Joel Klatt reveals new top 10 following wild Week 1 action
Week 1 of the college football season saw plenty of action. The AP Top 25 had a new look, and FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt also shook up his top 10 rankings after everything.
Klatt revealed his new top 10 on the latest episode of “Breaking the Huddle with Joel Klatt,” and he — just like the AP — has Georgia ahead of Ohio State after previously putting the Bulldogs at No. 2 behind Alabama, which stood pat at No. 1. In fact, he thinks the rankings can be broken down into three different groups.
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“Folks, I think we have three elite teams in college football. We’ve got some teams that if they iron out some kinks, I think can be there. And then from seven on down to about 15, I think that we’re going to have a lot of interchangeable parts,” Klatt said. “That’s the sections of these rankings that I’ve got.”
Here are Klatt’s full top 10 rankings:
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Texas A&M
7. Oklahoma
8. USC
9. Notre Dame
10. Baylor
Joel Klatt explains why he flipped Ohio State and Georgia
Georgia put on a clinic against Oregon in its Week 1 game, rolling past the Ducks 49-3 behind a strong performance from Stetson Bennett. Ohio State, meanwhile, trailed Notre Dame at halftime before walking away with a 21-10 victory at The Horseshoe.
But Klatt said Ohio State’s closer win over Notre Dame isn’t the reason he put them at No. 3. Georgia’s win was just that dominant.
“It’s not about the way that Ohio State played against Notre Dame,” Klatt said. “I actually think the way that they won that game for Ryan Day is very important to them moving forward. Ohio State last year, we saw what they were when they were just going to go out and get into shootouts and let Jaxon Smith-Njigba go for 15 catches and 300 yards. I think there’s a ceiling on that style of football for Ohio State.
“The way that they beat Notre Dame was a team that can play defense and then, in particular late in that game, when the seven-minute drive that went 95 yards, they showed some toughness and the ability to run the ball when they had to. That’s going to be important moving forward. So, it’s not about what they didn’t do. It’s more about the way Georgia looked against Oregon.”
Klatt: Oklahoma should win the Big 12 this year
Oklahoma was the newest team to jump into Klatt’s Top 10 after a resounding 45-13 win over UTEP. Klatt admitted he had reservations about the Sooners as the Brent Venables Era got underway, but they proved they belong in the Top 10.
In fact, he thinks a trip to Dallas could be in their future.
“I was apprehensive to start the year with OU,” Klatt said. “And the reason I was is because there are so many new faces. You’ve got a new head coach, you’ve got a new quarterback that’s a transfer. You had all the real core of their defense — even though it wasn’t a great defense — the core of their defense graduated. They had a lot of transfers away from their offense. So I was a wait-and-see for Oklahoma, and I think that that was warranted. I still don’t feel bad about it.
“But after seeing what they did in Week 1 and more in particular, the way that they feel about their coach, this is a team that I think is a top-10 team and I do think Oklahoma is still the class of the Big 12. That, for me, is the best team in the Big 12 and I think that they should win the conference this year.”