Joel Klatt: Indiana is without question the most underrated team in America

Indiana is at 9-0 and is now the No. 9 team in the country after another blowout win this past weekend. Because of that, though, Joel Klatt still doesn’t think the Hoosiers are getting the respect they deserve.

Klatt made IU’s case during his show earlier this morning after ranking them himself as sixth. Regardless of whether you’re talking about the polls or playoff rankings, he doesn’t see how they’re not already among the top-five teams in all of college football.

“Indiana is, without question, the most underrated team in America. Without question,” stated Klatt. “They jumped, finally, five spots in the AP Poll because the AP voters are – I won’t go there, I won’t go there. They’re now up to eight – still underrated at eight. My question will be how the committee views them. We’ll get those rankings tomorrow night. I hope that they’re higher than eight. I think that they should be higher than eight. This is a team that has an argument to be the fifth-best team in the country, certainly the sixth-best team in the country because that’s the way that they have played.”

Klatt then dove into their resume as one of the five remaining undefeated teams left who is also winning by the largest margins of anyone else in the sport. Still, even with that, he had to defend it further considering how some view their strength of schedule.

“I know exactly what everyone’s going to say. Like, ‘They haven’t played anybody!’. I hate that argument. You have no control over the schedule you play as a player. The only thing you have control over is what you do to that schedule and, right now, nobody has done to their schedule what Indiana has done to its schedule. Period,” said Klatt. “They’ve won every single game by 14 or more points. Nobody can say that. Nobody can say that. Indiana can…The defense is solid. The offense is solid. They lead the FBS in point differential. They’ve outscored opponents by 32.9 points per game. They’ve outscored their Big Ten opponents by nearly 27 points per game.”

“I’m tired of people criticizing their schedule. We’ve seen Ohio State play a soft schedule early in the season. We’ve seen Georgia last year, Michigan last year. None of those teams get criticized. We just say, like, ‘They’re doing what they should!’ Well, Indiana is doing what they should and so they should be rewarded as well,” Klatt continued. “Let’s just put it to you this way. If, last year, we saw Michigan and Georgia play cake schedules and they were handling them? What was everyone saying? Like, ‘Well, I know they’re not playing anybody but they’re just beating everyone so badly so it doesn’t matter’. Why is that excuse not afforded to Indiana? Why?”

It was then that Klatt further criticized the work of those involved in the AP Poll. He thinks, based on this season, there’s no basis to not have Indiana as high as in the top-three. However, they’re not because of the program that they represent compared to some of the other top teams in the nation.

“Let’s just say it how it is here…If they had any other logo on the side of their helmet, they’d be No. 2 or No. 3 in the country at a minimum, at a minimum,” Klatt said. “This is why our AP Poll process is so stupid. The only reason they’re still sitting at No. 8 is because of where they started. We have such a NASCAR system where it’s like, well, we’ve got the poll position guys and they’re racing around. They started up there so they’ve got to be up there. Well, guess what? You’ve got to take a snapshot of what’s gone on so far in this season. You’ve got to be nameless, you’ve got to be faceless, and you’ve got to be brand-less. If you are brand-less, Indiana is No. 2, No. 3 at a minimum based on resume.”

With that, Klatt directed his ask to those making the rankings for the College Football Playoff. Come the release of their initial rating tomorrow, he hopes to see the Hoosiers slotted better there instead because of how he understands their system in comparison.

“My hope is that all of you committee members on the College Football Playoff committee – get your coffee today on a Monday morning, you’re going to sit in your rooms, and I hope you’re listing to this,” said Klatt. “Because, you know why? I know your process. I’ve been in your seat. I went down and took part in the mock process under Bill Hancock. I know exactly what you’re about to see, the data you’re about to see, and the fashion in which you’re about to see it.”

“Committee members, you’re about to see resumes without logos. I implore you to rank the resume and not the logo,” Klatt said. “If you do that, I think Indiana is going to be a lot higher than people think and they should be. And they should be.”