Tag: Joel Klatt

Joel Klatt explains why he’s ‘bullish’ on Michigan after Big Ten Week 1

The FOX Sports color analyst shares with Colin Cowherd why Michigan football has turned the corner this year.

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Let’s get one thing straight before we start off: FOX Sports color analyst Joel Klatt tends to like Michigan under Jim Harbaugh.

A friend of WolverinesWire, we’ve exclusively spoken to Klatt multiple times throughout the years on why he’s been high on Michigan, but near the end of last year, he wasn’t so sure that the Wolverines could get it done.

Fast forward to this year, and like anyone else, he was skeptical. With a new starting quarterback in Joe Milton, a new offensive line, and some key pieces missing on defense, there was a lot of unsure feelings when it came to the maize and blue, so much that Minnesota was a popular Big Ten Week 1 pick in the season opener.

Then, 49-24 happened, and Michigan dominated in all three phases of the game.

So now, talking with Colin Cowherd on The Herd, Klatt says that Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines’ new modernized approach puts them in position to win big going forward.

Perhaps not beat Ohio State ‘win big,’ but win big, nonetheless.

“He has done a good job — and listen: he’s gonna draw the lion’s share of the criticism, because there’s so much focus on Jim,” Klatt said. “The antics and the pants — although they changed to blue, which is interesting. Here’s one thing to understand about Jim Harbaugh: he’s just now adjusting — and this adjustment has been a little bit late, although if it comes to fruition — watch out. Because, in college football, you can’t win at the top end unless you can score 35 points against a really good team. You just can’t. That’s the sport now.

“Bama has had to adjust and we’ve talked about it. Nick Saban has had to adjust offensively — 35-40 points in big games. Ryan Day goes to Ohio State, guess what you have to do against Ohio State now? You can’t beat them with Don Brown’s defense. You can’t just out-defense them and out-tough them in the game. They came close a few years ago, remember? When they had that overtime game. But, then what happened? Ryan Day sets foot in Columbus, Ohio and what happens to that offense? It goes through the roof.

“Now what do you have to do if you want to beat Ohio State if you’re Michigan? Score! You’ve gotta be able to score, and they haven’t even been able to come close to the offensive efficiency. And what I saw last week from Michigan was the corner being turned offensively. Joe Milton, their quarterback, is an incredibly talented quarterback. He’s huge, first of all. He’s got a quick release, one of the strongest arms I’ve seen in college football in the last 4-5 years — stronger than even Josh Allen or even Herbert. Throws lasers, can run it pretty well. And here’s the other part: they haven’t gone pure spread like they tried to do last year with Shea Patterson — run those soft zone schemes in the run game. You know what they did in the run game? They went back to what Harbaugh does well, which is pull guards, pull tackles, power-oriented schemes. And it all has to stem from No. 42 Ben Mason.

“You’re saying: ‘Joel, why are you bringing up Ben Mason?’ Well I’ll tell you why: because Ben Mason was the guy who was a fullback under the old offense, last year Gattis comes in to be a spread coordinator, so last year he goes to defensive tackle. He played defensive tackle last year, and this year, they’re like, ‘You know what? Let’s, out of the shotgun, go back and be a more power-oriented run game.’ So Ben Mason is now back on offense, they’re lining him up all over the place. He had several blocks on key runs and they’re back to getting that downhill.

“You got the power-oriented run game, a quarterback who can throw it, a defense I think can be efficient and certainly rush the quarterback. This may be Jim Harbaugh’s best Michigan team. I’m not saying they’ll beat Ohio State, I’m saying I’m bullish after watching them last week.”

Watch the whole segment below:

After seeing Ohio State in person, Joel Klatt moves the Buckeyes up in his top 10

After seeing the Buckeyes in person, FOX’s Joel Klatt has moved Ohio State up in his weekly top 10 opinion college football rankings.

Welcome to the party, Buckeyes!

After a delayed Big Ten start, Ohio State officially busted down the door of the College Football Playoff conversation. After calling the game and witnessing Justin Fields and company firsthand, FOX’s Joel Klatt believes OSU is one of the best.

Last week Klatt dropped Ohio State to No. 3 in his poll after both Clemson and Alabama dominated in wins over Georgia Tech and Georgia, respectively. The Buckeyes must have done enough to impress the Fox Sports commentator in their first outing of the season because he moved them up to No. 2 behind Clemson, leapfrogging the Crimson Tide.

Ohio State got off to a shaky start but seemed to find its rhythm right before halftime. Nebraska gave everything it had, but ran out of gas in a 52-17 win for the Buckeyes. The OSU defense held the Huskers to three points in the second half, while Justin Fields had a day with 276 yards through the air and two touchdowns along with 54 yards on the ground and a running score.

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Ohio State travels to Happy Valley next week to face Penn State, which lost on a controversial call in overtime to Indiana. The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 8 in Klatt’s top 10 last week and have been replaced with Michigan after the Wolverines convincing win over Minnesota.

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Joel Klatt wasn’t happy with targeting calls in Nebraska game, compares to Shaun Wade’s ejection in Fiesta Bowl

Joel Klatt didn’t agree with targeting calls made against Nebraska in the Buckeyes 52-17 win. For once, we don’t agree with Klatt.

For the most part, you won’t find a more knowledgeable college football analyst than Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt.  Klatt is a straight shooter and tells it like he sees it… and most of the time he has really insightful takes.

During Saturday’s Ohio State game vs. Nebraska, the Cornhuskers were flagged several times for targeting, leading to two player ejections. Klatt got heated while the reviews were happening, sharing his opinion that he didn’t believe that the Husker players in question did anything wrong in the actual speed of real-time gameplay. Klatt even went on to try and sway the Buckeye faithful watching the game, comparing the hits made against Ohio State receivers yesterday to the hit that got Shaun Wade ejected in the Fiesta Bowl last season. Here’s why I believe he’s wrong.

Klatt tweeted out that the targeting rule needs to be changed and I do agree with that to an extent. While the spirit of the rule is good, the interpretation needs to be fixed.

When Shaun Wade hit Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence in the National Semi-Final, he was in position to make a perfect form tackle. Lawrence saw Wade coming at the last second and ducked into that hit, causing a helmet to helmet collision. Unless you’re a Tiger fan, I think we can all agree with Klatt here that this is a “normal action of football” and the player should stay in the game.

The difference yesterday is that the Nebraska defenders who were ejected launched themselves into defenseless receivers. But what exactly is targeting? The NCAA rules committee defines it as this: “initiating contact against a defenseless opponent and/or with the crown of the helmet.”

Specifically, launching is defined as:

A player leaving his feet to attack an opponent by an upward and forward thrust of the body to make forcible contact in the head or neck area.

The first ejection of Cam Taylor-Britt may have been questionable in real-time, although he clearly lowered his head to make helmet to helmet contact. The second ejection of Deontai Williams was a blatant launching into the head/neck area.

I agree, Joel… the rule needs to be looked at for better interpretation and room for live-action gameplay. However, this wasn’t the case yesterday and the calls were made.

 

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Joel Klatt drops Ohio State one spot after Alabama and Clemson dominate

Ohio State had been locked in at No. 2 in Joel Klatt’s top ten opinion rankings, but he’s now dropped the Buckeyes. Who did he move ahead?

Joel Klatt has dropped Ohio State one spot to No. 3 on his college football top ten after Clemson rolled up 73 points on a very bad Georgia Tech team, all while also seeing Alabama win convincingly against No. 3 Georgia.

Klatt has been consistent in keeping the Buckeyes near the top of his personal rankings. However, he must have seen something to move the needle since Ohio State has been pretty locked in at his No. 2 spot.

Let’s be fair… even if Georgia Tech is a really bad football team — and they are — putting up 73 points is impressive. And even if Georgia was starting a below-average former walk-on at quarterback, UGA is loaded with NFL talent. Bama made the adjustments necessary to overcome a halftime deficit and keep the Bulldogs out of the endzone for the final 30 minutes.

All that is about to change come Saturday when Ohio State will make its 2020 debut. Will the Buckeyes be everything as advertised? We’ll find out when Nebraska comes to town, but you can get a head start by reading our preview

The rest of his top ten consists of Notre Dame (4), Georgia (5), Penn State (6), Texas A&M (7), Oklahoma State (8), Florida (9), and BYU (10).

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Things will surely get a shakeup as Big Ten play begins this Friday and the Pac-12 starting two weeks later. It’s almost like things are close to back to normal.

Game week on!

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WATCH: Joel Klatt gives high praise to the Badger football program

With Paul Finebaum being commonly known as the media face of the SEC, there has begun to be a similar sentiment shared about…

With Paul Finebaum being commonly known as the media face of the SEC, there has begun to be a similar sentiment shared about FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt and his coverage of the Big Ten.

On Wednesday Klatt was on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and they played a game where one would name a football program and the other would say what their expected win total during a full season should be.

Klatt’s answer for Wisconsin? 10.5 wins.

Here is his reasoning:

His one quote perfectly sums up the Badger football program and the reason it has had so much success since the late 1990s.

“If you’re asking me about which team, fanbase, administration knows themselves better than anybody else in the country, it’s Wisconsin,” Klatt said. “They know who they are, how they have success, why they have success, and that’s why they do have success year, over year, over year.”

If we’re being honest here, he’s completely right.

There is not one program in the country that has a better understanding of who they are and what they need to do well. Then you add in an intelligent fanbase, talented players and stellar coaching and it’s clear why Wisconsin has been such a consistently good football team for now more than 20 years.

And to Cowherd’s initial reaction: Yes, they should be looked at higher than USC.

Klatt: College Football Playoffs bad? Notre Dame outside his top 4?

Joel Klatt updates his Top 10 teams, Notre Dame included, and gives a very interesting take on the College Football Playoff era.

Former Colorado Buffalo star quarterback and current FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt released his top 10 teams. The Irish were just outside his top 4, coming in as the fifth best team in the country in his estimation.

It’s easy in the season, so some of these rankings don’t matter much, but what his thoughts on the College Football Playoff’s are very interesting. He argues that the CFP has been bad for the sport.

Klatt goes on the say that the have’s (Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma) have accounted for 17 of the CFP’s berth’s with just 7 times for other teams. He claims that this dominance isn’t good for college football. It’s hard not to agree with Klatt, as much as Clemson vs. Alabama has been in the CFP, wouldn’t it be nice to see other teams getting their crack at a CFP title?

Point one, recruiting has hampered teams that don’t consistently make the CFP. True, but recruiting isn’t an exact science. Plenty of 5-Stars fizzle out, but more high level talent does give these teams more room for error on the recruiting trail.

The second point Klatt makes is that commentators have become lazy. He shames himself, but it’s all about how you view the teams. Can you help it that some programs are clearly better than others? No, so I’m not buying this one.

Number three has Klatt looking that the excellence at the top and minimizing the dominance. I don’t think anyone isn’t giving Clemson and Alabama their due credit. They have been absolutely dominant the last 10 years, both programs.

His final point, I’m on board with. Klatt goes on to say that if you don’t make the CFP, it lessens what you did during your season. For instance, let’s look back on the Irish’s season last year. Brian Kelly guided the team to an 11-2 record, a bowl win and a top 12 ranking by the polls. Should last year be looked at as a failure because Notre Dame didn’t make the CFP? Hell no, it was a great season.

Klatt obviously makes some good points, but overall I have enjoyed the College Football Playoff era. I’d like it even better when the Irish break through and win a CFP title.

Where do UGA, Bama rank in Joel Klatt’s top ten?

The Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide are both in position to make the College Football Playoff according to Joel Klatt.

Joel Klatt, a Fox Sports college football analyst, ranks the Alabama Crimson Tide as the third best team in the country. He puts the Georgia Bulldogs just behind Alabama at No. 4.

Klatt rates Trevor Lawrence and the Clemson Tigers as the top team in the country. He’s got the Ohio State Buckeyes, who are led by quarterback Justin Fields, as the second best team. Ohio State hasn’t played a game this season. The Buckeyes open the season against Nebraska on Oct. 24.

Here’s the full top ten rankings that Klatt released following another week of college football action. He acknowledges that after Notre Dame, the rankings are quite fluid.

These rankings look pretty sound at the top. It is hard to imagine a much more complete team in the country than Clemson. Ohio State returns a lot of talent and should have a better defense than Alabama, so it is understandable to prefer the Buckeyes to the Crimson Tide even though they haven’t played a game yet.

Beyond No. 4 is where the rankings get murky. Notre Dame still hasn’t faced stout competition. That will change in November, when the Fighting Irish are slated to play Clemson and UNC.

Penn State will be an interesting team to watch. They should be Ohio State’s biggest competitor in the Big Ten. UNC deserves to be rated highly, but the Tar Heels had to fight and scratch to beat a pesky Boston College team.

Texas A&M hasn’t been rated above Florida in most polls, so it is refreshing to see Klatt place the Aggies over the Gators. Texas A&M upset Florida at home last week.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys are the only remaining school in the Big 12 with realistic college football playoff hopes. Look for the Pac-12 to remain an afterthought this season. The conference doesn’t begin play until Nov. 7 and with all of Oregon’s opt outs, the conference’s best team will lack elite talent in some key positions.

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FOX’s Joel Klatt continues to rank Ohio State as one of nation’s best teams without playing a game

FOX’s Joel Klatt released his top ten again after this past weekend and he still has Ohio State among the best despite not playing a game.

There are a few ways we can go about these whole rankings shenanigans that have come about this season because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. With the staggered starts of conferences, pause and restarts, and missing personnel, it’s thrown a monkey wrench in a process that’s already flawed to begin with. And yeah, the AP and Amway Coaches Poll don’t really matter at this point, but there still seems to be a lot of debate that’s resulted.

The way I see it is you can do one of three things. First, you can simply not rank teams that have yet to play, you can rank a team a little lower until you see it play, or you can just rank a team based on how good you think it is despite not seeing said team take a snap on the football field yet.

FOX’s Joel Klatt falls under that last category, and it would tend to be the way I would lean as well. I mean, that’s how all these polls are dreamt up anyway during the preseason, so why not?

Klatt releases his opinion on the top ten teams each week, and he did so again after this past weekend. And where does he have Ohio State? In the same spot as previous weeks, at No. 2, just behind Clemson and in front of Alabama.

The rest of his top ten consists of Georgia (4), Notre Dame (5), Penn State (6), North Carolina (7), Texas A&M (8), Florida (9), and Oklahoma State (10).

I say give Klatt credit for not copping out and simply leaving Big Ten and Pac-12 teams out of the mix until they play, but maybe that’s just me. Either way, I do think Ohio State is going to be fantastic once things get going, and everyone else will be forced to reconcile putting the Buckeyes high up in the polls and other opinion rankings.

And then there’s the College Football Playoff Rankings on the horizon. That one really matters and who knows what metrics will go into all of that. But that’s for another day and should be extremely interesting.

 

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Joel Klatt updates his top ten college football teams

FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt took to Twitter to opine on his top ten college football teams so far in 2020. It’s a fluid situation.

There are two media members we follow a little closer than others when it comes to their opinion rankings of college football teams during the season. One is ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and the other is FOX’s Joel Klatt.

Herbstreit is taking a tact of only ranking teams that have played so far this fall, while Klatt is looking in the totality of what he believes teams are whether they’ve played or not. Because of that, Ohio State has been missing from Herbie’s top four, but firmly in the mix with Klatt’s top ten.

He released his latest opinion on who the best ten teams are in college football so far this season after the weekend’s games and he has Ohio State at No. 2, right where he had them after last week, just behind No. 1 Clemson and in front of No. 3 Alabama.

The rest of his top ten consists of Florida (4), Georgia (5), Miami (6), Penn State (7), Notre Dame (8), Oregon (9), and Oklahoma State (10). Michigan is nowhere to be found.

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It’s great to see someone still giving some respect to Ohio State as it waits to get the season off the ground. Across the media landscape, it seems to the exception to the norm, almost like an out of sight, out of mind scenario.

 

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CFB analyst Joel Klatt breaks down Sam Ehlinger’s performance against Texas Tech

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt broke down why Ehlinger was successful in the fourth quarter against the Red Raiders. You can watch the clip here:

When SaRodorick Thompson broke away for a 75-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 15, Texas seemed to be out of the game. However, quarterback Sam Ehlinger told Tom Herman the Longhorns were going to score twice and win the game in overtime.

Ehlinger backed up what he told Herman, playing incredible football down the stretch. In the final two drives, excluding overtime, the senior quarterback went 6-of-7 passing for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Ehlinger added 15 rushing yards and a game-tying two-point conversion to Brennan Eagles.

In overtime, Joshua Moore caught the game-winning touchdown from Ehlinger to give Texas a 63-56 win in Lubbock.

The quarterback’s play down the stretch is one of the reasons the Longhorns won their fourth consecutive Big 12 opener. He finished with six touchdowns: five in the air and one on the ground.

Fox Sports’ college football analyst Joe Klatt has been high on Ehlinger all season, ranking him the third-best quarterback going into the season. He broke down why Ehlinger was successful in the fourth quarter against the Red Raiders.

You can watch the clip here:

If Texas wants to reach its goal of winning a Big 12 championship, Ehlinger will need to continue to perform the way he did against Texas Tech. Oozing confidence, the quarterback never thinks the Longhorns are out of a game.

Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich knows he has a special quarterback and must let Ehlinger continue to thrive. Those kinds of decisions will come in handy in Texas’ bigger Big 12 matchups.

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