Dec 27, 2023; San Diego, CA, USA; Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt at the Holiday Bowl at Petco Park. Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

When it comes to AP voters, don’t get Joel Klatt started.

Klatt’s criticism wasn’t directed toward his colleague at Fox Sports, Mike Hill; they were pointed elsewhere. Not that Hill hasn’t opened himself up to criticism for his lone Colorado vote in the AP Poll, but Klatt’s attention was elsewhere as he blasted AP voters for how they ranked USC, Miami, and Tennessee this week.

Klatt was reviewing Michigan’s upcoming schedule, which includes a date with USC in late September. The Fox Sports college football analyst said that the Trojans look like they’re for real and admitted that not only does he have Lincoln Riley’s team in his top 10, but he firmly believes they deserve to be in the top 10.

But as the AP voters demonstrated, not everyone feels that way. And Klatt relayed his feelings about those particular voters during his The Joel Klatt Show on Monday.

“The AP voters are terrible. They just move them up and down,” Klatt said, per On3 Sports. “I’m sorry if you have an AP vote and you’re listening to this; I love you, I love your passion for the sport, [but] give me a break with what you gave us in the AP Poll. That was terrible.”

Klatt wasn’t finished there.

“Tennessee and USC are clearly two of the best top-10 teams in the country, and so that’s where they should be,” he continued. “And you don’t have them there. And I think that that’s garbage. Miami, as well. Miami as well.”

It’s hard to see what Klatt’s gripe is here, considering that USC is No. 11, while Tennessee and Miami came in at No. 7 and No. 10, respectively. Perhaps the Volunteers should be higher after beating NC State by 41 points on a neutral field, but all things considered, these rankings seem about right. Miami played Florida A&M, while USC played Utah State.

Despite this, Klatt appears to believe that the Hurricanes and Volunteers are still being undervalued by AP voters, even after two weeks of the season.

[The Joel Klatt Show, On3]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.