CFB analyst believes there could be way more post-spring portal action

Josh Pate can see more post-spring transfer portal shakeup than we’ve seen in early portal action.

The transfer portal has been active this offseason. It could see even more change once spring football is over according to one college football analyst.

247Sports’ Josh Pate shared the following on his Late Kick podcast of what could happen in the portal over the next couple months.

“The post-spring transfer portal cycle coming up may actually be wilder than the December window. There are no rules.”

Pate continued on what the lack of regulation means for the rest of the offseason.

“The impact is going to be enormous. A lot of you are nervous. Frankly, you should be nervous because there are no players who are safe right now.”

What does it mean for Texas? Like every other college football team, the Longhorns will likely have to continue to recruit their own players. Why? Because college football teams tamper. They do so because they can with little to no repercussions.

The above has become the new normal for Texas, and they’ve done a good job fending off teams trying to lure away their top players. Unfortunately, it could mean the Longhorns lose quality depth this offseason. After all, backups can play more and see better NIL opportunities elsewhere.

Despite the difficulties Texas will face in maintaining its roster, its challenges are shared with every other team in college football. The Longhorns will simply need to be one of the best at retaining their players to enter the season with an advantage.

Wisconsin football one of Josh Pate’s ‘mystery teams’ entering 2024

Wisconsin football one of Josh Pate’s ‘mystery teams’ entering 2024

CBSSports’ Josh Pate labeled Wisconsin one of his ‘mystery teams’ entering 2024 on his podcast Sunday night.

The Badgers were included along with Texas A&M, Arizona and Syracuse — all three programs with new head coaches entering 2024 (Mike Elko, Jedd Fisch and Fran Brown respectively). The Badgers have more stability than the other programs but also have a high bar which the 2023 results fell well short of.

Related: Which Big Ten football team has the toughest conference schedule in 2024?

“Wisconsin is a big mystery team in 2024,” Pate said on his show. “They were 7-6 last year, it was a lot of internal transition, first-year staff going from Paul Chryst to Luke Fickell, that’s understandable. Their key offensive numbers were not good enough. They were in the 60s and 70s in terms of national rankings of key offensive metrics…So now they’ve brought in Tyler Van Dyke at quarterback, they’re 20th in returning production, they return 70% of a top-40 defense. It’s year two under Luke Fickell…I feel very, very comfortable in betting on a program in year two under that guy and under his staff.”

Wisconsin’s season can certainly go one of a few ways. The gauntlet schedule may lead to struggles and a poor record, or that schedule could become a stellar resume if the Badgers pick off big wins.

Either way, it should tell us a lot about what the future holds under Fickell and his staff.

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Notre Dame Football: National Analyst Weighs Irish Title Chances in 2024

Playoff or bust, sure…but what about Notre Dame’s actual championship chances?

What are fair expectations for Notre Dame in 2024?

Personally I look at pretty much any year going forward being a disappointment if the Irish aren’t hosting a first round playoff game in the middle of December.

Anything short of a College Football Playoff appearance, essentially being one of the nation’s top 12 teams, would certainly be seen as a failure.

But what about more than that?

What about winning a national championship for the first time since 1988?

To do so will require beating multiple powerhouses in the postseason, something Notre Dame hasn’t done a single time since the 1994 Cotton Bowl when they beat Texas A&M.

Josh Pate of CBS Sports and host of The Late Kick Podcast recently discussed Notre Dame in the 2024 season to come.  Check out how Pate handicaps Notre Dame’s chances both at the playoff and at actually ending their title drought below:

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Where the Wisconsin Badgers program falls in Josh Pate’s Big Ten Power Rankings

CBSSports’ Josh Pate agrees with our power rankings:

The Big Ten is in the midst of major changes entering the 2024 football season.

The East-West Division model is gone as the program welcomes top programs USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA into the conference.

Related: Way-too-early record predictions for every Big Ten football team in 2024 

Wisconsin’s place in the new 18-team conference is yet to be seen. Much will depend on the job Luke Fickell and his staff can do over the next few years, but it will also rely on the performance of the traditional powers up top.

I recently ranked every program in the conference with a forward-looking perspective — in other words, ranking the programs instead of just the 2024 teams.

Related: Win totals released for Wisconsin, every Big Ten team in 2024 football season

CBSSports’ Josh Pate did the same yesterday. He and I view Wisconsin the same way, but have some disagreements at the top of the conference:

Josh Pate high on LSU in current SEC program power rankings

The Tigers lose a lot of pieces in 2024, but the foundation for success is there.

The SEC is set for a major sea change in 2024.

Texas and Oklahoma are joining the conference as it expands to 16 teams, and with LSU facing what could be a transition year, it’s fair to wonder where this team stands in the new SEC.

While there are questions about the Tigers, Josh Pate of Late Kick is very high on them. Pate released his offseason program power rankings which, he said take a three-year rolling snapshot of on-field performance, talent acquisition, stability and resource pool.

Pate ranked the Tigers fourth in that regard, sitting behind Georgia, Alabama and Texas but ahead of newcomer Oklahoma.

With a new quarterback, receiving corps and defensive staff, we still don’t have a clear picture of what this team is going to look like in 2024. But the foundation is there for this team to be successful in the new era of the SEC.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Josh Pate optimistic about LSU’s offseason defensive moves

LSU reworked nearly its entire defensive coaching staff this offseason.

LSU boasted one of the best offenses in school history and arguably the best in the entire nation in 2023.

[autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] won the Heisman Trophy, [autotag]Malik Nabers[/autotag] finished as the nation’s second-leading receiver and a finalist for the Biletnikof Award, and [autotag]Brian Thomas Jr.[/autotag] led the nation in receiving touchdowns.

Despite those pieces, the Tigers finished with three losses and failed to repeat as SEC West champions. The defense was a major reason for that, and the Tigers have retooled nearly the entire staff on that side of the ball, which is now led by new defensive coordinator [autotag]Blake Baker[/autotag] from Missouri.

Josh Pate, host of Late Kick, praised those offseason moves.

“I don’t know that they have the personnel defensively to make it look any better but I think it will look better. I think LSU just made some really sizable defensive moves. [autotag]Kevin Peoples[/autotag], even with [autotag]Bo Davis[/autotag] coming in, even with Blake Baker coming in as the DC, I thought Peoples might be the best pound for pound defensive coach they brought in,” Pate said, per 247Sports.

“All those guys are big time upgrades over what they’ve had. When I say they made moves, that doesn’t mean everybody looks at each other and says ‘alright we’re all on board?’ Everybody has butting of heads in their athletic department. Teams that lose have it, teams that win have it. As long as everyone has the same end goal in mind, disagreement is not the worst thing in the world.”

Pate said that he still questions whether the defense will have the talent in 2024 to compete for an SEC or national championship, but he also said he’s interested to see what the team does in the spring portal window, where it’s likely to add more players with a number of position groups still looking thin.

“They have the sixth best odds to win the college football playoffs this year and that’s with being in the SEC. They have the fourth best odds to win the SEC. They are a top 10 recruiter since Brian Kelly’s been there, they are portaling very well, I don’t that the caliber of defensive personnel this year will be at the level they need it to be to compete for the national title,” Pate said.

“You’ve got the post spring portal window, let’s see what they do but I think the defensive moves they made, will at least have a different effort, a different caliber of LSU defense on the field. They got some really good players there. It is possible to scale performance using the same ingredients that made a meal last year that you didn’t like the taste of at all. You get the right teachers, the right coaches in the room and they took gigantic leaps towards doing that.”

LSU will hope Pate’s optimism is well-founded as the team looks to bounce back from a season that felt like a missed opportunity. It will have to do so without many of the stars from this year’s offense.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Josh Pate of CBS Sports breaks down why he thinks Kalen DeBoer was a great hire for Alabama

Josh Pate shares why he thinks Kalen DeBoer is a massive hire for the Crimson Tide

The Michigan Wolverines may have won the national championship Monday night, but the Alabama Crimson Tide football program has dominated the headlines all week long. Seemingly out of nowhere, [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] retired from the game Wednesday evening leaving Alabama fans lost in a void of emotion. However, Athletic Director Greg Byrne didn’t panic as he calmly told the fan base to give him 72 hours to figure it out – it took less than 48.

Ultimately, Byrne went with Washington’s [autotag]Kalen DeBoer[/autotag] who led the Huskies to a 14-1 season and national championship appearance. Rumors were floating all along as to who the top target was, but DeBoer was always Byrne’s No. 1 choice per Chris Low, even above Sark and Lanning. By Friday evening, Byrne had DeBoer on a plane back to Tuscaloosa with a strong chance at keeping some of the 2023 Alabama roster intact. Despite never coaching in the South, people nationwide seemed to unanimously agree it was a home run hire for the Alabama program.

One of the people highest on the Crimson Tide’s new hire was CBS Sports’s Josh Pate. There aren’t many people who have a better finger on the pulse in the SEC than Pate and he shared his thoughts saying, “Do you know the game? Kalen DeBoer does. Are you a winner? Yes, he has been quite literally everywhere he has gone… Kalen DeBoer is a winner. He is a hard worker. Therefore, he will not resist what it takes to recruit in the South. He will endear himself to people, and as a result he’s a fit, because when you win, you fit anywhere.”

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Josh Pate: Washington is ‘not the best matchup in the world for Texas’

Washington’s No. 1 pass offense in the nation will test the Texas secondary.

The Texas pass defense faces perhaps its most difficult test of the season in the Sugar Bowl. It faces the Washington Huskies (13-0) led by Heisman runner up Michael Penix at quarterback.

We mentioned that Penix doesn’t always protect the football, and I’ll stand by that notion. Nevertheless, it hasn’t prevented him from being productive. He leads the No. 1 passing offense in the country with the team averaging 343.8 yards through the air.

The Longhorns have a great run defense, but according to college football analyst Josh Pate that might not make a difference in this game.

“Texas is a Top 5 run defense in the country. Washington doesn’t care. … The reason why I said it’s not the best matchup in the world for Texas is because the purple team here comes in with the No. 1 passing offense in America, and Texas is sitting there with a 96th rated pass defense.”

While Texas has excelled in run defense with the nation’s No. 4 rush defense (80.9 yards per game), its pass defense has left something to be desired. The Longhorns allow 240.8 passing yards per contest ranking No. 96 in the country.

Despite the stats for the year as a whole, the Longhorns have adopted a different defensive approach recently. In its regular season finale, Texas effectively told Texas Tech they could have what they wanted in the running game and took away the pass.

In the above game, Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks ran for 95 yards on 19 carries while quarterback Behren Morton threw for 88 yards on 36 passing attempts.

We are not suggesting that Texas can do to Washington what it did to Texas Tech. Texas Tech is not comparable to Washington. Albeit, it is likely the Longhorns will aim to flood the secondary with defenders and dare the Huskies to run the football. If in the process they can limit offensive explosion or break up the Washington passing attack, such a game plan could put the game in their favor.

Washington likes to attack downfield. Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski prefers to conservatively protect against the deep ball rather than play aggressively. The matchup might actually be within Kwiatkowski’s comfort zone.

If Penix and company insist on throwing lower percentage downfield throws and miss, the Longhorns could turn over the Huskies offense and take an early advantage. We will see the matchup unfold on Jan. 1 when Texas faces Washington in the Sugar Bowl.

Josh Pate: The ‘James Franklin is overrated’ crowd is wrong

Josh Pate fires off on those who say James Franklin is overrated.

The [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] narrative is impossible to escape from every time Penn State plays a top-10 team, which it will be doing this week with a home game against Michigan, no. 3 in the College Football Playoff rankings and no. 2 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. Franklin’s history against top-ranked competition is not for the faint of heart and it rears its ugly head every time Franklin is heading into a big game like this.

Franklin is 3-16 against top 10 teams in his career at Penn State, but Josh Pate of Late Kick points out that Franklin was a favorite in just 1 of those 19 games, and Penn State actually won two of those matchups.

“If you think James Franklin is overrated, you are wrong,” Pate said. “If you think he should win more, that’s a different conversation.”

Franklin has what seems like a small contingent of defenders who always make the same argument. Franklin’s record is impossible to ignore, but it just barely scratches the surface. It is worth examining just how many of those games Franklin was expected to win. As Pate points out, the beating lines suggest that has rarely been the case.

Penn State is an underdog at home this weekend against the two-time defending Big Ten champion Wolverines. That means Penn State has been favored to win just 1 of the last 20 games against a top-10 team, most of which have been played against Ohio State and Michigan.

“If they go on to lose this game Saturday… I’ll have people tell me he’s overrated. That’s not what that word means,” Pate said. “I don’t think that word means what you think it means.”

 

Franklin is 86-37 in his 10th year at Penn State. Although he has coached Penn State to just 1 Big Ten championship, he has also led the Nittany Lions to 4 New Years Six bowl games with 3 wins (1-1 in the Rose Bowl, 1-0 in the Fiesta Bowl and 1-0 in the Cotton Bowl). Franklin currently has Penn State in a position to make another New Years Six bowl game this season, although a loss this weekend could put that in some jeopardy.

What do you think of Franklin? Do you believe Franklin is overrated or, as Pate suggests, is leaning more toward underrated?

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Is Oregon a top-5 team? One popular CFB analyst thinks so after Week 7

The Ducks dropped their first game of the season, but that isn’t stopping one CFB analyst from keeping them in his top 5 ahead of Washington.

Obviously, when you lose a game in the world of college football, your ranking tends to drop a couple of spots, at the very least. For the Oregon Ducks, who were ranked as the No. 8 team in the nation going into this last weekend’s game against the then-ranked No. 7 Washington Huskies, a 36-33 loss didn’t hurt them too much when it came to the AP Poll. On Sunday morning, it was revealed that the Ducks dropped down to No. 9, while the Huskies moved up to No. 5.

If you read Ducks Wire, then you know that we like to outsource when it comes to rankings, though, and try to find different views of the balance of power in college football, whether it means using ESPN’s Football Power Index or taking a look at the power rankings from a notable analyst like FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt.

This week, we are bringing a new analyst into the mix, because after Oregon’s loss to Washington.

His name is Josh Pate, and he is the host of Lake Kick with Josh Pate on CBS Sports. He’s a fast-rising analyst in the world of college football and is someone who has been incredibly high on the Ducks since before the season started.

He remains high on the Ducks, even following this loss to Washington. Pate’s justification is that these are power rankings, so the model he uses produces the hierarchy based on who should be favored over whom, given that the game takes place on a neutral field.

Take a look at where he has Oregon ranked, and in particular, where he has Oregon ranked in conjunction with Washington.