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These days, if a member of the sports media goes on television or a podcast and doesn’t fire off a hot take, it’s a bit of a surprise. But Fox college football analyst Joel Klatt is catching heat from fans everywhere for getting a bit too spicy on a recent podcast appearance.
Klatt appeared on The Next Round podcast on Monday and was asked to discuss the upcoming College Football Playoff and its importance for Group of Five teams Tulane and James Madison to prove that they can hang with Power 4 teams.
Klatt, however, said it wasn’t important. And he wasn’t shy about his reason.
🔥HOT TAKE from @joelklatt🔥
“We don’t want Cinderellas. We want the best teams playing each other at the end… The NCAA basketball tournament is a joke. It’s the dumbest tournament and the least fair tournament in all of sports.” pic.twitter.com/8eMwoC8b4N
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) December 15, 2025
Joel Klatt Doesn’t Want Cinderellas In College Football
Klatt began his answer by stating that it doesn’t matter if Tulane or James Madison play well against Ole Miss or Oregon, because nobody cares that they’re in the playoff.
“…The reason the Group of Five is included in this playoff is to avoid antitrust litigation — that’s it, guys. We’re not looking for a Cinderella. Nobody cares in football about James Madison, or the equivalent of George Mason going to the Final Four. Nobody cares in football about that. We don’t want Cinderellas. We want the best teams playing each other at the end.”
That is…certainly a take. While many will agree with Klatt, it’s far from unanimous. But then Klatt took things a step further by discrediting the NCAA basketball tournament.
“In fact, hot take, I mean like the hottest of all takes that I’ve ever had in my entire life, the NCAA basketball tournament is a joke,” Klatt added. “It’s the dumbest tournament and the least fair tournament in all of sports. We go, and we put teams at odd times on neutral sites in a one-game affair. That doesn’t crown a true champion. We’re not doing anything that tells us who’s the best team over the course of the entire season.”
That did not sit well with fans.
“People like Klatt don’t care about the fans. If you continue to push the little guy out, eventually college sports will die,” one fan responded.
“This is—without hyperbole or hesitancy—the worst, most misguided, elitist, and tone-deaf take I have ever heard surrounding college football,” said another.
Ultimately, the randomness of individual basketball games does lend itself to upsets. And the NCAA Tournament may not be the most accurate to crown the “best team.”
But sports are meant to be entertainment, and the NCAA Tournament has provided plenty of that. However, whether or not that’s the way college football will or should go remains to be seen.