Joel Klatt picks surprise national championship contender 2025

FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt dropped a mild surprise in his endorsement of a potential national title winner. Klatt didn't exactly make a deep dive, but he's a little off the normal radar with his case for a potential title for a surprise-- Oregon. The Ducks have caught Klatt's eye in the season's first two weeks and he made the case for OU as a title winner on The Joel Klatt show.

Klatt's take

Oregon, folks, is a legitimate national title contender. So I'm doing Oregon/ Northwestern this week.... As I'm starting to prep for this week's game, I'm like, 'Alright, let me start watching all the Oregon film.' It was pretty obvious very early to me, I was like, 'They are built exactly how you would build a team to win the national championship.' This is a better version of Oregon from a year ago. This is a version of Oregon that reminds me a lot of Michigan two years ago and Ohio State last year. This is absolutely a team that can win it all.... They are built with power on the line of scrimmage, both sides, speed on the outside, and Dante Moore, ladies and gentlemen, is a quarterback that I think could be better than the quarterbacks that Lanning has had at Oregon in the last few years.
Joel Klatt

Oregon's history

The Ducks have been tremendously successful, but have not managed to win a national title. Oregon played in the national title games after the 2010 and 2014 seasons, but came up short in both games. In 2024, Oregon was No. 1 for the second half of the regular season and won the Big Ten championship over Penn State, but then took a Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State in the CFP semifinals.

The Ducks are 2-0 to open this season, but are still generally running around sixth in terms of national title odds, consistently third in their conference behind Ohio State and Penn State. Oregon beat FCS Montana State 59-13 and then crushed Oklahoma State 69-3. Somehow, the Ducks remain under the radar, but Klatt, who apologized to Oregon coach Dan Lanning for making his case, think they have the stuff of champions.