The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Oklahoma is Back, Michigan is a Boa Constrictor, Georgia is Usain Bolt & Ohio State has Questions

Episode Date: October 9, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to Oklahoma’s stunning win over Texas at Red River and breaks down what surprised him in the game and what the result means for the two programs going forward. He discusses why he believes Georgia and Michigan separated themselves from the rest of the contending teams on Saturday. He also goes deep into what he thinks of Ohio State right now after calling their win over Maryland. And finally, he wraps up by unpacking the clock management fiasco from Mario Cristobal in Miami but considers the much bigger potential ramifications for the program other than just the loss to Georgia Tech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clad show, actually Oklahoma, who's back. And PJ Fleck, thanks for watching the Joel Clashio. 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. Welcome into the program, everybody.

This is Joel Clatio. I am Joel Clyde. the show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. Lots to get into, obviously, on your Monday morning. So wherever you are partaking in this show, I very much appreciate it. Remember, if you are listening to this, just go ahead and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching this on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe to the Joel Clatt show, all the content there. And if you want to follow us on social media, you can do that wherever you like to social media, even though I know that's not what the kids call it, but whatever.

wherever you like to social media, you can find us at Joel Clatio if you want to follow me personally. I'm at Joel Clat on Twitter at Joel underscore Clat on Instagram. Don't know if we're still calling it Twitter, but you know what, it is what it is. So remember to go out there, subscribe, do all that fun stuff, like and review it. And we'll continue to have great content both on social media, exclusive on YouTube, wherever you like to consume this product. It was a fantastic day again. I mean, college football Saturdays never disappoint. I mean, we'll get into it.

We'll get into everything. Red River Classic will absolutely talk about all of that and why I was dead wrong last week and happily so. I'll talk about the game I was broadcasting, Ohio State, my thoughts on the Buckeyes. Where that line is now in college football, I've been talking about it a lot if you're following this show for any amount of time you'll know that I've said that there's, you know, 8, 9, 10 teams above the line, national championship. caliber teams. Did we start to see a bit of separation on Saturday? We'll get into that. And then what in the world happened in Miami and the fallout from that debacle coming up as well. But first, let's go to Dallas. It was a Red River classic. Gabriel has the football. Looks to throw. He's under pressure. He lobs in. So touchdown.

Oh, man. And having done that game before and Ben, and Ben, in that building and felt that energy before I can only imagine what that was like in that moment in that game. What an incredible, incredible performance by Oklahoma, yes, but also just Dylan Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel was a man amongst men and our man amongst boys, you know, in a lot of regard. He was the difference for Oklahoma. Dylan Gabriel and Toby Roland exactly, you were exactly right. I mean, a legacy making drive, a legacy making win. This is a guy that transferred to OU in large part because of this game, because of this stage. He wanted to get to this level. Remember, after being at UCF, with Jeff Leby, Leby, by the way, his

offensive coordinator. And he wanted to get to this level. And he wanted to get to this play specifically OU for this game. And he didn't get a chance to play in it last year. And so now, all of a sudden, here we go. He gets his chance against a team that a lot of us thought was easily a top three team. And by the way, still is a really good team. And he played like that. It was incredible, incredible stuff from Dylan Gabriel. He gets the ball, three points.

They've got to have it. He's down three. Minute 17 left and drive 75 yards and five plays. He was sensational. And in a lot of ways, you know, he's the reason that they win the game. But he's not the only reason because this team coming into this season. And let's face it, if you've listened to this program for any amount of time, you'll know that in the off season, I was saying that watch out for Oklahoma, you know,

and cautiously optimistic about what they could be. And the reason was is because I knew that if they could improve on defense, if they could get Gabriel healthy for the majority of the year in every game, then there was probably. Well, there was going to be a good chance that they were going to turn in all those, turned those close losses from a year ago into wins. And if you look up, those close losses that they had a year ago, if they turned those into wins, their 10-win team last year.

So it was a small margin. So even though the defensive numbers last year were wild, in particular for OU, and more so for a Venables defense, I should say more so for a Vinnable's defense, because we've seen some bad defenses at OU under Lincoln, Riley. But in particular for a Venables defense, you know, over 30 points per game, over 400 yards per game. It's like, wow, wasn't expecting that. I didn't know the jump that they could possibly take in one year. And I was wrong about what this defense could be. Now, the thing about it is, I still don't think that they're at their potential, either for this group or what they can be in the future.

Let me explain what I'm talking about here. So when I did their game against Cincinnati, I knew that they were going to be better. I just didn't know how much better. They had totally revamped their defensive front seven. In fact, they got six guys to transfer in on their defensive line. Now, even coach himself told me, Coach Venables in our meeting, he said, listen, we probably didn't get the guys that we targeted right away, but we definitely got better. And then he used the term that he kept referring back to.

And I'm sure if you're an OU fan, you've heard time and time again, we got better in terms of competitive depth. We feel like we can rotate that guys aren't going to have to play 90 snaps. So he thought they would be fresher and have a better ability to attack in the front because of that competitive depth. And that showed up, by the way, five sacks, 10 tackles for loss, causing turnovers, like that competitive depth and aggressiveness showed up. Now, if you're looking at what Avinnable's defense is, okay, like how is it constructed?

Well, the first thing that they have to have is a very aggressive and athletic defensive line. That's what he likes to have. That's what the best defenses at Clemson had. When you think about those great defenses, that's what they had. Aggressive and athletic up front, real playmakers up front. And then they also have what I would consider to be like hybrid style players at the second level, in particular in the interior, the linebackers and more specifically the Cheetah position, which is where Deson McCullough plays.

That's where Isaiah Simmons played at Clemson. And McCullough has solidified that hybrid role for the Oklahoma defense. And then he likes to have length on the outside in terms of coverage. So when I looked at this defense, I'm like, okay, how does Venables want to build this? I still saw room and see room for potential down the road. I think that they can still get better on the defensive line. I still think that they can get better on the outside in terms of what they are coverage-wise. I think their best asset is at the linebacker and cheetah position.

They've got the hybrid players that can run and be aggressive. And when you have that, you know what you can be? Exactly what Venables wants to be, which is very aggressive and multiple in your structures. So they give the opposition all sorts of fits all the time because they place so many different structures up front, three down defensive line, four down defensive linemen. They'll get into bear. Bear defense means that you cover up every single lineman with somebody up front. So you've got a five-man front. All of that presents a lot of problems for identification and calls and how you're going to double team, whether you can double team. So offensive linemen have to work really hard

when they're playing a Venable's defense. Okay. All that to say. This defense is a lot better than I anticipated and in large part because they can be aggressive. And we saw the aggressiveness play out. Again, five sacks, 10 tackles for loss. Texas only had one sack and five TFLs on the other side. Then they also get the three takeaways, which was basically the game. And think about how important those takeaways were in the spots that they got them. They created a short field for their offense. And in a red zone possession for the Texas offense, they get a turnover. So these, these are wildly successful plays for them, and in particular, preventing points and creating points on the other side. And then the most important possession for them defensively was the goal line stand.

And getting off the field on that series was really the game when you boil it all down. When you boil it all down, the Oklahoma defense, which didn't do anything last year and was part of the problem or maybe even more than part of the problem when you're looking at record a year ago, the fact that they weren't, you know, an above 500 team, that it was their worst record since the John Blake era. Why? Because of the defense. And what happened Saturday? That defense showed up. That defense showed up. There's still room for growth, not only this year, but in the future, like I was saying, they can get better off front. They can get longer on the outside. But they were able to be aggressive and attack because they have the competitive depth

that I was talking about. Again, six transfers on that defensive line. That was an important part of their win on Saturday. So good on them. And then Dylan Gabriel, he played an insane game. He was outstanding. And in those games, a lot of times it comes down to the quarterback play. He made the plays that yours, frankly, didn't. And yours, even though he played well, more on that in a moment, by the way, really well,

he made a couple of giant mistakes and turned the ball over. Gabriel didn't. So he wins the game. And in that setting, trust me, when I tell you, like, mistakes are magnanimated. and great plays are also magnified. And Dylan Gabriel, that win is going to live on for a long time with him. His ability to be elusive, I thought was tremendous. And then moving forward, what does this all mean for Oklahoma?

This is what it means for Oklahoma, that the CFP is dead in their sights. Not only do they clearly control their own destiny, I would argue that they've got a little bit of room. I think that they bought themselves some cushion in this season. There's a scenario. You can paint a picture where they show up flat one week. And I'm not saying that they will. I'm just saying like something happens. Maybe it's a fluke injury.

Fluke road game. You know how things are. These are still college kids. Can't play their best every single week. You're not going to get that level of performance from Dylan Gabriel every single week. I mean, I guess you could. And then you'd win the Heisman trophy. but you get what I'm saying.

Like there's going to be ebbs and flows. And we understand that. They bought themselves some cushion because let's say they have a stinker in Big 12 play, which we've seen from a lot of teams. They could still go to Dallas. They could still probably rematch with this Texas team. And if they win, boom, they're in the playoff. So you can paint that scenario where they buy themselves a little wiggle room.

Not that they're going to need it because their schedule, doesn't look all that tough. Not at all. UCF at Oklahoma State, which is right now just a shell of their former self. We're going to at the schedule over here. BYU at Kansas becomes kind of their toughest regular season game. West Virginia at home, TCU at home. You know, maybe BYU on the road is a stumbling block.

Maybe it's bedlam. I'm not sure. Those are three road games. BYU, Oklahoma State, and Kansas. I think we might have a chance. at that Kansas game. That would be fun. I would love to call another OU game this year. So they bought themselves some cushion. Good on you, OU. I doubted them last week. I was very high. And it wasn't so much that I doubted OU as much as I was just very high on Texas and what I had

seen from Texas. And by the way, rightly so, after what they did against Alabama and the way that they had played against both Baylor and Kansas. And I believed that they would play really well. And they did in a large regard. But let's move over. over to that Texas team? What is the fallout for Texas? Because I think a lot of people are going to sit there and they're going to immediately think to themselves like, well, here we go again with Texas. I don't view it that way.

I just don't. I still feel like this Texas team is different than the previous seasons. They played a Red River game really tightly and made a few too many mistakes. this is not indicative of a team that I feel like is going to continue to stub their toe, mainly because, like, you look at what happened and it's like, they made huge mistakes. And I touched on them a little bit earlier. The first interception of the day from yours led to the short field.

So that's a sooner touchdown, points on the board. The second interception came when they were in the red zone. takes points off the board. So now all of a sudden you're creating a margin and you're creating a difficult path for the rest of the game. You generally don't win the game if just those two things happen. Just those two things happen. You throw a pick that leads to points and throw a pick that takes points off the board. You generally don't win a big game if just those two things cap. They fumbled. That came on a third down with Texas at midfield in the third quarter. And then they had that goal line opportunity in which they failed and credit Oklahoma for the goal line stand.

That's points off the board. You don't win the game in that scenario. And yet, there they were with a three-point lead with a minute 17 left. So in a lot of ways, you could think to yourself like, boy, that went about as poorly as you could have hoped if you're a Texas fan and you still were in a position to win and didn't down the stretch. I don't think this is indicative of some sort of slot. I do not think this is indicative of, well, Texas is not back overall.

This is still a really good football team. I look at their schedule and I still think that they've got everything ahead of them. And here's why. While OU still has room now, they've got cushion and they've bought themselves that cushion. Texas doesn't. They have no margin for error, but there's no, there is no earthly possibility. I'm just setting this, and maybe this will come back to bite me, but I just don't think it will. There's no way that Texas runs the table, gets into the Big 12 championship game, highly likely against Oklahoma.

Then they've got 60 minutes against Oklahoma to avenge their one loss of the year. If they do it, they not only beat the team they lost to, they still have the Alabama win. And with Alabama playing a lot better, they would be a chance. champ with one loss, a win over the team that they lost to in Oklahoma, and a win over Alabama. There's no scenario where I see them missing the playoff if those things happen. So while it's disappointing for Texas, I do not believe it's indicative of some sort of collapse. I do not believe it's indicative that their season is now no longer important. I just don't think that they have any margin.

They've put themselves into a corner. They've backed themselves into that position, and now they've got to go play really well. A lot of people will be concerned with the U-Rs interceptions. And I understand that. And yes, you can't turn the ball over. I get it. He also just had six incompletions. So it's not like he played poorly.

It's not like he played a 50% completion percentage game and didn't look good and threw three picks, and then they lose by three. And it's like, geez, is he going to fold in big moments? I don't think he's going to fold in big moments. In a lot of regards, Texas outplayed OU, and those mistakes led to the loss. I think that they can learn from that. I think that they can get better from that. I just, this is a team that I still believe in.

They still gained a lot of yards. They still had a three point lead with a minute 17 left. And I think everything's ahead of them in this season. So the fallout from Red River was that OU is in the catbird seat. They've got their sights set on the CFP. and Texas has themselves now backed into a corner. That's really the bottom line when you're looking at what happened on Saturday in that old Cotton Bowl.

So good on Oklahoma. That was a heck of a win. And by the way, I still think, well, I do think it was one of the three, two best wins of the entire season so far. It is my favorite time of year, as you know, in particular as we get into October. And now as we'll come down the stretch in college football season, it is football season. And as you know, I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams,

I cannot risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. Wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable and accommodating rooms. Their warm, friendly service. Their free hot breakfast is an absolute game changer. It's my favorite part of staying there. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win.

let's go elsewhere in college football. And let's talk a little bit about this line. I've referred to it a lot this year. Who's above the line? Who's below the line? And guess what? On Saturday, I felt like we got a little bit of separation at the top.

There were two teams that looked awfully good. And one of them impressed a certain coach that, as we know, I think listens to the show. First and foremost, congratulations to Michigan. They're as good as advertised. I said this on the radio a second ago. I think they're the best football team I've seen in 11 years being a head coach. I've never seen a football team like that, that deep. I'm not sure if this is true, but I was told this walking off the field.

I think they traveled 75 people and maybe played like 74 of them. I don't know. I mean, they're one of the deepest teams, one of the best teams, one of the biggest teams, fastest teams, strongest teams, and they do not make mistakes. They are truly like a boa constrictor. and they do not beat themselves. PJ, welcome to the show.

I love it. I love that you listen to the show. I know you didn't just pull boa constrictor, you know, just like, you just didn't like just all of a sudden you listen. So you know what? Welcome. I appreciate that you listen.

I also, like I agree with almost everything that you said. But before I get into that, it just got me wondering. And I guess now all of us, can wonder, like, who are the other coaches that are listening or watching? So I thought, like, wouldn't it be fun for all of us if we just give just a touch of a roll call? You know, just a quick shout out to all the guys listening. I can just assume.

So, you know, Coach Kelly, Chip, appreciate you listening. Thanks for doing so. I'm sure you're subscribed and ready to go. Lincoln, you know, both of the hometown guys here in Southern California. So Lincoln, thanks for watching. Jim, I know your wife's got you on the YouTube now and YouTube TV, which is what you talked about earlier and now probably on the YouTube. So, Jim, thank you for watching. We'll see you this week when we come up to Ann Arbor for Indiana.

You know, and I'm certainly, you know, Coach Day, Ryan, thanks for watching. Coach Franklin, James, enjoy our meetings all the time. And then the last one, and I'm sure that I'm sure he carves out time for this. So Coach Saban, I appreciate your time. Thanks for watching, my friend. PJ, going with the boa constrictor reference there, which I really love. So Michigan and Georgia, which I'll talk about in this segment right here, separate themselves a little bit this last Saturday.

Now, I know there were some top 10 teams that did not play. And so we didn't have a chance to see Penn State. We didn't have a chance to see Washington or Oregon. But when you look at my top 10, how I ranked them, you know, Georgia went back up to number one. and Michigan didn't fall, but like settled in at number two. And to me, there began to be a little separation for the first time this year. I've been very adamant that we have 9, 10, 11 teams in this season that I feel like

are national championship contenders. Now, that will dwindle as we get results. So this is not going to be the case for the entirety of the season. However, we did get a little bit of separation this week. I think we would all be blind if we didn't see that. And let's start with Michigan. Let's start with PJ Fleck and what he said. So he faces this Michigan team.

And this Michigan team is exactly how he described them. They are incredibly deep. They know exactly what they're doing and how. They're very talented. And at this point in time, albeit against a schedule that hasn't been, fantastic. No other team has been as complete or as dominant as Michigan this year. Full stop. And that's what PJ was talking about. The analogy of a boa constrictor is absolutely true.

And the way that I have said it this year on this program, as you've heard, is that there is an inevitability to their win. And they know it and you know it. It's like being trapped with no weapon whatsoever in a small room with a hungry boa constrictor. It's going to end poorly for you. There's nothing you can do about it. It's going to suffocate you at some point. And that's what Michigan does. They will suffocate you at some point.

The best way I have to describe it is that this is as deep a team as there is in the country. I believe they probably have between 12 to 15 maybe more. guys that will be drafted next spring. So they've got NFL depth on their roster currently. They're veteran. They're strong. And they have a unique, firm grasp of exactly how they win and why. And that's a dangerous thing.

That's a really dangerous thing because they don't make mistakes. They are one of the least penalized teams in the country. In fact, I was watching the game Saturday night. And I believe Todd Blackledge said, and Noah Eagle, who were calling the game for NBC, I believe they said that Michigan had one penalty in the game. Maybe there was a second one,

but it was like a kickoff out of bounds. But it was, it was, there were only one penalty in the last two games. Like, they don't beat themselves. They don't give you an inch. And that's a scary proposition

for anybody, even really good teams. They compliment each other so well. this whole thing about like a firm grasp of how they win and why, they know what they're trying to do philosophically everywhere on the field, whether it's the special teams, the defense, or the offense. They know why they're playing a certain way. And players that know the why are dangerous players.

You see, I've always said this. In high school, any coach can teach you what to do. And the really good ones will teach you how to do it, you know, the technique. But then the great coaches usually are at the next level, and they'll teach you why you're doing it. And when you learn the why, it's a powerful thing, really in all of life, in all walks of life, but in particular in football. Again, anybody can know what to do.

Few know how to do it and even fewer know why. This whole team knows exactly why they're doing things and how to do it. And that's a dangerous thing. They have faced, well, no, on offense, they have the second few, number of drives per game in the country. That applies also to their defense. Do you know why they're so unique? Their quarterback seems to care this much, flash at a big zero.

Zero cares, zero cares, about his stats. You see, if they had a guy that went there and wanted more NIL dollars, wanted to throw for, you know, lead the country in passing, wanted to throw 40 touchdown passes, it wouldn't work. because a player like that would be too selfish for Michigan. J.J. McCarthy, in a lot of ways, is the perfect guy, not just player, but guy for Michigan. Because he doesn't care if he throws it 18, 19, 20 times. Because he knows that's why they win.

Face the fewest second, second fewest drives per game in all of college football. They have mastered what they do. Here's my only question with Michigan. I've only got one. what happens when they get taken out of that blueprint for whatever reason, whether it's a couple of fluky turnovers, whether a special team's touch something happens like what happened against TCU. Let's face it in the semifinal.

What happens when they get taken outside of their blueprint? I guess we don't really know. That's my only question with them. Defense had two pick-sixes. They allowed 169 total yards against Minnesota, and they've got the number one scoring defense in the country given up just over six and a half points per game. Good luck with Michigan.

My gosh, I keep saying that, but it's true. And by the way, good luck with Georgia if they're motivated. Holy cow. I was questioning Georgia up to this point in the season because let's face it, they hadn't looked like themselves. I stand by what I said, obviously. I watched the games. I watched the tape, but I knew what I was seeing up front.

It was a team that was not the same up front. But we were reminded on Saturday that when Georgia wants to go to fifth gear, they still got it. They still have that gear. They get a ranked team in their building in a night game. And it was just like all systems go. And you're reminded what it looks like. And you're like, oh, well, that's beautiful. It's like it reminds me a little bit of Usain Bolt.

throughout his career who would just kind of toy with runners at times and the prelims and everything. And you really wanted to know. And then you would get to a final, whether it was a world championship final or an Olympic final. And then you would see like the start. And he wasn't a great starter. Remember? Because he had the long legs. And then in the middle of the race, it was just like, oh, there he goes. That's what Georgia just did on Saturday to a pretty good Kentucky team, a team that could run the ball. They were decent at the line of scrimmage. I thought it was a bad matchup for Georgia because of the way Georgia had played coming into the game, in particular at the line of scrimmage.

And they reminded us all. It's the middle of the race. They were Usain Bold. It's like, oh, you're still the fastest runner on the track. I get it. So Georgia is still Georgia. And now we are reminded that a similar thing happened a year ago. They slept, walk through that Missouri game.

One, everybody questioned them. and then all of a sudden it was just like, boom, boom, boom, they just ran through the rest of the season. It was over. And are we about to see a run like that again from Georgia? I like what I see from Carson Beck. He throws really accurately. When he's in rhythm, he's a really good player.

It's a really good player. We've seen him now at times in one possession games, whether it was at home or on the road in league play at Auburn, have to make throws. Like had the had to have it moments as a quarterback. which are huge moments, and he made those moments happen, namely with a great player in Brock Bowers. But this is a team that still has it. They're still Usain Bolt.

They're still the two-time defending national champion. And this is why, for the better part of the year, I kept saying like, nope, I'm not going to move them off of number one. And then dummy, I do it. I move them number three. Maybe I was the motivation. I'm not sure. Maybe most of us were the motivation. When they got questioned, it was go time.

It was their building. It was a ranked opponent. It's in the league. And it was on. And we're reminded why Georgia is Georgia. In a lot of ways, their toughest opponent this year is themselves. It is complacency. Fighting complacency.

Kirby talks about it all the time. And I think we saw that for a majority of the first half of the season. And then Saturday, we were reminded. I was reminded exactly what they could do. Because the middle of that race was like watching Usain, bolt pull away from the eight other best sprinters in the world. And you're like, is he that much better than them? And then you're like, yeah, he is because he's the greatest of all time. They're trying to do something that really has never been done before. Don't give me this whole

first time since Minnesota. It was the 30s. This is a different sport and it's much more difficult now. No one has done what they're trying to do. And on Saturday, they began that first pull away during this 100-yard dash. This first pull-way. Slow start. There's people beating them. And it's like, wait a second. Are they getting old?

Is this going to really happen this year? Are they going to repeat for the third time? And then all of a sudden, they get Kentucky in there. They lock the gates behind them. And it was like, watch this. Good on you, Georgia. Good on you. So good luck with both of those teams.

Michigan, Georgia, separating themselves out just a little bit. Let's get to the game I was at. State and Maryland. And marvelous Marvin, he was pretty good. Third down in 10. McCord sets up over the middle again. This time it'll stand. Marvelous. Marvin Harrison. Marvin. A. Catches 163 yards in a touchdown. Yeah, he's pretty good. He's pretty good. Remember that guy? Marvin Harrison, Jr. probably best player in college football. By the way, side note, just really quickly, is anybody better than Gus?

Nobody has the timing and control that Gus Johnson has in those big moments. Nobody. I listen and watch to a lot of football. I watch a lot of football. Gus Johnson is second to none. His ability to control the biggest moment and himself at a 10. He goes to 10 and yet has control. through that moment.

Marvelous. Marvin. I mean, it's like, geez, that's why he's so good. That's why I'm such a lucky guy, getting to work with him. Now let's talk about the game really quick, because Ohio State,

you could look at this two different ways. And I think a lot of Ohio State fans that I see on social media have looked at this game two different ways. It's a glass half full, glass half empty mentality. If you're a glass half full mentality, you say to yourself,

hey, we just beat, as Joel put it, the fourth best Big Ten team by 20. Hey, glass half full. If you're a glass half empty guy, you say, man, that score was not anywhere close to indicative of the game that I watched. So which camp do I fall into? I'm part of the second camp. I normally try to be optimistic. But what I saw in a 3717 win was not indicative of a 3717 win. What I saw was not a 20 point win.

It was it got to 20. It was not, hey, it's 3710 and we give up, you know, a late touchdown and it makes it a 20 point game. That would have felt a lot different. Probably would have been controlled a lot different. But when you look at that game, when you watch that game, it was not a 20-point blowout. It just wasn't. It just wasn't. Ohio State has, I think, some real flaws that they need to fix really quickly.

The offensive line for Ohio State has to play better. They played their worst game of the season. Full stop. The offensive line was sleepwalking early, as was. a big portion of that team. Off of the off week and the emotional win over Notre Dame, they did not play well early. They were not ready to play, period.

And I think even Ryan Day would admit that. Their offensive line allowed three sacks, couldn't get anything going in the run game. They averaged under two yards per carry, 62 yards total. Their fewest in a win in 20 years. Travion Henderson was not in the game, but it wasn't a travion issue.

if they had blocked it up and the running backs just weren't finding the right holes. If there were things there to hit home runs and then they weren't and they would trip up, that would be a different story. And I would say, hey, listen, I'm not worried because Travion comes back and those are going to be all of a sudden big gains. Now, maybe he can make up for some of these mistakes. But what I saw was just egregious mistakes by the offensive line. Maybe not egregious.

That might be too big of a word. But really bad offensive line play for the majority of the game in the run game. The defense, they only have seven sacks in five games this season, but it's not about that. Because the defense actually has gotten into a point where their philosophical change, I think, is really benefiting this team. And in particular with a team that's trying to find their footing on the offensive side. Last thing on the offensive line, I pointed it out several times, several times. Their inability to get the linebackers blocked and get up to the second level, is really hurting them right now.

They have got to find a way to make that happen. They struggled with it against Indiana. They really struggled with it against Maryland. This has got to change. They're double teams. If you're going to zone block and they like to be a zone blocking team, they like to do a little bit of everything. So they'll gap, they'll man, they'll use power.

But they like to run zone, okay? And they sequence off of zone. They build off of zone. Off of zone is where they get a lot of their big play action passes. Okay. So that needs to be effective in order for their offense to be effective. And they do not combo block to the linebackers very good at all. So that has to change.

Like they have to get better at that. When you combo block, right? And whichever direction you're going, let's say it's just going to be like the guard and tackle. And they've got a combo block the down lineman. And they've got to get that lineman blocked up to the linebacker. Okay. Well, that means that this player who's in between the guard and the tackle, he's the three technique.

Okay. And if he's the three technique, what you're trying to do is block him. And then the tackle is trying to push him enough and get enough movement where the guard can get on his outside shoulder to reach the three technique in order to bump the tackle up to the linebacker. And what happens is that they just kind of get washed down the line of scrimmage like this. never get bumped up to the linebacker. All right. So that's all the technicalities to be like, that has to get better because if they play like that up front against Penn State,

it's going to be dicey. It's going to be really dicey. The amount of pressure on Kyle McCord to be the only offense in the past game is going to be immense. It's going to be immense. Now, he did play really well after that first few series. He did find Marvin Harrison Jr. They were able to get going.

and it was much more of Ohio State's offense, in particular throwing the football, in those last five or six series. And once they got rolling, it was really good. It was really good. So, again, that's a little bit glass half full, but they never got the run game going. And that's a problem. It has to get going. Their big plays are generally off of play action. And when they're just trying to drop back, it creates a lot of pressure on the quarterback, not in the form of a rush, although that can happen,

but in the form of just pressure to perform for a young quarterback. Now we get into the defensive side. I'm a big believer, actually, in this defense. Not that it's been dominant, although their statistics are very good in terms of third rank scoring defense in the country. But in the fact that their philosophical change, which I talked about on Saturday, has really paid dividends for them. So they changed a little bit from a philosophy standpoint to be a little less aggressive,

blitz a little bit less, play a little bit softer coverage. Again, not a huge change, but just a little bit. bit of a change. And what that's led to is limiting the explosive plays. They gave up 18 plays last season of 40 or more yards. Eight of them, almost half of them came in their two losses against Michigan and Georgia. So they've got a concerted effort to get better in that area. They have. They have not given up a 40-yard play all season long. So kudos to that defense, because they have achieved what they emphasized. That mentality. and philosophy, I believe, has allowed them to bring along the offense, a young quarterback and an

offensive line that clearly is still trying to find their footing. If they would have been giving up quick, easy, long touchdowns to Maryland, Maryland could have raced out to a really big lead. And then at that point, who knows what happens in a game like that? So a big reason why they were able to overcome the offensive lines problems and the slow start offensively is because the defense has this bit of a change in philosophy. That has a last. allowed them to sustain some poor series on the offensive side. There's not quite the, well, let's just face it, there's not the quick points that were available in particular in those two losses

to Georgia and Michigan at the end of the year. Now, a couple of things that this change in philosophy does, if you're just wondering, like, well, what are the unintended consequences of playing this philosophy of defense? Number one is it's going to limit your offensive possessions because you will extend through softer coverage, the opponent's possession. So now their possession might,

instead of running a minute and a half or two minutes, run four minutes. You still don't give up any points because it's a bit bend don't break, but there's four minutes off the clock and not two minutes off the clock. Conversely, you're also not going to get the sack numbers that you generally did before

because there are quicker and easier throws available to the opponent quarterback. they can get the ball out of their hand quicker. And you see this at times. Taua Tunga Vailoa was able to get the ball out of his hands. And so the rush doesn't quite get home because you're not playing tight coverage at the line of scrimmage. Part of the reason Chase Young had such a dominant year in 2019 is that they also had dominant corners. Okuda, Arnett, Wade, they all were on the field and they took away easy throws.

Well, when easy throws are gone, guess what you can do? get the quarterback to pump, pat the ball, and sit in the pocket. When he does that, you can get to the quarterback. Now that's a little different for Ohio State. They are allowing some of those easier throws, but they're limiting explosive plays. Give and take, give and take, but that's what's going on with Ohio State. After the game, Ryan didn't think that the Ibuka injury was anything major. Let's hope it wasn't.

He got nicked up during that game. So we'll hope that he's better and back for not only Purdue, but then in a couple of weeks, weeks, Penn State, and that they would be full strength. So that's Ohio State. Again, got to get better up front. All right. Last thing that we got to get to today before we get out of here. What in the world was that in Miami? Snap back to King, blushed out to his right, looking. Five seconds to go, he will toss it into the end zone at the fine. Okay, so everybody is going to give you the obvious. That can't happen. It's an egregious mistake from the coaching staff. If you don't know what I'm talking about,

Miami snapped the ball under 40 seconds to go in the game, game clock, didn't have to hand the ball off. All they had to do was take a knee and the game is over. Literally, all you have to do is snap the ball, take a knee, and the game is over. And they handed the ball off. It was fumbled. Egregious mistake. By the way, Georgia Tech still had to go 74. yards in 26 seconds and did it. So everyone's going to talk about the mistakes from the coaching staff. And yes, they're egregious. This is, by the way, way worse than playing with 10 men on the field.

You won the game. It's not even about putting your players in the best position to succeed. You won the game. Like, I can't. I can't. Mario Cristobal is going to receive a lot of heat for this. And rightly so. Rightly so.

By the way, some have pointed to a game back in 2018 when he was at Oregon when they handed the ball off in a similar situation, but it was different. He handed the ball off to C.J. Verdell against Stanford who fumbled in the final minute. Stanford, it wasn't as egregious as this one. It was second and three, first of all, and taking a knee the rest of the way would have meant that they would have had to punt with about, I think, like 12 seconds on the clock. in that game. So those that suggest that it was like, it was exactly like, it wasn't exactly like. Okay, it was now, that one was also egregious and there was ways you could have managed that game better, but it's second and three. You get the first down and then you can take a knee in that game.

Some have also pointed to the fact that like, hey, he never takes knees. He's even when he's up a lot. Nope, nope, don't buy that whatsoever. Not, not one bit. I would have thought he would learn from a game like 2018, Oregon, Stanford, and that fumble and be better in those clock situations. But apparently he's not. This was an egregious air by so many people. And Mario is going to have to answer for it.

And rightly so. But to me, it's bigger than that. Okay. We can sit here and debate and talk about all this stuff all we want. But as a player, here's what I worry about for Miami. Trust. as a player, you have an understanding that your peers will make mistakes from time to time. And because you're going to make mistakes from time to time.

And you understand that. Now, you hope to not make the biggest mistake, obviously, but nobody's infallible. The problem is that when it's this egregious of a mistake made by, the coach. It's bigger than that. It's not a peer and it's not just like, oh, you know, like can I still trust him? It's bigger than that. There is now a fracture.

If that happened on a team that I was playing for, how can I look at the coach when he steps in front of the team? That would always be in the back of my mind. I would wonder to myself like, is he is what happened? What in the world? It would be, it's similar to that. Like, you have, you have friends and you understand like, hey, if they breach your trust, it's like, okay, like, I'm just going to not trust that person anymore. Like, no biggie, you know, that's on me.

I can control that. If your spouse breaks your trust or like a parent breaks your trust, right, someone in a position of power or authority or intimacy with you breaks your trust to that. degree, that's hard to come back from. So from a player, I'm just saying from a player's perspective, if I'm in that locker room, this is incredibly tough to get over, incredibly tough because now I am questioning everything about what's going on. How do I fully trust what I'm being told by my coaches in any respect if that's what happened? And then here's the other part of this. What are quarterbacks being taught in college football. I see every single week that coaches are having to completely run these situations from the

sideline. And it's like the quarterbacks have no idea what's going on. If I'm a quarterback, if I'm Tyler Van Dyke and they call a run play, I look over at the sideline and I would just shout like, absolutely not. I mean, like, I'm sorry. Buck stops with you. out there. And again, like, this is not a knock on him specifically. I'm saying like any quarterback, if you are a quarterback out there, you are the eraser of bad coaching. You are. You can get your team

into the right play. You can get them into the right protection. When mistakes are made by the way on the field, guess what the quarterback does. Makes the offense right. Someone misses a block. You can make them right. Like that's what that's like the quarterback's main job. If a run play is called in that situation, I would look up on the clock and been like, no, like snap the ball and just fall down. Act like you're about to hand it off and fall down. There was plenty of times in my career where something happened in the huddle, something happened at the line of scrimmage. And I just immediately either changed course or called time out or whatever it was at my disposal. Now, I was taught situations really well. I'm just saying like these core, Caleb Williams in the USC game. He tried to run up and spike

the ball even though he had a time out. I'm like, what? Guys just lose their mind. Guys lose their mind. But the trust factor is a big one. This is a big one because it is different when it's the coach and it's different when it's this bad. Right. It's not just a coaching decision like, hey, we went for two, you know, which by the way, Arizona should have gone for two in their overtime with USC. But I'll get to that on Tuesday's show. It's not just a coaching decision. This was a massive mistake and a massive breach of trust. And so for Miami, I hope that they can get over it.

But boy, that's going to be, that's going to be very, very difficult. Okay, that's going to do it for today. Now, we've still got a bunch to get into this week. I got to talk about a bunch of sleeper teams that have had wonderful starts to the season, first half of the season. We'll talk about that. we'll talk about the ACC and the job being done in the ACC. We're going to be talking about a lot of different things on Wednesday.

So you're going to want to come in and join the program. Remember to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube. Leave us a review. You know, it'd be nice. If it's nice, you can rate us, review us wherever you're at out there. At Joel Clatt show on social media. You follow me on Twitter.

At Joel Clat. This show, as always, is presented by Hampton, by Hilton, and we will talk to you. Wednesday.