Is a 24-team College Football Playoff inevitable?
Seth and James open this week’s Preferred Walk-On Show with the growing push toward CFP expansion and why the bigger issue isn’t necessarily 24 teams. It’s whether college football actually has a coherent plan for getting there.
They break down automatic bids, the future of conference championship games, the G6’s place in an expanded playoff, on-campus postseason games and why the sport continues to bolt pieces of the old college football model onto a completely different modern game.
Then it’s time to talk actual football.
Dylan Raiola stepped into the spotlight for Oregon against USC and delivered one of the best performances of his young career. Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State continue to be one of college football’s best stories. Florida might actually be good. Oklahoma State is alive. And somehow college football remains simultaneously brilliant, chaotic and completely unserious.
Then the boys make their Week 5 picks, including:
🏈 Pitt at Virginia Tech
🏈 Penn State at Northwestern
🏈 Alabama at Mississippi State
🏈 Ohio State at Iowa
🏈 Florida at Missouri
🏈 North Dakota State at Wyoming
🏈 Oregon State at Colorado State
🏈 Miami at Clemson
PLUS, The People’s Division:
🏈 South Dakota State at Illinois State
🏈 Northern Arizona at Idaho State
🏈 Youngstown State at Southern Illinois
Also discussed:
• Is a 24-team CFP actually good for college football?
• Why guaranteed conference bids could create even more problems
• Dylan Raiola’s breakout moment at Oregon
• Kamario Taylor, Keelon Russell and a huge SEC quarterback matchup
• Why Mississippi State has become one of the most fun teams in America
• Is Florida for real under Jon Sumrall?
• Ohio State’s matchup advantage against Iowa
• North Dakota State’s path to the College Football Playoff
• Can the Pac-12 reclaim “power conference” status?
• Jesse LeGree and Braden Atkinson powering Oregon State
• The Battle of the Basins trophy
• Why the Missouri Valley is the SEC of the FCS
If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to The Preferred Walk-On Show for in-depth interviews with the coaches, players, and leaders shaping college football. New episodes every week.
The Preferred Walk-On is the people's college football show. Hosted by Seth Saunders, with James Kehm joining as featured co-host, the show covers college football's full Division I landscape: every Power Four conference, every Group of Six matchup, and every corner of the FCS. Walk-On grit. All-American tape.
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Inquiries: seth@preferredwalkonshow.com
Walk-On grit. All-American film.
