Joel Klatt calls two-loss team a virtual lock to make the College Football Playoff

On Wednesday’s edition of The Joel Klatt Show, the college football analyst was joined by his Fox Sports colleague, Chris “Bear” Fallica, and the pair drafted which teams they felt had the best chance of winning the National Championship. The biggest surprise may have been where Notre Dame fell in comparison to the Fighting Irish’s current ranking.

With his third pick, and sixth overall, drafting the most likely national champion favorite, Klatt took Notre Dame and shared that he feels the Irish are “virtually a lock,” to get in to the College Football Playoff.

Marcus Freeman has led Notre Dame to five straight wins after starting the season 0-2. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I do believe the Committee is going to look at those two losses - A&M and Miami - and realize those are not terrible losses, in particular when you are breaking in a brand new quarterback in CJ Carr,” Klatt said.

Klatt, a former college quarterback himself, noted that Carr remains a work in progress and may have posted his worst game of the season in last Saturday’s win over rival USC, where he threw for just 136 yards and had a particularly bad turnover near the goal line. The Irish’s running game, led by Heisman Trophy candidate Jeremiyah Love, is starting to live up to expectations, however. Love rushed for 228 yards on 24 carries against the Trojans Saturday night.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love has now rushed for 758 yards and nine touchdowns on the season. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

The other factor playing in Notre Dame’s favor is that they do not have a ranked team on the remainder of their schedule. Arguably the most difficult game left for Marcus Freeman’s squad to manage would be a Nov. 15 tilt against a Pitt Panthers team that has won three straight after back-to-back September losses to West Virginia and Louisville.

Notre Dame ranks No. 12 in the most recent edition of the Associated Press’ Top 25 Poll, and No. 13 in the USAToday Coaches’ Poll. Any movement in the next update will be out of their hands, however, as the Irish go into a bye this weekend.

Ohio State a clear No. 1

Klatt and Fallica’s draft started as expected, with both agreeing with the pick of Ohio State as the clear favorite to win College Football’s National Championship at this stage of the college football season.

“It’s obvious, it’s easy,” remarked Fallica. “It’s the team that won last year and the team that’s probably going to win this year. It’s got to be Ohio State.”

Ohio State's defense is allowing an average of less than six points per game thus far in the 2025 season. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Klatt agreed, citing the fact that the Buckeye’s defense has allowed just 41 total points through seven games this season, and suggesting their passing game looked better against Wisconsin than even Alabama did against the Badgers.

A pair of Big Ten teams in Indiana and Oregon went at picks two and three, followed by SEC schools Alabama and Georgia at picks four and five, respectively. Klatt and Fallica drafted a total of 12 teams to win the National Championship, the rest can be seen in the video below.