Joel Klatt 'would be shocked' if Texas does not play for national championship

Texas fans can safely say their back in 2024 — and there might not be many teams better than them, according to FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt.

From boasting one of the top offenses in the country lead by quarterback Quinn Ewers, to allowing just one touchdown across two games on defense, the Longhorns are riding high in their first season in the SEC.

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“I mean, I would be shocked if this team is not right there at the end playing for a national championship,” Klatt said during an appearance on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Wednesday.

Klatt ranks Texas up there in the best three teams in the nation with Georgia and Ohio State. To the FOX Sports analyst, the race to the top of his College Football Playoff rankings is so close that it forced him them ranked 1A, 1B and 1C.

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For Texas, they’ve improved at some key positions after falling short of the national championship game, particularly along the offensive and defensive lines. Experience is the name of the game on the offensive end of the ball, and are lead by arguably the top offensive tackle in the country in Kelvin Banks Jr. On the other side of the ball, they turned to the transfer portal to beef their up their rotation.

“Their offensive line is as experienced and physical as any in the sport,” Klatt continued. “And the thing about it is that they’re experienced — They played as young players. So this, in a lot of cases, is their third year starting. They fixed their their rotation on the defensive line, because they remember they lost to T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy, great to excellent defensive tackles. That was going to be a point of weakness for them, well, guess what?

“They went out and got three other defensive tackles in the portal, which makes their rotation in the interior fine, because none of them have to play over 25 or 30 snaps.”

Adding the likes of Isaiah Bond and Matthew Golden from the transfer portal for Quinn Ewers to throw to has kept their scoring offense on par with some of the best in the country.

“And all of a sudden you’re sitting there, you’re like, ‘This probably is a national championship caliber team,'” Klatt said.

With national championship aspirations in mind, as the Longhorns continue their early season dominance a match against Georgia looms on Oct. 19 in what Klatt expects to be a matchup between two of the nation’s finest.