Joel Klatt tries to wrap his mind around Pac-12 success, SEC struggles

This has already been a wild college football season and it’s only just under three full weeks in. To Joel Klatt, nothing underlines that point more than the highs of the Pac-12 and the lows of the SEC so far.

Klatt shared his thoughts on both leagues in an episode of his show this week. He sees everything as having flipped upside down based on the early results from each of these conferences this fall.

“It feels like opposite year, to a certain degree, in college football. The SEC is struggling in the non-conference, the Pac-12 is thriving. A few years ago, we never thought we would say that ever in a million years,” said Klatt. “You just look at these results right now? It’s hard to wrap our minds around what’s going on.”

Klatt started by looking at the Southeastern Conference’s side of things. He already knows that it’s not as good as it has been in years past based on the simple fact along that they’ve struggled in non-conference play across the board.

“The SEC is 3-6 versus other Power Five teams this season. That’s the worst among the Power Five conferences,” Klatt pointed out.

“The depth of the conference is certainly not what it has been in the past,” said Klatt. “The reason I know that is because they always won the big non-conference games – always.”

From there, Klatt turned his attention out west and went as far as to say that the Pac-12 is acting more like the SEC than the SEC is. It’s a wild outcome considering this is their final year but it’s also very true based on their wins and placements in the Top-25.

“The Pac-12 is sitting there (at) 6-3 versus other Power Five conferences. You’ve got Utah’s wins over Florida and Baylor, Colorado’s wins over TCU and Nebraska, Oregon over Texas Tech, Washington State over Wisconsin,” Klatt said. “Now, all of a sudden, the Pac-12 is the one that’s putting their flag in the ground and saying, ‘We’re the deepest conference!’. Then you look at the rankings and they’re littered throughout. There’s eight of the twelve Pac-12 teams in the Top-25.”

In the end, though, Klatt wrapped by pointing out the clear reasoning for why this is taking place. The fact of the matter is, through two weeks, the Pac-12’s quarterback play has been, and could continue to be, much better than the SEC’s. To Klatt, that makes all the difference a program, or, in this case, a conference, needs to become a contender.

“Why is this happening? Quarterback play,” Klatt said. “The Pac-12 has the best quarterbacks in the country by a wide margin.”

“We can make the argument that there are six, maybe seven, quarterbacks in the Pac-12 that would start anywhere in the SEC. Why is it changing this year? That’s why,” said Klatt. “I think that we overweight the talent composite and we underweight what the composite is in relation to quarterback play.”