The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Oklahoma-Nebraska takeaways, Plus Texas A&M, Penn State, and Washington secure critical wins

Episode Date: September 19, 2022

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt shares his thoughts about the Oklahoma Sooners and the Nebraska Cornhuskers after calling their matchup on Saturday. Joel was very impressed with the mindset of the Sooners’ under new head coach Brent Venables, and the creativity on offense under OC Jeff Lebby. Then, Joel breaks down what he saw from the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Miami Hurricanes. Joel considered this a “must-win” for Texas A&M and they delivered. Finally, Joel closes with teams who had “quiet statement wins” in Week 3, including Penn State, Washington, and Kansas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You have your own podcast. Well, yes. So we got the audio for the podcast out there. You know, folks, I appreciate that, Gus. By the way, go download and subscribe to the podcast. Everybody, the Joel Clashio. And there we go. Look at that.

Look at that. Go download the podcast. Who are you, Howard Stern? The King of All Media. Oh, man. That was great. That was great. Oh, welcome in, everybody.

Joel Clatt here. This is the Joel Clat show. Yeah, that was a great little interaction with Gus there this last weekend. We've got an unbelievable show for you this Monday morning. But first and foremost, I just wanted to say, Gus is doing great. He got sick and, listen, it happens, right? We're all human. But he's feeling him fine. He's looking forward to next week. And he'll be back and better than ever. when we head to the big house for that game against Maryland. So Gus is doing great. He really appreciates everybody that was reaching out and just wondering how he was doing. So we'll be back with the fist bump next Saturday there at noon Eastern. Okay. This show, though, on a Monday morning, folks, we've got a lot to get into. OU.

All right, exactly what I saw from that OU team. I've got three distinct thoughts, folks, about this OU team. You're going to want to stick around for that. my reaction to A&M and Miami and that game and exactly what those teams are or aren't moving forward in this season. Some quiet statement wins out there, in particular from teams like Penn State, Washington, what you did. Kansas, some thoughts on Kansas folks. And anybody that is struggling right now in college football, maybe you should be looking at Kansas as a blueprint for how to get out of those struggles. And then some best of the weekend at the very end.

But let's get started, folks. Let's get into it because we've got a lot to dive into with this Monday morning pod. Oklahoma kicked Nebraska's butt. I mean, that was as impressive a victory as I remember, in particular in a game that I've done because we've done a lot of close games. So let's listen to what Britt Venables had to say after the game to Jenny on the field right after the win. I love the attitude and the hunger in the locker room at halftime and the way we came out in the third quarter and really. slam the door on it, you know, not being satisfied, not being relaxed. I think the hardest time to coach is when you're having success. And it's a really proud of the maturity and the poise.

The determination he's got showed all day. I love what he was saying right there. You know, it can be hard to coach, you know, through success because a lot of times players just believe the hype. That's why Nick Saban, you know, talked about rat poison all the time. The old adage in coaching goes, and my dad used to use this, he was a high school football coach, is that you treat winners, like losers and losers like winners. Generally, teams that are winning a lot, you've got to find reasons and ways to coach them really hard and to get on their case, to get them to hold the standard each and every day. Whereas teams that are losing every single week, you're desperately trying to find the areas in which you can build their confidence so that they can go and they

can play with more self-belief. Some thoughts, though, as we get to OU. I've got three specific thoughts. Okay. Let's start with the offense. We finally saw the OU offense under Jeff Leby. And it's ahead of schedule, folks. This offense, I thought, played remarkably well. During the week and the conversations leading up to this game, Jeff Levy, the offensive coordinator, he was telling me that this was going to be an explosive offense,

an offense that was going to lean on the physicality up front in their offensive line. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking to myself, well, that's not the team that I saw on film against Kent State as he's talking. and the bottom line is folks like they were not showing much at all in the first two weeks. So this was finally an unveiling of what this offense was going to be. And I for one thought it looked fantastic. So the handcuffs come off in the first two games and Jeff Levy even admitted to me.

He's like, listen, we were staying basic against Kent State. I probably ran the ball way too much in particular in the second quarter when I should have been throwing the ball based on space and numbers and more on that in a moment. But he said, I didn't do that. And I kept the handcuffs on our offense. And those handcuffs are coming off. And I thought, OK, well, we'll see what we get then against Nebraska. And after the first series, I was like, all right, you know, Nebraska's defense playing

pretty well. And then bam, it was phenomenal from that point on. I thought that they were really physical up front. So let's go through some of the personnel groups because, oh, you fans, like I said, This offense is for real. We finally saw it, and it's ahead of schedule. They were really physical up front on the offensive line. I thought Cade Mattoyer, the guard, he did a heck of a job.

He's the transfer in from Cal, and he's a guy that solidified them. Now, they've got a few transfers, okay, through the years. Tyler Guyton was a transfer. He was playing right tackle. Chris Murray was a transfer from UCLA, not this year, but last year. So they've rebuilt their offensive line in the transfer report. and remember they still have their old offensive line coach. So Bill Beidenbow is a guy that has evolved in their run game.

Their run game used to be like two, three years ago. It was all this GT scheme. They would pull a guard, they would pull a tackle, and it was all heavy downhill kind of gap scheme oriented. Then last year, it wasn't materializing. It wasn't working like it had the previous season. And so they changed. They were more of a zone blocking team.

So in a gap scheme, you're really using leverage and angles to block specific guys and create specific lanes for the running back. In the zone scheme, you're trying to cover up color in the defensive front, opposite color, in this case, and let the running back choose which way he wants to go. So the running back's objective is to press the line of scrimmage front side, and then if the defense is flowing too fast over the top, he can cut back. if they aren't and they get stuck behind the play, then he can stay front side on the zone.

So it really can go anywhere. He's picking his spot of where he wants to go. So a very different style of run game. Specific lane versus a running back kind of picking where he wants to go using his vision and creativity. Now they're much more of a zone team. And within zone, you can run several different tracks of zone, inside zone, outside zone.

Rather than get into the weeds in the zone scheme, I'm just here to tell you, their offensive line did a heck of a job. And they told me that they felt like this offensive line was going to be physical and nasty and a real strength for them moving forward. Again, I hadn't seen that in the first couple of games, but they took those handcuffs off. And I thought that the offensive line was as advertised in that matchup against Nebraska. They just beat Nebraska's defense down. And maybe you could say, like, well, yeah, it was just Nebraska. And I get it. Yeah, Nebraska was not playing very good defense coming into that game. They didn't play very well on defense against Northwestern.

did not play very well against defense, in particular against Georgia Southern. They gave up, you know, shoot, well over, what, five, six hundred yards against George's Southern. So I understand there wasn't a great deal of competition, but this was still a step up from what Oklahoma had seen in the first two weeks. And that offense, in particular, that offensive line was physical. Then they're running backs. I, you know, I didn't know. Who's the guy who's going to step up for Kennedy Brooks? And what we saw was Eric Gray step up. We saw Mark. Marcus Major step up. Both of those guys ran well.

Marcus Major is a physical guy. I think he's probably got the most potential, but you can clearly see that Eric Gray has the most versatility. So he gives you kind of that every down back, which is very much kind of a blanket for the offense. You can just walk in there and you know that you can operate any type of system or concept with Eric Gray back there. Whereas Major, he comes back there and you've got some physicality to that run game.

I really liked what they gave. And then on the outside, by the way, they were really good. Marvin Mims is a heck of a player. I really like Marvin Mims. Mims is a guy that can threaten the defense down the field. He competes for catches at the catch point, which I think is a rarity. And then elsewhere, Theo Wiese, really talented guy. I thought Jalil Farooke played well.

Drake Stoops is a guy I love, in particular what he does in the slot. And then they've got young players, in particular, Jaden Gibson, who I talked about during the course of the game, 6-5, 195. pounds, they think it's going to be really good. So now all of a sudden, you couple that with Daniel Parker a tied in, Braden Wilson tied in, Helms was in there at tied in. That's a versatile offense, guys. I really loved it. But guess what? You still have to have a quarterback. And that's where the rubber meets the road. Why is Oklahoma's offense ahead of schedule? Because Dylan Gabriel is experienced and a playmaker. How does that come to fruition in this

offense. You always hear that, oh, man, this guy is experienced. Oh, man, this guy has experience within that system. Dylan Gabriel, he played with Jeff Levy or for Jeff Levy at UCF. Well, that's exactly what makes Gabriel so dangerous in this offense is his experience in the offense. Why is that so, Joel? Tell me, please. Well, because the quarterback makes so many decisions based on numbers. Okay, so this offense is predicated on the quarterback's ability to take advantage of ratios. That's what this offense is. And it's a, it's really a melting pot offense, and many are right now,

but a melting pot offense of what you saw from Baylor years back when they were running the spread run attack, mixed with what Kiffin does in the passing game, mixed with what Beatenbow can do in the run games. So now all of a sudden you've got this pot, this amazing stew of offense. And what makes it go? It's Dylan Gabriel. Why? Because he understands the ratios.

Okay. So we finally saw the real OU offense. It's ahead of schedule. And Dylan Gabriel is the guy that can operate it. Let me explain to you exactly what the ratios mean. When they get into the big spread sets like I was talking about on the broadcast, the wide receivers way outside of the numbers, guess what they're doing? They're just counting chess pieces.

This is why I love football so much. And it boils down to this, folks, and this is the simplicity of it, and this is what makes it so beautiful. Dylan Gabriel looks at the safeties. If there's two safeties back, that means that they have enough players up front to block the front players for Nebraska. It's called open coverage.

If he's got an open middle of the field, two safeties back, then he can block everybody in the run front. So guess what you get? You get run game, and you get, RPO's. So you're putting the second level players in conflict. And by the way, they have more space to cover because the safeties are back at that point. So there's only, in a particular in Nebraska's defense, three linebackers left out there and you're putting them in conflict, constantly running the football, then getting an RPO and you're kind of riding that run

fake in there and then they bite and bam, you hit them right behind. So what does the defense have to do then? They have to shift. They have to make an adjustment. So they generally, close the middle of the field. What does that mean, Joel? Well, they go from two safeties to one safety. They bring a safety down and then they put one safety in the middle of the field. Guess what that leaves you? Well, you can't block everybody in the run front. There's an extra defender, but guess who's one-on-one on the outside? Those corners. And as soon as Nebraska went to a middle safety, Jeff Leby and Dylan Gabriel just started attacking the one-on-ones. Shoo! Shoo! Slot throws. They were,

were taking the seam throw, slug on the outside, slant and go. You better believe it. They were attacking those one-on-ones. Why? Because that's what the ratios said. It's a numbers offense. You take advantage of where the defense is going to give you an advantage. That's why it's so huge that Dylan Gabriel has played in the system before and has operated this system because he understands those ratios and he understands the advantages that his offense has and how to read them in real time. So why is the Oklahoma offense ahead of schedule? It's because of Dylan Gabriel.

And I thought he played really, really well. It's not the only part of the Oklahoma team that I was impressed with. All right, let's get into the defense really quickly. If the offense was really good, guess what? The defense, they're significantly better this year, significantly better. OU for years has been trying to figure out the defensive side of the ball. Guess what? OU fans, you finally have a defense that is really good.

really good. And don't give me this garbage like, hey, Nebraska, they were terrible. No, they weren't, not on offense. Yeah, I know they fired their coach and I know the defense wasn't very, very good, but this was still a team that had played shoot. I feel like a million straight one possession games against good opponents, by the way, only lost to Ohio State by nine last year. This is still an offense that was averaging 36 points a game coming into this weekend. This is still a quarterback in Casey Thompson that last year against Oklahoma. in Red River through for, what, 388 and five tugs? Right?

So, like, they can still play. They went right down the field on the first series. I believe it was over 70-yard drive. Bam, they go right down the field. And then from then on, whoa, it was fast, it was tenacious, and it was productive, highly productive. This is the nature of this new defense under Brent Venables, okay? it's multiple fronts trying to disguise what you're doing up front in order to get a free rusher on the quarterback. Get production behind the line of scrimmage. You look at all the TFLs, tackles for loss.

You look at the ability to sack and pressure the quarterback. It was there on almost every, as soon as they got a lead, almost every single snap, I thought that they had five, six rushers, a free rusher. Casey Thompson was under constant duress. And it really fits their personnel. Folks, their personnel is perfectly suited for this style of defense. Why? Well, they're really big and physical up front. So they can jump out into odd and even defense, three defensive linemen or four, even odd or even, okay? They've got big guy, Jeffrey Johnson, the transfer from Tulane, 305 pounds. Isaiah Coe, a junior college guy, 305 pounds. Jalen Redmond, over 290. Good to see him get back out there after a COVID opt-out and injury last year.

They've got some guys on the inside, but then they've got speed. You've got Reggie Grimes on the outside. Ethan Downs had a few productive plays. Deshaun White, David Aguebu, Danny Stutzman, these guys can run. So now you get the size up front and the confusion of the multiple front defense. And then you put the linebackers in so many different spots and let them run an attack. I thought that that's what allowed them to have so much success in particular against Nebraska. And by the way, this is perfectly suited for a guy like Billy Bowman.

Bowman. Billy Bowman is really showing out and I love his game and I love this system. I was talking with Coach Stoops, Bob Stoops this week, in preparation for this game. I had a lot of conversations in preparation. Teddy Lehman, the former linebacker who does the sideline for the Oklahoma radio broadcast. And one of the things that they were talking about is the level of detail and execution that is being required from this group as opposed to previous. And the bottom line is that they are eating it up. the players are totally committed to this level of execution and play that they have put on the field the last couple of weeks. And I don't think that it's going to end anytime soon. Like I said, folks, like Nebraska's offense was not bad coming into this game. And Nebraska just kicked their butt. Again, this defense is significantly better than previous. What does that leave us with then? Okay, so we talk all about Oklahoma.

We get it. We do the game, we see that. This blueprint that Oklahoma has is much more suited to potentially win the national championship. They know, you know, Oklahoma fans, the blueprint of how to win the Big 12, how to go to the playoff. But this blueprint is much more suited because the defense looks like they can go out there and not just be okay, but maybe be very good. And the bottom line is there are a lot of programs that can have an explosive quality offense.

There are very few that field a really good defense. And I saw a really good defense on the field on Saturday. So if this is a team that doesn't have to just go win shootouts in big moments, but can also rely on their defense, take some pressure off of their quarterback, maybe run the ball and play complimentary football, then you have a team that can potentially win a game in the ball, playoff and potentially win a national championship. Remember, this is a tried and true blueprint.

There's only two teams that have won a national championship in any recent vintage in the last 15, 20 years that did not have a top 25 defense. It was the Cam Newton Auburn team who beat Oregon, by the way. And so you're not getting in a physical grudge match there. And the LSU team with Joe Burrow, which was close, by the way. I believe they were, I think 28th is the number, but I could be wrong. maybe 30, 30, 31st. So they were close.

But that offense was so good. I mean, they have Jamar Chase and they have Joe Burrow and Clyde Edwards-Zalair. They didn't need a great defense. And they were able to win a national championship. But this blueprint is much more suited to actually win national championships than what they were playing with previous. It's not a shot at the previous regime, by the way. So we shouldn't take us that because I still think that USC, even after what they did against

a Fresno State, they clearly could be a playoff contender going to. down the stretch. But that's my thoughts on OU. All right, let's change pace now and go to the other. What I felt like was kind of the biggest game of the weekend. And that was Miami visiting Texas A&M. Folks, I told you last week, we felt like Texas A&M was in a must-win situation because of what they've got coming up on their schedule. Remember, they've got to face Arkansas in AT&T Stadium in Jerry's World.

They've got Mississippi State. They've got Alabama. They could not lose to App State, then Miami and go through that gauntlet. They were staring two and four right in the face. Okay, they're still staring, by the way, three and three. They got to win one of those next three just to be three and three. So they're not out of the woods, but they were in a real predicament because of the way that they had played early this year.

Let's just get a frame of reference here. Texas A&M wins the game, but this is what Jimbo had to say afterward. Listen, we're not, we're close to being perfect, but I'm very proud of this team. Got better and played a really good football team in one. Now we've got to get better and keep going. You know what this game felt like? And I think you get the sense just listening to him right there.

I mean, hey, you know, they're really good. And, you know, we got out of here with a win. I'm really proud. He wanted no part of that press conference. Do you know why? Mario Cristobal wanted no part of his. Do you know why? Because these are two programs that have expectations and hopes that are just too soon.

It's just too soon for them. We all even want this too soon for them. there's these programs we all want Miami to be back and we want Texas A&M to live up to the expectations of where they've recruited and invest in their program but they're just not there. We all want something that that is just not there yet. Guess what? Miami and Texas A&M, you're just like a 14 or 15 year old that like desperately wants their license. And it's like great, but you're not 16 yet. You're just not quite there. Neither of them are.

even A&M in a win. And you can gripe all you want, Aggie fans. It's like, oh, clats always hard on us. We won the game. Yes, you won the game. You were also outgained by 128 yards. You didn't even gain 300 yards total on the day. That means against App State, you couldn't get to 200 yards total.

Against Miami, you couldn't get to 300 yards total. And you have a head coach that was paid over $70 million and given a 10-year contract because he called the plays for a national championship team. So that's a problem. offensively, A&M is broken to some degree. They don't have the requisite quarterback play to go out there and really play great on that side of the ball. They're not quite there yet.

Okay, they win, but it took a lot for them to win, namely Miami struggling to execute. And I guess you could expect this from a team that has a coach in his first year there, but I just felt like they would execute better. They were in the red zone three times, came away with three points. They had that muffed point that led to a score for A&M. They just didn't play well.

Again, they outgained A&M by 128 yards. They had 27 first downs and didn't score a touchdown. I mean, like Miami should have won the game. So yeah, A&M wins. How confident can you be moving forward? Not very. Not with the schedule they have in front of them. In Miami, not quite there.

Yeah, you played pretty well. Not quite there. Too many mistakes. One of the knocks on Mario Cristobol at Oregon was game management. Those crept up. Those crept up again. Red zone issues, special teams issues. This A&M team, this Miami team, not quite legal to drive yet. That's the truth. Let's get to some quiet statement wins today. Not today, but last week on Saturday. There were three of them. Let's start with the Nittany Lions Penn State in SEC country. Singleton, left side to the goal line. Singleton, touchdown, Penn State. And the Nittany Lions had that coveted two-score lead. I'll tell you what, Penn State looks really good. We saw them against Purdue and their opener, and they didn't run it well.

And those of us that did that game came away from that game and thinking to themselves, they haven't fixed their main issue. So Penn State has not fixed their main issue yet. Well, Nick Singleton said, hold my beer. And then he immediately rolled off two great performances. And now, guess what? Penn State has fixed their main issue. The reason Sean Clifford got hurt, one,

and then two did not play well down the stretch last year, is they had no run game. And now their offensive coordinator, Mike Yersich, he's got a run game to lean on. And that run game is named Nick Singleton. He was the top running back recruits. in the country. He comes to State College and delivers. This is one of those rare moments where it's like the guy that has to be the guy in his very first fall is the guy. Nick Singleton is a monster.

He's leading the country and yards per carry at 11. 11. That's insane. He had 124 yards against Auburn. They had 245 yards rushing as a team. So it's not. just him. They're fixing their issues up front. And guess what that's going to do? Take the pressure off of Sean Clifford. So now Sean Clifford doesn't have to be perfect. This is the perfect scenario for Sean Clifford. He's the type of quarterback that can be really good for you if you're not requiring him to be perfect. Okay, there are some quarterbacks like Bryce Young put a cape on his back. He needed to be perfect and he was and he beat Texas on the road. Clifford might not be that guy. fine, by the way. Bryce Young's a Heisman

trophy winner and is probably going to be one of the first one, two picks in the draft next spring. Clifford now is a quarterback of an offense that is balanced. They've got some speed on the outside. They believe in their tight ends and they can run the

rock. They walked into an SEC stadium and just beat up Auburn. It wasn't even as close as the score indicated. And now Penn State is looking at Central Michigan, and then Northwestern, both at home, before traveling to Ann Arbor. And Gus and I and Jenny will be there.

That's going to be a great game. I fully anticipate if they take care of business, all due respect to Pat Fitzgerald, don't want to underestimate you, because I love your program. I fully anticipate Penn State, goes into Michigan 5 and 0. I fully anticipate that Michigan, if they are able to play like they play every single week, should be also undefeated in that game. sets up a mammoth game.

Just look, just peek over the horizon. That game is staring at you right in the face with a balanced Penn State team. Woo! That's a dangerous team and that's a quiet statement win for the Nittany Lions and for James Franklin. Next up. The student section storms the field at Husky Stadium.

Washington 39, number 11, Michigan State 28. How about Washington taking it to Michigan State? Michigan State, I mean, they're starting to be... Listen, I think that Michigan State's still really good. I just think that Washington is also really good. I think what we do... Here's the problem. For Washington, folks, we failed to remember how good Michael Pinnock's was when he's healthy.

Michael Pinnock's at Indiana was really good. And guess what? He cut his teeth in Kaelin DeBore's system. So now all of a sudden you've got this coach and quarterback reunited. And it's working. It's working. Washington is playing fast and physical on defense. They shut down Michigan State's running game. And that's where if Michigan State can't run the ball, then they're going to have problems. And they struggled last year defending the pass.

And they're continuing to struggle defending the past. Michael Pennix, 397 through the air with four touchdowns. How about that? Washington, that is a quiet statement win. And guess what? The Pacific Northwest had a great day. Great day. Washington, Oregon played great against BYU. The whole Pact 12, by the way, we're going to do this. On Wednesday, I've got a whole discussion about how this, the Pact 12 is quietly sitting in the weeds. And right now they've got four teams that are really good. All are going to be ranked. And at some point, fairly soon, they're all going to be. going to be ranked closer to the top 15 and inside of that top 15. So Washington, great statement went over Michigan State, tough on defense. Michael Pinnock's, good on you, sir. We forgot how good you really were. Next up. I'm really excited for these guys. I'm excited that we have some games at home. I sure hope people and our fans come out and check these guys out because, you know, they're playing with some inspiration. They're playing well. And, you know,

We need to create a great home field advantage. I love this guy. That was Lance Lippold, head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks. They're 3 and 0. Kansas, 3 and 0. Take down Houston 4830. Folks, it's hard to, it's hard to overstate how amazing this is. Lance Lippold is doing.

God's work in Lawrence, Kansas. All right. First, to understand how amazing 3-0 is for Kansas, you've got to, like, just think back a little bit in recent vintage. They were 3 and 27 in their last 30 games. 30 games. Right?

So, like, they were at the depths of the pit of the Power 5. All right? When you said, like, who's the worst team of the Power 5? For a long time, you just like, Kansas, boom. For some times, it was like Ruckers was down there. Unfortunately, like right now, you're like, Colorado is probably down there.

It's three and 27 in their last 30 games. But here's the thing. We should have known that something was brewing. This didn't come out of nowhere and it rarely does. Why? Because there is a pattern to how you build a program. Okay. there's a pattern to how you take a program that is in the weeds,

in the pit of college football, and how you bring them out of that pit. Here's how the pattern goes. And this is, it goes all the way back to, you know, Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden, they would talk about this. They would talk about, listen,

if you take a program like that that's highly developmental, you're going to lose big. But they don't end it right there. You don't just lose big, okay? You don't just sit there and get your teeth kicked in. Guess what? You lose big. And then if you're,

doing the right things and if you're getting better, you'll eventually lose small. This is the most important step and it's the step that nobody wants to take and that everybody jumps. Nobody has the presence or excuse me, the perseverance or the stamina or the willpower to go from step one to step two. They all want to go to step three. You've got to lose big before you're ever going to lose small. You're going to lose small before you ever take that step that everybody wants to take, which is to win small. See, everyone just wants to get to that point where they're winning, but what they don't understand is that there is a step before that. If you're going to lose big, you're going to lose small if and only if you're doing

the right things. You know how maddening that must be? You know how maddening it must be when you're in the throes of three and 27 in your last 30 and you realize that, you know what, we're doing the right things. We're getting better. Everyone else might not see it, but we know we're getting better. And we have the perseverance and the stamina to see this through. They took that step late last year. Folks, they beat Texas and then lost by three to TCU and by six to West Virginia.

They lost small. They lost small. They stole one against Texas, and all the focus went to Texas because that's what we do in college football. We take a major brand. We take the ones that we always talk about. And then we inundate the fan bases with just content about those places. Texas lost, Texas lost, Texas, Sark, back. Are they?

Nah, blah. And we never just peek under the covers. You say to yourself, hey, you know that Texas team? They lost to a team that's getting better. Kansas, they took the step, and they took the steps necessary to get to where they're starting to go, which is from winning small to potentially winning big. They're 3 and 0 with two wins on the road. Two wins on the road.

So there's the track, folks. You're going to lose big before you can ever lose small. That's the most important step. Then you're going to lose small before you can ever win small. It's an important step. You're going to win small before you're ever going to win small. big. And this is an important lesson, folks. This is an important time in college football because right now we have a lot of programs in the country that just think, you know what, it's white flag

time. It's never going to happen here. We're never going to return to our glory days. We might have been great once, but we're never going to return to our glory days. Well, guess what? Kansas is proving you wrong. Lance Leipold is proving you wrong. The perseverance of taking step two is proving you wrong. Okay, so if you're in one of those pits, what do you learn from Kansas's 3-0? What do you learn from Lance Leipold and what he's doing with the Jayhawks? Well, you learn four lessons, okay, folks, these are four lessons, and if you're in one of those pits, you better write these down. First and foremost, you better know where you're at. You better be realistic with yourself and know how far in the pit you are. How deep is it?

Because if you don't define that clearly, if you aren't honest with yourself about where your program is, then you're going to think that you're a week or two away from winning small. And at some places, that just ain't the case. That just ain't the case. And it's going to take a lot of pain and effort and sweat and turmoil to get to a place where you can even just lose small by 3 to T.C. or buy six to West Virginia. Before you can win, small. Three games to open this year like Kansas.

So you better clearly define and be honest with where you're at. Now it comes to step two. Know where you want to go and be honest about where you're going. Just like I talk to you about, you've got to understand that starting to lose small can be growth. You can't just throw your hands up and say, you know what, I'm out. Parachute. We've got to be winning or I'm out. So you've got to understand the rungs on the ladder that you've got to step on in order to get yourself out of that pit.

And you better be honest with yourself about that. Know where you want to go. Clearly define goals along the way. And you better know exactly how you're going to get there. You better know. That means that you better have an identity of how you recruit. You better have an identity of how you play. You better have an identity of how you go about your business in the locker room and in the classroom. As a program, you better have an identity. And that identity better have all the chips in the middle of the table from everybody around the program. That's the most important part. If you don't know how you're going to get there, then everybody has a thought.

We better do this. We got to throw more. We got to run more. We got to spend more. We got to recruit differently. No, no, no. There can't be little fractures like that. you got to know exactly how you're going to get there and everybody's got to believe

everybody the players got to believe it they got to know exactly what they're doing day in and day out the training staff the nutrition staff the strength staff the academic staff the athletic director the chancellor the board of regents the major donors everybody better be pushing in the same direction why because you know where you're going you know who you're what your identity is and then the fourth step folks you better Understand that you've got to push the envelope on innovation. You've got to evolve with college football as college football evolves. You can't just look back in the rearview mirror and say,

we used to be great. Let's do it how we used to do it. Guess why? Guess why? College football is changing and it has changed and you better evolve or you will get past and you will stay past. Here's an example. Folks, if you're going to be really good in college football, you better do something really

innovative in recruiting. I believe that a team that is in the pit of college football should have three recruiting departments. Not one, three. Why do you need three, Joel? Well, because you're recruiting three very different types of players. What do you mean? Well, let me explain. First and foremost, you better relentlessly recruit high school athletes. You better identify guys that you can develop and will buy into your program, and you better relentlessly recruit them and pursue them daily. Calls. Every time that it's legal to call them, you call them.

Relentlessly pursue those guys. That's why you need a whole department just recruiting high school athletes. Your coaching staff, relentlessly recruiting high school athletes, relentlessly identifying the ones that are realistic for you to get and that will realistically help you start to win football games. Then you've got to have a second recruiting department. Who are you recruiting there? Transfer athletes. You've got to identify the players that can come in and help you right away in the spots that you need help. And it's not just about, hey, that guy's in the porter and that guy's in the porter. You've got to understand and identify what types of guys will fit in your program

to come in and actually help you. It's not enough just to have a transfer. You've got to have the right transfers. And by the way, if you don't want to play the transfer game, you're going to get passed up. Oklahoma is a great example. Michigan State is a great example. USC is a great example.

These are teams that identified needs and went out and attacked them with players that they knew were going to identify with their system and buy into their product. So that's the second recruiting department. And here's the third recruiting department. And this might be the most important one. Who's left, Joel? who's left for the third recruiting department, your own players,

because they can get up and walk out anytime they want. So you better relentlessly recruit and pursue your own players to keep your core. If you're not doing that, then you're going to rebuild your team every year. And it's not about at that point having good culture or bad culture. You've got no culture. You've got no culture at all. It's transient. It just changes year after year.

You better be on the phone texting your players. How are you doing? How are things at home? How is school? How can I help you? Because that's the only way that you're going to build a family environment and a locker room that cares for one another and can also help you recruit those athletes that you need

from the outside into your locker room that can help you win football games. You want to change your locker room? Relentlessly pursue your own players. They're the ones that need you the most, and they're the ones that are going to help you the most day in and day out. So there you go, folks. It's not the end of the world if you're in the pit of college football, and there are several programs that are there right now. It can be done, and Lance Leipold is proving that at Kansas with his 3-0 start. Last thing of what I felt like was the best thing in college football last weekend.

Chase, going to step up in the pocket. sets, throws high into the air. It's up for grabs. It is juggle. He got it. It's a touchdown. It's the next down. Don't you give up on these mountains, baby.

A storm the field. Abstate wins on Miracle on the mountain part two. I mean, how can you not love this sport? I love everything about it. I just got all passionate. I just went preacher on you about Kansas being three and oh. I love this sport. I love college.

football in part because of what happened in Boone, North Carolina. That was off. How about this program, by the way? 40 points in the fourth quarter and you fall short to North Carolina. That was an unbelievable. I mean, you have that game in and of itself in a season and it's wild, but then they roll into the SEC territory. They take down the 12th man in Texas A&M.

And the very next week, they throw a Hail Mary against Troy on the day that game day was there. Have a year at State. the nears somewhere Daniel Jeremiah is smiling. That's going to do it for us today, folks. Tune in Wednesday. We'll have a new podcast on Wednesday, a new one on Thursday.

You can follow the show at Joel Clatt Show. Please subscribe, download, leave us a review. If you're listening to this, you love this sport just as much as I do. And for that, I am very thankful. So thanks for listening, folks, and we'll be back on Wednesday.