“Drives Me Insane”: FOX’s Joel Klatt Pins Blame in Furious Rant as Mike Norvell Faces Firing Risk After Miami Loss
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Joel Klatt spent a big chunk of his latest show on something he says has bothered him since Week 1, and that is college football officiating. The FOX analyst pointed to two finishes from the weekend, Notre Dame at BYU and Miami against Florida State, and argued that officials are now changing results.
“You’ve got to sit with that loss as a coach. Mike Norvell might get fired,” Klatt said about Norvell’s situation on his October 19 show. “The officials’ calls matter, so get them right. Get them right. It drives me insane.”
“Officiating has been hard… It’s been frustrating all year. It was frustrating in Week 1…,” Klatt said. “There were a lot of calls this week that were downright frustrating and wrong. That’s tough to swallow.”
Miami’s 43-35 double-overtime win over Florida State in Miami Gardens meant that the Hurricanes remained unbeaten, and the Seminoles fell to 3-4. In the second overtime, Florida State faced fourth-and-21 when Micahi Danzy caught what looked like a touchdown.
A holding call on left tackle Xavier Chaplin wiped it out and pushed the Seminoles back to fourth-and-31. Norvell’s response was short. “Go watch the film,” he said.
The next throw went to Duce Robinson in the end zone, where Miami’s Bryce Fitzgerald also had a hand on the ball. Officials ruled it an interception, and replay let it stand. Norvell argued it should have been a simultaneous catch.
“Since the start of football, if it’s a tie, it goes to the receiver. But I guess they had a different angle that you could see something different, so I’m sure that they will evaluate that and see,” Norvell said in the postgame presser. “The holding call the play before, they said it was on 77.”
ESPN’s Steve Shaw reportedly backed the call, saying Fitzgerald’s hands were on the ball and he secured it against his body. Norvell said he never got an explanation, and he also noted that the same crew worked Florida State’s controversial 2025 loss to Stanford.
“How do you call that hold in double overtime? It’s a snatch block,” said Klatt. “Awful. It’s so frustrating… And they’re not accountable to anybody.”
Klatt, in his rant, also talked about BYU’s 28-24 win in Provo, which ended Notre Dame’s 16-game winning streak. Replays showed one second still on the clock when Notre Dame’s final pass hit the ground.
The Big 12 later said time remained and that its replay crew incorrectly cleared the play, and it promised a full review of its end-of-game process before next week’s games.
The final snap also had a possible pass interference flag. BYU’s Evan Johnson was covering Jaden Greathouse, and ESPN rules analyst Matt Austin said the play justified a penalty.
“That’s a lot of contact where you’re not playing the ball,” Austin said. No flag came, and the Big 12’s statement did not rule on it.
Klatt said the sequence almost changed how he ranked BYU. And that he wants a bigger fix: that officiating should run nationally instead of by each conference and NBA-style lights to show when a play is over.
“It can’t just be screens and frames and all these systems with their routing and delays,” said Klatt. “We need lights just like they have in the NBA.”
He also pointed out the imbalance he sees afterward. Players like Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr face the questions, he said, while officials rarely have to explain themselves. This was not the first time he has raised the issue.
After Michigan’s Week 1 win over Western Michigan, when a replay official put one second back on the clock, he argued that replay systems alone were not enough. He also referenced a late pass interference non-call in Alabama’s October 10 game against Georgia, which appeared to help the Bulldogs.
There is a caveat, though. Florida State would have needed a two-point conversion even if the touchdown had stood. Norvell also admitted his team had other chances to win.
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