Defining what a Successful 2026 Season looks like for USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas & more

I understand that Michigan fans, they want everything they wanted all the time. That's why the expectations are going to be modest. That's the most difficult schedule in the country and it doesn't matter because it's Ohio State. This is a roster that is right to go win a national championship. I'm not that optimistic about Alabama right now. They don't have an identity under Kay Linda Boer. Notre Dame has to go compete for a national championship. I think they've got to go to the national championship game. The schedule is cake, nice selection last year, clap way to go. Hey, welcome into the program. As we roll towards the regular season, this is the Joel Clat. You know, I'm Joel Clat. This is brought to you by graduate by Hilton. We think them for their support as always. Let's jump right in fun exercise that we've done the last couple of years. Let's define success. You've heard me say over the course of the off season and even last year. In particular, when we're talking about playoff formats moving forward and what we need in college football, you've heard me argue and talk about the fact that we've kind of stripped meaning and success out of college football. So I wanted to try to put it back in and let's define a successful season for several teams throughout college football here today. So let's get into it right away. I'm going to go by conference. Let's start in the big 10 and we'll start with USC. So the Trojans roll in and Lincoln Riley has not shied away from. Let's just say shouldering high expectations for this year and USC certainly. And now year five for Lincoln Riley is a team that we all think should take a step forward. Now that schedule is incredibly difficult. We all know that. But this is the best team that Lincoln has had since he got there. Obviously Caleb Williams was able to as the tide does all the boats in the harbor. He was able to lift all the boats when he first got there in Lincoln's first couple of years. They almost went to the playoff and played for the Pac-12 championship game. But this is a more complete team and it's more complete because they're more ready. In particular for big 10 play at the line of scrimmage. Their offensive line is solid. Although this news out of champ that they're starting center. Killian O'Connor is now lost with a non-contact injury for the rest of the season. That hurts. There's no doubt. However, they've got a lot of depth and they recruited it incredibly well with the number one class in the country. Several of them offensive lineman. So we feel like they should be able to weather the storm up front with some injuries. They've got Jade Mayov a back their quarterback. They've got Wayman Jordan back after his injury King Miller after he replaced Wayman Jordan and had a sensational season at the running back position that wide receiver group. Yes. They lost a lot of talent. But one thing that we know about Lincoln Riley in terms of his track record as a coach and college football in particular on the offensive side is that he will find wide receivers. Okay. So let's get to that schedule. It is difficult. There's no doubt. If they had an easier draw if they had won the big 10 scheduling lottery. This would be hands down a playoff team and maybe even a top five team. But you look at this three week stretch that they've got kind of right in the middle of that season. You've got Oregon at home. You've got Washington at home. You've got at Penn State. That is incredibly difficult. They still have to welcome in the buckeyes as Ohio State's going to come to LA. They've got to go on the road to the defending national champion Hoosiers and go to Indiana. And then the sneaky rivalry game with what we anticipate will be a much better UCLA team under Bob Chesney. So that schedule is rough. It's time for USC and I don't think that there's a lot of excuses in USC fans. You've been waiting for this. This is a team and a program that is incredibly proud and rightly so. One of the preeminent programs in all of college football and college football is better when USC is a powerhouse on the west coast. I think it's time for them to make the playoff. They've never been to the playoff in the history of our playoff system here in college football. And it's time that they go. A successful season for Lincoln Riley and the Trojans is a CFP birth. Let's move to Ann Arbor and the Michigan Wolverines. Obviously, they've had a huge reset there. They're going to get a new athletic director at the end of the season. They brought in Kyle Whittingham after his pseudo retirement from Utah. Now here he comes and he's going to be the head coach of the Wolverines. Listen, we all agree throughout college football. It does not matter who you talk to. This is not just me talking. This was a terrific hire by Michigan. Now Whittingham entering his first season is there to stabilize the program. And I would argue that there is no better stabilizer in college football than Kyle Whittingham. So what should the expectations be? This was a little bit of a harder exercise. Are they going to be talented? Yes. They're going to be much more experienced on the offensive side and they've got a guy like Jason Beck, the offensive coordinator who comes with Whittingham from Utah. And we anticipate that they will be a very formidable offense in particular running the football. How will Bryce Underwood take his next step and develop into being a starting quarterback? That remains to be seen. And we will see if they decide to run him quite a bit, which as you know, I've been talking about a lot this, this off season. That schedule is also very difficult. Michigan has no favors on their schedule. Week two, we will be there. Gus Ginny and I, big noon Saturday, big noon kickoff. We will be there in Ann Arbor as they welcome in the Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma. Of course, fresh off of that playoff appearance a year ago. They've got home games against Iowa, Penn State, and Indiana. They've got road games in November against Oregon and Ohio State. Not easy. Not easy. And that's why the expectations are going to be modest. I totally understand that. But if you're really boiling this down, let me define a successful season for Michigan. And it comes in, in, in waves or, or parts, if you all first part, drama free. After the last couple of years, let's face it. You want a drama free regular season in Ann Arbor. That would be goal number one. Number two would be nine wins in the regular season. Now you might be thinking to yourself, Joel, we won nine games a year ago. Yes, I understand that, but with this schedule, remember nine wins in the regular season would mean, would mean that you've got at least one win over a team that I have inside of my top nine in my preseason pole that you got last week. Go check it out on YouTube. Remember subscribe to the channel. Go back and check my preseason rankings. That would mean a win over either OU, Indiana, Oregon, or Ohio State. So doesn't nine wins with a win over one of those teams feel a little bit different than the nine wins from a year ago. I would say it would. So drama free nine regular season wins. And in that case, I think you're in the CFP conversation. Yes, you'd love to beat Ohio State. And I understand that that's always going to be a goal for Michigan. But to really define a successful season, it's really two parts drama free nine wins in the regular season, which means a win over one of those teams that I have in my top nine in the preseason. Let's go a little bit south to Columbus and Ohio State. Okay. So Ohio State. This is an easier exercise because listen, the expectations are always the same at Ohio State. First and foremost, let's get the first one off of the table right away. And this is just going to be standing in particular for Ryan Day, got to beat Michigan. So boom. There you go. Part one of a successful season for the book eyes. Last year, it looked like they were the team to beat number one for basically the entire year after they beat Texas in week one. And then comes that two games stretch when it's like, whoa, what happened there? I'll loss him back to back games to Indiana and Miami in which their offensive line got pushed around a little bit up front that could not get the requisite short yardage conversions that would have allowed them to win one, if not both of those games. That team could have easily won a national championship. I there's no doubt, but they did not make those records at place. The pick six from Julian Sainte against Miami, some of those short yardage conversions or non conversions that they had last year, that's what held them back. So what is a successful season like for Ryan Day this year? Well, let's face it in college football right now. If you're talking about who do you have to go through to win a national championship? Ohio State is on that list and they might be the number one team on that list. After an in-year out, they're going to have one of if not the most talented rosters in the sport. They've got the best player overall in the sport. They've got a returning quarterback. I really like their offensive coordinator higher Arthur Smith. I'm excited to see what he's able to do with this offense in particular with what I would consider to be a better, more physical and more experienced offensive line. They've got Bo Jackson back at running back. Like I already said about saying back at quarterback. And then defensively, you've got to replace a lot of talent. But at least you're doing it with a coordinator that at this point, don't we all have to trust and map Patricia? It's not lost on me that last year at this point, we were also talking about Ohio State having to replace eight starters on the defensive side. Arvel Reese was a brand new starter. They had to replace some of those edge players like it was not a defense that we anticipated being like, oh, yeah, they're going to be the best defense in college football for sure. They ended up being that. So at least give the benefit of the doubt to map Patricia and the expectations because of that could not be higher for Ohio State. You're in and you're out. I don't know if there's another program in the country with higher expectations. Obviously, the week two game against Texas. They've got to travel to Kinnick and go to. Iowa. I think Ohio State has the most difficult schedule in the country. Uh, you've got at Texas, at Iowa, you've got at Indiana, you've got at USC. By the way, Indiana and USC undefeated at home last year, Kurt Sagnetti undefeated at home and his tenure at Indiana. You still have to welcome in Oregon. You still have to welcome in Michigan. So you got to beat Michigan and you've got to at least get to the CFP semi-finals. They did not go a year ago. You'd need to take a step further to for it to be a successful season. I think they've got to get to the semi-finals and candidly, Buckeye fans, leave a comment down below. Tell me, is that successful to you? It would be successful to me beating Michigan and reaching the CFP semi-finals. Let's stay in the big 10 and go to Oregon. As you know, they're my number one team in the preseason. They've gotten pretty close to the last two years. There were number one overall seed going into the playoffs two years ago. When Ohio State beat them in the Rose Bowl last year, they go to the semi-finals and get beat by Indiana. Let's face it, both of those losses were a bit disappointing if not embarrassing with the amount of points that they gave up. But they did take a step further every single year. And this is a team and a roster that as you know, and I've been preaching this the entirety of the offseason, this is a roster that is right to go win a national championship, experience everywhere and not just experience, but NFL talent. Guys that turned down the NFL draft to come back, all of those defensive linemen. They've got all that experience from a young secondary a year ago that's now coming back and they added a Minnesota safety that maybe not many of you know about, but I think is a tremendous player and Koi Parich. Their offensive line should be solid. Dante Moore is back. He's now got 20 starts under his belt, including playoff experience. This is a team that needs to make a run at a national championship. And because of that, they need to reach the national championship game a step further than they were a year ago for it to be a successful season. That's the ball right now for Dan landing in Oregon. And it could not be higher. There's only one other team that I would say maybe two other than it's like, Hey, listen, you've got to play for it. You've got to play for a title. None of these, by the way, is going to have the expectation that you have to win the national championship. And just so that you know, just for the sake of of thought during the course of this program is you're listening to me go through this. If you're in the semi final, to me, you're a national title contender, right? Because those games in a large sense are coin flips. Once you get to the semi, they're all good at that point. And certainly if I'm saying you're playing for the national championship, I mean, you're right there. You're right there. Now let's take a couple rungs back. We know about the elite teams. What about some of the non elite teams in the big 10, namely a team that used to be an elite team, play for big 10 championships almost annually. And they have not Wisconsin going into year four with Luke fickle and they're coming off back to back losing seasons. They were four and eight a year ago. The schedule was horrendous last year. horrendous. For years, this program years automatic 9 10 win year, it was like what Iowa is right now. And they were the picture and model of consistency. And one of the things that I talked about when they hired Luke fickle is that I thought that he went down a path that was, well, let's just say ill advised. Uh, he changed a lot of things at a program that had not experienced a lot of change even over the course of multiple different head coaches. You see, it was a very similar philosophy identity, if you will, over Barry Alvarez, Brett Bielema, Paul, Chris, you knew what you were about to face when you face Wisconsin, tough defense run oriented, a lot like we see with Iowa right now. And because of that, they were able to post nine wins, 10 wins, play for the big 10 championship. They've now transitioned. Well, first just to define it, they tried to do the air raid system offensively. That was a disaster. You can't do that at at Wisconsin. They changed some defensive schemes that for years under Jim Leonard had really worked. That didn't really work. And so now they're trying to rebuild and build back into the identity that used to work at Wisconsin. So Jeff Grimes came in last year as the offensive coordinator. Um, I, I got to know him when he was at Baylor. This is a tried and true run the football tough-of-the-line discriminatory type of guy and they're trying to get back to that. Now it would help if they could get some quarterback health. That has been a huge issue for them over the last few years. And to do that, they brought in a dual threat quarterback, Colton Joseph from Old Dominion. If he sounds familiar, it's because he was one of the only guys that had a ton of success last year against Indiana's defense. I believe it was the opener, but he ran wild on Indiana's defense, 179 yards, two touchdowns against that Hoosier's defense, which turned out to be one of the better defenses in the entire country. One thing that I think he needs to improve on and we'll see if he's able to do this at Wisconsin is completion percentage. It was under 60% at Old Dominion. They're in a precarious position as a program. You can't fall to the level where you're a bottom tier Big 10 program. In particular, if they're not able to get over the hump this year, then let's just say they make a change and who you're going to go get? Where are you going to be? Where are you at in the Big 10? This is a huge year. Did not do great in recruiting 78th ranked high school recruiting class in the nation this past season. I think they need to make a bowl game. A successful year for Wisconsin is make a bowl game. Manageable schedule after that opener with Notre Dame. I think that there are seven wins to be had out there and they need to go do it. Let's talk about Nebraska. I have avoided Nebraska for almost the entire of the offseason because for years, as you know, and you spam the comments with it, you're like, oh, thank God he's not talking about Nebraska being in back and I'm not going to do it right now. I either. I don't know what Nebraska is going to be. I don't know if Nebraska knows what Nebraska is going to be. And I know that that's frustrating for Husker fans who are incredible fans. Great fan base. You know, I always compliment the Nebraska fan base. You're foreign Lincoln for Matt rule. He's coming off back to back seven and six seasons and he's 500 and his tenure at Nebraska. He's 19 and 19. Got an extension in the middle of all that Penn State coaching search mayhem. So he did get an extension at Nebraska. And now we'll see what they're able to do. They've started out pretty hot in several years and then faded down the stretch. It didn't help last year when Dylan Royola got hurt. And now Dylan Royola left and he transferred and that era is over. You're without the All-American running back Emmett Johnson. Anthony Kalandria comes in from UNLV where he he was the Mountain West off into player of the year. And he's got 30 career starts. That makes me optimistic for Nebraska. The defense though is on their third defensive coordinator in the last three years. The schedule sets up for them to have another good start and then it's difficult down the stretch like we've seen before. So what's success for Nebraska? I think success for Nebraska is taking a step. Move forward off of that seven win plateau. Get to eight wins in the regular season. I think that would be a successful year for Nebraska. I really do. It'd be the first time since 2016 that they got to that win threshold. And that was Mike Riley in Lincoln. So I think that that's a big number for Matt rule. Getting to that eight win mark in Lincoln. How about Penn State? Okay. So Penn State under James Franklin was perennially right there. Couldn't win the big game. Couldn't beat the big dog. But man, they were right there just posting 10 win season 10 win season 10 win season. This is a great program. And they moved on from James Franklin for the sole purpose of getting over the hump. So even though it's just year one for Matt Campbell. Can you really lower expectations? I don't think you can. And specifically this year because that schedule is perfect for them. This might be too much, but I think a successful year for Penn State is going back to the college football playoff. The schedule is too good for them. They put up these 10 win seasons routinely under James Franklin. They're not going to be happy being like, Oh, we had this great schedule and we won nine games. That's not going to do it for them. I mean, they got martial on their temple Buffalo, Wisconsin, Northwestern. They get USC at home. Kind of a back to back in there. They've got USC and Michigan. If they split those two games, there's a chance they go 11 wins. I think it's a really tough game at Washington on November 7th. But 10 and two for sure puts you in the conversation likely in the college football playoff. And potentially in the conversation to play for a big 10 title. Listen, you can't lower the expectations. You've got to remember why you moved on from James Franklin in the first place. It was to get over the hump. And so Matt Campbell needs to get over the hump. If it's going to be successfully, he's got to go to the playoff. I think he's got to win 10 games, make the playoff. And that would be a successful season for Penn State. That'll do it for the big 10. Let's move on. Let's go south. Let's go to the SEC. All right. I think first and foremost, as a conference, a successful season for the SEC as a conference means that they have a team finally competing for a national championship, which has not happened since Georgia did it back in the day. And yes, back in the day, we're getting to the point now where we've got three straight seasons without an SEC team in the national championship. championship game. And it's like, you're going to go through a cycle of recruits, full cycle of recruits that play SEC football and not one of their teams competes for a national championship. So we'll start there as a conference, as confident and cocky and with all the proliferation of the propaganda that we hear from all the other places, this conference better have somebody go compete for a national championship. Then you get into the actual individual teams and we start with Alabama. Alabama is a difficult one. And you know where I had them in my preseason top 25. I had them way down at 15. And you know what? I think that's shared by quite a few people. And the reason I'm not as optimistic is because they don't have an identity under Kayland the board. They've won some good games. They've got good rosters. The talent is there. It's there. They've recruited at the same level that Nick Saban recruited. So the talent and roster is there. But what we don't see is the identity on the field. When I, you know, talk with former Alabama players, there's a, there's a level of expectation that they have about the way that Alabama plays. And there was an identity to Alabama football. We were all, all of us shocked when they would lose a game. And it didn't happen often. And it didn't happen by that much. And then last year, yes, they went to the playoff. And yes, they came back from 17.0 down against Oklahoma and they won that playoff game. Great. I mean, good for you. But, but did they have an identity losing by 21 to Georgia and the SEC championship came getting absolutely throttled at the line of scrimmage against Indiana and the Rose Bowl? So first and foremost for them, I think to be a successful year, they've got to form some sort of identity. And that identity, I think matters to Alabama fans. And it needs to be tough. It needs to be physical. And I think it needs to start on the defensive side, which should play into their hands. Because I think Alabama could have a great defense. And if they do, that would be step one in a successful year. Great secondary, very good defense. That would help a lot. I think it's been like almost 18 straight years that they've given up less than 21 points a game, which is crazy. But this defense should bring that even further down and be one of the better defenses in college football. If they're able to do that, that would go a long way in quieting some of the murmurs surrounding Kaling to Boor and that program, because they would have an identity. Then you start to look at what they can do on the field. Well, first and foremost, you can't get beat by 35 and 21. So you've got to minimize some of those losses. And then you start to look up and it's like, it's still Alabama. You can't go out there and say, Hey, we were in the conversation for the playoff. This is Alabama. This is the most successful college football program in the history of the sport. They just went through a period that we will never see again. And I understand maybe the expectations need to be brought down just to touch from the Saban era, but they can't go down all that much. You can't say that we're just competing to go to the playoff. You've got to go. You've got to compete in the college football playoff. And let's face it, after last year winning a game, wouldn't it feel like a bit of a ceiling average year if they just went and won one game? I think it would. I think that they need to go back at least to the quarterfinals. And that game better be tight. They can't lose it by 35. I think that's a, I think that's a conservative low bar for success for Alabama. Bama fans, you tell me if you think I'm wrong. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. Form an identity and in particular, an identity that Alabama fans and alumni will, will respect. And number two, at least go to the quarter final and you can't get beat by 35. Is that a successful year? Maybe, maybe not. Let's go to Texas. Now, last year, obviously, didn't go as planned. They started out number one in the country. Arch was the Heisman favorite. And it just never got off the ground that lost week one to Ohio State. And unfortunately for Sarkin, Texas, here's the problem. Even though they finished the season incredibly well, winning seven of eight, they showed a lot down the stretch. It still felt like a big failure of a year. And that's because of where the bar was set in the previous two years. Under Quinn, yours, they went to back to back semi-final appearances. Then they lose out on the CFP after being preseason number one. And now they get arch back. They've got all these resources to bring in one of the most talented rosters in college football by all accounts. I don't know exactly who it is. I've heard conflicting reports on who has the most expensive roster in college football. I do believe that that honor either is Texas or LSU, but they've got huge portal additions like Cam Coleman from Auburn to all conference running backs to hopefully fix that running back room and running back game. Relic Brown and Holly Hollywood Smothers, excuse me. Roshim Biles comes in at linebacker. I think he's going to be a heck of a player. So what would success look like? Listen, if I told you that Texas lost to Ohio State and then lost in the semi-final and lost in the SEC championship game, do you feel like that sounds like success for Texas this year? Because I don't. I don't. You know what that sounds like to me? A ceiling. It sounds like a cap. It sounds like we've done that before. So where are we moving forward? All the talent is there. All the expectation is there. All of the support is there. The roster is there. And I think Sark has to raise his level. He's got to raise the ceiling of Texas football. I think you need to beat Ohio State. I do think that you probably need to win the SEC championship game or at least prove that you're on par or better than Georgia. And I think that they need to play for a national title. Again, again, if they lost to Ohio State, went 10 and 2, lost the SEC championship game. They were 10 and 3, then went to the semi-final and lost again. That's not going to do it. That's a cap. That's a ceiling. So we'll see if Texas can raise their ceiling. Oklahoma. I'll tell you, in hindsight, I don't know if I gave Oklahoma their due last year for having navigated what I thought was one of the most difficult schedules in the country. I did not think that they would be able to pull off a 10 and 2 record and they did. Then they host a playoff game and they have a 17, nothing lead and they blow it. And that's got to be frustrating because with a 17, nothing lead, they they prided themselves on the defensive side of the ball and then went south. And Alabama comes back and they beat them. They've got another tough schedule this year. And their win total, if you actually look at this, is actually only seven and a half, that worries me a lot. A lot. That means that the experts are looking at this and are like, I don't know about this. Check out their first five games at Michigan, at Georgia and Red River, all within their first five. Imagine for a moment that they lose all of those games. They would be two in three and the world would be caving in on Brent Vinables at Oklahoma. And November, they still have to go to Florida. They've got Ole Miss at home. They've got A&M at home and they've got to travel to Missouri, I think will be formidable. But remember, this is still Oklahoma. This is still one of the most proud programs in all of college football. This is the team that ran the big 12 that was in the playoff every single year. That's one national championships. This is Oklahoma. One of my favorite programs in college football history. I love Oklahoma. Love their fans. Materials back and healthy. Vinables has a defense playing great football, which they longed for during the Lincoln Riley era. This might sound like a cop out, but I think they've got to go back to the playoff. I think that they have to go back to the playoff. And candidly, a loss to Michigan week two and winning Ham's second game as the head coach, the Wolverines would not be a good look. That would not be a good look. So I think they have to be Michigan and they need to go back to the playoff. Let's go to LSU. Target on their back certainly. Okay. I mean, guys, that was a disaster last year. Not just for Brian Kelly at LSU, but then also in turn, what they did to Ole Miss. Right? I don't think history will look back favorably on that time period. I'm not blaming LSU for what happened. I'm not even blaming Lane. And I understand the circumstances were such that, you know, like a move probably needed to be made when it needed to be made. It still doesn't look good. And because of that, kind of come into this season. And LSU is kind of like, well, we spent all this money. So they bought out Brian Kelly. He's going to be owed $54 million over the next six years. They're paying Lane Kiffin $13 million. There's rumors that they're spending mid 40, what, 43, 44, 45 million dollars on their roster. The number number one transfer portal class, they can't just be a nine win team. They can't. And with all the support that they've had with all the great teams that they had that that they've had, this has been an underperforming program through the years. I understand that they've won national championships, but that national championship with Joe Burrow was the only playoff birth that they've had. That's pretty wild when you see some of these other programs that are perennially in the college football playoff and LSU has gone one time. So what is Lane there to do? This is similar to the Matt Campbell issue at Penn State. Lane is there to move you forward to get you into this promise land where you expect to be all the time. The expectation is the playoff, not just success. In order to be successful, I think you've got to go win a game in the playoff at a minimum. So that means that you're in the CFP quarterfinals. You can't just make the playoff, not with everything that's gone on, not with the way that you got Lane Kiffin, not with the roster that you were able to buy up in the transfer portal, not with the $54 million that you're spending to not have Brian Kelly be your coach in the $13 million a year that you're paying Lane Kiffin, who has never even won a power for conference championship. So it's not just about the expectation, but defining success. The expectation is the playoff. Success is winning a game in the playoff, and that might even be a little bit low. So that's LSU's bar going into this season. Let's move over to the ACC. Clemson. Last season went about as poorly as it possibly could have. Maybe my fault. Good news for Clemson this year. I am not picking them to win the national championship. Nice selection last year, clap. Way to go. Oh, I thought they had I thought they had it all. I thought they had the blueprint. Sorry, Oregon, finished seven and six last year, four and four in the ACC. They've got to replace a ton of talent. Obviously a quarterback club, Nick Peter Woods, TJ Parker, Avion Terrell, but they still have a lot of talented players in the woodwork. They got Bryant, Westco, TJ Moore, Sammy Brown at linebacker will help on the edge. And they also brought in some portal players. They brought in 11 guys out of the portal, which doesn't sound like many, but, but that is more than the total number of players than they have ever brought in before out of the transfer portal. So dabbo dip in his toe. Here we go. Dado is a dabbo is leveling up here, modernizing this roster for the Clemson Tigers. My wonder is that like is there still a fear factor of Clemson in the ACC? That used to be a team that was like, man, how in the world do you be Clemson? I don't feel like that's there anymore. So success for me is making sure that Miami doesn't run and hide in the ACC. You see, for me, a successful year for Clemson means that you've got to reestablish yourself as a minimum second place team of the ACC. What you can't have is SMU and Louisville feeling like they've passed you because in parts of their program and their buildings, they feel like they have in particular after that four and four year in the ACC a year ago. So for Clemson, a successful year would be making the ACC championship game. They've got to do that. They've got to reestablish that they're a top level team with Miami in the ACC and that moves us to Miami and Miami. I'll tell you what, expectations are high because Mario Chris ball has built something that at least from the outside looking in seems like it's built to last Miami looks like a program that is going to be a perennial national champion contender every single year. They've got a talented quarterback and Darian Mensa. They've got Malachai Tony. They've got Mark Flesher Fletcher. They've got all these blue chip guys that are replacing the NFL talent on the offensive line. You can say the same about the defensive line. They've got Bryce Fitzgerald back. He had six interceptions as a true freshman. They got Damon Wilson to transfer in from Missouri. He's a really good edge player from Missouri. They're the clear favorite to win the ACC there's no doubt another deep run into the playoff will establish the U as I think officially back in the upper pantheon of college football with Ohio State Georgia and maybe Texas of the world. So a success would be when the ACC and reach the CFP semi finals. Remember I told you if you're in the semi finals, you're competing for a title when the ACC reach the CFP semi finals. Let's move to the big 12. I got one team here, Texas tech. The investment in the program clearly worked for Texas tech a year ago. They kind of ran ran rough shot over that conference. I know that Arizona State beat them. But let's face it like they were the class of the big 12. There's no doubt. So for them, they've got to move forward. All right. They've already established themselves as that. So you've got to win the big 12 championship again. And good thing that they've got another very talented roster at their disposable disposal this year. Will Hammond the quarterback, he can sling it. I know the sores B drama, you know, it was a bit of a downer for them in the off season. But it's not something that they can't overcome because will Hammond is a very talented player. And I've been told that he's been ahead of schedule from that knee injury and will be ready to go early in the year. The defense, they brought in guys like Adam trick from Miami of Ohio. Trey White from San Diego State. They are really good edge players with a lot of pressures under their belt. That's going to help Austin romaine from Kansas State, tackle machine. He comes into kind of replace Jacob Rodriguez and then a lot of different wide receivers to boost that side of the ball, offensively to go along with their tight end Terrence Carter. The schedule lines up for them to be back in Dallas, win the big 12 and then they've got to go to the college football playoff. And they got to compete much better than they did. They've got to win a CFP game and not get shut out. Right. I mean, they go last year, they get shut up by Oregon. And that was a bit of a downer. So they've got to go and pick a step further. Last one will be Notre Dame. As high as you can go, this is the expectations that Ohio State has. This is the Texas is of the world, the Georgia's of the world, the Miami's of the world. The schedule is cake. They will be tested at a maximum three times at BYU and home games against SMU and Miami. And those SMU and Miami games are welcoming Southern teams into South Bend in November, clear advantage for the fighting Irish. They've got CJ car. Who as you know, I am incredibly high on. I'm hitching my wagon to CJ car this year. I think he's phenomenal. They've got the best defender in college football. At least in my estimation, you can go back and check out my top 10 players this year in college football number two overall behind Jeremiah Smith, littered more the corner from Notre Dame. He is sensational. They will be great on that side of the ball. Nine returning starters on defense. They'll be great on offense. They average over 40 points and their schedule is cake. Notre Dame has to go to the playoff, obviously, and they've got to go play for the national title. That would be a successful season for Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame. And I got to tell you, Marcus Freeman has done one heck of a job leveling up Notre Dame. Brian Kelly. What was it? Five years ago, left South Bend. And there was this idea that there was a ceiling over Notre Dame. And he had to go to LSU in order to compete for a national championship. And Marcus Freeman took the reins at South Bend. And now all the sudden they're up there. And they are the team that I think could be winning the national championship. They've got brand new facilities. They've got good NIL support. They've got a great roster. They have done it right. And Marcus Freeman has a big reason. Why? Next week right here on the Joel Clatchel, we've got a couple of absolute bangers. I can't wait for next week. Here's what we've got on Monday. I've got my first edition ever. I've never done this of a preseason all American team. That's right. The Joel Clatchel preseason all Americans. That's coming out on Monday. Some surprises in there. And then speaking of, you know, great players and all Americans, I've got an all quarterback round table with some legends. Heisman Trophy winner, Rob Riker from the third from Baylor. Notre Dame zone Brady Quinn. We sit down and talk all things quarterback over arching season preview. It was an incredible discussion. I think you're really going to like it. Some great stories from their playing days, my playing days, minor, little minor, a bit more self deprecating than theirs. But you know, you guys understand why that's coming up next week. Again, Monday and Wednesday next week right here on the Joel Clatchel. We are barreling towards the season. And I can't wait to get there. If you have not subscribed to the show, you've got to do that and you've got to invite a friend. Listen, sports, they're better with a friend. Sports are tribal. You want to listen to this and talk about it. Argue about the points. Disagree with me. Agree with me. You've got to invite a friend. So invite a friend to subscribe to the Joel Clatchel on YouTube. If you're listening wherever you get your podcast, you can rate and review us and then follow us on social media. You can get all of our content and shorter forms wherever you like to social media at Joel Clatchel. Until next Monday, have a great weekend as we get you all set for college football 2026.