Joel Klatt explains why he has Washington ahead of USC entering 2023 season
The 2023 Pac-12 race has all the makings of a classic season, with probably half the league having a reasonable path to competing for a championship in the conference. For his money, Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt has Washington sneaking past USC as the top dogs in the conference.
Klatt’s reason is very, very simple. He trusts the Washington defense, and he has nothing but questions for USC.
“They fell behind Washington because I trust Washington more defensively. They were a better defense than USC,” Klatt said on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd on Tuesday. “So my 11, 9 and 6 year old, OK, and they’re all boys — but those of you that have elementary kid, you parents out there you’re gonna know this analogy, you know there’s always one kid in the classroom that has a peanut allergy.
“Oh, man, it’s a big deal these days … USC’s defense was the peanut allergy kid. They’re allergic to tackling. The last time I checked, it is pretty important to tackle. Did you see what what Utah did to them? Did you see what Tulane did?”
USC has made some key additions to the defense in the transfer portal via the likes of Bear Alexander and Mason Cobb.
Klatt doesn’t doubt that the personnel is better than a year ago, but he still isn’t buying what defensive coordinator Alex Grinch or head coach Lincoln Riley are doing defensively until he sees it work and work well.
The defenses Grinch has coordinated either himself or in part stack up as such over the years nationally in total defense.
- 2015, Washington State: 84th
- 2016, Washington State: 62nd
- 2017, Washington State: 16th
- 2018, Ohio State: 72nd
- 2019, Oklahoma: 38th
- 2020, Oklahoma: 29th
- 2021, Oklahoma: 76th
- 2022, USC: 105th
As such, Klatt remains a healthy skeptic of the USC defense.
“My problem is this is not a track record where you can point to what Alex Grinch or Lincoln Riley did at Oklahoma and say, ‘Oh, see they’ve got a track record, a way to fix this,'” Klatt said. “So that’s why they fell at eight (in my Top 10). Prove it now. They’ve gotten some transfers that I think could really improve their bodies. I agree with that. I need to see it in order to come off of that stance.”
While the Huskies weren’t exactly defensive stalwarts, finishing No. 60 in total defense in 2022, that’s a stark improvement from the Trojans at No. 106.
Until Riley and Co. show Klatt that USC can be more than an offense dragging the defense along, he’ll take Washington over the Trojans.
“They’ve got a track record of success,” Klatt said, “there’s no track record of success for them defensively whatsoever. So like, to me, it’s just another eighth-ranked team in the country with a great quarterback that’s gonna go to try to outscore people.”