Joel Klatt doesn’t rank Alabama No. 1 heading into next season
By Josh Hill
FOX Sports College analyst Joel Klatt is investing his stock in another SEC powerhouse to dominate in 2021.
The College Football season has come to an end with Nick Saban yet again standing atop the mountain. But while there is joy flowing through the veins of everyone in Tuscaloosa, every other major program in the country is already setting its sights on next season and the opportunity to topple the Crimson Tide.
Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt already has an idea of how he thinks things will shake out, and it’s bad news for anyone hoping for an Alabama repeat. It’s good news, however, for the Athens crowd bitter over how things ended up going in 2020.
Klatt revealed his admittedly Way Too Early rankings for the 2021 season, and the Crimson Tide are rolling into the No. 2 slot and dropped Ohio State even further down his rankings.
Who does he have as his No. 1 team to start the 2021 season?
College Football Ranking: Joel Klatt ranks Georgia ahead of Alabama
In a surprise to anyone who watched the National Championship Game, Klatt doesn’t think Alabama deserves to be the best team in college football next season. To be fair, the Tide are losing top stars like DeVonta Smith, Najee Harris, Jaylen Waddle, Mac Jones, and Patrick Surtain II to the NFL Draft with all likely to be first round picks.
That’s a ton of star power to lose in one offseason.
Instead, he believes Kirby Smart and Georgia will take the next steps in becoming the best program in the country.
For what it’s worth, Klatt doesn’t drop Alabama far from the top spot. Ohio State fans might want to avert their eyes, though.
Here is my WAY-TOO-EARLY top 10 for 2021-2022
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) January 12, 2021
1) @GeorgiaFootball
2) @AlabamaFTBL
3) @OU_Football
4) @OhioStateFB
5) @ClemsonFB
6) @CycloneFB
7) @IndianaFootball
8) @CanesFootball
9) @TarHeelFootball
10) @NDFootball
It looked like Georgia might be on its way to challenging Alabama in the SEC this year before the wheels fell off in Athens. The Bulldogs ended up finishing No. 7 in the final AP Top 25 ranking of the year, but quarterback JT Daniels is returning with a chip on his shoulder. If Georgia can sustain the type of early offensive success it had at the start of the 2020 season, Klatt’s prediction may end up aging better than expected.