The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Ohio State wins a classic, Oregon ends Coach Prime’s perfect start & where is Alabama’s ceiling?

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

What a Saturday it was! FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt breaks down the classic from South Bend as Ohio State took down Notre Dame in the final seconds. He gives his thoughts on the outlook for both teams going forward as well as Ryan Day’s animated postgame interview. Klatt also reacts to Oregon putting an empathic halt to Coach Prime’s perfect start and weighs in on Dan Lanning’s use of the hype around Colorado as a motivational tactic. Then, Joel evaluates what he saw from Alabama in their win over Ole Miss and Florida State in their overtime win at Clemson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Buckeyes and Irish. Oh my, the fireworks after the game and Lou Holtz. My goodness, did you realize you could make Ryan Day that angry? College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Hey, welcome into the show. I am Joel Clatt. This is the Joel Clat show. We are presented by Hampton by Hilton, and we have got so much to get into. Obviously, we've got to talk about that incredible game, Ohio State and Notre Dame. We'll talk about that.

I've got full thoughts, by the way, on Ryan Day's postgame interview and everything right there. I want to talk about exactly what happened in Eugene, Oregon, absolutely housing Colorado, wasn't even close whatsoever, and yet the nation was watching again, which is wild. We'll talk about Dan Lannning. By the way, we talk about Ryan Day snapping. Dan Lannin snapped a little bit on Saturday as well. So I've got full thoughts on his comments. We've got to talk about Alabama, the win over Ole Miss.

I've got thoughts on Florida State that win over Clemson, that one on the road. It was a wild Saturday and an exciting Saturday. There's no doubt. I'm not even going to be able to, in this show, get to, Texas, USC, Washington. My goodness, Washington. So I'm just telling you right now, Wednesday's show is going to be jam-packed because this one is going to be so full with all of this incredible stuff that we've got to react to from Saturday and we've got to get to it and we're going to get to it right now. Let's start with that incredible game from South Bend. Notre Dame looks like they've got the win and then Ohio State, they stole it from them. Court in a shot again. Train him off his right hip. Too wide to the right.

Snap a court, hands to train him. Straight in the end zone. Touchdown. Chip, train him for the second straight week. Poging! The converted linebacker finds the end zone and that'll win it for Ohio State. What a football game that was. What an incredible college football game that was.

Every time that this happens, I invite us all before we start reacting and heaping on hyperbole to either the winner or the loser. right and reacting too far. Let's first take a moment to enjoy what we saw, which was an incredible college football game, an incredible college football environment. That's everything that the sports should be right there. Two in like really good football teams, really good football teams,

standing toe to toe right in the middle of the ring, trading blows the entire night. It was fabulous. It was absolutely fabulous. And truth be told, I was in an airplane, had TV, thankfully, flying home. And at one point, like, late, it was during one of those really dominant drives from Notre Dame in the second half, the TVs went out. And I was one of those guys, you know, that are like, oh, geez, like, what are we doing here?

We can't watch TV, 32,000 feet in the air. Come on. That was me, the Louis CK, like, like, that was me. I'm in a tube, 32,000 feet in the air, mad because I can't watch live television because I was enthralled with this football game. It was that good. I loved everything about it. I loved the fact that the players were all making plays on every side of the ball. Special teams were good. No one was making the giant mistake, right?

This wasn't a lot of times these big college football games, they can be riddled with mistakes and penalties and turnovers and special teams. games gaffs. And a lot of times in games like this, it's about the teams that lose the game rather than the team that went out and won the game. I didn't necessarily feel that about this one. This one was well played. Even with a young quarterback at Ohio State, Megan is fourth starting Kyle McCord. And certainly the experienced quarterback, Sam Hartman, he played fantastic. Both offensive lines at times were really good. They struggled at times as well. Again, like everybody was making plays. This is the type of game that we have to appreciate at least for a moment before we start to react.

Because in college football, everything is about the reaction. You and I both know that we immediately want to know what this means for our team long term. What does this mean for the Buckeyes long term? What does this mean for the Buckeyes in the Big Ten and versus Penn State and against Michigan? If I'm an Irish fan, what does this mean for Notre Dame's playoff chances? What does this mean for their teams that they're going to face later in the season and USC's coming to town? and we're always forward looking. And at some points, we've got to take a Nick Sabin line,

even as fans, and be where our feet are. And where our feet were on Saturday was witnessing a fantastic game. I loved everything about it. I wanted to start there because that's where we should start. We don't need to start with the Ryan Day sound after the game or the mistakes that maybe were made from the coaching staff with Notre Dame. They'll be time for that. And I will get into that.

There's no doubt. And all of that deserves at least some evaluation and analysis. And I'll give it to you. But I wanted to start with just an appreciation for the quality of game that we witnessed. Because I thought it was remarkable. It was just a really great game to witness and to watch. I loved it. I really did.

So then you started thinking about like these two teams. And these two teams, what are my conclusions and what are my feelings for these two teams? now versus what they were when I woke up Saturday morning before the game. And candidly, and this doesn't always happen, and I think that this speaks to the level of game that it was, I feel more confident in both teams moving forward. There's only a handful of times that's ever happened in my entire career covering this sport, and this Saturday was now one of them.

I feel more confident in both teams. I had questions for both programs and teams and certain sides of the ball and players specifically coming into the day. And I legitimately feel like both of these teams are better than I thought after the game. And so even in a loss for Notre Dame, I just don't think that the season's over at all. I think that they've got a lot on their schedule. Now, this doesn't help, but they've got a lot on their schedule. The type of game that it was and the way that they lost, I think can be not necessarily explained away,

but at least there's an argument about how great the environment was and what happened at the end. If you're Notre Dame, I still think there's a lot in front of you. That quarterback, Sam Hardman, makes them a totally different program. I was hoping this before the game, and it was certainly solidified during and then now after the game, is that I thought that Sam Hartman raised the ceiling for Notre Dame. I said before last week on this show, I said, if they were to win this game, it would have been their biggest win really in 30 years because it would have made them legitimate at the top,

legitimate in terms of a national championship. And even in a loss, I kind of feel that way. I talk constantly about above the line and below the line teams. And we're going to have a much more thorough conversation about that specific line on Wednesday with a lot of teams throughout the country. Who's above, who's below the line? Even with a loss, I still feel like Notre Dame is an above the line team. The way that that game played out, the way that their quarterback played and their

offensive line played and their defense played at times, in particular in short yardage situations, like Notre Dame is still really good. They're still really good. And the way that the top end of college football has come back to the pack a little bit, you can't tell me that there's a team out there that you wouldn't be at least somewhat confident that Notre Dame could beat. They almost beat Ohio State. And I think Ohio State is a really good team. That's a tough out. Notre Dame. USC's got some problems after Saturday. The way I feel about USC's trip out to South Bend later in the season after what I saw on Saturday, both from the Trojans and the Irish, makes me completely rethink that game in October. And guess what? USC's going to have some problems at Notre Dame

because Notre Dame is totally legitimate. Before I get into the end for Notre Dame, let's take a quick peak then at Ohio State. Because Ohio State was a little bit of a different feeling, okay, coming into this one. I think there was more anxiety for Ohio State because the expectation at Ohio State is to compete for a national championship. Where at Notre Dame, I felt like there was a hope that maybe we are on the level, if you would, above the line, could we compete for a national championship? Whereas it's different in Columbus. The expectation is that it's not a hope. It's a standard. And there's been a lot of chatter about Ryan Day and Ohio State all season long. I've touched on it a little bit. You know, some others have. And I made an observation about the way that the

national media at least talks to about Ohio State and even maybe more so, some of their fan base. And I said, hey, what would our narrative be surrounding that program if they have, had been the team last week that was in a 10-10 tie with Wyoming in the shoe in the fourth quarter because that's what happened with Texas. And we didn't really talk about it with Texas. You know, it was kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But Texas beat Alabama, so, like, all is good. And, you know, that's not the way that we view Ohio State.

Their standard is so high. And so coming into Saturday's game, there was some anxiousness, anxiety. I think is the better way to put it about how they would play. I say McCord's fourth start because I don't really count his first, which was basically in spot duty as a freshman when C.J. Stroud needed to sit the week after the Oregon game two years ago. Like that's not like to me, that's not a start. That was like that was a scrimmage a long time ago.

This is this is start. now. And so here's this new starter in Kyle McCord. Here's an offensive line that they're trying to rebuild in some respects. And, you know, they hadn't been great in the first week, in particular running the ball in short yardage. And there's this narrative, there's this lingering effect from what happened in the big house two years ago. And the way that Michigan has run the ball, in particular in the fourth quarter against Ohio State over the last two years. There's this narrative of the defense and what the defense wasn't able to do late against Georgia. And we'll get into how Ryan Day reacted to it.

But here's the thing is like during the game, you saw all of that creep up. And I'm watching that game. And I'm thinking to myself, it's happening all over again. Notre Dame is using the Michigan blueprint. Those two series in the second half, really the fourth quarter, you know, those two second half drives were they just hammered away with the run game. And Ohio State could just not quite get off the field. I thought to myself like, oh boy, this is not good for Buckeye fans. This is not good for Ryan Day.

This is not good for that defense. Like you thought to yourself like, this is the narrative. coming to fruition. Here it is. Notre Dame is beating them at the line of scrimmage. They can't get to Hartman. They can't stop the run. They can't run the ball on short yardage.

It's happening. That's the way the game was playing out. That's the way the game was playing out. And then all of a sudden, Kyle McCord walks onto the field with a minute 26 left. and goes down the field and scores in a remarkable drive, a remarkable drive. When he walked onto the field,

I just didn't, I didn't believe that it was going to happen that way. I really didn't. Marvin Harrison is struggling a bit on a bum ankle. Unfortunately, he hurt that one earlier in the game. And McCord stands in there and makes giant throw after giant throw. And by the way, what I loved most about it

was that he was just taking what the defense was giving him. Right? Like Emeka, Abuka, on a couple of those plays, it's not like he's wide open, but he's just like, okay, we can take that underneath the safety, and he throws it on time, and he takes it. The fourth down, he throws it short of the chains. Fleming is able to get the line to gain.

He throws it to Harrison in the pocket. Harrison stretches out. Kyle McCord didn't do anything heroic on the last series. He just made the throws that the defense dictated, which is exactly what we talked about on the program last week, which was incredible. But do you understand the courage that it takes to do that? That is, it's the equivalent of the Braveheart scene when William Wallace is sitting there and they're holding while the Calvary is. running at him. Hold! Hold! It is so difficult to stand in there in crucial moments in games and feel like you've got to get it all back. The clock is ticking down. The narrative is coming true.

Our whole season is on the line. And he just calmly made the throws that were presented to him. That takes an immense amount of courage and experience, by the way. And he doesn't have experience. So I come out of this game and I'm like, wow, Ohio State has a guy at quarterback. You don't make that drive unless you are a guy. That's just a bottom line. You do not accident your way down the field in a game like that in the last minute 26. It does not happen. There are guys and there are series and there are two-minute situations that do happen.

happened by accident. And all of a sudden there's a blown coverage and there's a huge play or something presents itself. Trust me, it's happened for me before out there. Granted, a lifetime ago, but it's happened. It happened against Kansas State in 2004 to me. All of a sudden, they bust a coverage. Ron Montae runs right down the sideline. He's wide open. We hit him. We win the game. This was not that. This was not an accident. It was not a blown coverage. Kyle McCord went out there and was just a guy. Like, and by the way, in the best sense of the word, because J.A.G. Jag, like, he's not just a guy. Like, he's a dude.

He's a dude, man. And now you view Ohio State totally different, totally different. Now you can say, like, well, they were able to get the fourth down stops. And, man, their defense kind of hung in there. And, man, it's. It's just like, this is why it was such a great game. This is why it was such a great game. It's because if it ends one way, it's a totally different shift in the way that we feel about a team,

the way that we are talking about a team in Ohio State. And because it didn't end that way and it ends with their win, I feel totally different. I feel totally different. Okay, now let's get into some specifics. And I don't normally do this on this program. I like to talk a talk bigger picture with you, the fans, but this is too much a part of the story about what happened late. So we do have to talk about what happened late

because after everything that I just said about these two teams, and I believe everything that I just said, hard not to come away from that game thinking to yourself, boy, the Notre Dame coaches really did a disservice to their players. And I say that with a lot of caution because it's going to sound personal and it's not. It's not. I think Marcus Freeman has done a heck of a job at Notre Dame. That team is better than what they ever were under Brian Kelly.

That team's ceiling and athleticism and physical nature at the line of scrimmage. That team is at a higher level than they ever were under Brian Kelly. So this is not a knock on Marcus Freeman. But when you play and coach in those moments, you cannot make big mistakes. And they made a couple of very big mistakes from a coaching standpoint that really caused their team to lose. Or at least allowed their team to lose. I think you guys know where I'm going with this, right? The minute 26 left, Ohio State still has a time out to go out there and execute that drive,

which they needed because of the intentional grounding, which, by the way, I totally disagree with, but neither here nor there, which they needed. We got to go back to now after Notre Dame has totally really owned the line of scrimmage for a couple of series late in the game. They get the ball with a little over four minutes after Ohio State can't convert the fourth down. Ohio State has taken a timeout.

out before that fourth down. And here we are, like Notre Dame can end the game. Texas ended the game on the field against Alabama because they were able to impose their will with the run game. And I thought to myself like, this is it. This is when Marcus Freeman says, all right, big guys up front. You've owned the second half. Now go into the game. And I'm like, okay. And what do they do? Two first down plays right away in the first two snaps. Boom, first down. Boom, first down. And I'm like, okay, they're going to end the game on the field. They're going to end the game on the field. And then all of a sudden, it unravels.

And it unravels quickly. And this is what coaches, in particular young coaches, don't realize about those moments. They don't take a lot of time. You've got to be ready before this happens. And here's how it happens. All of a sudden, you get thrown into the blender. How do you get thrown into the blender?

Because all of a sudden, on a nondescript first down play, JT Tuimolo, Ow, blows it up. And now you're way behind the chance. and it's second and forever. And now it's like, well, what do you do? Well, now it's not just like base four minute offense. Okay, let's get in there and just running it. You've got to have a plan for that moment.

And if you've never been in that moment, it can take you by surprise. And I believe that it took them by surprise. Some will disagree with me on this. I believe strongly you cannot run the screen pass on second down. Ohio State has just taken their second timeout. You have got to drain those timeouts. He is alerting you that I'm about to drain my timeouts just to have a chance. Just to have a chance.

So at that moment, after the first downplay, Tui Molo Al blows it up, Ohio State takes their first timeout. Or excuse me, their second timeout. They've got one left. if you do the math, then in your mind as a play caller, you've got to be thinking to yourself, worst case scenario, I'm giving the ball back to Ohio State with about a minute 25, a minute 20 left, and they will have no timeouts. They will have no timeouts. That's a 40-second mistake throwing a screen pass on second down and it becoming incomplete. Now Ohio State can save the timeout and choose whether they want to use it after third down or not and save it for their

offensive possession. And now they've got the minute 20 to a minute 26 and they will have a timeout. That's a massive mistake from the coaching staff. That cannot be a play that can end in an incompletion. It just can't. You can tell me all you want that it's like, no, they've got to be aggressive. You got to go out there. Not in second and forever. I just don't believe that you're going get the first down at that moment. At that moment, you've got to be resigned to the fact that you're probably going to punt. So your main objective is time. And it comes in 42nd chunks. A timeout equals 40 seconds. So you've got to eliminate those 40 second chunks as many of them as you can before they touch the ball. Throwing an incomplete pass on second down. By the way, almost picked off.

Can you imagine if he would have done that? My goodness. I thought that was a massive mistake. And then we get to the end. And we get to the end. And you talk about being in a blender. Abuka catches the ball at the one-yard line. Ohio State races up and spikes the ball with seven seconds left. They are out of timeouts. They line up for the second down play.

Timeout Notre Dame. Timeout Notre Dame. Out of a timeout, they play two snaps with 10 players on the field. What are we doing? So your players played that hard for 59 minutes and 53 seconds. And 10 players played the last seven seconds. That cannot happen. It can't happen.

It can't happen for Jones Jr. high school. It can't happen for modern day down the road right here, one of the best high schools. It can't happen for Mount Union and Division III. It can't happen for the Juko. It can't happen for a group of five. And it certainly cannot happen with 10 million people watching in the biggest game of the college football day between Ohio State and Notre Dame.

That cannot happen, period. Period. I'm sick for them that it happened that way. Okay, I'm taking forever because I haven't even gotten to Ryan Day. Let's get to Ryan Day now. Let's get to Ryan Day. Ryan immediately in the post game unleashes this rant on the narrative that I was just talking about. Unleashes this rant on the narrative and specifically on Lou Holtz.

I mean, like, I was like, wow. Again, 32,000 feet in the air. I'm watching this on TV on the airplane and I'm like, is he going? Oh, yep, he absolutely is. It was awkward. I was like, ooh, I don't know. Is this the right way to go? And then I immediately think to myself, no, you know what this is?

This is exactly what he wanted for the people that want to receive it. Is this going to hit for everybody? No. If you're a Michigan fan, he looks thin-skinned. If you're a crusty old pundant and you cover college football and want to be angry at everything, then you think that he's being silly and that he's being frivolous and, again, thin-skinned and whiny, right? And if you're not, then you're probably an Ohio State fan. If you're not, you're probably an Ohio State player or a staff member.

And guess what? He was speaking to them. At that moment, he's speaking to them and for them, almost like, a, like a, like in this political world that we live in, it's like a rally for a candidate at that point. He's speaking to his base. He's talking about the narrative ends tonight. We had one bad half two years ago. What is this? You're a joker. Don't talk about my kids that way. And every Buckeye fan and every Buckeye player is immediately thinking to themselves, yes, that's, that's, my coach.

And that's who he was doing this for. Was there anger? Yes. Did it feel spiteful? Yeah. Like it did. And I get it. And if you want to take it that other direction, you know what? Be my guest. But I'm just telling you, it wasn't for you. It wasn't for you.

Ryan was talking to his base. This guy has taken more heat than probably any coach in America. And he's one of the most successful coaches in America. over the last four or five years, whether it was his assistant tenure or now his head coaching tenure and what he's done at Ohio State. And he takes massive heat and the narrative builds and his family hears it. And it's like he's never reacted to it. And this was kind of like it was like rage monster from dude perfect. Like here he came. I thought it was incredible. If you're an Ohio State fan, you think he has your back. If you're an Ohio State fan, you think he has your back.

If you're an Ohio State player, you think he has your back. That's who it was meant for. That's who it was meant for. And it looked like a man, not a coach, but a man who had been internalizing and shouldering that narrative for all of those people that he loves, whether it's his family or his players or his staff or those fans that he knows and loves. and he was shouldering it for them and internalizing it for them. And he just broke.

And he's like, this is the game. This is the point that it ends. So if you didn't like it, it wasn't for you. And if you did, he was speaking to his base. Let's move on. I took a long time on that. So here's what we got to do. We're going to move on.

Hey, it's my favorite time of year. As you know, and as you know, Saturday was amazing. It's football season. I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't risk calling wrong play with where I stay. So 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.

And their free hot breakfast, by the way, is a total game changer. I love it every single day, every single time I'm out on the road. Whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win. All right, we're going to have to go a little quicker through the rest because I took a lot of time there. But you know what? It needed it. That game needed it.

It deserved it. The reaction deserved it. Had to talk about both coaches. Had to talk about both teams. Had to talk about great players. Now let's talk about Colorado getting absolutely boat raced by the Oregon Ducks. I don't think it's a target on our back. I just think this just, this is trying to beat me.

They're not trying to beat our team. They keep forgetting I'm not playing anymore. I had a great career. I'm serious. I got a gold jacket ain't back. So I'm good. But that's what it really is. I don't think they get any extra satisfaction.

You know, it is what it is. And I signed up for it. So let's go. Yeah, Dion's exactly right. Dion's exactly right. There's a lot to get into on this game as well. Let's talk quickly about the game first. Wasn't much of a game.

And yet everybody's still interested in it. Did you know? and I see the overnight ratings on this. So it might change as like more markets filter in. But the numbers that I saw suggest that the Colorado Oregon game was a higher rated game than even the Notre Dame Ohio State game, which is remarkable. That's remarkable.

The rating I saw had them, now, again, whether that becomes the final rating or not, I'm not sure. But those are going to be the two top rated games of the day. And there's a chance where Colorado Oregon is the top rated game of the day from Saturday. That's wild. That game was over with 11 minutes to go in the first quarter. Notre Dame Ohio State was an unbelievable thriller that all of us were enthralled with on every snap of the entire game

down to the last three seconds. With the two biggest fan bases and really histories, I know Michigan fans would be mad at that, in college football, like those are the giants, those are the blue bloods. That's the Cowboys Against the Giants on Sunday night football. ball in a barn burner and Colorado, Oregon is going to outrate it. People are enthralled with Dion Sanders. They are. And what they saw was a non-competitive game with a great team in Oregon, absolutely housing a team that has massive issues. Okay. This Oregon team was out for blood,

if you will. And it wasn't going to be close, and it wasn't going to be close from the get-go. Shador Sanders was sacked seven times. He's now been sacked 22 times on the entire season. That's the most in the country. Oregon never punted when they lined up for a punt. They faked it deep in their own territory.

Bo Nix scored TDs on six of eight drives. He had like two incompletions. This Oregon team is so good. I thought that their old line was really good. I know they can run the ball. I know their quarterback is really good. Their defense was aggressive. They got after it.

You know, like how good is their pass rush? I'm not sure because Colorado's got some massive issues and past protection and with their offensive line. And that's really it for the game. And I will just tell you like Oregon solidified themselves as an above the line, top end, absolutely. they are a great football team this year in college football. I love everything I saw about that Oregon team.

Like speed for days, and this is one thing that Dan Lanning knows that he has is a really good football team, because now we get into the Dan Landing stuff. And that's really what more of Saturday was about from this matchup is what went on around the game and before the game. And let's be honest, it's not like Colorado, Colorado State.

where there was so much leading up to the game. There was almost nothing leading up to the game in this one. And yet, Laning was confident enough, and rightly so in his team, that when offered the opportunity to have the network television cameras in his locker room pregame,

he said, oh, absolutely, come on in. And why? Because he had a pre-planned, pointed message for Colorado. And his line was, they're fighting for clicks, we're fighting for wins. And everybody was like, yeah, we love it. And by the way, so similar to Ryan Day. If you're an Oregon fan, if you're an Oregon player, then you're in. He's speaking to you.

He's speaking life into your veins. You love it. You love it. And on the outside, you could be thinking to yourself, that's interesting. why would he invite the cameras in to see the speech unless he also wanted the attention for what he was about to say? But I digress. I think it brings up two other main points.

And these are the two points that I want to focus on really quickly. Let me start with the point that there are a lot of people out there, whether they are opposing fans, maybe some in the media, but more specifically coaches. around America that do not like what's going on at Colorado. They don't like it. They don't like it at all. You can feel it.

You can sense it. That's the emotion that we saw in the pregame speech. He doesn't like it. He doesn't like the attention that they've gotten. In their mind, they're like, for what? For what? They don't like the eyeballs. They don't like the fact that so many people have watched that.

They don't like the fact that 60 minutes was in Boulder. They don't like the fact that the Pat McAfee show was in Boulder and first take was in Boulder. And now this week undisputed is going to Boulder. And Big Noon Kickoff is going back to Boulder for the third time. They don't like it at all. They wanted to end. And in his mind, he was. ending it. They were going to go out there on Saturday and embarrass Colorado. That was the entire

goal. The entire goal was to embarrass Colorado. It was to embarrass Deon Sanders. It was rehearsed. All of it. All of it. They don't like it. And there's a lot of coaches like that. A lot of coaches like that. And Dion's right. There is going to be a target on his back. And he's, he's right. They don't like it because of Dion. They don't like that everybody in America wants to see what's going on at Colorado. But here's the thing that they don't realize. They won't end it just by beating him. You beat him into the ground by the 11 minute mark of the first quarter. It was 13-0. You were going for a fake punt. Colorado was not going to win that game. And everybody knew it after the first two series of the game. Everyone. Everyone. And guess what?

Still might be the top-rated game of the day. It's not going to stop. Stop. People want to see what's going on because Dion Sanders is a sporting icon in this country. They want, like, this has never been done before the way that he's done it. The interest level is off the charts. And so if Dan Lending is wondering, hey, are all the people still watching out there? I hope they're watching on. They were watching, Dan, don't worry. Your point is well received.

We get it. You don't like what's going on at Colorado. And you know what? You proved your point. You embarrassed them out there. You did. You did. And you got a team that you knew could do it. And that's my second point. And this is where the rubber meets the road in a conversation about the actual sport is, well, how good is Oregon? Well, you know what? This makes me believe not because of the final score, not because of what was going on on the field. But Dan Lannings approach to Saturday's game with college. makes me more of a believer in Oregon than I would have been if he didn't say anything and they would have won by the same margin. Why is that? Well, think about it for us one second and you'll understand. Dan Lannning doesn't do any of that unless he knows his team can embarrass Colorado. Unless if he thinks his team is going to win 4217 or 4221 or 4221 or 40.

2228. Guess what? He's not saying all of that stuff. The cameras are not in the locker room. He knows he's about to win by 40. He knows he's about to cover a huge spread and 80% of the public's money is on Colorado. He knows. Why does he know? Because this team is freaking good. And he has seen the standard. This is what I find so fascinating. The subtext within all of this is that Dan, Lannin knows what great teams are. And he's not going to do this to a team that he doesn't think can play on the level or play at a standard with anybody in the country. And he, he's not going to do this if he doesn't think his team is going to go out there and embarrass thoroughly his opponent. He knows the speed that it takes. He knows the size that it takes. He knows the quarterback play

that it takes because he just saw it at Georgia. That's where he came from. He came from the standard. The current standard is the Bulldogs. That's where Lannin came from. He doesn't, put a target out there or throw this much out there with cameras in the locker and pregame unless he knows deep down that his team is at the level. That's what I love about it. Is because his actions last week tell me that he knows his team is that good. So now I think they're that good. That's what I loved about that. That's what I loved about that. Say what you want. And you know what? I thought Dion handled it really well after the game. game. And guess what? I don't think Lincoln Riley is going to do the same thing as Dan

Landing. And I don't think Kyle Whittingham would do that. This is Dan Lanning style. And he's a fiery guy as well. He didn't like it. He didn't like sitting up there and Eugene and looking at all the attention Colorado was getting. And he was out there to send a message and to prove a point. And he did. And he did. I do find it odd, though, that he's talking about likes and clicks and and all this stuff about YouTube and everything. And it's like, Dan, you do coach a team that has worn a different uniform with all sorts of different metallics in like 437 straight games or 4,000 games for that matter. It's like Oregon largely built themselves on likes and clicks of their uniform. But I digress. I mean, there's a little mirror in there, right? You guys know exactly

what I'm talking about. Really quickly, a couple of other topics before we get out of here. I want to hit a couple more teams here. Alabama and Florida State. Okay, Alabama. How do we feel about Alabama after that win on Saturday? Well, I think that I feel good about Alabama in the sense that I know that they can go out there and play with a new philosophy and they can play with a new game plan versus what they had been trying to play with early in the season or even what they had been playing with of the last five or six years. This is not going to be the modern Alabama offense. This is going to be a more methodical version of the Alabama offense, and it needs to be. They need

to limit possessions of the opponent and do all the things that I was talking about last week. And they went out there and put that game plan into effect, in particular in the second half, and one going away. I don't think it's a dominant defense. I think it's a very, very good defense. I don't think it's a dominant run game, but it's a

very, very good run game. They're clearly deficient at quarterback, and the interception in the end zone says everything that we need to know about what they are. at quarterback, but here's what you have to know. Here's what you have to know is that Bama still has a path. And while this team doesn't have the ceiling that normal Bama teams have, they still have a path. I would consider it a low ceiling team. Of the better teams in the country, Alabama is a low ceiling team. This is what I mean by that. Could they win their division? Yes, but I also think

that it's not a great division because look at the SEC West, LSU struggling with Arkansas. They just beat Ole Miss. What is the SEC West right now? I don't think it's very strong. It's not a stretch to think that Alabama is going to win the SEC West and represent that division in Atlanta in the SEC championship game. That's not a stretch at all. But here's why I would call them a low ceiling team.

Because normally, if you're in the SEC championship game, it's just like, yep, you know, you could win that game and you could absolutely go to the playoff and win the national championship. If they were to do any of those, any three of those, If they were to win the SEC, win a playoff game, or the national championship, I believe it would be an upset to do it. Because this is a low-ceiling team. They would not be favored over Georgia, but they're probably going to be in a 60-minute affair where if they win it, they'll go to the playoff. If they're in the playoff, they're going to face a team that's better than them.

And if they win, it'll be an upset. This is a low-ceiling team that is very good, that is very good. and you can't put it past a Nick Saban coach team to go out there and even overachieve. So that's my feelings with Alabama. Like I said, like everyone's like, well, you know, not a national championship this year. Well, I don't know if I would say that just yet. I just don't because chances are in that bad division, they're going to have a 60 minute chance against Georgia to go to the playoff.

And at that moment, you're still Alabama in the playoff. What happens if there's an injury? on the other side. I'm not going to write off Alabama just yet, but I will refer to them. This version is a low ceiling top tier team. Low ceiling. Last one for me is going to be Florida State.

Florida State won a massive game against Clemson. And this more than anything else is just a huge hurdle for them. Because it's something that they haven't been able to do, really for the better part of a decade. I know for a long time, it's just beat Clemson in particular in that, building. Clemson has owned the ACC. Now all of a sudden, Clemson has two losses in ACC play, which means we're likely going to see two other teams play for the ACC championship.

I'm looking at this Florida State team and I'm thinking to myself, man, four and oh through those first four games is remarkable. I didn't think that they were going to do it. So more power to them, they went out there and in a large respect allowed their great players to go, win games. Second half against LSU, Keon Coleman became a huge part of that game plan. Late and in particular in overtime, where do they go? Keon Coleman, letting their quarterback make place. And that's what great teams do. They have set themselves up right now to be what some would consider the best resume team in the country, although I think that that's debatable to some degree. And a team that's certainly going to be considered a national championship caliber contender.

And I don't disagree with that. That is a great September. And Mike Norville has done a heck of a job with that organization and that program. Clemson, while they're not as bad as two and two would suggest, like, yes, there's some problems. They have come back a little bit and maybe even more than a little bit over the last couple of years. This is going to be Florida State's Conference to Luce, the ACC. they are on a path right now when you look at their schedule where you say to yourself, they probably from this point on have about as easy a path to the playoff as anybody in college football.

Maybe other than Georgia because of what's going on in the SEC. I just don't think the SEC is very good this year, really at all. The east is weak, the West is weak, and Georgia is probably really good. So Florida State and Georgia likely have the two easy, paths to the playoff of anybody in college football, but you've got to credit Florida State because they at least has paved that path for themselves. Georgia has gotten to sit around and play absolutely nobody, look around and realize we're definitely the best team in the SEC, and that's not the case for Florida State. Florida State has earned it. They've gone out there beating LSU,

gone out there beaten Clemson on the road, which is tough to do. Now, I would just say this. There's a There's a couple of indicators that Florida State is maybe not quite this, this, oh, how do you put it? Definitive top two or three team in college football to this point. I'm going to bring up my top 10 right now. Okay, so these are my top 10 teams in the country. And you'll see that I had Florida State down a little bit. Okay, so Florida State, I believe, was seven for me.

Yep, they're seven. And I got a lot of people like, what are you doing with Florida State at seven? Two things. Two. Number one, this is as confident as I've ever been in my career of the 10 teams in my top 10. These are razor thin margins. I love Utah and Oregon and USC and Florida State and Penn State and Texas and Ohio State and Michigan and Washington. And like these are razor thin margins.

You see, in the past, if I put you past three or four, it means like, yeah, I think you're pretty good, but I've got to put somebody there. This is not that. This is, I wish I could have all of these teams in the top four right now. I believe they're that good. I believe they're above the line. More on that on Wednesday. And they've got to fall in some spot. So why is Florida State behind some of these other teams?

They've been better. Resumet, resume, resume. Well, well, let's be fair. You've got to evaluate and analyze at least a little bit, right? And here's what I see. Florida State, while they've won the games, and they've certainly done a remarkable job in September, there are a couple of caution lights flashing right now on the dashboard.

A couple. Number one is they're 69th in the country and yard differential. Like, they kind of escaped against North Carolina, or excuse me, Boston College. Boston College had plenty of chances to win. And then if you really look at it at the game against Clemson, it wasn't a top 10 team beating an upstart in the upstarts building. It was more a team went on the road and upset the favorite. They got outgained by over 100 yards.

By the way, against Boston College as well. But again against Clemson, they had to get a strip sack for a touch. in the second half and have the home team miss a field goal from under 30 yards just in order to get to overtime to then attack with your best player. So like there's just, it's like a check engine light on the dashboard. So that's why they were at seven. I could have put them lower. I really could have.

But they've earned the right to be, you know, a little bit higher than some of the other teams, I would guess. If you look at the 27 teams right now in college football that don't have a loss, there's 27 of them, 27 undefeateds right now across the country. By the way, teams that aren't ranked or undefeated. There's just 27 undefeated teams. Of the 27 undefeated teams, Florida State is dead last in yard differential this year. Again, they got outgained by 100 yards against Boston College and outgained by 100 yards

against Clemson. So, like, as much as they've earned, there is a check engine light on on the dashboard. Now, who can expose that? I'm not sure. I'm not sure because, like I said, I think that their path is about as easy as any outside of Georgia in the country to get to the college football playoff. All right, that'll do it. Now, a couple of more things real quick. Okay, I got the hats in.

I've got Rose Bowl hats. That's why I wore mine today. So I've got extra Rose Bowl hats. These are not for sale. You can't get them anywhere. In fact, this is going to be the largest stash of Rose Bowl hats in history that anybody could have access to. And we're going to do a nice little giveaway on Wednesday. So definitely watch the show, listen to the show on Wednesday.

We've been doing this for now 100 episodes. I almost forgot that. Thank you guys. You guys put it up. This was our 100th episode. Congratulations. to everybody. I do want to quickly thank everybody involved. It's been a long show already, but everybody involves all the technical support. Steve, you know what you mean to me.

Kat, you are a tireless worker and you try every single day to make this the best show that it can possibly be. And I could never do it without you. And I'm so thankful for you and your entire team. The digital staff at Fox is fantastic. creative and this show would not be what it is without all of those people. This was just like kind of a whim last year right before the season. And we're like, yeah, let's do a podcast. And now we're 100 shows in. And it has become a huge success.

I enjoy doing it. I love talking to you, the college football fan. And I couldn't do this without this army of people that puts on this show and everything behind the scenes at Fox Sports Digital. So my hat goes off to all of you. Michael Buckland, thank you so much for this opportunity. Our head of digital, everybody at Fox. So here's to the first 100 and the next 100.

Wednesday is going to be a mailbag episode. So send your mailbag questions in. The Joel Clatch Show mailbag at gmail.com. Send them in. Subscribe wherever you're listening. If you're watching, subscribe on YouTube. Like the show. review it. I love college football. I love interacting with you the fans. Follow us on social media

at Joel Clat Show wherever you do your social media. I told you it was going to be a busy Monday, which is why we still have Texas and USC and Michigan and Washington and Washington State and others all coming up on Wednesday's show. Have a great couple of days, everybody.