Joel Klatt slams CFP committee over decision to put LSU over USC

Although the top four of the fourth College Football Playoff rankings stayed the same, plenty of discussion got started when LSU came in at No. 5 ahead of No. 6 USC. That didn’t sit well with FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt.

Klatt ripped the CFP committee for putting the two-loss Tigers over the one-loss Trojans. But it wasn’t just because of the win-loss record. He pointed to the difference in the two teams’ schedules over the last two weeks. After beating Alabama, LSU narrowly defeated Arkansas before a non-conference game against UAB last week.

That level of competition is why Klatt disagreed with LSU landing in the top five.

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“This committee is clearly not looking at what happened in the last couple of weeks and evaluating as such,” Klatt said. “Remember, LSU did beat Alabama — and, great, good for them. That was a great game. They beat them on that two-point conversion. Then, they followed that up with a three-point win against Arkansas, the week after Arkansas lost to Liberty. Then, LSU plays UAB.

“So, I’m sorry, what? Why are we honoring them? Why are they staying there? It’s clearly because the committee wants to honor their previous rankings or their previous notions about who these teams are rather than what we see actually on the field.”

Klatt then discussed USC’s last two games against Colorado and UCLA — the latter of which came in at No. 18 in this week’s rankings. He said not only did the Trojans take care of business in those games, but their track record in recent weeks proves what they’re capable of doing.

That’s when he doubled down on his call-out of the committee.

“In those same two weeks, by the way, USC pounded Colorado — and, I get it. Colorado’s not a great team right now. But then they follow that up with a win against UCLA on the road,” Klatt said. “That UCLA team, by the way, beat two teams in the committee’s own top 25, Washington and Utah. USC’s also got the best player right now that I’ve seen in college football in Caleb Williams, who in his last five games has taken college football by storm.

“So when things like this happen, it’s pretty clear that college football fans are going to distrust the system. That’s not good for anybody, and when we’re rewarding teams and letting teams slide on things like three-point wins against Arkansas and playing UAB in November, I think it’s a bad message to send. In some respects, the committee is not even doing their job. Please evaluate these teams on a weekly basis and give us some adjustment based on what’s happening on the field.”