Joel Klatt’s latest top 10 after Week 9 comes with a few eyebrow-raising calls, and the biggest one is Texas landing at No. 7.
With the first College Football Playoff rankings set to drop Tuesday night, the season has already delivered plenty of chaos. There are only three unbeaten teams left - Miami, Utah and UCLA - and both Miami and Utah are headed into major tests this weekend. The Hurricanes meet Notre Dame, while Utah faces BYU, so the opening playoff picture figures to shift quickly.
Klatt, who breaks down the previous week’s action on FOX’s Big Noon game with Gus Johnson, released his updated rankings after Week 9.
His top 10 looks like this:
- Alabama
- Ohio State
- Kentucky
- Texas
- Utah
- UCLA
- Notre Dame
- Indiana
- Georgia
- Miami
The most notable part of the list is Texas sitting at No. 7, and Klatt made it clear he wasn’t backing off that stance.
“I know everyone’s going to be upset about this, but you know what? I don’t care,” Klatt said.
“I’ve got Texas at seven. If you look at their strength of schedule, their wins, if I was in the committee room, I would have them up there.
I would have them up there.
“They took care of Mississippi State 31-3…. They had 280 total yards.
Arch took five sacks in that game. They’ve got to get better than that.
Again, if it’s not an Arch centric offense, they’re a better offense. They’ve got to figure out how to run the football first..”
BYU, meanwhile, missed Klatt’s top 10 entirely despite being in the mix for the playoff conversation. He slotted the Cougars on the bubble along with Ole Miss, LSU, USC and Wake Forest.
“BYU is just outside of my top 10,” said Klatt. “Kind of a disappointing performance against Arizona State.
That Arizona State team 4-3. You beat them by seven at home.”
Klatt also pointed to Ole Miss’ resume, noting that it includes losses to Florida and Texas. Even so, he said both LSU and Ole Miss can still work their way into the picture over the final four weeks. Wake Forest and USC, he added, have the kind of offenses that can pile up points and keep their own paths alive if they keep winning.
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