Joel Klatt Goes Off On AP Poll Voters

Do voters in the Associated Press Poll actually watch college football games? That's the question television analyst Joel Klatt is asking, and based on this week's poll, he's justified in doing so.

Klatt on his show Monday spoke about what the poll shows with Michigan, USC and several other schools. Specifically how the teams are ranked in this week's updated list doesn't seem to reflect their performance on the field through the first two weeks.

"Now you’re staring at a USC team that looks like they are for real," Klatt said, referencing the upcoming game against Michigan on September 21st. "I put them in my top 10, and they deserve to be in the top 10.

"The AP voters are terrible. They just move them up and down. I’m sorry if you have an AP vote and you’re listening to this, I love you, I love your passion for the sport, [but] give me a break with what you gave us in the AP Poll. That was terrible."

He continued, "Like Tennessee and USC are clearly two of the best top-10 teams in the country, and so that’s where they should be. And you don’t have them there. And I think that that’s garbage. Miami as well. Miami as well."

Las Vegas, Nevada, Sunday, September 1, 2024 - USC Trojans quarterback Miller Moss (7) celebrates a 27-20 win over the LSU Tigers with teammate in the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic at Allegiant Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Are USC, Tennessee, Miami Underrated By AP Poll Voters?

There's a case to be made that all three teams are underrated, and it's a part of a consistent pattern where preseason expectations linger too long in voters' minds. Missouri, for example, is ranked 6th in the AP Poll, and while the Tigers have put up impressive 51-0 and 38-0 scorelines, they've come against Murray State and Buffalo. 

Yet Missouri moved up from 9th to 6th in this week's poll. Miami sits 9th, despite their dominant win over the Florida Gators in Week One. USC followed up one of the best non-conference wins over the season over LSU with a 48-0 win at home over Utah State where the Trojans allowed under 200 total yards of offense. 

USC sits 11th in the AP Poll, behind teams like Penn State that struggled against similarly overmatched opponents in Week Two.

That's Klatt's point; voters can be overly swayed by where they ranked the teams heading into the season, stubbornly clinging to preseason expectations despite new information. Instead, they should approach each week as an entirely new list. Don't look at last week's poll, or the preseason rankings. Look at play on the field, advanced metrics, opponent strength, and go from there. It seems obvious, yet all too often, it apparently isn't.