Joel Klatt identifies UCLA as CFP sleeper, evaluates path

Joel Klatt isn’t afraid to think outside the box. On Wednesday, the Fox Sports analyst proposed an unlikely Pac-12 champion: UCLA.

“The narrative right now is that the Pac-12 champ is going to go to the playoff,” Klatt said on his show. “I agree with that. I’ll be one of the first ones to kind of champion that narrative. There’s a team out there that like when you look at everybody’s schedule, down the stretch, it’s pretty clearly the easiest road, and then you start to think to yourself like, ‘Wow, like is their best football in front of them?’ Yes. Yes, it is, Because I’m talking about UCLA.”

UCLA just picked up its biggest win of the season in a 25-17 triumph over No. 13 Washington State. The Bruins looked dominant, racking up 471 total yards, more than double WSU’s offensive total.

The X-factor behind UCLA’s success

The win was a major bounce-back for the Bruins, who suffered their first loss of the season against No. 11 Utah the week before. Klatt believes UCLA’s man behind center is a key piece to the team’s success.

“If you guys haven’t seen Dante Moore play, you need to see him play,” Klatt said. “He’s a very talented true freshman, learning on the job at quarterback. It did provide and has provided some growing pains, which you would expect from a true freshman quarterback.”

While Moore hasn’t been perfect this season, he’s been a successful experiment behind center. In five games, the freshman QB has tallied 1,139 passing yards and nine touchdowns while only throwing four touchdowns.

The road to history

With Moore seemingly improving each week, Klatt claims UCLA could find an unprecedented finish in the back half of the season.

“If they can get past Oregon State this week in Corvallis, all of a sudden, their schedule is way easier than the rest of the PAC 12,” Klatt said. “They’re going to be at Stanford. They’ve got Colorado, they’re at Arizona, they host Arizona State [and play] at USC, which it’s in LA so I get it, but then they’ve got Cal.

“You can’t just say they’re not going to beat USC. It’s a rivalry game. They can absolutely beat SC. I think that the toughest remaining game for UCLA is this weekend. If UCLA wins this weekend, watch out because now you’re talking about a team that [can] run the table and they win the Pac-12.”

Before the Bruins can chase their dreams, they must take care of what’s in front of them. On Saturday, UCLA will square off against No. 15 Oregon State at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on FOX.