Joel Klatt bemoans SEC ‘propaganda’ throughout CFP rankings

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt thinks the conference that won the last four College Football Playoff championships is getting too much love in this year’s CFP rankings.

The SEC has a pretty unimpeachable claim as the dominant conference in college football of late, having had three different schools win the last four national titles. However, in 2023, with the top of the conference perceived to be a bit down, Klatt is wondering why the league is still getting preferential treatment in the rankings.

In a long-winded tirade on the Joel Klatt Show, Klatt picked one big bone with the CFP committee after the most recent rankings: Missouri at No. 9 and Penn State at no. 12.

“This is where the the rankings get a little wonky. Like, nine it gets very wonky. Missouri pops in there at No. 9 and I was like ‘whoa, I’m sorry, like how does that happen?’ wondered Klatt, accusing the committee of going with narratives over on-field performance.

“Oh, because Tennessee is still at 18. What is going on? This is is when you realize it’s like, oh, of course, it’s still going to have that narrative, it’s still going to have that SEC narrative, even though the conference has been proven this year to not be as strong as it has been in the past, and that can be a truthful statement.”

He’ll credit Georgia and Alabama, but otherwise, Joel Klatt just doesn’t understand why the SEC’s other ranked teams got such a boost in his eyes.

They’re great at the top. Georgia and Alabama look to be great teams. Everybody else? I don’t know. Just look at the non-conference, please, somebody look at the non-conference. And yet, we get into these weeks and we get into the league schedule and then the propaganda just starts to fly. I mean, wow, okay, so Missouri goes to nine on the back of a great performance against Tennessee.”

With that win being the one Missouri hangs it hat on, Klatt wants more.

“Good for them and I think Missouri is a good football team, I really do. I like Missouri. I don’t think that they should be No. 9. Two reasons: 1.) Tennessee is vastly overrated staying in the top 20. They’ve lost to Florida, like come on, Florida. They lost to Alabama and got stomped by Missouri. Their best win is Kentucky for goodness sakes, like what are we doing?”

What Klatt thinks the committee is doing is juicing the quality of Georgia and Alabama’s wins.

“But they’ve got to stay there. Why? So that you can prop Missouri up, so that Missouri being propped up then allows you to move Georgia up, which I don’t have a problem with. This is not about Georgia, but that’s how you get Georgia to No. 1 is you start inflating things below them.”

Breaking down the Missouri resume, Klatt just sees so many holes, unlike Penn State, who is three spots behind Mizzou in the rankings right now.

“All of a sudden, you sit there and you look at a Missouri team that beat Middle Tennessee State by four, survived at home against Kansas State on a 61 yard field goal, beat Memphis by seven and I’m supposed to believe that they’re three spots better than Penn State.

“Listen, I understand Penn State didn’t play well offensively against Ohio State and against Michigan. Name the teams that have played well offensively against Ohio State and Michigan? That’s right, there are none. Let’s not make the mistake that Penn State is all of a sudden awful on offense because they’re not. In fact, they’re 15th in the in the country in scoring offense. Did you know that that’s 16 spots higher than Missouri? Bet you didn’t know that based on the propaganda slung at us all the time.”

Klatt continued on the topic of Penn State vs. Missouri in the College Football Playoff discussion.

“It just it it drives me nuts. You hear what is said about Missouri and about Penn State by the people over there and it drives me insane. I’m just: watch the games, just do a little research, just watch Penn State’s defense, which is fourth in the country in scoring defense. Fourth, that’s one of the best defenses in America! Guess what Missouri is? 44th. So they’re 40 spots higher than Missouri in scoring defense, they’re 16 spots higher than Missouri in scoring offense, but sure, you know that win by four over Middle Tennessee State really swings things in the Tigers’ direction by three spots.”

To him, it’s just more SEC propaganda.

“Give me a break. This is when I go off the cliff and I realize this is forced. And then you hear the propaganda being slung behind it and it drives me insane.”

Frankly, the difference between Missouri’s resume and Penn State’s is that the Tigers are 2-2 in their four games against ranked teams while Penn State is 1-2. It’s just that extra ranked win. But Joel Klatt argues that perhaps Tennessee, Mizzou’s highest-ranked victory, is getting som extra love to justify ranking Missouri higher… so that the committee can then justify Georgia’s win over them as a top-tier victory since the Tigers are now ranked No. 9.