Oregon In Trouble? UCLA Turning Heads? Klatt Names Alarming, Exciting CFB Teams

Week 2 of the college football season was nothing but thrilling. Oregon and Oklahoma faced massive upsets, Texas claimed the No. 1 spot in the rankings and Bob Chesney and UCLA are continuing to prove their offseason hype in the regular season. Notably, Mississippi State’s Kamario Taylor defeated its first Big Ten opponent on the road for the first time since 1980. But after two weeks, where do some teams sit in terms of their outlook on the rest of the year? On “The Joel Klatt Show,” FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt broke down teams that fall into three categories: Time to panic, stay calm and get excited. Time To Panic Klatt’s thoughts: “If not for those two defensive scores, that is a route. A route! The film was alarming for Oregon. On both sides of the ball. I think it’s time to panic. It’s not just the result, now they’re dealing with some injury issues… Injuries are always going to happen, there’s no doubt, but you don’t want them to happen when you’re trying to right the ship. “I was on a deep dive in both last year’s film from Oregon, and this year against Boise State, and what did I find? Oregon has run-pass tells in their offense, and this is a devastating deal… but the film was also alarming on the defensive side.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Oklahoma doesn’t have an offensive line and they cannot run the football. And in order to move the ball, John Mateer has to be Superman, or they’ve got to create explosive plays. And they couldn’t do either of those things against Michigan last week. Can you really rely on splash explosive plays the entire season? I don’t think you can, it’s ultimately what their Achilles heel was a year ago.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Washington barely snuck out a win against Utah State, 16-14 last week. The offense has not clicked, and that’s where Jed Fish’s experience and expertise lies. And yeah they’re 2-0, but I’m sitting here looking at their schedule and I’m like, ‘Oh I don’t know about this.’ “The offense has been hit by a ton of injuries right now. They lost their top two running backs. They lost wide receiver Christian Moss to a leg injury. Starting wide receiver Rashid Williams, he’s week to week… they’re banged up right now.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Does ‘panic’ encapsulate Florida State? I don’t think it does. Fired their athletic director on Monday – by the way that was the same guy who gave Mike Norvell his extension, so handwriting is on the wall there. The athletic department finished the 2025 fiscal year with $437 million of debt. Yikes. “The debt thing is a big deal, because if you fire Mike Norvell in the middle of the year you’re going to owe him $50 million… it would be roughly $800,000 a month until 2031… I bring all of that up because this roster is limited, reportedly it’s in the bottom half of the ACC as far as funding goes. They’re 3-14 in their last 17 ACC games. And look at their next four games against Power 4 opponents – this is like panic, panic, panic: at Alabama this weekend in Tuscaloosa; Virginia, which is a good team, they’re ranked; Louisville, which is a very good team, almost beat Ole Miss; and at Miami, who we think is one of the best teams in the country.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Time to panic. They were 8-0 last year at one point behind Haynes King. Now all of a sudden, they’ve lost six of their last seven. Their only win was a fourth quarter comeback against Boston College. I don’t love that. I don’t love the trajectory that’s going on at Georgia Tech. I just don’t. It’s time to panic there.” Stay Calm Klatt’s thoughts: “I think it would be easy to get excited based on the way that Colorado ran the ball against Georgia Tech, the way that they threw the ball last week against, granted, FCS Weber State, but this looks different. This looks a lot more real than any of the versions of Colorado. You see their nine-win team with Travis Hunter, Heisman trophy winner and Shedeur Sanders at quarterback – they largely just had elite, upper-level skill position players, and then got by everywhere else. This looks a lot more fundamentally sound. “They changed their philosophy over the offseason. They went from trying to go after splash recruiting and roster building to production over potential roster building, and it shows. They’re a lot tougher on the line of scrimmage, their defense can actually play up front, they’re committed to the run – they do it with a tight end and a fullback at times, which I really love that physical aspect of the run game.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Let’s all relax about Ohio State. Would they have liked to win that game? Obviously. Were they in position to win that game? Yes… Let’s just take a bit of a chill pill, can we? I mean this is a team that was dominating Texas in their building for three quarters, basically. Are they going to be ok? Yes, they are going to be ok. Mainly, the one they’ve got to get fixed is the fact that their defense was exposed late to volume. That’s what happened… What killed Ohio State was the fact that their defense was on the field for the entire fourth quarter and part of the third. So what’s the fix? Well. you’ve got to figure out the red zone. They’re going to have to find a run game in the red zone, and find ways to execute better in the red zone.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Cautiously optimistic about BYU. I think that they are very good, but what we don’t know is can they level up? We’ve seen this before. I know Bear Bachmeier is a grinder and he’s a good player. I know LJ Martin is a good player. I know you’re going to play solid defense. I know all these things – I know you’re going to beat teams that are at your level or below. “I don’t know what to make of BYU at that level until they play Notre Dame, until they play a Texas Tech.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I’m going to stay calm. Let’s let Keelon Russell get good at quarterback. I wanted to get excited about them, and not because of Russell and not even because their defense was dominant against Kentucky… this other element showed up in the second half against Kentucky…they stayed committed to the run game…and they ran for over 150 yards. Now that’s a blueprint, a blueprint that allows you to keep the pressure off of your young quarterback. He’s going to continue to get better. “I’m cautiously optimistic about Alabama… I think they’ve got real high potential, a high ceiling if they can run it, bring their quarterback along, and allow him to be explosive both in the pass game and in the run game down the stretch. Klatt’s thoughts: “The freshman are really good, I love what they’ve got going out there. At wide receiver, Trent Mosley is a star, Kayden Dixon-Wyatt is very good. Their tight end, Mark Bowman, he’s excellent. Luke Wafle, their defensive end, is one of the better freshmen defensive ends that I’ve seen in a long time – he creates havoc in the backfield. And this is looking like what Lincoln Riley told us about over the course of the offseason. “But I’m going to be cautious with this one, and the reason is I still want to see it from a defensive perspective against better competition. I still need to see them play well, get after the quarterback and more specifically stop the run in a big matchup-style game.” Get Excited Klatt’s thoughts: “I’m excited about UCLA. Now, this doesn’t mean I think they’re going to the playoff. This means that, if I’m a UCLA fan, I am thrilled with how this season has started. You’ve got an experienced quarterback in Nico Iamaleava…Wayne Knight has been tremendous… (Bob) Chesney knows what he’s doing. He brought that entire staff, he brought all that core of players, this is a team that I think is going to knock somebody off in the Big Ten that we don’t expect them to knock off in the Big Ten. That’s a real team.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I am absolutely thrilled and excited about Miami. I think they’re better than they were a year ago. Here’s the thing that I’m going to hang my hat on: Darian Mensah looks like an upgrade at quarterback from Carson Beck. He looks dynamic, and that’s scary because they’re still dominating at the offensive line level. “They’re still dominating at the defensive line. That’s the DNA of their program, they’ve recruited very well… the one thing that gets me the most excited: Malachi Toney. Malachi Toney is an absolute cheat code. He is phenomenal, you can get him the ball anywhere and he can dominate a game.” Klatt’s thoughts: “Yeah it was sloppy for Texas, but I’m excited about Texas. If I’m a Longhorn fan today, I am fired up. Why? Because the ceiling has now been lifted off of my program. [Coach Steve] Sarkisian said it himself in the postgame presser: ‘Now we know we can.’ That was the most important comment, from any coach, across America on Saturday. “What’s more dangerous than a talented team? A talented team that believes. And now Texas believes. It wasn’t pretty. In fact, they’re watching the film thinking to themselves, ‘We should have won that by more.’ … I’m excited about those backs. Woo! Those backs can run, man.” Klatt’s thoughts: “You could tell me, ‘No, no, no, Joel, you need to stay calm.’ I’m not going to stay calm, I’m going to get excited about Michigan. And here’s the reason why: they won Kyle Whittingham’s way. His DNA was all over that field. He won the tug of war. “New coaches have to go in and win the culture of that locker room. And to win the locker room over, you’ve got to be more steadfast than the locker room. And that’s what that win did for them against Oklahoma. They did it with man coverage – that’s Kyle Whittingham. They did it with great pass rush. That’s Kyle Whittingham. And they did it running the quarterback, being rugged on offense. That’s. Kyle. Whittingham.” Klatt’s thoughts: “I am excited about Mississippi State, and I think you should be too. They’re quietly out there. They went up there and hammered Minnesota, and that’s not a bad Minnesota team… That’s a really good win for Jeff Lebby and Mississippi State. I love their quarterback, Kamario Taylor. He’s the new star on the block. This kid can throw it, he’s athletic. He’s big, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds. He’s mobile, he’s got an absolute cannon. This kid executes this system really well. “They will beat someone that raises your eyebrows in the SEC this year. I’m excited about Mississippi State this year. I really like them. Defense is playing well. In particular, last week didn’t allow an offensive touchdown against Minnesota.”