The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Why Texas and Alabama are in the Playoff and Florida State is Out + Early Thoughts on CFP Matchups

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt reacts to the College Football Playoff Committee’s Decision to include one-loss Texas and Alabama over undefeated Florida State in the Top 4. He details how this decision came down to the path of least resistance for the committee members when choosing between 3 hard choices. Klatt then goes through how the sport got to this point with the era of the 4-team Playoff format and how it has hurt the sport as a whole. He then gives his early thoughts on the two CFP Semifinals including why Alabama presents a unique problem for Michigan and why the Longhorns ran into their worst matchup among the Top 4 teams when they drew Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on the Joel Clat show, we get the most shocking playoff reveal that we've had in its history. And people are pissed. 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 just one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Hey, what's up, everybody?

I'm Joel Clatt. This is the Joel Clat show. This show is presented by Hampton. by Hilton, and we obviously have a lot to get into here today as the college football playoff committee has given us their top four. And we've got a playoff set. And I have all sorts of thoughts about what they gave us on Sunday. Hey, remember to subscribe to the show wherever you're listening to your podcast. If you don't watch the show on YouTube, you need to go over there because we always have exclusive content to YouTube over there that's visually based.

So go subscribe to the show on YouTube, getting awfully close to 100,000 over there. So that's a cool, Mark. On social media, wherever you like to social media, at Joel Clatt show there. And you can follow me. My personal Twitter or X is at Joel Clat. Okay, let's get right into it. And let's start with just what the committee gave us. Here are the top four teams, top six, really, but top four teams.

Michigan number one, Washington, two, Texas three, and Alabama, four. with Florida State undefeated ACC champion 13 and 0 on the outside looking in at number 5 and Georgia going from number 1 all the way to number 6 after that loss to the Crimson Tide. They're 12 and 1 and their 6th in the country. So as that was revealing, I was thinking to myself, this is the most unknown and thus will be the most shocking reveal that we've had in the history of the college football play. off. I'm watching it. I was actually on a flight. So I'm on a flight. I fly Indianapolis to Houston and then I'm on the Houston back to Orange County leg of my travels on Sunday morning. And I'm watching

and I'm sitting there enthralled, just enthralled with the suspense of everything going on on Sunday morning. And watching along with you, wishing they would just put the graphic up because I'm like, if you tell me the graphics guy has it on the Viz machine, and then you're waiting, 15 more minutes. Now I'm just upset about it. But I was being impatient like everybody else. That was a suspenseful moment. I did not know who they were going to give us. I generally feel like I always have a good idea. I did not know what they were going to give us for the fourth team. However, it wasn't when the fourth team came up. And this is where I'll start today. I knew the result as soon as Texas hit the number three spot. As soon as Texas was number three,

I knew Florida State was out. I knew Florida State was out. Because in my mind, when you look at these teams and when you debate these resumes and when you look at everything in totality, I think it's pretty easy to see that Alabama was going to be one spot below Texas, period. One spot below Texas, regardless of where Texas was. So when Texas hit number three, I thought to myself, there's no way that Florida State is going to sandwich and win a specific argument with Alabama, based.

based on the criteria that the committee was given. And we'll get to that in a little bit. So as soon as Texas was number three, and that three spot wasn't Florida State, Florida State was out. Their best shot was to be number three, to be grouped with the undefeateds at the top, like the committee had done in all of their rankings up to this point this season.

And then the debate would have been Texas and Alabama for the four spot. Okay. So as soon as Texas pops up, I'm like, boom, here we go. And cue the tide. And there it was Alabama at number four and Florida State was left out as an undefeated Power 5 champ and an ACC champ nonetheless. So that was my immediate reaction. Now, the question will now become, well, is it right? Okay.

Did they get it right? Did they get it wrong? I think that that's kind of the wrong question to answer, to talk about, to debate. I want to debate something that's larger than that, which is the overall makeup. What I think is, I don't know, I mean, to me, somewhat irrelevant. Now, you may not think so, and obviously you're listening to this show. I said it on Saturday night during our telecasts of the Big Ten Championship, and I'll say it now, if you're trying to crown the national champion with the Jordan

Travis injury having taken place, then this is the four that you would take to the the playoff to really decide like, okay, well, who really is the best team in the country? Does it suck? Yeah. Yeah, it sucks. So I'm not going to sit here and pound the table and say, this is what they had to do. The other way would have been wrong. I don't think the other way would have been wrong. I've also advocated, and I feel like rightly so during the course of the playoff, for teams that deserve to be in. And in this case, Florida State deserved to be in. There's no doubt about that. So to me, the question, is not about whether it's right or whether it's wrong. It's about the fact that this sucks.

This sucks, right? And now you have to debate these two resumes. And in the end, I don't know if it's really about the resume at all. And I'll get into that in a moment. I would say that this system, as I've talked about for years, and if you're a listener to this program, you know that this is the way that I feel. This system is broken. We all know that. I mean, That's obvious. You can't put 13 human beings in a room and offer them incredibly flexible and subjective criteria and then expect them to, quote, get it right. Now, what has taken place for the course of history with the college football playoff is that the committee and we, maybe, the college football public, we've gotten incredibly lucky at the end. And the four teams have

almost revealed themselves to us. And there have not been a lot of controversial years. There have not been a lot of years where we feel like we're pounding the table saying, how did this team not get in? Now, there might be individual fan bases, but I wouldn't say that that has been a resounding feeling throughout college football, maybe up until this point. So the question about did they get it right? I don't know. I don't know. I don't. know. I think it sucks. I think that this situation sucks for Florida State, for college football fans at large, and the system is somewhat broken. But because of its brokenness, here's what's happened through its history. And now I want to, like, let's peek behind the curtain a little bit. And again,

this is not an argument for the four teams that they gave us. I just want to walk through, like, let's take a walk down the path of how this decision was actually made, all right? Not with resumes or rhetoric or narrative, but the human element. Let's really talk about this because I've said this for years and I believe it to be true and I believe it's more true today than ever. And that is that this committee of human beings, who, by the way, not one of them, is involved full time in college football. that's just the truth.

There's a couple of retired coaches. There's a professor. There's a couple of business guys who also were great college football players and then a bunch of administrators. So not one person on this 13-person committee is actually committed to this sport specifically full-time. And they're given they are given subjective criteria. And so what has happened in the past, and I believe happened again this year, is that the committee takes as human beings, normally do the path of least resistance. I've said this for years.

And I know that if you've listened to this program, you have heard me talk about this. But let's really walk down the path of what does that actually mean? How does that play out in a room on Saturday night after the games are played after the trophy is handed to Mike Norvell at the ACC championship game? Well, this is what it looks like. It looks like there are two very clear spots taken in the college football playoff. They think to themselves, hey, we've loved Michigan. Should we keep them number one? And it's like, yep, okay, boom, number one Michigan.

Okay, Washington, yep, boom, there we go. And now we've got two spots and basically three teams that are vying for that spot because there are three teams that can claim themselves to be conference champions. You've got the ACC champion, Florida State Seminoles. You've got the SEC champion, Alabama Crimson Tide, and you've got the Big 12 champion, Texas Longhorns. Two spots, three teams. Where do we go? Well, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, as is the case with all of us, by the way, when we make big decisions in any part of our life, if we're buying a home or making a big investment or choosing our kids' school, whatever it is, a relationship decision. generally speaking, at some point during your decision-making process,

you'll probably think to yourself, what's the worst-case scenario? All right? The question of what's the worst-case scenario is basically path of least resistance. Because what you're going to look at is you're going to say, I'm going to try to avoid the worst-case scenario in every one of these moments or opportunities or situations with these teams. Okay, so let's walk through these now. Two teams, three spots.

You got Alabama, you got Texas, and you got Florida State. Let's look at what is the worst case scenario. What are you saying no to, if you're that committee, by keeping this team out of the playoff? Let's start scenario one with Alabama. Let's just say, for sake of argument, they decide Alabama's going to be left out of the college football playoff. Now, could you make an argument for that?

Sure, absolutely. They got beat at home by Texas. Their league didn't have the record that it has in the past. And yet, and yet, it's still the SEC. It's the SEC champion. This is still a league that has won six of nine college football playoffs. It's a league that won nine of 16 BCS national championships. That's 15 national championships since 1998. They have been the most dominant league as it relates to recruiting. They have been the most dominant league as it relates to recruiting. have been the most dominant league as it relates to putting talent into the national football league, the depth at the top with, you know, countless now national championship games that we've had between SEC opponents. They have built a reputation as the best conference in the land. And this is not just some team from the SEC. This is not Kentucky with a special season

or South Carolina that gets hot and is in this position as an SEC champion. It's Alabama. It is the SEC team. It's the team with the most national championships in history. Their coach happens to be the greatest college football coach in history. That's what the committee would be saying no to if they're leaving Alabama at home. that seems like a path of plenty of resistance. At least to me, they are also the most powerful force in college football because they have the longest tenured commissioner of the power conferences.

Greg Sankey wields more power than basically anybody in our sport. And I'm not suggesting that he influenced this. I don't think he would do that. Now, did he stump for his teams? Yes, did he go on game day and stump for his league? Yes, and that's part of the problem with how our sport is built rather than his specific problem. He has always said, and he has said to me in person, and I like Greg a lot. Greg's really smart.

And he has said, I'm going to be unapologetically proud of my league. Good for him. That's his job. That's what those presidents do. But that's what the committee would be saying no to. The most powerful force in college football, the league that has had the most success in recent vintage, and the team that is the flagship team of that league with the greatest college football coach in history.

That is a tough no. I'm just saying for 13 humans, that's a tough no. What's the second path? Texas. Could you leave Texas out? Man. Can you really tell the Texas Longhorns who are about to be members in said SEC conference

that their win at said SEC champion, Alabama, in September, didn't matter. The head-to-head was a bridge too far for the committee. They couldn't say, well, no, Alabama was clearly better than Texas because we would have pointed to just two weeks ago when they needed a fourth and 31 to beat an Auburn team that lost by 21 the previous week to New Mexico State. Right? So that's a bridge too far. You couldn't do that.

That is a path of most resistance. To say Texas, sorry, two teams go, one stays home. You're going to stay home even though you beat Alabama. It's a bridge too far to devalue non-conference schedules to that degree. They couldn't do that. Okay, so now what's the third scenario? Florida State. Well, Joel, they're undefeated.

They're Power 5. They played LSU, all of those things. Yes. And yet, and yet, and this is what breaks my heart, they had the ace up their sleeve of Jordan Travis's injury. Jordan Travis's injury becomes the path of least resistance. And here's the thing. Because of that injury, that path becomes immediately vindicated

when lines start rolling out with Florida State's line against Georgia in their bowl game. Now they're 14-point dogs with the lines in the playoff, with how close they are with Texas and Washington and Michigan and Alabama. And it makes me devastated for Jordan Travis. His tweet was devastating. If you're watching the show, it's up now. I'll read it aloud. Jordan Travis tweets out, devastated, heartbroken in so much deep disbelief right now. I wish my leg broke earlier in the season.

so y'all could see this team is so much more than the quarterback. I thought results matter. 13 and O, and this roster matches up across any team in those top four rankings. I am sorry, go nolls. Man, that tugs at you, and I have said it from day one when he got injured. My heart is broken for Jordan Travis. I feel terribly for those players at Florida State. That sucks, man.

You guys deserve better. There's not a doubt in my mind. The system is broken. And you got put into a position where you became the path of least resistance. And again, that path then immediately becomes vindicated in this day and age of sports. gambling. And it's an excuse. And so if you're the committee, that's your out. And so then you go to

the criteria and you say to yourself like, well, does that make sense? And so now let's put up the criteria. Because once you start viewing it through this kind of human lens of like, what are you saying no to? Then you land on this. You're like, well, we've got this injury. And then you've got the criteria and you you start walking through the criteria. And what do you see? You see the criteria say things like conference championships won. Okay, great. Yeah, yeah. Strength of schedule. Head-to-head competition. Well, head-to-head. There we go. So Texas, got to go. Comparative outcomes for common opponents. You got the LSU game in there if you want to go there. And then it says, here we go. other relevant factors, such as unavailability of key players and coaches that may have affected a team's performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.

I'm going to read that last line to you again. The unavailability of a key player that could likely or will affect its postseason performance. And the committee's like, boom, there it is. There's our out. That's our out. That's our path of least resistance. That's the way that we don't have to tell the SEC no. That's the way that we don't have to tell Texas that their head-to-head win over Alabama didn't matter. There's our out. And then we could even sell it to Florida State as like, we didn't want to do this, but look, we had to. And then they become vindicated when the lines come out. And again, Florida State is a 14-point dog to Georgia because they don't have their quarterback. And Michigan- is basically a one-point game and Texas, Washington is basically a four-point game. They become vindicated. The path of least resistance again wins out in the end. And what doesn't get talked about, at least in my estimation, I've been through this committee deal. And I think the mock committee deals, those are only good in terms of its structure.

But when you get down to it and you've got to put teams in the college football playoff, you are taking the path of least resistance as a human being. What is the worst case scenario? And then you know what you do? You avoid the worst case scenarios. And you choose, there's three bad decisions and you choose the lesser of the three bad decisions. That's what they did. That's why it sucks. That's why it's broken. Right? In so many ways. So did we ever get to a point where it's like, well, did they look at the non-conference schedule? Did they care that Florida State scheduled LSU and that they also beat Florida? No, no, they didn't.

Did they care that the defense was dominant against Louisville? No, I don't believe that they did. Did they care that the SEC for the first time since what, 2017 was sub 500 and non-conference play against power five opponents at seven and nine? No, I don't think that they cared. like all of that then didn't matter, didn't matter that Alabama had moments where we felt like they wouldn't even get to this point, this point, against South Florida or against Auburn.

And so you're left with guys like Mike Norvell, the head coach of Florida State, giving a statement, which is 100% accurate. And yet it's just kind of like, there's nothing to say to Florida. Florida State that will make them feel better. I'm not arguing for these four teams.

I'm telling you that this is why the committee made the decision that they did. Here's what Mike Norvell had to say, the head coach of Florida State. I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee's decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided that they knew better than the results of the games. What is the point of playing the games? where is the motivation to schedule challenging non-conference games? We are not only an undefeated Power 5 conference champion,

but we also play two Power 5 non-conference games away from home and won both of them. I don't understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team. Everything Mike Norvell just said in that statement is 100% accurate. 100% accurate. It's a flawed system. And life sucks sometimes. And unfortunately, Florida State found themselves on the wrong end of it. And I sit here and I look, I look at this. I've loved college football for my entire life. I thought bowl season pre-BCS was incredible. I loved bowl season. I loved New Year's Day. we would get the multiple TVs, right?

We had like, I think, three TVs. We had a black and white TV. We had our main TV. And then I think my parents had a TV in their room as well. And we would carry them, you know, the big TV, and we would carry them all down into our like main basement area. And we would sit there, my dad, my brother, my uncles, my cousins, and we would watch football.

We would eat seven-layer dip and nachos and pizza and have wings. And it was awesome. And today, guess, guess, what I think to myself. I'm like, you know what today? You know what these teams? Do you know what this makeup to me screams for is an old school pre-BCS bowl system? I'm like, man, this would be almost like incredible. A traditional Rose Bowl with Michigan and Washington playing as undefeated in a game in which the winner is absolutely going to claim themselves a national champion. probably an Orange Bowl, you know, with those old ties back to the Big 8 and then into the Big 12 with Texas as a champion.

And then they would always have an at-large and they would always take a team like, you know, Notre Dame or Florida State or Miami. And so Florida State and Texas would be playing in the old Orange Bowl and Bama would be playing somebody in the Sugar Bowl. Maybe it was Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. And every game felt important. Nobody opted out. I was always sick to my stomach eating hot wings all night. And it was incredible. And we would know going in that if Florida State won the Orange Bowl and then whoever won the Rose Bowl, that they would claim each of them a national title for themselves.

If Florida State lost, though, then the Rose Bowl would be a de facto national championship game. And no one would complain about it. Now, of course, people would complain about it. But, but, and here's the caveat, all those players would feel like they were playing for a national. championship. And in this case, and in this model, we know they aren't from Florida State. So I'm just saying it brings me back. I'm a little nostalgic about what used to be. It is my favorite time of year, this time of year. It's football season. It's college football season. It's now playoff time. And as you know, I take it seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch

my favorite teams cover the biggest games in the country, I can't risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. So wherever I go, I know that I can count on Hampton by Hilton. I can depend on their comfortable rooms and their warm and friendly service. And then the game changer for me as I'm traveling around is that I'm a breakfast man. So I have to get breakfast. I have to get a cup of coffee and I need it first thing in the morning. I love it when it's hot too. So when I can go down and make myself a waffle and get a cup of coffee, it's a total game changer. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands or never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win.

I want to get into something real quickly. I don't know about quickly, but whatever. How do we get here? I've just been reflecting a lot about like, well, how does the committee make a decision like that? And that's how I walked through it. It's the path of least resistance. What are the results of a day like today? What's the impact? What's the long-term impact? How did we get here? Where are we going moving forward?

And a thought kept coming to me on Sunday. This is kind of the result, this chaos that we saw on Sunday. and the vitriol from some about the process and the teams and how we're crowning a champion is it's a result more than anything. And I think it's a result of really a couple of things. Decades long mismanagement and hubris is these terms that I kept settling on. Let me try to explain both. First, the mismanagement, and I've talked about this a lot, as you guys know. Like we operate in silos, meaning apart from one another.

And in college football, just everybody in college football. You know, every conference looks out for their own interest. Every program looks out for their own interest. Every conference then enters into its own media deal. They have their own officials. They have their own emphasis of the rules. Each of them govern themselves just a little bit different. And there's nuances to what they kind of accept within their conferences and what they won't accept within their conferences.

So basically saying like, it's a really fragmented sport. And so there's an overarching governing body kind of that is the NCAA. but really you've got to join the NCAA as a member institution. And are you more loyal to your conference and did the conference happen? It's a mess. It's a mess. We all know that. So it's the mismanagement of the structure of the sport and in part.

But it has stayed that way, not just because of mismanagement, but also because of hubris. Okay. And the arrogance of college football and intercollegiate athletics, I think, is, evident. And this is not accusatory. People in this sport are not bad people. They are great people. Administrators, great people, right? Athletic directors that deeply care about every athlete on their campus, commissioners and conference offices that deeply care about the intercollegiate athletic experience and trying to do the best for the athletes. Right. Like people are well-induced. intended in this industry.

But the industry is built and structured to where it's like it's a power structure. And you want your silo to have the most power. And so this is when the hubris and arrogance start to come out because it's not looking out for the sum. It's looking out for the parts. You're worried about your orbit in college football, always and above everything. So let's compare that to like, what's the best league in the world? The National Football League.

Now, soccer fans, you might disagree with me. But listen, for our purposes here, the strongest league in the world in any sport is the National Football League. And the National Football League is what it is because the parts, they acknowledged that the sum had to be greater. than the individual parts. It had to to reach the goals of what the NFL wanted to be 30 years ago,

40 years ago, guess what? They realized 50 years ago, you know, as they're trying to merge with the AFL and create this Super Bowl and do all of these, the sum had to be more important

than the parts. And they all gave up a little 50 years ago in order to have a lot Now, and I would say that the structure of the league, the strength of the league is in its sum, right? The league is not incredible because of the Buffalo Bills. The NFL is not what it is because of the Denver Broncos or even the Dallas Cowboys or maybe even not the New York Giants. No, no, no.

it's because they all have worked together. And that has not happened in intercollegian athletics. And that has not happened specifically in college football. In college football, the parts are way more worried about the power that they can garner and the influence that they can garner. And they will do such at the expense of the sum. And that's how we end up in this situation. By the way, a playoff just dumped gasoline on that little fire.

If that's what Intercollegiate Athletics was, and in particular college football, was silos of mismanagement and hubris and a power structure that incentivized looking out for yourself and not the sum. Well, guess what the playoff did? It poured gasoline on that. Because now you had to, with five power conferences in only four spots, Now you had to flex and be a conference of strength. And we had to be the best.

And our narrative has to win out because if not, we might not be the best. So you see how the structure of the sport lends itself to a spot where you can't say no to an SEC team because it's the SEC. Right? We don't do that in the National Football League. we just say, here are your records and here's the playoff spots. Now, hopefully in the future, it'll be a little bit cleaner. I think that there's still going to be a huge argument. There's still going to be the fragmentation.

There's still going to be the element of hubris and arrogance. There's still going to be the element of the power structure. Because guess why? In a current 12-team format with the rankings that we, just got, I believe Oklahoma would just be out. So I'm like Missouri's in and Ole Misses in and Oh, oh, you. It's like, sorry, oh, you're just out in a 12-team playoff. Even though they've got a better overall win than any of the teams that I mentioned, including Penn State. Right. So we're just going to be doing this in the future. And someone's going to be left at home like Florida State is this week.

and it's going to be born out of the same power structure, fragmentation. I don't know what the answer is to it. I really don't. I know that the more that we can get to an expanded playoff, the more that we can start thinking about and building things that will benefit the sum rather than just the parts, then the better college football will be. You're looking at a 12-team playoff bracket,

if you're watching on YouTube. Here's how it would look. It would be Michigan 1. They'd be waiting for the winner of Oregon and Missouri in the 8-9 game. That would be in Eugene. Bama would be four. They would be waiting for the Florida State Liberty game. That would be in Tallahassee.

Texas would be three. They would be waiting for the Georgia Ole Miss winner. That would be in Athens. And then Washington would be two waiting for the Ohio State, Penn State, winter. That game would be in Columbus. Now, those seeds are off. I think that's obvious.

They wouldn't play Georgia and Ole Miss in the first round in Ohio State and Penn State in the first round. Those would be a little bit different in order to avoid some of those matchups. But that's kind of a rough sketch of what we would have in a 12-team playoff. Guess who I don't see, Oklahoma, right? So then you'd get into the same arguments that we're getting into right now. And what we do need to do, and I've been arguing this for a long time, we need to increase the number of variables. We can't have just one committee give us a ranking and then say that's going to be the ranking.

We need at least a second committee and a computer poll to even it out. And I do believe, by the way, that if we would have had more polls, if we would have had just one more committee or one more computer or two more computers that would have been additive to what we got from the playoff committee this year, I do think Florida State would have gone to the playoff. Last thing on this one and just kind of Florida State's exclusion, and then I'm going to give you a quick thought on these matchups that we're going to get in the actual playoff. The worst thing that happened was obviously Bama winning.

And that's the best thing that happened for Texas. Because if Georgia wins that game, I believe that if you go through the same argument that I just did during the course of this podcast, which is path of least resistance, guess what the path of least resistance would have been at that point? You don't have to reward Texas's win at Alabama. they have a loss, and Florida State would have been number four. Georgia would have been number one, Michigan 2, Washington 3, and Florida State would have been number 4. The fact that Florida won is what sent Florida State home. Because Bama was never going to be left at home.

That's the path of most resistance, which means Texas had to be included because they beat them in their home stadium. And at that point, the Jordan Travis injury became. the excuse for the path of least resistance. And that's how we got the four that we did this year. First blush. Let's look at these matchups. First blush. Here we go.

Let's take a look at the Rose Bowl first. When I first saw Michigan, Alabama, I immediately thought to myself, going to be a tough one for Michigan, in particular because of Jalen Milro. Jalen Milro is absolutely the most dynamic running quarterback that Michigan will have seen. during the course of the season. That's been a great defense. There's no doubt one of the best, if not the best defense in the country. But that's a dynamic that they will have to deal with for really the first time.

Nobody on their schedule has been able to threaten them like Jalen Milrow will threaten them. I think that Tommy Reese has gotten better and better as the offensive coordinator of the Alabama Crimson Tide. And they're going to have a formidable battle at the line of scrimmage with a Michigan team that is built to be great at the line of scrimmage. Mill Road played really well in that SEC championship game. Now, you know, so that's first blush. His ability to run and use his legs, I think that could cause the Michigan Wolverines some problems. In the other matchup, the Texas and Washington matchup,

I immediately thought to myself, that's a bad matchup for Texas. Why? They're 95th in the country and past defense. The one weakness of this team, I would say overall, they're pretty balanced and pretty good, but their one weakness is defending the pass. And they're going to go and defend the best passing game in the country

with McMillen back. You know, what Kalin-Dabor does with that passing game, and Michael Pennix is outstanding. Pennix is an amazing passer of the football. And that's where you have to beat Texas in order to beat them. And that's what Dylan Gabriel was able to do, in that game to drive down. He got loose with his legs a couple of times and completed a couple of passes. And so to me, I immediately give advantage Alabama, advantage Washington. And yet, I believe they're both dogs.

I think Michigan's favored by a point in a half and I believe Texas is favored by four. And first blush, I just thought that those were tough matchups. The best matchup that Michigan could have gotten would have been Washington. because Michigan's pass rush and their secondary is uniquely suited to line up with Washington, and then they could also then try to bully them at the line of scrimmage. I think Alabama's best matchup would have been getting this Michigan team because we don't know how Michigan's going to deal with a mobile quarterback. I think Texas would have rather seen Michigan or Alabama. Again, this is the one area where they're really weak is defending the pass,

and now they're going to have to defend the best passing game in the country. By the way, a year after they just played Washington in the Alamo Bowl, so some familiarity there between those two. All right, that'll do it for today's program. And again, man, college football is, it's incredible. We were talking, by the way. So Steve, as you know, when I mentioned Steve, Steve is my right hand. he and I prepare for and talk about everything that I say, whether it's on a game broadcast or on

these shows. And so we were talking earlier, and he just brought up to me, and I would just leave you with this thought here as the last thought of this kind of playoff reaction episode. He said, don't you think that it's amazing that college football is dominating sports talk right now? isn't it at least a positive that even though there's some frustration and debate going on, that this is the lead story in sports? And to that point, absolutely. College football has never had a better regular season on television in its history than what we just had in 2020. I have said it. It's set in the show open.

I believe we're at the dawn of a real golden age of the sport where guys stay in college football for now four and five years versus leaving right away to chase money in the National Football League. I believe with the transfer portal, we're getting more parity. I think we're going to get more parity with the playoff. Are we still going to have problems and discuss those problems? Yes. But, boy, these are champagne problems because this sport, in this moment,

is the king of the sporting world, at least in this country. So all positive things. Thanks for listening. Remember to go follow the show. Subscribe wherever you're listening to podcasts. Subscribe on the YouTube channel. We're almost to 100,000.

Go tell a friend, get them over there, tell them to subscribe to the YouTube channel. And I really appreciate all of you, the college football fan, because we couldn't do this without all of you. Thanks so much, guys.