The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - WEEK 13 HAS ARRIVED!

Episode Date: November 21, 2019

With only 2 weeks until bowl games, Joel tells you where he stands with the best (and WORST) teams of the season. Are you with him or against him?? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everybody. What's going on? Welcome to Breaking the Huddle. I'm Joel Glad. The show is brought to you by Dr. Pepper. It is the official drink of Fansville. Folks, we've got a lot to get into today. There's so much quality stuff to talk about, to debate, to get snarky over in reference to college football. So it should be all sorts of fun. Here's the deal. You're watching this show. Get a friend involved as well.

Hit me up on Twitter. Hit me up on the social media sites. Please, Instagram, you can go follow me, Joel underscore clatt, Twitter, at Joel Clatt. Follow us here at Fox at CFB on Fox on Twitter and throw us your reaction because that's when it's better. We'll get to your reaction later in the show. I'll try to get to some questions and of course some of your opinions which are not very good, which is amazing and my favorite part of the show. I'm going to go through my top 10 here in a second.

I'm going to give you some things to watch for this week and some reasons why I think teams that are in the top 10 might already be eliminated. We'll go through that as we get there. So, let's rock. This should be good. Oh, by the way, at the end, also my performer of the week, which is becoming my favorite thing as well. So basically the whole show is my favorite. Ten is Penn State for me. Penn State is a team that is basically the direct opposite right now of what Michigan has.

been. Since they played, they were great in the first half of that game, and then in the second half hung on for dear life. They had the one long touchdown to Hamler, and then they hung on for dear life. And then ever since then, their defense has not quite been the same. They hung on last week against Indiana, gave up far too many big plays against Minnesota and that loss in Minneapolis. And now they're going to have to go face the Ohio State Buckeyes. So their play has to improve, in particular in the past defense area, because that's a point where I think they could get hurt. Penn State's a really good football team, by the way. I haven't in the top 10. I understand their resume might be a little bit better than others, but I will tell you, I am

not of the belief like the committee is that you can put Minnesota behind Penn State. We saw that game just last week and Minnesota beat Penn State. So for me, I understand that Penn State has a better resume. They have the Michigan win. They have the pit non-conference win, pit seven and three. All of that makes sense. And I'm not like harping on the committee. I'm just saying for me personally, I put more stock into the games that we actually see in a head-to-head manner. So that's why I've got Minnesota ahead of Penn State right there. Minnesota, I told you that was going to be a tough game. Listen, here's the thing about college football. These are 18 to 22-year-old kids. And so Minnesota, you fell victim to what every other program falls victim to.

which is the emotions of young adults. It happens. It happens to the best teams in the country at times. You didn't have a schedule that afforded you an FCS opponent late in order to just kind of breeze through the rest of your season. So you have to go on the road at Iowa and play a really good team.

Iowa is a really good, tough defensive team with a really good head coach, and you lost on the road. And it was a really great game. You should not hang your head. There's nothing to be disappointed about. Everything is still ahead of you, Minnesota, because you control your own destiny. You can become Big Ten champs and go to the Rose Bowl

for crying out loud. And you know what? If you were to be Big Ten champs with only one loss, you never know at that point. Maybe you sneak back in to the playoff conversation. But PJ Fleck, what you've done is amazing at Minnesota. Don't get your head down. You've got to just turn around and turn your focus

towards what's ahead. You've got Northwestern. You've got Wisconsin. That Wisconsin game is likely going to decide the West Division in the Big Ten. Maybe we see you in Indianapolis. But for right now, Minnesota, they fell victim to a big emotional win. They come out on the road, they get beat. Remember two years ago?

Happened to Ohio State? They beat Penn State at home, emotional game. What they do the very next week at Iowa? Got their doors blown completely off. So, I mean, like I said, it happens. Don't hang your head too much. Oh, you, what a comeback. I mean, are we serious?

Let me just take you into what happened to me Saturday. I was connecting back from Detroit. I had connected in Denver to get back home here to Southern California. And my first flight had the direct TV on it. So it was like, awesome. I got to see Auburn and Georgia. I got to see the Minnesota and Iowa game. I'm flipping back and forth.

I got to see the end of the Texas Iowa State game. It was fantastic, right? I'm just enjoying college football and I'm like, I can't wait to get on the next flight and see what's going on in that night game. And guess what? No TV, no internet. First world problems, right? So couldn't even follow along at all. I'm just sitting there watching like, I don't know, like Notting Hill or some terrible movie. Sorry, Hugh Grant.

But, I mean, I don't even, the whole time thinking to myself like, man, I can't believe OU is struggling this bad. because the last thing that happens, I have like my little Wi-Fi device. And so the last thing before they tell us to turn everything off, I'm, you know, refreshing, refreshing. And I'm like, is it really 28 to 3 Baylor? And then I'm thinking to myself, in the last two quarters, OU has just been boat raced. Iowa State in the fourth quarter of that overtime win for OU. They had three straight touchdowns.

They outscore them 20 to nothing in that quarter. And then all of a sudden, 28 to 3, I'm like, 48 to 3 run against Lincoln Ryan. What in God's name is happening right now? Like the wheels are following off the Sooner Schooner, literally and out on the field for their football team. By the way, the Sooner Schooner is not in service, and the wheels are completely off of that. But they came back. I couldn't believe it. I turn on my phone, get the Internet when we land here in L.A.

And it was one of those where it's like, I hit refresh and then I was like, wait, like that can't be right. And so I like, you know, I scroll down and sure enough, I start scrolling through the play by play. And I'm like, my goodness, the defense all of a sudden turns around. What did they face? Like only 16 plays. They gave up a minimum amount of yards. They create turnovers to seal the game. Hertz puts a cape on his back.

He was tremendous even without C.D. Lamb. So you're without your best player on me. offense. The run game has really been non-existent for OU outside of running Jalen Hertz and they still came back and win on the road against an undefeated opponent. So keep the dream alive. Keep on you know trucking OU. I've got Alabama at 7. I know that's lower than most people but Alabama at 7 I think reflects what they currently are as a team and what they currently are as a team is severely banged up. severely banged up. Obviously the injury to Tua. Let's start there. The injury to Tua was horrific.

And my heart absolutely sank when I heard the news about Tua. Let me take you into what actually happened. I was doing the Michigan State game in the big house. Our producer, his name's Chuck McDonald, a phenomenal producer. He got in my ear a few plays before we were going to go to a game break. Obviously, I'm not following a lot of other games around. I don't know. exactly what's going on. There's a couple of TVs in the booth where I can see some of the games that are going on. Alabama was not one of the ones that was up because that game was not going to be a close game against Mississippi State. He gets into my ear and he says, hey, just a heads up, Tua went down. We're going to do a game break. In the back of my head, I'm immediately thinking

to myself like, dang it he re-injured that ankle. Then the words come from my producer who says, it's not his ankle, it's really serious. Heart sink. Boom. I'm like, please, God, let's hope he's okay. Not just for his own future as just a man, but his future as a quarterback in this sport. So then we do the game break. I see it as soon as I see the way he goes down, my heart sinks a little bit more because I'm like, oh, geez, it's his hip. outside of a spinal cord or head injury on the football field, I think that the most serious is a hip injury because of the history of what we know hip injuries to be. And the nature of the vascular damage that happens

when you have a large hip injury, I'm still hoping, I know the reports are out there that say, hey, we're expecting a full recovery. But remember now, we don't know the experience. extent to the vascular damage and we probably won't for a few weeks. We all know about what happened with Bo Jackson and yes they did not treat the vascular nature of his hip injury because his hip went back in the socket immediately and so they didn't treat it and all of a sudden the bones started to deteriorate because the blood wasn't

flowing properly due to the vascular nature of that injury. But now with Tua they did go in there, they did check it out and they say hey it looks like it's going to be all right but again folks we're not going to really know for for a few weeks. Let's all continue to pray for Tua so that he can have a full recovery. Because I want to see this guy play football again. He's a special player. He's been special for college football.

He's done it the right way. Everybody praises the way that Jalen Hurtz responded to that quarterback battle that happened last year, and even the year before when Tua went in in the national championship game. But also, let's commend Tua for his role in that. He wasn't out there too egotistical pounding his chest. He was a great teammate.

days as well to Jalen Hertz. Jalen gives that amazing emotional kind of tribute and add a boy to Tua after the game after that Baylor comeback. I'm just saying I just really hope that Tua is okay in the future and can play football again because he's a wonderful player. He's one of the best players in college football. He's a great person. And that's why on Twitter and even right now I give a big old Aloha, Tatua, and Roll Tide, because all of us want to see that guy get back out of the field and dominate like he did at the college level. And let's hope it doesn't affect him moving forward. Now, back to Alabama.

For Alabama, folks, this is why it's so advantageous the way that they schedule in the SEC and sometimes in the ACC, these FCS games late in the year. They play Western Carolina. Western Carolina is a three-win FCS team. We all know that that's basically a third off week for Alabama. But here's why that's so important. They're going to have three starters out on their defensive line, including probably Rayquan Davis, DJ Dale.

They've got Tua out. Henry Ruggs is questionable. They're wide receiver. So they're really banged up as a team. You know what happens to other teams, like in the Big Ten, Pac-12, Big 12, when they're banged up? They've got to go and play, you know, call it, I don't know, Illinois, Bull El-Gimol.

They've got to go and play, you know, Colorado on the road, like USC had to do in a night game in which. which they were really banged up. And guess what? You all of a sudden are in really tight games with young players on the field. Right now, imagine if they had to go and play Ole Miss this week. I know Ole Miss isn't great, but do you want to see Old Miss

when you've got three defensive starters out on the defensive line? Obviously not. That's why it's so advantageous to have Western Carolina right now, because it's not going to matter that Alabama is banged up. They're going to have a chance to get healthy before they play the Iron Bowl next week. That's why it's so.

sucks for the rest of the country when they are afforded the opportunity to do that. Now, is it Alabama's fault? No, should they change? No, unless they're forced to. Alabama should not do anything with their schedule until they're forced to do so. It's not their job to make it comfortable for everybody else and equitable for everybody else in order to have a schedule that's advantageous to potentially go to the playoffs. Let me say that again real quickly. It's not Alabama's job to make their schedule equitable for the rest of the country. Just because the Big 12 and the Big 10 and the Pact 12 went out and hunted for money with the

ninth conference game, that's not Alabama's fault. Now is it advantageous the way they schedule? Yes. All right, but that's not their fault. That's just my quick rant on that. I've got Utah at six. defense and I keep coming back to this when they're healthy on offense with their quarterback Tyler Huntley who's playing remarkably well and Zach Moss

their running back they are 12 for their last 12 when they play all four quarters those guys are really hard to beat by the way Tyler Huntley is right now on pace to set the pack 12 single season efficiency rating record that would pass Marcus Marioo Mario was in the 180s Huntley right now in the 190s I know that doesn't make a huge different but to tell you like the guy's not turning it over He's doing a really nice job getting the ball down the field, and he's a big reason why they're only a one-loss team,

and the fact that that defense is able to thrive and dominate at times. I've got Utah at six. I've got Georgia at five. Obviously, some quality wins for Georgia. The defense has been terrific. One of the things that you could say about Georgia is like, hey, they haven't played the best quarterbacks in the SEC. Absolutely the case.

In fact, they've played mostly the backup quarterbacks throughout their SEC schedule. And then Knicks was one of the starters last week against Auburn, but they largely dominated that game until the fourth quarter. Georgia is a really good team, and I think they're going to be a tough out,

in particular for a team like LSU who hasn't seen quite the defense that Georgia has. I know Bama's a decent defense. They're not quite Georgia's defense. Georgia's the number two scoring defense in the land. So LSU is going to be an interesting test for them. It's like, okay, so how good is LSU's offense?

I think that they're really good. And then how bad is LSU's defense? Because Georgia will be able to score some points on LSU's defense. LSU's defense is not anywhere close to Auburn's defense, quite frankly. We'll get to that in a little bit. So that SEC championship game, I think, is going to be very interesting. And we'll see if Georgia's offense has enough firepower to kind of keep up with LSU. I've got Oregon at number four.

They've won nine football games in a row. Oregon's got a great quarterback that's not turning the ball over. Their defense, again, I believe it was the four. fourth or fifth game this year that they did not allow a touchdown. That's pretty special. Defensively, they create a lot of turnovers. They're a really good offensive line. And then here's the point that I think the committee needs to realize is that they lost a game with virtually no wide receiver group. They were all banged up. Now all of a sudden, they've got this graduate transfer from Penn State, Joanne Johnson, and he's come on and he's

played phenomenal of late. was great against USC. It was great again last week. If they all of a sudden have a passing game that can match their running game, that can match their defense, now all of a sudden their balance is as good as some of these teams up top. And I think that should be at least talked about in that committee room. So that's Oregon. LSU.

What? You can't put the LSU's resume is so much better. They gave up 400 yards rushing last week to Ole Miss. 400, 600 yards of total offense. LSU is great. There is not much difference between this LSU team and Baker Mayfield's Oklahoma team two years ago. And that team didn't get some sort of benefit of the doubt

to just be the number one team in the country based on resume alone. Remember, there's been only one national champion. In college football since the start of the BCS that has not had a top 25 defense. Right now, LSU is not even close. Okay, so that one champion was Auburn with Cam Newton. So maybe Joe Burrow is Cam Newton. I mean, hey, I'm not saying that they can't win the national championship. I'm just telling you that there's some severe holes with LSU. They're great on offense. This is not LSU from a few years ago. They don't run the football particularly well. They don't play particularly strong defense, and that may come back to Biden

in the SEC championship game. That may come back to bite them when they have to get into a playoff and actually face a team that has a pulse on offense. Ole Miss ran for 400 yards. Rushing! Like, that's a problem.

That's a problem. Everything else suggests that LSU is a great team. I love LSU's offense. I love Joe Burrow. I think he's going to win the Heisman Trophy. I think it's a problem that they've got that glaring of a hole on their team

because the two teams that I have ahead of them, do not have that weakness. Both of these teams up top, Ohio State and Clemson, are incredibly balanced. They're incredibly dominant. They play great defense and great offense. They can throw the ball.

They can run the football. They stop the run. They're good against the pass. They're good on special teams. There is no weakness with those two teams up top. So I don't really want to hear just straight resume, because you don't allow me to say just straight resume, when you're like, Alabama.

Alabama has got to be higher than that. Based on what? They don't have a ranked win, right? So you see the conflict here, right? You see the conflict. Ohio State and Clemson right now, I think, are the best two teams in the country. LSU is the best story in the country. They have the quarterback that's going to win the Heisman trophy.

But Ohio State is the number one scoring defense, the number one scoring offense in the country. They're great on special teams. There is no weakness for the Ohio State Buckeye. And the reason I have them against above Clemson is because they've got better wins. They've played a better schedule. And we haven't seen them have that one point escape like Clemson did against North Carolina. But make no bones about it now. And I properly hammered Clemson after that one point win.

Properly. I moved them all the way down to six or seven because that's what they had earned. Guess what I've done now. Adjusted based on what they have earned. Since that game, they have won every single game by 40 or more points. or by an average of 40 points. I mean, this team is scary, and likely the committee is going to put them at number three,

which means the debate between LSU and Ohio State at one or two is going to be massive, because the two team is going to have to go play Clemson, who I think is really good. Clemson, by the way, Trevor Lawrence, three touchdowns and I think five straight games since that North Carolina game. He has stopped turning the ball over.

They're not bored all of a sudden. It's like, hey, okay, now it's like, it's Clemson time. Here we go, it's playoff time, and they're going to be a really tough out. So that's how I see the top ten. Obviously, there's some hard spots here, right? And you're going to take exception. So let's see how you take exception with what I've been doing here.

All right, let me start with, as we get feedback, Erbs, my man, let's just stop here. Urban Meyer chimed in. He says, Buckeyes, join us for the Big Noon kickoff on Saturday, 10A. live outside the R-PAC. I want to see everyone there. I want to see everyone there. I'm going to be there. I'll be on the set with the guys for the big noon kickoff. This is going to be a phenomenal day of college football. Get there. Ohio State fans, Ohio State students. I want to see you outside of the R-Pack Saturday morning behind R-set. That's right. Your old coach. The guy who always gives you some love. You know who am I pointing to? me. I want to see you behind our set come Saturday morning, and we'll see you there as Ohio State

prepares to play Penn State in the biggest game of the day. All right. Now let's continue to go. Patrick looks like he's got a problem with me. Patrick says, Joel, you can't say Oregon or even Utah would beat Bama. It wouldn't be close, and everybody knows it, L.O.L. Best four teams should go. I can say it. I just did. Without Tua, I think Oregon and Utah beat Alabama, actually. I think Alabama's resume is incredibly thin. I think with the fact that their defense has not played up to Alabama's standard this year, hurts them at times.

The fact that they haven't been able to run the football like they have in the past hurts them at times. The fact that they leaned so heavily on their passing game with a transcendent talent at quarterback and they no longer have that quarterback, is a problem. That is a problem. They have faced right now one team that is currently ranked. They lost that game. It was at home. If they do beat Auburn, then they will have exactly one win against a ranked team. I think it's going to be difficult for them to beat Auburn. And here's what I'll give you. Here's what I'll give you. I was saying the same things after

J.T. Barrett went down in 2014 for Ohio State. And Cardell Jones rolled out there and flasked, crushed Wisconsin, 59-0 or something like that, 59-0. So if Mack Jones rolls out there and throttles Auburn, like, listen, I've proven time and time again, I will adjust based on what happens on the field. Look at Clemson. I had them at like number one to start this season, then I moved them down to seven, now I've got them back up to two, I will adjust based on how your team plays. But rest assured, I can absolutely say that Oregon right now and Utah right now currently are best

better teams than Alabama. I believe it. And you probably should too. You have one real dominant strength and that's a huge question mark. Ruggs is probably out this week, game time decision, and you're going to have Mack Jones at quarterback. I mean, good luck. Oh wait, you don't need it. It's Western Carolina. Pound Sand out, Patrick. All right, here we go. Ryan says, hey, at Joel Clatt, he may be a good kid, but he is a terrible, and I can't emphasize that enough, QB. That's good, it's good for Bama that he's done for the year. Ryan's talking about Tuotunga Vailoa. Ryan, you're everything that's wrong with our society. That's an awful take. It's mean-spirited. And quite frankly, I don't know why I'm giving you

time on this show. You're a terrible individual. Let's move on. Let's see. John says, Joe Burrow is good enough to carry the LSU offense in a similar manner as Cam did with Auburn. out on Twitter, that stat I just gave you a little bit earlier about the top 25 defenses and why no national champion outside of Auburn and Cam have won a national championship since the start of the BCS. I think it can be problematic. Oklahoma has tried. And quite frankly, LSU fans are not going to want to hear this. The two offenses that Oklahoma has tried to do this with in the last two years is better than what LSU has because they were more balanced. They could run it and they had great quarterback play just like LSU is doing.

This is Oklahoma. LSU is Baker-Mayfield's Oklahoma trying to go win. Now they almost beat Georgia. They had a chance. I'm not saying that they don't have any chance. I'm just saying that it's going to be more difficult than you think. LSU's not walking away with anything, not with that defense. So, John, that's my thoughts there.

David says, at Joel Klatt, expert counting U.G out again. guess we shouldn't, we should just not play the rest of the season. That's David. The reason I wanted to do this is because I just love a great eye roll. Like the snark here in the gift game I think is really good. That's really solid. David, in reference to me saying like, I don't know if Georgia has the offense, even against LSU to keep up. Because that's the one thing, right? If I liken LSU to Oklahoma in the past, what's been the most difficult thing? Well, you're going to have to score 40, 45 points in order to beat them. I think UGA is going to have to score 42, 38 minimum, you know, but 40, 42, 45 points against LSU. Can their offense muster that? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. I think that remains to be seen with Jake Fromm and Swift and the like down there for Georgia. That'll do it for me except for one thing. My performance of the week, Jalen Hertz. brother, that was incredible what you did in the second half, in particular when you don't have your best player, when you're on the road. I mean, think about he's not even a whole year into that offense. He was getting hit. He was carrying the football. That was such an amazing performance. Kudos to Jalen Hertz, because that performance spoke volumes about your character. The next one would be just Iowa. Iowa again takes a top 10 team, and they take them behind the Gates at Kinnick Stadium and beat them again. I mean, they do it every single year. Michigan a few

years ago, Ohio State a few years ago. This is what Iowa does. Like Maryland is crab cakes and football. Iowa is like top 10 teams come to die at Kinnick Stadium. And I got to love it. So Iowa and Jalen Hertz, well done on your tremendous week last week. That's going to do it for our show. I'm Joel Klapp. Thank you for joining us. And I will see you next week right here on breaking the huddle. This show is brought to you by Dr. Pepper. It's the official drink of Fansville.