Talk about a new college football landscape.
The 2024 season sure brings a different look for the college football campaign, beginning with Saturday’s start to the calendar.
Yup … it’s late August, which means a return to pigskin on the four-down stage, with a mini-schedule on the docket — just four games on the slate compared to seven last year.
Included is another in Dublin, where Ireland hosts the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday at Aviva Stadium (noon ET, TSN2).
The odyssey for 134 Division 1 teams — up one from last year with the promotion of the Kennesaw State Owls into Conference USA from the FCS level — moves through to the FBS culmination, which is the College Football Playoff National Championship Game slated for Monday, Jan. 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
Here are 10 big — really big this year — storylines in play for the 2024 NCAA season:
1. PLAYOFF EXPANSION
Like it or not, it’s here … the original College Football Playoff now on steroids. Not a six-team bracket. Not an eight-teamer. But a 12-team playoff, still much to the shock of many a year after it was unveiled. That expansion is pushing the schedule an extra week-and-a-half into January. More football? That’s good, right? Or is a Final 12 too much, where once a playoff was never the mark of college football? Traditionalists might rightly disagree with the wildly different format.
2. POWER SHAKE-UP
Throw away your map — and the Power Five, for that matter. There’s now really no rhyme or reason — at least geographically — for the four growing conferences and one mini thing that now make up the cream of college football’s landscape. For instance, the Big Ten is now ‘the Mega 18’ with most of the Pac-12 powers — Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington — moving to the Midwest from the West Coast. The ACC grew by three with the addition of California, SMU and Stanford, making it a 17-team coast-to-coast conference. And the Big 12 now features Utah, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado in another massively widespread league of 16 schools. With the Pac-12 basically blown to smithereens and parcelled out across the NCAA, the once-proud brand is now really a Pac-2 — comprised only of Oregon State and Washington State — for at least this season. Weird stuff.
3. RICH GET RICHER
Let’s not dare forget about the SEC in all this shakeup. Of course, the move of top teams Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12 has finally taken place, giving the SEC even more to boast about than ever. And it will do just that, right? The SEC is now at 16 squads, as well. But is it as big and fun as the new and improved Big Ten, which is now without two divisions to stifle the national title hopes of its top teams?
4. BIG BLUE GOES FOR TWO
Speaking of which, can Big Ten king Michigan repeat as national champs in 2024-25? It says here ‘not without Jim Harbaugh’ and ’not without more sign-stealing’. Yes, Coach Harbaugh has moved on to the NFL, as has QB leader J.J. McCarthy and star running back Blake Corum, among other big stars who moved the needle for Michigan. Big Blue likely won’t come close to matching the dominance of its 15-0 championship campaign.
5. SIGN-STEALING FALLOUT
That sign-stealing scandal just won’t go away in Ann Arbor. And why should it, given it was straight-up cheating? The NCAA is still investigating, with more penalties likely to follow. But shamefully, Harbaugh won’t be around to face any punishment since he’s washed his hands of the dirty program. And what will be the fallout from the upcoming ESPN airing of Untold, with its episode featuring the man at the centre of the controversy — Conor Stalions — set to be released Tuesday on Netflix?
6. SABAN MOVES ON, TOO
‘Khaki Pants’ Harbaugh wasn’t the only mega-name coach to leave the NCAA. The legendary Nick Saban’s gone, as well, having retired after decades of success with Alabama. How much success? Try seven national tiles, 11 SEC crowns and a 292-71-1 record with ‘Roll Tide’. That’s a big blow since he is college football’s coaching GOAT. But without Saban and Harbaugh, it likely helps level the playing field for other programs trying to fulfil their destiny.
7. CROWN CONTENDERS
Those ‘others’ are headlined, of course, by Ohio State. But we hear that every year, so that’s hardly news. We’re thinking the recession of both Alabama and Michigan truly opens up the doors for the likes of Texas, Utah, Oregon, Penn State and Florida State. Go ahead and throw USC in there, too, although we won’t hold our breath on that program. Southern Cal underachieved in a weak Pac-12 for years, and now it has to try and find its way through the uber-strong Big Ten. But bring it, Lincoln Riley!
8. COLORADO COLLAPSE
Still bringing it in Boulder is Deion ‘Prime Time’ Sanders, after he shot Colorado into the spotlight with early season promise in 2023. But there seems to be more criticism taken in than success these days with his program. Sanders is fielding flack for an $11.9-million bankruptcy case involving his son, Shilo Sanders, and “reports of violence and an alleged ‘gun culture’ in Boulder, along with contentious press conferences,” according to Sports Illustrated. None of that sounds good in building what many hoped would be a wonderful story of rags to riches.
9. HEISMAN HIT-LIST
Nevertheless, Colorado QB and Coach Prime Time’s other son, Sheduer Sanders, is in the Heisman Trophy spotlight. Many other QBs are, as well, including Texas gunslinger Quinn Ewers, Alabama’s main-man Jalen Milroe and Georgia’s pivot Carson Beck. The pre-season hype for the most outstanding player award is on Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, albeit it’s not overwhelming. So it’s a crapshoot to pick a winner early. And really somebody usually comes from out of the running to collect the honour, although last year’s winner — LSU QB Jayden Daniels — was in it to win it from the git-go.
10. FINAL-FOUR SCORE
New blood — again — this year for the CFP? Sure. We’re thinking the final four is Ohio State, Penn State and Florida State, which was robbed of the honour after its undefeated regular season last year, joining — yawn — Georgia, the undeniable favourite to win it all after last winter’s semifinal fall. But it’s anybody’s ballgame, really, since 12 teams get the playoff call. And what fun for us that will be!
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