Oklahoma football: FOX’s Joel Klatt reverses field on his assessment of Sooners

FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt had seen the Oklahoma football team play on a couple of occasions in 2023 and liked what he had observed from the Sooners but did not think they were at the same level of the Texas Longhorns.

This week, following OU’s impressive all-around performance in beating the high and mighty Longhorns at their own game, 34-30, on Saturday, Klatt has changed his tune a little concerning the Sooners.

The Sooners were on Klatt’s radar screen at No. 10 after Week 5, but he has them up to No. 4 this week.

The week before, after Texas had throttled No. 25 Kansas 40-14, Klatt had elevated the Longhorns to No. 2 in his weekly college football top-10 rankings. He had Oklahoma at No. 10 a week ago.

Here is what Klatt had to say about OU and Texas prior to the Red River Rivalry game last weekend:

"“This is a team (Texas) that beat Oklahoma 49-0 last year. Handed it to ’em. I understand Dillon Gabriel wasn’t on the field, but he doesn’t make up 49 points and the version of Texas that you’re about to see in the Cotton Bowl is better than what you saw last year."

Klatt went on to say that he feels Gabriel holds Oklahoma back a little because of his inconsistency throwing the deep ball.

The FOX analyst questioned the ability of Oklahoma’s offensive line to stand up to the test against a superior “Texas defensive line that owned Alabama at the line of scrimmage,” including collecting four sacks in the fourth quarter.

“They (Oklahoma) better buckle up because Texas is physical,” Klatt said. “They’re balanced. That’s why I’m nervous for OU.”

While the Sooners jumped up six spots in Klatt’s college football top 10 after Week 6, the Longhorns fell out of the top 10, tumbling nine spots to Klatt’s “just missed out” category at No. 11.