Who wins: Georgia or Alabama? Will Oklahoma upset #1 Texas? + more College Football Picks

But if I were to tell you that Texas is 108 in yards per play offense, that's blowing your mind right now. Let's say USC was the defending national champion and in the middle of a 21 game win streak. Would they be ranked outside of the top five? I don't think that they would disrespect them at your own peril. Hey, welcome into the Joel Clutch Show. I'm Joel Clutch. I'm always sponsored by Hilton Hilton for the stay and we thank them for their support. We've got picks and previews another big week into college football coming straight up. Cannot wait for it. Gus, Jenny and I are going to be in Lincoln, Nebraska as Indiana rolls in to link in to take on the undefeated Nebraska corn huskers. Maybe a little disrespect. Just not a lot of love going on for the five and no Nebraska corn huskers. What do we make of Matt Rule and his bunch? Hey, by the way, the picks and previews, they've been going pretty well. This this year. I mean, I don't want to speak too soon, but we are 15 and 13 after a three and two week a week ago. And remember, we don't cherry pick like best lines. We just talk about the best games of the day. We give you a prediction. There's a line there. If you just want the preview, you can take the preview. If you want the pick, you can take the pick as well. But like I said, Gus, Jenny and I will be their big noon Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska. Indiana rolls in on a 21 game winning streak speaking of disrespect. I'll just throw this out there. Any other logo in college football, maybe not any other logo. Just think of like a brand name, some blue blood brand name. Let's just say sake of argument USC. I don't think that they would. I really don't think that they would. And I understand, listen, I understand this ranking and part of it is that the people that cover college football, and I think I have to put my hand up in this as well, the people that cover cover college football are starting to get incredibly annoyed at the soft schedules. And I think that their ranking, Indiana's ranking, is in direct response to their non-conference schedule, but disrespect them at your own peril. Because we saw what happened a year ago, they ran off 16 straight wins. They win the national championship. And this team is starting to find their mojo a little bit. I called this game actually two years ago. No one knew who signety was. No one was talking about Indiana. Everyone was talking about Dylan Rayola and Matt Rule and I was like, hey, is this going to work at Nebraska? He was a freshman. They rolled into Bloomington and they got promptly beat 56 to seven. And that was really the day that everyone was like, hold on a second. Is Indiana actually a good football team? And from that day forward, all they've done is prove that yes, yes, they are. Indiana is running the ball incredibly well right now. And that's really always where their offense at least starts. They've got to run the football to get to the RPOs to get to the passing game. It's a domino style of offense. They want to run it and they've got guys that can do that turbo-richard. He's in there. They can throw it on the outside, Charlie Becker, one of the best wide receivers in college football. You've got Lee BB. So Richard and BB went over a hundred yards last week against Rutgers, Marsh on the outside and Becker on the outside went over a hundred yards receiving in that game and lo and behold, look at their quarterback. Now I don't think anybody would sit here and start pounding the table and say, hey, Josh Hoover is a Heisman candidate. I don't think he's played to that level. However, one of the big questions surrounding Josh Hoover coming into this season for Indiana and going in filling Fernando Mendoza shoes was about the turnovers because he had so many turnovers at TCU, even Sonny Dykes was bringing that up during the course of the offseason and Kurt Signetti said to us, in one of those press conferences, I'm going to introduce him to his two best friends, a run game and a great defense and guess what? Guess what? That has done. Josh Hoover hasn't turned the ball over. 15 touchdowns, no interceptions, he's playing very well and then on the Nebraska side, I would just say, I actually think this team is quite good. I would say that they're scrappy and that is I think embodied by their quarterback. Kalandria is a guy that comes in from the Mount West, who's a Mount West Conference player of the year. Now he's short and stature and I think that that could present some problems against the really good defensive line that Indiana brings in particular, the upfield nature that Indiana likes to play those defensive lineman, but this guy can run the football and their defense is outstanding. Nebraska's defense has been really good. They're top 10 in the country and sacks right now and their big goal, I think in this game is to stop the run. If you go back and look at any game that Indiana has struggled or had to win late or it's been a close game in the second half, it's because that defense was able to at least to some degree control their run game. So they don't have all of their offense at their disposal. If they just sit in a drop back game, that's not where they want to be. They want to be able to run it, get to the RPO and then throw the ball down the field to their excellent wide receivers. It should be a good one. And I can't wait for the environment. I know I played at Colorado and technically our biggest rival was Nebraska, but I will say this and Colorado fans get so mad at me. I think Nebraska fans are probably the best fans in the country. I mean, they've had no success for decades and they just keep showing up. They keep showing up with their balloons, they're ready to let their balloons go. When I played there, we beat them twice in Lincoln when I was a player at Colorado. They were always like polite, hey, nicely done, well done. I want that. I want those fan base, that fan base to have success. I really do. And by the way, I'm glad that people are starting to talk about the mid 90s Nebraska teams now. They deserve a 30 for 30. Like we talk about all these other college football dynasties and I know like Sabin and Alabama and we're going to talk about that and Miami gets all these documentaries. You know, they went a few games and it's like, oh, let's give them another 30 for 30. This version of Miami is probably going to get a 30 for 30. I'm just sitting here saying like, hey, Nebraska was really good. They were really good. There was what 60 and three over four years in the mid 90s, they could play football. Great fan base there. Let's get to our weekend check in presented by Hilton when you need a winning team on and off the field. It matters where you stay. Let's get to this Georgia Bama game. This one's going to be an amazing game. Bama is favored by one and a half at home. These two teams split their two meetings a year ago with Georgia winning the SEC championship game. Kirby always has a great defense. They are great once again. They are the number one defense in the country as it relates to yards per play. They can get after it and you're going to have to get after it because this offense is explosive. Just go back to what I talked about on Monday with Alabama, like, man, hey, guys, Alabama can play offense and Heel and Russell can throw the ball down the field. He is excellent. I think NFL evaluators should be salivating for whenever he comes available in the NFL draft. It's not going to be next spring because he's too young, but this dude can throw it. He reminds me a lot of the way Michael Pinnix played at Washington for Kaelin DeBoer and yet he's more mobile and more explosive as a runner. So it's a deadly combination and and Bama is outstanding on the offensive side. I think that Georgia has to put pressure on him. If they don't put pressure on Kaelin Russell, I think Georgia loses the game. They've got to impact him somehow. Now, we've seen teams be able to do that Michigan against that Washington team with Pinnix and the national championship game. Last year, Georgia was able to do it to Tyson Simpson in particular in the last six quarters that they played in the two meetings. Indiana was able to do it in the Rose Bowl. And teams have been able to do it and you can slow down those schematics from DeBoer in the passing game. So like my estimation, it's it's about the Georgia defense. I know their offense will be methodical. They will try to stay on schedule. They will do what they can. They've got a quarterback that plays great in the fourth quarter, but then the key piece of this game. And this is, I think the biggest piece of this game. And I think it's a problem for Alabama. There is potential for heavy rain and winds up to 20 miles per hour. They got some sort of like, I don't know, tropical depression forming over the Gulf, Gulf of America. And here it comes. And that ain't good for Bama because they got to throw the football. I don't think they can get into a phone booth grinded out running style game with Georgia and wind that plays into Georgia's hand. The worse the weather, the better for Kirby in Georgia. And so like with the weather, being as it is, I think that's advantage. Georgia, does Bama have an answer if they can't sling it around and in particular get those explosive plays down the field? I don't know if they do. I don't know if they can run the football effectively without the advent or not the advent, the impact of a great passing game. So I'm going to take Georgia in this one. I'm getting points with Georgia who I think is the best team in the country. Georgia 27, Alabama 24, I'm going to take the point and a half. How about Red River? Red River, Texas in Oklahoma, Texas is favored by seven and a half, 120 second addition of the Red River rivalry. I knew it as the Red River shootout, kind of like it better that way. But whatever. Now everyone, you know, got to say rivalry, Texas is one three of the last four meetings with OU. Texas is number one in the country right now. And I want this, I don't take anything that I say out of context. Here's the context. They should be ranked number one. I don't have them ranked number one, but they should be ranked number one. They are better on paper than they are on film. And that is a fact. The fact of the matter is that they've been wildly inconsistent as a team. and more specifically on the offensive side. I don't have a lot of worries about the Texas defense. The offense has not been very good. Outside of the three series where they're able to come back against a Ohio state. A lot of inconsistencies, penalties, not throwing the ball well. Arch has not played very well. This is a guy that has got to learn how to anticipate windows down the field. He right now is a C-thrower. He wants to see the big throw and then make it. And at times as a quarterback, you've got to sit back there and you've got to trust the picture. You've got to trust the structure of the defense and you've got to let things rip into windows that you don't know are going to be there. And that's kind of his next progression in this. They've got the best resume. That's why I say they're best on paper. They've got two top 10 wins, top 15 wins, excuse me. They've earned this position where they're at. But they've been inconsistent outside of those three drives. Like I'm saying, and now they face the top five defense and OU. Oh, you can play defense now. Their issue is definitely not their defense. In a lot of ways, these teams mirror each other. And you might roll your eyes when I say that. But what if I told you right now that Oklahoma is 112th in the country and yards per play offense. So just like you snap the football, yards per play, rank them up. Where do you rank 112th? Everybody listening right now would be like, that's probably about right. And I would agree because they have been bad on offense. We know it. They've turned the ball over. They couldn't do anything against Michigan. They couldn't do anything against Georgia. What if I were to tell you that Texas is 108th in yards per play offense. Blow in your mind right now. They're basically the same team except for three drives. They've got great defenses and offenses that are woefully underperforming. And guess what? Texas is woefully underperforming. So what do I see in this game? I think it's low scoring just to give you some context by the way, because it's not just like, well, you know, they play better defenses or anything like that. This is behind Colorado and Michigan in yards per play offense. Guys, guys, like when I tell you they're better on paper than on film, it is the truth. It is the truth. Now, I think that they're going to get smothers back. They should be able to run the football and they're going to need to because if they can't run the ball, that defensive front seven for Oklahoma is going to put arch and a bind. And they're going to get pressure on arch and as we know, when he gets pressure on him, you know, like, it's not good. It's not consistent. Material can be eternal for machine. And in this game, after a by week, like, that's got to improve, right? I like, I just, I desperately want it for him. Like, that's got to improve. I'm expecting a low scoring game. I really do. I don't think oh, oh, you's going to be able to score a lot of points on this. Well, my champ defense, they're going to be dealing with Collins Simmons. And as long as Texas doesn't beat themselves with penalties and mistakes, they should win this game. I think they're a better team than Oklahoma. I bring up all of those stats just to tell you that like, Hey, Texas is not just like try to true. Yep. They're number one. This would be crazy if Oklahoma was close in this game. It would not be crazy if Oklahoma was close in this game. Now, Texas is favored by seven and a half. And because OU struggles so bad on the offensive side, they've failed to score a touchdown in three of the last four Red River games. And for that reason, I think Texas wins and covers in a low scoring affair, 20 to 10 Texas in arch. Get the win in Red River UCLA at Oregon. Oregon's favored by 11 and a half. Bob Chesney has UCLA undefeated right now, looking to pull off this huge upset in Eugene. And Oregon's going to have to do a lot better stop in the run than what they have done during the course of the season. UCLA can absolutely run the football. They have one of the best run games in the country at seven yards per rush. And they feature a guy in Wayne night that is explosive. Now, here's the thing with UCLA. Our quarterback can also run. He might not be like the most dynamic runner, but Niko Iomaliyeva can absolutely threaten you in the run game. And if I'm an Oregon fan, that makes me very nervous because of what Mestemaker did to us run the football in that game and still water when Oklahoma State ran it for over 270 yards. Like Wayne Nights Outstanding. And by the way, Bob Chesney took his JMU team into Eugene last year in the college football playoff. And yes, Oregon won handly, but guess what, JMU scored over 30 points. Oregon could not stop them in the second half. I think it was like 35 six or something along those lines at halftime and it ended up being like 51 35 like they could not stop JMU in the second half. And the lessons that Bob and that team and that coaching staff learned that day in the playoff playing this Oregon team. Now they get to go out there with better players and Wayne night is there and Niko Iomaliyeva I think that they're going to score some points here in this one. And now the question will become can Oregon like match them and exceed them on the opposite side. I expect to see Rayola. I just don't see a world in which Dan Lanny is going to put Dante more on the field after what we saw in the Coliseum a couple of weeks ago. So I expect to see Rayola. Now he's got a bit of a propensity for turnovers. Even though we didn't see that against USC when he came in off the bench. So if you go back to his time at Nebraska, there is some turnovers right there again. That was much better with USC. Maybe it's just a protection issue as he's protected. He will make better decisions. But I don't quite trust the UCLA defense. Remember this is a defense that allowed 38 points against Purdue two games ago. And in my estimation, Oregon is much better on the offensive side. Oregon needs a good performance. This is a major jump up for UCLA as compared to the competition that they've been playing. I expect a lot of points in this one, but Oregon gets it done. I think Oregon wins this 145 32 and Oregon covers the 11 and a half. Don't feel great about that cover right there, but I do think Oregon gets it done. How about the white out USC on the road going east. They don't love to do that. And here's USC five and one at Penn State, who's now three and two and unranked. And the bottom has kind of fallen out for Matt Campbell. I am shocked at this line. This is one of those moments where I'm like, hold on a second. What is happening? Penn State is favored by a point and a half. And they have just played awful football for six quarters. Awful gave up the lead to Wisconsin, lose that game and gave up over 400 yards rushing to Northwestern last Friday night. And they're favored by a point and a half over USC who can run it has a, not you my, Jay and my Ava, I mean, like I, I don't get it. I don't get it. And when I don't get it, something's up, something's up USC travels east. It's got to be the traveling East because USC doesn't do that very well. And it's a white out game. But like this is not the Penn State that we're used to over the last couple of years. Like getting into a white out, this is not that team. This is not that team. This is, I don't understand it. The big question for me is just like, is USC going to beat themselves or were they, will they play a cleaner game? If they play a cleaner game, which may be difficult in that crowd noise. Maybe Vegas is like, hey, there's going to be 10 full starts, clat. And they're going to go out there and lose the game because they're not going to be able to do anything from an operation standpoint in the white out. Maybe that's it because when you just evaluate the teams and the, and the product on the field, Penn State by a point and a half seems wild. USC is facing their old defensive coordinator, familiar piece there in Denton Lynn. I think the familiarity favors Lincoln Riley in that one. But I'm an offensive guy. I always say that it favors the offensive guy. And as we saw with Pete Golding, it favored Pete Golding in the Ole Miss LSU matchup. USC should be able to run the ball, guys, a Penn State can't tackle anybody. They can't catch a cold right now. They've stayed a lot 400 rushing yards on the ground. Myave eats up zone coverage. That's what they like to run in the secondary. He eats up that space. The only thing that gets in the way for USC in this one, in my estimation, are the costly mistakes. And you know what, those might show up and you might be saying like, exactly clat. That's what they do all the time. I can't dispute that. I really can't. I know that USC's defense is not great. But I think they're better than people give them credit for. Penn State is not doing anything on offense. They really missed their wide receiver, Kobe Howard. He was averaging over 100 yards per game on nearly 30 per catch. He went down and since he went down, they've really struggled on offense, back to struggle on offense. They couldn't do anything against Northwestern. They couldn't do anything in the second half against Wisconsin. Guys, USC is better than Wisconsin in Northwestern, talent wise. You know, you can talk about the mistakes and all this up. People love to bag on maybe this is Vegas just being like, I know how to get people. And this one. Penn State's favorite by a point of half USC 32 14, I mean, like, I'm not even close. I give a score. I was like, I'm getting a. Last one LSU at Kentucky LSU is favored by nine and a half Kentucky beat a very average A&M team and a very average to bad South Carolina team. They hung with Alabama for a half and then just kind of got ran out of that building in the blowout. I still am a bit concerned for LSU about the health of their quarterback. Levitt can't play the way that he normally plays running around, you know, running people over. It's like, I came in like you. can't, you can't do that because they don't have anything behind him. Um, so his health is paramount for this team. Their defense is outstanding outstanding. And this is where I think it really makes a huge difference in this game. Their defense is better than Alabama's defense. Kentucky struggle with Alabama's defense. Kenny mentioned is going to see guys that can get after the passer. Prince Wellman, Umain, Miellen has eight sacks right now. Uh, there are levels to these conferences, folks and Kentucky learned that when they played Alabama. And I think they're going to learn that again here when they play LSU. Will Steins doing awesome. If you go back to yesterday's episode, I told you he is, he is doing fantastic. He's exceeding expectations for Kentucky. But this is a different animal and this defense is a different animal. They can rush the passer and run everywhere. They're one of the best defenses in America. And, and I think those levels in the conferences finally show up. Kentucky has had to gear it up really when you think about it. Um, they had to gear it up to, to go out there and beat A&M. They had an emotional win last week against South Carolina. My question is as LSU, LSU is coming off of McNeese state. Kentucky has to play their best even to stay close like to cover this nine and a half for Kentucky on that side to get the nine and a half. I think they've got to play their best. Do I anticipate them playing their best after the emotional win a week ago? No. History suggests during the course of this season that very rarely can teams do something on the positive side in an emotional fashion and back it up with consistency the next week. So I don't see Kentucky playing to the level that they need to to stay within the nine and a half. I've got LSU win in this game. 28 10. I'll give Kentucky that, but LSU covers the nine and a half. Here are the picks as I see him. I've got Georgia getting points. I'm going to take that all day long. I think that they get a win over Alabama in a rain storm. I've got Texas win in the Red River game. Uh, I'll give the seven and a half there. I don't think OU is going to be able to score many points. Uh, I'll give the 11 and a half for Oregon over UCLA mainly because I don't trust UCLA's defense. I do think that's going to be a high scoring affair. So watch out for points from the Bruins on that side. SC is a dog. I got to take it. I've got to take it. I mean, did no one in Vegas watch the last six quarters for Penn State? Man, this is just like, this is just ripe for hot takes exposed. What are they call that? I don't know, bad takes, whatever it is next week. This is just ripe for it. I'm, I'm taking SC freezing cold takes. There it is. Thank you, Mohan. Uh, and LSU. I'll give the nine and a half there and a win over Kentucky. I think LSU gets a big win. Those are the picks and previews. Uh, on today's program, go ahead and subscribe on YouTube. If you haven't done that, follow us on social media. If you haven't done that at your class show and rate and review us wherever you like to listen to this podcast, enjoy the week into college football. I'll be in Nebraska. Gus Jenny and I have Indiana at Nebraska.