The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Michigan beats Washington to win the CFP National Championship

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to Michigan winning its first National Championship since 1997 with the win over Washington on Monday night. He breaks down why Michigan was able to slow down Michael Penix Jr on their way to the title. Klatt also shares insights and behind-the-scenes stories of what it’s been like covering Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan players as they turned a struggling program into a National Championship team. He also discusses why the Wolverines’ win should give hope to lots of programs around the country - even Ohio State - as we enter the 12-team Playoff format going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Klatt show, Michigan wins the national championship. 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. Hey, welcome into the show. I am Joel Klat.

This is the Joel Klatte show. And we have got a great show for you here today. Michigan wins the national championship over Washington, and there's a lot to discuss and get into, because I think that it means a lot for obviously Michigan fans, but a lot of college football fans all over the country, and I'll tell you why, here in a little bit. But first, remember to follow us,

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where I will be reading some of those comments on the show. But I'm also going to go in there now that I've got more time in the off season and have some discussions with you in the comments below. So if you're on YouTube or even if you're listening and want in on the discussion, go ahead over there to YouTube, subscribe to the show, leave a comment, and I'll be in there in the offseason, and we can chat it up a little bit. Do that. And then follow us on social media. Wherever you like to social media, we're at Joel Clat Show there.

But let's get into everything that happened. So Michigan wins the national championship. They're 15 and 0. It's their first outright championship since, you know, God knows when, the Truman administration, at least that's what I was sold on the TV. First championship since 1997. Of course, that was shared with Nebraska. And what a journey it's been for Michigan.

I mean, it's somewhat odd to be, I guess, in this position, only because I've covered this team so many times over the last few years. I feel like I know them, their coaching staff, a lot of these players incredibly well. And so I think perspective-wise, there's a lot of things that I probably know about this team that, you know, would, I don't know if they'd surprise you, but might be interesting. The journey for me with this Michigan program has been pretty remarkable, to be honest with you, because I didn't see this coming. I'm going to go back, and there's a bunch of benchmark dates that I want to go back to. But if you're a Michigan fan, there's no doubt that you're probably listening. And if you're listening to this, you're going to remember these moments probably as

clearly as I do. I go back to the COVID year. And I know a lot of people are going to to talk about that COVID year, but that was a disaster. It really was. Two and four, the program was in disarray. The schematics, to be honest, were in disarray. It wasn't working. And it wasn't particularly close to working. You know, I, listen, if they play against Ohio State, if that game is not canceled for COVID, Ohio State beats them handily in the COVID year. Who knows what happens to Jim Harbaugh? Maybe that was a bridge too far. If that game gets played, there is a scenario, there's a world where Jim Harbaugh isn't even coaching past that date. And you know what's happened since then?

Since then, Michigan's 40 and 3. They go 2 and 4 in the COVID year. And since then, they're 40 and 3. I've called 16 of those games, by the way. That's a lot. That's a big number. Gus, Jenny, and I have called 16 of those games. But if you're going back to that moment,

I remember it vividly. The game gets canceled. We got shifted onto a different game. I actually went. Gus Jenny and I went to Colorado back to Boulder. It was the first time I had called a game in Boulder in a long time. Colorado, which was having a decent year under Carl Dorel, played a really young Utah team in Boulder in front of no fans. And the discussion that we had as a crew that week centered around Michigan.

And there was no sentiment whatsoever that they were going to like turn it around, that this was headed in the right direction, that well, just wait till next year. Don't worry, it'll be okay. At the time, Ohio State was dominating. Ryan Day is about to take Ohio State to a national championship game. Granted, they lose that game to Alabama, but they're going to the national championship game. And the dominance from the Buckeyes look like it's going to continue for the foreseeable future. There was nothing going on at that moment that would suggest that there was some sort of great turnaround about to happen at Michigan. And yet it did.

Okay. And I know there's going to be a lot of talk about why the turnaround happened. Let me tell you why it happened. And then we'll get to the other stuff maybe in a little bit later. First and foremost, there was a giant shift from a schematic standpoint and even from a development standpoint. And that shift along with some of those veteran players on the 2020. one team for Michigan changed the trajectory of the program completely. So a couple of things happened.

One, Jim had tremendous turnover on his staff in that COVID year. And he hires new coordinators, okay? They're going to get all new schematics. He also brings in some guys that are going to help him, okay, be more personable with the players. I can just tell you firsthand, dealing with Jim Harbaugh and Michigan as a program, quite frankly, from our standpoint, as a broadcaster, was, far more difficult pre-COVID than it has been since COVID. Something totally changed.

Now, I don't know if Jim would admit that, but he's been a different person in the last three seasons. In those 16 meetings that we've had in production meetings, he's been far more jovial, open, personable. It's been quite the change. And a lot of that, I think, is because he stopped coaching for the people outside of the building. and that's a powerful thing. And the players in a lot of ways stopped playing for the people outside of the building. They went internal. He brought in some guys that really helped him.

Biff Pogh is one of those guys who's now the head coach at Charlotte. He would meet Biff would meet with Jim Harbaugh twice a day and give you an example of things that they would meet about. Jim would say, you know, Biff, I just really like this team. I like the way that they practice. I love the way that they practice. And Biff would be like, you know what, Jim? Tell them that.

And so he would walk into a team meeting and be like, I love you guys. I love the way you practice. And all of a sudden, there started to be this interaction and this love that started to be built across player coach relationship. He also gave the team back to the players. At the time, those players were guys like Andrew Vistartis and Aidan Hutchinson and Hassan Haskins and Ross, the linebacker. Those were the leaders.

And I know I'm missing a few of the guys, but you get the point. And so all of a sudden became a very team-led program. And that's what allowed the team to then dump all of its chips back into the development of those players. So now all of a sudden, you're in the Strength and Conditioning Program, and that becomes the most important part of the program. And a lot of people are going to talk about it, and rightly so, this team develops as good or better than anybody in the country. And now, you know what, it's not even as good or better.

They've won the national championship with only two five-star players on their roster. They develop better than anybody. Period. I've got some stats later in terms of like how they've recruited and what their makeup is and why that's, I think, so important for fans across the country. If you're not a Michigan fan, trust me, this podcast is also for you. Because what happened last night on Monday night provides a lot of hope. for a lot of fans all over the country.

But this change that they had, starting in COVID, starts to take root and take hold. Again, I've called 16 of those games. Team-led, unselfish, starts with Aidan Hutchinson, and then it just continues. And since then, they're 40 and 3. 40 and 3. They bring in a new style of defense that really works,

and that was on full display against Washington and Michael Pinnock on Monday night. They change a little. bit the way that they want to operate on offense in order to allow a dynamic playmaker at the quarterback position to raise their level. And guess what happened? They bring in one of two of their five stars is their quarterback. So now J.J. McCarthy, in some critical moments over the course of the last two years, but certainly this year, was able to raise the level of his team, whether it's a big completion like he had on touchdown drive to Colson Loveland on Monday night,

or it's a scramble that changes field position, like when they were backed up inside the 10-yard line. Some throws in the fourth quarter against Alabama on a drive that they had to have down seven in which they go down and drive and score and win. That's an element that they didn't have prior to COVID. Okay, so those were the two changes. This pro-style defense that he goes to his brother for,

and they instituted and do a great job with it. They develop players. It's team-led. It's unselfish. All of what you see came to a great combination for them on Monday night. And those players, Blake Corum, you know, leading the charge. They came back for this. They wanted to do this.

They wanted to put a stamp on their legacies at the University of Michigan, and they have done that through winning a national championship. But I would just remind everybody, this was, in a lot of ways, totally inconceivable, in what is this, January of 21. You know, if you're looking at January 8th, 2021, I can't remember exactly if Ohio State and Alabama had played. That's why I'm sitting here thinking about that. But, you know, we're either waiting for a national championship between those two

or that's just happened. And Devonte Smith is going off and that Bama team. And it's like, is anybody going to stop? the Bama, Georgia, Clemson, role. And we thought like, well, it's going to have to be Ohio State. And then when that game went the way that it did, and Ohio State's been beating Michigan the way that they had, if you would have told any of us in the sport or not,

whether you're a fan or covering the sport, that January 8th of 2024, you're going to be sitting here. And between that date and this date, Michigan's going to be 40 and 3, go to three playoffs, be 3 and 0 against Ohio State, and win the national championship. I would have been like, oh, no, that's not happening. And it did. And it did. And all the credit goes to that, that organization, that program. What Jim has done, they got more youthful and obviously all of that has paid off in a huge way. And now they're national champions. This journey, I think, has been surprising for some, but some of us have seen it now.

And those schematics that we talked about, here's what ended up happening over the last three years. They leaned on a great pass rusher in 21 and Aden Hutchinson. They had a really good interior of their defensive line last year. But this year, everything came together. And when everything came together, what ended up being the product was the best team in college football and not just because they won the national championship, but because they were the most consistent, the most dominant, the most physical team all year long. So the best team won the national championship this year. And I don't think that there's any doubt about that. Now,

you can make an argument, and I think some probably would because people like to argue, that at their best, maybe Georgia, because of just their overall talent level, you know, maybe Georgia. But the problem is that they didn't play their best every single week. In fact, Georgia was incredibly up and down. And because of that, they got beat. And you can't say that about Michigan. They were really good every time that they got an opportunity to play. They instituted their game plan. They operated through their strengths every time that they got to play. And they were the best, most physical, the deepest defensive line in particular in all of college football all year long. And once again, here we are crowning a national champion.

And what does that national champion have? It's not like the NFL where you have to have the quarterback. Even though J.J. McCarthy is good. And Stetson Bennett did a nice job with the last couple of years for Georgia. College football is still not directly about the quarterback. If that was the case, the Michael Pennix and Washington would have won the game. In college football, the most important unit on the field, to win the national championship is currently the defensive line.

The best defensive line in college football for the last three years has won the national championship. They just destroy everybody at the line of scrimmage. They allow the defense to play safer coverages, which doesn't allow Washington to create big plays. So those guys up front, you know, whether it's Mason Graham, 55, Chris Jenkins, by the way. I mean, what a good player he's been and he's gained weight every single. You talk about development. Three years ago, Chris Jenkins was not an elite interior defensive linemen.

Now he's an elite interior interior defensive lineman. Let's see. I know Cam Good was hurt in this game, so he didn't get a chance to play. But I mentioned Mason Graham. You've got Kenneth Grant. Oh, my gosh. This dude is like legit. He's such a good player.

their depth in the interior, their ability to rush the passer, their ability to stop the run, that's the strength of the team. And now, again, the defensive line wins the national championship. And they were built this whole shift. They were built to retain what Jim Harbaugh, I think, would always want his teams to be. So through all the change, he didn't throw out, what is the saying? He didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. He threw the bath water out, but he knew that deep down, deep inside, he was still going to be a great line of scrimmage team.

And what were they a great line of scrimmage team? And they won the line of scrimmage in this game on Monday night. 300 yards rushing. The defensive line was dominant. And that's a team that I got to tell you, not many teams could line up with what Michigan had this year. Not many teams could line up with them this year. A couple of other things I want to talk about in terms of maybe even Monday night.

in particular. A guy that I don't think gets enough credit, and probably a lot of it is because of the sign-stealing saga, if you will, but Jesse Minner, the defensive coordinator for Michigan, is one hell of a coach. I have enjoyed thoroughly getting a chance to meet and talk football with him. He is so bright, great game plans.

Let me peek behind the curtain for a moment. As I prep all week, and listen, these coaches, you know, they spend more time doing this than I do. Although this is my profession, okay? I know what I'm looking at. I have been around this sport my entire life. All right. I was a young four, five, six-year-old, and some of my fondest memories were watching real-to-reel film in my kitchen, with my dad, who was a high school football coach,

and he would bring it home, the film, literally, the old reel to reel film, and watch it. You know, it would be forward and back. And I was just around the sport forever and ever. So I like to think that I have a good feel for the X's and O's and the schematics of the game and the philosophy of the game. And so when I watch film all week, I have a great opportunity to have a more 30,000-foot view

than even the coaches that are in the game because they're in the minutia of their own teams and injuries and things like that. And I get to kind of see it from a bit of a higher level, which I think is an advantage. And when I go in, there are times when I'm meeting with a coach and in the back of my mind,

I'm thinking to myself, this game plan that he's explaining to me is not going to work. I'm not going to like name names. Some of them have actually come up to me and said, hey, like, yeah, that meeting that we had, that was not good on my part. And listen, good on them.

But that happens. That happens. Then there are times when I go into a meeting and I realize like, oh my gosh, this team is going to win. This coach knows exactly what's going on. His game plan is perfect. He sees it and like good luck to the other team. That happens a lot with Jesse Minter, a lot. It doesn't happen a lot all the time, but it happens a lot with him.

There are some other guys that I feel that way about around college football, but boy, Jesse Minner is about as good as they come. And I know he's a young guy, and there's a good chance that he's going to be in the NFL really soon. I know that's where he cut his teeth. I think that's where he wants to end up eventually, although that would be a huge miss for college football. But this dude's elite. He's elite. the game plan that he had on Monday night was tremendous. He put the entire onus of the game and the run game,

stopping the run game, just in the front four's hands. He's like, listen, you guys are the best in college football. You handle that, and I'm going to design coverages and brackets and different types of things for Michael Pinnock's to look at so that we don't give up big plays. And granted, there were a few times where they busted coverage, and Pinnick's missed or on the fourth down, he doesn't connect with Adunze. And those are, I mean, if you're a Husky fan, those are just like mind-blowing misses.

You're like, oh, my gosh, we can't miss those opportunities. And you're right. And you're right, because you're not going to get that many of them against a mentor defense. And that secondary was tremendous. Will Johnson, the other five-star player that Michigan has, he was fantastic. Mikey Sane was still, who started as an offensive player and developed into the best nickel corner in college football. Those safeties were physical. They tackled well in space.

Mentor was amazing in this game. He really was. And the culture that's been built at Michigan allowed that team to play unselfish. It's what allows a guy like J.J. McCarthy to be just fine as a five-star player thrown at 16, 17, 18, 19 times a game. It allows Donovan Edwards to be happy for Blake Corum when he's breaking the Michigan touchdown career, you know, career touchdown mark while still waiting for his opportunities, which he's. got in the national championship game. It's what allows a Khalil Mullings to bounce around from linebacker to running back to back to running back and throw a halfback pass against Ohio State in 22.

Like, it's an unselfish group. They had five, six, seven offensive linemen that could have started anywhere in the country and nobody complained. I'm telling you, being around that team was remarkable this year. They were totally unselfish. They completely and genuinely loved each other. and I think a lot of it has to do with guys like Blake Corum. Blake Corum was one of my favorite players that I ever got to meet with in person.

The dude is totally humble. He's fantastic. He genuinely wants to give back to his community. And I'm so, I mean, I'm happy for him that he gets to go out this way. You talk about a Michigan legend, a Michigan man. Blake Corum is a Michigan man. Forever and ever, Blake Corum will be. be synonymous with greatness and championships. And he did that, not for self-gain, but because he was

unselfish and he loved all of his teammates. I'm telling you, they genuinely love each other on that team. It's a remarkable culture that's been built there. Keegan, you know, Michael Barrett, Mikey Sainerstil, Zach Zinter, who was injured and didn't get a chance to play in this game. They did this without their best offensive linemen. All of that was pretty incredible. I know, none of this really has to do with the game. But to me, you get a championship like this, and it's more about kind of like how we arrived

at this point. And this is how we arrived at this point. Again, the game was about the defense. If you wanted to get specific about the game, here really is, the crux of it was Mentor was allowed

to not worry about the run. Granted, Johnson's injury has a lot to do with that. But because he had a great defensive line, and then they were allowed to be so creative and still get some pressure on Pinnix. Pinnock is battered and he's hitting the ground and he's holding his ribs and he's having to throw the ball

sooner than he wants to. And because of that, even when there are breaks in the coverage and busts in the coverage, he can't locate those guys and he's got to throw it underneath. The coverage was really, really solid. I mean, it was a pretty dominant performance from the Michigan defense. If you were to tell me that Washington was going to get 13 possessions, I would have said that they were going to score at a minimum 24,

probably in the high 20s, maybe low 30s in terms of points, 13 possessions. I thought that game would have leaned towards Washington. They scored 13 points in 13 possessions. That's the best stat of the day. if you want to see dominance, that's the stat that signifies dominance. 13 drives, 13 points. That Michigan defense was incredible, which leads me to this last, well, no, it's not the last point. I've actually got several points.

But maybe specifically about this team. This team just rattled off four top 10 wins in their last six games. they've beat Penn State on the road, Ohio State, Alabama, and Washington. All of those teams different. Penn State, not a great offense, elite on defense. Ohio State, really good, solid all around Ohio State team with a terrific defense and the best wide receiver in the country and core of wide receivers in the country, along with a running back that can take it the distance at any moment. that's an elite team that's recruited at the highest level. They beat them. Alabama, who had just ended a 29-game win streak from the two-time defending national champions

and had a quarterback that had been loose on everybody. Jalen Milrow, a big play waiting to happen, beat him. Washington, with as good of a quarterback as we've seen since Joe Burrow, a guy that shredded Texas, which is a good team, beat Oregon twice. like Washington in a lot of ways was as good of an offense as there was in college football. Beat them, 13 points and 13 possessions. So why do I go over that?

Because there's going to be people that want to question the legitimacy of this national championship. And I think that's ridiculous, to say the least. I think that's totally ridiculous. I'm not saying that, that there wasn't rules broken.

I'm not saying that it didn't happen, that it didn't make any difference whatsoever in previous years or games. Because maybe it's it. I do know that I will double down on my comments on Colin Cowherd in saying, I think that the more you really know about the sport,

the more that you're, well, I'll say exactly how I said it on the, Collins show. The more you know about football, I think you realize the less of an impact this actually had on the games. Now, did it have an impact? Maybe. I'm not saying that it didn't have any impact. But the less you know about football, then the more impact you think that it had. You think it had an impact on every single play. You think that it had an impact on every single game and that they don't win unless this happens. That's not necessarily the case. Not necessarily the case. Now, I think some have taken that comment that I made and made it seem like I'm minimizing

the fact that there was a rule broken. I'm not minimizing that fact. It was obviously broken. I don't know how much Jim knew about it. Okay? The rule was broken and it shouldn't have been and there should be consequences. Clearly, clearly. But I stand on pretty firm ground in my statements on the Colin Coward show, which was, if you know a lot about football, you know that this didn't have as much of an impact as people are trying to make it out to be. Evidence, four top 10 wins in the last six games. None of that has any stench of what went on with Collins, Connor Stallions on it. It just doesn't. It just doesn't. So, you know, and I know I hesitated to even bring this up, because I know people are going to take it in all different directions.

But what we saw on Monday night puts that to bed. They gave up 13 points and 13 possessions to Michael Pinnock and Rheemannes and Polk and Macmillan and Kalin-DeBore. Like, stop. They beat Alabama. They beat Ohio State. They beat Penn State. Stop.

They did that. By the way, two of those wins without Jim Harbaugh on the field. Stop. Stop. So I know that there's going to be doubters. and I know that there's going to be naysayers, but you know what? I think all of that got put to bed on Monday night. In fact, I think it would be a lot worse for Michigan if this came out now or in two weeks versus when it did come out,

which it was, I believe, the week after they played Indiana right before they played Michigan State. I had called that Indiana game and thought to myself leaving that game. I was like, man, that's a team that can contend for or win a national championship. Then that all came out and I was like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen? You know, this seems like a big deal. And then Jim Harbaugh said something, not only to us, but to several in the media, that I think we all should pay attention to. Jim said, boy, do you realize what a priceless and perfect gift this was? You gave a team that was already motivated that came back for a specific cause that loved each other that was totally unselfish.

And you gave them fuel to their fire. You challenged them. You doubted them. you said, we don't think that you're any good, that you can't win without X, Y, or Z. And that was a perfect gift, he called it, to this team. And they've proven that out. And now they're the national champions. So I hope that that narrative goes to bed.

I know for some that it won't. But that's my thoughts on it. As for other teams around the country, if you want to talk about just like what this What this playoff meant and what this game meant to college football, I actually think that this was a really important moment for the sport. And not just, well, not just because like, oh, it wasn't an SEC team. It doesn't matter if it wasn't an SEC team. It was the type of team that won.

It was Michigan and the way that they built themselves. And now I'm going to get into those stats that I was talking about earlier. You see, before this year, if you weren't recruiting in the top four or five in the country annually for four straight or five straight years, you really didn't have a chance to win the national championship. You really didn't. You know, I go back to like, for a long time, for a decade plus, go back to like a Bama's championship over Notre Dame. That Notre Dame team goes undefeated and rolls in there and it's like, ah, the gap. between Notre Dame and Alabama was so large. Gap between, you know, you start thinking of some of those semifinal games.

I think Bama played a Michigan state team that got themselves into the playoffs. And it's like the gap between the top three or four, but mostly like three teams in the country and everybody else, was so large that there wasn't a lot of hope for anyone else around college football. It was just like, how many times are we going to get? Bama Clemson, Bama, Georgia in the national championship game, or that could actually win the national championship. That's how it felt for a long time in college football. And the reason was, is because of the lack of mobility, right, players couldn't go anywhere. And because of that, like, the recruiting and the dominance in recruiting was a foregone

conclusion that those teams were going to be in the spots where they were at the end of the year. and you would have to be in the top four or five on an annual basis for four or five years in order to win the national championship. You would have to be as far as the composite, right, when it just takes a look at your roster and how did you build that roster and how talented is your roster?

You had to be a top five roster to win the national championship. And if you weren't, it wasn't even close. It's not like, oh, man, we're almost there. We can scheme ourselves to it. It wasn't even close. There was a huge gap until now. college football is changing and it's changing for the better. It's changing for the better.

Michigan, over the last four recruiting cycles, not 24, because those players aren't obviously there. From 2020 to 2023, there's been four recruiting cycles. In 2020, they were the 10th ranked class. 21, they were the 13th ranked class, 22, the 9th ranked class, and last year the 17th ranked class. So if you total those up and average them out, they were outside of the top 10. on average in their recruiting class, and they just won the national championship. Their composite this year for talent, team talent across the board,

14th in the country, won the national championship. They only have two five-star players won the national championship. That is unbelievable news for all of college football. Do you know how many teams and programs and fan bases should have an enormous amount of hope moving forward now that we have a different era in our sport.

I'm thinking about so many teams that right now should be thrilled with what's going on. Some of them have recruited and done a much better job than even this at Michigan. It goes to show you that you can block and tackle and develop your way to a national championship. Now, is it hard? Yeah, of course. It's hard. And they had to go and get beat badly a couple of years ago by Georgia. they lost a tight one to TCU.

But think about the last two years. We've had Georgia, TCU, Michigan, and Washington, or our four finalists in the national championship game. Only one of those is a lot different, and that's Georgia. The others are actually fairly similar. A lot of development going on, a lot of veteran leadership going on. This is entering. this is why I say at the opening of the show,

this is why I said this phrase, we are entering the golden age of college football. This era of college football should and will be really great. Think of how many teams have ultimate hope that they can go and do what Michigan did. Think of Ole Miss in the way that they're recruiting right now and the hope that this gives them. What Washington just did should make Oregon feel like they can go and do it.

A team like Utah, they feel like they can do it. This makes a team like Penn State think to themselves, why can't we do that? How much hope does it give people in East Lansing, knowing that they did build a program that competed with and beat Michigan several years under Mark Dantonio? Can they do it again under Jonathan Smith?

You know, how encouraging is this for a Texas A&M that tried to go match the guys at the top, and now they've had to change directions. The fact that Michigan was at the bottom of the barrel in the COVID year, and three years later, they're 40 and 3 and winning a national championship. Who else can win a national championship? Maybe it's not just Alabama and Georgia and Clemson and Ohio State every single year. And you know what?

This gives Ohio State a lot of hope. Think about it. Michigan's in the bottom of the barrel watching Ohio State play a national championship game. So Ohio State fans, I know you don't feel great about what you saw on Monday night, but guess what? It can turn around very quickly. you might be there next year. Take a look at what's going on in the transfer portal right now.

That's an incredibly talented team that all of a sudden the Buckeyes are going to have next year. All right. And it just goes to show you that it's not all just about the stars. And I know that that's been a common phrase over the last few years, right? That stars matter. And yeah, they do. They absolutely matter.

But they're mattering less because there's more teams. and the talent is spreading out. And I think that that's great for college football. And that's giving a lot of teams hope around the country. The last eight title games featured at least one of Alabama, Georgia, or Clemson. Last eight. And now all of a sudden, you're entering into this era where a lot of teams are going to feel like they've got a chance

to go out there and win the national championship. And I think that that's a great thing. That is a really great thing. Big Ten is going to be awfully difficult next year. SEC is going to be awfully difficult next year. And later this week, what I want to do is drop on you my way too early top 10. So look for that on Thursday. I believe Thursday.

And then we'll be continuing to follow the news. If I had to make a prediction, I would probably bet that, well, I'm not even going to say it. We'll see what Jim Hardinbaugh decides to do over the course of the next few days. If we get news, we'll obviously jump on and we'll talk about it right here. So make sure to follow the program wherever you're listening on your podcast. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube. Remember to comment on YouTube.

I'm going to dive in there and take a look at some of those comments on YouTube. And then follow us on social media at Joel Clat Show. So that's coming up. We'll have news for you. We'll also have a way too early top 10 for 2024. That's coming up this week. Thank you for listening. It's been a great year.

It's been a great season of college football. And congratulations to Michigan. University of Michigan, 2023, I guess we is, even though it's 24, national champions, quite the year here in college football. I'll talk to you later in the week, everybody.