The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Toughest Places to Play in CFB & more Mailbag Questions with Special Guest Sara Klatt!

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

In this special Mailbag edition of the podcast, FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt ranks his top 5 toughest places to play in the Big Ten and all of College Football. He answers questions about the transition from high school and college sports towards the future before welcoming in a very special guest: his wife, Sara! Sara joins in to answer more listener-submitted questions about what it’s been like watching Joel as a player and now broadcaster. She also gives some proposal advice and clarifies a few things about Joel’s telling of their own proposal story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're not really romantic, but you're very stable. Oh, thank you. That's what every man really strives for us to be stable. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again.

What's up, everybody? Welcome into the Joel Clat Show. Very excited about this edition of the Joel Clad Show. First and foremost, make sure you're subscribing on YouTube. Leave a comment on YouTube. We are narrowing in on about 150,000 subscribers. Help us get there, invite a friend. And if you're listening and not on YouTube,

make sure to get there and subscribe to the show. And again, leave a comment. I like to jump in there and hash it out with you guys on YouTube. Okay, mailbag edition of the Joel Clashio. Love these mailbag additions. A lot of life questions coming in. I mean, like a lot of life. Maybe it's just because it's the spring.

I'm not sure, but we got a lot of that coming at you today, and I've got a special guest. That's right. And it's almost Mother's Day, hint, and it's almost my anniversary. Another hint. But here we go. Let's dive in right away. We start with Blake. Blake writes in, he's got a football question.

He says, hey, big fan of the podcast and show would be interested in hearing your top five list for toughest places to play in the new big 10. Can't wait for the 24, 2025 season. Blake, I'm also interested in the new Big Ten what that's going to look like. But I didn't want to just keep it to just the Big Ten. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to go five to one in terms of the Big Ten toughest places to play. Then I'm going to zoom out a little bit.

And I'm going to take you into what I would consider the five toughest places to play in college football. Now, truth be told, a lot of this has to do with how good your team is. I think that that's pretty obvious. But I also tried to really focus in. on the environments, and in particular for a giant game. Okay, so these environments in a big game, these are the best ones. These are the toughest ones.

Let's start in the Big Ten. All right, number five, I think in the new Big Ten, Washington is number five. When you think of that game last year against Oregon, the noise up in Husky Stadium, it's a great fan base. It's a proud program. I like Washington as my number five. Number four is going to be Michigan, and this one's a little bit more towards the team has been really good over the last couple of years.

Because truth be told, it's not the loudest venue in college football. Do a lot of games there. And that's not a knock. It's just the way it's built. There's no, you know, two decks. The fans kind of go out and back away in the big house, which is fine. I think it's the mystique. I think it's obviously the quality of the opponent now facing Michigan the last

couple of years, but Michigan comes in at number four. Stadium that's a little bit louder, Ohio State, at number three. Now, Ohio State, because of the way the shoe is constructed, the intimidation of the shoe, the way it all kind of plays out, I've got Ohio State at number three. That leaves two spots left. At number two, I'm going in the new Big Ten with Oregon. Listen, Austin Stadium, I think, is one of the most underrated environments in all of college football. I know it's not a giant stadium in terms of total number of seats, but man, it's loud.

And they get going in there. They get going and they're intelligent. They understand the game. They know when to get loud. And so I've got Oregon at number two. And I think that the best environment in the new big 10 is a white out at Penn State. So Penn State would be the toughest environment. Every time I talk with anybody who's going on the road,

they always say the same thing. Penn State, toughest environment of the Big Ten. So there's that. Now, old school Nebraska would have been on this list, but they're just not tough enough as a team yet. Wisconsin, I thought about Wisconsin. I thought about Iowa. All those places, tough places, but I had to just limit it to five. So let's put together all of college football. Let's widen out, okay? Zoom out a little bit. Five to one toughest environments in college football. Five Clemson. They had a stretch where they went 62 and one at home from 2013 to

2022. That's ridiculous. So yes, it's a combination of their team has been really good, but that's also a place that's just ridiculously tough to play great environment there. Number four, one of the ones I just mentioned, Oregon. Again, one of the most underrated home field advantage advantages in all of college football. It's loud, it's terrific, great fan base. That's number four. Number three is Bama. I think Bama is intimidating for a lot of different reasons. One, it's Alabama. Two, there's a hundred thousand. And three, like, they just don't generally lose there. They really don't. That's what made Texas as win there last fall so impressive and should have opened our eyes up to how good Texas was going to be for the remainder of the season.

Leaves two spots left. Number two, Penn State. That wide out environment again in a big game, it's really tough to beat. There's only one thing that beats it. And that is LSU at night. LSU at night, even though, truth be told, I haven't called a game at LSU in particular at night, but just watching it, talking with people around the sport, LSU, that's the toughest road environment in college football. So Blake, appreciate your question, man. Very good one. All right. Bailey says, recently I graduated college with my MBA, and I found my first career at a company with great people with great morals and ethics.

That's awesome, Bailey. I'm happy for you about that. He said, I played baseball in college and sometimes struggle finding the same itch and passion. I totally understand that as well. My question is for you and your time. How did you cope with college sports being over? And how did you find your passion and what you wanted to do in life? I would really love to hear your advice and how you handled being a recent grad.

Bailey, that is one of the toughest moments for any athlete at any level. guys go through it whether they're done in the college level, I think high school level, and even at the pro level. People just think like, oh, man, these NFL players, that must be great and they're always set. They're set for life. Well, not always. And once football is over, the toughest part is that you lose part of your identity. And I think that that's a problem. So the first thing that I would say, Bailey, is that, one, you have to have your identity in something other than baseball. All right. And the success and the passion that you had in baseball. You have to be able to define yourself outside of that. I think that's an important

piece. And that was certainly an important piece in my journey. The other side of this that I would say, and this is more on a professional side, is that you've got to be willing to go back to the bottom rung of the ladder. You see, for athletes, it's so tough for us because in particular, if you've played in college or even post-college in professional sports, you've taken the hard road, The very difficult road. You've done things that 0.01% of people do, and it's been very difficult. And the thought of going back to the beginning, it's like, oh, man, it blows everybody's mind. I don't want to go back to the beginning.

You've got to be humble enough and be willing enough to go back to the beginning. And that's how you'll end up finding another passion. I didn't know I was going to love broadcasting. I really didn't. And all of a sudden, I found myself doing a, to be honest with you, kind of a low rent radio show in Denver. Not many people were listening. Me and my partner would have to set up our own remote shows, our own remote shows. And one time a Taco Bell paid us to do a show in downtown Denver from the Taco Bell.

We had to set up our own remote, which meant that I had to go find a phone line to plug into so that our technology, our box could go out through the airwaves. knew it would go back to the studio. This is all before like the Comrex boxes got a lot better from an internet perspective. So we had to literally plug into a phone line. Well, guess what I did? I'm two years removed from playing in an NFL camp. I want my life to look like a very successful life. And I was on my hands and knees in a Taco Bell kitchen running a phone line to plug in in the office in the back office so I could do a low rent radio show. But you know what? I did it. And I found during those moments doing those shows that no one was listening to, I started to love broadcasting, talking about the things that I was passionate about and trying to communicate

them to people like you in the most easily digestible way possible. Okay, so that's what I'm now passionate about. Well, I found that because you go back to zero and you start to build on those things. So be willing to do that. And also, I wouldn't try to, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I would try to really do a good job of not having your identity in your baseball career. I think that's an important piece. All right. Adam B. writes in.

He says, Hi, Joel. My son loves football and actually starts on his high school football team. Oh, good for him. I always tell him that after his last game of his senior year, that will be it for him forever. Okay.

I explained to him that we all have to hang up the cleats eventually. It's just a matter of when. Wow. I'm also hoping my blunt advice lets him know to cherish every moment of this upcoming senior year. Interesting. Do you think I am in the right or wrong on this? Should more parents be honest with their kids and maybe take off the parent goggles and be honest with their kids and even themselves? Wow. Adam, there's a lot to unpack in that question. And that one's very deep. Truth be told, my dad was exactly like you. so he used to tell me that college football was not in my future. And he believed he was protecting me, just like as you said, you said, hoping my blunt advice lets him know to cherish every moment of his senior year. I just, here's what I would say, Adam. And this, again, this one touches close to home.

Number one, should parents take off the goggles? Yes. take them off immediately. Because parent goggles, all they do is put pressure and expectations on your kids that are not fair to them. So at every level, in particular, you Little League parents, and I see all of you out there all the time. Oh my gosh, it's unbelievable. Take the parent goggles off. Take them off.

Because it's not fair to your kids, all right? They're not there to make you feel better about yourself. So take number one, take the parent goggles off. That was a good part of this, Adam B. And then there's this other part about like, are you trying to protect your son by telling him like, hey, it's going to end? Here's the truth, though, Adam. It's going to end at some point.

So you don't have to tell him when. Does that make sense? Here's what I would say. And it ties a little bit in with my last answer. And that is, if your son's identity is wrapped up in football, it's going to end at some point. High school, college, at some point, he might get injured. All right. And then it's going to be incredibly difficult for him to move on if that's where his identity is. All right. I think you should be more concerned with that.

Because when it comes to athletics and striving and goals and dreams, I say dare greatly. Okay, I don't try to hold it against my dad that he told me like, hey, you're probably not going to play college football. But then once I got there as a walk on and I looked around and I was like, hold on, yes, I can do this. I resented my dad for that for a long time. And I don't want to resent my dad because his intentions were pure, just as your intentions were pure. But I would just tell you, tell your son to dare greatly. Go after your dreams. However, the outcome of those dreams will not define him.

as a person. And that's the important piece of this. Those dreams are not going to make him happy. All right. Now, I had to find my identity, and I did a lot of work in this. I had to find my identity in Jesus Christ. All right? I had to know who he was, what he said about himself, and more importantly, what he said about me. And what he says about me is the way I define myself. But, Adam, I will dare greatly in my career as a father, and I will challenge my kids to do the same. knowing that the outcome of all of that does not define them as a person. So I would say dare greatly because it's a little bit, and you can get into the sports psychology of this as well, you've got to go about your life, giving yourself kind of the freedom to experience happiness without the guarantee of the results that you want.

And that's, I think, an important way to live. But Adam, man, that was a great question. Good luck. Right back in and tell me how it goes. And good luck to your son. Like I said, dare greatly. Be great. Why not?

Why not? And you know what? It's going to end. So what if it ends in high school? Maybe it ends after high school. All of that is just fine. Just give yourself permission to be happy regardless of that outcome. Okay.

I think it's time for a special guest in particular after a deep question like that. So here's what we're going to do. In honor of Mother's Day on Sunday, a very, very happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there. And next week is my 19th wedding anniversary to my lovely bride. And as you know, I tease it on Twitter. We do have a guest. Give it up. It's a slow clap edition. Sarah Klatz's coming in. She's joined in the program. She's right here. This is my first guest, babe, on the Joel Klatt show, at least in studio. It's not quite a big noon conversation. This is just more like a.

A joint effort? Would you, is that what you want to say? So like a joint effort mailbag? Great. Great. Whatever you say. Great. Whatever I say.

That's the first time she's ever said that. But that's all right. Okay. Are you ready, babe? I am. First of all, can I say I really liked your answer to Adam? Oh, thanks. Yeah, it was good.

I appreciate that. I'm proud of you. Oh, thanks. Yeah. That's like my number one goal in life is to make her proud of me. You do it. I appreciate that. Okay, babe.

I'm going to give you these cold. She doesn't know these questions. Probably not a good idea, but you know what? 19 years. We'll be fine. We'll be fine. Lucas says, you ready, babe? Yep.

Hey, my name is Lucas. I met Joel at the University of Oklahoma when I worked for the football team. Oh, Lucas? Good to chat again. Hi, Joel. I'd love to ask Mrs. Clatt a question. As a mother, you ready? Yep.

Or wife. Would you call a run or pass play on 3? On third and four, I'm the quarterback, Cadarius, Tony is our best wide receiver, but we have Derek Henry in the backfield. It's third and four. Would you call a runner a pass? You were the quarterback? I'm the quarterback. It's a hard one, especially because I know what none of that means.

Lucas. Let me explain something. I have been married to Joel for 19 years. Almost 19 years. You got it. Let's clarify that. you have quoted 18 years. We're in our 18th year of marriage.

Coming up on 19. We dated and we got married while he was playing at Colorado. That's true. And I did not marry Joel for his football knowledge. What? And I watch his games to watch him, but I don't understand any of it. So that was all a completely different language. I will take a team with you as my quarterback.

Or you don't know what you want to do, run or pass. Okay, so that means that it's... Do you know what we would have to do on fourth down? That's third down with four yards to go. Yes. Until you get another first down. That's correct. I know that part.

I would probably run it because then we need to get another first down. We do need another first down. And it's only... It's only four yards. So that's like pretty... Pretty easy. Yeah. Yeah.

We got Derek Henry. Thanks, Lucas. Appreciate the question. Just push over the line and you're good. Push over the line and you're good. Uh-huh. I'm going to use that this fall at some point. Okay.

It says, hi, Joel and team. I think your team, babe. I saw Joel's tweet that his wife Sarah was going to be answering questions. By the way, this comes in from, I think this is Susan. It's one of our lady listeners. I love it. Okay, Susan says, saw Sarah was going to be answering questions in the next episode. I thought or asked her a question.

Joel has talked about how you two have been together since college. You just referenced that. Did you enjoy watching Joel when he was playing or was it nerve-wracking? And what's it like for you now during a game that he's calling on Saturdays? Okay, Susan, I am the oldest of four girls. And so I actually, again, don't know a lot about football. So going to football games was a social event for me. And usually I would leave at half time to do homework or study or write a paper. So when we- She was super cool. So when we, before we started dating, he would say that he didn't think he had a shot with me because I wouldn't even stay to watch and play, which was true. But I mean, we were friends.

We weren't dating. Once we did start dating, I obviously stayed at his games. And I actually like traveled with your parents to all the away games. Can you take me into like a conversation with my dad? So my dad was a high school football coach, very intense. Like get to the game three, four hours in advance. Just lots of nervous energy. My mom too. My mom was like a very intense sports fan.

What was that like for you like not knowing about the game? Well, not growing up around that and then seeing how intense they were. I wouldn't eat all day because we would show up multiple hours beforehand after being... They wouldn't feed you? Well, it would be like, we're going to stop at Subway on the way. And then his dad would be like, oh, we better get there. And then we'd like walk around the stadium five times before it would even open. So I had some like, I remember...

He's so great. I love you, dad. I love you, dad. I loved Kansas State because they had like the purple cat corn. You could get kettle corn. I always looked forward to that because I could eat that. But there wasn't a lot of eating. And he would try to, he definitely was like, who is this girl that Joel's bringing around?

Because she knows nothing. And he was a high school football coach for 30 years. So, right? 30. So he tried to teach me things like the red zone. And I still don't know what that is. Do you know what the red zone is? It's like towards the, towards the end zone.

Yes. It's true. Yeah. It's somewhere over there. I love it. But so when we were dating and when we were married, was it nerve-wracking? It was nerve-wracking. I always just didn't want you to get hurt.

And as a result, I also want you to make your plays, too, because then you would be... Happier? Yeah. Because my identity was tied to my 60s. I had to do a lot of work on that. Don't worry. I helped. We did it.

We came through. But I would say... that as a result, when I watch football now, unless I'm like, you know, it's like the Broncos are playing and I want the Broncos doing because we're, like, I don't really have a team. And so I will, or if the buffs are playing, because I do love the buffs.

I root for the quarterback because I always, so like whoever's playing, I just want the quarterback to make their plays. I don't want the quarterback to get sacked because that's what, you know, caused anxiety back then. I didn't want you to get hurt. I watched you get hurt. It's really bad when you got a concussion in the Big 12 championship.

And I remember thanking God at that point because you were, you were totally getting killed. And I remember sitting there and just praying like, okay, at least like Lord, he's getting killed, but at least he hasn't gotten hurt. And literally two seconds later, you got knocked out. So it was nerve-wracking. As far as like TV, though, I don't get nervous.

I mean, because you just like, it's just what you do. You're good at it. Thanks. Thanks. You're doing great. You were nervous before this. You're doing great.

I mean, I don't do this. So, like, I don't understand how, like, the red light goes on and you just, like, start talking. But you do. Good job. Mary. Mary says, hello, Sarah. A while back, Joel told the story of how he proposed to you. And while it was sweet, he also noted how it didn't go exactly how he thought it would go and was sure.

that you had figured it out. I'm curious if his telling of the story matched up with how you remember it. Happy Mother's Day. Mary? Mary, it was pretty spot on. I literally got dressed that night thinking, what do I want to wear when I get engaged? Because, I mean, we were in college and we did not go to nice restaurants. And he had asked me, like, what are we doing Friday night?

Let's go to the Chautauqua House, which was like, a fancy restaurant that we'd never been to. And previous to that, his roommate Sam, hi Sam, was spitting in a Shane Company water bottle. And then I found like the jeweler card, business card on his dresser. And mind you, like we had looked at rings. We did know like the timing that it would have to happen based on the football season. So I knew it was like coming and then all the red flags were there. So I knew down to the day when it was coming.

So it was very, it was a star. You couldn't remember what was on the hill. I said it was a cross. It was a star in lights on the mountain. And I was going to take her to the middle of the star. And then she said she hated the star. Fun. Yeah.

I mean, we were driving straight towards it and it was right in front of me. And I didn't know that's where we were going. So on the night that you knew you were going. get engaged, you just decided to just decided to talk about what you hated. Well, yeah, you weren't like the romantic type that was going to take me up to the start. Has my romantic ability gone up or down or stayed level in the last 19 years? I mean, it's, it's probably this may be declined. You're not really romantic, but you're very stable.

Oh, thank you. That's what every man really strives for us, just to be. stable. All right. Here we go. Last one. Are you ready? Yeah. This one comes in from Will. He says, I was wondering if you could give me some advice you, babe, regarding my proposal plan to my girlfriend. We have been dating for about a year and a half now and she is the love of my life. Good for you, Will. I have what I think would be the perfect plan for a proposal, which would be in June 2025. So a year. That's a year. You have a perfect plan for 13 months from now? Okay. However, she has told me numerous signs that bad? Well, I mean, there might be like a trip planned that he's like,

that would be great to do it. I mean, I can see it. Just drive up to the star, Will. She'll love it. She has told me numerous times that she wants our wedding to be in January of 2026. Wow. You guys have like figured out. My question to you is this. If she wants to have her wedding in January of 26, shall I change my proposal plan to do it sooner to give us more time to plan the wedding? All I want to do is make her happy and give her the proposal and wedding that she has always dreamed of no matter the time frame. Thank you. says, well, what do you think, babe? Well, he says he wants to ask her in June 25, she wants a wedding basically six months after

that. She sounds like a very lucky girl because you seem to really care about making her happy. That being said, it just depends on what kind of girl she is. First of all, if you've already been dating this long, it's like that's another year. I mean, we're, we dated for a year before we got engaged. And then our engagement was only five months. So here's what I have to say. Like, I don't believe in long engagements myself.

And I don't think that they're necessary. But if she's the type who wants to spread out all the planning. Yeah, I guess it would depend on. What's her wedding? Right? Like, what's, well, you've got to figure out these plans because she has a date. But it's like, what does her wedding look like? Because if it's extravagant, she's going to need more than six months.

Yeah, possibly. I mean, I got my wedding dress at the Denver Convention Center for $200. We were poor college kids. So yeah, you're very stable. Thank you. Good job. But sometimes wedding dresses take like six months to make. So it just depends on what type of wedding she wants. I would say it's if you think she would be disappointed. And also if you're talking about this now and she's like anticipating it. and then she's waiting for a year for you to actually propose, that might be kind of disappointing as well. I was the opposite. Like I thought I'd be getting married at 28. Should she? Wait, what, 28?

Yeah, I just always thought like 20, you get married when you're 28. And then we had been dating for five months and you wanted to go look at rings. I mean, I knew. Like, I love you. I knew too. But I was just kind of like, whoa, like, this is how it happens. You're very stable. Thank you.

It's the first time she's ever used that word describing me. So glad she did it with hundreds of thousands of people listening. Okay. So do we think that your advice to Will is ask her about the wedding she has planned? Like, babe, tell me what you want our wedding to look like. That seems innocuous enough. Yeah. And I think it just depends on like what you're perfect.

Like if you know you want to marry her, I don't think you have to wait. Just ask her. Unless it's like, oh, I don't have money for a ring. I don't think that's just hold you back either. Would you consider a red flag if the way he proposes, like impacts the way she feels about him? Well, yes, that would be a red flag. But I have faith that that's not the situation. Oh, good.

I think, if anything, based on what he wrote in, he just doesn't want her to be disappointed. That's true. So if you're concerned that she would be disappointed, I would say act on that. and sooner is better than later. But six months to plan a wedding is totally fine. It's doable, unless it's extravagant. Hey, thank you. Yeah, anytime.

Of course. Do you want to make it a regular appearance or no? No, it's okay. No, I'm good. I love you. Love you too. Thank you. All right.

That's going to do it for this edition of the Joel Clatt show. For Sarah Clatt, I'm Joel Clatt. We'll see you next week.