what I want to do with this weekend check-in. Okay, let's start with the impressive teams. And I think that we all know who we should start with. The most impressive team on Saturday was Alabama. Alabama was terrific and Alabama continues to grow and continues to develop. I think that if you're going to vote on Coach of the Year, there are several candidates and rightly so, but one of them, one of them would be Nick Saban. With the team that he has this year versus the team he has in other years, what he's been able to do and the way

that he's been able to morph and develop this group at Alabama has been as impressive as any job, that he's done there. It's been fun to watch. And I bet you if you ask him, he would tell you that it's been a really fun year to coach. So they beat LSU and they, I got to tell you, man, they just like they did to LSU

what you would expect the really great Alabama teams to do to LSU, which is they owned them physically late. and great line play against the Tigers. Sabin has got to be thrilled with the way that his team and probably his quarterback, as those are you watching on YouTube, you're seeing these plays from Jalen Milro. And his legs were just the great equalizer. It opened up the run game.

He was able to throw decently well. The offensive line was better and better as the day wore on. And then his athleticism and physicality, in particular at the second and third level, was a huge difference maker. then the defense started to show up. They were physical. They got turnovers. They got to Jaden Daniels, although the hit is certainly controversial, but they got to Jaden

Daniels and the physicality won the day. It won the day. The bottom line for me is that Sabin finds a way. This is what I love about this Crimson Tide team is that they find a way. Is this what we have come to expect over the last four to five years? No. No, it's not. This is not the same blueprint.

This is a totally different blueprint. And yet he finds a way. It doesn't matter how many times he's had to change his staff or change offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. He finds away. It doesn't matter how many times he's changed the style of play on the field or style of players that he uses at namely the quarterback position since he first got to Alabama. And yet, what does he do?

He finds a way. He finds a way to win. This is what I love about Nick Sank. This is what we all should love and appreciate about Nick Saban. This is what makes him the greatest coach in the history of our sport. It's not that he wins a lot. It's that he finds a way to win a lot, regardless of style, regardless of style. I was writing down earlier today.

I was like, you know, what I love about Nick Saban and the Alabama program is that there is a rigid standard at Alabama. There is a rigid standard for how you conduct yourself from a day-to-day perspective, how you work, how you put the team first, how you create value for yourself, all of these things. A rigid, rigid standard. And it's been fun to talk to Mark Ingram about this, by the way, as he's worked with us now on big new kickoff. And yet, and yet as rigid as the standard is set by the head coach, Nick Saban, he's also incredibly pliable as far as the style of football being played to win.

I love it. I love it because a lot of times it's. opposite everywhere else. There are so many coaches and programs where it is opposite and the style is rigid and the scheme is rigid and yet they will bend, they will become pliable as it relates to standards from their players. And this is why I think he's so great. And this is why watching this team has been really fun. It's been really fun for all of us, not LSU fans on Saturday. But that was a really great game. And then, Obviously, you know, Alabama just kind of chugs away.

All right. Some other teams, and I'll go a little faster through these impressive teams. Michigan. Michigan was really impressive. Say what you want about Michigan. And I know that you all are. But they did exactly to Purdue what they do to everybody. This was a carbon copy of every game I've watched over the last couple of years.

It was a game that was never in doubt. It was a game that was thoroughly dominated by Michigan, in particular at the line of scrimmage. It was a game that as it goes on, Michigan becomes more and more dominant. And then you look up and it's basically 41 to 6 and they're going to win the game and then produce scores in the last 18 seconds. You know, it was it was 17 nothing, you know, basically like 10, 11 minutes into the game. It was never in doubt. This is the most dominant and most consistent team of the year. They've won every game by what is at 24 points.

you know, Purdue's points, they got a field goal after a muffed punt. They got a field goal after a Michigan failed fourth and won on their own 34. And then they got a touchdown with under 20 seconds to go. So, so again, like say what you want about this team, but, man, they're still really good. They were impressive, even if you're playing Purdue. Oregon was impressive. And I get it. playing Cal, Bo Nix has six total TDs. Now they've had two emphatic wins over the last couple of weeks.

And it's pretty clear to me that this team has, they have what it takes, I think is the way that I would put it. They have what it takes from a player's perspective, a quarterback perspective, and a coaching perspective. I'm a big fan of Dan Lannning. The more that I am around him, I've covered two of his games now. I hope I get to cover another one. It won't be this year. but another one sometime soon. And we will since they're moving to the Big Ten. So I'm excited about that. I love his approach.

He's a really confident guy, which I really like. And that bleeds over to his players. His players play within enthusiasm, an urgency. It's all just really fun to be around, to be quite honest with you. And that is a team that I think is absolutely for real. Oregon, it won't shock me at all.

if Oregon wins the PAC 12. It won't shock me at all if Oregon wins the national championship. I mean, I don't think that that's crazy to state that. That's why I've moved them ahead of Florida State in my top 10. If you're watching on YouTube, we'll throw up my top 10. I'm not going to go through all of them, but just know that like Oregon for me is a team that is clearly one of the four or five best teams in the country. I have them at fifth in my rankings, Florida State just behind them at

They are dominant at the line of scrimmage. They have athletes everywhere else. They have confident play callers. They have really good and sound schemes, in particular on the defensive side. And they have the most experienced quarterback in the history of the sport. They're not going anywhere. They are not going anywhere. They're good.

They're deep. They're physical. Won't shock me if they win the national championship. A couple of other teams. that I thought were really impressive. Penn State, very impressive over Maryland. And I understand Maryland has fallen off a little bit of a cliff. But the defense had six sacks.

They had 12 tackles for loss against Maryland. And then on the offensive side, they broke out of this, this lull, if you want to call it that, this sluggish play that they've been having ever since that Ohio State game. They were really bad against Ohio State, weren't much better against Indiana. until the last drive when Aller kind of throws a big touchdown pass. And then Aller came alive against Maryland. They started to get outside of their box. They have to play a game that is a little bit more explosive if they want to beat Michigan this week.

Gus and Jenny and I will be there. I can't wait for that game. I'm so glad to see them play this way against Maryland. And granted, I know it's against Maryland, but let's face it, we needed to see this. We need to see that this was in their bag. It's like a golf analogy. Let's just make a golf analogy. You got to see the high draw before you are confident that you can hit it on the course.

Okay? Well, they're going to need all of the shots in the bag to beat Michigan. Thankfully, we saw that against Maryland. Now we've actually seen Aller go out there, four touchdown passes. He threw six passes of 20 plus yards down the field. You know, he only completed one, which was a touchdown, but they're attempting them. You know, a couple of nice fade routes. Cephas is a guy that transferred in, and he needed to be a bigger part of their passing game,

and he was against Maryland. So all of those things are really quality. And for those reasons, I'm excited for Penn State now this week against Michigan because they at least have shown the ability to be explosive because they're going to need to be explosive. You cannot just go out there and say like, yeah, we're going to just run our normal offense and be able to win this game. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, won't happen. So that impressive win over Maryland is something that I thought was really good. The last one I was going to say is Oklahoma State.

And Oklahoma State for me, like, are they going to win the national championship? No. They might win the Big 12 championship, though. And Mike Gundy is just a freaking good coach, man. You know, I don't know why no one wants to give this guy more credit than what he gets, but, and I hear the narrative out there. Who cares? They lost to South Alabama. That's the point.

That's the point. This guy has a team that has a ridiculously low floor. South Alabama hammered Oklahoma State. And yet he took that. and he goes back and he and he and his coaching staff start to look and they're like, well, what do we have? We got to figure something out. Let's figure it out.

They didn't just say our players stink. Let's move on and let's, you know, get new ones and right off into the sunset until next year. He said to himself, let's find a way. Very Nick Saban-esque, by the way, because we've seen Mike Gundy now win over cycles of assistant coaching staffs. And we've seen him win over cycles of systems and styles of play. I love the fact that Mike Gundy all of a sudden is like, you know what?

Well, we've got this really good running back, Ollie Gordon. Let's start featuring him. Let's become a really hard nose run oriented team. Great. He got 33 carries in the game. Six straight game over 100 yards. Ollie Gordon's one of the top running backs now in the country as far as production goes. And they have found an identity.

So not only did he locate and find an identity, but then developed into that identity to get them to a point where they're probably going to go back to the Big 12 championship game. So now them in Texas, after everything that happened in the Big 12, five teams were four in one going into Saturday. Now, four of those teams were playing each other. Kansas State and Texas, Texas wins that ball game. Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State. Cowboys win that ball game. And then the last one was Iowa State. And they were hosting Kansas.

I get it. They got jobbed on that, like they about stepping out of bounds. If you haven't seen that online, just Google it. Iowa State got hosed a little bit on an official's call, but they got beat by Kansas. And so now three of the five teams that were four and one ended up losing. Now there's two left. There's two teams left with only one loss.

Two teams control their own destiny to go to the Big 12 championship game. One of them is Oklahoma State. Like, come on. They lost to South Alabama. I think it was 33 to 7. Mike Gundy is a freaking ball coach. and I am here for it. I love it, man.

I love it. I love these guys that find a way. Nick Saban, find it away. Now, he's doing it at the top end, and he's won national championships. But just because Mike Gundy hasn't won national championships, doesn't make him a lesser coach. I love Mike Gundy.

I love that he stayed at Oklahoma State. He toyed around a couple of times with going to Tennessee, and then he's just like, you know what, I'm good. Very similar to Kyle Whittingham. Toyed around a couple of different times at other places, but you know what? I'm good at Utah. Kirk Ferrence has done that at I.

Bill Snyder did that at Kansas State. This is my hope for guys like Chris Climmon at Kansas State, Lance Lippold at Kansas. Find a place where you can be you and you can win and you can win a lot. And that's what Mike Gundy has done. I really like Mike. I don't think a lot of people do. And that's why he doesn't get a lot of credit.

But Mike Gundy is a hell of a football coach. He became the third coach to win 100 conference games in the Big 12. That means that he joins Bob Stoops and Bill Snyder. Exactly, exactly. Now, five straight wins tied with Texas, five and one atop the big 12 standings. Good for you, Oklahoma State. That was a really great win. And by the way, in an emotional one, in the last bedroom. Bedlam. I don't know if I even pronounced that right. I might have just mumbled that. Felt like I mumbled it. So in the last bedlam. There we go. Quick drink here. Okay, so let's move on to, let's call it find a way no.

In our sport, we don't get to just go to Germany and lose like the dolphins did on Sunday. We don't get to go to Denver like Kansas City did the week prior and lose to the Broncos. We don't get to shrug off losses in our sport. It's one of the things that makes this sport so great. It's one of the things that we all fear for a 12-team playoff and we hope we can retain by incentivizing the top end of that playoff with things like four-bys. I say that just so that any of you that are making the playoff that listen to this, because I know you listen to a lot of things, like don't grow past 12. And if you think about it, just call me.

Find away November. In this sport, you've got to find a way. If you're going to reach your goals at the top end of the sport, you've got to find a way. When you're not at your best, find a way. When you're on the road, find away. In a tough game at home, find a way. Lose a big lead, find a way. So who are the teams that did that on Saturday?

Well, Georgia was one of them. Georgia was one of them. Did Georgia play their best game? No, no. And Missouri played decently well. And guess what? Georgia found a way. We look up constantly now.

This is not the same Georgia team in the last couple of years. But that's not fair to this Georgia team. That's not fair to this Georgia team. They're not going to reach that standard. They may win a national championship, so I'm not saying that they won't. But that team was historically great, in particular two years ago on defense. This is not the same team. I really like the way Carson Beck is playing, but this is still a really, really difficult team to beat. This is 26 straight wins. They trailed for the third

time this year in the second half, and yet, what did they do? Won the game. So you tell me who can beat Georgia, because it's not a lot of teams. They're taking everybody's best shot, and they're still standing and they're still undefeated and they're still Georgia and they're still two-time defending national champions. And now they've won 26 straight games. Their only loss two years ago was in the SEC championship game to a really good Alabama team led by Bryce Young. And then they wound up winning the national championship. They haven't lost since that SEC championship game to Bryce Young. Like that's 26 straight game. So who's beating them? It's still difficult to beat this team because they find a way.

They believe that they will win. And they do. Next team was Ohio State. The defense has yet to allow more than 17 points in a game. This defense is their calling card. This is now a defensive oriented team, not an offensive oriented team, even though the offense played a lot better in the second half.

And they did. I actually watched a little bit of that game during our breaks. and then also on the film already. And I thought the second half looked a lot better offensively. And they are finding this rhythm where they're running the ball with Trayvion Henderson, throwing to him as well. They get a mecca, Buka back. You would think that the offense will continue to get better,

and they were better in the second half. But it's still a defense that with this philosophical change that we've seen, and I've talked about at length, This is a defense that they can depend on now. It's not just a defense that they're trying to nurse through the season or that they hope they can lean on. No, no, no. This is a legitimate strength for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Even Greg Shiano was talking about all the NFL players on that defense. And again, the philosophical change. What happens? Ruckers played really a good football game. On offense, they were driving. Rutgers is one of the most improved teams in the country. No one wants to talk about that. But they are.

there's six and two coming into this game. And they drive inside the 10 yard line three different times inside the 10 in the first half and they get only nine points. So the Buckeyes do their job. They bend but they don't break. Okay. That game very easily could have been 17-7 at half and then it's totally different. Then all of a sudden you come back out in the second half, Ruckers driving early in the second

half, boom, pick six. Again, it's a defense you can depend on if you're the. Buckeyes. Then you've got a hope that McCord continues to develop and that the offense can continue to become more explosive and become more dominant and become more reliable. Because the more that happens, then you've got something. This is more the blueprint that I would believe in to go up to Ann Arbor. I'm going to tell you that right now. Travion is back. He's got 200 scrimmage yards and back-to-back games. Marvin only four catches, but two of those were in the end zone. My only worry right now is that Kyle McCord needs to continue to get better.

That's my only worry for them is that McCord seems to be the one that is lagging, the one that they need to bring him along as fast as possible because they've got the talent on offense, but now they need the quarterback, the trigger man, that can make it all go. Three other teams that found away, Florida State found away, only led 10-7 and half against pit. Remember, that's a pit team that the week prior lost 58, 7 in Notre Dame. But Florida State was able to clinch a spot in the ACC championship game. So they're ticking off these wins and good for them. I get it. They didn't have a lot of their players. Wilson wasn't playing. Coleman wasn't playing. So you weren't going to expect them to go out there and be at their

best, but still a 10-7 game at half to pit. Don't love that. Remember that Pat, that pit team is in a tumultuous time. They're players on social media talking about the coach and what he's saying in press conferences. They just lost 58 to 7 in Notre Dame. Not a great look.

I'm just still cautious with Florida State. They have not shown the level of dominance outside of the second half against LSU in the first game of the year. you know, I just, they, they don't show the flashes like everybody else at the top of the sport. But they're still here and they're finding a way and more power to them. And like I said, clinched the game, a spot in that ACC championship game.

Their lack of dominance on a week-to-week basis is the worry for Florida State. Texas, I was there for this one against Kansas State. Man, it looked like they were going to run away from Kansas State. They were clearly the better team. They were dominant at the line of scrimmage, both running the football early and stopping the run. Those defensive tackles, by the way, sweat and Murphy, they can play. That front seven is very good. I know exactly why they were able to go to Tuscaloosa and beat Alabama because they are really good up front.

But without their starting quarterback, that was a struggle because as soon as Malik Murphy started to struggle, Kansas State became very opportunistic. 17-0-0 with a minute to go in the second quarter. And then all of a sudden, Kansas State scores. And then all of a sudden, they have a chance for a field goal. And then the second half was all wildcats, all wildcats. Malik Murphy really struggled after the first quarter. He went 12 of 26 for 96 yards and two interceptions. So Texas needs Quinn Ewers back fast.

But they found a way. They found away. Even if I don't agree with Chris Kleinman on going for that first. fourth down at the end of the game. I just don't. They were the better team in the second half. They were certainly the better team in overtime. They were certainly the better team late in the fourth quarter. The more that that game was going to continue, the more that they were going to have a chance to win the game. I thought he should have kicked the field goal. And I don't buy this whole like, well, they had struggled kicking field goals. One was an errant snap. And the other one,

he just like hooked it. But the kick prior to the one he should have had on about the four yard line and overtime was a 45-yard field goal that he hit right through the upright. So I don't buy this whole, the kicking game was struggling. He should have kicked the field goal. If that goes into a second overtime or a third overtime, Kansas State was the better team at that point because of the struggles of Malik Murphy. Wouldn't have been the case if yours was on the field. And it's not like they were dominating stretches against Texas as much as they were taking advantage of the opportunities given, namely by Murphy and a couple of those turnovers.

So two worries for Texas. The first worry is, how fast can Quinn yours get back into the lineup? That's number one. Number two, they weren't great stop in the past when they knew that all Kansas State could do was throw the ball. So the secondary for Texas, maybe a little bit of a worry. Last team that found away on a find away November Saturday was Washington. Now, they're going to get more credit than what I'm giving them from a lot of people,

but there's a giant worry with Washington. You see, I just saw Utah get into a shootout with USC, and we all thought like, oh, man, that means Utah is so good. And then Oregon beat the doors off of the Utes the very next week. this Washington team, I get it. They've already beat Oregon. I get it. But man, I just don't think they can do it again unless they find more balance.

And balance meaning like, you've got to get stops. The defense has got to play better than what they played. I don't think it's egregious to give up 40 points to Caleb Williams in that USC team. And I get it. You were going to get the kitchen sink from Lincoln Riley. But man, you know, They gave up 33 points to Stanford last week. They've allowed 30 and four of their last six.

So the worry for me is defense. That's why it's just a find-away. It's not impressive for me because it was a find-a-way. They had to go drop 52 on USC because they allowed 42. Pennix was great. Pennix was great. I loved Pennix. The run game was amazing.

Dylan Johnson. Are you kidding me? Almost single-handedly gets Alex Grinch fired. But that defense is a little bit of a worry. That's why they're just a find-away team for me. And now, some quickly, some teams that really deserve a lot of credit. All right. So here are teams that maybe we haven't talked a ton about,

but those were impressive wins and wins that maybe are going to fly under the radar because let's face it, these teams aren't being talked about as national championship contenders. Louisville, totally dominated Virginia Tech. And this was a take control of the ACC, second spot game. Remember, Virginia Tech was third in the standings, Louisville was second in the standings. They were going to face off. The winner was going to have a clear inside track to play what is now a clinched Florida State team. And they win 34 to 3. So Louisville doing a great job. They take control of that second place in the ACC. They've outscored their last two opponents,

by the way, 57 of three. That was Duke and Virginia Tech. So not the low lives of the ACC, but the teams that had played well at points during the course of this year. So they're sitting at one loss right now and could easily, easily get to 11 and 1 Florida State in the ACC championship game. Brom is a hell of a coach. Jeff Brom is a very good coach. I just saw him in the Big Ten championship game a year ago with Purdue. And now he might, in his first year with Louisville, go to the ACC championship game.

So Brom is doing some work and I really love what he's done there at Louisville. next one is Clemson. They get a huge win over Notre Dame, played without running back Will Shipley. Dabo after the game, it's just typical Dabo, right? They're four and four. Now they're five and four, and he's like, if Clemson was a stock, you better buy. You better buy all you freaking can. It's like, Dabo relax.

Unless you're going to change your entire portal and NIL strategy, then I'm not going to buy stock in Clemson. But if you're telling me you are going to change your strategy and those two key, roster building areas, then yes, Clemson has proven and you've proven that you can play and win at the top of the sport. But you will not do that unless you modernize the way you build your roster. So, a little aside on Clemson, Utah bounced back win after getting blown out against Oregon at home. Then all of a sudden, Arizona State rolls in and Utah wins 55 to 3. How about that? Guess who can coach? Kyle Whittingham. Hell of a coach. Ran for over 3.

350 yards against Arizona State. Bryson Barnes threw four touchdowns. Now they play at Washington next week. Just watch out. Like, just watch out. I get it. Like, they're not top in someone that's going to really scare me. And should Washington win?

Yes, probably. But you still have got to handle Utah. And that's the back-to-back Pac-12 champion. And then the last one that we've got to give credit to that nobody's talking about, but they have just gotten better and better and better. Arizona. Arizona is a really good football team. And now they've won three straight.

They've got a win over Oregon State and UCLA and back-to-back weeks. They're bowl eligible for the first time since 2017. They're six and three on the year. And two of those losses were by seven to Washington and by two to USC in overtime. They had USC dead to rights and Caleb kind of saved him in that game. So like Jed Fish is doing a hell of a job. job at Arizona. That program was like dead on arrival when he got there. And he has resuscitated them to the point where they're pretty good. They're pretty good. And they're going to win a couple of

more games here down the stretch. Noah Fafita. He's been great, by the way. Jaden DeLora went out. He went down and Fafita has kept the job for the majority of the year. It's a big check-in. Got to a lot of teams. Must be November, which is my favorite time. of year. It's football season. It's November. And as you know it, I take this very seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. Wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable rooms and their warm and friendly service. Their free hot breakfast, by the way, total game changer. You know it. I love their coffee. Love their waffles. So whether you're

cheering on your team from the stands, or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton, they're always going to give you that win. Okay, some news to catch up on. Alex Grinch out at USC. USC fans, and I know a lot of them, I live around a lot of these people. They are thrilled about this. I'll just say this. I've known Alex for a long time.

Alex is a good man. And I just, I hate it when people lose their job. This is a sport that we all love. And yet there are real things like life. livelihoods and families, and that's all on the line. And so I feel bad for Alex. But this had to be done. I think he even knows it. And I think he knows it because I know him better. I know him well enough. I've covered him enough times to know the body language on the sideline. And Saturday night, when you saw the body language, when he put his hands on his knees and his head just slumped down late in that game,

I could tell that in his mind he was like, this is not good enough. And to a certain degree, this is what you have to know, is that there is a lot of honor among coaching staffs, and in particular on the good ones internally. There is some honor. And so Alex probably understood at that point, like, this needs to change. And if I'm the one that has to go, then I'm the one that has to go. You know, they are currently 123rd in total.

defense, 124th in scoring defense. Last year, they were 105th in total and 94th in scoring. So they've regressed even after getting all of those transfers. He spent five years of the DC for Lincoln, Riley, three of them at Oklahoma, two of them at USC. So now moving forward, Brian Odom, the linebacker coach and Sean Newell, they'll be the co-defense of coordinators for USC. But really this came down to, if Michael Pinnock's goes up.

off. It's kind of like, yeah, yeah, we get it. But when Dylan Johnson goes off, it's like, come on. Like, why can't we stop the run? USC is not anywhere close to gap sound. Their front does not do a good job at all of knowing where to fit in the run gaps. Because of that, there are huge gaping seams when they're trying to defend the run. Dylan Johnson took full advantage of that. 256 yards, 256. This was not, you know,

Jonathan Brooks from Texas or one of the great backs is not Henderson from Ohio State. This is, I mean, all due respect, Dylan Johnson had one 100-yard game in the season, and it was exactly 100 yards.

So he had not gone over 100 yards yet this year. He came into the game, on Saturday with 432 yards rushing on the season. And then he put up 256. Then you look at yards before contact. Dylan Johnson, 129 yards before contact and 127 after contact. Wild.

By the way, both of those numbers are egregious in and of themselves. To give up 129 before contact, what are we doing? to give up 127 after contact. What are we doing? So again, like, this had to change. This had to change. And Lincoln Riley is going to have to answer for this. You cannot have this poor of defensive execution this often happened at OU.

It's now happening at USC. And you think back on the quarterback years that have been wasted by poor. defenses, whether it was Baker's last year as a Heisman, Kyler's year as a Heisman, Jalen Hertz even on a playoff team, and now two times with Caleb Williams, like, that's, that's tough to swallow. You know, I know all of those were not Grinch, by the way. All of those weren't Grinch, but just this, this defense has to improve. And at some point, Lincoln's going to have to look at the way that he operates his entire

program and say, like, how do we become? a better defense because they're going to need to be that to move forward. Okay. We need to address Michigan and not just the way they played against Purdue. If you're listening to this show, then you know that I sent out a series of tweets. If you follow college football at all, then you'll know that I sent out a series of tweets, a little thread last week on what was it, Thursday. And, you know, all the aggregator sites kind of picked up on it.

And their headlines weren't exactly true. But let's step back and let's assess where we're at with the Michigan deal. And I'm going to give you my 100% opinion on this. First and foremost, I want the rules to be upheld and the integrity of the game to be upheld. And I hope that it will be. And if there are rules that have been broken, then I want those that broke them punished. Period. Now, in order to do that, the proper process has to run its course. In order to have the proper punishment, you have to follow the process as according to bylaws with whatever governing body is taking place or investigating those allegations and the

instances. Okay. So this is my deeply held belief is that you cannot lead, govern or make decisions based on sentiment or narrative. you make decisions, you lead, and you govern based on facts, period. And so we need to make sure in this entire process that the facts are gathered, all the facts. Once that happens, all the parties involved need to become aware of those facts. it's like it's not controversial this is very similar to the way that we all feel about our judicial system right this is how I feel about any governance okay now we can talk about well what's the standard of proof okay you know and fair enough is it the preponderance of the evidence is it beyond a reasonable doubt you know like none of those that's that's for our judicial judicial system but in this instance

we've got a couple of different, quote, governing bodies. One is the NCAA and the other, although not really a governing body, but more of a membership body, is the Big Ten Conference. Well, both of those entities have rules for their member institutions. We think it's pretty clear that NCAA rules were broken, and we know that the NCAA is investigating those. we don't know exactly what the evidence is that the NCAA has. Now, a lot has been leaked out there and thrown out there on social media,

and there's been a narrative and kind of a mob formed around that. And some of it might be absolutely true and some of it might not be absolutely true. I don't know because I'm not in the investigation. Neither do you. What I want is for that investigation to run its course. I also know that a narrative. and a mob can't force the action and force movement from those two entities. And now let's take a closer look at Tony Petiti because a lot of the narrative last week

was surrounding the fact that the victims in this case, the other programs that Michigan faced were very angry, namely their coaches and got on a call with Tony Petiti and basically said, like, we want action. Well, of course they want action. Any victim of any rule broken or again in the judicial system, any action in the judicial system, you want justice and you want it way quicker than the system or the process will allow. So this is not news to any of us, nor should it be, that on Wednesday all the coaches wanted action. But that doesn't mean that Tony Petiti, the Big Ten Commissioner, should act based on that sentiment.

it does mean that he should, in earnest, follow the process because he should want to, he should want deeply to get to the bottom of this. We all want him to get to the bottom of this. Again, I'm all for whoever broke the rules to be punished, but I want it to happen the right way. And that's where we're at now with, The president of Michigan, Santa Ono, basically writing an email to Tony Petiti, saying a lot of things that I'm saying right here. And they met on Friday.

I don't know what that meeting or the contents of that meeting were. I don't know what the substance of that meeting was. We may find out soon. I'm not here telling you that this should drag out past the season or should happen on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday. What I am saying is, like, whatever the process is, it has to run its course. There are clearly rules within the Big Ten that would put all of this in a really precarious spot because if Tony Petiti acts too soon on evidence that has not been presented to Michigan or that Michigan believes is not correct, then all of a sudden we're going to be involved in

litigation. And that's not really what Tony Petiti wants. That's not what the Big Ten wants. Michigan would have recourse if the process is not followed. None of us want that. So the sentiment that Tony Petiti or the Big Ten has to do anything is not true. I understand a lot of people want them to, quote, act right now. There's nothing to act on. there is action within process. I think that's a very important part of this. And that's what Santa Ana is going to expect. And that's what all of the rest of the Big Ten should expect.

And the fact of the matter is, is that narrative and sentiment cannot force the hand of Tony Petiti. It just can't. And the last thing that I would say is, and this is, And this is part and parcel more so to our culture. And I heard it said actually in my church in a sermon this weekend. And I immediately thought of this case. And it was in regards to the book of Daniel, right? But regardless of where I heard it, the statement was, and it was really well put,

But patience can, can to the outside observer, be viewed as apathy. And that's what we have here. To the mob, to the narrative, to those that want action, the patience of the Big Ten or Toti Petiti screams apathy. But that's not the case. That's not the case. In this case, the patient screams process. And the process is all that we should want to happen now.

If we all want this to come to fruition and for the guilty parties to be punished and be punished in a just manner, then we have to allow the process to run its course. So that is the way I feel. That's what I was trying to convey in those tweets. And I will continue to feel that way throughout. So again, I would just say, like, I don't know when this is going to come to fruition. I just want it to happen the right way. I want it to happen the right way.

I think that it will because the last thing that Tony Petiti wants, the last thing that any of us want is for this to wind up in the courts. And that's not good for the Big Ten. it's not good for college football. It's not good for anybody. All right. So that's going to do it. I wanted to end with that because I didn't want to start the show off with what can only be a downer. Like I don't want to have to talk about this. You don't want to have to deal with this. We love the games. Those games were phenomenal. The game I was at was amazing. Texas and Kansas State was amazing. USC. That was an unbelievable game with Washington. Unbelievable game. LSU Alabama. Fantastic. It's just a little. The Ole Miss Texas A&M didn't even get to them. That was incredible. There was so many great effort by Arizona late, tremendous effort by Clemson, so on and so on. And so, you know, like, it's college football is amazing.

And we're sitting here. We're talking about this. And just know that, like, folks, everybody should want the process to be followed to a T so that we can get to the bottom of it and that actual justice can be served in the form of punishment if that needs to happen. That'll do it for the Joel Clat Show today. When we come back on Wednesday, we'll have new rankings. We'll see what happens in the rankings. And I'm also going to revisit the above and below the line. I have feelings about who I actually think can win the national championship.

And on Wednesday, I'm going to tell you it has shrunk. It has absolutely shrunk. And by the way, it's going to make a lot of people mad. But I have a small list of teams that I actually think can win the national championship. That's coming up on Wednesday on the jury. Joel Clat Show. Thanks for listening to Everybody.