The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Will Alabama end Georgia’s run? Can Oregon knock off Washington in their rematch?

Episode Date: November 30, 2023

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst makes his picks as we head into a huge weekend of Conference Championship Games. He begins by breaking down the SEC Championship Game between Alabama and Georgia. Klatt discusses whether this Nick Saban's team is built to pull off the upset against the two-time defending Champs. He also previews the rematch between Oregon and Washington which looks to be a play-in game into the Playoff. Klatt considers whether Texas can make a strong enough statement vs Oklahoma State to boost themselves into the Playoff. Finally, he states what Florida State needs to do vs Louisville to ensure they are not left out the Top 4 at the end of the weekend. Tune in Friday for a special LIVE edition of The Joel Klatt Show from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis where Klatt will preview the Big Ten Championship Game and be joined by special guest Chris “the Bear” Fallica. The episode will stream live on The Joel Klatt Show accounts on Facebook, YouTube and Tik Tok and will also be available wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming up on today's program, I've got conference championship game previews, including the SEC and the huge one in the PAC 12. 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? Welcome into the Joel Clatt show.

I am Joel Clatt. This show is presented by Hampton by Hilton. And we are here. It is Conference Championship Game Week. And I could not be more excited. We've got the playoff coming right down the pike, lots of scenarios. I think this is going to be the most difficult selection that the College Football Playoff Committee has ever had to make in its history now in terms of the four-team playoff.

And a lot of that has to do with the fact that we have got some really good and compelling conference championship games that are. in a lot of ways, win and in. So let's get to all of those in just a moment. But before we get there, remember to follow the show on social media at Joel Clat Show. Lots of interaction out there. So wherever you like to social media, you can find us at Joel Clat Show. If you'd like to follow me personally, I'm on Twitter, formerly known as Twitter, now X, at Joel Clat.

And you can follow me on Instagram at Joel underscore Clat. So that's me personally. This show, though, remember wherever you're listening, wherever you're listening to this podcast, subscribe to the show, leave us a review, rate us, please, and then on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe, like the show, leave a comment below. Okay, so let's get into these conference championship games.

I want to get into what I think is probably the best game. I don't want to undercut the Pac-12, but listen, this Georgia-Obama game, we've all, from the middle of the season, been looking forward to this conference championship game, this SEC championship game, this Georgia team, which really hasn't been tested, even though they have looked dominant at times

and, to be honest, looked underwhelming at times. We've been waiting for them to be tested and to be put into a situation where they have to play their best. And we might get that, as Georgia takes on now, Alabama. So both of these teams, teams coming off of, I would just say like sluggish performances. Everybody's going to scoff at like, well, the Iron Bowl is the Iron Bowl no matter what. Okay, you know what?

That's fine. And I certainly understand that rivalry games are different. I would just say that New Mexico State beat Auburn by 21 the week prior in the same building. I know you're going to get a different game from Auburn. Kirby Smart, by the way, acknowledge. this, the head coach at Georgia, when he said, don't tell me about playing at Auburn. I know all about that. Remember, you know,

it was at Auburn earlier this year that Georgia had one of those, what we would categorize as underwhelming performances, needed a couple plays late in that game, in particular to Brock Bowers, in order to beat the Tigers. So Alabama escapes against Auburn. Georgia, coming off an eight-point win

against Georgia Tech. Although, to be fair, when you go back and when you watch that film, it was never in doubt. they were up by 18 going into the fourth quarter. They were largely resting a lot of their main contributors, getting them ready for this week's game. Bowers was held out. Ladd-McConkie, Thomas, they both sat out,

along with the right guard. I believe it's Tate Ratledge. So they were getting themselves healthy for this game, specifically. Meanwhile, Alabama couldn't do that. Why? Because they were in a game in which, all intensive purposes, they could have lost and maybe even should have lost, especially after that fumbled snap. Now, they get the fourth and 31, the horrendous defense from Auburn, and they win. And now they're in a position, Alabama, where, and I agree with this, that they are in a win and in situation in the SEC championship game. Alabama goes in with only the one loss.

They lost that game against Texas early in the season. week they go to South Florida, they're messing around with quarterbacks. They looked terrible. And now at that point, nobody, including myself, thought, oh, well, yeah, Bama's going to write the ship and be playing in a play-in game to go to the college football playoff. At the point, I actually think I said, like, okay, like, we can probably write Bama off. And then, lo and behold, here come the Crimson Tide.

Here comes Nick Sabin, figuring out a way, figuring out what they're strong at and how they're going to have successful, namely with their quarterback, who I think has played really well, Jalen Milro. He's been outstanding. The throw to Isaiah Bond in the corner of the end zone on Fort Down was an outstanding throw. It can't be too high or else it's out of bounds. It can't be too lower. It's getting, and he's at like the 40. So he's throwing that ball a long way, far hash, and he's got to put it in a pretty tight window. So Milrow, you know, makes the play. and now I ask myself, is he the type of quarterback that can beat Georgia? That's the question for me.

Because let's take this Georgia team and just look at them for a moment. They've won 29 straight games. The last time they lost was against this Bama team in a conference championship game. One of the only other times that they were really threatened and you could say like probably should have or could have lost was Ohio State last year in the college football playoffs. See, to me, both of those teams, Bama and Ohio State, they were very similar in the standpoint that they had elite passing games. And more so than that, not just elite quarterbacks with C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, but they had elite wide receivers to go out there and really attack Georgia's secondary. Last time Georgia lost in that SEC championship game, Bryce Young, he threw for over 400 yards. Jamison Williams, 184, two touchdowns.

John Mechie, six for 97 and a touchdown. When Bama got them in a rematch in the national championship game, before Jameson Williams goes down in the first quarter, he had already gotten to about 85 yards in that game. and it looked like Georgia was going to a struggle again with the elite wide receiver set, he goes down, Georgia wins. Metchie had already gone down, obviously, earlier, I believe in that conference championship game.

So now they were down both of those guys. Okay, now what happened at Ohio State? Well, when Marvin Harrison Jr. was on the field, and when they have Cade Stover on the field, and when they have a mecca on that, like, everybody's on the field, guess what? Ohio State has a lead, and they have a lead late. Georgia had a hard time with that passing game.

Elite quarterback, elite wide receivers. Again, very similar blueprint, excellent offensive coach. And then Harrison goes down. And Stover went down and he was out in the second half. And it totally changed. Okay, so now you have to ask yourself, does Alabama have that specific threat

to go against this Georgia team? No, is the right answer. No. Now, do you need that specific threat against this version of Georgia, I'm not sure. But Nick Saban knows that his team is going to have to play a nearly flawless game. They're going to have to be great on the defensive side. I mean, really, really good on defense. The pass rush is going to have to affect Carson Beck. They're going to get him off of his spot. They're going to, Bowers will be out there. I'm certain

you've got to know where Bowers is. You've got to understand that if you're doubling Bowers, McConkey's probably getting targeted. You've got to understand where McConkey likes the football, how he likes to operate, what are the things that he likes to do? Because if you just allow Georgia to get loose offensively, I just don't trust that Jalen Millerow and this version of Alabama's offense is going to go out there and score 30 plus points. So that's why the pressure for me is on Bama's defense. Bama's defense has to hold Georgia under 30. And if they do, then okay, now you've got a shot. Now you've got a shot because then you can run the ball. Then you can maybe try to limit possessions.

then you can get Milrow out of the pocket, you know, all of these different things that they're going to need. Sabin's done an outstanding job this year. There's no doubt, but there's a reason why they are not favored in this game. And it's obvious. It's because they don't have the things necessary to make Georgia specifically struggle. Okay. Now, can they win? Absolutely. Absolutely they can win. How does it happen? It happens if Jalen Milrow is on rhythm. Okay? And this is where Georgia's defense has got to attack. If you can force Jalen Milro to hold the ball, pump the ball, you know, flinch in the pocket, do I need to run, be indecisive at all. That's when you've got him. That's when he plays poorly. That's what Texas was able to do. And now he's gotten a lot better since then,

but it's namely because they've been able to play in rhythm. When I watch their games on film, here's what I see. I see a quarterback that has gotten a lot better. I've shown you that film right here on the program. I see a quarterback that is more decisive, but it's also his ability to go ahead and say, okay, like, can I throw it in rhythm? No, okay, now I can take off. And so from my seat, if you take away that rhythm to his game,

if you take away some of the easy access throws, if you take away some of his 101 opportunity to just line up and throw the ball deep because he's got such a great arm, well, now you're putting him in a bind, where you're forcing him into a situation where he probably feels like he's going to have to be more of a runner. And if that happens, this plays right into the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, right in the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia is the better team. They have a very good offensive line. They've got an offense that is versatile. I've been very impressed with Carson Beck, all of the things that you can say. And then you've got the blueprint of what Texas did to Alabama. Texas and Georgia are fairly similar, really good at the line of scrimmage.

They're explosive on all. They do a lot of things well. They've got a good pass rush. They can stop the run. So essentially, Alabama is going to be facing what you could argue is a better version of the same Texas team that beat them in their home stadium by double digits. All right. I'm leaning Georgia in this one. I just think that the Georgia defense and Kirby Smart specifically, he's going to know how to disrupt the rhythm of Jalen Milrone. Once you disrupt that rhythm, now you've got him. And I think he's going to make a mistake. and those mistakes we saw pop up against Texas because they took away the easy throws, because they could rush four and get home, they could stay in their lanes. These are the top two scoring defenses in the SEC.

I think Alabama's got to hold them under 30 to have any chance whatsoever. I think that Georgia probably gets to that 30 point mark, maybe a just a bit over. And I think even though this is only a six point spread, I like Georgia by double digits in this game, by 10 or more. I think Bama's going to be ready, but this Georgia team is going to be really ready. They've won 29 in a row. There is at least a thought, and Kirby Smart is going to use this. There's at least a thought that Georgia could lose and be out.

You think Kirby Smart's not going to use some of that as motivation? This guy will use anything. Their fan base still thinks that I picked TCU in the National Championship game, which is just like a blatant lie. But they'll use anything. They'll just create it. They'll just fabricated out of thin air. So like this team will be ready.

They've won 29 in a row, folks, for a reason. Georgia, give the points. Isn't that how you say it, right? Yeah, Georgia and take the six. Let's go to the PAC 12. Oregon favored by nine and a half over an undefeated team that already beat them this season. That's wild.

I think it speaks volumes to what these teams have done since that game that we saw in October. that one was, of course, in Husky Stadium. Washington wins it. Now, you can make an argument that Oregon was the better team. Statistically, you know, they dominated stretches of that game and then made, you could say poor decisions or didn't execute on fourth down a few times,

and they ended up losing the game. And that was a wonderful performance, especially late from Michael Pinnock's and Roma Dunzee, right? Those guys were phenomenal in that game. So they win that game. Now they're undefeated, and now they're the undefeated, and now they're the undefeated team representing the Pac-12 in the conference championship game, and they are dogs by nine and a half to a team that they already beat.

This looks a lot like to me a quarterfinal game because winner, I think, is going to be in. Based on what the rankings say from Tuesday night. All right, so this has everything to do with where the rankings were. Dan Lanning's team is so well thought of out there. And I think probably a lot of it from the committee is what a lot of us say that cover of this sport because we all believe, almost to a man, that Oregon's one of the best teams in the country. They're really deep. They're athletic up front. They've got that requisite size and physicality in the middle of their defense that you have to have in order to win at the

top level. And then offensively, guys, this is one of the best offenses in the country. Does anyone know that Bo Nicks passed Michael Pinnock for the lead in terms of total passing in the country? Does anyone know that? That Bo Nix? That Bo Nix? is the leading pastor in the country? I bet you didn't. They've got Bucky Irving. They can run the ball. The offensive line is very good.

They've got Troy Franklin, who, by the way, better numbers than even Romadunze. Better numbers than even Marvin Harrison, Jr. He's outstanding on the outside. 14 touchdowns. They've got Tess Johnson, an outstanding slot receiver. They got tied ins.

I love their length on defense. They can cover. This is one of the best passing defenses in the PAC 12. In fact, the best passing defense in the PAC 12. They handled Oregon State. Now, their resume is not as good as Texas's resume. Their resume is not as good as Ohio State's resume. They are incredibly fortunate that the PAC 12 decided to change structures

and allow the two best teams in the conference to play for the conference championship game. that was just a couple of years ago. Because if this was four years ago, guess what? This would be Arizona and Washington playing in this game. And Oregon would be sitting in the exact same boat that Ohio State is, which is you lost

your toughest game on the season, on the road, to a top five team, and you would just kind of be out. And everyone's saying like, ah, there's no chance. But they're going to get the benefit of the doubt just because of a structure change from a defunct conference administration from a couple of years ago, and they're going to get a second chance

and a second bite at that apple. Now they're going to go in there, and they're going to play in Vegas and their nine and a half point favorites. Landing was criticized after those fourth downs. Remember, it's not about deciding to go for it on fourth down. It's what you call and what you execute. I talked about that a little bit with Michigan last week

after that Ohio State game. We talked about that after this loss as well. Two leading passers in the country. You've got Pinnix. You got Bo Nix. Pennix hasn't quite been the same since that win against Oregon. And frankly, Washington hasn't quite been the same. In fact, so many of these games since that win have been close ones,

one score against teams that they shouldn't be in one score games with, Arizona State at home, even in a rivalry, Washington State, that one also at home. you know, I would say a really good win for them all of a sudden looks like what they did at Arizona, which at the time was like, oh, man, you can't beat Arizona by more than a score. But now that one looks a little bit different. Washington has four of their six wins by one score, while Oregon since that matchup has won every single one of their games,

all six by multiple scores. So you're starting to see like why they are favored by nine and a half. Bo Nix is going to be making his 60th start, folks, in his college career. Every time he steps on the field, it's a new FBS record in times of starts for a quarterback. This guy is experienced. He's playing as well as anybody in the country. I like Oregon in this game. If you just look at the trends, if you look at where these teams are strong, where they struggle,

Oregon's great on past defense. Washington struggles in past defense. They're ninth in the Pac-12 and past defense. They're facing the nation's leading past defense. with one of the best wide receivers in the country in Troy Franklin. This one screams neutral sight that Oregon goes and gets it done. Dan Lannning has been a master motivator. I think he learns that from Kirby Smart.

This team has been focused. They've got veteran leadership. They're physical. They can do everything on offense if you need them to. Defensively, they can rush the pastor. They've got length. They can cover. They do everything well.

Oregon is one of the best teams in the country. Now, their resume is not one of the best teams in the country. they need this win. I think this is a play-in game. Washington wins and they're in. Oregon wins and they are in. I would absolutely virtually guarantee that. They are nine and a half point favorites. They win. I don't know how I like. I don't know what I like on that number. That one's a hard pick. I can see them win by six. You know, I could see them win by 14. This is a team that is highly motivated. I think if I had to lay it, I would take Oregon.

Hey, conference championship game, playoff time, Heisman time, my favorite time a year. And as you know, I take it very seriously. So when I'm traveling on the road to watch my favorite teams or conference championship games, I cannot risk calling the wrong play with where I stay. So I know that wherever I go, I can count on Hampton by Hilton.

can depend on their comfortable rooms, their warm, friendly service, and then you know what's next, the free hot breakfast. Total game changer, especially this time of year. I always wake up, I'm a little cold. As I get older, I'm a little cold. My hands are cold. What do I need? Hot cup of coffee. Warm waffle. Boom, I can go down there. I can do that. So whether you're cheering on your team from the stands, or you're never leaving the tailgate, Hampton by Hilton will always give you that win. Okay, a couple of more here. Let's go to the Big 12. Oklahoma State gets in. How about that comeback against BYU? What were they down?

18. They came back from 18 down to BYU to force their way into this title game. And that doesn't help Texas. It would have helped Texas a lot if they could have avenged their loss to Oklahoma from a year ago. But here's Mike Gundy, folks. Mike Gundy, one of the best coaches in America that nobody talks about. And here he is again with a team that lost to South Alabama early and they've been inconsistent, this and that. Yeah, I get it.

They had all these guys transfer. he had Mason Cobb transfer, and they had the quarterback transfer, and everybody was out. And what did he do? He just went to work, and he took what he had, and he found a way to put a successful team on the field. Now, are they as good as Texas? No, they are not as good as Texas. Texas is outstanding.

But what Mike Gundy has done is he has found the areas where they can have success, namely, on offense at least, Olly Gordon. he comes in as the nation's leading rusher. 1,180 yards, 20 touchdowns. He's got eight touchdowns over his last two games. This is a great matchup because here's your nation's leading rusher against a defense that is very good against the run. I love Ollie Gordon.

I love the way that they utilize him. He's big. He's physical. He's kind of a slashing style back. He's got good vision. And again, like, they have just leaned in on this style which has allowed them to be successful. Here's the thing, folks.

Good teams are not good teams because they have no weaknesses. Good teams are good because they identify their strengths and then they build habits and develop systems around those strengths. Mike Gundy identified a strength. Ollie Gordon, some guys up front, and what happens? Now all of a sudden you're winning some ball games. Now you're getting it done, 1,580 yards, leading Russia in the country, and now he's going to face a Texas team, which is very good against the run.

In fact, if you look at what Texas did, not only against Alabama earlier in the year, but even last week, Texas faces Texas Tech. They have a very good running back. Tage Brooks. Not a lot of people talk about Tage Brooks, but Tage Brooks came in as one of the better running backs, not only in the Big 12, but really in the country. Texas held them under 100 yards, 95 yards on 19 carries. You know, they clobbered Texas Tech.

It wasn't particularly close. They were, you know, what was it? 10-7 at one point in that game, then they rattled off 47 points. So Texas destroys Tech 57 to 7, who, by the way, Oregon only beat that same tech team by 7 in Lubbock in Week 2.

I'm just saying, like I continue to say, there is no discussion between Texas's resume and Oregon's resume. It's very clear that the playoff committee just likes Oregon more. Their prerogative, they're prerogative, but don't make excuses.

If you just like Oregon more, that's fine. But this Texas team is damn good. It hurts them that Oklahoma's not in this game, but they do get Oklahoma State, they get a chance to get to go against Ollie Gordon, and they will have to defend on the outside Leon Johnson. If there's one area where you can attack Texas, it's throwing the football.

We saw that when Kansas State was able to come back on them, when TCU was able to come back on them, and they had some of those lulls in the second half of games. Leon Johnson, a bit of a breakout star. He's had 27 catches over the last five games for the Cowboys, nine for 132 and that comeback win over BYU. But this is about Texas. Their physicality up front, their ability to stop the run,

yours, his efficiency throwing the football, Xavier Worthy. I know he's been banged up, left a couple of games late in the last few, but he should be back and healthy. The run game has not suffered, even though they had the injury, to Jonathan Brooks.

So what has happened since then? Well, C.J. Baxter has run well. And Jonathan Blue has run really well. In fact, Jaden, excuse me, Jaden Blue, 10 carries 121 yards last week. Baxter, nine carries 45, five per carry. Like, they're a run-oriented team. Sark has always been a run-oriented coach.

You go back to what he was even at Washington. even as a coordinator for USC way back in the in the day. He always has featured quality running backs. Then at Washington, he did it. Then at USC did it. Then at Alabama as a coordinator, he did it. Now he's done it again at Texas. So they will run the ball.

And this is a team that will be highly motivated. This Cowboys defense has allowed a lot of points this year. They're ninth in the conference and scoring defense. They've allowed at least 30 in six of their nine conference games. I like Texas in this one. They're favored by 14.5. Probably not enough because they know that they're going to need to put on a show. They know what the committee has done.

The committee didn't even rank them above Ohio State. The committee did not rank them above Oregon, even though they've got a better resume. They have a better resume than Oregon, period. So they're going to have to go put on a show. Last one I want to chat about here is the ACC championship game. Louisville, Florida State, Florida State favored by two and a half. Florida State can do themselves a big.

favor if they can go out there and just like handle business, look like the more dominant team. Don't be outgained. You know, like, don't gain only 224 yards of total offense against a five and seven Florida team, right? Like, because let's face it, those of us that cover college football that didn't go to Florida State can see clearly that currently Florida State is not one of the four best teams in the country. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't go to the playoff. If you want to say that they deserve a spot in the

playoff if they go undefeated, you know what? I can get behind that. It's really tough to go undefeated. It's really tough to overcome an injury to a star quarterback like Jordan Travis and remain undefeated. If they beat Louisville, you can make a strong argument that, yes, Florida State deserves to be in the playoff. And I'm fine with that. I really am. In fact, for a long time, I've always argued that it probably should lean most deserving versus this kind of veiled criteria of four best. It's so funny because the college football playoff committee always talks about how well, we're just trying to find the four best.

And yet, you know what they do every year? They just give us the foremost deserving. And that's why we've had such lopsided semifinal games. If Florida State gets in, They will be beating the semifinal, okay? Like, look at the teams that they would have to play. And with Tate Rodemaker in there, they gained 224 yards of total offense against Florida, who's five and seven. That's fair.

Those are all fair things. They need Jordan Travis to be one of the best teams in the country. Now, with Jordan Travis, they put themselves in position to deserve entry into the college football playoff. All right, we'll see if that happens. There are two and a half point favorite against Louisville. It's the closest point spread in any of these games.

Louisville coming off that lost Kentucky, Cardinals blew a 10 point lead in the second half in that game. A couple of turnovers late really hurt them, led to 10 points directly. And so with last week's loss, Louisville really needs this game to remain in the question for New Year 6 eligibility to get to one of those prestigious spots like the ACC spot in the Orange Bowl. We'll see if that happens. Brom has done an outstanding job with this Louisville team.

And they're good, and they're good enough to beat Florida State. And frankly, without Jordan Travis, they probably are a little better. I would even probably favor them in this game if it was just me because of the Travis injury. And I know that Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson and Trey Benson, you know, they're out there, but they just don't seem to have any spark offensively, speaking of the Seminoles. going to have to be a defensive-led performance like it was against Florida, like it has been, you know, to some extent, for the majority of the year. FSU's defense, they've held opponents to 20 points or less in their last eight games. So the defense is playing amazing. Jared

verse, he took over that game against Florida. He's outstanding. He's really good. Louisville did beat Florida State last year, 35, 31. That was in Louisville. Now they got Brom as their head coach. They seem to be a team that has even taken a step forward. Florida State did allow three sacks last week versus Florida. We'll see if that Louisville pass rush, which was better in the first half of the season than it has been in the second half of the season, can show up because if it does,

and they can disrupt the timing and the rhythm of Roddemaker, then they've got something. And Louisville might win this game. Louisville's QB, Jack Plummer, he'll be making his 38th career start, Roddemaker, his third. So I think Louisville wins the game. If you look at the way that Florida State has been playing, in particular without Travis, a good team really should beat them.

But they've got outstanding players. If all of a sudden Keon-Colman goes off, which Roddemecker and him have not been able to get on the same page, really, if Jared Verst goes off, well, then Florida State can win. And then again, as I started, if you want to make the argument that Florida State deserves a spot in the college football playoff, that's totally fair. If you want to tell me that they're one of the four best teams in the country, I disagree. Okay, so it's just what does the committee want to value?

And that's up to them. That is up to them. So that game for the ACC championship going down. Now, if you are paying attention, you'll be like, hey, Joel, don't you normally lead off with your game? Where's the Big Ten championship game preview? Well, let me tell you where that. coming. We have got a live special edition of the Joel Clatch Show coming up on Friday morning.

You can listen live or obviously you can catch it after the fact once it's posted wherever you get your podcast. Live pod from Lucas Oil Stadium from the Big Ten Championship game site. We're going to have a live audience of Hilton Honors members right there in the Hilton Honors booth. We're going to give a Big Ten game preview. I'm going to talk about playoff scenarios. Again, I'm going to talk about Heisman Trophy scenarios. on Friday. I will have a special guest. The Bear is joining.

Chris Felica is going to join me for parts of that show. We're going to end with an addition of the mailbag, and that'll be streaming live. Again, live Friday morning on the Joel Clat show Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, and everywhere where you get your podcasts after that. So I can't wait for this.

I think it's going to be a really fun show. and check all of our social channels for exact timing and everything going on. And again, we're going to have a live stream on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. And then it'll be available wherever you get your podcasts after that. Can't wait for that. This is going to be a really good week of conference championship games. Because for the first time and a long time, like it really matters. Really matters.

And the more I kept thinking about those rankings from Tuesday night, the more that I kept just thinking to myself like, boy, the job of the committee is going to be rough on Sunday night. It just is Saturday night, if you want to be, sorry, Saturday night. They're going to be sitting there. They're going to be watching that game. They're going to be watching Michigan and Iowa. They're going to be watching Florida State and Louisville. And they're going to have to make some really tough decisions.

It's not just going to be one good team that gets left out. It's going to be two. and I don't think it's going to be a convenient path for this committee. Not with the way that these games could play out. I'm nervous for Texas. We'll give that update on Friday when Bear joins the program from our live Joel Clad Show Friday morning. Thank you for listening, folks.

Remember, share this pod with a friend. I can't tell you how thankful I am for all of you, the college football fan. It's been a great year so far. We're going to finish it off the right way here on conference championship game week. We'll have the show on Friday. We'll be back on Monday to recap conference championship games and look at the playoff and what they gave us and who got snubbed because someone's going to get snubbed on Monday.