Joel Klatt Names Deepest Conference In College Football

On a recent collaborative episode of "The Joel Klatt Show" along with guest Josh Pate, Klatt made a stunning declaration on who he views as the deepest conference in college football this season.

There are two primary candidates, the Big Ten and SEC, with expanded rosters and contenders littered throughout. In the Big Ten, Ohio State and Oregon have gotten plenty of love as the top two, but Penn State is viable. Plus, there's a reigning national champion in Michigan and perhaps the top defensive program in the country with Iowa.

In the SEC, Georgia is the AP No. 1 to start the year, but Alabama is still a threat, Ole Miss is as loaded as they've ever been on the heels of an 11-2 season. Missouri is sneaking around with a superstar QB-WR tandem after they also went 11-2 in 2023. Texas went to the playoff. LSU and Oklahoma could figure to contend as well.

Despite all of that firepower in those two leagues, though, Klatt didn't have either of them as his deepest in 2024.

"Big 12, deepest conference in the country," said Klatt. "All due respect to the SEC, all due respect to the Big Ten, there are seven legitimate teams that could win the conference title. There's seven."

Perhaps the Big 12 doesn't have the longest list of national championship contenders, but Klatt argues the depth of teams that can compete for the conference title is wider than the rest.

"Because of that, I think it's almost a 0% chance they'll get a second team into the playoff," he added. "Just because I don't trust — with what that league is, I do not trust the team that loses the conference championship game to have fewer than three losses at that point, if that's one of their losses."

Klatt projects this wide-open Big 12 could cannibalize itself thanks to the terrific depth, but that means a bloodbath will likely ensue for just one slot in the CFP.

"At that point, like, that's just not going to happen when you start doing the math and you play out the schedule," said Klatt.

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