Joel Klatt reveals new Top 10 following Week 8 action

There wasn’t much movement in his top 10, but Joel Klatt has a newcomer in the mix. He broke down his new rankings during Wednesday’s edition of “Breaking The Huddle with Joel Klatt.”

Oklahoma State is back in the top 10 after pulling out a victory over Texas last week. Oregon is also back in after its blowout win over UCLA — and Klatt was more than impressed with the Ducks’ performance in that game.

Here’s Klatt’s full top 10:

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1. Ohio State
2. Tennessee
3. Georgia
4. Michigan
5. Alabama
6. Clemson
7. TCU
8. Oregon
9. Oklahoma State
10. Utah

Joel Klatt: Dan Lanning has righted the ship at Oregon after Georgia loss

After Oregon got run out of the building against Georgia in Week 1, the Ducks have put together an impressive stretch, averaging 49 points per game in six straight victories. Considering the narrative about the program after that game — and understandably so — Klatt said he wants to give Dan Lanning and Co. credit where it’s due after this impressive stretch.

“They got their doors blown clean off against Georgia,” Klatt said. “But in hindsight, shouldn’t we at least give them at least a bit of the benefit of the doubt? They had a brand new coach, goes across the country to take a job, it’s his first head coaching job ever. They get a brand new quarterback in transfer Bo Nix, they’re trying to learn a new offense, then they’ve got to go all the way across the country in … basically a home stadium for the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs? That was a tough ask.

“Granted, they didn’t play that well that day, but they’ve gotten way better, and that’s one of the things that I think we’ve lost in college football … is that we don’t offer the ability for teams to develop and get better, and that’s exactly what Oregon has done. That’s why I’m going to sing their praises, and in particular after a week in which they beat UCLA. They’re really good up front on their offensive line, Bo Nix played his best game as a Duck last week and the environment was special.”

Klatt: ‘I don’t know how good Clemson actually is’

Klatt dropped Clemson behind Alabama in his rankings after the Tigers struggled against Syracuse before pulling out a victory. Then, he proceeded to ask some questions about Clemson’s ability to stay competitive in the national picture. He acknowledged the wins over ranked opponents — then-No. 21 Wake Forest and then-No. 10 NC State — but questioned how good those teams are.

Then, he asked a hypothetical about where Clemson would stand in other leagues.

“I don’t know how good Clemson actually is,” Klatt said. “You can tell me, ‘Oh, look, they’ve got all those wins against ranked opponents.’ Do we think those ranked opponents are any good? I don’t. Do we think that Clemson would finish any higher than third in the Big Ten East or the SEC East or maybe the SEC West with LSU surging? I don’t know. I’m not sure.

“That offense has to get better. None of the other top 10 teams have had to pull their quarterback because of poor play in order to win a game, and Clemson has. That’s a quarterback issue that’s unsettled. Let’s just put it that way. It’s unsettled. They went on a 17-0 run after they pulled [DJ Uiagalelei].”

Klatt: Ohio State didn’t play its best, but still dominated Iowa

Early on, it looked like the Iowa defense was going to give Ohio State some troubles. The Buckeyes didn’t play their best game, but still defeated the Hawkeyes by 44 points at The Horseshoe. Klatt called the game and reviewed the tape, an after reviewing it, said it didn’t feel like Ohio State played at the level it’s capable of.

That, Klatt said, is what makes the Buckeyes “scary.”

“You could read that game against Iowa several different ways — and trust me, I did,” Klatt said. “Because I didn’t think that they played their best and I don’t think they would admit that they played their best. They actually showed some things that were, I’ll just call them chinks in the armor, if you will, right? This is a team that didn’t run the ball well, that didn’t play well in the red zone.

“And then you look up at the end of the day and they just killed them. Gave Kirk Ferentz his worst loss as a head coach at Iowa. You look up at the end of the day and the defense was spectacular and they did what they needed to do. So both things can be true. Ohio State didn’t play particularly well and won … 54-10. That was a total blowout. It was a total blowout. In that respect, isn’t this Ohio State team incredibly scary? And we’ll see them on the road this week against Penn State.”