Joel Klatt’s College Football Rankings: Alabama Moves Up, Miami Falls Down

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While the top two teams in Joel Klatt’s rankings a week ago held firm to their rankings, behind them is chaos. Out with the old, in with the new, and plenty of shifting in the middle of the list thanks to a tumultuous week of college football.

So, here are Klatt’s top 10 rankings after another week of college football games.

Klatt’s take: Ohio State shut out Wisconsin, Carnell Tate had over 100 yards and two touchdowns, Julian Sayin had almost 400 yards passing. They’ve allowed just 41 points through seven games: that’s the fewest in college football since 1993, by that great Florida State defense. This Ohio State defense is one of the great defenses, not just this year, but in a long time. It’s up there with the ‘21 Georgia defense, some of those Bama defenses that were incredible, some of the great defenses in the 90s. Wisconsin had no shot in that game – now, we know that, and Bama also took apart Wisconsin in a similar fashion, but Alabama gave up a couple of scores in that game. And you could say “yeah, those were mop-up duty, that’s fine” – Ohio State didn’t. They went out there and shut them out. Forty-one total points, through seven college football games. That’s an incredible number. 

And then on the offense side, are they running it great? No. No they’re not. And they’re going to try to go back and fix that, and I’m sure they’re going to do that, but Wisconsin does one thing well, and it’s stop the run. Bama knows that, Wisconsin was able to stop Bama’s run game, and they were able to hold in check Ohio State’s run game, and I know Ohio State fans are going to complain about that, because Buckeye fans tend to focus on the areas where they need to get better, is I think the right way to put it. But that passing game came to life. How about Julian Sayin? That’s quite an answer to Wisconsin’s run defense, to be able to just go out there and throw for almost 400 yards. 

Klatt’s take: Indiana took care of Michigan State, 38-13. Fernando Mendoza continues to be a fantastic quarterback – he might be the first quarterback taken in the NFL Draft. 

Klatt’s take: Let’s look at this Alabama team a little bit differently after these last four weeks. I can remember urging patience at the beginning of the year, with the loss to Florida State, I thought there was a bit of panic with the way that that happened, but they’ve gotten better. And not only have they gotten better, but they have gotten to be a great football team. This is a legitimate national championship-caliber team.

Klatt’s take: No. 4 is going to be Oregon – that was a huge bounceback win for them after losing at home to Indiana, which we know is a great team. Oregon hammered Rutgers with 415 rushing yards. Rushing yards! Head coach Dan Lanning looked at the second half of that film against Indiana and thought to himself, “nope, that’s not how this is going to go, we’re going to be a team that can win on the line of scrimmage,” and were able to do that. They took apart Rutgers, 56-10, a long trip in order to do that.

Klatt’s take: If I’m being honest with myself, and I’m just looking at these teams like “rank these teams, from best to worst one through five” – sorry, Aggies fans, but I had to put Texas A&M at the back of this, and they’re going to be No. 5. Still a top-5 team in the country! I was a little concerned about the defense having to survive an ugly game against Arkansas – that is the second straight week that we’ve seen Arkansas come alive on offense, obviously interim head coach Bobby Petrino knows what he’s doing on the offensive side. So is that cause for concern? I don’t think so, but we’ll see coming down the stretch. I do love what they have, though, and they were able to survive some injuries to their backfield and still look potent on the offensive side.

Klatt’s take: “We’re hard to kill,” says Kirby Smart, and I agree. Only one team has been able to do it, and that’s Alabama. That’s going to be a tough out. 

Klatt’s take: Georgia Tech comes in ahead of Miami, because they have handled their business. They beat Duke, 27-18. QB Haynes King, here he goes again, with 120 rush yards – he’s like the new version of Collin Klein. I love the story of Georgia Tech, they’ve done a great job, and Haynes King is just a man. I love watching that guy play.

Klatt’s take: Miami going to be No. 8. At the end of the day, Jeff Brohm does this to somebody every year – that Friday-night win, Louisville over Miami – and I don’t expect Carson Beck to throw four picks every week, and that’s what it took for Louisville to win. So, that’s still a good football team, it really is, and I still think it’s a top-10 team, and I still think it’s the best team in the ACC. So they’re only going to fall to No. 8.

Klatt’s take: I struggled with this sequence right here. I know Notre Dame has two losses, but this is a top-10 team, so I’ve got them at No. 9. Winning in the fashion that they did, with their quarterback not playing well – I think we’re all blind if we don’t see that Notre Dame is a top-10 team. But: in order to put them there, Miami can’t fall out of the top 10 after the four-pick game from Carson Beck.

Klatt’s take: Vanderbilt beat LSU, took apart an LSU defense that has largely been one of the better defenses in the country – that’s really the first team that has gotten after LSU’s defense. Quarterback Diego Pavia continues to be a revelation – by the way, I just love his attitude. Clark Lea has done such a good job at Vanderbilt, he’s certainly going to get a long look from all these schools and programs that have openings down the stretch.

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