one week in little shuffling in Joel clatz rankings Georgia leap frogging Ohio State the Bucks moved from one to2 Oregon was four now they're not in his top nine Penn State and Michigan both making minor moves Wolverines dropping a few spots Penn State made a slight move up after winning in Morgantown and Fox Sports lead game analyst Joel clatt joins us now for our weekly visit Joel I got to say from where I sit I let us was the most impressive Big 10 team in week one the defense was vastly improved quarterback play was tremendous wide receivers were absolutely outstanding they tackled extremely well what were your biggest takeaways from the Trojans win over LSU well a couple of things all of those things that you just said just for them yes their defense was a vast improvement over what we saw a year ago and in previous Seasons really since Lincoln Riley became a head coach dating back to Oklahoma deanton Lyn there defensive coordinator looks like he's fixed this thing right away and this was not an offense that was supposed to struggle at LSU I understand that they're replacing a lot of players and yeah they're probably going to get better but remember they got a couple of tackles that a lot of us who work in the draft Arena rev we think that those tackles could be first round players so this was not a um a light or bad offensive line that that front seven was playing so physical against him particularly in in that game I I I thought that Miller Moss was terrific there's no doubt but you can expect that from a Lincoln riy quarterback it doesn't matter who's been his quarterback they've been terrific uh dating back to his time even as a coordinator I think that the bigger point about USC is is that they beat a team from the SEC that was similar to them in the preseason you know thought to be about four five in that range and then what USC is they kind of announced to the Big 10 like hey you're going to have to deal with us at the top level and I think that's a huge development when you look at some of these schedules you look at now all of a sudden that that Penn State game with Penn State going to USC becomes an absolute Monster uh you look at that schedule that I think is actually favorable for USC and who they avoid and then when they get Michigan getting to play them in September as Michigan's continuing to try to get their feet wet uh developing in an a new quarterback and a new head coach and and two new coordinators so all of a sudden USC's schedule is favorable their defense is solid and their quarterback looks real and you can legitimately say yeah this team is going to be there and probably has an inside track on a playoff birth if not a spot in the Big 10 championship game and you can infer that all based on that one win over LSU you mentioned Penn State I think their schedule gets really favorable now too they don't play a road game until October 12th when they go to USC that game you were talking about you had them you were front and center for that game the long weather delay obviously in morgant town but really click the big plays under Andy coldon Nikki it looked like a very different offense from what we saw a season ago I know week one is about these broad sweeping conclusions from very minimal uh actual evidence but is it your feeling based on what you saw that perhaps this offense has turned the corner here okay so yes and and no okay explain okay and and I yeah exactly it it needs further explanation I think that you'll agree with with what I'm about to say but this this offense did things that we did not see them do a year ago okay namely like for instance um Nick Singleton as a true freshman in 22 had seven runs of 40 or more yards that led college football uh led the FBS and he did not have one last year a big goose egg rev and he's a big play guy he's a home run hitter and what did we see against West Virginia a 40- yard touchdown run that is a huge development for them to try to get that explosiveness back another number uh Drew Aller was 124th in the country in terms of air yards per attempt in a quarterback sense okay and it was right around seven and a half well you look at what Kansas was under Andy codal Nikki and regardless of quarterback they were about 11 yards uh air yards per attempt so a vast difference and they would sit in the top 10 in college football what do we see from jaler pushing the ball down the field and I thought the the evidence of their aggressiveness was right before the half you know that was a time that I let's let's face it let's be honest I was kind of expecting Penn State to just almost kneel on it run out the clock and take their lead into halftime and they didn't do that and they took a shot down the field and I think that was the aggressive nature of Andy codal ni Nikki so that's the yes part so now let's get to the no part why why then is it no Joel it wasn't any different cuz they did a similar thing to West Virginia last year in their first game and then it started to fall apart now that I don't expect that to be the case but you at least have to put that forth and say we saw Drew throw the ball down the field against West Virginia and then they stopped doing that and this fact that the only teams that they actually struggle with are Michigan and Ohio State if you look at their regular season over the last two years you'll see a team that is 20 and O against all teams not named Michigan and Ohio State so rev as good as it was as good as it was Penn State still will remain to be seen because they've got to do it against that upper echelon Talent like USC or Ohio State left on their schedule yeah they got that huge Ohio State game that game of course in State College first weekend in November that one should be phenomenal uh Oregon we've had the Oregon Ohio State game circled early on in the year as well that one coming in October Oregon did not look ready for that game in week one Joel they were not impressive they didn't look ready for Ido I like much much less of that game my goodness what did you make of that we had this game on the Big 10 Network I think we were all watching and just kept thinking at some point Oregon was just going to hit him with a couple big plays and just blow this game open and they never did what did you make of Oregon struggles well first of all can I give a a shout out um I know both of these guys but I thought guy and Yogi guy Haberman and Yogi Roth did an exceptional job on that game phenomenal because you know they they didn't allow the the Idaho nature of that to to sh to to Shadow their broadcast and I thought they did a great broadcast of a really good college football game so I would just say that and I I don't normally throw out you know analysis or thoughts on broadcast but I thought they those two did a great job obvious reasons right it's like stones and glass houses um now let me tell you why I was alarmed with with Oregon and and Revit has to do with their offensive line and I think all of us say like yeah the offensive line didn't play very well and and I'm sure that you know you've brought up the numbers five of their eight penalties offensively uh they ran the ball for under three yards per carry against Idaho from the FCS they give up three sacks which maybe in your mind you're like well that's that's not a ton three sacks like you can overcome that they give up five all last season all last season rev so three to Idaho from the FCS should be like Panic you know throughout the building if I'm Dan Lanning I am I am fire and brimstone this week in terms of my expectation about the effort and the discipline and the detail that my team plays with because they're about to face a team in Boise State that they've never beat they're 0 and three against Boise State all time you think those guys aren't going to be ready to play Ashton Genty after running for some just south of 1 million yards in the first game and six touchdowns like they're going to be ready to go um and and we'll see if if Oregon really is who we thought they were going to be which is a team that was going to play at the top end of college football be physical up front with Dan Ling as The Shining Star as a young coach all those things and it's like you know I mean you hate to say it this way but it's like oh you know Oregon had the whole preseason show on YouTube and all this stuff and it's like okay you know I'm I'm always reminded about that line from Gladiator it's like that the time for honoring yourself is over and you got to put up and shut up and that's what this season is going to turn into for Oregon I'm with you it's a really interesting game coming up against Boise State I'm fascinated to see how Oregon responds uh they clearly were all you have to do is listen to Dan Lanning in the post game they were not pleased with with the way that it went down he said that in no no nor should they be in in no uncertain terms I want to fast forward to this week a little bit Nebraska was great in the opener Dylan riola was everything we hoped he would be that was UTEP now they got Colorado coming up this week you know this rivalry very well you played in this rivalry Colorado handed it to him last year really pulled away late in that game so you've got the animosity between these two programs you have all the hype that Colorado got last year under Deion Sanders with what turned out to be not a very good team in terms of a one loss record you get the superstars coming in on Colorado side again all the hype surrounding riola What's it gonna take for Nebraska to win this game so um knowing that this was a bit like a big Studio day record a podcast today and and go on Colin show obviously come come on this show which I I love being on with you rev and and I thought to myself you know what's I know I'm going to be asked about this game so what's the best way that I can try to appear objective and I was like where the the most red shirt that I own and this is it it's like a kind of a salmon like this this Soft Red is not a pure red no no well of course not I do not own a a pure red sh shirt because of Nebraska you have to understand I grew up 20 minutes south of Boulder Colorado like this is the game of my childhood was Nebraska Colorado in fact you know I owe this rivalry a lot not only because I played in it and I love it but the game in 2001 the 6236 win that Colorado beat number one Nebraska and Eric Crouch I was at that game as a fan and that game was a turning point in my life because I was complaining about playing minor league baseball and how much I hated it and I was kind of floundering and my best friend in the world his named Scott stalker looked at me and he was like well then just come here and I was like you know what that sounds like a really good idea um so that was kind of the first time that I had thought that maybe baseball wasn't going to be it and I should go to school um now we get into this game this game they're saying all the right things at least the quarterbacks and the coaches but there there is no love lost here going back years and years and years CU Colorado in large part built their program under Bill McCartney by pointing at Tom Osborne and the Nebraska Corn Huskers and saying that's going to be the standard that we're going to take down now Matt rule is trying to rebuild this program and doing an exceptional job of it if you just look at the two rosters and the teams and the way they play and the details with with with with which they play Nebraska is the better team the problem is is that Colorado has the better topend players shador Sanders is excellent I mean I think we we all admit that and know that Travis Hunter probably is the best non-quarterback in college football and so they are the great equalizer I know the line is seven and a half and Nebraska is at home and that place is going to be electric but you still have to deal with Travis Hunter number 12 might put a cape on his back and get two picks and go for 150 catching the football and then all of a sudden you're in trouble if you're Nebraska if I'm handicapping this Nebraska is the better team they have a quarterback that I think is going to be a great player but they don't even need him to be great remember and and rev I'm sure you know this like they they lost those field goal games last year I think there was four of them when they had 17 turnovers 14 were by the quarterback they don't need Rola to be great he doesn't have to be their savior he needs to be a net positive for Nebraska not a net negative and they will turn into an 8 n 10 win team this year Reigns to be seen if they win this one if they can beat Colorado they're going to go into Ohio State as an undefeated it's very diplomatic I'm really impressed with with the way that you handled that I'm I'm going to ask you here at the end about the matchup that you're going to be calling the big noon game it's the only top 10 game in the country coming up this we so longwinded on everything else and it's like we haven't even talked Michigan Texas let let's talk a little bit about Michigan Texas I whether or not it's fair or unfair you know look Michigan's the defending national champ there's going to be heightened expectations on them they lost a ton they lost their head coach they lost eight offensive players alone to the NFL draft including a first round quarterback and now all of a sudden everyone's going to say okay well how do they measure up with Texas pretty early in the year to have to deal with a good a team as good as the horns are but give us a sense I I know you study a ton of tape like how do they match up is there an area where Michigan has an advantage we know how good their defense is what what would it take here for Michigan to pull what I think would be a pretty significant upset yeah so so for first off Texas this year reminds me a lot of Michigan last year rev um lost in the semis the previous year and they bring a bunch of experience including a lot of experienced offensive linemen back they're tough at the line of scrimmage they've got speed on the outside they've got talent and they've got a culture I think that's what people maybe don't pay attention to with Steve sarkeesian and the Texas Longhorns is that they've got a really great culture in their building and that has taken hold and now you've got guys that have passed it down this is no longer sarkeesian trying to build a culture as much as it is entrenched in what they do and they're going to bring an experienced talented and fast team with a good quarterback up to an arbor that reminds me a lot of Michigan last year it just it just does Michigan's advantage in this game is the fact that Texas defensively is still trying to break in some of these defensive linemen they lose tandre sweat these guys up front that were really good up front and really the Bellows of that defense and Michigan at least historically would think that they can run the football and lean on a new defensive line now it was not overly impressed in the first half with the way that the offensive line of Michigan played they played way too high um it's not the leverage that I'm used to seeing out of Michigan just watching the film but that's where they've got to play well because it in my estimation Michigan has to protect their own defense as good as their defense is as good as the defensive tackles are Kenneth Grant Mason Graham as good as will Johnson is on the outside they need to protect that defense cuz if sarkeesian gets 6570 75 btes at the Apple they're going to score a lot of points they just will there's too much speed and experience on that side so Michigan has to limit the number of snaps and they do that by being able to run the football if they can run the football and limit Texas to 55 or fewer snaps they're going to have a chance to win in the end because as you know and as I always talk about Michigan is the great bow constrictor they want to just take you and just squeeze you and then eventually they suffocate you in the late third quarter and early fourth quarter and it just remains to be seen if they can do that against a team that is this talented and experienced and tough at the line of scrimmage well it should be a great game we look forward to the call coming up big noon on Saturday Joel always appreciate I look forward to this segment every week thanks a lot for your time same you bet rev have a good one bu