Joel Klatt’s criticism of James Madison’s inclusion in CFP has ironic flaw

The college football powers-that-be have been chomping at the bit all week to discredit the inclusion of Tulane and James Madison.

They got their wish on Saturday as the Green Wave got blown out 41-10 by the Ole Miss Rebels, while the Oregon Ducks put up 34 first-half points against JMU en route to an easy victory.

College football pundits could barely contain their glee at seeing these Group of 5 schools lose, strengthening their arguments that their future inclusion should be limited or outright banned. Some didn’t even wait until the games were over to say Notre Dame should have been in over one of them.

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt has been among the loudest critics, calling for the College Football Playoff to stop including schools like Tulane and JMU. He fired off one of the wildest arguments in recent memory, saying no one wants to root for Cinderella, though he did later admit it was a “terrible” take.

However, Klatt still seems to believe that the Group of 5 schools should not be included in the CFP, and essentially said so in a post on X as Oregon was lapping JMU in the first half.

I genuinely feel bad for these JMU players…they are a good football team who should be competing for a national championship on the appropriate level…now, most will only remember them for tonight…not their fault that CFB can’t figure out a proper post-season structure

— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) December 21, 2025

“I genuinely feel bad for these JMU players,” Klatt wrote. “They are a good football team who should be competing for a national championship on the appropriate level…now, most will only remember them for tonight…not their fault that CFB can’t figure out a proper post-season structure.”

Klatt argues that the Dukes deserve to play in a Group of 5-level playoff instead of this one because they are unable to compete with Power 4 schools, with the score and outcome of the game as his proof.

There’s a case to be made for the notion Klatt brings up. However, it’s worth noting that he almost certainly didn’t say the same thing last year when it was the Ducks getting embarrassed in the CFP in the nearly identical way.

In Oregon’s 2024 CFP game against Ohio State, they got absolutely dominated in the first half and found themselves down 34-8, a halftime score not too dissimilar to the one on Saturday (34-6). The Ducks lost that game by 20 points (41-21), a larger margin than the one by which they beat JMU this year (51-34).

Both games played out in essentially the same way, with almost identical halftime scores and similar final scores. And yet, we are willing to bet that no one, including Klatt, said that Oregon shouldn’t be in the CFP because they’re unable to compete. They remained “deserving” of that CFP spot, even though they failed to play a competitive game that day.

We’re not saying Klatt’s argument is entirely faulty. But we are saying it’s rather convenient that the criteria are assessed differently when it suits your preexisting argument.