Joel Klatt reveals how new era of college football cost Georgia in CFP vs. Notre Dame
When looking back at Notre Dame‘s surprising 23-10 upset of No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl national semifinal Thursday, Joel Klatt was gobsmacked by several revealing stats that jumped off the page.
The FOX Sports analyst cited the Bulldogs’ season-long struggles to run the ball, ranking second-to-last in the SEC in that metric, as well as the Fighting Irish’s overall dominance of the line of scrimmage in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, especially on defense where Notre Dame racked up nine tackles for loss compared to just one for Georgia.
For Klatt, the Sugar Bowl result was a “staggering” revelation about where the once-dominant Bulldogs now stand among their peers, but also because it signals the beginning of a new age of college football, where NIL and the transfer portal have leveled the playing field across the sport.
“To me, that is a telling stat about where the sport has changed. Because over the previous 10 years what we’ve seen is teams like Georgia or like Alabama stockpile talent, in particular on the defensive and offensive lines, and they were dominant at the line of scrimmage,” Klatt said on Friday’s episode of The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast. “But now you can’t stockpile talent. Because of the transfer portal, kids are not going to sit there and be backups at Georgia and Alabama if they can go play elsewhere. So now, talent is more dispersed around the country. And we’re seeing that play out right in front of our eyes in this Playoff.
“We saw it played out when Arizona State almost beats Texas, in all of these games, when Boise State gives Penn State all it can handle. This period in college football, … I believe we’re entering into a period where we’re going to have between six and eight teams every year that can legitimately win the national championship,” Klatt concluded. “And let’s face it, if Ohio State wasn’t turning into a supernova Death Star right in front of our eyes, we’d be saying to ourselves, ‘This is anybody’s game here at the end of the year.’ Now, we’re all probably going to favor Ohio State because of the way that they’ve looked, in particular in the last two games against Tennessee and then again in the Rose Bowl against Oregon, but really the talent is dispersing.
“The narrative that the SEC is so clearly head and shoulders above everybody all the time is dead. And it needs to die based on the evidence in front of our eyes.”
Marcus Spears blames NIL, NCAA Transfer Portal for loss of elite talent depth in SEC
Marcus Spears had something to get off his chest Friday.
During an in-studio appearance on ESPN’s First Take, the former LSU and Dallas Cowboys lineman went on the defensive during a heated discussion about the perceived downtrend in the SEC’s dominance over college football.
Spears credited the advent of the NCAA Transfer Portal and name, image and likeness (NIL), which has allowed the former four- and five-star recruits SEC powers previously stockpiled to transfer to other out-of-conference programs, with the leveling of the proverbial playing field that has led to a weaker SEC in 2024. Case-in-point, Ohio State loaded up on elite SEC transfers like former Alabama starters Caleb Downs and Seth McLaughlin and former Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins last offseason.
“This is how I explain the SEC to people: Your second- and third-(team) guys can win Heismans and be first-round draft picks. That no longer exists. Those guys are going to other schools, starting early and playing,” Spears said Friday on First Take. “RC (Ryan Clark) knows this, guys on LSU’s roster when we were there that didn’t play, were first-round picks in waiting. It was no question that they weren’t going to be first-round draft picks, really good players or superstars. You just had to wait, because there was another Heisman Trophy winner or another first-round draft pick in front of you.
“That’s what has changed in the SEC. And I don’t want to hear nobody talk about the SEC and how people hate that they weren’t dominant. The conference won 13 out of (the last) 15 national championships, that’s the reality of where they were. The NIL and the transfer portal have changed that.”
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