Joel Klatt was on the broadcast for the Week 1 matchup between Texas and Ohio State, a game that the Buckeyes won 14-7. Texas was the preseason favorite to win both the national title and the SEC.
However, after seeing the games in Week 1, Klatt has LSU as his new favorite in the SEC after the Tigers went and won at Clemson.
“LSU was the most impressive team this weekend,” Klatt said on his show. “Their win against Clemson was gutsy. It announced themselves as true national championship contenders. It is going to be hard not putting them at No. 1 in the country after that.”
The talk before the game was how if LSU was going to win, then it would have to be a huge performance by Garrett Nussmeier and the Tigers offense.
The question was whether or not the defense could hold up, and that unit answered the call in a big way. The Tigers held Clemson to only 32 rushing yards on 19 carries, and had Cade Klubnik running for his life.
Defense has been a major issue for the Tigers the last couple of seasons, but Klatt said that unit has fixed those issues moving forward.
“The d-line was suffocating against Clemson,” Klatt said. “They played so well on that defensive line. Their secondary was long and fast. Their defense fixed a lot of the issues that they have had. That is one of the better defenses I think we will see this year.”
That was a big win not only for this year’s team, but they were able to finally get rid of the season-opening struggles and start the season with a win for the first time in six years.
The Tigers will be back in action in Week 2 against Louisiana Tech.
