Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 16 team, Wisconsin. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Badgers get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 16 team, Arizona State. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Sun Devils get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 17 team, Texas. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Longhorns get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 18 team, Ole Miss. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Rebels get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 19 team, LSU. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Tigers get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 20 team, Kansas State. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Wildcats get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 21 team, Clemson. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Tigers get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 22 team, Penn State. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Nittany Lions get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of the preseason top 25 with a breakdown of our No. 23 team, Florida. We take a look at the personnel, schedule and more as the Gators get ready for 2014.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon continues its rollout of podcasts previewing each of the preseason top 25 teams, continuing today with No. 24 Washington.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

Athlon is starting its rollout of the 2014 preseason top 25 today with our breakdown of No. 25 Missouri.

For each team in the top 25, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan will preview each team's outlook for 2014 and explain the thinking behind each ranking. Stay tuned throughout the month of May for a podcast preview on each team.

We’ve reached the end of our preseason rankings debate with the Pac-12. Oregon and Stanford have ruled this league for four years, but we have a handful of reasons to wonder if that reign can continue.

Washington has a new coach and a new quarterback and may be poised to continue the progress made under Steve Sarkisian. Sark may have a contender of his own at USC, but we discuss how depth — or UCLA — may hinder the Trojans’ Pac-12 title hopes.

But Oregon and Stanford continues to be the favorites as the Athlon staff again debated between the Ducks and Cardinal to win the North and perhaps the Pac-12. We discuss where we leaning on today’s Cover 2.

We also continued a new, not-so-subtle pitch for you to get involved at sponsorus@athlonsports.com. As always, you can reach our hosts at @BradenGall, @DavidFox615 and @AthlonSteven on Twitter or at podcast@athlonsports.com.

The second part of our SEC rankings and preseason preview continues with the West Division, home of four of the last five national champions. The SEC West was the toughest division for Athlon Sports to pick this season, especially in the middle.

The power resides in the state of Alabama, but the team with more reason for optimism may be under debate. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are both in good position, one of the rare times both Egg Bowl rivals go into a season with high hopes.

The X-factor may be LSU, a team that has been a lock for 10 wins in recent years. The Tigers are replacing some key cogs on defense and will be young at skill positions on offense.

We also introduced a new, not-so-subtle pitch for you to get involved at sponsorus@athlonsports.com. As always, you can reach our hosts at @BradenGall @DavidFox615 and @AthlonSteven on Twitter or at podcast@athlonsports.com.

The SEC is too big for one podcast, so our preseason rankings and debate series continues with the SEC East.

As we start to break down the preseason rankings, we look at the trends that will shape the East. Missouri won the division a year ago and has the consensus top quarterback in the East, but can the Tigers repeat? We’re not sold.

Florida may be an X-factor with a healthy Jeff Driskel, but Georgia and South Carolina have the most complete teams aside from quarterback questions.

We also took reader questions this week from Twitter and Facebook. Have a question you’d like to have answered on the podcast? Tweet us at @AthlonSports or email podcast@athlonsports.com.

Athlon’s Braden Gall and David Fox split up A-Day duties, spending time at Auburn and Alabama through each school’s spring game.

At Auburn, the fan base (and athletic director) is enjoying the rebound, but Gus Malzahn is busy at work trying to ramp up the tempo of the offense while plugging holes on defense.

At Alabama, the fans have moved on from the 0-2 finish to last season, but the losing streak exposed some cracks in leadership and culture in the Alabama locker room. Nick Saban spent the spring trying to reinforce those things.

In the spring games, both teams learned a bit about their quarterbacks. Nick Marshall may be on his way to being a standout passer while Blake Sims might not be the top guy for much longer.

The debate concerning preseason rankings has started around the Athlon Sports offices, and we’re giving you an inside look at all the conversations that will shape the 2014 countdown.

This week, Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan take you inside the process of the rankings meeting as they talk through the teams in the ACC.

Will anyone challenge Florida State in the Atlantic? Will Louisville be a factor in Bobby Petrino’s return? And how do we sort out the mess that is the Coastal Division?

Athlon Sports’ annual rankings of every college football coach in the FBS posted this week. The No. 1 spot may be clear, but the rest of the rankings weren’t so easy.

Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan take you into the process of ranking every coach, explaining the criteria we used and some dissension in the ranks.

Our panel felt pretty confident about the first four, but we love the top coaches in the Big 12. Also, we explain the difficulty in ranking coaches in the 20-30 range, defend the coaches who are underrated and identify the coaches who have a chance to move up the rankings in 2015.

Now that the NCAA Tournament is complete, the Athlon editors can take a deeper look at the upcoming college football season. The rankings discussion for the preseason magazines is in full swing as spring practice is in its final weeks.

Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan take you inside the process of the rankings meeting as they talk through the teams in the Big Ten.

Who can challenge Ohio State? Will Michigan State continue to be a contender for the title? Can teams like Michigan and Nebraska return to power house status?

The Athlon Sports Cover 2 Podcast took a quick break from college football spring football previews to quickly delve into college basketball.

Before delving into picks for every game in the NCAA Tournaments, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox give their quick reaction to Bruce Pearl’s hire at Auburn. Pearl will undoubtedly bring interest to the Auburn basketball program, but does he immediately give Auburn the best coaching duo in the league.

Then it’s on to picks for every game in the NCAA Tournament, region by region. All the upsets and storylines for every game through the title game.

Preparation for the 2014 college football preview magazines has begun around the Athlon Sports offices, starting with the Big 12.

Oklahoma and Baylor separated themselves as favorites, but Braden Gall, David Fox and Steven Lassan have plenty of questions about both teams.

In the first of a series taking you inside our rankings meeting, we talk about the debates that shaped our discussion in the Big 12.

The Cover 2 makes its return after a brief hiatus to talk all the big-picture news from Signing Day.

Braden Gall and David Fox explain why Alabama’s day was almost non-news and why Tennessee and Kentucky turned out to be the big winners.

Charlie Strong at Texas gave us a reason to look into recruiting in the state of Texas and whether his words about the virtues of being a “gadget program” have merit. Has Strong already fallen too far behind Coach Cool at Texas A&M?

Then, we talk about the most interesting long-term recruiting trend whether it’s USC vs. UCLA or Ohio State pulling away from the rest of the Big Ten.

Discussing the personality differences on the big new coaches hired at Penn State, USC at Texas and how James Franklin, Steve Sarkisian and Charlie Strong will attack their respective jobs.

Franklin’s hire set off more news as he continued to recruit Vanderbilt commitments at Penn State. Should recruits be off limits when coaches move or is all fair in the recruiting game?

Lastly, Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan makes a special appearance to pick the teams that benefited the most from the NFL Draft early entry deadline and who is losing out.

The 2014 season is over, so it’s time to start talking a little 2014 football.
 
First, hosts Braden Gall and David Fox put Florida State’s championship into perspective. The question: Did Jameis Winston just complete the best freshman season in college football history? Or does the nod go to Johnny Manziel, Adrian Peterson or Maurice Clarrett.

Then, they break down some of the coaching news. Charlie Strong is the guy at Texas, but not everyone is on the bandwagon. Penn State thought they were close to nabbing James Franklin, but the Nittany Lions are in limbo. Does Franklin have it better in Nashville?

And then moving on to 2014, Fox and Gall go through the major conferences and discuss their storylines to watch in the upcoming months from off-field issues, recruiting, new coaches and personnel.

The Athlon Sports Cover 2 Podcast returns after a brief holiday hiatus to talk about the three big stories in college football. The Texas job remains opens as the Longhorns (maybe) close in on candidates. David Fox and Braden Gall discus the reported list of finalists.

Penn State also opened up this week. Where does this job rank right now given the sanctions for the next few years, and what kind of candidates can Penn State hope to get?

After that, Fox and Gall delve into the national championship game. On paper, all the signs point to Florida State dominating. But there’s something about this Auburn team.

Finally, we share our hopes for the college football world in 2014 and react to a best names of 2013 bracket.

Who says there’s a lull in the college football season? The coaching carousel gets new life with the Texas job. Braden Gall and David Fox talk about their top three realistic candidates for the job. It’s also time for a bit of reading as our hosts react to columns on Mack Brown as Mr. Football and the Nickelback of college football coaching. Lastly, a moderately successful game of word association for the early bowl games.

Our hosts duke it out over a two-team and four-team playoff. Is it possible the BCS wasn’t all bad if it worked perfectly in a year like this?

We can’t ignore the chatter around the Texas job, whether it’s vacant yet or not. Should Nick Saban really consider leaving Alabama to coach the Longhorns?

And then finally, we get into some takeaways from the season. Our hosts go through each major conference and finish the sentence ... “2013 was the year that ...”

Where the Iron Bowl finish ranks among the greatest plays in college football history, debating one-loss vs. undefeated in the BCS, a discussion on if USC should be happy or annoyed with the Sarkisian hire and a preview of conference championships in the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC.

Rivalry week and Thanksgiving is upon us with a huge Iron Bowl matchup. Is Alabama unstoppable or does Auburn have a shot in its big moment? It's strength vs. strength, so anything is possible, says our hosts.

The Heisman race is as cloud as it's been all season. The clear leader on the field has major off-the-field issues, so our hosts look at the merits of Andre Williams vs. Ka'Deem Carey, Jordan Lynch vs. Derek Carr and if Tajh Boyd should re-enter the field.

Florida State is clearly ahead of Ohio State in the BCS, but should Ohio State's schedule get a second look? We're divided.

Johnny Manziel vs. LSU is the top game this week despite more meaningful action around the country. A conference title is on the line in the Big 12 and divisions are up for grabs in the SEC East, Pac-12 South and Big Ten Legends. Braden Gall and David Fox talk Les Miles vs. Johnny Football while taking stock of Baylor-Oklahoma State, Arizona State-UCLA and more.

Last week gave us plenty of news to break down on this week’s podcast. Alabama tightened its grip on No. 1, Baylor took another step to national title legitimacy and Stanford rearrange the championship and Heisman race. Co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox dive into the Stanford-Baylor-Ohio State debates and Heisman leaders before looking ahead to Saturday.

A wild Thursday night will feature Oregon-Stanford and Oklahoma-Baylor as the top two offenses try to stay undefeated. Hosts Braden Gall and David Fox discuss what Stanford and Oklahoma can do to spoil the seasons for the Ducks and Bears. Saturday’s action is highlighted by LSU-Alabama. LSU may need a perfect game to beat the Tide. Fox and Gall break down the Tigers’ chances.

In this week's podcast, our hosts talk about the big surprise for Oregon's defense and flops for Missouri and Bo Pelini. Moving on to this week, Michigan may be in a world of hurt against Michigan State, plus what Miami needs to do to upset Florida State in Tallahassee.

After a wild week of news, Braden Gall and David Fox tackle the debate between Florida State, Oregon and Ohio State and why one of those teams deserves to be in the title game when all is said and done. They also react to the end of the NCAA investigation at Miami and discuss the rise of Missouri. Also, a new nickname for BYU's Taysom Hill.

It's Midseason Madness on this week's podcast. Our hosts tackle big second-half questions for the SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC before offering up picks for the midseason coach of the year.

In this week's Cover 2 podcast, we take a look at big wins for Ohio State and Stanford, but we ended up just as impressed with Northwestern and Washington in losses. Meanwhile, the SEC East has been turned upside down by Georgia's injury issues, Missouri's 5-0 start and Jadeveon Clowney's no show. We talk about those issues plus the new playoff committee, Jameis Winston and Miami's place in the ACC Coastal.

The firing of Lane Kiffin upstaged a wild game in Athens momentarily. In this week's Cover 2 podcast, we debate on potential candidates for USC and whether the Trojans are still an A-plus job. Plus, we take a look at the action in the SEC, including major statements by Aaron Murray, Zach Mettenberger and the Alabama defense. We also debate where an undefeated Ohio State would stand compared to an undefeated or one-loss ACC champion.

In the Week 5 edition of the Athlon Sports Cover 2 podcasts, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox take a quick look back on the headlines from Week 4, including a new QB at Florida, Fresno State's impressive Friday win, Utah's rise and LSU's win over Auburn. LSU is in the spotlight again in a showdown with Georgia. Other games previewed include Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech, Oklahoma-Notre Dame and Wisconsin-Ohio State.

In this week's podcast, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox recap Alabama's wild win over Texas A&M and speculate what it may mean for the future of both teams this year. In what's going to be an eventful month for Arizona State, the Sun Devils got lucky against Wisconsin but have a huge game ahead of them against Stanford. It's a quiet week, but Braden and David take a minute to talk about the matchup between their alma maters, Tennessee and Florida.

In this week's podcast, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox recap Alabama's wild win over Texas A&M and speculate what it may mean for the future of both teams this year. In what's going to be an eventful month for Arizona State, the Sun Devils got lucky against Wisconsin but have a huge game ahead of them against Stanford. It's a quiet week, but Braden and David take a minute to talk about the matchup between their alma maters, Tennessee and Florida.

In this week's Athlon Sports Cover 2, Braden Gall and David Fox recap how a big win for Georgia sets the tone for the rest of the season, explain how Devin Gardner emerged as a star and debate how worried we should be about Florida and South Carolina. Also, they take a quick look ahead with four Big Ten-Pac-12 matchups, the future for USC and Texas, plus that game in College Station you may have heard about.

In Episode 2 the Athlon Sports Cover 2, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox explain why Clemson's win was important but maybe not the most impressive win of the weekend. They also talk Georgia-South Carolina, Florida-Miami and overlooked games in a new, cleverly-named segment.

In the Athlon Sports Cover 2 debut, co-hosts Braden Gall and David Fox preview the action for week 1: Why they're flip-flopping on Georgia-Clemson, hedging on the importance of Boise State's opener, and picking certain teams to open with a thud.