Gus Malzahn is in favor of expanding the College Football Playoff field.

Making an appearance on The Triple Threat radio show in Houston on Wednesday, the fifth-year Auburn coach said he would like to see the playoff expanded from four teams to eight teams and believes that's the direction the system is heading, though there would have to be uniformity in scheduling across the nation.

"I would love for there to be eight teams," Malzahn said. "I'm an old high school football coach -- quarterfinals, semifinals..."

Malzahn believes that if the field were to expand from four to eight teams, it would require eliminating FCS teams from the schedule and require every conference play a nine-game schedule. The SEC currently plays an eight-game schedule, and Malzahn -- and several SEC coaches -- has previously been against expanding the conference slate to nine games, which was a topic of discussion at SEC spring meetings in 2013.

"I think (eight teams is) where it's going," Malzahn said. "We'll see what happens, but I'd personally like to see it."

Had the field been eight teams this year, Auburn would have likely been in the playoff as the No. 7 team in the final CFP rankings, which would have pit the Tigers against No. 2 Oklahoma in a potential quarterfinal. As it was, Auburn missed out on the playoff after dropping the SEC Championship Game to Georgia, which left Auburn with a berth in the Peach Bowl against undefeated UCF, a Group of Five program.

Auburn lost its bowl game and finished the season No. 10 in the AP poll, while rivals Georgia and Alabama -- both of which lost to Auburn in the regular season -- played for the national championship on Monday night. Malzahn said it "was pretty tough to watch" the game, which Alabama won 26-23 in overtime, knowing that his team handed both programs their lone loss of the season entering the final.

While seeing his team's two biggest rivals play on the game's biggest stage was a hard pill to swallow, Malzahn said he did take solace in knowing the Tigers were the only team to beat the Bulldogs and Tide.

"We felt all along this year that we were the only team that could beat Alabama, and of course it ended up being that way," Malzahn said. "We got a lot of guys coming back, and I know they're very hungry. Any time you've been close and you have a lot of guys coming back, it really helps you. I know we're going to be a hungry team. Now, you got to earn it in in our league. The SEC West is a monster. Every week you got to bring your lunch, but I really like where we're at."

Malzahn also touched on other topics during the segment in Houston, including voicing his opinion on the early signing period (he's not a fan and liked how things were but accepts that this is the new normal) and clarifying the remarks he made on Tuesday at the AFCA convention in Charlotte about the SEC Network.

During his roughly 30-minute speech at the annual convention, Malzahn expressed his displeasure with the network, which he said is now all about "trying to get the coach fired about every other day."

Malzahn backpedaled those comments when asked about them Wednesday, saying they were meant to be tongue-in-cheek.

"Really, I was having fun with that comment," Malzahn said. "I'm a big fan of the SEC Network. Now, did they say I was going to get fired? They probably did, but I was really having more fun with that."

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.