The College Football Survivor Show

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are giving a little love to the fringe playoff contenders with paths that aren't quite as clear as the primary teams. They define seven teams as primary contenders, with obvious talent and opportunity, and everyone else is eligible to be viewed as the fringe teams with the best chances. But first, a playoff...

The college football playoff discussion rolls on with every team in the country looking vulnerable to varying degrees. That leads Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah into a deep discussion of their 10 playoff contenders, including Clemson and USC, which both escaped last week. There is a clear top two teams, and Doug and Shehan agree Ohio State belongs in that mix. One team was kicked out of the...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are ready to show some respect to the best team in the country, with a deep discussion about the Georgia Bulldogs. But first, they have to kick a team out of their group of playoff contenders. Will it be BYU or Baylor? Then then discuss three teams that could be added to the playoff mix: Washington, Oregon...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarjah are going to kick a team out of their college football playoff discussion, and they're going to consider adding one of three team as new entrants to the discussion. So who will go -- Texas A&M or Baylor? Will Kentucky, Michigan State or Oklahoma State be added? But first, there's a big question that encapsul...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are back to doing what they do in-season: Voting a team into their mix of playoff contenders Kicking a team out of their mix of playoff contenders Ranking all the remaining contenders This week, one of two teams is booted -- either Utah or North Carolina State will be out. Then one team will be added -- it'...

On this College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shenan Jeyarajah pick their four teams that will make the College Football Playoff and predict their national champions. Last season, both of them got just one playoff team right, and they review their failures on this episode. Will they do better this year? And with a lot of people picking Ohio State and Alabama to make the national titl...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are offering their final position rankings of the preseason. This time it's quarterbacks, as Doug and Shehan rank the quarterbacks on the 11 teams in the playoff mix. There's a tier of quarterbacks that can cause a team to win a national title, and there are five or six of those. There are a few that you ca...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah discuss two more playoff contenders, both of them independents (for now): Notre Dame and BYU. The teams play each other in Las Vegas on Oct. 8 in Week 6, and they both play multiple games against other major contenders. Notre Dame opens with Ohio State, finishes with USC and also plays Clemson. BYU gets Bay...

On this week's College Football Survivor Show, the focus shifts to the Pac-12 as Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah continue to debate adding teams to their preseason mix of playoff contenders.  Should USC and Utah join the current group of Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan, North Carolina State, Baylor and Texas A&M? That's the start of the show, and then it's on to ranking all th...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are discussing two more teams and whether they belong in the mix of college football playoff contenders. And then they're ranking all the playoff contenders by who has the best running backs. First, do Michigan and North Carolina State belong among the contenders? The Wolverines were a playoff team last yea...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are ranking college football contenders by who has the best defense. That discussion comes down to Alabama, Georgia and Clemson, just like it did last year. There is a disagreement -- Doug and Shehan have different defenses at No. 1. But first on the pod, Doug and Shehan discuss which SEC team is third-best...

It's back to the roots on The College Football Survivor Show, as Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah return to the formula they started this show with one year ago: Ranking playoff contenders in various categories, and then voting on whether teams deserve to be discussed as contenders. Last week, it was determined that Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Clemson were sure-thing contenders this seaso...

It's nearly time to really dig into the preseason on-field news of college football, with media days for some conferences taking place this week. So Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are taking this week's episode to take one last look off the field, and do something that this show about the college football playoff has wanted to do since it started a year ago: Pick the perfect College Football...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are placing bets on the season. From national title odds to Heisman Trophy odds, from over-unders on win totals to odds on teams winning at least 10 regular-season games, Doug and Shehan find their favorite bets from around the country and spread around $1000 each of fake money to stake their claims. Most o...

Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah thought they were taking this week off, but the Big Ten, USC and UCLA had other ideas. So the latest episode of The College Football Survivor Show is here to discuss the move of USC and UCLA from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten and what that portends for the future of college football and the playoff. Doug thinks this means two super leagues -- the SEC and Big Ten --...

The College Football Survivor Show has reached its final Power 5 conference playoff preview of the offseason, and it's time to dig into the Pac-12.  On this episode, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are joined by Josh Newman of the Salk Lake Tribune to talk about Utah, USC, Oregon and any other teams that might make a playoff dent. What happens if Utah and USC split two matchups this year? Doe...

On this latest conference preview on The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are joined by guest Mike Rodak of AL.com, who covers Alabama. He joins the pod to help break down the SEC and the playoff contenders in college football's best conference. Is Alabama a lock for The College Football Playoff yet again? Can anyone on Georgia's schedule actually stop the Dawgs...

Sam Khan Jr., a senior college football writer for The Athletic, joins Shehan Jeyarajah and Doug Lesmerises to dive into a summer playoff preview for the Big 12. Who is the playoff favorite in the conference -- Oklahoma, Baylor or Oklahoma State? Which team is the best dark horse -- Kansas State? Or can Texas be a dark horse if it's the betting favorite? Are Bijan Robinson or Quinn Ewers of Texas,...

Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are drafting again on this episode, this time picking the 10 people that will have the greatest impact on the 2022 race for the College Football Playoff. This isn't the 10 best players or coaches, but those that may provide the widest variance in their potential production, or those that could change the fate of their teams based on how they play or coach. Doug...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are joined by Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com to talk about the favorites and other contenders in the Big Ten when it comes to the playoff race and the Heisman race in 2022. What does Ohio State need to do to make a playoff run, and is C.J. Stroud or Jaxon Smith-Njigba the better Heisman candidate? Is Michigan...

The College Football Survivor Show is starting to break down the major college football conferences to find the best players and best teams with an eye toward the 2022 College Football Playoff. First up is the ACC, as Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are joined by Nate Mink of Syracuse.com to discuss everything about the conference. These questions will be answered about the ACC: Most likely p...

Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah are here to solve some problems for college football on the latest episode of The College Football Survivor Show. First, Doug and Shehan outline how the rules should work for NIL and collectives paying players. Then there's a plan for how that affects transfers. And then, a Doug theory for how to keep conferences together while creating a new tier of college fo...

On this episode of The College Football Survivor Show, Doug Lesmerises and Shehan Jeyarajah dive into another Mount Rushmore. On the weekly bonus episode on Apple Podcasts, they have so far picked the four best players in the eight-year history of The College Football Playoff at running back, linebacker, receiver and defensive back. Now, on the weekly free show, it's time for quarterbacks. Looking...

It's Part 2 of our final spring football wraparound, and that includes the USC Trojans, who set a spring game attendance record by drawing more than 30,000 fans to the start of the Lincoln Riley era on Saturday. Also on this episode is the team Riley left, and the Oklahoma Sooners drew 75,000 fans to their spring game Saturday. Then it's on to Penn State, Oklahoma State and Baylor as we finish up...

Four more experts join The College Football Survivor Show to discuss four of the best teams in the country and how they looked during spring football. There were so many major teams playing spring games this Saturday that this pod is broken into two parts. This is Part 1 and look for Part 2 soon after. This show starts with Notre Dame, and then gets into Texas, Utah and Oregon. The Fighting Irish,...