The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Will Syracuse upset Clemson?

Episode Date: September 12, 2019

Joel Klatt runs through his Top 10 of the week, reveals his "Performer of the Week", engages with YOU on social and dives deep into his favorite teams and why they have a chance to grab a W in week 3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is up everybody? Welcome to week three of the college football season. I'm Joel Clatt. This is Breaking the Huddle as it is each and every Wednesday. Very excited for today's show. Lots to get into. Even though the matchups this week three in college football aren't great, we actually do not have a ranked matchup for the first time since back in October of 2017.

That doesn't mean that it's not going to be an exciting week of football. Remember back in that week, as referenced by Chris Felico, who does an amazing job the bear on college game day on a tweet earlier this week. There were seven teams that lost on that week, October of 2017. Five of them were favored. Three of them lost as 16 or more point favorites. So there's likely to be some chaos this week, including, by the way, one of those games that week in 2017 was Clemson losing to Syracuse. Guess who plays this week? Clemson and Syracuse. The Syracuse just got throttled by Maryland. We don't really think that the

orange mirror going to act. Oh wait, do we say that anymore? The orange? The orange man, the orange. Whatever. We don't really think Syracuse is going to beat Clemson this week, do we? No, we don't, actually, at all. All right. Thank you for that. Maryland. We're going to go through my top 10 on this beautiful day. Get the comments in, okay? Because your participation in this show makes it better. So invite your friends into the show. Wherever you're watching this, okay, if you're in your cubicle, this is probably going to be a better thing to do than whatever spreadsheet you were doing before. So let's get involved. Send me your hate, your snark because I actually love it. I really do. It's a sign of love. And I'll send some back your way. And again, it's a sign of love.

So we're going to go through my top 10, get all your comments rolling in on that. Then I'll get to some fan interaction. That's why we need your comments because I'll go to the Twitter and we'll get some interaction going there. And then I've also got a new little thing that we debuted last week that we're going to continue doing during the course of these break in the huddles, which is kind of crowning the performer of the week. Who is the performer of week two? Wait until the end, and we will get to that. So let's jump in right away. This is my top 10 for the week three for the college football season. And we start with the number 10 team. Utah. Utah has stayed right where they have been for me for the entirety of this season. Utah, remember now,

this is a team that's very run heavy, one of the most run heavy in all of FBS. They've run the ball over 70% of the time protecting their passing game and Tyler Huntley, their quarterback, but that defense is for real. And they always play better in the second half than they do in the first half. Generally, what you're going to see in Utah games is that you're going to see the Utah youth be somewhat close with their opponents in the first half and then pull away in. in the second because that's when the physicality of their offensive and defensive line starts to take over. So pay attention to that. Notre Dame is going to be at number nine. They were off in week two after that win against Louisville in week one. Notre Dame under Ian Book as quarterback is nine and one.

I think that this is a really good team. They had some things that gave me cause for concern in week one against Louisville, namely that rushing defense that needs to get better as they kind of enter into the bulk of their schedule, but Notre Dame is going to be number nine. At number eight, still in the top 10, even though they lost a week ago was Texas, because what you saw in that game against LSU was the potential from Texas, and more specifically, the potential for Sam Ellinger in that offense. Ellinger goes for 400 yards. That's the most LSU has given up in a long time defensively.

I know Delpit wasn't super healthy. Grant Delpit, the great defensive player from LSU, but this is a really potent offense. And if they can figure out anything on the defensive side, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Big 12. So they're going to stay in my top 10 because let's face it. If Texas beats Oklahoma maybe twice, they'll probably go to the playoff even with that LSU loss. So we're going to keep them at number eight right there.

Got to fix some things on that defensive side. Wisconsin at number seven. You can tell that our staff here was surprised by my inclusion of Wisconsin at 7 with this amazing but I gotta tell you it I don't know if you can even tell on camera that it's taped on can you get in here come on Luis yeah get in there you see it does no it looks fine it looks totally fine who's under this I wonder who's Florida's under this hey Florida look at you nope Wisconsin Wisconsin's better than Florida so I'm glad we covered Florida up I know Florida still

some AP love, but I'm not having it with Florida. I don't think they're even close to Georgia in that East Division. Meanwhile, Wisconsin is a team that didn't get a lot of love coming into the season, and all they've done is gone out and beaten their two opponents by a total of 110 to zero. They have not given up a point. They've got a buy week this week before they welcome Michigan into Madison next week. Michigan's also on a buy. We'll be there. Gus and I and Jenny to half for Big Noon Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin. I can't wait for that. I'm more bullish on Wisconsin than most. In large part due to the fact that there were just two really like one and a half questions for me about Wisconsin coming in. The inexperienced defense, how would they play?

They've given up zero total points. That's a answer in the affirmative. And then how would they do throw in the football? And they've done really well with Jack, Jack Cohn, excuse me, at including finding Jonathan Taylor, the bona fide Heisman candidate out of the backfield. He already has three receiving touchdowns. He's up there when you're talking about anybody in the country as far as number of receiving touchdowns. And by the way, he's still going off on the ground averaging, I think right around 118 yards per game. So he's up there. He's doing what Jonathan Taylor does. Eats up yardage. Ohio State's at number six. you might think to yourself, okay, you finally is moving them up.

Yes, I am finally moving them up. They shut out Cincinnati. This was a Cincinnati team that I thought would actually pose them some problems. Based on what I saw in the second half against FAU week one, they came out and played great. In fact, Justin Fields right now, when you're talking about adjusted completion percentage, he's the top quarterback in the country when it comes to adjusted completion percentage. He has looked very good. Now, they still protect him in some degree by getting them outside of the pocket,

creating easier throws on the outside, which they should because they've got great playmakers out there, including Chris Olave, a young wide receiver, Garrett Wilson, a true freshman who's a five-star kid that had a marvelous touchdown catch against Cincinnati. And then, oh, by the way, that defense is really, really tough. They shut out Cincinnati, Chase Young, three sacks on the year. Dude's a monster. also blocked a field goal. And that change in system, from straight man coverage under Greg Shiano

to now more of a zone coverage under Jeff Hathley, their new defense coordinator, along with Greg Madison, that makes them a really potent defense. And I'm expecting them to continue to play well as the year goes on. Now in the top five, you might think to yourself sooner fans.

Why is Joel moving us down from where he had us a week ago? Because the team got bumped into the top four. It's nothing that you did wrong, Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma is still an outstanding team. I love Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz right now is my leader for the Heisman Trophy in the country, because he's been incredible.

Nine total touchdowns, seven incompletions. Okay, roll that back. Think about that. Just wrap your head around and you play a full two games. You're out there. It's 120 minutes of football. I know he didn't play all 120 minutes of football, but 60 plus 60s, 120. We all get that.

We are all math and elementary. And then you've got to realize like, okay, nine total touchnails, passing and rushing. Yeah, that's pretty good. Seven incompletions. That's it. What? That's like mind-blowing. Jalen Hertz is playing amazing football.

Lincoln Riley. You know how I feel about Lincoln Riley. I was basically giving him like a love poem last week on the herd. More on that later, by the way. Because of that, I'm going to actually sit down and do a feature on Lincoln Riley next week. We'll record it, probably roll it around Red River about Lincoln, Riley, where his inspiration was, where he got his offense. It's going to be amazing.

It's going to be like a beautiful mind. I'm going to sit there and watch film with Lincoln Riley. I'm so excited. Number four is Georgia. They moved down one spot as well. You can see where I'm probably going with the top three. Georgia, by the way, is continuing to be consistent. They play solid defense.

They're a physical team. They're continuing to run the ball efficiently. In fact, they're leading the SEC and rushing right now. If they were to do that for the entirety of this season, it would be the third straight year that they led the SEC in rushing. Remember, this is still a team that the last two times they faced Alabama had the lead in the fourth quarter. In fact, there's been like a total of 290 snaps of the football in those two meetings. Georgia has led for 181 of those. Think about that now. This is close. They're very close to breaking

through. So Georgia is going to be number four for me. LSU after that big win goes up to number three. That's a huge win on the road against the Texas team that I actually really like, and I think highly of still, as is the case they're still in the top 10. LSU, great win. Your transition offensively is going to pay off in a big way in particular when you get into league play against the SEC. Joe Burrow was amazing. The defense wasn't great. That's a concern to some degree, but I do think Texas's offense was aggressive. Ellinger is one of the better quarterbacks in the country, and so it can be kind of understood that you would struggle a little bit in particular on the road.

But the aggressiveness from that offense, I'm so impressed with. They have clearly transformed into an offense that can go out there and get into a shootout with anybody in the country and win. Alabama better be looking around because I think LSU in that division is a team that can absolutely threatened Alabama with this offense under Joe Burrow. He's been amazing. First LSU player to throw for 400 yards since like, what was it, Rohan Davy or someone like that? 2001. 2001. I told you last week about the guy who I think is changing the philosophy for LSU. Joe Brady is his name. He's the passing game coordinator now for LSU. He came from the Saints.

You can imagine, like you come from Sean Payton's offense with Drew Breeze and what they're doing throwing the football with the Saints in the NFL. And he walks into the building at LSU where they are archaic throwing the ball. And they were like, yeah, here's our passing game. Can you imagine what Joe Brady was doing looking at that? It would be like Albert Einstein walking into a high school algebra class. And they're like, hey, this is what we're talking about right now. X plus Y equals Z. And he's like, oh my gosh, this is pathetic.

And he changed it. As evidence, they're leaning on the past game. They were aggressive in big moments with Joe Burrow. They trusted him. And he came through. This guy is throwing the ball as well as anybody in the country. The reason that they're not on the top two is because I just can't. Everybody, we knew for a long time coming into this season that there was a big gap between the top two programs in the country and everybody else.

The reason everyone's like, why is LSU not, they've done more than Bama and Clemson? Not in the last few years. In fact, when you look at since Nick Saban won his first championship at Alabama, only Florida State in their win with James Winston under Jimbo Fisher. That's the only national championship team that didn't have to beat either Alabama or Clemson along the way. Think about that. So why are Clemson and Alabama in the top two spots? Because someone's going to have to beat them to win the national championship.

They have put themselves in that position. Clemson's rated above Alabama, even though I've got some concerns about the way that Trevor Lawrence has been playing. Three interceptions so far this season. He only threw four all of last year. Bama looks really stout again. Two of seven touchdowns, no interceptions. The defense has been good. their third in the FBS and either total or scoring defense, one of the two.

Clemson went out there and really shut down Texas A&M, and this is a Texas A&M team. They remember last year played them within a score, and Kellan Mon through for, I think, close to or over 400 yards in that football game. So Clemson's defense is on the rise, even though they're young and inexperience. But there is a gap right here. There is a gap. So I cannot, in good conscience, put anybody else in one of the way. of those top two spots. I just can't. Again, going back to Nick's first championship against

Texas back in 2009, in that Rose Bowl, in order to win a championship, you have to either beat Clemson or Alabama. That will remain the same this year. If LSU wants to get into that category where they're playing for a national championship, if they're playing for an SEC championship, guess who they're going to have to beat? Alabama. And then guess who they're probably going to have to beat in order to either play for the national championship or win the national championship game. Clemson. Okay, so let's just take it easy. Let's just take it easy right now.

Clemson and Alabama still one and two, LSU three, Georgia four, Oklahoma five, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Texas, Notre Dame, and Utah. Some omissions from what is in the AP, Auburn. Bow Nix right now is 119th out of 127 in completion percentage below 50%. That could come back to haunt you. So that's one of the reasons I've got Auburn out of my top 10. I also don't have Florida in that top 10. I know that Florida is great rushing the passer,

but I've got major concerns with what I saw against Miami in Week Zero. Remember, this is a Miami team that is now 0 and 2 after losing to North Carolina. Mack Brown, shout out to you. Well done in your second stint at North Carolina. So yeah, a lot of things going on. There's my top 10. Let's get to some reaction. Let's hope that you floated in because I really am looking for some good snark,

good something. Let's get to, let's see, Andy Red 55 from the buffs. You bet. Joel Clatt, and where are your buffs? Mr. Clat. Mr. Anderson. I did not have the buffs in my top 25. I thought that that would just be a little bit overboard. Now, if you look at the actual AP poll, the buffs are sitting at like 28, I want to say. They received 21 votes, I believe, in the top 25 AP poll. So they're there. They're receiving votes somewhere around that mark. They did not get one for me. And by the way, I'm not a voter in the AP. So what you see on social media about my poll is just for you and I. I'm not a voter in the AP. But Colorado is 2-0 against two rivals in the first two games of Mel Tucker's tenure. Big shout out to Colorado and what they

were able to do. Coming back in that game, down 17-0 to rival Nebraska. And then at home, they fought back ultimately won the game. I was really impressed with a couple of things, but you've got to understand what's most important for a new coach at any new program, and really any new boss in any situation in America or around the world. If you're a boss, listen to me. It's vitally important that you invite your subjects or workers or players to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Think of this little change in language. Language is such a big. part of leadership. If I walked in and I was your new boss, and I walked into your cubicle or wherever you work, and I said, hey, what happened before was just not good enough,

and we're going to need to change things. And where I was before, we had it rolling and locked in, and you need to follow me because we're going to change and you're going to change. Guess what you're going to do? You're going to feel like, I don't love this. This is not great. he's telling me or she's telling me that I wasn't good enough, that I need to change. Guess what? Human nature tells us that we don't want to change, that everything we're doing should and will work in the future. That's why we are doing what we're doing. It's human nature. Now, let's mark that against or put that against, compare to your boss walking into your cubicle or wherever you work, and he or she saying, hey, I'm really proud of what you've done,

and we together can build something really cool in the future. I know this is what you're strong at, and I want to take that to the next level, and the things that we've struggled with in the past, we've struggled with in the past, we can make better. I know it. I know it. Now, let's go build a culture that we can be proud of. Build rather than change.

A small change in language. You're inviting that person to be a part of something bigger than themselves. That's what Mel Tucker has done at Colorado. I give you that long story in leadership to tell you that Mel Tucker in his first two games and really his entire offseason at Colorado was inviting his players to be a part of the physical change at Colorado. We're going to be a better condition team. We are going to be a more physical team. Not you have got to be or you this, not a blaming, we inviting into something bigger.

And guess what we saw against Nebraska in the second half last week? Colorado was the better condition team and the more physical team. Why? Because they believed that they were a part of something bigger than themselves brought from their head coach, Mel Tucker. Kudos to you, Mel Tucker. That is a case study and leadership of how you change through building a new culture almost immediately. Buffs 2 and O, they faced Air Force at home in a sneaky game, by the way.

I'm a little nervous for that one. But where are they? They would be like 26, 27 for me, Colorado. And we'll see them go through more of a gauntlet of their schedule moving forward. So Andy, thank you for the question. I appreciate it. And we'll go from there.

OK, what else do we got? What else do we got? I'm going to move this on trip. Let's see. I mean, what are we doing? In the room. Yay or nay, do you like these? Did some?

Wait, wait, wait. We have clapping? We have clapping, you will stop clapping immediately. Right now. These are horrendous Michigan State, and I like you a lot. I really like you. Does any part of this uniform scream

number one run defense in the FBS and Mark Dantonio, hard-nosed physical coach? No, it screams, my highlighter broke all over my pants. Those uniforms are horrendous for a really good team. A really good team. I love Michigan State. Not in those uniforms.

By the way, someone that was cheering in this room before we got started with the show, not joking. Their defense were liking these uniforms were, yeah, but they're legible. That's a low bar. That is a really low bar. Man, those are horrendous. But you do you, State, you do you. Let's move on.

What else do we got up there? I think I love a lot of things here. I love this guy right here. Eric Hollinger. Can you please explain how? You know how much I love how questions, right? How? Because I did.

That's literally the answer to your question. How did you do? Because I wrote them there. That's it. Whatever. I digress. My high school English teachers rejoice that I'm digressing about linguistics or grammar, whatever you want to call it. How at UMish football is 11th after basically losing at home to Army. You cannot basically lose. Eric, winning and losing is either a win or a...

You cannot basically lose. Michigan won. I don't know what to tell you. This is like a tweet like this makes my head explode. Just like basically losing at home to Army. They didn't basically lose. If they would have lost, I would have moved them down. I did move them down.

They were fifth in my poll before and I moved them all the way outside of the top 10 after a win. That is the furthest I've ever dropped a team in my history of being a college football analyst after they won a game. So Eric, I basically did what you wanted me to do, which was punish Michigan for playing poorly against Army. And by the way, Army had won 10 straight games. Do you know why I moved them down? Not because they struggled with Army, which I thought they would anyways, is because their offense looked awful. So there were reasons behind that. I thought Josh Gattis struggled as the coordinator calling plays,

in particular in short-yard situations. I thought that they struggled mightily running the football. It was the first game in Jim Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan that they won while averaging under 2.9 yards per carry for a game. Yes, they got lucky. Did Army blow it and botch it? Yes, they threw a pass at third and goal from the five. What are you doing?

Army blew that game by getting away from. what they are traditionally, which was a run first team. Michigan should have lost, but they basically didn't, Eric, because they still won. I don't think I'm taking crazy pills. Wasn't Michigan celebrating after the game? Yes, I was there, actually. I was there. But I did punish Michigan. That defense is still very strong. I thought that they played great against Army for as great as you can play against that unique style of offense. But their offense has got to get something going. fumbles than anybody else in the country. Shea Patterson's got to protect the football. They did not throw it well from the pocket. Where were these RPO's that we

thought we were going to see out of this new offense? Where were the zone read concepts? Michigan's got a lot to figure out before they go play Wisconsin and that great defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, Jim Liddard. I don't do this show without mentioning Jim Leonard. I don't know if you knew that. It's just like a little fun thing. They got to face the defense that hasn't given up a point and against an offense in Wisconsin that can hold the football simple. Similarly, I'll know not all that the same as Army. So it's going to be an interesting moving forward for the Michigan Wolverines.

But I just love, just read it and rejoice. Can you please tell me how? Michigan football is 11th after basically losing at home. I mean, there's just like so much going on in this. But I love you and your kid in the Cowboys uniforms. You got the Troy Aikman right there. Here, pull it up full again. I mean, I do love it.

Eric, you seem like a really good dad. I mean, teach your son how to write a better tweet than that. Than that. What else do we got? What else do we got? Nothing really. There's not a bunch of stuff. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hold on, hold on. UCF. Oh, I love, you know I love UCF right here. Hashtag dare to schedule. At Joel Clatt, the disrespect to UCF is laughable at this point. What's the disrespect? I don't understand. I have them ranked like, what do I have them ranked?

I don't know. Hold on. I got this. I'm going to bring up like, this is Joel Clatt's Bible of College Football right here. My leatherbound books are many leatherbound books. 19 is where I have UCF. 19. Um, what do you want to be?

8th? Should I put you in the playoff? I mean, I'm failing to, I don't, what disrespect. You're a ranked team right now. You'll probably be ranked higher after last week because I think you're going to beat Stanford. Is that disrespectful? Stanford, hashtag, received the dare to schedule UCF and accepted it. I mean, at UCF forever. I would love to meet the people behind Twitter. accounts like this. No, actually I don't. I don't really want to... The disrespect. I mean they're 19th. I don't know what you want for me. I will tell you this and everyone listen up. I am a college football elitist, self-proclaimed. I do not believe that any group of five team will ever earn the right to play for a national championship. Whether they're allowed to play for a national championship at some point remains to be seen.

And maybe that system will come into fruition in the next few years. I'm not sure. Your schedules are not even close. Your leagues are not even close. Now the top teams in the group of five are pretty good. And I believe if UCF went to a Power Five conference, they would do fine, just like TCU has done and Utah has done. in the Big 12 and the back 12. The difference is depth. While you're a group of five team, ask any coach in the country. Your starters are likely going to play with anybody in the country outside of maybe the top eight teams in the country.

After that, you suffer a serious decline. A serious decline. Scott Frost would tell you that. Josh Heipple will tell you that. Any head coach will tell you that. And what do you need to get through a Power 5 conference schedule depth? So don't come to me and be like, well, UCF would beat Illinois. Yes.

And then the next week, they'd have to go play Penn State. And then the next week, they'd have to play Maryland, who's playing better football. And then the next week, they'll have to go play Michigan State. And every one of those three games that I mentioned would be the toughest game on UCF's entire schedule. You see where I'm going with that? So yes, I'm a college football elitist. All right? You can send this to Tim Brando, and he's going to disagree with me until the cows come home.

Group of five teams will never earn the right to play for a national championship. Whether they're allowed to or not is out of my control. If I was in that committee room, it would never happen unless they got an automatic birth. So there you go. Hashtag, dare to schedule UCF. Dare to schedule UCF. Last thing, we're going to crown the winner of the week, right? This is where I give you my top performer of week two of the college football season,

and this one is very easy. Folks, it's Joe Burrow from LSU. The graduate transfer from Ohio State comes in, and Joe Burrow absolutely went off. He is the Maxwell Award player of the week. He's also Joel Klatt's player of the week, 471 yards, four touchdowns, 31 of 39. The dude was an assassin out there, just carving up Texas on the road, hostile environment. And he's playing better football in his last five games than maybe he's. any quarterback in the country. If you go back to last season and you take his last five games,

this is what you'll see. He's averaging over 340 yards per game throwing the football, and he's got 18 touchdown passes and only one interception. We've all wondered for a long time what LSU would look like if they could actually have a modern passing game, because they've had great running games. I'm saying modern passing game. The ability to get into a shootout and be two-dimensional, and we're seeing it come to fruition. That's why LSU is number three in my poll, and Joe Burrow is my player of the week, and right now he's number two in my Heisman rankings behind Jalen Hertz of Oklahoma. Joe Burrow, well done. Not only did you transfer the proper way by completing your degree at your first school and then going and getting your

next opportunity, but you're taking advantage of it. Well done. Great week last week. Joe Burrow, my performer of the week. breaking the huddle as always love it UCF you can send the hate to at Joel clad on Twitter try to stay away from Instagram because Instagram is like fuzzies and rainbows and warm fuzzy you know that's like the hopeful area of social media Twitter is where all the hate goes so at Joel clad on Twitter send me all the hate that you want and I'm sure that you will because you're only like the third worst fan base on Twitter behind Florida State and Tennessee how are they doing by the way

how are they doing my gosh This has been Breaking the Huddle. I'm Joel Klat. We're here next week. And remember, catch all of my content all week long at Joel Klat on Twitter, at Joel underscore Klaat on Instagram, and also, foxports.com slash breaking the huddle

for all of your college football needs. Thanks, everybody.