Athlon Sports Cover 2 College Football Podcast

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The $9 million club Lessons and blame with Jaden Rashada Boosters and ROI market forces Clemson makes bold move The ripple effect at TCU, Arkansas Ole Miss with a monster week Alabama's coaching vacancies Mike Gundy catching lightning twice? Michigan winning all over (sort of) Oregon, Pac-12 surging Florida State momentum continues NFL Draft deadline winners, losers Transfer Portal winners, losers

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We take a deep dive into the most overrated preseason teams of the last 25 years since the advent of the BCS. How many times are top 10 teams finishing with losing records? Who is overrated? And why is it happening? Are there any trends and is Notre Dame actually always overrated? We also discuss the open Commissioner chair in the Big Ten.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We dissect our never-too-early preseason top 25 for 2023. There are a lot of new faces and names. But the more things change, the more they stay the same at the top of the sport. Follow along at AthlonSports.com 

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Georgia's utter domination caps 2022 Don't change your mind on TCU, though Stetson Bennett's insane career Kirby Smart's future Who were the best teams in 2022?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football, previewing the national championship game between Georgia and TCU. Bobby Petrino lands at Texas A&M Jim Harbaugh is flirting with the NFL No tailgating at 430 pm local time The setting for the title game TCU's truly incomparable run Sonny Dykes unlikely retread Stetson Bennett's unprecedented career Building blocks of a TCU upset Max Duggan superman What to do with Quentin Johnston? UGa keeps it simple Patience and blue chips Final Predictions A case for and against expansion

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys recap the best night of college football playoff action in history as TCU defeated Michigan and Georgia outlasted Ohio State. We touch on the national title match-up and break down New Year's Eve.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The playoffs are here! Coaching pressure, implications TCU's house money, nothing to lose Michigan's unfinished business Jim Harbaugh's QB gamble Lack of turnovers Offensive lines CJ Stroud vs. Stetson Bennett Attacking UGa's defense Finding the path to the upset Final predictions

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. National Signing Day stories New Big Ten, SEC rankings The bottom 10 power 5 classes Overachievers, underachievers The real story is there's no story December cannot hold all of this How do fans prioritize content? Portal vs. Recruiting? Coaching changes vs. bowl games? Layers of chaos Adding playoff games to the madness Another week of bowl games More first-time match-ups!

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Mike Leach's legacy Personality vs. Scheme Authentic stubborness Most influential schemes of the era Spread, zone read, RPO, four-wide Mississippi St tabs Zach Arnett Purdue finds Jeff Brohm's replacement Navy's bizarro mistake Previewing the first week of bowls UTSA vs. Troy Florida vs. Oregon St SMU vs. BYU Western Kentucky vs. South Alabama Chris Childers joins to tell some Mike Leach stories.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Heisman Finalist: Did they get it right? Just best players on best teams? Best non-QBs in the game are... who? Jim Harbaugh's Lane Kiffin moment What has Michigan done differently? Can Deion Sanders win at Colorado? Coach Prime risk vs. reward Scott Satterfield gets out ahead Jeff Brohm finally returns home Purdue should SPEND MONEY Jamey Chadwell to... Liberty? Trent Dilfer. Seriously, Trent Dilfer? Barry Odom, Kevin Wilson, Alex Golesh Transfer Portal is open for business

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall are joined by former Cover 2 host Mitch Light of TheAthletic.com to react to the final '22 Final Playoff rankings and matchups? Did committee get it right? Pressure on Ryan Day, Ohio St OSU offense vs. UGa defense TCU's incredible journey Michigan's experience Big brand bias is dead SEC bias is dead Bama fatigue vs. Ohio St fatigue

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football, preview championship weekend and predict what will happen in Sunday's final playoff rankings. Utah vs. USC Kansas St vs. TCU UCF at Tulane Purdue vs. Michigan LSU vs. Georgia Clemson vs. North Carolina Fresno St at Boise State Coastal Carolina at Troy North Texas at UTSA Toledo vs. Ohio

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The penultimate rankings are out - there are no surprises - and a bunch of power five jobs got filled. Shouldn't TCU be treated like Georgia, Michigan? Is USC the most dangerous team in the country? Why Bama should be ahead of Tennessee Ohio State is the committee's backstop Hugh Freeze has been hired at Auburn On-field chaos vs. off-field chaos Big boy moves by Wisconsin Nebraska doesn't need splashy Arizona St hires Kenny Dillingham Interim coaching trends?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football, rivalry week and Thanksgiving football! We talk coaching rumors, video games, playoff rankings, championship Saturday implications and offer our picks against the spread. Michigan at Ohio State Notre Dame at USC Oregon at Oregon State Tulane at Cincinnati Mississippi State at Ole Miss Washington at Washington State Baylor at Texas, Iowa St at TCU South Carolina at Clemson Auburn at Alabama Louisville at Kentucky Florida at Florida State Two dozen other awesome games!

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys break down the third set of Playoff rankings, preview Week 12 and try to keep picking winners. Cause that's all they do now.  USC at UCLA Utah at Oregon TCU at Baylor Oklahoma State at Oklahoma Illinois at Michigan Iowa at Minnesota Ole Miss at Arkansas Georgia at Kentucky Kansas State at West Virginia Texas at Kansas NC State at Louisville

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys preview Week 11 and offer up their picks against the spread. TCU at Texas Alabama at Ole Miss LSU at Arkansas Georgia at Mississippi St Washington at Oregon Kansas St at Baylor Purdue at Illinois UCF at Tulane North Carolina at Wake Forest Louisville at Clemson Florida St at Syracuse Wisconsin at Iowa

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall breakdown the second edition of college football rankings - even though we really don't love what it does to our brains. So we did it our way.  Who are you not where are you ranked Clemson's chances at getting back in The Pac-12 is the real concern Why is UCLA seperated from USC, Oregon? One-loss debates abound TCU has to handle it's business Can LSU jump the rest of the SEC? USF's Grumors are... ridiculous, right?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Auburn has decided to out-Auburn itself but doing the most Auburn things possible. What could it mean for the coaching dominoes? Then the guys preview Week 10 and offer up picks against the spread. Tennessee at Georgia Alabama at LSU Clemson at Notre Dame Texas at Kansas St Wake Forest at NC State Liberty at Arkansas Florida St at Miami Oregon St at Washington Maryland at Wisconsin Baylor at Oklahoma BYU at Boise St

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football and the first playoff rankings of the season.  Predicting how the committee works Secret SEC playoff committee conspiracy How close losses should be viewed Why Bama is ahead of TCU Tennessee's remarkable run to No. 1 "Ranked at the time" is so dumb Why a Top 40 would be so much better Kirby LOVES these rankings

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys preview Week 9, talk through the grind of October and offer up their top bets against the spread. Ohio St at Penn St Oklahoma St at Kansas St Kentucky at Tennessee Cincinnati at UCF Utah at Washington St Ole Miss at Texas A&M Florida vs. Georgia Michigan St at Michigan TCU at West Virginia Notre Dame at Syracuse Baylor at Texas Tech

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Who is the No. 1 team in college football? Then we preview Week 8 and offer picks against the spread. UCLA at Oregon Texas at Ok-State Kansas St at TCU Ole Miss at LSU Syracuse at Clemson Mississippi St at Alabama Minnesota at Penn St Purdue at Wisconsin Iowa at Ohio St Texas A&M at South Carolina Kansas at Baylor

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall take mid-season stock of the 2022 college football season. How do we measure excitement and greatness? How should "rankings" be consumed and how should they be viewed? Does the committee deserve more (or less) credit? We apologize to some teams, the audience and to each other about what we've gotten wrong so far. And we look ahead at potential some dream championship game matchups.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. What is happening at Auburn, Louisville and Stanford and does Matt Rhule return to college football? Then the guys preview a huge Week 7 and offer picks against the spread. Alabama at Tennessee Penn St at Michigan USC at Utah Oklahoma St at TCU NC State at Syracuse Clemson at Florida St Mississippi State at Kentucky Minnesota at Illinois LSU at FLorida Nebraska at Purdue Kansas at Oklahoma

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys analyze how the changing landscape of college football is impacting athletic department decision making. Which jobs are valuable? Which jobs are overrated? Which jobs could come open soon? Then we preview Week 6: Utah at UCLA Tennessee at LSU TCU at Kansas Texas A&M at Alabama Arkansas at Mississippi St Texas vs. Oklahoma Florida St at NC State Wazzu at USC BYU at Notre Dame Farmageddon North Carolina at Miami

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall preview Week 5 of the college football season and offer their picks against the spread. This week's Sacko Bowl! NC State-Clemson Bama-Arkansas Michigan-Iowa Ok State-Baylor Kentucky-Ole Miss Texas A&M-Mississippi St Washington-UCLA Wake Forest-Florida St Oklahoma-TCU Oregon St-Utah Texas Tech-Kansas St Iowa St-Kansas

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. The guys have a few reminders for fans as it pertains to coaching searches before previewing Week 4 and offering their picks against the spread. Florida-Tennessee Arkansas-Texas A&M USC-Oregon St Clemson-Wake Forest Baylor-Iowa St Oregon-Wazzu Wisconsin-Ohio St Maryland-Michigan Kansas St-Oklahoma Minnesota-Michigan St  Notre Dame-North Carolina, Duke-Kansas, Texas-Texas Tech, Stanford-Washington, Mizzou-Auburn, West Virginia-Virginia Tech, Utah-Arizona St and more.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football, preview Week 3, talk about Nebraska's coaching search and offer up picks against the spread. Miami at Texas A&M Penn St at Auburn BYU at Oregon Michigan St at Washington Mississippi St at LSU Oklahoma at Nebraska Fresno St at USC Florida St at Louisville UTSA at Texas Texas Tech at NC State Georgia at South Carolina Kansas at Houston Purdue at Syracuse

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall preview week 2 of the college football season and make official picks against the spread: Baylor at BYU Bama at Texas Kentucky at Florida Tennessee at Pitt The CyHawk Trophy Oregon St at Fresno St South Carolina at Arkansas USC at Stanford Mississippi St at Arizona Washington St at Wisconsin Missouri at Kansas St

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall breakdown the new playoff format for college football.  Why is expansion good for the game?  Will it actually devalue the regular season? Six automatic bids, six at-large bids How they're determining seeding if FUBAR What about scheduling and timing? A simple solution to making players play more Should the playoff re-seed after round one? The biggest and most insane flaw! No, seriously, we are pissed off.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall preview week 1 of the college football season and make official picks against the spread: Utah at Florida Oregon vs. Georgia Notre Dame at Ohio St Florida St vs. LSU Cincinnati at Arkansas NC State at East Carolina Boise St at Oregon St Clemson vs. Georgia Tech Houston at UTSA North Carolina at App St Memphis at Mississippi St

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We announce our in-season schedule with some new twists. What does the new contract with the Big Ten mean for fans? We make our Final College Football Playoff Predictions and give you our top win total futures bets. Oh yeah, and we get to preview Week 0!

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We have preseason awards to give out to teams, units and players. But these are not your ordinary awards. Like... who are the most underrated defensive units in America? Who are the biggest QB heel turns of 2022? And which Group of 5 team has the best offensive skill players? You know, normal stuff.

CORRECTED AUDIO: Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football as camps are opening up across the country. We've got some bad news from Wake Forest camp and some historic news in the Big Ten. Then we give you the best anonymous scouting reports from across the country.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Recapping Pac-12 media day performance Who is making these alignment decisions? Why a 16-team playoff won't happen What would a 12-team look like in 2022 What is the correct format? Who gets the first round byes? (12) Cincinnati at (5) Texas A&M (9) USC at (8) Utah (10) Oregon at (7) Notre Dame (11) Baylor at (6) Michigan

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football Have we ever known less about these teams? Why we are so excited about the season Grading the Media Days performances Kevin Warren and Jim Philips What is actually happening in realignment? What are the Pac-12 schools going to do? Does the B1G want to get bigger? Why CBS and Big 12 are huge players Predictions about counter-programming New transfer rules are smart and good

Braden Gall catches up with ESPN's Ian Fitzsimmons to talk conference realignment, the time frame for action from the Big 12 or Pac-12 before they argue about actual football teams. Like, say, who is going to win the ACC, Big 12 or Pac-12? How to build a winning program? How to hire good coaches?

Braden Gall and Chris Childers hang out from Atlanta at SEC Media Days to discuss the past, present and future of college football. What is happening to the game? Who can be the last team into the college football playoff? The ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 races are more interesting. The guys catch up in Atlanta.

No one is more connected on conference expansion and realignment than Action Network's Brett McMurphy. Braden Gall had a chance to talk with Brett at SEC Media Days in Atlanta about the Big 12 trying to absorb the Pac-12, what Notre Dame is going to do, what happens to the SEC, the Group of 5 and where college football will be in less than 10 years. He's scared, folks. 

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. What is the latest with expansion as the SEC appears to be standing firm, the Big 12 is "open for business" and one move the Pac-12 needs to make today. Then we roll through the Playoff contenders' biggest upset alerts. Which trap games will define the 2022 championship races? And two recruiting theories about former powerhouses and how we will hire coaches in the future.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football, expansion and drama. What are the options for the Big 12 and Pac-12? A full partnership or partial merger or hostile takeover? How ESPN will play a huge role in what happens to the ACC? Why the SEC and Big Ten will fight over Virginia and North Carolina. What's the latest with ND and why the SEC wants them to stay independent.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall call an emergency family meeting after the news of USC and UCLA moving to the Big Ten on Thursday. Who is making these decisions and why? Is their calculus right about sacrificing charm for ratings? How ND holds the ACC's future in their palm. Should the Pac-12 and Big 12 join forces? Can these big market forces be stopped or, at least, slowed at all?

The band is back together for our favorite episode of the year: Our 2022 Dream College Football Road Trip - the ORIGINAL college football dream road trip, we might add. Mitch Light of The Athletic returns to join Steven Lassan and Braden Gall on this season's journey across college football. The rules are simple: You are going to a football game every week of the year but can only see each team one time. Where are you going? Send us your trip on the socials or in a review. Let's ride!

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Group of 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. Can anyone replicate what the Bearcats did last year, like say, Houston? The Mountain West is BACK, baby! Championship battles in the Sun Belt, C-USA and MAC are dead even. Which coaches do we like to rise through the ranks this fall? How good are Notre Dame, BYU and the rest of the Independents?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Power 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. In the Pac-12, there are some strong favorites followed by tons of chaos that will make for a fantastic year of football. Can new coaches across the league build winners fast? Can established names bounce back? And who is the real favorite to win the Pac-12?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Power 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. In the ACC, the QB position is stronger than it's been in a long time and that will lead to lots of debates this summer. Can the ACC champ get into the Playoff? Who can establish their culture the quickest? And why is Tyler Van Dyke so underrated?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Power 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. In the Big 12, the league is as wide open as ever as programs jostle for position before looming changes. It's one of the most balanced leagues in America.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Power 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. In the Big Ten, can the QB position develop and catch up to the defenses in this league?

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. We preview every Power 5 conference by explaining our official 2022 predictions. In the SEC, the middle class is healthier than maybe ever before and could lead to one of the most unpredictable seasons in league history.

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk college football. Who is this year's Michigan? Which teams outside of the preseason top 25 have the right recipe to make an unforseen playoff run? Which teams in the top 10 are sure to disappoint and make us look bad? And which scheduling model is best for college football? Should it be the same for all leagues? What's best for the fans and what's best for the sport? Also, FREE STUFF!

It's here! Magazines are here! Steven Lassan and Braden Gall explain the Athlon Sports preseason Top 25 for 2022. We touch on every single ranked team, every conference races and give away two free magazines!

Steven Lassan and Braden Gall talk Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher. Why are these two ego maniacs yelling at each other? What are the real reasons for this fued? And what does it actually mean for the future of college football.