The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Penn St - Ohio St: What’s at stake for each Program & why there are Game Management Issues in CFB

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt considers what is at stake for Penn State and Ohio State ahead of their Top-10 clash in Columbus. He discusses what a win would mean for each program and the College Football Playoff landscape. Next, he discusses why there seems to be issues in the sport when it comes to late-game and situational management. He lays out why several factors in CFB are leading to trouble in the biggest moments. Finally, Klatt goes into the mailbag and ranks the best skill position players in the country and how to navigate youth sports as a parent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clat Show, it's finally here. Penn State at Ohio State. I'm going to break this all down for you. What would a win mean for each of these programs? I got you on that. Plus, game mismanagement from coaches across America. Why is it happening? I'll break that down.

Plus, we get into the mailbag with a little clat chat coming up. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. I 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. What's going on, everybody? Welcome into a Joel Clatchew.

Wednesday edition. This show is brought to you by Hampton by Hilton, and we thank them very much for their partnership on this program. Lots to get into today. And this is really when the rubber meets the road. We had a few really great matchups last week, starting to get some clarity now as it relates to conference standings and position as well as the college football playoff and what that's going to look like as we get

down the stretch and come down the stretch here now as we get into the middle of October. I'll be at Ohio State. Gus Jenny and I have Penn State at Ohio State. Can't wait for this one. I've been waiting for this one all year. These Big Ten East teams, man, these three teams are excellent teams, Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. They're all easily top five, six, six, seven teams in the country, top five, six, seven teams in the country. they're all in the same division. And so this is going to all play out. And so this is the first

domino that we get in this sequence of matchups here as we get through the year. Before I get into that, just very quickly, remember to subscribe to the program, right? Wherever you're listening, subscribe to the program, wherever you're watching on YouTube, subscribe to the program, like it, write us a review, all that different stuff. And if you want to follow us on social media, you can do that wherever you like the social media. So if you're like a youngster and you're on TikTok, we're there at Joel Clasio. If you're like an old guy and you're on Facebook, I think we're there too. I'm pretty sure.

Or on like X. See, that sounds weird. That's why I like Twitter. I don't like to be on X. I'd rather be on Twitter. So I'm on Twitter right there. At Joel Clashio or at Joel Clad, if you want to follow me personally. Let's get into the game.

What would it mean big picture? Because tomorrow on Thursday, I'm going to break down more specifically the matchup, right? And preview the actual game on the field. But when you get into a game like this that's going to be this big and there's this much at stake, you also need to take stock in what it's going to mean for each of these programs, for each of the coaches, for the programs moving forward, not only this season, maybe even, you know, after that as well. So let's take a more 30,000-foot view of this game.

Penn State clearly has gotten much better over the last few years, separating themselves out from the middle of the pack in the Big Ten, and really from the middle of the pack in college football to be one of those teams that is knocking on the doorstep of the elite programs. Remember, no team has been a bridesmaid more than Penn State when it comes to the college football playoff. Now, on the other side, Ohio State, tried and true top of the sport brand, not only brand, but they've played at the top of the sport,

playoff appearances, big 10 titles. And yet, over the last couple of years, there's this sense that they've fallen short of expectation, in particular because of the losses to the team which shall not be named until later in the year. You know that I can say it. It's Michigan. So that leads us to two very distinctly different viewpoints of what this game means for each of these programs. Let's start with Ohio State. I believe that there's a lot of pressure on Ohio State in this game, a lot of pressure on this.

team and this program and their coach Ryan Day. And the reason is, is because one, as I just told you, they are expecting always to play at the top end of the sport. There's this notion, and I believe it's true, by the way, but there's a belief that Michigan, who has won the conference back-to-back years might be, you know, a little better than maybe both of these teams. Okay, so all of a sudden, that puts a lot of pressure on Ohio State because it's like, you can't be third in the Big Ten East. That's just from an overarching standpoint. So in their mind, that cannot happen. And if you lose this game at home, that's essentially where you're at.

Now, you've obviously still got Michigan down the road and there's a lot of seasons still to play. But that would be a sentiment right there. So again, the pressure starts to mount. And let's face it, in every single big game, the Ohio. state expectation presents a lot of pressure on the program. We've seen that now over the last couple of years. It doesn't matter how good Ryan Day has been. It doesn't matter that he's 51 and six as a head coach. Only Chris Peterson has won more games to start his head coaching career over the last 50 years. 51 and 6. Again, like this guy has won at such an incredible clip,

but the problem is in that area, he didn't beat Michigan the last two years. They didn't win the Big 10. They lost to Georgia. So now all of a sudden there's this, there's this narrative that like, they can't win the big one or, well, here's another big one. So that presents a lot of pressure on this organization and this program. I would also say that this team is fairly veteran, even though their quarterback is not, doesn't mean that the team isn't. Like, for instance, if you look at their defense, I've got the two deeps right here.

So I take notes right here. I've got their two deeps right here. And when you look at this defense, like it's really veteran. They're seniors and fifth year seniors all over this defense. Meanwhile, on the offensive side, yes, you've got a young quarterback, but likely going to be the last year that you have Marvin Harrison, Jr. out there. Cade Stover is a senior. You've got some other seniors up front on the offensive lines like Matt Jones or Josh Fryer.

You don't know what Travion Henderson's future is going to be, relates to the NFL. You don't know what a Mecca-A-A-Bucca is going to decide to do as it relates to the NFL. It's a veteran team. You don't know what it's going to look like as we start moving forward. So then all of a sudden it's like, okay, you're at home. You've got the older team in particular because the best players for Penn State are usually, while generally speaking, sophomores. You're the more veteran team. You're at home and you cannot finish third in this division. there's a lot of pressure on Ohio State. That's just a 30,000 foot view of what's going on from the Ohio State perspective.

Now let's look over to the Penn State perspective. You know, from Penn State's perspective, to me, this is a huge opportunity because while they have not taken that next step, I don't feel like there's that pressure to take the next step, not like there is at Ohio State. you know, like last year was considered a wildly successful season for Penn State. And rightly so, by the way, I believe that their expectations are probably aligned with where they were at. They were 11 and 2 Rose Bowl champions. It was a really good year.

And now the next step for them is to beat one of those two teams in their division to take that next step on the ladder. If they can do that, if they can beat Ohio State, or if they can beat Michigan, now you're talking about a playoff berth. Now you're talking about that step that they haven't been able to take, not only within the division or in the Big Ten, but then as it relates to all of college football. So to me, this is about opportunity. They've got a young team.

A lot of their best players are sophomores, second year guys, including their quarterback, Drew Aller, including their two running backs, right, including great linebacker. Like this is a young team that might have its better days even ahead of it. and yet, like, this is a great opportunity for them. There's this sense that they are built in a way in which Ohio State is going to have trouble with their length and athleticism on the defensive side of the ball, and that this is an opportunity to go and beat one of the teams that they haven't been

able to beat over the last couple of years to put themselves on that echelon, to be a college football playoff contender. Beating Ohio State or Michigan is the next step for Penn State. this is an opportunity for James Franklin. It's an opportunity for this team. They have been, as I mentioned, the bridesmaid in the CFP era. Nobody has been hurt more by the four-team format versus a 12-team format than Penn State. They would have made five different playoffs.

When we started the playoff system, it would have been a 12-team format rather than a 4-team format. Five. That's a lot. I mean, bridesmaid constantly, they have to get it done at some point. If they have the exact same type of year as they did last year, which is 11 and 2, lose to Ohio State and Michigan, then there starts to be pressure. Then there starts to be grumblings about like, wow, can we really do it? Can we really beat these two teams?

And then you start to get into the record. Okay. So even though Ohio State has a lot of pressure on it and Ryan Day has a lot of pressure, His record is phenomenal. 51 and 6 overall. I believe they're like 9 and 5 against top 10 opponents. And then you look at James Franklin. He's 0 and 9 in road games versus top 10 teams.

But to be fair, Penn State was the lower ranked team in every single one of those. However, it would start to bring up like, well, can we win the big one? Okay. So while there's a lot of opportunity there, in the sense of the overarching year, you got to win one of these games. Is it this one? Is Ohio State more vulnerable than maybe Michigan? Maybe. Maybe. And again, that's why there's so much opportunity. So now you start to think about like, what would a win mean for each of these teams? And not only the season, but just kind of like moving forward.

If Ohio State were to win on Saturday, I think they would rightly and clearly have the best resume in college football. they would have a win against Notre Dame. They would have a win against Penn State in a top 10 matchup, which would be two wins over at the time top 10 ranked teams. That would easily be the number one resume in college football. And in particular with the way that LSU has struggled, I actually think that Ohio State would probably start the CFP rankings ranked number one. Knowing how that group in Dallas ranks teams and how they view teams and

strength of schedule and quality of wins and the weight that they give in particular to quality of wins. I think that if Ohio State were to win on Saturday, when the first rankings come out, they would be number one. That's, of course, if they beat Wisconsin and Madison next week, but you get where I'm kind of going with that. This is a team that a lot of people didn't know about coming in because of the new quarterback. Then we've had some questions about their offensive.

line. And yet, even when they didn't have really any of their resources outside of Marvin Harrison, you know, they lose Travion Henderson, they lose a mecca abuka, they lose Chip Trainum during the game. My and Williams didn't play in the game against Purdue. And yet, what do they do? They roll out there and just dominate the game. Not many teams can lose that many players and just continue to dominate the game. I thought Kyle McCord was terrific. So as they get better, as they continue to get better, as the defense continues to put up dominant performances, all the sudden, you're like, well, yeah, Ohio State with a win over Penn State would be number one in the CFP. And they would certainly be in the driver's seat as it relates to the Big Ten East. A Penn State

win, well, this is where it gets interesting because a Penn State win basically gives the Nittany Lions two shots at the playoff. You might be thinking of yourself like, what does that mean? Well, I'm going to assume the East Champ wins the Big Ten championship game. Let's just assume that together. Okay. So if we work from that assumption, then we look at what they would have left in their schedule. Penn State would then have Michigan. That would be an opportunity because if they were to win against Ohio State and Michigan,

they're going to be the East champ. And then we would assume that they would win the Big Ten. they would be in the playoff for sure. Now, let's say they win, but don't beat Michigan. This is where it gets interesting. They would still be in line for a East championship and a birth in the championship game if Ohio State were to beat Michigan.

And you know that that's going to be like the kitchen sink from Ryan Day and Ohio State to try to beat Michigan after losing the last couple of years. And the reason is is because Penn State is actually better suited right now for a three-team tie in the Big Ten East. This is where it gets wild. Again, if Penn State wins, they basically have two shots, two shots. They could either beat Michigan and go or they could hope Ohio State beats Michigan.

So even if they were to lose to Michigan and then Ohio State would be Michigan, then they would be in a three-way tie. And then this is what happens. You ready for the tiebreaker? If Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State all finish 11 and 1 and split, we'd go to the fifth tiebreaker in the Big 10. And the fifth tiebreaker is the best cumulative conference record of non-divisional opponents. This is so good.

And as it currently stands, Penn State is leading the tiebreaker, thanks to Iowa being in the lead in the West right now. So the non-divisional opponent conference record are as follows. Michigan's non-divisional opponents. Minnesota and Nebraska have a combined conference record of three and seven. Purdue's one and three. Minnesota's one and two. Nebraska's one and two. Ohio state's non-divisional opponents.

Purdue, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. So they share Purdue and Minnesota with Michigan, but then they trade Wisconsin and Nebraska. Purdue's one and three. Minnesota's one and two. Wisconsin, two and one. So their total four and six. And then we get to Penn State.

And they've got Illinois, Iowa, and Northwestern. And Iowa with that offense and great defense is coming through from the Nittany Lions. Illinois is 1 and 3. Iowa's 3 and 1, Northwestern, 1 and 2 for a grand total of 5 and 6. Michigan still has Purdue left. Ohio State has Minnesota and Wisconsin left. Penn State has played all of those teams so far. So Iowa winning the West right now is huge for Penn State because it means that if they were to knock off Ohio State,

they basically have two shots at winning the East, getting to the conference championship game, and then probably going to the playoff if they were to beat what is right now, the leader of the West Division, which is Iowa. Their best case scenario is Iowa runs clear of the West and everyone else is finishing in a tight pack, which probably is going to happen because think about it, Tanner Mordecai on the second best team in that division, Wisconsin. He's got that broke hand. That's terrible for Ohio State who has Wisconsin and Michigan would need Nebraska to finish really. strong. So Michigan fans rooting for Matt Rule and the corn huskers in that one. Man, so a lot going on in this game. Let me just recap very, very quickly what we talked about there with this matchup.

This matchup is really about pressure for Ohio State. Veteran team, you're at home, you got to win, can't finish third in your division. Just can't. Absolutely can't. It's about opportunity for Penn State, this opportunity to take the next step, the step that they have not been able to take, not only in the division, but in the conference and for the college football playoff. This game with a win for Penn State sets up beautifully for them because of what's going on in the tiebreaker, basically gives them two shots to win the East, go to the conference championship game, and then possibly represent the Big Ten in the college football playoff. Massive game, and tomorrow I'll break down what it is on the field,

what are the matchups on the field, and we'll get into that, not just 30,000-foot view like we just did, All right. Hey, it's my favorite time of year. It's football season. And as you know, I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams, I can't 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 rooms and their warm friendly service. Their free hot breakfast is an absolute game changer. It's my favorite, no doubt about it. 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. All right, let's move on. Let's go to game management, situational awareness. I threw out a tweet earlier this week just about this. I believe that there is, you can call it an epidemic, but a real struggle in terms of the way that we're seeing coaches manage games, players manage games,

and then even more so a real lack of situational awareness. So I tweeted out last thought after last Saturday. There's an epidemic of poor game management. questionable decisions happening among college football head coaches. This leads to a lack of awareness and situational football from the players. Let's talk about why that's happening. Because I think people wonder, like, well, what's going on? Why do these situations keep popping up?

Why does it seem like every Saturday we're sitting here talking about poor clock management, a decision that has gone awry? Well, I believe that there are a few reasons. I've got four, really five, that I want to talk through right now. Let's start with this one. And this one is where grace enters the chat. We need to have some level of grace as analysts and fans for what's going on in the field. And the reason is it is, it is to be a good.

still college football, not the NFL. And it is an absolute hurricane on the field of noise, commotion, and chaos. There's no other way to explain it. There's no great analogy that I can give you at home to take you inside what it's actually like when you're in the situation, when you're in the fire. And how long. loud it actually is. How many people are actually shouting? Where is the clock? Where are the chains? At home, you're sitting there and everything is beautifully put on the television for you. You know exactly how many timeouts there are, what the clock is, what the play clock is. You don't have to look around in your house to see any of that. You are sitting down.

You're probably eating funions. Oh, that sounds good, actually. Maybe some other snack. Maybe it's nachos. I'm not sure. But you are in the calm of your own house. So while you feel like your heart rate is raising because of what's happening on the screen, everything is right there for you. It's all very easy to decipher of what's going on. Okay, this is what they need to do. You also have the help of the analysts in the booth. He's talking you through it. All of these things are happening. And so you think to yourself like, why isn't the quarterback doing X, Y, or Z? Why isn't the coach doing X, Y or Z. Well, it is an absolute hurricane on the field. All right. You guys have all seen the weatherman in the hurricanes, right? That is trying to like give a report of what it's like. And when the

hurricane's really like making landfall and he's holding on to something and he's like, oh, well, Jim, it's getting very windy down here. And, you know, the waves are pretty high. And it looks like, man, how does he do that? How does he keep it together on camera when he's in a hurricane? And yet, you know all he's doing? Voicing what's happening. That's all he's doing. That would be like the quarterback going out there and just being like, well, it's really loud out here. And, you know, that guy's yelling really.

And that defense is big. And that's not what we're asking quarterbacks and coaches to do. We're asking them to give a report on the hurricane while doing a calculus problem. Because what's going on on the field is really difficult. The schematics of the game are difficult. There is so much information going on. Quarterbacks have to handle all, you know, 10 of the other players on their team. They got to know what all 11 on the other side is doing.

It's a 22-piece chess match. Quarterback has to know what all 22 pieces are doing at any given time. He's got to locate the clock. He's got to locate his coach. He's got to locate the play clock. Everything is going on and it's really, really tough. So we've got to start with this. Why do poor decisions get made in college football, across college football, and really in the NFL?

Because it's hard. It's so hard. And people don't understand how hard is it until they're in that situation. And unfortunately, you're never going to be in that situation. The best thing that I could say is like, don't blow your ears out, but put on some headphones. turn it up really loud, turn up the fastest, loudest music you can possibly find in your phone, turn it on, turn it really loud, and then sit down and try to write something out. Just write something out.

Just write a paragraph, write a note to your significant other. Just try that and see how it goes, and you'll start to realize how difficult it is to concentrate in the midst of chaos. Okay. Now let's get into some other reasons. Now that we've given everybody some grace. Okay, so it's really hard. It's the hurricane. Now, why is it happening? Okay. A lack of situational awareness and a lack of game management, I believe stems from what we saw 10, 12, 13, 14 years ago when the high tempo offense started becoming more prevalent in college football. So what we saw, and this was right after I was done playing, actually, I remember the first time I ever saw an offense in tandem, all stand up and look over to the sideline for the six. And I was like, what? I was like, that's gross.

Legit. I was disgusted by it. I'm like, what? Why would you need a coach to tell you what to audible into? You know, like I was flabbergasted. What is going on? How do you, how is he not teaching his quarterback how to audible the play? Why isn't this a package of plays? Why isn't it three play calls and he gets them into the best play call? I could not fathom. what was going on when I saw everybody stand up and look over for the signal. And it's like, oh, wow. So the coach is going to control everything. And then we started seeing offenses go really fast.

And I'm not going to name the name of this quarterback, but I had a discussion with actually two different guys. And it was of, and this is 10 years ago. And I asked them after they were done playing. I was like, honestly, did you always know the down and distance? when you guys were playing as fast as you were. And they said to me in confidence, they said, no, I didn't always know the down and distance. That blew my mind.

I'm like, what in the world? What do you mean? You took a snap at quarterback in college football without knowing the down and distance. And they said, yeah, it was impossible. We went too fast. Okay, so the high tempo did a couple of things. It took the decision making of the audible and the change. of the play out of the quarterback's hands and back into the coach's hands on the sideline.

And they went so quickly that sometimes they weren't even aware of the situation on the field in the first place. And then I asked them like, well, what did you look at? Like, were you keying safeties or what did you key on in protection? And they said nothing. And I'm like, what? I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. So as we've seen the, really the evolution, of offense in college football. When we go back 12 years, what we saw was a real dumbing down of offense. Now, I'm not saying that it was wrong. I'm just saying that it was a shift.

It was a shift in how we did things in the sport. And so the more that you went high tempo and the more that it was controlled from the sidelines, then the less you had to coach your players. So when that happens now, you don't have a fail safe. You don't have a quarterback on the field that understands what's going on, understands the clock and understands the situation. So that's a reason. There was also another thing that happens with a high-tempo offense

is that you have high volume of plays. So when you have a high volume of snaps, you have to have more play calls. So what you saw is playbooks grow in a lot of senses. And some shrunk, but like some grew. Well, there's still only 20 hours a week by the NCAA, which is a terrible rule, by the way. No one aligns by it.

No one behaves, but that's fine. Like they expect you to do everything, practice, lift, meet in 20 hours. It's stupid. But whatever, I digress. It's not enough time. It's not like professional football. It's not like the NFL where you get all day every day to go over all of this stuff. So there's a lack of time to teach what's going on, which leads into the next reason.

The next reason is that it's really hard for a coach to teach all of this stuff. it is because there's not enough time. And you've got to be a really good teacher. You've got to know it yourself in order to teach it. You see, let me talk about two different things. Let me start with this. And this, by the way, goes for business and life and everything, parenting, everything. Every coach teaches their team what to do. Good coaches teach them how to do it. Great coaches teach them why to do it. That secret. is very important. Okay. What, how, why? Because what is just the offense? Okay, we're going to learn the plays and this is what you do. How is very important because that's the technique. Okay, how are we going to be

successful doing this? Well, this is the details of the play. This is the details of your skill set of each different position in order to be successful. And then the really great coaches teach why. So why are we doing it this way? Why do we align this way? Why do we snap it with this many seconds left? And it's tough to get to why. There's not enough time in a lot of senses to get to why. And in particular, when you start looking at the way college football coaching has gone over the last few years, which is a lot more youth and inexperience. Okay.

So when I'm a coach and I've got a quarterback in my room, I'm teaching him what the offense is, I'm teaching him how to be successful. But if I'm not teaching him why we're running the things that we're running, why we're doing the things that we're doing, then I'm doing him a disservice, okay, because he is going out there with one hand tied behind his back. But coaching has gone more towards recruiting. So now you've got guys that have to be great recruiters. They need to be great game planners. They need to be good on the field coaches.

And then the last characteristic that I think people look at is like, well, how is he as a teacher? And yet, that's a very important piece. Okay, so there's these four pillars of what every coach needs to do. And I think most people hire for great game planners and great recruiters. And the really good teachers, that's a skill set that's just like we hope that they have. I mentioned this really quick and this is the next reason. And that is that I think that there's more inexperienced coaches getting chances. Remember, as programs around the country have generated more revenue through their conference revenue distribution,

then what we have is quicker firings. So guys get the rug pulled out from under room after two years, three years. And then they're always looking for, the ADs are always looking for like the next hot name. There's been a lot of coordinators that get coaching jobs. And it's like, well, what is their pedigree really? Well, they had a great offense at this last place, but you don't really know. So there's so much on the job training. There's a lot of inexperienced coaches out there.

And that's not a bad thing. that's just kind of a fact of where we're at in college football. And then there's another layer to this, which is there's been the advent of analytics. And with the advent of analytics, it means that there's a lot of inexperienced guys just from their own time in their position. But then even the experienced coaches are trying to use things that they've never used before and use them in the game. So even the experience coaches are using new material in the form of analytics. And that brings us to like analytics, which has really pushed the sport forward. I got to tell you, I like analytics in a lot of sense.

But what it can't do, what it can't do, and this is what I think that we fail to realize, what it can't do is equate the human element in its algorithm. It can't tell me who's injured on my offense. It can't tell me who's injured on the defense. It can't tell me what went on in the last few series is, far as the momentum and the success that we've been having or we're not having. It also can't tell me what's the play call that I'm about to make on fourth down? Because as we saw Saturday in the Oregon situation, it wasn't necessarily the decision

to go for it on fourth down at the end of the game that was, I think, problematic. It was the play call. So as analytics becomes so prevalent, coaches just stand behind them. And it's like, well, remember, it's not just the decision to go. it's also the decision of what do you execute? And then you get back up into that other section, which is what, how, and why. So do your players understand that?

So it's a long dissertation to basically tell you, I think that there's a lot of factors right now in what's going on in college football. And you have coaches that all use analytics and that's all they want to use. I think that there are coaches that try to use both. And then there are coaches that are adversarial. and now you have the college football public at large,

which is questioning everything because there's two sides now to everything. Well, analytics says you're going to do this. It's a sub-broadcast. They flash the analytics. They're flashing the analytics on the Friday night game, Colorado and Stanford. I'm like, Colorado should go for it. I'm like, it's a four-possession game. I don't care what the math equation says.

What you do is you punt the ball down inside the 10, and then you play cover two, which didn't have. happened in Colorado ended up losing. So anyways, uh, let's get into the mailbag, shall we? The mailbag is sponsored by Hampton by Hilton, Hilton for the stay. Let's get into the mailbag and let's see, let's see Jason S writes into the mailbag. And Jason says, hey, Joel, hope all as well. We hear so much about quarterbacks and rightfully so, but I'm curious to hear your top players at other skilled positions. Obviously, it's a bit subjective, but I enjoy your opinions and would like to hear your thoughts on the top players in the big positions.

Thank you and God bless. Jason, God bless to you as well. Let's get into it. Here's what I want to do. I'm going to do two categories. You want a skill position, so I'm going to do pass catchers and running backs. I'm going to give you my top five pass catchers in college football, and then my top five running backs in college football.

I'm going to go five to one. We'll start with past catchers. My number five pass catcher is Malik Neighbors, LSU. leads FBS and receiving yards per game with 123, and you see that offense with amazing productivity over the last few weeks. And yeah, they're not playing great on the defensive side, but boy, they can absolutely get after it there on the offensive side.

Number four is Keon Coleman, the wide receiver at Florida State. By the way, did you see the catch last week? If you haven't seen Keon Coleman's catch last week, you'll know why he's on the list. So he's there. Number three is Roma Dunzee of Washington. He's second in the FBS and receiving yards per game. game at 122. At number two, I've got Brock Bowers. I'm really bummed for him about that ankle

injury. It looks like he's going to have tightrobed surgery on that ankle. And I hope that he comes back at some point, whether it's the SEC championship game or maybe in time for the playoffs. He leads all tight ends and catches in yards. This dude is an absolutely great player. And then my best past catcher is Marvin Harrison, Jr. of Ohio State. He's the best, just period. He runs the best routes. He's got the best hands. He's got body control. He's big. He's fast. He does everything well. He's the best non-quarterback in college football. Let's move on to running backs.

My top five running backs in college football. I'm going to start number five with Marshaun Lloyd of USC. Leads the power five, by the way, with seven and a half yards per carry. But he's only getting 10 carries per game so far. He only got eight against Notre Dame. That has to change. If USC wants to turn their season around and actually go out and win the pack 12, they're going to have to start developing the run game a little bit

because just trying to protect Caleb Williams is not handling is not, it's not getting it done, is what I'm trying to say. So give the ball to Marshawn Lloyd. He's number five. Number four, Bucky Irving from Oregon over seven per carry this season, 127 against Washington. I think he's really, really good. I love him. I've got Blake Corum of Michigan. He leads the country with 12 TDs. He's not quite 100% yet. The jump cut is not quite there, but I tell you, it's coming. And at the end of the year, I think that he's going to have a big year. Jonathan Brooks from Texas through six games. He's got more rushing yards than even Bijon from a year ago.

And then number one, I think the best running back so far in the year has been Audrake Estime from Notre Dame, 98 yards per game, over six per carry. And he's a big strong back at 230 pounds. And I think he's been outstanding. I think he's been outstanding. All right, let's move on in the mailbag. Let's go to Eric P. Eric says, with the PAC 12 and Big 10 so strong,

do you worry about them cannibalizing each other for representation into the college football playoff. Not in the Big Ten because I think at most, the Big Ten East winner is going to have one loss. That's the most losses I could see for a Big Ten East winner, which is the way the schedule is going to come down.

And one of these teams might beat each of the other two. So I don't worry about it in the Big Ten East as much as I do in the Pack 12. And by the way, even with a loss, like let's say everyone ties or even with a loss, Big Ten East winner is going to go. Because everyone knows that that's the toughest division in college football this year. So not worried in the Big Ten. Pack 12, more worried about it in the PAC 12.

Let me just paint a scenario. Is it more likely that everyone ends with at least two losses? Or that somebody from the PAC 12 makes the playoff? I think you might lean towards two losses just because everybody plays each other down the stretch. Yes, we saw that amazing game and Washington has set themselves up for a nice stretch run. here, but, could we see them losing one of these games in the regular season? Sure. And then what happens? They lose in the conference championship game? That could easily happen. Could Oregon get knocked off in one of these games still make the conference championship game and then beat whoever is there? Yeah, absolutely. So what I'm basically saying is I think that it might be more likely

that the PAC 12 winner has two losses than one at this point. And a two-lossed, team, I don't see it. Not with Oklahoma and Texas being what I feel like is quite a margin better than the competition in the Big 12, not with the ACC now clearly separating itself at the top with Florida State and North Carolina, not with Georgia being a team that I don't really think is going to be threatened in the east, although we'll see with the Bowers injury, what happens when they've got to travel to like Neeland later in the year in November. The Big Ten, like one of those teams is going to go. So now all of a sudden it's like, well, then who are they going over?

A one-loss ACC, a one-loss SEC champ, a one-loss Big 12 champ, a one-loss Big Ten champ? No. So I'm more worried about the cannibalization to answer your question, Eric, in the PAC-12. Last question for the mailbag here today. Let's go to James C. James C writes, and he says, Hey, Joel, end team, big fan of the show, and appreciate the way you break down the game and bring your enthusiasm for every episode. Thank you, James. Appreciate that.

My question is surrounding your baseball playing days. Okay. When did you realize you were good and could play at the next level? And did you participate in specialized training sessions such as hitting, fielding or pitching? And if so, what age did you start? My son, JJ, is 10 and it's pretty good, but I never played. So trying to figure out how to maximize his potential and build skill while in. ensuring he has fun without burning him out. I tell you what, underline that last line in your question right there. Build skill while ensuring he has fun without burning him out. And that's where my answer will sit. Okay, let me take the first part of your question, which is, when did I realize I was good enough to play at the next level in baseball? Not until I was about a junior in high school. I don't think you can really locate these. Unless you can just see like some kid is an absolute phenom at 10 or 11 or 12, you don't see it then. You might see some skills here and there, but you don't see it, right?

Like, you don't know if you can play at the next level until you get into the middle of high school. All right. That's, I was literally going into my junior year when I finally started like hitting a few home runs. And then because I played other sports, I was training physically for other sports. So I played basketball. I played football.

I played baseball year round. In the summer, I did all three. for my high school team. You know, like we'd play summer basketball games. We would play seven on seven against other teams for football in the mornings. And then we'd play an afternoon baseball game. I think you should play all the sports, all the sports you can. In fact, I don't think you should do any specialization.

And to this point, I didn't do any specialized training sessions. I just played. And I think that's something that is lost on this current generation. Because there are a lot of leeches right now in youth sports. a lot of leeches in the form of club sport coaches that are trying to make a living just being a coach. So they convince you to pay them 10 or 12 or 13 grand a year so that your kid can be on some travel soccer team or baseball team all year. And he's got to be there all year. Why?

So that they can charge you 13 grand. And they do that for 20 kids. And that's how they make their living. Right. Like that's not what you have to do. You don't have to travel around to play baseball and learn how to become a good baseball player. Guess what you've got to do? play, just play.

In fact, you know what you should do for JJ? Your son who's 10? Buy a wiffle ball bat. Tell him to get his four closest buddies in the neighborhood and go play wiffle ball. Throw scroogey, throw curve balls. Learn how to hit that with the skinny yellow bat. That's who you develop skills.

Do you know why the guys in professional baseball from Latin America have better skills than the American players? You know, their hands are better. Their hands are quicker. Their arms are stronger. They generally have quicker bats, quicker gloves. Do you know why? They play more. They play on terrible fields in Latin America. And they don't care. And so they play every single day. And those guys come to professional

baseball and their skills are so superior to the American players because all the American players are thinking about spin rates and my special coach tells me to throw it this way. And they're all robots and I'm hitting at this angle. Just hit. What are you talking about? So that's my advice for you is like, let your son play. Play wiffle ball, play other sports,

and become good at competing. Because this is another skill that I think kids, I think it's a lost art, by the way, is that we've taught them how to specialize with skill in every sport, by the way. Club soccer, club volleyball, club baseball, club everything. And you've got to play it year,

around and people make you feel like your kid's not going to be able to play on the high school team unless he does this club sport. Bull crap. If your kid is good enough, he'll play on the high school team. You know what he needs to learn? He needs to learn how to compete. He needs to learn how to develop physically in a multitude of different sports so that he's not just a robot in one sport. It's good to get out there and develop lateral quickness from playing basketball. It's good to go run track and develop your speed. It's good to play football and lift in the offseason to get strength because I didn't even start hitting home runs until I started lifting for football. It's a long rant to tell you what's going on now in youth sports is not correct.

Kids should play in the neighborhood with each other. Go play wiffle ball. Go play football. Learn how to compete. Because guess what? At some point, you're going to be in an at bat in a crucial situation. The ball is going to find your hands in a basketball game with the clock, dwindling down in the quarter, half, or even the game.

You're going to be out there playing defense or offense in a football game in the waning moments in a two-minute situation. And it's going to matter whether you know how to handle yourself under pressure. The only way to learn that is to be under pressure, not hit in some controlled environment with a specialized coach. Man, I got into that one. James, that was a good question, my friend. That ended up being a clat chat right there. That was a nice little clatch chat, and I'm here for it. You can send us your questions.

We'll continue to do mailbag throughout the year. The Joel Clashow Mailbag at gmail.com. Send them in. You can send questions, like I say, about anything. You can ask me about anything. By the way, I could tell you when I realized I wasn't good enough anymore as well at baseball, and I needed an education. I may have already told that story.

Maybe we'll bring that back at some point. You can follow the show on social media, wherever you get your social media, at Joel Clashio. And then wherever you're listening on audio, make sure to subscribe, leave us, rate us, review us. And then if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe there and like us, and then leave us a comment below. That's going to do it.

We've got previews coming up tomorrow. We've got a bunch of good games coming up this weekend. So we've got previews tomorrow right here on the Joel Clashio. Thanks for listening, everybody. And we'll be back tomorrow with another episode.