The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Who should Penn State call to replace James Franklin? Indiana & USC’s big wins & Klatt’s Top 10

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the news that Penn State has fired Head Coach James Franklin after the Nittany Lions’ 3rd straight loss. He explains the move and gives his list of names that he believes should be the first calls from the Penn State AD for the open position. Klatt then explains why Indiana’s upset in Eugene over #3 Oregon stamped them as legit National Championship contenders. He then breaks down USC’s statement win over Michigan and why it may have been the most impactful Trojans win since the Pete Carroll days. He also evaluates Texas and Oklahoma after the Longhorns’ convincing win and discusses the Playoff outlook for both teams. Klatt reveals his latest Top 10 where he discusses where to place Indiana after their big win and if anyone can displace Ohio State this week. He also explains why one SEC team went tumbling down his list despite a win over the weekend. 0:00-2:00 Intro2:01-14:44 James Franklin fired by Penn State14:45-20:41 Indiana stuns Oregon in Eugene20:42-26:57 USC blows out Michigan26:58-32:52 Texas rights themselves vs. Oklahoma32:53-46:13 Joel’s Week 7 top 10 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I think that this is going to be the best job that comes open in this cycle. I think that next head coach is going to be one of these four names. Their team is good enough to win a national championship. I think that was maybe as impactful a win that I've witnessed for USC maybe since the Pete Carroll days. There's a good chance that they go 10 and 2. Hey, like today is why we love college football. Hey, welcome into the program, everybody. This is Joel Clatt.

I am Joel Clatt. This show is brought to you by Graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support, as always. Big show for you here today, reacting to what has become a wild weekend and really Saturday and then weekend in college football. Obviously, the James Franklin News, we're going to get into that with Penn State. But also, I felt like there were really four program and season-changing results from this last weekend that took place. And it's because of the way that the games took place. We'll get into James Franklin, Indiana, obviously beating up on Oregon, up in Eugene, USC over Michigan, Texas, over Oklahoma, all of that and much more. Obviously, we've got the top 10. There was two good of results here and things to talk about.

So my top 10 is going to come later in the program, and you can find out where your school lands in my new top 10. So that's coming up right after I get to these games. And also, by the way, if you like this show, please subscribe. Invite a friend. They can subscribe as well over on the YouTube channel. And if you are listening, by the way, please rate and review us wherever you're listening to this podcast and then follow us on social media if you want to do that. You can catch up on all of our stuff during the course of the week at Joel Klatshow.

Wherever you like to social media, you can grab all of our content there as well. Okay, so let's get into it. Here we go. James Franklin fired in the middle of his 12th season at Penn State. And it's just an absolute stunning fall. I've never seen anything like this in college football, a team that was. widely considered a top two, three team in the country coming into the season. They are undefeated at home in an iconic,

environment against Oregon just 15 days ago with the ball in overtime and a chance to beat Oregon, remain undefeated, and continue a trajectory towards what they believed was a national championship caliber season. An interception happens. Then they lose two straight games as 20-point favorites. Never seen this before. Never seen this before.

And just 15 days after that, James Franklin out as the head coach of Penn State. Man, I got to tell you. Now, there were, like I had heard some rumblings over the last couple of weeks. And so this was not entirely unexpected as I started to watch that Northwestern game unfold. And kudos to Northwestern, by the way, for going in there and playing so hard and getting the job done on the road. That's a difficult win because Penn State is still very. talented. This is not a team that's just all the sudden forgotten how to play football, even though that's what it looks like. UCLA, great effort, getting the win. Northwestern, great effort,

getting the win. And when you play in league games, regardless of league, by the way, thank you very much, it's difficult. And it's become very difficult for Penn State. So then the question that I think most people would be asking, well, why now? Why now? Well, from an athletic director standpoint, Pat Kraft, the athletic director at Penn State, is one of the best in the country. He really is. And I think that's one of the reasons why I think this job is going to be so coveted. But more on that in just a bit. From an ADE's perspective, you're sitting there in a home game like that, and that's the third loss in a row. You're at home. What you start to feel as an athletic director is that the support is eroding and it's turning toxic. And your home

stadium cannot become toxic. When that happens, it's over. And when it's over, you make the change. And so that's what Pat Kraft decided to do with James Franklin. And I think even James Franklin would understand that. You know, I know that this would be a tough pill to swallow. I totally understand that. And everyone's going to be talking about the buyout and so on and so forth. But it's really not about that.

It's about trajectory of program. You've got to not only have some momentum through this back half of the season for the result, which now maybe doesn't matter so much. This is probably going to be a seven and five football team. team, but it's also about retaining your own roster and building the roster for the future. The recruiting class that they're trying to bring in, the potential transfer portal class that they're trying to bring in. So when you know it's over, what you don't want to do is just hang out in this purgatory type of place where are they or aren't they? What's going on?

And that indecision leads to decommitments, even though they might still occur because a lot of those guys are committing to a coach staff. But that's really the reason. reason why. When your environment turns toxic, the timing of building a roster, that's why they do this now. Now, do I love that? No, I don't love that. I was, I was not a fan of this when Texas Tech did it, even though I liked the Joey McGuire hire and I don't like it now, only because it's hard to be a student athlete. It's hard to be one of these players. And now, like, you're aimless, you're rudderless. Excuse me. And from my standpoint, I typically look after the players in that regard. Now, as far as the status of this job, I think that this is going to be

the best job that comes open in this cycle. And I understand that there will be more. Obviously, we don't know what's going to happen at, let's say, Florida with Billy Napier after a loss again to Texas A&M. We don't know what's going to happen at Florida State as Mike Norville takes what was an incredible start to the season with the win over Alabama. And now that's fading away home loss against Pitt as an 11-point favorite. We don't know what's going to happen with Wisconsin. Obviously, it was a devastating end of the game against Michigan. They roll out there and get shut out last weekend.

We don't know what's going to happen at those types of places. And yet, I don't care if those jobs open. To me, Penn State is the apple of the cycle. This is going to be the best job. And the reason is that the support is there. The athletic director is fantastic. They're just putting in, you know, nine figures plus into that stadium, which is already one of the best environments in college football. You have a history of success.

You have a legacy. You have a tradition. You have all of these things there at your disposal. It is a place. And Ohio State is proving this out. Notre Dame just proved this playing for a national championship. Michigan just proved this winning a national championship. You can win a national championship up there.

This is a conference that is playing the best football at the top. It might not be as deep as the SEC is with all those teams in the middle of the SEC. But at the top, it is the premium conference in college football. The money is there from the revenue distribution. Everything is there to win a championship. So this is right now the best job available. And it probably will be, regardless of what happens at those other locations. So then the challenge is, who do you hire?

Because you've got to take a big swing. If you're Pat Kraft, you've got to get the right guy in here. This is a pivotal moment for Penn State. Everybody knows that. Everybody knows that. And we've seen programs that have tradition, that have some momentum, have some history of success,

and they go one or two directions. What you want to do is you want to go the Georgia route, where you're a premium product, which Penn State has been, they were just in the national semifinal. You are a premium product. And yet, there has been this ceiling, this cap on where they've played

over the last 10th. years with James Franklin. Like Georgia with Mark Rick, do you want to bring somebody in who can take you to the next level, right? Not just totally rebuild it and do all of these things. So who is that guy? This is a moment right now. And really all of college football, this will start in motion, a series of dominoes. And it's going to be important. So who do they go after? And what do you go after? I think it should be a true best candidate possible type of search. You don't want to go after just an offensive guy. You don't want to go after just a defensive guy. You don't want to go and put yourself into a corner and pick somebody just based on parameters that you're setting for

yourself. No, no, no. Make this a wide net, an open search. So if that's the case, then to me, there's four names. And listen, we were right on the money when Alabama came open after Nick Saban stepped away. And we were right on the money. And we said the three candidates were going to be, Kaylin DeBoer, Steve Sarkeesian, and one more. I think it was Lane Kiffin, if I'm not mistaken. I'm blanking on the third candidate. Dan Lannning from Oregon. And I didn't think Dan would leave.

I didn't think Sark would leave. And I thought Kalin DeBore would be the next head coach at Alabama. And sure enough, that's exactly what took place. So here we go. This is my prediction. Okay, I don't have a lot of inside information. So this is just from my seat where I see this headed. This is where I see it headed.

There are three categories of guys that you can go after. You can go after the big swing. You can go after the guy that you think would fit best at your location, or you can go after the unproven non-head coach that you think has the ability to take you to the next level, right? That's the Dan Landing-esque hire. The guy who understands and fits what you are is the Mike Elko style hire at Texas A&M, right? The big swing is obviously what USC has tried to do with a Lincoln Riley or even Kirby Smart at Georgia, even though he was a coordinator prior to that.

So here's the three categories and here's the guys that fit those categories. I got four names. I think that the next head coach is going to be one of these four names, I think. The big swing is Kurtzignetti. Kersignetti from Indiana. This guy is a proven commodity. And after this last weekend with that went over Oregon, I don't think there's a hotter name in college football. right now than Kurt Signetti.

Because of some of the other big names that you could potentially go after, one, I don't think that they would fit or two, I don't think they would leave. So what's the biggest swing you could take? I think it's Kurt Signetti, and that's a big swing. And who knows if he would leave Indiana? I'm not sure. I think it depends on the level of support that they get. And right now, at least the news is, if you're reading some of these articles,

that that support is substantial at Indiana. So that's the big swing is Kurt Signetti. By the way, he's from Pennsylvania. How about the fit guy? Maybe even kind of a bring him home type of a deal. I've got two names there. A guy that just had a lot of success as the defensive coordinator at Penn State and now is doing a really good job at Duke.

It's Manny Diaz. I think that Manny Diaz is going to get a call in this situation. Another one that has deep Penn State ties and is a very good coach. And on a trajectory right now to maybe overachieve at a place that's been hard to win for 20 years, and that's Matt Ruhl, at Nebraska. And obviously there's a relationship there. Matt obviously knows and is in a lot of ways,

Penn State. So I think that's going to be a call. And then the guy that's maybe under the radar that's not a head coach right now that has seen it like a Dan Lannning, like a Kirby Smart, he's been around it. He knows what it takes. He just hasn't been a head coach yet. Is Brian Hartline at Ohio State? And I know Buckeye fans are screaming right now for me bringing up that name. Those are the four names, if I was the athletic director, that I would be making the call. Now, here's what's difficult, though. In the playoff era, and the way that Indiana is playing, I think you would assume that Indiana is not only going to be in the playoff, but maybe play deep into the playoff. There is a chance that Cignetti wouldn't even be available until January

in this situation. And that's probably not what Penn State is going to want. They obviously want a guy that and hit the ground running early in December. The other three fit that bill. They just do. And I don't think Nebraska is going to go to the playoff. I don't think Duke is going to go to the playoff. And obviously, Brian Hartline could step away. So one of those three guys make a lot of sense to me, a lot of sense.

And again, I think Brian Hartline's going to be an incredible head coach. And he will be a head coach at some point in his career. I don't know if it's right now. I don't know what level of job that. he's going to ultimately get. But I do know one thing. This guy is the best recruiter at his position group over the last 10 years, and it's not close. And he's also the best developer of talent that we've seen. And he's seen it. He has been around it, just like Landing and just like Kirby Smart. He knows exactly what it takes. They won a national championship last year. So those are the names that I

would throw out. And again, I want to be very clear. This is not inside information. This is my speculation. in this regard. It could be way off. It could be dead on. It was also speculation with Alabama when I talked about those three names, Landing, Kalin DeBore, and Steve Sarkeesian, and it was right on the money. This is where I would go, and I believe that these are the calls that are going to be made. Last little bit on Penn State. Also, terrible news out of that game, not just the loss to Northwestern, but also Drew Aller lost for the season. I've known Drew now for a few years and covered him. He is a great young man. There's no doubt. And I think that in a lot of ways, he's been put into a position where his skill set wasn't necessarily featured in their offense. And that's disappointing in a lot of

ways. And I know that the ceiling was never reached. The potential was never reached right there. But I just feel for Drew Aller, he played his butt off all the time. And he cared deeply. And he loved football and he loves Penn State. And I just feel really bad for him. So, Drew, I'm thinking about you, man. I'm praying for you. I hope you get the care that you need, which I know you will. And I hope you come back better and stronger because of this. I do believe, Drew, that you've got a really bright future ahead of you at this position.

I believe it in my heart, and I hope you do as well. So good luck through this process, my man. All right, let's move on. Indiana goes up to Eugene and beats Oregon. And this is an Oregon team that we felt, or a lot of us thought very highly of. and Indiana goes up and beats them 30 to 20. And let's be very honest about this game. The score was not indicative of the game played.

Indiana beat Oregon up. They won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. And fundamentally, they were just better than Oregon. Their players were excellent. These guys continually get underrated. And I'm guilty of it. I'm guilty of it. I didn't put them in my October CFP bracket.

And guilty is charged. Guilty is charged. I think that their team is good enough to win a national championship. Point blank, Indiana is a legitimate national championship contender this year. That group that we just saw in Oregon, take it to the ducks. They were fantastic. They've got great quarter of. They're balanced.

They play excellent defense. They've got an excellent coaching staff. And they just did something in Oregon that not even last year's national champion could do. Remember, we've seen team. They had an 18-game winning streak in Austin Stadium. And one of those wins that they had was over Ohio State a year ago. And that was an Ohio State team that we know was the most talented team in college football that ultimately won the national championship.

and they didn't do what Indiana did to Oregon at all. Indiana was tremendous in this game. And a couple of things that I would love to just throw out is what I love about what Indiana does is that they attack your weaknesses. And they do it with urgency, with great play, with great execution, and great fundamentals. On the offensive side of the ball, when you've got a light run box,

you don't have enough defenders to stop the run, they run it. When you load the box, they throw it. But they don't just throw it blindly. They do it with specific intent. You play aggressive coverage. They're going to be the best back-shoulder fade team in the country. And that throw Mendoza made to Sarat, Elijah Sarat, the touchdown of the fourth quarter, was an excellent throw.

And they've been the best back-shoulder fade team in college football for now two years since Signetti came to that campus. They've been unbelievable. Then if you play off coverage and you play soft, they just pepper you with short routes. bang, bang, bang. So whatever you're going to give them, they're going to take. And they do it with patience, patients and urgency, which is a great combination. They do it with great execution and tremendous fundamentals.

Their offensive line is outstanding. They can run it when they need to. They pass protect. Mendoza is rarely under duress. Oregon could not get to them, even with some of those talented rushers up there. So this team is absolutely legit. And I would just pose this as a thought of. experiment for you out there. Don't do this if you're driving, but like just close your eyes for a

moment and just wonder to yourself. Imagine for a second that the game that we just saw had a different logo than Indiana. If that was Penn State that had done that, if that was Ohio State that had done that, or Michigan that had done that, we would be sitting here basically crowning that team. Oh, this is the absolute national championship favorite. Nobody does that to Oregon, not in that building. And Indiana, all they get from us is like, oh, man, they're for real. No, no, no. They're more than for real, folks.

And again, guilty is charged. Guilty as charged. I'll always tell you guys when I feel like I'm, I have been wrong. And this is one of those moments. I have been wrong about Indiana all season long. I have just waited for the other shoe to drop and it's not dropping. That is a legitimate national championship contender. Look at the rest of their schedule right now.

who's beating them? Michigan State? Nope. UCLA? Probably not. At Maryland? No, they just lost to Nebraska. At Penn State, not that Penn State team, and certainly not with a backup quarterback going in. Wisconsin, we know what's going on there. They might not win a game the rest of the year. And then at Purdue.

Indiana, in all likelihood, unless something drastic happens, is going to be 12 and O, playing in Indianapolis for the big. 10 championship and the right for the number one overall seed in the country in the college football playoff. We better wrap our heads around it because that performance was absolutely outstanding. Kurt Signetti has done a marvelous job, better than marvelous job, an outstanding job. We have never seen in the history of our sport a turnaround this dramatic and this quick. We saw Bill Snyder build Kansas State from a doormat into a contender. We saw Bill McCartney do that at Colorado.

We saw, let's see, Gary Barnett did that at Northwestern. But this is something very different. He's taking them to the top of college football in a year and a half. And what we saw last year with the struggles on the road against quality teams, we do not see that now, not after the dominant win, over the ducks, on the road. Man, that was a huge statement. And congratulations to Indiana. Oregon, you just got to lick your wounds, get better, and move on.

They've got a tougher schedule. obviously moving on in the back half of their season than Indiana does. But from Oregon standpoint, everything is still ahead of them. Now, they don't control their own destiny to get into the Big Ten championship game, but this is certainly still a playoff team. And stay tuned to the end of the program because you will find out where I have both Indiana and Oregon in my top 10 here after last weekend. All right, let's go to USC.

I felt like that statement win for USC over Michigan. And listen, do we really know how good Michigan is, I don't know. I don't know how good Michigan is. But that felt different, didn't it? I feel from a sustainability standpoint and a competitive standpoint at the top of their conference, I think that was maybe as impactful a win that I've witnessed for USC maybe since the Pete Carroll days. Now, they've had quality wins since Pete Carroll. I'm not saying that they haven't. And Lincoln Riley had a great year with Caleb Williams, and they had some big wins and even rushed for a lot of yards in some of those games.

But this felt different, didn't it? It did to me because they took Michigan, who is a year and a half removed from winning a national championship, and it's a program that has put their entire identity into their physical nature. We are tougher than you. We will run the ball. We will play great defense. We will wear you out. we are the boa constrictor, and USC beat them up.

Did any of you guys go to high school and watch someone beat up what everyone thought was the toughest guy in the school? And it was like, holy cow, and it's just different. I witnessed that one time. I'll never forget it. And I never viewed that one kid the same. No, no, no, no. The one kid who beat up the guy who I thought was the toughest guy in the school,

I immediately was like, never saying anything bad to that guy again. That's a bit what this feels like. They took a Big Ten opponent and they beat them in a Big Ten way. And that's why it's more sustainable. That's why you saw the emotion at the end of the game from Lincoln Riley. They were better on each line of scrimmage than Michigan. This is not anybody else. And this is Michigan, again, a program that invests their entire identity into being the tougher team.

and they were the tougher team. Speaking of USC, they ran the ball so effectively. That looked exactly, exactly, like covering Oklahoma in the prime Lincoln Riley era. It didn't matter who was the running back. William and Jordan goes out. Looks like he's going to be out for about four weeks

with a tightrope surgery on the ankle. Eli Sanders. Some reports coming out, he may not be back the rest of the year. Oh, that's okay. King Miller just rolls in there and was dead. dynamic. 18 totes for 159 and a touchdown? Hello? Like he looked fantastic. The offensive

line was tremendous. You know, their offensive line coach, Zach Hansen, does a great job for them. He's a younger guy. He's one of the better offensive line coaches in America. And that group up front played excellent. And they were without a few starters in their offensive line and still did that to Michigan. You look at their remaining schedule and it's not easy, but there's certainly in a position now where they can get themselves right into the mix into a CFP birth. They're going to travel to Notre Dame this week. That's going to be a hell of a football game. My goodness, that's going to be a great game, especially with the way Notre Dame is playing and what we think about Notre Dame, at least what I think. Notre Dame is balanced. They're

tough, they're physical. Can USC go on the road and play physical on the road? We did not see it at Illinois a couple of weeks ago. Well, we see it in South Bend this week. Then they go to Nebraska, I don't think that's an easy game for them. Northwestern on a Friday, Iowa, that's not an easy game. At Oregon, that's not an easy game. So a difficult stretch here for USC, but it feels different because if they play the way they did on Saturday and the rest of these games, there's a good chance that they go 10 and 2. And they would be right in the mix, folks.

They would be right in the mix. I think this is a team that's underrated. I was saying it a few weeks ago. they had the lead with two minutes to go at Illinois. Luke Altmire came back and beat them. This is a really good football team. So great win for USC and again, feels very different for me moving forward.

Now, from a Michigan standpoint, there is a lot to fix. They have got to get better. Their quarterback has to play better. Bryce Underwood looked like a freshman. Maybe not for the first time of the season, but he made some critical errors in that game and they have got to get more multiple in their office.

I was really shocked, to be honest with you, that maybe not that they deferred, but they give up the score in the first series, and then they come out and basically don't hand the football off in their first three plays. And I'm like, what? So I didn't love the offensive game plan early. Then they got back to the run game. They got the turnover, got back to the run game, made of the game, and it turned into something a little bit different.

But they need to get back to that. They can run the football. We'll see if Justice Haynes is going to be, available moving forward, but this is a team that needs to go back into their identity, take a look in the mirror, and say, like, why did we get beat up physically? What do we need to do on the defensive line to be better? To be able to put pressure on the quarterback, to be able to stop the run, because it needs to get better.

Here's their remaining schedule, and it's much more manageable than maybe USC's. But they've got Washington this week. By the way, Gus, Ginny and I will be in Ann Arbor. We'll be calling this game against Washington. This is a very underrated Washington team that put up a, billion yards on Rutgers on Friday night. DeBan Williams is a hell of a player. They've got to go to Michigan State. Michigan does. They've got Purdue at Northwestern, at Maryland, and then Ohio State. So manageable, yes. Is there still a chance to get to Ohio State,

hosting Ohio State, I should say, as a nine and two? Yeah, that's available to them, but they better fix some of these issues and their quarterback has got to develop. He needs to develop touch, and he needs to develop the ability to be a passer and not just a thrower. We get it, Bryce Underwood can throw a fastball. He needs to develop as a passer in order for them to reach that potential. So that's Michigan moving forward. How about Texas back on track? Unranked after that debacle at Florida and offense was terrible against Florida, defense did not play up to their standards against Florida, and they came out and I think reminded people why they were so widely considered one of the best teams in the country to begin the year.

You know, that defense, I always felt like, and I talked about it the entire offseason, was one of the better defenses in the country, and they proved that on Saturday. That's a great defense, not just a good defense, it's a great defense. And if their quarterback plays well, which he did, he didn't play, like, off the charts great, but they played well on offense and actually probably should have scored some more offensive points, some penalties set them back in some of those possessions. But rather than rehash the game, I would just tell you, like, Arch played his best game in a Texas uniform.

Best game in a Texas uniform. And something that I would just hit on with Arch. He showed some life. And listen, we want greatness right away from Arch Manning. And the reality is the greatness that we've seen in college football, now there are exceptions to this rule. And so I'm not saying that this is hard and fast. But what we have seen is that it has taken players time to become the player that they ultimately become in terms of a top-line quarterback in college football.

It took Bo Nicks a long time to reach that level. It took Baker Mayfield a while at Oklahoma. Joe Burrow lost a quarterback battle and then ended up having the best quarterback season in the history of the sport at LSU. You know, people forget it. like he lost a battle to Dwayne Haskins at Ohio State and had to transfer. And it's not like they made the wrong decision. Haskins threw for, I think, 50 touchdowns that next year. You know, so it can take time.

And that's okay. That's okay. But what we did see is a foundational building block for Arch in that he played his best game. He took care of the football. He did a really good job for Texas. And with that defense still being there, if they can continue to play that well, then guess what Texas has now?

life. Texas has life. They are obviously backed into a corner right now. They're behind the eight ball. All the cliches. Is there much wiggle room? No. But, but they have life. Because if they play like that against a very good Oklahoma team, then they can beat the rest of the people on their schedule. They can even go and beat Georgia on the road. what their remaining schedule looks like. At Kentucky, they should win that game. At Mississippi State, they should win that game. Home to Vanderbilt, they should win that game. I think Vanderbilt is overrated. At Georgia, obviously the toughest test and a team that has like 8 million lives and just you can't kill them. And I'll get to that Auburn game a little bit later. Arkansas should absolutely beat Arkansas. And then a monster Texas A&M. The goal for Texas is, some way. Fight, bite, scratch, crawl, do whatever you can to get to that game against A&M

as a 9-2 football team. If you can do that, then they're right in the thick of things as a CFP team. And by the way, if they play the way they did on Saturday, there's a good chance that they can get to that point. Now, from an Oklahoma standpoint, this is always what I was worried about with Oklahoma. You guys have known on this program, I have been very slow, much slower than others to just kind of crown Oklahoma and be like, oh yeah, definitely one of the best teams in college football. Listen, I like their defense. I really do.

It's not as good of a defense as Texas. It's not as good of a defense as Ohio State. It might not be as good of a defense as Indiana. And the more concerning part for me is that they have to have their quarterback put a cape on. If Mateer is not brilliant, what else goes on there? Because they can't run the football. I've been saying that for a long time. If you're not balanced and all of your eggs are in one basket,

it becomes really difficult if that guy has an off day, which Mateer did. He comes back from the hand surgery. And it wasn't that he looked bad throwing the ball. It's that he didn't make good decisions. And so if your quarterback is just off a little bit, A little bit. Then, oh, you, it's going to be really difficult the rest of the way. Because look at their remaining schedule.

If you look at their remaining schedule, it's one of the most difficult in the entire country. In fact, from this point on, it's absolutely the most difficult in the entire country. At South Carolina, host Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Alabama, Missouri at home, LSU at home. If Mateer is not Superman in any of these games, they'll lose. maybe they can beat South Carolina with an average mature performance. I don't think they can beat any of those other five teams with an average mature performance. And the evidence was last Saturday because it wasn't that close. Again, like Texas beat them up pretty bad.

They could not gain yards. They just couldn't do it. And so from an Oklahoma standpoint, I'm worried. I know that they're only a one-loss team. And I totally understand that. And you could be saying like, oh, we'll be fine. this and I'm worried for Oklahoma. At this point in the season, Texas with two losses and Oklahoma with one loss, I would put money if I had to on Texas making the playoff and not Oklahoma

because of the balance or lack thereof and the remaining schedule. So those are those two teams. Let's get into the top 10. Here we go. Some good shakeups in the top 10. So let's see what we've got in the top 10. A team that I had higher than this, won. dropped all the way down. And candidly, I wanted to boot them out because this performance in a win was, how should I say it? Horrendous? It was a horrendous win. Ole Miss. So Ole Miss is just going to hang in the top 10. And again, it's like, are they a top 10 team? I don't know. Like they're getting this entire resume and build up by beating LSU. We don't know how good LSU is. LSU offensively. is not very good.

You know, they won this last weekend, but was it a great performance? No. And you look around and it's like, Ole Miss has four wins by one score. That one against Washington. I mean, Washington State, guys, they barely beat Washington State at home.

Like, can we please stop this narrative of like, oh, in that conference going into those buildings? It's like, stop. Washington State is a team that lost by 49 to, North Texas, who just got beat by South Florida last weekend. They lost by, what, 35 to Washington, which is a good football team. You see what Ohio State did to the Huskies in Husky Stadium. They've been propped up by LSU, who is propped up by Clemson, who we now know is not

a very good football team. Notre Dame killed that Arkansas team. Killed them. You know, so like, oh, Ole Miss is going to hang on the top 10. I wanted to boot them out. Okay, I'll go quicker now. I just had to get that off my chest. So when you see that Ole Miss at 10, you know why.

At 9, it's Notre Dame. I know it's controversial with the two losses, but they beat, they would beat these teams that are surrounding them. They would beat Old Miss. Their two losses are impressive. There's no doubt to really good teams. When I look at A&M, really good football team, that was down to the wire. Miami, really good football team.

That was down to the wire. So Notre Dame stays in the top 10. They're number nine. At number eight, I've got Georgia. They're just so battle tested. They don't flinch. That game was wild against Auburn. The last three seasons, check this out.

This is stunning, stunning right now. And use this, by the way. You go to work, use this and with all your coworkers. In the last three seasons in the SEC conference, in games in which someone falls behind by two scores, so a two-possession game, Georgia is five and three. What is the rest of the conference? they've won 13% of those games.

So the rest of the conference, 13%. Georgia, 5 and 3. Stunning that they're able to come back from these deficits. They're down 10-0. They get that controversial call with the fumble at the goal line. And then from that point on, they just suffocate Auburn. And they just choke them out. And then they win the football game.

They're not perfect. They're not perfect. Are they going to get beat again? Probably. Probably. But, man, like, it's just so difficult to, actually kill that team in any game. It doesn't matter how much you're up.

Ask Tennessee. Ask Auburn. You know, like this is, ask Alabama. Georgia had chances to win that game, but didn't. And real quick, before we move on in the top 10, just a quick tangent here. A lot of talk about the officiating. Auburn obviously feels like they've gotten screwed a couple of times now

during the course of the season, once at Oklahoma with that controversial play. And then in this game, with this review of the fumble, and, you know, was it a touchdown? Was it a fumble? Did the whistle blow? Should Georgia have gotten a touchdown out of that? It was wild and it was a mess. Here's just something, rather than specifically commenting on those calls in the Georgia Auburn game, I would just tell you this. College football review, the replay in college football is totally broken, totally broken, and they're over-officious, if that's a word. We should absolutely change the system so that replay doesn't feel like they can get involved all the time. There are so many stoppages in all of these

games across the country that are useless, useless. I can't tell you how many times you're either watching a game or I'm calling a game. And the first replay that television gives is the definitive look that the call on the field was correct and they still stopped the game because it was close. like replay should be there to correct an egregious call. All right, now we can get involved. And oh, by the way, we're paying these coaches millions of dollars. Millions of dollars. Make them challenge the calls.

Why can't we just run this like the NFL? And the other thing I would do is put a clock on it. You got 45 seconds to make the call with all your screens and all this stuff. I'm so sick and tired of seeing the lipstick camera, the security camera. the security camera and all these like command centers, what are they doing? All these guys are huddling around. It's like, come on. Stop stopping the game for worthless things.

And can we just put the challenge flag in the coach's pocket and make him challenge plays? That would be way better in college football. Now we move back into the top 10. Okay, so here's where we're at. We're at Ole Miss, Notre Dame, and Georgia. And then at number seven, I've got Oregon falling down to number seven. That was alarming the way that they got beat up physically. Do I think they'll answer? Yes. I do think that they're going to answer because Dan Langing is too good of a coach and that's too good of a roster.

All right, they will fix some of those problems. The offensive line has played better than that during the course of the season. Even though now their non-conference schedule doesn't look great, Dante Moore has stepped back a little bit, but I do think that they're going to be just fine. And so I've got them at seven. At number six, I've got Texas Tech. Texas Tech is a hell of a football team. Now, they had an injury and it's not their quarterback injury that I'm actually worried about. Baron Morton went down. Well, Hammond had to come into the ballgame. He didn't play as well in this ballgame against Kansas in a win as he did when he went in against Utah in a game that Gus and Ginny and I called. The injury I'm more worried about is the fact that Skyler Gil Howard, one of the really good transferred defensive linemen who was a key cog in that defense, he went down with an injury.

He's a beast. He's one of the reasons why that defense has been so good. and that's an injury I'm a little bit worried about, but Texas Tech clear favorite for me in the Big 12. Alabama is going to be at number five. Good win over Missouri. And I know that I picked Missouri in this weekend's ballgame, but here's what Alabama was able to do.

Alabama was able to correct some weaknesses, and then in the second half of that game, they stopped the run really well. They did not allow Hardy to get loose. It put the game on Bo Perbula. He made a couple of mistakes, didn't play his best, and Alabama won the football game.

Ty Simpson is really good. Now, it's still a bit of a one-dimensional team. I'll keep saying that. I know Jam Miller is running the football better than what they ran it early in the year. And I totally understand that. But Alabama, for me, is still relying on Ty Simpson just a little bit too much. They had a fourth down in that fourth quarter. He had to throw an incredible ball in order to convert that fourth down.

But the defense was better. The defense was better against the run. And I think that's reason for optimism surrounding Alabama. Number four, I've got Texas A&M. Their third down defense is borderline comical, how good it is in terms of what they're doing. Opponents are two for their last 33 on third downs over the last three games. That is wild. By the way, A&M can run the football.

Their quarterback can run the football. they can throw the football, and obviously that defense looks great, and they're getting off the field on third down. That is going to be a difficult team to beat. That game was not all that close, even though it was tied at one point in the third quarter, really like A&M right now. At number three, I'm going to go with Miami. And I know Miami fans think that I've got something against Miami. I really don't. But at this point, here's how it plays out. I've got a clear number one that has to go number one.

And then it becomes about resume. And when it comes down to resume, even though Miami's resume is very good, the best win in the country just happened on Saturday when Indiana went up and beat up on Oregon. So Miami's going to be number three, even though I like them a lot, and Indiana is going to be number two.

That again, and I'll say it again, from the mountaintops, Kurt Signetti has a national championship caliber team at Indiana. They just are. I don't care what the logo says. If another logo would have done that at Oregon, we would be running parades

up and down these podcast lands. And I'm going to give them their due. That was the best win so far in the country. And Indiana is going to be number two. I do like Miami a lot. I think that's one of the best teams in the country. I fully expect them to be there in the end of the year. They will be, I believe, a national semi-finalist

And at that point, it's 60 minutes and it's a coin flip. Okay? And I can't wait to see them in that position. And then the clear number one, folks, this team is separating themselves out. They haven't even shifted into third gear. Ohio State's the best team in the country. That's the best defense in the country. Their quarterback is the most efficient quarterback in the country.

They still have the best players in the country. They are really good. They don't even have to go to third gear to win these games on the road. Illinois had the best most explosive offense over the last couple of weeks in college football and did nothing. Hey, by the way, if you realize this, and some people don't because Washington is still not ranked, but Washington's offense is one of the best offenses in all of college football. DeMond Williams threw the ball for over 400 yards and ran for, I think, over 150 yards on Friday. I don't have it right in front of me, but something along those lines.

Like, this guy was a one-man wrecking crew against Rutgers. Guess we did it against Ohio State? Nothing. You know, like at some point, you just have to realize like, hey, this team is the best team in the country. Arvel Reese, one of the best players in the country. They still got Smith on the outside. What happens when they turn it on like they did late in the season last year in the playoffs and start really going down the field and start really loosening up that offense? I mean, who beats them?

Who beats them? What team in the country can score 17 points against Ohio State? Now, Illinois scored 16. One of those was a late touchdown. And again, Illinois had been the most explosive offense in the country over the previous two weeks. So for me, it doesn't get better than Ohio State at this point. And once we see them get to third gear and fourth gear, I think that they'll be showing something. Now, who are the teams that I are considering just on the outside of the top 10? The team that I really wanted to put in here was USC.

because, again, if you go back to what I was talking about with USC in the way that they beat Michigan, there was something different about that. There was just something different about watching them beat up Michigan at the line of scrimmage. So I thought about USC. I thought about Tennessee as well. And candidly, when you're in a three-point game with Arkansas at home, I'm like, really? an Arkansas team that got absolutely drilled by Notre Dame, so I couldn't put them in the top 10.

Georgia Tech, again, very one-dimensional, a little bit like Oklahoma, you know, and I couldn't do it. Texas, obviously, has got the two losses. If they continue on this trend, they'll get into the top 10. I kind of considered Oklahoma, although, again, I would just tell you, like I've been telling you from the get-go. This could go a little bit south for Oklahoma during the course of the back end of the season. We've been talking about it since the summertime with Oklahoma's schedule.

So that's my top 10. Ole Miss 10, Notre Dame 9, Georgia 8, Oregon 7, Texas Tech 6, Alabama 5, A&M 4, Miami 3, Indiana 2, and Ohio State number 1. That'll do it for this edition. We'll be back on Wednesday, and we will be breaking down a lot more things, getting ready for the middle of October. We're going to see some great games this weekend. Again, Gus Jenny and I will be in Ann Arbor as Michigan takes on a Washington team that should absolutely be ranked and isn't. It's a travesty. The AP didn't rank Washington.

But that's, you know what? That's totally fine. If you have not subscribed to the show, please do so. We would very much appreciate it. I would very much appreciate it. and follow us on social media at Joel Clatshow wherever you like to social media will be back on Wednesday enjoy the early part of the week everybody