Joel Klatt explains Oklahoma ranking, claps back at Sooners fan

College Football analyst Joel Klatt is taking on Oklahoma fans head-first after gypping them in his preseason CFB Top 10 (which you can find at the bottom of this post). The new-look Sooners missed the cut entirely for Klatt. Likely because they replaced their head coach with Brent Venables — a great defensive coordinator who has never held a head coaching job — and welcome a new quarterback to the fold.

It’s a restart in Norman. So Joel Klatt is taking the cautious approach. Proof over promise. And Oklahoma has little proof they can hit the ground running and hum as a program in year one under Venables just like they did with Riley.

So when Sooner fans recoiled at his rankings, Klatt wasn’t afraid to face the music. Here was his response to leaving Oklahoma outside of his preseason Top 10:

“Oh yeah, here we go OU fans. This is the worst Top 10 I’ve ever seen blah blah blah…” he mimicked of them. “Yeah I get it. All you fans, you’re very scorned your coach left. You need to calm down,” Klatt barked at the fans before reassuring them. “I’ve got OU just outside of the Top 10.” Whew. Sooner fans can breathe. Klatt then went on to explain why they’re just outside.

“The fact is that they lost way too much in the Transfer Portal and graduation. All their coaches are leaving. They’ve got to go prove it. I like what they’ve got. Like Dillon Gabriel. I like Brent Venables a lot. I love Jeff Lebby, their new offensive coordinator. But that’s a wait and see. We’ll wait and see with the Oklahoma Sooners. I’ve got them against Nebraska in week three of the season.”

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Perhaps a harsh ranking but a fair justification from Klatt. Anyway, here was his actual Top 10, for those of you who want to further squabble with his rankings:

Joel Klatt’s preseason Top 10

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Georgia Bulldogs
4. Clemson Tigers
5. Utah Utes
6. Michigan Wolverines
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
8. Texas A&M Aggies
9. North Carolina State WolfPack
10. USC Trojans

So plenty of bold takes for y’all stew on among that Top 10.