With the conference championship weekend quickly approaching, debates over which teams deserve to round out the college football playoff picture are sure to intensify in the coming days.
The conversation centered on Ohio State (11-1) and Alabama (10-2), two teams that have seemingly torn the CFB world back and forth over which side has the strongest arguments to get last to reach four, if any, the favorites, namely USC, fall out of contention. The Buckeyes and Crimson Tide ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the latest AP Top 25 poll, behind No. 1 Georgia (12-0), No. 2 Michigan (12-0), No. 3 TCU (12-0 ) and No. 4 USC (11–1).
On Monday, Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt decided to complement the OSU bama debate with a resounding stance that will surely garner its fair share of supporters and detractors across the country. Needless to say, Klatt didn’t mince his words when he revealed he’s a firm supporter of Ryan Day’s Buckeyes, despite the program suffering its first loss of the year with a 45-23 blowout against the Wolverines on Saturday.
“Alabama doesn’t have an argument against Ohio State, they don’t,” Klatt said. “It’s so clear to me that it’s not even funny. And everyone calls me a Big Ten homer. First of all I have Georgia in #1, they don’t even have the best overall win of the season by any team. That win is now clearly Michigan’s on the road against Ohio State. And I still have Georgia at #1.”
After arguing that Ohio State should end any debate from the start with a loss to Alabama’s two, Klatt added that there are no metrics from this season to suggest that, although he thinks the SEC the best conference “in a long time” is Tide has an advantage in the rankings.
Klatt then cited Ohio State’s streak of 11 straight double-digit wins — the most of any team in the country — before losing to the best team in the country as another powerful factor that helped them stand out. On the other hand, Klatt has eroded Bama’s 3-2 record in one-ball possession games, which includes a one-point loss against the then number one. 10 LSU before completing his case.
“It’s not even like they played that ‘terribly harder schedule’ and were so much more dominant. In fact, they weren’t dominant at all,” he said. “So now suddenly you’re looking at this based on these metrics, it’s not even close.
“That’s a moot point, it’s totally ridiculous. The only ones out there who’ll roar about Alabama are absolute SEC-colored goggle horns. Period.”
With the regular season officially over for Ohio State and Alabama, both teams will have to wait and see if any surprises shake the CFP picture this weekend.