The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Urban Meyer on Ohio State-Texas, Big Ten vs SEC & Klatt’s Best Value Bets for the Season

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Fox Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt is joined by Urban Meyer to break down the huge Week 1 matchup between #3 Ohio State and #1 Texas. Coach discusses the challenges of trying to repeat as National Champion and explains what he would be asking of Arch Manning and Julian Sayin in this opening game. The two also discuss how the gap between the Big Ten and SEC has shifted since Coach Meyer’s days winning titles at Florida and Ohio State. Klatt then reacts to the news that Michigan True Freshman Bryce Underwood will be their starting QB this season and what will be expected of him. He then gives out his best value bets for the upcoming season including his favorite Heisman bets. Chapters 0:00-1:50 Intro1:51-2:55 Urban Meyer joins the show!2:56-5:25 What are the biggest keys in the matchup between Texas and Ohio State?5:26-7:51 Julian Sayin will be making his first career start vs. Arch Manning & Longhorns7:52-14:05 Urban Meyer’s advice to QBs14:06-15:31 Will Arch Manning live up to the immense hype?15:32-17:29 Expectations for Steve Sarkisian and the longhorns this season?17:30-22:52 Which conference has the edge in college football?22:53-30:18 the challenges of trying to repeat as a national champion30:19-35:38 Michigan names Bryce Underwood as starting QB35:39- Klatt’s best value bets Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How are you ever going to replace Marvin Harrison? Bang. How are you going to replace Garrett Wilson? Bang. How are you going to replace a mecca? You know, it just sits nonstop. This battle between Lincoln Keynotes and Julian Sand has reminded them of the Haskins Borough battle. I'm hearing the word placement.

I'm hearing the word national champion first pick over on. Arch Manning hasn't done a thing yet. I think the big one has much improved and certainly has taken over the top conference in college football. Day like today is why we love college football. Welcome into the program. This is the Joel Clatt show. I am Joel Clatt. This show, as always, is brought to you by The Graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support as always. We've got a huge show for you here today. We got a great guess and then some news that we're coming off of over the first couple of days of the week, including a little bit of a mailbag here. We got a

question coming in on the mailbag and some exciting things I want to touch on in the mailbag. Before we get into this interview, though, remember go and subscribe on the YouTube channel. That's you're going to find all of our content. That's where our best content is. So subscribe. You're going to know when everything drops right there. Leave a comment below and we can get into a conversation during the course of the week. And then wherever you like to social media, we're there. You can follow all of our content all season long right there at Joel Clatt Show wherever you like the social media. We are there. So in preparation for the huge game, gigantic game, big noon Saturday, Ohio State and Texas this Saturday, we thought,

What better person to talk to than Urban Meyer? So without further ado, let's go to Coach Meyer and let's break down this huge matchup now. Here we go. So here he is, Coach Meyer. I've always wanted you on the show and now we finally get you on the show. So how you doing, man? Ready to go. We have a big one coming up.

I get to see you and what's at a week now, right? Yeah, that's right. We're recording this and we're getting all set for week one. and this is one of the biggest games that I can ever remember for an opener to have these two brands with this quarterback, Ohio State coming off of a national title. Coach, you've been around this sport for a long time. Can you remember a bigger opener in the history of our sport? I can't. I remember last year we covered the Wolverines against Texas, and they were coming off a national title, but the Wolverines weren't expected. They didn't have a quarterback.

So they weren't expected to battle for a spot. We played Oklahoma on the row, but not in the opener. So to answer your question, I don't know if I, in my lifetime that I've even seen this. No, this is going to be in a lot of ways historic and it's going to be a giant game. And what's so fascinating is both of these teams are actually replacing a fair bit of very good players. You know, Texas has to rebuild their offensive line, both of them getting new quarterbacks, although Arch is a little bit of a known commodity because he started twice last year. What do you expect from the Buckeyes this year, Coach?

14 guys drafted such a veteran team a year ago, in particular on the defensive line. You know, where do you think that Ohio State will be strong? And where are your concerns for the Bucs going into this game? You know, I'm knee deep in those, like we all do, we take time off. and then I started really grinding on this thing because this, we got a three-hour show and plus, you know, it's Ohio State, Texas, my goodness.

So, to me, it's going to be on the quarterback because receiver is, they're not, they're not far off from where they were. Obviously, you got the best in the country. And what Brian Hartline, the offense coordinator and receiver coach has done there, I made the comment earlier on another show that, I think it's unparalleled.

I don't think that I've ever witnessed a better recruiter for a position. I mean, we had great defensive ends. So Larry Johnson, we had that run where you had first rounder, first rounder, first rounder, first rounder, Kerry Combs, all those first rounders at corner. But at the receiver position, and maybe overall, I don't know if I've ever seen anything like this,

where how are you ever going to replace Marvin Harrison? Bang. You know, how are you going to replace Garrett Wilson? Bang. How are you going to replace a mecca? You know, it just sits nonstop. So Julian's saying is going to be the, the biggest question mark

offense line I'm hearing they lost four starters but it's the best step they've had and they feel really good about the O line the tight end transfer from Purdue is an excellent player very athletic which you saw that but I'm hearing he's really athletic and then Carnell Tate

and Innes at the other receiver spots to compliment Jeremiah so a long-witted answer is I don't think there's much of a drop-off early in the year they're probably going to have to. I don't see them scoring a ton of points early. I see them hanging in there and playing, especially in this one.

It's going to get real easy for a while after this one until they play the Big Ten schedule. But I see this being kind of a low-scoring game, winning with defense until that offense gets cooking. It's a fascinating matchup because Julian's saying, and I think your perspective on this would be really good because you were involved in this comparison. Some around the program and even in the program have told me that this battle between Keenholz, Lincoln Keenholz, and Julian Sane,

has reminded them in some ways of the Haskins Borough battle that took place, you know, late in your tenure there at Ohio State. And ultimately, you guys landed on Dwayne Haskins. He went out and set a Big Ten record, 50 touchdown passes. And his arm talent and his ability to throw the football was elite. And that showed up. There's no doubt. And they're saying that this is similar, where it's Julian's ability to throw the football,

is just brings the ceiling so much higher, in particular with the weapons on the outside, like Smith and Tate and Ennis, like you were mentioning, that they've got to go with saying, but Keenholz made it tough just because of his grittiness, his athleticism, maybe not in direct comparison to the style of Burrow, But this idea that there's this gritty competitor there that just made it tough on them to name a starter. I would be interested in your feeling about a guy like Julian saying with that makeup,

being maybe 6-1, maybe 210 pounds, not a guy that's going to run the football a lot or any amount, very similar to Duane. And what do you think he has to do early in this season and maybe specifically against Texas. I think he I hate to say it like this because you never want your quarterback playing like this. I'm talking to a former quarterback. He can't screw it up. Yeah. You know, he's got he's got a, I'm sure, you know, they got excellent coaches and Ryan's expert quarterback coach. You give them so many easy throws. You don't need to win this game, Julian. You do not have to do that. You have enough cats around you. So you're going to see a bunch of screens. I would imagine to Jeremiah and that

crew, you're going to see a strong run game. You're going to see. easy throws. And you know what? If you don't, and I would always tell these young quarterbacks, give us two first downs and your job is accomplished. That's all you got to do. Because we are going to your legs, your meaning? Like get, get me too cheap ones. Just just your mindset as you go into each drive. Get two first downs because in games like this, I see. You're talking to special teams. I'm sorry. I wanted to frame this. Okay. And young quarterbacks, if you, the way the mind works is especially, you know, the older guys, you can say whatever you want to, with a young player, especially that,

position, you start saying things, damn, that is a little bit too much to grasp. They start to shut down a little bit and get panicky. If you used to tell a quarterback, hey, Joel, you're my quarterback. You're young guy. Just visualize this. We're playing in front of $110,000, $30 million on TV. Get us two first downs and look around. And I used to do this.

I said, look around. You got Jeremiah right there. You got the tight end. You got this up. All we need is 20 yards. And we'll win this game. And all of a sudden you see this young player say, damn, I can do that.

Two first downs. And in the course of the game, other things are going to happen. But as long as you're playing on that side of the field, which you will with two first downs, I think Ohio State wins the game. If you say to the quarterback, you know, different things that I've heard my position coach is saying, even I've said, and I say, why did I say that? And you can see his reaction, he's overwhelmed. And that kid's going to be overwhelmed enough with the environment.

But the game plan has got to be set as such. just get you two first downs and the Buckeyes will find a way I think to win the game. Coach, forgive me if you've said this on Big Noon and I missed it. But like, I've never heard you say that. And I've never heard it put so simply. The simplicity of that for a young quarterback, I think, is remarkable. I've heard of get two first downs situationally when you're backed up. You know, obviously we would talk a lot about that in our quarterback room.

But I'm thinking back to my first start or first start. first couple of starts or maybe my first road start. And you're exactly right. You know, the fire hose turns on. You can try to be as prepared as you want, but the emotions and the fire hose of that game turns on. And all of a sudden, the amount of information that's trying to race through your head is too much. And there is paralysis that takes place. And then if you're not playing fast, you're going to be late. And if you're late, you turn the football over. So could you give me an example of any time you said that to a young quarterback and maybe which guys it was? Maybe it was all of them earlier in their career.

But like, could you give me an example of a moment or a game or a matchup when you said to your quarterback exactly what you just told us? Yeah, I'm thinking our first win ever as a head coach at Bowling Green. You know, we're going to play Missouri. We have no business playing with Missouri. The team I took over, I think it was one in ten. and a lot of guys quit, and we had 56 players on our team. And you're allowed to travel 70,

and we had a bunch of open seats on the plane flying to Columbia, Missouri. And I remember the mindset, if I told that team, let's go beat Missouri. You know, the reaction had been like the same mind. That's not going to happen. You know, what are you talking about? But our whole message to the team was, let's get first down, you know, get 10 yards.

And I would actually stand them there and say, there's 10 yards. You tell me 11 people together, can't go from there to there. Of course you can't. Look, I mean, that's why we've been training like maniacs. If I said to them, let's go beat Missouri, your mind will shut down on you. That's an infatheavalable goal.

You can't, that's not going to happen. But I can get you two first outs. And then on defense, just tackle them. Keep the ball in front of you. You know what? You're going to give up plays. Get them on the ground. And you know what's going to happen in the fourth quarter?

We're all going to take a look. And this game's going to be. 21, 16, or it's going to be 17, 14. If we do those two things. If we don't, we'll get blown out. And then we go home and lick our wounds and try to find a way to get a win. But I don't want to act like it as a profit or something like that. But that's exactly what happened in that game.

We got a first down. And I saw the players, my whole career, I've been into the mindset of a player. That's all I cared about is the mindset of a player. And if you're asking people to do something they can't do, you know what they do, right? they shut down on you. If you ask them to do something that's within reason, that's when they get all motivated and they can do it. And so I want to say most quarterbacks,

even veteran quarterbacks in the big moments in the national championship game, that was my message. Get two first downs and you know what? We're fine. Because we never had really bad defenses. We always had good defense. Our punt team was always elite. We spent so much time on that part of the game.

And those big games, you start up. putting quarterbacks in bad situation. Oh, Cardell Jones. It's Cardell Jones first start against Wisconsin. It was not, hey, we're going to score 59 points and blow them out. Hey, Cardell, get two first downs, and we're good. So, you go in, obviously, J.T. tears his knee up. And you go in and you're about to play Wisconsin.

And did you tell them, look around? Like, look at what is that your disability? Like, look around. You're fine. and I'm assuming that Ryan's got to give that message to Julian San. Because when you look around, I know they're replacing a lot on defense, but, coach, that defense has a chance to be a very good defense. I think that there might be some question marks about the depth of the defensive tackle position.

You know, there's not a lot of experience there. But you start looking at, you know, your two backup corners are going to be former five-star corners. and Devin Sanchez and Aaron Scott. You've got Igbenoson and Jermaine Matthews are your starting corners, who, by the way, were on the field for the entire second half of the semifinal against this Texas team a year ago. You know, Jermaine Matthews is not an inexperienced player in that regard.

You've got the two leaders of the team in styles and downs. You know, like all of a sudden you start looking around, and I think to your point, you know, for Julian saying, And it really is going to be, all right, listen, I'm a piece of this machine and a couple of first downs at home and let that defense get going is the right mindset. However, let's look at the other side. If you're Steve Sarkesian and Arch Manning, is it a similar message? Or is the expectation of his play already heightened to the point where he's got to go out there and play elite football? I'm very conservative about that position because absolutely.

Arch Manning hasn't done a thing yet. I went back, because I've said a few times since some people hit me back saying, what are you talking about? I'm hearing the word Heisman. I'm hearing the word national champion, first pick over. And I went back and rewatched it just recently. He's a good player. I mean, he's a really good player, but he's not, you know,

get a couple first downs. Texas is going to have a good defense. So I'd be shocked if you saw something wild with these two teams early in the game. The other thing I would add with both these quarterbacks, I'd be very restrictive as far as throwing that ball between the hash marks. You played quarterback. Your heart starts beats like that point guard that gets all excited. You know what happens.

The ball is always bouncing off the back of the rim. Why? That's right. Because he's excited. It's called adrenaline. Same thing with the quarterback. The overstride, the ball goes high on the outside. It's incomplete pass, but the ball play, good defense.

We get the ball back. You throw that sucker over the middle high. You can lose a game. Tips and overthrows. Always get picked. off. I think it's two first downs, man. Two first downs, take care of that ball, distribute the ball to your playmakers and enjoy yourself out there. That's what I would tell that quarterback. The expectations for Texas and Steve Sarkesian, have you been impressed from afar watching him

build that program? Remember, for years, you know, as you are winning a national championship and playing at the top of college football, Texas was in the desert. You know, they were trying to find themselves after their run a decade of success under Mac Brown, and they just couldn't get back. And here Steve Sarkesian has come in and solidified that program. They are unquestionably one of the best teams in the country. They've played in back-to-back national semifinals. Have you been impressed with what Steve has done, reinventing himself after early career struggles, and now what he is is as the Longhorns Head Coach? Yeah, I don't know Coach Sarkesian well. I met him a few times. He's been very gracious to us every time we've covered them.

You know, they invite us here. He always comes over. We talk and all that. But I just, as a fan of the game, he did have some struggles, some personal struggles to go on top of it. That's well documented. You know, you're the head coach at young age at Washington and then USC, and then it falls apart. And he comes back stronger than ever. You know, he's part of the Nick Sabin, you know, crew that got their life back together.

And every time I've been around him, he's A-plus. Every time I've watched a practice, it's A-plus. Every time I talk to people on his coaching staff, which I have known several of them, I got so much respect for that guy, what he's done, what he's done personally, what he's done for that program. How does Texas, and I throw USC in there too, how are you not good at those places? Yeah. I don't, there's certain places. I'll throw Utah in there.

I'll throw Nebraska in there. I'll throw some other places in there that, you know, how are you, it's a battle. How are you not good there? Texas has it all within five hours, and same with the USC, and a great tradition to go with it. So, yeah, I'm very impressive with what he's done. This gauntlet that they have to go through in the SEC,

it's different now than when you were in the SEC just because of the addition of Texas and Oklahoma, and just like the Big Ten is different with the addition of those West Coast schools. But can you give me a sense of the gauntlet, as they like to say, of the SEC schedule. What is it like really when you're in it, you're a coach, and you're facing those teams every single week? It's much different than the Big Ten.

I think the Big Ten is much improved. And certainly has taken over the top conference in college football. Certainly the top of it has. But it's also, when you added Oregon, USC, UCLA in Washington, and then you see Brett Beelma come on and the Big Ten is much, more difficult. When I first went from the SEC to the Big Ten, we were shocked. When I say we, I'm talking about Shelly. She went to all the games too. And she's like, I can't believe this. This is not comparable to what we just left. The stadium atmospheres were not. Certainly,

there was really good players, but all you do is look at the NFL draft. And SEC was here. And the Big Ten was down here. Now it's very equitable. Now it's about the same. And you can really, And you live it every week with me when you're in the Big Ten. This stadium environment is much different. The investment, these athletic directors and presidents have put in in recruiting is much different. So it's a much different animal. In 2006, I remember we had the number one most difficult schedule in college football. And everybody made a big deal of that.

And it is a big deal. That's something you cannot talk to. I'm going back to the mindset again. Don't even bring that up. I would yell at our coaches. I would yell at our sports information guy. I don't even, if I hear that from anybody in this building, it's going to be a bad day for you.

Because once again, it's the mindset. What do you, a 17-year-old, all you get being kept told how hard everything is. Right. You're going to think it's too hard. No, it's actually great, Joel. You know, what we get to do, we get to play. We're playing whoever we're playing today. Don't worry about that.

Let's find a way to get two first downs against Texas A&M or whatever it is. And it's just I see people make mistakes when they overwhelm people. And so the FCC gotlet, as good as the Big Ten is, it's still the most difficult run to go through that schedule. What was the other than just talent, which we can see in the draft, what was the actual difference? Was it size, speed, both? I would just guess it was speed.

When you first got to Ohio State, you thought to yourself, okay, the speed of this game is not anywhere close to what we just left. And yet now, when you look at it, Michigan has been faster than Alabama in two straight years. I mean, Ohio State was light years faster than Tennessee last year in the playoff and then overwhelmed, you know, the rest of their opponents during the course of that and beat Texas in the national semifinal. I would guess, coach, that speed was the difference then, and now it's totally equated. I agree with you, and we witnessed it, and I like to think we were part of that change, that the Big Ten used to be a footprint recruiting conference. That means we're going to recruit our footprint. I would hear that, and I would once again tell her, I stop saying that.

We're not doing that. Would you say that to the other coaches, like in spring meetings and everything? One time I did. I kind of, I remember it got some press too, but I said, you know, we can talk about this and talk about that. I've been both played, not even close. We better start recruiting. You know, we better start getting this thing going.

And instead of worrying about footprint, you know, in this day and age with travel and everything else and access, how about going to get, when we recruited Ohio State, we would look at the five best running back plate in America. I didn't care where you're from. And the running back job was to. recruit the five best running back in America. I don't Pittsburgh, the San Antonio, it doesn't matter.

And I think that's what's happened in the Big Ten. You see players from all over the country now instead of the Midwest player. Is the Midwest player still valuable? If it's close, I probably would take that guy. But the game has changed so much, especially at the upper level of the Big Ten, you better go get the best because at some point you're going to, and it happened to the Big Ten for all. The minute they went to a bowl game, they got beat up.

Yeah. And that doesn't happen anymore. Now they're doing the part. So, yeah, it's a much, it's very similar now. And all you can do is there's two ways to evaluate it. One is the championship and the other is the NFL draft. And the Big Ten proved it's there. Well, and every year for, I think, the last four,

the team that eventually has the most players selected in the draft has one. the national championship. Georgia twice, then Michigan, then Ohio State. And we're talking about not just eight or nine guys drafted. We're talking about 12, 13, 14, 14, 15, 16 guys drafted from these rosters.

Just to put a bow on that point about recruiting nationally, immediately a guy that you recruited and ultimately landed, that maybe was traditionally not someone that would pick a Big Ten school was J.K. Dobbins. Remember from Texas.

and you go down into Texas and grab him. Jeff Okuda was one of those as well, if I'm not mistaken on the outside as a corner. And so to your point about changing the entire narrative of how Big Ten teams recruited and built their roster, you guys were at the tip of that spear, doing things like that, going in winning battles and proving to the rest of the Big Ten,

you can do this. Go down there and win and win the battles, and you guys were able to do that. and ultimately got those players up into Columbus. Coach, you have gone through three different seasons in your career now, where you were trying to repeat as national champions. Can you give us some sense of the difficulties and maybe the traps that lay in those seasons and what Ryan Day is going to have to navigate this year?

Yeah, 2006, we lost the majority of our team, and I knew it. We just didn't have. We had a great recruiting class in 06, but they weren't quite ready for prime time. That was the spikes, Percy, that group. I knew if we could somehow survive that second year, the third year, we're going to be ridiculous, which we were in 08. So that's a little different. In 2008, we had everybody back. The entire, I think, too deep was back.

And then in 14, we won it in Ohio State, and we had the majority of the team back. And that's a little different than Ohio State. They've lost a lot. However, Mack Brown and I discussed this at great length. Billy Donovan and I discussed at a great length. And then one of the guys that really shed a light on this thing was Joe Madden, the coach of the Cubs. And I went to see him in 16. You used to go see him every year when he was the manager of the Cubs.

Just he's a great guy. And we just became friends over the years. And he was miserable in 2017. He had the same team back, great players. And I think they were in still in first place. And I walk in and I look at him and I can tell and he says, this is awful. And I was like, I've been there. Everybody changes.

Everybody wants to point the finger at the players. I did it. The administration's different. Your fans are different. Your donors are different. Your coaching staff's different. Everybody walks around like you're, you know, something's changed where we're a blue collar team.

We're a blue collar people. We work our ass off. And now what, we have the answers. So I used to say that all the time. I get it now. So we have all the answers because we want it. Do you realize we're going to now, we are the target of every team in the country?

And I would try to push it down. And it's hard to do because everybody changes. And that's exactly what Joe Bannon. And he actually showed me a piece of paper from NHL, NBA, NCAA, basketball, football, all the major sports, how hard it is to repeat. It's low single digits, if I remember right. It was like 2% or something like that.

of teams ever in the major sports repeat. And it's not because you're losing players a lot of times, just because the mindset, you go from a price fighter to a guy that you're playing defense all the time. I'm just reminded now in that 09 year, you have everyone back. 09. Oh, yeah. Okay, so you went it in 2008 with that ridiculously talented Florida team over a very good Oklahoma team, by the way.

That was a very good Oklahoma team with Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray, who unfortunately had gotten hurt in the Big 12 championship game before you guys played them. But you guys have everyone back. Tim is back. You know, like Percy's back. You have your team. And to your point about being the hunted,

there was a program with a coach that had you guys directly in their crosshairs, right? And that was Alabama and Nick Saban. And he's sitting there, you know, pound in the table for a program that had not yet achieved at a high level, at least in recent vintage, right? And I'm talking about in that previous five, six, seven years. Like they were just trying to get back to where they felt like they wanted to get to. When you guys played Alabama in 2009, did you look across and see what you were in 08, which was like the hungry, prove it team that was desperate for the win?

Yeah, you certainly saw it, and I would make this comment, and I made it many, many times. Every coach's dream is to coach a hungry, pissed off team. Every coach's nightmare is the coach a satisfied team. It's awful. And I've been there many times, and it's, and you try, it becomes fake almost. And I, you know, I would do whatever I had to do to try to piss that team off, you know, whether it be, you know, making up articles or whatever just to, because the way the, again, the way the mind works, comfort is not a good word in the world of athletics.

Comfort, you know, I hear that. I hear that. I cringe because comfort is not good. Pissed off is really good, especially in the sport of football. So I saw a pissed off team and it was only well, you know, ever since Mark Ingram has joined us, he told me all year long, they were swinging for that Florida Gator team. The Florida Gators weren't swinging for Alabama. We were in Iowa.

We won every game. We went 12 and 0 that year, but it was a freaking street fight every game from the media, from our own fan support, from our players, from our coaching staff. It was a fight. So yeah,

I looked across the field as they were putting it on us a little bit. Ironically, that game was real close until Mark Greengram caught that damn screen. I can't remember my address, but I remember that screen pass right before the half and took it 75 yards, and that kind of broke our back. Oh, man.

Well, listen, We're about to see an incredible game this week. I can't wait. I think Texas is going to be an excellent team. I think Ohio State's going to be an excellent team. I can't wait to see these two quarterbacks. And in some ways, we might see that Hungary Texas team because they've been just this far away in back-to-back years,

you know, to playing for a national championship. So I can't wait to see what we get from them as they step into the shoe and face the defending champ, uh, Buckeyes. Coach, you guys will be on three hour edition of big noon kickoff starting at 9 a.m. Eastern from Columbus, you and all the guys, I can't wait for it. I can't wait to, to come down and, and check it out and be a part of a segment or two, hopefully. Um, but this is going to be a good one, isn't it? This is, uh, this is what we love college football for. It is. We got to do this more often, Joel. You're one of my favorite guys out there. So I really enjoy hanging with you, brother. Listen, I tell you

what, you can come on the program anytime. We love doing this. Later in the year, we're going to do this again. What do you think? By the way, you can also check out Coach on Triple Option, and that's with Rob and Mark, and they do a great job with their podcast. So check out the Triple Option wherever you get your podcast as well. Coach, appreciate you, brother. I'll see you this weekend. See you, Joel. Awesome to talk with Coach Meyer, anytime you get a chance. And then the insights in there, the nuggets in there, in particular about managing a young quarterback, that idea of getting two first downs. I really love that. Certainly something that I'm sure I'm going to steal on Saturday during the course of that game.

So thanks to Coach Meyer. And remember, check them out. Three hour pregame, big noon kickoff live from Columbus, three hours. That's 9 a.m. start in preparation for that noon kickoff between Ohio State and Texas. Okay. Now some other things that went on here over the first couple of days of the week, Michigan announcing their starting quarterback. And as we all kind of expected, remember last when they got the number one recruit, the number one quarterback in the country, Bryce Underwood, to commit, flip from LSU to Michigan, and everyone immediately started thinking about what it was going to look like next season when Bryce Underwood was the quarterback, and now it's official.

That's right. Bryce Underwood is named the starter for Michigan as a true freshman, a program with obviously huge expectations, in particular after what we would all consider to be a bit of a down year, rebuilding year where they couldn't throw the football largely, and now they needed to solve the quarterback position. This is exactly what the fan base was hoping was to see Underwood as a true freshman, and that's what we will see. A couple of things I wanted to touch on in regards to this announcement from Sharon Moore on that coaching staff. Obviously, he was the number one recruit in the country, and obviously he's going to be physically ready to go. Physically, he is gifted enough to play this level of football right away. That's what we know. Okay, he's six,

he's 228. We know he's going to be elusive. He's going to be able to run the football. So the question then becomes, all right, how quickly is he going to develop in terms of the acumen of the sport? Because the big jump that takes place from high school to college is this. If you're a great athlete, you can just use your athleticism to dominate at the high school level. Now, that could eventually happen in college, but you've got to show some level of in terms of development in terms of controlling the game from the pocket and more in particular post snap. So early in this season, we're going to get to see that right away.

Now, probably not going to, well, let's just face it, they're 35 point favorites against New Mexico. So what I'm saying is like, we're not going to know everything right away with Bryce Underwood. He beats out Mikey Keene, who's been injured and not really practiced, whether it was in the spring. and even in fall camp, he was kind of sporadic. And so now Underwood will go out on Saturday, and he will face New Mexico as a 35-point favorite

before the big test in Norman, week two, that night game against number 18, Oklahoma, and a Brent Venables defense. So what do we want to see if you're a Michigan fan, week one from Bryce Underwood? We want to see the development of the forward pass from Michigan. Huh? What do you think?

After last year, remember, they were all. awful throwing the football. They couldn't do it. They couldn't do it, whether it was the USC game in a win where they largely had to just run the football even in a two-minute drill or even against Ohio State late in that game when they were leaning on the run game. And granted, it's a team that loves to lean on the run game. And we've seen that over the last few years, certainly. But you've got to be able to throw it. And that was the secret sauce with J.J. McCarthy. We know that Michigan was tough. And they were always a great running team before McCarthy developed into what we all thought was one of the preeminent quarterbacks in the country.

But it was that. It was that element that elevated them to a place where they could go and win a national championship. And that's what a Michigan fan is hoping for. So what do you want to see week one against New Mexico? You want to see some semblance of a more balanced offense. You want to see his ability to throw the football and attack every blade of grass on the field.

Is he making life difficult on the defense in front of them? He can do that with his athleticism. We know that, but he needs to do that with his arm. Remember, the only three teams that they threw the ball better than a year ago were the three service academies. So any improvement in this area is going to be a huge, huge aspect of why Michigan could potentially get right back into that upper echelon of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan is a team that I really like.

I think their defense could be spectacular. I don't think Underwood is going to have to put a cape on his back, in particular early in this season. So the development of balance, in particular early in the season, I think is what we're all looking for and wondering about, as Bryce Underwood is named the starter for Michigan. True freshman, man, I tell you what. A lot of expectation on him, certainly from that fan base.

They're looking at him, I would say even more so, but in the same vein of what we saw when they got JJ McCarthy. Remember McCarthy, the five-star quarterback, and everyone immediately thought to themselves like, well, this is it. This is it. We've got our quarterback. And so now we're going to eventually be able to go out there and beat the Alabama's of the world, win the Big Ten championship, play for and win a national championship. And they were able to do that. So is this the start of that journey for Michigan with Bryce Underwood starting on Saturday night against New Mexico?

We will see. I wanted to get into the mailbag. So football fans, who's got questions? I know you have. So let's open up Joel's mailbag presented by graduate by Hilton, the smartest place to stay in your favorite college towns. I love the mailbag. You know this. And we only are going to do one question.

Why? Because listen, last year we knocked it out of the park with this subject. And so I wanted to make sure I took the time necessary to really give you guys some value, uh, value in terms of this answer. Okay, so this question comes in from Ryan B. Ryan B says, hey, Joel, big fan of the show. thank you, Ryan. We appreciate that. Are you going to give us your best bets this year? I made a good chunk of change on your Travis Hunter value bet from last year.

You got any more advice for me? Yes, I have advice. And remember last year, we got Travis Hunter, folks, at this time of the year, he was 60 to 1 to win the Heisman trophy. And I came out in the preseason and what did I tell you? I said, listen, if you're looking for a long shot, if you're looking for a value bet, that's easily a great value bet. And boom, it hit again 60 to 1. Now this year, I don't see I don't see anybody in that neighborhood.

60 to 1 plus 6,000, but there is some good long odds here. And let's go through three of them and then I'm going to land on one that is going to be my actual recommendation. But here are three solid, long odds, Heisman candidates.

I'm going to start with DJ Lagway of Florida. So Lagway is plus 2,500 or 25 to 1. And at this point, you have to understand that we know DJ Lagway is very good. Last year, they were six and one with him as a starter, and that one loss, remember, he left in the first half of that game against Georgia. So when he's on the field, this is an elite team.

If he stays healthy, even with an atrocious schedule, you would think that they would be right there, possibly eight, nine, maybe even 10 wins. If they get to 10 wins with that schedule, it will be because of DJ Lagway. If they get to 10 with that schedule and Lagway is playing well, guess where he's going to be? New York. I mean, the hype surrounding Lagway will be tremendous. They'll have massive wins, in particular in some of those matchups that you know are going to be primetime affairs down in the SEC schedule.

And if they are good, this is a great value. Florida to make the playoff is plus 310. So basically 3 to 1. So if you're telling me that Florida is 3 to 1 to make the playoff, and yet Lagway is 25 to 1 to win the Heisman, think of it this way. If they're in the playoff, he's probably the Heisman. So again, great value right there. I love that. When he was on the field, he was transformative for them last year, for Billy Napier.

I think he can do largely that again. Again, it's going to have to be a health issue. I don't love that he constantly is nicked up and not practicing here and there. he's got soft tissue issues. But when he's healthy, man, I tell you what, this team and this player is something that I really like. Five-star recruit, all the tools, he's got the pedigree, and he's going to have all of those showcases.

Remember what I always talk about with high. It's about performances, and it's about stages. Well, he's going to have the stages. So if he puts on the performances, if they're a playoff team at three to one, he'll be a Heisman at least candidate, and he'll certainly be in New York. So that's a good long shot right there. Next one, Ryan Williams. Yeah, hey, remember Ryan Williams, the unbelievable true freshman wide receiver at Alabama?

He's plus 4,000, 40 to 1. Whenever you see a wide receiver that has the hype of previous seasons, everyone knows he's a top end player in the entire sport, even as young as he was, he was just so good last year. We saw him early against Wisconsin. I was impressed with him then. We saw him and what he was able to do against Georgia. This guy is a game changer on the outside.

And as they go to Ty Simpson at quarterback, even if Ty Simpson is having a big year, in large part, guess why? It'll be because of number two. That's right, Ryan Williams. So at plus 4,000, 41, I really like that. He started out with a bang last year, and I think that consistency will only show up more. And Ryan Grubb the offensive coordinator back attached with Kaelin DeBore.

Last year, they didn't have Grubb. If you go back to when DeBore is most successful during the course of his career, it's been because Ryan Grub and him have been, I don't know, like equals, together, partners in terms of the offense, developing the quarterback, developing those wide receivers. Remember the Washington receivers a couple of years ago?

What if those names end up being Ryan Williams this year? Plus 4,000, it's a heck of a bet. You're two in college. He's going to be even stronger. He's going to be even faster. he's going to be even more fully developed, and he's going to have a new quarterback. So if he's going off,

I think Alabama is a good bet right there. Ryan Williams is a good bet. But the guy that I'm going to land on is my best long odds to win the Heisman trophy. And this is twofold. Number one is because I know their philosophy and I know what they're going to lean into in order to be good and my belief that, yes, they will be good.

I don't think that there's any way that Notre Dame doesn't go to the college. football playout. I really don't. If you look at their schedule, the most difficult part of their schedule is early. They've got this opener against Miami, which is going to be incredible. They've got Texas A&M early, and then not much else on that schedule. It's not a schedule that's going to put a lot of fear into you. We saw what they were able to do a year ago, physically beating teams up, including Georgia. And so we know they'll lean into that, in particular with a new quarterback. So CJ Carr becomes their quarterback, and now you've got Jeremiah Love, who I think could be individually the best back in the country, playing for a team that will lean into playing physical, run-oriented football, and I know they're going to be there in the end.

And here's his odds. Plus 3,000? Yep. Yep. Sign me up. Those are great long odds. This guy is a phenomenal player. Think of it this way.

I'm going to be surprised if he's not in New York because of the way I believe in their team and believe even him and their philosophy. He's that dynamic. If he stays healthy, he's going to be upwards of 17, 18, maybe even 1,000 yards, maybe even 2,000 yards. I'm going to be pretty surprised if Jeremiah Love is not in New York as a Heisman finalist, and you can get him right now at 30 to 1, sign me up. Those are great, great long odds. And so that's my pick, Ryan B, right there. I'm going to give you a couple of other team-oriented long odds that I also think are good. Washington to make the CFP. I already told you if you remember

from my kind of like those dark horse this year's Indiana type of episode where I threw out teams like Missouri and Georgia Tech and Utah. And I threw out Washington. And then you go and you look at the odds and you look at their schedule and you realize what they have in particular on offense

how good they are at home in Husky Stadium. And they're plus 140. So basically 10 and a half to one for Jed Fish and Washington to go to the playoff. They get three of their toughest four games at home where they've won 20 in a row. That's one of the best atmospheres in all of college football. DeMond Williams showed huge potential in the bowl game. I love what they've got on the outside and in the backfield.

If they get the O line working at all, that was a problem for them last year, was protecting the quarterback and in particular, DeMond Williams when he was in the game late. But if they get that right for Jed Fish, who has a particular? propensity to pop. Like, this guy can coach. Think about what he did at Arizona and the quality team that he put on in the field

before he went to Washington after DeBoard left. If they pop and they're right into the mix, you can get them at plus 140. So 10.5 to 1 to make the playoff, those are great odds. And then my last long odds, my national championship pick is Clemson. You look up and if you could have gotten this last week, they were plus, I think, 1600.

It's moved. Maybe people were watching the episode. Me, Toutin, Dabo Sweeney, their philosophy, they got veterans, they've got quality, they've got NFL players, they've got three of the top 10 players in the sport, according to me. Go back and listen to that episode from the offseason.

You can get them at plus 1,200, right now to win the national championship with Kate Klubnick. After a playoff appearance, after an ACC championship, listeners know that I love Clemson, and if you can get them at plus 1,200, that's the sixth best odds in the country. I think that's a good value if you're looking at a value bet

for the national championship. All right. So there you go, Ryan. Love doing that. Hopefully some of those hit. Okay, we've got a preview episode coming up. Week one is here. We've got college football.

We got the monster in Columbus as Ohio State and Texas are going to tangle in Columbus. I've got the preview episode. I'm going to be breaking down all the games, that's coming out on Thursday. Remember, we've got the live show from Columbus. That's Thursday night. And then Big Noon Saturday, Texas and Ohio State from the shoe on Saturday. Gus, Jenny and I will have the call. Big Noon kickoff will be live. Three-hour edition this Saturday, nine Eastern, and then, of course, kick at noon. It's here. We finally did it. We finally did it.

We got football right around the corner. The next time you hear my voice, we will be breaking down the actual matchups. That's right. Next up, the Thursday episode of the Joel Clatt Show. week one preview that's coming straight up.