Joel Klatt breaks down Ohio State’s strength as CFP contender

Joel Klatt was very impressed with Ohio State and likes the Buckeyes as a College Football Playoff contender following the win over Notre Dame.

Kyle McCord made some big time throws down the stretch, despite a slow offensive day for both sides. That was Klatt’s biggest takeaway from the end of the game, regardless of Notre Dame defensive criticism.

Essentially, it was how Ohio State got over the “Michigan blueprint” to beat the Fighting Irish.

“I feel a lot better about Ohio State after the win against Notre Dame than I did going into the weekend,” Klatt said on his podcast. “I know that they have an absolute star quarterback, not star-star, but like you don’t do that in the last 1:26 if you’re Kyle McCOrd unless you are a dude and he made some great throws. You can question Notre Dame all you want for their end of game strategy … 

“But the plays still had to be made from the Ohio State side and he made them, he made some incredible throws. Their toughness was tested. They played a team that basically tried to use the Michigan blueprint in order to go beat Ohio State and they did so in their home stadium.” 

Ohio State a bonafide CFP contender

Going on the road in an environment like that is never easy. With the win, Ohio State has quite the victory on its resume for later in the season.

“Doesn’t that give them a ton of confidence going into the rest of the season,” Klatt said. “I would think so. So here’s a team that tried to use the Michigan blueprint in a great environment in their home stadium. And Ohio State was able to go on the road, win on short yardage defensively, get off the field when they needed to make the plays when they needed to, in particular late and win the game. 

“It’s exactly what they’re going to need to do later in the season. That gives them a lot of confidence and it gives me a lot of confidence.”

Heck, the win was so good, it was the most romantic thing head coach Ryan Day ever did for his wife.

“The most romantic thing I’ve done in the last few months was beat Notre Dame last Saturday night,” Day laughed, as the crowd cheered at an event. “That’s the truth. You can ask her, I guarantee it. There ain’t no night out that she wants more than to win that game, I can promise you that right now. So that was a good night.”