Joel Klatt ranks Top Five teams in Big Ten after Week 7

The halfway point of the college football regular season has come and gone. That means the conference title races are heading up, and FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt ranked the Top Five teams in the Big Ten after Week 7.

Klatt’s rankings reflected a big week in the league, including the biggest game of the year so far in Eugene. Oregon and Ohio State came down to the final minutes before the Ducks held on to get the victory at Autzen Stadium.

That meant Oregon took the top spot in Klatt’s rankings, but the Buckeyes didn’t fall too far. Ohio State still came in as the No. 2 team in his eyes because of the close nature of the game. To keep pace with a talented Ducks team on the road didn’t seem like a reason for Klatt to drop Ryan Day’s group too far down the list, therefore the Buckeyes stayed just behind Oregon.

Another big game in Week 7 was at The Coliseum in Los Angeles. That’s where Penn State and USC went to overtime before the Nittany Lions got the game-winning field goal – securing a marquee victory for James Franklin and bringing some questions around Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.

But, like Ohio State, USC didn’t fall too far down Joel Klatt’s rankings. Here’s his full Top Five, which includes one of the best stories in college football at No. 4.

1. Oregon

Oregon entered the season with plenty of buzz after winning on the recruiting trail. The Ducks appeared ready to take on the new-look Big Ten, and they’ve done just that with a perfect record through the first part of league play.

Dillon Gabriel continues to settle in well to Will Stein’s offense, but Joel Klatt said the Ducks’ performance in the trenches in last week’s thriller was the difference. The fact that Oregon dominated the line of scrimmage proved Dan Lanning’s group is legit and worthy of the No. 1 spot in his Big Ten rankings.

“Kudos to the Oregon Ducks,” Klatt said. “I tell you, what a win for them – 6-0. That win in Autzen last Saturday over Ohio State was tremendous. They showed not only that they’re capable of playing with and beating Ohio State, but doing it at the line of scrimmage. They did a great job running the football, they did a great job protecting the quarterback. And then, they put some pressure on Will Howard, in particular, late. So when I talk about teams at the top of college football, I think that you’ve got to win at the line of scrimmage.

“I thought Oregon won at the line of scrimmage, for the most part, against Ohio State. So here they come into the Big Ten, and they physically were ready. And the talent certainly is there with the way that Dan Lanning has recruited, retained talent and then, obviously, acquired talent through the transfer portal. I thought that was a tremendous win for Oregon, and they’re clearly one of, if not the best team in the country after that win.”

2. Ohio State

Despite the loss to Oregon, Ohio State remains the No. 2 team in the Big Ten, according to Joel Klatt. Autzen Stadium is widely considered one of the toughest environments in the sport, and the Buckeyes held their own until time ran out.

While it wasn’t perfect, Ohio State still has plenty of talent as – like Oregon – one of the biggest winners of the offseason. Quarterback Will Howard looked strong despite what happened as time expired, although Klatt noted the Buckeyes don’t necessarily have an easy path to make it back to the Big Ten Championship.

“Even with the loss, I think we can all say that, yeah, Ohio State went out to an incredibly difficult environment and they had a one-point loss, and they were in position where they could have won the football game,” Klatt said. “Are there things to clean up? Certainly, for Ohio State, and Oregon did everything they needed to do to win the game and should be given the top spot. Absolutely. Ohio State, though, with a one-point loss, you can see where they would be thinking to themselves, okay, let’s go back to the drawing board, fix some of the things that did not work for us in that game in Autzen and we’ll be fine.

“Now, are they in a more precarious situation? Absolutely, because now, they’ve got to face an Indiana team that is very good, undefeated to this point. They’ve still got to face Penn State – both of those games on the road, by the way. They still have to play their rival, Michigan, in a game in which they haven’t beaten Michigan in the last three years. And I don’t know if they get to Indianapolis and play for a Big Ten title if they lose any of those games. So their back is against the wall, but that’s still certainly a very good team.”

3. Penn State

Penn State appeared to be one of the most interesting teams in the Big Ten this year, but the Nittany Lions remained undefeated. They got a big-time road victory over USC last week to come in at No. 3 in Joel Klatt’s Big Ten rankings.

Drew Allar continues to take the much-anticipated leap forward in Andy Kotelnicki’s system, but what stood out to Klatt was the way he responded to three interceptions against the Trojans. That’s a good sign going forward, and if the rest of the team can continue playing at a high level, the Nittany Lions could make some noise.

“In particular, remember how the last two regular seasons have gone for the Nittany Lions,” Klatt said. “This is a team that, in their biggest matchups, has come up short. Now, those matchups over the last two years have been Michigan and Ohio State. Now, they don’t have to play Michigan. By the way, they don’t have to play Oregon, either. So they’ve got a favorable schedule in the Big Ten, and this was a big hurdle for them. Go on the road, all the way out to the West Coast – which they hadn’t done – and beat a really good football team. And again, yes, USC is a really good football team, even at 3-3.

“So that’s a huge win for James Franklin and the quarterback Drew Allar because Drew Allar, he was in a position where if they lose that game, he’s going to be the goat – and not in a good way because of the three interceptions. So when he’s able to put that behind him and go out there and play the way that he did coming down the stretch, and specifically on those fourth-down plays, that is a huge hurdle to get over for Penn State and their quarterback.”

4. Indiana

One of the stories in college football this year, Indiana is 6-0 for the first time since 1967. Curt Cignetti is drawing rave reviews for the turnaround, and he has the Hoosiers at No. 4 in Joel Klatt’s Big Ten rankings.

Kurtis Rourke was one of the notable transfer portal additions and has become one of the top players in the league. He enters Week 8 with 292 passing yards per game, which sits second behind Dillon Gabriel in the Big Ten. Add in a slew of other notable transfers, and Cignetti found a recipe for success.

“You look up and down this roster and you realize that Curt Cignetti navigated the transfer portal beautifully,” Klatt said. “They brought in 27 transfers – 27. I believe that was the second-most in all of college football. Thirteen of those transfers, by the way, followed Cignetti from JMU to Indiana. Nine of those 13 are starting for Indiana. I thought the philosophy that he used … his strategy was very simple. And by the way, pick your ears up, everybody around college football, all you staff members out there that listen to the show. Curt Cignetti went after players that had a ton of experience on winning programs and had a chip on their shoulder.

“So it was like this three-pronged criteria that he was able to go out there and get guys like Kurtis Rourke, and Rouke has been sensational for them at quarterback. He’s second in the Big Ten in both passing yards and completion percentage. He’s been tremendous. And they’ve got a really good wide receiver room, led by one of those JMU transfers. … They’ve got a good stable of running backs, and then up front, their offensive line is certainly playing better as a group than any of their individual players. I think that they’re playing above their talent level right now, and Indiana has done a heck of a job. They’re playing a really physical Nebraska team on Saturday. That’s going to be a great game.”

5. USC

Despite an overtime loss to Penn State last week, USC stayed in Joel Klatt’s Big Ten Top 5 rankings. He cited the close nature of the Trojans’ losses, as well as a victory over LSU, for why they belong at No. 5.

USC has had a rough start to Big Ten play, falling to 3-3 with the overtime loss on Saturday. Klatt said the Trojans weren’t a clear-cut No. 5 team, though. He considered seven teams for the spot. But he kept coming back to USC over teams such as Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska.

“My gut tells me that there is a team that is far better than their record, that is legitimately 3-4 snaps away from being undefeated and a Top-10 team in the country that has a win over LSU and that’s why USC is my No. 5 team in the Big Ten,” Klatt said. “I know that’s going to make a lot of people upset because there are certainly teams out there with better records than USC. And you could say, ‘What in the world?’ But look at the games that USC has played. They’ve had a seven-point lead in every one of their losses – Michigan, Minnesota and Penn State, they’re right there. And the bottom line for me is that any of the teams that I did not pick at No. 5 could easily lose to USC. Now, two of them actually beat USC.

“And really, the seven got boiled down to about four teams that I was looking at, and the three that I really thought about were Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska. SC is good. Would they definitely beat all of those teams? I’m not totally sure. Have we seen them lose to Michigan? Yes. Have we seen them lose to Minnesota? Yes. Should they have beaten Penn State? Maybe. I just, I keep them at five.”

There’s still plenty left to determine amid an interesting season in the Big Ten. The race to the conference championship is heating up, and it’s safe to say Joel Klatt’s rankings will continue to shift.