Joel Klatt is a big believer in Texas’ upside as the Longhorns prepare to take on Michigan in the Big House this weekend.

Klatt, FOX’s top game analyst, was a guest on The Herd on Wednesday. He spoke glowingly about the Longhorns, particularly about their personnel on the offensive side of the ball. He also gave a lot of credit to Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian.

“This looks like an early 2000’s USC team,” Klatt said. “It looks like the Alabama teams and the Georgia teams. They’re big. They’re experienced up front. In fact, 4 of their offensive lineman, this is their 3rd year starting. They’re veteran. They’re as good on the offensive line as anybody in the country. And you couple that with a quarterback that I think is as good as anybody in the sport.”

Klatt also cast some doubt on how good this Michigan team can be after seeing all the talent it lost to the NFL this offseason.

“I still Michigan can be good, I just think they’re vastly more limited than what they were a year ago when they had all of that NFL talent, namely at the quarterback position in JJ McCarthy,” Klatt said. “So that’s how it frames in my mind and I think it’s an uphill battle for Michigan this week. Because Texas is really good.”

Klatt went on to say that Texas is a national championship contender — and explained why Michigan isn’t at this point in the season.

“Texas is real,” Klatt said. “They’re going to be a problem for Georgia. They’re going to be a problem for anybody in the country. Texas is legitimately a national championship contender.

“And at least in this September, with this roster, with all the newness at Michigan … I can’t in good conscience say that Michigan is a true national title contender right now. They might develop into that, I’m not sure.”

Here’s the video of Klatt’s Texas-Michigan segment on The Herd:

Texas and Michigan will kick off at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor.