Ranking ALL 134 college football teams with RJ Young!

20,000 words 134 teams everyone ranked from 1 to 134 Fox Sports national college football Anders RJ young joins us now on the will Cane show what's up RJ jilling money I'm excited to be here thanks for having me how in the world do you rank 134 teams how in the world do you write 20,000 words and I'm dead serious now do you spend time breaking down every dep chart watching games from last year talking to the coaches that's a lot man because look I could talk to you about maybe Texas versus Georgia but how you come up with that ULM is the worst team in the country or akan is 132 or kin State 131 I don't know how do you do it RJ uh probably the same way that you got through law school dog like you're never as smart as when you're taking that test as you are when you're taking that test so asked me about ULM two months ago and I got the world ha dead to rights you asked me about the Ken State Al two months ago I got them dead TOS but this is about six weeks of me talking to folks of me looking at those depth charts taking into account Administration those sorts of changes philosophies coordinators transfer portal all of it you name it I took a look at it but I think at the top and the way that I describe this is start with this who do you think is the best team capable of winning the national championship and go from there where that gets interesting is after we get past 25 believe it or not like I I got a lot of push back on some teams but usually what people do is they scroll down to their team and then they tell me that I'm wrong about their team which is okay I just want you to give me an argument this is not your daddy's Facebook page build an argument and let's hear it out well it's the world of college football so of of course people are going to get mad and have arguments about why you've done the worst job in the history of the world RJ in ranking their team or ranking college football but um I will'll spend some time with you today uh talking about the top 10 about legitimate National Championship hopes but I guess cuz I always like deep Cuts I don't want to start talking about Ohio State I I want to start talking about a team and a program that you identify in looking at all 134 programs in division 1A who you think given everything they have Coach recruiting bases resources should be much higher in your rankings I mean they are significantly underperforming their brand and who they are I'm curious who you came out with and you're like I cannot believe I have Washington at 83 which by the way you do in the national title game last year this year Washington 83 you know Washington is an easy pull there and we can talk about them but I'm really talking about Notre Dame if if we're going to get into the Weeds on this okay I got them at 6 team that's a team for many people that's a top 10 team and I'm like I don't see it number one you're bringing over Mike Den Brock who produced a high than winner in Jaden Daniels but we didn't know that Mike Den Brock was that sort of an offensive coordinator kind of like Mark Whipple at Pittsburgh until he got the pieces then we saw a play from Jaden Daniels that we had never ever seen before and I'm not sure he could do again if you asked him to and now you're trying to take Mike Den Brock and sprinkle him on top of Riley Leonard which is great if those canel but I just saw them have Sam Hartman who led the ACC all time in passing touchdowns and they couldn't get it done we keep talking about Notre Dame as a team that ought to contend for a national championship but all they team to do is get to that place and then get just smacked I would love to see them live up to the billing that we give them because I'm in this moment where I'm a Formula 1 fan and so follow me here Ferrari gets the benefit of the doubt we pay Ferrari a little bit more attention than we probably should they hav won much in a long time that's Notre Dame for me join a conference otherwise I continue to see you going down we could talk about Washington but Notre Dame is my Bugaboo right now I totally agree with you about joining joining a conference or I continue to see you going down I had a conversation with out kicks Barry Barrett Sally a few weeks ago looking at his rankings and his projected top 12 playoff and it was just I mean it's just so dominated Now by two conferences and yours at the top is as well yours through the top I'd say what is it top 10 certainly um it's dominated by two conferences and I think in Notre Dame as long as they stand out there on their own they're going to have trouble um living up to who they're supposed to be living up to that brand there's another brand that you you have ranked I think as fascinating um and that's Colorado you have a 41 people are going to pay attention to Colorado because of Dion and because of the way they came out last year at the beginning of the Season where do you sense that they are like I'm starting to think that d on it's it's like um it's easy to say it's been overhyped but he sold too much too soon and I don't know when you do that what this looks like for you over the next 5 years he's banking on the transfer portal he's not doing well in recruiting classes how long does he have to come in somewhere better than 41 I think he's got as long as he needs and as long as he wants because he's winning everywhere else you have prospective applications through the roof Colorado you're selling out games at Colorado you're on National Television their game against Colorado State outdrew Oregon Washington for the Pack 12 Championship so it's working in everywhere but wins and losses he brings in 90 transfers over the last two cycles we don't seem to pay that much attention until you're me and you're going I don't really like what you brought in this year and we've seen this before right when I was ahead on Colorado last year it's because I thought that people were undervaluing them and I was right through three games and then the wheels fell off for a number of reasons but I think right now it's not the 41 that I think you should be concerned with if you're Colorado it's that most of us don't believe you're going to finish in the top half of the Big 12 and that is where we're actually going to have this discussion about who they can be because you win that conference Championship you're getting into the college football playoff and he has said look if you're going to make a pick given the same record you're going to put me into the college football play I'm going yeah Prime I'll put you in anything you played in the World Series you played Super Bowl you change the balance of power in the NFL by going from the ners to to Dallas or other way around excuse me but the point there is no it's right way Prime is yeah right way Prime is well I did and you're a Dallas Cowboys fan you would know um Prime is prime Colorado's Colorado right that's the point I think as we continue to talk about them we're going to take a look at that offensive line we're going to take a look at that defensive line but really what it's going to come down to is what are you doing when it comes time to play conference what are you doing after Nebraska I had him at my goodness if I had to do this in 2023 I think I would have had him around 27 right 28 that SMU slot right now where I feel real good about them but right now I think 41 is fair well I was looking also you did a top five quarterback ratings and it got my attention because you had Quinn ERS at Texas at number one but if I memor serves um RJ you did not have shadur Sanders in your top five quarterbacks uh and I mean every NFL Mock Draft has him top two or three top 10 pick top two or three quarterbacks you don't see it with shador look I think he is perhaps going to get drafted in the first round because we value quarterbacks that highly in the sport it is the most important position in all of football and I'm actually working on another list uh the top 100 superstars in college football and he's number one on that list okay and it's two things to go into that playmaking and popularity the only person in college to out sell shador Sanders in jerseys Caitlyn Clark who is her own phenomenon right we would all agree about that and when you're talking about who would you want to build your program around from day one you had to build a college football program today you're G to take a quarterback that can sling it and you're going to take a quarterback that people want to watch throw the football he satisfies that now in as far as being one of the five best quarterbacks in our sport he has some things to do I think what's more interesting about this is preseason AP All America teams came out yesterday uh as we're doing this on a Wednesday Tuesday excuse me and he was snubbed and I'm going snubbed or just not one of the three best quarterbacks in all of college football what do we doing here we can say he's great we don't have to say he's one of the top five quarterbacks in the sport so you've got him at number one though on college football Superstars you're going to do a list of a hundred college football Superstars which factors in popularity to your point I'll be really curious RJ where you have Arch Manning because as you were describing that you were describing like who you take the truth is I think I'd take art I'm a homer I'm I'm a longhorn fan but I think most people most you know coaches would say if that's what I'm trying to factor in Superstar status popularity I think Arch would be number one he just happens to be a backup right now but if he were a starting quarterback I think he'd be blowing out jerseys blowing out National coverage blowing out ink it'd be all about Arch Manning I don't think you're wrong uh and as an Oklahoma fan you'd be surprised to know I got him at 11 right just outside the top 10 11 yeah yeah for that reason but it's about let me see a guy that can play and who's already shown people what you can expect right the way I kind of think about this is if we have Allin on a five-star recruit and that dude does not play to the level we expect him to play he's no longer as valuable as we once thought now the thing you got going Arch is a hell of a spring game but outside of that still kind of want to see it I want to see him do it in the SEC and by the way y'all get Ohio State in 2025 and I'm excited about that as I have any game that might be on television all of next year but I think you got a point right you you got a great point in as far as the family The Branding the kind of player he might turn out to be but I got in the first 10 spots guys that have played and guys that have shown me a little bit of something before we assign them Superstar do you have Quinn yers above Arch Manning when it comes to Superstar I do you do I think that's fair I think that's fair uh I mean people forget how big of a recruit Quinn was and by the way not just how big of a recruit I mean he was he was a he was legitimately a bigger recruit than Arch Manning in terms of like consensus rating but he was also kind of a superstar like he was the kid who left high school early um everyone knew who Quinn yers was big deals so I mean he's just the only thing that's taking away from well two things he's not that actually big of a personality I think people thought he was but he's not that big of a personality he's kind of a quiet guy uh and he's got Arch Manning behind him but other than that he's he's a superstar or at least so we thought when he came out of high school I still think he's a superstar I really do and I think he fits Texas perfectly honestly uh from the Tweet about how' I get towed on the first game because he was parked where he wasn't supposed to be parked with a truck I man that dude had a skull ring in the back of his jeans when I got to see him at uh media days last year it was a lot of fun he fits who you should be if you're going to be that quarterback lowkey even Keel tremendous arm tremendous Talent right we know this and I I kind of wonder what happens if he's allowed to go to Texas to start to take advantage of his superstardom is supposed to stting out that career to Ohio State and then eventually transferring back home but any quarterback that leads Texas to a big 12 championship in the college football playoff is a superstar there's no doubt you know one more question about Texas and I'm going to ask you about your team Oklahoma but um you talked about Texas playing Ohio State in 2025 you ranked your top five nonconference games going into this season for anybody interested this is what it looks like at number five RJ has Alabama at Wisconsin at number four he has Florida State at Notre Dame at number three in week one Georgia versus Clemson two LSU versus USC and your top non-conference game this year is Texas versus Michigan they'll do Michigan this year Ohio State next year this Michigan game it's interesting um on one hand RJ it kind of doesn't matter meaning if Texas loses this game and goes and does well in the SEC no one's going to remember much this Michigan game Michigan maybe have a little more writing on it like who are you are you still a national title Contender are you still a national brand this year under new coaching but people kind of are treating this game whether or not it matters as a truth serum game like this is who we find out who either of you are at this point in 2024 I think so and I think this is going to be really interesting now because you know better than most you're down two scholarship running backs at Texas right one guy we know is a superstar and CJ Baxter one guy that we thought could rise to the level superstar in Christian Clark he gives me DeMarco ver Murray Vibes I think that dude is going to be really great when he comes back from injury catching the ball out of the back field that said you're also going to play Michigan after both of you were in the college football playoff and not for nothing we probably are going to pick Texas to win that game too right I know how it uh ended I know how it worked out and Michigan just ran through every barrier that there seem to be in their way on the field and off the field I think what I'm really going to look at is we're talking about these two power conferences these super conferences making up the bulk of these top 25 this is going to be a referendum on the SEC in the Big 10 and I'm enjoying that part of it especially with Chiron Moore going into year one and all that's going on around Michigan too they don't even know who the starting quarterback's going to be could be Jack Tuttle I hope it's Alex orgy because I think that dude can sling it Donovan Edwards needs to absolutely show me that he's the kind of guy that we all think he could be but Texas goes up there and they win by three scores I'm not going to be the only person that thinks highly of Texas they go in there and it's a close ball game I think we're going to say oh the Champs are the Champs no matter the turnover no matter what they lost and Texas is back to the drawing board I think we're going to overreact to that game I really do that's why it's number one but I am very excited about it because I believe this also the first time that they're going to play each other in the regular season at all and nothing charges me up more than the first time meeting between Blue Bloods so your squad Oklahoma so it's interesting you have Oklahoma at 11 which you know at first blush I'm like that's way higher than I feel like most people are r ranking Oklahoma right now but and I'm not just picking a fight uh but you also have Oklahoma by these rankings sth in the SEC so you you can see by virtue of this the SEC is dominating your top 11 I mean you could go top 13 rankings dominated by the SEC um I just keep coming away from this like can Oklahoma this is what will be fascinating to me RJ can Oklahoma be the seventh best team in the SEC and almost a top 10 team in the country like if you're seventh in the SEC what does your record look like what does that mean is that four losses three losses four losses you're you know a mid tier team in the SEC but you're a top tier team in the nation well let's look at it from this standpoint I got Alabama at number nine that makes Alabama the fifth best team in the SEC and all they did was win the SEC championship last year and the college football playoff we're really just talking about the depth of a league now when I talk about Oklahoma I am passionate and like you I do not pretend to not be for Oklahoma that's my squad that's my team that's where I grew up it's where I'm from however you look at the schedule that Oklahoma got and I'm not picking a fight I'm just gonna say what it is y'all get Vanderbilt on the road and I'm going where where's our Vanderbilt we get old Miss Missouri LSU Alabama South Carolina Tennessee plus oh yeah Red River rivalry you know like that it it feels like a lot so I'm going to say that Oklahoma wins nine 10 games they're getting into the playoff and that's what that spot's about right I think we're going to get at least two from both of those conferences I don't know that we're going to get three from both of those conferences and then we're going to start to looking at who are the ranked opponents on your schedule and Oklahoma is liable to have six right six of your 12 opponents are ranked and that's just in the C I think that if Oklahoma beats the right teams meaning Alabama Tennessee Texas so forth they're going to get in now that that game against Missouri gives me the willies U Missouri's a CER I got them ranked just ahead right I expect Old Miss to be a CER you know LSU to be a comer so we'll see I'm putting it at nine10 wins where are you from RJ I'm from Tulsa Oklahoma really okay then you go to OU uh for grad school I went to the University of Tulsa for undergrad this a little bit like me yeah I went to UT for grad school um what uh do you root for the golden hurricane as well I do I do uh and I'm catching all sorts of hell for ranking them 119 and I'm going hey guys we got dud they're yeah yeah yeah I see it oh yeah yeah oh yeah I'm catching hell they're like oh well there's the unbiased party right there and I'm going hey man give me something to work with here you know I got a nephew that's on the roster you know um but everybody understands around here that we are a stepping stone to a bigger place right when we do it right that's what the University of Tulsa is is the smallest FBS program the smallest FBS school and all of football so I go back is that right smallest by student body by student body and pro football hall of famers how many people go to Tulsa goodness me you would ask I want to say it's all from the law school to undergrad about 3,000 yeah that's Pepperdine size that's where I went to undergrad yeah that's that's that's interesting that is a hard student B yes that is hard to and I would argue with that knowledge I never knew Tulsa was so small that you punch above your weight you might be W 19 in these ratings but to your point like let me just think really quickly who's the most famous Tulsa football player I can do this there was a running back um not long ago that came from Tulsa maybe could have been long ago well you talking about Demaris Johnson Charles Clay I don't know if that's what if I go back into the 90s is there something Tulsa in the 90s my buddy Jerry would know this Jerry oski was All-American uh offensive lineman at Tulsa 1991 I have to go check but zav Collins also came out of Tulsa can you do this who's the best um that's that's the defensive end the defensive end line yeah I was just naming uh players at this point maybe that's who I'm thinking of yeah him we got one over right now right we got Tyler Johnson over there at Dallas oh yeah Tyler Johnson's uh no no um not not Johnson Smith Smith Tyler Ty Smith thank yes yeah the offensive lineman from Tulsa that's right all right okay speaking of nephews I got a nephew at a program too okay and I got a nephew at a program um who's on your top five best non-conference games to watch this season okay and he's in a battle for the starting position right now um and I part of me doesn't want him to win the job because he he not not week one because he goes to Clemson and he's battling to start at Center at Clemson right now he's a sophomore uh and if you win that job you go out against a Georgia defensive line on week one and I don't know that that's the triout by fire I want he played last year he played a lot of games last year but I don't want that to be the biggest referendum on your job Clemson's on your resume um Clemson's a tough program at this point here's a program big- time recruits meaning he still does a good job recruiting High School Dabo and he stays out of the transfer portal and everybody's doing this thing about is it gonna catch up to Dabo um are they going to be are they going to fall out you've got Clemson at number 19 right there and you said this game against Georgia in week one is going to define whether or not they're back to essentially tier one a national title Contender I think to the point about the offensive line versus defensive line This is the believe it or not this is the least tested defensive line I've seen at George in the last five years okay we're talking about n house we're talking about Warren Brenson I think if you're going if you wanted George over the last five years you want him right now that's what I think right so there's one two is only dbo can do what Dabo is doing and I know this because Brent vinal came from Clemson tried to do what dbo did and had to change course quick fast and in a hurry because you got to go get the beef and you got to go get it quickly now I also want to add in here one of the things that doesn't get said enough about Dabo is he was never a coordinator okay his whole get down is wide receiver to we're fired interim head coach to head coach and then he's had a generational run of talent at that quarterback position now this you'll know right following Texas high school football recruiting Kade kumnick beat Quinn yers in a state championship game okay I'm thinking if Garrett Riley wants to get back on the Good Foot because remember he got stomped out at Texas Christian by Georgia this is the time to do it I think you're also got Clemson circling the wagons in a way that for the first time they're starting to feel it they're starting to feel oh people are forgetting about us and all they did was win nine 10 games last year and I'm going I don't forget about them every year they're right there I think this is the year you want to get them because everybody's expecting Georgia to get back to the national championship game everybody's expecting Georgia to finish what they started in the SEC Championship and I think August 31st is kind of sneaking up on all of us so perhaps it's a one- score game going in the second half and then we'll make it do what it do baby but after that I think we're going to figure out who Clemson is kind of like what they did against Florida State last year they win that game we're talking about Clemson totally differently and they were right there well to your point by the way and this is in support of my nephew like I'm I'm taking your word for it on georg's defensive line this year if this is a year you want them if you want to get them this is the year to get them you're going in practice every day against what I mean I've been reading a little bit like actually it's not as good as you thought it would be but you would think the Clemson defensive line is about as good as it gets I mean in practice you're going against some real studs up and down the depth chart like Peter Woods is a sophomore too and you got to deal with him who's not even a starter on that Clemson defensive line and so you're already playing Big Boy ball um talking about my nephew going against Clemson's defensive line maybe Georgia actually is a reprieve I I'm not I'm not gonna go that far I'm not I'm not going to go that far only because uh look look you turned out Trayvon Walker you you turned like Williams is over there I keep going on about that Georgia defense because one of the things that always impresses me is everybody knows they're good but nobody knows who was good until the NFL draft because you could just throw guys in there that said I think the guy that I'm really GNA watch in that game on the Clemson defense is Barrett Carter that dude Dabo called one of the best pure football players that I have seen in 20 years and he can do anything you ask him to do right it's not unlike what we had with Isaiah Sim a few years back when I called him a destroyer of worlds because you could put that dude at pass rush free safety strong safety inside he could do it all Barrett gives you that versatility which is going to allow those guys to rotate in a little bit more frequently on the defensive line as you're going to be looking around going where's Barrett Carter before you do anything else you may lose track of some of these other four five star players that davo Sweeney has just you know in the cupboard ready to go at Clemson the nephew's name is Harris keep an eye lookout for him let's see if he gets the job here um I don't know we playing this weekend so I don't know might go to the upper classman this weekend but watch throughout the season okay so you don't have this isn't a college football playoff projection but this is a ranking and if I go top 12 and again that's not allowing for a group of five Champion to come in here and make the playoffs and that sort of thing but your top 12 as we mentioned includes seven SEC teams um it would be one two three Big 10 teams one big 12 team and one ACC team I have that right so you've got the SEC dominating all it's not just a big two this year in your mind it's a big one and by the way I think you're also being pretty generous to Michigan I'm actually not so sure about Michigan this year in the same way I'm I'm not I don't have anything against Michigan except that they play Texas this year but um I'm just not I'm not sold on Michigan so what I'm getting at is you've got an SEC at college football in 2024 except for Ohio State well there's a reflection of the last 20 years is what we're really doing if we talk about this but I also think a the college football playoff selection committee has proven they don't always know football and they don't always know what they're talking about because they're going to leave out undefeated teams that won conference championships and power four conferences which goes against everything that we tell these kids we tell them it's a team sport we tell them one player does not matter and we tell them if you win it every game you play you will get a shot to play for the belt Florida State didn't get that so I'm not going to trust them to do what I might do now these rankings to start these are all to win the national championship not necessarily to make the playoff right and there is a distinction there there is a distinction because you'll look at the group five I got Memphis at 37 as my highest rank but they're going to get one of those slots this is for me more about just how deep we think the SEC is going into this season and frankly how not as deep the Big 10 is going to be but to the Michigan point I got history there so I'm going to tell a story I'm going to tell all myself for a second but I think you'll get where I'm going with this so following 2021 you turn over the coordinators right Jim Harbaugh is Jim Harbaugh we don't know who the starting quarterback is we know that Kade mcar JJ marcar is gonna do it he's gonna let this thing go into the season we don't really like that we don't like turning over coordinators we don't like turning over offensive line we don't like you changing out staff unless your name is Nick SA you earn that okay so I just didn't rank him in the top 25 because I didn't think it was a top 25 team and I had Point BYO analysis for why I didn't do this okay what they do they go and they win the Big 10 championship game right make the college football playoff again you know uh they find a way dude that's the problem they find a way every time I think that they're gonna get in it like with the Conor stallion thing last year or Jim Harbaugh coaching just nine games of 15 Chiron Moore being suspended also be an acting head coach those kids just don't seem to care they go show up they beat the hell out of who it is that they're supposed to beat the hell out of and they go and win the National Championship in a year where I would not have picked them to do that and yet and still I was five weeks ahead of the AP and the college football playoff selection Committee in the rankings having Michigan at number one Having learned my lesson in 2022 going nope that's a team that one right there I don't care about any of this other stuff I don't care about the coaches I don't care about the sign stealing I care that those kids when out there and beat everybody they were asked to beat and they were beating them going away so I'm going to tell you there isn't really good analysis for it there's only anecdotal knowledge but underestimate underestimate Michigan at your own Peril so I want to ask you one more thing about rankings like this you know I think there's a legitimate argument people make about preseason rankings in college football and how bad they can be meaning not how off they are but what they do to creating an alternate reality from the objective reality that's about to play out before our eyes so so in other words everything you've got here is reputational and projection it's your guess and everyone's doing it right and the problem is I'm just CU your thoughts curious your thoughts on this so let's just take Texas because we'll be both ways you've got Texas at three everybody should know by the way RJ has Ohio State at one if Texas starts the season poorly you know or Texas loses two or three games it's like they always benefit from being seen as a preseason top three or it's like that reputation carries you through mistakes that we don't afford other programs that aren't ranked high at the outset and I've seen people say we shouldn't do any rankings we should do no rankings until we've seen three or four weeks of college football because some of these games are patsies and layups and that kind of thing right so until we see evidence what's the point we're just doing this based off brand and reputation and what you did with a different roster a year ago two things one we level set right there's some yahoo that voted for Vanderbilt to win the SEC two of them two of them now what if there was more than one what if that really does influence because it does in the college football playoff selection committee how teams get into the playoff or not okay so we're gonna level set that's number one number two is we need to understand this is what the public will allow and I think that's the part about this that is really interesting from what I'm doing Michigan being left out of the top 25 in 2022 was not something the public would allow they do not want to see any analysis that says so because they feel here that they're right okay so that rankings are also a reflection of what people expect to happen and what they want to happen now if I'm going through this piece by piece in a different way and I'm going who would I want to be there well I mean Colorado is going to move the needle why not make them number one Ohio state has a fan base of over 600,000 right why not put them at number one there's all sorts of reasons as to why to do this but I think that's the way I look at it is what will the public allow and then based on what they will allow who fits the criteria and usually those are Blue Bloods with a tremendous reputation in the sport going back over a hundred years what the public will allow what's interesting like CU it's not necessarily that's that's an admission that it's not objective reality but also setting the college football playoff isn't an objective reality to your point of leaving out Florida State the public won't allow you leaving out Alabama or whatever the situation is that allows that um it's interesting in that what you're saying is perception defines reality and so you have to pre-bake in some account for perception um which isn't right yes I would I would I isn't right I don't mean I don't it's wrong by you I'm just saying it isn't right that that's how we're doing these things and how we how we make decisions as people when we started talking you're saying people are going to argue because it's college football right and people want their opinions to matter I tried to do this thing once where I was ranking teams based on did you win right so by the middle of the Season you're looking at UTSA as a top 10 team a couple years ago because they refused to lose and I believe that if you beat everybody on your schedule you should have an opportunity to play for the championship and nobody but nobody but me wanted that to happen Okay so Liberty gets into the Fiesta Bowl last year because they're the highest ranked group of five champion and they gets absolutely destroyed by Oregon and people going I don't want that to which I also ask uh folks would you rather that there's just a G5 national championship and there's a power four national championship and most people want that to be the case they do not want to see a team like Liberty show up to get beat down and as these rankings are projected you look on on that list you'll see Jacksonville State at number 67 okay you'll see UTSA at number 49 you'll see Washington at number 83 why because Jacksonville state has an easier road to the National Championship if they beat everybody in Conference USA and they win the championship and they're the highest ranked group of five Contender they're in the playoff Washington needs to win 10 games probably against four ranked opponents just to be in the conversation and I think as that reality comes to set in people are going to go okay enough no no there's no way that I'm going to let Jacksonville State into our playoff over a team like Washington and then we're going to see once again some reshuffling of the board all right last question for you RJ I think I don't remember the stat exactly but I believe every year maybe it's top 10 every year there has been a team from outside the top 10 that arrives at the top of the debate in college football that no one saw coming um and by by convert now there's every year been a team that has been a top 10 team preseason who's nowhere near the top 25 um by the end of the season so in other words there's always some huge surprise in both directions if you're looking at it right now who is going to be the big surprise to enter the debate that even you right now don't have ranked highly or that you think or maybe everybody else doesn't and you do and and and who's going to drop out like who is everybody believes is a top 10 team and will not be there even in the rankings when we get to the end of the season I'm gonna answer the first part second so I'm gonna say Missouri is probably going to be that team that's dropping out of the top 10 out of the top 25 I think we put a lot of stop into Missouri based on what they did last year and what they did against the weak Ohio State team and they got a soft schedule they they got a really soft schedule in the SEC they've been blessed the thing that I would also point to is as you're watching college football play out pay attention to which in collectives are in lock step with the University athletic department Missouri set the standard for being ahead of the curve in how they are marketing their players and how they got everybody pulling in the same Direction with their Collective and they're being rewarded with a top 10 team a team that won the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State no matter what that Ohio State team was made up of you're seeing that in G5 too Memphis got $25 million from FedEx just for name image and likeness because they do not want to be seen as a group of five University they want to be a big boy University so in that realm I think we're going to look at a couple of programs one which is football and I just love them Iowa State I think could end up there I got him as a top 25 team most people don't but I think they can rise to that level they're that good the one that I think is really going to get under people's skin is Southern methodists I think Rhett has that program right where he needs to have them and if they manage to upsate the number five team for me in Florida State when they go to Gerald J Ford everybody else is going to start looking around going uhoh maybe that program is on the rise because now you've let them into the ACC now you're saying if they beat Florida State there's only a couple other teams that are capable of beating them if they beat Florida State I think that that team in particular is going to reset the curve on what we can expect from these new teams that are vying for these new 12 uh one of these 12 spots in the playoff yeah I like the SMU pick I think that's interesting I've been talking about I've been talking up seu SMU a little bit I still think it's a big jump from the AAC to the ACC and see how SMU will play against the Clemsons and the Florida States and the Miami of the world so we'll see they've got a good quarterback um we'll see we'll see exactly how they line up um and I like you know what here's what I like about your Iowa State pick is I don't see anybody in the Big 12 like you your highest ranked Big 12 team is Utah at 12 and I mean Oklahoma State Utah Kansas State Kansas I just don't see a overwhelming favorite here it's not like the there's no Georgia you know there's no Ohio State in this conference and so all it takes is somebody like go Iowa State to go on a run and you could go from nowhere to in the top 10 conversation by dominating the Big 12 and they probably will like the way I look at this is Matt Campbell showed up and turned that program into a winner like people want to throw out the plague year as I as I call Co 202020 I call the uh the play gear because it worked for Alabama which I think put together one of the great seasons of all college football but it also worked for Iowa State who took Brock py and a unanimous All-American in bree Hall and said hey look we're gonna go do what it do and we're gonna go play for a fiesta ball and we're gonna beat Oregon like that who saw that coming from them and Matt Campbell is one of I think the really underrated coaches in our sport a genuinely believe that and every time there seems to be no real real clear-cut favorite in the Big 12 here they come but to your point I could go down 10 teams there and give you an argument for which one of those could win the Big 12 Championship Utah is just the one that shown that they could do that in the Pack 12 so we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt but Oklahoma State's right there too man like they're golly bedum I'm I'm glad we don't play bedum this year because that one would probably give me hives because they got oi Gordon they got those five offensive line you're good right yeah and that's bedum and also it's just bedum I mean that's it's it's a win for you to get that off your schedule because it's a crazy game uh and we get A&M back so we we add that back you guys get rid of bedum so rivalry games make it harder so okay fine we got the easier schedule than you this year but ongoing RJ just feel like we got michigans and Ohio States and all that here at Texas so when the SEC schedule flips year after year you're going to get the easy schedule here here's here's the thing here's here's my thing about that real quick real quick year one of this thing is going to be the level set so if Texas wins wins in the SEC that will be the new power going forward think about 2014 Ohio State right I think that's the thing that's why I'm upset right you're right it's gonna come back around but you have it right now right you hold serve you think year one can carry you for a while what in terms of recruiting classes and who you'll be over the next let's say five six years yes and what the public will expect from you right we make jokes about Texas being back for a decade now you're back take advantage by the way A&M Texas I would love to be there man I I was asked like what what one game would you want to go to A&M Texas why because they absolutely positively hate each other and I love watching other people hate each other like that's that's my favorite I'm excited about that one do you think are you a little worried like so I don't know how old you are R.J we both have nephews but um when I was growing up A&M was the number one rival okay that's when I was a kid then it shifted to Texas OU and I actually really enjoy the Texas OU rivalry like I think it's one of the best in college football I love that it's in Dallas I love it's Cotton Bowl State Fair the whole thing um and so for most of my like I'm going to call it young adult life it was Texas OU and A&M kind of went away but the truth is history-wise it is Texas Texas A&M that is the bigger rivalry between the two and I do worry a little bit that we've lost this golden period And by the way you're big biggest rival wasn't Texas during your big eight years and all that you know it was more Nebraska than it was Texas so so I'm I do worry that that we're going to return to a time where Texas OU is always a big game but it's not like if you asked people for the past 20 years name your five biggest college football rivalries Texas OU is in the five biggest college football rivalries it's Ohio State Michigan it's Alabama Auburn and it would be Texas OU it may not be anymore if now Texas and Texas A&M are their biggest Rivals with each other we are going from a regional sport to a national sport and I have this discussion for the past decade it is simply I grew up I'm 37 so we'll we'll we'll do that right I grew up at a time when you can watch national college football you can you can pick a team you can pick USC as your team in 2004 because you'll get to watch them on television anytime you want and I think that is one of the unforeseen outcomes that we had in the 1984 NCAA lawsuit that Oklahoma and Georgia won going we want to be able to play on National t whenever we want so you get the formation of the Big 12 in 1995 and we get that natural rivalry inside of the conference that was U Nebraska that was U Texas and as one got better than the other they went away like quiet as it is kept A&M ain't won nothing in the 21st Century 1998 third last Conference Championship no national championships since before World War II I we talk about them because it's nice and because they have a large fan base not because they've been great right even when they were great when Kevin sumlin was still a head coach it just didn't come together for them in the way that you would want I think the other thing to take into account with this is my generation of fan get to say hey OU Texas mean something to me because it was on ABC it was on uh network television when that game is no longer on net nwork television it will F fall out of those top five rivalries until that happens that's going to be it perception of what the big game is is what are we telling you the big game is if we're telling you the big game is on ABC or CBS or NBC that's just what it is it'll stay but it'll stay on ABC right I mean Disney has the SEC rights and yes they it'll it'll stay on ABC yeah well unless if it's not a ranked matchup would it I think it always has been it's also by the way it's time it's time slot it's time slot with that 11:00 a.m. kickoff or whatever like there's just not a lot of there hasn't historically a lot of competition I know big noon kickoff puts a big 10 game in that slot now as well so um I think I and let's hope that we both stay ranked in our new home at the SEC hey look fo Sports national college football that's a thing man that's a thing he's Fox Sports national college football analyst you can check him out at Fox sports.com he's also on the Fox Sports app again he's ranked 1 to 134 also put out top five rankings in quarterbacks he's got top 100 superstars coming out make sure you check out RJ young love to have you on throughout the season RJ thanks for doing us today on the will Kane Show thank you for having me will