{"id":1923,"date":"2025-12-06T00:03:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/?p=1923"},"modified":"2025-12-06T00:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:03:33","slug":"joel-klatts-hottest-take-yet-calling-battle-tested-oklahoma-the-weakest-playoff-team-is-peak-lazy-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/joel-klatts-hottest-take-yet-calling-battle-tested-oklahoma-the-weakest-playoff-team-is-peak-lazy-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Klatt\u2019s Hottest Take Yet: Calling Battle-Tested Oklahoma the \u201cWeakest\u201d Playoff Team Is Peak Lazy Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the Oklahoma Sooners linger on the periphery of the 12-team College Football Playoff field, they&#8217;re left twiddling their thumbs while the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs clash in the SEC Championship Game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With a 10-2 record, the Sooners&#8217; postseason destiny hangs in the balance: Will they host a first-round thriller in Norman, or hit the road elsewhere?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma is ranked No. 8 in the latest College Football Playoff poll, a spot that secures a home game against a lower seed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet, whispers of chaos abound\u2014if Alabama topples Georgia for the SEC crown, could the Tide leapfrog the Sooners?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It wouldn&#8217;t be the first twist; after all, Oklahoma edged Alabama 23-21 in Tuscaloosa last month, a gritty win fueled by Crimson Tide turnovers despite Bama&#8217;s 200-yard total yardage advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Klatt&#8217;s lazy take on Oklahoma<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enter FOX Sports&#8217; sharp-tongued analyst <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Icu_DpIq6T8\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Klatt<\/a>, who unleashed a scorching takedown this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F837479129258855%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0\" width=\"267\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Klatt doesn&#8217;t mince words: Among the playoff bubble teams, he deems the Sooners the shakiest contender. &#8220;To be quite honest with you, the team that has the weakest resume\u2014and I know that sounds crazy and you guys are going to scoff at me\u2014is OU,&#8221; he declared. Diving into the data, Klatt leaned on advanced metrics like Sagarin ratings and ESPN&#8217;s SP+ , which rank Oklahoma&#8217;s efficiency middling at best. &#8220;If you&#8217;re just watching the film and doing this off the eye test, I mean OU is the worst of all those teams,&#8221; he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Klatt painted a dire picture, suggesting Oklahoma&#8217;s flaws could unravel them deep into January. &#8220;You can get all the way to Miami, and it&#8217;s like if any of those teams play OU this week, I think those teams win the game,&#8221; he warned, referencing the Orange Bowl semifinal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He circled back to that Alabama thriller: &#8220;Look at how many yards Alabama had in that game. They outgained them by almost 200 yards or more. So I know they won, but a lot of it was turnovers. That offense is so poor\u2014watch out for OU where they go. If Notre Dame passes them, maybe we&#8217;re set up for that.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>By the numbers<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Klatt&#8217;s critique isn&#8217;t baseless; Oklahoma&#8217;s offense has been a sputtering engine all season, checking in at No. 92 nationally in yards per game (340.8).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turnovers have masked deeper issues, like inconsistent line play and a run game averaging just 3.7 yards per carry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Sooners&#8217; reliance on quarterback John Mateer\u2014a transfer sensation from Washington State\u2014has kept them afloat, but his 10 interceptions underscore the volatility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defensively, they&#8217;ve been stout, allowing only 14.9 points per game (top-7 mark), but Klatt argues it&#8217;s not enough against playoff-caliber firepower.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, calling the Sooners&#8217; resume &#8220;weakest&#8221; feels like a swing and a miss\u2014overly simplistic and dismissive of their gauntlet. Oklahoma navigated one of the nation&#8217;s toughest schedules, emerging with signature wins that few teams can match.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They notched five victories over AP Top-25 foes during the regular season: Michigan, Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, and Missouri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No other FBS program boasts that many ranked scalps in 2025, a testament to their mettle in the SEC meat grinder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The numbers don&#8217;t lie in their favor either. ESPN&#8217;s FPI ranks Oklahoma&#8217;s strength of schedule at No. 12 overall.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their strength of record? A stellar No. 9, accounting for the quality of victories amid close calls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Game control metrics\u2014blending margins of victory, time of possession, and turnover margins\u2014place them ninth nationally, highlighting their knack for dictating tempo even in one-score scraps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Klatt&#8217;s hot take risks overshadowing Brent Venables&#8217; rebuild in Year 4. After a dismal 6-7 debut in the SEC last year, the Sooners have done what they needed to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Klatt on the call<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Klatt shifts focus to calling the Big Ten Championship\u2014pitting No. 1 Ohio State against No. 2 Indiana on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/fox-one-surges-past-espn-unlimited-in-direct-to-consumer-subscriptions\/\" target=\"_self\">FOX<\/a> this weekend\u2014it&#8217;s clear he&#8217;s overlooked the &#8220;special thing&#8221; brewing in Norman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Sooners aren&#8217;t flawless, but they&#8217;re battle-tested warriors, forged in the SEC&#8217;s unforgiving forge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the committee rewards resumes over recency bias, Oklahoma deserves that No. 8 seed and a home crowd roaring them into the fray.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Oklahoma Sooners linger on the periphery of the 12-team College Football Playoff field, they&#8217;re left twiddling their thumbs while the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs clash in the SEC Championship Game.\u00a0 With a 10-2 record, the Sooners&#8217; postseason destiny hangs in the balance: Will they host a first-round thriller in Norman, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5665,"featured_media":1929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[274,264,238],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fox-sports","category-news","category-sports-media","tag-featured"],"modified_by":"Steve Carney","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1930,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/1930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}