Joel Klatt And USC


Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt is always outspoken about USC. And he used the Trojans as an example for not expanding the current playoff format of four teams.

“The problem with expanding the playoff past four teams is you’re going to water down the regular season. If you take it past four or five, every power conference is going to say our champion’s in automatically.

“That means USC last year with four losses had a chance for 60 minutes against Stanford to have an automatic berth to the playoff. Their four losses don’t count? That’s garbage.”

54 thoughts on “Joel Klatt And USC

  1. I haven’t watched this clip yet, but I will just to get his full opinion. It sounds like he has an issue with how conference champions are determined and not necessarily an 8 team playoff.

    If you can get the 8 super conferences established, 8 playoff slots makes sense.

    • Last year’s USC team didn’t belong in any form of playoffs. But let’s take a hypothetical situation —say, USC had ended its season with a win against Oregon, a win against UCLA and a Pac 12 championship win against Stanford (note: I suppose this ‘dream’ scenario posits Justin Wilcox being asked to turn in his resignation after the Notre Dame game)—- USC would STILL have 3 losses (first game against Stanford, as well as losses to Washington and Notre Dame) —-but, a very strong argument could be made that such a 3 loss team SHOULD be in the playoffs. (I don’t bring this up because I want to dream of what ‘could have been.’ I bring it up because I foresee a scenario very much like this playing itself out very soon —and that 3 loss, PAC 12 Champion should be right in the thick of things in the playoffs).
      #AndThatWouldNotBeGarbage

      • It is a faulty argument that Mr Klatt makes because in describing USC’s situation, he’s describing a situation that could conceivably exist with all 4 playoff participants simultaneously. So, if we have several 2, 3, or 4 loss conference champions do we call off the playoffs that year?? That’s not a legitimate reason not to have an 8 team playoff.

        His issue is either with the way conference champions are determined or our collective penchant to want to automatically include conference champions. I would probably argue both of those points with him, but neither has anything to do with an 8 team playoff.

        • Ha! I hadn’t thought of it that way, Clay —but, you’re right —Klatt is unwittingly making an argument for NO playoff in years where there are no super teams or, alternatively, where conference super teams are knocking each other off on their way to the conference championship.
          #ProblematicConcept

    • If you create the 8 super conferences and expand the playoffs to 8, you would give every single program in the FBS a legitimate path to a national championship. They’d still have to prove it on the field, but they couldn’t gripe about not having a shot to do it. Include everyone and you’ll grow and broaden the appeal of your sport far beyond what you’re doing now.

      The problem is that there isn’t a Commissioner who has centralized and unbiased power to fix this. That’s why USC needs to take the lead and help form the first super conference (described in a previous post as the Big Pacific Conference) encompassing the heart of the existing Big 12 and Pac 12 conferences. The dominoes will fall once the first one super conference is formed. We need to be first to market in this case and make sure we’re well positioned for the future. The first school we should call is Stanford and get them onboard and then talk to the Board of Regents. If we can get the 4 Cali schools on the same page the rest will come and we have the start of a revolution.

      • If only we had a young dynamic AD to take the lead instead of a social security hire.

        • Generally, there are certain advantages to maturity …..but, let’s face it, you could very well be right, marv…..
          #We’llKnowByOctober

        • We gotta give Swanny a chance. It would be tough for a new AD to initiate any of the stuff I have been proposing. USC’s position in the Pac 12 seems untenable to me and I think we gotta make a move before we’re one of the dominoes falling.

    • While I actually prefer the four team play-off, making it extremely difficult to get in, you could still easily expand it to eight and auto-exclude all teams with four losses.

      • And you’re okay with 3 losses, Jack? It pretty forseeable there will be years where the Pac 12 Champ, among other conference champions, has a 10 and 3 record.

        • As I say, I’m in the minority and I’m for only four teams. I love that. Only FOUR go! I don’t think you should be able to get in because you’re a hot team at the end.

          But if you’re gonna go to eight, I’d prefer to exclude teams with three losses, but I’m afraid that would encourage teams to dumb down their schedules, thinking they could somehow squeeze in as long as they don’t lose more than two.

          • I’m not in favor of any byes, giving two teams an advantage over the rest going in. Just another controversy – the top two get to rest and prepare better. It’s hard enough as it is to get named as a top four team, so I prefer an even slate for all.

          • Well nearly every school is opposed to expanding the number from 4 to 8. The coaches aren’t too excited because it’s another additional week/game and the academic impact goes w.o. saying.

    • Not really. Remember the year the fuclans were 60 minutes away from representing the conference after losing to us 50-0?

      • Hee hee. So near, and yet so far. Those 60 minutes (which involved a tilt with a school named Oregon) may just as well have been 60 years…..which come to think is just about how close UCLA still is from a Conference Championship.

        • True, but I remember the 2012 bozo u “Unfinished Bidness” #1 pre-season team.

          That 7 – 6 bozo u season is the acme of NCAA FB humiliation – in fact it’s a NCAA record for losses by a #1 pre-season team.

          Sort of like hiring an alky as a head FB coach, or having 5 HFBC’s in 3 years.

          bozo u earned the bozo u label.

          • HUMILIATION??? The bRuins lost a bowl game to a Nebraska team who had a 5-7 record.

            #GTF out of here!
            #CornholedBruins
            #LMAO!

          • Sammy the Squeegee want a lick? Sammy, Sammy, come out of the closet. Hum some of your favorite AC DC.

            The 2012 “Unfinished Bidness” bozo u team were CH’d SIX (count ’em Sammy 1,2,3,4,5,6) times – a NCAA record the losses by the consensus Div. 1 pre-season #1 team.

            Oh the utter bozo u FB humiliation – from 1st to SUCCing FB hind t*ttie. Embrace your your loser legacy Squeegee.

          • Squatter, do you actually have season tickets or just tickets to the thrift store team that plays at the rose bowl or do you have to go to the soup kitchen to watch? Just wondering.

        • Imagine their success when they join the Mountain West – you know we will be rooting for the ‘Bows!!!

          • No more last place finishes for our home team! Welcome, UCLA!
            #DoesAlohaStadiumServeAlcohol?

  2. Look the real question isn’t 8 or 6 or 14 it is ‘The Princess’ as long as that crow gets any interest it’s still rigged.

  3. Joel Katt just killed any hope for his Colorado Buffaloes to get into the playoffs.

  4. Somebody was listening to Colin Cowherd.
    They should get rid of their non-conference games and use those
    three open dates, at the end of their schedules, and have the top 16 teams play each other; 1 vs 16. Higher ranked teams being the home teams until you get the top four teams left. The four teams left can play in the two allotted Bowl games, and crown a National Champion.
    Screw the Conference Title games.

    • I wouldn’t sign on to anything that would make us give up the Notre Dame rivalry. That’s a non-starter to me and probably most ‘SC fans. I doubt ND would go for that either.

      • You’re absolutely right. I don’t think many Conferences would, especially the SEC.

        • But the SEC would go for it because they would still get more teams in the top 16 than anyone else.

  5. The bottom line is, haters will hate on USC and the Pac12, because without USC most consider the conference weak.. the bottom feeders of the conference like Ucla, ASU, UOA and well Stanford and Oregon need to win BIG games to be in play for national exposure

    USC has history in the CFB world and are depended on to win and win the BIG games .. The playoff format and the BCS was designed for the schools like USC who are in the uppet tier to showcase their teams on a national scale, while expanding the NCAA brand…

    Just like Ucla in basketball, without them, the tournament is meaningless to advertisers etc.

    • Bozo u were positively huge against Arkansas Backwoods College and the Idaho Potatoes. Nationally, 15 people died of envy watching bozo u steamroll two cupcake FB teams.

      • Squatter, Thug U better not take Prairie View St. lightly or they will bet steamrolled. You, Thug U, and Johnny Cheetin’ Wooden are reason why Thug U is so hated.

    • Ugly basketball is meaningless since all of the bought champsionships are tainted with Gilberts money and Johnny’s cheating.

    • And Cow PolyFan3.0 will always hate on UCSB at the Blue-Green Mens Soccer Rivalry Game

  6. As long as the media gets a vote, there will always be a controversy. Sports writers always think they know more than real people.

  7. I’ve seen ‘6’ with the bottom ranked 4 in a play-in then a face off against the top two.

    Until the rig deal ‘The Princess’ gets is resolved it isn’t fair to the rest – not to have a play a 13th game for a CC is both wrong and fixed for them.

    A lot of coaches have stated such – primarily from the south – and they are right. Why does everyone kow tow to ‘The Princess’?

    28 years of mediocrity and counting

    ‘blank’ those gutless pansies.

  8. Just to be clear, I don’t think you should keep the regular season as it is now and just tack on 4 more playoff slots. You have to introduce some kind of uniformity into the regular season so that everyone plays the same number of conference games.

    We can’t leave schools and conferences to their own devices during the regular season and then just try to create a championship from the fallout of all this individual action. Start with 8 16 team super conferences with uniform rules on scheduling and determining a conference champ. If you start there you have all kinds of options.

  9. I’m tired of hearing that if they expand to 8 teams the regular season won’t matter. You still have to win almost every week, but if you have a bad week or even two, you still have a shot. Remember a couple of Pete Carroll’s SC teams that had a bad game and they were out of the championship, but at the end they were clearly one of, if not the best team in the nation. Those teams will get in with 8.

    • Good example.

      Winning a 16 team conference to get to the playoffs wouldn’t be easy. If all but one of your games are in conference, you better be winning every week.

  10. My belief is that the Big 12 and Pac 12 will be the conferences that will be the most likely to be excluded from the Playoff for $everal Million Rea$ons. Perhaps rather than individual Conference Title Games, these two should have a Play In game.

    • If true then that’ll be a real motivator for ‘The Princess’ to come from outside in their ‘All about me’ party.

      Notre Dame is and always shall be corrupt. They’re not about to be stuck in with the ‘also rans’.

  11. What Klatt said makes a lot of sense, but he is the same guy that said last year at mid season that USC could not win the PAC 12 South.

  12. Klatt rarely has even said a nice thing about USC. Word is years ago he was not recruited by USC and has held that against the school ever since.

  13. What Klatt has forgotten intentionally or non-intentionally is that each team in the sEc plays only 8 conference games and at least two division games. Yet when deciding the playoffs, the sEc and the teams are treated as they played a 9 conference schedule and all division one teams. This has to be addressed and the sEc should be penalized by not being allowed to play in the playoffs until they correct the problem of playing 9 conference and only one division two team each season.

  14. It might be a valid argument if every conference played 9 games in conference.

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