The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Notre Dame takes down Georgia as SEC continues to struggle in Playoff & Bowl Games

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to Notre Dame’s win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to book their ticket in the CFP Semifinals. He breaks down how Notre Dame was able to take down the SEC Champion Bulldogs and whether we should have been surprised by the result. Klatt congratulates Marcus Freeman on doing a great job in South Bend and bringing the Irish to the Final 4 of the sport, just 3 years after taking over for Brian Kelly. He then discusses Georgia’s up-and-down season and why the Bulldogs were not the same juggernaut that we’ve seen in recent years as the SEC continues to struggle in the College Football Playoff and Bowl Games this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marcus Freeman has done an incredible job. They are deeper, they are faster, they are more physical now than what they were a few years ago under Brian Kelly. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Welcome into the program, everybody.

This is the Joel Clatt show. I'm Joel Clatt. This show is always brought to you by Hampton by Hilton. make sure to rate and review us wherever you listen to your podcast. Make sure to follow us on social media. Wherever you like to social media, Agile Class Show, you can also subscribe to the YouTube channel. Again, we've got great schematic content coming. We've already recorded one episode.

It's getting worked on right now, so that's coming. So subscribe to the YouTube channel, hit that notification button, and you will be all up to speed and ready to go. A bit of an emergency pod, obviously, with the Sugar Bowl postponing into today. It's his immediate reaction. I was traveling all day, brought my family on a little trip here over the holidays. So I'm going to take a few minutes, though, and react to this Sugar Bowl as Notre Dame takes down Georgia. This was our pick here on this show. But the game wasn't quite what I expected.

There was a lot going on in this game. And so let's dive right into it. I'll start by talking about the game. And then I've got a takeaway for Georgia. And I've got to take away for Notre Dame. And more specifically, maybe Marcus Freeman. I'll start with the takeaway from the game. Anytime that you're watching a game,

and there's a team that looks fast and dominant early in the game, it's like, okay, like they need to take advantage of that. And Georgia didn't take advantage of that because I thought they were the faster, more physical, and more dominant team early in the game. They were starting to kind of overwhelm Notre Dame, and it was like, okay, man, this Georgia team has come to play, and Stockton was actually playing great.

Gunner Stockton was throwing the ball really well early in the game. and yet you look up and they didn't have a big lead. And you think to yourself like, well, you know, that could come back to haunt them and it did. And it started to come back to haunt them in the middle section of the game. Now, truth be told, most coaches that I kind of talk to, they'll talk a lot about winning the middle eight, the last four minutes of the first half, and then the first four minutes of the second half. and that middle aid is so important. And there's times when you can steal a possession late in the first half

and then get the ball to begin the second half. And you can build leads. You can create a possession or two margin in games. And that's always the hope. You can come back, which we kind of saw Oregon do that in the middle eight. They started to come back on Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, right? So this middle aid is a valuable section of the game because of halftime. and it's an important section of the game.

Well, that's where the game, the Sugar Bowl, totally flipped. And obviously, it wasn't even the middle eight. It was the middle four plays, which was crazy. It was inside of a minute in the first half when all of a sudden, a three-three game turns to a six-three game. Okay, six-three. The way that Georgia had been playing and the way that I thought that they were starting to dominate on the line of scrimmage, I thought to myself,

listen, Georgia's in a really good spot here, even if they were to go into halftime, down six three. They get aggressive, boom, strip sack, Notre Dame touchdown. It's like, that's the last thing that you can do as a Georgia team right there is not only turn the football over, but then give up the quick score. And so now the Irish have just all the momentum, and what do they do? They come out and take the kickoff back. So in the matter of about four snaps of the football, four significant plays,

there were a couple of Georgia plays after the passing touchdown from, from Riley Leonard there in the second quarter. But really like four plays. You got a field goal. You got a strip sack. You got a passing touchdown. You got a kickoff return for a touchdown. And now all of a sudden, the game totally changes.

And the game is now a 20 to three game. And with the way that Georgia has been playing all year offensively, even at that point, I thought to myself, this is going to be an incredibly steep hill to climb for this Bulldogs team. And it wasn't Gunter Stockton's fault either. Namely, it's the fact that this. This team hasn't looked great when you're looking at the entirety of the year. This is one of the reasons why I picked Notre Dame in this game is I didn't think Georgia

had enough offensively. And it turns out I was right. And anyone that was talking about it that way was right. The other part of this game is I would just say late in that game on the fourth down, backed up Notre Dame with about what was this seven and change left in the game in the fourth quarter. and Notre Dame has the punt team on the field and they run their punt team off the field and their offense on the field. And then the officials hold for the substitution, which is what they're supposed to do. And they hold for the substitution and Georgia gets their defense onto the field.

By the way, the official is going to sit there and hold for as long as possible. So I don't understand why Georgia didn't jog on the field slowly. The official will hold that snap if you're jogging on the field slowly because they're giving you sufficient time to match up. And in that instance, with a sprint on of an entire offense, the official would have been incredibly generous with how long they were going to hold the snap. If Georgia jogs on the field slowly, I believe the play clock was going to run down and either Notre Dame was going to have to take a timeout or a delay a game. Probably a timeout was where the field position was at the time. But they rushed their defense on. I think that was a mistake from Georgia.

Now, Kirby believes that this is a penalty. I'm under the assumption that everything was legal. You know, I think Kirby is confused with kind of end of game, end of half mechanics in terms of you can run 11 on the field and not get the official holding the snap. If you're trying to hit a field goal, let's say at the end of the game, which we saw a couple of years ago in the TCU Baylor game. He's talking about, hey, you can't do that. You can't do that. I believe Kirby is wrong in that instance. and I get frustrated that he was complaining about that at the end of the game,

because again, if they just jog onto the field, Notre Dame likely has to take the time out there. But they got onto the field and they got lined up. The official allows the defense to totally get set. The defense is set. It's backed up. If the instruction for that defense wasn't like, hey, like watch the hard count, then it's the wrong instruction.

I don't believe Notre Dame had any intention of snapping the football. I think that that entire sequence was meant actually to bait Georgia into taking a timeout. Because in a two possession game, it was a 13 point margin at that time. And in a two possession game with about seven and change left, what you're looking for is a way to burn clock. And getting them to use their timeouts while they're not on offense is a way to basically steal a free 40 seconds. I think that's what Marcus Freeman was trying to do. Now, when you're trying to draw somebody off side, what your center is instructed on, if you get them in the neutral zone, snap the football.

And as soon as the ball is snapped, then you're going to throw a fade down the left side or the right side, just whichever side you're going to throw and take a shot down the field. So Notre Dame executes it perfectly. Georgia totally fails in that situation. I think they failed from a coaching perspective. One, jog your defense onto the field. You've got to jog your defense onto the field at that point. The ref will give you the time in order to substitute. And number two, the only instruction that your defense should have is watch the hard count. Watch the hard count. So a beautiful execution and plan from Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame. And then they capitalized on that. They get the free first down. And then they basically run out the clock. I know George ended up getting the ball late, but they effectively ran out the

clock in a two possession game after that sequence there with the offense running on the field late in the game. Last thing on the game is I would just say, like, Gunner Stockton was not the problem for Georgia. The problem for Georgia was everything that we have seen all year long, and that's going to lead into this take that I have on Georgia. I think people still get enamored with the logo, or at least this year of Georgia, because this team is not what they have been over the last couple of years. And we've talked about this during the course of this season, but I would just reiterate it this way. Over the last three seasons, Georgia has had blips of average play, you know, just like a one-off

here or there where it's like, oh, that was a weird performance and they didn't play their best, in the midst of extended periods of great play. That's what the last three years have been from Georgia, and even prior to that as well. This year, it's been different. And I think if you're being honest with yourself, even as a Georgia fan, you would say that we had blips of great play in the midst of very average play. So the norm this year for Georgia was more the sluggish offense, the dropped passes, the lack of a running game. And that showed up again in this game against Notre Dame. There's still a couple of numbers out there that to me are just like staggering to think about,

when you're talking about a Georgia Bulldogs team under Kirby Smart. This team was 15th out of 16 in the SEC in terms of rushing and conference play. 15 out of 16. Georgia, which to me is mind-boggling. The other one happened in this game. Even with how fast and dominant,

Georgia looked early in the game. If you look up at the end of the game, you will see that the team that actually done nominated the line of scrimmage was Notre Dame. Notre Dame had nine tackles for loss, and Georgia had one. This is Georgia, and they're being dominated at the line of scrimmage by a Notre Dame team that, quite frankly, had a ton of injuries. And I know everybody has injuries. So I'm not trying to say they were short-handed and Georgia wasn't short-handed. That's not what I'm trying to say. But Georgia was minus eight in the TFL stat against Notre Dame. And the sugar

to me, that is a telling stat about where the sport has changed. Because over the previous 10 years, what we have seen as teams like Georgia or like Alabama, stockpile talent, in particular at the defensive line, and they were dominant at the line of scrimmage and on the offensive line. But now you can't stockpile talent because of the transfer portal. Kids are not going to sit there and be backups at Georgia and Alabama if they can go play elsewhere. And so now talent is more dispersed around the country. And we are seeing that play out right in front of our eyes in this playoff.

We see it played out when Arizona State almost beats Texas, when all of these games, when Boise State gives Penn State all they can handle. You know, this period in college football, I believe we're entering into a period where we're going to have between six and eight teams every year that can legitimately win the national championship. And let's face it, if Ohio State wasn't turning into like a supernova death star right in of our eyes, we would be saying to ourselves, this is anybody's game here at the end of the year. Now, we're all probably going to favor Ohio State because of the way that they look, in particular

in the last two games against Tennessee and then in the Rose Bowl against Oregon. But really, the talent is dispersing. And that's why, again, I'm just going to reiterate this one more time. I sent out a tweet about this. I touched on it yesterday in the podcast. The narrative that the SEC is so clearly head and shoulders above everybody all the time is. is dead and it needs to die based on the evidence in front of our eyes. Now, that doesn't mean that they won't have the most guys draft in the NFL draft. It doesn't mean that they're not a great conference. They are a great conference.

They're probably the deepest conference this year. There's no doubt. However, this idea of vast superiority needs to die based on the evidence, not narrative, evidence. And so, you know, as we move forward, hopefully that's the case. I mean, if we're being honest, the SEC is barely into the semi, barely. You know, they got fortunate on the targeting call. And I understand Arizona State had a targeting call, not called when they hit a Texas wide receiver. I understand that.

But Arizona State, man, they had a chance to really win that game. They had a chance right there if the targeting goes their way, which by rule it should have. And then they had a chance at fourth and 13. Credit Texas for the way they executed and yours executed. but Texas barely gets into the national semi-final. And if you're sitting here five, six years ago and saying the SEC is barely going to get into the final four in the first year of a 12-team playoff, everyone would have thought you were crazy. So that narrative is slowly dying. Let's move to Notre Dame now.

And I want to talk a little bit about Notre Dame. Notre Dame has done something pretty remarkable. This is a team that lost in Northern Illinois at home. And they've come out. And then I think in some way short-handed, based on the injuries they've done. had at the line of scrimmage and even in the defensive secondary, this team rolled out there and just handled Georgia in the second half. What a remarkable job for Marcus Freeman? I mean, there's a reason why they just gave him that extension and rightly so. He's deserved it.

I just want you to take a step back with me because as the clock is ticking down and they're taking shots of Marcus Freeman, you know, and seeing him hug Riley Leonard and the players react to him, it took me back to the way the players reacted when they announced he was was going to be the head coach after Brian Kelly left. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I mean, especially that game being right there in Louisiana. I'm like, hold on. Brian Kelly, not too long ago, basically waved the white flag at Notre Dame and left,

essentially trying to tell the college football world without saying these words verbatim, like, I can't win a national championship at Notre Dame. I've got to go to LSU to try to do it at LSU. And now Marcus Freeman, after taking some lumps along the way, has elevated Notre Dame past where Brian Kelly had them. Marcus Freeman has done an incredible job. They are deeper, they are faster, they are more physical now than what they were a few years ago under Brian Kelly.

And how good does it feel Notre Dame fans to know that your coach left because he thought that your place couldn't do it? And here you are doing it right in the face. of not only that coach, but that conference that he left to, right there, smack dab in the state of Louisiana. Had to feel good. Had to feel good. And for Marcus Freeman in and of himself, a young guy that, let's face it, really had to rally in order to get that job in the first place. And his relationships with the players obviously helped. And that was certainly a huge factor, I think, in him actually getting the head coach job after Brian left. But then he's taken some lumps along the way. I mean, think about some of the

games and moments that Marcus Freeman has had at Notre Dame. He lost to Marshall. He had 12 men on the field in a crucial time against Ohio State and lose that game at home to the Buckeyes. He lost this season to Northern Illinois and yet has persevered and has his team in the national semi-final. He has recruited and built a team that is deep and fast and physical and can play at the top end of college football. He went out and got a quarterback that was rugged enough and experienced enough to go win a Sugar Bowl against Georgia. Marcus Freeman has done an incredible job, and that's why he got his extension, and rightly so, rightly so. This Notre Dame team looking forward, I think that they're dangerous because of their defense. I think Riley Leonard will continue

to play gutsy football, this matchup against Penn State should be a really good one. I have no idea who's going to win that game. I'm going to have to dive into that in order to make my pick. And speaking of picks, we are going to have our picks and preview episode for the semis. That's coming out on Tuesday next week, not Monday, but Tuesday. Okay, so bear with us here as we kind of finish up some vacation, and we'll release that on Tuesday. Pick some previews on Tuesday. And speaking of picks and previews, three and one in the conference.

quarterfinals. We got the big cover from Arizona State. We had, let's see, we had Oregon covering. That didn't happen. We had Notre Dame. And then we had Penn State covering as well. So three and one, we're up to 54 and 33 on the year against the spread. That's 62%. You've got to love it. You've got to love it. These games have been phenomenal, folks. I love college football. This has been so good. This has been so good. And here we are, and all the teams that did not get a buy are moving on into the national semi-final as we, well, really drive towards that crazy Monday night national championship finished. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube. We're going to have a lot of content coming out.

Make sure to follow us on social media at Joel Clashio. Rate and review us wherever you get your podcast and come back on Tuesday. day we'll have to pick some previews then have a great weekend everybody