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Joel Klatt’s final top 10 of the regular season had to account for Ohio State’s unfathomable home loss to Michigan on Saturday and Georgia’s unfathomable 8-overtime survival of Georgia Tech on Black Friday.
But when the dust settled on Week 14 and a 2024 regular season to remember, it was still Oregon that topped Klatt’s list. The Ducks have been atop most analysts lists, not to mention the polls and the College Football Playoff rankings, for a while now. Oregon put the finishing touches on a 12-0 regular season with Saturday night’s 49-21 takedown of Washington.
The FOX college football analyst had Texas at No. 2, with Ohio State’s loss, as the Longhorns took care of rival Texas A&M on Saturday night in College Station. Penn State slotted in at No. 3, as the Nittany Lions took advantage of the Buckeyes’ stumble by hammering Maryland to reach the Big Ten title game and a date with Oregon.
Notre Dame was at No. 4 after the Fighting Irish completed a remarkable 10-game winning streak to end the regular season with a win at USC and seem to be a lock for the Playoff. Tennessee was at No. 5 after rallying to beat Vanderbilt and finish off a 10-2 regular season, and then there sat Ohio State at No. 6 after its excruciating loss to Michigan cost it a trip to the Big Ten title game.
Klatt had Georgia at No. 7 after the Bulldogs’ marathon win. Indiana, SMU and Alabama filled out Klatt’s top 10 in that order, and Klatt had Ole Miss, South Carolina, Boise State and Miami as his teams that “almost” made the list.
My new CFB Top 10 (11/30)
1) @oregonfootball
2) @TexasFootball
3) @PennStateFball
4) @NDFootball
5) @Vol_Football
6) @OhioStateFB
7) @GeorgiaFootball
8) @IndianaFootball
9) @SMUFB
10) @AlabamaFTBL
Almost: @OleMissFB @GamecockFB @BroncoSportsFB @CanesFootball— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) December 1, 2024
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
