With the start of the 2025 college football season, the terrible announcement sat down with Fox Sports’ leading college football analyst Joel Klatt before the same-named podcast sold out on the Ohio State campus Thursday night OSU Repeat Champion Tattoo Live on the stage).
Thanks to his podcast and his Good Working in a radio booth with Gus Johnson, Klatt has established himself as one of the main authoritative voices in college football in recent years. Regarding the situation of the sport, his role at Fox and how he sees the landscape of college football media, how we see the landscape of college football media in many of the offseason’s major network moves.
For clarity and simplicity, some of the quotes in the Q&A below have been gently edited.
In college football status…
Terrible announcement: You often say that college football is more like a national sport than ever before, citing factors such as conference adjustments and zero. As someone who travels to campuses around the country every week and week, we would love to take a look at any obvious differences you notice, whether you notice the height of the game brings, whether on the field or off.
Joel Klatt: There are multiple levels of this answer. First, the team is different. There is more parity because talent has spread. It used to be very concentrated; the best teams had the best players. You'll go to practice in schools like Alabama or Georgia or Ohio, and the starter looks incredible, the backup looks incredible, and the third stringer looks incredible. But they are the only ones who look like this.
Now, it looks different. Everyone's beginning is equivalent to everyone's backups getting smaller and smaller, and their skills getting more and more. Alabama and Ohio State have no previous three depths. Because playing games now has reasonable value, if a great second string can be chosen to be a backup or on the field, then he will name any other school.
So the parity of the sport is significantly different when I travel, and then so is the interest. Whether it’s podcasts or YouTube, or the numbers we get on TV, it’s clear that people are more interested in the sport than ever before.
How do you view the current state of the top 10/second competition in this super conference era, and if anything, how much will the results of OSU vs. Texas games affect your point?
So, I think such a game is a real showdown game. Ohio State and Texas are both the highest levels of their conferences, so from a conference standpoint, this is the barometer we get.
From a broader perspective, both conferences do have all the power, and over the past few years, the Big Ten has begun to capture many of the high-end powers of the SEC. The last two championships were won by Michigan and Ohio State. Last year, the Big Ten won nearly all their bowl games against the SEC. Ohio State beat Texas and Tennessee, Michigan beat Alabama, and Illinois beat South Carolina. All in all, this feeling is like a real change in the tide, which was definitely not the case four or six years ago.
Joint Organization: Columbus Dispatch
The SEC is still a great meeting and still very in-depth, but they don’t have the shackles of talent as they used to be. With Nil's talent dispersed, you've seen great programs like Michigan and Ohio State, which I think Penn State is in that state, too. Same as Oregon. And that will only continue as we continue to think of what I think is a more nationalized version of college football.
If anything, the fact that these two conferences exist in different media ecosystems (with ESPN and Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big The Big?
There is no doubt that it will definitely increase. I know there are many people there [at ESPN]I know our people. In most cases, we all do our best. But ultimately, you will be affected by proximity at some point. I see a lot more Ohio states than Georgia. I talk to them. I know them. I know Michigan, I know Penn State. I know these teams and their coaches, what makes them good, and where their weaknesses lie. So I think that affects the way we cover the sport, even if we all try to stay balanced or as balanced as possible.
In other words, fans' prejudice views are far greater than reality. They all think we are cheering for this conference and they are cheering for that conference. But that's the greatness of college football. There are always these territories and competitions, and it is interesting that this is also reflected in the report.
Let's talk about the playoffs expansion. What are your ideal playoff teams? What are you hearing about is what to solve before the end of the year?
In a perfect world, this will be a 14-team playoff with only two next to the playoffs, which will inspire the top end of the schedule. I also favor accessing the model rather than selecting it. Overall, I think the election committee is harmful to the sport. We should live on the field and on the scoreboard, not on the board. That's my personal opinion.
Honestly, you can say I'm going a lot of different paths – did the conference get the number of X automatic berths? But most importantly, I favor automatic berths because that's an access model, which is the defining path of the playoffs. Once we do this, we will grow the market for valuable inventory to late November, as more teams and fans will be later this season than now. I also think that this will allow each meeting to participate in some form of weekend or conference tournament, regardless of whether it enables them to get an automatic number of qualifiers. So, in short, I support the top 10 suggestions for models based on 16 and 14 team visits.
As for where I actually think I'm going to go… the reality is that SEC and Big Ten will be the people who decide what this is. If they can't agree, that won't change. The SEC feels that the choice-based model will benefit them. Top 10 favorable access-based models. So now, we're a little deadlocked. Do I think they will reach a consensus in 2026? I'm not.
After winning the national championship, do you think we'll see a more liberal Ryan Day at Ohio State, or will he be the stoic guy we all know him?
No one has asked me this question yet, and I actually have a counter-trend view on it.
I believe winning the national championship is so difficult to change you. Few people have won the national championship, with only three active coaches doing it. Winning this championship will actually make you more rigid because you know in particular what it takes to get there. I'm talking about your standards improving and you'll become a little hard.
So while there is certainly a weight from an operational standpoint, he is now more suitable to do it again because he knows exactly what is needed.
In his role in Fox
You will be attending the OSU booth with Texas on Saturday with Gus Johnson. You say it again and again, this is the biggest home opener in the sport's history (you can recall). Are you preparing for this differently than a typical game?
I try to prepare the same way for every game, which I am proud of the process-oriented people. I've built a process that I really rely on, so no matter who is playing, I go through my process.
That said, there must be a lot of extra film research in this movie. I've seen the arch [Manning] Started last year. Obviously, I've seen all Ohio State movies. I've seen the difference when Texas competes against the Arch at the game. I went back to watch Alabama movies in 2019 and 2020, because they had Tua, then Mac Jones, so RPO-style quarterback and backward quarterback, Steve Sarkisian was the offensive coordinator for both teams. So, they look different? I even went back and watched some of the New England Patriots defense and the Detroit Lions defense.
Overall, I just did my best to prepare and have as much knowledge as possible about the players and their stories and coaches. But ultimately, the most important part – this is what happened within 24 hours of the game – you have to retreat yourself to 30,000 feet because that's where everyone else is looking at the action. There is a way to dive deeper and enhance your audience’s knowledge of certain things, but you can’t start there. You have to go back to 30,000 feet and set up the basic storyline so that everyone looks at them know who the main stars are, and what to watch out for.
Joel Klatt hosts former Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones. Image source: Andy Gottesman for Fox Sports
You have played many OSU games. Do you sometimes feel like a home announcer when you’re in Columbus? How do you describe your familiarity with schools, towns, and fan base?
My experience at Ohio State has been very positive. It's one of the great plans and fan bases for college football. They love the sport and everything that comes with it.
This is my seventh year of calling the Ohio State game and they have some great seasons and moments. But they also have some heartbroken hearts that I had to call me. My hope is that their fan base appreciates me for what I really am and whether they agree or disagree with this, I will achieve this by preparing and what I really believe in.
Gus is famous for his “-ism”. Has he ever introduced you to any phrase or nickname he planned to use in the competition, or did you walk into the blind man’s booth and just roll with what he said?
We absolutely don't have a GUS briefing. It always happens instantly.
I remember the first time he said, “Hollywood Brown from Oklahoma,” because Marquis Brown came from Hollywood, Florida, and he didn't even realize it himself. During the break, Gus turned around and asked me, “I just called Marquis Marquis 'Hollywood'?” I was like, “Yes, you did.” He was like, “Okay, Hollywood sounds good.” Then he put on his headphones and the next big script is again “Hollywood Brown.” I'm just thinking We're gone, a star is born. Very interesting.
More extensive in sports media…
Influential people and content creators are now the main source of information for many Americans, especially when it comes to sports, and it’s no secret. In this age, personality-oriented content often performs best, where do you see yourself (more old-fashioned, real analyst type people)?
This is a good question, and actually, when I look at my boy, I think of a lot of things in particular. I have thirteen, eleven and eight-year-old kids and I pay attention to how they consume content. Nowadays, many young people don’t look for specific channels or platforms to get information; they go to find someone who is trustworthy. So my main goal now is to be a trusted individual in college football information.
Most older analysts are able to rely on big games and major studios to build brands. But that's not a burden to me. I had to think of something else, that's indeed [Joel Klatt Show] podcast. I want to be synonymous with the sport and I know to do so I have to be able to talk about it globally, not just in a game I call the weekend. So, podcasting is the way I take it seriously at the high end of the sport and get to know people in this new environment.