“The conference still goes through Georgia.”
Those were the words of FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt following the Dawgs’ impressive 44-41 overtime win over the Volunteers in Tennessee on Saturday.
“Folks, you still have to beat Georgia, and that’s incredibly difficult to do,” Klatt said on his podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.”
Georgia has claimed the SEC title in three of the past four seasons, but heading into its Week 3 matchup against Tennessee, questions remained about its place atop the conference. Quarterback Gunner Stockton entered the season relatively untested, with just one career start to his name.
But Stockton’s performance on Saturday proved he’s ready for primetime. The quarterback completed 23 of 31 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns to go with 38 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, helping Georgia comeback from an early 21-7 deficit.
With both Georgia and Texas A&M proving themselves in tough road environments over the weekend, Klatt took the opportunity to reevaluate the SEC landscape, ranking the conference contenders after three weeks of play.
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Tier 1
For Klatt, Georgia stands alone in the SEC through this point of the season as Kirby Smart’s program showed championship pedigree on Saturday.
“They have resilience,” Klatt said. “This is a great, proud program. They practice with urgency. They build their roster with urgency. They play with urgency. This is what we didn’t see from Alabama against Florida State in Week 1. This is a team that answered the bell in that environment.”
Tier 2
LSU improved to 3-0 with its 20-10 win over Florida on Saturday, picking up the victory by intercepting Gators quarterback DJ Lagway five times. While Klatt defended Brian Kelly’s postgame rant when he was asked about LSU’s struggles in the run game, he doesn’t believe the Tigers’ offense “looks right” through the first three weeks of the season.
“LSU, all of a sudden, decided that they’re not going to play well on the offensive side at all and just win games on defense, which, by the way, is so difficult to do,” Klatt said. “So they all of a sudden change their defense, bring in a new coordinator, bring in a lot of new players from the transfer portal, and invest in that area and change the trajectory of that side of the football.
“And yet, a lot of the questions around that program are now surrounding the fact that they thought they were going to have one of the better offenses and better quarterbacks in the SEC and in the country, and it hasn’t materialized.”
LSU is 3-0, but Garrett Nussmeier hasn’t had a stellar start to the season. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
To LSU’s credit, it has played really well defensively. The Tigers have only allowed 27 total points through the first three games of the season, with two of those matchups coming against quarterbacks that were lauded as among the best in the nation entering the year (Lagway, Cade Klubnik).
But LSU’s widely-lauded quarterback hasn’t been great, either. Garrett Nussmeier has only thrown for 689 yards and three touchdowns through the first three games.
The Vols weren’t able to beat the Bulldogs for the first time since 2016 on Saturday, but Klatt remains bullish on Josh Heupel’s squad. He’s more than ready to say that Tennessee won the Joey Aguilar-Nico Iameleava swap, saying Volunteers fans have to be “so thrilled” with their new quarterback throwing for 371 yards and four touchdowns on Saturday. He also likes Tennessee’s receivers, too, pointing out Chris Brazzell II’s 177-yard, three-touchdown performance.
“Aguilar is a total upgrade at quarterback for Tennessee, and their wide receivers on the outside were incredible,” Klatt said. “[Brazzell’s] length is dangerous in that offense, because if you decide to play man-to-man coverage, which is a way to combat those choice routes that I’ve talked about for the last couple of weeks, he can defeat that through his length and athleticism and his skills when the ball is in the air.
“They’ve got a really special offense with Josh Heupel.”
Oklahoma picked up its statement victory in Week 2, decisively beating Michigan before routing Temple, 42-3, in Week 3. What’s different about this team than other Oklahoma teams under Brent Venables, though, is its quarterback, Klatt said.
“John Mateer seems like a guy that’s going to wind up in New York for the Heisman Trophy,” Klatt said. “Something about him … he’s so confident, they throw the ball well, they’re running it well, he can run the football well. And everyone around that program, I’m starting to get some Baker vibes, they’re starting to mention, ‘Hey, he reminds us of Baker Mayfield.’ That’s scary for everybody else.”
Mateer had 282 passing yards and a passing touchdown in Oklahoma’s win over Temple.
Texas A&M Aggies
Klatt is ready to say that Texas A&M is a contender in the SEC following its 41-40 win over Notre Dame. He thinks things are coming together for head coach Mike Elko in Year 2, iterating that he’s a great culture fit for that program.
Mississippi State transfer Mario Craver has been a revelation for Texas A&M at wide receiver, with his 207 yards on Saturday helping him lead the nation in receiving yards (443) through the first three weeks. But Klatt said it’s quarterback Marcel Reed who has lifted Texas A&M’s ceiling.
Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed threw for two touchdowns in its win over Notre Dame. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
“They have found a quarterback that has developed from the first time we saw him,” Klatt said. “When Marcel Reed stepped on the field last year, he was dynamic as a runner, but certainly lacking as a passer. That’s not what I saw Saturday night against Notre Dame. In fact, the passing game was the thing that I liked most.
“He was terrific. He’s got the athleticism and short-area quickness.”
Reed completed fewer than 50% of his passes (17-of-37) in Saturday’s game. However, he threw for 360 yards and two touchdowns, averaging over 20 yards per completion.
Now, Klatt wonders if Texas A&M can handle success.
“This is a win that can be a catalyst to something great,” Klatt said.
Tier 3
Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas Longhorns
Klatt lumped Alabama and Texas together for a simple reason.
“Tier 3 is two really talented teams that have just not looked good at times,” Klatt said. “Maybe they have looked good at times, but not seeing the consistency with Alabama and Texas.”
Alabama has looked better since its poor performance in Week 1, when it lost to Florida State 31-17. The Crimson Tide have won their last two games by a combined score of 111-14, with Ty Simpson throwing for 382 yards and four touchdowns against Wisconsin on Saturday. Still, Alabama will likely need a win or a strong showing at Georgia in Week 5 to move up in the tiers.
Arch Manning has struggled to live up to the hype so far this season. (Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
As for Texas, questions surrounding Arch Manning have continued. The highly-touted quarterback completed just 11 of 25 passes for 114 yards, a touchdown and an interception in Texas’ 27-10 win over UTEP on Saturday.
“What’s going on in Texas? What’s happening to the offense? Is Arch OK? I … don’t know what that was against UTEP,” Klatt said. “They were up 7-3 with like two seconds to go in the half, then finally scored a touchdown. Something’s up, they need to get better.”
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