Joel Klatt’s College Football Rankings: Is ‘Championship Caliber’ Indiana No. 1?

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We say this a lot, but this statement was especially true this week: What a weekend it was in college football. 

Indiana firmly established itself as a national championship contender with its upset win at Oregon. Texas might have gotten back on track with its decisive victory over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry. Alabama picked up a key ranked win, and Ohio State continues to roll.

All of that was overshadowed by Penn State’s decision to fire James Franklin on Sunday following a third straight loss. But the rankings must go on, so here’s Joel Klatt’s latest top 10. 

Klatt’s thoughts: “This team has separated themselves out. They haven’t even shifted into third gear. Ohio State’s the best team in the country. That’s the best defense in the country. Their quarterback is the most efficient quarterback in the country. They still have the best players in the country. They are really good. They don’t even have to go to third gear to win these games on the road. Illinois had the best, most explosive offense over the last couple of weeks in college football, and did nothing.

“What happens when they turn it on like they did late in the season last year in the playoffs and start really going down the field and start really loosening up that offense? Who beats them? What team in the country can score 17 points against Ohio State? … It doesn’t get better than Ohio State at this point.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “Curt Cignetti has a national championship caliber team at Indiana. They just are. I don’t care what the logo says. If another logo had done that at Oregon, we would be running parades up and down these podcast lands. I’m going to give them their due. That was the best win so far in the country.

“Let’s be very honest about this game, the score was not indicative of the game played. Indiana beat Oregon up. They won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and fundamentally, they were just better than Oregon. Their players were excellent. These guys continually get underrated, and I’m guilty of it. I didn’t put them in my October CFP bracket. … I think their team is good enough to win a national championship.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “I know Miami fans think that I’ve got something against Miami. I really don’t, but at this point, here’s how it plays out: I’ve got a clear No. 1 that has to go No. 1, and then it becomes about résumé. And when it comes down to résumé, even though Miami’s résumé is very good, the best win in the country just happened on Saturday when Indiana went up and beat up on Oregon. 

Klatt’s thoughts: “Their third-down defense is borderline comical with how good it is. Opponents are two of their last 33 on third downs over their last three games. By the way, A&M can run the football, their quarterback can run the football, they can throw the football, and, obviously, that defense looks great. That is going to be a difficult team to beat.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “Good win over Missouri. I know I picked Missouri in that game, but here’s what Alabama was able to do: Alabama was able to correct some weaknesses, and then in the second half of that game, they stopped the run really well. They did not allow Ahmad Hardy to get loose. It put the game on Beau Pribula. He made a couple of mistakes, didn’t play his best, and Alabama won the football game. Ty Simpson is really good. Now, it’s still a bit of a one-dimensional team. I know Jam Miller is running the ball better than how they ran it earlier in the year, but Alabama is still relying on Simpson a bit too much.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “Texas Tech is a hell of a football team. Now, they had an injury, and it’s not their quarterback injury that I’m actually worried about. Behren Morton went down, Will Hammond had to come into the ballgame, and he didn’t play as well against Kansas as he did against Utah. The injury I’m more worried about is Skyler Gil-Howard, who is one of their really good transfer defensive linemen and a key cog on that defense, went down with an injury. He’s a beast. He’s one of the reasons why that defense has been so good, and that’s an injury I’m a little bit worried about. But Texas Tech is a clear favorite for me in the Big 12.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “That was alarming, the way that they got beat up physically. Do I think they’ll answer? Yes, I do think that they’re going to answer because Dan Lanning is too good of a coach, and that’s too good of a roster. The offensive line has played better than that during the course of the season, even though now their non-conference schedule doesn’t look great. Dante Moore has stepped back a little bit, but I do think that they’re going to be just fine. 

Klatt’s thoughts: “They’re just so battle tested, they don’t flinch. That game was wild against Auburn. In the last three seasons in the SEC conference, in games in which someone falls behind by two scores, Georgia’s 5-3. What is the rest of the conference? They’ve won 13% of those games. Stunning that they’re able to come back from these deficits. They’re down 10-0. They get that controversial call with the fumble at the goal line. Then, from that point on, they just suffocate Auburn. 

“They’re not perfect. Are they going to get beat again? Probably, but it’s just so difficult to actually kill that team in any game.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “I know it’s controversial with the two losses, but they would beat these teams surrounding them. They would beat Ole Miss. Their two losses are impressive. There’s no doubt they’re two really good teams. When I look at A&M, really good football team and that game was down to the wire. Miami, another really good football team and that game was down to the wire.”

Klatt’s thoughts: “Candidly, I wanted to boot them out, because this performance in a win was, how should I say it, horrendous? It was a horrendous win. Ole Miss is just gonna hang in the top 10. Are they a top 10 team? I don’t know. They’re getting this entire résumé and build-up by beating LSU. We don’t know how good LSU is. LSU, offensively, is not very good. They won this last weekend. But was it a great performance? Ole Miss has four wins by one score. I mean, they barely beat Washington State at home. … Washington State is a team that lost by 49 to North Texas.”

Honorable mention: USC, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma

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