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The 5 Best games since 2000 + Tebow to Alabama, Saban to Texas & more “what if” moments in CFB

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The 5 Best games since 2000 + Tebow to Alabama, Saban to Texas & more “what if” moments in CFB

Joel Klatsch hosts a mailbag episode of his college football show, diving into fan-submitted questions about the greatest games and pivotal "what-if" moments since 2000. He highlights the 2006 Texas-USC showdown as a defining game due to its intensity, star players like Vince Young and Reggie Bush, and dramatic fourth-down play that secured a national title. The episode also explores key hypotheticals, such as Ohio State’s loss to LSU in 2019 or Michigan winning against Ohio State in 2016, which could have altered rivalries and national narratives. Other significant "what-ifs" include Tim Tebow choosing Alabama over Florida, which might have changed Nick Saban’s legacy, and the impact of recruiting decisions like Texas taking Andrew Luck. The discussion also touches on fan favorites like Alabama and USC uniforms, with Klatsch praising their tradition and visual appeal. Additionally, he shares advice for aspiring coaches, emphasizing care for players and attention to detail over general knowledge. The episode concludes with a call for listener engagement, including comments and subscriptions, and promotes college football’s return in 2026. Sponsored content includes Michelob Ultra’s access to games and SeatGeek for ticketing, while the show acknowledges the broader impact of coaching, tradition, and emotional connection in the sport.

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This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends, like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a Superior-like beer, it's also giving fans Superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit MichelobUltra.com slash SuperiorAccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer St. Louis, Missouri. Here's some of the great games since 2000. Was it legal? Was it illegal? It doesn't matter. It was a touchdown. What if Tim Tebow goes to Alabama? Does Nick Saban ever even go to Alabama? You give me Bama at home in a big game, that's a great uniform. Don't tell Brady Quinn, but I love those uniforms. Cleanest thing I've ever seen. And intimidating. Hey, welcome into the show. This is the Joel Klatsch. I'm Joel Klatsch. This show is brought to you by Graduate by Hilton. We thank them for their support. As always, we roll on here in the offseason, getting you all set for college football 2026. Cannot wait for the college football season. It's going to be epic. I really do think we're going to have a great year. I wanted to do a mailbag episode here in the offseason and just get to some of your questions. These are fun questions. A lot of them history-related in college football. In particular, kind of, I would call it recent history since 2000. Some of these are fun and certainly debatable. So I would love for you all of these lists that I'm going to go through and things that I'm going to name and rank. I would love your ideas and your thoughts on these. Leave them in the comments down below. We start with Kevin. Kevin writes into the program. He says, hey, Joel, big fan of the show. You know how every time there's a great game, people always go, that's the greatest game I've seen in a long time, or that's the greatest game I've ever seen. Well, as a person who has watched a lot of college football games over the years, what would you say are the 10 greatest college football games ever played since? 2000, so not ever, just since 2000. There we go. And if USC, Texas isn't number one, the list isn't valid, he says. All right, well, let's see. I'm not going to give 10. I'm just going to start to throw out some of the best games that I've ever witnessed. Again, not ever since 2000. I'll get to kind of my favorite, but let's just start listing them off. The Bush-Push game. Notre Dame hosting USC. USC. USC is the juggernaut in college football. Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush going to South Bend. The grass is high. Charlie Weiss, Brady Quinn. Epic game. Absolutely epic game. There's no doubt about it. And then we get the classic ending that they still fight over, by the way. I work with Brady and Matt. They still talk about that play to this day. Was it legal? Was it illegal? It doesn't matter. It was a touchdown. Reggie Bush shoving Matt Leinart across the goal line for USC to stay undefeated and stay on their march. They were going to win. They were trying at that point to win their third straight national title. That game was epic. Let's see. How about kick six 2013? Bama-Auburn. I mean, epic. Obviously the ending, but that was just a great game. By the way, Bama also going for a three-peat at that point, and they were in line to do so. What people really forget about that game and that moment is that Nick Saban argued successfully to have a second put back on the clock so that they could win. They could attempt that field goal that ultimately wound up short and taken back for six. One of the great calls in all of college football history. That was certainly a game. This list is not complete since 2000 without the kick six game. That was an incredible, incredible game. Auburn lost to Florida State in the BCS title game that year. That was a great game though, man. I got to tell you, I remember that was locked into that one. Here's one that I'll always remember and partly because of what these guys have done have done since. How about Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes in that shootout in 2016, Oklahoma wins it. I believe that game was in Lubbock, 66, 59. I mean, you talk about the old school, big 12. I remember everybody, the sec fans just hated, hated big 12 football because there was no defense played, which is kind of rich now because obviously they have a lot of high scoring games in the sec, but man, both teams had over, over 850 total yards, Mayfield 545 yards throwing the football, seven touchdowns. How about Patrick Mahomes line? This is wild. Patrick Mahomes, 734 pass yards, 84 yards on the ground for 819 total yards and seven total touchdowns. That's insane. That's insane. It was just a classic game. Joe Mixon ran for 263 on 31 carries. Unbelievable game. Again, OU won that one, 66, 59. I'll stay in the big 12. And this is, this is a really good era of big 12 football. You could argue that they had the three best teams in the country, at least three of the four best teams in the country. Now, Florida would ultimately go on to win the national championship and beat OU, but this game doesn't involve Florida and it doesn't involve OU. It was prior to that. And it was Texas in Lubbock at Texas tech. How about Texas tech getting a couple of these games? Unfortunately, they were on the wrong or excuse me, unfortunately, they were wrong into the Mahomes Mayfield game. The right end of this one, 2008, the Michael Crabtree game as Texas tech holds on to win over Colt McCoy and Texas. And that's the game that kept Texas out of the national championship. If you remember that year, the big 12 tiebreaker was BCS standings and they had three 11 and one teams. Texas had beaten OU in red river, Texas, goes to Lubbock loses to Texas tech on the insane Michael Crabtree play. And then tech would go to Gaylord Memorial stadium in Oklahoma and they would lose to Oklahoma. Oklahoma got the benefit of the doubt. They went on and ultimately went to the BCS national championship game and fell short. They got beat by that urban Meyer, Florida team, but tech jumped out to a 19, nothing lead on Texas. Texas comes storming back. They take the lead with a minute 30 left and then they hit Michael Crabtree, the Texas tech does on the sideline for the touchdown. The place goes absolutely bananas. That was a wild game. Quick story about that game that I'll, that I'll always remember a particular, this was a hindsight story. Lincoln Riley has told me that back in the day, Mike Leach used to come out to practice and he would say today, we're only running go routes. That's it. So routes on air, one-on-ones seven on seven team period. That's all they did. They were only running go routes. They ran go routes. So it was all go for verticals, go routes. And he wanted them to learn how to throw a go route against any coverage. Okay. So it didn't matter if it was cover one, cover two, cover four, cover eight, cover six brackets. Didn't matter. And he wanted to be able to throw the ball. And in particular to Michael Crabtree, regardless of the coverage. So they would practice this and they would do it all day. Michael Crabtree was a Blitnikoff award winner, and he would run multiple miles a day in practice on these practice days, running, just go routes, which is crazy. This is just wild. Well, guess what they completed in that game against the coverage that he should have never thrown a go route. They complete the go route over to that right sideline. Crabtree walks into the end zone. Tech wins the game. That was a classic. There's no doubt. But yes, Kevin, my number one game since 2000 is Texas and USC. That game had everything. Texas was on a March. They were undefeated. By the way, yours truly had to play that Texas team twice that year. Once in Austin, once in the Bay Area, big 12 championship game. Please don't look it up. I'm just going to save you the effort. Texas beat us 70 to three. They were on a mission. Vince Young was incredible. He was the best football player I've ever seen in person. He was so good. The defense was good. They had Thorpe award winners. They had everything on that defense. They could do it all. And they're facing USC. Who's going for their third straight title. And guess what? USC had it, had it in their grasp. They're at home per se in LA, obviously in the Rose bowl. They led by a goal. By 12 with five minutes to go in that game. They have it. Not only that, but even once Vince Young scores to make it a one possession game, they have fourth down. If they convert the fourth down, they decide not to punt it away. That defense was not great. That last year of Pete Carroll's run, Matt liner just told me, you know, time and time again, if he knew that if they didn't get that fourth down, they were going to lose the game. They go for it on fourth down. Reggie Bush is not on the field. Lindell white gets the carry. He's short. Vince Young goes down. He scores in the corner of the end zone. Confetti flies out. Texas wins their national championship. That was just an absolute Epic game on the biggest stage, on the biggest stage. And two of the better teams that we've ever seen in college football. There are some others that I thought about the Boise state game against Oklahoma and the Fiesta bowl. I thought about that one. That was an incredible game. Probably should have made the list, but it didn't the Bama Michigan Rose bowl and Michigan's title year. That was a phenomenal game. And Michigan had a fourth down on the last drive to have to go down and even force overtime. That was a tremendous game. The Clemson Bama 2016 title game. I believe Lawrence hits Renfro like no time left in the end zone. Epic game title game. That was phenomenal. And then in Oh six, we had kind of the first game of the century when undefeated Michigan faced undefeated Ohio state winner was going to go play for the BCS national championship game. And remember the undertones to that game. Bo Schembechler had passed away earlier that week. And, - Yeah. They went out and played that game, and what an epic game it was. That one was in the shoe. But those are some of my favorite games since 2000, so thanks for your question there. What was that, Kevin? All right, we move on. Cooper writes in. Cooper says, hey, love listening to the show. Never miss an episode. Thank you. And by the way, be like Cooper. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, and then you won't miss an episode. This time of the year, missing college football. I like to watch old college football games, but get my football fix. I can't help but think of what-ifs in some of these games. I'm sure many fans do. For example, for me as a Buckeye fan, my top two are what if in 2019 we got matched up with the 2019 LSU team? And maybe an extension of that, what if OSU had two questionable targeting calls go their way? One against Clemson that year, one against Georgia the year after. Would Ryan Day have three natties and be in Saban talks? What are your top five college football what-ifs? Great question, Cooper. And you mentioned the one 2019 Ohio State actually for me isn't as big of a what-if because Joe Burrow and LSU were outstanding. I would have loved to have seen that game. I think Ohio State was better than Clemson. I think they got some bad calls and made a ton of mistakes in that game. I think Dobbins dropped a ball or fumbled inside of the 20-yard line. They had what was clearly a catch fumble get ruled against them. Again, questionable call. The Sean Wade targeting call on Trevor Lawrence. Questionable call. They end up losing that game. They would have still had to play one of the better teams that we've ever seen in history, the Joe Burrow LSU team. The bigger what-if for me was Ohio State, the 20, what was that? 22 year with Marvin Harrison. And I believe that was the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, where they did not call targeting on that play in the end zone against Marvin Harrison. If it's a targeting, Ohio State beats Georgia that night. Kirby Smart has said many times, and did right after the game in his post-game interview, like we had no business winning that game. We were lucky to win that game. They outplayed us and they did. That was CJ Stroud's best game as a Buckeye. If Ohio State wins that game, they definitely win the national championship. Remember, the team waiting for Georgia was TCU, who had beaten Michigan earlier that day in the Fiesta Bowl. So that's the bigger what-if for me from an Ohio State standpoint. Not 19. It was actually the 22 season. I'm going to stick with Ohio State. This one was an Ohio State. Michigan, what if? Let's go back to 2016. Jim Harbaugh is in his second year at Michigan. He takes a really good Wolverines team, although they weren't great at quarterback. I believe that was Wilton Spate. But they play an epic game against that Ohio State team. And it looks like they stopped Curtis Samuel on fourth down. And it's given to them. Inconclusive in review. And Ohio State gets the first down. And then they're able to get the touchdown and win the game. And Urban Meyer gets his win. Jim Harbaugh kind of streak continues. And then from there, the narrative was that Jim Harbaugh can't beat Urban Meyer. And he didn't. And he didn't. But what if Michigan were to win that game? They would have gone on and possibly competed for a national title. I mean, that's a huge what-if. I think in particular, being so close to that rivalry, calling a lot of those games. We started calling that game the very next year in 2017, Gus and I. And we've called it ever since. And I guess I got it like the narrative. The narratives run thick in that rivalry. And it was, for a long time, Jim Harbaugh can't beat Ohio State. Then it was Ryan Day can't beat Michigan. So the narrative thing runs deep. And that certainly would have squashed that early for Jim Harbaugh. So that could have been a big what-if. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest. Or rush the field the fastest. Because it's a win. It's not just a Superior-like beer. It's also giving fans Superior access to their favorite sporting events. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026. Anheuser-Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer St. Louis, Missouri. Here's one. And this one's a little bit more under the radar. And I think you'll like this. And it's not a game, actually. This is a recruiting story. Back in the day, at Texas, used to, and this is honorable, right? And he gets knocked for this, but this is honorable. He used to promise whoever he would bring in as a quarterback in recruiting, he would say, I'm not going to recruit anybody else. So, like, I'm not going to go out and bring multiple guys in. It wasn't like it is now. It was different. And he wanted to do that. And I believe it was Garrett Gilbert that he recruited and said, I'm not going to recruit anybody else. Well, guess who else was being recruited? He was being recruited and wanted to go to Texas. Two guys, Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III. What if Texas would have taken Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III? Does Mack Brown leave for a long time? Does Texas go through their slump? Their issue after Colt McCoy was that they were so quarterback driven from Vince Young to Colt McCoy, then they didn't have a quarterback. What if they had one of those guys? Does Jim Harbaugh ever rise to the level that he does at Stanford without Andrew Luck? That's an incredible what if. I mean, Mack Brown could still be at Texas. What if they win two or three titles? What if, I mean, to me, that is an incredible what if. And speaking of great what ifs in recruiting, the great battle in recruiting for Tim Tebow, when he was trying to decide at the end between Alabama and Florida. Now, this was pre-Nick Saban. I believe it was Shula at Alabama. And Tim Tebow decides to go to Florida, and he's even told the story where he was sick and wanted to throw up in a bag after making the decision and making the commitment because it was that tough of a decision. What if he goes there and Shula starts a run at Bama? Is Tim Tebow a Heisman Trophy winner at Alabama? That is an incredible what if, and it could have turned all of college football history because, again, college football history will always mark the Saban years as a pillar point in the history of our sport. If that never happens, I mean, who knows what goes on at that point? So the Tebow recruitment was a big one. And then I'm going to stay with Nick Saban because there was a moment back in, I believe it was 2013. Nick Saban had won three national championships at Alabama, and he had won one at LSU. So he had four national titles under his belt. And, guys, I'm telling you, that deal of him taking the Texas head job post-Mac Brown was, I mean, all but signed, sealed, and delivered. It was right there. They were looking for real estate actively in Austin, Texas. Like, it was happening. The problem was that everybody at Texas got so excited, and then the news started to leak, and it became overwhelming to the point where Saban had to go out there and be like, you know what? Nope, I'm not going. I'm staying right here at Alabama. Now, Bama fans will probably push back on this, but that is the story. That is absolutely the case. It was that close. I mean, that close for Nick Saban to leave Bama and go to Texas. What happens then? They ended up hiring Charlie Strong and going through a huge dip. Charlie Strong to Tom Herman before you ever got to Steve Sarkeesian and then this recent run that they've been on. Does Bama win three more titles without Nick Saban? Who? Who's the coach at Alabama? All of these are incredible. Obviously, he's such a great coach, probably the best in the history of the sport, and his movement sparks a lot of what-ifs to me. I mean, you could even go back, what if he never left LSU? Those are some great what-ifs. I like to play that game as well. Again, if I left one out, throw one down below. Maybe there's a game. What if the kick six never happens and Bama gets a third title? What if Lindell White actually gets the first down? Those are games that we, we just talked about. They're huge games because of those results. What happens if the results were different? One last one that I wanted to throw in there on a game, and this one just stuck out to me right now because it was a national title, and I really believed this team was going to go and win it. What if Colt McCoy is never injured in the national championship game against Bama? Now, Mark Ingram hates this. I've brought this up to Mark Ingram because he's like, we were fine. Our whole game plan, we were going to get after him, and that was our game. We didn't think he could handle the beating that we would give them. That's fair. That's totally fair, but that was a really good Texas team. They had been great the year before, held out of the national championship game because of that BCS tiebreaker that I was just talking about earlier. They were 11-1. Then they come into that next year, and they are rolling, man, and Jordan Shipley and Colt McCoy, and they go in there, and they're running right down the field, and then bam, Colt McCoy leaves with an injury. Now, they ended up playing decent, but, Bama was able to just play conservatively, run the football. Ingram was fantastic in that game, and Nick Saban got his first national championship at Alabama. What happens if Mack Brown wins it with Colt McCoy in that year? Like, does Bama still go on their run? What happens in recruiting after that? That's a great what-if from a game that I'm thinking about since 2000. Colt was so good. I love Colt. He was one of my favorite players that I ever covered or watched. What's up, Clash Hill fans? I don't know about you, but I'm always looking for the best deal on tickets, And it's clear to me that SeatGeek is the answer. 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Shout out to SeatGeek for sponsoring today's show. We move on in the mailbag. Hillary writes in. Thank you, Hillary, for writing in. We encourage everybody to write into the show. Hey, Joel, big fan of the show. Hopefully, you'll make a trip up to Ann Arbor this year. I would say that's a good bet, Hillary. That's a really good bet. Obviously, you've seen your fair share of college unis. Which ones are your favorites and why? I love this question. I love uniforms. Now, I'm going to show my age a little bit here because most younger people, and now I'm not young, which is a little bit hard. I'm 44, but I'm realizing I'm definitely middle-aged. And there are moments now I'm not proud of when I let that old man creep in and I start screaming at clouds. I mean, it's just true. It happens to all of us. I try really hard not to let that happen, but it happens. It happens. I am a traditionalist when it comes to uniforms. I love the classics. I love the classics. Maybe it's nostalgia. I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that I hearken back to when I fell in love with this sport. I can remember I have a brother who's six years older than me. His name is Jason. My dad, Gary, was a high school football coach. And my favorite memories as a kid were sitting in our basement in Arvada, Colorado, and watching college football. Now, remember, I was born in 1982. So my formative years are right when Colorado was great. 88, 89, 90. They win a national title in 1990. And so I'm watching Colorado play. That's one of my favorite uniforms, the old school home Colorado uniform. But the uniforms that I would see on television, like those are the ones that I go back to and I'm like, yes, that looks and feels like college football. I know that the young guys and in particular guys that play now love the new unis. They love the. What do they call them now? The alternates. I don't even like does Oregon even have an actual home in a way uniform. I don't think they do. They just have like uniforms, plural, like eight of them. So here are my favorites, though. Here are my favorites. Alabama. What a classic uniform. The number on the helmet, the history, the tradition. I love the Alabama uniform. Now, I'm partial to their home uniform. I like both, but I'm partial to their home uniform. You give me Bama at home. In a big game, that's a great uniform. I love that one. What's another one? USC. USC at home. Absolutely. Now, I didn't love when they went with the metallic face mask. I was like, ah, come on, man. Like, this is classic. Just go with the classic. I love USC's home uniform. I think it's iconic. In fact, they came into Boulder. Granted, it wasn't their home uniform. But my first year in college football, I was just a walk on. I was a true freshman after playing baseball. And USC came into town. That was Carson Palmer. This is 2003. Troy Polamalu was a safety. And they brought their, like, pep band. So it wasn't their full band, but they brought their band. And I remember watching them play. This is early Pete Carroll days. And one, Troy Polamalu was incredible. Carson Palmer was incredible. But the uniforms, man. I was just like, oh, those uniforms are absolutely epic. I love Notre Dame's uniforms. You give me the gold helmet, man. And I've gotten fortunate enough to be able to call a few Notre Dame games when they've been on the road. But in particular, I have Big Ten opponents. I believe one in Soldier Field in Chicago, we called them against Wisconsin. I did a Notre Dame game. I believe it was up in East Lansing against Michigan State. Man, when I hear Wake Up the Echoes, you give me a fight song. And that uniform with the gold helmet, I'm in. I'm absolutely in. Penn State, you bet, man. Give me a Penn State all day long. I'm partial to two-toned uniforms. If you haven't figured that out, by the way. I don't like a third color on uniforms. I don't think it looks great. You give me a two-color uniform, and I'm probably in. Again, I'm an old guy. But Penn State's home uniforms are amazing. By the way, great home environment as well. Tradition, everything. It's epic. Here's one that is a little bit new age, but in a throwback sense. And you're probably going to have to either Google this, or we'll throw an image up here if you're watching on YouTube. The mighty Oregon throwback. So they wear this now currently, but it's kind of a throwback. It's a modern twist to an old-look Oregon uniform. The mighty Oregon throwback is spectacular. I mean spectacular. I'm in. I'm absolutely in. I don't love. I will say this about Oregon's uniforms. Everyone says, like, oh, Oregon's got the best uniforms. Old man yelling at the clouds. I get it. I get it. But I did not love when Oregon played Ohio State for a national championship, and all they were in was white and silver. And I think some black. And it's like, I couldn't turn. If you just dropped me from Mars, and I had been, like, let's say I took Elon's rocket up to Mars, and then I come back after a few years, and you're telling me, like, oh, hey, here's the national championship game. And I didn't know what was going on with, like, uniforms. I couldn't have told you it was Oregon playing Ohio State. They looked too different. I would have been like, well, is there green? That's Oregon? What do you mean that's Oregon? It's white and silver. It doesn't. It looks like the Raiders. I didn't love that. But the mighty Oregon throwback? I'm in. I'm in on that. My best uniform ever, though. And it does pain me because, truth be told, the last game. The last game. I ever played was against this uniform. The all-white Texas road uniform. Ugh. And intimidating. I mean, they all look faster. The white helmets with the white face mask. The Texas road whites are the best uniform in college football, period. According to me. Hillary, I hope you agree. I'm sure you probably like one of the Michigan uniforms. I like those as well, but they didn't make my list right there. All right. Paul writes in. He says, Hey, Joel, I know you played baseball as well as football. I was wondering if you ever called baseball games. Are there any other sports or events that you would like to call someday? Good question. I actually did call some baseball way back in the day. The Big 12 had me call some baseball games, and so I've done that. And then I was actually. At first, an analyst for the Colorado Rockies on their pre- and post-game show right after I was done with minor league baseball and football. And then I was actually a host for the Colorado Rockies pre-game and post-game shows, which was difficult because they were terrible at the time. They've remained fairly terrible ever since. But to be the home broadcast pre- and post-game show for a team that's going to lose close to 100 games, not easy. Not easy. Earned my television chops back then. What other sports or events would I like to call? I mean, there's only one. I want to. If you say it's out of college football. Listen, in college football, my dream is to call a national championship someday. Hopefully that happens. I don't know. That has to do with contracts and everything like that. I don't know if it'll ever happen. I would love to call a Rose Bowl game. That would be. I mean, I wear Rose Bowl stuff all the time. I don't have one on right now, but you see the Rose Bowl hats all the time. I think it's the most iconic sporting contest and venue that we have in American sports. So that's within college football. Outside of college football, is there one event that I would love to be an announcer for? Yeah, it's the Masters. Obviously. Like, obviously. I would love to call a Masters. That's never going to happen, but you know what? I don't know. Maybe. No. It's probably not going to happen. I do love golf, and the Masters is my favorite event, non-college football, in the sporting landscape. Adam writes in, long-time listener and huge fan. Appreciate what you do for me. I appreciate what you do for the sport and always look forward to the podcast for your insight and breakdowns. Thank you, Adam. I appreciate that. But Adam's a subscriber. I'm sure. I hope you are as well. I wanted to reach out because I have had an interest in getting into coaching in the near future, not looking into anything crazy, like at the collegiate level, more so youth leagues and possibly high school teams. Wanted to ask and see if you had any advice for someone aspiring to go into this. Where to start, books to read, videos to watch, coaches to learn from online, etc. That would help me get started. Any and all help. Is greatly appreciated. That's a great question. Okay, so I'm the son of a coach. My brother. brother is a coach right now and a very good one at a high school called Meade High School in Colorado. Coaches in a lot of different sports had the greatest impact on me in my life. And so one, I commend this and I fully endorse you. If you have a passion for coaching, go into coaching. Now, you asked about basically like, how do I learn the game if I want to do that? Let me back up because before you learn the game, you have to love to learn the kids that you're going to coach. There's an old coaching adage. My dad actually had this sign and I've probably read this sign a million times and he had it up in his coaching office. He coached at Pomona High School in Arvada, Colorado, and I was with him all the time. He didn't let me actually play organized football until I was in late middle school, almost a freshman. And so I was with him all the time and I would be in their coaches offices and I would watch film with him. And it's where my love of the game is. Really started in childhood, watching football with him, college football at home with my brother, and then being around him and his teams. And he had this sign and it's always resonated with me. And it's been absolutely true for me as a player. And that is the sign read, I should say, no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And so first and foremost, I would just say, Adam, learn to go out there and love the people that you're coaching. Care about their success. Then learn how to coach them better at whatever skill or schematics that you guys are running. Now, I can't tell you to go learn from a specific coach or a specific book because I don't think it's necessarily about generalized knowledge, although there's some generalized products out there. Because when it comes to football, you're going to be trying to run a specific system. And the key to football, all levels, the key to football is that greatness is realized through the attention to details. Okay. So whatever schematics that you learn from the coaches that you're learning from or whatever systems you're trying to run is that you have to hold your players accountable to the details, hold them accountable to the details. That's how you love on them as people. So you first, you care about their success. I want you to succeed as a person first and foremost, and you discipline them well, and you hold them accountable. And then you hold them accountable to the details of the system, because that's the only way that you're going to be a successful football team is details. So for instance, let's say we're running a three 22 Y stick. Okay. So Y stick is, is the tight end is going to be on a little out route, but you've got a Z receiver that's on that side. And however, you're getting a flat control. Maybe it's a full back out of the backfield. Maybe it's some sort of motion, but basically the read is one to the flat or flat control two to the stick. And then three to the check down on the backside. Well, here's a detail that often gets overlooked on three 22 Y stick the Z receiver in this case, right side of the formation. Let's say we're in the right formation. He has to have an outside release, has to have an outside release. Why? Because the corner that is on him, whether it's two or three, you don't want his eyes turning back into the quarterback so that he can view what's coming at him from the backfield, the flat control or the tight end on a little out route. So you don't want his eyes going there. So you, your wide receiver out there has to outside release. If he outsides releases, now the corner is going to at least turn with him for a moment. And now you can execute the play behind him. So those Z receivers, not technically even in the route, although he could be alerted against bump, but again, that's a detail, but he has to have an outside release. Sean Payton, when he was installing this play, this specific play in new Orleans, uh, saints mini camp, I was with them in mini camp, uh, and OTAs right out of school. And Sean Payton called it a bus ticket release, because if you don't release outside, then you're on the next bus leaving town. So that's a detail. That's just one specific example. Be attuned to the details of whatever system that you learn, care about the kids and then hold them accountable. I hope you have a lot of success, Adam. We need better and more coaches that one care about the players that they're coaching and to hold them accountable to the details. I hope that that helps again, not a lot of specifics as far as the system goes, because again, it matters which specific system you're trying to run. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I love hearing from you guys in the mailbag. Please continue to send us, uh, questions and comments. We'll see you next time. Bye. You can hit us up on social, leave comments down below on the YouTube channel. If you haven't subscribed to the YouTube channel, you need to do that. Uh, that's where our show really lives. Get down into the comments. If you're listening on podcast or audio, wherever you get your podcast rate and review us, that would be awesome. And then follow us on social media. You'll get updates and you'll get all of our content in shorter form. We continue to roll along here in the off season episodes, every single Monday leading you up to the 2026 season. I can't wait for the season. I know you're going to love it. I know you can't wait for it either. I hope you have a great summer and a great week. We'll see you next Monday. Fall is the perfect time to refresh and reorganize your space at the home Depot. Find power tools and tool sets starting at $50 to help tackle DIY projects, home updates, and more. Whether you're drilling brackets to support new shelving or sharpening your hedge trimmer blade with an angle grinder, the home Depot has the tools you need to check projects off your list. Shop Labor Day savings at the home Depot. And gear up for fall projects with the right tools to keep your projects moving.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Joel Klatsch highlights key college football games since 2000, with the Texas-USC game (2006) as his top pick due to its dramatic finish, star players, and historic significance.
  2. The episode explores major "what-if" scenarios in college football history, including Ohio State vs. LSU (2019), Michigan vs. Ohio State (2016), and Tim Tebow’s potential choice between Alabama and Florida, all of which could have shifted the sport’s trajectory.
  3. The discussion emphasizes the impact of coaching decisions, such as Nick Saban’s near-move to Texas in 2013, and the influence of recruiting choices like Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III at Texas, on team success and program history.

Summary:

Joel Klatsch hosts a mailbag episode of his college football show, diving into fan-submitted questions about the greatest games and pivotal "what-if" moments since 2000. He highlights the 2006 Texas-USC showdown as a defining game due to its intensity, star players like Vince Young and Reggie Bush, and dramatic fourth-down play that secured a national title. The episode also explores key hypotheticals, such as Ohio State’s loss to LSU in 2019 or Michigan winning against Ohio State in 2016, which could have altered rivalries and national narratives.

Other significant "what-ifs" include Tim Tebow choosing Alabama over Florida, which might have changed Nick Saban’s legacy, and the impact of recruiting decisions like Texas taking Andrew Luck. The discussion also touches on fan favorites like Alabama and USC uniforms, with Klatsch praising their tradition and visual appeal. Additionally, he shares advice for aspiring coaches, emphasizing care for players and attention to detail over general knowledge.

The episode concludes with a call for listener engagement, including comments and subscriptions, and promotes college football’s return in 2026. Sponsored content includes Michelob Ultra’s access to games and SeatGeek for ticketing, while the show acknowledges the broader impact of coaching, tradition, and emotional connection in the sport.

FAQs

Highlights include the 2006 USC vs. Texas game, the 2013 Bama-Auburn 'Kick Six,' and the 2016 Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech shootout. These games are remembered for dramatic finishes, key plays, and historic outcomes.

The 2013 'Kick Six' is a pivotal moment where Alabama's Nick Saban successfully argued for a second down, allowing a field goal attempt that failed, leading to a touchdown. It's considered one of the most iconic and controversial plays in college football history.

Key what-ifs include Tim Tebow choosing Alabama over Florida, Ohio State winning the 2017 Sugar Bowl against Georgia, Michigan defeating Ohio State in 2016, and Colt McCoy not getting injured in the 2010 Bama Championship game.

He especially loves Alabama’s home uniform, USC’s home uniform, Notre Dame’s gold helmet, Penn State’s two-tone look, and Oregon’s throwback. He also cites the Texas road white uniform as the best in college football.

Yes, he called baseball games in the Big 12 and worked as a host for the Colorado Rockies’ pre- and post-game shows, gaining experience in sports broadcasting.

He emphasizes caring deeply about players, focusing on attention to detail, and holding players accountable to the specifics of the system. He believes that genuine care and discipline are more important than just knowing the playbook.

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