Joel Klatt sent a strong message to those who doubted Coach Prime
Two years after a one-win campaign, the Colorado Buffaloes are currently 6-2 under the leadership of head coach Deion Sanders, who has delivered for his supporters and quieted critics this season.
Coach Prime’s Buffs are vastly improved on both sides of the ball and national pundits have taken notice. In a recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast,” Fox Sports analyst and former Colorado quarterback Joel Klatt offered his thoughts on the Buffs’ recent success.
“Deion Sanders gets hired, he brings his son Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter, he talked a big game about the transfer portal, and he has rebuilt that entire program,” Klatt said. “Deion Sanders has been an unequivocal success, and I mean home run success. There is no other way to categorize it. All of you that want to take shots because you don’t like his style now have to sit there and watch his team play tough at the line of scrimmage, do a better job at the offensive line running the football and taking care of the ball and now they’re 6-2.”
Klatt would later call out those who doubted Sanders’ ability to coach.
“Where are all of you now that think Deion is a joke?” Klatt said. “Where are all of you now that think Deion is only in it for himself? This guy can coach, and I’m glad he’s going it at Colorado.”
After a bye week, Colorado will battle Texas Tech in Lubbock on Nov. 9 (time and television TBD).
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Where does Georgia fall in Joel Klatt’s top 10 list?
Fox Sports college football expert Joel Klatt released his top 10 college football rankings after an entertaining Week 9. There were several battles between ranked opponents and some near upsets this week, but most of Klatt’s rankings remain the same.
Week 9’s headline matchup was another SEC showdown: the LSU Tigers took on the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station, Texas. The game had massive playoff implications. It looked good for the Tigers early. They took a 17-7 lead off a Garrett Nussmeier touchdown pass to Aaron Anderson. However, Texas A&M turned the game into a blowout with a 31-6 run. They won 38-23 thanks to their insane running game, which produced 242 yards and five touchdowns.
Texas at Vanderbilt was another intriguing SEC game. Georgia fans who watched the Commodores upset Alabama a few weeks ago were hoping for another upset, but the Longhorns secured the 27-24 win.
A few matchups with intrigue were never close. Alabama knew it needed to beat Missouri to have a shot at the College Football Playoff, so the Crimson Tide shut it out, winning 34-0. Oregon continued to prove why it is the No. 1 team in the country, dominating No. 20 Illinois, 38-9.
Next week could prove more fruitful in altering the rankings. Penn State and Ohio State duke it out in a heavyweight Big Ten matchup. Pitt and SMU clash in a game that could see one of them head into the top 10 if Clemson or Miami lose next week. Georgia plays the Florida Gators in Jacksonville, Florida, in a rivalry game.
See where the Alabama Crimson Tide rank in Joel Klatt’s new college football rankings after Week 9.
The Alabama Crimson Tide had a bounce-back 34-0 shutout win over the Missouri Tigers that was showcased in Sunday’s updated Top 25 polls. Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide moved up one spot to No. 14 in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 poll.
What does the Tide’s impressive performance mean to Fox Sports analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt? As he does every Sunday, Klatt re-ranked his Top 10 college football teams following Saturday’s action.
Klatt moved Alabama back into his Top 10 at No. 9, one spot behind the Tennessee Volunteers and one spot ahead of the Miami Hurricanes. Alabama had fallen out of Klatt’s Top 10 rankings after its 24-17 loss at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 19.
The Oregon Ducks topped Klatt’s Top 10 rankings, followed by the Georgia Bulldogs at No. 2. The Ohio State Buckeyes were No. 3 with the Penn State Nittany Lions No. 4. The Texas Longhorns were No. 5 in Klatt’s re-rankings.
It’s easy to see why Klatt was impressed with Alabama’s performance.
The Tide dominated in the second half. Jalen Milroe, much maligned after his performance in Alabama’s loss to Tennessee, was far from perfect against Missouri, but he made enough plays with both his arm and his legs for a steady performance.
The Tide ran the ball effectively. Justice Haynes led the way with 79 rushing yards on eight carries and delivered a knockoff-punch touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Jam Miller had two touchdown runs on 11 carries for 48 yards, and Milroe had a breathtaking nine-yard touchdown scramble early in the third quarter as Alabama slowly began to put Missouri away.
The Crimson Tide finished the day with 271 rushing yards.
And with Missouri driving on what would be its final offensive of the game, the Tide’s defense turned the Tigers away on a fourth-down stop from the 1-yard line. Alabama’s players and coaches, especially defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, were fired up.
All in all, Alabama’s dominant victory gave the Crimson Tide something to feel good about heading into its Week 10 bye. The Tide will head to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers on Nov. 9.
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The Clemson Tigers are just outside the Top 5 in Joel Klatt’s new college football rankings after Week 9.
Week 9 in college football didn’t see a ton of movement in the Top 10, with the top six teams all remaining the same from last week in Sunday’s release of the new US LBM Coaches Poll.
The No. 1 Oregon Ducks looked impressive in their Top 25 matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini. Dillon Gabriel and Oregon got out to a 35-3 halftime lead and defeated Bret Bielema’s Illini, 38-9.
As for the Clemson Tigers? Dabo Swinney’s team moved up one spot to No. 8 in the coaches poll following their bye week.
What does it all mean to Fox Sports analyst and broadcaster Joel Klatt? As he does each Sunday, the former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback re-ranked his Top 10 teams following Saturday’s action.
Klatt moved Clemson up one spot to No. 6 in his weekly re-rank. The Tigers are now four spots ahead of Miami (8-0) in Klatt’s rankings
Clemson ranks one spot ahead of the Indiana Hoosiers (8-0) at No. 7 in Klatt’s rankings. Klatt ranked the Tennessee Volunteers at No. 8 and the Alabama Crimson Tide at No. 9 following their big bounce-back win over the Missouri Tigers, 34-0 in Tuscaloosa. Miami was ranked No. 10.
As one of the biggest games of Week 9 in NCAA college football, Notre Dame travels to East Rutherford, New Jersey to take on the Navy Midshipmen at MetLife Stadium in a top-25 matchup.
Many believe that the Irish will prevail, but you can’t count Fox Sports college football analyst [autotag]Joel Klatt[/autotag] as one of them. The former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback wasn’t asked directly who would come out victorious this weekend, but instead was questioned on which teams were overrated, underrated or just right.
Quickly the rapid-fire session got to Navy, as Klatt proclaimed they were underrated and “way better than people realize.” Not only that, he went on to say that the spread was too large and believes that “they beat Notre Dame outright.”
Navy is solid, but they have yet to be tested this fall, while the Irish are the complete opposite. You can tell a lot about how a team responds when getting punched in the mouth.
Unfortunately, that lasted a who game for Notre Dame, but they’ve learned from its mistakes. Hopefully, the Irish extend their winning streak to 6-games on Saturday afternoon.
Dec 4, 2021; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt during the Michigan Wolverines game against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Conference championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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What they’re doing is clearly not working. #GoBlue
After Michigan football lost to Washington in Week 6 to go to 4-2 on the season, the coaches and players said there was now time for urgency, but there was no time to panic. After losing another to Illinois, the team still says it’s not time to panic.
Well, Fox Sports’ premier color commentator Joel Klatt is sounding the alarm, saying it is time to panic.
Nothing seems to be going right for Sherrone Moore in his first year coaching the maize and blue. So on Wednesday, Klatt devoted some time on his show to discuss why things aren’t working in Ann Arbor, what’s going wrong, and why there’s such a drop off from last season.
(And for those lurking rival fans, no, it’s not Connor Stalions.)
“Let’s start with the Michigan Wolverines, because right now it ain’t going well,” Klatt said. “Another bad loss on the road, this time against a pretty good Illinois team. This Illinois team is tough. They’re scrappy. Bret Bielema has done a really nice job with Illinois, by the way. I loved the uniforms, the throwbacks. I thought were really cool, absolutely leaning into the history of the game.
“Here’s the first thing that we’ve got to kind of address with the Michigan Wolverines. They fall to 4-3 on the season. They’ve got back-to-back losses now. They lost on the road at Washington and on the road at Illinois. Bottom line, boilerplate — Joel, how do we feel about Michigan? I think it’s time for some alarm bells here. I think that this is panic time. This is panic time. Michigan is in a dire spot right now, not only this season, but maybe even looking forward. So let’s dive into it.
“What’s going on right now? What’s the current state of Michigan? And I think this is the most obvious, and the obvious is, is that they’re getting no contribution for the quarterback position. They’re getting no contribution from the passing game. They’re 129 right now in passing offense. 129, that’s just not going to cut it. And not even close. By the way, their turnovers are up. They don’t convert on third down. It’s far too predictable. Their offense, it’s its run, and then throw it to Colston Loveland. That’s all they’ve got. And Colston Loveland is double covered in the majority of those scenarios, and so they’re just throwing him contested catches, and if he doesn’t come down with it, they’re punting it away. There’s just no ability for them to have sustained offense right now unless they pop a big run. And I don’t think that they’re a bad running team. I do think that they’re physical at the point of attack. They’re doing some quality things in the run game, but they’re not throwing the football well enough to win.
“Then you compound that with the fact that they have turned the ball over this year far more than they did a year ago. And it’s panic time, because this offense is not anywhere close right now, not anywhere close. And again, namely because they just overvalued what they had on their own roster, at the quarterback position, unfortunately. I think they wish that it would have gone differently in the offseason, but it hasn’t, and this is what we have now at that position. They overvalued the quarterback position, they overvalued the wide receiver position because they didn’t address that. Remember, now, in this day and age of college football, you can address areas of needs, and even really good teams have done this. Even some of the best teams in the country have done this. Look at Texas. Texas needed to address the secondary. They got Mukuba from Clemson. They needed to address the wide receiver position. They got Bond from Alabama. They got Ryan Wingo from a recruiting perspective, they addressed those positions, because in the modern college football you can construct a roster. Michigan, maybe they didn’t have enough time to do so, and that’s fair, and that’s fair because of the coaching change of when Jim Harbaugh left and when Sharon Moore became the head coach. But the bottom line is, is that they did not accurately evaluate their own position groups on their roster, and they overvalued them. And when you do that, man, it it doesn’t work out. It doesn’t work out.
“So they didn’t address it in the transfer portal, they didn’t address it in recruiting. And then now we get to a position where the play at those positions is just not good enough. It’s just not good enough. I think it’s difficult to target transfer receivers if you’re going to play the style of football that Michigan does, so I’m not going to be as hard on them about the wide receiver group as the quarterback group. And then this is what you have to kind of realize, folks, is that JJ McCarthy was incredible, incredible. And I think a lot of people thought that it was just the offensive philosophy. It was just their ability to run the football that made them successful, and that McCarthy was just a system guy. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Now they think that, and I understand why, because in a top 10 matchup, they went on the road and ran the ball 32 straight times against Penn State. Now they had that in their bag, and they were able to lean into that physical nature and go and win a football game on the road against a team that wanted to rush the quarterback. But if you actually dive into the numbers, you see that JJ McCarthy was brilliant on third down, not just good, not just adequate. He was brilliant on third down, and namely, on third-and-long. When you go back and you look at the numbers, he was unequivocally the best quarterback in the country on third and long, not even close. And so what they were able to do is continue to lean into their philosophy and their style, knowing that he bailed them out time and time and time again, and he never got credit for it, and only now in hindsight do we all look back and we say to ourselves, you know what? JJ was pretty damn good — and he was, whether it was utilizing his legs or his ability to make plays with his arm down the field, he was the best quarterback in America on third-and-long. And candidly, it wasn’t even close. He converted more third-and-longs than anybody in the country.
“So then you look at the wide receiver position, and maybe you underestimated the contribution that a guy like Roman Wilson made, or Cornelius Johnson — like these guys made big catches. And then you dive into it, and you watch, like, red zone film from a year ago, or third down film from a year ago, and you start to realize it was like, oh, dang. Like Roman made huge catches all the time. I mean, he had, I think it was like 12 touchdowns last year. So when they lose these guys, it’s impossible to replace them. In particular, if you overvalue your own roster more than anything in modern college football, I think that a coach’s ability to clearly evaluate his own roster and then build a roster moving forward, whether that’s roster retention or construction from outside, I think that’s the most important thing going on, and they didn’t do it.
“So that’s where we’re sitting at here on the offensive side, and then that has affected their defense, because they don’t have the depth on defense that they did last year, in particular in the front seven. So when I would sit with Jesse Minter, we would talk a lot about what they had from a depth perspective in the front seven. And he thought that that was key, not because he got to play a lot of good players, which is which is true, but it was the freshness aspect. So like so, for instance, when I’m preparing last year for the Big Ten Championship Game, as Michigan was about to face Iowa, you go through and you looked at like the average number of snaps per game for any of their defensive linemen, OK — edge players or interior defensive tackles — none of them played much more over 30 snaps per game. In fact, Mason Graham played the most snaps per game, and it was right around 30. So the depth allowed them to stay more fresh, and then they were able to rush the quarterback with much greater effectiveness, in particular later in games, which is what we saw in some of those big matchups, whether it was Alabama, or whether it was Ohio State, or whether it was Washington, that’s not there.
“I think we also maybe underestimated what the defensive secondary was and the second level, Junior Colson, the linebacker, Michael Barrett, their combination. They started together at the linebacker spot for about two and a half years. OK, so now you’re trying to replace that, and they’re doing it with transfers, Hausmann and Barham. And then you come to this last guy, and it’s like, you know what? He might have been the best defender on the field last year, and that’s Mikey Sainristil. He’s not out there. When Nick Saban praises an opponent to the level that he praised Mikey Sainristil, then we should all take notice, because he’s watched the film. He knows what’s going on. They had to game plan against him.
“So all of those guys are gone. They don’t have the depth. They didn’t evaluate the quarterback position, right? They didn’t evaluate the wide receiver position, right? And here we are, and remember, they’re trying to use the same philosophy. This is not a team that blew people out a year ago. It was a boa constrictor. I talked about it tirelessly right here on this program is that Michigan was the boa constrictor. And when you use the boa constrictor philosophy, you are creating a small margin for error where you’ve got to do everything right. So it matters if you’re able to hold on to the football because you don’t, you don’t play a style that’s going to be able to come back from behind. So you’ve got to win the turnover margin, you’ve got to win the field position battle, you’ve got to win the time of possession battle. You’ve got to be good on third down. They were last year, in fact, in a lot of those categories, they were the best in the country. They were the boa constrictor. They did it great. Nobody better. But the key is like, JJ on third-and-long, keeping the defensive line fresh. There’s these little ingredients that they don’t have this year. And so when you play small-margin games and you don’t have those things, you lose. And that’s what’s going on with Michigan. So that’s the current state with Michigan, and now we’ve got to look forward. And I hate to say this to Michigan fans, but it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.”
Watch the whole video including more on the rest of the schedule for Michigan
Raiola has been a dynamic addition to the Nebraska football offense this season. The freshman has recorded 1,592 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Klatt noted that Raiola has been one of the program’s biggest improvements, but he could use one more offensive piece to help him advance to the next level.
“If Raiola ever got a threat (on the outside) this Nebraska team would be incredible.”
Nebraska has undoubtedly upgraded their weapons this season, with transfers Jahmal Banks (Wake Forest) and Isaiah Neyor (Wyoming & Texas) being two of the major additions to the offense. Even still, it is interesting to think about what the quarterback could do with an additional outside wide receiver.
College football expert Joel Klatt ranks the top 10 teams after UGA’s big win at Texas
Fox Sports college football expert Joel Klatt released his top 10 college football rankings after an eventful Week 8. There were several battles between ranked opponents and some near upsets this week, so Klatt had a difficult time.
The 2024 season has a 12-team College Football Playoff, so there’s a chance any of Klatt’s top teams could make the playoff, even if they don’t win their respective conference.
Week 8 featured two SEC heavyweight bouts. The first one was between Tennessee and Alabama, two teams that had an upset loss on their ledger. The game was a defensive battle with Alabama holding a 7-0 lead going into the half. However, the Tennessee offense woke up, outscoring Alabama, 24-10, to win 24-17. The game was capped by a Jalen Milroe interception.
This upcoming week will be a Georgia bye, but it will feature a few matchups that could affect the college football rankings. The LSU Tigers will play the Texas A&M Aggies. Notre Dame will play against undefeated Navy, and the Alabama Crimson Tide will host the Missouri Tigers.
Georgia at Texas might be the biggest game of the year in the SEC and Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt thinks he know who is going to win.
The No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs‘ visit to Austin is just a few days away. The No. 1 Texas Longhorns will be waiting for the team it supplanted as the top team in college football. It is one of the games of the year in the SEC, if not the game of the year.
Klatt believes part of the reason the Bulldogs lost to Alabama was the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa.
“Bryant-Denny was on fire that night and Georgia struggled in the first half. … Now they’re going to face a team that’s better than that Alabama team. And in what, I think we can anticipate, is going to be at least a similar environment. I don’t know that it’s going to top what Bryant-Denny was that night in Tuscaloosa. But it’s going to be a least similar.” — Joel Klatt
The former Colorado Buffalo’s QB says Texas has been waiting for years for a game like this. A game where, at least before kickoff, the Horns hold all the cards.
“This Texas fan base has waited so long to be in this position where they’re the favorite. It’s not an underdog kind of story. We’ve seen them over the past decade want desperately to be back and now they are. … They’re the No. 1 team in the country. They’re the undefeated team. They’re the team with a better offensive line. They’re the team with a quarterback that is vastly experienced, even though (Carson) Beck is also experienced. They’re the team with a defense that, I think, is playing exceptional defense. Especially coming off a win in Red River where they allowed nothing to an inept offense in OU. They’re the team that’s the No. 1 offense AND defense in the country. This is what they’ve been dying for down in Austin for a long time.” — Joel Klatt
One possible concern is Georgia’s mentality coming into the game. The Bulldogs struggled against Kentucky, lost to Alabama and looked wobbly against Mississippi State.
“Georgia is going to play desperate. Because a loss in this game basically puts them in no-man’s land in terms of trying to reach the SEC championship game. If they lose this game, I just don’t see a path for Kirby Smart to get back to Atlanta and play for an SEC championship. Which means, that there’s not really a path to a first round bye and a top four seed in the college football playoff. It also brings into the equation that they would have to go on the road in the first round of the college football playoff. It makes winning a national championship much harder. … So I do think you’re going to get a bit of a desperate team in Georgia. Back against the wall mentality. How does that play out?” — Joel Klatt
Klatt thinks the game lies in the trenches, particularly with the offensive lines.
“Here’s where I think the game lies though. I think the team with the better offensive line wins the game. Because the better offensive line controls the game. They control everything about the game. They control the tempo of the game. They control how comfortable the quarterback is, both from a pressure standpoint and an ease of a passing attempt standpoint. … The better offensive line in this game is Texas. They’re more experienced. They’re healthier. And I just think that they’re better overall. To me that’s where this game is won and lost.” — Joel Klatt
Klatt gives the edge in the matchup he deems the most important. That has informed his pick of the Longhorns winning a close game.
“I like Texas in this game. I like Texas 34-31. … But again, the game is held in the hands of the offensive line. Texas has the best offensive line in the country. This is by the way the reason I have them No. 1. Even though Oregon got that huge win (over Ohio State). Texas is just really good. And they’re very sound and I think they’re going to play well.” — Joel Klatt
Georgia at Texas kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday night on ABC.
Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt predicts who will win the Georgia at Texas football game
Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt noted that every anticipated top-five matchup this season has been an instant classic.
Alabama’s 41-34 win over the Georgia Bulldogs came down to Georgia’s final offensive play, which was a Carson Beck interception. Oregon’s 32-31 win over Ohio State ended with Ohio State in game-winning field-goal range as time expired.
No. 4 Georgia’s road trip to play the No. 1 Texas Longhorns should be another great game between two top College Football Playoff contenders. Georgia and Texas play at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Georgia-Texas game will be televised on ABC.
“Now they’re (Georgia football) going to face a team that’s better than that Alabama team,” said Klatt.
Klatt thinks Texas is back. He thinks the Longhorns have an advantage in the offensive trenches against Georgia. However, he thinks Georgia will have a bit of mental edge.
“Georgia is going to play desperate, because a loss in this game puts them basically in no man’s land in terms of trying to reach the SEC championship game,” Klatt said. “I just don’t see a path for Kirby Smart to get back to Atlanta and play for an SEC championship game, which means (with a loss) that there’s not really a path to a first-round bye and a top four seed in the College Football Playoff.”
Georgia could lose to Texas and still make the playoff, but the Bulldogs would have a much more challenging path to a national championship.
Klatt, who played quarterback at Colorado, thinks the Georgia-Texas game will come down to which offensive line performs better. “The team with the better offensive line wins the game,” said Klatt.
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Klatt thinks Texas’ offensive line is superior and healthier than Georgia’s offensive line.
“I like Texas 34-31. Now, that does mean a Georgia cover because I’ve got it at Texas minus 3 1/2,” predicted Klatt.
