David Pollack and Brent Rollins discussed some Big Ten Conference teams that are a lock for the College Football Playoff.
David Pollack Names Big Ten Programs That Are A Lock For The College Football Playoff originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The 2025 college football season begins in August in the second year of the new expanded College Football Playoff format. As such, predictions are running wild.
David Pollack dropped a new episode of “See Ball Get Ball With David Pollack". In it, Brent Rollins and Pollack discussed some Big Ten teams that are essential locks for the College Football Playoff, and there seemed to be a consensus.
David Pollack's Big Ten Locks Revealed
"There's three sort of automatics, Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon," Rollins said.
Pollack then said, "I feel good about you saying that," after Rollins said he is "putting them in no matter what."
In another episode, Pollack also revealed his College Football Playoff predictions and he had each of Ohio State, Oregon and Penn State making the field.
In 2024, all three made the CFP, with Penn State losing in the CFP Semifinal game to Notre Dame and Ohio State winning the title.
Oregon won the Big Ten title and finished undefeated before losing to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl game, 41-21.
This time around, Drew Allar has returned as Penn State's starting quarterback, Dante Moore is slated to be the QB1 in Eugene after Dillon Gabriel left for the NFL, and the Ohio State QB battle is up in the air for the time being.
Still, all three of these teams have a legitimate shot once again to make the 12-team field.
Will This Be Penn State's Year?
With Ohio State and Oregon both ushering in new quarterbacks, this could finally be the year that Penn State makes the jump.
Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports previously projected the College Football Playoff. In it, he had Penn State losing to Texas in the national title game but also had the Nittany Lions as the projected Big Ten champion.
Penn State was then ranked No. 3 in the Preseason Coaches Poll behind only Texas and Ohio State, so there is a lot of buzz around James Franklin's program entering the season.
Whether or not they get there remains to be seen, but Pollack and Rollins at least feel strongly that Penn State will make the College Football Playoff.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
Category: General Sports
