The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Who improved their Draft stock at the NFL Combine & why there’s a 14-team Playoff in the works

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the NFL Combine and explains why the event has grown on him as an important evaluation tool for NFL teams. He discusses the value of Texas WR Xavier Worthy’s record-breaking 40 and reveals which other players significantly improved their draft stock. Klatt then gives his thoughts on the potential 14-team College Football Playoff format and explains the under-the-radar reasons why the Big Ten and SEC are in favor of this proposal and what the Big 12 and ACC should push for as they continue to negotiate. He then discusses a few potential rule changes in college football including the idea of 3 signing days to help fix the calendar. Joel wraps up the episode with an update from the listener who wrote in asking for advice about getting a prenuptial agreement with his fiancé. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you can help your draft stock, then you, quote, compete. If you can't, then it's up to you. Then do what you want. 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? It is the Joel Clatt show, and I'm Joel Clatt. Thank you for joining us, as always. Really excited for this show. Remember, follow the show, subscribe wherever you're listening to the show. Subscribe on YouTube. Get down to the comments. I try to get down there every single episode.

Don't always get down there, but I'll try my best to get down there. And then follow us wherever you're at on social media. At Joel Clatt show. I'm on Twitter personally at Joel Clatt. Lots to get into. Obviously, the combine, all the news from the combine, big movers from the combine. We also had college football playoff news since we last chatted. So I've got to get into that, some rules that may change.

And then we got a follow-up email from my man that asked the pre-up question. So we're going to get into that a little bit later as well. But first, we've got to get into the combine because this thing has become huge. And I believe that the opinions about the NFL combine kind of like range all over the spectrum. There are some. And to be fair, my opinion about the combine has evolved over time. A lot of people, you know, for a long time, thought, you know, this is just kind of like glorified underwear Olympics. And you'd hear that a lot.

And for a long time, that's what I thought. I thought that it was an overrated event. I thought that it was something that the NFL evaluators didn't really care about outside of their personal, in-person interviews with each prospect. But it is evolving. And while it is somewhat of a kind of an underwear Olympics made for TV event, and it's become great TV, by the way. Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, way to go. You guys absolutely killed it on the NFL network. Know a lot of the crew, obviously, T-Man producing. All the people there working for the NFL network did a great job. And I will be with the NFL network when we get to Detroit, first round, as well as the second and third round on Friday night.

I'll be on the main desk there with Rich, with DJ, which with Charles Davis, cannot wait for that. that. And so those guys, well done. And it's certainly a great television product. And yet, my view of the importance of the combine, again, has grown. And it's evolved. And it's evolved because I think when you look at the evaluations of these players, they are becoming so tight, so tight. There's so many really good players. And I think this, This is a deep draft. It's a deep draft in a lot of position groups. We see that the wide receiver position.

See that the quarterback position. Offensive line is a deep position. We had some defensive guys absolutely show out in the combine. I'll get to that in a little bit. But when it's that deep, then you need tiebreakers because there's just not a lot of margin. There are guys that we definitely know are going at the top of the draft. And I'll get to those guys in a moment. But then there is a vast.

majority of players that are grouped really closely together. And because of that, you need the ability to break ties. Well, how do you break ties? Information. Now, is the majority of the evaluation done via the tape? Yes, as it should be. We're playing football. We're not out there, you know, running 40s for Lombardi trophies. It just doesn't happen. Okay. However, when you're evaluating players and you're trying to bring them in and you're trying to build, construct your roster, you want to know what their skill set is like. And yes, you get that skill set on tape. But then you've got to start breaking ties. Then you've got to start separating out your evaluation as you get into the top 50 and the 75 and 80 and 100 and 150 and 200. Every single player has to be

separated in some way, shape, or form. And so information becomes the king. And information in the evaluation becomes king. So we look at metrics and we look at interviews and all these different things. So the importance of the combine, again, in my view, has gone up because every single metric that you can place by a player is going to be usable information to break ties in the evaluation. And as we have deep position groups and guys that are rated 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, in their position group and yet could still be top 60 players in the NFL draft. I mean, this is a big deal. You know, it's a big deal and worth a lot of money if you're the sixth wide receiver

or the 12th wide receiver on the board for a given team. And it's a big deal because that could mean tens of millions of dollars for that player. And it could also mean a very different career for them in the National Football League. So yes, this thing is vital in a lot of ways. and it is a pillar of this process. Now, let me also kind of think of that from a different view. When you're trying to break ties, it's generally because there is a sentiment or a reality for the player that he's trying to move up. Okay. So he needs to show or through the evaluation, he needs to garner better metrics, better information, so that his information breaks ties and he moves up.

That's what the combine is for for players. Can I move up in the draft? Can I create value for myself in the draft? Okay, so that's what it's about. But what happens if you're a player that can't create any more value for yourself? What happens if you're Caleb Williams or Drake May or Jaden Daniels or Marvin Harrison Jr.? You see, for those guys, the risk reward profile is totally different than everybody else. And so I get the question all the time, like, well, wouldn't you rather see these guys go in there and compete? one, they already competed, for real competed on the football field and the sport that they're about to go try and play at the next level, okay? I've seen them compete.

They are competitors. I've seen them compete. We've got two Heisman trophy winners in just that group. All right? I know the May family. I know Drake May can compete. Marvin Harrison Jr. is an absolute star. Dude can compete.

So I don't need to see. them run around in Indianapolis to check the box like, oh, he can compete. They can compete. They can compete. And guess what? They can't move up. They can't move up. So if you're one of those guys, why in the world would you work out? Why would you work out? Why would you work out? There's no reason to work out. If you look at those guys, they have all the risk, none of the reward. And the risk reward profile of the NFL scouting combine. So they're making the correct decision. I say this all the time when people ask me about opt-outs and bowl season. And I get it, you know, and I think opt-outs are a lot different than opting out of the drill work at

the combine because opting out really affects your team as well. But in an exhibition game that doesn't mean anything outside of the college football playoff, like I always give this answer and I've given this answer on this show. If you can help your draft stock, then you play. Well, guess what? And the Combine, if you can help your draft stock, then you, quote, compete. If you can't, then it's up to you. Then do what you want.

Those guys decide not to throw, not to run, and more power to them. Because they're not going anywhere in a lot of ways. They're slotted already. Like those, every guy that I mentioned right there, I believe absolutely. will get selected in the first five picks in the NFL draft. Okay, so at that point, and by the way, it's not like one of them is going to jump up to number one. Caleb's going to be the number one pick. And so now it's like, okay, Drake and Jaden are going to go two and three and Marvin Harrison's going to go four.

I don't see it going any other way. Now, you're going to see a lot of mock drafts and you're going to hear a lot of information between now and the first round and when we get to Detroit. But to me, that's the way that it's going to go. So if you're Marvin Harrison, Jr., what? What is a fast 40 time going to do for you in Indianapolis? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What's a fast three cone drill going to do for you?

Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, what happens if you go out there and just don't run well? Well, that plants seeds of doubt. Why would you plant seeds of doubt? All you've done for two years on the football field is remove those seeds of doubt. and now all of a sudden you want him to go run out there so that somebody can be like, well, is he better than Rome O'Donzei?

And everyone's like, well, Rome went out there and competed. Yeah, because Rome can improve his stock. Because there's not a consensus number two wide receiver. All right, that is a bit fluid. I believe Marvin Harrison Jr. is the consensus number one wide receiver. He's got nowhere to go. Rome can help his draft stock. And he went out there and killed it.

and guess what? More power to them. I love it. I love it. That's fantastic. All those quarterbacks, they're going to get taken in the top three. They have separated themselves out for the most part. You know, so the other quarterbacks, there was a little Pinnock and McCarthy and Nicks. They did well for themselves and the other guys decided not to throw. Well, the other guys didn't need to throw. Meanwhile, all Pinnock and McCarthy and Nicks did is solidify it in my mind that this is going to be a six quarterback first round draft. I can't wait for a six-quarterback first round trap because all of those guys did a really, really good job. So if the combine matters and it's about metrics and it's about information and it's about your ability to create value for yourself, then the question that we all should be asking, who created value for themselves? Well, a lot of that has to do with who you're being compared against and what were the metrics against those specific guys.

Okay. So I bring up the quarterbacks and let me just sit right there for a moment. The top three guys decide not to throw and the other three guys all did a really nice job. Michael Pennicks threw the ball well. J.J. McCarthy threw the ball. J.J. McCarthy is going to be a really good NFL quarterback. Okay. Those of you that want to be a hater of J.J. McCarthy, that's fine. I'm going to be pretty surprised if he's not drafted in the first 15 picks. I might be surprised if he's not taken in the top 10. that's the type of momentum that he's generating. He plays a selfless brand of football. He's incredibly athletic.

The guy spins it. He makes plays. He's a winner and he doesn't care who gets the credit. Every organization in the NFL is looking for players like that, you know, and in particular at that position. So, you know, JJ did a nice job. Pinnix. Incredible job.

And I knew this was going to happen. I've been telling you guys, if you've listened to this show for any amount of time, you'll know that he was my dark horse for a Heisman trophy before the year. It was very high on him. And I've been singing his praises in terms of his passing ability. Not throwing ability, passing ability. This guy passes the football beautifully, beautifully. He passes the ball with leverage.

I've talked about it several times where he's always increasing the odds for his player and decreasing the odds for the opposition, for the defense. He does it so well and he does it all the way down the field. And then we see that, you see a guy that can throw that tide of a spiral. And I love to even Daniel Jeremiah was like, man, this guy throws a tight spiral. It's like, yeah, he does. It's beautiful. It really is.

And the way he played and the style he played and what they asked him to do at Washington is going to translate into the NFL. So Pinnix had a great combine. Bo Nix slayed it. the interviews like I knew he would. This dude is a point guard. He's accurate. He's athletic. He does everything well. I said this to you in my first mock draft. I will say it again. Bo Nix fits with the Denver Broncos perfectly. He and Sean Payton should absolutely be a marriage. And I think that that could be a really good marriage for about the next 10 years. So Bo Nix did a nice job for himself. Okay. So those are the quarterbacks.

How about the guy that absolutely set the world on fire with a 4-2-1, the 5.1, the 5. fastest 40 in the history of the combine, Xavier Worthy, the Wadrys here from Texas. How about that? That was, one, it's fun to watch. It's fun to watch. I've known that this guy has been fast for a long time, and obviously they used him in that manner at Texas. He can catch the rock. I don't think that he, you know, it's so hard because it's like you break John Ross's, you know, like record, if you want to call it that.

And immediately it's like, well, it's like John Ross didn't have a great. NFL career. Tusha. Now, John Ross only was a real effective weapon for Washington one season. Now, it was a great season. I believe he had over 80 catches and over, I think, around 17 touchdowns, I want to say. So he had a great year, didn't play the year before that. It was basically one year. Xavier's been really productive for three years at Texas. And I think he's a more complete receiver than what John was coming out of Washington. So you may hear those comparisons, but I think that those are manufactured

and not appropriate. Because Xavier is a guy that can get it done catching the ball down the field. And obviously, as a deep threat with that type of speed, it's incredible. And so beneficial, by the way. And again, by the way, guess what? In a deep group of wide receivers, guess what?

Xavier Worthy made himself money. Maybe millions by running a 4-21. Maybe millions. Think about it that way. So for Xavier Worthy, let me just, let's back up for a moment. For Xavier Worthy, running a 4-21 was worth millions of dollars. High reward for the risk of maybe running 4-3-5, 4-4-5. It's like, oh, you know, that's fine. It is what it is.

It's a deep group and they're going to evaluate me where they evaluate me. So the reward was much higher than the risk of running for Xavier Worthy. If Marvin Harrison Jr. ran a 4-21, guess how much more money he would make in the NFL? $0. So a 4-21 for Xavier Worthy, probably going to be worth millions, multiple millions of dollars, for worthy. a 4-21 would be worth zero pennies for Marvin Harrison Jr. Because he's already slotted.

You see, we kind of know what the first four picks are going to be. At least I feel very confident about it. So the reward for Marvin Harrison Jr., even to be the fastest man in the history of the combine, is zero. Why would he run? But let's say he runs in the mid-four-fives. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, is you the best wide receiver? Oh, my goodness. So his risk reward profile is substantially different than Xavier Worthy.

But Xavier Worthy, show out, man. That was an incredible 40, 421. He's breaking ties. He's going to be higher on people's boards because of it. And that's why the combine is important. Blake Corum, I thought, had a great day. He's so smooth when he runs on tape. and that is just going to be solidified,

and it's going to be something that they can check the box and say, yep, I saw that on tape. Now I saw it when he was running through the bags in Indianapolis. I think Blake Corum has a chance at least to maybe be the first running back taken. He also catches it really well, and I think that's an underrated part of his game. How about Quinnian Mitchell? How about that? Toledo Corner.

Okay, so we talk about these ties and within position groups. Why is this important to perform? Well, because for these guys, they can increase their value. And Mitchell did that, the corner from Toledo. He runs 433. Meanwhile, Terry and Arnold, the corner from Alabama, a lot of people would compare those two. I think that they're a close evaluation on tape,

and yet Arnold runs 4-50. Okay, so, well, guess what? Quineon Mitchell had a great combine, and he probably helped himself. And if you're a team that's potentially looking at a corner, guess what? That's a metric that you will use. If your evaluation is dead even, think of it this way, dead even, everything. You loved their interviews. You loved their tape. You loved stylistically, everything. You loved everything about it. And you're like, I just can't break the tie. Well, guess what?

That broke the tie. Because it's tangible. You can see it. Now, that doesn't mean he's automatically going to get drafted ahead of Terry and Arnold, right, or any other corner. Because maybe it's not a tie in that organization's eyes. But if it is, that breaks it. So Mitchell, great, great numbers. 433 in the 40. A couple of defensive guys, Chop Robinson from Penn State. I thought he did an incredible job, probably played himself, I'd say top 12, 13 picks potentially. Dallas Turner, probably the same. Those two were the, I think, the two best defensive players at the Combine. Chop Robinson came in heavier than people thought. So he comes in at about 254, which is good for him because he's going to play with his hand in the dirt or at least on the edge on the outside.

And then he was fast, man. 4-48 at 254? What? That's crazy. Explosive in the broad jump and the vertical jump. Dallas Turner, same. Absolutely slated. Dallas Turner is ready made to potentially be a player that could compete for defensive player of the year honor. This guy is driven.

He jumps 40 and a half inches. He broad jumps 10-7. He runs 4-4-6. He's a machine. You draft him. That guy is a top 10 pick. Dallas Turner is the guy. He is really good.

And all of that was solidified with the way that they ran and worked out at the combine. That leaves one other guy that everybody was talking about. Joe Milton. So Joe Milton did your, you know, kind of the classic like, look at him throw. And I've been going on and on and on about these metrics where you can break ties. And you know what? That certainly is going to be the case for Joe Milton.

And having said that, I will say this about quarterback play at any level. I do not care how far you can throw the football. Not at all. I think that that is totally irrelevant, completely irrelevant in terms of playing the position. Almost never happens. First of all, the passes that are thrown with 100% maximum effort, like a fastball from a pitcher in Major League Baseball, like an all-out throw, less than five times a season. touch passes,

45% of your throws, minimum, layering the ball, another 20%, you get what I'm saying. So your ability to throw the ball 80 yards doesn't matter. Like it just doesn't.

Now, that doesn't mean that I don't like Joe Milton. In a lot of ways, I've been waiting for Joe Milton to get to this point since I first saw him when he was a freshman in Michigan. I remember seeing him as a freshman. freshman at Michigan. And he comes out for warm-ups and I was like, wow.

Like this dude can throw the ball. And Steve, who works with me here, Steve, shout out again. Steve and I are covering the game together and we're both talking. We're like, Combine, 2024. That guy is going to kill it at the Combine. We knew it then. He's been built for the Combine ever since then. Now, can he play the position?

You have to go to the tape. I don't care what his. is miles per hour were on the football. I just, I really don't. When you actually break down the way quarterbacks work, you don't throw the football. You pass the football. You pass with touch and leverage. And every single throw that you make as a quarterback, you are making decisions. Do I change speeds? What's the proper trajectory that do I put on this ball? What's the proper touch do I put on this ball? Do I need to throw it on his back shoulder or his front shoulder? Accuracy. You can boil all that down to is the ball on time and on target. Is the ball on time or

an on target? Because when it is, now the offense can move efficiently. The best quarterbacks in the National Football League or any level, put the ball on time and on target. That's what it's about. None of it matters how far you can throw. It just doesn't. doesn't. And so I know it's like it's great for social media and we're going to see it at pro days again and guys are going to do the whole like spin out and spin and throw it. And it's like, I don't care. I don't care. All these other numbers, Xavier Worthy's 421 translates because he can take the top off of the defense. Quinnon Mitchell's 433 is a corner translates because at some point he's going to get beat and have to turn and sprint as fast as he possibly can. Chop

Robinson, when I see him run 4-4-8. and do what he does in the cone drill and see him dip, that translates into a pass rush. And Dallas Turner's explosiveness and his strengths, that translates into football, at least to some degree. But just throwing the ball 80 yards, it's like, great. So like we can have a Hail Mary from what, snap it from the 40? I guess.

I feel like that was a bit of, you know, yelling at the clouds. So I came back to, I started with that my opinion of the combine has evolved. and that I used to be kind of old men yelling at the clouds, and that it's evolved into knowing that it's also made for TV and important and the metrics and we're breaking ties. And then what did I do? I ended yelling at the clouds. See what you made me do?

See what you made me do with the dumb. Look how far I can throw the ball. It just doesn't matter. It doesn't whatsoever. I hope Joe Milton gets evaluated based on the way that he played at Tennessee because his development over his college career from the guy that I saw at Michigan, and quite frankly, could not throw the ball accurately.

He could throw it hard, but he was like Nook Lusch out there. And the line, by the way, for those of you that are, I don't know, younger than 30 is he couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. Go watch Bull Durham. If you haven't seen Bull Durham, shame on you. He was like Nukle-Lush early in his career, all right? Ebby Calvin Nukle-Looch. And now he comes back and he grew.

And when he transferred to Tennessee, he became a better player. And he was so much better this last year at Tennessee than even when he had to, you know, play spot duty the year prior. So I hope he's evaluated on that. And he doesn't just become kind of the, you know, the circus of throwing the ball far down the field. You don't want to get lumped in with those guys like that because it just doesn't matter. So again, that's why I hope he gets evaluated on. what his game was this last year. Let's transition to some college football news.

And over the last week or so, we have seen, I guess, some changes to the playoff format. And the reason that I'm pausing is because we haven't even seen the expansion of the playoff to the 12-team version. And it already looks like we are going to be getting a 14-team version once the new television contract kicks in in 2026. So that's interesting. I think that there's a lot of opinions about this topic. I want to run through some what I would consider to be more like kind of logical negotiating tactics. Let's walk through what's actually going on with the college football play. talking about expanding from 12 before they ever play one game in the 12-team format to 14.

Okay. They want to go to 14 so they can have a format that is 3-3-2-1. What that would be is three for the SEC automatic bids. Three for the Big 10 automatic bids. two automatic bids for the Big 12 and the ACC, one for the group of five, and then you have three at-larges. There's also an asterisk.

If Notre Dame is in the top 14 of the final poll, they would get a, quote, automatic birth. Now, this is where it becomes interesting, is that with 14, you no longer have four buys in the top four, you would only have two. And those two would go to automatically, the champion of the SEC and the champion of the Big Ten. How do we get there?

Everyone's like, what? That's crazy. We haven't even played a 12-team format. Why are we expanding to 14? Why is the Big Ten and the SEC doing this? Why is it their fault? Let's just walk through it. Let's just walk through exactly what I think is going on.

In any business negotiation, and rest assured, this is a business negotiation. This is business. The playoff expanding to 12 is business. Expansion in any realm is business. Okay, so in any business, agreement, discussion, negotiation, the entity with all the money makes the rules. That's just what it is. They have all the leverage.

They have all the leverage. because you need them more than they need you. All of us go through this when we're buying and selling our houses. If someone walks in and they need your house more than you need to sell it, you're going to charge them a lot of money. Vice versa. There's no buyers and you're desperate to sell your house. They're going to pay you a lot less money.

That's just what it is. It's called leverage. All right. Everybody exercises leverage when they have it. Everybody does. There is this sense that, well, I get this sentiment that there's a lot of people out there that are like, college football is changing. It's too, this is too much.

I hate this. So on and so forth. I disagree. Number one. Number two, it's always. changed. It's always changed. One of Texas's national championships was awarded them before they played Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl back in the Freddie Steinmark year. You know, I mean, so like we've changed from that. We constantly change. Look at the iterations of every single conference. That continues to

change. Look at how we have gone about bowl season, the number of bowls. The fact that now we have conference championship games. Now we have players that are making name, image, and likeness dollars. Now we're going into a playoff era. But this one is a bridge too far. Now, I'm like, come on. If that's your sentiment, then you're just looking to be upset. Then you're just looking to have the opinion that everything was better in the past. That's not always the case. Remember the line that Chip Kelly told us and I will continue to steal. From the movie a river runs through it, nothing perfect lasts forever except in our memories. That's how we look at college football. We look at it. It's always been perfect. And it was always

like this one way. No, it wasn't. No, it wasn't. It's always changed. And it's always changed because there hasn't been a centralized governing body that has morphed the way that it changes to try to keep its shape. So it's changed more than other sports. it's because we don't have that centralized body. I talk about this a lot. We operate in silos. Those silos are going to wield their power and leverage based on what's good for them. They're just going to do that. If you want them not to do that, you're not living in reality. Okay, so with that whole long discussion, here's how we get to 14. You get to 14 because I believe the SEC and the Big 10 were already going to start. saying, hey, when we go to 2026 and we get into this new television contract, we're taking

three spots automatically. Like, we're just going to do that. We know that would happen anyways, but we're just going to do that automatically. Why? Because we can. Now, you can say that that's terrible of them. You can say, why would they do that? Because they can. Because they hold the money and the leverage and the power. Because they don't need the playoff as much as the other conferences. Remember, if you're selling your house, where does the need lie? That's where the leverage lies. And the fact remains, if the Big Ten and the SEC really wanted to take their bowl and run off into the corner and play their own playoff, many people, including me, would just deem that champion, the national champion. Because those two conferences are going to be the deepest and best

conferences in college football. That's pretty clear. Okay, they're going to take their three spots. The ACC and the Big 12 are like, no. And they start throwing a fit. Well, now we're negotiating. SEC Big 10, they want three automatic spots. ACC Big 12, they're like, we're not going to give you three automatic spots and us only have one automatic spot. SEC and the Big Ten are saying to themselves, we're not giving you more automatic spots because we believe that the at-larges will just come to us anyways because we're deeper and better. Okay, so they're going to puff their chests out a little bit.

So now we're at an impasse. Okay, so that's where we're at. 12 teams, impasse, SEC Big Ten, they want three, impasse. Then a lifeline gets thrown out. Here's the lifeline, and this is what I don't think many people will actually give them credit for. I believe that the SEC and the Big Ten threw a lifeline to the rest of college football and said, okay, I tell you what, we don't care if this thing grows from 12 to 14 because guess what? There's not going to be more spots for us.

So we'll include two extra spots just for you, ACC and Big 12. So we'll go from 12 to 14 and give you a second automatic spot. How's that? And the ACC and Big 12 look at each other and they're like, well, that sounds great. In fact, that sounds a little too good. What's the catch? The FCC and the Big Ten are like small. Small catch, small catch here.

Obviously, now we're only going to have two buys. We're going to take those. So we'll be the top two seats. That's how it goes. That's the negotiation. Now the ACC and the Big 12 have to make a choice. And the choice is not about how much the SEC and the Big Ten are wielding their power. It's not about that at all.

The choice is going to be about the value of their conference champion. championship game. Because with two automatic spots and no access to a buy, that game becomes much less valuable. Because if you win, who cares? And if you lose, who cares? Because you're both going. And what are you really getting if you win? Maybe a home game in the first round. So this is where I believe they need to go back to the table and they say, okay, we get it. you've got the leverage. Now what we want is we want to build this

so that the second round is also at home. Why would they want that? Well, so that they can tell their champion, you're going to get a home game, and if you win that, you're going to get another home game. That's why you would do that.

Maybe the SEC and the Big Ten would agree to that, but I think that they're going to need to go back and say second round needs to be at home. Now, all of that is minutiae and all of that is just like negotiating tactics and leverage and what's going on at the table. So let me just backtrack really quickly and reiterate what I just said. We had 12.

We're going to 12. The SEC and the Big Ten are garnering a huge amount of leverage with the way that they've grown their conferences and the money that they're going to make in their television deals. They don't need the CFP as much as the CFP needs them. So they say, well, we're going to take three spots off the top each, even in a 12-team format. ACC and Big 12 say, no, we can't do that. No way. So they go back and say, okay, we'll add two automatic spots, but guess what? We're going to take those two buys because of it. They retain the value of their conference championship games, minimize the value of the ACC and the Big 12

conference championship games, and that's where we're at. That's where we're at. So why would it go from 12 to 14 without one game being played? Because it's a negotiation. There's always going to be give and take. I've seen a lot of people, you know, mad at this fact. I've seen them say a lot of different things. And all I would say is that without a centralized governing body that's moving the negotiations with one vision and mission, which would be to make it better for the whole, without that, then it's just a negotiation between pillars that are going to use leverage against one another. If the Big 12 had the leverage, they'd use it. If the ACC had the leverage, they'd use it. If the group of five had the leverage, they'd use it. If Notre Dame had the

leverage, they'd use it. And by the way, Notre Dame is using their leverage. They are. They have a spot at the table in the negotiations just because they're Notre Dame. Okay, so all of this is taking place. And if we're rooted in reality, that's what happens. It leaves me with two questions. And these are the questions that I think that the fans would be asking. The first one would be, well, will this just further dilute the product?

Like if we're just going to expand and expand, isn't this going to dilute the product to just have more automatic spots and less, let's say, quote unquote, at large spots? I actually think that it makes the product better. Follow me on this. when the majority of the spots in a playoff are handed out via invitation as in an audition, an at-large spot,

I think that's worse for the sport because I don't think that we tangibly know what the path is to get there. I think that's been the problem with the four-team playoff. tangible. I don't know. Georgia loses one game. They get thrown out. Florida State goes undefeated. They're left out. It's arbitrary. You're auditioning for this panel all year long and then they just award you at the end. Has that been good for college football? Probably not. What do automatic spots resemble? An actual playoff where you will know your actual standing. You will know which games actually matter all the way until the end of the season. You see, in the NFL, yeah, we might have at-large spots.

They're called wild card spots. And guess what? We know how you qualify for them. They are an automatic spot. Every playoff spot across any sport is an automatic spot except for the at-large spots in the college football playoff. You see, I would rather have qualifying spots. rather than an audition. So because of that, I think you can make the argument that if we go down the road of qualifying,

you can picture, imagine the month of November, and you can start to see these games that have heavy playoff implications. We see it in other sports. Heck, we're seeing it in the NBA right now. They're coming down the stretch, and we know which games are meaningful. for above the line with play-in games, seeding. All of the games matter. Why?

Because they're automatic qualifying spots. Not auditioning spots. Not auditioning spots. So will it dilute the product to go from 12 to 14? Or even for 4 to 12, for 12 to 14? No. I think that it might even make it better. There's going to be more meaningful games in the month of November

than we've ever had in college football. Next question that a fan might have. Well, Joel, is it just going to keep growing? Like, we've gotten, we got to 12. You know, that took a lot. And then before we even played a game, it went to 14. Of course it's going to go to 16, right? No, I don't think that's the case.

I don't think that's the case. And it lies in the explanation that I was giving to you about the 14 team playoff and the buys, the top two buys versus the top four buys. there is, without a doubt, power being exerted on this negotiation by the Big Ten and the SEC. Part of why they would say you can have two automatic spots and we'll go to 14, but we will take the top two seeds and buys, is to retain the value of their conference championship game. They can exert leverage on that negotiation, which retains value in a game in which they've negotiated huge television contracts to televise the regular season and those games. They want to retain the importance of their conference championship game. You see, now the ACC and the Big 12, they're stuck.

Their championship game is going to have to change in some way, formats. They might have to go to a two, three format so they can. can actually have a game that plays you into the playoff and gets a spot. Because now in the SEC and the Big Ten, that game will mean something. You get a buy. You get a top two seed and a buy. And I would also say this is another reason why I would argue for second round home games, because then you would have a buy and a home game in your first playoff game,

the second round of the playoffs. Okay, so that's what they did. So what does that have to do with growing? Well, guess what goes away when you go to 16? The two buys. The two buys. Now they lose their value of the conference championship games. So those buys, to me, act as a backstop to gross.

Once you get past 16, it gets a little bit wild in terms of, you know, the type of teams that you're letting in. if you want to continue to expand and you only want one group of five team in there, well, then guess what? You're going to run into some antitrust, I'm sure. So it gets much more difficult to expand past 16 just from a logistical standpoint. They don't have enough weeks in the year. They just basically can't. And the reason they're not going to go from 14 to 16 is because that would crush the value of the SEC championship game and the Big Ten championship game.

It's all business. It's business. They're exerting some leverage. They threw a bone, a lifeline to the ACC and the Big 12. They gave them a second automatic qualifying spot. And in return, they took the top two buys, the top two steeds to protect the value of their championship games. That's why it won't grow to 16. There have been some rule change discussions going on over the last couple of weeks.

A three in particular that I would throw out there. Helmetcoms. This has been a big deal ever since the Michigan thing. But, you know, those of us, like in the industry, we've been talking about helmet comms for a long time. They should have done it a long time ago. I've been a big proponent of the helmet comms, you know, having the coach call the plays in the quarterback's helmet, cut it off at a certain point. One player on defense, he would also have a coach in his head, calling defensive calls out for him. This should have happened a long time ago.

And here's the dirty little secret, very dirty little secret. No one wants to admit this, but this is 100% true. 100% true. Everybody will publicly say that they want helmet comms and how, why haven't we done this? And of course we should do this. And then when the door closes or when the microphone turns off or when the light goes off, when the camera turns off, they turn around and they tell their athletic director, no, I don't want helmet comms. Why don't you want helmet comms? Because we steal signs.

It's the way it is. That's the way it is. Now there's movement. Now there's momentum. I believe this will happen and it should happen and it should have happened a long time ago. The two minute warning now entering into college football. I've seen some people, I don't think that this is a big deal at all, by the way. And in fact, I love the idea of enhancing the strategy late in half, late in game.

Really love the idea. I've seen some people like, great, more commercials. If you read anything about like, well, this is just going to extend the time of the game. No, it won't. No, it won't. You obviously have no idea how this all works. As a television entity, we have negotiated with each conference the structure of the television broadcast for that game. The games in college football have four commercial breaks per quarter.

There are term breaks at the end of quarters. The timing of commercials change a little bit, but you have the ability during a stoppage to ask for a television timeout, four times per quarter. Now, there's something in the truck called an AD, an associate director or assistant director. And that guy or lady, there are tremendous women as ADs and directors and producers littered in our industry. That person tells the red hat, the person with the red gloves and hat, they're like, hey, we want a break here. And they communicate to the official. And the official gives us to me like, okay, we're going to stop TV timeout.

It's called they punch out. That's why they throw their arms out to the side. four times a quarter, we can do that as a television company. Well, guess what? Now in the second and the fourth quarter, we don't stop at a fifth time for the two-minute warning. We just know that one of the four commercial breaks is already set at the two-minute mark. There's not going to be more commercials. This is not going to take longer.

It's just going to enhance the strategy of the game at the end of the second quarter and at the end of the game. That's all it's going to do. So am I in favor of it? Yeah, I am in favor of it. And then the last one that I would want to talk to is about the, or speak to. There's been this proposal of three signing days kind of floated out there. So there would be one before the season, kind of in the summer period where recruits could sign. Then there would still be an early December signing period.

And they've talked about that one moving up to the first Wednesday. after the regular season, but then we would still have conference championship games. Remember, this calendar is getting all thrown into the flux because of the CFP. And then the traditional date. So three dates. Summer, December, and then February. No, that would be terrible. And I think that we should operate with a very simple framework, a very simple framework,

that would help coaches and it would help players. We should not be in roster building mode during the season, period. We should not have open transfer portal. We should not have signing day if the season is going on. If you want an early summer signing period, great. Guess what? It's not the season. If you want to go to the traditional signing period, great.

It's not the season. We need to remove roster building away from the coach's menu. and responsibility while they're trying to coach. Because all they're going to do is get distracted. And distracted coaches don't serve their own players' best interests. And then when those players' best interests aren't served, guess what? They want to leave.

So we're just perpetuating the cycle if we continue to allow roster building functions like the transfer portal and signing days to take place during the season. That needs to be removed. And no other sport will we try to do this. This is crazy. Again, remove the December signing day. It's toxic. Remove the transfer portal window opening in early December.

It's toxic. It's killing the sport. We can build rosters before or after the season, but not during the season. We got an email. As you know, I love to dip into the email in the mailbag, I guess I should call it. send us an email, by the way, the Joel Clashio Mailbag at gmail.com. We'd love to chat with you about anything. I'd love to talk about life, college football, the NFL draft.

Send us your questions. Quick note on that. If you write a long email, just make sure that the actual question is kind of parsed out and it's its own paragraph. And then here's a great rule of thumb. We like to put questions up that are kind of like tweets in terms of length. So you can write a long email. Just make sure your portion that you would like to actually ask us

is about the length of a tweet. It just works out better. Why? Because we like to put the graphic up. We got an email back from the guy who emailed us about, emailed me, question about, hey, should I ask for a pre-up? Pre-up guy emailed us back. We'll put up the email.

It's lengthy. I'll just let you read it if you're watching. If you're listening, don't worry. I'm going to paraphrase. Very nice. Email's saying, hey, caught your episode. Yeah, I agree with you in terms of there are many different views of marriage. I appreciate the way that you handled it.

Obviously, it was going to be a touchy subject. I saw that in the comments, so on and so forth. But I'm not going to bring up this email that he sent us back for any other reason, other than to read a portion in the middle of this email. And I think that it basically solidifies the point of what I was making a few episodes ago. This nice young man basically said I make more than my girlfriend. Should I ask for my fiance? Should I ask for a preem?

I'm sorry to laugh. I'm sorry to laugh. Here's the line from this follow-up email. He said, I know what the reaction might have been. And yet I have brought up the question with my fiancee once or twice anyways, period. Didn't turn out well, of course, period. No, I'm shocked. And hurt and shocked.

It's a travesty and a sham and a mockery. It's a Travis sham mockery. Hey, man. Like, if you want to ask for it, here's the deal. I know that not everyone is going to view marriage the way I view it. I view it from a very biblical lens. As you all know, I have a strong faith in Jesus Christ. And it just so happens that the series at the church that I go to currently is on the book Song of Solomon or Song of Songs.

And Song of Songs is basically a love poem. And it's a picture of like attraction and courtship and all of these things. and there was a line from today's, I'm recording this on a Sunday, from today's message that I would just say like encapsulates a great view of marriage, even if you don't have a biblical worldview, okay, which is fine. I'm not pushing this on you. But when it comes to marriage, you don't want to just find the one. you want to find the one who you want to become one with.

I stole that from my pastor. He's an incredible pastor. It was an incredible message. His name's Eric Geiger. So credit where it's due. But again, you want to look for the one who you want to become one with. So I would say it to you this way. If this is authentically you and you want to ask for a pre-up,

ask, do it. Because if that's something that would break the relationship, then you know what? You're probably better off breaking the relationship than entering into a marriage and not showing your true colors. Because if you're going to become one with somebody in a marriage, in the covenant of marriage and in that commitment of marriage, they better know who you are.

And you better know who they are. And then if she looks at you and says, yeah, I'll sign that. then you know what? More power to you. So there you go. That'll do it. Long episode, but a lot to get through. Thankful for all of you listening. Remember to follow us. Subscribe. Do all the things. Follow us on social media at Joel Clachio. Send us a mailbag question. And I'll be back later next week with more Joel Clachio.