Best of Outkick the Coverage: 01/08/19

Clay Travis is live from the Bay Area again with instant reaction (and not much sleep) after being there in person to see Alabama get blown out by Clemson in the National Championship Title Game! Fox's Joel Klatt joins Outkick to give Clay a hard time about his Alabama pick. Clay makes the case for the Saban blowout being the best thing that could have happened for college football. Plus, Clay and Jason Martin try and convince you that Clemson's freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence could be a better option than your favorite NFL team's signal caller!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of outkicked the coverage with Clay
Travis on Fox Sports Radio. What an epic beat down
delivered by Clemson and Dabbo Sweeney on Alabama to it
talking about Looa everybody else on the Crimson Tide. I
gotta be honest with you. I'm out here in San Jose, California.

(00:24):
I watched the game in person, and I'm still kind
of in shock over what I saw. There were a
couple of moments that I thought were integral and instrumental
in the outcome of the game. But I want to
start by saying this, Trevor Lawrence has the potential to
be the most famous college football player of all time. Now,
some of you out there rolling your eyes are like, oh,

(00:45):
this is Clay Travis. You're engaging in hyperbole. You're immediately
reacting to what you just saw in a national title game.
I don't believe we've ever seen a true freshman performed
like he did on the biggest possible stage against one
of the best college football teams that has ever existed
in Alabama. Now, so people, stud not the best college

(01:06):
football team has ever existed. They lost. Well, Clemson's fifteen
and no Alabama's fourteen and one, Alabama's pretty dug one good.
Every bounce went Clemson's way in this game. But Trevor
Lawrence went out and grabbed control of this game. He
owned it. He on third down was phenomenal and there
were a lot of big plays in this game, but

(01:26):
almost all of them were made by him and his
young cadre of wide receivers who made incredible catches. I
thought this game was really decided early in the second
half when Alabama was driving, made a disastrous decision to
fake a field goal. I thought it was Nick Saban
being desperate. I thought it was Kirby Smart esque by

(01:48):
Nick Saban. Maybe the worst decision in a big game
from a coaching perspective that Nick Saban has ever made.
It was fourth and seven. In that situation, you needed
to be able to get a touchdown there. A field
goal made no sense at all because it was thirty
one to sixteen, so you're gonna make it a thirty
one to nineteen game. No, it made no sense. You
have to who you believe as a Heisman Trophy caliber

(02:10):
quarterback on the field. You have an opportunity to go
forward on fourth and seven. There if you want to
do it, fine, I hate with a thousand furies the
idea of bringing in somebody on the special teams to
run a fake punt. I didn't like it when Mike
Tomlin did it in the game against the New Orleans Saints.

(02:32):
I didn't like it when Kirby Smart did it. If
you want to go forward on fourth down, I'm all
about going forward on fourth down, but do it with
your best players. Give them an opportunity to make a
play that I thought was an incredible that an instrumental
changing turning point in the game. The same thing was
also true on the next drive. Alabama is holding Clemson.

(02:54):
I believe I'm correcting this. On the next drive, Alabama
is holding Clemson. They put Trevor Lawrence into third and
long and then he hits a big time play as
Alabama's I'm not sure what the official injury is gonna be,
but basically the Alabama defensive back just went down and
got carded off and that was the touchdown that really,

(03:15):
i think, effectively ended the game to make it a
twenty one point lead for Clemson. Alabama, you don't even
see down that many points. I'm still kind of in
shock over what we saw. I'm in disbelief over the
beat down that Clemson was able to deliver. I think
now there's a legitimate challenge that Dabo Sweeney has made

(03:37):
for the crown of best coach in college football. He
and Nick Saban have gone head to head four times,
and Dabbo is one two and Nick Saban has one too,
And I think Dabbo has trying to think. It's like
Dabbo is the end to Nick Saban's yang. He is
the sunshine to Nick Saban's darkness. They seem to run

(04:00):
programs in entirely different manners. If you look at the
pure joy that Dabbo Sweeney coaches with, it's like every
day for him as a gift. He wakes up on
the shiny side of life. You know, you have people
in your own life, maybe people in your family. Their
personality when they jump out of bed is they're like

(04:21):
a puppy. Every day is an exciting new beginning for them.
That's how Dabo runs this program. And I think when
you look remember for a long time the idea was, oh,
Clemson's gonna Clemson. They're a good program, but they're gonna
lose to an inferior team. And I think the culture
that Dabbo Sweeney has instilled of one of buoyant optimism,

(04:43):
of one of we're gonna have a good time. It
reminds me a lot of the culture that Pete Carroll
had at USC. Nick Saban is a different kind of culture.
It is a culture that is based on fear of
being replaced by someone else, and that could be a
very effective culture. And I think Nick Saban has created
the greatest dynasty in the history of college athletics. Winning

(05:06):
is fun, but I don't think the Alabama Crimson Tide
plays with an effervescence and joy about them in the
same way that it seems like Dabo Sweeney has instilled
his program. Having said all that, I thought I ran
you through a couple of big time plays there. I
also thought there was another really big play, and that
was when Alabama was lined up It's about to go

(05:29):
up twenty fourteen, after they had come storming back, they
had gotten a couple of stops, they have a second
and goal at the one, they almost get in on
first down, and then they got a false start penalty.
I think there's zero doubt that Alabama would have scored
there if they don't get that false start penalty to
go up twenty fourteen, and I think they might have

(05:50):
taken a little bit of a breath there. They might
have paused instead of going up sixteen to fourteen, take
a little bit of a breath, and hey, we're gonna
be okay. Because Alabama on offense him out like a
house on fire. I mean, they were incredible. They had
two twenty yards of offense in the first quarter, and
then Clemson caught up with him, figured out what they
were doing, and started to slowly take away everything on

(06:12):
the Alabama Crimson tide offensive side of the ball. But
the thing that I can't stop thinking about is Trevor Lawrence.
Trevor Lawrence, if he were able to come out right now,
you saw the throws that he made, If he were
able to go pro right now, he would be the
number one overall pick in the NFL draft in April.

(06:35):
I don't think there's a doubt in my mind. There
is an a doubt in anybody's mind who would have
the picks the first quarterback, at least if the team
that ends up drafting number one overall doesn't want a quarterback,
he was gonna be the top quarterback taken. He would
be I think the number one overall pick. I really do.
I think somebody would trade up for him. They would
fall in love with his height, with his size, with
his arm, with everything that he can do. And because

(06:57):
of NFL rules, he's gonna have to come back and
stay on campus for two more years. This dude is
not you know, sometimes you have like a player who's
famous and they don't really stand out, you know what
I mean. Like, you can have a great running back
who might be you know, six ft pounds, but he
can look a lot like everybody else on campus. Right

(07:21):
Big basketball players can't do it. Most of them only
stay for one year. Trevor Lawrence a huge dude with
funky hair, very recognizable face. This guy's got to stay
on college campus for the next two years. I can't
even imagine. I don't think we've ever had anybody who
was going to be his level of fame. You remember
Johnny Manziel after he won the Heisman Trophy and he

(07:43):
couldn't even go to class because everybody would just swarm
him everywhere he went, wanting him to sign you know, magazines,
wanting him to sign all this different Texas A and
M paraphernalia. Remember the controversy over whether or not he
could sell it. You talked to Johnny Manzel about what
that experience was. It was otherworldly. Very few people in

(08:03):
life have ever gone from as unknown as Johnny Manzel
was too, as famous as he was after he won
the Heisman Trophy, but he was a red shirt freshman.
Tim Tebow was a unbelievable, huge superstar on a college campus.
But Tim Tebow was the backup quarterback his freshman year,
Peyton Manning. I mean, there have been a lot of

(08:23):
guys who came in and played early. I don't think
we've ever seen a true freshman quarterback have the performance
that Trevor Lawrence did on the biggest stages here in
order to take his team to fifteen. And oh and
I just think that the the the amount of sheer
attention and overwhelming media buzz, and also just you're a

(08:44):
college kid, and everywhere you go for the rest of
your time on a college campus, which could be three years,
everybody's gonna know everything that you're doing. I just I
can't even imagine what his lifestyle is going to be
like over the next couple of years. But again, to me,
the biggest takeaways are the battle of light and darkness.

(09:06):
I really do think Debo is light and Nick Saban
is darkness. The Yen and the yang, the eternal quest
for college football dominance is down to these two guys.
I think there's a good chance that Alabama will lick
their wounds, go back into the off season and make
a decision to recommit on a different level. And I
think there's a chance we see these two teams play

(09:27):
again for a fifth year in a row in the
College Football Playoff, and that will be the rubber match
to see what exactly ends up happening in this unbelievable series.
I want to bring in Jason Martin now he is
uh with me as we do the show live from
San Jose, reacting to Alabama and Clemson, the game that
we saw happened last night, the shocking outcome Clemson Tigers

(09:50):
dominate the Alabama Crimson Tide when their second national title
over Nick Saban in Alabama in the last three years.
And as a result, I'm Jason Martin, are you isn't
in as much of shock as I am about the
results here? I'm stunned. Uh, just what Davos when he
has been able to do and I absolutely love the guy.
If Alabama is gonna lose to somebody, I'm glad it's Clemson.

(10:13):
And I agree with your light dark comparison. It's like
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, if you want to take
it down that Pathway Star War analogy. Yeah, I agree.
Clemson has won even to the father son deal with
saving and Davos. Whennie Clemson has won ten plus games
in eight straight years and they've won two national titles
in the last three, it looks like the most fun
place in the world to go play football. Yeah, it's

(10:35):
a demanding environment, especially if you're on the defensive side
and having to deal with print ventables. But you're gonna
win a lot of football games and you are going
to be loved on when the time comes. I heard
Herb Streets say that on ESPN last night. It's like, yeah,
Debo is tough, but he also will love on you.
And that's what you saw in that postgame press conference.
Forty four to sixteen? Are you kidding me? And Alabama

(10:57):
moving the ball early too. Have made a couple of mistakes,
but generally speaking, Alabama was moving the ball and then
Clemson just took it to a completely different level. And
I'm sitting there thinking about it, and I tweeted late
in the game from att J mart Zone on Twitter,
I said, I just want to know what the response
to this would be. And within like fifteen minutes of
me tweeting this, I had over a hundred people respond

(11:19):
to me. I said, if you I don't know who
your NFL team is, you can tell me, But if
you had the opportunity right now to swap your guy
at quarterback for Trevor Lawrence today, would you do it?
And it was overwhelmingly yes. There were some Chiefs fans
that said no. There were Packers fans that said, yeah,
Aaron Rodgers is almost done, we'll take Trevor Lawrence. It
was absolutely incredible. Trevor Lawrence. He has to stay in school.

(11:44):
But because of his age and as you mentioned, his
recognizability and all of the things that kind of make
him stand out, He's kind of like Lebron James in
college football because we're gonna sit there and we're gonna
pay attention to what he does. His skill set is absurd, dude,
six six two fifteen athletic can run. The way he
throws the football was absolutely outrageous. Those wide receivers are

(12:07):
are fantastic, And look, it's not like Alabama is some slouch.
That's why I'm sitting there watching the game with you
on the field. Two years ago, Jalen Hurt scores that
touchdown on the ground, I looked at you and said,
I still think there's too much time and Watson ends
up throwing the renfro and winning the game. That was
two teams on an even playing field that could have
gone either way. That's how it felt this. You could

(12:29):
make the argument this felt like a changing of the
guard in some ways. If you want to make the
argument that Dabo is either I thought he was pretty
close to Nick Saban anyway. I thought it was one
and two. You can say Dabo is better at this point,
at least right now. And we may see another matchup
between these two teams next year. I think it's very
very possible that we will. But if they played ten

(12:51):
times with Alabama win five, I don't know, honestly, because
Clemson so summarily outclassed and out coached Alabama outcoached him
into a spot where it's Saban went for that fake,
which is subsastrous decisions. How in the world. And and
even worse, Clemson came out in their defense. When you
see that, you call it time. They were ecstatic. They

(13:13):
were ecstatic to hold them to a field goal. There,
you're up thirty one to sixteen, a field goal to
make it thirty one nineteen, Like it was nonsensical to
begin with, right, so you're gonna kick a field goal.
You're down to scores, so you're gonna kick a field goal,
so you're still down two scores, Like I don't ever
understand when the team makes that kind of decision. Yeah,
me either. And then the lead blocker was the kicker

(13:35):
against Clemson's guys. I don't think that's a high percentage play, Clay.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I would put somebody out to
block that's not the kicker against Clemson's defense. Maybe Nick
Saban just wanted the kicker to get killed because he's
so angry at Alabama's inability to make field goals. That
was just Savan putting him out there to to be
severely decapitated. I I don't know, be sure to catch

(13:56):
live editions of out kicked the coverage with Clay Travis
we Knights aven pm Eastern eight pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app, joined now
by Joel Klatt, who is up early or up late,
as the case may be, depending on how you want
to classify it, because he is so giddy to be
able to come on and tap dance on the grave

(14:19):
of the SEC. Joel, that was the biggest ass kicking.
I'm gonna be honest with you. You know I'm a
big Saban guy. Saban got his ass kick. That was
Dabbo Sweeney delivering a beat down on Nick Saban that
I have not seen in almost a decade. I mean,
for the it's not just at Alabama lost right the

(14:39):
way that they played. I want to start before you
even get to the SEC A C. C Angle. I
want to start with this question because you played quarterback
in college football, and I remember we've had some conversations about,
like after a big Colorado Buffalo win, like how wild
it would be on campus when you're a starting quarterback.
And but you were not like an eighteen year old
starting quarterback. You had played minor league baseball. You were

(15:00):
fairly mature for your age. Can you imagine what Trevor
Lawrence's life is going to be like on Clemson's campus
for the next three years, Joel, three years? And it's
unbelievable for me to even think about what his life
will be like, because he could probably come out if
he were able to and be the overall number one
NFL draft pick right now. But to have to play

(15:23):
three years and and to win as a true freshman
and play like he did on this stage in front
of this many people. He's already a legend at Clemson,
and he could barely he could barely you know, get
like what like you can't even read a car? Yeah, yeah, yeah,
he can't even get a beer. I mean, I can
imagine what his life is like. I don't know what

(15:46):
it will be like, but I mean, my goodness, Uh,
he's such a talented guy and I know that. And
and even last night they were they were talking a
lot about him. But I gotta tell you a lot
of the passes he threw or I mean, they were good,
they were good, right, but he got bailed out a
few times by just spectacular catches by other great wide receivers.

(16:09):
There are great young players, so that whole core of
of nucleus of young offensive talent. I tell you, man,
that's that's gonna be tough to beat in the future.
And you gotta lead with a lot of stuff. But
yet this was the biggest beat down I've ever seen
Saban take. And to me, play what it what it
was is you're you're seeing Dabbo fight. Like let's say

(16:30):
that this is a boxing match, right, well, you're seeing
Dabbo and and and Nick Saban. And yet Nick Saban's
got a completely new corner every year because his his
assistants to turn over, turnover, turnover, and and to some degree,
I feel like that caught up with him because Clemson
doesn't be it with that. It's the same guys all

(16:51):
the time until they've got continuity on their staff, they've
got continuity within their programs, and I get it, like
this is this is not by any stretch to imagine
like the end of Abama. There's no way that that
that is the case. However, it seems like Clemson took
a giant step to the point that they are not
even just equal, but even now they're the ones on

(17:13):
top of the mountain. Then Clemson, excuse me, Alabama is
going to have to come after them. And I think
a large reason why they're on top of the mountain
is because of the continuity on the staff which has
not been afforded to Nick Saban. His assistance change over constantly,
and I think you saw that caught up with them
tonight because the game plan was not up to par.
It just wasn't schematically tool was not ready to play

(17:34):
that defense. Clemson had answers for everything, in particular on
third down, and I thought that the assistant coaches for
Alabama got their butts absolutely kicked and wiped the floor
with by the assistance for the Clemson tires. There is
an argument I started off the show this this morning
talking about it that Nick Saban is like represents the

(17:56):
darkness right, and that Dabo Sweeney represents the light. One coach,
it seems coaches with fear and anger. It seems like
there's an effervescent quality to Dabbo Sweeney. He's the kid
who wipes up every morning and is excited and that
his team has that culture that they have bought in.
And this felt in some way like a war between

(18:17):
Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, right, Like I know you
hate Star Wars, but I know you're at least familiar
enough with I'm getting into it because my sons are,
Oh okay, so what do you think about that? Aging Like,
I'm waiting to see the movies and I'm gonna see
it for the first time with my sons. What they
see that's pretty That's actually gonna be pretty owt like

(18:38):
I do like the analogy. I think that I thought
that and I can't remember who it was off the
top of my hair. Is just so early right now.
But the player that basically grabbed the mic from Rhees
Davis at the ends and basically gave like a recruiting pitch.
You never see one great players getting to their senior
year at Alabama. They're trying to get out of there

(18:58):
as quick as they can. I think Alabama is more
of a factory and Clemson might be more of a family.
And I haven't I haven't spent a ton of time
around either program because we just don't have the contract
in those leagues. But that's the way it feels, Clay,
that that the guys that go to Alabama and choose
Alabama they're there for a specific reason and they are

(19:20):
there to use Alabama as much as Alabama is using them,
whereas the Clemson players and I talked to with Christian
Wilkins a long time at the Impact Trope when we
came out here to l A and I hosted the ceremony,
and all we kept talking about was the family atmosphere
in the program, and I've never gotten that since from
an Alabama player. They talked about the process. I'm not
saying one is better than the other. It's just different.

(19:43):
Like you said, it's very different. And it is so
fascinating that two ends of the spectrum have gotten themselves
to the mountaintop to where they are the clear pre
eminent programs in college football. And it's not even close
right now. I mean, Ohiose State and Local Home are
the closest things to these two programs, and they're not
even close. And I didn't put George up there because

(20:05):
they just got show ACKed by texting. That's a bad look.
By the way, for the SEC. This is and and Clay,
here's the thing. You live by the sword, you die
by the sword. And all u SEC honks have lived
by the sword for so long about these bowl games
and national championships and the top of your conference matters
more than anything. And the two teams that were at

(20:25):
the top of your conference went out and got taken
behind the shed and their two biggest games in the postseason.
How much did you love that? I mean, I don't think.
I mean, I don't take pleasure in it. The only
thing that I take the only thing that I like
to see is I like to see when when that

(20:49):
narrative elite at least gets a leak into it, right,
Because I'll be honest, Bama fans don't drive me nuts.
Georgia fans don't drive me nuts. Most every other fan
base and in the SEC can be frustrating for those
of us on the outside of the SEC because they
are coattail writers. And and I think you would admittedly so, right,

(21:13):
I mean, the SEC chance and this and that, and
it's like, listen, in the bowl season, they're about a conference.
In the non conference are about a five hundred conference,
just like everybody else. The defenses in the Big twelve
tend to overperform against SEC offenses in the bowl season,
and vice person. When you're talking about offensive defense for
the SEC um and and so I just don't think

(21:33):
that the narrative is quite what what the fan bases
down there drive now what What is absolutely the case
is that there is more support. It does mean more
of the fan bases, and and as a whole, I
think that they have better players. Um but I think
all of those things can be true. And you can
be frustrated when the middle of that conference you know

(21:56):
sits there and wants to beat their chest and it's like, well,
what have you done? You know, get off the coattails
and Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. What happened
with two of Like what did you see? He did
see it? I don't. I don't think he saw it.
You know, there there are some games and I know
that's that that's maybe a bad explanation, But as a quarterback,

(22:17):
I've I always thought that more than your technical ability,
more than anything else, is that your ability to recognize
and react and diagnose is paramount. And and there are
some games when a team is doing something different than
they have shown all season long, or things you know,

(22:37):
things are just not the way you expect them. And
that's the way it felt for two it tonight. He
wasn't seeing the blitzes. Uh, he wasn't seeing the corners
when they were falling off a coverage. Twice he threw
interceptions to a corner that fell off of his initial route.
He just didn't see it, you know. The second interception
threw down the fields. Yeah, yeah, awful decision. And he's

(22:59):
got a an open wide receiver, you know, down the
field or excuse me as short in the flat in
the field. And and sometimes you get into those moments.
I think he was just trying a little bit too hard,
and so when you try too hard, you're trying to
force looks that are not there, and that forces you
to not see it. I just didn't think that that
he was reacting and reading what Clemson was trying to

(23:21):
do to him, and therefore they were really struggling that.
And then I'll couple it with this. I felt like
the play calling was suspect for Alabama. I thought that
they could have run the ball all night long. I
got the same thing, Joel. They weren't stopped on the
ground all night long. And then all of a sudden,
it would be like second and four and they would
throw a pass it being complete, third and fourth throw

(23:41):
a passing complete, and they would have to like punt
or try to field goal or then they would go
for it on four down. I'm like, if you just
ran the ball on second down, it's the first down.
And so to me, I felt like they're the forced
by Locksley the coordinator on his way out the forced
passing game. I thought them tremendously after it was it's

(24:04):
It's a good point because even when Clemson came down
and went up one to sixteen, Alabama got the ball
back drove and they hadn't either They'd run the ball
in every single play and then they went to the
pass and two or through the interception like they were
running at will on Clemson on that drive. Could have
taken off another couple of minutes. I think, at a minimum,
would have gotten some points there, may have taken the

(24:26):
lead back as they went into the half. All Right,
here is a decision that I think is maybe the
worst decision I've seen. Nick. How much how much time
we got on this interview, I don't know, because there's
a subject matter that I'd like to get to. Yeah,
last last question for you about the game, Um, the
decision to fake the fake the field goal. I think
it's the worst decision I've ever seen Nick's eban making

(24:48):
a game. Uh, your position, your perspective on that it is,
it's it's three or four fold. One. I thought it
was panic. There was a panic decision, and maybe it
was born out of the fact that he just cannot
find a kicker. And I know that's something that you've
lamented for a long time, Achille Field. That Alabama has
had throughout the Nick Saban dynasty is they have consistently

(25:08):
been poor in the kicking game. And and and so
there was panic, whether it was the kicking game or
just the overall dominance that Clemson was showing one of
the two things, does there's some panic? And then too
that there is an element of why in the world
would you try a fake when they are literally waiting

(25:30):
for the fake. They weren't rushing the kick, they were
lined up in like a prevent field goal defense. They
were ready for the fake, and they still attempted it,
which makes no sense to me whatsoever. So on the
other tears of that is, do you really put in
a face that if the look isn't there, you can't

(25:50):
one call a time out from the sideline or two
the players on the field know that they can't do
it and let's just kick it. Like, how is there
no one adjusting? How is no one in the boxing here?
We can't do it? Is to me that that's a failure.
That is a failure from from a coaching standpoint, that
one you called it out a panic, and then too,
there were no measures where you could fix the call

(26:13):
once it was clear that it was not going to
work based on Clemson's defensive Look, all right, we'll go
to your other topics earlier or Friday. Early on Friday,
I wake up and I see you, tweet to me
Joel Clad at Joel clad on Twitter. We're talking to
Joel Clad Fox lead College foot No, No, you can't
start with my tweet? Can okay? Tweet? I'll start with

(26:35):
my tweet. My tweet is it goes out yesterday morning? Uh,
Friday morning? Uh what, I don't know a day? It
is Monday morning. I can't even keep track of anything
when we have Monday night football in college football? All right, so,
uh Monday morning? Uh why I tweeted? Well? Well, well,
Ohio State fired Greg Siano as defensive coordinator. Luckily, according

(26:56):
to the National College Football Media, he will soon have
a bill in job offers to be head coach, given
what an amazing candidate he is. Now, let me before
I get to your response, I will say I put
a bullet in Danny Cannell. Did you see that? Because
if you didn't see this, okay, So so Danny Cannell
also jumped into our conversation. Yeah, I don't know. I

(27:19):
don't dislike hard I don't dislike Danny Cannell. But sometimes,
you know, when you have a great wine, I'm like,
I just gotta use it. It's too hard not to
use it. So Danny Cannell jumps right into our conversation.
I'll get to your tweet here momentarily, but first I
have to put out the put out the fire on
Danny Cannell here. Um, Danny Cannell jumps in and says,
because I'm talking about how Tennessee had done and Danny

(27:41):
can Danny Cannell jumps in and sorry, let me see,
let me find He basically said like, wow, wait, wait
to go. You saved the five and seven programs, basically
saying like, what in the world did you save them from?
Because that was the Dannell steps steps into our conversation
and says, clearly the fans were right, as evidence by

(28:03):
Tennessee's Monster five and seven season with three huge wins
over Charlotte E, T s U and Uteph Way to go.
We'll all get that apology letter out soon, because I
said every single person who ripped them should have to
write a personal apology column addressed of all fans. So
that was Danny Cannell's response. I then put a bullet
in Danny Cannell because I said, I said national media,
Danny not unemployed SEC trolls. And if you want to

(28:26):
be entertained on Twitter, go look at the responses since then.
So so Danny Canell is dead. I apologize that killing
him on Twitter. Um, but I love this stuff. Joel
comes at me, um and uh and comes off the
top rope and says, all right, I'll read your tweet now.
And here's the deal. If if, if this subject is
gonna come up, and I've told you this, Listen, you

(28:48):
and I, You and I are friends, but I told
you when this subject comes up, I'm coming with blowtorches.
Do you know that? Yes? Yeah? You know. What's funny
is I actually get Yeah, I get d ms from
people and they're like, does Joel like does Joel really
hate you? Like? So here, Yes, you're coming with blowtorches,
which I love, and so here's your tweet for the

(29:10):
thousand time. Yeah, you're gonna burn the house down for
the thousandth time, you idiot. We said that using a
third party, unsubstantiated reference from a civil suit deposition to
submarine his character because you thought he wasn't a good
coach was wrong double exclamation points. You can think he's
not a good coach, but what you and your mob
did was despicable. Um. So this is like, is this

(29:31):
the most popular thing that you ever tweet? Because I'm
looking at this right now and it's got seven thousand likes,
and here are the first responses that immediately come up.
Doesn't come any worse than Clay Travis forty likes? Um?
I I uh, Clay Travis eats paste a hundred and
forty three likes. Um. I mean just everybody like is uh?

(29:57):
But no, I don't want you to pack yourself on
the back about my tweets and say that that that's
the most popular. I tweet out more popular things than that,
but that's certainly one of them. When when when I
when I body bag you on Twitter. It tends to
be very popular and and listen, uh, Clay, I will
continue to do that if you bring this up, because

(30:18):
you continue to make this about like just the coaching acumen,
and like we have talked about several times, you can
absolutely hold that position. You can absolutely hold that position.
But what but what you did was the exact same
thing that like a lot of the people you lament
like crazy on your show, did Kavanaugh you trod It's

(30:41):
it's a it's a very it's a when you go
on the Kavanaugh angle you had, it's a strong argument.
You can make a strong argument that I was unfair
to Greg Siana. That's a fair position to have. I
would argue that it all me And look, I mean
it's kind of the same thing that Democrats did to Kavanaugh, right, Like,
I think the reality was they didn't want him to
be a Supreme Court justice, and so they found whatever

(31:03):
they could to justify him not being a Supreme Court justice. Now,
to be fair, I said I didn't want Greg Ciano
at all before I ever started going into Greg Ciano's past.
I didn't like what happened at that Tampa Bay, the
way he left there. I also didn't really like the
way that Butch Jones ran Tennessee. And I think there
are a lot of overlaps in terms of the culture
that they would have created between Greg Ciano and uh

(31:26):
And also I think this was just a volcanic fair
Those are fair arguments. Those are fair arguments as soon
as you bring up like you basically Dug and Dug
and Doug and then took something that was unsubstantiate that
was later discredited by the same witness who gave that

(31:46):
civil suit deposition in the criminal deposition. I mean, what's
gonna happen with you? You're gonna come with the blowtorch.
I I respect, I respect, I respect, you bring in
the blow shorts, you bring in the nuclear bombs, the
plastic explosives. What is going to happen with great reader

(32:07):
readers of Republicans by sneakers to really should when they
think about it. You're sitting there right now, you've read
the book. If you think about it, you're like, man,
I Julp's kind of right on this one. It's a
strong attack. Like if you if you and I were
running a political campaign and you could find something to
attack me on. I think this is the one you
would come at me on. I think that is a

(32:28):
I think you can make the attack that there is
a disconnect between the way I defended Brett Kavanaugh and
the way I attacked Greg Ciano. I think that's a
strong argument on your part. Uh. My distinction would be
that Greg Ciano I think was a panicked higher right.
The process that led to the selection of Greg Ciano
was I think a bad one, whereas I think the

(32:50):
selection process for like Brett Kavanaugh, whether you are a
hardcore Supreme Court watcher or not, he was an eminently
qualified person, one of the best qualified, if not the
that's qualified for that job. So what happens with Siano
now the NFL. This is why I'm gonna blow towards
you at any point, because now I think that he is,

(33:12):
because of perception somewhat of you know, an untouchable in
the college ranks, and so I think that he's he's
going to have to be an assistant in the NFL ranks,
and I think that he'll probably go there. If you
talk with NFL personnel like I do during the draft time, Clay,
what they'll tell you is one of the reasons Ohio
State defensive backs have been drafted so high, even got

(33:34):
like Denzel or when people were surprised you in the
top five. Is that Greg is one of the few,
if if not the only, defensive back coach in college
football that was teaching players how to defend like an
NFL corner and how they would trying to defend from
a technique perspective, like the fade route or so on
and so forth. So he's gonna have an opportunity, but
I just don't think it's going to be at at

(33:55):
a position which I do think he's qualified for. See,
I would argue that he is qualified based on what
he did at Rutgers, and you can disagree with that.
All all well and good, But that's part of the frustration.
Is what because because of the of the mom that
you lad, he's somewhat of an untouchable, and that's wrong.

(34:18):
I don't. I would also say this, you know me,
at least in this way, I don't look over my
shoulder to see who's behind me when I have an opinion.
So I think that the response in many ways to
Greg Siano would have been almost identical even if I
hadn't been involved at all. I think, you know my
opinion because you follow me in because you know that
I have a certain audience. But I think the Tennessee

(34:40):
fan based response would have been just as vociferous in
a negative way even if I hadn't been involved. And look,
there could have been a lot of people. There's a
lot of opinions that I have on this show on
a regular basis where people are driving into work every
morning and they're like, Clay Travis is an idiot. You know,
like from one moment to the next, they can be like,
everything that guy says is dumb, and then I say something.
It's like the Alonso Morning gift that every every about it,

(35:00):
like tweets or Alonso mornings shaking his head. I love it.
And then he just suddenly stops and he starts shaking
his head the other way. Um. You know, when you're
in the opinion business, sometimes people think that, you know,
you sound like an idiot, and then they're like, but
you know what, he's right about this one. And so
I think that still would have been a major issue regardless.
I don't know that I was instrumental in changing the
outcome of that story. Like, you know, I'm cocky for

(35:21):
me to say Hey, I wasn't the number one person
in this story. I think this story was bigger than me.
I do think it would have been bigger than me.
Was I a part of it? Did I like get
it more national attention? Maybe yes, But I still I'm
not sure whether if I had let's say, I've been
on a cruise and I didn't have WiFi. I think
that still the outcome might have been the exact same. Maybe,

(35:42):
but we don't know, because the only time I'm really
not on social media is when I'm on the reason
why I used the cruise example is when I'm out
of you know, like reach of WiFi or being able
to hop on Twitter or whatever else. So how does
the last question for you? How disappointed do you find
yourself on a morning like today when we have such
a long off season in college football? Like, I just

(36:03):
feel so bad when I wake up in the morning.
It's so long of an off season. Game ended last night, Yeah, right,
the game ends, and I was like, oh man, I
mean it really was such a great performance right from
from Clemson side, and so you're kind of basking in
the glow and you're seeing these kids enjoy it. Dabbo,
you know, it was was so good on the stage,

(36:24):
and then it dawns on you like there's nothing more
to debate, there's nothing more to talk about, there's nothing
I know, and it's brutal and now we have to Yeah,
we just have to wait. And now it's like the
draft time, you know. So it is a bummer from
that standpoint, But I'm looking forward to the next year.
It should be interesting these two teams and be favored

(36:46):
to be right back in the same position. I did
a way too early top ten. Yeah, you can go
on social media and check it out. Uh And and
I'm gonna put based on last night's performance, I'm gonna
put Clemson at number one in the preseason with their
quarterback back, with the young skill position players back, even
replacing some of those defensive windmen. Alabama is going to
be number two, and then behind them. I think it's

(37:06):
kind of a big hodgepodge of teams, like out of
this handful play, I think it's kind of like the Georgia,
Oh you Ohio State Texas. Maybe if it's kind of
that next year, I can't wait. I'm already ready for
the kickoff and then we've got eight months to sit
around and wait for Joel clad It's always fun. Go
follow Joel on Twitter at Clay Travis. You never know

(37:27):
when he's gonna break out the blowtorch and come after me,
so not to make sure you don't miss. That's the thing.
You specifically know. There's one thing, well one thing, but
you have to be honest. At some point the Sianos
story is going to fade in terms of being able
to talk about it, and the number one, You'll still
find something else you want to find. I'll find another thing. Then. Uh,

(37:50):
he is Joel Clatt. Go follow him at Joel Clad
on Twitter. I am Clay Travis. This is out kick
the College later, by the way, later today. I'll be
unlock it in later today. Oh that's right. Okay, well
you know what, I won't be unlock it in today
because I gotta fly back from the Bay Area. So
you can just take shots at Whitlock is gonna be
Whitlock is gonna be sitting in I can't make fun

(38:11):
of his callers. No, that's right. It is convenient that
I'm not gonna be on, so I'll just have to
find out interview. Ever. I appreciate the time. Then alright,
that's Joe claud at Joe Claud on Twitter. Be sure
to catch live editions of I would kick the coverage
with Clay Travis weekdays at six am Eastern, free am Pacific.
I believe this is the best thing that could happen

(38:33):
to college football because if Alabama wins and they beat Clemson,
the number one thing that people would have said is
I hate college football. It's so predictable. Why do you
ever pay attention to college football? Why should I ever
invest my time when I know what's ultimately going to
happen is Nick Saban in Alabama's gonna win the national

(38:53):
championship And you could point to uh in defense, you
could say, well Clemson won a couple of years ago,
and you could say and the person would say, yeah, yeah,
but that was with Deshaun Watson. They were really lucky
to win. That was a close game. It doesn't happen
very often that Alabama loses. And I think that this result,
not just at Alabama lost, but that the way they

(39:15):
lost is the best thing that could happen to college
football because one, it's now a legitimate battle royale between
Dabo Sweeney and Nick Saban, and so much of college
football is about the coaches, because the players are here
and gone so quickly that what what kind of lingers

(39:38):
is the tension, whether or not it's real or just
perceived between top coaches. And certainly the best I would
say rivalry that existed from the coaching perspective in college football,
even though they didn't play a ton of times, was
Alabama and Nick Saban against Urban Meyer in Ohio State.
And Urban Meyer retires now or he's gone for a

(39:59):
couple of years, whatever he's gonna be, but he's not
gonna be going head to head with Nick Saban, and
so you needed that person to step up onto the
pedestal and compete with Alabama. And I think the result
that we got last night Alabama with their worst defeat
in twenty years, Alabama getting uh the worst beat down
they've gotten since Nick Saban was coaching against them for

(40:21):
l s U was utterly shocking and fantastic for college
football as a whole. For Nick Saban to get a
come up and in some way for Alabama not just
to lose, but for them to get whipped. I think
there are a lot of people out there who enjoyed it,
and I think there's also now a great deal of

(40:42):
interest in what might happen going forward with Alabama and
Nick Saban. I think most people right now would say, well,
Debo Sweeney, you get your second national championship. Right It's
so hard to win national championships. Right now, we only
have a handful of coaches that have ever won national
championships coaching in college football right now, right with Urban
Meyer tiring, you got Dabbo now with two, you got

(41:02):
Nick Saban with five or six or eight or whatever
the hell he's got. Now you've got um Jimbo Fisher
with one. And really that's it, right, I mean, the
college football universe is not filled with hardly anybody. Got
Bob Stoops, who has retired and obviously had won a
national championships. Spurrier retired a few years ago. There really
isn't this large number of championship winning coaches. I don't

(41:24):
know who's gonna be the next coach to win one,
but I think this is utterly fantastic for college football
as a whole. Am I crazy for believing that Jason Martin? No?
But I think the best thing now for college football
would be for a third team to emerge I think
that the more parody the better, as long as it's
not parody through mediocrity. What's the best thing could happen

(41:45):
for the NBA right now? The Warriors not to win
and Lebron maybe not to win either, but someone else
to emerge that actually has staying power. It can't just
be a fluke that shows up and then disappears. Clemson
winning is better for college football and better for the
interest of Oldan Bama winning again, because as good as
dynasties can be and as good as the Goliath is,

(42:05):
eventually the David has to win or you stop reading
that story. So you have to find somebody else. But
let's say Ryan Day and Ohio State are really able
to make a move any absence of Urban Meyer, or
finally Oklahoma finds something defensively, or there's some team out
there that's on the precipice of being great that maybe
we don't see right now, just as Clemson was six
or seven years ago, and all of a sudden they elevate.

(42:28):
It's better to have to than one, But if you
can get a third, then you actually have a lot
more intrigue, especially if it were to come from another
part of the country that seems right now, I think
to be sort of distillated and distant away from relevancy
in college football. One of the problems with California and
selling tickets this game is nobody cares that much about

(42:48):
pro sports out there, and they have no relevancy out there.
The crowd was pretty fantastic to talk about the fact
that people were not going to travel. I looked around
at kick off, the whole thing was sold out. Um, now,
it may have been difficult for Alabama and Clemson, and
I will say this too. You go to the Super
Bowl and you look around a Super Bowl stadium, the

(43:09):
vast majority of the fans that are in that crowd
are not wearing any gear for the two teams that
are playing. It's a corporate environment. It's a you know,
like you might enjoy watching football, but there's very little
of the fan element there. Almost every single person in
Levi Stadium last night, who had traveled all the way
out to the Bay Area, mostly because these people are

(43:29):
from you know, the South, from Clemson and from Alabama
was in either Alabama Crimson Tide or Clemson Orange. So
almost the entire stadium you looked around, everybody had a
rooting interest, So even though it's a long way to go,
I think it was a impressive turnout. But I think
one reason why the challenge certainly existed here was not

(43:50):
just because of how far it was. It was because
these teams continue to win, and I think because there's
a lot of Alabama and Clemson people out there who thought, Okay,
if I don't go to this National championship game, I'll
go to the next one, And most fan bases don't
get that opportunity. Right, It's hard to win a national championship,
so your team even playing for one is so rare

(44:11):
for most fan bases that they're like, oh, I gotta
be there. This might not happen again in my lifetime.
Right For Alabama and Clemson, they're like, Uh, if we
don't go to this national title game, we'll go to
the next national title game when it's in a better
location for us, which is I think the height of arrogance,
but also justified given how good they have been throughout.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

(44:32):
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
I put up a poll question late last night early
this morning, depending on what um uh time zone you
were in. And I said, would you rather have Trevor Lawrence,
who I think put forward an unbelievable performance last night

(44:52):
against Alabama? Probably the greatest given the circumstances, probably the
greatest true freshman quarterback performance we have ever seen. I
said true freshman because immediately I'm gonna get blown up
on Twitter and a lot of people out there are
going to say, you know what, uh, well, Clay, what
you what are you talking about? Like Johnny Manzel was

(45:14):
really good as a freshman. There's a lot of red
shirt freshman who have been good, but an actual true freshman,
and that he was in high school the year before.
I'm not sure that we have seen very many of these.
And this idea came to me, Jason Martin, because you
tweeted about it, asking people whether or not they'd rather
have Trevor Lawrence or the current quarterback of your NFL
team for the next five years. And look, I think

(45:35):
the interesting part of this now is the next five years,
right because if you're let's say you're in New England
Patriots fan, well you got Tom Brady right now. He's
pretty good. He's forty one. Do you think Tom Brady
is gonna be a quarterback at forty six? And say
Philip Rivers, you really like Philip Rivers, he's thirty seven.
Say like Drew Brees, he's thirty nine. So even teams
with pretty good quarterbacks might not necessarily think, oh that

(45:58):
this is an easy call at all. In fact, you
probably have to go to Trevor Lawrence. I'm not even
sure how many NFL teams right now. If I say,
for the next five years, maybe I go with Russell Wilson.
I think I probably would. Maybe I go with Deshaun Watson.
Maybe maybe I don't think. I think I'd rather have
Trevor Like, how many quarterbacks can you name right now

(46:18):
that you would rather have for the like based on
what we've seen from Trevor Lawrence and what you can
project that he could be capable of by the time
he becomes the number one overall draft pick in the
one draft, which I think is a foregone conclusion at
this point if that were to happen. How many guys
out there are you kind of like, would you rather

(46:38):
have Jared Goff or Trevor Lawrence? Lawrence, I'd rather have
Trevor Lawrence and Jared Goff may go to the Super
Bowl this year, would you rather? I'm trying to think
of young quarterbacks Jared having Horson Wentz. Did erather have
Carson Wentz or Trevor Lawrence? Think I'd rather have Trevor Lawrence.
Pat Mahomes, I think you can make the argument, okay,
and I think it. Trevor Lawrence is the best quarterback

(46:59):
prospect come out since Andrew Luck in terms of how
much hype is gonna be on him and how teams
are gonna lose to try and get them. I think
they're very comparable and how they're gonna be seen. But
Lawrence is ahead of schedule. You started to notice Luck
a little bit later on and then you're already red
shirt his first year. Yes, I think he did. Uh,
we can look that up and confirm it, but I'm

(47:20):
pretty sure that he did. So. Okay, Yeah, Patrick Mahomes
a good one. I think you'd have to say, look
the guys throwing fifty touchdown passes in the NFL. He's
twenty three years old. He's still not gonna be thirty
in five years. I think Okay. Kansasy Chiefs fans can say, yeah,
I'd rather have him than Trevor Lawrence. Probably Andrew Luck
if he can stay healthy, assuming he stays healthy, what
is it Luck now like twenty eight years old. Yeah.

(47:41):
Baker Mayfield is another one that you could at least
make an argument for. He looked really good in Cleveland,
but you know he's a little bit smaller in stature.
Trevor Lawrence is six six to fifteen and could really
wing the football. Looks to be extremely accurate as well.
But I think that Cleveland fans I had Cleveland fans
sending me tweets back saying no, we'll keep Baker Mayfield.
The three guys that were pretty universal were Mahomes, Luck

(48:05):
and Mayfield, all Titans fans, of course, all Texans fans.
It seemed like, also said no to Shaun Watson, Dak Prescott. No.
Even a couple of Patriots fans said, look, I thought
we were gonna run Tom Brady into the ground as
long as possible, but maybe we want Trevor Lawrence in
a couple of years in New England. And I think
you would take him now for sure, because the age
I think you say yes, I think you say five years.

(48:27):
It knocks out all of the elite Hall of Fame
level quarterbacks that are at that the tell into their careers,
no matter how many more years they got, whether it's Brady,
whether it's Breeze, whether it's Eli Manning who maybe a
borderline Ben Roethlisberger, Uh, Philip Rivers, Guys who are really
good and have won super Bowls or won a lot
of playoff games that you feel very confident about this
year and maybe next year too. But I think that

(48:49):
almost takes everybody out of the out of there. I mean,
it's it is a way, it's a great question that
you had in the wake of his performance and how
good he was. And also just I mean, he's nineteen
right now, and he doesn't even like he looks like
a nineteen year old a little bit right, Like, he's tall,
he's kind of gawky, like if you look at his arms.
He's obviously gonna spend a lot of time in the

(49:09):
Clemson weight room over the next couple of years. He's
probably a fraction of what he's going to be by
the time he is coming into the NFL and a
couple of years. Yeah, let's play a quick game I'm
gonna name the quarterback. You say yes or no, Roethlisburger
five years. There's no doubt I would rather have Trevor
law Mahomes. We already went over Matt Ryan. Rather have

(49:30):
Matt Ryan's like thirty three or thirty four. Now, I
don't think it's any doubt I'd rather have Trevor Lawrence.
I would. I would take Trevor Lawrence luck we already said.
I would take Andrew Rogers, Aaron Rodgers like thirty four.
I would take Trevor Lawrence to Tom Brady and this
and again people out there like, oh, you're crazy five
years five years, So you gotta have these guys for

(49:52):
five years, so you have to factor in the age
in a big way. Um, Aaron Rodgers. I would take
Tom Brady, no doubt. I would take Trevor Lawrence, Philip
Rivers and Eli Man and we know, same difference or
the same same deal. Kirk Cousins, Oh, Trevor Lawrence. Absolutely.
Deshaun Watson. I think you could make an argument DeShawn
Watson does look very good. I would take Trevor Lawrence.
I would take Trevor Lawrence to Derek Carr Trevor Lawrence,

(50:15):
Drew Brees. We already said another kind of beyond years old.
He'll be forty four and five years he take Trevor Lawrence. Now,
I'm gonna just run through guys until I get to
any that are even questionable. Case Keenum, Dak Prescott, Matt Stafford,
I'm taking Trevor Lawrence, Baker Mayfield, you can talk Russell Wilson.
I'll probably take Russell Wilson, can take Cam Newton, not
definitely take Trevor Lawrence. Ye, Mitch Trobiski, not even close,

(50:38):
Carson Wentz. I'm taking Trevor Lawrence. I'm not even gonna
say jamis his full name, Sam Donald. That's intriguing. You
could maybe make a Donald argument because he's in the NFL.
Now they're somewhat similar in age. We don't know what
his ceiling is gonna be. I think that's possible. Okay, Bordles,
Why did I even mention that? Andy Dalton not even close,
Mariota not even close, Joe flat Go, not even close. Fitzpatrick,

(51:01):
not even close. Jackson if you want Jackson, Nick Mullins,
Jimmy Garoppolo, I'm taking Trevor Lawrence. So we got like
five guys right now, I just named them. Josh Rosen
is the only starting quarterback. I didn't mention Rosen. Maybe
you can make an argument if he gets a real coach.
But Trevor Lawrence right now is better than I would
say or seven of the quarterbacks in the league two
years from today. So is he Lebron? I think maybe

(51:27):
closest thing since Andrew Luck for sure, But is he
gonna be even higher on the level than Andrew Luck?
Because there were some skeptics based on the Stanford angle
on Andrew Luck and everything else. I think there's a
good chance there's gonna be a lot of NFL teams tanking,
and unlike in the NBA, where you have the lottery,
you know what you need to do to get the
number one overall pick. This is gonna be fascinating to see.
Be sure to catch live editions of OutKick the Coverage

(51:49):
with Clay Travis week nights at eleven p m Eastern
eight pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Heart Radio app.