The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Joel Klatt: Texas Has Got To Stay Out Of Their Own Way On Offense This Week

Episode Date: October 7, 2020

Joel Klatt: Texas Has Got To Stay Out Of Their Own Way On Offense This Week

to Joe Clatt, Fox Sports, that will call the Red River Shootout, Showdown, not Joel Clat, as my buddy Ross just said. It is not the Red River letdown, or is it? Well, this year it will certainly be different. I guess in a year in which you're not going to have the fair, and it's only going to be 25% capacity, it's probably about par that both teams are coming in, stubbing their toe, obviously, oh, you back-to-back conference losses for the first time since the John Blake era, which is just wild to think about. And Texas really should have won that game

last week. Their defense played well enough, in particular in the red zone, forcing field goals to get the job done. And I was shocked that, I mean, shocked that they didn't run quarterback power, run Sam Ellinger down on the one-yard line. Not that Keonté Ingram's not a good player, but, I mean, that's a quarterback power all day long. And it should be noted he was struggling. with his health a little bit. He got his knee banged up, his leg banged up against Texas Tech. And I didn't feel like he was ever 100% during the course of that game against TCU. But, you know, here we are. And I got to tell you, Matt, Texas is desperate to win this game. There is so much more pressure on Texas.

I don't get it. I watched, obviously, the Texas Tech game because my son goes in Lubbock, so I had an interest in that. Watched it because you had the great game last week. what what is going on i mean first of all your game last saturday and it's not like fox broadcasts only have penalties galore but you couldn't get in a rhythm of watching this football game because there were flags every five seconds is that because officials are flag happy or are we seeing a lack of discipline all throughout college football well yeah see everyone's going to point to lack of discipline i actually look at the officiating let me and i know that this is a little bit more nuanced but

let me give you some context about how difficult this, you know, this is what COVID has done to officiating. Is that normally you have an officiating crew and then those guys travel around as a crew all year and do games together. That crew also has a preseason camp. They will go around multiple times during fall camp in August and get not only time together, but time officiating teams practices and scrimmages. And so not only do the teams become, you know, more familiar with calls being called against them, but officials get in a rhythm of actually officiating a game. What you have now is because they don't want to force these guys to travel quite as much,

you're having local officials officiate the game. So you'll have different crews working with each other all the time every single week. So it's very tough to get in a rhythm from that standpoint. They had no preseason where they're going. they were out at these college campuses, officiating practices and scrimmages. So, one, the players and coaches didn't get a feel for, you know, whether they were holding a lot, let's say, during the course of camp. And the officials didn't get time to acclimate to the game. So I think that's a big reason why you're seeing so many flags, to be honest with you, across college football.

And I thought, but in this game, you know, everyone's like, whoa, you know, Texas is undisciplined. And this coach has never been a yes and no, I think this year is just a weird year in that regard. in particular with the way that the officials have had to prepare for the year and have gone about calling the games. So I think it might continue. I don't know if it's going to be something that wanes or slows down, but it might continue and be a storyline in every one of these games. But that being said, you certainly have to adjust if you're a player. You know, if they're going to call every little holding, then you've got to stop grabbing the jersey.

And I think that's incumbent on them. All right, without making a prediction because you're going to call the game, Just give us a thought or two on each side what both teams have to do in order to win this because somebody's fan base. I would have presumed Texas's fan base is going to be a lot grumpier. Because, look, Oklahoma goes to national championship every other year. It feels like release is in the final four. Texas is tired of losing to non-top 25 opponents. So give me a scenario where each team wins on Saturday.

Well, I think that for Texas, what they have got to do, got to do is get out of their own way. offense. You know, I feel like every time I watch them, if they have an offensive penalty, then the drive stalls out. If not, they go down and score. So it goes back to the previous answer and finding a way to be clean. I think that they also need to establish some sort of number one wide receiver or threat in particular on third down. You know, Devin Duvene last year had 28 catches on third downs out of the most in the country. They're getting Jordan Whittingham back, one of the most highly rated wide receiver recruits and a guy that they're really hoping can be a great player.

They're getting him back this week. We'll see how effective he is. Josh Moore needs to be on the field. He wasn't really on the field. He was banged up. Didn't have a catch last week. So I think it's that playing clean and then finding that number one threat on the offensive side.

If they're able to do that, I think that they've got a great shot. For the Oklahoma side, it's really about their run game. Matt, they are a run-oriented team under Lincoln Riley. Did you know since he's been the head coach? No one else has led the Big 12 in rushing other than Oklahoma. They run at 55% of the time. And right now, when you're looking at their run versus past disparity, it's quite stark. And part of that is that Spencer Rattler doesn't run well.

And the other part of that is that they graduated or lost their top four rushers from a year ago. And that shouldn't be overlooked. Ramadre Stevenson is suspended. Kennedy Brooks opted out. Trey Serman transferred to Ohio State and Jalen Hertz graduated and was drafted by the Eagles. It's really tough to just all of a sudden plug and play and be that dominant. but I'm looking at the run game. If they can get it going, then they'll have a shot.

Disappointed out A&M wasn't overly competitive with Alabama last week. I'm assuming the answer to that is yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. They've recruited at a high level. Think about Texas and A&M. The money that they've invested in the programs, the recruits that they have, the composite rankings that they have,

as far as the talent on their rosters. And some of these performances are just downright frustrating for these fan bases. and I'm sure they're frustrated. So, and to be honest with you, I saw some of these people on Twitter, you know, these Aggie fans, they were like, oh, man, who was tied in the second quarter? I'm like, I'm sorry, tied in the set. Like, who cares? You know, they need to be better.

They've got a veteran quarterback. They've had the coach now for multiple years. And Jimbo has got to put out a better product against Alabama because that's the measuring stick. I said before the year on this show, I thought that they, were going to be the second best team in that division that they had their best shot, maybe not quite to the class of Alabama. But that wasn't even in the same hemisphere as Alabama. Alabama really kind of beat them up, in particular in the second half.

I think that was very frustrating for A&M. All right. Give me a thought about this Miami-Clemson game coming up. Trevor Lawrence, and not that I spent a lot of time looking at Clemson, look, Derek King's been fantastic for Miami, good for him as a former Cougar. I'm happy that he's having success. Do they got a shot to beating Clemson? Lawrence has been good, but not like, you know, like, remember when Oliver, when Andrew Luck came out of college, it was the suck for luck, and now there's all this narrative about it.

He's been okay, but hadn't been like mind-blowing. You tell me what you think about this game coming up. I don't, I disagree with you. I think he has been incredible. Do you know in his last 11 games, he's got 36 total touchdowns and only one turnover? Yeah, but he's playing the ACC. I mean, eesh. I mean, you can only play the teams that are in front of you.

So, I mean, I guess you've got a point, but what's he supposed to do, go change the schedule? I do think Miami has a shot, right? I don't know. I get nervous for the fact that it's so new for them. And Clemson is such a veteran and experienced team in big games, right? Like, this is the first moment for Miami with Manny Diaz, with Rhett Lashley, the Eric King. And Clemson, it's like, listen, we've been there and done that. They're so experienced. They were just in the national championship game. They're in playoff. They just

know how to play in this environment. So from that standpoint, I'm a bit nervous for Miami, but I do expect Miami to put up a quality fight. And I do think that this will be our best chance to really gauge what Lawrence is this year, because I think Miami is one of the better defenses he's going to face this year until he gets to the playoffs. and hopefully that playoff happens. Joel, great stuff is always really enjoying your Fox coverage and enjoy the Dallas. Are you a fairgoer when you've gone in the past,

or is that just something you hide away from? Yeah, there's a lot of people out there. Yeah, I know you don't like people, so I don't know. I try to go get something to pride, but that's, you know, that's, I don't know, man. Maybe someday I'd love to do it later in life when, like, my kids can travel down with me, can go enjoy the fair maybe on Friday. I think that would be a fun deal.

And by the way, congrats. You're going to be doing more games than I think everybody else at Fox with this Pact 12 schedule kicking in pretty soon too. So good for you on that. I know, man. We're going to be, trust me, we're going to be, we'll be out there every Saturday. And it's fun deal. It's always good to be working.

All right, friend, thanks for the time. As always, we'll talk again next Wednesday. You got it, but see you. All right, that's Joe Clyde. Fox Sports on the OU Texas game. 11 o'clock, and the game will be right here on Sports Talk, and Craig Wayne Company. We'll have it with a pregame show beginning at 10 o'clock.